Fire [finished]

[flippedside]

OOC: Finally getting a reply up! Ick. I hate finals. And it's actually a decent length, too.

Kaye looked sharply up, seeing the dark shapes blur against the leaves and sky. She widened her pupils until they glowed green, her iris' almost lost in her eyes. Her leopard counterpart allowed her to have unnaturally good night vision when she wished. The birds movements became dark gray silhouettes, every feather edged in sharp lines. They were strangers to her: even with having two hawks in her group, she knew none of these were Nightfall members.

A sick feeling twisted her stomach and she looked sharply towards the chest. It was sitting on the ground nearby, lid locked and warded. There was no easy way to break into it...but Kaye herself had learned how to pick locks guarded with magic. It was tricky, but possible. And the people who had taught her...She didn't like to remember them, but she also knew that she had something of theirs. Two things, actually...locked and hidden in her chest. And then there was her own life...The fact that she was still alive and no longer a part of them must enrage at least their leaders. It wouldn't be the first time they had tried to take her life. And now, with Nightfall, she was gaining something of a name and a reputation. A part of Kaye demanded that she run now, but the rest kept her face still and mask-like as she thought.

Think. They wanted to be seen...or at least didn't care if they were, so that suggested either foolishness...Or they knew that they were much stronger than Kaye's band, and were only flaunting the fact. Could they want something? Best not to run...yet. She didn't want to leave what she had and what she'd worked so hard to build, separate from the past and those who would control her.

She glanced back up at the sky, but the birds were gone, only the black shadows of the trees remaining against the night darkened sky. She stayed still a moment, but the strangers didn't return.

Kaye turned to the nearest member of Nightfall, and demanded, "Double the sentries. And check to make sure the current ones are still alive." That was always a danger when others were watching: the easiest way to watch was to silently eliminate the sentries on guard. She looked back at Willow, hesitating for a moment. She still found her meeting with the girl strange, but she didn't think that Willow was part of some conspiracy against her. It wouldn't make sense with the girl's willingness to meet up with them and then warning her of the low flying birds.

She leaned over and grabbed Willow's bag of weapons, tossing it to the girl. "Here. Cut yourself free. Those weren't ours and I don't know what they want...Better if you're not dead if fighting comes." Evan had moved silently up behind her, and she turned towards him, questioning.

"You saw the birds?" he asked.

Trust him to see that, Kaye thought. She nodded.

"Did you recognize them?"

Kaye could only shake her head, but again that warning shiver fled down her spine. What if it was...? But why should it be? That was years ago, now. She unconsciously looked towards the chest again, wondering what she would do if it was them. Run and leave Nightfall? They might be better without her, in that case. Burn what she'd taken? She should have done that years ago...She pulled herself back into the present. "Keep things looking as normal as you can--though with the way they were flying, I almost think that they intended to be sighted."

Evan grimaced and Kaye remembered that most of them had enemies that they had fled. But mysterious strangers watching from above was always enough to set a merc band on edge. Especially a small one...

[Willow]

Willow quietly followed Kaye’s orders, slashing through the tough leather as if it were silk. It wasn’t just Nightfall that had extremely sharp weapons.
Pausing only to briefly roll her shoulders, Willow slipped all of her weapons into their respective sheaths or pockets, then checked the weapons she’d been left with that she hadn’t previously been able to reach, checking they were all in easy grasp. They were, of course. No use having a knife handy if it’s not easy to grab.

She waited until the grim exchange between Kaye and Evan had finished, then spoke up with a low voice.
“If you like, I can climb up there-“ She jerked her head at the nearest tree, glancing pointedly at the higher branches that were still strong enough to hold her weight, “-and see if I can spot the birds again. I could have a go at catching one of them too – I’ve done it before. If they’re flying low enough, I should be able to manage it, if they come past me.” She intoned, pulling her bag off her shoulder and rummaging in it until she pulled out a pair of black loose trousers, a pair of same-coloured boots and a black, high necked, long sleeved top.

She pulled them all on top of the clothes she was already wearing, swapping the boots and shoving the white ones in the large bag, which she then tossed lightly to the side of the chest, where it lay in shadow.
Once her sword harness and belt was settled again and she straightened up, small tears in the black clothes appeared, letting only the smallest gap of shadowed white show, along with the line that indicated the pockets that held her other weapons.

“Reckon I should give it a go?” She asked, obviously referring back to her previous suggestion, her grave eyes almost as black as Kaye’s, save a tiny band of green.
“I’ve already picked out a way up, and I’m confident I can get there very quietly. I can scout around for anything suspicious, plus I won’t be in much danger – if they expect aerial scouts, then they’ll be looking for bird shifters, not humans in trees.” She reasoned, then added as extra incentive; “It’ll also mean less danger for your people, from the air anyway. They can’t surprise attack you from above as a bird if there’s no target there.” She concluded, moving her shoulders in something like a shrug, ducking her head and letting Kaye make the decision...although, she might just ignore Kaye if she said no. She wasn’t Willow’s commander, after all.
She kept these thoughts behind an impassive face, however, her eyes letting nothing show as she waited for Kaye’s response.

[flippedside]

"Go ahead and give it a try," Kaye replied, aware that if Willow were working against them, climbing the trees would be the perfect time to give some sign to the enemy. Oh, well, might as well have all their enemies out in the open, in that case. She glanced about for Jarad, and then remembered that he was doing guard duty. Well she wasn't about to climb any trees for herself.

Turning to Evan, she said, "Double check that all the sentries are still alive and then report back to me."

He nodded and trotted off into the surrounding trees as Kaye considered their position. It wasn't bad: it had initially been chosen just in case it needed defending. Granite flanked their back, and trees shaded them from unseen eyes. There were no fires lit, though the air was not yet black, and with her cat eyes, Kaye could see perfectly well. She wondered if it would be better to hold their position, or fade back into the woods. The later would only work if she knew where their enemy was, though...Damn.

She repeated the word aloud, cursing the situation and her lack of knowledge in the same breath. Willow, meantime, was speaking sense about the advantage of climbing trees over sending a bird up. The girl was clever, Kaye had to give her that. And if Willow was on their side...she would be a definite asset. She just wished she had some assurance...Never mind. Time would tell all. Kaye could only plan for so many problems. Things would happen as they would, and she could only do her best to survive.

She nodded. "See what you can and let me know. I hate not knowing what we're facing." She grimaced slightly, allowing a little of the disgust and anger she felt at the situation to show through.

OOC: Sorry it's short, I'm sort of waiting for Willow to lead the way on what happens next.

