Welcome to Gaia! ::

ooc: I'm sorry about the whole new day thing. ^^; I figured your character wouldn't have been discovered until much later, and I wanted to give you a headstart before I caught up with you. I didn't mean to screw up the continuity.

Letalus crouched by a bush, examining the flora with such intensity that it wouldn't have been a surprise if it burst into flames. He lifted his hand and gently lifted the broken branches up. He supposed they could have been broken by the storm, but he rather doubted it, for the tree he had just passed showed every sign of being kicked in frustration. Mother nature could have a temper, but he didn't expect she had feet.

The golem stood, flicking his gaze ahead to the sound of rushing water. He followed, grim, hoping that he wouldn't come across the waterlogged corpse of a spoiled girl, and found the ravine now full and swollen with a night's worth of rainwater. But no body.

He stared at the current, considering the possibilities. It didn't seem too strong at the moment, but during the chaos of the storm, it might have swept the girl downstream. Did she know how to swim? Was she stupid enough to cross it at night? He folded his arms across his chest, eyebrow lifted in thought. If she hadn't drowned and was still alive, she either went further downstream, or crossed it directly.

With sudden decisive action, he turned to head downstream. However, something caught his eye across the water -- leather? He came to a halt and turned, plunging into the water with barely a pause. If he registered the iciness of the water, he kept it inside, for his face was as blank as ever as he focused on what he could now clearly see. A boot.

I could have been anyone's boot, true, but Letalus took this for a better sign than his own reasoning. A boot was better than nothing. As he smoothly withdrew from the water, his woolen shirt heavy against his skin, he picked up the boot. It made a loud "thwock" as it popped from the suction of the mud.

He examined it critically, then gazed ahead for some other sign that someone had been here. There were no footprints, of course, as the rain had washed those away. Water from the river trickled over his features as he started at the imposing cliff that jutted up from the ground.

The cliff stared back with only a moderate amount of more emotion.

ooc: *cackle* Goodwife Featherbottom. Lovely.

The rising sun finally broke free from the horizon, and Letalus was thrown in dark silhouette against the flood of light that swept over the valley, the forest, the ravine, and the cliff face loomed overhead. This sudden increase in light finally illuminated his quarry's next step -- between the crumbling crevices of the cliff, the cave was dark and quite noticable.

He smiled, his sandy hair falling over his forehead in a rakish manner. Without a moment's hesitation, he reached out a large hand and grasped a jutting rock from the cliff. Smoothly, he began to climb, hand after hand, foot after foot, with no sign of slowing down or missing a beat.

When he reached the mouth of the small cave, he was unsurprised to see that it wasn't occupied. Likely, he mused as he stood, absently brushing off the dust from his tunic, the morning light awoke the girl from an uncomfortable sleep. That is, if she had been there at all.

With cold and calculating eyes, he scanned the interior for anything strange. He almost missed the small splatter of red on the dusty ground, but as soon as he focused on it, he stepped forward to investigate.

Crouching, Letalus reached out a forefinger to smear the blood onto his fingertip. It was already drying, but it was still wet enough that it had to have been shed recently. He tested the texture of the liquid by rubbing it between his finger and thumb, just to confirm that it was blood. And he had seen enough blood to know when it had been spilled.

"The Saints must like me," he said dryly to the empty cave.

ooc: I was tempted to have Letalus just "show up" and save her, but...too soon for them to meet, I think. X3 He's getting ever closer, though!

Standing at the mouth of the cave, Letalus thought about his next move. He knew there was a town further west. Likely, that was were his prey had gone, hoping for some shelter and food. A girl raised in high society surely would not be able to stand roughing it for longer than neccesary. He almost sneered at the thought.

He leaned over and, with the same fluid movements he always had, began climbing further up the cliff face. The repetitive movement put him in a sort of daze, eyes heavy and dull as he climbed. Consumed with this dreamy trance, memories slipped in unbidden..

It had been a successful day. The town of Youth's Marrow was not prepared for the relentless onslaught Letalus and his men served them. His men called him bold and daring for attacking in broad daylight without any obvious plan, but they were fools, and they did not know what he did -- unpredictability was oftentimes the best strategy.

After cleanly and efficiently wiping out the Baron Oeweit and his Lady wife, Letalus ordered his men to ransack the villagers, leaving the women and children alive. It wasn't any sort of compassion that decided this, but rather the orders of his Master. As a meglomaniac, he wanted to be sure the village knew it was he who had the power to give life or take it. The name of Manglalim would be spread far and wide after this day.

Now, as dusk spread over the sky, the town was inflamed, the mournful screams of women ringing out over the raucous laughter of men. Letalus would not celebrate with his soldiers -- he couldn't. He stared with dead grey eyes as the men had their sport.

He likely would have remained there, watching blankly as his men tortured a barmaid, but he happened to glance up at the small hill over looking the town, and saw the temple there, nearly hidden in shadow and shimmering with magic.

Without blinking, Letalus turned and headed towards the holy ground without pausing, knowing what final step he had to take to ensure his Master's utmost control...

A sudden piercing scream broke through Letalus' trance and he started, nearly losing his grip on the cliff. He cursed under his breath and, as he was near the top, sped up and nearly leaped over the edge.

His expression hard, eyes glittering with promise, he headed in the direction of the scream.

"The sword has some script along the blade," she explained. "I can not read it, nor do I recognize it from any of the books in the library. I thought that if you had studied such things, you might be able to tell me what it meant."

So far, besides the sword's propensity to suck up fresh blood, Merro had not figured out - or communicated to Letalus - any of its uses or dangers, and she felt rather in the dark about it. Besides, one could not exactly chat about the weather with such a companion, and on such a journey.

ooc: It says in an ancient script, "the essence of sacrifice."

Her eyes tracked the blade as Letalus examined the sword, and she noted that it still retained its bright, silvery appearance. The sword wasn't hungry yet for its next meal, it seemed, and that was a good thing as far as Merro was concerned. Game hens and inexperienced wolves were in short supply hereabouts.

Letalus' command - it was hardly a request - brought her out of her musings and she stammered a bit as she brought her thoughts into order. Any irritation she might have felt at being ordered about by one of her father's minions was buried under a habit of feeling like the lowest of the low in her own household and her survival instincts trying to sort out whether anything about this sword might best be kept a secret for now.

