Shady business in Ebou Dar~ Atten: Myst, Arinth

[jozan]

The night was falling in Ebou Dar and the sky was clear, loads of people were busy getting home or closing up their stores. Merchants were leaving the city after loading off their merchandize. Alinya hadn’t been in the city for three years not even in the Rahad – where she had lived all her life. She tucked her cloak tighter around her shoulders, as the wind was blowing tonight. Some people stared at her direction, most of them were men – it made her glare back with cold eyes, which stopped most of the stares. She loathed men most of all, they were disgusting creatures – took what they thought were their right to take, and throw away what they did not need anymore. Alinya spat at a tall and bold man – who had glared at her a bit too long and too intense for her liking.

 

She brought up her hood so they couldn’t see her face as much anymore, and if next person tried anything – she would slit his throat open. I dare you! Filth…you are all filth she thought to herself, as she kept on walking the street beside her mistress. She moved her eyes ever slightly and as she looked at her mistress, she opened her mouth to speak “Do you really think I am ready for this? I am of course glad that you think so. But…I am not certain.” She said with a bit of a hesitating in her voice and it was almost like a whisper in the air. Arina was a bit taller than her and held herself with loads of confidence – she could’ve easily been a queen. Arina had never been one to falter from fear to die, nor had she ever lost to anyone before. Her face beamed of impervious fortitude and she had trained Alinya to the best of her ability.

They were here for one reason only, and that was to find and kill their target for the day. A corrupted lord from the city of Tear – A minor lord though still could threaten the high lords. First they needed to find a suitable inn, where they could start planning how they would go about their business. At night, the Rahad were filled with all kinds of scum and filth – you never know what you might find here. Arina had saved her from a life of poverty and death, and now she is back in the place where she had lost everything. A tear actually rolled down her left cheek and fell to the muddy stone ground. When they finally found an inn Arina stopped her right in front of the sign – the sign read “The badger and the ox” A moment later Arina stepped out and said they could stay there.

 

Alinya took a step through the door into a room filled with men and a few women were there as well, but mostly just elderly men. They all glared at the two new comers to the inn. The innkeeper – a lump of a man with greyish beard and dirty clad welcomed them warmly – with a smile. Alinya frowned at him and felt the urge to smash his ugly face, but Arina smiled at him as she put a hand on Alinya’s shoulder to calm her down. “Is there anything I can do for you, my two ladies?” The innkeeper asked with a soft but stern voice.

Edited May 12, 2012 by jozan

[Mystica]

Arina watched her young apprentice without letting anything of her inner thoughts show on her face. The girl had better learn how to controle her emotions and use them for whatever job was at hand or she'd not last long, she thought. She eyed Alinya when she asked if she truly was ready for this and Arina almost said no. Almost. She could go on for years talking about the craft, but until the first strike, the first blow, the first blood had tainted the girl, she'd never know what it was like. Yes, she'd killed before. But not like this. Not because of no other reason than someone wanted someone dead. Not for something that had nill all to do with her. No, she thought, she wasn't near anywhere ready for this. But she was going to do it anyway. It was the only way. Do or die. It was a lesson Arina had learned herself shortly after being forced down this road. A lesson that almost claimed her life. If Alinya weren't up for the craft, better to know it now than to spend too much time on a worthless subject. She had a reputation to uphold, after all. If the girl failed, Arina would do away with her personally.

 

The situation presented to her offered the perfect testing ground. The girl wouldn't do the killing, she thought. Arina knew better. The Lord they were after was known to be surrounded at all times by bodyguards. Arina would do the Lord. The girl would take care of the bodyguards. Whether killing was involved or not, her life would be in danger one way or another. How she managed herself would tell Arina volumes on her potential, her weaknesses, her strengths. Alongside the benefits to her training, it would offer Arina a welcome insight to the girl herself. If ever this one became an assassin, she'd be Arina's competition unless she managed to put he in her place and have her work for her. Gaining an assassin's loyalty was tricky and treacherous at best. She'd never tried it before. Lately, however, more and more of her esteemed colleagues seemed to be out to prove her fallible. A complication she needed to address, before it became a problem.

