NationStates Jolt Archive

Itzuki nodded and got to work. Papers seemed to slid into his hands as well as 'floating' so he could insert pages into the correct order.

As he worked he asked, "So what other stories do you wish to tell?"

"Price? You wouldn't do it out of love...your love for me?"

Her delicate fingers traced along his chest as a playful smile crossed her lips. "No...I don't trust you. How can I? You tried to kidnap me..." her mind flashed to her disappeared sister. "Have you tried it before? On other women?"

"Mythos...I don't think I can trust you. You would rather work for money...and people who switch sides for money...can do the same again." Her hands began to unbutton his shirt and sneak onto his bare chest, gently outlining his chest muscles. "I do want to leave...but I want to rescue my sister...and I need someone strong..." her lips got closer to his. "And handsome..." only centimeters away.

"From what I hear, you don't love... just lust," Mythos said as he regained his concentration and focus. Now sitting in his normal, comfortable clothing, he felt the freedom of no longer being contained by metal plates. "Besides ma'am... I need the bounty. Unfortunately, I am not very good with holding onto my coins and at present I have none and need many. So no... I cannot do it just for love." Accompanying his explanation was a slight frown - how he desired to do it for just his love of her, but his senses told him to stay the course.

"Kidnapped before? But of course... As you call me, I am a rogue and a knave. I do what I must."

"Aye, you are right not to trust me," Mythos said as he let her lean against his muscular chest. "But I would not switch sides against you. Once I have my necessary purse of coins, my 'love' as you put it would prevent such a change." Again she attempted to seduce him, her hand rubbing his chest with such a marvelous feeling, and her lips closing in on his. He couldn't resist, "Then I will do as you say and take you away from here and to where you want."

For several moments he sat there, staring deeply into her entrancing eyes, and wishing so much that she would never stop touching him. "Please... no more," he finally commented, not being able to stand the torture of temptation. "I will make you a deal. I will take you away from this palace and follow you wherever you wish in your search... in exchange, you will pay for my way - food, drinks, room, etc. - and I get to keep whatever spoils we find."

"Yes...massster disslikesss Athral...like brother and sissster. Sssshe bought him sssssomething oncssse, but he doessssn't care ssso much for it- jewelery I mean," Pinky replied laying down out of the shade so the sun would heat up his scales.

"Massster isss amiable with her sssiblingsss...but dissscontent with her oldessst ssssister, Victoria...jealousssy. Sssshe may give them jewelery...I have not ssssseeen them in a long time. Victora did ssssomething and now ssshe is the talk of the town. Not sssssure but it made masssster dissscomforted. Her brothersssss, minusss Athral, are sssstudying and learning elsssewhere. I do not know."

Pinky shifted and rolled onto his back, letting his stomach bathe in the sunlight.

You asssk to many quessstionsss. Masssster and her father do not get along well. I don't think massster would get anything for father."

**********************************************

"Well, that's pretty fancy there, boy. You a mage then? You go to school here?"

"One o' me boys went to school here and enjoyed it greatly. He met many knew friends and even saw Rimoru with his own eyes on one visit. He had the courage to go up and give her a flower, even! Oh, but he's a wiley old boy. He said she blushed and thanked him."

"My, how I envy my boy."

***********************************************

Rimoru backed up, her hand pulling out of his shirt. "I don't do it for love? What do you mean I don't do something for love?" She angrily growled. He didn't even need to ask her to stop, she was getting so angry. If Rimoru didn't need him to help her on her mission, she would turn him into the guards at the very instant. Instead, she crossed her arms around her chest and huffed angrily.

"Money...money is not everything," Rimoru grumbled. "And by the sound of it, you don't love anything but your worthless money."

Rimoru frowned and got out of her bed, taking a handful of jewelery, making sure not to get any of particular importance, and threw it at Mythos. "There's your pathetic money..."

She sat down on her stool, fighting the tears that threatened to fall upon her pale face. Although his deal wasn't too bad...however it was quite binding. The food, drink, and bed was a good idea, but the spoils. What if they found some sort of important family piece that Victoria had? Perhaps she will rethink it...or perhaps she will just await that swordsman she was to meet at midnight...

Maya hadn’t noticed the presence of the armoured figure nearby, she had been concentrating on listening to what the barkeeper had to say, then on her short exchange with Kaolai. She looked around and studied the man, trying to work out whether she should talk to him or not.

While she agreed with the barkeeper’s belief that Victoria’s disappearance and Rimoru’s attempted abduction were probably connected, she found herself wondering where the assassination attempt fit it to the picture. Where there two parties who wanted Rimoru? One who wanted her alive, and one who wanted her dead? I need to learn more about this, she thought, so I guess I will talk to him. She also recalled her earlier thought about dancing to earn some money tonight, and decided it wasn’t going to happen. Her legs still ached considerably from the fight with the assassin.

She stood, taking her drink with her and moved closer to the man, sitting down next to him.
“So, I understand you know something about the Ifretes and the recent events concerning them,” she said, without introducing herself, “What can you tell me about them?”

He was not wearing his hood so the woman would see that his skin was a dark grey, once black but lightened by the sunlight, he had the pointed ears that betrayed his elvish ancstery and his hair was white, though no longer than shoulder length.

Drasken had not been expecting the Barkeep to point him out, though he had been paying attention to them. He waited for her to take her seat and speak before turning and regarding her with his dark green eyes. "You waste no time on the formalities i see. I don't know what you know already, but i will assume you know a bit." He had heard a little of the conversation, but not enough to know the specifics.

"Victoria is the eldest daughter of the Ifrete family. She has gone missing some 4 days ago, supposedly in the evening. There was sorm form of interfereance which blocked magic and put out all the candles in the palace at a similar time, which i assume is connected." He paused and reached onto the bar for a drink that hadn't been provided yet, he waved for the barkeep to bring him and the woman something, before continuing. "There were no signs of a struggle at all, nothing out of place. To all intents and purposes she seems to have vanished."

After a moment he added. "As for the rest of the family, Rimoru was in here last night and there was an attempted abduction of her this morning apparently. The two eldest sons are studying elsewhere. There is a man - rumoured to be a dragon - in the palace that teaches Rimoru and her brother Athral. If there are any other siblings, they have not been brought up."

Drasken stopped and examined her, she was a beautiful woman and he vaguely remembered seeing her in the inn the night before, regardless, he needed to make some aquaintences in this town anyway and now was a perfect time to begin. His voice turned more amiable and he asked; "Now thats out of the way, whats your name? and what has made you so interested in this?"

"Not a mage, not in the sense you seem to mean at least. She's one of the Ifretes, isn't she?" He asked as he continued to sort the papers.

A night-elf, realised Maya, after giving a closer look to the man, Haven’t run into one of them in a while. As before, she listened intently to the information she was given, adding the new pieces to her image of what happened. The blackout effects during Victoria’s disappearance implied a very powerful mage; Maya wasn’t sure she had ever come across anyone who might be able to achieve that.

She did not immediately reply to the inquiry, occupied with her own thoughts, and would not have made any response at all had Kaolai not prompted her.
<Are you going to answer him?> he asked.
It took a moment longer for her to recall the question, then she looked at him.

“I am Maya Dazaru,” she told him. Despite her desire to distance herself from her origins, she always gave her real name; she was so far from her home that only a few of the very wise had heard of Rhyda, and even fewer knew of the House of Dazaru. “And I wish to learn about these events because someone tried to assassinate me earlier, mistaking me for Rimoru Ifrete.”

It was Maya’s opinion that the assassination attempt and the attempted abduction were not connected, after all, it seemed unlikely that the antagonist would so quickly decide to have her killed after only one failed abduction. And unless the person behind the attacks was in this city, it would have been almost impossible to send out the assassin after hearing of the failed abduction.

Drasken waited patiently for a response and when it came he replied with a small bow and said: "Drasken Embar at your service, pleased to meet you."

At the news of an attempted murder he raised an eyebrow. "An attempted murder?" He glanced at her, she did not immediately strike him as an able fighter, but she must have some skills to have fought off her would-be murderer.

"That does not fit well with what has happened recentely. There are clearly several powerful forces at work here." He didn't comment on her similarites to Rimoru. Though after a moment he added: "The barkeep mentioned things in the city have been a bit tense, Rimoru being murdered may spark chaos in the streets. Have you mentioned the attack to the authorities?"

"Aye, one of the Ifretes. One of the most popular, although not in the sense of Victoria. Rimoru is more of the Lover..more lustful. She is more self-centered at times, but she can have a great heart. She is...complicated really. But one look at her...and even the strongest will melt in her arms..." the old man said, shaking his head.

*************************************************

The Barkeeper walked up to the two and smiled, giving a small bow. "I am sorry, sir and ma'am, but would you care for something to drink or eat?"

"I wonder what she looks like." He commented to himself as he slid another sheet into place, not realizing that he'd already met her. The task was tedious and boring, but at least it'd be over shortly.

“He wasn’t a very good assassin,” Maya told him, “for here I am, virtually unharmed. Had he been even remotely skilled, I would be dead, for I was not aware of his presence until he attacked me,” she admitted, fully aware that she was lucky to be alive. Even Kaolai’s vigilance had proved of little use on this occasion, though the rapid onset of dusk was mostly to blame for that.

“And no, I haven’t notified the authorities, but I will do tomorrow morning,” she said tiredly, “They should know that someone wants her dead, though I knew nothing of either kidnapping until now. Which means that there is likely nothing they can do beyond what they are already doing, but they should know anyway.” The sharp of hearing could detect a hint of uneasiness in her voice, revealing her feelings about this course of action.

She drained her mug of water, then looked back at Drasken. “It does seem that there is more than one person out there who harbours ill intent towards the Ifrete family. And yet, from what I’ve heard, no-one seems to know who either of them might be,” she observed. “And what drew your interest in this matter? I hope it was nothing as drastic as that which got me involved.”

When the barkeeper approached and made his inquiry, Maya realised that she had not eaten for a while, and her stomach promptly growled. She gave a small snort of laughter.
“I guess I would like something to eat,” she confessed, smiling at the barkeeper. “And something light to drink. I do not feel like surrendering my judgment to alcohol after today.”

"Money...money is not everything," Rimoru grumbled. "And by the sound of it, you don't love anything but your worthless money."

Rimoru frowned and got out of her bed, taking a handful of jewelery, making sure not to get any of particular importance, and threw it at Mythos. "There's your pathetic money..."

"Well you wouldn't understand, would you..." Mythos replied slightly angry. She had never worked a day in her life; everything she ever wanted was given to her; money would never be her problem. Nor, the rogue had heard, did she love... lusted, most certainly, but not loved.

As the beautiful and upset lady tossed a handful of jewelry at the rogue, Mythos caught it skillfully in midair. Looking down to his riches filled palm, the knave did not have to examine long to know it was worth quite a bit of money. It would most definitely be enough to hold him over for the time being, plus he wouldn't have to pay for his keep the next few days or more...

"Well then..." Mythos said as he pocked the jewels and turned towards the crying form of Rimoru. "Seeing as we have agreed to this deal... I pledge my fealty and servitude to you - your orders are my command. Shall we go, M'lady?"

"Ah...her looks...marvelous, really. Her hair is like the golden rays of sunlight, her eyes exactly the stone of her nickname; sapphires. Her lips are full and her curves-err...she has the body of an angel..." the old man continued.

*************************************************

The Barkeeper smiled, chuckling at the beautiful woman and nodded. "Of course, my lady. Would ya care ta have mutton stew? An' perhaps milk with that?"

He then turned to Draskin. "Do ya wish ta eat or drink anything, sir?"

***********************************************

"One thing first, Mythos," sobbed the Princess. "You can have all the spoils...but if something of my family name comes up, it's mine, alright?"

Rimoru stood up and pulled out a small parchment, an inkwell, and a quill and began to quickly write something out. "Mythos, go into my closet and pick out what you think I need for a week or so. And pick out nice looking things to. I expect to be going into civilzation, not staying out of it. Also, any sort of item or acessory I should have. You seem to be more of an adventurer sort."

"One thing first, Mythos," sobbed the Princess. "You can have all the spoils...but if something of my family name comes up, it's mine, alright?"

Rimoru stood up and pulled out a small parchment, an inkwell, and a quill and began to quickly write something out. "Mythos, go into my closet and pick out what you think I need for a week or so. And pick out nice looking things to. I expect to be going into civilzation, not staying out of it. Also, any sort of item or acessory I should have. You seem to be more of an adventurer sort."

Though he was a rogue by nature and trade, Mythos still knew he would feel bad if something of a certain importance like that came up and he claimed it. "Alright... you have yourself a contract."

"I beg'n your pardon ma'am, but although I am an adventurer, never have I done such a thing in compliance with a lady... What I am trying to say is... I might not be the best person to be picking out clothes for you," he said somewhat nervously. "You see all I travel with is what you see before you." He presented himself, showing that all he had was the clothes on his back (though also the weapons stashed in front of the palace).

"But if those are your orders... I will do as you command."

Rimoru turned around to look at Mythos, wiping a few tears off her face. "Well, of course I know you aren't the best at picking out clothing...I would do it myself if I wasn't trying to write this note to Relthor!" she growled.

"Just...just find me things you want me to wear..." It was a safe thought. She didn't mind wearing revealing outfits, and especially didn't mind the attention she often recieved while wearing them. However, she would make sure to double check whatever the goon decided to get for her so she wasn't wearing something out of style or fashion.

"Shouldn't you mean has the body of a demoness. Afterall, angels by thier nature are sexless and that seems to be the opposite idea than the one you're trying to get across. Angels are virtue while demons are sin." Itzuki commented as he finished the first stack and wondered hom much time had passed. Around an hour was his guess, but then he didn't have that much of a time sense.

Drasken nodded slowly. "Well, at the very least you fought him off and escaped unscathed, a feat some might have struggled with." His sensitive ears picked up a slight uneasiness, but there were many reasons for people to dislike speaking to the law and he had worked with much shadier people than this woman appeared to be.

He looked slight surprised when she asked about his interest in it; "My interest? My last job expired recentely and there is a sizable reward for anyone able to find Victoria... even split between two people the reward would be more than enough." He left the implication of perhaps working together unsaid. She was clearly a potential target due to her similarity in looks to Rimoru and if he was near her he may be able to learn more about who is behind at least the assasination attempts.

Drasken pulled his attention from the lady to the barkeep. "A significant breakfast if you don't mind, i'll take some water though if you don't mind. I have a full night ahead of me yet and it wouldn't do to start with a fuzzy head." He took out enough coins to pay for both his meal and the womans and put them on the table. He gave an inward sigh, he had been paid handsomely at the end of his last job, being the nightwatchmen everyday paid well as it was the time attacks were most likely to happen and was thus more dangerous and better paid. But he was using it at an annoying rate.

Maya nodded her approval of the barkeeper’s suggestion.
“Yes thank you. That will be fine,” she confirmed.

When Drasken requested a breakfast, a flicker of surprise crossed Maya’s face, then it occurred to her that, since he was a night elf, he probably spent most nights awake, and at least a portion of the day asleep. She noticed that he had chosen to pay for her meal, a decision she wasn’t going to challenge, but she was wary of what he might be after from her.

“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed to his comment about the assassin, “Though as I said, he wasn’t very skilled. Getting rid of him was fairly easy, even for me.” And I didn’t even need to resort to my magic abilities, she thought proudly. She disliked having to use her elemental magic abilities for combat, even though she was fairly skilled at them, regarding them as rather crude methods of fighting. Instead, she used her magic as a tool; to start a fire for warmth at night while travelling, and other such tasks.

So you’re a mercenary, then, she thought, or at least, that’s what it could be brought down to. She had nothing against mercenaries, though she did think doing something like this just for the money was a little cold. She was almost diametrically opposite to a mercenary; she travelled to learn and gain wisdom, and money was purely a tool to allow her to accomplish that in relative comfort.

The silent offer of a partnership did not go unnoticed to Maya, but she wasn’t likely to take it. She wasn’t going to get involved further unless something forced her to, and one misguided assassination attempt wasn’t enough to do that. If it happened again, then she would leave this place, and continue her travels.

Drasken shrugged again and thought about the attack. Cheap assasins then, perhaps an independant source rather than one of the guilds, or perhaps just them thinking the more people trying the more likely she is to die. He saw her glance at the money and not say anything. She seems used to being bought food, either for her beauty or something else. Probably not important. Though he felt compelled to say something about it. "The money is of no matter, just a means to an end. You owe me nothing."

After a moment he asked: "Where was the attack anyway? It might be my best leed before Rimoru stops by here, as she reputably does quite frequently." Just out of curiosity he also said; "If you don't mind me asking, what brought you to this city?"

"Breakfast, sir? Certainly ya mean dinner?" The innkeeper laughed. "Although I suppose I can get ya breakfast food if ya want. I gots meat, some pastries, some stew, cheeses, fruits, many diff'rent things. An' what would ya want ta drink?"

*********************************

"Nay, an angel, lad. You obviously haven't been here before. Or encountered an angel here. The angels are beautiful, there are male and there are female. You may end up seeing one or two sometime soon."

"However, you could also set Rimoru as a demoness, I suppose...she has been known to break men's hearts," the old man replied.

"Just...just find me things you want me to wear..." It was a safe thought. She didn't mind wearing revealing outfits, and especially didn't mind the attention she often recieved while wearing them. However, she would make sure to double check whatever the goon decided to get for her so she wasn't wearing something out of style or fashion.

"As you wish M'lady," Mythos said with a slight bow of his head. He turned towards one of the doors in her room - the one he had not entered from - and opened it to reveal a large closet filled to the brim with all sorts of clothing. Oh my... where to begin. A slight grin appeared on his face as he thought of something funny. Perhaps I should pack her just this... His finger curled around what could only be described as the most revealing of undergarments.

No, I don't think she would be pleased with me... He decided to pack honestly - for the most part - so as not to risk her ire and his future payoffs. Rummaging through the closet, he found different types of beautiful clothing from very revealing to something easier to travel in, though by no means did she have what one would consider typical traveling clothes.

After a few minutes, he had finished his search efforts and packed up her clothes into a bag. "M'lady, I have finished."

Drasken laughed. "For me, this is morning and a good breakfast would be appreciated. I'll take some pastries, cheese and cold meats." He thought for a moment, in his travels he had come across several drinks in his time, but they were not everywhere and he was skeptical of finding it here. "Have you ever heard of a drink called Coffee? perhaps by another name? If not, just bring me some water."

Ahanu seemed realise that a lizard that ate meat and was laying in the sun was not good for him. After a short period of time in the sun, it would be warmed up and able to move faster and think a little better (although if it was able to think better, it might be able to give good answers to harder questions rather than these nothing answers). It is also highly likely that it would try to eat him after getting warm so he thought it would be a good time to take his leave.

“Thank you, great protector for helping me so much with the answers to my questions. I will not bother you any more, but will instead take my leave so I can fetch you those herbs.”

Ahanu, quickly climbed up the tree and jumped to the nearby wall. He then went back to his waiting friend, but still stayed fairly high up just in case that lizard got any ideas to try and eat him. When he got back to the robed figure, he explained everything that stupid and smelly lizard told him. One thing he did not tell his friend was about his offer of the herb to the lizard. After all he made up the whole thing as far as he knew and his friend would feel obligated to go and apologize to the unworthy lizard.

At the end of that, Ahanu went back to exploring the town and staying out of sight. His robed friend, stood up and started walking back to the tavern. (S)He arrived at the Drunken Gnoll tavern in fairly good time. The robed figure watched everyone in the tavern with a close eye on who might be likely to buy her(his) jewelry. (S)He decided to order supper before selling any jewelry because she had a lot to think about.

“Bartender, could one please have some supper and goblet of wine before one starts to sell jewelry?”

"If I had, I wouldn't have gotten myself stuck in this tour racket." Itzuki replied as he sorted another paper. "So how long have you been doing this?"

Rimoru curled up her note and wrapped a neat little bow on it, before setting it down on Pinky's hole. He knows who to give it to, she thought with a sigh. She wiped a few tears away, before turning to reply to Mythos. She glanced at the bag he held and crossed her arms. "I know I am going to regret this...well...not just the clothes, but everything."

Rimoru looked out her window and frowned. "So, how do you plan on getting me out, then?"

*************************************************

"Aye, I get it. Sorry, sir elf. And nay, I ne'er heard of coffee, but if ya tell me what makes it so good, I may be able give ya somethin' like it," the barkeeper by Maya and Draskin replied.

Nearby, the other barkeeper nodded to the jeweler and quickly went to work with his orders, hastily bringing it to the jeweler. "Should be gettin' busy. 'Tis always busy 'round dusk, especially near the time Rimoru decides ta visit...if she visits tonight."

**********************************************

"Aww, lad, I figured you just wanted to talk with ol' Itsini," laughed the old man. "I started about a year or two ago. Wanted to live the low life for a while, rather than the mage I used to be."

The old man laughed and shook his head. "But I sometimes wish I was back in the job."

Rimoru looked out her window and frowned. "So, how do you plan on getting me out, then?"

Dropping her bag lightly on the bed, Mythos crossed the room to the giant open windows. Just in case, he stayed back a bit so that someone glancing up didn't notice him. His eyes took in the outside surroundings of her room before he turned back to his lovely benefactor.

"Well, first may I ask you how you escaped the tower? It would seem that you could get your way out of here if you wanted..." Mythos mused. Most likely the wall and guards prevented her from escaping by using whatever method she had previously utilized. Pity... I could have simply left through the front door then...

"I was thinking we would use the window..."

"You were a mage? Of what school? And is it based in this city?" Itzuki asked as if there were any decent schools speciallizing in air, he could possibly get in some practice against them.

When Drasken passed a comment about the money, Maya looked at him, one eyebrow slightly raised, fully aware of the part that went unsaid.
“Well, you seemed to decide to pay for my meal without any input from me, and you seem like a pleasant person, so I saw no reason to say anything,” she told him, “I would have thanked you when I was finished, but since you have made the point, I’m more than happy to pay for it myself.”

She drew out a few silver coins from the money pouch somewhere beneath her cloak and tossed them onto the table next to those the elf had put out. She looked away, out across the tavern as she answered the questions.
“Not far from here, there is a tree in a clear spot on one side of the street. That is where I was attacked,” she replied, “And my feet brought me here. While that may sound like a joke, it is not. I wander the world at will, in search of knowledge and wisdom. So it was my feet that brought me here, rather than any particular reason.”

"Well, My body isn't the only thing that can get things my way," Rimoru in response to his question of her escaping. She opened her palm and blew into it gently, small butterflies of frost fluttering out of it and gently landing on Mythos' head and shoulders. "But I can't deny the fact that my body seems to attact a lot of attention."

She smiled weakly and walked up to Mythos charmingly and fluttered her eyes at him. "Do you think so?" She enjoyed playing with Mythos. When they first met in the bar, she did so because she thought he loved her...and she did enjoy his company, perhaps even loving him in return. But, it was their first meeting and he did leave a bad impression. Now, she enjoyed enticing him, torturing him with what he could have had. But he will most likely never get the chance of having ever again...

She looked towards the window and opened it with a push, her arms extending to either side of her as she leaned off of the ledge. She smiled and took a huge breath, before returning to Mythos. "It may work...the trees may provide cover and I could perhaps try to dampen our sound. I'm afraid I am not skilled enough with Illusionary magic to turn us near invisibility...as much as I ask Relthor to teach me," she grinned widely.
***********************************************

"Aye, I was a mage at the College of Illusions. It was a very exciting area of expertise, but alas, Illusionary magic is not quite in high demand anymore. And the Mages Guild does offer classes for those who wish to enroll. Human children as young as four, and their racial equivilents, are allowed to join up. Bad thing is, they don't get to see much of their parents."

"Most schools make their headquarters here, however a good many more are elsewhere. But you will find Magicka Academias from all schools here."

Drasken considered how to describe coffee for a moment before answering. "It is a slightly bitter drink, its taste is not spectacular, but it is drunk for its restorative effect, it stimulates the mind and body, waking the drinker up for the while. A favourite of those who work long days, don't trouble yourself overly if you do not have an equivalent."

He then returned his attention to Maya, surprised at her response over the money. "No offence was meant. It is merely that most people i have spoken to made some fuss over if i paid for them or were suspicious of my actions. I was just trying to clarify. Take your money back." He gave a smile.

Drasken listened intently to her words and then made a mental note of the location of the tree, he would take a look soon. At her method of exploration he responded: "Fair enough. I prefer to allow fate to guide my steps. Playing the role of a night watchmen for travelling caravans has lead me to many strange and not so strange places, though i rarely revisit a place i have already seen."

After a moment he spoke again in a pensive manner with an honest tone in his voice. "If fate was kind enough to lead me to Victoria and i did claim the reward for this i don't think i would settle down, there are many places to see yet." He smiled as he reasoned that taking that quantity of money with him would call undue attention and be more trouble than it was worth. He would either have to find some way to spend it or give it away.

"Why would I join? I was thinking more of challenge to those willing." Itzuki replied with a bit of a chortle.

"Isn't that what Gutrot does ta ya?" The barkeeper laughed at Drasken as he walked over to the counter. "If ya want Gutrot, tell me, or I'll just give ya water, like ya asked. And for ya, milady, mutton stew an' milk."

*************************************************

"Hasty decisions, child. I never said anything about you joining," the old man sighed, shaking his head disapprovingly. "And I thought you had learned."

"Can't people that've learned have fun with other people who're likely arrogant?" He asked with a wee bit of a smirk.

Itsini chuckled and pat Itzuki on the back. "I don't know who the arrogant one is. But I am fairly sure you can find yourself a challenge there. There tends to be many a hot-headed, arrogant youth that needs a good bit of discipline every once in a while."

The old man stood up, a few bones creaking as he hobbled towards the doorway and looked out. He smiled as he noticed the sun setting and leaned against the wall. "You've done yourself a good job, boy. I'd say you've done your share. But may I suggest stopping by the Drunken Gnoll tavern...Rimoru will possibly make her traditional appearance there once the sun sets."

"Then it sounds like fun." Itzuki commented as knocking the heads of competitors together was part and parcel of Airtrek.

"Thank you, and where is this tavern where the divine Rimoru is suppose to frequent?"

"Isn't that what Gutrot does ta ya?" The barkeeper laughed at Drasken as he walked over to the counter. "If ya want Gutrot, tell me, or I'll just give ya water, like ya asked. And for ya, milady, mutton stew an' milk."


Drasken shrugged and smiled. "Kind of, but coffee does it with significantly less gutrotting." He considered the options. "I think i'll take a water then."