[Willow]

[OOC: haha, okay. Note: this post may show just how much of a daredevil Willow is....the things they taught these kids/the kids taught themselves are ridiculous...]

Willow nodded sharply, a little jerky bob of the head as she looked back at the tree again, her eyes tracking up the path she’d seen.
It was one of the taller trees in the area, but it wasn’t suicidally big for what Willow planned. It just might hurt a bit more when she landed...

Taking a calming breath in, she held it for a moment, then let it go.
She swung her swords off her shoulders, leaving them unhindered. If she needed a weapon, she had the numerous blades concealed in her clothes, after all. She also, upon a second thought, chucked all her footwear next to her bag, leaving her barefoot. She’d need all the stability she could get up there.

Confidant she wasn’t going to catch anything on a stray tree branch and mess up, she started forward at a sudden, controlled sprint, kicking off powerfully from the ground as she neared the tree, sailing towards the lowest bough.
It was just a bit too high, but that didn’t worry her. She merely kicked off the trunk of the tree the instant her feet made contact and boosted herself up the last few feet, swinging up onto the thick stem of wood and balancing like a cat.

Once she was up on the first branch, the rest was easy; the boughs grew quite close together after that. It was simply a matter of pulling herself up each one, moving with the quick quiet that showed long practice and efficiency.

Once she was halfway up the almost seventy foot tree, she paused and hunkered down near the trunk, shrinking easily into the shadows of the above leaves. With her absolute stillness, she wouldn’t be noticed unless she was being actively watched or looked for.

Satisfied that she wasn’t being spied on from neighbouring branches, she continued her climb, her breathing still controlled but slightly rougher than the start, although she was nowhere near out of breath.

A full five minutes after she started, she reached the top of the tree, bar a metre or so where the branches grew suddenly spindly. The one she balanced on now was creaking slightly, but it only slightly worried the woman balanced atop it. She concentrated now on looking around from her new vantage point, still close to the main trunk and lurking in the shade, becoming a part of the tree to any observer.

It was a relatively still night; the tops of the trees didn’t rock much, but it was enough to seize Willow’s hair and spin it into a frenzied brunette-black tornado.
She quickly pulled it down and restrained it with a couple of strips of thin leather, at both the base of her neck and the bottom of the matted rope, the bottom tie having a surprisingly heavy dull red stone attached to it. It wasn’t enough to keep her hair perfectly still, but it stopped it from going wild and drawing attention to her.

The stars were clear and very close up near the sky, but they didn’t hold Willow’s attention for long; instead she was looking for a void in their beauty that would indicate a flying spy heading towards her.

Two minutes she waited patiently, methodically scanning the sky and horizon, until something large and black caught her eye.
The crow, heading in her direction, oblivious to the girl sat in the tree just a few tens of metres away and closing.
Smiling slightly, Willow tensed, judging the space from where she was to where the bird would pass by her, and then to the nearest tree. Her safety net.

She waited until the very last moment; when the crow was as close to her as it was going to get, and then she acted.

She jumped out into the open air, seventy feet above the ground, her unwavering eyes trained on the black feathers in front of her, uncaring that from this height, if she’d misjudged, she was dead.

The crow shrieked in surprise and alarm, but it was too late – it’s caw was cut short before it had gathered sufficient volume for the noise to be a warning, its beak clamped shut as it was bundled roughly under Willow’s arm, trapping its wings and body between her elbow and side, its ebony beak silenced in her iron hands.

All this happened in a half second whilst she was in mid-air; she now arched downwards, crashing through the weaker branches at a petrifying speed.

Gasping quickly now, Willow reached her free arm out loosely to catch onto the first sturdy branch she hit, but cursed sharply as one of the breaking branches stabbed her hand and bent her fingers back.
She felt one of them break, making her swear again.

Glancing at the ground screaming up to meet her, she juggled the crow under her arm with the damaged hand and grabbed blindly for something to stop her fall, and lost her breath in a relieved sigh when her hand slapped into a branch and reflexively gripped it.

This would have dislocated or broken her arm had she just pulled herself to a dead stop, but she knew better than that.
Willow instead used her momentum to swing around the bough like a trapeze artist, swinging a full three-sixty degrees then rocking to cast off the last of the movement, mentally thanking whatever crazy god or guardian angel that was watching her that her wrist hadn’t broken or popped out of joint in that crazy stunt.

Once she’d recovered her breath and a heartbeat more normal for a cat rather than a human, she began the slow descent down, ignoring the first shocked then struggling crow underneath her arm, except to curse and squeeze it until it stopped fussing when it knocked her damaged finger.

Reaching the lowest bough, she glanced down at the ground six foot away and jumped, landing in a berry-less blackberry bush and rolling out to absorb the impact, before sitting quietly for a moment and closing her eyes, apparently calm until she slowly fell backwards, lying on her back with berry bush twigs digging into her head, and started laughing almost hysterically, simultaneously trying to stifle the noise with her good hand while the crow glared up at her balefully from under her other arm, clearly under the impression that she was completely and utterly deranged.

Once her fit of relieved euphoria had passed, she lay still for a moment, relaxed apart from her still vice-like grip on the bird, then sat up and got slowly to her feet, wandering over to where Kaye was.

“Got ‘im,” She said hazily, still grinning broadly from her adrenaline rush that was still causing her skin to tingle. She barely noticed her finger until she handed the crow over to Kaye, whacked it on the head for causing her the trouble, then examined her injury.
Her left middle finger bent awkwardly in the second section of bone, a slight split in the skin loosing beads of blood to stain her pale hand.

“Pigging crow,” She growled mildly, closing her eyes and holding the damaged digit between the first two fingers and thumb of her other hand, clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth as she shifted the bone back to where it should be.
That done, she raided her bag, holding the bad hand away gingerly, found her medical supplies, and quickly bound the break to the finger next to it and splinted it with a few strands of sturdy cloth and slim pieces of smoothed wood.

Her first aid complete, she packed her bag away and wandered back to find Kaye, munching on a few poppy seeds to dull the pain. Willowbark tea would have been better, but since there was a ban on fires, the seeds would have to do. They’d take the edge of the pain away.

“So, if getting that one to speak is a job open to anyone, mind if I take it? I’ve got a bit of payback to deal out...” She said, eyeing the bird with distaste, wondering if breaking a wing would get the spy to talk. Possibly. It depended in whether he’d experienced Willow’s type of ‘interrogation’ or not. Something she and Jarad seemed to have in common.

