As the man retreated, the brave's first thought was not for revenge, but to free the youth, using his belt knife to sever the bindings that bound the young man to the tree. "Moses, can you use your medicine to heal the rabbit?"

Moses kneels down and spreads his arms.
"Come, child."

The kid drops like a broken puppet when cut down, but stirs and tries to crawl vaguely towards Moses at the prophet's urging. It's shortly clear to Thunder Walker that this is a slight woman who's had her hair hacked closely as a mark of disgrace, not a young man whose hair has grown out, though the resemblance to Screaming Rabbit is uncanny.

Fever-bright eyes try to fix on Moses, and her lips twitch. The tested men somehow understand her Cantonese with the clarity of dreams as she reaches out and tries to grip at Thunder Walker's leg: <"...water...water water water water water...">

It took Thunder Walker a moment to fully absorb the details he was just now noticing. Always tasked with seeing from far, he had failed to see from close what her perhaps should have noticed. He had known but few of these people, some well, some not well, and even some of the men had seemed slight. It had seemed natural to accept at face value that this youth was but a lost boy. Still, it was different to see that the one whose true name was for the purple fruit was in fact a woman. She did not have all of the shape that many women have, which must have made it easy to use the guise of being a boy. But he could see it. There were small things that pointed the way now to him.

Recalling himself to the present moment, he removed a waterskin from his belt and knelt, opening it and handing it to Screaming Rabbit, then looking to Moses for some solution that he was sure the man must have.

Fumbling like one half-blind, the girl manages to grip the waterskin and tries to drink. Thunder Walker's attention causes her to half-curl, more in the manner of one too hurt and exhausted to fight than one concerned for modesty; it's likely further injuries are hidden by the mask of blood from her lacerated back.

Moses might be able to heal her, but whilst the warriors of righteousness delay, the Whateleys' plans may progress beyond the point where they might be interrupted...

Moses gently touches Rabbit's shoulder.
"This is another test." he says, matter-of-factly.
"We are at a crossroads here, Thunder Walker. Moses can help Screaming Rabbit here and maybe heal some of the damage her soul has taken in life. Maybe this will not matter to her in the real world.
It will mean that you will either have to go on by yourself and face your tasks alone - or that you stay here and fail them."

The negro gently kisses Rabbit's forehead.
"Moses came here to guide Thunder Walker through the valley of darkness. But he will not abandon you."

Moses stands up and lifts the small Chinese up, cradling the girl like a child in his arms.

"Let us go on." His voice is assured, and determined. If he feels that he just gave up a part of his own soul to save Thunder Walker's, he doesn't let it show.

The girl's breathing catches as Moses lifts her, but she doesn't struggle, instead instinctively reaching to hang her arm around Moses' neck. There are bruises under the rope burns at her wrist.

A few delirious murmurs pass her lips before some step or bump in the road causes her to flinch and look up, staring through Moses with wide, haunted eyes. One clear fragment surfaces: <<"...where was your God?">>

Then her gaze becomes vague as she seems to fall asleep, her loosened grip leaving a trail of blood down Moses' chest. Moses starts to feel his arms grow tired under the warm deadweight, every step seeming to increase the effort needed to keep her aloft. A dozen paces later, her small body might as well be made of lead.

"To leave this one behind, will be to fail the test. What mercy can the spirits, or your God show me when I would abandon an innocent to suffer harm, simply because I saw my own salvation in it - even if this place is not real?" he asked, rhetorically.

When Moses picked up Rabbit, he nodded. It was a good solution. "We will stay together, all of us, even then to walk through this valley of darkness."

Moses physically strains with every step until he finally almost topples over - and he would have, had Thunder Walker not caught his fall.
Breathing heavily, he puts Screaming Rabbit down.

Moses wipes cold sweat from his brow, then strokes Rabbit's, gently again, until the youth's eyes flutter open.
"The Lord is ever watching, Screaming Rabbit. The Almighty has seen your pain and suffering. Did he not give you the strength to flee? Did he not send you friends?"

The girl's lashes flicker at Moses' touch, but the stirring does not become full wakefulness.

