Secrets in the Sands [Medieval Fantasy IC]

[RyuChi]

Chi hardly got back inside when many new faces had started to fill the room, something was a little out of the ordinary and as she scurried along, trying to serve those she could but the amount that seemed to be trying to catch her eye for orders were beyond her able control. She rushed in and out of the kitchen only to have her father hit her hard over the head for not serving all of them.

She bit her lip and carried on without a word, barley giving the costumers a look before taking their orders off and serving those whose food or drinks were ready. Finally she came to the table of an Ithuri, hardly the type to be situated here and when he asked for their finest wine she didn't even dare look him in the eye. She nodded and scurried back to the kitchen, as she entered her father grabbed her wrist and yanked it hard so she looked at him, "that Ithuri looks rich" he said dangerously, "very rich...make sure he gets what he wants" he said referring to much more than Chi was ever going to offer, no matter the price.

She ripped her wrist from his sticky grasp and dashed down into the cellars, pulling a bottle of wine that was given to her father for a bet he had won. She fled back to the pub and placed a glass on the table, as she twisted the cork of the bottle someone elbowed her back, digging into her wounds. She stumbled forward with obvious pain but as she did so she managed to spill the wine in her hand onto the Ithuri's robes. She regained balance and the realization of what she had done dawned on her, she went as pale as her ebony skin would allow as she realised she could be killed for this.

[Manic Q]

Tolig's entrance into the Dragon was likely noticed, it was in a place of drink he could moves as a shadow because most men only saw the blur, but his stature made it difficult with so many people. He bumped into countless refugees, stepped on the toes of at least men, and when he thought he had a hang of it all he caused a waitress to spill wine all over one of her customer. He hesitated for a moment, thinking whether he should stop and pay for what he had done, or continue on and see if they were willing to pick a fight with The Giant of Ghand. The man in question was obviously rich meaning he could buy strength in numbers, to fight among the refugees would add them to the brawl and it made it that much easier to stick a knife in Tolig's back.

In the end it was to test the loyality of a hired hand, and the richer one is the more loyal men become. The Giant stopped and turned so that he may face those he had offended and spoke.

"Excuse me, that was my err. Allow me to repay you for this accident. A new bottle perhaps?" At this point, Tolig could only assume the entire tavern were his hired guards.

[Rarity]

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Angarak's Fall. Not anywhere near where Aria had expected herself to be at the moment, she longed for the shining city of Jerichus and all of the splendor that it brought. She was sure that Lana would be worried about her but she was determined to get back to Jerichus eventually. She just had to find someone that was brave or crazy enough to cross the Sun Road now that it was completely buried under sand. She thought about the circumstances that brought her here and grit her teeth angrily.

It started when she opened a letter from an incredibly wealthy patron who had visited the Diamond of the Mountain a few months ago and fell in love with the girls. He had bragged about how he basically owned most of Coras and said he would get the brothel delivered to him for his birthday. When Lana asked who wanted to travel to Coras to perform for the man's birthday Aria was the first to volunteer. The giant prison turned palace that had been etched into the mountain? Of course she wanted to go. Maybe it was her sense of adventure or maybe it was her upbringing as a slave but she longed to leave Jerichus for a bit and see more of the princedom.

Aria remembered how Lana had pulled each one of them aside the night before and asked them if they were sure if they wanted to leave for Coras, stating how badly the traveling conditions were and that she personally didn't like the attitude of the patron. She was still kicking herself for saying yes, if she hadn't agreed to the ridiculous performance she wouldn't be standing in Angarak's Fall right now. The raven haired beauty brushed some hair behind her hair as she continued to trek through the shielded town.

Aria shivered as she remembered the night that it happened. She was in the roomy caravan along with four other girls, they were laughing and joking amongst themselves all ignorant as to what was about to happen. She remembered how Nadia was trying to show everyone how to tie a cherry stem with their tongues and the rest of them were laughing at her silliness. Aria sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as she remembered her friends. It came at them faster than they could react. Their caravan was tossed aside like a toy, it rolled a few times before finally setting down for a bit.

