In Each Other

Karsh crouched on the bank, scowling down into the green liquid as it bubbled and shifted in its small pool. It was possibly the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen in his life. Including that one time he had seen Radius naked…He shuddered at the memory and instead directed his attention towards the small blue-clad figure picking its way carefully amongst the rocks in the pool.

Norris was quite a man, Karsh had to admit. He felt a deep respect for the Porre soldier’s control as well as for his skill at fighting. Didn’t mean they had to get along, of course; Karsh couldn’t ever see himself willingly being friends with some Porre scumbag. It *did*, however, mean that he wasn’t going to get up and stroll away, leaving Norris alone to deal with the labyrinthine paths that meandered their way through the Hydra Marshes. This man may not have been a fellow Dragoon, but he was a brother-in-arms in this futile battle to save the world, and so Karsh forced himself to be at least cordial.

It wasn’t hard, admittedly, to get along with Norris. He had that cold demeanor that most Porre officers bore, but underneath it there was a sweetness that occasionally shone out like a ray of sun. Fitting enough, Karsh supposed, that Norris should bring to mind images of the sun; his hair was a shimmering gold and his eyes the same crystal blue as the sky on a hot summer day, when you could see for miles and smell the ocean from the middle of the forest.

Karsh sighed wistfully, thinking of the forest that surrounded Viper Manor. He had always loved the place, even when he was a tiny child. Often, he and Dario had stolen out of Termina’s gates and run across the fields into the sacred dark of the old forest, creeping stealthily among the trees as though afraid to disturb the serenity. It was there that they had met Riddel, Lord Viper’s daughter, and there that they had both fallen in love with her. Karsh shook his head at the bitter memory, but the mind cannot unhear and unsee, and he still recalled the day Dario and Riddel had announced their engagement to him, faces shining with pleasure. He recalled how painful his smile had been when he’d hugged and kissed them both, offering hollow congratulations. They were too happy to see the pain in his eyes, but sometimes he wondered if they had known, or at least suspected…

“Karsh!” The Dragoon shook his head, banishing the cobwebs of his past, and turned his gaze to his companion. Norris stood near the middle of the pond, frowning down into the murky green waters. “I think I’ve found it! Can you come out here and give me a hand?”

“Be there in a sec!” he replied, rising with a grunt. He surveyed the rocks carefully and, with a rueful shake of his head, jumped off the bank onto the first stone. Rock-hopping had never been one of his favorite pastimes; he had always been rather large and the dexterity required was somewhat beyond him. Still, the job had to be done and no one had ever accused him of shirking his duty. A few skips and a near miss brought him near enough to Norris that he could grasp the other man’s hand and carefully join him on the rock he was perched on. They were uncomfortably close, but Karsh forced himself to ignore Norris’s proximity and follow his gaze into the water.

There was somng tng there, all right, glittering peacefully at the bottom of the pond. Karsh cocked his head at it and frowned. It could very well be the Life Spark that Luccia had been going on about, but then again it could also be a mica encrusted rock. Either way, there was no way in hell he was sticking his hand down into the water to fetch it up.

“I suppose that’s it,” he said doubtfully. Norris’s mouth twisted into a grimace, as if he too shared Karsh’s reservations. “But if it is, how are we gonna-“

A snapping sound cut him short, and the two of them looked up almost as one, heads swiveling to the bank where the sound had come from. Two goblins stood there, glaring balefully at them, one short and fat and one tall and thin. They rather reminded Karsh of two of his Dragoons, Solt and Peppor. He only hoped they were as incompetent.

“You’ll not touch it!” the short one bellowed, stamping its feet. Karsh smothered a smile, for the thing reminded him of a child throwing a tantrum. A short, green, ugly child, but that only made it more amusing. “You’ll not, I say!”

“And why not?” Norris asked. His voice was so cold that Karsh fancied he could see icicles dripping from the soldier’s lips. The goblin seemed slightly t aba aback that Norris had spoken to it, and its squashed little face twisted into a horrific scowl.

“Its ours! Ours, damn you!” the taller one screamed, shaking a fist. Neither of them seemed to realize how utterly ridiculous they looked. It was taking all of Karsh’s willpower not to burst into hysterical laughter. “You leave the flower where it lies and go back to where you came from!”

“We shall do no such thing,” Norris replied calmly and the tall goblin went into a frenzy, dancing about and shrieking in fury. Over the cries of its companion, the squat goblin spoke.

“You *have* to,” it growled, aiming an accusing finger at the both of them. “You've no right to tat ant anyway, you HUMAN!”