 

They made their way to the Inn and after a small surveyance of the inside, she and the girl entered. Alinya instantly glared about at all the men. Sighing inwardly, Arina put a hand on the girl's shoulder to stay her as the innkeeper received her most welcoming smile. She'd cut the life off him in an instant, should he be subject of one of her customers, but until that time Arina didn't see a reason to be rude. After all, a sympathetic innkeeper was a nice tool to have.

 

"Good day to you, Master Stow" she replied pleasantly, "we'd like a table somewhat to ourselves, if you please. Two helpings of your day's special and a couple of your best wine to accompany the meal."

 

The innkeeper's smile broadened even further and he ushered them forward to one of the few secluded niches. She took the chair facing the floor, leaving Alinya to take the chair facing her. From her vantage point she could see the entire inn, every door and passage way. With the wall protecting her back. Her own teacher's voice rose in her mind. See without being seen. Hear without being heard. Face the world without being exposed to it.

 

They brought their meal and left them to themselves.

 

"Stop glaring about, girl. Repeat your lessons to me, so I can be certain you don't suffer from memory loss."

[Arinth]

“So we have a deal then?” The man asked. Despite meeting in the dark of night with a hood pulled over his face he appeared anxious. It was not something that made Erlin Drock feel comfortable. Anxious men were dangerous and unpredictable and then of course there was the whole reason behind why he was nervous. Was he trying to cheat Drock in their deal. The very thought made Drock’s blood boil.

 

“We do. Jojohn pay the man.”

 

His guard stepped forward, while the other two guards remained at his side, and handed the man over a purse. Coins clinked together inside the bag as it was handed over. The man in the hood opened the purse and pulled out a handful of coins to examine them more closely.

 

“I do not have all night. The coin is true.” Erlin growled.

 

The man slowly put the coins back inside the purse. “The merchandise will be moved onto your ship. This will also take care of the dock inspectors. They will see nothing more than what you claim.”

 

Erlin nodded. He had paid a heavy price for the merchandise but he would still make a hefty profit when all was said and done. A small smile spread across his face at the thought.

“I will see you to your work then. I will be sailing the day after tomorrow. See that everything is ready by then.” With that the Tairen lord turned and left. His three guards fell in beside him.

 

They had not traveled very far when he started talking. “Varis, see that he holds true to his word. If he shows any sign of betrayal kill him and take back my gold. If he is true to his word wait until he has completed his tasks and everything is fully loaded onto the ship and then kill him and take back my gold.”

 

“As you wish.” The guard murmured and without another word disappeared in the darkness already backtracking.

 

The Rahad was a dangerous place. Nobody would question the discovery of the man’s body. Drock picked up his pace though. The Rahad was a dangerous place even for him with his two guards. He dared not linger longer than he had to. There were those would kill or steal or those who would take notice if he acted too strangely.

 

They arrived at the Lord’s room shortly after. Drock allowed Jojohn to search the room for dangers and then asked him to stand guard outside his door. The last guard Bellin, Jojohn sent to watch the common room and later to patrol the outside of the inn for any suspicious characters.

 

Drock sighed and took off his cloak and began to ready himself for bed. Stealing and killing was hard work. It was often said that if you lived by the sword you died by it and it was an awful lot of hard work to try and avoid the sword. But there was enjoyment in outsmarting those who sought to cheat you. Those who wanted to kill you or take your money. There was no feeling like the feeling when someone begged for their life. Drock enjoyed what he did and the more that he did the more he hungered for it and the more he knew he would never stop.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Arinth

[jozan]

"Stop glaring about, girl. Repeat your lessons to me, so I can be certain you don't suffer from memory loss."