"Ah...well, it was floating in the back of the cave, as if something was holding it up, but when I took hold of it, it gained weight and has felt like a normal sword since. It also had that buttery color of very old silver, but when fresh blood fell upon it, it gained that sharp new sheen it has now." She glanced back at the sword and then looked back at Letalus.

"I killed a hen on the way here," she added by way of explanation, leaving Letalus to hopefully draw the conclusion that the fresh blood she had mentioned was the hen's and not her own. She left the bit about the wolf out as well. That just sounded too outrageous for anyone to believe without having been there.

Goaded by Letalus' mocking admiration - the faint smidge of real stuff that he felt going unnoticed - into a brief flare of anger, she retorted,

"I can handle a sword better than you think! I'm no milkish maiden, spending my days over embroidery and fainting away over every dropped stitch."

She almost fell into a pout, but the information about the possibility of a curse was unsettling, to say the least. Worried into a more honest mood soon afterwards, she admitted,

"I did cut myself on the blade at first. And I was feeling dizzy and spent for a time, but the feeling passed when I killed the hen." She nibbled her bottom lip and then blurted, "Do you truly think I might be cursed somehow by this sword?"

Was she to start craving blood next, as the sword did? Figures she'd pick up an accursed object rather than something helpful. The Saints hated her. With a passion.

Merro flinched and then tried to take a step back, startled at being touched, but his hands held her firmly.

"My hand," she said, and then repeated herself as she raised her right hand, the palm creased with a thin, blood-scabbed wound. "Just my hand."

If she had been less gentleborn, she might have scorched the grass around them with a withering barrage of curses. As it was, she merely gave a breathy murmur which might have been "Saints hate me" or "Saints save me" as she grasped the silver hilt of the sword in her hand and backed closer in to Letalus' shadow.

As the ragtag band of men surrounded them, Merro hastily tried to recall everything she'd observed and tried to learn about swordplay, but unfortunately none of the courtyard battles practiced under her spying eyes had included matches between horsed and unhorsed, nor had there been many melees between more than two or three men at a time. She feared that her worth might end up as a pitifully small measure indeed in the coming fight.

She gripped the swordhilt firmly, planted her feet in the grass, and waited for something to happen. Leading an attack against such superior numbers was most certainly not an option.

Rather pleased with her recent steal, which had been taken from some lazy bandits who'd fallen asleep while guarding their loot, Leana sat comfortably on the rooftop of a towering building, and counting a few coins she'd found in a sack on one of the bandits' person.

"Bandits are always so dumb." she muttered, dropping the coins back in the sack and pulling it shut. "Those thugs don't deserve half of what they steal and they do it in such a stupid manor."

Leana hated when people stole but used irrational ways to do it. Her way was the best way...steal from people right under their noses without them even knowing, and only those who deserved to be stolen from, like rich folk or corrupted nobles. Unlike bandits, who preyed on the weak and innocent, and then taking all that they owned after killing their victims. What a waste.

She shrugged, thinking this over as she usually did every time coming across bandits. After all, she'd believed it to be the work of bandits that had killed her parents. And the old woman who'd raised her had believed so as well.

Leana stood up and was about to jump down and head off to find more people to steal from, when she saw the commotion going on below in the street.

She quickly ducked down and stealthily crawled along the rooftop to find the edge, and looked over. There were a bunch of men on horses surrounding two people, a man and a young woman. From the looks of it, a battle was about to start.

Leana figured it best to get out of the way. She stood up and hastily went to head along the rooftops the other way, but her foot caught a loose shingle and she slipped. Luckily there was a house right next to it, not as tall, and she was able to fall against that one's rooftop without too much harm done. But it sure had been noisy.

"Damn..." she muttered. "I hate when that happens."

OOC: I'm not trying to take away the attackers' attentions...my character's just really clumsy. ^_^"

As Merro & Letalus shared their small passing of words, the brush that Merro's sword was laying so unassumingly by began to shift softly, a few leaves gliding to the soft grass.

Could it be the wind? Or was it something living?

Merro slowed as she ploughed through the high grass towards the stranger and then finally paused and looked back at Letalus. He wasn't exactly a friend and ally, as his ultimate goal was to deliver her to her father's clutches, but at least she knew that he intended to deliver her to her father alive and unscarred. Perhaps that translated into...into...something.

Generally when a young girl grows up unloved by and unable to love those who are expected by custom to nurture that precious emotion in her, she finds other outlets for those frustrated emotions. She finds companionship in a kitchen cat, perhaps, and friendship and amusement with the servants. She confides her secrets to her personal maid, and knows that no matter what, her faithful hound at least will always look upon her with quiet affection. And as the years go by, chance blesses her with frequent meetings with a young woman of suitable age and rank to become her best friend, or occassional glances exchanged with a young man of suitable age and rank to become the stuff of dreams and gauzy hopes.

Merro had none of these. She had never known her mother and never been able to respect, much less love, her father. She had no siblings and no pets, and the servants were too fearful of her father to be trusted. Merro's own lamentable personality - and the admittedly giddy and shallow characters of the highborn young ladies in her father's circle - put the possibility of developing an open and caring friendship among her equals out of the picture as well. And so she glanced back hesitantly at Letalus and mentally danced around the idea that she might trust him without really being able to put it in such concrete terms.

It just floated around nebulously as Letalus > strange guy.

As Merro closed in towards the thick brush, she could see a small nose and wispy whiskers shuffling in the over growth. Every so often she would see a streak of white pass by some of the denser foliage. A soft chuckling noise seemed to be originating from this "thing" in the bushes.

"Keep your eye on the prize boy. If I wanted her, she would be gone." he said as he took the long blade out of the small hilt on his belt. Pulling a loose cloth from his pocket, he quickly cleaned the blood off of it and replaced it.

"Name is Tomlin. I expect you were on your way on when this group of hooligans came after ye. They tend to prey on those who they think are easy... " he trailed, noting that several times there was a noise in the bushes.

He turned his good ear towards them, catching a blur out of the corner of his eye. The blur hit the ground as quick as it came from the edge of the trees, and he scratched his head. Was this person just clumsy, or distracting them?

He wasn't sure... but his fingers seemed to slide up to his daggers as if by gut instict anyway.

