Smoke on the Road (open)

[Locke]

"Heh, heh."

A rudely scrawled note. So he was right, after all. The 'mountain man' was a dragon. Well, then, that made two. Two beings of nature, boxed in with a group of humans. The same race that had massacred them so long ago... Did he intend to kill them? Did he?

It took moments of thought, as he dragged another large rock across the floor, before he had settled his thoughts.

"No."

Moving Smoke's boulder to the side, and tackling another large, flat rock, Locke's hands slid over the stone, 'searching for grip' as he elegantly carved a response. Then, grabbing it, Locke rolled it, freeing it from the pile and loosening some more rocks, which rolled away as the pile settled a bit, and then pushed it to Smoke.

"Maybe we should form a chain, like this. It will go faster that way.

No doubt his message would be easily visible.

"Let them guess and suppose. They cannot prove it, and their suspicions cannot pierce my hide. They are feeble creatures, Smoke. They will die on their own. But if you wish, we could kill them... Revenge, for our ancestors slain in ages past."

Locke didn't enjoy the prospect of killing the miners. It would be more hassle to send all the bodies into the deep, and make sure none escaped... And killing them wouldn't help bring about the understanding he desired. Yet passion burned within his veins... This was almost a perfect opportunity. Trapped in a cave, these men would die in fear and pain, in anguish...

"Nnngh."

For now, he kept moving rocks.

[Saturos Prox]

"Quick is my middle name, don’t you know?" said Saturos with a sheepish grin as he handed Myscha the opened package of leaves that Locke had tossed over. He made a subtle look of distaste as he looked at them. They were all old and dry, not appetizing in the least, but was medicine ever pleasant? If it helped manage her pain, then she might as well use it. She could chew on it while he got ready, hopefully giving it enough time to kick in before Saturos went at the woman with a needle.

While Myscha prepared herself for impromptu surgery, the Etrurian opened the sack of medical supplies that Smoke had tossed him. He rooted through the bag, sifting past the number of rolled up bandages until he found what he was looking for: a tin of healing ointment, a needle, and a spool of thread. Popping open the tin, Saturos ran his finger through the ointment and began applying it quite liberally to Myscha’s open wound.

“Sorry if this stings,” he said, running his coated finger across the injured woman’s bleeding flesh. It may have been gross, but it was a necessary step to prevent gangrene, which tended to kill more people than the wounds that caused it did. An uncleaned wound was a recipe for disaster. Then, satisfied that he had gotten full coverage of the cut, the Etrurian closed up the tin and put it back in the sack. He grabbed the needle and the spool of thread and, licking his fingers, threaded the latter through the former.

His hands as steady as any experienced doctor’s, Saturos plunged the needle into Myscha’s foot. No point in asking her if she was ready. It would just bring more attention to his work and make it all the more painful for her. Not taking his eyes off of her foot, Saturos quickly went to work.

“This’ll all be over in a second,” he said, threading the needle back and forth through the woman’s heel.

[Charlotte]

Ryker’s weak attempt at a joke only took Charlotte’s mind off of the task at hand for a brief moment. This was the reason she avoided fights, why she was always so careful to resolve situations diplomatically. Well, it was one of the more selfish reasons, but still! She hated being in pain, and considering she was so poor with handling pain, it wasn’t exactly the most flattering of positions to be in. With tears streaming down her face and her shaking hands, Charlotte truly was weak when it came to dealing with being hurt. She couldn’t just suck it up, as it seemed her body had no tolerance for it whatsoever.

Grabbing some of the leaves Locke had provided, Charlotte shoved them in her mouth without looking at them and started chewing. They were fibrous and very spicy, the heat causing her eyes to water even more as she forced herself to keep chewing. What hadn’t been digested of her dinner was trying to make its way back up her throat, but Charlotte swallowed it down, though being careful to not swallow the leafy mush that was now in her mouth. She wondered how long it would take for whatever pain relieving properties this plant had to kick in.

For a moment Charlotte had forgotten about putting pressure on her foot, both hands having dropped to push down on the ground hard as her face scrunched up, sweat beading on her forehead and now mixing with her tears. Even if she didn’t believe that Ryker was a bookbinder, she at least hoped he knew how to do whatever it was he planned to do right no-

”AHH!” Charlotte reflexively yelped as Ryker rubbed some sort of healing ointment into the still bleeding – albeit, a little less now – gash on her foot, causing pain to sear through her foot and up her shaking leg. Her trembling hands grabbed for more of the spicy leaves Locke had given her, shoving them into her mouth, the earthy kick mixing with the metallic taste of her blood from her hands. Her whole body was tingling uncomfortably now, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the amount of pain she was in or the leaves starting to work.