 

Alinya lowered her eyes but still glared inwardly toward all of the men within a radius of them. "Mistress, you have taught me well, and therefore I still remember the lessons, as if were still happening. Your first and most important lesson was that I should never leave my sight blinded to the area around me. And always check before I waltz right in as it could very well be a trap." Her eyes almost gleamed while she spoke of her training with Arina, and she couldn't help but put on a smirk on her lovely lips. Alinya tapped her twin daggers in their hilt that was hanging on a leather belt; she had gotten from her mistress as a kind of gift of acceptance. Sudden commotion brought attention to their table, as both Arina and Alinya leered toward the place of the commotion. A newly arrived guest just stepped through the door which stirred some interesting glares from some of the guests for different reasons, but the reason why Alinya and Arina leered was because the person was their target in question.

 

Usually you don’t get that kind of luck on your side, but it seemed today was to be different in some way. Alinya turned her gaze toward the half-empty glass on the table, and sneered as she took a sip of the wine. She put the glass down and whispered which sounded ferretier than anything “He’s finally arrived! I didn’t think luck would be on our side today, we’ve been searching for a while now. And he just waltzes right into our grasp. Why?” It didn’t make much sense, but what did make sense in this hole. The Rahad was a place where anyone could easily disappear, and no one would care less. But, this was after-all a Lord that they were hired to kill. Someone had to miss him at some point, but from what the high-lord had told them; he wasn’t much of a socializer. So, maybe with some luck he wouldn’t be missed nor searched after.

 

When they had finished their food and drinks, and were walking toward the stairs to get to their rooms, Alinya bumped into a short snake-like man who gave her a sharp look, which Alinya saw and right away put her fingers on her dagger, ready to slice his throat. She gave the man a glare that could boil the very heart of a man or woman, and her eyes burned with fiery rage ready to explode. “Did you just look at me? I dare you to give me that look again, and I’ll snap you in half or break your neck.” She said with an angry voice filled with a hateful tone. She pushed him hard which made him wobble a little.

 

Her mistress couldn’t allow Alinya to bring attention to them, and so she intervened and placed herself between them, before anything more serious happened. She told sharply to Alinya to walk away, while she held the two people aside from each other. Alinya really was about to explode, but knew that she needed to learn to control her emotions better if she were ever to become a lethal weapon. And so she walked up the stairs and to her room, still fire in her eyes as she walked inside the rather mediocre room, the innkeeper had given them.

[Mystica]

Arina managed to calm the man down. It never ceased to amaze her how much a few freely given pints could achieve. Men were such easy creatures. No, she thought, don't underestimate them. Your arrogance is your enemy's best tool. Her teacher's mantra's came to her unbidden and often unwanted, but they've kept her alive all this time. That in itself was a miracle, given the life she had chosen. And she'd need her wits tonight of all nights, if she was to continue that blessed state of being alive. Especially with that fool girl doing everything in her power to draw every form of attention to them.

 

Alinya was still fuming by the time Arina joined her in their room. Without a word she grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her against the wall.

 

"If you ever endanger a mission of mine again, child, you will not live to see your next nameday." Alinya spluttered, trying to get free, her eyes bulging in shock but Arina continued in the same monotomous, silent, deadly dangerous voice. "I don't care what you have against men. You will control your emotions and you will behave yourself as a professional or I will see the end of you!" She flicked her hand to the side, throwing the girl on the bed and stepped up to the washing basin, or what passed for one in this place.

 

Alinya sat on the bed, grasping her neck, trying to catch her breath. Arina hoped the girl wouldn't get any stupid ideas in her head. She didn't need the complication of dealing with the Lord and this stupid get at the same time. Whatever had possessed her to take an apprentice? Brushing her hair in even strokes, Arina seemingly ignored the girl. Nothing about her indicated that she was noticing every move, every nuance in the room. Long, even strokes. It soothed her as it always did. A good brush was worth it's weight in gold.

 

"Get yourself ready" she said to Alinya, reaching five hundred of her one thousand strokes. "I trust I don't need to repeat the plan?" Alinya shook her head and remained silent, but she did get off the bed and started to dress herself for the job at hand.

 

One thousand. Arina put down the brush.