"Hold.." he said as the two approached him.

"Come out of the bush, or ye will find my points at your sides.." he said, his arm sliding back into the side of his coat to reveal a compliment of throwing knives dangling on small loops on the interior of his leather coat.

The shuffling in the brush became silent as the small nose made motions of taking in the smells of it's surroundings. A small figure emerged slowly from behind the leaves, revealing it's self to be a small lengthy animal. At first glance one would assume it to be a mere rodent. But as the little creature made it's way towards to one who beckoned it to come into view, it was made clear that this being was a black and white patterned ferret, a weasel of sorts.

"Dook, dook?" It chirped, showing the man called Tomlin a curious and bedazzled look. It's tail appeared feathered out, resembling that of a spooked cat.

"That'd have been this man, I suppose." Tomlin said to the girl, looking down at the small ferret simultaniously. " I can gather that you were bothered as well?" he said, pulling out what looked like a piece of jerky from a pouch in his pocket.

He took a bite of it, leaning down to allow the animal to sniff it.

The small creature tilts it's head to one side, almost in a blank stare of sorts as it eyed the jerky within Tomlin's grasp. The ferret slowly trotted up to the tip's of his fingers, taking in the smell of the delicious meat. She had not eaten in a few days, making her much more willing to approach the offering without killing it herself.

"Doook, chirp!" She yelped with glee as she made a hop at the jerky, taking the time to at least pretend she *might* have captured it to satisfy her ferrety pride. After making a few more hops and sashays, chuckling all the while, she took the piece of jerky into her mouth and began to scoot backwards with it.

The ignomy of being spoken of in the third person as a trophy object by someone who she wouldn't have dared to vouch for as being any more respectable than the rogues he'd dispatched snapped Merro out of her uncharacteristic hesitancy, furrowing her brow and putting a flush on her face.

"We were," she responded in a decided tone, skipping past any introduction on their own part at first. And then after a moment of thought, she grudgingly came to the conclusion that a bit more of graciousness was required on her part. The man had sort of rescued her.

"I thank you for your aid, Mister Tomlin," she said in a more normal tone, though there was still a hint of thorniness from the "prize". She began to introduce herself with a false name, but trailed off as Tomlin's attention was drawn perforce another way. She eyed the dusty young woman and then gave a small gasp upon catching sight of the ferret, having seen no such creatures during the few outings and off-grounds dinners and balls she had been allowed to attend. Merro wondered with some trepidation how many other strangers the Saints would see fit to throw in her path this day.

The girl addressed a question to Letalus, which nettled Merro right back into Noble mode. As her father's daughter, bedraggled and barefoot though she was, all inquiries ought to have been made of her. The fact that Leana could have had no way of knowing who any of the small group was did not factor. Logic was not Merro's strong suit.

"Because they were lawless brigands, seeking to thieve and murder as all such criminals do," she replied. "Why else should innocent travelers such as we come under attack?" Innocent travelers such as Merro, who was wearing pearl drop earrings and a matched triple-drop necklace over a fine silk shirt covered with a cheap, bloodstained tunic several sizes too large for her. No, nothing strange about her appearance at all.

Feeling wary of such a number of strange strangers, Merro suddenly turned and loped over lightly to Letalus, still feeling an overabundance of energy thanks to the sword.

"We should go," she said in a low voice, and then added uncertainly, "shouldn't we?" She was younger, shorter, weaker, and less experienced than Letalus, and technically she was his captive. She did not have quite enough self left to sustain even a false attitude of command over her enigmatic companion for very long. Besides, she was jittery. And still wide-eyed. If Letalus was given to wild flights of imagination, he might think Merro was high.

ooc: Quick! Someone stop my anti-social character from breaking the party up! T__T

Merro glanced down at herself and took in her utterly wrecked appearance. She wrinkled her nose and uttered an involuntary noise of disgust. Uncared for and forced to do menial work she may have been, but her father's pride had at least kept her clothed decently. Now she looked more like one of the bodies in the field than someone fit to be Letalus' companion, much less the daughter of his master.

Her eyes fell upon the darker stains upon her red tunic and followed the random trails and spatters along her sleeve and down her hand, and suddenly stopped, for the bloodstains ended abruptly at the weapon she was still holding in her hand. The sword, of course, was pristine. Merro shivered suddenly and glanced over at the few bodies that had been left behind, staring at them as if seeing the battlefield for the first time.

"Letalus?" she said in a yet smaller voice, faint somehow as if she were speaking while daydreaming. "I think, perhaps...I killed a man...just now."

A desire to stay alive and the jolts of energy from the sword had until now kept her in somewhat of a battle fever, but the distance was falling fast away. Here, without fight or flight brushing away incidentals, in the presence of a somewhat familiar face amidst all the uncertainty and strangeness, Merro began to feel the weight of consequence press upon her.

She blinked and startled ever so slightly as her unsettling view was blocked, then lifted her eyes to Letalus' face as he spoke. Her face, expressive at the moment as Letalus' was not, spoke the confusion she felt upon hearing him pass off the killing so matter-of-factly.

"But I...I killed someone," she said, as if her companion simply hadn't understood her, which he - in a sense - had not. She kept her voice low with an effort.

"I've never...I mean I..." She was on the verge of blurting, "Well-born ladies don't kill people!" when the sheer ridiculousness of the statement gave her a light slap back from hysterics. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if to dispel any further inane comments or forestall any reply to her meaningless stammers.

"It's nothing. You're right. They would have done as much to me, and perhaps worse," she said. Her eyes dropped away and grew distant as she added in a barely audible murmur, as if to herself,

"If he hears of this..."

Get a hold of yourself; you're no hysterical maid or giddy parlor flower, she chided herself. She brought her hands together and absently gripped and re-gripped the sword hilt as she silently willed herself to calm. Whatever this dizzying energy was that was rushing through her body and keeping her heart racing, she needed to bring it under control, else she'd simply blunder into more and more mishaps and misadventures on their way to Mt. Kiadawel. Merro glanced once more at the others gathered somewhat closer to the woods, wondering if she and Letalus simply ought to walk quietly away.

And now she seemed angry at him. He didn't understand it, but at least her apparent annoyance was more like her. Letalus could handle her prickly personality. It was when she gazed up at him so imploringly with huge blue eyes that he was inordinately uneasy. He cleared his throat and turned away, the heavy dark brown fabric of his cloak brushing against the grass.