[OOC: wow. 1,385 words. good post for me ]

[flippedside]

Kaye watched Willow prepare herself, slightly puzzled by the woman's movements, though she didn't let it show. Her counterpart enjoyed cliffs and high vantage points, but had never been a tree climber. She watched Willow leap up at the tree and then begin a rapid rise in the branches. Kaye paused a moment, wondering what would follow her allowing Willow to free herself and become an easy signpost. Well, either she'd read the woman right as being what she said she was or...But it didn't matter. The bird shifters had something planned. Kaye's job was to see that they didn't all die in the process.

She focused on seeing that those remaining in camp knew of the danger. Weapons were slid closer, but no one made any sudden moves. They were well-trained and knew it was better to act normal and pretend to know nothing when being watched. Kaye could only wait and see...

There was a sudden loud cracking sound in the branches overhead. She jumped to her feet, unconsciously drawing her weapons. She wasn't the only one: out of the corner of her eye, she could see several others also pulling out swords and daggers at the sudden noise. With her sensitive cat eyes, she picked out the sharp gray lines of movement as a figure, high up in the trees, tumbled through the branches. Kaye could only guess that it was Willow and that the wolf-woman was about to meet her end. She shook her head slightly. Well that answered her question about spying...

But a moment later, Willow did some acrobatic high flying leaps, and managed to land herself neatly on a branch, still in one piece. Kaye raised an eyebrow. "I think it's all right for now," she murmured. There was quiet muttered movement, and though no one's hand left their weapons, dinner was resumed.

Quiet shifting behind her brought her attention sharply around. "Everyone's accounted for. We've got five on watch now," Evan reported. Relieved that none of her sentries had "disappeared" without her knowing it, Kaye nodded. She hated to admit that she cared deeply about the lives of those in her band. For her, it was more than a matter of common sense or money that they survived; Kaye was genuinely concerned for them.

Willow walked up, grinning broadly, the bravado that had first warned Kaye off sparking in her eyes. Kaye said nothing, merely taking the crow that was handed her. She watched Willow warily as the woman smacked the bird and then fixed her finger. It wasn't distrust of her motives that bothered Kaye, but rather that her boldness would accidentally get the rest of them killed. Still, she had to give Willow credit for catching the bird: something Kaye would not have tried. Or at least, she wouldn't have done it Willow's way. A brief grimace ran across her features while Willow was busy with her hand. Kaye thought briefly that she was lucky it was only her hand that was hurt, but decided not to dwell on the thought. They were vastly different in many things, and it wasn't likely that either would ever see quite eye to eye.

What to do about the bird, though? Kaye at last turned her attention to the crow, who was sitting still in her hands, but glaring balefully at her. "I don't suppose you have something to say?" she asked it, more as a way of musing over the best way to get the bird to talk than because she expected an answer. The bird, predictably gave no response whatsoever. If it was a professional, Kaye thought with a dull feeling of exhaustion, they would have a hard time getting it to crack. Worse, if it was some nightmare come to life from her past, she already knew that no amount of torture would get it to reveal anything. Best to hope that wasn't the case, but she was already praying for that, anyway.

Willow came back up, asking to be allowed to question the bird. Kaye was startled that Willow even bothered to ask, but she shrugged. "Guess we need to get it to become human first, hey?" she asked. Kaye did have a trick for doing that, but first..."Want Evan to help heal your hand? He can at least dull the pain."

She glanced back at the man in question, making sure that she wasn't speaking for him, but he nodded in easy agreement. Healing earth magic ran in his veins and though it wasn't powerful, it was effective.

That aside, she quickly grasped a length of cord and moved to bind the bird's legs. Her attention no longer fully focused on the bird, it jammed its beak into her hand, wings flapping wildly. Kaye shook the bird, who instantly shifted into a man, hand grabbing at a dagger, as the weight of his body caused her to drop him. "Now that was effective," Kaye commented, grinning broadly. The man had thought to escape her when her attention was seemingly not fully on him...But nothing could further from the truth. With a snarl, he charged her. She dropped into a crouch, ducking smoothly out of range as her hands snatched twin daggers from her belt.

A knife spun through the air, landing squarely in the space where the intruder's shoulder met his chest. He staggered back, face paling as his hand went automatically to the spot where he had been stabbed. Kaye knew it to be a place filled with nerve endings, and guessed that he was in considerable pain. She didn't have to look to know that Fynn had thrown the knife: he was the only one in the band besides her who had that sort of accuracy with knife throwing.

Kaye finished her movement, coming smoothly up to the man's side and slamming her fist into his temple. She stopped herself from the automatic movement of follow through with her dagger that her hand wanted to do. No need to kill the man. He fell with a thump, and Kaye and Evan instantly bound him hand and foot. Kaye propped him up as she quickly rooted out weapons from his clothing, before turning to Willow. "He's all yours. I'll wake him up for you."

From her pack, she pulled a small, nasty smelling vial and waved it under the man's face. His eyelids flickered and he coughed, turning away from the stench. Kaye quickly stoppered the vial, turning away from the stench herself. The stuff would wake the dead, she thought dryly, sliding it back into it's pocket in her bag.

OOC: 1111 words. How's that for a nifty number? I think I'm competing (unintentionally) with you for word post count. I have no idea how I made that that long...

[Willow]

[OOC: haha, well, looks like you're using my trick I usually try to get about the same word count/slightly more than whoever I'm rping with...although topping that might be tricky...]

Willow seemed surprised at the offer to have her hand healed, but accepted politely. It’d be easier to concentrate without the pain nagging at her.

She watched Kaye trick the bird into transforming, her expression alternating between grinning and looking vaguely alarmed. She had to suppress a laugh at the initial shock on the crow shifters face as the knife thudded into him, although the shock instantaneously gave way to stunned pain, then the blank limpness of unconsciousness as Kaye knocked him out.

She had to admit, Nightfall were proving to be more and more efficient the longer she stayed with them, though she didn’t say anything aloud, too busy watching Kaye and Evan truss up the spy, then bring him round again.

She nodded as they handed him over.
“Judging by how you’ve treated me over the past few hours, I’m guessing you don’t want him screaming too much?” She asked, crouching down facing the man, wrinkling her nose as she caught the residue scent of whatever concoction Kaye had used to wake the man.
At her assumption, she saw a sneer start on the captive’s face. He evidently thought that not much screaming meant not much pain. As if to emphasize the point, he spat at Willow, catching her cheek.
Cobra-fast, Willow had shut off his airway with one hand and sank her fist into his stomach with the other, drawing a choked gargle of pain from his constricted throat.

“Don’t expect to be getting off lightly just because you won’t be making much noise; I know ways to torture someone for months and not have a sound above a whimper escape them, so don’t go making any presumptions here, understand?” She asked quietly, wiping her face calmly with her punching hand. On the surface, her voice seemed clinical and detached, but to those who were close to her and could see her face, the underlying menace could be heard and seen in her face; contorted into an ugly snarl.

