[IC] When the Flames Die

[Epsir]

Her gaze followed Sir Jason out of the door, sadness and the her glaring eyes narrowed with the first sign of actual frustration from the investigator. Five plus three was pushing the number of people she was comfortable standing around. What she could be grateful for, though, was that Thomas had come around eventually and found his own roundabout way of answering her question. They didn't have much time left. Without hesitation or even an attempt at subtlety, she turned her back on Thomas and started to walk back towards her cloak, bundled on the table down the way. She talked as she walked, delivering her questioning in short order. "Thank you. Where are the documents recovered from her body? You've been swindled, so have we. There are people who need to see the fake writs." She stopped abruptly, out of arms reach of the cloak for now, and faced Thomas. "I am going to clear my comrade's names. With all said, do you understand your situation, Thomas Morgan?" It was as far as discipline let her go. She wasn't about to let herself lose it over being strong-armed.

[Sightles]

"The documents are in the Order's postmaster office." Thomas replied, carefully watching Maria as she walked. He listened intently to what she had to say, soaking in all the information she gave, "I have no intention of turning those documents over, however." Thomas added, as he took a couple of steps towards the investigator, "I understand my situation clearly. You're standing in my office, having broke in, brought the body of a dead woman, and started making demands." Thomas explained, purposely misinterpreting what she meant by his current situation, "I'm not going to play games, ma'am. You need to start explaining, and fast." Thomas added, as he pushed a chair out of his way, and took another step towards the woman.

---

The man stood idly by while Jezin gave orders to the rest of the group, waiting patiently for him too finish, "Distance won't matter." He replied, simply. As Jezin ran towards the man, the man did not react, but once Jezin throw a sweeping kick at the man's legs, he reacted. Without even much bending, the man jumped into the air, nearly 40 inches into the air, clearing the kick by leaps and bounds. The man's skinny stature did not obviously do his physical prowess justice. The arrow fired by Gareth whizzed through the man's tattered robe, luckily missing the meat of his person. The man brought his longsword out in front of him, committing to a downward slash on Jezin, with his dirk held out to his side, ready to strike also.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin cursed as the man lept over his kick, rolling out of the way of the man's plunge, but feeling the blade of the longsword strike his armor as he did so. He rose to his feet, glaring at the man, throwing a parting glance to the others as they made their way through the window. He carefully circled his opponent, hate in his eyes. "Who... what the fuck are you?" He snarled out the words, gripping the hand-and-a-half sword tightly. If only he had his weapons. He darted forward, making a feint stab and backstepping before darting forward again, swinging the blade swiftly towards the side of the man's head. Sophia had gotten away, but the man's words made him nervous. He had no idea what was going on, but none of that mattered. He had to kill this man.

"GO!" Eva shouted, rushing after Gareth and practically throwing the Princess out the window behind the squire. For a brief moment, Sophia could've sworn time slowed down. She saw Jezin fighting the man's and felt herself being propelled through the air. And instant later her back struck the ground. She rolled over and rose shakily to her feet. Eva turned and gave Jezin one last look before leaping from the window as well. She landed on her feet, helping the princess rise. She looked up. at Gareth. "Good work Gareth. We've got to move. Quickly." She grabbed Sophia by the arm again, rushing after the squire. Sophia threw one last glance back. "Jezin..." She whispered as the three of them fled the scene.

[Sightles]

The man stood up slowly from his downward strike, staring out the way Gareth, and the rest, went. Slowly looking back to Jezin at his question, before speaking, "Human, but not quite." It was evident now that the man's mouth, having been sewn completely shut, did not move at all, but the voice didn't sound impeded by this. The man watched patiently as Jezin charged forward, feinting a stab before making his real attack aimed at the side of his head. It was impressive in which the speed the man reacted. Reaching up with his dirk in his opposite hand, he raised it across his face, catching the blade, and slowly it down. Next, the man ducked under the still incoming blade, seemingly just barely making the duck. With the dirk still on the other side of the blade, he charged forward, moving the dirk down the length of the blade, and bringing it up over the top of the sword, effectively pushing the blade down towards the ground. With his long sword, he made another concerted effort to shove the blade up and under the scale mail.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin was shocked by the man's reply, and more so by his ability to speak without moving his mouth. He cursed as his attack failed, feeling the sword knocked towards the ground. He was used to the reach a polearm granted, he was out of his element entirely. He saw the counterattack coming, and lept backwards, but he was too late. Though the longsword missed it's mark, it's tip did manage to strike upwards into Jezin's chest. The scale mail offered some protection, but the bodyguard felt a sharp sting. The tip of the blade had found it's way underneath one of the scales and into his chest. He stumbled back a few feet, blood dripping from the hole in his damaged armor. A drop hit the floor. He clutched the wound for a moment, eying his opponent. No, not here. It was not his time yet. He had to protect Sophia, it was the oath he had sworn. His blood, his body, his very soul were in service to the Empress and her family, he would not allow this man to do her any harm. He gripped the hilt of Tyler's sword. Awkward or not, the blade would taste blood. He had fought someone with two weapons before. He struggled to remember any lessons the fight had taught him. He charged forward, rearing the blade back for a full on thrust, but just before making it he twirled around his opponent on the side of the dirk, just out of the weapon's short range. He used the momentum from his spin, swinging the blade with all the force he could muster in a horizontal swing towards the back of the man's knee. A crippled man couldn't jump.