"Your assistance was timely," he intoned, nodding slightly to Tomlin. This was, apparently, his way of expressing gratitude. He arched a brow down at the red-headed girl, assessing her with flat eyes before bowing stiffly.

"We'll be on our way now."

ooc: As a suggestion, someone could be very intrigued with Merro's sword or hear the alluring clink of gold coins from Letalus. *ninja*

He smirked, letting the ferret take a chunk of the meat from his hand before standing back up to his full height.

"Aye... the path ye seek to take, though, is riddled with similar lots to them.." he said towards Letalus, having smirked at the woman as she addressed him as she did. It wasn't often that women talked like they wanted to slap him... and didn't.

"Be that as it may, your free to travel as you wish.. but I may not be that far behind. After all, your in my neck of the woods.." he said, bumping slightly into Letalus as he walked into some bushes and then further into the dense forest.

"You may do some good from that horse.." he said, his voice now trailing through the foliage.
ooc: Should we roll, or can I just take the purse of gold? 8D

Having retreated to the brush to gobble the meat down like a ravenous dog, she came prancing back out to see if she might score another trifling of nourishment. After noticing that the man named Tomlin had "vanished" she huffed and sunk down flat on the grass.

Lifting her head, she turned her attention to the other humans and wondered if they too might have something of value to her grumbling belly. Weaseling through the tall grass, she trots up to Merro's foot, taking in a few whiffs to familiarize herself with this being. She then stood up on her back feet, placing her small front paws on the woman's leg, and giving it a soft nudge with her nose.

"Chirp Dook?"

As their night's lodgings and her new wardrobe disappeared into the forest, Merro gave a breathy, "Oh!" and froze with her hands raised up out of the ferret's reach, staring down into the sparkling eyes turned up appealingly toward her. Not speaking ferret, and furthermore not having much experience with wild animals save some experience at hurling brushes at mice, she smiled hesitantly down and said a bit fearfully,

"G-good afternoon. I'm afraid I don't have anything for you." Curse it all, where had she dropped that hen?! Don't bite me don't bite me oh Saints don't bite me.

Spend it.. or hold it for safe keeping...

Plagued by his unfortunate friend Conscience, Tomlin decides it best to play things out for a bit. Perhaps he can earn a bit of gold and share some plunder with of these individuals, rather than a small purse in the short-term.

He decides to instead scout the area ahead of them.. taking care as not to be seen by any of them. He takes toward the shadow of the forest treeline, easily swinging up a set of branches and into the tops of several trees.

It seemed, from what he could tell, that the coast was mostly clear towards the next town. About a seven to twelve mile hike, which under most circumstances isn't that bad.

...and they had the horse.

Her pleading eyes came with a small whimper as she sat back down on all fours, sniffing the air around her, as if trying to find the one that had treated her to such tasty jerky.

In her midst of curious wind sniffing, she glances over at the lady that spoke such soft words to her. As Leana kneeled down to her level, she trotted over to her foot, following the same routine as she had given to Merro. She stretched her head up towards Leana's hand, moving her paws in a manner that seemed to say, "Love me? ;-;!"

Hearing such a gruff sounding response from Letalus gave her a spook, her tail fluffing out once more. She then let out a very soft hiss. To those that have never heard a ferret do this, they would surely assume that it came from something else simply because the critter never really moves, never appears to be threatening, and their mouths never open.

ooc: Sword: WTF? *ptoo, ptoo* Yuck. Merro, come baaack! This man is not tasty! T^T

Merro was hard-pressed not to fall off her mount as the horse half-reared and then took off with a mighty bound, especially with the additional pull of the girl's arms about her waist. Perhaps it was all to the good that the girl hadn't fallen off. She was down one sword, but here was a companion who had claimed to have battle experience. Hopefully the chirping creature was safely tucked away somewhere instead of being trampled by the startled horse's hooves.

The ground flew away beneath them. A road of sorts continued on into the forest and Merro found that she need not hold the horse back much from a full gallop, and so they sped their way toward proof of Tomlin's passing.

Merro offered no speech, not being in the mood for light chatter. Her mood was darkening. She told herself it was fear of the road ahead. It was actually guilt and remorse, and she did not want to examine them.

As you get closer, small billows of smoke and ash cut across your path. Splotches of blood crest the road, and a bit of the trees and bushes of the surrounding area.

You notice that drag marks make their way through the bushes, as if someone had drug something heavy out of the line of the road.

ooc: Roll to see if you notice something else~ DC is 3 of 10

Merro did not comply at first. The more distance between her and an angry Letalus, the better. She did, however, shout a reply.

"He wants to return me to my father! Better that I should die trying to escape!"

Just a couple of miles into the forest, however, she abruptly hauled back on the reins, causing the horse to come roughly to a halt. The animal snorted and danced nervously in the middle of the road while Merro sawed at the reins, trying to bring the best under control.

"Saints, what..." she breathed, and then fell silent as she looked nervously around at the smoke and ash drifting across the road ahead, revealing and then obscuring the more disturbing sight of blood spattered about.

OOC: I rolled in the wrong thread but I suppose that's okay.

Leana had noticed sometime before Merro stopped the horse...the scene before them was truly horrid...and so forbidding...

"What happened?" she asked, to no one in particular. "All those bodies..."

Leana took the moment of finally having stopped to get off the horse (almost tripping when she got to the ground), and took a few steps closer to the smoky area.

"Should we check, it out? Or would you consider running some more?"

Merro:
Its seems as though was a battle recently. You notice that there are quite a few pools of blood, as if several attackers had been here at one point, then been dragged away into the forest. You notice sticking out of the brush it looks like a foot.
...and it isn't moving.
You seem to hear something in the woods, but can't make out what.

Leana:
[Same as above]
You note that the blood trails lead off the right, and can make out only a couple of voices.
"Should we leave them here? They won't make it to the next town alive." said one voice, wheezing slightly.
"Might as well.. poor souls. That man came out of nowhere, and I'll be damned if that mage didn't try to burn us all. Too bad we can't take those gloves.. they would've been mighty useful. Anyway, Jim could use your help. He wasn't that bad off, but he got knocked pretty bad on the head. Help him up and lets get out of here" said a lower voice, trailing off away from your current location. You can hear what sounds like a groan, and some mumbling trailing away from you.