"Just down the street. About a few city blocks so. It's on the corner with a large wooden sign hanging down from it. You shouldn't miss it," Itsini replied.

************************************************

"Alright then, water it is," The barkeeper replied with a smile as he bowed to them and walked through a wooden door to the kitchen and began to get the orders.

"Then I'll possibly see you later after I go check out this tavern. So long Itsini." Itzuki replied as he headed out of the building and took a two step jump onto the wall as he began riding the walls to the Drunken Gnoll Tavern.

Landing lightly, he entered and after taking a quick look around, headed for a table.

“Thank you for the food. One is sure it will be very good. The lady you mentioned, one may have seen her today. Does she happen to have long blond hair and blue eyes? If so, one is not sure if she will visit today. There were some very forceful men hurrying her into the palace and she did not seem like she thought she would be out soon.”

As (s)he ate his(her) food, (s)he started organizing thoughts about how to go about selling jewelry to the others in the tavern. When finished eating, (s)he went around to some of the customers and started to sell her(his) jewelry. When arriving at the table with the blond, blue eyed woman and the dark, but white haired man, (s)he paused, but then continued towards them.

“Lady, you look so much like another that one has seen earlier today. The lovely jewelry that one thought would match her eyes and hair would also match yours. Unlike that lady, you look as though you might travel away from civilization so practical items would be better. Would you like a golden hair clasp that one has made? This one made into a pair of ravens, like the ravens that carry knowledge to the Father God of the North, would be perfect for you. The bodies also contain small vials. One can help you fill these vials with whatever potion you want.”

“As for you sir, one is reminded of a friend that is dark with green eyes and is also an imposing figure. If one's friend wore jewelry, one would offer this sliver pendent of a great snow owl. You can even pull the head of the owl and a blade of steel will come out. If you put a little poison or other potion on the blade, you would never be without protection, even if it looked like you were.”

Addressing them both (s)he said, “Of course this is all one has right now. Custom jewelery can be made, although at a higher cost.”

While Ahanu was wandering around the tavern, he noticed a creature came out of the air and landed in front of the tavern. It didn't seem to have dropped from anywhere nor did it have wings so how could it have flown. It was definitely not a bird, for birds don't have tusks. His great curiosity sparked, Ahanu followed the creature into the tavern, but stayed to the shadows and corners. He noticed his friend talking to others, but did not feel he needed to warn his friend of this new creature. As he crept in the shadows he took note of the distinct lack of feathers and pictured how this creature would look with bright lavender feathers. Ahanu wrinkled his nose, it would be a pretty distasteful sight. He then wondered how to make the creature fly again.

Maybe he could scare it. He looked around for a way to scare the creature. If he knocked one of those glasses off the shelf it might break and scare the creature. Judging where the creature was going, Ahanu picked out his target glass and worked his way over to it, staying out of sight. When he arrived where the glass was, he was pleasantly surprised. There were two glasses he could knock near the creature! Ahanu's whiskers twitched. This would work much better.

Ahanu shoved both glasses off the counter where they crashed at the creature's feet. He quickly leaped off the shelf, and past the creature's ear. Landing on the table, he knocked many dishes aside in his mad scramble. He scurried onto the floor in the direction of his friend. He quickly raced under his(her) robes knowing that he was now protected, but quickly looked out to see if the creature flew.

Maya smiled in response, reaching out and taking back the coins she had added to Drasken’s, her hand disappearing into her cloak once again, then reappearing a few seconds later without the coins.
“Oh, I’m a little suspicious of you, I’ll admit to that, but that’s no reason to turn down a free meal, now, is it?” she told him, then laughed. Like her voice, her laughter had an almost musical quality, similar to running water in a mountain stream. “Thank you for the meal then.”

As Drasken continued to speak, she listened offhandedly, but found herself concentrating more than she intended when he spoke of what he would do if he did find Victoria. Perhaps not so mercenary after all, she realised, I may have misjudged you somewhat. She had guessed at his decision regarding the reward; as a traveller herself, she knew the perils of carrying large amounts of valuables on your person.

When they were approached by a peddler, Maya groaned inwardly. Why do people have to keep seeing the similarities between me and that Rimoru woman? she asked herself, I don’t care that I haven’t seen much of this place. If this happens once more, I’m leaving tomorrow, as soon as I’ve reported the assassination attempt. She looked at the peddler, who seemed to be selling jewellery, though whether it was a man or a woman, she couldn’t quite tell.

“No thank you,” she told the woman politely. “I try not to burden myself with needless possessions.” In fact, the only possession she had that truly had no benefit to her whatsoever was the silver pendant she wore next to her skin, completely hidden from view. And that was something she would not get rid of.

Drasken returned Maya's smile. "Thank you for the information." Before turning his attention to the peddler. He examined 'it', but couldn't decide whether it was male or female, he was not troubled though, appearences can be decieving, it was almost reassuring to find that in this case, appearence would almost deffinately be decieving.

He thought about it's offer and replied. "It sounds like an item which may be useful, does it come in other designs or just the owl? What is the length of the blade?" He had on occasion found himself disarmed or unarmed and a spare weapon would be useful, especially one that was not entirely obvious at first glance. His tone was non-commital and one more of curiosity than one intent on buying it, though he might consider it.

Itzuki leaped slightly back, a bit longer than a hop but nowhere near a jump, as the glasses shattered after being knocked a large rodent like creature. He watched it scurry accross a table sending the dishes and thier contents flying before diving under a boy's robes.

Walking over, "Sir, did you know that you have a rodent under your robe, and that it just made a mess."

He'd asked partially to self-clear himself so he wouldn't have to do dishes later and partially in case the boy didn't realize he had vermin somewhere in the near vicinity of his feet.

“My lady, one can admire a person who lacks attachment to material things.”

Turning to the dark man, (s)he pulled the blade out of the pendent. “As you can see the blade is about four inches long. One can make other designs for you, but one does not have any on hand. What kind of designs would you have in mind?”

(S)He heard a crash, glanced over and saw his(her) friend. When (s)he felt movement under his(her) cloak, (s)he knew Ahanu was there. When the man asked if (s)he knew that Ahanu was there, (s)he responded, “One knows that one's friend is here and is willing to pay for the damages that he caused. One will discuss this with the tavern keeper as his leisure. One's friend often does not anticipate the consequences of his actions. Has he caused you any other problems? One is accustomed to making things right after he has made things messy. He really is too curious for his own good. If one was to hazard a guess, without talking to him, one would assume that there was something about you that attracted him.”

Drasken tensed slightlt examined the blade, he had seen enough people killed with short blades while thy thought they were buying something. Regardless it seemed of good enough quality and would work well enough if it was needed. "Do you know of any symbols of luck which would accomadate a blade such as one of these?" He asked, indicating the blade. "If so, how long would it take to produce one and how much?" He glanced over the person who had walked up, his speech sounded of higher quality than the usual folk, but Drasken dismissed him out of hand.

After showing the blade, the jeweler placed the blade back. “In many cultures the owl is considered a symbol of luck. Were you thinking more along symbols to put onto the blade? One can put some of those on the blade if you wish. It would only take a day to change this one so it has symbols on the blade, but, to make a completely new one, it would take two to three weeks depending on how complicated you wish it to be. Other good luck symbols that would fit such a pendent would include: a scarab beetle, a lady bug, a frog, an elephant, or three keys together. The elephant would have the blade in it's trunk. The three keys could be formed to have two blades that could be pulled out.”

Satisfied that she had deterred the peddler from further attempting to sell anything to her, Maya looked around for any sign of the barkeeper with her food, when a minor commotion drew her attention. She looked around, catching a movement on the floor out of the corner of her eye. She glanced down, the movement had been near the peddler’s cloak, but she could see nothing.

<Kaolai, what was that?> she asked.
<Don’t know. Mouse, squirrel, ferret. Something like that. Didn’t get a good look,> replied the spirit.
<Some help you are,> she chided lightly, <But was it a pet, do you think? Or something else?>
<You are thinking of a familiar, perhaps? Possibly. Like most people you seem to come across, it seems this peddler’s appearance is deceptive,> Kaolai told her, <Though if it is such a creature, I have no idea what skills this woman may possess.>

Maya looked up again, seeing that the peddler was in conversation with a man, apparently about the disturbance caused by the creature, though she had missed overhearing the details of the exchange due to her interaction with Kaolai. She also saw that Drasken was looking at the pendant with the concealed dagger. Such weapons seemed to be common, though she had little use for them, since she had her elemental abilities to rely on in an emergency.

"And if he has, what do you think is a fair?" Itzuki asked as he watched the strange boy. "And if you can talk with him, perhaps asking might garner a more accurate reason for the actions. If those like him are going to be poinging around me, I'd prefere knowing why."

"Then I can decide if I want its pelt or not." He added mentally as he tended to disliked vermin and rodents definately fell into the catagory.

Selim stepped into the tavern cautiously, hoping not to draw too much attention to himself as he did so. He worried that the previous days events had made his face too well known throughout the city; so far, however, he hadn't been approached by anybody yet. Selim had just paid a visit to an old friend, a sort of repair man for Golems. Plenty of those types lived in the city, usually acting like antiuqe dealers or merchants. Now that his puppets were fully repaired and his name was cleared, he was once again free to roam the city.

He stopped and looked around the tavern, suddenly noticing the jeweler he had seen earlier; quickly looking in the other direction, he strode to the bar and sat down.

"Whiskey." He put some coins on the table and looked at the bartender.

"O-o-of c'ourse," Mythos stumbled. There was no denying the alluring and entrancing nature of her body. A simple swish of her hips could make a man melt; a glance from her sapphire eyes was enough to make a saint unfaithful; the sweet sound of her voice urged men to do her bidding. Though Mythos was particularly talented in certain areas, and even what women would call 'dreamy,' he was no match for Rimoru's power. For all he cared, his lovely seductress could toy with him for all eternity.

His mind batted back and forth between his mission and his view of her angelic body. One moment he was formulating their next move, and then the next he found himself entranced by her overwhelming beauty.

"That would be... most useful," Mythos attempted to say without stumbling over his words. "But how do we get you out of here? Can you tell me of the protections this palace holds?"

“Reparations would depend on the degree and type of injury. They would vary widely depending on that.” Glancing down, (s)he noticed the skrit was secreted in an interior pocket. “One is sorry to say, but one's friend seems a bit intimidated to talk here. He may be willing to talk to one later in a quieter place.”

"Enh, don't worry about it, but you might want to warn him about the potential consequences of his actions. The next person might want his head on a pike just for annoying them." Itzuki commented as he turned and headed back to the table he'd been heading for.

Just as he took a seat he feel asleep, leaving him leaning at an odd angle.

Rimoru giggled and gently leaned on Mythos, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes momentarily, day dreaming herself within his arms in a glittering romance. Him truly sweeping her off her feet and being the one she always wanted. She breathed quietly, not answering any question before looking up at him with a sad smile and sad eyes. "You flatter me, Mythos," she said finally, pushing off his muscular chest slowly and falling onto her bed.

"Alright, well. I usually escape through the window by climbing onto that big tree there. From there, I make my way to the ground and hide in the bushes as the guards walk by, usually keeping themselves entertained. Sometimes I just love to hide in the bushes and listen to them. The things they say can be so...scandelous!" Rimoru giggled and turned to her side, propping her head on her hand as she smiled at Mythos. "I feel so loved around them..." she added. "Anyways, after the patrol walks by, we follow, I use my dampen sound spell, we walk out the main gates. If a guard gets in my way...perhaps a bit of persuasion will do, on my part. As much as you are a sly fox, the guards won't like the fact that you are in here."

She laughed and rolled onto her stomach now. "All the enchanments of the palace? Why? Do you wish to truly save me next time and take me with you to live a life happily ever after?" she asked with a chuckle. Again, perhaps she wished he would. But then again...he betrayed her before.

"I'll let you know that the walls are somewhat complicated. What I know for sure is that it is enchanted with some sort of trap. When a spell is cast upon it, it discharges a dispel spell and a rather lethal random spell. Well, not quite lethal. More like really painful," she answered. She wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Dispel spell..." she giggled again. "And to prevent people from going above the walls, some sort of ancient shell has been placed around the perimeters. Father had been able to push the boundaries a bit every year to expand the palace. They only open up around the main entrance, back entrance, and the fa-" she stopped and placed her fingers over her mouth. She looked up at Mythos and a smile broke out on her lips. "Is that good enough for you?"

***********************************************

The barkeeper came back to Maya and Drasken, placing their orders in front of them. "Enjoy," he chuckled with a bow. "Hope ya like it. Made it fresh fer me two favorite costomers o' the day."

Just then, some sort of long furry thing scurried past him, the sound of two glasses smashing into the floor. "Rats! I got rid o' 'em last week! They were the special o' the day!" the barkeeper laughed, making it seem as though it were a joke. However those who did come that last week were surprised to find a distinct flavored stew amongst the usual menu.

"Jeweler, if yer pet's gonna ruin our stuff, please take it outside!" the barkeeper said as he searched around for the skrit. The guards nearby had begun to unsheath their sword before the barkeeper waved them away.
***

"Aye, Whiskey it is then," one of the other barkeepers laughed as he prepared the mug for the very short man in front of him. As the barkeeper gave him the large cup, he narrowed his eyes. The man seemed strangely familiar...someone shackled and headed towards the palace. The bartender shrugged and sat down in front of the newcomer. However, when the guards looked his way, he pointed to the short man.
***********************************************

A tall, handsome man, with blue-grey eyes and black hair walked into the tavern. He wore a dark green cape with gold embroidery. His boots were made of a fine leather, his shirt was a dark blue with the same gold embroidery. On his left breast was the large coat of arms of the Ifrete household.

He walked in with a sense of purpose as his boots clacked against the wooden floors. Behind him walked in two heavily clad guards, their faces concealed behind their helmets.

The black haired man with the youthful grin searched around the tavern, stopping at someone that looked very familiar. Rimoru...

He stepped up behind her and set both hands on her shoulders. "Looks like I found you this time, Sister," the man hissed in her ear. "I was told I would be able to find you here...and it looks like you are. Didn't surprise me to find you flirting with random men, Rimmy."

Maya thanked the barkeeper, though she raised an eyebrow at the joke concerning the rats. She wasn’t sure why, but she had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t a joke. She had just picked up the spoon to begin eating, when she felt the hands fall on her shoulders. She also heard the voice in her ear, which actually made things worse. Her response was as fast as it was violent.

There was a loud crackling, and she rammed her left elbow back into the man’s stomach, the impact throwing him backwards. In an instant, she was on her feet and facing the man; her staff held in her right hand while her left was held up and pointed towards the man, tiny sparks of electricity running up and down her forearm. Similar sparks could be seen on the man, causing his muscles to twitch from the electrical discharge.

“How dare you lay your hands on me, you hou na mang?” she asked accusingly. There was a distinctly hard edge to her voice now, the musical tone completely gone. “Qin ra tuvai du pau!” Though she had made it sound like one, the second phrase was not actually an insult; she had called upon the spirits to heighten her reflexes, just in case. “I’m not your whorish sister, and you would do well to confirm someone’s identity before doing something like that.”

<Maya, that’s likely to be one of Rimoru’s brothers. And he has guards with him. Be careful,> interjected Kaolai.
<I know,> she replied tersely. And I’m leaving tomorrow, she confirmed to herself.

Drasken considered the options he had been given while th eother man interrupted and distracted the vender. Two to three weeks could be longer than he had intended to stay, but, with these events it could turn out that way. When the other man wandered off Drasken said: "I think i would prefer the three keys. How much would that cost?" To the barkeeper who brought him his food he nodded his thanks.

His attention was distracted when a man bearing the crest of the Ifrete, someone important by the guards trailing him, grabbed Maya. Drasken raised an eyebrow at her reaction, but stood slowly with one hand near his scimitar in preperation if he had to defend himself. "Easy now." He moved to stand next to Maya, placed his hand on her outstretched arm and in a calm, but still relatively forceful manner tried to make her lower it. Though the motion was casual and might not be noticed for what it was by the guards. "We don't want any trouble, especially with such an esteemed Ifrete." He used Ifrete in the sense of a member of the house rather than meaning he was a member of the family itself.

Immediately, the imperial guards brought out their swords and held them out under Draskin's neck and Maya's. "End your onslaught and come with us. You have attacked one of the royals and must submit to punishment. Or we shall kill you ourselves..."

On the other side of the tavern, the inn guards also pulled out their weapons to aide in the royal's defense.

Bar patrons dived under benches, chairs, or other sorts of cover. The bartender ran up to Maya, a look of astonishment on his face. "Please, my lady...simple mistake!" He brought his face close to her ears. "'Tis lord Athral Ifrete, my lady..." He too was shivering in fear. He didn't want such a lovely patron killed or imprisoned, nor did he want to recieve the wrath of the Ifretes. He was in deep water as it was, housing Rimoru when she was supposed to remain in her palace at night.

The young adult lay twitching in pain, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. He brought up one twitching arm and gasped something unintelligible.

He paused to regain his breath. "Stop...my fault..." he wheezed. The guards turned to him, not quite sure if they should follow orders or not. What if she killed him when they put away their blades. What if she was responsible for the disappearance of Victoria?

"Stop your assualt now, woman, or feel the wrath of the Ifrete's," shouted one of the Royal Guardsmen.

Maya glared fiercely at Athral, and did not look at Drasken, resisting his pressure on her arm, a feat that took considerable effort from her even though he was not trying overly hard. Her improved reflexes allowed her to compress the air around her neck so that the sword would not be able to easily harm her, but she made no other reaction. If she did, she knew there would be a fight, and this wasn’t worth it.

When Athral ordered the guards to stand down, and they gave her the ultimatum, her gaze flicked from the fallen Ifrete to the guard whose blade was near her throat.
“I made no assault,” she told them firmly, “I was merely defending myself.” However, she let her arm drop under the pressure from Drasken’s arm, and opened her right hand, letting the staff fall to the floor, as well as releasing her concentration on the reflex charm.

“If you want an excuse for my actions, know that you are not the first to mistake me for your sister today,” she said clearly, both for Athral and the guards, though mostly for the former. “The other was an assassin, after her life. So I hope you understand that I am not in the mood for surprises.”

The woman's knocking around of Rimoru's brother had caused him to upset a table which had resulted in Itzuki being knocked off his precarious perch on the chair. Stretching, he realized he'd fallen asleep again and gave a minor mental curse at that fact.

Sighing, he got to his feet. Looking at a cowering bar patron, he asked, "What happened and why do these guards have swords on those two? And who is he for that matter?"

The he in question was the young Ifrete. When Itzuki yawned, the lady looked vaguely like the other lady he'd met when Relthor was in the process of throwing him out, but only vaguely.

A curse on all Ifretes...Selim looked up from his drink to view Athral Ifrete, one of Rimoru's brothers. The two had never met in person, but Selim knew enough about Athral's physical prowess to avoid him previously. The two unlucky patrons were in an unfortunate situation, but the status of thier hides wasn't his concern. The status of his hide, however, definetly was. He took a short look at the women who Athral had mistaken for his sister; of course, the women wasn't Rimoru-Selim himself had taken care of that-but the two looked remarkably similar.

Focusing back to the task at hand, Selim took a mental step backwards to analyze the situation. Under normal circumstances, he could of relatively easily outfought the handfull of armed guards present, but Athral completely changed the situation. Not to mention, of course, Lord Ifrete wouldn't be too please if Selim managed to harm his esteemed son.

Selim wisely decided that a swift escape would be the most wise course of action. Tip-toeing slowly backwards to avoid drawing attention to himself, he began to his way towards the taven exit, desperetely hoping he wouldn't be noticed.

The guards immediately comfiscated her staff and backed away from her.

Athral backed away, his twitches slowing down. He gulped in air and blinked at Maya and shook his head. "Please, my lady. I made a horrid mistake...." He looked at his guards and shooed them away with a motion of his hand. "I'm sorry...you don't look like my sister...but from the back...I'm sorry," Athral said, getting a bit red in the face.

"Please...tell me about this assassin...I'd be happy to pay for something for you...food, drink, room. Let me make it up to you," Athral said as he straightened up and regained his regal form. He took her staff from his guards and held it out for her to take.

*******

The bar patron looked at Itzuki and then back at the events unfolding. "Dunno...methinks the woman tried to kill Athral Ifrete, that boy...but he's negotiatin' with her now..."

*******

As one of the barkeepers noticed Selim walking away, he walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Eh, Hey you. Come back 'ere! Ya didn't pay!" he said, walking up to the man.

"Thank's." He replied as he walked over toward Athral, not really paying attention to the fact that there were guards in the vicinity that were likely a bit testy at the moment.

When a sword was levelled at Draskens neck he prepared to pull back and drag Maya with him if necessary should attack. She resisted his trying to push her arm down, but evently agreed to calm herself, much to Draskens relief and things returned to being civil. He released her arm and relaxed himself.

As the talking began a thought occured to him; I want to get into the palace, perhaps this is my ticket. He claims Rimoru is his siter, this must be Athral then. "My Lord Ifrete, if i could be so bold as to suggest we might head back to the palace?" He glanced around the inn, seeing some people approaching and another heading for the door. "If somebody is after Rimoru's life, then your's could be at risk as well, news of this event will travel quickly."

Selim jumped as the barkeep tapped his shoulder; he turned around, hissed, and shoved a few coins into his hands; desperetely hoping not to be noticed, he continued his pursuit for freedom outside the tavern, but he knew it was close to hopless; the guards would have surely noticed him by now. Still, he kept going, pressing his back flat against the wall and inching closer and closer to the door. He was now directly behind Athral, and almost out of the Tavern.

Maya bowed her head slowly in acceptance of Athral’s apology.
“I may have overreacted for my part,” she conceded. “We were both at fault.”

She stepped forward and wrapped her hand around the proffered staff, slowly taking it from Athral’s hand. She then set it down behind her, resting the weapon against the table she had been sitting at once again.
“That’s really not necessary,” she said in response to his offer, “This kind gentleman was generous enough to buy me dinner,” she indicated Drasken, “And I am quite willing to pay for my lodgings tonight. But thank you anyway.”

She sat back down at the table. “I will tell you everything I know about this assassin, though.” She smiled, and picked up the spoon again, gesturing at her food. “Just as long as you don’t mind me eating while I do so.” Her voice was back to normal again, now that things had settled down once more.

Then Drasken suggested that they relocate to the palace. Maya didn’t think there was much chance of that happening, what with the supposed increasing of security; they were hardly likely to let two complete strangers enter, particularly since she had attacked Athral, albeit through an understandable mistake.

Athral looked at Drasken and gave him a slight bow. "Greetings, sir. I am Athral Ifrete, youngest of the Ifretes and unfortunate sibling of Rimoru." He gave the bearest hint of a smile. "Please, my lady. It is the least I can do. Let me pay for your stay, atleast this one night."

As she was about to speak of her story, he chuckled and waved his hand. "Go ahead. I can understand being hungry." He backed up a bit and leaned against a table as his guards looked around, making sure the area was safe.

One figure caught their eye however. A certain man slinking away. They motioned towards him and both walked to him, grabbing his shoulders and pinning him to the wall.

"You look familiar..." they growled as they unsheathed daggers with their other hand.

"....Shit."

Selim had just enough time to unsling his giant bag and push it to the side before the guards drew their weapons and slammed him against the wall. Damnit! So close, too! There was no time to summon anything big that could take on this many guards, so he went without a fight. He hoped no one had noticed his little trick.

"Hey, wait a minute! I'm a free citizen! You can't do this to me!" Selim struggled hopelessly in the arms of the large, beefy guards, looking for help. He pointed towards Athral. "You! Ifrete! Tell your men to unhand me. I'm a....business associate of your fathers!"

"So, you're an Ifrete?" Itzuki asked as he'd gotten fairly close to Athral while the guards had gone after someone else. "If so, I take it you know Relthor?"

Athral turned around as his guards slammed a man against the wall, his hand falling to a hilt hidden within his cloak. He slowly began to walk up to him, recognizing him just slightly. "Where have I seen you before?" he asked quietly, narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"He was the one who kidnapped Rimoru, sir," the guard replied. "I say we kill him."

Athral's face fell as he stared up at Selim. "No, don't do that...father would want him in the dungeons first."

"As you command sir," one of the guards replied.

"Kill him!" one of the bar patrons roared, followed by a few agreements.

"Get away!" growled one of the guards as they tried to push away the rowdy group.

Athral turned his back to them to address Maya again when someone suddenly walked up to him, asking if he was an Ifrete. "I...yes...and I do know Relthor. Why do you ask?"

Suddenly, one of the guards yelled something like "Get off!"

However the tavern seemed to grow quiet as one of the patrons lunged at Selim, dodging the guard's free arm, driving his dagger into Selim's chest.

"Just wondering if you knew why he was in a snit earlier today?" Itzuki replied as he saw a drunkard, or presumably so, attack the restrained person. "But more pressing at the moment is yon person of questionable morality is in trouble."

Selim stared at the rather large dagger potruding from his chest; the guards let go of his arms as the tavern watched the grim spectacle in silence. With great effort, he brought his hand up to the hilt of the dagger; his other arm reached out and grabbed the patron who had sunk the weapon into him. With a strangely metallic sound, Selim wrenched the dagger from his midsection, bringing his eyes up to the surrounding crowd. No blood poured from the wound.

"That wasn't very smart of you."

Grossly, Selim's head started to spin on his neck as he yanked and twisted the unfortunate patron's arm out of it's socket; throwing the man to the ground, long steel blades emerged from his arms as he turned to face the repulsed crowd and the confused guards. The blades started to rotate threateningly like massive drills as the inhuman creature began to advance. A pair of guards advanced with their swords unsheathed, trying to kill the thing; the puppet easily parried their blows, spinning their weapons out of their hands in a matter of moments. A third guard who had started sneaking behind
his enemy recived a vicious kick in the stomach, sending him flying through a window and out onto the street.

As the guards floundered backwards, waiting for orders, Selim's large bag opened seemingly of it's own accord, with none other than it's owner clawing his way out. He held a big multi-loaded crossbow in his hands; two more dopplegangers emerged from the bag as well, withdrawing their concealed weapons.

"Someone's going to pay for this," Selim said angrily, pointing at the original puppet. "I just got that fixed!"

As the tusked man turned away from the jeweler, (s)he frowned and a sharp eye could see a little steam curling out of the corners his(her) mouth. (S)He quickly regained control and said calmly to the bartender, “Honored sir, one's friend will not cause anymore trouble for he will not leave one's person until one has left this wonderful establishment.”

