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[Raxus]

Sorcha surprised Raxus once again by taking his hands and placing them around her hips, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Instantly, Raxus fell into a state of shock, having a mixed feeling of extreme shyness and fear.

"There you go, now you see that empty table towards the back," she whispered. "There are a group of soldiers sitting at the one next to it. How good are you at drinking games?"

"Aaaaaaaa...aaaa... aaaaaaaa" Raxus was incapable to speak, it was as if the kitty got his tongue. To slay monster, beasts, and people, was easy for him. To talk to a girl... impossible.

Sorcha finished by kissing Raxus' cheek, laughing, she playfully pushed him away. He snapped out of his shameful trance. As Sorcha talked to the bartender, Raxus sat there, lost, trying to get back to himself.

The hell is wrong with me? ...I cannot even keep up with a misserable play. "Come on then lets take our seats" Interrupted Sorcha. Gently, she took his hand and led him back towards the empty table. Raxus was breathing heavily, his blood rushing. Stay cool man... stay cool... He tried to tell himself.

Sitting at the table, Sorcha explained the plan. As she finished, Sorcha gave Raxus a big charismatic smile. "Oh gods this is wonderful..." she exclaimed, taking another drink from her mug. Raxus looked at her, but instead of mumbling nonsense, instead of looking lost by his companions actions. He smiled, and took a huge drink from his mug, got up, padded the shoulder of his female companion, and headed towards the table where the guards were playing cards.

"Hello there my friends" said Raxus in a clever way, the puzzled look of the guards revealed that they had no idea what was going on. "May I join you in a game of cards? I can assure you wont regret it." He said while pulling a little sac full of coins.

The guard looked at him confuse, but the sound of coins created a grimace in each of their faces. The game began. After the first round... Raxus had lost half of his money. The guards pointed at him, laughed and insulted him.

But instead of leaving the game, instead of insulting the drunk guards back, in the inside, he was smiling. The night was just about to get fun.

[Ilysabeth Wraithen]

Xopher seemed to be deep in thought as the two walked along in silence. Occasionally, he glanced Ilysabeth's direction, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, but quickly turned to focus his attention back on the road again. Suddenly self-concious, she looked down at herself, scowling a bit. Was she really so different under all those "frills"? Her scowl grew bigger. This wasn't my idea.

The progression of night brought on a bone-chilling wind, not too strong, but certainly cold. Ilysabeth shivered slightly and hugged her arms close to her chest in an attempt to preserve body heat. It was in this moment that a face caught her eye. A person, parallel with their step, had his gaze trained on them. He looked away abruptly when the assassin returned the look and slowed hiw walking to fall behind them. In any other situation, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but she could've sworn that she saw him earlier, just as close. Were they being followed, or was it just a mere coincidence?

Ilysabeth swallowed and kept her pace, resisting the urge to look back. If Xopher and her planned to break into a ball successfully, drawing attention to theselves on the street wouldn't be the best course of action. But, somehow, she had to communicate with her companion.

Clearing her throat softly to get attention, Ilysabeth mouthed, without turning her head, "We are being followed." It was probable that the mercenary had already noticed, but it didn't hurt to be sure. Judging from the stalker's lack of "stealthiness", he was most likely an amateur at best, so all they would have to do was to back him into a secluded street corner and get some information. Or just kill him, which would be easier.

Ilysabeth rubbed her arms again, but this time it wasn't from the cold. She was feeling for a knife.

[Sorcha]

Following Raxus she grabbed her mug and walked over to the other table where the few soldiers where sitting. It took them a few moments to notice her, but she used those few moments to her advantage and took in their appearance.
The man in the middle seemed to be the one in charge or of a higher rank then the other two by his arrogant demeanor and his false attitude of seeming to controlling the situation which really wasn't the case. The other two were really just for show, their lack of intimidating presence was almost laughable. Probably just there to feed the middle mans ego, and it was him who noticed her first.

"I suppose there is something in this I wouldn't mind wagering against." He replied to Raxus in a drunken slur and looked at her, "You wouldn't mind spending an evening with a soldier now would you?" Cringing from the inside Sorcha smiled and sat down next to Raxus finishing off the rest of her mug.

"Depends on the soldier and how good a card player he is.." She replied as she leaned in as if to speak to him conspiratorially and have him her best smile and winked. Calling for a new round of drinks they began to play, and evening with her being the bargaining chip.

It was a simple game, the main objective was to get the cards in your hand to add up to 21 as close as you could. If you went over you had to take a drink, if you went under you had to take two and the last one standing won. Unfortunately as the rounds went, the Sergent (she had discovered) was not as far gone as she had hopped and he held his own very very well. Looking over at her companion she hopped he was holding up just as well...

