Character Backstory - Sikah; The hunted hunter (Final)

• Posted by Batman November 8, 2011 - 770 views

  Three days later Markius found Sikah staring into the fire, poking it absently with a stick. “What prey-like thought are you chasing in that mind of yours Sikah?” he asked as he took his place on the other side of the flames. Sikah stared up at him her eyes distant and swimming with grief. “It’s really all gone isn’t it? At the time I thought it wouldn’t matter, but I find myself staring back, the Ratways are all I have known, what are we going to do Markius?” He didn’t answer her for quite a while just stared up at the stars, “We cannot go back. They will most certainly hunt us if we tried, Do you wish to stop running Sikah? We could find a place out here to live if you wish.” his voice was quiet but it carried clear across their small pocket of light, a slight tremor on the end. Sikah stared hard at Markius, she had always joked with him about his affection for her, but did she really want to spend the rest of her life with him? “Yes, I would wish that.” she murmured after a moment’s thought. Markius didn’t say anything more but instead came to sit by her side as they both watched the moon rise over the mountain.

  The next day, Sikah was in a much brighter mood, a new sense of destination had shifted the terrible depression that had settled upon her shoulders since the night her home was burnt to the ground. She would make a new home, a home with Markius and there would be no more running. “Markius,” Sikah called out as she left the coverage of the forest to join him on the path they had been following for the last couple of hours. At his questioning look, she proudly held up the snare of rabbits freshly caught. “Well done, we might make a forest hunter out of you yet.”

  That night Markius presented Sikah with a matching pair of Klai-firs, an intricately beaded and woven band that was plaited into a length of mane over the right ear. In Khajiit terms, marriage was a lifelong commitment between two who only had to acknowledge each other as such for it to be deemed official. “My father made them for me the day I decided to leave home” Markius stated quietly as he looked upon the small bands held in his large hand, Sikah looked up at him searchingly, she knew it was just days after Markius left his village in the plains of Elsweyr to see the world that the village was raided by bandits with no survivors. Markius gave her a warm smile and a small nod as he came to sit on the grassy clearing with her, Sikah reverently stared at the larger of the two bands she held in her hands as Markius wove the other into her hair. At last he sat back, his dark eyes shining. Taking a deep breath Sikah reached for his mane and began the weaving, her every thought of Markius in the forefront of her mind as she gently wove the band into place. With the last thread tied Sikah moved her hands back from his mane only to have them caught in his large paws and brought back, a simple kiss placed on the back of each hand…   

  It had been little over a week since Sikah and Markius had left the city of Riften behind them. Moving at a swift pace and travelling primarily at night, they were able to cover many miles and soon found themselves enjoying the hike instead of fearing the chase. During the following days since their departure Markius was able to teach Sikah a rudimentary basis of restoration magic, soon she was able to cure small things like the many cuts and scrapes they received from the long stretches of heavily forested areas they traversed. Sikah also tried to learn the simple fireball spell but found the knowledge just slipped through her fingers, much to the amusement of Markius as he liked to watch her futile efforts to light their camp fires each evening. What Sikah did find she excelled at was archery, she thought that, that time during the battle with the Riften guards was a fluke, a surge of adrenaline or just the heat of the battle that made her sight sharp and her aim sure. But as the days went by and they needed food, Sikah found that she had no trouble in bringing down a fleeing rabbit or a bird in flight. When she confined this talent to Markius he smiled. “It is very few in life who find their natural talent Sikah, and even fewer still that learn to master it.”

  The weather was turning colder and the daylight shortening when it happened. Sikah fell to her knees with the unexpected force that rushed through her body as though propelled by the very winds of the fierce mountains themselves. It felt as though her whole body was on fire, a slow burn cooking her from the inside outside. She paid little heed to the shouted concerns of Markius all she could focus on was the pull tugging her gaze to the skies just visible over the tree line. A sense of power seemed to radiate from the area locking Sikah in place. She fought to remain calm, to reclaim possession over her body and senses, painfully slow at first and then like a flooding river Sikah drew the power back into herself containing it into a small ball as intense as the sun above. With control back over herself Sikah became aware of the source of power just on the other side of the tree line drawing ever closer its force even greater than her own new power. “Run Markius, we need to run now!” without question Markius sprang to his feet quick as lightning and followed Sikah as she zipped through the trees always keeping the pull of power to her back. In the distance came a deafening roar of rage and then the unmistakeable sound of trees being violently broken. Sikah was panting now, the fierce fight earlier with her body and now this mad dash through the forest was sapping her strength at an incredible rate. It would soon catch up to them.