 

"It's time" she said and headed out the door. Alinya remained behind and counted to one thousand before heading out as well.

[Arinth]

Jojohn growled in frustration. It was long overdue for the other guard Bellin to check back in. The fool was always wandering off when he found something anything he thought was interesting, which could be anything from a cloud to a rock, or getting lost or staring at blank walls. Jojohn found that he was cursed in dealing with the fellow humans the creator had decided to spend the least amount of time and attention on.

 

He poked his head into the room where his Lord was. Everything was calm and quiet inside. Drock appeared to be sleeping on his side away from the door. Jojohn closed the door quietly and went down to the common room in search of Bellin.

 

It was getting late and most of the innkeepers patrons had left to find their beds already. There were a few groups left, some lost deep in thought and some deep in conversation but Bellin was nowhere to be found. Jojohn cursed him and stepped outside. He did not like leaving his post but he had to make sure that Bellin was doing his job too.

 

When he came around the back of the inn he found Bellin kneeling over a body.

 

“Whats going on?” He demanded.

 

Bellin wheeled on him and Jojohn had to step back quickly before Bellin realized who he was. The man was not bright but he was terrifying if he was coming after you with bad intentions.

 

“Oh good, its you Jojohn," he said with a smile. The smile quickly disappeared when he remembered what was going on. "Its Varis.” He said and pointed back at he body as if Jojohn did not know where the man was lying.

 

Jojohn muttered and knelt down to look more closely at Varis. He was the third guard in their little group. He had been the one sent to kill the Lord’s business associate and bring back the gold.

He did not look like he was in very good condition at all. He had been stabbed several times.

 

“How long has he been out here?” Jojohn asked.

 

“I was making my rounds when the last bell sounded. That’s when I found him.” Bellin replied.

 

“And you didn’t come to get me?” Jojohn asked. Bellin looked down at his feet.

 

Johohn turned his attention back to Varis. Before he could focus on the man’s health he had to make sure he had completed his job first. It would be what Drock found to be the most important. “Did you kill him? Did you get the gold back?”

 

Varis coughed as he looked up at Jojohn. The spasm made him grimace. Before he could answer though Jojohn heard a shuffle off in the shadows and looked up suddenly.

 

“What was that Bellin?”

 

The other guard looked at him dumbly. “Go find out what made that noise.”

 

“What noise?” Bellin asked.

 

“Go, now.” Jojohn demanded. He couldn’t risk someone overhearing about the gold of anything else. He started to search Varis’ body. Varis would be in a lot of trouble if he had not completed the job. Though by the looks of it he was already.

[jozan]

Alinya headed out as her teacher had told her to do; she wasn’t interested in neither getting yelled at nor getting her neck snapped. She noticed that the Lord’s room was close by to theirs, which would make it easier to finish their job. Just as Alinya noticed the guard posted in front of the lord’s door, or rather who had been close by – opening the door to check in on his lord. And then closed the door and walked down to the common room. Alinya exhaled slowly in relief and walked steadily down as well, and out through the backdoor of the inn. The kitchen staff eyed her but after a moment got back to their jobs.

The sky was greyed and neither clouds nor stars were visible at the night. But a bird’s chirping could be heard in the distance, as Alinya were hiding in the darkness and shadows, with the helping hand of her black clothes. She plucked at her belt where her twin daggers were hanging, to make sure they were still there; she would need them tonight.

 

After what felt like she had been walking for hours, while looking at another direction, she accidently bumped into a figure she thought looked like a man. A quite young man at that, and she fingered her daggers right away, but the man just kept walking in a wobbly state toward the inn, as if he had been drinking too much. You could barely see anything in the darkness of the night, but somehow after a brief moment and an extra glance at the man walking toward the same inn where she was staying – she suddenly remembered where she had seen him before, one of the lord’s guards.