[Xopher]

It did not take but just a moment for Xopher to pick out the person following them. It struck him as odd that they would be tailed by such an obvious mark. Most likely the real problem did not lay with this man but the person or person(s) who would follow more stealthily behind him to locate us. It was a good plan wait for us to "occupy" our follower and then get the drop on us when our guard was down. Or maybe I had been hit in the head too many times in my short yet enjoyable life. I need to come up with a plan to cover both possibilities... Think... Shops... Traffic... yet another..! Oh, yeah, that will do.

"Ilysa, I am going to need you to keep moving forward as if we are still walking together. Keep yourself with a crowd in between you and him. You'll know what to do when the time comes.. or I am giving you too high a cut." He spoke quickly, taking a moment to glance over her "As it is you ARE the more noticeable of the two of us." With a smile his feet shifted and he slid into the rhythm of crowd going the other way, much the same way you lose sight of a fly in mid air when it abruptly changes direction in a way ones eyes are not use to, he disappeared. One thing the Xopher had picked up along the path of being a gambler, "One gets rich by slight of hand and He avoids the Hangman by slight of foot."

Xopher knew where to look to find what he needed and he did not even have to sling much coin to accomplish weaving his net. In moments he had everything moving into place. Once the pieces were moving he darted off in to an alley and began scaling a drainage gutter. I really don't have to see the board to toss the dice, the dice will land how they will. I would rather get to the end before I find "Miss Ilysa" daintily standing in a pool of blood surrounded by corpses.

Luck was with him as he passed over his partner still walking along the street as he darted along the well kept roofs. The mark was still right where he was moments ago. Odd how time seems to warp and bend.. slowing until the clack of die are sounding off like ticks of a metronome around in his skull when the game is afoot. Clack.. Click. Clack.. No! focus, stay in the moment. Still no sign of those who will follow the follower. Maybe I am mistaken..

He stopped at a vantage off to the left of where to snare would begin behind some blackened iron lattice work in a third story balcony. From here it would not be hard to get to one of the three possible outcomes he had intended. Below him the curtain had drawn, the cry of a young woman shouting "Thief" and pointing at a young boy cutting through the throng of bodies in the streets much like a fish in water. He had a coin purse held over his head and about 5 meters behind him the mark followed, pants cut open and most of his rear bare for anyone with eye to see in clumsy pursuit. Like he had told the boy he kept running down the middle of the street with the purse held at eye level and kept the distance between them even as he ran. "Not yet...." he mumbled as the two passed by Ilysa and also past his hiding spot, though there was no way of her hearing him, it was really more for his sake than her's in any event.

He stopped looking at the show and started looking for the other parts of his net.. waiting for the bait to be taken.

[Ilysabeth Wraithen]

Without looking in her companion's direction, Ilysabeth absorbed the instruction that were given to her best she could, but the entire time, she couldn't help but wonder, What could the mercenary posssibly be thinking of this time? It was only a slight disappointment that she wasn't allowed to whirl around and gut the bastard right then and there, but it was for the best. Or was it? She looked to her side and Xopher was gone. Go figure. He gets to have all the fun.

Ilysabeth's ears twitched with every footfall of the pursuer. They were painfully distinct, especially to the ears of an elf. If there was any before, there was no doubt now that the man was an amateur, at best. It was agony to listen to him fail so obviously, but she held it all in and kept in step, always making sure a few people remained in-between.

Moments later, after a loud cry of "Thief!", a young boy ran by, purse in hand, as fast as him skinny little legs could carry him. It wasn't hard to piece together what happened. Just steps behind the little rascal was the man, except with a new target, and pants cut in just a way to expose his behind. Deserved it the fool he was.

On the other hand...

Ilysabeth reached for a knife up her left sleeve. One well placed aim and he was done for, but how to avoid being caught? The man, obviously determined and growing closer to the bow, grew further and further away. She had to act now, even if spontaneously. She waited for an opening in the mob of people and, with a subtle flick of the wrist, her knife found the lower back of her target, who crumpled. Immediately, she tackled the person in front of her, a man dressed in dirty rags and screamed, "Murderer!" His eyes opened in shocked surprise and she quickly beat his temple with a fist to prevent him from saying anything in self defense.

Standing, Ilysabeth brushed herself off and was immediately reminded of the dress she had on and how she was supposedly "sophisticated". Becoming expressionless, she wore held her nose in the air and scoffed. "I saw the knife leave that scoundrel's hand. See that he is taken care of, as I have an appointement to attend with the rulers of your town. She shot all the bystanders a Don't Touch Me look and scurried away, picking up her dress to step over the two bodies. Where are you, Xopher? That didn't go exactly as planned, and she could only hope that the townspeople would keep to their brain-washed selves.