She could see that Sameh's body was already contorted in an unnatural shape and her survival instinct instantly kicked in. She had to get out of the caravan before she was crushed to death. She ran to the back before another gust of wind tossed the vehicle again. She slammed against the roof of the car and grabbed onto Zafira, telling her not to let go of her hand. She held onto her friend for dear life and waited until the caravan smacked against the ground again. It stopped and with that they could see that the window had broken open. The vehicle was almost caved in on itself already, if they spent anymore time in there they would become part of a macabre human and wood tumble weed.

She yelled at Zafira to stay behind her no matter what and Aria quickly forced herself through the window, she could feel her silk dress get ripped from the shards of glass but she didn't care. She fell out onto the sand and felt the golden bits of rock smack against her skin repeatedly, it felt like being stung by an entire swarm of hornets and she screamed but she knew the chances of living out there were better than being crushed to death inside a car. She saw Zafira squeeze her top half out of the window and Aria held out her hands when another gust of wind knocked her down giving her a face full of sand. When she looked up the caravan was completely gone and Zafira was as well.

Aria slammed her eyes shut and yelled out for Zafira but she didn't hear anything and knew that all hope was lost for her friends. She had to worry about herself now. They had just left Myros two days ago and were completely stocked for the rest of the journey. She had to get to the nearest town or die in the sandstorm that did not seem to be letting up. Her hair was whipping around her face and she could feel sand smacking against her face. In an instant her body reacted, as if the curse she harbored was looking out for itself and didn't want its vessel to be destroyed. Aria felt energy being drained from her and a fog start to roll around her, a pressurized dome of air surrounded her and she fell to her knees. Looking up she could see sand smacking against the shield of air she had formed around herself.

The woman coughed out sand from her mouth and inhaled deeply before staring at her hands which were glowing a white color. She knew that the closest town was Angarak's Fall and that it should just be further south. She walked forward, moving the dome of air with her to shield her from the unrelenting sandstorm. After several hours she managed to get to the shielded town and all but collapsed as soon as she reached safety. She could see several people had also barely managed to outrace the storm and a small squatters camp was already forming. She looked around for Zafira but after an hour of constantly asking for her she knew that her friend was lost.

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It seemed as if all of that had happened a lifetime ago now, Aria was trying to get some sort of semblance of normalcy back into her life. She was wearing a royal purple silk dress and had on her best jewelry, well that she had brought with her to go to Coras in her small traveling bag. Aria had to find someone willing to go to Jerichus or at least to a town not as ravaged with refugees. The woman had already tried asking several men to take her but the minute they found out she wanted to travel through the sandstorm ravaged Sun Road they would run off.

She stopped right in front of a tavern and looked up at the sign. The Sapphire Dragon? Well, she more of a fan of diamonds and garnet than she was sapphire but any precious gems reminded her of home and she thought she'd go in and see if she could find anyone to help her out. The stormsinger walked forward, grasping the handle of the door and letting herself in. She was bombarded with a rather unpleasant scent and the sight of a very crowded tavern. The owners must have been happy for the extra business...

Aria moved forward, weaving in and out of the throughs of people. She saw what appeared to be a giant and her eyes widened, well the storm sure had brought in quite a few number of unusual people. She watched as a girl was elbowed by the giant and spilled wine all over a wealthy looking Ithuri. Her eyes glinted brightly and she quickly maneuvered over to the group. The temptress glanced between the giant and the Ithuri, thinking up of a way to get in between them all.

She looked over at the stressed looking waitress with a goddy haircut and smiled happily. Aria tied up her hair quickly and then moved right next to the waitress, gently bumping her away with her hip. "I am oh so sorry gentlemen. Please excuse my fellow employee, she's new here and isn't really old enough to know how to properly pour wine." She explained in a very professional tone, the only person that was on to her was probably the confused looking waitress. "Don't worry not only will we replace your wine," Aria stated as she reached over and snatched a near full bottle of wine from the young girl in front of her and expertly poured the drink into the wine glass. She knew how to serve drinks, having done it a countless number of times for many of the high rollers at the brothel.

Aria took a sip of the drink as she looked up and smiled at the giant and the waitress as she maneuvered herself in front of the Ithuri "But we'll also include a free meal as well. Right sweety?" Arai asked the actual waitress before sitting in the seat directly across from the Ithuri and placed the wine back in front of the Ithuri. She'd dealt with Ithuri before, big egos and usually racist - although their prejudice never did seem to make them any less likely to visit the brothel.