Mouth full of leaves, Charlotte tried to ask Ryker to just get it over with already, but her words simply melded together in a strangely articulated moan. Blood now in her mouth, Charlotte began to feel much sicker than before, and the heat from the leaves was getting to be unbearable. She tried to open her eyes to see what Ryker was doing, but they stung with salt, quickly causing her to clamp them shut once again. Oh, this was somehow worse than all of the whippings back in the orphanage combi-

A white-hot flash of pain went through her foot straight to her temples, eliciting another yell from the blonde, followed by a few muffled sobs as she threw her head back and rested it on the rock wall behind her. Sufficiently drenched in sweat and done chewing on these useless old leaves, Charlotte spit the disgusting mush off to the side, her hands grasping for anything they could squeeze as Ryker threaded the needle through her foot. Charlotte was in absolute agony, unable to deal with being in what was, for her, some of the worst pain she’d felt in her life. The ointment seemed to be slowly helping with the issue overall, but with Ryker still stabbing into her foot to close the wound, the second he’d said it would take felt like an eternity.

[Smoke]

"Well, if you keep passing them down, I'll keep moving what I can." Smoke took the boulder that Locke had passed him and glanced over the message as he laboriously shoved it towards the rest. The other dragon's hand was much neater and easier to read. Perks of being an earth dragon. He worked with the earth instead of simply scoring and gouging it out as needed. When the black dragon got close enough, he rolled the stone over and parked it message side down. No need to let those inquisitive short life eyes at these things.

He was glad that the other dragon didn't have any ironclad intention on killing these humans. Locke may feel completely unworried about them, but Smoke had spent his centuries watching the lesser race. They had grown even more destructive in the years since the great war, though their mastercraft had suffered since then. Underestimating them was not something that he would do, and that meant caution was necessary. Even if it was humiliating to have to take such precautions.

He took the next rock that Locke passed him in silence, and carried it over out of the way, spacing out the rocks as he went. He mulled over his own attitude and response as he worked. A couple of these shortlives, the leaders. He thought they had a chance. The rest would live out their short existences with little to show for it, but these.... They might end up doing something that would last. So few people actually left a legacy behind in this world. That took something that not everyone possessed. That was how you told the gold from the dross.

A pathetic whimpering sound came from the woman across the way as Ryker worked on closing up her foot where she'd bashed it open.

"Bahh! Cut the moaning, already. It's not going to make it pass any swifter." Smoke pushed his thoughts from his mind. These ambitious humans had stirred up a memory that he'd been careful to hide. One that still burned in him today as hotly as when he'd carried it openly. There had been other humans that had impressed him in the past.... Even some on this island.

"Peace is what this gods forsaken island needs. Just let sleeping dogs lie, and avoid causing the formation of any grand warbands for a day or two. We'd get along better then." Smoke kept working on the rocks. He as frustrated with the Earth Dragon. Locke may have no concerns here, but this was Smoke's home. Stirring up a nest of hornets around him and his hunting grounds would not be appreciated by the fire dragon. It would force him to move, and while some would accuse Smoke of growing fat and lazy, the black scaled dragon had no problem with the fact that he'd grown comfortable on the island.

[Saturos Prox]

“There,” said Saturos as he stuck the needle once more through Myscha’s foot with a final flourish, “all done.” With absolutely no medicinal training, stitching a split open foot wasn’t something the he did regularly, but it turned out that tying living flesh together wasn’t all that much different from binding leather. If anything it was a bit easier since leather was much tougher, as long as you ignored the fact that you were working on a human body.

Taking a deep breath, the Etrurian took a moment to look over his handiwork. While not perfect, the stitching was even and kept the woman’s flesh together, which was all either of them could really ask for. Satisfied, Saturos tugged on the thread once, twice, three times, making sure the suture was taut, then tied off both of the ends in small knots. He eyed the stitch carefully before leaning down and biting off the loose ends. Last thing she’d want is her stitches getting caught on something and torn apart.

Done playing the fake bookbinder pretending to be an impromptu doctor, Saturos got to his feet then looked down at Myscha.
“You’re going to want to keep off that foot,” he said in an instructing tone. “Right now the wound is fresh enough that any real exertion will rip my suture right back open. You’ll have to give it a few days for the skin to start sealing up before you can even try walking on it.” Saturos made a little spin, ready to go aid in the mining effort, but stopped himself from walking right as he landed his foot. He pivoted another 180 degrees back around and turned to once again face Myscha. “In fact, it’s probably best if you just stay there while we get this cave unblocked.” He winked at the woman. “Not that you were planning on helping out anyways.” The operative then repeated his twirl, this time walking off afterwards and grabbing a pickaxe off of the half-crushed cart. With a deep breath, he began aiding his companions in working away at the wall of rocks. They could just begin to see flashes of lightning peaking in from the top of the rocky mound.