[Raxus]

A simple game of 21 took place. Raxus had experience gambling in the bars, always aiming to the best strategy possible, but in a game where luck was the main strategy, anything could happen.

Raxus had gone over 21 twice and under it once. He could start feeling the effect of the alcohol running in his veins but he was still quite avid and conscious of everything. As the rounds passed, the Sergent catch up with Raxus as a matter of drinks, but it was going to be needed more alcohol to make such a huge guy drunk enough to get some information out of him. Raxus knew it, so it was time to play with his opponents mind.

"I looks like you're an avid player my friend" nodded Raxus to the Sergent "How about we raise the bet a little bit more? who ever wins, stays with the girl, and gives all the money to the winner. Deal?" He looked straight and the Sergent eyes piercing them with a fixed look. "Alright" groaned the Sergent. "Very well then, just let me get my coins" Said Raxus while getting up, below the table, his hand could be seeing. As soon as he got up he moved the table violently dropping the cards and the mug in the floor.

"Oh pardon me my sir, I'm rather clumsy, let me get all the cards to keep going with the game" Raxus picked up all the cards quickly putting some of them under his sleeve. "Wait!" exclaimed the Sergent "Show me your sleeves?" In that instant Raxus quickly put his hands on his pockets. "My sleeves?" asked Raxus in a confused matter. "I'm not playing with you boy, show me your sleeves!" Demanded the Sergent irritated. Raxus got his hands out of the pockets and showed his sleeves to the Sergent. There was nothing on them. "Alright, lets keep playing" said the heavy Sergent while sitting down.

"Very well" Said Raxus with a smirk. "Let's begin"

[Sorcha Kael]

"Yus jus wait m'pretty lady. I'll ah havs yus in m'bed for long. Jus yus wait..." The Sergeant slurred as he wobbled in his seat and began to drool. Recoiling in disgust Sorcha stepped back half a step but luckily the soldier was to drunk to notice her expression. He's so drunk I could bring in a wooden pole with a fake tail attached to it and he'd believe it was me, she thought to herself, and his companions where already passed out face first onto the beer soaked table. Her companion, Raxus, was doing surprisingly well considering how much alcohol he had consumed as well.

The game had been going for well on two hours, she was begging to think that they had made a mistake in picking this particular soldier to contest with. But if Sorcha was anything, it was stubborn. She did feel bad about dragging Rax into this and she sincerely hoped that he would be able to last and was impressed by his resilient nature and he wasn't to bad at cards either. He was swaying just a little bit in his seat but she couldn't really judge how much the ale was affecting him and she hoped he could last just a little bit longer.

The Sergeant on the other hand was, once drunk, terrible at cards. And as he lost he got angry and started drinking more and tried on several occasions to accuse them of cheating. By then of course they had attracted quite a crowd from around the pub, people egging on either this side or that and Raxus's virtue was defended voraciously by his growing fan club and the charges were dropped.
At times Sorcha found her thoughts drifting away and she looked about and studied the interior of the establishment. She had been in cleaner places, she mused, but what kind of wood where those support beams made out of? Who made it? None of these men look like they have ever done a manual labor job, and yet most of them were dirty and seemed of a lower class who usually did manual work. This place was just backwards!

Occasionally she would be snapped back to the game at hand when her own group of admirers got to close. By now they had learned their lesson but only after a few examples had been made. One man, whose breath smelt of rotting meat, decided he would try to steal her away to be 'his girl tonight' and he now suffers from three broken fingers. And another had decided to pull her tail, "I was just testin' to see if it was real!" He had exclaimed in horror when she growled and looked at him with death in her eyes before she broke his nose. And despite these examples the men tried to push her buttons, but never within arms length. Growing tired of their games she exhaled slowly and tried to ignore them, refusing to add to their fun by reacting in any way and decided to focus as much as possible to the game and moved closer to the table. It was then that the Sergeant began his slurred one sided conversation with her.

Stepping closer to Raxus she bent down and whispered in his ear wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind, " I think it's about time we wrapped this up don't you think? I believe we could get anything we wanted out of him now." Brushing her lips to his cheek as she stood, she straightened up and smiled to herself.

