"Hey." *poke* "Hey, wake up." Rixa opened her eyes. A rather large woman with a blue ponytail loomed over her, face twisted up in concern. "I saw you breathin'. You alright? That's a wicked cut you got there, might wanna... Hey, whoa--
Rixa shoved the woman out of her face and leapt to her feet. The world spun dizzily around her as she looked around, searching for a familiar tangle of green hair. Please don't be dead, she can't be dead, she didn't even do nothin'. That bitch wouldn't kill another elf, she said so, Sylvie's okay, she's gotta be--
Then Rixa spotted her. "No," she muttered, wobbling as quickly as she could toward a pale, naked form lying in the dirt, in the direction of the looted elven village.
Sylvia lay on her back, sightless eyes staring up at the sun overhead. Her front was covered in blood, with an arrow wound just underneath her left breast. "No, no, no no no." Rixa cupped her fallen friend's face with her hands. She wiped the strands of green hair and dirt away, kissed her tenderly, then pulled Sylvia's lifeless body close in a desperate embrace. For a long time, Rixa simply sat there, holding her. Rixa was vaguely aware of the blue-haired woman as she approached, stopping within arm's reach of her. There was a wetness spreading across Rixa's face, mingling with the dried blood and the dirt. It took Rixa a long time to realize she was crying.
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After carefully washing Sylvia's body clean in a nearby stream, Rixa and the blue-haired woman, Tamara, buried her in the shadow of a nearby oak tree. "Thank you," Rixa said.
"Don't mention it. Least I could do," Tamara shuffled her feet awkwardly. She gave Rixa a befuddled sort of look. "You, ah... you sure you wouldn't rather come with me? Your buddies'll probably be worried about ya."
"They're not my buddies," Rixa answered. She checked the weapons she had recovered. The wagon and the bodies of her erstwhile allies had been stripped of anything valuable, but Rixa's longbow and hatchets had been left untouched, on Shara's orders no doubt. "If I go back there after a colossal fuck-up like this, with nothing to show for it, Marla's like as not to butcher me the next time she sees me." The prospect of dying horribly didn't bother Rixa as much as it once had. However, she had one last thing she'd like to do first.
"Right then," Tamara nodded, though Rixa wasn't sure she really understood. "Don't worry, I'll deliver that message for ya. 'Crazy Elf ranger name of Shara, bone longbow, slaughtered everybody but Rixa.' The cavalry'll be right behind ya, just you wait." She turned and set out toward the Elven village where the rest of Miasma Battalion lay encamped.
Rixa watched her go, then turned to her own task. The trail left by the departed elves was as clear and easy to follow as a paved road to her. Even a supernaturally gifted Ranger like Shara couldn't mask the trail of ten common villagers traveling in her wake. And why would she? Outnumbered five-to-one, Shara had casually slaughtered the meager troops of Miasma Battalion, leaving only one survivor. Only someone with a death wish would try to follow her.
Rixa grimaced as she set out in the opposite direction of Tamara. The soldier had cleaned and dressed the gash across Rixa's face, but it still sent out a pulse of pain with every step she took. Rixa would track the elves back to Shara's hideout, then return to Miasma Battalion with the location. Or, more likely, die in the attempt.
