Hamanymu Mulengu had taken many falls in his life. He had never been much of an outdoorsy person during his life on earth but he had managed to get his licks in, the long faded scars on his shins and forearms are proof enough of that. His time on Jrod had gained him a few more scars, these ones were much easier to spot than the faded tokens of the past.
Jrod had changed all of the survivors of earth. The force of this world, its Mwari had seeped into their flesh, blood and spirit, making them as strong and long lived as its inhabitants. Hamanymu would never be able to correctly guess how the people of this world did this metamorphosis upon the lost children of the earth, but they managed.
For example, the force that had launched him out of the flying train as a torrent of arctic winds and ice tore steel and wood apart, were they on earth it should have rendered him a bloody mist and yet all it did was bruise his flesh and rattle his bones as he was sent hurtling downwards, the wind flogging his body before his forty meter decent came to an abrupt end on the hard grassy savannah ground.
He impacted the ground with a sickening, bone-jarring thud that stole the breath from his lungs, leaving him both sprawled and groaning for what felt like an eternity as a shower of frozen shrapnel and sawdust from the train carriage rained down around him.
"Survived... that?" Hamanymu managed to rasp out, his voice strained between pained grunts as he tried and failed to push himself upright. "Now ain't that something."
He reached to his side and felt for the cool surface of the silver box with its myriad of icons engraved into the side. His heart relaxed when his fingers brushed with it. He had kept it at his side just as his employer had wanted.
The wrecked train still hung suspended by the intricate Mwari work in its base. He wondered idly when help might arrive. Closing his eyes for just a moment's respite, he opened them again to a sight that chilled him despite the lingering pain. Standing over him were his attackers, their black cloaks were shredded, their masks spiderwebbed with cracks and the brown dust from where they had hit the earth after the Mwari explosion clang onto them.
"You still kicking. " the tallest of them taunted with a barely composed snarl before he brought down his foot on Hamanymus hand that grasped onto the box. "You have no idea just how pissed off you have made me!"
Hamanymu let out a sharp scream as his fingers exploded in red hot pain and he instinctively peeled them away from to box to cradle them. His attacker then began ripping off his cloack even as his fellow thieves protested. He ignored them and as soon as he had torn off the shredded cloth, he pulled his mask, revealing a youngish weasel like face that in other circumstances Hamanymu could have called conventionally attractive, but right now all he could think was "Rat Ass Bastard."
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" one of the female attackers shrieked.
"It dosent matter if he see's my face, he won't live long enough to do anything about it." the tall one retorted, flashing a smile missing a few teeth. He made a quick motion and drew a knife from his pocket making Hamanymus blood run cold as the tall one began kneeling with clear intent.
Before the blade could be plunged into his throat help came from a unlikely source. A hand shot out, catching the knife-wielding arm, halting the blade scant inches from Hamanymu's throat.
"What in the name of Leza-Mulungu and all the Mizihimo do you think you're doing, Lenshina?" the tall man asked his comrade coolly, venom dripping from her name.
"I should ask you the same, Grad." she shot back, emphasizing his name just as pointedly. "Leaving bodies isn't our way. You know that better than anyone."
"We are gonna have to, he has seen my face and heard our names." the now identified Grad countered.
"And whose damn fault is that?"
"Are we really going to do this, Lenshina?" Grad asked, exasperation heavy in his voice. "We are not exactly in the moral business."
"Neither are we in the murdering business. We are thieves, we might hurt people but we sure as hell don't cross that line, once we go over it we can never pull back and you know that." Lenshina pulled Grad onto his feet and away from Hamanymu. "This was supposed to be a simple smash and grab, that's what you sold me on, remember?"
Grad sent a long snarl Hamanymus way before the tension that had grasped ahold of his body was instantly dispersed with a harsh exhale. "Fine, then what do you propose that we do? We cant leave him here and you don't want us to kill him."
"Lets just go Grad, we have this stupid thing already." Lenshina responded wearily as she picked up the box.
"Absolutely not, have you forgotten what happened to the Pits when they left witnesses." Grad snapped. "I would very much like to keep my balls where they are, thank you very much."
"We could take him to Anderson." another voice interjected from among the masked figures. "Let him decide. It worked for the Crosses and the Ragers. The witnesses that they brought him were even spared. If we leave it in Anderson's hands, respectfully, we should be fine."
"Thank you, Mumba" Grad responded.
"Stop saying our names, you oaf!" the presumed Mumba shouted back.
Grad then turned to Lenshina with a look that Hamanymu could not quite discern. "Will you look at that. It seems that the moral responsibility has been moved from your corner, any more words Saint Lenshina."
