Small Talk

This is where we started joint-writing. Ambree gets freedom; Glide and Niqi get a new traveling companion.

“I’m tellin’ you, we’ll be fine.” Glide muttered as he and Niqi crossed the vast plains of the Untamed Lands, heading toward the Western Cross. “It’s not like we’re gonna trash the place or anything...”

“I know that we’ll be fine, but what about the humans? Aren’t they known to jump to conclusions?” Niqi sighed in frustration, kicking the dirt. Glide and his plans. She looked towards the Western Cross and noticed the massive wall around the place. The humans sure took precautions.

Suddenly, she saw a figure on top of the wall, staring right at them. It was a somewhat young human girl with blond hair and fair skin. She appeared frozen. Niqi nudged Glide with her elbow. “Glide, look up there. There’s a human girl on the wall, and I’m pretty damn sure she’s noticed us.”

Glide smirked. “Yeah, so what?” He turned his attention to the girl on the wall, raising his left arm and waving. “Hey up there! I didn’t think they allowed people on the wall!”

Ambree was startled by the sudden sound of the male deer’s voice. She breathed deep, trying to calm herself. She had no idea what their intentions were, and she decided it best not to judge just yet. “That’s never stopped me!” she called back.

“A girl after my own heart.” Glide whispered to Niqi, snickering. He raised his voice again to address Ambree. “Oh, really? So you’ve got a problem with authority, huh?”

Ambree didn’t quite know how to respond. “Yeah, I suppose,” she called back. “What are you guys doing here, anyway?” she asked, unable to put off the question any longer.

Niqi grinned. “We’ve got a problem with authority, too,” she said to the girl. She didn’t have to raise her voice much; they were almost at the wall. “So how are we gonna break the law, shall we come in or do you want to come out?”

Ambree was utterly confused, but the excitement she felt at the mention of getting beyond the reach of the walls overpowered it. It was like these two newcomers had given her the strength she needed to finally break the law that had been so ingrained in her from the very beginning. Without a second thought, she pulled herself over the wall and jumped down to the other side, ignoring the cuts along her arms from the barbed wire. She felt incredibly free all of a sudden. She smiled at the two who had now reached her.

“Guess that solves that problem,” Niqi stated.

“Hold out your arms.” Glide ordered suddenly, the purple energy gathering along his forearm hidden by the sling. “Let me see those cuts.”

Ambree’s heart thudded in an odd pattern. She wasn’t sure whether or not she should trust them yet. “What are you going to do?” she asked, but held her arms out anyway.

Glide smirked, pulling his arm from the sling and laying his paw on one of Ambree’s arms. “Just giving you a helping paw.” He said, using Shetani’s energy to accelerate the healing process.

Ambree’s eyes bugged out, and she felt as if they might fall out of her head and land on her shoes. The authorities weren’t kidding when they mentioned supernatural powers. “I…I…um…Thanks, I guess,” she managed after a moment. She cleared her throat, glancing up at them both. She noticed they were significantly taller than her. “So…are you guys Crusaders?”

“Yep. You catch on quickly. I’m Niqi, this is Glide.” Niqi held out her paw.

Ambree looked at the paw, and then shook it warily. “Nice to meet you, I’m Ambree,” she said, a heartbeat too late.

Glide slid his arm back into the sling, turning and heading off in the other direction. “Come on.” He tossed over his shoulder. “Since you’re new to the outside world, we might as well show you what’s out here. Gotta warn you, though, it’s pretty dangerous.”

“I’ve heard stories…” Ambree trailed off, thinking. “Where are you guys going to take me, anyway? And why are you taking me? We sort of…well…barely know each other.”

“We make it up as we go along. You don’t have to come, of course, but you seemed eager enough to get beyond that wall,” Niqi answered her.

Ambree thought for a moment. “So…you’re just…what are you doing again?” She was baffled by the entire situation.

“We’re not doing anything, actually. Just wandering. We just got back from the Southern Cross.” Glide responded, stopping for a moment. “Are you guys coming, or what?”

“Right,” Ambree said, running to catch up.

Niqi kept pace with her, and then fell into stride behind Glide.

“So, are you guys…off duty, I suppose, or whatever the equivalent of that is called? All I know is that the Crusaders fight the demons, keeping them from taking over Seisen,” Ambree said.

Glide shook his head, grinning. “Nope, we’re on the clock. We’re elite Crusaders; we get more freedom than the lower-ranking guys. As long as we reach our weekly demon quota, we can roam pretty much wherever we please.”

“Right,” Ambree responded. It was all starting to make some sort of sense, but she was learning things they had never taught in school. She glanced between Glide and Niqi. “Are you guys…a couple?”

Niqi gagged and stopped walking for a moment. “Excuse me, did you just ask what I think you asked?”

Ambree didn’t reply.

“No, we are definitely not a couple. He’s gay. We’re simply partners in the demon killing business.”

Glide glared over his shoulder at Niqi. “Did you just out me to her?”