[Epsir]

"Then stop playing games," The investigator snapped, taking a step towards Thomas even as he walked towards her. The leery grin of the man at the wall told her what she needed to know, especially after the requests he'd made. The palace guard had known about their entrance of palace grounds early, the Order disjointed and acting on its own. Whether it was Sir Thomas or someone else, there were people that didn't want her leaving the tower. Whether it was due to death or detainment, made no difference to her. It had been a mistake to come alone and assume she could handle the talking. "I'm helping you, and I've explained everything. If you can't sit and listen, I am going to leave. I want to take the writs with me, then." She announced her intentions clearly, standing idle and waiting for how measured the knight's response would be. Walking out unopposed was unlikely, considering the man seemed to be willfully ignoring any attempt at parley. The rules were the rules, however, and she could not draw blood here.

[Sightles]

The man stood guard, allowing Jezin to recover, and watched carefully as the man charged before. As the fight had shown so far, the man was a avid user of the feint, something the man clearly had not yet fallen for. Jezin spun and sent the blade towards the back of the man's knee. With an impressive show of agility, the man bent his knees slightly, and lurching backwards, completing a back flip over the swing. Once more the blade seemed only mere hairs from making it's mark. Wither this be from choice, or the fact the man cut it that close was unclear. The man, landed on his hands as completed the flip, pushing backwards as he did so, lifting his entire body off the ground with a somewhat impressive show of strength. With a quick flash, the man expertly threw dirk. As it spun in the air, it became clear what the target of the dirk one: Jezin's ankle. As the man landed from his push over, a slight stagger could be seen as he recovered himself.

---

Thomas was unimpressed with Maria's intentions, setting Harmony aside once more, "I'm going to ask you a few questions. Depending on your answers, it will decide how the rest of our little session continues." Thomas replied, crossing his arms across his chest, "Who are you working for, where did you come from, how did you get in the Tower of the Thistle, and what is your mission?" Thomas asked. Thomas could already hear the clanging of footsteps of the rest of the knights ascending the stairs, and would be there in a moment, "I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to have to arrest you, but you need to take a step back and realize the situation you needlessly placed yourself in, in order to get answers out of me." Thomas replied, listening to the footsteps get even closer.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin cursed aloud as the man flipped over his strike. He was too agile. His attack was much too fast for Jezin to counter, and he felt the blade of the dirk strike his ankle. His boots were thick, and metal plated, but even such boots were thinner in the ankle area to allow more mobility. The dirk struck true, though the thickness of the boot impeded it's progress greatly. Jezin winced, falling to one knee and in an instant tearing the weapon from his foot. He flipped the blade in his hand, grabbing it by it's hilt. He stood up again, taking a few steps back, with a noticeable, though slight, limp. He looked down at the weapon in his hand, now smeared with his own blood. The man's attack had wounded him, and had inhibited his mobility, but it had also armed the bodyguard with a weapon he was slightly more used to. He took a few steps forward, his face as blank as stone, shaking his head. As he neared the man, he stopped, and bared his teeth. He shouted as he lunged forward, partially from anger and partially from the pain that now consumed his ankle. Feints wouldn't work, that was obvious. He swung Tyler's sword in a swift horizontal strike towards the man's arm, lunging his off hand under and making two lightning-fast stabs towards his opponent's gut with the dirk.