She released the man’s neck when his eyes started to roll and his head loll listlessly, whacking him on the back between the shoulder blades to shock him into keeping breathing.
“Now, are you going to cooperate, or do I have to hand you over to her second? Trust me, he’s probably far better at this than I am, and I could do this with my eyes closed.” She continued once he’d come around enough to understand her, nodding her head at Kaye to indicate whose second she meant. Her voice, contrasting to the vicious rasp it had hidden before, was smooth and silken now, but the threat of violence was still there.
The prisoner glared at her hazily, clenching his jaw shut. He wasn’t planning on talking anytime soon.
Willow shrugged; unconcerned. He couldn’t stay silent forever.

Her demeanour had changed again; the cold hearted woman from her and Kaye’s initial meeting had taken over.

“We’ll be over there so we don’t disturb the rest of you too much.” She said, nodding to the shelter of a tree fifty metres or so away, close enough to be watched but far away enough to be ignored.
With that she grabbed the bound man and lifted him, slinging him over her shoulder with a slight noise of effort, the tendons in her hand standing out as she kept a firm grip on him while she walked to the tree, dropping him to the ground and hunkering down next to him, lips moving as she spoke quietly; no doubt more threatening promises. Her victim merely sat, stony faced, looking as if he was concentrating completely on ignoring her. A difficult task when she choked him again to break a finger, a grim ‘now we’re even’ murmuring past her lips. Once he’d recovered, it didn’t seem to faze him. Willow sighed. This was going to be a long night. She wondered how many bones she’d have to break before he spoke, and what to move onto next if she ran out of breakable bones. Hamstringing, probably.

[OOC: a comparatively short post...and Willow's getting serious. I probably won't write anymore about what she does, incase I break the PG13 violence limit. I you think I have done there, tell me and I'll edit.]

[flippedside]

Kaye watched Willow warily. The man was good: he wasn't going to reveal anything any time soon. That could be a problem. She felt her stomach churn slightly: there was a difference between harming a captive and a fair fight with an enemy. Still, the man was an enemy, and they didn't have all night to deal with him. Disgusted by what she was about to do, she turned to Evan. "Get Jarad for me, please. Trade places with him."

Evan eyed the crow-shifter before nodding grimly to her and disappearing silently into the surrounding foliage. Jarad was good, and they both knew it. Maybe too good.

Kaye sat cross-legged, thinking her own silent thoughts. She knew that this was one of those times that would sit uneasily with her long after. But...she sighed. In the choice between an enemy and saving her band, the enemy lost. Jarad appeared.

Kaye pointed to Willow, who was in the process of breaking another of the man's fingers. "We've had some intruders. Spies from above. Willow caught one, but he's not talking."

Jarad perked up slightly. "You want my help?"

"I don't want to know anything about it, is what I want," Kaye snapped.

Jarad shrugged. "You know as well as I that it's the threat of violence that makes them talk, not the actual pain."

"I may know how to interrogate prisoners," Kaye said coldly, "but I find it disgusting."

"And that's why you leave it to me." He grinned broadly. Kaye looked away, not wanting to know whether Jarad was actually pleased or only putting on an act. With him, it was often hard to tell. "I'll help."

Kaye looked at him coolly and nodded. "By the way, anything strange while you were on guard duty?"

"Besides our flying friends?" He shook his head. "Not exactly. I got the sense that there were others out there, but without directly investigating, I don't have any real idea. Nothing came close."

Kaye nodded.

"That's it then?"

She nodded unhappily again.

Jarad saluted her with a grin, "I'm on my way then, O Captain."

"Oh, shut up."

For some reason, this struck him as funny, and he laughed as strode over to his pack, snatching out a few things before going over to join Willow.

"Right, so I understand our new friend isn't feeling too friendly." Jarad grinned broadly at the man, his manner completely different from Willow's quiet menace. He squatted down and studied the man silently for a moment before speaking. "You know, this is really all a mind game: my mind against yours." He tapped his finger against his temple as he spoke, and then against the spy's. "Unfortunately for you, the cards are all on our side." Jarad grinned, an easy almost friendly smile, except for the deadly craving for violence that ran beneath it.

"So, let's start this out the correct way, shall we? I'm Jarad, and you are--" He let his words hang in the air. The man just glared at him. Jarad shook his head sadly. "Kaye thought you were going to be hard." He shrugged. "Well, it's your choice." He slipped out a vial and continued talking directly to the man. "This contains a wonderful drug that will loosen your mind--and your mouth. Wonderfully effective...For me, that is. Granted, you'll probably ramble about strange things, like the monsters with knives that are slicing your guts to pieces, but we'll just have to sift through the nonsense, won't we?"

He continued to smile as he spoke, the threat more in the glint of insanity in his eyes, than in his actual words. Jarad saw the faint edge of worry in the man's eye and was pleased. He had built up an act, and he pulled it through, waiting for the concern to change to fear. Then they'd be getting somewhere.

"Now, we'll try this again. I'm Jarad and you are..." His voice trailed off, waiting. The man merely looked disgusted. Jarad shrugged and turned to Willow. "Hold his head," he commanded, as he popped the top of the vial. He squeezed the man's nose shut, ignoring his struggles, and gave him a quick punch to the solar plexus. The man exhaled in a sharp whoosh, and Jarad dumped his drug in the man's mouth. The man swallowed reflexively, and Jarad smiled, pleased.

"You know, effective interrogation is really an art form, of sorts. A dirty art form."

The man's glare was now edged with just the tint of fear. He had no idea what exactly Jarad had given him and so couldn't predict the results.

"It takes a bit for the drug to start working, so we'll just pop off some friendly questions to warm you up." He grinned, and tugged off his shirt, explaining, "I really don't like to get blood on my clothes."

Jarad stepped back, considering the man with a clinical eye. Darkly, he thought that he'd been trained by the best in the art of interrogation...and torture. But true to what he'd said to Kaye, he found pain only made for a useful back up. It was the threats and the act of insanity and pleasure in the other's pain that got them talking. Even the best had to crack eventually. And Jarad had learned to be an excellent actor.

He sat down cross-legged in the front of the man and asked Willow casually, "Which eye, do you think? Left or right?" He considered a moment and then laid his thumb against the man's left eye. "Maybe left?" He leaned in closer to the stranger, his eyes alight with a feral pleasure mixed with dark menace. "You can survive quite well without your eyes, but it is a painful process..." In cold detail, he described the act losing one's eye, letting the man's imagination work to fill in the gaps. He saw sweat begin to appear on the other's brow. "Oh, yes. Bones heal, but eyes...Well..." He paused, then asked quietly, the threat plain, "Your name?" There was no more joking in his gaze.

