Death to All

[Keirra]

Kierra let out a savage scream, acid green eyes burning with hatred as she tired to claw the eyes out of her nearest handler, a few meters away Balthazar was putting up just as much of a fight, though with a little more success than she, tearing great chunks of flesh away from limbs, his own energy fuelled by her fury. Another thug came to join the fight, bundling her and obscuring her sight of Balthazar as the wrestled her hand back into the restraints and drew them tighter than they had before.

"I'll kill all of you!" she shrieked. "I'll kill you all and eat your hearts! Bastards!"

Someone forced a gag into her mouth and lost a finger for it. She spat it at the next to try, licking her lips and relishing in the taste. They came at her with a muzzle instead, the strap catching her hair as they pulled it taught. By the time they were done, She was bound to a crucifix. The wood grazing her shoulders, the bonds so tight that she was rapidly losing feeling in her fingers.

She kicked at them as they removed their weight from her, so they bound her legs too. Her own pain mingled with Balthazar's and the fury mounted in her chest. How had this happened again? How had she been so foolish as to let herself be cornered and overwhelmed.

Her eyes sought out Balthazar, trapped in a cage, three thugs with tazers jabbing at him repeatedly. She took note of all their faces, of the way they smelled through her krayt dragons nostrils. Whatever happened today she would hunt them down, everyone one of them and kill them slowly. Then she and her scaly brother would feast upon their flesh. She shared the idea with him and her shivered with pleasure and stopped fighting.

At least until the hoisted up Kierra and began to carry her up to the podium and out of his sight.

Keirra began to work her bonds again, twisting and tugging, the pain and blood just a nuisance, in her rage. They wanted to show her off, so she would give them a show, a show of flesh and blood.

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Keirra"]

Interestingly enough once she got on the podium?

There wasn't a big crowd waiting for her. Not even multiple slavers, no. Instead? It was just one ... creature. This one was standing next to a tree. "Oh, hmm, she is quite feral, isn't she, Desmond?" The creature seemed to be speaking to the tree. It groaned and shook and sighed. "Yes, I suppose. They do have an interesting taste then." A shrug, before calling out towards one of the slavers.

"Bring her up a bit closer, please. Oh- you said something about a pet?" Kalak inquired curiously.

The rattling of a cage. Cursing and a cry of pain behind the curtains. The Raykkan's leathery brow-ridges furrowed up. Out came the cage with three slavers, each one cowering, inside a small dragon snapping at the hands holding the cage.

"Even wilder! I'd clap, but..." Wiggling from one foot to the other. "My hands are kinda occupied."

That seemed to elicit some awkward (fearful, you could smell it in the air) laughter. These slavers were nervous. It had nothing to do with her either. Not the way they kept sneaking glances at the speaking thing. It had a bespoke suit on, but- every once in a while the tree? Snaked out, revealing a hand, which seemed to be spraying water on its face.

Keeping its master hydrated.

"They tell me you were a fearsome Knight of the Sith, before they caught you." Finally being addressed personally by him. "Is this true?" The tone seemed curious.

 

[Keirra]

Kierra stopped struggling, surprised to find herself being show to two individuals. One was a bizarre armless alien that she didn't recognise...the other was a... tree? She blinked, instantly losing interest and returning her focus on getting out of her bonds, though she noted the heightened stench of fear. An answer to her problem came in a tiny form somewhere up in the rafters. Mice were some of the first creatures she had ever controlled and they had their uses. Food primarily.

It scurried along at her command, dropping without hesitation from the roof and tangling momentarily in her hair before moving along the wood and setting its teeth to work. The slavers didn't notice, they were too preoccupied with their guest, eyeing them both nervously. She feigned interest, cocking her had to one side, studying the strange pair with her acid green eyes. The bonds on her right hand loosened and the mouse moved to the left.

She moved her gaze to the slavers, Balthazar thrashed his tail with excitement, knowing she was choosing her first victim. The fattest one, close enough to her to die. She played it out in her head, the moment the wood would drop from her shoulders, he had his back slightly to her so the attack would come as a surprise. She'd kill him fast, no point making him more tense than he already was, it'd spoil the meat...

Wait...did the thing just ask her a question?

The Fat One, struck her with a backhand and she let out a feral growl. She'd changed her mind, she wanted him to die slow...

"He asked you whether you're a sith knight or not!"

She looked at what she could deduce would be her new owner, or at least that was the intention...he was, to put it simply, ugly. She shook her head to answer his question. Kierra was not a knight, just an acolyte. A technicality she was sure he was not interested in, but the truth nonetheless. The others seemed to get incredibly nervous at her response and that made her a little giddy.

The bonds suddenly gave and the wood fell from the floor with an almighty thunk. If she'd been one for the dramatic, she might have paused long enough for them to see her smirk and register the danger they were in. Truth be told, without Balthazar, Kierra was in more danger, so she leapt at the Fat One's back, snatching the dagger from his belt, and drove it with rapid speed into the depths of his belly, one, two, three...

