Her legs are completely frozen.
Unable to move herself, she instead shakes all over, looking like a quaking flower in a too-strong gale. She’s not scared, even if she looks it. Even if she should be afraid, knowing that some hell awaits her, she isn’t. The blue girl has simply seen too much, has suffered in ways she couldn’t dream of, to care what happens to her anymore. She’s not even angry at the other three for condemning her. If the demon’s lair was to be their fate, why wouldn’t they pile on the votes and send her? If anything, Jaide feels worse for not being able to send herself. She’d tried – lord had she tried – but her own name wouldn’t form on her tongue. Her moniker was elusive and uncooperative when the demon had asked; he’d pulled her next choices unwitting from her thoughts and made the choice for her.
And now, she doesn’t even have the option of defending herself from one of her picks (not that she would block Tyrna’s blows if she could – she deserves them, all of them). Her silver eyes watch the poor girl mournfully as she approaches, murderous intent making the other’s eyes flinty and hard. But her pity turns to outright shock when the mare transforms into a wolf before her eyes. The werewolf leaps at her, and all Jaide can do is lean backwards against her stilled legs. She flaps her wings, too, some new instinct that rises in her brain despite the motion’s futility. The demon will not kill her, she thinks. This was his plan all along: make the losers fight to the death.
If she hadn’t been about to meet her end, the young mare might have looked for him, then. Surely he is watching their duel now, somewhere near, in one of the dark crevasses perhaps. But Tyrna (or the winged, horned, monstrous thing that used to be Tyrna) stops her attack just in front of Jaide, snapping threateningly at her heels. The Jungle girl can see the precise moment that the rage reaches a crescendo within the creature, can see when she becomes less of a meal and more of an enemy to the other. Tyrna berates her, shames her. But this yelling she can take – at least her life is not at stake anymore.
”I…I…I’m sorry,” she says haltingly, unable to push the words past the panic that had settled in her throat. If the horned mare had wished to scare her senseless, she had gotten her wish. Jaide comes back to herself slowly, still in shock at the sight of the wolfish animal before her. Blood coats both of them, but certainly covers more of Tyrna’s morphed body. She feels terrible for the girl, but if they want to get out of this, they need to work together. They need to move past this blockade if they have any chance of returning home. Her simple apology is sincere but also comes from a place of desperation. “Just look at you, you are strong.” She explains further, her reasoning not changed since she picked Tyrna from the others before. “You have the wolf in you – you could tear out His throat if you wanted.”
She whispers this last part conspiratorially, as if He was listening (he probably was). Jaide’s silver gaze darts around the cavern, taking a moment to see if he lingers nearby. When she doesn’t see him, she breathes out a heavy sigh of relief. Perhaps they can do this together, after all. But a sudden pain like a whiplash strikes the length of her body. It burns white-hot before cooling into a cold that is almost scorching, too. The blue girl cries out as the surge travels through her veins and arteries. If she hadn’t already been frozen in place, she might have fallen twitching to the stone floor in pain. When it passes, she blinks slowly, still dazed. But to her surprise, she’s able to move her legs again. Not caring whether there will be retaliation again or not, she turns to Tyrna. “We have to get out of here.” Jaide starts to move, not looking to see if the other will follow her or not.
Jaide
girl of fire and ice
ooc: so I assumed we could powerplay the demon/torture? will change if not!