The man seemed to recognize that he truly would lose his eye if he didn't speak. After a moment, he gasped, "Allain."

Jarad sat back, removing his hand from the man's face. "Hmm. Interesting name. We'll see if you're lying or not." He grinned ferociously. "Ask away, oh, Willow. I'll make sure he answers your every question..."

[Willow]

[OOC: this post may be very rubbish/random cos it’s twenty to three in the morning and I’ve been out at a party so yeah, apologies if it’s a bit garbled.]

“You seem strangely happy for some reason...I wonder why,” Willow mused wryly as Jarad came over, not even having to look up to identify him. She’d heard his and Kaye’s voices in the distance; too far for her to make out the actual words, but she could guess.

She eyed the vial Jarad revealed, wondering if it was actually a drug or merely a placebo to mess with the guy’s head. Regardless, she saw that the thought worried the captive, although he still refused to answer what Jarad asked.

She rolled her eyes at that, moving behind the man and gripping him in an unbreakable headlock, jamming his head harshly in one place on Jarad’s order; locking her legs around his torso to still any wild struggling. His legs were bound too tightly to allow him to kick them.
She calmly wrestled his jaw open and held it like that until Jarad had emptied the vial into his mouth, only then clamping it shut until he’d swallowed so he could breathe.

Willow gave a tight smile at Jarad’s comment, muttering in an undertone; “You got the ‘dirty’ part right – there is no way that this is fair play.” Then she shrugged, a far more normal expression on her face as her lips pulled upwards. “But then, playing by the rules is never fun.”

She laughed aloud when Jarad gave his reason for going shirtless.
“You’re fussier than I am,” She chuckled, deciding that while she had the opportunity she may as well be her usual self and tease him, before the interrogation was over and she would be ten times more likely to get a black eye or sword gash for her trouble.

“Left or right...” She mused, considering. She leant around a little and tilted the man’s head towards her, her own sharp green eyes closely examining his. She noticed that the right was unfocussed and had drifted slightly; leaving him with just the left to look through clearly. Yet when she pulled back, his right refocused; seeming perfectly fine.
“His left; that’s his good eye. He can only see distance clearly through the other, anything close up is a struggle.” She said casually, watching the man’s expression go from blank shock at her succinct summary to increased fear as Jarad leant in to describe how losing an eye would feel.
’And how would you know?’ Willow thought sarcastically, noting that both of Jarad’s eyes were present and working as far as she could tell.

Glancing back at Allain as she shifted around to face him when he spoke for the first time, Willow felt the tiniest of guilty twinges, but buried it deep beneath her layers of training; her mask never slipped.

“Right then, shall we start with the basics? Such as what is your objective here, who sent you, and who are your partners in this. All of them.” She added, gesturing vaguely to the surrounding trees and sky, raising her eyebrows at him as a prompt for his answers. He knew full well what would happen if he didn’t give them.


[OOC: okay, it’s now 3:30 and I’m knackered XD night]

[flippedside]

OOC: How many days did it take me to respond to this?

Jarad was aware that his presence brought an edge to their questioning of the spy. He liked that: liked the way the man was starting to look uneasy. He had given a name, but Jarad doubted it was the man's real name. No matter. Names weren't worth much: only facts mattered. Still, it gave a nicely personal touch to his questioning, and that was what Jarad had been looking for.

"We'll start nice and slow. So, Allain, what great reward are you getting for staying silent? Have that much care for your comrades, do you? You don't really think that they'll let you live after this, do you?" He leaned forward, his gaze mocking. "Even if you don't say anything, they'll think you spilled everything. Especially if we make you look pretty." He grinned, eyes lighting with silent laughter. "Do you think they're missing you yet?"

Jarad sat back, abruptly growing serious, his goal to throw the other off balance. "Now then, you can talk to us, and we'll send you quietly away. No real need to kill you, is there? So, we'll start easy. How many?"

The man glared, his face looking slightly red. Jarad patted his cheek. "Growing a little hot in there? You look it. Drug's starting to kick in." He grinned, pleased. He knew he was disorienting the other with his quick jumps in thought and mood.

"Left eye, was it?" he asked Willow, turning to her for quick confirmation. "You know, I think we should leave that for last. The fun part should wait."

He paused, as if considering, and then slid out a narrow, fine knife. "This is an assassin's tool, in case you don't recognize it. But it's also useful for paring the skin off of a man." He held it up, to give a clear view to the spy, admiring the play of light down the blade. With a swift movement, Jarad cut a narrow slice down the man's chest. The knife was so sharp as to not even be instantly felt by the other. Jarad laid the blade against the cut and then gently moved it sideways, pulling away a fine layer of skin. The man's eyes bugged with sudden pain, but Jarad was swift in cutting off his air.

"Did you know," he whispered softly against the other's ear, "that a man can survive for hours while someone slowly flakes away his skin? Not only that, but you can live afterwards with only part of your skin. Of course, you eventually die, but it's a slow process."

Releasing the man to allow him to breathe, Jarad sat back, eyes narrowed against the slow stain of blood against the other's shirt. He twitched his shoulders slightly, showing fine white scars across his tanned chest. "Now then, how many?" He leaned in, laying his blade this time against the other's cheek, his face near the man's. Jarad smiled. He saw the spy's face pale slightly. The man knew that he wasn't fooling...And worse, that he knew what he was doing.

"Thirty," he offered faintly.

"Oh how kind of you!" Jarad exclaimed, sitting back. "And you thought you could attack Nightfall, why? Or maybe, are you a team? All thirty of you. Answer the second question, please."

His gaze was flat, waiting. Allain stared at the ground, but Jarad noticed that his skin was turning redder. It was faint, with the dim light, but enough to let him know that the drug he had given the man was kicking in. That was both good and bad. You didn't need torture to get information from a drugged man, but it also didn't always give you the information you wanted. Still, torture didn't necessarily either: men lied to get out of pain.

Truthfully, he preferred not to use torture because it wasn't as useful as many believed. He liked to match his wits against the other through convulted questioning and see where it took him. But ultimately, it was whatever worked.

"You were telling me whether you are part of a team of thirty or simply picked up for this job..." Jarad said quietly. Allain didn't respond, but his breath rattled slightly in his chest. An unnatural sound, but Jarad couldn't say for sure what it signified. He got his answer when the other looked up and spat in his face. "Go to hell," Allain snarled.

Jarad just laughed. "Well trained are you? You still won't last long."