Whether the torturer's predictions were true or not, it seems from her long, shallow breaths that the small youth is beyond hearing for some hours at least. In all liklihood, if Moses and Thunder Walker leave her now she'll never know.

"You have come here to give me guidance, Moses, but I must carry my own duties, my responsibilities..." he said. Somehow, he knew it was true. He would not have expected the large negro to tire as he did, but it must have been a sign. Others could not carry out his responsibilities for him, even if they could aid him and show him the way.

"I will carry this one, and you lead me through this darkness, to that light again." With familial care, and the chaste touch that a brother would use to hold a sister, he lifted the young woman into his arms, and looked to Moses.

The girl makes a quiet, unconscious whimpering as Thunder Walker's forearms and chest become red-streaked from her wounds. Thunder Walker has no trouble carrying her, but as he does so it's impossible not to note how soft her exposed skin feels against his own. A railroad worker could not possibly bathe often enough with soap or oils to have flesh like that, yet what else could she be?

And if she was not directly in Iron Dragon's pay, why was a Sweetrock enforcer torturing her? Perhaps she was a thief, or a spy...

Moses, for his part, does not hear any reassurance from God. He doesn't hear anything at all, in fact. The heavens remain silent to him. It's as if the Lord's presence had suddenly been withdrawn from him.

Moses keeps looking over his shoulder, walking a few steps ahead of Thunder Walker.

For the first time that Thunder Walker has known the negro, he seems uncertain, almost hesistant.
He mutters something from time to time, but never breaks into the familiar, knowing smile as he usually does.

Like so many streaks of war paint drawn from dark red berries, crimson streaks from the unhealed wounds of the woman he carried in his arms marred the hairless skin of the Lakota brave's exposed chest. He did not think of her as a woman, but the impossibly soft feeling of her skin was hard to ignore, and the unfamiliar softness disturbed the thoughts. He did not know what to make of Screaming Rabbit, having now discovered that the youth he had once taken from a boy was merely presenting a disguise. Why had she been running through the Lakota lands? What was her relation to the Green Snake Tribe? Was she in truth named after the purple fruit, or was that too another story? Why in this place, this walking nightmare, was Jim MacNeil beating her to death?

These things didn't matter, in many ways. The revelations changed some things about Screaming Rabbit, but not the most important. She seemed even braver now in retrospect when he considered the fights in which the woman had taken place for the sake of the people - the times she had risked her own life for them. This burden in his arms, this responsibility was not something he could put down.

Deep in thought, it had taken him some time to notice that Moses seemed hesitant and uncertain. If anything gave him pause and concern, this would be it. Moses was never hesitant or unsure that he remembered. The large negro had always been confident, listening to the voices on the winds and speaking mad phrases and sometimes doing mad things, but leading a wise course in the end. Once, he might have been hesitant in putting his trust in a madman, but if there was something that the Storm Born one now feared, it was that the Holy Madness had abandoned Moses.

"Where do we go, Moses?"

At the question, Moses stops and turns.
He gently strokes Rabbit's brow pushing a strand of hair out of her face.
The silence between the two stretches, then finally Moses replies.
"There was a man, once, long ago. His name was Job. He was the Lord's most pious follower and enjoyed riches both material and sentimental. He was truly blessed."
The negro sighs.
"Then the Great Adversary, Luzifer, claimed that it was easy for Job to follow the Almighty. Had not the Lord given him lands and cattle and houses?"
Moses turns around, his back now to Thunder Walker.
"So the Lord allowed Luzifer to take away all that was important to Job, everything but his life. Job was desperate and he cursed his bad luck, wished that he was never born. But he never abandoned the Lord.
The Lord has seen fit to test Moses in the same way now, it seems. Once he had brought Moses here, He showed him the errors of Elias, the false prophet of Gomorra. More, He had shown Moses that he was Elias. For it is easy to stray from the path of righteousness. There have been two tests, at least, for Moses. He does not know if he passed them or not.