It seemed to consider the conversation over, for after that it took a deep breath and brought its arms together sharply. The air in front of it shimmered green and Karsh, realizing their danger, seized Norris around the waist and tossed him unceremoniously to another rock. The soldier cried out in protest, but Karsh barely heard him; the goblin’s spell had reached him and a wall of air struck him with such force that he was catapulted backwards and into the water, which almost instantly began to eat at his skin.

With a cry of pain, he clawed for the nearest solid object he could find, which turned out to be a fallen trunk. His lower body had, mercifully, been protected by the leathers he wore, and he was able to wrap his legs tight around the tree and avoid falling in again. Where his arms and chest were exposed by his vest, the skin sizzled and turned an angry red as the acid scorched it. Breathing hard, Karsh fumbled at his belt pouch and came up with a vial full of a thick blue liquid. He gritted his teeth against the pain and emptied the stuff onto his burned skin, howling at the sting as the stuff neutralized the acidic waters.

There was a shot to his right, and he looked up to see Norris taking aim again and squeezing the trigger of his pistol. A second hole appeared in the fat goblin and it went down, clutching at its chest in disbelief. Its skinny friend, snarling in fury, sed ied its feet and shook its head. Huge woody stems sprang out of the water around the rock Norris knelt on and curled around him, sprouting thorns as they did. The soldier cried out, impaled a dozen times over, and clutched at his wounds.

Karsh took it all in in half a second and then responded the only way he knew how. With a roar, he whipped out his axe and ran to the end of the tree trunk, launching himself to the far bank. He landed hard, but managed to tuck and roll so that he came up to the goblin’s left. The axe flashed once, twice, three times and the creature was dead.

“Norris!” he called, running to the edge of the bank. “You all right out there?” Norris rose and waved, wincing as he did so.

“I’m all right. They’re only flesh wounds,” he replied. “Toss me some of that blue stuff.” With a frown, Karsh obeyed, digging out another vial and lobbing it to Norris. The soldier caught it and wrenched the stopper out with his teeth. It dawned on Karsh, then, exactly what Norris intended to do, but before he could protest, Norris had plunged his arm into the acid waters and grasped the thing that rested there.

He did not cry out as Karsh had, only hissed through his teeth and poured the neutralizer onto his sizzling hand. Karsh shook his head, a small smile forming on his face. Stupid, but brave. He could definetly respect that. He moved to where the last rock was before the bank and crouched, ready to offer Norris a helping hand should he need it.

“You’re a madman, Porre!” he called cheerfully and Norris paused to smile at him. His blue-clad shoulders lifted and fell in a self-deprecating shrug and he hopped easily to the next rock. Karsh shook his head as he watched, bemused by how childlike Norris seemed. He almost expected the soldier to leap onto the bank and run laughing through the Marsh, calling over his shoulder for Karsh to come and catch him.

“Mad, perhaps,” Norris replied as he leapt to the last rock. He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow coolly at the Dragoon, but Karsh could see in his eyes that he was teasing. They glittered with surpressed humor, and he felt a grin spreading on his face in response. “But at least I had the wits to—KARSH!”

Norris’s expression changed from one of amused mocking into one of horror so quickly that Karsh barely had time to register it when he felt a strange pressure in lef left leg. Puzzled, he twisted to glance at it and saw…something…

A shriek tore its way from his throat as the huge green something ripped back out of his leg, taking chunks of flesh with it. He fell to the side, rolling onto his back to see what had assaulted him and gasped, frozen with fear. Karsh had never been particularly fond of praying mantises; the way they held their legs and glowered menacingly at the other bugs had always been a bit off-putting. So the sight of one towering over him, one mandible dripping with blood, was enough to root him to the ground, unable even to pick up his axe from where it lay, a foot to his right.

A shot rang out from behind and the mantis jerked, taking a few steps back. It shook itself and, forgetting Karsh for a moment, it launched itself at this new assailant. Karsh heard more gunshots and the screaming of the huge insect and, although his instincts rebelled against drawing the creature’s attention, he forced himself upright, gripping the haft of his battle axe. The world swam before him, strange lines and shapes invading his vision, and he shook his head sharply, grimacing. He must have hit it harder than he thought when the mantis had attacked. Although…he didn’t remember hitting it at all.