[Willow]

“That’s two of us he’s spat at now,” Willow mentioned conversationally, casually restraining Allain’s wrist.
“Get his neck for me please? He won’t like this too much,” She asked, gripping two of his undamaged fingers on his left hand and snapping them. Brittle splinters, to her.

Watching his face boredly, she squeezed the breaks between her fingers and thumb, then twisted, the bone jutting sharply out through Allain’s skin in response, leaving the digit looking unnaturally crooked.
“Well, seeing as fingers aren’t working, the next time, you lose your hand. Don’t worry; I’ve got tourniquets, so you won’t bleed out. I’m enjoying talking to you too much.” She said sweetly, as if it were a good thing.

“Okay then, seeing as you’re so reluctant to say anything about the band you’re in, I’ll make things easier for you, yeah? Tell us about yourself instead. Where you live is usually a good place to start. Mind answering that for me?” She asked, her voice sounding genuinely kind and caring. Acting, Willow had found, was an extremely useful skill.

She saw their captive’s reluctance and sighed, slumping to rest her chin in her hand.
“Listen, if you tell me, I won’t break any more of your bones. Period.” She promised sincerely. And she wouldn’t, either.
She’d said nothing about avoiding muscles or hamstrings though.

Allain looked tempted by that, although he was clearly trying to see what a question like that would be worth to them.
Cautiously, he answered; “Taraval.” As soon as he said it, he looked as if he regretted it, although unsure why he did.

He watched in clear suspicion as Willow nodded politely, got up and jogged over to her bag, returning a few minutes later with a sheet of parchment and a stick of charcoal.
She started sketching lightly but with great detail; a face.

Without looking up, she asked another question. “Got any family, Allain?” She’d used this tactic to death, but it worked quite well. She knew it was a dirty tactic, but all she ever said were empty threats. Not that the subject of her mind games ever knew that.

Allain instantly pieced together that question and its predecessor, and cursed at her softly. Willow nodded matter-of-factly. “That’s a yes then. Now, I’d like you to answer any other questions we give you, Allain, because otherwise I will be going around Taraval within the next few days, asking for the relatives of this man,” Here she tapped the parchment with her fingertip lightly, showing that it was now marked with a basic but obvious headshot of Allain, minus the mask of pain.

“Now, I doubt you’ve given us your real name, but with a picture, that doesn’t matter,” She informed him as she resumed her activity, her tone emotionless. “Even if you’ve lied to us about your living in Taraval, it won’t take me too long to visit the other cities, and trust me, I can be very thorough when I want to be. I’ll find your family eventually, be they wife, children, parents or siblings, and I’ll get the information i want from them. Of course, they probably don’t know much about your band, but you’ll still be alive to see them. And I’m pretty sure your family would want you to stay that way. They’d want you back. So, are you going to protect them? Tell us what we want to know, and I’ll never go near them. But if you do otherwise...well, would you see someone you care about put in your position now because of you?” She asked, her voice as quiet as his had been. She could feel serpentine guilt writhing in her stomach, but ignored it. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to do something she disliked to get what she needed, and knew it wouldn’t be the last.

She paused in skimming her charcoal across the parchment and flicked her eyes up to his face when Allain spoke, her dark eyes troubled but resolute as his were pained but certain.

“You couldn’t hurt a child, girl. You’re still a child yourself. You’re too young to be running around, playing the warrior. You’ve too many morals to hurt a child, because you know they’re innocent.” He replied, quietly but confidently. He truly believed what he said. Willow almost smiled.

“Yes, I’ve got too many morals to hurt an innocent child, Allain, but I’ve known so many children that aren’t as innocent as you adults would like to think that I can stifle those morals if I have to.” She did smile then, sadly at Allain’s doubtful look. He didn’t believe her yet.

“Let me tell you something.” She said, starting before he could refuse. Not that he could do anything about it to refuse anyway.

“I grew up in a place that for generations had always been under attack, no person was safe, no matter what their age. So it had become a tradition to teach their children to fight and defend themselves as soon as they could lift a weapon. This wasn’t to teach them to kill as adults do; merely to buy them some time for a more experienced fighter to help them should they be faced by an enemy. However, the attacks started to die down a little, but the tradition remained in place. As you can imagine, teaching children how to end another’s life in dire emergency could also translate into killing at any time. We played stupid, dangerous games that, though rarely ended badly, often resulted in injuries heavier than a grazed knee or bumped head.” She smiled, to show there was a point to this story.

“A while back, a friend of mine seemed to go insane; he went on a killing spree as he left his home. Outside of the town walls, he ran into me. Perhaps even above his parents, he listened to me.” The sad smile was back, as she pulled off the black top and unzipped the torso of her cat suit, showing a lighter top underneath.
Rolling this up to show her lower ribs also bared the livid scars atop them, punctured from the bone breaking and punching through her skin.

“This is what children can do to each other,” She murmured, resting a pale finger on a bruise-purple scar. “If the person I was closest to in the entire land could do that to me, then I can harm a child I don’t know anything about to get what information I need. Harming adults is even easier.” She let the cloth top fall again and quickly closed the cat suit and donned the black jumper against the cold, sadness too old for her face gazing out of her eyes as she asked her next.
“Need I say more? Talk, Allain, else it will be your family who suffers for your silence.”

[flippedside]

Jarad held Allain still while Willow broke his fingers. "Going through a lot of fingers here," he commented. He was starting to seriously consider taking the man's eye out and not just threatening it...He'd seen it done before, and it was disgusting and horrendously painful. Vaguely, he thought he'd lucked out that he still had both eyes and his hands intact. Not that his own fingers hadn't been broken dozens of times, but...Amazingly, they still worked well enough to carry a sword.

Jarad sat back, watching curiously as Willow collected something from her bag. He didn't question her, figuring it was better to present a unified front to Allain. Besides, he had the sense Willow had done this before, so he wasn't worried about her attempting something stupid.

He understood as soon as she started sketching. It was a low technique, but useful. Jarad didn't know whether she would actually attack the man's family, but didn't care, either. Or at least, he chose to simply not think about it. Denial can be a useful trick, too...

He wasn't too surprised at the man's comment that he didn't think Willow would hurt a child, but he found it stupid and naive. You've been doing this how long now? he asked silently, narrowing his eyes.

He was intrigued though, by Willow's next words, as she revealed being attacked by another youngster as a child. He shifted forward, and backed her words with his own. "You needn't worry about whether Willow will kill children--because I will." He grinned, wicked laughter lighting his eyes. "I have before," he added quietly. It was true, and yet that event had been years ago...When he was a child himself. Never mind, the stranger didn't need to know that: didn't even need to know that Jarad was far less likely to kill a child than Willow was. It was the threat that hung there...And worked. He saw it in the man's eyes.