Turning back to the dark man, (s)he was about to tell him what the price of the pendent would be, when the woman was surprised by someone else. The jewelery disappeared and the staff was tightly gripped in his(her) hands in a moment. (S)He also took a step back so that there was a little more room to move as well as having an easy escape route if it was needed. When the fight started looking unlikely the jeweler was about to go back to discussing prices with the dark man. (S)He did not put aside the staff or pull out more jewelery so there was none to put away when a second later when one of the men she had seen earlier started struggling to get away from two guards. Gripping the staff again the jeweler prepared to either defend or run. When copies of the man came out of a bag, a slight surprise showed on her(his) face, but the stance did not change one bit.

"He does seem a bit of trouble," Athral replied as he backed away slowly. He pulled out a long elegant plade with strange ruins embedded into the side.

The barkeeper nearest Maya shrieked and began to walk backwards. "Mylady, now may be a good idea to run from this demon..."

There were many shouts of demons and the such from the crowd, however Athral assumed they were automatons or golems. Grosteque golems...

"I hope you have enough money to get them all fixed," Athral called out to the man with the crossbows as he fired off a bolt of electricity at the crossbow wielding man. Athral assumed that if he pummeled the man enough, he may call off his minions...but he was taking a rather large chance...the minions could turn on any one of the bar patrons...

"I guess he didn't have as much trouble as might have been initially assumed." Itzuki commented mostly to himself.

"Hey, puppetmaster, why not just put those toys away, pay the barkeep, and be on your surly way. That way your toys don't get broken, the barkeep keeps his bar in reasonable shape, and no one gets hurt. If you want to seek reparations and are a friend of his father, I'm sure you can get the money to fix that toy from him." He called out to the man armed with the crossbow.

While it tended to be fun to play with puppetmasters, it could also get messy and that'd probably land him back in Itsini's clutches filing away more paperwork.

"Demon my ass!" Selim held his hand up, said a few whispered words, and summoned a dark gray shield around his person. The lightning bolt hit it's center, traveling around it's circumference and dying out, absorbed into the darkness of the magical barrier. It wasn't an very strong blow, but Selim was surprised to find that it seemed quite refined, and probably could have been much mightier. There was more to these Ifretes than met the eye.


Selim raised his crossbow defensively as several patrons and guards started to form together and slowly push forward. Surprisingly, even the strange jeweler took up arms. Selim looked scathingly at the man who suggested he leave.

"Shut up, boy. I have no intention of fighting-this is one of the best bars in town, anyways. Imagine what would happen to my reputation if I ruined it? No, I won't fight unless you lot makes me." Selim stared pointedly at Athral. "And I don't like having magic shot at me either, even if it's from Lord Ifretes' son." His golems kept a tight perimeter around him, occasionally slashing out at any guards that edged too close.

"I'd just like to clear my name. First off, I didn't kidnap your sister, Athral. She went missing from the palace, and your father hired me to bring her back-by any means necessary. She refused and made a scene, so I had to take her in somewhat forcefully, after which your town guards apprehended both of us and threw us in the palace." Selim rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I do hope you can forgive me for doing your father's bidding."

“Well, if you insist, I suppose I can allow it,” Maya relented, smiling at Athral. She took a mouthful of the stew, then made to begin her account of the assassination, but she stopped on seeing the guards apprehending someone. Since Athral went over to find out what was going on, she carried on eating and waited for him to return.

However, the tavern suddenly erupted into noise, the patrons getting angry and encouraging violence. Maya sighed, wondering why this day seemed to be going so badly. Then, just as it appeared the outburst had settled down, she saw someone lunge forward and drive a dagger into the man held by the guards.

The revelation that the man was a fake surprised her, but only by it’s unexpected nature. Now that it had become apparent, she recognised the duplicates for what they were, having seen such things in the past.
“These are no demons,” she told the terrified barkeeper calmly. “Just magical constructs.”

The situation was rapidly getting ugly, and Maya found she had two choices. She could remove herself from harm, like most of the patrons, or she could make use of her talents, which, being much rarer than construct control, might be able to bring about a peaceful solution. However, it might also cause a panic, which would probably result in a bloodbath.

<Kaolai? What do you think?> she asked the spirit.
<I say either stay out of it, or just use your elemental abilities,> the spirit replied, <These people are afraid enough of the automatons, your spirits would probably make things worse.>
<I know. But they may be able to discourage the controller from attacking, if he is outnumbered,> suggested Maya. <I don’t think I’m able to freeze him in place, certainly not all of them. And the palace guards don’t seem to know how to deal with this.>
<I see what you mean,> admitted Kaolai. <Well then, perhaps the spirits will be of use. You can always release them if they cause problems.>

She had overheard the exchange between Athral and the stranger, and was starting to understand what was going on. Instead of reinforcing the guards or disabling the automatons, she would attempt to act as a peacemaker. She was, after all, an independent party.

“Do not be alarmed. I am going to summon a spirit,” she told the barkeeper near her. “Ah sang beh. Behnu ra fan kuu,” she chanted softly.

The humanoid spirit form drew itself up out of the floor, identical to the one she had summoned earlier, carrying a long sword and shield. Once it had fully formed, Maya walked calmly forward, past Athral and planted herself fearlessly in between the two parties, setting the tip of her staff on the floor. The spirit form followed her, and stood beside her; purely there for her own protection in case one or both parties decided they didn’t want a peaceful outcome. It was facing the automatons, but only because they seemed like the greater threat.

“I’m sure you can resolve this peacefully. There should be no fighting here,” she declared. “If you were thinking straight, you would realise this is not the best way to go about clearing your name,” she told the stranger. “And you are being rather heavy handed. Violence is rarely the best solution to such situations,” she pointed out to Athral.

Selim inspected the Rimoru look-alike standing in front of him; she was a bold one, all right. He cast a sharp eye on the spirit that accompanied her; Selim had never been able to deal with ghosts and the like very well. Normal defensive magic sometimes acted weirdly against such apparitions, and he didn't like the idea of being vulnerable. Of course, this one girl and her "friendly ghost" didn't intimidate him; Selim had more powerful things in his bottemless bag of tricks than just a few puppets.

"You're brave, girl." Selim pointed his crossbow in her general direction, but didn't pull the trigger. "And smart. You obviously know about my little tricks with the golems." His eyes shot back to Athral. "She's right, you know. This puts too much unwanted attention on both of us. How about you call off all your guards, and I'll put my toys back in my bag." He gestured towards his puppet golems. "We can make a trip back to the palace if you really want to; your father will clear everythig up for you. Hell, I'll even buy you a drink before we go, if you want one."

"I don't appreciate such remarks, sir," Athral replied, keeping his calm.

Just then, the beautiful woman who had previously been recalling her assassination attempt walked in front of the bewildered Athral. Is she defending me? he wondered to himself, getting slightly nervous.

"My lady, please, don't get in front. You shouldn't get hurt in this predicament..."

"My lady, I am not heavy-handed. I dealt with him quite well, if I don't say so myself, until someone stabbed him...and...it went all downhill from there without my help," Athral replied rather calmly as he got scolded. It wasn't really his fault. He never stabbed him nor did he tell people to.

Yet as the man aimed his bow at the woman, Athral walked to her side. "Please aim your weapon elsewhere, sir. And we shall talk about this over a drink if you so please..."

Yet with one last glance at the woman, he waved the guards away, yet they kept their weapons at the ready and stared intently at the golems and the man.

Athral however turned to address the bar crowd. "Alright, please people. This is not the kidnapper...continue in your business."

Selim hesitated, lest the guards surged him as soon as he dismissed his golem guardians away. It seemed, however, that the guards took Athral's commands seriously. The only real reason their weapons were still ready was the possibility of his puppets attacking. Selim snapped his fingers, and the weird golems withdrew their weapons and, one by one, climbed into his giant, still open bag. His finger was still taught around the trigger of his bow, however; then, Athral finally accepted his invitation of a drink. Selim lowered his weapon, stuffed it into his pack, and stepped forward, holding his hand out to Athral.

"You're a bit more sensible than your sister, if you don't mind me saying. At least you've taken the chance to actually believe the things I say." He cleared his throat. "Selim Savid, at your service. Sorry about that; I naturally assumed you might be a little annoyed about what I had to do to your sister, so I tried to leave prepared. Too prepared, it seems."

Athral took the man's hand, giving him a sturdy handshake of his own. "I don't mind at all. My sister believes herself to be the ruler of the world. But that isn't the most annoying aspect of her..." he said quietly, his eyes flicking from side to side. It was quite apparant that this bar enjoyed Rimoru's company, most likely over Athral's. "However i was never able to hear the entirety of what you did to Rimoru."

He turned back to Maya and held up a finger in front of Selim. "Please wait, sir. I believe my friend here was in the middle of telling me something important."

He smiled to the woman who came to his defense and motioned for her to sit back down and proceed. "I am sorry, my lady. All these disturbances...You aren't from around here, are you?"

Maya met the stranger’s gaze courageously, and did not flinch when he pointed his weapon at her, though the spirit took a small step forward and sideways, so as to better block any crossbow bolts. However, he responded reasonably to her request, and when Athral stepped up beside her, also talking reasonably, she felt considerable relief.

She saw the guards move away, and then the automatons withdraw. She too had been concerned that one side might attack the other after they dropped their defences, but fortunately her fears were proved unfounded. Once Athral and the stranger had shaken hands, Maya turned to the spirit form, bowed her head and murmured a few words in the ancient tongue, before releasing her concentration on the spirit, which faded from view as it dissipated. Her concern in the matter had been the innocent bar patrons around them, and a desire to prevent unnecessary violence. If the two had truly wanted to fight, she wouldn’t have stopped them, but she would have done everything in her power to protect the bystanders.

“No,” admitted Maya to Athral, as she returned to her seat. “I am a Rhydan, and I am very far from the place of my birth. Maya Dazaru, wandering druid, scholar and dancer,” she introduced herself, loud enough that Selim heard it as well, having overheard him introduce himself to Athral as well.

<You were lucky there,> Kaolai told her, <You could quite easily have gotten hurt then.>
<I know. I took a risk. But aren’t I supposed to try and diffuse situations like that if possible?> she asked him.
<True, that is what you were taught. I can see why the master thought so highly of you. And you seem to have learnt a little about your limits too. Well done, Maya,> Kaolai concluded.
<Thank you,> she replied, quietly proud that the spirit had commended her.

Athral smiled as Maya opened up a bit more to him and bowed low. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Darazu. Although I regret saying I have never heard of your homeland. And I regret that your stay may have been a bit disappointing...it was not always like this. When my sister disappeared, things went out of control as I you can probably tell."

His eyes wandered elsewhere for a few minutes, before returning to the woman in front of him. He studied her face a bit more closely, realizing that there were some very obvious differences in their faces. "A dancer?" His lips formed into a broad smile. "Is that a hobby?"

"I'm sorry, Lady Dazaru, I keep interrupting your story. Do continue," Athral said quietly, casting a glance down her body to see if she had the "dancer's body", despite the fact that Athral's instincts were telling him to stop. He would occasionally glance around himself to help mask it, but he hoped the woman wasn't going to notice. He was already in trouble with her before...

OOC: Sorry for not having been active. When I last posted there was not part for my character, what's happening now?

A strange expression flickered across Maya’s face when Athral called her ‘Lady Dazaru’, visible for less than a second; it felt both strange and familiar, pleasant and disliked. On one hand, she felt pleasure that Athral thought enough of her to refer to her by that title, and on the other, it reminded her of what she had left behind, where, had she still been there, it would have been her title since reaching adulthood.

“Something like that,” she replied, laughing. “Dancing earns me a little money with which to fund my travels, though I do it because I enjoy it.” She noticed his glance down at her figure, though the long cloak almost fully concealed it. She shifted her position on the seat and ate another mouthful of the stew, causing the cloak to fall more open in the process, a fully intended but apparently accidental side effect. He can look as much as he wants, she reasoned mischievously, but he’s not allowed to touch. She was not nearly as well built as Athral’s sister, but her slender, lithe figure was still attractive.

“Anyway, I was meditating under a tree not far from this inn, as dusk was falling. Without warning, I was tackled from behind, then my assailant said something along the lines of he was sending me to meet my sister,” she recounted, “However, he lost his dagger in the tackle, so I was able to get into a position to defend myself. After a short battle, I disarmed him and he tried to escape, at which point I pursued and overpowered him. I questioned him, he knew nothing of real use, then rendered him unconscious.” She paused to eat more of the stew, “After that, I left him lying in the street, and came here. He was rather incompetent, but I am very lucky to be alive,” she admitted, “Had he been even remotely skilled in his trade, I would be dead, as I had no prior warning to the attack, and I was completely defenceless.”

Drasken had stayed out of the fight, they seemed to have everything under control and he returned to his seat and began to eat his meal. The situation turned ugly but was quickly by Maya and he listened calmly to what they were saying.

He returned his attention to the Jeweler, and said: "So, how much did you say that would be?" He was still paying close attention to what the others were saying however. She seems to be a more capable fighter than she lets on and a weilder of magic.

ooc: Kulikovia, please remember to keep all ooc comments in the OOC thread or attached to a IC post. I shall put up a summary in the OOC soon

Athral's face had retained his calm, collected expression, smiling when she gave her melodious laugh but returning to his to his relaxed demeanor afterwards. "It's always nice to be...able...to..." He paused momentarily as his eyes fell upon her body as her cloak revealed more shape to her body. A dancer's body indeed. He remained quiet for a few seconds before blinking and clearing his throat. "to be able to do something you love and earn money for it." Athral smiled as his cheeks turned a bit red.

But he continued to listen without interrupting as Maya recounted her story with the Assassin. "I am overjoyed you are still here with us, Lady Darazu. If it hadn't been for you, there may have been a fight in here. I thank you greatly for your service...and I feel the need to reward you with another thing. And I am terribly sorry for everything that has happened here. May I ask where you are going after Iskan?"

Itzuki had taken a seat after the altercation near enought to eavesdrop on a number of conversations, including Maya and Athral's but not appearing so. He was debating on whether it would be more enjoyable to go tweak the noses of mages at the Arena or stay and listen to local and not so local gossip.

As things calmed down the jeweler relaxed and looked back to the dark man. “The price would depend if you want the pendent made out of silver, gold, or a mixture of the two. It would be around 5 gold pieces for a silver one, but 20 gold pieces for a gold one. A mixture of gold and silver would probably cost somewhere in between, but would probably be around 10 gold pieces. Since it looks like you may need the pendent earlier than the afore said time frame, one may lay aside other projects so one can work on yours. It would be delivered sooner, but there would also be a higher price.”

The jeweler looked at the new man, who she had heard named Athral, then ignored him. (S)He then glanced at Athral's guards and dismissed them also.

Drasken instantly responded. "The silver if you please, how soon would you be able to finish it, and how much would that cost?" He hadn't picked the silver for its price, more that he was not a fan of items made of gold. He listened intently to the other conversaton and was also curious to find out where Maya planned to go from here.

Selim sat back down at the bar and ordered another drink, patiently waiting for Athral and Maya to finish their conversation while listening in at the same time. He had little interest in dancers-although he could tell Athral obviously did-but started to pay more attention at the sound of the word 'Druid.' Druids were always good company; Selim found them interesting because he knew almost nothing about their art of summoning spirits.

Selim frowned as Maya started to tell her story of her near-assassination. Perhaps he had done Rimoru a bigger service than he had intended when he had dragged her back to the palace; if there were assassians after the princess, Darian had ought to be informed. Whoever was investing in Rimoru's death obviously had a lot of money to throw around if they could waste it on poor assassians.

Athral’s reaction to seeing her body was not lost on Maya, the slight blush and the momentary hesitation in his speech gave it all away. Despite her training to free herself of the physical world, she was still a woman, and it gave her a good feeling inside knowing that someone found her attractive.

“There’s no need for you to apologise, you know,” she stated, “Apart from the incident earlier, none of it could be considered your fault. And that you have already apologised for,” she smiled at him playfully, “I have been caught up in unfortunate events before, though I have never actually had someone try and assassinate me. However, I was not harmed. That is all that matters.”

“As for where I go next, I don’t know,” she revealed, “If I hear of somewhere interesting while I am here, I will head there. Otherwise I will pick a direction and see where my feet take me,” she told him. “It’s more fun that way. Obviously it’s nice to know that I’m going somewhere in particular, but carefree wandering has an appeal all it’s own.”

"I don't know...I just feel guilty. It is partially my city. And the lack of guards to aid you when the attempt happened...dispicable. I shall relay the information to my father at once," Athral blushed again as her smile beamed off her face. "I-I...I've never really been outside of Iskan before...it truly is a marvelous place...it's just that...well...things seem to be turning for the worse."
He sighed and scratched his chin before looking up and meeting her blue eyes with his own. "Perhaps one day you may take me somewhere as well? Palace life is fun, but I feel as though I miss so much. And now...now that security is heightened...I feel as though I can connect to my own sister..." He chuckled sadly as he thought of Rimoru. Rimoru and him did not get along well at all. But it wasn't always like that.

"Just pick something, lady Darazu. I shall try to give it to you to the best of my abilities," he stated suddenly, a bright smile on his face.

“One could finish the pendent within three days, if one spent time only on that piece. The cost would be around 20 gold pieces, for the silver. If the buyer wanted or needed to travel, one could travel with the buyer until the item is finished for one is getting tired of the city and wishes to replenish one's soul out in the countryside. One also wishes to see friends that never come into cities for one can find one's friends all over the countryside.”

“Perhaps,” she allowed, her brilliant azure eyes holding his gaze, “Though I rarely return to a place I have already passed through, regardless of how interesting it is. There is too much to see in this world to spend long periods of time in one place,” she told him. There were other reasons she never stayed in one place for long, though she never told anyone them.

<Is it just me, or is he flirting with you?> interposed Kaolai.
<Yes, and I’m flirting back,> replied Maya. <But don’t worry, I’m not seriously interested. Just playing around.>
<Thank the gods for that. He does seem a little desperate though,> stated the spirit.

Maya picked at her food again, and grimaced on finding it going cold. She sighed and raised her left hand, holding it palm down low over the bowl. There was a brief flash of flame, then she picked up the spoon again, took a mouthful and nodded approvingly.

“I don’t know,” she replied to his offer, “I have everything I need, and there is nothing that I really want,” she glanced about her person, as if looking for some sign of something she didn’t have. “If you really wish to give me something, perhaps you had best choose it yourself,” she suggested with a smile.

"Aww...I am saddened by that. You sure you would never visit Iskan again after you leave? Iskan is a world of itself," Athral replied wondrously to Maya.

Athral beamed at the suggestion. There were plenty of things he could give...it paid to have some power in the city.

When she used her powers to help heat up her soup, Athral cocked his head to the side and looked up with a grin as Mienna found it to her satisfaction. "You can call upon the undead and perform elemental power? Very nice," he chuckled.

As she looked over her body, Athral let himself join her, his smile brighter than before, before he once again let his eyes fall on her. "Well, what are some of your favorite things. Anything that you love."

“So are many places,” Maya countered, “Though as long as no-one mistakes me for your sister again, I may stay for a few days. But I doubt I will return this way, I will go by a different route, and see things I might otherwise miss completely.”

She shook her head as she ate, denying his observation. “No, I do not degrade the dead by forcing them to submit to my will,” she corrected him when she was finished. “A druid communes with the spirits of those who have departed this realm, and asks for their aid and wisdom.” She smiled, “The elemental skills are random chance, though I use them mainly as tools.” She did not mention that she regarded elemental skills as rather crude skills, recalling that the Ifretes were all supposed to be accomplished elemental mages.

“As for my favourite things, that’s difficult,” she told him, “Everything that I own I carry on my person, so I don’t have many things to choose from. And I own very little that does not serve a practical purpose.” Things like her favourite foods, colour, and so on were well defined, but her favourite possessions was something that had never really crossed her mind, partly because she didn’t have many.

Athral grinned and nodded. "I will make sure you are not mistaken for my sister," he chuckled brightly. "That I will promise."

As she spoke about her druidic and elemental powers, he nodded. It was somewhat strange to him, as he knew very little of necromacy and how they ripped souls to do their bidding, rather than taking polite conversation with them. It seemed rather odd for him, but very interesting none-the-less. "But we use all our magics as tools, Lady Darazu. Tools to help or tools to destroy, it's all the same. It's just the wielder who decides how to use them."

"Hmmm...you are a tricky one, my lady," Athral chortled. "How about this. While you are here, I will take you out on a personal tour throughout the city. From then on, we can stop by any merchant, any store, any sort of desire you so have, I will give it to you. With few limitations of course." The prince didn't want to suddenly be out on the streets with a rather beautiful woman living in his place with a crown atop her head. Nor did he want to have a bad impression of the city. Not to mention he was determined to give her something- something he hoped she would remember not so much Iskan, but him by.

Selim's head stuck out of his large glass of whiskey as he heard Maya speaking of her Druidic powers. He noticed Athral was busier trying to put all the "Right Moves" on the lovely woman, but Selim was more interested in the art of summoning spirits himself.

"You know, I've always wondered how that stuff works," said Selim, turning from the bar to face Maya. "The spirit summoning, I mean. I've spent to much time crafting golems that I never really learned the finer points of calling on the souls of the dead to aid me in battle. I'd imagine it would be extremely useful."

"Alright, well. I usually escape through the window by climbing onto that big tree there. From there, I make my way to the ground and hide in the bushes as the guards walk by, usually keeping themselves entertained. "Anyways, after the patrol walks by, we follow, I use my dampen sound spell, we walk out the main gates. If a guard gets in my way...perhaps a bit of persuasion will do, on my part. As much as you are a sly fox, the guards won't like the fact that you are in here."

"And to prevent people from going above the walls, some sort of ancient shell has been placed around the perimeters. Father had been able to push the boundaries a bit every year to expand the palace. They only open up around the main entrance, back entrance, and the fa-" she stopped and placed her fingers over her mouth. She looked up at Mythos and a smile broke out on her lips. "Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes that will do quite fine," Mythos commented as he peeked out of the window one last time before closing the large glass fixtures. However, he didn't wonder why she had cut herself off so abruptly in her previous comment. Perhaps it was a secret that he was not supposed to know about, but then she had just shared the secrets of the palace's outer defenses with him. Nonetheless, she had a semi-viable plan that could possibly work if all the stars aligned properly.

"Okay then... a slight addendum. Help me back into this armor," Mythos began as he headed over to the bed strewn with metal plates. "And I will proceed to the main gate. You take your usual path out the window and make sure you aren't seen." The rogue began attempting to put the pieces of armor back on, but being meant for a slightly smaller person, they were a bit tough to squeeze into without some help. "When we get to the gate, I will assure the guards that your father has let you out under royal protection - namely myself. Once out, I will grab my temporary weapon's cache and we can be off." His sword and spear were hopefully still where he had left them a short while ago, just out of sight from the palace's main gate.

"And if that doesn't work, you can always try other... 'persuasive methods'," Mythos said, half-jokingly about Rimoru using her feminine wile to get her way.

"So then... shall we be off?"

Rimoru nodded to Mythos as he asked her to help him with his armor. With pleasure... She smiled mischieviously and brought him his breast plate, pushing it onto him and leaning on his metallic stomach. Her arms wrapped around him as she looked up at his face, her lips pursed and her eyes wide and bright.

"Clever. I was thinking about that. And this armor may serve you well if you don't mind being an immobile meatshield," she chuckled as she pushed off of him and continued to aid in putting on his armor.

When she finished she stood back to examine their work. "My aren't you my handsome bodyguard," she chuckled, picking up her pack. "So I meet up with you out the door then?" She opened up her window again and stepped out, a bright smile adorning her face.

"I'll meet you in a bit, my heroic knave," she finally said gently bringing her hand underneath his chin and gently pulling it closer to her. She kissed him lightly on the lips before proceeding on the tree, glancing back at him through the shadows. Fate can be so cruel...

“One could finish the pendent within three days, if one spent time only on that piece. The cost would be around 20 gold pieces, for the silver. If the buyer wanted or needed to travel, one could travel with the buyer until the item is finished for one is getting tired of the city and wishes to replenish one's soul out in the countryside. One also wishes to see friends that never come into cities for one can find one's friends all over the countryside.”


Drasken nodded. "I will probably be in city for a while, maybe until this matter of missing nobles and assasination attempts is resolved. You are welcome to travel with me if you wish. Three days sounds reasonable, how would you like to deal with payment?" His attention was equally split between the merchant and the discussion between Maya, Athral and the golem master, Selim. I wonder how closely behing i could follow the party without attracting attention to myself... if the tour took place tonight at least. If the tour was during the day, then he would undoubtedly have problems. He was finishing off his food, which though it had cooled was still edible, he did not feel a need to heat it, sometimes it was better not to reveal all of ones skills.

"I'll meet you in a bit, my heroic knave," she finally said gently bringing her hand underneath his chin and gently pulling it closer to her. She kissed him lightly on the lips before proceeding on the tree, glancing back at him through the shadows. Fate can be so cruel...

Heroic knave... I like the sound of that, Mythos thought as his seductress left through the window. However, more than the words, he loved the feel of her luscious lips against his own. The sensation sent a tingling ripple through his body, lingering until she had disappeared into the shadows.

Pausing a moment - whether it was in shock, awe, or thought was unclear - he walked towards the door at the other end of her room. He stepped out into the corridor, prepared to explain to any passersby that saw him why he was in Rimoru's room, but luck was on his side and nobody was present. As he reached the end of the corridor, he remembered the path he had taken to enter the palace and followed his steps backwards. A few servants milled about, but they saw him only as a guard and not a mischievous knave who was "stealing" away their princess.

A few minutes later, Mythos, disguised as a palace guard, arrived near the main entrance. He tried to act as inconspicuous as possible - helping the fact was that nobody was looking for him. Slowing to a stroll, he looked about in search of Rimoru - a signal of some sorts for her to appear. Then there were but a pair of guards to overcome before they were free.

Rimoru leaned against the tree and sighed as she noticed him walk out. Handsome indeed. I'd better watch myself, lest I underestimate him again. She gave off another weak sigh and looked around for more guards. Upon noticing none, she eagerly jumped down and hid in the bushes, once again keeping watch for the guards. Noticing none, she hurredly pushed past the shrubbery and looked around for her tall "savior".

The princess adjusted her pack and stuck to the shadows, hugging the wall and pausing when a pair of guards walked by, talking about one of their wives and then about how Rimoru herself would enjoy being one of their wives. The princess stiffled a chuckle and shook her head. I hope Mythos gets through fine... she thought to herself as they walked by. She cocked her head a bit as she realized that she had made quite a shift in topics with adding Mythos to the mix of thoughts to her head. From marriage...to one who tried to kidnap her. I need more sleep...

