A Line in the Sand
(Mentions @mteshi-ffxiv @theblacklionxiv )
Kodie had returned to the job excavating job after taking a day off to see Teshi. Though them parting didn’t seem to go well. They did kiss, he was happy to see her, but their talk in regards to how she seemed to have been okay with following M’vaius’ request to pretty much needing permission to do anything with the Midlander didn’t sit well. Being kept in the dark of other things didn’t help matters, the frustration was slowly starting to show, he wanted to be as patient as possible, but even someone like Kodie could be worn down. To him, she use to be open about everything, spend time, it wasn’t long that she told him that he couldn’t get rid of her, he never wanted to. Why did things feel so different? Why did he feel as though she was pushing him away? What would happen if M’vaius told Tesh she was forbidden to see Kodie? Those questions constantly repeated in his mind through the trip. Hopefully the meeting that asked Tesh to arrange with him and M’vaius would finally settle things, they needed to be settled.
He was with a small group of researchers, away from the main camp to do further survey work, Kodie was tasked to keep them guarded from any threats. This far out in the Sagolii, the only threats they would face would be predatory beasts, or Amalj’aa. He kept his guard up, his face hidden within his metallic mask, while the researchers worked on a small waypoint they had recently found, gathering as much information as they could before returning to the main camp.
Things were calm for the moment, though out in the wilds of the desert, calm did not last long. His masked detected something from the distance, he zoomed in and as he expected there were two Amalj’aa scouts tracking the group.
“We got company…” He spoke with his voice metallic sounding through the mask. The researchers quickly turned away from their work, looking worrisome at the Midlander, they were not trained for combat obviously, hence why Kodie was hired for this job.
“W...where do we go?” The Lalafell researcher asked as he began to gather up his work, along with the female Ishgardian Elezen.
“They’re not the only ones out there. They want us to know they’re watching, draw us away to a location we think is safe, and they’ll have an ambush party waiting for us…” The Midlander unholstered his revolver. “If we take the scouts head on, the ambush party will rush to the scene and try to overtake us…”
He predicted the ambush party would be five to six additional beastmen, meaning he had to take out the scouts quickly. Timing would be everything in this matter because he knew the other group would catch up to them quickly. The Elezen looked at Kodie with understandable concern on her face.
“So what do we do?”
“Take the scouts head on, then I want you two rush to the camp and warn the others. I’ll make sure the ambush party doesn’t catch up…”
The two nodded at Kodie, they had their fair share of concerns, but knew better than to question the Adventurer. Once they were ready, Kodie lead the two towards the scouts. Just as he predicted one of the scouts blew a horn as to alert the ambush party. Once he was in a good enough distance he fired a round from his revolver hitting the the scout with easy, shutting the horn in the process. The other scout drew its bow, launching an arrow at the three, specifically at the masked Hyur. Kodie easily dodged and fired another round at the second scout, the bullet tearing through the beastman’s skull.
“Get moving!!”
He called out to the two as he turned around to see a cloud of sand from the distance, the ambush party was on the way, riding on drake mounts. The Lalafell and Elezen continued on while Kodie began to reload his weapon, then tossing something out from one of his satchels as a turret began to form to make sure no one would rush past him after the researchers. His mask zoomed to the group, six beastmen, all on mounts three spearmen, two archers, and one caster. When they were close enough, Kodie fired a shot, but the caster had a stone skin spell casted on one of the archers, the archer returned fire, launching an arrow that barely missed the Hyur. A quick dodge as he fired again at the same archer, shattering the stone skin, and a third shot to connect, knocking it dead off its drake mount. The others began to quicken their pace towards him, the caster creating a cloud of dust to blind Kodie while the others began to surround him. Kodie switched his mask to infrared mode to get a better fix on them, firing multiple shots at one of the spearmen until the stoneskin shattered and a bullet ripped through its neck.
Meanwhile the turret did its job, keeping the group at by making sure any strays didn’t chase after the two researchers, but now their focus would be on Kodie. The other archer turned launching an arrow while Kodie went to reload his gun, he dove to dodge, but he wasn’t quick enough as the arrow pierced through his shoulder, causing him to cringe and howl in pain.
“Argh, fuck!!”
He said through the mask, reaching into his inner jacket pocket, grabbing his side arm and firing at the archer, a successful headshot after two rounds, then he quickly aimed for the caster, finishing off the remainder of the ammo to shatter the stone skin and to eventually hit the remainder of the bullets into its chest, causing not only to kill it, but to also stop the dust cloud spell. Though Kodie would find himself surrounded by the last two spearmen, now off of their mounts, both ready to strike him down.
Once the dust cleared, Kodie glanced over to the wound, the arrow still well into his shoulder, he didn’t feel woozy or ill so it meant no points, but it sure did hurt. He then turned his attention to the remaining beastmen, one at each of his side. He dropped his side arm and quickly began to reload his revolver as the two charged at him. He dodged one easily, and used the gold revolver to block the other’s attack, and parry. Though the one he dodged quickly recovered and stuck at the Hyur, purshing he at his side, the blade tip into his hips. Another loud groan as he reached to grab the spear with his free hand, the magitek gauntlet beginning to glow brighter as he snapped the spear in half causing the Amalj’aa to lose his balance, and it was enough for Kodie to fire a few rounds into its face. As the final beastman charged at him, Kodie grab the other spear, fighting all the pain he was dealing with thanks to his wounds, snapping it in half, then grabbing the sharp end as he thrusted the blade tip into its throat, holding it there as he let out a loud, angry growl through his mask until the Amalj’aa’s body became lifeless, blood gushing from the wound and onto the Hyur. Kodie pulled away as he dropped down to his knees, holding the wound at his hip, keeping pressure on it, while the arrow on his shoulder still remained.
He took a few deep breaths, searing pain from each wound, he knew he couldn’t stay long. He’d either bleed to death, or more beastmen would arrive to finish the job. He grabbed his weapons and began to slowly stand, staggering towards the camp, when he reached the safe haven, the Hyur once again dropped to his knees, his removed his mask as he saw familiar of the researchers and other guards rush towards him, though his vision was slowly beginning to blur.
“Tesh…”
He muttered as the loss of blood and wounds was more than enough for him to lose consciousness.
Hours passed as night had fallen, Kodie's eyes darted open as he quickly sat, gasping for air. It took him a few moments to realize he was rest on a cot, inside a tent. He cringed as the pain returned, looking down to see his stomach area bandaged, his shoulder as well with his right arm in a sling. Entering the tent was a Highlander woman, giving him a smile.
“Aye, finally woken up have ya. Worried for a second but we made sure ya got patched up. Still you took some good markins, might wanna go easy for a bit, don't want’em stitches to pop, at least nothin vital was damaged. ”
Kodie looked down at his hip wound, stabbed on the opposite side if his other scar. He felt dizzy, which meant blood loss, all feelings too familiar in his line of work. “Heh well I’ve had worse…What about the others?” He asked with a look of concern.
“They arrived before ya did, we was about to send a search team to get ya, but there you were. I’d rest up, you lost a lot of blood. Want me to notify anyone for ya, got any family?”
Family, that question. Kodie about to speak, but then the discussion he had with Tesh the previous evening repeated in his mind, remembering what she said to him. A sigh escaped his lips as he laid back onto the cot, shaking his head. “No, I don't have family…”