Lenshina simply sighed before saying. "Lets just get the hell out of here."
She approached Hamanymu and knelt down to him, she made a flicks of her hands weaving her Mwari threads with the precision of a skilled weaver. The earth responded and patch of stone and dirt crawled up to his hands and encased his limbs in thick shackles of now solidified earth, held together by Mwari threads.
"Don't think that just because you are an earth weaver than you can get out of that." she said as he tried to call upon his Mwari but the effect that she had woven into the stone did not just keep it together, it blocked other Mwari, an inescapable bind to many others.
"A pity for her." Hamanymu thought. "That I learned a few things from my boss."
His employer was a N'anga, one of Valon's wizards who studied Mwari's intricate relationship with the natural world. They often wore flowing robes and carried crackling staffs, but Hamanymu knew they were, in essence, scientists, specialising in disciplines like Flesh Crafting, Metal Smithing, or Earth Weaving like Lenshina, or his boss's own field of Star Crafting.
And Hamanymu had picked up a few tricks. But he could not act now, pain and exhaustion still lingered in his body and he needed to regain his breath.
He didn't struggle when they dragged him up to his feet and they began pulling him forward before they halted as another one of the cloaked strangers came carrying two familiar unconscious bodies. The first was a young man in blue and the other was an Asikari whose midsection was red and wet with blood.
"We taking these too?"
Grad took a step forward and inspected the two. "I would argue that an Asikari is trouble, but I am sure that Saint Lenshina has something to say about that. Though him..." he gestured at the young man in blue, the one whose Mwari had left the carriage ahead with barely thirty percent of its original structure remaining. "...I haven't seen that kind of power since Anderson and Lady Bronze had their war a few years back. The big guy will definitely want him."
So, they dragged their captives across the rough, scarred earth until they reached what passed for a van in Valon. Valonian vehicles, Hamanymu had observed, tended towards blocky, armoured-bulldozer designs, unlike the sleeker machines of Earth.
"I hate that thing." Lenshina stated.
"I am sorry, do you have a cheaper escape ride or are you willing to take your chances with the wild." Grad mockingly gestured to a herd of Red Buffaloes that were grazing nearby, unbothered by their presence. The red fured Valonian beasts were three times the size of earths African buffalo with whom they shared a similar appearance. But their most prominent feature were their horns that smocked and crackled like heated charcoal.
Lenshina remained silent as Grad gloated through his physical features alone. "Nothing to say.... just as expected. Come on then, the boss is waiting."
Grad shoved Hamanymu into the back of the vehicle with the two unconscious figures. The door slammed shut, plunging him into a dimly lit, coffin-like space. A moment later, the vehicle vibrated and lurched into motion.
Instantly, the young man in blue opened his deeply golden eyes. He hadn't been unconscious at all. His gaze shifted from Hamanymu to the still-unconscious Asikari.
"I'd welcome you back to the land of the living." Hamanymu said dryly. "but I suppose you never left."
"I wasn't in the mood of being interrogated by them." was the response as the young man equally bound in his hands tried his best to rouse the unconscious Asikari.
"I would leave him be. His breathing appears normal enough and take it from someone who has been knocked out many times before, it's better for him to come about on his own." Hamanymu said and the stranger began struggling with his own bonds to free himself. "Wouldn't try that either. The earth waver who bound these threaded in a complex Mwari pattern. She definitely has experience and a good teacher, even my boss would be impressed. "
"So we can't get out?"
"I didn't say that. The binding thread... my boss taught me how to weave it, and how to unweave it. It'll take time, but I can manage." Even now, Hamanymu could feel his own Mwari gently intersecting with the threads in his shackles, slowly, painstakingly beginning to unravel the pattern. "Thanks for the help back on the train, by the way."
"Help?" the stranger echoed, bewildered.
"Yes..." Hamanymu paused, his gaze sharpening, assessing the stranger. "You were helping me, weren't you?"
"I... we... yes." the stranger stammered, gesturing vaguely to the boot. "A bunch of good my help accomplished. I almost killed us."
"Don't feel bad, we are still kicking and besides your Mwari packs a hell of a punch." Hamanymu assured him. "We are gonna have to use that to get out of here."
"I don't think that would be wise or safe."
"Maybe," Hamanymu conceded. "But I reckon staying here would be more dangerous for us." He could almost picture their options, none pleasant.
"Why were you being attacked?" the stranger asked him.
"I don't know, I was transporting some box for my employer from the Red House in the capital. I wish I knew what was in it but he didn't tell me, though those thieves seem to have an idea."The Red House, that place were only N'anga of the rank Principle or higher typically frequented. Hamanymu had in his brief three days there seen things he could barely describe.
