Sacrifices

With Zul'meshi dead or dying, Luca didn't really have a choice in what to do anymore... It was either ignore his orders and die with him, or do his best to get Sarr'ina out of this doomed situation... The answer was obvious.

He sprints towards where Sarr'ina was, brushing and bumping against both enemies and allies as he tries to reach her. He's occasionally forced to retaliate with a swipe of his blade to get past, but eventually he reached her position, spotting her continually stabbing the corpse of the man who'd killed Gil'ga.

"Sarr'ina!" he yells, grabbing her but being forced to back away to dodge the knife strike.

"DIE! DIE!" she screams, unshed tears obscuring her vision as she attempts to gut the closes person near her, more specifically, Luca.

"INA! STOP!" he shouts, finally seeming to bring her back to her senses.

"L-Lu?" she mutters, looking down at her blood-covered hands and dropping her flint dagger in disgust. She turns and glances at the corpse she'd been mutilating and pales slightly. Luca doesn't allow her to dwell on it however, bringing her into a tight hug while keeping an eye on their surroundings, watching out for any other enemies that may approach.

"L-Lu! Gil'ga, he-" she begins to sob but he cuts her off.

"I know, I know." he grabs both sides of her face and locks eye with her, "Look, we need to go. We need to get back to the tribe, this fight is lost."

"N-no! They killed Gil'ga! They must pay!" she breaks their gaze and looks at the fight still occurring behind them.

*SLAP!*

Sarr'ina holds her cheek in shock, not having expected Luca to slap her like this...

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! WE NEED TO GO!" he shouts, spittle flying out of his mouth as he begins dragging her away towards the treeline.

"NO!"

"INA! SHUT UP AND COME!" he exclaims, finally pulling her away. However, he doesn't forget to give a brief whistle, causing a blood-covered Sarr'bal to burst out of the foliage with them.

Luca didn't know where they were going, he was too disoriented by the battle to know which direction was which, but it didn't matter as his only goal was to escape their attackers.

Sarr'ina continues trying to persuade him to go back for Zul'meshi, but Luca didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd perished as well.

They kept running, but Luca would occasionally hear foliage nearby being disturbed... Meaning they were likely being followed... He did spot a flesh of crimson in his peripheral, but it vanished sooner after he noticed it. He'd think on it further, but they didn't have the luxury for that right now...

They kept running for almost an hour, until they eventually exited the treeline reaching a strange plateau with a sheer cliff face leading to white rapid waters below...

"Shit." Luca mutters as they reach the dead end, but as he's about to change direction and head another way, their pursuers also come sprinting out of the treeline... Sarr'bal growls at them as they stop a couple meters away, and Luca feels the need to charge in a rage as he spots the cocky, blood-spattered face of Gaiztoak and a few of his men.

"Look what we have found! The lady shaman and her foreigner friend!" the young chieftain states, still catching his breath from running for so long.

His men step to his sides and begin jeering at the Sua'jiki duo, clearly confident in their victory.

Sarr'ina growls at them in a similar manner to Sarr'bal, pulling her bow from her back and knocking an arrow. "YOU! So the Gutizia attacked us!?" she furiously accuses.

"Hahahaha! WE DID! And the Sua'jiki deserve it! You saboteurs! You liars! YOU SNAKES! You turned everyone against us!" Gaiztoak roars back at her.

Luca grits his teeth, knowing that they were outnumbered and outmatched... "The other tribes will know what you did! The Olmnar are already aware of your treachery, you have doomed your tribe!"

Gaiztoak breaks into manic laughter again, "Oh!? It is good we will have a hostage then!" he says, drawing his copper 'mettul' blade and pointing it at Sarr'ina. "You will be our prisoner and our NEW shaman! Hahahaha! That fat Jubba will not dare attack us when we hold his dear Ina Sua'jiki's daughter!"

Luca and Sarr'ina are forced to slowly back towards the cliff face as the Gutizia tribesman continue to approach them... Luca grips his stone blade tight enough for his knuckles to turn white, however, he's not the first one to attack...

Sarr'bal finally loses his barely constrained patience and barks as he dashes towards the closest Gutizia tribesman... They already have their spears ready however, causing a few to pierce the large wolf as it pounces on top of one of them.

