Let me start by saying that today's story is darker and may not be appropriate for younger readers. The challenge today tempted writers to explore the darker side of existence and have our characters delve into a situation where their usual moral, ethical and societal boundaries had slipped away.
The character you're about to meet is one I've grown to love over the last two years of playing D&D (Dungeon's and Dragons) and who pushes me, as a player, outside my own comfort zone. This event is one of the slippery slopes that led her into many challenges, darkening her once light path.
I'll let Pokiki's story tell you the rest....
Day 5 Challenge: Living life without societal, moral or ethical constraints/limits
December 7th, 2020
Title: A Healer’s Hands
Naked feet slapped through the murky water and soaked into the cuff of her leggings. The cold seeped through her clothes, but none of that mattered now. All that mattered was finding him.
Pokiki slid her small hand along the rough brick wall, hoping to find some indication of a doorway hidden in the sewer. Moss tickled her palm as the worn bricks pressed into her finger tips, guiding her forward into the dark. Her tracking skills had improved immensely in the last few weeks, making it easier to see the small hints of evidence that he had wandered through here. She didn’t know why he chose the sewer. Maybe he thought his pursuer wouldn’t be able to locate him through the dank tunnels. Maybe he hoped they would become lost and drown in the putrid waters. The reason didn’t really matter anymore. She was going to find him or die trying.
Her muddied fingers groped along the bricks and curled around a corner welcoming her just a short foot away. Was this where he had come? Pokiki hugged the wall as she peered around the corner, her sea green eyes scanning the darkness for any sense of movement ahead. The stillness cloaked the tunnel in an attempt to compete with the dark that swallowed all life up ahead.
Pokiki rounded the corner cautiously unaware of what lay in front of her. Her cloak caught on the serrated brick like claws pulling her back into the tunnel, greedy and desperate in its attempts to hold onto the new blood that wandered its veins. She felt the navy-blue cloth groan with resistance as she pulled it forward and away from the wall, sacrificing fibers of its being in order to be freed.
The tunnels groaned. They knew she was here and maybe that was the reasoning he had ventured this way. Ignoring her thoughts and the call of the lonesome tunnels behind her, Pokiki pressed forward into the sloping pipe ahead. Her small, four-foot frame didn’t need to crawl to make it through the concreate path but he would have had to creep along on all fours to make it out safely.
Her sight began to darken and slip away, all greyscale fading to thick black. The hour had passed quickly and she hadn’t made as much progress as she had hoped before needing to drink the potion again. The bag tied to her waist clinked of glass vials as she ran her fingers over the varying caps within.
“Smooth. Smooth. Smooth.” She whispered to herself until her tender fingertips danced over the almond shape of an eye. Pokiki withdrew the slender vial and pulled the corked top with a satisfying pop. A sweet smell of violets raced towards her nose, tickling her olfactory senses before being overwhelmed with the putrid reminder of where she crouched. She had taken the darkvision potion moments before descending into the sewer and knew that the scent and taste did not match. Vials of darkvision potion contained the eye of a feline beast, donated at will to the potion master. Pokiki knew that the eye dissolved into the liquid, gifting it’s dark-seeing abilities to the drinker as soon as the vial was cracked open. She tilted the glass tip towards her dry lips and allowed the bitter coolness to slip down her throat, cutting her tastebuds on the flavours of lemon peel and horseradish root.
Coolness spread from her mouth, infecting her body with a wave of goosepimples prickling along her skin. It seeped up her face and into her eyes, burning as the darkness bled from her retinas and greeted her with the two-toned grey of her surroundings. The potion had its side effects but would be worth the downfall in the end. She would just need to continue to drink each vial until then.
Her eyes searched the grey-scale walls and floor until they perched upon a dark glove a few feet away. Pokiki sloshed through stream that trickled down the center of the tunnel to retrieve the glove. It was heavy from the water but hadn’t been there long enough to fully absorb the materials capacity. He wasn’t far.