"You can just mail us the bill for those robes, we here at the Ruby Dragon strive to provide the utmost satisfaction." Aria quipped before flashing an amused smile. There's no way that an Ithuri was living in Angarak's Fall, especially not someone dressed in such wealthy garb. Nor would it stay for long, Ithuri outside of their home country were almost always touring the entire princedom to get a sense of what humanity was like or traveling merchants peddling luxury products. If anyone was her ticket out of here it was probably the fellow right in front of her.

[JinGitaxias]

Xavic had never been the type to go out venturing on his own. Rather, he preferred his way of life at his home. Swindling and conning people was his life and he loved it. It never occurred to him that he would one day had the thirst to go outside the crumbling walls of his kingdom. It all began on a normal chaotic day. He had seen a traveler arrive at their kingdom and brought with him strange, ornate and dazzling artifacts any other races had seen. Xavic longed to see those artifacts again but the question was, where would he start? The sands of Azhara alone are difficult to tread, more or less, it would be foolhardy to try and weather the sands that blow away even the mightiest of warriors to the dunes. Well, at this time, Xavic found himself at a tavern. He remembered how he got there. He had already began to travel and pretty much after a span of time, he was already lost. He didn't know his way towards Azhara itself. Luckily, he found this tavern and decided to take it's shelter for a while. Well, while he was on it, why not con some people eh?

Pulling out his cards, Xavic began to call some people to try out his "predictions". Of course, some were skeptical but after he accurately predicted a series of small events that would happen in the tavern, which actually happened in the course of the prediction, they were ready to believe.

"So big guy, what do you want to know?" Xavic chuckled as he shuffled his deck.

"Would you tell me of my future love life?" the burly man asked. Now, Xavic didn't know who would marry such a lump as him but it was worth a try.

"Ah.. Not to worry. To one's pure heart shall his desire come true. To one's love shall he see everything, through and through". Xavic mumbled as he drew out 5 cards at random from his deck and arranged them neatly on the table. One by one he flipped the cards while explaining each.

"Oh my. You won't have a good love life. But you will find a slave which you will take as yours. Some dirty affairs I see huh? Ohh.. But due to this, your wife will be angry and kill you in your sleep." Xavic muttered as he smiled under the black mask which covered the lower-half of his face.

"Oh, you're good kid! I was testing you out if you really were genuine, you even knew I had a wife. Nice one, tell you what I'll ask you of a real prediction this time." the burly man leaned on the chair as a streak of ale came out of his mouth.

Xavic shuddered at the scenario but then smiled as quickly.

"My dear friend. Predictions aren't sold that easily. Let's say a charge of... 10 Zalai? Think about it.. a certain prediction and few into your future.. for only 10 zalai. It's a very good deal." Xavic persuaded the man as the 'client' thought heavily.

"Fine, it's a deal but this better be good!" the man threatened as he handed over 10 zalai.

"Oh... fate dictates the strings, not me." Xavic replied as he took the money and shuffled his deck again.

"Whatever!"

"Now, for your fate." Xavic announced as in his mind, a familiar quote. "Sucker."

[Darkshadowmark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlkYz6Il4JM
"As the sun falls past the horizon of this land, I call out towards home. My home. I listen for it's reply and shed the blood of the wicked in the name of Amethael"

A flame in each claw
High in the air above the crowd
Many cheer out of pure enjoyment
Others cheer for the air dancer to fall to his death
There are many racists among the crowd
Many ready rocks to throw at him to send a message
One that his kind isn't allowed
If he was not preforming
They would all ready rocks for his pelting

He flew through the air of Ezrashe with a flaming baton in each of his claws, creating an aerial ballet in the night via the brick and clay buildings he jumped off of with his powerful legs. He fell down towards the ground below and threw up the batons as he descended. He used his arms to grab at a pole he had set up earlier for his performance and swung himself back up, catching the batons with ease before they had reached the height of the throw. He took the moment to look into the eyes of the crowd and see his target. He wore a dark blue garb, making him hard to notice even if he was bigger than everybody else. There were more than enough visitors from Sthyssia here in Ezrashe for him to blend with should his target be in the crowd...