Several pieces of what look like jewels, and some gold coins lay scattered on the ground as well.

The girl - Merro realized suddenly that she didn't know what her name was - slid off the horse, but Merro stayed seated. She finally settled the horse and said somewhat nervously,

"I think we'd better press on. There might be more bandits nearby."

Her eyes darted here and there, catching sight of pools of blood, not just small splotches. There did not seem to be any bodies, however...but then she caught sight of something pale sticking out of a brush. She leaned forward and stared, then caught her breath as she realized that it was a foot. More likely than not a dead one.

"Come on, girl!" she hissed suddenly, wanting to be away from this place and all of a sudden wishing she had not left Letalus behind. Just because he had her sword, of course. And because he was handy with a sword. And he'd done so well protecting her so far.

As Leana heads toward the body, she drinks in the sight.

The man, indeed dead lay there. Short, uneven hair lay matted against his face. His clothes were leather in nature, and he still seemed to have his weapon on him. A short sword, and on the hilt of his belt, a dagger with several small jewels in the hilt.

There is also a man sprawled out on a rock behind the bush. His clothing is a long cloak made of cloth. Half white, and half splotches of red. His face in a death grimace, you can tell by several symbols on his hands and face that he must have been the mage the two men were talking about. A quarterstaff sits next to him, with some type of language inscribed on it.

The man's cold dead eyes stare at you, as if asking you why him..
..and be glad this isn't you.

Merro regressed slightly and felt outraged at the thought of pillaging the bodies, whatever the reason. The girl's unexpected comment, however, roused her curiosity. And perhaps one of the bodies had a weapon.

"You don't think it was simply another attack by bandits?" she asked quietly, unsettled by the scene. She gently nudged and guided the horse over to where the girl was crouched, unwilling to dismount in case a speedy retreat became necessary. As she neared, she looked over her companion's head and caught sight of the bodies that lay between the trees and brush lining the road.

"I have need of a sword," she said, as a sort of suggestion to Leana to do some pillaging on Merro's behalf.

Leana stood up after plundering from the floor, and looked over at the body with the sword. Without responding, she went over and picked it up, and while she was there, she looked for other stuff on the body, taking what she needed.

Then to the mage, she went and searched as well. She took the staff and anything else she could find.

"Well, they seem to be just any old regular adventurers...I'd suppose. It could've been a bandit attack but...well I guess it would've been hard to hear from where we were over in the forest...bandits are typically noisy about their business..."

She stood up and went back over to Merro, handing her the sword.

"Don't lose this one."

OOC: Omega you can determine what I found I suppose unless you want me to make stuff up.

As you search one of the dead men, you notice he has a brand on on his chest. You seem to recall that it might be a mark of the local thieves guild.

You also find a dyed arm-band underneath the man's body. The colors that are on it are the same colors as that of the bandits that had attacked earlier.

ooc: You find a small purse on the mage with several coins and two inlay jewels in it. They seem to match the jewel inlayed into the staff.
On the thief, you find a short sword, a dagger, and several throwing knives. It seems his coin purse is already empty.

Having hitched a ride on the horse's tail, she finally pulled her squishy body to the top of the horse's rump using the saddle for support. She scanned the remains of the humans that laid waste before her and huffed.

"My...It seems someone got the better of these chaps."

Her small mouth uttered such profound speech like that of any human, with such a voice that truly fit her small stature. Amazingly enough, anyone that could have heard her, understood her very well.

She took the sword gingerly from the girl and then reversed it in order to slide it under her belt and let it hang by the crosspiece.

"I think we should get to the safety of Parnell as quickly as possible," she replied. "Attacked by or belonging to, it hardly matters to us, does it?" She did not wait expectantly for any answer to her rhetorical question, for at that auspicious moment, the ferret made her reappearance and startling commentary. Merro startled and twisted about in the saddle, lifting an arm in order to get a better look at the voice that spoke from behind...her behind.

"Oh! You speak!" she gasped. Generally she pitied the twitterbrains she met in drawing rooms who could only speak in inanities but in this case, Merro couldn't help but state the obvious.

The small creature looked a bit dazed at the mere fact that she did actually speak, though it was only in the context of her speaking aloud. She rarely allowed human's to hear her in her alternate form, but she seemed so at ease around these individuals.

She cocked her head to the side and glanced up at Merro. "Aye, that I do, lass." She took a moment to scan her surroundings a bit before actually speaking more. "I'm also quite fluent in many languages, it's a knack of mine I guess." She really didn't want to address the reason why she could actually speak, but all she could do was hope that they weren't that curious.

Merro was not very well-traveled or experienced, but she did have some familiarity with the art of magic. Her father equated magic with power, and though he could not learn himself, he bought as much as he could of the questionable loyalty of those mages who were willing to hire their skills out for silver and gold, or the kind of protection that could only be found under the wings of the wealthy. She was able to take in the concept of a talking animal in shorter order than might have otherwise been expected.

"That is praiseworthy," she responded after ordering her wits together, for lack of anything better to say. She hadn't been taught any conversational manners with regards to wild animals. And then to the girl, she nodded in agreement.

"It's getting dark. We'll have to hurry, else we won't reach Parnell by nightfall."

Tomlin eased back the door of The Howling Traveler. It was the only place to stay in the city, which meant he knew the others would eventually find thier way here.

As he approached the bar, he could tell that the place itself had recently had some repair work done to it. A stage had been added for musician's, and the bar seemed longer that a normal one would be.

The man from behind the bar greeted him gruffly. "You gonna buy a beer, or rent a room? Otherwise, get out. Had enough of people just coming for the entertainment.." he said, edging his head towards the dancer currently occupying the stage.

She seemed to be very flexible.

"Room, and an ale." said Tomlin, pulling the hefty bag he had managed to pull from the other gentleman (Who he knew as Letalus by the girl screaming his name). He felt the weight of the bag again..
"Make that two rooms...Man by the name of Letalus, or a woman by the name Merro. They come in, you give them the room." he said, pulling the money out and placing it on the table.

"..and I know they are coming, so if you try to stiff them or cheat them," Tomlin said as a dagger quickly slipped from the sleeve of his jacket "...I'll take your pinky."