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Keirra"]

Kalak watched impassively at her response.

The burn of the eyes changed into a slightly deeper pitch. "I do not enjoy being lied to, gentlebeings." The Raykkan reminded them politely. "It spoils my appetite. I believe we all know what happens nex-" Before any next word could be uttered chaos ensued. The female mammal somehow got out of her restraints. She didn't waste any time either there.

Immediately rushing towards the fat one.

Snatching a dagger. Starting to stab. Oh, from the moment that Keirra began her move Kalak could have stopped her. His words weren't simply play. They had ruined his appetite and that brought consequences.

"I think that is quite enough."

The moment those words were spoken? Something clamped down on Keirra's mind. A presence constricting her. It was damp, cold, wet. As if something was slowly dragging her into a swamp. Every movement constricting, slowing down. The first stab jabbed into the slaver. The second one? Only the tip managed to press in, before her body could not move any longer.

The remaining slavers took a step towards them.

Kalak clicked his tongue, which made them stop immediately. "No, no. That one is mine, thank you, and the fat one too. It will presumably help with the appetite." They seemed to want to argue, but noticed Kalak's expecting glance.

As if he wanted them to argue.

The Raykkan began his approach. It was quite a comical tread too. Instead of walking? He was flopping. Once, twice, closing the distance in short brisk bounces. It would have presumably been more amusing if he wasn't smiling.

Rows upon rows of sharpened teeth.

And those eyes... and that mind slowly suffocating hers in the cold damp.

 

[Keirra]

Kierra felt as though her mind had been plunged into ice water, the cold spreading through her to seize her muscles and leave her fixed in place, fingers clamped around the dagger, blood bubbling out of the Fat One's wound, warm and wet. Oh, she could still feel...she could feel the poor workmanship on the blade's hilt, the coarse thread of his jerkin against her bare legs and she could hear..she could here the thunk of each flop...and she could see him with his maniacal grin and deadly set of teeth advancing on her.

Panic.

Panic was her first reaction, she couldn't move she had no control. Balthazar was going ballistic, throwing himself against the bars of his cage with such force her was beginning to dent it. Why couldn't she move? What was happening to her? She was smarter than this, she knew why...but the hold he had on her mind was impossible to wiggle against, let alone find escape from.

She tried to open her mouth beneath the muzzle, but even that wasn't allowed. A gurgle erupted from her throat, it was supposed to be a question, but that didn't work. Kierra had never known fear like it, and nor did she ever want to again. What was he? What did he want from her?

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Keirra"]

"Why I am a Raykkan, dear child. We are quite good at.... finding little crevices to wriggle into. We are like."

One last flop.

And he was next to her and the mewling fat man. Still trying to clutch to the wound. Keeping back the blood. There was something of hope in his eyes. There always were in those last few moments. The form of the Raykkan collapsed in the suit. As if it crouched but different. Suddenly he was right next to the fallen slaver. "Oh, don't worry, my good old friend. The pain won't last."

Another figment of hope.

Extinguished as a maw of teeth suddenly swept in. The edges cut through skin, meat and bone like paper. Instant death. Very charitable, no? "Like mold." As if he hadn't just bitten a man's throat out.

The blood still on teeth.

Now it was clear that the first sentence? Had been in her mind. Only the last two spoken as those teeth moved.

"Please settle your pet. If you don't, I will eat him too." A shrug there. "I might eat him regardless, truth to be told, but the less music he makes...." Eyes closing there, breathing in the damp of blood and the furious noises of the dragon. "...the less tempting he will be to me."

The tree suddenly loomed behind them all.

"Ah, yes, Desmond. You almost read my mind." A hearty bloody chuckle there. "Please remove the muzzle, will you?" If she tried to bite the tree's fingers? Well, there was only hard bark there. It would thwack her over the head if she tried.

 

[Keirra]

Despite her illiteracy and utter disregard for other people, Kierra was not stupid. She knew a power, she understood it and she also understood that standing up to the most powerful man in the room did nothing but get you killed and she very much enjoyed being alive.

Like mould...yes, it was a good way to describe even the stench of him. There was a small hint of jealously at the blood on his chin. She had wanted to eat this one...she wondered if his heart...no, focus Kierra. She had to pay attention to the Raykkan and his words outside her head.

NO!

Not Balthazar!

She closed her eyes and reached out to her bonded pet, her dearest friend and only family and for the first time in a long time she commanded him. Be still, be quiet, my love. It took a moment, but he settled clearly confused at the sudden shift of events. Fear lingered in her chest and she flinched involuntarily as the tree...what had he called him? Desmond? Barked fingers reached behind her head loosening the straps and pulling the muzzle free.

"If you eat him, I will eat you." she spat at the raykkan, an empty threat at this point, but a promise that she felt deep in her soul. "What do you want?"

[member="Kalak the Raykkan"]