And there she was...black hair and innocent eyes. Small in stature. She wore nothing but rags. She was utilizing pity and the look of a beggar to hide her true profession as an assassin. One that was hunting Shalizar himself. He carefully landed on a rooftop overlooking the crowd. He opened his mouth, some of the poisonous saliva pooling in his jaw in case somebody accosted him, a horrible habit to have in conversation, though for this...it was appropriate...

"My Friends! It is with great displeasure for me to inform you that this is my finale! One for you to remember me by!"

He held up a baton again, showing them what they had to watch. He threw it up high into the air then held it's twin up to his mouth and blew up towards the flaming baton in the air. He created a stream of fire, engulfing the other baton in immolating flame. Almost looking like fireworks, he then disappeared, leaving the crowd distracted long enough for him to appear behind the target via Shadowblink.

He grabbed her by the neck and blinked again, appearing within a squatter's den. The squatters jumped up and screamed, running for the door. He threw the girl down onto the floor of the windowless den and blinked again, appearing at the door with his sword in hand. He dived for one and tackled him to the floor, biting him in the neck. He used his tail to whip at two others who tried to go around their former friend. Knocked to the floor, their hearts were jabbed by the razor sharp tail as he walked up to them. Another, a woman, found a corner to cower in. He blinked up to her and grabbed her skull, lifting it up to his own and staring into her eyes once before crushing her head in her hand and letting the corpse drop to the floor. He turned for the assassin, without her tools or her weapons. She was defenseless versus her target. She tried to scoot away, terrified of Shalizar.

He drew close and grabbed her neck but not lifting her, instead dragging her to the wall and then lifting her up then slamming her against it. He forced her to open his eyes and stare into his. Forcing her to see the soul of the one who shall take her life. She started to breathe in short, terrified, breaths. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she began to cry. She begged for her life, swearing to never hunt again. Saying "Please" over and over and over. Saying "She'll do anything if he just spared her. Anything!" her voice sounded sincere to his ears. Much of him wanted to release her and see what she would do.

Then he realized that she was trained to disguise herself seamlessly. To mask her voice with fake sincerity. His tail rose up above his shoulder as he bore into her, glaring.

"May Serene spare you pain in her embrace"

After wishing her peace, he ran his tail through her skull as she screamed one last time. It was cut short as his tail entered her eye. He released her neck and retracted his tail, letting her fall to the floor. He clasped his hands together as he stood over her body. Speaking a prayer to Serene to carry her swiftly to her resting place before disappearing as quickly as he had appeared. Aiming to head to his abode high above the city slums.

[Blu]

Instead of going through the proper channels and speaking to Bruno, this young upstart found it fitting to approach Thomahal and address him directly, an action Abagail did not appreciate. He began speaking rapidly, before Thomahal could tell him to leave and talk to Bruno, he mentioned the most interesting little quip; he was a collegian. While it was true no human could ever match the wit, cunning, or superior knowledge of an Ithuri, it was nice to see some recognizing their own intellectual inferiority and working to remedy the situation. He stuck his hand out, a human gesture Thomahal had no intention to acknowledge, but he had gotten lucky and peaked Thomahal's interest. If he had even a remotely useful learning, he would be in the running to join, as Thomahal could always use more intelligent conversation. But he could not let him know he was interested. "Smooth hands, without a single callous. You haven't worked a day in your life. While your knowledge MAY be useful, you will likely slow us down, as you will not be able to provide much in the way of physical labor. Until I have confirmed your usefulness, I will be unable to offer you more than what I offer everyone else."

As he was finishing up, he noticed the waiter returning with his wine. He could spot the year before he even arrived, and was disappointed in their selection, but was not on the whole surprised. In fact, it was absolutely adequate for his expectations. The waiter flinched when someone behind him knocked him in the back, spilling the wine all over Thomahal's robe. His robe was a priceless creation, made by the greatest artisan of the cloth his people had to offer. It was the tailor's way of acknowledging Thomahal as a prominent merchant, and therefore, in more than small ways, a representative of his people. And someone who would have Thomahal's reputation should always wear only the finest. The large brute offered a mumbled apology, offering to replace the bottle without the slightest consideration of the robe's worth. As if something made by humans could ever match the value of an Ithurian masterpiece. Thomahal rose to meet him, finding it a bit odd that anyone besides another Ithuri could come close to his height. Still, the two tall men stood well above everyone else in the tavern.