 

Alinya looked at his back and suddenly in a flash drew her twin daggers with a fake heron-mark on them, and she walked quite fast-paced toward the man. She had her daggers in both her hands, and with precision bumped into him, and got his attention. And as the young bodyguard turned around to see what had hit him, Alinya raised her dagger and stabbed him right into his left shoulder, which made him stagger back a bit and put his hand on the wound. He had been totally off-guard and was now injured on his left shoulder, Alinya was able to kick away his dagger from his right hand, and kicked him in the belly. He fell backward with a thumping sound, and she kneeled down and stabbed him another time in the left chest – the man’s futile attempts at defending against her ferocious attacks made her grin as she stabbed him in the heart. She was enjoying it too much, and even though she only killed one man before and that was very different, this still felt good.

 

Alinya could see her uncle in his eyes and kept stabbing him, but after five stabs he was able to muster some extra strength and push her away, and then he tried to run away from her back toward the inn, to tell his fellow bodyguards of the incidence with her. Her eyes were burning with rage and hatred, even though she had already killed the person responsible for her broken life essence; it would never be enough to put out the burning flame inside her heart. Alinya’s entire soul is burning of fiery rage.

 

When she was heading back to the inn she accidently trampled on a dead twig, which made her position to the two guards leaning over the nearly dead corpse of the man she had just stabbed to death. Alinya slowly removed her foot from the broken twig, and made a quick decision to hide behind the close corner of the inn; waiting for him to come to her. Her breath was a bit heavy caused by the tension she was feeling at the moment. Bellin as she had heard one of the guards calling him, that was on the way to her, was walking a bit sloppy and kept breaking the dead twigs as he walked closer to her position. This is going to be an easy victim she thought to herself as she was getting ready for him. Her still bloody dagger held in her left hand, and just as Bellin was in front of her, and when he turned around as he couldn’t find anything – she put her free hand on his mouth and stabbed him right in the heart several times, until he died. Then, she sheathed her dagger after removing the blood on a cleaning towel she had brought with her. Alinya then dragged the dead man to the stable of the inn to hide him from the other guard. Arina would be impressed or at least proud of her achievement tonight.

 

OOC: Anrith, check out the planning thread after you read this reply. I've posted a plan to where the thread is heading. :)

[Mystica]

Arina moved through the corridor of her room towards the landing that led up to the Lord's room when she heard some commotion coming from it. Several quite drunk people were staggering around, arguing amongst each other. She kept to the shadow, waiting to see if they would move on to their rooms or to the common room below, but they kept going. More and more people joined them on the landing and her position was beginning to be compromised. She decided to back away and went back inside the room she shared with the girl.

 

Mother's milk in a cup, she thought as valuable minutes krept by and the noise in the hallway continued. She'd need to adjust her strategy for the Lord was sure to wake up from that racket. Thinking fast, she opened her bag in the corner and donned her stealth attire. A full black costume that clung to her body like a second skin but at the same time was padded up to hide her female forms. Lastly she donned the face mask. An all black cap that draped closely over her face, leaving only her eyes open. Normally she used this under extreme circumstances only, but she couldn't afford to let the Lord get away. Not while Alinya was taking care of the guards. At least, she hoped the girl was taking care of them. They'd be hard pressed to fight them all in these close quarters and Arina didn't want word to spread of who they were and what they were here for. She's kept her identity nicely split. In public she was a woman not to mess with for sure, but no one knew her true profession. Her clients never met her face to face and she made it a point to keep her assassin identity a secret. She was known only as the Black Widow. It was known she was a woman, but nothing else.

 

The sounds died down and she left the room again. Creeping up the corridor she could see the last of the drunks staggering in to one of the rooms, banging the door closed loudly. As she put her hand on the handle of the room of the Lord, footsteps behind her announced more people coming up the stairs. Running up the stairs. She hid in one of the dark doorways and saw one of the guards enter the Lord's room. Cursing to herself, Arina wondered where Alinya was at.

[Arinth]

Jojohn’s thoughts thundered through his head as he pounded up the stairs to Lord Drock’s room. Varis was dead and Bellin most likely was too. He had never returned. Jojohn had thought he had heard a grunt but wasn’t sure. The fact that he had not returned meant something was wrong though.