"Now where's that ale?" he said with a smile.

A young woman sat at a table nearby, paying no attention to the entertainment. Instead, she kept her gaze on Tomlin, curious. Who was this threatening man? And how did he manage to get a hold of so much gold? Well, all would be answered in time, she assumed.

The young woman wore a long hooded fur-lined coat, the fur being white rabbit's fur and the rest of it being made of a soft, pale blue tinged material. The hood was pulled up over her head, nearly hiding her features as she gazed at Tomlin through pale blue, seemingly empty eyes. Hiding beneath the coat was a white tunic with pale blue trim, and a pair of white stockings. On her feet was a pair of tall white boots, which were quite comfortable in their own right. Her white hair was rather long, hanging over her shoulders in spiral curls. Beside her, leaning on the table, was a long staff with a beautiful blue topaz gemstone at the tip, and two tiny feathered wings made of the same material as the rest of the staff were spread on either side.

She took a somewhat dainty drink of the ale that was before her, her gaze never leaving Tomlin.

Who is this man?

ooc: Gosh, that felt lame. But oh well. o_______o;;

The man, taken aback slightly, muttered a few curses under his breath as he turned. Quickly, he produced a mug filled with a tan liquid.

Tomlin thanked the man, and stepped away from the bar, the dagger he had in his hand slipping back into his sleeve as subtly as it had found his way into his hand.

He turned slightly, having noticed something a little peculiar. A woman, or what he thought might be a woman, seemed to be staring intently at him. Was it someone he knew? He was unaware if it was...
..mostly because the only people that knew him tended to draw swords first and ask questions later.

He nodded slightly in her direction, his hand shuffling the gold purse into a small pocket in his sleeve. "May I sit?" he asked, flashing a grin that promised one thing...
..and he wasn't telling what it was.

The woman blinked a few times and spoke quietly, nodding her head gently as she spoke.

"Yes. You may."

Still, her gaze never left Tomlin. It was as if she were somehow related to a cat, for she hardly seemed to blink.

Tomlin sat the ale he had purchased on the table, pulling a chair across from her out so he could sit down. He took her in for a moment, assessing her with a smirk on his face. It seemed she was doing the same, having not taken her eyes off of him.

"What brings you here on this night, might I ask? Surely, not the entertainment.." he motioned as he sat, bringing the chair up to the table with his leg, shifting this weight slightly as it slid against the hard-wood floor.
He took a sip of his ale, his sleeves rolling back to reveal intricately designed gloves. Each glove had an identical jewel inlaid into it, a clasp holding them in place.

"I'm staying here for the time being. I wander from place to place, fending for myself wherever I happen to be."

She answered, still gazing at Tomlin curiously. Her gaze flicked to the gloves for a moment, before turning back to the man's face once again.

"Where in the world did you manage to get those gloves, if I might be so bold to ask? I've never seen anything like them."

She lifted her paw and rubbed her fuzzy cheek some, knocking a few dirt particles from her fur. "Magical? Nay, I was born this way." She uttered as she then secured herself on the saddle before the horse began to trot. "I have been mistaken many times for being a mage's familiar, though I lack all that entails one to be such a creature."

Only a heart of stone could long resist such charms! Merro found herself beginning to fall under a bright, beady-eyed spell. If only past experience had softened her up a bit by granting her a pet kitten in her childhood she'd be head over heels already. The cheek-rubbing pried a faint smile from the young noblewoman's face for just a moment, and then Merro urged the horse into a trot once Leana was settled as well.

The horse snorted and shook its head a bit as it picked its way past the pools of blood and last traces of smoke, and then picked up speed and continued on the road toward Parnell.

And unbeknown to Merro, toward Letalus.

Saints still hate Merro. Check.

"Hard days work, and a little bit o' luck." he said, having taken a deep drag of his mug. He took a second to look over his shoulder...

Tomlin always felt uneasy in crowded places.. too many blades together under one roof for his liking.

He looked over the woman's staff for a second. "Not to assume, but you must be a mage, eh?" he asked with a curt nod, as if to encourage a similar response.

The woman chuckled softly, nodding gently as she spoke quietly.

"You assume well. Yes, I am a mage...and not the kind that my appearance suggests, either."

She continued to peer at Tomlin as she took another drink of her ale.

"Interesting indeed." he said, firmly rubbing his hands together.
Would he risk handing over the gloves to her so that perhaps she could explain them?

This thought mulled in his head for several seconds..

Slipping off one of the gloves, he handed it to her. "These came from a mage in clothes similar to yours. I don't think he was what he seemed either.." he said, flipping his sleeve back and laying the still gloved hand on the table. "As you can see," he said as he unclasped the small ovalular device in the middle "The jewel in the middle can be replaced.." he said, pulling the inlaid red jewel out. It had some type of symbol written in the interior. "Can you read this?" he asked, handing it over to her..
..but never taking his eye off her.

ooc: Each jewel has a power. The Ruby I pulled out is associated with a fire magic. My character does not know how to activate the gloves power or which jewels have what powers.

Tomlin nodded as she spoke. The bar maid returned a few seconds later with his ale, sloshing a bit on the table as she set it down. "Watch the head.." she proclaimed, already heading toward another customoer with food and drink.

He took the glass, waiting for it to settle before drinking some of it in. "Not bad.." he said, taking off his hat and setting it on the table beside his glass.

His short, uneven hair hung across his face. Pushing it back, he pulled another drag from his glass, and sat back as the band started to play.

"I suppose the pawn shop that we need to visit is closed by now," she mused aloud, also sliding off the horse. She winced slightly as she stretched out sore muscles and adjusted how her new sword hung in her belt, all the while leaving one hand casually on the saddle should Nova require a literal hand down. No need to be impolite to a companion who had razor-sharp teeth.

Though it was twilight, the streets of the bustling town were still somewhat crowded, and Merro looked around curiously. Merchants were folding up their tents and shuttering their windows and doors. Farmwives and tavern wenches bustled back to their nests with bundles and baskets. The quiet chatter and clatter was enlivened by an occasional drunken brawl spilling out of a tavern or inn.

And she heard a lute.

