Making it across the river (Durzo and Faylinn)

Durzo took a deep breath as he finished strapping the weapons and tools to a mostly unresponsive Kylar. Sure, the boy was moving when instructed and seemed to have enough in his to glare half-heartedly at Durzo when he pinched the boy to check to see if he was still alive... but Durzo could see the look in his eyes.

He had lived many lives as a warrior and had seen countless people with the same stare. The look of someone who thought they were already dead, just waiting for their body to catch up with the mind.

He sighed a little bit when he saw the look in Kylar's eyes. The boy needed something to push him forwards, to push him through this. Otherwise his body would move forwards but his mind would always been dragged back here, to the room filled with little bodies,

"Come on Kylar Stern, Undying Dier." he instructed his apprentice, "It's time for us to leave this place... Count Drake needs our help."

When Kylar sent him a puzzled look he chuckled a little bit sheepishly,

"No I don't Know... but lets be honest." he shrugged, "He's Christian, I'm sure he needs saving from trying to help the undead or something."

Turning to Faylinn, he frowned slightly,

"As much as I loved the vines..." He muttered before smirking, "I think we need to do this our way until we can find a way to cross the river. So... can you scale buildings by any chance?"

Faylinn had looked around the little house in which Durzo was holed up with Kylar in, it seemed to be more of a weapons outlet and arena than an actual house. She got the kind of vibe from both of these guys that they were not related of course but that they didn't share that much of a close bond on the outside, simply because they were master and apprentice.

There was no homely feel to this place, and perhaps that was what Kylar needed right now, someone that he could lean on and get help from? If that was the case then she would be the one to try and help him out when she could.

The question if she could scale buildings made Faylinn a little bit surprised;

"Well...I have never scaled a building before." she stated honestly "But I suppose it is no different to climbing trees and once you learn that skill you can never forget it." Faylinn smiled softly.

Of course she was tempted to hit Durzo on the arm because he was being so horrible about her vines again; "I will know for next time if you ask me for my help, I shall not give it if you're going to make fun of it all the time Mr. Blint." she pouted "You'll rue the day I assure you!"

Durzo smirked and Kylar actually chuckled a little bit at the interaction. That was good... and intentional. Faylinn was a lot more personable than he was, despite the fact that she wasn't a human being. Infinitely more personable he would say if he had to guess. But the thing was that Kylar's recovery would not be based on anything he could do. There were no little potions or training techniques for this.

You just had to be a person.

And Durzo had given up on being a person many centuries ago.

"Well in that case it seems like you're going to be spending more time with your legs and arms wrapped tightly around my torso." He told her in a deadpan, getting a slight snigger from Kylar before he smirked, "And Kylar can just try and keep up."

He could feel the boy's glare when he said that.

Durzo smirked as he unsheathed his sword as they neared the front door to the safehouse. Going through his ritual of unlocking, locking and unlocking the door, he smirked,

"Rueing shall commence shortly I assure you." He told her as he kicked the door open, knocking one of the undead off balance when it hit it. Without a word he went to work, blurring through the motions of stabbing fifteen undead people in the head. When he was done he pointed to the nearby wall and Kylar nodded before he began to run up it enough to get a handhold before climbing the rest of the way up. Sheathing his sword, Durzo gestured for Faylinn to climb on his back.

He also whispered to her,

"Kylar needs you." He told her quietly, "I know what he needs to recover... but it can't come from me. He won't believe it even if I can push the feeling and emotion through. I know it's a lot but for now I need you to be his emotional support as I am his rock. Can you do that for him? Please?"

Faylinn smiled softly when she heard that she was going to have to spend a lot of time with herself wrapped around Durzo, she didn't particularly want to seem so useless that he had to carry her everywhere but as a sprite she didn't have much experience in the whole area of fighting and combat, she mostly spent time in trees and such.

"Alright then, I doubt that it is an unpleasant experience for yourself so, if you deem it necessary then I shall happily comply with your suggestion." Faylinn smirked before grinning at Kylar "Awww I know that he'll be able to keep up, this young man is stronger than he looks."

The way that he spent so much time locking then unlocking and relocking before finally unlocking his door again made Faylinn's eyebrow rise and she thought that it was a little OCD of Durzo but everyone had their own little quirks. This might just be one of his. She poked her tongue out at him and pouted.

"I don't think you mean that." she whined.

Jumping on Durzo's back, Faylinn wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and wrapped her legs around his shoulders with a little smile on her lips.

Of course the question of whether she could be there for Kylar was one that he didn't have to ask, it was a question that made her feel as if she could do something to help the boy like she had wanted. So, without a doubt she would do so.

"I will help him as much as I can." she stated calmly "I promise I will ensure he's as okay as he can be in a situation like this."

Durzo had to admit that he was a little bit proud of how short a time it took Kylar to scale to the top of the building. And all without a drop of Talent... wetboys tended to rely too much on their Talent but here he was doing something that many wetboys would have to use their gifts for. If Kylar had the Talent and had chosen not to use it then he would have been enormously proud.