 

Jojohn had been about to investigate Bellin’s disappearance when he realized that Lord Drock was unguarded and he was nowhere near. If someone had planned to attack them things could not have gone much better. He had turned from Varis, one hand clutching the man’s purse of gold coins the other the hilt of his sword and he ran.

 

The common room, the stairs and the landing were all cleared. The other patrons had gone to bed for the evening. He tried to piece together what was happening and who could be after them. Had Varis done something to anger the man Drock had double crossed or had it been someone else Drock had made as an enemy? He did not have a short list of enemies.

 

He shouldered his way into Drock’s room and breathed a sigh of relief to see his form still in bed. The Lord sat up with a scowl.

 

“How can you expect me to sleep if you keep barging in my room. Its bad enough when you can’t even keep the drunks outside my room quiet. Whats wrong with you?”

 

Jojohn turned and shut the door, for once ignoring Drock. It was not something he would normally do but then again Varis and Bellin didn’t normally go around getting killed either. “Someone has killed Varis and Bellin has gone missing.”

 

Drock stood up quickly. “Am I still in danger?” He asked, cutting right to the point instead of wasting time asking for details.

 

“You are.” Jojohn said. Lord Drock was strapping on his sword belt. He was not a great swordsman by any means but he knew how to hold the blade at least.

 

“We will make for the docks then. We may have to leave before the cargo finishes arriving but I can’t wait for the town guard to come sniffing around.”

Jojohn nodded. “The stairs were clear. Keep close once we get outside.” With that he opened the door and started towards the door. He did not notice anything in the shadows.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Arinth

[jozan]

The night kept Alinya’s figure in the shadows, and luckily she was also wearing her black clothes which made it even harder to see her. She had been hiding behind the house corner, waiting to see what would happen inside the inn – especially since the lord had been killed. I can’t wait to get this job over with, so I can move on from here Alinya thought to herself, as she decided it was time to go inside and see if Arina were in need of assistance. But just as she was about to open the door, two men nearly ran over her as they slightly bumped into her and cursed at her for being in the way, then they continued to run away in haste. Alinya lifted her right hand in the sky and shook it angrily at them as she cursed them “Bloody ashes, watch where ya goin’ you bloody fools.” Her voice sounded very angry as she walked up the stairs toward her room.

In the corridor there were a few drunkards wobbling around and glaring at her with hideous ideas of what would be fun to do together. She snarled at them and showed them her angrily fist in front of their faces. She had no time with drunkards at this vital time, where she had been able to kill two guards of a minor lord from Tear. The third guard had probably run off to somewhere leaving his lord all alone with two assassins that were hired to kill him.

 

Just as she was about to open her door to the room, she couldn’t help but to leer toward the lord’s room and the door was slightly open. Alinya smiled and decided to see if he was already dead, or if there were anything she could help Arina with. She walked over to the room and slowly pushed open the door, and what she saw wasn’t what she expected to find. Her trainer was standing there in an empty room clutching her dagger in anger. She quickly turned around with a dagger in hand, when she saw it was only Alinya standing in the lord’s door opening. “What’s going on? I thought you had done your job, where’s the lord?” Alinya looked at Arina who had just spoken with an irritated voice “One of the guards must’ve warned him, I made a slight mistake. He must’ve heard me and went back to his master, to get him out of here.” Alinya said with a slight hesitation in her voice.

 

She really thought it was over, but instead the guard and his master had fled the scene. And they had gained some extra mile thanks to Alinya’s mistake. Something she would never do again, so she walked out from the room and headed down the stairs, and went outside the inn to see if she could spot anything that might tip them in the right direction. Her trainer had taught her a little about tracking her target and luckily she had actually been paying attention at that moment.

It wouldn’t be easy to spot anything because of the darkness lingering over the sky, and it wouldn’t get lighter for another hour or so.