Moses raises his arms, left and right, hands balled up to fists.
"YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT WILL NOT ABANDON YOU, LORD! MOSES WILL CONTINUE TO WALK THROUGH THE DESERT, AS HE DID BEFORE."
He lets his arms down again.
"Or he will perish trying. If this is what it takes to bring Thunder Walker back, then so be it." he adds, more quietly.

He turns around to Thunder Walker again. "You were brought here for a purpose, Thunder Walker. A test, a task, a battle where you failed before, in your life or in your dreams, perhaps? What was it? You will have to face it here again, but not alone."

"Moses, that is a question that I do not know the answer for, but perhaps you can explain to me. Perhaps you can find the meaning in this. When I was here last, I was part of a great fight, a battle. We fought, braves and shamans from all tribes, and we had allies that many others of these tribes would not. We fought with allies that were of the scientists, of the people who worship your God, and of people who fly both of the American flags who in that fight were allies to each other if only for a short time. We fought things that were much worse, things that should not be."

"In that battle, I fell, but I did not die. I took a wound, and I lost blood, and I fell on the field of battle." He looked down at Li, the purple fruit girl, the Screaming Rabbit, and his thoughts fled again to Wovoka, and to Joseph Eyes-Like-Rain. "I traveled west with a shaman called Eyes-Like-Rain, known to the whites as Joseph. He was a great, great man, and I saw him safely to this place. But I did not see him safely through that battle. And this unworthy brave lived on, while so many great shamans and warriors died."

"I thought that perhaps, if I were to give my life, if others would live in my place, then I would have repaid the price for my failure in life and find my place in the Hunting Grounds. But there too I have failed. I do not know why I am here Moses, or what I must do. But I cannot let you fall to harm to save me, and I cannot let this girl come to harm. Even if she is not real, and you are not real here, and I am not real here...I will not be saved to live while others die around me."

Moses shakes his head.
"No, Thunder Walker. You are really here. You have died in the Battle of Bear Butte. Now, it will be decided if your soul will go to Heaven... or not.
Moses has come here to guide you, but he is real. His body lies sleeping next to your and it could very well be that soon he draws its last breath.
But she...", he indicates the girl, "is not here."

His eyes narrow and he nods. "Yes... She was too heavy a burden for Moses, but you manage. Moses thinks she, here, is your mortal soul, almost torn apart by the evil here."

He looks around, searches the streets and houses.
"Where did this man, Eyes like Rain, fall? Saving him may be the test for you, Thunder Walker."

The pair reach the edge of town as they converse. Before them stretches a wide cemetery. Elephant Hill. Thunder Walker remembers that, in the real world, the Whateley Manor was at the edge of town, with the cemetery next to it. But here, he knows that to get to Lord Grimley's Manor (and he couldn't say why he knows this is the place he has to go, only that it is so) he and Moses must travel through the rows of graves. And there is something horrifying about the prospect. of course, he could move much faster, and be sure to have a weapon ready to defend himself, if only he were to set the sleeping Screaming Rabbit down...

"The Whateley Manor. I was told he died there doing a great thing, taking a life of the powerful...you would call her witch. In that deed, so too did he die. Remember the name Whateley, Moses. Some of their family escaped this place, and they are doers of great evil," he said.

"But we go another way this day," he said, gesturing with his head towards the Whateley estate. "I do not know how, but I know this is where we must go - there through the rows of the stones where the white men bury their dead, up to that large building in the distance. Something tells me we must go here. But I will need your help. And the help of the spirits, and your Lord."

"When it is time to fight, give me cover while I lay down this Rabbit to rest, and then see to her while I fight my battles. If I fall again here, do not weep. Death is but a part of the cycle. See to your safety, and know that if I have managed to find the Hunting Grounds to rejoin my ancestors, I will tell them of your deeds." For the first time, he took the lead, but only slightly in front of Moses. He guided, but he walked alongside the man, as he knew he would need the help of Moses and his guidance if they were to find a way to succeed.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Tue 22 Oct 2013.

some mood music

The two warriors enter the graveyard. A sickly grey mist curls along the blacked, cursed ground of Elephant Hill. The forest of stone and wooden headstones stretches as far as the eye can see...which isn't actually far, as the cold mist cuts vision down to almost nothing.