[Xopher]

In the street a small girl keeps bumping into people as her mother pulls her by one arm through the slowly diminishing traffic. The mother pauses and kneels down to get her daughter's attention, which is transfixed on a second story balcony across they way. The child sees a hat held in a clenched hand hanging over a wooden rail and next to the hat she sees a head moving up and down.. banging against the heavy wooden rail. It does not seem as though the person is trying to damage himself as much a letting out quiet yet seeping frustration. The man stands slowly and pressing his left hand to his temple he shakes his head twice. The hand moves to wipe unseen sweat off his face and in the same motion he places the hat back on his head. He turns and slowly walks out of view. The little girl looks at her mother and points to the empty balcony. The mother looks only to find nothing there, she then stands and leads her daughter away.

The stairs creaked under Xopher as he exited the rear of the building. When he stepped into the alley he saw the child holding the purse a few buildings down. A sharp whistle got the kids attention and he trotted over to Xopher. He beamed as he held out the purse and it was taken, replacing the purse in the child's hand with a thick gold coin. Xopher's eye's locked with the child's and he spoke softly, "Are the contents of the pouch undisturbed?" The child nodded, and with a wave of his hand Xopher dismissed the waif. It is a good thing that I thought out this plan with that eventuality in mind, though I would have liked to see the longer version, oh well, those three will well fed tonight in any event. Now to find the short fuse and finish this hunt.

A few moments later Xopher was once again walking beside Ilysa. He directed her to a shop not far from where they were standing. "Let's see if we can't get the scent of the Bastards who thinks we are the fox to be hunted by his hounds."

[Ilysabeth Wraithen]

Ilysabeth kept her head down and eyes averted away from the crowd. She was leaning against a well-worn brick wall, hoping for some sign of Xopher. A mother with a squirming little girl passed by. The girl was pointing at the roof, practically crying to bring attention to something she had saw up there. Or someone. The corners of Ilysabeth’s mouth turned slightly upwards. She had found her sign.

Pushing off the wall, she continued walking at a more leisurely pace, knowing that Xopher would follow and catch up soon. The boy who had robbed the man, earlier, ran by. Coin purse clutched tightly in hand. She watched his progress curiously, without turning her head, as to not bring attention to him. Going to see Xopher? There was no doubt now that he had been the one who set up the whole scenario, including hiring their little “thief”. She shook her head. What if the boy had been caught?

Within moments, Ilysabeth sensed a familiar presence walking behind her. A hand laid itself on her shoulder and gently guided her to the side, out of the flow of traffic. They were standing in front of a shop.

"Let's see if we can't get the scent of the Bastards who thinks we are the fox to be hunted by his hounds."

The scent? Ilysabeth had never heard of such a thing, but she went along with it anyways. It sounded like finding this “scent” would lead them to the perpetuator, but, besides, she had already gone this far, so did she really even have a choice?

[Raxus]

The alcohol was taking its toll on Raxus already, everything around him was getting louder and out of focus. He noticed how a women got close to him, she had a tail. As Sorcha talked to him, Raxus just recognized a few words...

" I... we wrapped this... you think? I believe we could get... of him now."

It took him a while to actually understand what his partner was saying but when he figure it out, he shook his head violently, agreeing with his friend. Raxus let the game continue, the crowd started to disperse, since the game became slow because both competitors were already too drunk to continue at a avid pace. As the Sergeant accomplished for loosing, Raxus tried to stand up... but his legs wobbled and almost fell to the floor, he supported himself on the table and talked to the Sergeant.

"For azzz today... I... I... Yezz, I... Proclaim myself the victriouzzz... err... new emperor of the table... Yezz, the table... Now you... you... umm... shall be my slave... and do... anyzzing I told you to do... undezztod?" The Sergeant stared at Raxus, lost. He was sweating, his chest contracted and expanded heavily, as Raxus finished talking the Sergeant just sat there and nodded.

Raxus was breathing heavy, he struggled to remain standing up, but he couldn't, his legs gave up on him, he crashed violently to the floor. He looked for his chair and tried to get on it, as he sat down, he looked around, desperately to find the only one that could help him, the woman with the tail.

[Sorcha Kael]

Resisting the urge to smack her palm to her forehead in momentary embarrassment as Raxus fell head long onto the floor and desperately glanced around and looking quite lost. And although the Sergeant was not looking too much better he had retained his seat and was giggling in a very... drunken way in mock victory. Now what was she going to do with two sod-drunken men? 'I certainly do hope that they don't think I can carry them both?! I may be strong but not THAT strong. eeeeeh!' Sorcha thought to herself as she observed the scene in amusement.

The place had certainly cleared out, there were only a few patrons besides them left at the bar. I couldn't be that late already, could it? If it was she needed to hurry and get these guys out of here, one of which would most certainly be dealing with a terrible headache later. 'One more thing to tease him with!' Smiling to herself she bent down and grasped Raxus's shoulders and gently pulled him up to his feet and brought one of his arms around her shoulder and helped him walk a bit more steady. Together they picked up the Sergeant and she similarly draped his arm over her shoulder from the other side.