As she walked through some more bushes, she noticed a man standing their, looking somewhat bored, yet attentive for something. Not to mention his armor seemed a bit too small for his body. She giggled again and took off her shoes to prevent any unneccessary noise. She carefully snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "Did you miss me?" she chortled, walking around in front of the man and sitting back down to put on her shoes. "Let me put back on my shoes and I will be ready. However I do wish I packed my boots instead...unless you did for me?"

“Very well,” she accepted, a slightly reluctant decision, though it didn’t show. She looked up when Selim spoke, and replied immediately to his question. She was silently grateful for his intrusion; Athral seemed rather insistent, and she found it a little disconcerting. And she was always happy to explain a little about her abilities to those who wanted to know.

“The arts of the druids take many years to learn, and many more to earn the trust of the spirits,” she replied passionately, “A druid must learn a thousand year old language before they can begin to commune with the spirits, and even then, it is impossible to know what you will find. And it is wrong to think of the Aesar as being dead, since death implies the end. Their bodies died, yes, but the spirit passed on to another plane, still very much alive.”

“To purely think of their use in battle is flawed; they will assist in peaceful tasks as well. But they do not tolerate laziness, one cannot call upon them to fulfil your every whim,” she paused, realising that she was slipping into a lecture, but unsure how to get the point across otherwise. “Druids are taught to avoid combat if possible, teach others that violence is not the right path and champion the pursuit of knowledge above all else.”

Selim listened intently to Maya as she explained her art. The advanteges of such a skill seemed numerous, but the path to obtaining them was long. So much for that idea; Selim was one of the laziest men on the planet. He shrugged when Maya got the the part about spirits not being actually "dead."

"Death is death in my book. Spear through the stomach, decapetation, combustion, whatever. As long as the person stops moving, it's good enough for me. It's a little disconcerning to think of the possibility of calling back a long-deceased warrior back to our reality."

Selim continued to listen to Maya as she explained the Drudic view of peace, sipping his drink and yawning slightly. "Well, that's boring. I'm a businessman at heart, Maya, and death, destruction, and chaos usually makes the best business. I've never been too bothered by the moral implications of my work."

"Since one would be working intensively, It would be difficult to stay with you during that time. One's friend could accompany you and you could have him find this one when you were ready to meet. He understands the human tongue pretty well and is able to stay out of sight when so instructed. Another choice would be possible if one gifted you with a charm that would permit one to find you when the task was done. One could prevail upon some smaller creatures to reside within your garments, but few choose that option."

Turning to the lady that had introduced herself as a druid, she asked. “My lady, one overheard you saying that you were a druid, but in one's experience druid's deal with nature not spirits. You handle spirits and do not seem to have the same connection to the land that druids have.”

Drasken let out a hearty laugh at the choices; "Your friend or the charm, either would do. Though if your friend accompanies me and causes any damages which i am held responsible for, i will deduct those from what i pay you at the end."

As the subject of the varying nature of druids came up Drasken leant back and listened, he had come across few druids, but their teachings varied widely from area to area. He was however inclined to agree with the jeweler, he would not have immediately associated spirits with druids, though he had seen some use animals or take on animalistic traits in similar ways that she was using spirits, he had heard druids speak the supposed language of nature and Maya seemed to speak the language of spirits instead.

He rubbed thoughtfully at his chin: Perhaps it is simply a variation on the principle... Magic of all its varying sorts interested him, the powers at his disposal were not truely what he would term magic, but the more he learnt about magic and its forms the more he was forced to consider whether they were truely so disimilar in nature, or if, in their most simple components, were all just 'tricks' which a skilled and open-minded person could master. He let his eyes scan across the bar, with his other hand he pushed away his finished plate, indicating he had finished it.

“But don’t you see?” replied Maya, “You are merely perpetuating the violence by supporting it. Your actions cause innocent people to suffer, and then you make a profit off their suffering,” she accused Selim.
<Forget it, Maya,> broke in Kaolai, <He’s a mercenary, they don’t care about other people. They revel in the havoc they cause, only caring about the money they can make from it. The gods will judge them for their actions when their time is up. You won’t change this one’s mind by talking to him, so don’t bother.>

Maya looked at Selim with an expression that was a mixture of disgust and pity on her face, knowing that Kaolai was right. She looked away from him, and found herself looking at the peddler that had tried to sell her some jewellery earlier, only now the woman was questioning her about her beliefs.

“Are not the spirits part of nature?” countered Maya, “But I understand what you mean. All I can say on the matter is that in Rhyda, a druid is someone like me; but in many of the places I have visited in my travels, a druid is what you describe. The reason for this difference is unknown to me, but there must one. All Rhydans treat the lands we live off with respect, so perhaps I am not so far from your perception of a druid after all.”

"Perpetuating the violence, perpetuating the shmiolence," Selim said, waving his hand casually. "The world is run by armies and money, Maya, no matter how much you want to disagree. I do not, hoewever, make it a point to slaughter civilians. That's bad for my reputation, and no legitimate businessman would even think about dealing with me if I did so. I deal mostly with information, anyways; fighting is best left to the muscle-bound, sword-weilding grunts in my opinion. What they choose to do is not my problem.."

He srugged again and downed the rest of his drink.

"If anyone wants to get in my way, though, I don't really have a problem sending them in the right direction-namely, the opposite direction from me."

She carefully snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "Did you miss me?" she chortled, walking around in front of the man and sitting back down to put on her shoes. "Let me put back on my shoes and I will be ready. However I do wish I packed my boots instead...unless you did for me?"

As the armored Mythos stood attentively in search for his burden, he suddenly felt a pair of arms reach around his armor. The grasp was much too gentle to be a guard or anyone attempting to subdue him. The voice, though, was unmistakably Rimoru's. Interesting... she does have some powers after all, Mythos confirmed in thought as he noticed that she had snuck up without a sound. She had been able to get within an arms length of the rogue without his noticing, albeit he wasn't on particularly on guard or in his element.

"I'll go talk to the guards, hold on a minute," he said as he began walking towards the gatehouse.

"Boots? I'm not sure what type of boots you are referring to, but I packed a pair of traveling shoes, or at least the best you had."

Leaving Rimoru to check on the boots herself, Mythos entered the small gatehouse and spoke in a gruff voice. "Open the gate please. I am in need of getting through with my escortee." In an attempt to not give the guards a chance to prod or ask questions, after asking them to open the gate, he turned about face and exited back to Rimoru a few feet away.

Athral frowned as it seemed people were questioning Maya's belief and it seemed to be getting under her skin. "No matter. Your beliefs make sense and it seems to continue with the peaceful nature of the druids I know, looking for an equilibrium and to coexist with others in the world. I am sure spirits have much more knowledge than most of the living, at least the mortal living."

"However, Selim, I believe that there is always a time for words rather than blades. One with a cool head, a slick tongue, and a just heart can certainly keep the peace in the land."

***********************************************

Rimoru smiled as she looked up at Mythos, watching him move towards the gate before wiggling her toes and digging into her bag. After a few minutes of searching she pulled out a rather large pair of shoes and frowned.

"You seriously don't think I'm going to wear these? I had some nice dragonskin boots in my closet that are comfortable to walk in," she said as he began to walk back. She put the shoes back in her bag and replaced her original shoes on her feet before smiling and waving to the guards, before wrapped her long dark cloak around her.

The guards frowned and began to open the gate before one of them stopped. "Hold on a minute. James, ya can't take the princess out. Lord's orders."

"Oh, pish posh, I will let you guys take me out another time, alright?" Rimoru replied as she walked up to the guard captain and gently leaned on him, pushing her chest out a bit. "Besides...I want to know a little more about the handsome...strong...and brave people who are guarding poor little me..."

"Uh...s-s-sure my lady. As you wish...but please, don't get yourself hurt, alright? Be back by morning."

Rimoru smiled and gave a nod before pushing off the guard and back to Mythos. The princess grabbed her bag and took his heavy hand in hers and began to pull him out, smiling at the guards and blowing a kiss.

But as the armored Mythos was heading out, the guard captain clamped a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Ya better not get drunk again, and you better bring her back," he growled before letting go.

As soon as they were out of hearing range, Rimoru turned back and smiled. "Told you we'd make it," she said cheerfully, taking a quick glance around. "So...you lead the way then?"

Selim looked at Athral in a calculating manner, apparently sizing him up. He held up a finger menacingly.

"Consider this, Athral; is peace really desirable? If you think about it, war is probably the biggest reason for advanced technological achievements throughout history. Intelligent races, especially humans, have a great desire to make weapons that can kill their enemies more effectively and faster. After all the wars are over, this technology is usually somehow integrated into normal life."

"Take healing magic, for example. Sure, a good deal of medical spells are created to deal with everyday injuries, but the truly advanced magics were created out of the necessity to repair badly injured soldiers on the battlefield. Taken from a completely amoral perspective, peace is stagnant. The greatest human achievements have always come out of the necessity to survive."

Itzuki had been listening to the converstation discreetly and had decided to be indiscreet. Turning slightly to address Athral and his converstation.

"A druid, at least by most definitions I've heard, is one who cares about nature and keeping things in balance." He commented as he sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about me." He muttered before continuing, "There is a time for words and peace, and a time for blade and blood. Both are necessary, both have flaws."

Drasken turned to Maya; "If someone inexperienced in with spirits were to repeat the words that you had said earlier when - i presume - you were summoning it, what would happen?"

As the subject of war came up Drasken looked at Selim somewhat contemptiously. "Your example does not match your point, you first talk about more effective ways of killing, then try to use the development of a method of saving lives to justify the slaughter. How often do those infuries found on a battlefield occur in everyday life? rarely."

After a breath he added in a more pensive tone. "War cannot be sustained, new advancements may be useful... in the short term and as long as people who are capable to use them are alive to use them." He took another breath and gave a wry smile. "Well, that and not all great advancements come from technology, culture is as much at risk of stagnating as technology is. Also, many important things are discovered and created during peaceful times when people can stop and take stock of the situation."

He shook his head and then continued, the smile gone: "I will concede that survival is an effective prompt for development, but war is not the only threat to survival, and one that comes up infrequently and often with disastrous consequences. Other, more common threats such as diseases, natural threats, the weather, marauding bandits or raiding parties from the less civilised races... any of those can provide reason enough to advance to those willing to try." He felt it somewhat ironic that he was mentioning the less civilized races as he had originated from one.

"Well, something has to justify the slaughter. Besides, the efforts of medical mages are many times spurred by new technologies that wreak havoc on the battlefield." Selim motioned to the bartender for another drink, then looked back at Drasken. "I see your point, however. Disease and natural disasters can easily prod the human race into inventing something useful."

"Still, you must consider the human aspect of war. Large companies and organizations will spend tons upon tons of gold in times of war becuase it is profitable; they will rarely spend a tenth of that money in times of peace, even if it could be used to fund a worthy goal. Smart people know that easy money lies within conflict, and those people are usually the ones pulling the strings in large-scale conflicts."

"My point is, I'm not always sure that peace is all that great, and I certianly know it's not permanently obtainable."

Maya found herself becoming slightly bewildered as she was suddenly caught up in what seemed like three separate arguments going on around her, all of which seemed to have been indirectly caused by her. Athral seemed to be supporting her, but she wasn’t quite sure if that was because he agreed with her or because he was trying to score points with her so he could get into her underwear.

“So what if advance would be slower if we were peaceful? Maybe it would take longer to develop new technology and magic, but is it really worth hundreds or thousands of lives to get those improvements sooner?” she asked Selim. “Could you look a child in the eye, and tell him that his family was killed so that someone he has never heard of could be saved?”

Maya was drawing on more than stories and her imagination in that statement. She had been through cities wracked by war, and on one occasion she had spent some time escorting a healer around, her spirits protecting them while the monk attempted to help the wounded. On the fourth day, they had come across a young boy, no more than nine years old, whose entire family, both parents and two older siblings, had been killed by some soldiers. They weren’t even sure which side the soldiers had been on.

“Um, probably nothing,” she said to Drasken, her head turning to look at him. “It is unlikely that any spirit would respond, as they would not recognise the voice that was calling them. They would have no way of telling what purpose they were being summoned for. That is one reason why I have spent time communing with the spirits almost every day since I began my training.” She paused to for breath, “There is also more to summoning a spirit than just the words that are spoken. You must also raise your conscious to a higher plane to make the request, and maintain the spirit form once it comes together. I could speak the incantation now, and nothing would happen.”

As she finished speaking, she caught Selim’s last statement. She had heard it from others in the past, always those who made profits out of slaughter, and the reply to her following question was always the same.
“How do you know a permanent peace is unobtainable? Have you ever tried?” she demanded, the accusing tone back in her voice once again. “Have you ever actually given it a serious chance?”

Selim looked at Maya questioningly.

"You can't be so naive, can you? What would you do if you were the head of a large nation and in control of a powerful army and were being bothered by troublesome neighbors or historically hated enemies? People absolutely love to go to war; it give them a sense of national and racial pride, a chance to destroy a despised foe, and it usually helps the economy to boot-unless you lose, of course."

"Even if all of humanity united peacefully, that doesn't mean the same would occur with other races. We'd pick on-and do pick on-any man or beast percived as a threat. The Elves and Dwarves have mistrusted each other for millenia! And it's hardly as though the Orcish Hordes are going to lay down their weapons and break into song. The Giant Wars barely even ended a century ago, and nations worldwide are still reeling from it's effects. The point is, old history dies hard, and simple human nature-greed, mostly-prevents us from breaking the cycle. Very few in a posistion of power would willingly give it up to help the masses."

Selim considered Maya's previous statement carefully.

"The kid? Not my problem, really. It's unfortunate, but the weak, the poor, and the young are always the first to die in war. It's laudible that you should take up the task of helping such people, but if anyone wanted to stop such suffering permenently, he'd have to bring it up with national leaders."

"Now hold on-" Athral began, before the strange tusked man began to address him- or so it seemed. Again, Athral opened his mouth to respond when the dark skinned elf character spoke up. The prince turned to address him this time, however was once again interrupted, by Selim this time His mouth opened, believing he finally had a chance to speak his mind, when Maya herself defended herself from the barrage of arguments.

As Selim's question hung in the air, Athral finally held up one finger, so he may reserve the time to speak himself. "My my my...my friends. Now is no time for arguments. Now is a time to settle down and relax. Night has come and I say we enjoy it without an argument, without a heated debate, and without fighting."

"Barkeeper, a round for everyone, if you will," Athral called out, a broad smile on his face.

"As ya wish, yer highness," one of them said immediately binging out a large amount of mugs from beneath the counter. Within minutes the barkeepers were rushing about, placing frothing mugs in front of each of the patrons at the request of Athral.

Athral laughed as he stood up and raised his glass. "A toast...to my fellows here and a hope of lasting friendship and the protection and safety from their gods!"

The other barpatrons roared their agreement and clashed their mugs together, spilling a bit of their frothy beverage to the floor.

Athral turned to face Maya, his eyes glittering as he set his drink down. "My lady, if you wish to drink something else, please do say so," the prince said quietly before moving a bit closer to her. "I would also be honored if you may dance for us? I will make it worth your while." He grinned broadly as he turned to look at a few musicians take up instruments and began to play cheerful folk tunes that a few of the patrons began to sing with.

“Attempt to negotiate with them? Come to a peaceful solution that appeases both sides without killing thousands of people. If you’re being invaded, then yes, fight, but to protect yourself. And always keep pursuing peace.” Maya replied, “And making war never helps the economy, because you spent your economy making the war. If people talked about things, they could find out what the disputes were about, and how they might be resolved. They’re always stupid, petty things anyway; triggered so long ago that nobody really knows why they hate each other any more.”

“The kid? Not my problem, really. It’s unfortunate, but the weak, the poor, and the young are always the first to die in war. It’s laudable that you should take up the task of helping such people, but if anyone wanted to stop such suffering permanently, he’d have to bring it up with national leaders.”

“No, that’s right,” she said bitterly, “It’s never your problem. You couldn’t care less how many orphans you leave or families you destroy, just so long as you get your pitiful blood money. Even if it was you that did it, you can always blame it on the person giving the orders.”

With that, Maya sprang to her feet, ignoring what Athral had said, whirled around and headed for the door, her long cloak billowing up behind her and one end of her staff accidentally catching a couple of patrons on the leg as she passed. Once she was out into the cool night air, she broke into a half-run, not caring where she was going. She had only gone a few dozen metres from the tavern when a powerful localised gust of wind lifted her up onto the roof of the nearest building, where she landed softly, then collapsed onto her hands and knees.

She rolled over onto her back, feeling drained by her semi-conscious use of magic abilities that were really beyond her, and lay there, her breathing rapid. She felt tears prickling her eyes; her argument with Selim had brought up many memories of battlefields she had no wish to remember.
<Are you okay?> asked Kaolai with concern.
<No, I’m not okay. I know I’ve met stubborn warmongers in the past, but that one seems worse than most,> she replied, <How can peace ever get a chance with people like that around?>
<I don’t know,> admitted Kaolai, <But I do know it’s not worth you getting upset over. The gods will see that he gets what he deserves. You just keep doing what you believe in.>
Maya made no reply to that, choosing to just stare at the stars, trying to blank out the memories that were clouding her mind.

The jeweler waited patiently for the others to have their say, but looked bewildered when the lady rushed out. “One did not mean to cause this ruckus or to cause the lady pain. One only wished to gain greater knowledge on the way to perfection.”

(S)He turned back to the dark man and produced an amulet from an inner pocket. The amulet was made of copper, but was shaped in the form of the skrit seen briefly earlier. “This amulet was formed from one's dear friend. It will permit the person to find you oneself, or one can also send one's friend to find the one that holds the charm. If the holder concentrates on the charm, one's friend will know and can inform the person.”

When Ahanu saw that the charm made from him was being taken out to be given away, he poked his head out of the jeweler's robes. He looked carefully at the person receiving the amulet and then looked at the tusked man, who flew. His friend noticed this and said to him, “Ahanu, see this dark man for you may be called on to find him later. The tusked man also wishes to know why you tried to scare him earlier.”


Ahanu responded eagerly to his friend. "I will remember the man for later, but the reason that I tried to scare the tusked man was because he flew before coming into this place. I only wanted to see how he flew by making him fly again."

(S)He also said to the man, “One's friend now knows what you look like so if it is stolen he will not bother the wrong person, but he will take the amulet back.”

As one of the barkeepers brought the jeweler a mug of beer, he set it down on the table in front of her and raised an eyebrow.

"So, how ya think yer gonna pay fer ya furry friend's disturbances?" he asked, hesitating at the end, as he was about to call the jeweler a sir. What if he was a she? Then the barkeeper would insult him...or her rather and... As the barkeeper would htink about it, his head would hurt even more and just settled with calling the jeweler, the Jeweler.

"Not to mention some o' the bar patrons got their supper on ther laps. They weren't to happy 'bout that, but with the free drink they seemed ta have lightened up."


***
The bar patrons that Maya had hit wobbled about or fell, a few giving off vulgar comments, but the general crowd continued to dance and sing with the music.

Athral, however was flabbergasted as Maya darted not to her room but outside. She can't be leaving! Not now! Athral hastily got up and nodded to a few bar patrons who raised their goblets to him. Rushing out, he searched the streets but could not find the wandering druid.

"Lady Darazu? Where did you go? Please don't leave yet! Do not let Selim's words strike you. He is a tortured figure I would say, brainwashed to admire the art of war. Please Lady Darazu, show yourself?" he called out, searching the relatively empty streets.

He could not see her where ever he looked, however he failed to look up on the roofs, something that he would pay for very painfully.

Out of the shadows of a house's chimney, a creature clad completely in black peeked out of its hiding spot and spotted the woman lieing on her back. Don't miss your chance. Kill the Ifretes...ruin them... the creature thought to himself as he notched an arrow in a bow he unslung from his shoulder, aiming at the searching prince.

"Maya, there's no need to take everything so seriously; I have my opinion and you have..." Selim was cut short as Maya sprang up and rushed outside. Damnit. He downed the rest of his drink and followed Athral outside in search of Maya.

"Ah, sorry, Athral. I didn't mean to be so harsh to her." Brainwashed?! Selim thought to himself silently. Like hell I'm brainwashed. Looks like I need to get a few things cleared up around here. "I usually don't upset people that much, but I didn't take into considerations her Druid...ness." He looked around the vacant streets.

"Maya, I'm sorry if I upset you!" Selim called loudly out along with Athral. "I don't mean any ill will. Come back and we can talk."

Drasken almost rose as Maya left, quickly followed by Athral and Selim. However, the jewelers speech caused him to return to stop and reply. He took the amulet carefully and examined it alongside the creature that emerged. Drasken gave a small laugh at the jewelers comment. "Do you doubt my honour? No matter, i will be right back." So saying he walked out of the door after the others.

He quickly caught up, his eyes much more adapted to the dark streets. He placed a restraining hand on Athrals shoulder and quitly but urgently hissed: "My lord, might i remind you that Maya mentioned assasins earlier." He cast a pointed glance at Selim, who though had claimed to have helped Athral's father, though who had also been ready to fight against Athral and seemed by his speech to be willing to work for the highest bidder. "Both you and her may be in mortal danger. If you truely wish to bring peace to these lands as you said in the tavern you will first have to live that long. Assasins may realise Maya is not Rimoru, but they will not believe you are not you." His eyes scoured the area in all dirctions at ground level for signs of any attackers and a quick glance across roofs revealed no obvious threats.

"You certainly don't upset people much? Pah! You upset me earlier! And my sister even before that!" Athral growled at Selim, searching around. "Where is she? Selim, you brash criminal of foolish ideas!"

Then, he nearly jumped as he felt a hand putting pressure on his shoulder. He turned around to peer at this new man with a hard determination in his eyes. "Unhand me, you-" he began to growl before he heard the hissing in his ear. "Gerroff me, sir. I know perfectly well that I am safe here. There is not a soul in sight. And what if those assassins are after Maya? Then what? I will not let her fall to some undesirable cretins that seemed to have risen and called themselves assassins!" he growled back, glancing at Selim as well when he noticed Draskin's gaze lingering on the diminuative figure. But he may have a point...

Athral's guards came piling out soon after, hands on their hilts as they pushed Draskin and Selim away and stood at either side of the prince.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! See if you can find Lady Darazu!" Athral ordered as he walked about, looking down alleyways and the such.

"Well....okay, you got me. But still, I didn't think a simple argument would make her that furious. I guess I just have a disagreeable personality." Selim noticed both Drasken and Athral glancing back at him and chuckled; he rubbed his hands together, preparing his formidable defensive magics in case of an attack-either by his "friends" or an outside source. He unhooked his crossbow from his bag and pulled a small paper scroll from his pocket, scanning the streets for any signs of danger. Selim certianly wasn't going to turn against Athral-not with all those guards around-but switching sides in the midst of battle had proved useful to him many times in the past. He had a feeling that this wouldn't turn out well.

"I guess so," Athral replied as he noticed a scroll in the man's crossbow. "What's that going to do? Find Lady Darazu or make some sort of golem?" he asked suspiciously, the guards eyeing it as well before continuing on with their search.

"I would have thought the crossbow was obvious." Selim didn't look at Athral, instead continuing to scan the skies, streets, and rooftops for signs of trouble. "I'm planning on putting a crossbow bolt into anything that attacks us. Not too complicated an idea."

Selim tossed his scroll up and down casually as Athral and his guards eyed it.

"This is just a little suprise for anything truly unexpected. Maya dispatched the previous assassian quite easily, or so it seems. It makes sense for the dispatchers to send someone more skilled and powerful. We should be more than on guard this night."

This was a bad sign. Selim's relationship with Athral was quite obviously deteriorating quickly. If an attack did come, it looked like he would have to stand with the stereotypical "good-doers" if he wanted to get any more work from Darian. How Boring!

As Rimoru left the palace, four green eyes spotted her and took note of her exit. After a brief communication one pair followed Rimoru and the other turned down the street towards the tavern. As the eyes crossed the street they crossed a lighted area and it could be seen that it was one of the cats that had spoken to the jeweler earlier.
******************************

Seeing her/his customer head into the night, (s)he spoke to his receding back, “It is not your honor that is questioned, but rather the honor of those that take the belongings of others.” Further (s)he spoke to his/her self, “One has to protect one's friend from those who are thievish and dishonorable.”

Turning to the barkeeper, (s)he said, “Here are two gold pieces which should cover the damages received by an honest barkeeper.” Tossing the gold pieces to the bartender, (s)he headed towards the door to leave. (S)he was able to sense the approach of a cat that the jeweler had talked to earlier. Picking up feelings from nearby animals, (s)he whispered to Ahanu, “There is danger afoot in the street and my friend's eyes will be useful in this darkness.”

Ahanu responded, “My friend and protector, my senses are here to help, but one wishes the great protector was here instead of outside of the city.”

As soon as they were out of hearing range, Rimoru turned back and smiled. "Told you we'd make it," she said cheerfully, taking a quick glance around. "So...you lead the way then?"

Mythos ignored Rimoru's comment about the boots not being up to her standards, though he wished to make a comment about it being her sense of fashion that purchased the boots.

Nervousness overtook the knave when the guards had second thoughts about letting him and the princess out, but Rimoru performed perfectly under pressure as he had outlined earlier. Her feminine ways and intoxicating persona easily overcame the guards' doubts.

We're fre- Mythos's thought was cut off as a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder. For a second he thought that he had been found out, but the captain merely made warned him not to get drunk. After giving a nod of the head, he was away.

They walked around the corner slowly until they were out of sight of the palace. The two of them paused for only a moment to plan their next move now that they had successfully escaped the palace. However, Mythos decided better against it and kept them walking. "Me lead the way?" he echoed as they arrived at his weapon's cache. Pieces of armor were quickly unstrapped as his muscles bulged out from their cage. Once again in his fashionable attire, Mythos was glad to be rid of the suffocating guard's wear. "M'lady... I pledged to follow you... but I cannot lead for I do not know where we are going." Once his weapons were back on, he felt whole again after feeling naked for the past several days. "So I beg you to lead the way."

The barkeeper's eyes lit up as his palm was filled with two gold pieces, his face splitting with a wide grin. "Oh, o' course my friend! 'Tis quite fine! Now you come back whenever ya feel like it, alright?"

****
"Beg, huh? I'm surprised you haven't begged for other things," Rimoru chuckled as she looked around, her eyes barely catching a cat walking by and watching them with determination. Rimoru merely shrugged, thinking it was out for table scraps.

"Alright, Mythos, lets go. I am to meet a man in the tavern by midnight and I am guessing it is near that time...judging by the moon and instinct," she said before giving off a light chuckle, one that said she knew something he didn't.