Sarr'bal tears the unfortunate man's throat out before turning his gaze towards the next, a Gutizia tribesman is about to stab the wolf in the side with a spear, but they receive an arrow to the eye courtesy of Sarr'ina.

By this point Luca had also decided to act, cutting the tip off of a spear with his stone blade before gutting the offending person. He tries to move onto the next but receives a spear to the shoulder, almost causing him to drop his weapon.

He gives a fierce punch to his attackers face, the force of which breaks one of his own fingers but also completely knocks out his opponent.

"Arrgh!" he exclaims as two other spears pierce his body, going through a lung and his leg. He forces himself through the pain though and twists his chest, somehow managing to disarm the spearman that'd pierced his chest by using his ribs as leverage, stabbing his attacker in the neck not long after.

*Thwip!*

An arrow pierces the temple of the other attacking tribesman, but even with this pyrrhic victory, the fight was far from over... Despite the wounds Luca had sustained, there were still far too many Gutizia...

*ARRRF!*

The sound of a loud pitiable whine attracts both Luca and Sarr'ina's attention, both looking and spotting Gaiztoak with a food resting on Sarr'bal with his sound piercing the wolf's neck.

"GRR YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Luca roars, finally losing his temper and charging the prick who'd just killed his dog.

An arrow passes by, killing a nearby Gutizia as he pushes through the group, taking a couple more wounds as he goes. By the time he reaches Gaiztoak he was losing a significant amount of blood... This didn't dissuade him however as he bring his sword up to behead the piece of shit.

"HAAAH!"

*DANG!*

*Clatter!*

*PUCHI!*

Luca looks down dumbly at his stomach where he's just been stabbed, Gaiztoak somehow having disarmed him and retaliated with skilful swordsmanship that Luca simply hadn't been expecting.

Gaiztoak pulls his sword out and Luca drops to his knees... He's about to fall onto his back, but Gaiztoak grabs his Titanium neckless, keeping him upright. "I think this belongs to me... Thank you for your gift." the young chieftain says with a crazed grin.

"LUCA! NO!" Sarr'ina shouts, trying to fire an arrow at Gaiztoak but only manages to hit another Gutizia tribesman who throws themselves in the way of the projectile. The rest of the Gutizia charge her position and quickly disarm her, dragging her before Gaiztoak and next to Luca who was quickly bleeding out.

Luca's intestines were hanging out of his body and the pain was excruciating... Despite it all though, he wasn't willing to give up, he pulls his bow from his back and tries to knock an arrow, but is forced to block a hacking sword strike from Gaiztoak.

*SNAP!*

His bow breaks straight in half, falling to the ground in pieces and leaving Luca with nothing left to fight with...

"Hahahahahahaha!" Gaiztoak laughs, giving a kick to Luca's cut open belly, "I win! YOU LOSE! I WIN! Hahahahaha!"

Sarr'ina struggles to break out of their grasp but is unable to move while being restrained by so many people. "Lu! No!" she yells, finally breaking down into sobs.

Luca spits up blood and tries his best to give her a pained smile before looking back up at Gaiztoak. "You touch her, and I will kill you." he promises, but this only causes the surrounding men to laugh.

Indeed, most would find such a statement funny. Luca was heavily wounded with his intestines hanging out, barely holding on to life... Even if Sarr'ina's mother attended him he'd probably still perish... But Luca held a secret they didn't know, and he truly meant what he said.

Gaiztoak just shakes his head and pulls off the titanium necklace, allowing Luca to fall onto his back and slowly bleed out. "Haha! See what I mean? All of them, LIARS!... Come! Take the girl, we will celebrate our victory over the Sua'jiki, and plan for future battles!" he shouts, ignoring Luca and walking away as the men carrying Sarr'ina.

"LU! NO! PLEASE! LET ME SAVE HIM! PLEASE!" she begs as they carry her away.

Luca could only grit his teeth as this occurred, he wasn't able to move much of his body anymore... He looks to the side and spots the dead Sarr'bal and tears start gathering in his eyes. "FUUUUCK!" he roars, the pain consuming him giving his single working lung the power to scream.

"Fucking cunts... I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" he roars, grabbing a nearby flint knife and driving it into his own neck. Allowing darkness to finally take him.