|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 2:19:32 GMT
Ben
He mentally grunted as he sunk faster due to the weight of a girl sinking down on him plus Old Reliable. But he managed to maneuver himself so that the two untangled from each other dragging her along so she doesn't somehow end up drowning herself trying to sing underwater. He let out a gasp of air as he swam himself to the side propping himself up with Old Reliable. Once he caught his breath he turned his gaze towards his targets, it appears the girl was nearly passed out and the armored assailant was on the shore catching his breath. He pointed the tip of his spear at the throat of the assailant. "Mister Assailant, I have to say your promptly under city guard arrest. Please come quietly and we don't have an issue." His smile became all too sweet when he got a good look at the individual.
"Galen 'The Gallent' Farrel? My, my, my what a pleasant surprise? I didn't know your our armored assailant." His smile was supremely sweet as if he just didn't run for his life from a horde of goblins.
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 2:43:04 GMT
Galen
"If it isn't the mercenary of mediocrity himself." Galen hissed through raged breath. "Didn't think I'd have someone of your reputation hired to track me down. If I'd been told I'd have brought along some ale...purely for bribery of course. How much are they paying you anyway? Can't image you'd go sewer hunting for a hand full of coppers."
Galen was well aware of what this man was capable of. He positioned himself between the spear wielding mercenary and Luna, his hand firmly wrapped around the hilt of his steel sword. "Or are you here for her? If so than I can't let you pass. The girl is to injured to defend herself and I've already done to much to keep her alive to let someone pick her off while she's half drown."
Galen tensed himself as best he could but he knew that this was only a bluff...and probably an unconvincing one. The truth was in the waver in his voice and the tremble in his body. All he had done for the past several hours was run and fight and swim,half of it with a woman literally riding on his back. His body was on the verge of collapse and it took all he had to remain upright...not to mention that the man he faced already had his spear pointed at a very vital spot.
"What's it gonna be Ben?" He asked gruffly, "You really wanna try tangling with The Raven of Westreach? If so then make a move. Other wise I need to get Luna to a healer before infection sets in on her wound."
|
|
|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 2:56:29 GMT
Ben
His smile was smaller and he rubbed a hand on his head. "Ehehehe, I wouldn't say your in a position to negotiate. As for payment, you know the game 'Raven' I can't tell you how much I get paid. As for the girl, I've been hired to make sure she doesn't kill anyone. If the girl is sincere then she'll be fine and I'll see to it that she gets aid. That is if you surrender willingly and come quietly." His voice was sweet like honey as if he was speaking with an old friend. He turned one eye towards the water checking to make sure Liliana didn't manage some way to drown in the river.
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 3:16:15 GMT
Galen "True," he said with chuckle, "but I figured there was no harm in asking." Galen knew he was out matched at the moment, he slid backwards a bit hoping to put a little more distance between the two of them. "Unfortunately you know I can't break a contract." He glanced over his shoulder at the unconscious mage. "I told her that I would get her into the palace and my word is as binding as any contract."
He steadied his sward arm, concentrating on keeping himself consious. "As a professional courtesy I'm gonna say this once. If you follow through with this..." He narrowed his eyes, locking them with Ben's. The waver in his voice vanishing. "Your gonna die."
A rough smile crossed his face, "or you could back off. Leave now and I can promise you that whatever the guards are paying you the girl can triple it."
|
|
|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 3:31:18 GMT
Ben
His smile became lopsided "Ah if it's the palace then that's fine, we can go there since that is part of my contract as well. Some old hag told the guards to stop chasing her. Saying 'She's here to see the Royal Family so let her through" He snickered as he prepared himself into a combat stance "But the problem with that was she didn't mention anything about you." Old Reliable's golden blade shined brightly in the late mid-day sun "So if you want to truly try your luck at this affair, by all means-" He gave a quick head gesture keeping his eyes on Galen "be my guest."
