Every Thug Needs a Lady (closed to Leoric)

[Faith]

The forest sparkled with snow. Branches hung, pregnant and dripping with ice. As the afternoon passed and the shadows lengthened, sunbeams reaching through holes in the canopy to highlight snow-burdened roots and brush, it seemed perfect. Everything perfect is so easily destroyed, and the winter woods were no different. Tracks cut through the glittering blanket of white, stained with mud and crushed bits of wet grass and bramble.

Luca had been tracking the Witch for three days. From town to town, sleepy hamlet to bustling village, they had eluded her. Now that they had turned to the countryside, she saw her chance. No civilians were around, nothing but an empty road and a winter evening stood between her quarry and the swift justice of the Sway.

Ahead, through the trees, she thought she could see her prey. The Sway had led her here, her footsteps blessed by a divine navigator. Frost-touched oak and the thin speckled trunks of birch were hardly a camouflage for the robes that the Witch wore. He’d been flamboyant, with red velvet swathing his body and a cloak so deep blue that it almost appeared he’d conjured it from ocean waves.

The girl stopped, pulling her helm down over a heart-shaped face. Blue eyes stared from the visor and she let her fingers trace over the black iron scale chained to her leather tunic. The armor clinked lightly, a miniscule percussion to the hymnal prayer she released to the Sway. Gauntlet-clad hand gripping her spear more tightly, she blessed the iron-tipped polearm and pointed the shimmering edge towards the heathen caster.

“Ethan Amberine,” she called. The figure started to run, darting between trees and no longer obscured for a moment. A grin graced her face for a moment – the Sway were good today, leading her right to where she needed to be. “You’ve been charged with witchcraft. I am here to claim your soul.” And then, she leapt.

---

The mage lay dead. Blood wreathed his body in what was left of the snow after the scuffle. Holy lightning and his cursed fire had made short work of the powder, exposing the icy terrain beneath. Even as crimson-tinged slush slowly melted onto rock and moss, the cold was seeping back and congealing the messy trail that they’d left like breadcrumbs from the road. She would need to clean her spear, but it could wait.

Before she had rent his blasphemous hide apart, the bastard had landed a blow. He hadn’t appeared to hold a weapon, but a prevalida rapier had come to his hand from thin air and before she could move to the side the blue blade struck. Now she sat, leaning against a tree. The paladin held one arm tightly at her waist where her wound still slowly bled. The other was worrying at the frozen ground. Her fingers searched in the detritus of the forest, picking up pieces of scale that had been sent flying from her armor with the blow.

She didn’t think she was going to die, with what knowledge she had of a wound like this. Still, by Denebriel’s perfect grace, it hurt like hell. She’d tried to stand and found herself dizzy with the effort, pale and trembling. So she would sit and wait for a moment, to gather her prayers and her strength, before heading back home.

“Please, please,” she found herself whispering, throwing her will to the Sway, “Let someone pass by and help me.”

[Leoric]

It had been a year since Leoric had last seen or even heard from anyone. He had spent the last year down in his cave which led out to a naturally occurring hot springs. He had been doing nothing but Training this last year, well and hunting to supply him with the protein he would need to keep working through the pain. Today was different though, the cave felt more humid than usual and it seemed to be stifling his breathing.

“By the Handmaiden's brew, Why is it so damn hot in here!” Leoric cursed under his breath as he slowly took a few steps out of the hot spring he was relaxing in. he had just got done training for what felt like hours and decided to reward himself with a nice soak in the waters. “Maybe, Maybe i should go cool off outside for a minute.”

The Exhausted and now clean Brawler stretched as his shoulder length hair tickled his shoulders. It had been quite some time since he had been anywhere with someone to take care of his hair. Honestly he was quite content with just using stem’s from plants to tie it up out of his way when it became annoying during training. He didn’t even bother to grab his leather chest piece as he walked outside to the mouth of his cave where the subzero temperatures raged just outside, he was lucky the winds were from the south and not blowing east directly into the mouth of his cave.

Leoric turned around and admired his little slice of training heaven that he had found. A decently sized hot spring. Roughly 100 feet in diameter, circling a central pillar that rose a good twenty feet into the air and then plateaued. The plateau was just barely large enough for one of his feet so it was perfect for training his balance. The walls around the edge’s of the spring were showing signs of wear and tear from the constant berating of his quaking palm. On the far side of the cave, away from the spring, was a pile of leaves and branches taken in from outside covered in some crude animal hide. This is wear leoric mostly slept, it wasn’t comfortable but it was something, It was right next to a bucket that he used to sterilize some water for drinking purposes. As well as a dimly lit campfire that was roaring the night before when he cooked some of the snow haired rabbit he had caught.

He turned around and walked outside into the harsh winter climate of the frozen tundra. He wouldn't of been gone long, just out long enough to cool down and catch some fresh air instead of what he was breathing inside the cave all the time. He let out a sigh as stretched his arms up high into the air. He stopped when he noticed a few nearby branches seemed to have had their snow knocked off of them. After closer inspection of the area there was fresh tracks leading right by the tree’s. These tracks were not here when he came out hunting earlier.