Merro caught her breath, listening to the song intently without at first realizing why it had caught her attention so. She tossed the reins over to Leana without even stopping to make sure the girl was paying attention and tracked down the strains of the lute. She ignored the curious glances that her odd appearance drew, fixed only on tracking down this song, this memory.

She came to a corner of a large building and huddled up to the corner, half in the shadows of an alley and half in the dusky street. One hand gripped the corner of the building and the other drifted up to cover her mouth as she caught sight of the player and finally remembered where and when she had last heard this melody played so expertly. A crisp night, a sleeping keep, her bare feet chilled on stone instead of dirt as they were now, and this same song spilling from these same fingers...

Letalus!

Her breath caught in her throat and she suddenly whirled the rest of the way into the dark alley, pressing her back up against the wall of the building as if she could hope to melt entirely into the stone.

Letalus! Impossible! She had come on horse. It was true that they had lost some minutes at the bloody remains of the strange battle, and a horse never traveled at its best speed when carrying two (and a ferret), but still! There had been no other horses left upon the battlefield just outside of that small town. How had he overtaken them?

She tried to calm herself. He was no wizard, else he need not have spent so much time and energy in tracking her thus far. Had he found another riderless horse in the woods and taken some shorter route to town? It was simply impossible that he had outrun them, and in enough time to find a lute and settle himself down with it, no less. No normal human could have done it.

Despite herself, Merro slowly turned back, stepping slightly round the corner of the building to look once more at him.

ooc: Sorry to post so much action but I need to head off for a few hours and I thought to place her in the best springboard-ish position for everyone else to bounce from. ^^; Do what you like with Merro, both in between her actions and after; whatever suits you all best. I can modify my post a bit as well if need be. She's all yours to play with.

Nova could only flash an untrained smile in Leana's direction. She was among other humankind now, not wishing to reveal herself as being more than just a wily pet of one of her new companions.

She hopped from her position on the saddle, softly across to Merro's hand and arm, across her shoulders, and then coming to a soft landing on to Leana's upper arm. She had done all of this in outstanding grace and agility, her weight seeming as light as dust upon the wind's mercy. Granted this display was very unlike a normal breed of her displayed species. She nestled herself upon Leana's shoulder, half hiding her small body around the young woman's neck and hair.

She lifted her small muzzle near Leana's ear and whispered softly, "Please excuse my new found shyness, I'm not very trusting of other humans outside of those I've opened up to." She then lowered her head to rest on the edge of the shoulder her was perched on, and gave a reassuring "dook" and "chirp" for any passerby that may have sensed she was more than just a scruffy animal otherwise.

Leana smiled at Nova on her shoulder. The little critter felt so soft and cuddly that she almost wanted to squeal with delight.

"I understand." she whispered back. "You just keep safe and tucked away there."

She was about to head over to Merro when suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, a man appeared before her, blocking them from her. Leana almost yelped from how shocking it had been, and thus wondered who it was, and what he wanted with Merro.

"Uh oh..." she muttered, and started to head stealthily over.

OOC: Bri if I get clumsy and fall over, I hope I don't accidentally squish you. O___o

Ah, and here was the Letalus she knew and loved not.

The spell of music was broken, but his mere presence in Parnell combined with the suddenness of his movements and the way he was looming over her had her quite off her balance.

There was yet more, of course. The life force of the scrawny young wolf was fading after two days, and in point of fact Letalus and Tomlin had been the one to put paid to the few brigands she'd wounded, and so the excess of energy she had felt after the battle had merely been from wounds, not kills.

A few drops of her own blood had merely awakened the sword and given it a perfect silver sheen for some moments. A fat game hen had been worth some hours. The young wolf had given her days. But the wolf's life force was running out, and the blood that had fallen upon the blade from the battle had only been good for the long ride from one town to the next.

The draining effects of the sword had already been preying upon Merro, but thoughts of what to do next and of what lay behind had distracted her from noticing the increasing headache and tiredness as being anything other than the expected travel fatigue and result of the excitement of recent days. Shocked into stopping and simply staring wide-eyed at a face she could not see, a phantom face that she overlaid in her mind with the sight of him playing a lute under the starlight, Merro let the dizziness overtake her.

She meant to reply to his statement of the obvious, but even as her mouth opened she didn't know what she meant to say.

I'm fine, to the darkly hooded face before her.

It really was you, to the memory of nights she'd snuck out of her room to listen to him play.

You found me, to the memory of his outraged shout.

A new thought flitted across the surface of her mind, that she ought to inform him that she was not in fact fine, though she might be unharmed, for her vision was darkening and she felt not quite right.

"Letalus?" she asked in confusion, as he - and everything else - suddenly vanished from her sight. Her eyes dimmed, her knees bucked, and Merro suddenly fell.

The dizziness and fatigue fell away from her in an instant, just as it had when she'd dispatched the hen. The hen had been a small thing, but a paladin was a different matter. The blood drawn from Letalus' initial thrust was enough to sate the sword for now and abruptly sever the drain on Merro.

She blinked, disoriented. The blonde woman fell toward her and landed in the dirt by Merro's legs with a thud, tearing her attention back to the victor of this brief battle. Still lying on her back in semi-stunned confusion, Merro lifted her eyes to Letalus' face, wondering that she should awake to find him crossing weapons with this strange and familiar woman. Her eye traveled down and she noticed for the first time that he was holding the magical sword she'd claimed as hers.

She heard him speak as if from a distance, her mind bringing together what was before her.

There was a deep red stain spreading slowly around a slit in the woman's clothing. There was a dark spatter on Letalus' cloak where it pooled on the ground as he crouched over the still body. There was a spray of blood on the back of his hand. There was none on the sword.

She felt fine.

She watched Letalus bring the sword closer to the prone body and Merro was suddenly jolted out of her daze and into action.

"No! Letalus, don't!" she shrieked, and rolled over to her stomach and scrabbled in the dirt, tumbling over his intended victim on her hands and knees. The sword that Leana had scavenged for her slid out from its precarious perch in her belt and fell to the ground unnoticed as she scrambled. In a moment she was on her knees before him, batting at his sword arm with her left hand and hauling at his neck in an attempt to bring herself up from hands and knees.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she babbled, convinced that Letalus thought it necessary to sever a life in order to free her temporarily from the sword's hunger.

ooc: The post ends, and Meriko indulges in a brief fantasy where Merro accidentally manages to haul Letalus' head down for a kiss.