He could see the fear in the boy's eyes. There was someone, probably the only one here, who showed an appropriate reaction. He knew the severity of his crime, and the reflection of the punishment shined bright from his blue eyes. Just as he was about to speak, another person entered the equation, feigning employment here. Abagail, disliking her boss being swarmed, had her rapier drawn and ready. As the 'employee' began to speak, Thomahal took a deep breath. The breath seemed to echo silence through the tavern, as if he inhaled the sound itself. The area around him was becoming deathly still, all eyes on the situation. As eyes were led by ears to the strange silence in one side of the inn, it spread like wildfire, culminating as he finished his breath, then breathed out.


"You can just mail us the bill for those robes, we here at the Ruby Dragon strive to provide the utmost satisfaction."

Her voice suddenly echoed, screaming at the silence of the inn. Thomahal returned her humored grin with a calm but deadly one. "Now, now dear. Lies do not become us."

Thomahal looked. "I will address the four in order of how much effort it will take to deal with you. Scholar, if you accept standard pay, you are aboard. 'Waitress'," Thomahal says, clearly insulted, "I do not have time right now for your attempts to make a fool of me. Please go do whatever you came to the 'SAPPHIRE' Dragon to do. And you two," Thomahal said, addressing the giant and boy. He gave an exhausted, annoyed, but empathetic smile, "It would take a great deal of time to explain to you the exact significance of what just happened. To say it concisely, you have damaged my reputation and cost me a great deal of money, more than this place could make in a decade. A bottle of the swill humans call wine could not come close to covering the damages. However, I am currently planning a trip. A trip across the Sun Road. A great deal of danger, for sure, but the pay off will be incredible, and bolster my reputation across all human kingdoms. You, my giant fellow, could be a great deal of use, and you are honest, a quality more rare than most gems, and worth nearly as much. It tends to correlate with honor, another valuable resource. The boy's fate is sealed; it will take his entire life to pay off the damages, and I have more than a claim to go after his family for the remainder of the damages. However, if you wish to truly take responsibility for what you claim to be your fault, you can share the burden."

[RyuChi]

Chi was at a loss for words, hewr heart hammered in her chest and she bit down on her lip. At least she wasn't loosing her life but on the contrary it was like loosing her life, just brutally. She noticed that the Ithuri did not take into consideration that she was a girl and that made her rather happy. She hated being thought of as weak just because she was of a different gender. It didn't occur to her that she was being mistken for a boy.

Before she had time to open her mouth a hard hand hit her over the head, "You can't do a swinge thing right can you?" a voice growled at her from behind and she lowered her eyes to the floor, it was her father. He grabbed her collar and dragged her back into the kitchens were he threw her againtst the wall, a hand closed firmly against her throat, cuting off her air supply. She gritted her teeth as he began his hissing rage, "that was probably worth more than this entire in and you wanted to ruin it didn't you?! wanted to see what I worked my whole life on crumble to pieces?!" He tightened his grip and she gasped for air, "no" she spluttered. She did want to see him and his dear inn crumble bt she would have done it a lot differently.
"Oh yes, and now that Ithuri is probably going to strip everything I have from me just for that darn robe!" he spat as she began to turn blue.
"I will pay it" she gasped, "I'll go with" her father released her and she slid to the floor, coughing.
"what?" he hissed, "you will pay it?" he almost laughed but is anger still clung to him.
"the Ithuri said I could pay it off if I went with him, to cross the Sun Road. He said if I went you wouldn't have to pay" She looked up at her father with a nuetral expression but it met her Fathers that was filled with a greedy look, "so I get rid of you to that Ithuri, well thats something I should celebrate!" he laughed and pulled her roughly to standing and dragged her back to the Ithuri and shoved her forward, "just cleaning out the trash" e mumbled with a wicked grin and left.
Chi was terrified so she just stood, eyes on the ground as she waited to be told what to do.

[Manic Q]

A great deal of relief swept through him once he understood what was being told to him, he was being hired to repay for the robe he ruined. This was good for many reasons, the largest of them was that he didn't need to spend a whole day looking for an employer and could relax until this man and his company left. He watched as the one he bumped into was taken away by what looked like the proprietor of the establishment, likely discussing what was going on. He looked now to his own employer and beat his chest once with his fist creating a loud thump.