But Kylar had not chosen to do it without Talent; he could not do it with Talent. He was broken and he would never be a wetboy.

Sighing a little bit, he turned to Faylinn,

"Thank you. He needs a human being to talk to." He told her honestly before adjusting his grip on her legs, "And I gave up on that a long time ago. Now... hold on."

With that he channelled some Talent to his legs and immediately jumped straight forwards at the wall, only to jump backwards off it and spin to face the wall opposite them. Jumping off the wall to land on the next, he eventually landed on the roof with Faylinn still clutching tightly to his back,

"There we go." He said, letting her down before turning to Kylar, "Situation. Judgement. Solution."

Kylar stiffened slightly as the training kicked in,

"Streets are packed with the undead mostly and I've seen at least five brothels barricaded up as little castles against them." He reported, "Roads are unusable and the bridges appear to all be destroyed. Would recommend a boat."

Durzo sighed a little bit and cuffed Kylar round the ear, getting the boy to grumble under his breath as his Master fixed him with a hard stare,

"They destroy the bridges but leave the boats? Unlikely." He told his apprentice, "We will have to shot a line over the water and slide across onto the opposite bank."

He smirked a little bit and turned back to Faylinn,

"Or maybe you could take Kylar by vines and I can use the slightly less insane method?"

Faylinn was troubled by the way in which Durzo didn't refer to himself as a human being, it made her heart go out to him and want to know why he didn't think that he was a human, why did he make himself feel this way? Surely it could not be good to be downgrading yourself all of the time? Biting her lip she made a note to ask him at a better time.

Squeaking slightly when he jumped back and forth and back and forth she merely closed her eyes and held on even tighter, she hadn't experienced anything like this in her long life and she was not eager to experience anything like it again!

The knowledge that Kylar could give just like that made Faylinn clap happily;

"Amazing!" she laughed "Such knowledge at such an age, although I suppose I could name every type of tree and flower when I was your age..." she hummed, tapping her chin as she drifted off in her own thoughts.

Frowning at Durzo, which was not fierce in the slightest, she was hoping he would be less hard on Kylar considering what he had just said but...perhaps that was what he meant about her having to do the things instead.

"I don't just travel by vines." she smirked "Besides, there isn't suitable plant life around the bridges to carry the both of us. Kylar can you see any trees? Any type at all reasonably close to us?" Faylinn added, looking around herself to see if she could spot any but she wanted to give Kylar a job to do, keep his mind occupied.

Durzo grinned ever so slightly at Faylinn's reaction to his preferred method of travel up the side of buildings. It never ceased to amaze him how much people loved to experience the use of Talent. He rolled his neck, trying to get some clicks that had been in it for the last hundred years. For some reason it only played up when he carried someone of his back.

Said a lot about him that he hadn't been bothered by it for decades.

Kylar was going to get a swelled head at this rate. Faylinn was very impressed with the boy it seemed and, to a layman, he supposed the boy was impressive. Heck, he would be the best assassin in the world with a year or two more experience. But he would still only be an assassin and not a wetboy. He was actually very sad to see such potential wasted.

"He learnt all of that in the time it took us to get to the roof." He commented to her briskly, "His powers of observation are powerful indeed... because he had learnt that knowing your surroundings is knowing how to stay alive."

He raised an eyebrow and Kylar seemed interested. Trees eh? Kylar frowned before he immediately replied,

"Gyre Common." He told her, gesturing to a small park that had been put into the warrens due to the charity of Logan's father, "It has some strong redwood trees. Would that do?"

Durzo rolled his eyes a little bit as he took the massive long bow off of his apprentice, along with the quiver. Putting them on himself, he tested the bow before nodding,

"Alright, climb back on and we'll jump the way there." he told her before shrugging, "Or vines... I'm honestly rather curious."

Faylinn pouted a little bit at Durzo he seemed like he was being very harsh on Kylar, it was a compliment though in his own way I suppose. Perhaps he was normally more brisque than this? It would be hard to see how he could be however, when he was acting like this after Kylar had been through something so horrible a few minutes beforehand.

Maybe it was just the tone of voice that had her on edge? Maybe. She wasn't used to it, she was used to the whispering of trees.

"They would be splendid." Faylinn murmured happily, and she hoped that the trees would be compliant to their needs "They are normally quite pleasant to interact with and would be more than happy to assist us."

With a bright smile she jumped onto Durzo's back again, she was beginning to feel like a backpack if she was honest. At least she was light she supposed because if she wasn't light then he would be getting a pulled back from carrying her around all of the time. The bow was an amazing weapon even if she did feel upset because it was made out of wood.

She was sure though it was responsibly sourced wood.

"Hmmm I'm not sure that I should let you ride on our transport Durzo you'll just be a horror about it and tease it." she teased with a smirk "Just me and Kylar will ride at this rate."