Nova's head was thrown for a loop with as many twists and turns this evening had brought. Merro fainted, presumed dead, Letalus approached Leana with a dagger at the ready, strange woman in shiny clothes steps in, went for a ride to the tops of the buildings back down again, and now the shiny woman was on the ground bleeding and Merro is awake and persisting that Letalus stop his onslaught on the woman in armor.

"Oh...my head hurts form all this *excitement*..." Nova huffed, laying her head over the edge of Leana's shoulder, scanning Merro from her position to assess her condition the best she could.

"Merro, are you ok?" Nova's pleading eyes watering a tad as she slid down Leana's arm, across the dirt, and over to one of Merro's feet, placing her paw on her boot.

The repeated reassurances that she was well faded off as Letalus discarded the sword and turned all his attention to a visual examination of her. She was used to being eyed up and down at dinners and balls, but that was always at a polite distance and from the back or side. It was disconcerting to be thus scrutinized from a distance of mere inches, Letalus' grey eyes close enough to count the lashes about them and his nose practically brushing hers as he tipped her head this way and that with one hand. And his other hand...Saints, this was as good - no, bad - as an embrace!

Her hands were not helping the situation, having slid down from about his shoulders to lay pressed against his chest as she knelt before him. Not an attitude recommended in milady's book of etiquette. She was put to the blush yet again that day, and shaking her chin from his grasp, ducked her head down with the thought to hide her face from that relentless stare...

...effectively tucking herself down further into the faux embrace.

Bad! From pot to fire!

The soft touch upon her foot was a heaven-send. She twisted her downward facing head to peer over her shoulder and spied the ferret Nova, and then turned the head-twist into an attempt to twist entirely out of Letalus' arms and sit down upon the ground, facing the concerned creature.

"Quite well, I thank you," she managed to say to Nova in response, albeit a bit shakily. 'Twas none so bad as a full-out stammer, however, and she make a further attempt to gather up her courage and composure. Broken out of jail with the lie that she was a concubine, attacked by brigands, chased through a forest of dead bodies, and now rescued from her own sword by Letalus and come back to life in his arms! It was not just the outside of enough; it was a mile past the border.

Glancing up at Leana's sudden interrogation - and it finally registering in her mind that the girl was there - Merro hastily intervened. Letalus' answer would likely be to the point and utterly unhelpful. "Because I needed to kill something" was apt to make matters more complicated.

"No, no, it's over," she said hurriedly to Leana, and tried to explain as quickly and vaguely as possible. "My sword needs blood else it begins to feed upon me." A thought occurred to her and she added,

"In fact I need your help if I am to pass the night safely. Go and find me some animals; perhaps some hens or rabbits. Anything will do so long as it is living." Although highborn habit and the situation had Merro tossing off a veritable order without so much as an "if you please," her tone had something of pleading to it.

And she would need them soon, she decided, as she directed her gaze intently at the deep, slender cut in the fallen woman's side. Healing spells always left her drained.

Against her will, she turned her head to seek out Letalus' cold grey eyes. He had done this. He was going to kill a woman. For her. The thought chilled Merro to the marrow; it horrified her, it frightened her. Killing a brigand to defend their lives; that was one thing. Cutting down a stranger in the middle of town in cold blood...for her. She couldn't comprehend it. Merro knew that her father thought of lives in terms of monetary value, and that he would see the sacrifice of a passerby an acceptable expenditure in the process of bringing his asset of a daughter home, but somehow this was different.

She stared at him for a moment, wondering at his inscrutable mask of an expression even as they knelt by the body of his victim, not knowing that she was meeting him with a gaze probably as unreadable to him as his was to her. For the moment her heart was in her eyes, and it was top-filled with fear and confusion and a desperate wanting to understand.

Finally she tore her eyes away and looked back to the woman lying near her. Closing her lids, she began to chant softly the words of a healing spell, hoping that it would be enough to at least staunch the wound and begin knitting the torn flesh.

ooc: Konami: I left it vague about Merro succeeding in pulling away, but I wanted to go ahead and respond to everyone and set up the next motion. :3 I'm going back to work tomorrow so I won't be around to RP until the evening. Oh, and Taylor, Leana can just like...go BUY some bunnies from a tavern, probably. XD She doesn't need to go set up traps or anything. You guys, feel free to manhandle Merro inside an inn or something if it's convenient to keep the RP going.

As Merro began her soft chant Sentelle held up her hand and looked up at Merro, "I've had a taste of that blade, and if memory serves you'd best hold off on casting that spell." With a slight tremble her right hand held open the shorn fabric and maille to assure Merro that the matter was being seen to; the bleeding had ceased and already the flesh began to mend. "A mage's spell will not speed this along," Sentelle closed her eyes once more.

With a deep intake of breath and a sigh Sentelle relaxed visibly. A dim golden glow illuminated her soft features. "However, if you've a spell to mend cloth or chain..." a brief smile played across her face.

*insert memory of/with Merro*
OOC: A nice little flashback scene about how they first met, or perhaps an encounter at school (did Merro go to school?), maybe at a dance or dinner would be fun, but I'm afraid I don't know Merro well enough to write a flashback with the two of them.

Nova let loose a soft sigh of relief having heard Merro's voice. The stammer of her words was merely seen as a side effect from what she had endured. How could anyone feel at ease with a sight such as this as a wake up greeting?

Somewhat puzzled by Merro's explanation of what happened, she reassured herself that there were many things in the world that she had no knowledge of and took it to a logical thought process in her mind. "Rabbits you say, I'm good at catching them, in fact it's a specialty of mine" she chimed, puffing her chest up some, proud of her claim. "I just need to make my belly less empty..." she sulked as she patted her stomach like before when it made it's encore grumbling symphony as she spoke.

"I'll meet you all at that Inn over there later this night" she stated, pointing her paw in the general direction of the one they passed coming into town. "Oh, and be careful of the pawn shops' customers, they seem to have sticky fingers." How she knew this information was most likely a mystery to the group, but what she spoke was indeed fact.

What she was unaware of was that the Inn she pointed out was indeed the one that Tomlin was sitting within.

OOC: Woo! I hope you guys don't mind that story setup. If so, I can alter it :3 <3