"You will have my strength for your journey." He bowed his head and then made for the pillows near the door, the feet he had stepped on before pulled away knowing he was coming.

There were a few men in the cushions already but as The Giant approached they retreated to find a chair instead. As he sat down he noticed the return of the server and their boss, as well as the condition the server was in. The Ithuri mentioned his honesty had some connection to honor, if he had honor should he not do something of this hideous man? The thought that the server would no longer work for them put ease to his thoughts and he felt that he needed a drink. He looked around the room, a last time and noticed someone that was also not of here... she looked like a gypsy.

[Cadvin]

The Ithuri took Caldrin's hand, with some amount of hesitation, and shook it. He seemed to think for a small moment, then remarked on the smoothness of Caldrin's hands, claiming it as evidence as to the fact that he had likely not done a single day's hard labor in his life, and so his usefulness would be questionable. He was about to retort that, ah, but a wise man can do with a lever or pulley what it takes four men to do otherwise, and hardly have to exert himself. But as he opened his mouth, several things happened at once.
The waitress, dressed in men's clothing, came to pour the trader a glass of red wine. Behind her, coming oblivious to the situation, was genuinely the largest man Caldrin had ever seen. Eight feet tall and seemingly as wide, it was impossible for the bearded giant not to cause minor ripples of chaos wherever he stepped. And he happened to cause just the wrong sort of chaos when he reached their table, accidentally jabbing an elbow into the waitress-slave's back in the process of trying to avoid another man's toes. She hissed in a sort of pained panic, reeling forward and tipping the glass she had been pouring down the Ithuri's side. The giant mumbled an apology, offering to pay for the wine, and the slave just stood frozen, eyes wide in fear. Before anyone could act, a extravagantly dressed woman appeared from seemingly nowhere, gently pushing aside the other girl. The bodyguard, becoming more nervous the more people gathered around, cautiously slid her rapier out of its scabbard with a dry wooden rasp. The other inhabitants of the tavern were quieting, trying to figure out what the commotion was for.

The very obviously feminine waitress told what would have been a perfectly good lie, were it not for the glaringly obvious fault of the tavern's name being entirely wrong, a fact that Caldrin would have been embarrassed to admit he didn't notice at all until the Ithuri brought it to light. He addressed each of them individually, in ascending order of displeasure. Firstly, apparently seeing the average level of competence in Angarak's Fall, he told Caldrin he would be hired if he accepted standard wages. Then he called the "waitress" out on her lie. Lastly, he gave the guilty party, giant and slave, a long monologue on how the slave's fate was sealed, and his family... family? The Ithuri presumably meant masters, though the thought of her being an abused daughter set off some unease in Caldrin, moreso than a simple abused slave would have. Lastly, unable to resist the potential usefulness of the giant, he offered to hire him to help pay for the robe.
Very shortly after, a man showed up, roughly grabbing the waitress by the collar, and dragged her off towards the kitchens. The man bore an uncanny resemblance to her. Caldrin felt vaguely sick to his stomach- slaves were expected to be whipped, but blood should not spill blood. Soon after, the man pulled her roughly back, shoved her at the Ithuri, and made a sinister comment about "cleaning out the trash,".

But Caldrin, who had only just begun to really comprehend the situation and what all the fuss was about, merely laughed. It was a clear, bright, almost feminine laugh, directed towards the Ithuri and the surreal absurdity of the entire situation.
"All this over a bit of red wine spilled on a robe!?" He exclaimed, grinning widely. "Just dissolve Barite dust in water, crystallize it on a stick or wire, dissolve that in more water, dab it on and rinse. I've had to do it more than once to my own garments." He gave the Ithuri a severe, almost reproachful look, as if the merchant had made a comment that directly and deliberately wounded him. "I do have a degree, if you recall. Alchemy was one of my favored subjects. It's a quite useful and practical art. Just give your robes to me next time you get the chance and I'll have it right as rain in a few days."
Of course, what he told the trader wasn't strictly true, only mostly. The procedure he had described, depending on the dye used to make the robes, might bleach or stain the cloth. But the chemical solution wasn't his only option here, was it? Just a bit of wizardry could have the most profound effect on such a subtle thing. It was for reasons like these that he didn't generally tell others that he had any magical talent at all; they tended to expect too much out of him if they knew, and a man which could work miracles without spellery was more valuable than one who invoked them every day.