  Instinctively knowing whatever it was that was chasing them was after her, Sikah made a hard decision. “We, we have to split up, it, can’t chase us, both whatever it is.” She called to Markius as they were nearing a natural split in the pathway. Markius looked like he was about to argue back but she didn’t give him the choice at the last second she took a hard left as he had turned right her departure was followed down the mountain by a roar of grief that didn’t come from whatever was chasing her, she knew it was chasing her, she had felt the change in the pull the second she started veering away from Markius. Suddenly Sikah burst through the tree line to a long stretch of level ground, the abrupt change in elevation throwing Sikah from her feet and she was helpless but to ride out the rolling momentum until she struck against a young tree growing slightly away from the others. Shaking her head clear, she got to her feet and readied the bow that had luckily survived the free fall down the mountain knowing that she would never out run the monster that was chasing her. Just then it burst clear over the tree line and landed scant yards away from her as Sikah stared in complete shock…no it couldn’t be….

  The mighty Dragon shifted its huge scaled wings as its eye came to bear down on her, reminding Sikah much despite the circumstances, of the small birds that use to hang around the old flowering tree back in Riften. The beast reared back and let loose a roar that made the previous one seem pitiful in comparison. In an instant the blinding fear that had been riding Sikah since her collapse vanished, the void filled in with calm confidence the likes Sikah hadn’t felt since her thieving of the noble’s silver what now seemed like a lifetime ago. Notching an arrow Sikah prepared herself for what was to be the most difficult battle of her life. For a long while the Dragon eyed her off with a predators gaze calculating and deadly.

  Quick as a flash it struck, though its snout only hit the grassy earth where Sikah had been scant seconds before and would have been still if she hadn’t seen the neck muscles tense for the strike. Angered, the Dragon pulled back shaking its massive head raining earth all over the place. As it prepared to strike again Sikah was already on the move, nimble and quick she tried to circle the Dragon dodging its flurry of strikes and claw swipes while peppering it with as many arrows as she could, but it was to no avail. The Dragon was almost evenly matched with her on speed and its bulk made up for what else it might have lacked in the confined area. Suddenly Sikah was violently thrown from her feet; one of the massive wings had managed to hit her mid-leap as she tried to avoid its snapping jaws.

  Pain radiated all across her chest and breathing was becoming difficult. The beast must has sensed its impending victory for it let loose another ground shaking roar, its eyes glowing eerily as smoke began to pour from its nostrils. Sikah lay surprisingly calm in the cool grass as she waited for the Dragon to finish her off, her hand clasped tightly around the Klai-fir still bound to her hair, her thoughts turned to Markius and regret. Then as though her very thoughts had summoned him there came a fierce battle cry that had even left Dragon’s sounding the like mewing of a baby. Markius came out flying from the trees as though propelled by the wind itself, great sword glitter dangerously in the midday sun. The Dragon didn’t stand a chance of stopping him even as it was shutting its jaw and swinging its head around, Markius landed on its scaled back right between its wing joints and slammed the sword in with all his might. Roaring in pain the Dragon tried to snap at him but the sword was preventing the neck muscles from responding properly. Roaring again the Dragon broke off its attack and began charging for the edge of the cliff. Sikah could only watch helpless as both Dragon and Markius plummeted over the edge.

  Searing with pain and exhaustion Sikah began to drag herself over to the cliff ledge. Just before reaching it the Dragon burst into the sky, dread filled Sikah when she noticed Markius wasn’t on its back only his great sword still stuck true to its mark as the Dragon slowly ascended into the sky and limply made its way towards the horizon. Sikah was struggling to hold herself together as the waves of grief washed over her. Then from within her own mind there came a feeling of such warmth and serenity that Sikah thought that surely she had lost her mind and it was fracturing beyond all hope, not that she really cared. Soon the warmth was spreading throughout her whole body easing the aches and restoring some of her strength. With the pressure easing off her chest but not her heart Sikah managed to get herself to her feet and wobbling, made the rest of the way to the cliff. The warmth had receded by now back into the small sun of power that had awoken earlier. But it seemed changed, it seemed alive. Deciding to think about it later, Sikah scanned the bottom of the cliff, hope slowly blossoming when she noticed that several of the tree tops were freshly broken, meaning that the dragon had crashed through giving Markius a chance of escape. Though it was a slim hope, it was one the bolstered Sikah greatly. Reaching the location would take days but Sikah vowed then and there that she would not give up until she had Markius back safe with her, there was no alternative. Turning away from the ledge Sikah began the long trek down the mountain…