Good. Grief. This was not how he had planned to spend this trip.

[Charlotte]

“Oh thank god,” Charlotte breathed – rather, she heaved – a sigh of relief as soon as the words ‘all done’ came from Ryker. One of her bloodied hands few to her face to wipe it clean of perspiration, but instead left it dirtier than before, leaving smudges of sweat mixed with blood, dirt, and leaf residue. Apparently there had been enough of the herb mush on her hand to cause her forehead to begin to burn, but Charlotte hardly noticed, just glad to not be able to feel the needle in her foot any longer.

Even though he was “done,” it seemed the man was getting a kick out of the torture he was putting Charlotte through, as he tugged on the stitches not one, not two, but three times. Charlotte didn’t give a damn if he was making sure they were tight enough or whatever it was he was doing, it hurt! “Ach, watch it!” The young woman hissed, as he tugged one last time before tying off the thread and standing back up. Charlotte simply looked up at him; no way in hell was she getting up right now.

She nodded along as Ryker spoke, mostly to get him to stop talking as fast as possible. There was nothing more she wanted than to get out of this cave, and she knew that – even if he wasn’t a miner as he said he was – one less strong man breaking open the mouth of the cave meant they would be trapped in here longer. Given the injury, she knew she would miss her Laus drop-off time, but the shipment would get there when it got there.

“I get it, I get it,” she mumbled as Ryker turned away, weakly grinning as he quickly turned back around with his playful, back-handed comment. “What do I look like, a miner?” She watched him as he moved to go help the rest of the men break through the now covered mouth of the cave, doing her best to not move her foot while planning what she needed to do, unable to remain idle even if her body had to. She’d have to get Gabe to carry her or get her situated on one of the undamaged carts when they left the cave, and now she would just have to spend a few more days than planned at the mining site. Charlotte leaned her head back. Despite her usual charisma and grace, Charlotte was so exhausted she was honestly considering if all of this was really worth going through for a damn dragonstone.

[Locke]

"Wait... There. Light. We are drawing nearer to freedom... Continue your efforts."

Locke began grabbing onto rocks, pulling them and pushing them to loosen the pile. Hopefully, the miners who were working would appreciate his efforts... Really, all Locke wanted now was to clear this mess of rubble and get out. Sure, it would be nice to talk to the other dragon, but that would come after they were out of this mess. No reason to try and keep talking via rock; that was just asking for a stupid human to discover their communications.

Nevertheless, Locke wrote one last message on a rock and sent it to Smoke, completely ignoring him afterward and working diligently to clear the rubble. The missive itself was short, brief, and to the point -- "Talk after?"

The gap at the top of the blockage was beginning to widen now, and the manakete smiled to himself as he continued to work. Soon, he'd cleared out a pile of rocks, which he kept sending to Smoke, and was working on destabilizing another area of the pile. If all went well, it would alleviate the locking effect of the rocks' rough edges and help to collapse the pile into something much more manageable. The cave was cramped enough before the cave-in, and he felt positively uncomfortable now. Especially with these crude and crass humans as company. He couldn't relax and enjoy the earth with them here, and he couldn't use the full might of his power. If he could, that damn rubble would be gone in an instant.

[Smoke]

There was a breath of fresh air let into the cave as the light began dawning through the rubble. That fresh meant more to him than all the gold at the bottom of the island right then. It left him feeling refreshed as much as any after-dinner nap could have. As the cool rainy air wafted past him, he let himself take a deep breath of the air. Not as clean as that he could find on the mountain peaks perhaps, but certainly a welcome change from the dead of their hillside burrow.

He didn't let up the work as he noted that Ryker had joined them. Must've finished up with Myscha and decided to lend a hand for the last leg of their task. Locke kept feeding him rocks to move, and Smoke kept moving them. He was really growing tired of this though. Rolls of thunder could still be heard from outside, but it had grown significantly more tame in the intervening time of the excavation. Another rock came back to him, and he spotted the message runes. He didn't bother a response though, and merely took the time to walk the rock a littl more out of the way than the others.

"Looks as though there's still a good rain going outside. I wouldn't doubt if the road is more difficult to traverse after this storm...." Smoke's voice wasn't a bellow. It was only a little louder than a normal outside speaking tone but it somehow seemed to fill the cavern anyway.

"I have no doubt, in fact." Smoke stepped back to the frontline of the work. "Once you've recovered, a group who can dig themselves out of a tomb such as this should have little trouble striking out over the remaining distance you your mine."