The shake only made it worse, and as his vision blurred in and out of focus, he managed to fixate on his leg. There, mingling with the blood and torn flesh, was a thick viscous fluid, yellow green in color. Poison. Karsh shut his eyes tightly as his stomach attempted to claw its way out of his throat and forced himself to stay calm. He had an antidote somewhere, he was sure. Or Norris did, if he didn’t. Norris…

With a collosal effort of will, Karsh stood upright, leaning heavily on his axe. Through the haze that clouded his sight, he could see the mantis, nearly dead now, and Norris struggling to take aim on the thing’s thrashing head. With a grimace, Karsh hobbled to the bank and, letting loose a bellow that would frighten the skin off anything within hearing range, he launched himself at the insect’s neck.

The mantis sensed him coming, but it was too badly wounded to shift out of the way. It managed to score his back with one of its sharp legs, and he felt acid eating into the cut from where the creature had been in the pond. The searing pain gave him something to focus on beyond the nauseous weakness induced by the poison, and he bared his teeth in a barbaric grin as he raised the axe high over his head.

“’s what you get f’r fuckin’ with me, bitch,” he slurred, his voice dripping with satisfaction. The blade bit hard into the mantis’s neck and the thing shrieked in pain, the sound echoing through the Marsh and eventually fading into a death rattle. Karsh wrenched his axe out of the bug and rode the toppling creature’s momentum until he was near enough to the bank to hop off and crumple to a heap on dry land.

“Karsh?” Norris’s voice was thick and nearly unrecognizable through the fog in his head, but he managed to pry open an eye. Vaguely above him, he could see a humaniod blob with golden hair rummaging in his belt pouches. “Shit…Karsh, I’m going to check your belt, okay? I don’t have any antidote on me.” Karsh managed a weak moan and shut his eye again. Just watching the other man move was enough to make him want to throw up and he wondered absently if he was going to die.

He felt Norris searching the pouch at his waist and almost laughed at the frantic speed with which the soldier grabbed and discarded things. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have all day. Karsh could feel the poison now, moving slow and thick through his veins heading, ultimatly, for his heart. He couldn’t move anymore, but the pain in his leg and back had faded to a dull throbbing ache. Perhaps death wouldn’t be so bad after all. It seemed very much like when he was an exhausted child and would lie down in front of the forge fire to sleep as his father worked.

He could see Zappa now, huge arm poised over his head. He glanced up, as though he had sensed Karsh, and smiled hugely, lined face wrinkling in pleasure. The smith laid down his hammer and started across the floor, turning his head to call Karsh’s mother in from the other room. Zippa appeared at the doorway, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling sweetly at her son. His lips curved into a pleased smile when he saw her, her face still beautiful despite her age. He started to walkardsards her, arms open for an embrace, but before he took three steps he heard a voice shouting insistently in his ear.

“KARSH!” The crash back to reality was jarring and Karsh moaned softly. Every muscle in his body was seizing, a panic reaction from his brain in an attempt to slow the flow of poison throught his body. It hurt like hell and he opened his eyes with a gasp, trying vainly to focus on something. All he could see was brown and green and gray, the colors of the Marsh, and there, hovering above him, two spots of bright blue.

“Norris?” he said, or tried to say. His mouth seemed glued shut and stuffed full of cotton, so what actually came out was “Nrs?” There was a shift in the blue above him.

“Yes, its me,” Norris replied, his voice sounding strangely forced. Karsh panicked, convinced that the poison had begun seeping into his mind. He tried to sit up, found that his muscles wouldn’t move, and sucked in a deep breath. “Karsh, calm down. I’m going to give you an antidote, and you’ll be fine. Okay?”

The breath rasped in Karsh’s ears, too heavy too fast, and he forced himself to breath normally. ~You aren’t going to die. Norris is taking care of you. He won’t let you die.~ He grunted to indicate he had heard, and felt the world shift as Norris tilted his head up. A thick, foul-tasting liquid trickled past his lips althalthough at first he was tempted to spit it out, his fuzzy mind realized this was what was going to keep him alive, and he gulped it greedily.

Almost immediately, his vision began to clear. He could see Norris, pale and strained, bending over him. His head was cradled in the young soldier’s arms and, when Norris saw the focus coming back to Karsh’s eyes, he smiled weakly. It took a bit longer for his limbs to regain mobility, but the muscles gradually relaxed until he was able to pull himself into a sitting position. He took quick stock of his situation, gratified to see that Norris had already performed some sort of healing spell on his leg and back. When the antidote took full effect, he’d be ready to go.