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 4:40:47 GMT
Galen
Galen exhaled, some of his strength had returned but no where near enough as his body was still throbbing with pain, he used that pain to try and focuse. Galen spun on his heal back towards Luna to put some distance between them, drawing his long sword as he did so and dropped into a defensive stance. He was practically standing over Luna's body.
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" He asked defiantly, "as I said before, you have a particular reputation that has spread across various mercenary guilds. From what I've heard you're tongue made of solid silver. You've talked your way through more contracts than most guild halls combined. So tell me now, what can you offer to prove what you say? How do I know you won't run me through the second I drop my guard and then slit her throat?"
Galen practically held his breath. He knew that in his current condition he would be found wanting if this came to actual blows ....but what choice did he have. He wasn't the type of man to lay down his sword, even when at a great didsadvantage
|
|
|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 4:47:42 GMT
Ben
His smile widened from cheek to cheek "If you really have no faith in me, then you must realize I also am known for holding my contract. The contract was to catch you, and keep an eye on the girl. No more, no less." He raised his weapon from it's prepared stance and presented his back towards Galen. "If you want you can be right behind me as we walk, I'll leave my back open. I'm not one to fight needlessly when I can just take the diplomatic route. Ya know?" He gave him a wink over the shoulder. "Ah...I probably want to wait to check for Liliana. I did say I'd not let her die down there."
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 5:14:17 GMT
Galen
Galen exhaled long and hard, the tension in his throbbing muscles relaxing as he shiethed his blade. He was still cautious but decided against escilating the situation. He crouched down and inspected Luna's wound. She had passed out from the pain and exhaustion several minutes pryor.
"Ok," he whispered as he gently lifted her torso up, resting it on his knee. "Lets get that arrow out of you." Galen was no healer; however, one doesn't go far in his line of work without learning how to bind wounds in the field. With one of his daggers he cut a length of cloth from the thickest part of her robes to act as a bandage. Then he inspected the arrow wound itself, cutting away any cloth from the area. The arrow had punched clean through her shoulder, it's crude head and a bit of the shaft had punched clean through to the other side. Galen took hold of the longer end and snapped it off clean at the skin, then he pinched the side with the head and pulled it out until it was clear of the wound. Wringing water from some of the more sodden cloth to rinse the blood from the wound he used the thick cloth to make a field dressing. 'That should do.' He mumbled internaly as he layed her back down.
With a grunt he stood and stumbled his way towards the water's edge, collapsing to a sitting position on the bank. He sat in silent contemplation, moving only to snag a curiosity, a funny looking hat, from the water as it drifted by.
|
|
|
Post by draco on Oct 6, 2017 8:38:21 GMT
The world seemed to spin around her as they crashed into liquid, her vision blurring and everything on her suddenly feeling so heavy. Entangled with Ben and then suddenly not as she sunk briefly trying to get an understanding of her surroundings but the murky waters stinging her eye. She was being dragged for a moment but was quickly released... Where was up? was she floating away? where was her favorite hat!? So many questions and not enough air to properly get the time to think, it felt as though her lungs might explode as she had wasted all of her air screaming on her way down.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! don't drown in a damn river now! you have so much going for you now!
Kicking wildly and flailing her arms, she got some semblance of where she was as her feet touched ground. Quickly kicking off of it to suddenly breach the surface with a heaving gasp of air after a few desperate kicks. Her hair matted to her head and got in her eye, her eye-patch sagged and barely held on as is with how loosely she kept it tied on. Barely keeping above the slow rolling river with the weight of her backpack and dunking back underneath at least once or twice she thought to possibly shed her belongings... no! definitely not! she would not lose everything now!
With all of her strength, she reached for the edge and grabbed onto what must have been a rock as she felt like she was reaching out blindly at this point. Catching to the side and letting herself breath for a few moments before getting an idea of where she was. Pulling hair from her face and spitting out any of this disgusting, murky water she had gotten in her mouth and nose. Actually, she wasn't too far away, but she was watching as the two men started to get into some sort of battle stance and things seemed to be getting heated... Oh, oh no she couldn't miss a single moment if things went that way!