A deep breath pulled Pokiki further into the tunnel after him. Each step was deliberately placed with caution and ease to prevent the splash that she heard echoing off the bricks ahead. Lips twitched into a smile as Pokiki hugged the wall once more and rounded the slick curving walls. She ignored the crawling sensation across her head, the legs dancing down her cheek to disappear onto her cloak provided little concern.
A figure limped ahead at a slow and steady pace before entering a large opening and fading from sight. Pokiki crept after him, careful to not alert the figure to her presence. The end of the tunnel welcomed her with the gift of a low-ceilinged room decorated with strings of spiderweb and decay.
“Hello?” The once strong voice quivered across the open room to meet Pokiki.
“Who’s there?” It questioned again as she stepped closer. The figure froze in motion, no longer adjusting the splint along his left leg. Pokiki could see the shimmer of bone from where she stood, greeting the world as it was never intended.
“I-I know someone is there. Look, I need help! Can you help me? Please?” The thick voice grew more desperate, unknowing he was speaking to a halfling standing a mere two feet away. Pokiki reached into her bag and withdrew one of the smooth topped potions and flung it against the furthest wall. The figure jumped as the vial ruptured and the sticky contents inside mixed with the surrounding air to create a scorching inferno that dispelled darkness from the room.
There he was. The strong man she once admired squinted through the adjustment of his vision to settle his eyes on her. Relief washed over his face as he reached a bloodied hand towards her pitifully.
“Pokiki,” her name rolled off his tongue with concern. “Why are you down here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, but it’s not safe. Look, we can catch up after. I need your help.”
He unbound the cloth that wrapped around the stick holding his leg in place, revealing the bone that protruded through his skin. Pokiki stood staring at him, uncertain of how to move forward in her quest.
“Where’s Pari, Rahoul?” She asked, her voice dimmed by the flame’s loud crack.
Raoul lifted his gaze slowly, eyes dark and shadowed in the light. His white ponytail slithered over his shoulder as he lowered his gaze and tilted his head towards her feet.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in days, Poki. Please. I’m begging you to help me then we can go look for him together, alright? By the gods, just heal my leg first so we can get out of this hellhole.”
“Alright, Raoul. Hang in there,” Pokiki heard her uncle sigh as the flames along the wall flickered and sputtered out. Darkness reigned over the room once more. She fumbled along her belt as her eyes readjusted to the grey-toned world the potion had gifted her. Her fingers trailed along the sheath of her dagger, tracing the smooth edges up to the twisted hilt. She withdrew the cold metal from its holder and held the flat blade limply at her side.
“Pokiki?” Raoul questioned as his niece slipped the sharp tip between his ribs, slow to enter and bringing her face close to his. She exhaled the breath he could not and watched as the light began to fade from his eyes.
“I know what you did. I just don’t know why,” Pokiki breathed into his ear. “Pari was everything to me. You betrayed him and mocked him in front of The Queen that he wanted to serve. You robbed him of all respect and your actions cost him his life. Did you know that he was loyal to you until the very end? He fought, uncle. He fought.”
Pokiki leaned her weight into the dagger, feeling it slip deeper into his flesh. The hilt slipped in her hands, the hands that were once designed for healing, now wet with the blood of the last person to have started her downfall. She watched as her uncle opened and closed his mouth, searching for words or a howl she didn’t know. She didn’t care. A tear cut through the dirt on her face as she pushed her weight onto the blade one last time and heard the bubbling of her uncle’s blood filling his lungs.
“You’re the end of all I was and all I wanted to be. You loved Pari. You raised him as your own. Look at what your choices have done, uncle. You’ve taken my past, my present and now my future. It’s only fair I do the same to you.”
Pokiki withdrew her dagger from Raoul’s body and cleaned the blade upon his shirt. She watched as his eyes unfocused and his body lost the battle, sagging into the weight of the ground. With a final glance, Pokiki reached into her bag and withdrew another smooth vial. She cast it upon his corpse and left with the shadows of the flickering flames dancing behind her.