"Your employer's name?" the stranger probed again.
"Balder Thorn."
The strangers face went slack at Hamanymus reaponse. He looked at him as if Hamanymu had just told him that they sky was brown."You mean the famous StarCrafter, that Balder Thorn?!"
"Famous?" Hamanymu raised his eyebrow in suprise. "I mean he is a local celebrity back in the Veld, but I wouldn't call him famous 'famous'."
"Fame is a bit of an understatement." the stranger countered. "He was the youngest N'anga to gain the rank of Principle. How can you not know that. That is like not knowing who Simutowe Shadowbane is."
"I don't know who that is, I am not from here."
"Not from..." and then it clicked into place like a locks mechanisms. "You are from earth, aren't you?"
Hamanymu shrugged. "One hundred percent. Name's Hamanymu Mulengu. I would offer to shake your hand but well, you see where we are."
The stranger nodded in acknowledgement. "Mwanza... Musanga." Though he said it in almost nervous and unsure way as if he didn't know his own name, Hamanymu was tempted to bring it up so he remained silent.
"Where are you from?" Mwanza asked Hamanymu. "I mean, I know earth but the red half of your heir looks like a eastern hair styling. "
"I came from earth, that got destroyed and then you Jordians brought us here and then my family and I lived in the Earth District for a while, not the best place." Hamanymu didn't know why he saying this to this guy, perhaps he wanted to vent to someone. "Family decided to join those Earthers taking up a gamble to leave for other parts of Valon."
"What was that like?"
"Rough, we were always near poverty and living like nomads. The Earth District is rough, but at least there everyone has easy access to stable jobs in the economic district. In the High Veld everything is farming and always changing." Hamanymu remember the anger and frustration that hang over them all during those days. "Everything got better when we made it to Redurnguard. I'd be dead now if the farming community there didn't take care of us. They helped us integrate and even cut off pieces of their land for us. Family got into the transport business and I thought my best opportunity to provide as well was to work for a N'anga who made me go into the wilds to fight everything from Elephant Frogs, Elder Crocodiles, Crimson Mambas, Titan Grofs and even damn Ghost Spiders all for trinkets I dont even understand."
He closed his mouth and looked to Mwanza who was looking at him with an expression of confusion after the word vomit that had flowed out of Hamanymus mouth.
The vehicle came to a halt and after the sound of some shuffling it opened to reveal Grad, Lenshina and their fellow thieves. They quickly grabbed Hamanymu, Mwanza and the unconscious Asikari out of the boot. As soon as Hamanymu saw where they had come to his stomach felt like a stone was stuffed into it.
They were forced to traves around blocks of grey withered architecture that was was sullen. The faces they passed were etched with suspicion or outright hostility. Hamanymu was surprised to find the Earth District even worse than he had left it a full year ago. They were forced to a row of shops which looked to have been abandoned a long time ago. "
"What happened here." Mwanza asked surveying the decay of architecture.
"When we Earthers came here the crown built us our very own business centre." Hamanymu spoke with an edge to his voice. "Something about stimulating trade and encouraging integration with the rest of Valon. Some people tried to make it work, but then corrupt quickly grew out of control and the gangs followed soona after. Made it unsafe and well... it was no longer worth it to us Earthers and you Valonians."
"This isn't right." Mwanza whispered before he struck across the back with a blow that almost tipped him over.
"Enough talking!" Grad snapped as he brandished the fist he has used to achieve the deed. "Shut your mouths where we are going if you want to live or don't, I don't care either way."
Grad led them to a rather large tarven that was closed and yet was crawling with rough looking thugs who held onto barely concealed swords, axes and firearms the Hamanymu recognised as Thunderbolts. The guards didn't bother stopping them when they reached for the entrance of the tarven, all they did was share mundane pleasantries with Grad.
Inside, the tavern bustled with illicit activity. Thugs drank heavily at scarred tables, others counted stacks of Geld, while a few watched scantily clad women dancing suggestively on a makeshift stage.
Grad meekly stepped forward, his forming seemingly lessening as he approached a throne in the center of the room where an elf sat. The elf was easily nearing seven feet tall, his bulging muscles strained the seams of his surprisingly fine clothes. Scars mapped his brown skin, contrasting sharply with a meticulously groomed mane of scarlet hair. He had a large cup that was being filled with alcohol by what seemingly appeared to be his personal cup bearer.
"Mr Anderson, the Stings have delivered the package as promised. " Grad said as he presented the elf with the silver box.