[Center][h2][color=4BBB7D]AVENUE[/color] AND [color=BCBCBC]SPARROW[/COLOR][/h2][/center][hr][center][i]A collaboration between [@Strange Rodent] and [@SpicyMeatball][/i][/center][hr]
This trip was a mistake. Sparrow had never ventured past the small cliff that marked the edge of what she referred to as the [i]Earth Mother’s hunting ground[/i] because she knew that the apes lived not far past it. They were an entirely different beast compared to hunting a jaguar or deer. Normally, Sparrow may have even taken the chance of running into an ape because the likelihood of them spotting her was slim to none.

But this? This chaos that ran its course in front of her very eyes? These were not the odds she’d wanted. Following Avenue and his goons had been a mistake from the start. They were [i]anything[/i] but stealthy. Sparrow would’ve bet her entire shop and inventory that the apes had been aware of their presence the moment they’d stepped foot in the jungle. The only reason that the apes had seen [i]her[/i] was because she’d had to intervene so that it wasn’t a damn massacre. Sure, Avenue and company had held their own for a bit, but the apes didn’t show any sign of stopping. It would go against her moral compass to stay back and watch.

Now, Sparrow sat in the trees and launched arrow after broadhead-tipped arrow at the gigantic beasts, the cries of Avenue’s men echoing through the forest. The practiced archer was fluid in her movements, the arrows barely making a whisper as the traditional wooden recurve bow whipped them through the air. In fact, had she not called out to Avenue she still may have sat hidden in the tree.

It was not to last.

Sparrow let out a cry as the ape dropped down onto her. The beast hit her across the head only once before she reacted, spots briefly flying across her vision. With reflexes like lightning, she grabbed one of the blades strapped under her arm and balanced on the think tree branch carefully. She held out the blade in front of her, keeping the ape at a distance while she planned her next move. Sparrow could feel the small gash on her forehead where the ape had hit her, but though it stung, the huntress had to focus on the matter at hand. 

[color=BCBCBC]“You doin’ alright Avenue?!”[/color] she called out, her eyes never leaving the beast in front of her.

Avenue gnawed at his left hand, tapping the ground with the warm branding iron in his right. From his throat spills a rumbling keening sound that resounds in the gut and pierces the eardrums. The wounded cultists around him rally to the sound of Tum Tum, swarming over the ape facing Avenue like small children over their mother. It dropped the rock, focusing on picking the pests off.

He heard Sparrow, pausing his keening to reply. [color=4BBB7D]”Yesss, Sparrow. Bow Bird. Birdyyy Bird biiiiiii-”[/color]. Halfway through saying bird for the last time, he turned it into the worming drone from before.

This wasn’t the first time Avenue and his cult had fought these apes. They guarded the precious moss which was used in the production of Dap, the stimulant which the cult seemed to be so fond of. Never had they seen them so vicious or in such a great number, though. A good thing Sparrow showed up.

Apparently they still had it in them. The ferocious creature had fallen to the scrubs, and with a last, deafening roar, it bit a leg off one of the cultists, and hurled it straight at Avenue, who spread his arms in an embrace. They went down in a shower of blood from the stump. Moments later, the cultist was scrambling across the jungle floor, foaming blood at the mouth, but determined to reach the next ape.

When Avenue hit the ground, his vision swam. His back arched, his chest heaved, and his hands clenched, but in the face of this, he stood. Step by shaky step, he walked towards Sparrow. His knee buckled, and he fell. His shoulder slammed into something hard. He looked up: the chapel.

Sparrow threw herself at the ape in a dive, planting the blade of her dagger into its chest. The ape let out a deafening roar before it clawed at her back, but Sparrow was pushed tight against the beast, her legs wrapped around it’s waist as she stabbed the ape over and over. Her heart pounded against the walls of her chest as the beast finally lay still beneath her. The young woman stood on the branch and grabbed her bow before she dropped to the forest floor.

With a practiced hand, Sparrow drew an arrow and launched it from her recurve bow in one swift movement, letting out a whispered prayer to the Earth Mother as she did [color=BCBCBC]“Forgive me mother, for the slaughter of your spawn. Know I only do this for my own preservation.”[/color] The arrow flew true and impaled itself into the leg of one of the apes just as it was about to tackle a cultist. With a cry, the ape fell to the jungle floor and Sparrow left no time for it to recover.

Sparrow grabbed an arrow from her quiver and retrieved a small vial from her belt, quickly pouring a portion of its contents onto the arrow’s point. Then, she nocked the projectile onto the bowstring and took aim at the downed ape. [color=BCBCBC]“Mother, guide my arrow and let this beast suffer no more.”[/color] She drew the string back to full draw and let the arrow fly, watching as it buried itself into the apes neck. Sparrow whispered a gentle thank you and closed her eyes for a single moment.

Another mistake.

Sparrow felt the wind leave her lungs as she was thrown from her feet, the full powered swing of an ape landing square in her side. She crashed against the trunk of a huge tree and slumped against the ground. The next moments were oddly silent. Her heartbeat was deafening and yet silent at the same time in her ears. Her vision was blurry as she slowly came back from the brief blackout. Pain was surging through her back. Why did she ever follow Avenue out here?