With renewed strength, Liliana pulled herself up onto the shore after what seemed like agonizing minutes. She was not the strongest of people, but she was more determined than any! and with a pack full of mostly water at this point and her Lute held up triumphantly she found herself nestling in the dirt with a sigh of relief and a weak chuckle only a dozen feet or less away from the group.
"W-wait..." she called out, her voice sounding louder than it actually was only to herself as she slowly raised herself to her knees and quickly shed her backpack. With the huge burden being lifted from her shoulders, the pack slowly seeping water through the seems, she quickly emptied her little lute of the muck that had gotten inside of it and shakily got her her feet with the most confident smile on her lips and whipping her wet hair out of her face... only to have it whip around and get stuck in her eye-patch and she had to finally just remove the thing entirely. She'd just make another eventually... some said she looked badass this way. she didn't agree but she wouldn't argue.
She played one out of tune note before there was a loud TWANG and she glanced down to notice... one of her strings had snapped.
"Ah..." she muttered to herself softly, a low chuckle coming over her as she stared at the broken string in disbelief. "I... I do think that's a first for me... failing to preform, I mean."
She glanced over the group that stood before her now, a pretty young lady laying down in the dirt with moonlit hair, Ben the hero who brought her to safety... well, as close to safety as one could get with that jump, and sitting down near the riverbank was a man with strange steel-gray eyes and heavy armor. Her eye's widened suddenly as to see what he held in his hands. it was then that she realized that she was missing something very important as her hand brushed over her hat-less head.
With sudden speed the girl was over by him in mere moments, crouching beside him with her lute held tightly to her side so it would never be lost and quickly asked him. "Hey, uh, funny story, that's mine and I think that..." In the time it took her to blink once Liliana realized how close she had gotten to the man that Ben was supposed to vanquish... capture... whatever! and quickly took three steps back with a nervous chuckle. "Hehehe... I-I... Well, if you would be kind enough I mean... I mean, we are here... I mean B-Ben is here to stop you from doing, well, something but I'm just here to kind of watch and record things and I would REALLY appreciate it if I had my hat! it gives me artistic strength!"
It seemed as though she would never stop stammering, or talking for that matter. But whenever she did Liliana always felt like she always left a strange and awkward silence... She wasn't sure what was happening at the moment, she had missed a lot of what was going on.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Ruliya on Oct 6, 2017 12:21:14 GMT
Zaphia watched intently as the two men fluffed themselves up like Cockatrices and pranced around each other. A common tactic amongst Humans she'd noted.They talked about wanting to go to the castle for the girl who lay unconscious which meant she might not have to intervene after all. She began securing her bow on her back once more when another human fished herself out of the water. She seemed rather energetic and nervous, odd since she had nearly drowned moments earlier.
Before Zaphia could do anything however, a new sound caught her ear and she looked skyward, the sun was on its waning path and it would soon be dusk, trails of orange had already started to sheathe the sky, and then she saw it, a Raven, it cawed loudly again, sharp and distinct. She wondered if it was the same one as earlier. She looked upwards, the group below now mostly forgotten as the Raven circled above. Something seemed off about the bird, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Zaphia put it out of her mind for now, as she quickly made her way back to the castle.
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 15:03:27 GMT
Galen
Galen looked at the girl with a tired gaze, unsure of where she even came from. 'The river I assume,' he answered his own question sarcastically, a small smile crossing his lips as he extended the hat towards the water logged woman.
