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[b][u]The Orange Road - Cyrodiil[/u][/b]

[color=a1a1a1]Despite parting in disappointment for how their militia had been founded, Khaliya took the time she had to try and adapt as much as she could to the adventure ahead. She carefully considered the cover necessary, spent the septims she had been given on appropriate materials such as a lightly weathered robe and study materials, and read through some rather basic scholarly works on the local Ayleid ruins. By the time breakfast came around and the group was gathering once more, she looked enough the part of an assistant academian to Arndvir and when they were on the road she alternated between talking with him and Sylruna on some basic knowledge necessary. While some were only concerned in keeping the cover long enough to get into Bruma, she was keen on making it as firm as possible, so as to stand up not only to basic and cursory scrutiny, but also the not uncommon cases of the actually observant. As her uncle and the thieves of Sentinel had taught her, always engineer a cover that could stand the test of not just the zealous and paranoid, but the overly curious. So step by step she solidified herself as appearing every bit just a modest and rather mousy redguard woman serving as the assistant to the real scholars as her primary cover. Just enough knowledge of the Ayleids, arcane engineering and architecture that only real scholars would be able to unravel the cover, and she was confident in her backup as well.

Though as they carried on up the Orange Road things slowly began to shift. Her and Sindri the Reachwoman appeared to notice it first, a slow dimming of the forest ambience. A strange shift in the air. The Reachwoman excused herself first, maybe a little more paranoid than her, but as they continued she picked up on the rather distinct senses of trouble ahead. It was something she had picked up from her father over the years of guiding the tribe through the desert and along the coast. A particular way of the land that seemed ill at ease from the presence of bandits or highwaymen. The latter were the most easily dealt with, usually able to be paid off and passed by without too much hassle. Thieves and Highwaymen were the least concerning for that, most of the time they didn't want to pick a fight and with the Militia arrayed as they were... Very few except the boldest would try and extort this group for coin. But bandits. Those were a different story. Savages and thugs, Khaliya held a poor opinion on those who turned to banditry for all the hardships they inflicted upon the people of Tamriel. They were the kind of people that would steal and kill regardless, lacking in morals and decency often enjoying what they did while others resorted to crime merely out of desperation.

After Sindri departed from the group, Khaliya made a similar excuse as well and began to fade off into the forests on the north side of the road. From what she knew of the roads ahead, this would be the side with higher ground and thus more advantageous to archers and mages to attack the group. There was never a guarantee of course, often enough bandits were not the most intelligent or tactical of people, but she wanted to be sure of things just in case. Every so often she caught sight of the Reachwoman, and when she did manage to catch her eyes she did a quick series of Yokudan hand signs that her tribe used to communicate silently. A hand signing down low to indicate silence and stealth, then motioning up ahead and back to the group. She was hoping that it would be clear enough to be understood, but soon enough an answer to that foreboding silence came to them.

Some Nord woman was screaming nonsense about papers and studies, but more to Khaliya's concern was the collection of Imperials and Nords that dispersed from the forest and ambushed the Militia. She had been careful herself not to be seen by any other bandits holding back and made sure that Sindri could see her similarly moving to counter-attack the ones raining arrows down upon their companions. Slowly and silently she approached an Imperial who had managed to put an arrow into Kiffar, a man who was already notching another and carefully tracking the large orange khajiit. Without waiting to see whether the man would strike his mark for a second time, Khaliya surged forwards with light steps, both hands coming forwards to grasp him from behind. Her left hand came over his mouth to muffle his surprise, but she knew she didn't quite have the strength to hold on for long. That was where her right hand came to grasp the man by the throat, squeezing as if grasping the handle of a blade and a glow forming from within his neck. Her Shehai manifested instantly and violently, a blade of starlight rending through the man from the inside and disappearing before the light of the starlight made steel could be seen by others.

Khaliya let the man go and fall to the forest floor, silently disappearing back into the shadows as he desperately tried to alert his companions without vocal chords...[/color]