Oh, now we're getting somewhere, Jarad thought, his eyes darkening and narrowing.

"Who do you work for?" Jarad asked quietly.

Allain glared at him with pure hate in his eyes, but answered. "The Stone Riders."

"Oh shit."

Allain must have seen the look on his face because he smiled coldly. "And you can go on torturing me, but it won't matter: I've bought enough time for them to set up."

Jarad believed him. His gaze changed hardening to something dark and frightening as he stood slowly. All of the acting and mockery disappeared into something more sinister.

"You may have. But you haven't bought your own life. Or...tell me one thing, and I'll let you go."

"Alive?" Allain asked dryly.

"Alive," Jarad agreed. In serious pain, since I intend to beat you almost to death...

"What then?" In spite of the pain, Allain looked far too pleased with himself.

"Why?"

Allain raised his eyebrows. "Why surely you know? You know who we are, so you must know why we've come." His gaze was slightly mocking. He'd managed to gain the upper hand and intended to use it.

Jarad gritted his teeth and just barely resisted slicing his sword through the bastard's throat. Unfortunately, he could think of half a dozen a reasons that the Emperor's "secret police" of sorts would be here: and most of them had to do with him.

"You know, I only promised to let you live if you talked." Jarad tilted his head consideringly and then kicked the man in the ribs. He kicked hard enough to crack bones, following the move up by slamming his fist down on the other's collarbone. There was an audible snap.

Something in Jarad snapped at the same instant: a cold memory that haunted the back of his mind. The space was dark but two of the Stone Riders were there: assassins and murderers. Briefly, he felt pain in his own body flare again in response to the memory: blood and death haunted the air. And so did another's dead body.

Twin knives sliced expertly through Allain's skin, repeating the lessons learned from this same group. "Murderer," he hissed. Allain was too busy howling in pain to respond.

[Willow]

Willow hid her confusion at the name Allain gave them, and at Jarad’s reaction. She didn’t need to ask to see that it was bad. Her frown deepened when Allain implied there was some sort of trap being set up, presumably for Nightfall.

The new look in Jarad’s eyes bothered her a little. She’d seen murderous intent before, of course she had, but if a dangerous group was conspiring against Nightfall, then now was hardly the time to go crazy and take your time killing someone, purely for the thrill of it.

Her worry only increased as the two seemed determined to drag this on.
’Quit bargaining for his life, stupid swine! If these Stone Riders are as bad as you think they are, then why the hell are you taking your sweet time doing something about it?’ She thought, her sharp eyes flickering between Jarad and Allain as she shifted her weight into a tense kneel, waiting for something to happen that warranted a quick reaction. It felt inevitable, now. She cast a spare glance back over her shoulder at the rest of the visible camp, wondering what the ones watching this would make of it.

She turned back just as Jarad booted the other man in the chest. Willow barely seemed to twitch as she heard Allain’s ribs give way, but if an expert at reading body language had been observing her, they would have seen the underlying tension and revulsion as her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched for a moment. Though she’d done it herself plenty of times, she was still a bit reluctant to smash a person’s ribs. It brought back too-vivid memories of her own.

She glanced sharply up at Jarad from where she remained seated on the ground, wondering at what she’d heard in his voice, her own worry only just hidden.
Swiftly and smoothly, she rose to her feet and caught his shoulder in a restraining grasp, facing away from Allain, one foot resting on her toes, ready to run.
She shook him, ensuring she had his attention.

“I’ve seen people lose control of who they are in moments of rage before; don’t you make the same mistake. Kill him,” She told Jarad, jerking her head backwards at Allain without looking at the bleeding, almost broken body. “Just don’t enjoy it so much you want more death. Save it for when you can afford to be reckless. Judging from your reaction, I’d say this wasn’t the time.” She let him go, guessing he wasn’t about to break her face and hoping he wasn’t contemplating it. She didn’t want to have to cripple him if they were in for a trap or ambush now.

“Kill him in a second, but make it quick. I’m guessing you’ve more important thing to worry about. The Stone Riders - what should I tell Kaye? Does she know enough about them to plan a defence? Because I certainly don’t.” She asked; eyes impatient as she waited for his answer.

[flippedside]

Jarad hissed at Willow's words, but pulled himself together. He wanted to know why...But wasn't sure he was going to get an answer. Ignoring Willow, he kicked Allain in the stomach and snapped, "Why, damn you? Give me an answer before I kill you."

"You'll kill me anyway," the man grunted in reply.

"I said I wouldn't and unlike you, I actually keep my word." What a concept, he added bitterly.

"We're looking for rebel activity," Allain replied. "Heard there was some around here...Caught some of the rebels and heard your band made a deal with them. Have to say that you were better prepared than expected, but still not well enough." He shrugged. "But if you know who the Stone Riders are, then you know that's what we're about."

Jarad relaxed slightly. Well, it was still bad, but not as bad as expected. "Not all of what you're about," he replied with surprising calm. He paused, and then torqued the man's arm, causing him to fall unconscious with pain from his broken collarbone. "Leave him," he told Willow. "But if he gets in the way of the fighting, you've got free rein to kill him." Jarad shrugged and then turned back towards Nightfall. "We've got some work to do..." he muttered.

Kaye was waiting when they returned. "Well?"

"Stone Riders." Jarad wasn't surprised by her blank look. The group was like a cult, and the only way you knew about them was if you got on their bad side. Like the rebels. "Looks like they got information about us from the rebels back in Ashata. Forced some to talk, so now their after us. Listen: they're good, and there's a good chance that they'll kill us all if we don't do something drastic." Jarad was spinning ideas through his mind as he talked. "We need to take the fight to them in some way they don't expect."

"Better if it's several ways," Kaye commented.

Jarad nodded. Being outnumbered made things worse: So did not having enough time to come up with a solid plan of attack. "Let Triana have her fire. We may destroy the whole forest, but at least they'll get burned, too."

Kaye replied, thinking out loud. "They've got the darkness on their side: they can hide...And we have to have a way of escaping the fire ourselves."

She spun and picked out Sylaerel, pointing at her and then jerking her head in an order to come.

"Leave everything, except what's necessary," Jarad commented aloud. He picked someone at random, and then repeated his command softly. "Get together any essentials and pile them in the center of the camp for a quick leave. Everything else stays." They'd have to run fast.

"What's going on?" Sylaerel asked quietly.