"I plucked it from the river," he said in his warmest voice, trying to calm her nervousness as she snatched the hat from his grasp, "as for 'stopping' me....I reached an....agreement with your friend over there." He pointed at Luna, "I gave her my word that I would get her to the palace, your friend picked up a contract to do the same. As long as he keeps his word you have nothing to fear from me."
|
|
|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 16:36:15 GMT
Ben
He chuckled softly "Such an odd girl, hehehe. Well we're wasting time here so I guess it's time to get a move on with these two." He placed Old Reliable on his shoulder offering a hand to Galen. "We'll get her patched up as soon as we reach the palace, as per our agreement. They'll probably want to place you in chains so you can't do any 'funny business'" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Galen "Besides that I do believe we should get a move on, no need to keep everyone waiting ya?"
|
|
|
Post by draco on Oct 6, 2017 17:25:37 GMT
The way he spoke to her was gentle and kind, strange for what she had assumed to be the villain of this story. But truly, she wouldn't argue or think about it too much as he extended out her hat and with a big smile she plucked it from his hand and pulled it onto her head after messing with her hair for a second. Then she quickly frowned as water dripped from it onto her face and she quickly took it off and tried her best to dry it out without ruining its unique shape by waving it in the air. Liliana seemed to feel better about the whole situation, her whole face seeming to brighten up and, despite almost drowning for a moment there, was in a good mood.
"Thank you, kind sir for getting this for me. It is my life's blood! my strength!" she said with an extremely exaggerated bow that left her at a ninety degree angle, her hand with her hat over her heart and the other extended outward. When she finally stood back up, she threw her lute onto her shoulder by the neck and grinned a wide and happy grin. "I see! So dear gallant Ben was here to save the damsel in distress! as were... you?"
There was a brief moment of confusion as she had to think about what he just said, thoughtfully tapping her chin as she connected the dots in her head. Contract, given word, the silver haired girl being the center of all this attention. Even now she didn't know who this Sylvaire person was and why their name sounded so familiar. She snapped her fingers once when she finally came to a conclusion and looked over them all. "Ah, yes! Now I get it! It was a big misunderstanding then!"
But the mention of the royal family still stuck into her mind, and she realized something fantastic that she got all giddy about as she quickly ran back to her waterlogged backpack and lifted it from the ground and began to rummage through it. "Now, I must come along! How could I not after witnessing such a display of heroism and bravery from you all! Surely they would ask for someone to recount what had happened and I, Liliana Capri: the Nightingale of Asimar, will be the neutral party for such an occasion!"
She got frustrated with her bag and just decided to dump its contents onto the ground, out came a small harp and a single drum, a herbalist kit, some soggy rations, and a bunch of equipment to fix her instruments if they ever got broken. Quickly she started getting a spare string for her lute and got absorbed in her work if only for a few moments...
|
|
|
Post by shadowknight on Oct 6, 2017 17:54:24 GMT
Galen
He couldn't help but laugh at the energy the young woman radiated. 'Liliana Capri,' he mused as he took Ben's hand and let the man help him up,'what a strange girl indeed.'
Galen agreed with Ben, it was time to get moving. As Liliana restrung her instrument Galen walked towards Luna and crouched down, scooping her up in his arms like a parent with a sleeping child.
"Alright," he said glancing at Ben over his shoulder as he leaned back slightly, making sure the bulk of Luna's weight was evenly distributed across his chest and arms. "Lead the way Tergum."
|
|
|
Post by Zeritia on Oct 6, 2017 18:28:20 GMT
Ben
Ben chuckled at Galen's statement. "Ehehe, you remind me of the Captain with the way you spoke for a moment." He didn't care to elaborate on what he meant and began leading them back towards the castle. He managed to gather the attention of two guards. "You two go grab the Captain, I've got his target with me. Also tell him to bring a healer, the girl in Galen's arms has been pretty roughed up." The two guards adhered to the command as they rushed to grab their captain and his request. He gestured for his 'prisoner' and...'Companion'(?) to follow him once more as he made a decent pace towards the castle. After all getting ample guards for his prisoner and a healer would take a little bit of time.
|
|