“Someone is close to my cave, as much as i would value the interaction it could be dangerous.” Leoric mumbled to himself as he looked up and saw another set of tracks heading off in the same direction. Both were in a hurry, the long strides and the heavy steps the took gave it away, it seemed like one was chasing the other as the other set of tracks seemed to slowly merge up with the first set. “Hunting, One was hunting the other. I guess i am in no danger personally”

Curiosity took over with Leoric as he looked up where the tracks were headed and cautiously followed suit. He knew the area could get quite slippery in spots and didn't want to slip himself. It didn't take long before he saw the blood in the middle of what was clearly a small scuffle. At least one of them got injured and took off running again. The other appearing to be in close proximity the entire time based on how frantic the tracks became. Shortly Leoric slowed his pace as he saw a figure laying on the ground in a pool of slowly freezing blood. A beautiful rapier laying on the ground next to him while the most standout thing about him was his vibrantly blue cloak, it reminded Leoric of the sea on a beautiful clear day.

The half naked man began to carefully approach the body when he heard someone’s plea. He quickly turned to his right to see a well armed woman clutching her waist while blood dripped down from between her gauntlets onto the snowy ground. She seemed to look his way before her hand went limp by her side and Leoric quickly took action. He quickly went to her side and watched her breathe in the cold air as her chest continued to raise and lower as she breathed. She wasn’t dead but if she stayed out in this cold any longer she may be soon.

He quickly looked over at the corpse on the ground and noticed no movement was coming from him and he wasn't even breathing. Whatever the man had done, or planned to do had caused a mark to be placed upon him. The lady that needed his help clearly hit that mark but not before getting hit herself. The first form of Social interaction he was going to get in over a year and it was from a wounded woman, well that was just fantastic. He quickly ran over to the corpse ripped off his brilliant blue cloak and crapped his rapier, For all Leoric knew there may be others on the way. And if he could track them all the way here, an experienced tracker could find them no problem.

“God damnit, you owe me one for this” He said as he rushed back over to her side and grabbed a handful of snow before quickly clumping it together into a ball, he then promptly checked to make sure there was no blood on the cloak before placing the snowball against the wound and tying the cloak firmly around her waist to hold it there. She flinched as the cold snow was pressed against her exposed skin. Leoric sighed as his tired muscles groaned in argument as he placed his arms around her and lifted her up slowly. It wasn’t exactly time for her to bite the dust just yet or else she would've been dead long before he showed up.

It took Leoric almost double the time to get back to his cave. His muscles were sore, cold, and crying out for a release. It wasn’t until he saw the mouth of his cave that he felt relief. He had followed their tracks back the way they had came but it felt like it was taking forever. As soon as he stepped inside and the cold air seemed to be washed away but the warmth and smell of his hot spring he felt like he was home. He carefully carried the injured woman over to where he had made his ‘bed’ as he would call it. But it was really just a softer area from him to rest on.

Once she was laid down he untied the cloak and threw it behind him. The snow had already melted so its purpose was done. Even with the cloak and snow gone and the slight damage done to her armor he couldn't even tell how bad the wound was. He was going to have to take off her armor to make sure he could take care of her or else he would have to take her to someone who could. He quickly inspected her armor and found a few buckles along the sides that when he undid them the armor seemed to fit looser around her frame. After about four buckles he couldn't spot anymore or a clear way to get the armor off. So he did what he normally does with his leather chestpiece and grabbed a hold of the neck of the armor and gently lifted it up over her head and threw it to the side.

“By the Handmaiden’s brew…” He said as he stared down at what was before him. She wasn’t wearing anything under her armor. It took him a few seconds before he could compose himself and get the thoughts that came to mind out of his head. He swallowed and took his eyes off of her bare chest and down at her wound. It was nothing serious, but in the spot it was it would cause a ton of pain for about the first week of recovery every time she would go to move. He looked back up at her and caught himself staring again before he realized she still had her helmet on and promptly took it off for her and laid it on top of her armor next to her.

At first Leoric thought she might get cold without her armor on but remembered where they were. The Hot springs of the cave made it it’s own natural eco system, completely separate from the outside world. She would be fine without it plus it gave him a nice view to look at after all this time alone in a cave. He got up off of his knees and went to his rucksack of supplies he brought with him, he had a powder made from some of the berries that seemed to help in the healing process when applied directly to a wound, However they did hurt like a bitch when applied. He took a large leaf and wet it gently in the spring and rubbed some of the powder on it before kneeling by her side and pressing the leaf directly up against her wound.

She stirred in protest as the medication burned against her skin but after a little bit she relaxed and seemed to have fallen back asleep. Did she even wake up in the first place? Leoric sighed a sigh of relief as he stared down at her. Now that her helmet was also removed he was having a very hard time taking his eyes off of her. She was Beautiful and had a stunning body to go with it. Most men only dream of being so lucky as seeing someone this beautiful, this bare in front of them. Leoric shook his head and felt his hair bounce around as he tried to shake the thoughts that were coming to mind for him.

“God damn it Leoric, Get your shit together. We are better than that!” He scolded as he quickly stood up and ran for the hot spring before quickly plunging himself deep inside the warm water. He quickly surfaced again and shook his head to clear away the water from his face. “That’s it we are going to train until she wakes up, gotta keep my mind off of that. G...godess over there”

He Climbed up to his perch on top of the central pillar and quickly began to focus on keeping his balance while focusing the nature energy around his hands as he quickly shot his fist out in front of him and released the nature energy releasing a quaking strike directly at the wall in front of him. His plan was to do this until his body started to give out or until his guest woke up from her slumber.