Starglow Basin bruja

even qiao marveled at the stealth of akashingo, under no illusion that the cavalry came for her next.

his shadow leans across her long before he carelessly stepped upon her wounded leg. with a gasp, qiao reached instinctively to pull her wounded limb under her.

only, the anaconda was waiting for that very thing -- qiao saw a constellation of eruptive black and white as pain made her consciousness its captive.

she woke dazed several hours later. a chorus of crickets announced the sun had long sank past the western rim of the world. a ruinous agony slowed every motion of the witch. with a wince, she propped up and saw she was alone in the stone quarter.

no -- not alone. a single vehement eye held her in its gaze.

fucking bastard.

qiao knew better to murmur a haka under her breath for fear of eliciting a second retaliation. as she achingly turned onto her other side she mapped the stars and plucked two hairs from her forelimb. the first a gentle russet -- the second black and belonging to soto.

she placed them in the dry earth with their follicles facing west and spat upon them. using her back to shield the menacing gaze of her captive, qiao rubbed their edges into the gritty surface, trailed one claw counter-clockwise three times, and then razed the pattern with a single swipe of her paw.

this spell was small, and would cost her greatly -- but qiao could do nothing more.

sleep did not come for her until the burn of a second eye simmered on the horizon.