[Fussiler1]

Akhiliar had kept the Ithuri in the corner of his working eye as soon as he had entered and looked unsurprised as people started to crowd around the man.He frowned as he saw a Ghandish, though. About the Ithuri, he was rich, exotic, even in an exotic land. People would often beg for money or employment with people like these. He listened to what they all said with half an ear, while his other ear was tuned in on his friend. The mercenary had grown more quiet, leaning back as Akhiliar did and sipping more than talking. Nonetheless he went on, about his life after Akhiliar had left the company, though he started becoming more and more quiet, showing a growing lack of will to continue on with his story. His voice became darker and darker, though the story in itself did not. Abruptly, he stopped and looked into his mug.

''What's the matter? What happened then?'' Akhiliar asked, the question coming cautiously out of his mouth.

''Nothing.'' he said, shaking his head. Whatever it was, Akhiliar figured he wasn't in the mood to speak of it and he resigned in asking about it. However, as he opened his mouth to change the subject, his friend stood up and stretched his limbs. He reached out in his pocket and fished an enclosed letter out of it, fairly.. old. Akhiliar looked puzzled as his friend handed it over to him. Why?

''Just read the letter.'' he said, his voice lacking any of its former warmth, as if he could guess Akhiliar's thoughts.

Why? What had happened? Why had he stopped so suddenly? The Lazarnian mercenary was left baffled.

Akhiliar nodded and watched his friend, Sarpedon, make his way through the tavern. What a strange occurance, truly.. what was in the letter? He was very tempted to open it, but stayed his hand for now and put it in his pocket. Once more he turned his attention to the Ithuri, as he had been listening to what he had been saying, even if Akhiliar had been captivated with the actions of his friend, Sarpedon. He was hiring? The man spoke of travelling throughout the desert.. and from what he had been able to catch, that Ghandish person was going with him. Ghandish. Was the pay not good, though? Choices, choices.. he imagined a pivot before him and weighed the prospect of good pay and getting closer to the Grasses with travelling through the desert and with a Ghandish.. gods damn those people, he thought. Even the thought of those barbarians made his hands itch. Ultimately.. he hadn't gotten a good contract for a while now. Akhiliar was running low on money, sadly, and Angarak's Fall seemed to be too peaceful for a mercenary to fit in. So, choices, choices. He could pay for a place on a boat to the coast, from there on go to Lazarne. But he would not be able to restock enough to enter the Grasses again.

Ah, the Grasses.. his mind drifted away, but he quickly restored order to it once more. He ultimately needed the pay, even if he did loathe crossing the desert at the moment. He dwelled on the decision, before finally cutting the knot. The decision had been made. He sighed and forced himself up, making his way through the inn and to the Ithuri. By the gods, he loathed Ithuri, but he hid it well enough, as he loved his money and children more than he hated Ithuri. Dressed as an ordinary desert dweller he finally had made his way to the Ithuri and stopped, greeting the Ithuri with a nod. He then turned to the old man beside him. The Ithuri was busy enough.

''Greetings, good man. I could not help but overhear your master's conversation with these fine folks from my table..'' he said. By the Elephant God, these words were so flavoured any ordinary man would puke. Nonetheless, he pressed on, glaring at the Ghandish giant occasionally with narrowed eyes. He felt an intense urge to draw his blade and gut the giant right here, but he restrained himself. Not now, of all times, he said under his breath. Blegh. This mercenary was not a stuck-up fool, no need for the sweet talk.

''So, I was wondering whether perhaps your master still has a spot open in your caravan? I'm a mercenary, fairly strong as well. I am more than willing to do physical labor for a good pay if that would be what would be required of me. Besides that, if your master wishes security, I would be able to provide that as well. I have fought across the entire Bay of Blades for the last ten years and would be able to provide ample security, though.. hmm, I fear you already have enough of that. Either way, I have enough battle-scars to prove it.'' he spoke, smiling faintly to the woman and her rapier over by the Ithuri. Akhiliar ignored the Ghandish. His gaze turned back to the old man before him, both his dead, blind eye staring at the older mercenary, as well as his working eye. Well, approaching the Ithuri himself would be a bit brutish.