Watery Desires

The shadowed figure jumped slightly at the sound of Saphira's voice, then after a brief moment he seemed to compose himself and stepped out of the shade of the palm tree into full view.
"Hello there...." he seemed to struggle with the awkwardness of the situation. "I had no intention of spying on you, I was simply...resting." He didn't sound particularly convincing.

As he stepped into the light Saphira could see that he was dressed in simple gray clothing accented with leather padding around the shoulders and knees. He had a crop of medium-length black hair and piercingly green eyes, along with that his chin seemed to be lightly covered with stubble as though he had not had the chance to shave for a day or two. A short sword hung from his belt along with several pouches, some of which obviously contained rations. Upon closer inspection Saphira could see that his left arm was heavily bandaged, although, it seemed like it had been done quite poorly. Although the man didn't show any outward signs of pain it was obvious that his arm was not simply slashed or broken, it was absolutely mauled. His wrist looked like it had been twisted to the breaking point so that it stuck out at a strange angle, and his upper arm showed obvious signs of fractures and breakages. Despite his injury he was still able to speak calmly.

"Maybe I should ask you what YOU'RE doing here, this is no place for a woman like yourself to stray off to all alone"

"Well, for what it's worth my name's Shen, and as to how I found this place...I honestly couldn't tell you, I've been stumbling around the countryside for about a day and a half now. I'm just trying to get away from the...THING that did this to me." Shen gestures at his mangled arm. "I really have no idea what, or who did this, all I know is that something attacked me in my sleep a few nights ago, I was lucky to get away with my life."

Shen looks around nervously as if scanning for his attacker. "look, I don't know if I'm still being tailed but...ehhh," the look on Shen's face shows a definite mental struggle. "I need your help," he blurts out. "I need somewhere to hide, somewhere to recover, somewhere where I won't be found. I don't have much time, soon the painkillers I've taken are going to stop working and i'm not going to be able to do much of anything. Call it a hunch, or maybe you can just call it desperation but I feel like I can trust you." Shen looks at Saphira for a long moment and then sighs, "i'll be more than happy to compensate you for your help, I...don't really have any money but I do have something I'm sure you'll like.

"So, what do you say miss...err, sorry, I never got your name"

Shen sighed, "at this point I don't exactly have much choice but to trust you, if i can't get any help soon I'll die anyway. I'd prefer to believe in your goodness than go back out there and collapse." Shen seemed to stagger forward a bit and Saphira could tell by the veneer of sweat on his forehead and his progressively heavier breathing that whatever type of medicine he had been taking for his pain was starting to wear off.

"Now", Shen said with as much of a grin as he could manage, "my offer", and from one of the pouches at his side he pulled a large gem. It was amazing, perfectly cut and smoothed with no blemishes, cracks, or imperfections. It's color was that of a clear night sky lit only by the light of a full moon. "This stone is worth a fortune, my fortune to be exact, this is the product of four years of odd-jobs and small time labor, it cost me everything, but hey, money means nothing to a dead man and neither do gems or trinkets, if you can help me then I have no qualms about giving this to you. However, just to be safe I'm going to hold onto the setting for this gem until I see it fit to give it to you, now that's fair right?"

Shen walks forward and presents the gem to Saphira, "here....take it"

Shen sighed again. "What's the catch??? There isn't much of a catch, I'm bargaining for my life here. I'm running a huge risk that you're just going to swipe this gem and leave me here to die." Shen slumped over a bit, the pain was really starting to escalate now. "look, the odds are in your favor here miss Saphira, I just need to stay alive, it's that simple and I'm willing to give you everything I have to ensure this, so come on, help a guy out." He tried to flash a smile but it quickly turned into a wince of pain.

Shen obediently begins to unwrap the bandages around his arm. The flesh underneath looks truly bruised and tattered, purple blotches have sprung up and there are large tears that have turned an...unpleasant shade of yellow. "not pretty is it?," Shen said with another failed attempt at a wry smile. "urg, listen, do you have some kind of shelter somewhere? if you have some clean water I have a few herbs that can be made into a poultice."

Shen looked at his arm, then he looked at Saphira," How....did you do that?" His tone sounded inquisitive rather than frightened or awestruck. He was about to ask, "did you just use magic?" but instead he bit his tongue. He had no interest in exposing the fact that he had previous experience with such supernatural phenomena in his homeland, he had no idea what kind of reaction he would get out of Saphira. For now Shen decided to err on the side of caution and play dumb for the time being. Perhaps he would get a chance to talk with her about it when and if he gained her trust, for the moment though, more important things were at stake.

"Wow, she doesn't waste any time," Shen thought to himself. He dutifully followed her under into the shade of the overhanging trees, he was no stranger to stealth but he wanted to see if she was any good. It didn't take Shen much effort to pick his way among the leaves and fallen branches that littered the ground, even with the blood rushing through his ears and the dull pain in his arm, he could manage, it wouldn't be far to safety.

Shen proceeded to stumble along in Saphira's wake, "wow, she's got a bit more spunk than I expected" he thought to himself after nearly being dragged through the sand. He couldn't help but watch her body though, she moved so smoothly, so gracefully, it was mesmerizing. He found his eyes being drawn to her shapely legs and her curvy bu-"CRACK", Shen winced in pain as his injured arm collided with the rocky walls of the cave's entrance. "I guess that's what I get for losing focus" he thought to himself as he blinked tears of pain out of his eyes.

"Just a little farther, Just a little farther" Shen repeated to himself as he sprinted toward the rocks. His vision was starting to become blurry and distorted, he was afraid of smashing headlong into that towering jagged rock. He could feel his feet pounding along the sand and the firm grip on his arm, but that was all, that was everything that existed right now, the rock in the distance, his feet and Saphira's hand. As he ducked into the entrance of the cave at a full sprint he came to a skidding halt and immediately keeled over unconscious on the stone floor.