Niqi shrugged. “She would've found out at some point.”

“Point taken,” Glide growled, “but it’s kinda aggravating to be outed like that. You don’t want me to turn Shetani on you, do you?”

Niqi’s eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t.”

Ambree looked up, confused. “Who’s Shetani?”

“You’re not familiar with Shetani?” Glide asked. “The Goddess of Mischief?”

Ambree stared at Glide, confused. “Never heard of her.”

“I don’t think the humans get out much,” Niqi said, grinning.

“Still, it’s religion.” Glide muttered. “They should at least have books on this s**t.”

“Okay, we’ve made it clear that humans are ignorant. So this Shetani is a goddess, and…you can turn her on people?” Ambree tried to clarify.

Glide nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I can turn her powers on people, at least.”

“How?” Ambree asked.

“You already know.” Glide grinned, lifting his right arm out of the sling, just enough to show his chain.

“Oh,” Ambree said quietly.

“Either of you have a good idea for our next destination?” Glide asked.

Niqi thought for a moment. “I don’t think we ought to go to any of the crosses, since, you know, it’s against the law for a human to be outside of the Western Cross. So I’m not sure.” She looked to Ambree. “You got any ideas?”

Ambree stared blankly at Niqi. “I barely know what’s out there. So no."

“I know one Cross that doesn’t give two s***s about the law...” Glide smirked. “Of course, taking her there might be a bad idea.”

“I was gonna say that. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea if she got ripped to shreds the first time we took her somewhere,” Niqi responded, smirking as well.

Ambree went pale. “Excuse me?” she asked meekly.

“Southern Cross,” Niqi stated simply.

Ambree remained silent.

“Dragonspine Mountains...” Shetani hissed through Glide, his voice and hers melding into one as the goddess spoke.

Ambree froze in place. “What the hell was that?” she asked after a moment.

Niqi nudged Ambree forward, and she began walking again. “Don’t worry. That’s just Shetani. She does that sometimes.”

Ambree laughed shakily. This was not what she expected it to be like beyond the wall.

“We can’t go to the Dragonspine.” Glide growled. “The air is thick with poison.”

Niqi looked to Glide, confused. “Then why did Shetani say that? She want to kill us or something?”

“She’s forgetting that it’s not just me.” Glide said. “I’m immune, but you’re not.”

Niqi sighed. “Sometimes I get royally pissed at you for being undead.”

“He’s undead?” Ambree asked, although this seemed rather miniscule after all the shocking things that had been thrown at her.

“Yeah. Long story,” Niqi replied shortly, not wanting to get into it without Glide’s permission.

Glide heaved a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples. “Go ahead.”

Niqi was shocked that he gave her permission, and tried to think of where to start. “Okay, so there was this guy named Jason. He was enemies with Glide. I don’t know the full story about that, actually. Anyways, Jason sent these two guys to kill Glide. They nailed him to the ceiling, cut him up, and left him to bleed to death.”

Ambree grimaced. This Glide certainly had a hell of a history.

Niqi smiled apologetically for disgusting Ambree. “In the end, the two succeeded in their mission. He died. But he was revived by a bat named Icarcti…” She smiled suddenly. “Glide got his revenge. Tore the spine outta one of ’em, ate the heart of the other. I would’ve loved to have seen that.”

Ambree nodded silently, not saying anything for fear of her voice cracking.

“And that’s not even the best part.” Glide smirked. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell her what I did to Jason himself…”

“You can if you want to, but I ain’t sayin’ it. That s**t disgusts me,” Niqi responded.

Ambree remained ever-curious. “What did you do, Glide?”

Niqi laughed. “She’s like me.”

“Oh, gods, this one’s horrible.” Glide laughed. “Get this. I peeled the f****r like an apple, doused him in vinegar, cut his stomach open, opened a couple arteries, and shoved a lit match up his dick.”

“You forgot the part where you cut out his tongue. And when you lit his exposed organs on fire,” Niqi added to the gruesome details.

Ambree was horrified, but she tried to remain calm. “I’ll try not to get on your bad side,” she directed at Glide.

“Pretty good idea.” Glide grinned. “That’s not even the worst thing I can think of to do, so it’s always best to stay on my good side.”

There was a short silence. “Okay, since nobody has come up with a destination yet, I say we keep going whatever the hell direction we’re going in now and see what’s there,” Niqi suggested.

“Okay, works for me.” Glide nodded. “Oh, and for the record, I didn’t cut his tongue out. I ripped it out bare-handed.”

Reviews

[selkietales]

“Oh, and for the record, I didn’t cut his tongue out. I ripped it out bare-handed.”
Ahahahahaha!

[KEi]

-midread-
"Did you just out me to her?"
^ this is why I love Glide. He's funny. I'm loling chronically now.

-finished-
Another reason that Glide rocks: He's slightly psycho/apparently rather sadistic.

I love this story.
I can't believe more people haven't read it.
It's fab.
:D