[Sightles]

The man seemed content with not dodging the next strikes Jezin had in mind for him. The sword connected against the man's clothed arm, with solid contact and a grunt from the man, and both the dirks struck true, stabbed the man in the gut, but once more, nothing solid seemed to be under in the man's chest. The instant both hits connected, the man placed his long sword in between the man's thighs, the pulled his blade across the inside of Jezin's right thigh, attempting to slice the bodyguard's hamstring. Red liquid spilled onto the blade that struck his arm, but it didn't appear to cut into any flesh that remained under the tattered robe. With both dirk strikes, the blade remained spotless, however.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin didn't hesitate when the attacks struck but caused no damage. He was running almost entirely on rage at this point, such things were trivial. He would stop when the man was dead. He saw the man move his sword between his thighs, in that instant, he made a bizarre maneuver. He pushed himself forward, and onto his opponent, making an effort to tackle the man to the ground, moving in the same direction as the man's attack lessened the force, and moved his leg farther from the edge, but he still felt it cut, although probably not nearly as deep as the abomination that stood before him intended. At the same time, he flipped the dirk in his hand and stabbed downward towards the man's eye, dropping Tyler's hand-and-a-half sword as he did so. The now free hand reached forward, aiming to grip his enemy's sword arm and hold it in place so a suitable counter couldn't be made.

[ravenDivinity]

Gareth helped Sophia through the window in avoiding the glass shards, and with Eva in tow, they made a break for it. He thought for a while about the man's words. 'Distance won't matter.' Would they be safe even if they ran? He shook it off and kept running. "Where do you suppose we should go?" He called back to Eva.

[Sightles]

The man allowed the tackle to be made, with no resistance, dropping his long sword after his cut had been made. He gripped Jezin's arm with his new freehand, making sure to pull Jezin down with him, allowing Jezin to sit on the lower half of his chest. The man then raised his other free arm, placing his forearm in the direct path of the dirk. This time, when the dirk penetrated the torn sleeve of the robe, it made solid connection, prompting a low grunt, and blood to spurt out onto the blade. After the grunt, however, the stab seemed to mean nothing to the man. The man had allowed himself to be tackled easily allowed him to placed both his legs on the inside of Jezin's. With a jerk, the man sent a knee towards the crotch of Jezin, while placing a foot on the lower torso of Jezin, and pushing upwards. If this failed, the man reached out with both hands, attempting to place them on either side of the bodyguard's face.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin felt the knee strike him squarely in the crotch, and gritted his teeth from the pain. He saw the man kick out at him, and lower his body as much as possible. The kick struck his shoulder and then slid over. In an instant, the bodyguard wrapped his free arm around the man's thigh, trying his best to hold the leg in place, if only for a moment. He ripped the dirk from the man's arm, making numerous stabs at the man's thigh, knee, and shin with a feral fury. He was attempting to cripple his opponent with the flurry of stabs. He shook his head back and forth, trying to avoid the man's hands if at all possible. He couldn't allow the man to get close to his eyes. The pain from his wounds was multiplying. He had to end this quickly. He couldn't help but feel this... thing really was more than human. Nothing he did seemed to have any effect.

Eva caught up with Gareth and the Princess, her eyes darting around. She knew very little about their surroundings, and it seemed they had potential enemies everywhere. "I... I don't know. There's no one here we can trust, that's a given..." She cursed to herself. "Anywhere. We need to get as far away as we can, at the very least." She glanced towards the princess. Sophia ran frantically, glancing around. They were right, there was nowhere to flee to, it seemed. If only they had simply listened to Walden... She remembered what the man had said before they escaped. His words haunted her. She felt dread descending on her like a thick fog. There was no escape. Why did all of this have to happen? Why now? She felt Eva grip her wrist. "Hold it together, princess, we'll make it through this."

[Sightles]

Once Jezin had grabbed the man's thigh, it seemed a like a new fire had entered the mysterious man. In a violent, and sudden twist, the man flipped over, a very loud pop and crunch coming from his knee area. With a yank, the man pulled himself forward, while also kicking himself forward with his other, non-dislocated, leg. The man barely made it out of the rage induced Jezin's grip, taking a stab into his back as he pulled away. As the man pulled away, he lifted himself up, catching himself with his one good leg, limping a good bit as he made space between him and the bodyguard, before turning himself around. He had left his long sword and dirk near his enemy, but in a quick flourish, the man produced another long sword from the folds of his black robe, and leveling it. It appeared the man needed a second to recover, as he placed near to no weight on the leg he had dislocated.