The thick sandstone wall was cold against Avenue’s flank. He rubbed his eyes to rid them of spots. He took a moment to survey how the fight was going: two apes were left. There was the one that Sparrow had shot in the leg, and the one who had just launched her. The remaining five functional cultists were surging towards the second ape, ready to pull it down. Three others were lying motionless, and another two were scrambling across the ground with injuries that would incapacitate most people. They didn’t have much longer left.

Avenue pushed off the wall. Taking a moment to get some air in his lungs was a good idea. He staggered over to the ape who had been shot in the leg, dragging his branding iron along the ground behind him. The iron was not like other irons: long and wickedly sharp, with a vicious hook on the end. This is what he raised into the air, and brought down into the hamstrings of the ape. Fists flew and the beast squirmed. Fatigue and pain had marred the ape’s judgement though, and evading them was easy. 

The ape that had knocked Sparrow to the ground had just noticed the cultists, and, deeming them the bigger threat, charged straight into their group, sending a few flying. A roar, a laugh. Something sprayed blood over the ground. One of the cultists slammed into the ground a few meters from Sparrow. Blood was spurting from a wound in their shoulder. Bone was poking through cloth. But they got back up, and ran back into the fray. The ape was not going down by the cultists’ hands any time soon.

Avenue started keening again. It was higher pitched this time, cutting right through the cacophony of battle. When the beast had settled again, Avenue took another swing, this time at its deltoid. The sharp, heavy steel easily settled into flesh. Avenue’s keening grew higher in pitch, and he was walking around with a visible bounce in his step. He cut through the back muscles and the bicep, and then there was only one arm left that could move. So next, Avenue cut that up, arm rising and falling, iron spraying blood, beast howling, and Avenue keening. He walked over to the head of the ape. [color=4BBB7D]”My sweet beastie, oh how you make good fun.”[/color], he cooed, looking the ape in its desperate eyes. It strained and flexed, but it couldn’t move to get the object of its hate. He touched the ape on either side of the head, speaking softly to it.

Sparrow gave a quiet groan as she pushed herself up from the ground. The young woman took deep breaths as she watched the cultists try (insert fail) to kill the remaining two apes, still recovering from having the wind knocked from her lungs. As she went to stand, Sparrow grabbed her bow from the blood covered forest floor and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She looked over to see Avenue strike one of the apes numerous times, each hit causing Sparrow to flinch. Enough was enough. She paced quietly around the scene, nocking an arrow to her bow’s string before drawing it back. As she let it fly, Sparrow whispered a few words.

[color=BCBCBC]“To end your suffering.”[/color]

The arrow impaled itself directly into the apes carotid artery, causing a large squirt of blood to fly out as the life faded from the beast’s eyes. Sparrow took in a breath and lowered her bow, slipping it over her torso to free her hands. Though it may have been a battle, a huntress like herself could not let this meat go to waste. Sparrow pulled one of her daggers from its sheath on her torso before approaching one of the fallen apes. As she began to cut into its flesh, she looked to Avenue and spoke with a stern voice.

[color=BCBCBC]“Though they are our opponents, they need not suffer. The animals only act in defense. Your men are reckless and should not have entered this jungle. Why are you here?”[/color]

The spurt of blood hit Avenue square in the face. He looked up at Sparrow, and frowned, sorrow drawing lines on his face. [color=4BBB7D]"O little Bird. You know nothing. To suffer is- to suffer is to grow. And... well, what is a life without- without growth?"[/color] he asked. He felt the warm blood trickle to the corner of his eye, but didn't stop staring at Sparrow to wipe it away.

[color=4BBB7D]“Me? Why [i]I’m[/i] here?”[/color] he chuckled, [color=4BBB7D]“Well. Fact- as a matter of fact, these lands are belong- belonging to Hope, and she has given us leave to wander them as we choose. My mind wound wonder why a Bird like you: frail and delicate, would be here. Be here. Be here,”[/color] he stuttered. His blinking became faster and harder as he talked, apparently finding words to be difficult.[color=4BBB7D] “Not that we’re complaining. You may not be of Hope, but we can’t deny that you were of service to her- her cause today.”[/color]

[color=BCBCBC]“These lands, all lands, belong to the Earth Mother. She gives us food and water, in return we respect her creations. We do not let them suffer, suffering is misery and nothing more. Suffering is not growth, it is not good.”[/color] Sparrow continued to cut away slabs of meat, stuffing them into the leather pouch that hung from her shoulder. [color=BCBCBC]“What happened here, this was unnecessary. I will kill your men before I see them start another slaughter like this. This accomplished nothing.”[/color] Her words were cold and venomous towards him.

Sparrow moved and began to skin the hide from the ape’s body, the black shiny pelt coming free from the muscle below it effortlessly. Her practiced hand moved without thought like she’d done hundreds of times before. Sparing only one other moment for Avenue, she looked to him once more and spoke coldly [color=BCBCBC]“You ventured through my hunting grounds as you walked. Your men scared everything away. That, and only that, is why I followed you. Tread lightly on these grounds or this little bird will put an arrow in your back without hesitation.”[/color] She finished skinning the one ape before standing right up to Avenue, her tiny frame dwarfed by his.

[color=BCBCBC]“You can call me delicate all you like. The only reason you’re still standing here is because of me.”[/color]