With that, she pulled her cloak tighter on herself and began to take her usual route to the tavern, occasionally looking up at the moon before she finally arrived to an intersection where she stopped suddenly.

She pushed Mythos against a corner and set her back against the stone wall of the building. "My stupid brother is there! No doubt trying to stop me..."

*******

"Of course the crossbow is obvious. The curiosity to what the scroll holds is what had me. And who's to say that we're to be attacked tonight? You wouldn't think they'd get desperate enough to attack twice in one night, right?" Athral asked with a frown. He was beginning to feel as though Selim was treating the prince as a child...Disrespectful...

Suddenly a movement caught his eye and he turned around to notice a robe move behind a corner.

"Perhaps I am wrong..." he whispered as he pointed for the guards to go find out who that was.

When the barkeeper had gotten around to handing Itzuki Athral's free beer, he knew it was time to depart. Alcohol and practically any other intoxicant tended to generate unexpected and frequently unpleasent effects when combined with the practice of Airtrek.

He noticed that the druid came out a few seconds later and break into a short run before riding some wind to the roof of a building. Noting a nearby branch of a tree, he slid to the top and took a seat on the branch. He felt like a nap.

He thought he saw a figure in the moonlight with a drawn bow, but put it down to his imagination.

When the guards arrived Drasken backed away from Ahral with his arms held peacefully. Continuing to glance around. He noticed that Selim was preparing his crossbow and one hand fell to his sword ready to draw it if need be.

He ignored the chatter and stalked around in the opposite direction, glancing down alleyways and calling out Maya's name occasionally. He glanced back and saw Athral indicating to his guards to check something out. Drasken turned and followed the guards, trying to make out anything in the alley with his superior vision. As he passed Athral he paused and said. "I believe the assasins are working independantly, so attacks could happen at any time, regardless of other failed attempts." He was hoping to resolve this quickly, this place was well known as being frequented by the Ifrete's and a smart assasin would be lurking around.

As both cats approached from different directions, the jeweler stooped to the honorable felines, but still kept a close eye out for danger. The cats would give warning of anything they felt was a real danger, but there were too many things that would ignore the cats, but may pose a real threat to a person. Most of them were either human or close to human themselves.

“One greats the great hunters and begs news.” (S)He said throwing up his/her hood. It never paid to be too visible in the city.

“Friend of nature, the female you asked of is coming this way and is near. She is with a male who smells greatly of sweat and frustrated lust.” The cats stated.

The jeweler stated humbly to the cats. “One gives thanks to the great hunters and asks that they will stay close this night to give this person the benefit of their sharp senses.” As the cats sat down, the jeweler turned to the man called Athral and said, “One would not cause pain to those who approach. The lady seems to be of a great house here and she travels with a man who would likely be her protector.”

Athral flinched as the tusked man flew by, his guards almost instantaniously unslinging bows and notching an arrow instantly from the quiver hanging at their sides, underneath their cloaks. Upon seeing it as the lazy kid, Athral waved them down, sending them back to discover who was hiding in the corner. Athral himself continued to walk about, mostly to the side that would make an assassin from the corner move away, when Draskin walked by, spouting off about assassins working independently.

"Do you think they'd work independently? I mean...sure to kill...but what if this is part of one of the clans? Dirty rotten...scoundrels..." Athral grumbled as he looked about.

"Lady Darasu, please come out!"

"Confound it, why are we even talking about assassins? I highly doubt one would strike twice in a row."

Just then, the one who was selling jewelery just inside the tavern spoke strangely to Athral. "What? One as in you? Who is this lady of a great house?" The snapped and his guards stopped their careful creeping, as he wanted to decipher the jeweler's words more carefully.

Drasken nodded a greeting in the direction of the jeweler who had followed them out and then turned to Athral. "From what Maya said, the assasin who attacked her earlier was unskilled, i doubt any assasin clan worth the name would be sending such green assasins after nobles, thus i suspect there is a bounty on your heads open for anyone to claim. One man may not try twice in a night, but many differant men may try."

He had to hand it to the guards, they had reacted quickly and had beads on the tusked man almost instantly. Drasken instead walked over to the ground below where the man had perched and shouted up in as friendly a voice as he could muster: "Hello, can you help us? We are looking for the woman we were speaking to in the bar, can you see her at all?"

The reply to Drasken's inquiry was a faint snore. Itzuki was a light sleeper when it came to contact, much deeper when just being talked to.

Selim considered Drasken's idea; it was quite a good one. The man made sense; there was no reason for a clan to send a newbie after a dangerous target.

"That's a decent theory. If that's the case, we'll want to take the next assassian alive and find out who issued such a bounty. Dead would-be killers are rarely useful, except for target practice."

Selim ignored the weirdo who leaped into the tree; he had noticed him earlier in the tavern, and didn't think too much of him. No decent assassian would reveal himself like that, anyways. Instead he turned his attention to a sudden movement around the corner of a nearby building; he approched catiously, keeping crossbow ready, prepared to slay anything that appeared.

As her breathing slowed to a more normal rate, Maya lay on her back, watching the stars, trying to name as many of the constellations as she could. She liked the stars; they were always there, and they were always pretty, like little diamonds studded into a black cloak. There was also a romantic children’s myth about the night sky that she liked to believe was true, even though she knew it was only a story.

Her staff lay by her side, where she had let it lie after first making sure it would not slide or roll off the rooftop, and she had pulled her hands inside her cloak for warmth. She could hear the voices calling her name in the streets below, though she could not make out most of the words in what they said.
<They’re looking for you…> said Kaolai quietly.
<Let them look,> she replied, <I’m not in the mood to be found.>
<Your amorous Prince seems particularly worried. And the mercenary seems to want to apologise. I think the elf is there too,> concluded the spirit.
<Athral’s just worried that he won’t find a companion for the night,> dismissed Maya, <And the mercenary is only pretending to care so that he doesn’t appear completely heartless.>

She was silent for a bit, still watching the stars as they flickered in the haze from the chimneys, then Kaolai interrupted her reverie again.
<Maya…> he began warily, as though he were afraid of being overheard, <Very slowly, turn and look at the chimney stack behind you.>
She did so, slowly bringing her head around without making a sound to give away her movement. Immediately, she spotted the shadowy outline behind the chimney. She instinctively froze, knowing that the person must have seen her. While her cloak did blend into the darkness rather well, at such short distance it was almost impossible that she had not been seen.

It took her less than a second to recognise the bow in the hands of the shadowy figure, and gently levered herself up off her back to see who it was aimed at, but she did it in such a way that it appeared natural. She spotted Athral and his guards down below, though her position was still such that he was unlikely to see her.
<I know I should care…> she told Kaolai, <But I just don’t right now.>

Twang

***

"Alright alright alright, enough with this assassination stuff! No one is here to kill us! We are perfectly fine where we a-" The guards didn't even see it coming as they sprung to each side of the corner, sword leveled at the cloaked figure and the man next to it.

"It's me, you infernal fools! Get away!" Rimoru growled, throwing her hood back. "What are you guys doing prowling the night? Why is Athral-"

Athral's eyes widened in terror as he saw the arrow coming straight at him. He tried to move...but wasn't fast enough.

The arrow smashed into his chest, emiting a short fizzle before it erupted into a massive bang, sending a shockwave in a small radius, smashing windows, sending the people to the floor, even breaking some doors in.

As for Athral- he was flung into a brick wall, smashed violently against it, and fell to the floor in a crumpled, messy, heap, unmoving.

"The prince! Where'd the bolt come from?!" shouted the guard.

Rimoru's face turned a deep pale as she searched the rooftops. "Athral? Athral, wake up!" She began to rush to her brother, but one of his guards pushed her away. "Get out of here, my lady!"

Drasken shrugged as the person in the tree did not respond, and turned at Selim's comment, mildly pleased that they agreed on something. As he turned he saw the whole scene, he recognised Rimoru's and saw small movement on a roof, he tried to shout a warning but was too late as an arrow hit Athral. He had been somewhat further away then the others but the shockwave still forced him against the tree he had been under.

As soon as he was able he raised an arm and a shadowy blast flew from his arm at the roof he had seen movement. Darkness in the street seemed to be absorbed by the blast as it streamed toward the building, making the area appear brighter momentarily, his aim was not perfect, the shock of hitting the tree had thrown him somewhat and he was reacting out of instinct, just blasting in the general direction. The focused darkness of the blast would stun anyone near where it impacted, both with force and shroud them in darkness, rendering them near enough blind until it dissapated.

To the guards he shouted: "Get Athral and Rimoru to safety, Now!"

Itzuki landed with a light thud, opening his eyes to see what had happened to cause him to fall. Finding out it was a person, he scowled at the man.

"What was that for?" He asked Drasken before the man shouted to get Rimoru and Athral out of here. He then looked around for Rimoru as she was the whole reason he'd gone to the inn. There was the girl from the palace, but he didn't think she was the princess.

“The person refers to oneself as one. The great lady-” The jeweler saw the arrow hit Athral and was thrown back along with all the animals around him/her. Jumping up, (s)he shouted to the guards and anyone who would get in her/his way, “One is a healer! One may be able to help him if he is still alive so let the person though. If the lord is in danger of death it may be a bad idea to move him so let one see.” (S)He ran towards Athral, who was probably the most wounded.

The cats stayed away, but started searching for the one who upset them with the fired shot. One of the cats had noticed the roof it came from and started to climb it's way to the top. The other kept an eye on the roof for someone jumping off. Ahanu jumped out of his friend's robes, for he would be no help when his protector worked to heal others. He decided that the dark man seemed to know that the shooter was on the roof so decided to stay out of the way.

"My lady, get to safety!" Shouted one of the guards. The arrows blast had left a terrible ringing in all of their ears, except Maya's who was still on the roof, leaving it hard to hear what others had to say.

Rimoru sat herself next to Athral and cradled his bleeding form. Alive, she hated Athral's guts. Dead, he was a family member afterall...and the closest one she had. One of the guards set their hands on her and tried to pull her away but she screamed and kicked.

As the jeweler claimed to be a healer, Rimoru looked over and waved her closer. "He must heal! Let that person through!"

"No my lady, we must seek shelter!" one of the guards argued.

All the noise had attracted the bar patrons, most drunk, who staggered out of the tavern, shouting and screaming, dazed and confused as to what was going on.

The assassin on the roof had another arrow notched and was taking aim at Rimoru when its peripheral vision noticed a large blotch of blackness approaching. No more cover. One objective complete. Other objective still potentially able to be completed.

It lunged away from the chimney and ran at a full sprint to the end of the building they were on, taking a moment to glance at Maya before leaping an incredible distance across to the other roof. It turned its torso about and shot another arrow with expert precision at Rimoru.

However one of the guards picked up his shield and muttered something else, a bright green glow circling around him. The arrow pierced the green shield, shocking the guard inside and exploding in a brilliant flash of red with a shade of green.

When the shield dissapated, all that was left was a charred skeleton laying on the floor.

The assassin dived on another rooftop, again another notched arrow in its bow before shooting it, not at Rimoru, but at the bar patrons. This arrow was glowing violently, like a shooting star, most likely something quite powerful...

Itzuki saw the archer, the one he'd thought he'd seen earlier and decided that he wasn't playing nicely. He slid up the tree and along a branch to a nearby roof top.

As he began moving at what could only called very fast and in a zig-zag pattern as he began closing on the archer. Riding skates of air as a profession over most any terrain made for very high reflexed movement.

Back home he use to play arrow tag, a highly dangerous but enjoyable past-time.

Oh no… was the only thing to pass through Maya’s head as she saw the events unfold around her. The arrow fired at Athral appeared to explode, and Maya thought she could see Rimoru down among the people knocked over by the blast. Such was her confusion that it didn’t even cross her mind to wonder what the princess was doing there. Of more immediate concern to the young woman was the response to the arrow; a fast-moving shadow heading towards the assassin and herself.

She blindly threw a fireball at the chimney stack where the assassin had been, as well as sticking a compressed air shield between her and the incoming darkness, the two mutually eliminating each other. She could hear voices shouting for people to get to safety, but she could tell no-one was really listening, even the ones who were giving the instructions. She also remained oblivious to the fact that other arrows had been fired.
This is my fault, she thought, I could have stopped this. This realisation jolted her into action, and she forced her mind to focus.

“Ah sang cam. Len kao rai cho!” The swift words left her mouth in rapid-fire, almost blending into each other in her hurry to get them out. The spirit form that took form at her request was, unlike the ones she had summoned previously today, decidedly not-humanoid. It was smaller, almost catlike in appearance, except it also sprouted wings from just behind the neck. Without a further word from her, the spirit form took off in swift pursuit of the shadowy assassin, easily bounding over the large gap between the buildings.

Maya, on the other hand, staggered slightly, then muttered another incantation.
“Ah him ra beh yan.” When her vision had cleared, and improved to the point that she could navigate the darkness with relative ease, she started moving as fast as she could in the direction her spirit had taken. Upon reaching the end of the building, she jumped down to the ground, and began following the spirit form from the ground, her command link allowing her to tell where it was.

Selim, who had already been preparing a wide array of defensive spells to protect himself from attack, summoned a blood-red shield around his person as the shockwave sped towards him. The force of the magic hit his ward hard, forcing him to the ground and making him sweat with the strain of mantaining his protection, but he wasn't left as disoriented as the others. Selim aimed carefully and let loose a crossbow bolt-but too late! Drasken had already covered the area in a strange darkness, clouding his aim. His arrow bounced off the building harmlessly.

Selim assessed the situation carefully, spotting Rimoru out on the battlefield. What the Hell was she doing here? All his hard work seemed to be wasted. He cursed as he saw another crossbow bolt emit from the rooftops, slaying a guard in the process. Damnit. Selim quickly dropped his crossbow and opened his scroll; many strange symbols and writings adorned it. The images began to glow a violent shade of purple as he started to chant rapidly in an ancient tounge.

The scroll suddenly evaporated in a fiery explosion that shot high up into the air; a demonic looking figure stepped forward, tounged in flames. It was huge, easily nine feet tall, mostly hidden by a long black hood and cloak. The thing carried a massive Scimitar in it's hands, a huge round buckler on it's arm, and a long whip made of chains was tied around it's waist. A pair of deep red eyes could be seen through it's hood. This was obviously not a golem to mess around with.

Selim looked at the monsterous creature and motioned up towards the black figure flitting atop the roofs.

"Catch that. Alive, if possible, Amy."

The big golem nodded, jumped effortlessly onto the rooftops and began to pursue the black-clad assassian. Selim followed the chase closely, but was distracted when the enemy assassian suddenly fired a third enchanted arrow at the defenseless bar patrons below. He opened his bag quickly and flung it skyward with all his might; one of his puppet copies emerged, pushing itself free of the large sack. It hurled itself through the air and caught the arrow in the chest, exploding spectacularly. Selim groaned, then turned his attention back to the doing of his previously summoned Golem.

OOC: I'm sorry this post is so long. If it should be cut into multiple post please tell me and I'll try to find some places to cut it apart.

IC:

As the jeweler and healer ran up to Athral (s)he ordered, “Make sure that one is not disturbed. A disturbance could distract one enough to cause the the great lord's death. My lady, you may stay here, but if one tells you to do something you must listen immediately.”

The healer looked at injured man and used a sharp knife to rip open his tunic. (S)He saw that a section of his ribs moved inward when he inhaled as well as being covered with scratches and minor cuts. Laying a ear on his chest, (s)he did not hear breathing noises on one side. Looking at his neck, (s)he saw that the veins there stood out like pipes.

“My lady, his ribs are broken in multiple places and his lung is punctured. One must intervene quickly or he will die now.”

The healer counted two ribs down from Athral's collarbone. (S)He pulled out a small, short, hollow tube that was sharpened at one end an pushed it between the two ribs. A gust of air emitted from his chest. The veins on his neck flattened out. “One disaster averted. Next one will check for internal injuries.”

Placing his/her hands on Athral's chest, (s)he concentrated. Her/his conciseness was sent along the blood vessels and through his organs. (S)He noticed a tear in Athral's liver. Noting no other injuries, his/her conciseness returned to her/his body. She pointed at a pot near a building and ordered, “Fill that with water and bring it here fast.”

(S)He unrolled a cloth next to Athral's body and began rapidly pulling items from inside his/her robe. The items included: a long funnel shaped metal tube that was sharpened on the narrow end, four metal bars slightly curved with holes in them, two needles, some thread, several lengths of wire, some metallic thread, and several small jars that appeared to contain various herbs.

When the water arrived, (s)he concentrated on it and it began to boil. The water then abruptly stopped. Placing her/his hand on the outside of the jar, the healer stated, “That is cooled enough.”

After combining the contents of two jars, water was poured to mix with them. Picking up the jar in one hand and the funnel object in the other, the healer pushed the sharp end of the funnel through the wall of Athral's abdomen. The liquid was then poured into the funnel and the funnel was removed. “Get a small clean cloth and put it in the water.”
Putting his/her hand back on the abdomen, (s)he concentrated. The mixture of water and leaves that was put inside of Anthral moved throughout the inside of his abdomen. Turning his/her attention to the leaves on the liver, (s)he caused them to grow and seal the tear in the liver. Seeing the bleeding stopped, (s)he nodded in satisfaction.

Taking up the straight needle and thread, (s)he quickly sewed up the hole in the abdomen. Then taking the cloth from the jar of water, (s)he tore it in two. Placing half back in the water, (s)he held the other in one hand an a jar of herbs in the other. Pouring some of the herbs onto the cloth, the cloth was then applied to the hole in the abdomen. “One needs many clean bandages quickly.”

Pulling the tube out of the chest, (s)he sewed up the hole and repeated the process that was done on the abdomen. Turning to the broken ribs, (s)he laid the curved bars over the broken ribs, took the curved needle and the metallic thread, and began to sew the curved bars to the broken ribs. Turning to the guards, (s)he ordered, “Bring one that stick, immediately, for one has little time left.”

After receiving the stick, (s)he concentrated on it and it grew longer, thicker and straighter. Breaking the stick into lengths, (s)he used the sections of the stick and some bandages to splint the broken limbs. (S)He instructed the guards and Rimoru in how to bandage the rest of Athral's wounds while wrapping his/her tools in the cloth and putting them away. “One's energy is exhausted. You now have two to carry.” All the color ran out of his/her face as (s)he collapsed in the street.

The assassin barely looked back, but when it did, it noticed several strange creatures following close behind. It had not anticipated so many strange protectors...but then again, this was Ifrete territory...and there always were mages there.

No matter...this will be easy.

The assassin first noticed the golem closing in on him, a rather brutish looking beast with a cloak to hide its hidious features. However if that's what the man believed to be beautiful handiwork, that's what the assassin will have to work with.

Simple...

With another elegant leap, the assassin landed nimbly on the next building and leapt again, spinning around in mid air, an arrow already notched, with a scroll neatly tied to the arrowhead. With another twang, the arrow was blocked by the creature's shield, however the scroll flashed and sizzled, eventually burning up into nothingness, billowing out an incredible amount of smoke.

However the smoke was shortlived as an exact copy of the golem formed, this one fighting on the assassin's side. The only difference was the fact that the assassin's golem had runes all across its body.

However the assassin's luck was running out as more guards piled onto the street and began launching their own barrage of arrows at it. Not to mention someone seemed to be floating on air fast approaching it and the strange spirit was also closing in past the golems.

The assassin reached into it's cloak and produced another scroll which it promptly through on the ground, envelloping it in a strange green light before it disappeared.

However it didn't remain undetected for long as a shriek sounded from within the building they were in. A shriek that ended all too abruptly. Another arrow shot out of a nearby opened window, this one aimed at Rimoru.

**

Rimoru frowned as she began getting ordered around. Her brother looked in horrible shape...infact he already looked dead.

"I'm no servant," she grumbled as she gently wiped some hair off her wounded brothers face. The two never really seemed to get along, no...not while they lived. But if one of them died...it was horrendous...their own life and blood...

But she made sure to do what the jeweler-turned-healer asked, mostly by ordering random people around to do whatever.

And with all that blood and gore, Rimoru couldn't help but turn away or cover her eyes. It was so gruesome...and disgusting. If it were up to her, people would just be people without bones or muscles or organs. It would make things so much nicer...and easier.

And when the healer just collapsed Rimoru's eyes widened even more. "Oh! For goodness-" she began to growl. "You guys, help bring them inside!" the princess ordered, pointing to both the healer and her brother. The people complied and hastily picked them up, most of the throng trying to find their way back in the already packed tavern.

Yet Rimoru, unlike her brother, noticed something coming straight at her. Another arrow. On instinct, her hands flew up, producing a powerful green shield in front of her. As the arrow struck, it seemed to struggle against her magics as it slowly sank in. Rimoru felt persperation forming on her brows, her arms and legs getting weak.

"Mythos!" she cried helplessly, tears forming as the arrowhead began to puncture through her barrier.

Then suddenly, it too exploded...

After the second explosion, Ahanu saw the healer wake enough to try reaching into one of her/his pockets. He knew (s)he would be afraid that another person was injured and was trying to dig out a packet of herbs that would give him/her strength for a period of time. Ahanu did not like it when his protector had to use those herbs, for they would make him/her tired for longer after they wore off. Using the herbs in the city was even worse for large animals that would protect him/her in his/her weakened state were not here. The skrit wished they had not stayed in the city for so long, for then (s)he may not have fainted. They needed to get out of the city so his larger friend may recover his/her spirit and natural strength. He scurried over to his friend and dug into her/his pockets. Finding the herbs that (s)he needed he put them in his/her mouth so (s)he could chew them.

The healer chewed the herbs that Ahanu gave him/her and soon regained her/his color. Getting up, (s)he said, “Please unhand this person. There may be more work for a healer.” Arriving at the side of Rimoru, (s)he did a quick survey of the wounds. Seeing no evidence of imminent danger, (s)he turned to the building that the latest attack came from, “If this danger is not dealt with, one will not be able to heal the injured as fast as they are injured.”

Concentrating, (s)he spoke loudly in a language that was unintelligible to the humans nearby. “Little friends, one needs your help, the man with the arrows in that building hinders one's efforts. He must not continue. It will be dangerous and some may die, so one understands if you wish not to help, save yourself if you can.”

Suddenly there was the skittering of thousands of tiny feet. The squeaking voices grew in number to the point where they were not deafening, but certainly louder than had ever been heard before. In the sky, there were winged forms, that flew erratically by the dozens. They neared the window where the last shot had been fired. Inside, the archer could not have missed the sounds. From the light of the moon streaming in the window, a person could have seen cockroaches falling from the ceiling with the red brown forms forms of bedbugs among them. Several of the bats flew in the window emitting their high pitched screeches that rose in volume to where it was painful to anyone listening. The bedbugs looked for any bare skin on which to bite and feed. Soon spiders were crawling on him. The movements of rats, mice, and other vermin could be heard in the walls. Clouds of mosquitoes, moths,and other flying insects of the night appeared outside the window.

Turning to Ahanu, (s)he wrote a quick note and said, “It is time to go for help, little friend, quickly bring this to the palace and deliver our need of help to the pet of the lady. The pet should be able to find one who has the authority and power to come help and deliver the note for you. Then come back in case one needs you again.”

Ahanu quickly understood the importance of the letter and ran to the palace to deliver it. He stayed high, but used all his senses to try finding the lizard again. When he did, the skrit dropped the note to the lizard saying, “Great guardian, your mistress is injured and as is her brother. They need help down in the city. Please give this note to someone who will be able to come quickly to help them.” The skrit then hurried off to get back to his friend.

Meanwhile, the healer turned back to Rimoru and placed his/her hand on Rimoru's forehead. Sending her consciousness through the new patient, (s)he noticed no major injuries. The only things that had happened was that she was stunned and bruised a little. Returning his/her consciousness to his/her body. (S)He prepared to either protect him/herself or help the next injured.

Pinky had been in the process of his evening walk, wandering alone in the beautiful flowers and trees behind Rimoru's window, as well as taking care of a bit of business while he was outside.

Yet a familiar voice spoke from above, making his neck crane up just in time for a flat piece of folded paper to land on his face. He shook it off with narrowed eyes and looked up at the voice. "You owe me some herbs!" he growled but then began to think of the words the creature used. "Master in danger?"

He began to scurry towards his opening and run up to Rimoru's room, note in his mouth as he clawed at Rimoru's desk, until a small door opened up along the wall- Pinky's route to get out of Rimoru's room and into the palace. The lizard did so, trekking quite a distance from Rimoru's room to the study where he expected to find the massive lizard.

Relthor was sitting on a plush, red couch by the fire, large book in hand, along with a scroll unfurled on the nearby table. Yet what one didn't see was his uneasiness of the whole situation.

Rimoru had left him a note earlier that she was going to go find Victoria. Relthor did not disagree, although he was going to make sure someone strong and powerful accompanied her. Her brother was both, not to mention loyal enough to Relthor himself to not speak of this to their father. Yet now as he brooded over it, he felt foolish, guilty. Why send the children when thousands of other investigators were working on the same case with no solutions at all? Maybe that was why...because he didn't anticipate Rimoru to work on this case too long out of boredom. However something else was bothering him...he could definately feel a good amount of magic nearby, destructive purposes in mind....

The human-like dragon casually placed his quill in the ink well and scrawled something on the parchment while flipping the page of the large, dusty tome he held in his lap. But as Pinky got in front of him by his feet and dropped a letter, Relthor smiled warmly and pat the lizard on the head while picking up the piece of paper.

Immediately his face fell. The handwriting was not Rimoru's and she was really the only one who would leave little notes for him. But as he read on, his eyes narrowed and he quickly closed the large book and placed it carefully on the floor. He quickly wiped off his long golden robes and walked hurredly to Darian, who was in a small room with several mages babbling and arguing nearby. As Relthor came in the room, their eyes immediately met.

"Greetings, sir mages, my lord. May you be feeling the strange thickness in the air- the overwhelming use of magic?"

"Indeed," Darian replied as he got up from his chair at the head of the table. The other mages bowed respectfully, not truly knowing what Relthor truly was. "We were just conferencing about it."

"'Tis a simple matter. One lonely mage attempting to settle a debt with another. Our law mages shall deal with it soon enough," sniffed one of the mages close to Darian himself. Relthor recognized the man as one of the distinguised professors at the Magic Academy.

"I am unsure, my good friends, as the magic has the tinge of...more danger than one would expect one of your many students. Those loud booms cannot be going off on the street as a usual occurance. Sir, it will frighten the city inhabitants and leave us dry," Relthor replied with a stern tone in his voice.