When Arina arrived at the scene where Alinya had last seen the guards, Alinya spoke up “I might be wrong but I think I have found something that could help us find them again.” Since it had been raining a couple of days before, there were still some mud on the ground that could help them find some clues. “Over here” Alinya exclaimed “This look like a broken twig and over here is half a footprint. I think they went that way.” Alinya gestured with her left hand toward the docks from what it looked like.

[Mystica]

Arina barely managed to stop herself from killing the girl as she walsed in to the Lord's room. She tried to avoid using her target's name if she could help it. He was a target, nothing more. She kept silent as Alinya rambled about making a mistake, well duh, and headed downstairs. Arina knew they wouldn't be able to catch up to them while remaining unnoticed, so she went to their room to get their belongings instead. She changed back in to her normal cloths and went to pay the innkeeper. It was never a good idea to bring attention to yourself and not paying your bills was a sure way of doing that.

 

She found Alinya outside examining twigs and footprints. As though there was any way of distinguishing one print from the douzains of others. People came and went in a continuous stream up this road and in and out of this inn. Arina sighed inwardly and followed the girl. It was as good a place to start looking as any, she supposed and it did make sense. Tracking was much harder on water and the Lord wasn't a fool.

 

Reflecting on her actions when the Lord and the guard had left the room, she wondered if she couldn't have taken them both right there. The only thing that stopped her was that she could not guarantee doing it unseen. The landing was too much of a public place with drunks staggering in and out. It also would have made it quite a task to hide the bodies long enough to get away without rousing suspicion. So she had let them go.

 

They arrived at the docks and Arina instantly saw a commotion going on at one of the boats anchored there. Sure enough, the Lord was bullying the captain in to taking the boat out. Alinya made as to head straight for them, but Arina grabbed her by the scruf of the neck. "You managed a small thing tonight and a huge mistake. Don't go making another one." The captain started bobbing his head and Arina knew the Lord had found his transportation. She dragged Alinya to the other side of the ship, making sure they weren't seen by those on deck and gestured for her to climb up the anchor chain. There was a small rowboat attached to the side of the ship and they managed to climb inside it.

 

"And now we wait for the opportunity to arrive" she hissed at Alinya, who once again made as to go out to get the job done on the instant. "You need to learn patience, girl, or you'll not live a very long life! Use your head for once!"

[Arinth]

Lord Drock felt like he was getting swept away in a current of anger and fear. Anger that someone would dare attack his men and target himself and fear that they had succeeded in killing two of his men for all he knew. Now there was only Jojohn to watch his back. If he had only guard to choose to guard himself it would be Jojohn so he was glad about that at least.

 

The room was dark. He was still groggy as he strapped on his sword belt. He felt as if he was still in a dream. He was the one that double crossed or killed people. He was too careful for it to be happening to him, yet all the same it appeared that it was.

 

The landing outside the room was empty yet as Drock hurried across and down the stairs he felt a wave of impending doom as if his death was lurking the shadows to claim him. It set him even further on edge.

 

The fresh air outside in the dark helped settle his nerves a little. The streets were empty. Anybody looking for him wouldn’t know where he was going. He would be able to escape. He could make more money, double cross more people. He could afford to lose the cargo he had been intending to load onto the ship.

 

When they finally reached the ship the captain was not at all happy when Drock told him to set sail immediately and forget about the empty hull. They could pick up cargo elsewhere. The sailors on the ship had watched with threatening looks onto their faces. There was no way that Drock could bully the captain into submission. In the end he had to pay the men ten times more than he had originally agreed to. He was still half tempted to throw the man overboard. The important thing was getting out of the city. The rest he would settle later. And he would make sure it was settled later. The captain would not get the best of him in the long run.

 

Even after everything was agreed on the ship was still sometime in getting everything in order. Lord Drock was anxious. Things were taking too long. He was passing the ship back and forth watching the sailors at their work. Couldn’t they go any faster? He ground his teeth. Finally he stopped and stood resting his arms against the railing and looking at the city. It would have to be some time before he came back if he chose to come back at all. He had made plenty of money elsewhere without having to come here. It was a foul city. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. Things would be ok. They had to be he kept telling himself.