"Come on then boys!" She said brightly as she hoisted them across the room, "Lets find ourselves somewhere a little bit more private, yes?" After a couple of nearly unintelligible words of agreement she continued out the door with a wink at the bar tender. Now she remembered that there had been what seemed to be an abandoned building across the alley and half a block down and she slowly made for it.

It was an agonizingly slow and awkward trip but eventually they made it and with an act of balancing -that even she was impressed with- managed to kick down the door and make her way inside. Moving through the building Sorcha looked for a room toward the center and with no windows. This turned out to be what might have been a small bedroom with a few pieces of furniture left behind. Setting Raxus on the floor by the door she guided the Sergeant toward a chair and sat him down and quickly she grabbed a small length of rope and before the man could do anything about it she had his arms tied behind his back.

"Now then Lover. You're going to tell me everything I want to know or things will go... very badly for you." She said in a mock sweet voice and brought one of her knives threateningly close to his throat. So now the fun was to begin. 

[Xopher]

The heavily laden clouds seemed to cast the street, buildings ,and even the inhabitants in stark contrast between the full spectrum of gray of the outside world against the blindingly colorful images of life in the shops. The shops had been taking on progressivly utilitarian construct as if they were build in a hurry or without any taste for the usual flair seen thus far. Due to the setting of this evening and architecture of the surrounding buildings the shop they were looking for stood out against everything around it for at least four blocks in either direction. Xopher pushed through the throng of bodies to stand in front of the small yet oddly constructed building. He glanced at Ilysa and not for the fist time tonight noticed how smoothly she glided through the crowd. Her dress and figure with the the right amount of high class appeal to keep the hawkers eyes glued to her yet at bay to keep from selling their wares more proactively. Her face holding just the right amount of upturned "Yes, I am better than you" mixed with "I'll stab you in the face peasant" to keep gawkers from getting too close. Unlike Xopher she glided through the foot traffic with eyes turned upon her but respectful distances kept.

In Xopher's mind he could see the crowd becoming one solid swirling mush of grays moving without any real connection to the outside world. The masses only existing with the singular objective of keeping him from reaching the destination in a timely manner. Xopher chuckled softly. \Arrive we have though, devils.
The building though placed in an area where all other building not separated by a narrow ally were connected to one another, and was given a berth of twenty-ish feet on either side by other establishments. The roof was a mess of thick dark green vines completely covering up what ever sort of roof acted as fertilizer for the mass. Likewise the shop was surrounded by a lush garden of plants that even in the dust bowl of a city were  blooming with sickly sweet smelling flowers of many colors. Blocks of stone in irregular sizes and colors in no particular order made up the walls at least externally of the building. Even though the stones held no standard shape. Xopher could not see any mortar in between almost nonexistent seems between stones. In his mind he could seen a master stone cutter swearing in frustration at the building of such a work. The railing of the stoop leading to the door was braided metal of different hues wound tightly against each other. Xopher took these details in in just moments even though he wanted to stare at this marvel for hours when he caught sight of the door. The entire door seemed to be one huge carving made of a single piece of wood. In the center of all the vine workings and twisted beasts was the third dimensional image of a curvaceous woman with only the scant bit of vine to covers the more racy bits.

Xopher moved to the door and put his hand not on the immaculately detailed hand carved woodwork but in the glass door knob. I am in public after all. He noticed that the door flickered with an eerie green light. Most likely reflected through the other side to where he could notice it. Xopher pushed the door just as the bottom fell out of the sky and rain that had been held for so long began to wetly smite the denizens who braved the streets. Xopher plunged into the noticeably smoky interior and made sure the door was open for his dolled up assassin friend.

He looked around and could see that the room was not filled with wares as other shops were but oddly silken drapes angled from the ceiling to walls, other parts of ceiling, and oddly shaped cushions that littered the room. The smoke was thin and held a bitter taste when first inhaled but slowly subsided in foulness as a few breaths were drawn. The eerie green cast of light came from two bronze hanging lamps at either side of the threshold similar to the ones that were burning through out the shop. These too were the source of the thin smoke that permeated the air. The walls were covered with spongy green wood that seemed to be slightly specked with moss. In the back of the store crouched a figure of a girl with loose flowing green and blue gown, whose long brown hair fell at least to her waist. More than that Xopher could not make out through the smoke as he moved toward her, in search of meeting Madam Blythe the local fortune teller and so called witch of the town.