Darian nodded, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. "Right, my good friend. I shall dispatch my own personal guards to attend to this matter-"

"Sorry to interrupt my lord, but I wish to do so myself. It will quench my curiosity and perhaps give me something more to write for my...lord," the dragon-man replied.

Darian's brows furrowed as he examined the advisor. All the mages at the table looked at both, but were relieved when Darian nodded. "Of course, Relthor. You will be safe? I can assure you, I know the right mages to handle anything and if needed, I can accompany you."

"No thank you, my lord. I shall be quite fine."

"Alright. May your spells surpass the other," Darian said with a light bow.

"May your words be wise and plentiful," Relthor replied with a lower bow before he closed the door quietly and passed by the royal guards to the enormous balcony across the hall. He needed to make this quick...the children cannot die...

***

The Assassin noted the loud speaker as the one that had previously been healing Athral. The speech was loud, unintelligible, and annoying and the assassin wished to end it quickly. With another arrow notched, it took careful aim and stopped suddenly as bats flew towards it, screeching and chirping and being just as annoying as the healer. With a low growl, the figure reached into its cloak, only to bring its arm out in disgust as insects swarmed.

It would need to make the kill as quickly as possible. Some people were dragging the unconscious form of Rimoru into the tavern, along with Athral. The assassin notched another arrow, however could not concentrate as creatures of all shapes and sizes, and annoyances, continued to bombard him with whatever they had.

With a grunt, it reached inside its cloak and produced another scroll. However, this time it placed the scroll on itself and tapped it with its thumb before suddenly, the assassin glowed violently and suddenly burst into flames. Slowly, it rose as the vermin nearby began to burn and die. The assassin once again began a sprint and leapt out of the window, landing nimbly on its feet from the second floor.

Immediately, it was rushed by guards, however the burning assassin quickly placed a burned scroll on the ground, shockwaves immediately being emited by the powerful parchment, sending the town watch to the floor. Again, it proceeded to run towards the tavern, notching another bow as the fire around it was wearing off, burned pieces of the assassin's cloak falling apart, slowly revealing a skinny, yet muscular form underneath. If it could make off this last shot, its goal would be complete...

Drasken had been waiting to get a good shot at the assassin, but its nimbleness and the efforts of the others had prevented him from spotting an oportunity. He was intrigued by its toughness and resilience, it seemed able to withstand fire and was well equipped. The first thought that rose to mind was a type of intelligent undead, a vampire perhaps. Regardless of what it was, the assasin was now running down the road back towards the tavern, near where he was.

Drasken interposed himself between the assassin and the tavern, he wasn't exactly sure what he would do, this assassin seemed to be prepared to deal with anything that was thrown at it. Drasken drew his Scimitar, holding it in one hand and using the other to cast another 'spell'. Between him and the assassin a two story high and several feet thick wall of shadow formed, it was difficult, but not impossible to see through, though only for a short distance. its only other effect was to bar passage to anything not sufficiently powerful to force its way through. This assassin seemed more than capable if it tried, though it would still slow it down somewhat.

Drasken fully expected the assassin to jump over it and was ready if he did to blanket the area in cold shadowy tentacles that would try and grab and hold the assassin, again, they would try to crush the air out of him, but werenot particularly strong, if several managed to get a hold of him it would at least buy them time to work out a way to stop him. Drasken took a deep breath, a few beads of sweat forming on his brow at the effort, much of the creations had been drawn from the darkness around them, but it took energy to form and maintain and these both covered large areas.

The healer felt and heard as the small life forces of many screamed and were silent. Soo many lives, soo much pain – for the healer and the wounded. It was almost too much to bear. (S)He could feel where the live forces continued to wink out. It was no longer in the building, but running towards the healer/jeweler. Bits of clothing and burning ash fell away revealing the form that rushed in his/her direction. Feeling the coldness of rage building within, it was soon clear it was not to be denied. The destruction of life, awakened chilling violence in the chest of the healer and rose almost choking off the air of her/his lungs.

Although the wall of darkness suddenly obscured his/her vision, the point of no return had been passed. The mouth was thrown open by violent cold forcing its way out and a thick column of freezing water erupted directed towards the one who snuffed out the small lives that sought only to aid. The blast of freezing water lanced past the dark man and plunged into the dark barrier. The cone of freezing water would coat all the beings that it hit, but the small ones could not keep up with the killer so would not be injured. His/her inhibitions breached, all the pain and rage was poured into the wall of ice that would encase those it hit with ever increasing thickness. It seemed to go on forever until the well of anger was spent and the healer had regained control. With the time it had gone on whatever was hit would be frozen solid, unable to move. (S)He saw what had been done and was engulfed by shame.

Then, as if remembering the wounded, (s)he turned and walked to Athral's side. Calling for wine, (s)he mixed some herbs with the wine to make a paste and applied it to the wounds. With the remainder, more wine was added and poured down the throat of the semiconscious man.

Itzuki had been about to overtake the assassin when the area erupted with shadowy tentacles and almost immediatedly afterward someone tried to turn the local into a ice rink with a collection of human popsicles. Barely avoiding an icy fate, he did manage to rescue a small child that had been about to be put on ice.

Setting the child down, he slid to the top of a building to get a better look at what was happening.

The hunting spirit form swept past the golems with ease, and pounced just as the assassin disappeared, just barely missing the kill. However, the spirit was not idle for long; it had the assassin’s scent, and it was moving in the right direction even before the shriek that gave away his location. When the assassin emerged from the building, the spirit was already very close, and was about to strike again, when the shockwave knocked it backwards.

It recovered far faster than the soldiers also knocked down, and was quickly in pursuit of the running assassin again, gaining fast. The spirit did not appear to notice the shadowy wall thrown up in their path, but when the wall of ice came forth and enveloped the assassin and everything around him, the spirit dissipated as soon as it came into contact with the ice.

Maya was running through the streets, changing direction to follow the spirit form as needed, and was following it towards the street outside the tavern when she saw the mass of ice form. She felt her link with the spirit fade away, and realised there was little more she could do. She started to run towards the tavern, but the rush of adrenaline was already fading, and the fatigue and over-exertion from her magic had taken their toll. Darkness shrouded her vision, and she fell into unconsciousness, collapsing roughly to the ground.

Selim followed the ensuing battle closely, observing the assassian in great detail. His enemy was obviously incredibly skilled-nearly untouchable. This would take more than simple swords and spells. He reached into his bag yet again and pulled out a pair of scrolls and placed them carefully on the ground; as per usual, they exploded spectacularly, sending smoke and fire high into the air. A pair of sleek new golems emerged, swinging their weapons experimentally.

One of the creatures was a dark shade of steely green, perched upon four legs and low to the ground; long thin spikes pricked out of it's back. A lethal-looking Halberd was slung over it's back and belts of daggers and stilettos covered it's arms and legs.

The second creature was more human looking. Shining silver and posessing all the usual number of arms and legs, it was large-about seven feet tall. A massive pair of sissors gleamed sickly in the moonlight, as if it craved flesh.

Selim, sweating with the exertion of summoning so many large creatures in a tiny space of time, snapped his fingers, and his creations sped off in pursuit of the assassian. Passing quickly and unharmed through Drasken's dark sheild and easily avoiding the healer's icy blasts, the pair ran straight for the still-smoldering assassian. Stopping short, the smaller of the two golems began unloading a storm of metal on it's enemy, withdrawing and hurling it's many knives with deadly speed and accuracy. The second of the pair attacked head-on, opening it's sissors and rushing straight for the assassian.

Meanwhile, Selim's large first summon stared off dangerously at it's copy, slightly confused as the sight of it's own reflection. Then, as if by some unspoken command, the huge golem suddenly charged at it's double sword swinging wildly.

Selim, in the meantime, was rifling through his bag, withdrawing several short staffs-the same ones he had used against Rimoru earlier that day. Almost exausted, he took out not two, but four different colored staffs and began fitting them into some sort of long metal chassis; latching the magical weapons togetherthe end result was a long metal-and wood weapon with a mean-looking barrel. Selim proceeded to quickly walk towards entrance to the tavern, strange weapon in hand. If the assassian got as far as him, then death was inevitable.

The assassin had little time to think. It's boots had frozen over onto the ground, keeping it stationary- definately not a good position for its fighting style nor its predicament. The black wall loomed ominously over the dark figure and several new golems had begun to make their way towards it. With a defeated groan, it pressed a scroll onto its waist. Suddenly, a bright blue shimmer surrounded it just as the two golems began to barrage it with blows.

As the shield kept steady, albeit barely, the assassin pulled out yet another scroll, knowing that if it stayed any longer, nothing would get accomplished...

***

Rimoru's eyes suddenly perked up. "Athral!" she gasped, rolling onto her chest and wincing a bit. She wasn't injured badly at all, only a few bruises, but she still wasn't used to so much pain...

She crawled her way to the unmoving form of Athral, across from the healer, and was about to place her hands on his chest when she remembered his grievous wounds. Instead, she stroked some of his hair away from his peaceful face, tears falling from her eyes. "Athral? Are you there?" she whispered.

The boy's eyes suddenly fluttered open but imemdiately they winced in pain. "Save...Aghhh...pain...Maya..." he gasped and wheezed before passing out again from the pain.

"Maya? I'm Rimoru, you sister, you buffoon," Rimoru replied, an expression of surprise and a bit of happiness to know that her brother was alive. She kissed him gently on the cheek and let her brother remain unconscious, afraid to move him any more in case it pained him beyond what he was probably feeling now. She turned to the healer and smiled ever so slightly, a few tears falling down her cheeks. "Thank you..." she whispered.

"Lady Rimoru, will the both of ye be alright?" a bartender said as he poked his head out of the side of an overturned table.

"Yeah...I think so," Rimoru said as she tried to get up, wobbling a bit. A few men ran to her side but she waved them off. "I'm fine..." she assured them as she stumbled to the doorway to where Selim stood. "Where are the others?" she asked, being a few inches taller than the unimposing man, glancing out the window. It appeared that the assassin did seem to be in trouble, being cornered between two different walls- one a nearly-solid black wall, the other a wall of blades.

***

Suddenly, there was a loud crack and the smell of sulfur filled the air as a tall man's robes fluttered in the sudden blast of air and fire. It died off as soon as it appeared as Relthor looked about the city street. It had taken a bit longer than he hoped to find out where the large magic use was taking place, but he had atleast noticed it.

He searched the ground for Rimoru, the one he had come to protect and noticed a form that resembled his beloved student. His eyes continued to scan the battlefield, noticing torn roads, broken stones, several dead bodies and even a few skeletons, not to mention the annoying boy in a tree nearby a little girl who watched from behind a window with her parents.

And there was the assassin, already seeming to be in a predicament.

"By attempting to harm the royal family, I have been given authorization to terminate you and official permission to allow others to do the same. I hope the afterlife will be kinder to you than your next moments of life," boomed the voice of the councilor, his voice dripping with poison. He raised his hand and immediately a bolt of green energy surged into the blue shield, almost instantaniously dissapating it.

But right before another bolt of red energy collided with it, the assassin pounded another scroll onto its chest. A low humming seemed to ensue, although it did not eminate from the assassin.

The area seemed to slow down and grow silent when the assassin suddenly dissappeared in a cloud of smoke. Yet the ground around it was torn up and scorched.

The assassin was gone...

Relthor frowned as his bolt of red energy smashed into the ground, displacing a few more cobblestones.

"Everyone, dissapate your magic, lest I must do so for you, by order of the Ifretes," he said aloud as he walked to the limp body on the ground. The more he studied the body, the more he noticed it was not Rimoru. She did not have the same shape or size, but he nonetheless, picked her up gently and used a bit of his energy to help bring her back to consciousness.

***

From behind Selim Rimoru smiled. "Yay! It's Relthor!" she said happily, waving at the robed man.

Selim did not even register that Rimoru was standing behind him as he aimed his weapon at the assassian, taking careful aim. All seemed to be in order; the killer was immobile, his golems were advancing quickly, and his shot was almost lined up. Selim wrapped his finger around the trigger gently as...

A booming voice echoed over the streets; a few moments later, bolts of energy were flying around and before Selim knew what was happening, the assassian had vanished in a cloud of smoke. Selim shouldered his weapon furiously and immedietly called off his golems. His first summon came thundering off the rooftops; it had sustained a few slashes and a deep cut on it's shoulder, but it was generally fine.

"Damnit! I almost had that bastard, too..." It wasn't until a few moments later that Selim actually realized who was standing and shouting behind him. He turned to cast a baleful eye on Rimoru as she waved as the newcomer Relthor.

"Well, hello there, Miss. I thought you were supposed to be inside the palace, safely surrounded by guards and lawmages. I guess I can never trust an Ifrete to keep out of trouble." He suddenly looked around worriedly. "Speaking of Ifretes, where the hell is your brother? Is he badly injured?"

Rimoru looked down at the short man for a minute before realizing that he was the one that had caught her before- the one that was supposed to be imprisoned. She yelped and fell back, landing on her rump and scooting away.

"How did you get out?" she asked, not replying to the man. "My brother will remain out of your ugly, grubby hands, you cretin. You won't try to kill him with Relthor here!"

"I just helped save your life, as well as the lives of everyone around us. And, as you can see by the fact that I'm still alive and well, I was telling the truth before. Your father released and paid me for your return." Realizing that he looked rather imposing with his long-barreled weapon over his shoulder, Selim put the object down on the ground.

"Your brother bought me a drink before. We had some friction when we met earlier this evening, but the incident was solved without much violence and Athral was kind enough to supply the entire taven with ale. That might not make him a friend, but he's not my enemy by any means-and neither are you, by the way. I don't have any motive for taking you back to your father without motives. I'm sure Relthor will take care of that."

Selim cast a suspicious eye at the creature known as Relthor. He didn't know the dragon-thing personally, but he had heard of his extensve magical powers. Better not try anything stupid with that one around. Selim's eye then looked upon the burning chassis of his copy-the one who had intercepted a magic arrow. What a waste...it would cost so much money to make another one of those.

Rimoru narrowed her eyes and stared up at Selim. "I don't believe you. People like you sicken me- there's something in this for you..." Rimoru replied as she began to push herself back to her feet, the bar patrons getting back up, noticing the hubbub outside had ended for the most part.

"Athral is unconscious...or partially because you did a poor job at protecting him. And Relthor will not take me back. I'll make sure of it," she said quietly. She glanced at him and slapped him in the arm. "Don't look at Relthor like that. He's better than you'll ever be...and much...dreamier..." Her eyes seemed to glitter a bit as the man carefully walked closer to the tavern, Maya in his arms.

"There always is something for me." Selim shrugged apatheticlly. "Not like that's any of your buisness, anyways. And, for your information, I was under the impression that Athral could take care of himself. Well, at least he's not dead." He recoiled as Rimoru slapped his arm. "Ow! Hey, stop that, or I'll have to get physical with you." He supressed a snicker as he noticed the shiny look in Rimoru's eye. "Didn't know you had a thing for dragon...things, my lady."

Selim looked back out of the tavern and saw Relthor approaching, carrying Maya like a ragdoll. He went out to meet the dragon apprehensively.

"Greetings, Relthor. Selim Savid at your service. Your help is appreciated, but I assure you that I had the situation totally under control by the time you arrived. A few more moments and the assassian would have been incapacitated."

"Physical?" Rimoru asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're too short for me," she added with a chuckle as she walked out with Selim, slapping him in the arm again.

"And for the record...I don't have anything for Relthor...he's just my teacher, that's all," she whispered as they approached him. When they did reach him, she stood a bit on her toes and used Selim's shoulder as a support to see who was nestled within his arms.

Relthor smiled at Rimoru and bowed his head. "My lady, it is good to see you well." He then turned towards Selim and frowned. "It doesn't seem like you had it under control. The whole street is frozen over and what isn't frozen is torn apart. No, sir, you had nothing under control."

The advisor made his way into the tavern and up to a room and gently set Maya on the bed. As one of the innkeepers scrambled up in surprise, the tall, richly dressed advisor seemed to pull a coin out of thin air and gave it to the innkeeper. Judging by how large the man's eyes got, it was much more than a pretty penny.

Selim waved his hand nervously. He wasn't used to having to deal with these kinds of people...dragons. He quickly followed Relthor as he temporarily disposed of Maya.

"It's just collateral damage. Nothing much I could do about that; as for the guards, they fell in the line of duty doing what they do best: protecting the Ifretes and such. I had that assassian lined up in my sights; we could have gotten valuable information by capturing that man. Everything would have been wrapped up nicely if I hadn't been at all distracted."

These assassins were sneaky and very little fun. As he saw and heard the mage, Itzuki grinned as he remembered the dragon and the fun he had with him.

Sliding forward, avoiding the patch of ice, he arrived at the opposite side of palace girl. "Why hello again Relthy old boy." He commented with a grin, "What's new in your life today?"

Relthor walked back down the stairs and stopped suddenly, his head cocking to the right as he walked closer to a figure sprawled out on the floor, a cloaked figure tending to him.

"Athral?" the advisor narrowed his eyes and turned to Selim. "Collateral damage? This is an Ifrete..."

It was then that the annoying boy had decided to bother him yet again as he plopped along one side of Rimoru. "You tell me what's new. My students have had their life threatened and it looks that young Athral is nearly dead..."

"But he isn't! He's still alive just...in a lot of pain," Rimoru said, tugging at Relthor's arm. "He'll be fine, this healer is helping him."

Relthor nodded as he looked over the boy, then at the healer. "Thank you for helping him. Do you request some sort of reward? I'm sure Lord Ifrete would be more than happy to provide you one."

As Relthor spoke with the healer and Selim, Rimoru turned to the boy in front of her. "I've seen you before, sir, but a name does not come to mind. Who might you be?"

"Well a couple assassins packing a fairly powerful array of disposables came to try and snark yon Athral did you call him?" Itzuki commented, "Even managed to bust some green shield spell that one of his bodyguards used to protect them. Fried the guard like charcoal."

"Oh, hello again palace girl. I'm Itzuki. Relthor kicked me out earlier and we met then."

Relthor raised an eyebrow as he nodded to Itzuki. "And who froze the streets?"

Rimoru chuckled and looked at Relthor. "Silly Relthy, treating our guests with disrespect...he could have kept me company." With that, she wrapped an arm around his arm and smiled at Relthor who glanced at the two and looked out the window again.

Rimoru stuck her tongue out at the advisor before unhooking her arm and standing in front of Itzuki. "I am Lady Rimoru Ifrete, youngest, and most beautiful of the Ifrete sisters," she said with a broad smile as she did a small curtsey for him. "Why were you visiting earlier anyways?"

Looking away from her/his patient, (s)he said, “One was pleased to be of help. What one has done is field treatment learned from one's teacher. The young lord is stabilized now. He has need of greater healing. One would be willing to give report to those possessing healing magic about his wounds. His injuries to lung, chest and liver are the ones that endanger his life. It would be best if he could be attended to before the drought one has given him for pain wears off. Then he will be in great pain. Also, it would be best if one removed the bars holding his ribs in place during the healing process. That would require working together with the healer's magic. As for a reward, one did not think of any. Money is always useful in this world of civilization, but whatever the lord feels is right would be welcome. After all it is one's duty to help all that are injured as well as to stop the unnecessary lose of life. There is great grief at the lose of life that took place in this battle so that one could heal.” Tears started to fill his/her eyes at the last statement.

The jeweler/healer turned away and ignored the lord's question about the ice. Washing his/her hands in the remaining water, (s)he boiled off the water on her/his hands to sanitize them. “Lord the lady that you carried, was she injured? If so one should take the time to see to her wounds before those with healing magic need one to take care of this man.”

Drasken sighed at the dissapearence of the assasin, he had hoped to interrogate him. A pity... but perhaps the sitaution is not entirely lost. He made his way towards Relthor and the ifrete's.

As he drew close he gave a deep bow and said. "Greetings my lady and to you sir. Drasken Embar at your service" He straighened and waved a hand to dismiss his magics, the tentacles and wall merely fading from existence. He spoke quickly. "I hope Selim here hasn't been trying to convince you that he is responsible for all of this. We each attempted to stop the assasin and he proved well equipped to meet any eventuality, even with such a wide variety of magics used against him."

After a short pause in a more pensive tone he suggested: "The circumstances of the attack are best left to be described when we have found somewhere comfortable and safe to seat ourselves. There are several things you should be made aware of. Might i ask where you left Maya? She is the woman you carried inside. She had her own story to tell and it would be best to hear everything at once." He had seen Relthor take her into the inn, but was not sure where he had left her.

"Someone who was not really paying attention to the area and going for overkill. Almost spiked an infant at that." He replied as he hadn't been paying much attention to who was doing what, as much as trying to stop the assassins.

"So you were the one I came to this inn to find." Itzuki commented as returned her curtsy with a partial bow. "Just using the palace architecture for practice, thought if I had known lovely maidens resided within..."

Maya stirred slightly, and her eyelids fluttered as she gradually returned to consciousness. As her eyes came open and her vision slowly cleared, she vaguely realised she could hear voices. She groaned softly as she shifted again, she was still exhausted and moving was difficult. Without moving her head, she took in her surroundings, though she did not recognise them since she wasn’t fully awake yet.

“What happened?” she croaked, her voice little more than a whisper.
<You passed out,> Kaolai informed her, <Someone brought you back to the inn to recover. You know, I take back what I said earlier about learning your limits. Although I suppose these were fairly unique circumstances,> the spirit admitted.
<I had to do something, I…> began Maya.
<I know. Don’t worry about it too much. It wasn’t your fault,> Kaolai reassured her.

Maya tried to listen to the voices conversing as she lay there, though she couldn’t make out what was being said, or who was saying it. She felt restless; even though she was completely exhausted, she wanted to get up and move around. She rolled onto her side, then slowly brought herself up into a sitting position. After waiting a few seconds, she then pushed herself up off the bed and stood up. Immediately, her hand went back to the bed and steadied herself, but when she slowly drew it away again, she remained stable. Slowly, she made her way towards the door, in search of the voices.

"Selim convinces me of nothing," Relthor replied hotly as he turned from the window to look at this Drasken fellow. He looked like a dark elf with perhaps something else in him. Whatever he truly was, Relthor did not care- it wasn't important at the time.

"Alright, is Maya the one that lay on the streets?" Relthor asked, glancing at the stairs. "She is currently resting I believe. In a large bedroom." He turned to the healer and added, "And as far as I could tell, she is not terribly wounded.

Rimoru chuckled and cocked her head as her sapphire blue eyes washed over Itzuki and she smiled. "What were you practicing?"

Relthor frowned at Itzuki but turned towards the stairs. "Barkeeper, get this place in shape. Patrons, go home or continue with your drinking. Those that helped in this fight, pick the largest table and remain there. Healer, come with me to Maya's room. I shall speak with her personally."

He glanced at Athral and scratched his chin. "Keep him from being moved around."

With that, Relthor walked up the stairs trying to think of what he would say when he brought the youngest child of Darian all wounded and broken. He also wondered how well being a dragon can save him from the Clan lord's fury...

He stopped at the top of the stairs and looked up at the woman. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked in his deep voice, most of his figure cloaked in shadows.

"Airtrek." He replied as he returned her smile. She really was beautiful, even if she was lacking slightly.

"Airtrek?" Rimoru asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do Airtreks do?" She leaned a bit closer, her face showing an abundance of curiosity and the desire to learn a bit more about the subject.

Drasken nodded at Relthor and then glanced around the tavern, quickly spotting a table, he walked over to it and drew up some chairs, he dragged some chairs around until there were ten around the table, he hadn't counted how many people had been involved but he assumed it would be enough, including if Maya and Athral joined them. When it was prepared he turned to Rimoru and gave a small bow; "My Lady, would you to take a seat while we wait for your advisor and our friends?" He had pulled out a somewhat better quality chair and indicated towards it. He had learnt it was easier to treat lords and ladies in such a way.

"Race, compete, those with the skill and ambition seek to become a king or even the King." Itzuki replied, "After I met you, I was going to seek out the arena and see if there were any possible people worthwhile challenging."

"Well, it could have been worse, Relthor. At least both the Ifrete children is alive. Unfortunately, we have no leads as to who ordered this attack or where our slippery friend escaped to. I have a few useful contacts in the intelligence and merchant guilds, but I doubt that anyone who had the money to hire such a good killer would be unprofessional enough leave any trails behind."

Selim sighed as Drasken dashed his hopes of impressing Relthor. The old adviser was wiser than he thought. It seemed liked everyone was always against him. There wasn't much left to do now that the Assassin had successfully escaped. He shuddered at the thought of Darian's reaction to the incident; the Ifrete lord was all too well known for his fiery temper, and this debacle would sent him into an absolute fury.

Maya was slowly moving towards the stairs when she heard the voice address her. The man was half hidden in the shadow at the top of the stairs, and she couldn’t see his face.
“I’m fine,” she replied wearily, “Just…” She staggered slightly, and would have fallen if she had not put out an arm to support herself against the wall. “…a little tired,” she admitted, with a wan smile. Her entire body ached, but there wasn’t a lot that could be done about that.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice still very quiet. She kept her arm against the wall, using it to support herself, so that it took less effort to stay upright.
<Maya, that’s the person that brought you back here,> Kaolai put in.
<I see. I wonder who he is,> she mused.
<Well, whoever he is, he was giving orders all over the place, so I guess he must be pretty important,> revealed the spirit.

She suddenly wondered idly where her staff was. She hadn’t seen it in the room she had been in, but then she hadn’t really looked. Probably still lying in the street, she thought, realising that this man, and probably everyone else, had probably been more concerned for her health than about collecting her belongings. Pity. I could have used it as a crutch, she thought.

Rimoru smiled at the strange dark skinned man and nodded as she took the seat, leaning a bit on one of the arm rests. "Thank you very much, sir," she said quietly, her eyes moving up to meet his. "You are too kind."

She then turned to Itzuki and chuckled. "Well, I doubt my father will accept any challenge of yours and I doubt anyone will give up a position of power to you. Personally...I don't see that as a good practice. One needs the smarts, not just the powers or the right moves, to be the ruler." She looked into the fire and gave a quiet chuckle. "But, maybe you would like to teach me a bit of this 'airtrekking'?"

***

Relthor returned a thin smile as Maya gave one of her own. "Are you sure? Here, let me help you. I asked for a healer, but whoever it is doesn't seem to answer to orders. Or perhaps you wish to sleep?" He held out his hand for her to take, while answering the rest of her questions.

"I am Relthor, the advisor to Lord Ifrete. And, with your permission, I must question you for the details of what had happened outside."

He looked back at Selim when he began babbling about contacts and intelligence. "And how can we trust you, oh powerful one?"