“Oh, good…” Norris murmured from behind him. His voice still sounded distant and Karsh, puzzled, turned to face the young soldier. “You’re going to live. Karsh, do me a favor and bury me…bury me somewhere that sees the sun rise…”

Norris toppled forward into Karsh’s waiting arms and as the Dragoon braced Norris’s chest, he felt a warm wetness against his palm. With a curse, he flipped the young soldier onto his back, only to find that his skin was unbroken. Obviously he’d healed himself as well, so there was no determining how deep his wound had actually been. But Karsh could tell by the bloody, jagged tear in Norris’s uniform shirt that the mantis had gotten at least one mandible into him, probably right through the stomach.

“Gods damn it all,” Karsh growled, rising as quickly as he could. His limbs were still heavy and aching, but he forced them into action. Adrenaline rushed through his system as he tore the pouch off of his belt and emptied its contents onto the grass. ~Neutralizer, burn ointment, bandages, flu medicine…FUCK! Where’s all the antidote?~

Realization wasn’t long in dawning, and Karsh cursed violently, kicking a nearby root for effect. Idiotic heroic soldier…He glared balefully at Norris as he gathered his things again, stuffing them into the belt pouch and fastening it back to his waist. His axe was next, strapped to his back. Norris’s gun wasn’t in its holster, and Karsh barely had time for a cursory scan of the ground before he hoisted Norris’s body onto his shoulder.

“I’ll make you a new gun when you wake up, kid,” he psed,sed, breaking into a run. Norris didn’t reply, nor did Karsh really expect him to. Still, it was somewhat comforting to think that talking would help, and so he continued to babble as he sprinted through the Marshes. “I can’t believe you, you know that? You should have taken that damn antidote and left me. Was my own damn fault I got hurt, not paying attention to what was goin’ on behind me…”

He made it out of the Marn ren record time, leaping tree roots and bounding over rocks to find the quickest route out. The sun on his face was almost like a blessing, but he didn’t pause to enjoy it, putting on one last burst of speed to make it to the boat. Norris’s body had begun to seize up, and his muscles twitched fitfully against Karsh’s shoulder.

“MARCY!” Karsh yelled, his voice shooting through the gentle breeze like a bullet. The tiny figure by the boat looked up, violet ribbons fluttering in the wind. “Marcy, get the sail up!” His fellow Deva mercifully didn’t ask questions, and by the time he skidded to a stop on the sandy beach, the sail was up and she was drawing anchor. He tucked Norris into a safe corner in the back of the boat and climbed in, shoving away from shore with a powerful thrust of his leg.

“Like, what happened?” Marcy asked, settling across from him. The wind caught the colorful sail and it snapped and fluttered as they coasted out to sea. She eyed Norris’s prone form doubtfully, her innocent blue eyes wide. Karsh sighed and massaged his temples with his fingers. He could feel a massive headache coming on…

“We got attacked by a mantis,” he replied. “It bit both of us, and the damn fool gave me the last antidote.” Karsh hit the side of the boat, rage welling up in him. He wouldn’t let Norris die, couldn’t let him. He couldn’t be responsible for the death of another comrade…

“Mantises aren’t poisonous, Karsh,” Marcy said, her high voice full of whithering scorn. Karsh levelled his gaze at her and she pursed her rosebud lips in response. And he had thought Zoah was hard to work with…

“It was a fucking mutant, okay?” he growled. “Is that okay, Marcy? Can your pea-brain comprehend that or should I spell it out for you?” Her little face hardened and she folded her arms deliberatly in front of her.

“Okay, Karsh,” she snapped, glowering at him. “I got it. Jeez, you’re, like, so angry all the time…You need to just chill.”

“I’ll chill when we get back to Radius and Lady Riddel,” he replied, all the fight draining out of him as suddenly as it had come. He sighed and buried his face in his hands. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m just…upset. All right?” There was silence for a long moment, the only sounds the rustling of the sail as Marcy positioned it to catch the wind that would take them back. Finally, she spoke.

“All right.” Karsh looked up, meeting his fellow Deva’s eyes. The little girl was gazing at him with a strange mixture of compassion and fond irritation. “I’ll let it go. Just this once!” She waved a scolding finger at him, and Karsh was reminded of his mother. “But you just watch your mouth, Mr. Acacia Dragoon Big Shot. Cause next time, I’ll kick your butt!”

Laughing, Karsh gathered Marcy into his arms. She curled there like a cat, tiny head resting on his chest, and stroked his arm soothingly. The wind snapped in the red sail and the boat coasted along the waters, carrying them back to Hermit’s Hideout and, Karsh hoped, to Norris’s salvation.