[Epsir]

The investigator frowned as Thomas delivered his list of concerns. He needed to be brought up to speed slowly, he'd made it clear. "Arcartus, and Arcartus. I used a key to one of the outer doors, broke locks where I needed to," she reached behind her, producing a key identical to the one issued to the council for emergency access from her bag and tossing it onto the table. "And I am here to investigate the death of Lexine Tristan, which raised claims against me and my contemporaries." She finished her laundry list, and her voice sank from deadpan back to the dark tone she usually spoke with. Whatever he said about not wanting to hurt her, she hadn't lived so long buying off on talk like that. She too heard the knights coming a long ways off. She had to have more trust for Thomas than immediately assuming that he was only buying time, but ultimately it would be inconsequential how many knights were in the room. "Your post sent word of the death days ago," she said, "And since I've arrived in Mullen, the capital guard has been trying to interfere. I'm not here needlessly. The only option was to go to you."

[Sightles]

Thomas listened intently to the investigator's words, keeping his surprise to himself, "Very well. You're from Arcartus and you've intruded upon foreign soil, and broke into foreign property," In conjunction with Thomas' words, the six knights entered the room, already armed, "And as such, I hereby placed you under formal arrest, in the name of my King Bard II." Thomas nodded his head back to the knights, prompting three of them to make their way over to Maria, one carrying a pair of manacles, with the other two carrying their swords at the ready. Thomas had no intention of doing the woman harm, but holding her in a cell would be smarter than allowing her to go. He had heard all he needed to from the woman. This was an investigation made by the Arcarti's that the Order had not been alerted, too, "You will be treated with respect, as such is given to foreign authorities, and once Arcartus sends a formal party to hash out all the details, you will be held by the Order of the Thistle." Thomas announced, watching as his knights approached the woman.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin cursed as the man escaped his grip, but he had done what he intended, he had crippled the agile fighter, at least somewhat. Seeing an opening as the man rose to his feet, Jezin grabbed the sword he had dropped to the ground and plunged forward, finding his footing, but also feeling a deep ache in his wounded ankle. He made an upwards diagonal swing in an attempt to knock the man's weapon out of the way and quickly jabbed the dirk towards where he believed the man's heart to be, though he was beginning to wonder whether normal human anatomy was even applicable to the situation. The man had taken hits that would've incapacitated an ordinary man by now. What exactly was he fighting?

[Sightles]

The man managed to dodge the parry of his blade, by swinging himself to the side, but the dirk still came plunging forward with incredible speed. In a last ditch effort, the crippled man shoved his long sword forward. With Jezin's momentum, and the man's shove, it would either find a chink in the scale mail, or inevitably punch through one scale. The long sword would also reach the man before the dirk would, leaving the man unharmed, unless Jezin intended to to change his aim. As the man shoved his long sword forward, a popping sound came from his knee area, once more, and to the focused spectator, it appeared his thigh was twisting back around by itself.

[DrowsyPangolin]

Jezin's rage-induced charge had been too fast to bail out of. As he made the stab with the dirk, he realized he had sealed his fate. All his faith, all his devotion to Sophia, all the vows he had sworn, and all the pride in his heart were for naught. The tip of the longsword struck the same area where he had been stabbed earlier, easily piercing through the damaged mail. The bodyguard felt a pain worse than any he had ever felt as the cold steel of the sword made it's way through his armor and into his chest. The blade skewered through him, going clean through his torso and out through the back of his cuirass. His eyes widened, and he coughed as blood poured from his mouth. The man had made a fatal strike. Feeling consciousness slipping away, Jezin made a last ditch effort. All the rage in his heart spurned him on. He forced himself forward, moving further and further along the blade. Blood now soaked his shirt and armor, pouring out onto the ground. The pain was unbearable, but he could not let this man leave. If he had to die, he would take Sophia's pursuer with him. He felt his chest touch the guard of the man's longsword. Dropping his own blade, he grabbed the man around the wrist. A smirk crossed his face, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. Clenching his hand tightly around his enemy's wrist, he raised his left hand, gripping the dirk, and plunged it towards the center of the man's throat.

[Sightles]

The man was impressed, silently, by the man's determination he had shown in the last few minutes of his life. It was obvious an attack was about to be made on him by the bodyguard running on fumes. With a clang, the bodyguard had dropped his sword to the ground, and plunged the dirk towards the man's neck. The man released his other hand off the blade, reaching it up to stop the dirk. The dirk cleanly pierced through the center of the palm of the man, causing blood to come pouring out of the hand. As the last bits of life started to fade from Jezin's eyes, and the fight seemingly completely over. The man locked eye contact with Jezin, leaning in closer to the man's face, before whispering a few words, "They will never find your body." The words cut through the silence of their encounter like knives through flesh. The amount of malice in the man's eyes was more than any normal person could convey.