"What are you talking about. There are only eight kings, and none of them are old enought to have a daughter your age." Itzuki replied with a quizzled expression at her comments, "And the skills are all you need to be a king. If you can defeat the king on thier own road, you become the king. It's how it works, but sure, it might be interesting."

"Young kings?" Rimoru asked, suddenly perking up. Her smile broadened and she sat on the edge of her seat, straightening out her robe a bit. "Are you a king? Do kings have a lot of land and servants?"

"I almost became one, and had a theoretical shot at being the King, but unfortunately I have a tendency to fall asleep at inoportune times. That was one of them." He commented with a slight shake of his head.

"They have a great deal of territory and followers, yes. At least if they want it that is."

Selim countered quickly, expecting this sort of reaction from Relthor.

"Simply put, you can't. However, I'm sure that me and Darian can work something out; he's contracted me for many jobs and errands, and he'll no doubt want all the help he can get to solve this assassin problem. As long as I'm paid enough, I'll do whatever job you want me to do. Now I don't know how well your mages and sorcerers can track a dangerous killer who we don't have any information on and is currently on the loose, you're free to try. I'm sure I can help somehow, though."

“I don’t need a healer,” confirmed Maya weakly, as she took the offered hand, her own hand cold to the touch. “I don’t need sleep either. I just need to rest… Get my strength back.” She shivered, a side effect of her exhaustion, and used her free hand to pull her cloak more tightly around her shoulders. She was still a little unbalanced, and kept shuffling her feet to keep herself from falling.

“I’m Maya Dazaru,” she introduced herself in return; unaware that Relthor already knew her name from Drasken. “I don’t know what I can tell you that others can’t, but I will do my best,” she agreed. “But I need something to eat first.” That was another side effect of her exhaustion. Whenever she did over-exert herself like this, she always ended up exhausted, cold, physically weak and very hungry. It was because she wasn’t skilled enough to pull that kind of energy from the ether, and ended up siphoning energy out of herself without realising it.

She grimaced when she heard Selim’s voice; she didn’t want to see that mercenary again. And from the sound of it, he was giving Relthor the same attitude he had given her earlier.
“May I ask what happened to my staff?” she asked, in an effort to avoid having to talk to Selim. “I could use it as a crutch, then I wouldn’t need to hold on to you.” And if she didn't have to hold on to Relthor for support, she could put some distance between her and Selim.

The tussle and chaos were over. The royals were safe. The assassins were gone. Everyone had moved inside to the relative safety of the inn. Only a lone figure remained outside, though those who left the inn simply passed him by without any knowledge of him ever being there.

Let darkness be my aid...

Shadows wrapped around Mythos as he stood guard outside the tavern. When the rogue felt that the threat had passed, he moved from the corner to the door. Lightning flashed outlining the dark figure as he stepped through the portal. Rainwater dripped from his hair as he silently took a seat at one of the tables.

"Fall asleep? Lazy..." Rimoru giggled, playfully slapping him in the arm. "Are they cute?"

"I want to be the Lady of the Ifrete clan sometime...but I won't be. My oldest brother will..." Rimoru scrunched up her face and shook her head. "He'll take the reigns and be the future of the Ifretes I suppose. I'll just get married I suppose, most likely to some clan...or perhaps...one of the dragons can marry me..." She smiled dreamily as she began to play with one of her long strands of hair that found their way in front of her face.

***

"Lady Dazaru, it is a pleasure to meet you," Relthor said, gently guiding her down the steps. "Your hands are so cold...to the fireplace you will sit by, with a nice bowl of porridge,"he added quietly, glancing at the others, his eyes lingering on Selim. He had noticed her wince when Selim's voice broke through and as soon as he sat her down in front of the quiet fire, he walked over to Selim, his eyes narrowed.

"You and Lord Ifrete. And if I can't trust you, Lord Ifrete cannot...and I'm sure there is someone else who can help us...who wouldn't out of the love for us and if not the Ifrete clan, their love of Lord Ifrete's poor daughters..." he growled, standing tall over him, blocking his view of Maya.

"Now, please leave Ms. Dazaru alone. I don't think she appreciates your company..."

The Graveyard was deathly quiet as the night brought cover for the undead legions that hid beneath the cold uncaring earth. The crypt's massive slab door was shoved aside to allow several undead creatures to leave their lair.


The first to exit was a Mohrg named Belarius was once a terrible mad man that had committed the mass murder of several small children just for his own personal amusement. He killed many different types of children and had traveled constantly to avoid being captured by the authorities. His days of child killing came at a very sudden end when he was found out by the authorities and righteously executed for his vile crimes.


The death sentence should have ended his murderous streak but sadly a more evil villain found a use for Belarius and now the terrible monster lives again to hunt the living. He owed his new found life to his master Emperor Akarth. It was only proper to return the favor and so Belarius marched forth with a host of undead warriors.

They were skeletons and zombies, only fifty of them but they shambled toward the night heading outside of the graveyard. They would try and avoid the traveler roads and walk across the open country at night towards the nearest cities. The undead were on the move and looking for their prey.

"Depends on your standards of cute, Akito's generally considered cutish. Of course some of the kings are female." Itzuki commented as he lightly rubbed his slapped arm.

"How can you be sure you'll not gain leadership. Fate is fickle afterall and you can never know what might happens. Maybe some years down the line, you'll get a chance to reign."

"Good looking," Rimoru chuckled. "Female kings? Wouldn't they be queens? Oh, I'm sorry..." she gave another short burst of laughter. "Your culture is intriguing and amusing to me."

"Oh, as much as I want to be leader...I don't want it...oh but I do. If I were to gain it, something would have to happen to all my siblings..."

She sighed and leaned even closer to Itzuki. "What kind of creature are you anyways?"

When the new man ordered him/her to follow him to the woman, the healer checked Athral to make sure he was taken care of and that he would probably sleep till (s)he came back. After a few seconds (s)he followed the man upstairs.

“One can follow orders when needed, but one assumed that the young lord should be checked before one left him. One would be greatly pleased if a healer could be called so they would be able to finish the healing that one has started. If the lady claims she is only exhausted one does have herbs that will help her gain some energy back for a little while, but when it wears off she will take longer to regain the energy.”

Walking back downstairs, the healer pulled a chair over to his/her charge. (S)He prepared to administer any type of healing if it was needed.

"A king is the ruler of a given road, what you might call an elite style. Off hand there are the wind, flame, thunder, fang, thorn, and gem kings. There are a couple others that don't come to mind at the moment." He replied with a slightly smile as her culture seemed strange to him as well.

"They could simply step down in your favour. On rare occasion the kings do that for thier chosen successor. Not sure what we're called by humans, but it comes out to Origanc-blue, or People of the Wind." He replied with a faint shrug as he leaned in slightly closer as well till thier heads were just about touching.

Rimoru smiled as she looked into his eyes, her breath quickening ever so slightly. "You have beautiful eyes," she whispered, her hands slowly inching towards his ears. "But I am so very curious of your race...I have not seen one like you."

A throat cleared loudly nearby and Rimoru turned to look who it was- Relthor, glancing at them with furrowed eyebrows.

Rimoru chuckled and stuck her tongue out at Relthor, who lightened up slightly, and returned to the man in front of her.

She sighed when the subject of stepping down occurred to her. "Well, it would work, but that'd be quite a few step downs. I am at the bottom of the list, so to speak, for the throne. And I am not exactly the favorite in my family..."

"I have no love and little trust for any of the Ifretes, but they pay extremely well, and that's quite good enough for me. I assure you you'll be hard pressed to find anyone as reliable or well connected as I am." Selim's voice was cold, and his eyes gazed coolly into Relthors. "I may not be especially loyal or trustworthy, but I can get the job done if you are willing to pay the price. Darian-excuse me, Lord Ifrete-knows this perfectly well, and that's why he keeps me around."

Selim peeked over Relthor to view Maya's tired form, resting in her bed.

"Maya, I know this won't mean much, but I'm-for one of the few times in my life-sorry. I rarely apologize to anyone, so don't take this lightly. I didn't know how much I could prod without setting you off, but I obviously prodded too much. I didn't realize how fast the situation might devolve when you ran for it."

Sighing heavily, Selim turned towards Rimoru and that insufferably annoying tusked kid-he didn't care to know the boy's name. He took his place a little to the left of Rimoru.

"Well, Princess, we meet again. You seem to get out around this town quite often; tell me, what brought you to the Tavern tonight? I was under the impression that you were incarcerated in the palace for the night."

"I can't remember the last time I've seen anyone with your eye colouring, much the colour of the sapphire rose." He replied as he wondered if she knew what she was actually doing when she slowly reached out toward his ears.

"It is somewhat rare for the Ori to travel." He'd been about to continue when Relthor indiscreetly interrupted.

He looked at her somewhat quizzically as she seemed very nice and likable. "How come, if you don't mind me asking of course?"

"I'm pretty sure we can find someone as good or better than you," Relthor replied to Selim, his own gaze having it's cold tint to it. "After all, pay to an untrustworthy person results in lackluster performance."

The advisor let him state his apology before returning to Maya's side, quietly, letting her eat in peace, awaiting her to finish, but looking towards his students every now and then, his eyes lingering on the broken form of Athral the most, however.

Rimoru smiled and looked down on the table. "Well...look at me now. I tend to not follow orders..." she chuckled. "I like to be free and my dad says I am too rebellious for my own good. That I should be prim and proper like Shael- my older sister."

Just then. Selim had walked on down and joined the conversation. Rimoru didn't know exactly what she thought of the short man. He was rather crude, much moreso than "her dashing knave" or the strange, Airtrekking "Ori".

Rimoru looked up at Selim with a mischievious smile. "Well, I had thought you incarcerated in the dungeons for the year. But, I have my own dashing, brave, and charming friend to help me out of such situations."

"You underestimate my love for gold and silver, Relthor. Mercenaries often make the best soldiers and spies, and I'm no exception. People will do anything for a little money in their pocket. I may be a little greedy, but I'm damn good at my job."

A little weary, Selim turned back to Rimoru, sighing at her explanation.

"I'm sure you have lots of 'dashing, brave, and charming friends,' Princess. I can only wonder which one helped out out of your imprisonment. As you can see, I wasn't lying-for once, at least. Your father gave me a good deal of gold and saw me on my way. I met your brother in this very inn a few hours ago and....well, things sort of started to go downhill from there."

Selim gestured outside the windows at the savage carnage out on the streets.

"A good man, your brother; I like him. He has the same kind of spunk that all Ifretes have, apparently; Athral actually had the nerve to throw a lightning bolt at me. That made me like him even more, actually; He definitely has guts...Just like you, Princess." Selim gave Rimoru a little wink and matched her smile with his own small grin.

"But those are all good traits in a ruler, well except for the prim and proper, at least most of the time anyways." Itzuki commented as he noticed that another had come and joined the converation. Since it was unannounced it was slightly rude, but then not all had same values.

"Easily persuaded to turn at the push of a piece of gold," Relthor sneered.

Rimoru chuckled and her head slanted a bit, as her eyes went a bit wide and she pursed her lips, making herself look a bit like a sad puppy wanting a bit of love. So you aren't just doing it to look out for me?" she asked quietly.

"My my, you are a violent one, aren't you?" Rimoru chuckled. She gently leaned back in her chair and sighed, her hands wrapping around her slender waist. "I'm starting to get a bit thirsty..." she said with a gentle smile.

She turned to Itzuki when he told her that they seemed to be good rules for a ruler. "I suppose, in a sense. But I also have a few other...more private matters that get me in trouble," she said quietly, her cheeks turning just a bit red.

"As long as you govern justly, fairly and competently then it doesn't matter if you have a few quirks, even outragous ones like sleeping in a bed of your own hair." Itzuki commented as he smiled at her blush. "You look nice like that."

Selim twisted around in his chair to view Relthor once more.

"Don't assume too much. The Ifretes provide a good, steady income, and I doubt any of the various warlords, Lich Kings, or any of the various guilds around these parts could provide that sort of thing. Darian runs a solid, tight ship around here-he pays good money for good help, and I'd rather work for a reliable money pit than unpredictable assassin agencies or generally stupid kings. They tend to assign very dangerous assignments."

Selim turned back to face Rimoru, grumbling heavily.

"Relthor apparently never gives it a rest, does he? Anyways...yes, I suppose. Random acts of violence tends to pass the time, at least for me. And wipe that stupid expression off your face; you're not fooling anyone."

Selim dug quickly into his pack and pulled out a small flask, tossing it to Rimoru.

"Try it; it's premium elvish whiskey. Some of best around, actually. Don't worry, it's not poisoned or anything."

No longer could he stand this talk. It was droll and they were trying to flatter the lady just a little too much. Right then...

The warrior knave stood from his seat facing the wall and turned to face the man of too much speech. For some reason he did not like the mad, though having just met him - actually, he hadn't even met him yet. Nonetheless, he ignored him like a wisp and sat down with a grunt at the table aside him. However, his selection of where to plant his firm body was a narrow space between a young silver-haired boy and the lady Rimoru.

"What say you..."

His hair had nearly dried by this point and returned to its normal silky manner. Despite the dim light of the tavern, his markings seemed darker now than earlier in the daylight. His face, however, was as stoic as ever.

"Relthor only believes in the best for the Ifretes," Rimoru said with a chuckle. "And he does not trust many people unless he knows them personally. But I suppose that is in his nature. He really is a sweet man." Her puppy-dog look fell off her face, replaced by a frown. "Well then...fine..." Her mouth remained opened as if she wanted to say something more, but she closed it and turned away.

"Like what?" Rimoru asked the tusked boy, her eyes still wide, but a smile splitting across her face, her eyes glittering.

Just as their eyes connected, a bottle found its way onto Rimoru's lap, giving her a jump. She scowled at Selim as she picked up the bottle with her left hand, holding her chest with the other.

"Elvish whiskey? Surely you mean Elven?" Rimoru chortled as she looked at the whiskey. "Whiskey, hm? Oh...well...alright." She brought the bottle to her lips and began to drink. After about three gulps, her eyes opened very wide as she pulled the bottle away from her lips. "Bleh!" she gasped, throwing it back at Selim. "Keep your coarse, gross, uncivilized, brutish alcohols away from me," she coughed.

Relthor got himself up and walked over to the commotion. "Just like to cause trouble, now don't you?" he growled to Selim as he walked over to Rimoru and crouched down. "You alright?" he asked quietly.

"Of course, Relthy," Rimoru said, coughing a little more as her thin, delicate hands wrapped around Relthor's. "I'm fine," she whispered, her face inching closer to his. If one listened very very closely, they may have heard an exchange of "I love you"'s and Rimoru motioning for them to kiss, however Relthor soon stood up, a small grin on his face as he turned around to address the waiting barkeepers. "Get one of the guards to find a healer for Athral, quick," the advisor said before returning to Maya's side, looking a bit bored.

Rimoru smiled and looked as her handsome young knave took a seat rather close to her. "Nice of you to join us," she chuckled, brushing her hair out of her face as she looked up at the man. "What say I what?" she added in answer to his question.

He'd been about to reply when the bottle of potent spirits landed in her lap. He watched her interactions with her tutor and before Relthor departed, asked, "Do either of you happen to know the time?"

"Elvish, Elven, Tomato, Tamatoe, same thing. Grammar never was my strong point anyways." Selim frowned as Rimoru started coughing violently. Perhaps he had overestimated the Princess's stomach; he caught the whiskey and easily downed the flask, topping the whole thing off with a disgusting belch.

"Damn, that's good...Uncivilized my ass, though. Eh, well, it's an acquired taste anyway." Selim looked up at Relthor as the adviser started butting heads with him yet again. "I only cause trouble when it suits me, Relthor. You're welcome to try any of my whiskey if you want, if it makes you feel better."

What say you?

Selim twisted around to view the boring-looking, somewhat stoic newcomer. A real girly-man pretty-boy by the looks of him, thought Selim. Still, the guy had a look in his eyes that he didn't find all too attractive. He looked back at Rimoru.

"Your dashing, brave, and charming friend, I assume?"

"It's really late. The moon is at its peak, I think," Rimoru replied, looking past Mythos and towards Itzuki.

As Selim spoke back to her, Rimoru gave a sigh of disgust at the short man. "You are disgusting, little snot!" she scolded. The man was getting a bit on her nerves thinking he knows everything and that his ways are right when they really aren't. The fiend! Father would never deal with scoundrels like him!

"Aye, he is my-" She closed her mouth, her cheeks starting to turn red again as her words came out of Selim's mouth. Before, she had said it when Mythos was not close by...

"Then maybe I see you tomorrow at the arena." Itzuki commented as he stood, "Be sure to tweak Relthor's nose a bit and have fun."

He then left the inn heading toward the park.

"Bodyguard," Mythos said, finishing Rimoru's broken sentence to the unliked man while simultaneously shooting him a look to bug off.

The rogue was happy to see that the boyish figure next to him departed, leaving him more room and less pests to deal with. Now if only the rest of them left, he could rest in peace and continue wherever Rimoru wanted to head off.

"Disgusting little snot? Most likely, and proud of it. You have to understand, Princess, that not every common-type non-royal around here like myself is "educated" like yourself. We lower-class citizens tend to rely more on ourselves than our father, bodyguards, and good looks." Selim looked a little disgusted himself; he absolutely hated royalty. Almost all kings and princesses were the same; self-absorbed, arrogant, and generally stupid. He gave a moment of thought, however, and the expression faded.

"At least you Ifretes aren't useless like other royal families. Your kin are very skilled mages, and that counts for something big."

Selim looked at the pretty-boy, regarding him carefully. Something was amiss here.

"That's funny, Princess. I've been around the palace many times and never seen your new bodyguard, despite the fact that I know everyone in the Ifrete facilities by name. I didn't think your father had so little faith in his own well-trained palace guards to hire a mercenary for his daughter. Or did you find this one on your own?"

"Itzuki? Please don't go," Rimoru said softly as Itzuki turned to go. "Come over here and sit with me." She pat the chair on her other side, closer to Selim. But he had left already. The princess frowned sadly as she watched him go, then turned towards the sound of the short man talking.

Rimoru opened her mouth in surprise at how he believed her to get on in life. "I don't rely only on my family name and my looks. In fact, my looks are as much a curse as it is a blessing! You, sir, are an ignorant, savage, brute and I won't take any compliments from you! I bet someone paid you to say those anyways."

She held her nose high and turned to Mythos, her frown becoming a smile yet again. "What's the matter, Mythos?" she asked softly, her hands gently smoothing out his shirt. "You look troubled."

To speak to a lady so poorly was offense enough, but to actually insult one had clearly crossed the line. Even as a rogue and knave Mythos had chivalry and respect for the fairer sex. Rimoru turned to him and caringly asked what was wrong, to which he responded, "He annoys me."

It was too much - he pushed his chair back from the table and moved close to the annoying fellow. He towered over the short man by at least a head. "I think you'd do best to leave now..." he said in a clearly threatening tone.

"People like you are born into power and privilege, Princess. I'm not saying it's good or bad-that's just the way it is. I'm relatively sure you've never experienced homelessness, starvation, or poverty. I'm sure you've seen it, and if the stories of Ifrete charity are true, helped it, but you've never experienced it. That's the major difference between the two of us, I think, Princess." Selim's expression was strangely soft, like a mix between sadness and pity. The look turned hard again as Rimoru's "man" started to make threats.

Selim yawned casually and stretched his arms out into the air, apparently completely the taller man. He finally turned his head and looked the kid straight in the eyes.

"This is one of the best taverns in town. I'll stay, I think. I'm merely sharing my opinions with the Princess; if she doesn't like them, she doesn't have to listen." He looked back at Rimoru. "Your new man seems to be a little high strung."

"Oh, don't bother with that windbag. He's just full of hot air," Rimoru said calmly, stroking Mytho's chest when he stood up. "Just spend your time with me...I have built a...a wall for insults."

But Mythos was already up and going to confront him for her. Rimoru smiled mischieviously and looked at the two before making a sad expression. "Please, don't fight over me. My dignity and mood may be hurt but I am still...here. Atleast I know I can trust someone...besides, he just likes to hurt me any way he can. He was the one that blasted me this morning with strange staves and threatened to kill me..." she said loudly enough for Mythos and Selim.

"I never threatened to kill you," Selim objected. "That wasn't part of my job description. I did threaten to kill that musclebound swordsman who interfered, but I obviously would not act on that threat unless I had to. Murder tends to carry the death sentence here." Selim wondered if the pretty-boy would actually do anything serious.

"I'm not purposefully hurting you, Princess. If I were to do that, I would insult your looks, your family, and your life in general, but I'm not feeling especially mean today. Believe it or not, I'm not as nasty as you think I am."

During the argument Drasken had taken a sear at the opposite end of the table as far away from the bickering as possible. He sat back and reflected on what had happened, waiting for Relthor to come over and try to bring them to order. He absent-mindedly glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on Athral, Maya and the healer. He reflected on the dight they had just had. Perhaps we are in over our heads... if one assasin of many - presumably - could cause that much trouble, this does not bode well.

Rimoru protested, but the lean and muscular rogue would not now heed her call. The blood was pumping through him at a rapid pace and Mythos was about ready to damage something.

"Last warning... step off or I'll run you through," he said to the annoying gent. His hands remained at his side, not brandishing his sword yet, though it was highly visible at his waist. Most likely he was much quicker than his counterpart and could cut him down before the man even attempted to unsheathe a weapon.

Itzuki had arrived in a nearby park and began just wandering around, partially paying attention to the trees as he looked for one that might make a nice bed. He also wondered if an assassin might attack but figured that Rimoru and Athral would be safe with all the assorted protective peoples.

Selim stood up slowly, lest his new opponent start to draw his weapons. Although his hands were also at his sides, Selim's bag seemed to be flapping wildly, as if something was straining to burst free.

"You certainly are a bad bodyguard. I could easily attack you and your charge from this position, and you're putting the Princess and the rest of the tavern in danger by standing in my way. As the Princess so kindly put it, yes, I am a windbag; I like to press peoples buttons. I find it a great way to pass the time. I recommend, however, that you do not press my buttons-at least not with your sword."

Drasken frowned at having his train of thought broken by the two fools, he calmly looked at the two who were seemingly about to fight. "If you're going to fight, take it outside, i doubt Relthor would be pleased if you smashed up the tavern or perhaps managed to catch Athral or Rimoru who we just saved. So, outside or sit down." His voice was calm but serious and his eyes had hardened.

Maya allowed herself to be led down the stairs and sat next to the fire. She pulled her cloak in tighter again, and stared into the flames. The flickering flames were reflected in her eyes as she felt the pleasant warmth from the fire wash over her. She gratefully accepted the bowl of porridge that was brought to her, and forced herself to eat it at a relaxed pace, knowing that wolfing it down would do as much harm as good.

She wasn’t paying attention to the conversations going on nearby as she ate, but snatches of them filtered in anyway. She heard Selim attempt to apologise to her, but she gave no reaction to it, and found herself wondering if he might actually be sincere. As for the rest, various people seemed to be arguing again, though she did not hear the cause of the disputes, and did not try to. It wasn’t her problem, and she had had enough of getting caught up in other people’s business.

After she had finished eating, Maya’s eyelids began to droop. Despite what she had said, on a normal day she would probably have been asleep by now anyway, and sleep was the body’s natural recovery mechanism. The background buzz in the tavern, which she had mostly zoned out, was having a soporific effect on her too, and she was drifting gradually towards sleep.

Selim glanced at Drasken momentarily and nodded.

"He's right, bodyguard. You've failed to realize the destruction we could unleash in such a small space. The Princess could be easily harmed in such an enclosed area, and we'd probably both be hunted down and ripped to shreds by Darian Ifrete himself if his daughter were to be seriously harmed. I'd rather sit down and discuss things over a cold pint of whiskey, but you seem to be itching for a fight."

He looked pointedly at Rimoru.

"Can't you call him off or something? I'm a bit tired at the moment, and perfectly happy to avoid a pointless fight. It's not like I'm being paid to kill your man anyways, so I can't really get anything out of this."

Relthor tapped his thin cheek as he noticed Maya drifting away, but decided to let her. She had said she needed rest, despite the fact she told him she didn't need to sleep. But to Relthor, sleep was even better.

"Sleep well, Miss Dazaru," Relthor said quietly as he stood up, a frown on his face. His hands grabbed each other behind his back as his gold embroidered-black boots clacked against the wood floorboards.

***

Rimoru watched her Mythos confront Selim with a smile on her face. She glanced at Relthor, noticing with distaste that he was caring for the girl in front of the fire. She wrinkled her nose before returning to the brewing storm. Suddenly, 'Tall, Dark, and Handsome,' as she dubbed him broke up the fight, or atleast took Selim off the offense.

That's when Selim spoke to her directly. "Well, I did say that you guys shouldn't be fighting about me. Even after you insulted me and my family. And the fact that you did almost kill me. You knocked me out and almost killed my savior...jerk. I still hurt from that wound."

Selim sighed exasperatedly.

"Some help you are. I didn't actually threaten to kill you, and that shot of magic you sustained was rather weak-hardly a killing blow. And please, your savior? I though we'd been over this. Your father ordered me to fetch you back to the palace. That guy was a stupid meddler."

He turned his eyes back on the bodyguard, who didn't seem to have any qualms about shoving his sword through Selim's belly. Nervously, he started going through his pockets and pulled out a good-sized brown sack that jingled slightly.

"Here, I'll give you some gold for your troubles if you just ignore my comments. I'll even buy you a drink if you want. Or..." Selim's eyes twinkled mischievously. "Or, I could just excuse myself and make my way back to the palace. I'm sure Lord Ifrete would be irritated at the news that his daughter is out and about with strange men."

Rimoru frowned at Selim, her mouth opening ever so slightly as she began to think of something against that. Then, a mischevious smile rose on her lips and she wagged her finger at Selim as she reclined in her large chair, looking very much the one in charge.

"Actually, father would not see you. The guards took you in last time and remember who you are- the one who tried to kill me. You will not get very far before the guards make you go or just spear you right there," Rimoru said in a relaxed way as she lazily examined her small, delicate fingers.

Mythos, though composed and calm on the surface, was boiling within to such a state that he was no longer thinking rationally - if he ever did. A bloodlust had overtaken him, causing slightly heightened senses and abilities but decreased mental activity.

People were speaking from all directions, trying to get involved one way or another as if they were important. But the rogue heard none of it. He was now deaf to all those outside his line of sight. This pompous and annoying fool had insulted him and his charge and he was going to pay for it.

Oh, I'll take it outside all right...