Durzo could see that she wasn't fond of the way he spoke to the boy but the fact was that he had to. His life was going to be a hard one after all. Chuckling a little bit, he shook his head in amusement when she spoke about the trees being pleasant to interact with. An actual creature of the forests... even he had never expected to actually see one but Faylinn was definitely a sprite of the forest, there was no doubting it.

Kylar looked confused so Durzo smirked and explained,

"Faylinn here is a sprite." He explained before sighing as the confusion continued, "It means that she's like an angel of trees and other plants okay?"

Kylar blushed at having to be corrected and Durzo just shook his head in amusement. The boy was just too easy to wind up, that was what Durzo thought. When Faylinn immediately jumped onto his back, he looked at her ruefully before shaking his head a little bit and shifting her weight on his back to be easier to carry,

"Well that's fine by me... your last method of transport left a lot to be desired." he teased her before shaking his head, "Boy, you're doomed."

Without another word he took off, shooting across the rooftops as fast as he could. This way it only took then a few moments to land on the grass besides one of the trees. Seemed the undead were not here... strange. He hummed as he let her down,

"So what's your plan?"

Faylinn pouted at Durzo profusely when he said that he didn't want to go on her new method of transport either, it was getting a little annoying now, these were super cool methods of transport! She would not have them being made fun of and stuff, besides the trees and plants didn't like it either. They just wanted to be helpful, which was why their energy was keeping out the undead from the forest.

Turning to Kylar when they landed down on the grass she smiled brightly;

"I wouldn't say I was an 'angel' but, when he's gone, I'll tell you a secret if you promise to keep it." she whispered with a secretive wink "Seeing as my awesome spritely magic isn't good enough for Mr. Blint here."

Rolling her eyes Faylinn focused her magic, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again they were a darker purple than before. A lot of magic was needed to make sure that the tree was able to form properly and it did, gradually begin to shift into its entish form, growing hands and legs, a face, as it stood from the ground.

"How...may I be...of assistance My Lady?" the tree asked, in a low rumbling voice.

"We need to get across the river, and the bridges are severed, can you carry us across?" Faylinn whispered softly.

The tree allowed it's hand to drop to the floor and she hopped onwards, sitting down in its palm; "Come on Kylar, we'll be off. Durzo, we'll see you over there."

Durzo could tell that she wasn't best pleased with the way he was ribbing her because of her powers and decided that he would stop it for now. It was getting a bit dull now anyway, truth be told! Chuckling a little bit, he shook his head as she tried to explain what she was to Kylar. And she seemed to have settled on the bright idea of trying to make him feel jealous if he wasn't very much mistaken.

Kylar seemed to buy it though,

"Well I would very much like to learn more about you..." Kylar admitted with a small frown, "You are able to survive this... like Master Blint. You must be a very fearsome warrior to be able to survive with him."

The tree had transformed.

Okay now that was something that Durzo had never seen happen before and he wasn't entirely sure that he ever wanted to see it happen again. To be honest it was rather scary to see. The tree had just grown legs and arms and looked to be massively strong just from it's sheer size if nothing else. He frowned ever so slightly,

"I gotta get me one of those..."

When she asked the tree... thing, to get her and Kylar over the river he opened his mouth to protest before scowling lightly,

"Oh I see..." He pouted slightly before nodding, "Alright, meet me by the clock tower. We will need to get to Count Drake quickly."

Climbing up a building quickly, he dashed across the rooftops with his Talent before he reached the last house before the river. Pulling his bow back all the way was a feat that required Talent and he had it. Loosing the arrow, he smirked as the rope flew out with it. Pulling it taunt, he tentively stepped onto the rope... before dashing across it at full speed, never once stepping out of place.

Jumping down from it, he landed in front of the clock tower with a grin,

"Good time..."

Faylinn smiled brightly when she heard Kylar telling her that she must be a fierce warrior in order to have gotten by this far, to be honest she had gotten by this far because of her magic and because of Durzo. He was the real star here, he had carried her for the most part all of the way here, and now was carrying her all the way around the city as well.

Well they could actually not jump around everywhere and she could happily walk, run, jog, hop whatever needed.

"Oh not at all. I've been stuck in a tree for centuries, I'm quite perplexed by all of this." she giggled lightly "Durzo really has been carrying me around all day, but, if we could walk or run somewhere instead of all of this hopping, I'd be fine." Faylinn teased.

Nodding her head, Faylinn gently pulled Kylar onto the tree and it placed them on it's shoulders, walking around the city with ease on its long legs, trampling infected as it went, picking up other survivors along the way to be dropped off at the place of refuge they were headed towards. Now crossing the river, the tree was so large and old it did so with ease, her feet didn't even get wet.

"Oh, and about that secret." she grinned at Kylar "I'm a Princess you know, my father, rules the whole of the earthen kingdom, but shush...no telling." Faylinn giggled, placing her finger over her lips "Just between you and me."

All of the others who came with them disembarked by the clock tower and she too with Kylar, sending the ent back to its home, where it would nestle once more in the earth.

"See, that wasn't too bad now was it?" she grinned.