The little girl in Thunder Walker's arms stirs fitfully, though she doesn't wake. Thunder Walker feels goosebumps rise on his arms as a bitter wind caresses him, an icy series of needles dancing on his skin.

Moses feels the cold, true, but knows there's something else to it...something rank and unholy. The silence begins to gnaw at him. He can't feel the holy presence here. perhaps he never could.

They travel a while, the chill never abating, the silence absolute.

Until it's shattered by a childish giggle, somewhere off in the mist. Something moves, a spinning figure that seems to dance from head stone to wooden cross, without a care in the world...

Moses steps in front of Thunder Walker, scanning the mist for the child.

"This place is haunted by ghosts, Thunder Walker. Tread carefully."

A deep worry line appears on Moses forehead. Had this all been a dream? Had the Lord abandoned him? Or didn't he - for maybe he never had been in His Holy Presence.

"No... the Lord is testing Moses. He warned his humble servant, when he asked to be a guide to Thunder Walker. Moses did not need the warning..."

He mutters, under his breath, trying hard to convince himself.

"Who goes there?" he called, even as he crouched, leaning low to lay the girl down gently upon the ground so that he could pull forth his weapon.

"Stay and watch her, Moses. I will return to carry her once it is time to move. Call out your guidance if you have it, or if you are set upon." With a quiet, he stalked out from where they were to the place he had detected movement. He had been a scout among the Lakota, and had at one time worked as a scout for some of the railmen, and he knew how to move quietly - in the forests, or in this graveyard.

"Make a wish, make a wish, make a wish all. Toss in a coin and hope they all fall..." comes the reply to Thunder Walker's call. The dancing figure skips deeper into the mist. "Would you dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight? Or would you rather dance with me in the pale moonlight? My brothers tell me there's very little difference..."

Thunder Walker cateches sight of the dancing figure as he creeps deeper into the graveyard after her. Were the creepy woman in the white dress in possession of her faculties, she'd likely be regarded as one of the most beautiful in town. As it is, her black hair is long and tangled, and her expensive white dress is torn and soiled. She babbles constantly, her garbled speech mixing child's nursery rhymes and Gothic poetry. She clutches a rag doll in her hands, one which she occasionally jabs with a needle and thread. The undeniable light of madness shines in her eyes as she pirouettes among the graves.

She turns and looks directly at Thunder Walker, hidden as he is as he creeps after her. "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, in the gravestones of the night! I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight!" She giggles, then motions towards him with the rag doll in her hand. "We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men, leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless as wind in dry grass."

With that bizarre turn of phrase, she skips away...but the ground that Thunder Walker stands on begins to shift and roll...the graves! Something is moving beneath his very feet!"

With a barbaric war cry, the Lakota brave swiftly brought his tomahawk down towards the ground with as much strength and ferocity as he could find in his own arms. He knew where they were, in the place where the people of Gomorra poorly buried their own, without proper ritual and ceremony often times. And he knew what some of these people that he was after did, raising the dead from their graves. So when the ground began to give way, the only thing he could think to do was to strike the dead one before it could rise to take him.

Moses sits down on a tree stump, the girl still draped across his arms and lays her on his lap.
The fog closes in around him and while he can still hear the ghostly woman's taunts and has a sense where Thunder Walker is, for a moment he is alone.

"Long ago, Moses was alone in the desert", he muses, quietly, his deep voice rumbling. He gently rubs a speck of dirt from Rabbit's forehead.
"And you are you, truly, little Rabbit? You are not here, not like Thunder Walker. Not like... me."
He blinks and shakes his head, as if to clear it. The slaver... he had killed him. Strangled him with his own whip.... Leonard's whip. Leonard, who had whipped...

Moses head reels from the memories rushing in and he feels dizzy, his stomach heaves and he barely manages to turn his head and vomit to the side. Then the tears come rushing and he cries, holding Screaming Rabbit tight to his chest, holding her as much as holding onto her.