The man attempted to offer him gold as reparation for his insulting manner, but even that would not assuage the knave's ire. Normally, a bribe would be just the thing to hold him off - a little change in the purse and a victory nonetheless. He dared threaten the pair of them again: "I could just excuse myself and make my way back to the palace"... the breaking point.

"Here... I'll help you."

Rimoru was speaking, that much Mythos could tell, but her words blended together as he acted. With lightning speed - quite literally - he grabbed the confrontational man and threw him with all his might through the wall. The wooden wall and abutting window shattered as Salim smashed through, ripping timber from timber. The hard stone of the street 'softened' his fall as he came skidding to a stop in the falling rain.

Selim frowned; the princess had obiously seen through his bluff. He was just about to open his mouth to rebutt Rimoru when-WHAM! The bodyguard sent him clear through the wall and out onto the street. Struggling to stand in the pouring rain, Selim finally managed to stand on his feet. That was it; his attacker was a dead man.

Selim kicked the flap of his bag open; the sack emitted an ear-shattering roar as it was opened. Something very large seemed to be struggling to emerge from the bag; amidst much bulging and contracting, what seemed to be a huge black claw squeezed its way through, snapping wildly. The rest of the monterous creature soon followed. Experienced adventurers would recognize the animal in a moment as a Chimera, one of the deadliest members of an ancient, mythical breed of monsters.

As with all large monsters, this one was uniqe. Its body was very long, easily over fifteen feet, resembling a giant scorpian. Its gaping mandibles salivated disgustingly as it snapped its pincers. The normal tail stinger, however, was replaced with a long, narrow, and apparently angry dragon head, smoke furling from it's nose. The beast snarled fiercely, looking for an opponent.

Selim took a moment to snatch several scrolls and various items from his pack before quickly shutting it again, stuffing the various things in his pockets and finally pausing to unhook his crossbow. The short man snapped his fingers and pointed at the hole in the tavern wall. He and his pet beast slowly began to draw near, Selim levelling his crossbow tensely.

"Come out and play, bodyguard; I've got something special for you. Trust me, you don't want me to come inside."

Maya was jolted back to wakefulness by a loud noise, and she looked around in bewilderment, completely disoriented by her sudden awakening. It took her several seconds to remember where she was, and several more before she had worked out what was going on. Selim appeared to have been thrown through the wall by someone she did not know, and the mercenary had pulled another freak of nature out of his… bag, she supposed, but that was not the word that had first come to mind.

However, Maya decided she didn’t appear to be in any immediate danger, and wasn’t exactly in a position to do anything if she was. She was too tired to move in any case, and it was pleasant by the fire, though the hole in the wall was allowing the cold night air to filter in. She didn’t care anymore, if those two wanted to beat each other to a pulp and incinerate the remains, that was fine by her right now. And if they were stupid enough to put the other patrons at risk, she would just have to rely on someone else to save her.

The healer stayed quietly by Athral until his/her friend came up. “My friend you need to finish your work so that you may clean up and arrange for rest here. The herbs you took will soon wear off so you do not have the time to travel to an area that is known to be protected.”

After hearing the small skrit talk, the healer walked over to the man who had taken charge and said in a n irritated voice, “Great lord, one has little time left and one hopes the healers could be present before it runs out. One is also concerned that if the play of those two men may injure the young lord further. If you would force them out one would be put at ease...” Suddenly (s)he was interrupted by a loud roar.

Ahanu recognized the roar as an animal, and saw his friend go running to see what the creature was. As he followed, he heard his friend call out in a different language.

The healer shouted as (s)he neared the wall and saw what the creature was. Any who could understand draconic could hear him/her shout, “Great one, this is not a place for one such as you. These mortal quarrels are beneath you and your great powers. The one who has brought you here is not acting as your friend. One is a friend of things natural. One sees this is not for you and is not your fight. Be at peace and return to your kind."

When the lights go out... the demons come to play.

He was certainly not the most accomplished mage nor even a remotely talented one, but Mythos did have some ability to control basic spells. Usually, he would use them in tandem with his blade, creating a deadly mix of physical and metaphysical attacks. However, this ancient beast of lore would not easily be subdued by his quaint magic.

Instead of targeting the beast, Mythos removed his diamond rapier from his sheath and slipped into the growing darkness. One by one, the candles distinguished, leaving the tavern dark as night. The rogue disappeared into the darkness, moving about silently and secretly.

At a moment's notice, he could strike nearly anywhere with none the wiser...

Draskens face showed a flicker of annoyance as the two began their fight and Selim was hurled through a wall, his frown deepend as the tavern was exposed to the outside elements and darkness as the lights were extinguished.

He gave a small wave and the damaged wall of the tavern was replaced by a shadowy substitue formed from the darkness around it. It would be passable from this side outward, but almost impassable from outside unless he allowed it, was incapacitated or otherwise unable to maintain it. The cold air and rain would stay out of the tavern and the fight could rage without disturbing the injured people and patrons within.

He sighed and turned to Rimoru. "Perhaps you should choose you're bodyguards with more care, or clarify that it is your person, rather than your honour that they should be protecting." He spoke quietly to avoid being heard by the bodyguard whe seemed to slowly fade from even his enhanced vision, some lingering trace of his presence was clear, though if he saw this through his eyes or felt it through his connection with darkness he was unsure, either way, he watched with a raised eyebrow as the trace he felt moved through the darkness. "His skills however, are not in question." he added to his previous comment.

Selim frowned as the healer who had treated Athral began speaking to the Chimera; due to his extensive traveling, he knew many languages, and although he always had trouble completely grasping the Draconic language, Selim understood the gist of what was said. He growled and pointed his bow in the general direction of the loud voice.

"Shut it, Healer. My pet doesn't even have any of it's kind to return to; he was made, not born. My fight is only with the bodyguard; I won't come inside unless I have to. You're not in any danger."

Selim turned his eyes back on his opponent, but he was gone. Disaster! He saw the a faint, wispy human outline that quickly vanished into the darkness. It was apparent that the bodyguard was a master of stealth. No matter, though; Selim never relied on only his sight, anyways.

"Thats a very nice trick, bodyguard, but not good enough. You seem to forget the keen sense of smell of a dragon." Even know, the dragon head of the Chimera was sniffing around, attempting to pinpoint the man. Although the lizard portion of the beast was still somewhat confused at the draconic words of the Healer inside, the Chimera's maddening scorpian instincts battled the common sense of the dragon viciously, forcing it to keep on the offensive.

Selim put a hand inside his pocket, ready for anything. It was apparent that an attack could come from any angle, and he would definetly be prepared for anything that hit him.

"Well then..." A booming voice echoed through the tavern, bouncing from one wall to another as it gained intensity. It was impossible to tell where the voice had began from, possibly not even where the rogue himself stood, but no doubt everyone could understand it. "We will just have to do something about that," it continued.

Some of the tavern patrons that had stuck around were now hiding under tables, frightened by the enraged pair of men that had begun a duel. Luckily, though, none had been so foolish as to attempt to relight one of the doused candles.

As darkness permeated the entire room, nobody caught sight of the object flying through the air. Aimed by the rogue, the glass vial of liquid tumbled top over bottom through the air and through the shadowy wall that some stranger had created. Suddenly, it shattered upon the chimera's nose, sending glass shards through the night and releasing its strong odor directly into the beast's nostrils.

Rimoru looked about curiously as the men began to duel for her. Although one side of her wished to end it all, to make them stop peacefully, another, more vicious side wanted them to play it out. She desired to see a victor- mostly her handsome "bodyguard". She turned around in her seat and peeked over the back of the chair to observe what was happening. As the candles blew out, Rimoru shrank into her seat. It was like the palace- when Victoria was kidnapped.

Rimoru's smile turned into a sad frown and she looked for someone to comfort her. But there was no light to offer it to her. Her mind went blank as she began to shiver. She could hear someone talking to her but it sounded like a blur.

*******

Relthor had been making his way to check up on Athral when Selim was thrown out the window. The wooden shrapnel could have easily hit either of the Ifretes and considering they had barely gotten out of one attack, Relthor wasn't going to risk both of them getting killed by some useless duel.

He began to walk towards the hole when he was stopped by the healer all of a sudden. "I know, just get out of my way so I can end this. The healers won't walk into a building that is being attacked by-" something roared outside, giving the advisor more incentive to stop whatever this was that was disturbing the peace and the safety of the young Ifretes.

Yet what surprised him even more was that the healer knew draconic, a hard language to learn and even harder to master...unless you were a dragon of course. He furrowed his brows and tapped the healer on the shoulders. "I will speak with you later," he whispered before walking towards Rimoru.

Then, the candles went out, much to the annoyance of the advisor. He let out a low growl as his turqoise eyes soon lit up on their own, an eery glow in the darkness. His eyes fell on the Rimoru who lay shivering in her seat, curled up in as small a ball as she could manage. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "It's alright, Rimmy. I have you," he whispered to the whimpering girl. "Cover your ears."

The princess complied and wrapped her hands over her ears. He walked back to where Athral and the healer were stationed and set her down nearby. He immediately walked forth, each step seeming to emit a golden glow underneath.

"I advise you both end this nonsense immediately before I am forced to take offensive action on both of you," Relthor shouted loud enough for the man outside to hear and the "bodyguard" inside to hear.

Seeing the panic Rimoru had worked herself into Drasken was curious as to why, the only reason he could come to was the sudden darkness, an interesting note he would consider later. He watched Relthors little light show with his glowing eyes and feet.

After a moment a thought came to him, he could not make light so to speak, but he could make an absence of darkness. He focused on creating a bubble, as it formed and grew it pushed the darkness away, within the bubble was a soft silvery light with no apparent source, it was not truely a source of illumination, it didn't spread out into the darkness, just stopped suddenly at the edge of the bubble. This 'spell' was considerably harder than just shaping the darkness, it was forcing it away from something that shouldn't really exist, an absence of darkness that drew darkness to fill it, similar to black hole would in space, meaning the longer he sustained it, the harder it became.

He stood and moved carefully over to Rimoru, slowly placing the ball over her, fortunately she was curled up into a small area and he did not have to expand it and add to the strain. She would feel no different as she was enveloped by the ball, but would not be in darkness and would be able to see clearly within the sphere and as well outside as her eyes would naturally permit.

He sat down on the ground next to her and focused on maintaining it, he would not be able to for too long, but he imagined somebody would light one of the candles soon and he could relax. He split his mind between the tasks of maintaining the bubble and the wall he had erected earlier, between the two he was sufficiently distracted to not be able to speak to Rimoru, he just hoped the ball calmed her in some way.

Rimoru was sniffling as she tried to hide her tears. When she heard footsteps, she tried to push herself away. Oh no...they found me... she thought to herself. Rimoru closed her eyes tight and hugged herself, giving off a light whimper when suddenly, the darkness was gone from around her. Through her eyelids, she could see the blanket be lifted and she slowly opened her eyes to see the dark-skinned man sit down next to her. She pushed herself closer to him, and wrapped her arms around him instead. A form of thanks and perhaps a form of comfort, should he need it.

But it also helped Rimoru with something other than comfort and warmth of another. Through her hands she sent small tendrils of energy into Draskin, unsure if it would help or not, but she atleast felt a bit better if she thought it did.

Drasken was focusing heavily on the spells, but felt Rimoru place her arms around him and felt energy trickle into him from her hands, he looked down to her and smiled slightly, pleased that his bubble was working and quietly said "Thank you." in response to her kind donation of energy, his voice was husky and distant, but was not strained. His green eyes glimmered in the silvery light, the only outward sign of the energy he was using.

When all the lights went out, Maya looked around blindly. Even the fire by her side had gone completely dark, though she could still feel the residual heat emanating from it. Her proximity to the bright light of the fire meant that she was now completely blind, unable to pick out even the vaguest shapes in the darkness. Even if she had been able, she would have dared not move, for fear of making herself a target.

She could hear voices shouting; Selim, the stranger and Relthor. The mercenary and the stranger were antagonising each other, and the advisor was ordering them both to stand down. As her eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness, Maya could just about pick out the faint glow given off by Relthor’s eyes and footfalls. Then she noticed a small area that she could see into, where it wasn’t exactly light, it just wasn’t dark either. She could see the forms of what appeared to be Rimoru and Drasken huddled there.

<Kaolai, you don’t need light to be able to see,> she said to the spirit, <What’s going on?>
<Not much beyond what I imagine you’ve guessed,> replied Kaolai, <That stranger is still skulking around in here, attempting to hide himself in shadow, and the glow you can see is Relthor. He would appear to be a powerful mage indeed. As for Rimoru, she seemed to have a bit of a breakdown when the lights went out. Drasken apparently saw this, he is a night-elf after all, and has tried to comfort her a little.>

After hearing the man outside say how the powerful Chimera would not listen, the healer seemed to think that there was nothing (s)he could do and sat down with a tired sigh. Anyone listening closely could hear him/her grumbling, “This posturing of these two, is just like what happens in nature. The males always seem to fail at using their brains during mating season. The female also stays with the winner and usually watches the fight with interest, but this lady, who encouraged it all, has curled up to cry. She has nothing to cry about for it is her own fault that this has happened. This fight that she has caused may finish what the assassin has failed to do and one cannot allow that, but one's energy is too low from staying in town so long. One must get back to nature and find the friend that will stay by one for protection until one recovers.”

"I advise you both end this nonsense immediately before I am forced to take offensive action on both of you," Relthor shouted loud enough for the man outside to hear and the "bodyguard" inside to hear.

"As you wish... my lord," came a sarcastic voice from the darkness.

Suddenly, flames flashes across the room, soaring through the darkness before disappearing without a trace. A moment later, the candles and fire whose flames were stolen were once again lighting the room with their warmth.

As the lights reappeared, Mythos was sitting behind the bar drinking a frosty mug of ale. However, as relaxed as he appeared, underneath the calm a burning fire still stirred. His eyes were peculiarly red and his 'marks' were as black as night.

Maya heard the disembodied voice of the stranger drift out of the darkness in response to Relthor’s demand, and then flinched, screwing up her eyes against the sudden revival of all the lights in the tavern. The fire next to her was suddenly alive again too, bathing the room with light and warmth as if it had never been extinguished. She looked around the tavern, surveying what had happened, then spotted the stranger seated at the bar.

<That one is dangerous. He’s every bit as violent and bloodthirsty as the mercenary, but he can hide and control it better. Or so he thinks,> Kaolai informed her, <I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the last of this dispute between those two. But if Relthor is as wise as he appears to be, he already knows this, and he’ll be watching both of them.>

Maya silently contemplated those thoughts, then wondered what the mercenary would do. He might be less willing to accept this outcome, and the chimera might not be so easy to subdue, depending on how well it was tied to it’s master. Time would give that answer, so Maya looked around for Relthor instead. He could tell her what had gone on, and if she spoke to him now, it would get it out of the way. She didn’t feel as though she was likely to fall asleep again just yet, so now might be a good time.

Drasken did not expect the lights to suddenly reappear and though the ball he had created dulled it somewhat he was still nearly blinded by the sudden flash, the distraction was enough that the bubble vanished. He brought his hands over his eyes to reduce the sudden glare. The shadowy wall keeping the rain and cold out flickered, but resolidified quickly.

He lowered his hands but kept his eyes shut as he said quietly to Rimoru; "The patrons are scared and confused at the moment, they may look to your for guidance. You might never rule them in name, but you can gain there respect and loyalty."

Relthor's eyes turned towards the man at the bar and narrowed at him. "I shall speak with you later," he growled before turning back to the window at the man and the beast. If all this energy keeps getting used, Lord Darian may make an appearance...and get them all in trouble... As he walked to the hole in the wall with the patch of darkness covering it, he passed by Maya, still nestled in her chair, however she was much more awake.

"You alright, ma'am?" Relthor asked in a much warmer tone than he addressed the red-eyed man.

*************

Rimoru lay clinging onto Drasken, eyes shut, as the lights flickered back into view. Slowly, Rimoru opened her eyes and looked up at Drasken as he spoke. She nodded to him, knowing that he had a good point and slowly got herself up and dusted off her robes.

As she passed by the healer, she narrowed her eyes and glanced at it, but made no further move nor sign that she overheard what it had said.

"My friends," Rimoru began in a cracked voice. She cleared her throat and tried again. "My friends. What just occurred here was not an assassination attempt. My brother, Councelor Relthor, and myself are all safe and unharmed by this second incident. For any of my beloved citizens, if you are harmed, fear not, the town healers will be making their way here, if they are not already."

"Please, my friends, remain calm. Believe in me, stand by me, trust in me," she announced, a gentle smile on her face. She glanced around at all the bar patrons who slowly stood up and nodded to her. Her eyes lingered a bit on Mythos, her smile ever so slightly curling up, before continuing to scan the bar.

The bar patrons and workers began to clap or announce their loyalty to the Ifrete household, assuring Rimoru that her impromptu speech had seemed to work a bit on them.

Maya had watched Relthor’s approach, and she gave him a weak smile when he addressed her.
“I’m a little confused, but otherwise, I think I’m fine,” she told him. “Apart from being in recovery,” she added with a slight laugh. She shifted herself to move to a slightly more upright position, which would help a little in staying awake, then looked expectantly at Relthor.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she offered, before he could speak further. “I’ll answer your questions as best I can, then I want you to tell me what’s happened here since the attack started, because I’m really confused.” She had only picked up fragments of what had happened, and other events had passed while she had been unconscious. In addition, she didn’t really understand what had just happened in the tavern, partly because she had been asleep for the start of it.

When Rimoru spoke to those present, Maya could see the effect it had on the natives. They appeared to have great respect for her, even though she did not seem particularly well suited to govern over people. Her words seemed a little clumsy to Maya, but that was probably to be expected. The poor woman had nearly been assassinated, her brother had been on the brink of death and, according to Kaolai, she had suffered some form of breakdown when the lights had gone out. It was understandable that she was hardly at her best.

"Whatever you say... boss," Mythos said with a sardonic salute to Relthor's words and stern look. The councilor seemed to be annoyed at the past moment's occurrences, but then nothing truly happened except the lights went out. What did Rimoru say about lights going out... I can't quite remember...

He raised the frothing mug of ale to his mouth as he spun around in his seat to meet Rimoru's favorable glance. She seemed to be taking charge as a leader for the frightened and pathetic tavern folk. Perhaps she will be able to read my expression... Mythos did the best he could to put a 'This is boring - let's get out of here' look on his face as he and his mistress exchanged glances. And yet he knew with the storm outside, the ruckus that he had caused, the prior disturbing events, and the councilor... it wouldn't be so easy to get her to leave.

The mercenary who he had been about to do battle with was not even an afterthought in his mind anymore. The man would simply never be expressed in the rogue's mind again, fading to black in point zero seconds.

He felt Rimoru stand and heard her speech and the response, he gave her, or at least where he had heard her voice originate from a congratulatory smile. It's not the best speech i've ever heard, but it was a good enough under the circumstaces. He still hadn't opened his eyes, though he felt the itch slowly fading.

Drasken pushed himself up or the floor, standing somewhat unsteadily, but rested his hand on a table. He finally opened his eyes and glanced around, his eyes slowly clearing until he could make out the scene, the shadowman had reformed, Maya seemed to have awoken and Relthor looked annoyed. Selim was apparently still outside and the strange merchant come healer was resting on the floor.

He took a few careful steps towards the table they had occupied before the argument, he paused as he passed Rimoru long enough to quietly say: "Congratulations." Before returning to the seat he had been in and waiting for the bar to quiten once again.

"Well, ma'am, I will attempt to answer your questions as well...I was temporarily distracted elsewhere when this began," Relthor replied as he stood in front of the fire, making sure it was still warm. "Which is probably why it began..."

"How it began...I remember a few raised voices, Rimoru saying something and suddenly, Selim ends up through the wall. The man summoned a beast which as far as I know, is still out there and will be delt with shortly."

"That fool," he said aloud, indicating Mythos, "decided to perform a foolish parlour trick and assualt the imbecile outside. That is what I know," Relthor finished, his voice keeping a tone of annoyance after he spoke of Mythos.

*****

Rimoru smiled nervously as the few patrons passed her to get a mug of ale as they waited for the Chimera to disappear.

She made her way with a wobbly step to Drasken and gently wrapped her arms around his neck. Her lips clipped over the tip of his ear as she spoke into his ear. "Thank you for your help," she whispered and gave him a small peck on the cheek before standing up again and heading towards Mythos.

Rimoru looked up at him silently for a few moments before leaning on the counter as well, copying his pose. "Thank you, for defending my honor...but...please don't turn off the lights again...bad memories," she said quietly.

"But it looks like you are bored and as much as I would like to get out of here...Relthor cannot let us go. And if he does, he'd want to question all of us," she said quietly, her eyes looking towards the ground. Her lips pursed and her sapphire blue eyes slowly crept up to Mythos' eyes. "I suppose we can rejoin the others at the table as we wait? Unless you want to talk to me about something...in private?" she asked with a mischievious smile.

“I see,” replied Maya, nodding slowly, “Well, I’ll start with what happened here. If you want me to tell you about what happened earlier as well, I’ll do that afterwards,” she told him. She paused before starting, clearing her throat softly. “We, that is, Drasken, the mercenary, Prince Athral, that peddler woman and myself, were in here, talking about various things. The mercenary upset me in the process, and I left rather hurriedly, heading outside and got myself onto a rooftop, away from where he could pursue me.”

“He, Prince Athral and Drasken all followed me out into the streets, I guess out of concern. From my position on the rooftop, I could hear them looking for me, but they could not see me. I was staring at the stars, trying to calm myself down. The next thing I knew, there was an explosion, and I found that I was sharing the rooftop with the assassin.”

She paused for breath, then continued, “I struck out as the assassin began to flee, and called upon a spirit to help me pursue him. I had to defend myself against the retaliatory measures of those near the prince too, then I dropped down to street level to follow my spirit. There were more attacks, then the assassin headed back towards to tavern. There were many attacks, and I felt my spirit leave this world once again. The next thing I remember after that is waking up here.”

When Maya explained how she was sharing the rooftop with the deadly assassin, Relthor's brows furrowed in annoyance and anger. He leaned back on his chair and watched the fire, listening to the remainder of her story.

When she finished, Relthor leaned close to her again, a scowl on his face. "You mean to tell me, you had the full capacity to prevent this atrocious act of violence against an heir to the throne who was making friends? Or did you know about the assassin all along and, due to your selfishness, failed to act," he growled in a low voice before inching even closer. "Or are you tied with the assassin yourself?"

“I didn’t know he was there!” exploded Maya, shooting to her feet and glaring angrily at Relthor. “And your pitiful heir’s only interest in our conversation was his pathetic efforts to try and bed me.” There was a flash of flame as her fists clenched in anger. “And that was only after he mistook me for his foolish sister and accosted me. He managed to start a fight with the mercenary too, which was only averted through my intervention. Hardly a fitting image for your heir to portray.” She was shouting, her voice far louder than anything else currently going on in the tavern.

<Actually, you did see the assassin before…> began Kaolai.
<Shut up,> she snapped, cutting him off. <You stay out of this.>
<Yes, ma’am,> acknowledged the spirit, recognising that she wasn’t in a mood to be argued with. He was slightly concerned by her response though; she had never snapped at him before, in all the years they had known each other.

“And if I was in league with the assassin, why would I attempt to stop him?” she continued hotly, “Why would I remain, and not flee along with him? Why would I freely tell you what I saw if I was involved? I’d never heard of this place before yesterday, and I’m starting to wish I’d never come here. It’s only been a day, and I’ve already had someone try to kill me, been mistaken for a whorish princess on multiple occasions and now I’m being accused of conspiring to kill someone. I… I…” Her voice trailed off as her body remembered how exhausted it was. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed again.

"I forget your kind aren't observant enough to notice even the simplist obstruction in your environment!" Relthor started, bolting out from his chair. "The pitiful heir? Bed you? I highly doubt that, you wretched woman of lies. I knew the child as a boy and I doubt he would bed you the day he met you. And I doubt he would simply go on a conversation with you after a false accusation without some sort of compensation to redeem his image. The mercenary was most likely causing some sort of trouble and I doubt you were needed to prevent it. Don't you tell me what my student does- I've been with him far longer than you," snarled Relthor, smashing a small table into the wall, shattering it into many pieces. "You didn't succeed in stopping him. You are just as liable as everyone else in this assassination attempt!"

As the woman collapsed on the floor, Relthor shouted and raised his foot over the woman as if to stomp on her, however he paused and let out a furious sigh.

"Get her away from me before I kill her," Relthor growled before looking around the tavern for Mythos.

Kaolai felt a pang of dread when Relthor made as if to stamp on the defenceless form of Maya, which only partly dissipated as the advisor moved away. He was rather fond of Maya; he thought of her as a sister, if only in spirit. He felt some concern now; she could do with some attention, but there were few that might give it her. The only real possibilities were one of the barkeepers or perhaps Drasken.

<I wonder, does that arrogant advisor know his students as well as he thinks?> mused the spirit, <Maya told him the truth, excepting the fact that she saw the assassin before he fired and did nothing. But she can’t be faulted for that. She was upset, and if I hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t have seen him anyway. I think that fool needs a reality check, since he can’t seem to recognise what’s going on right in front of his nose.>

<You know, Maya, it’s probably just as well you passed out again,> he told her, knowing she couldn’t hear him, <You weren’t going to back down, and he wasn’t going to hear you. I doubt he’d even listen if someone else backed you up. But then, who would back you up? The locals are probably all too scared, which rules out the barkeepers. Athral, maybe, but he’s not in a fit state. Drasken and Selim are the only other options, and neither of them will want to get involved. Particularly not Selim…>

"But it looks like you are bored and as much as I would like to get out of here...Relthor cannot let us go. And if he does, he'd want to question all of us," she said quietly, her eyes looking towards the ground. Her lips pursed and her sapphire blue eyes slowly crept up to Mythos' eyes. "I suppose we can rejoin the others at the table as we wait? Unless you want to talk to me about something...in private?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

The ale Mythos was sipping had helped to calm him down slightly, as did Rimoru's presence, but he still was in a rotten mood. He didn't like their situation, location, or company. Why does she care what he would let us do?

Her suggestion sounded just as boring as before - rejoining the others... that's what had gotten this little incident started in the first place. How unlucky to run into this assortment of people. But then she said something oh so very appetizing. A few words and a simple implication.

"In private? That sounds good..." He chugged the remnants of his ale, slammed the mug down hard onto the bar - splintering the goblet slightly - and then stood. "Your lead..." He certainly wouldn't mind getting her into bed, and her protest about turning the lights out would make it all the sweeter. Certainly he wouldn't mind looking at her by the faint glow of candlelight...