"Stone Riders: Emperor's assassins of sorts. They're getting ready to attack us." He jerked his head at the still form of Allain. "Got a little from him, but we're out of time."

Sylaerel's eyes had widened in recognition. "Only ran into them once. We all died except me and another. Two days later, he was dead from his injuries." She shuddered, a surprising move from the normally cool and collected woman. "Almost died too. Only my magic and some wandering monks saved my life. Still got the scars..."

Jarad nodded. "Aye, I know..." His face was grim.


{OOC} Multi-colored fun! ;D Made everyone's words different colors, so it's a little easier to follow who's speaking.

[Willow]

Willow rolled her eyes tersely. “Thank you for the permission,” She growled sarcastically, following him back to the rest of camp, turning to leave the unconscious Allain on the ground. She paused, then went back to him and slit his hamstrings. It didn’t matter much if he got back to the Riders at this point, but Willow was a bit edgy about the possibility. It had never ended well before for her.
She caught up just in time to catch Jarad’s explanation to Kaye.

“It would help if we knew where they were,” Willow said quietly, knowing she’d be heard. They were both too anxious to miss anything above a breath, it seemed.

She waited for Sylaerel to join them and for the exchange to pause, and then spoke. Why did this seem to be her day for coming up with all the stupid, reckless, damn-near-deadly ideas?
’I really must be an adrenaline addict,’ She thought reluctantly, already starting to speak.

“Listen, these Riders, if they know how many of you there are from the rebels, and have been spying on you for the amount of time it will have taken to set this up, won’t expect an extra person. If they’ve been watching you recently then they’ll have noticed I’m not exactly welcome here. I can try and find where they are; and if they find me,” The nerves that slipped through her masked tone indicated what she thought the chances of that were - “then I can go with the whole ‘escaped during the confusion’ ruse after you got that one to talk. I can send them right into one of your own traps, or at least away from you. And, since you won’t trust me on my own with this, send one of your people along to shadow me and make sure I stick to what I’m saying now. That way they can kill me if I try to expose your position, they can report the Riders position back, and if one of us; whilst eavesdropping on them; makes a noise or is detected, I’ll take the blame and let your person escape. This way there’s limited danger to your own whilst getting rid of a potential hazard.” She pointed at herself here, tone sardonic, eyebrows raised. “Besides, I’ll only be shipped from one potentially hostile band to another. Just this one sounds nastier and probably harder to get away from.” She shrugged, hoping the others didn’t notice that she was worrying the inside of her lower lip with her teeth. From what she’d heard from Jarad, Allain and Sylaerel, she did not want to get on their bad side...

Too bad that that seemed to be a habit of hers.

’Ugh...why pick today to be the good girl?’ She thought, making doubly sure none of that thought showed on her face. She’d prefer for Kaye to think she was a bravado-filled thrill seeker with a death wish than someone who suggested an idea then realised she wasn’t up to it. That wasn’t who she was, after all. Nor did she have a death wish for that matter, but it sometimes helped if people thought you did. If they thought you had nothing to lose, they tended to be more careful around you.

She glanced around the small gathering, getting a sense of déjà vu as she waited for the response. Just as long as she wasn’t called stupidly reckless too many times...

[OOC: okay, lotta red. Believe it or not, Willow does actually want to live ]

[flippedside]

Kaye blinked and wondered if Willow was mad. And then immediately changed her mind, based on Willow's earlier words and actions. No, not mad. Just bold and...foolish. Well, Kaye wouldn't waste her life trying to spy on these Stone Riders, but...all of them had to be killed, somehow, or Nightfall was in serious trouble. And she had an idea.

"Jarad, bring all of our sentries back, but carefully, so that they won't be missed. Then have them gather up all of their things."

Turning to Willow, she finally answered her. "I don't think your idea is a very good one because I don't think you'll have time to find out and get back to us. I think we're down to a matter of minutes before being attacked. I might have a better idea...We'll see."

"Nightfall! Listen up!" She didn't shout the words, merely turned to the band and spoke in a normal voice. Everyone was edgy enough to instantly turn and focus on her. "I know I had you gather the essentials in the center here. Take what you can carry and get ready to move. When I give the signal, we're all going to shift and fade into the background. Animals are better at hiding undetected in the underbrush than people. Try to stay in pairs, we'll survive better that way." She paused, then chose who she wanted out of those who were available. "Triana, rather than setting an actual fire, I want you and your partner, Braen, to make an illusion of fire in two directions. Can you do that?"

Triana grinned madly, nodding. "Oh, aye, we can do that!"

"Kane...Can you do some of your illusions, too?"

The man merely nodded in reply, but a light flickered to life in his eyes. While Kaye wasn't much with magic herself, several in her band were quite good with it. Many of them were something of the dregs and outcasts of society, but they all fought beautifully together.

"That ought to throw them off a bit, while we come around to the sides...And then attack whatever you see. I wish this could be more coordinated, but we don't know what we're truly dealing with...If you have a chance to flee, you might as well take it." Kaye saw from the expressions on the faces of those she was talking to that none agreed. Her band truly was insane...But she knew she would fight like all hell let loose against these Riders...simply because they were attacking her band. And she would be backed up by the rest of them. She gave a sudden feral smile. "...Or not."

Her smile was reflected in the dark predatory eyes and faces of those surrounding her, and Kaye was deeply pleased. She had the best merc band out there...

Jarad returned with two others. "Evan's coming. Fynn's gone missing." His face was dark.

Kaye swore softly. "Grab your stuff, we don't have time--"

Her words were interrupted by a sudden sharp volley of arrows. Everyone dropped to the ground, as Jarad called out, "No! Don't take anything. If we survive we can come back!"

"Shift!" Kaye hollered. Her words were almost lost in the massive wall of flame that roared to life to her right. After that, it was essentially everyone for himself. They scattered swiftly into whatever brush they could find to hide themselves. Kaye used a simple trick that she had learned when young to help conceal herself: using the darkness as a cloak, and wrapping it around herself. More than that was up to her own talents.

Her hide was too white, and as soon as she'd bounded out of the immediate campsite, she turned back into a human, crawling forward into the darkness.

Jarad, meantime, never had a chance to shift. Cameron, trailing after him as he left his guard duty, was hit in the leg. He heard the man's muffled curse, covering a groan of pain. Jarad, lying in the dirt, turned towards him. "Can you crawl?"

"Think so."

"This way." They dragged themselves away, admist continuing arrow fire. One hit his shoulder, and Jarad reached over and jerked it out; it wasn't deep, but he could feel hot blood soaking his shoulder. He rolled himself against a tree and pulled Cameron over. "You might have an easier time of it if you shift."

Cameron nodded through clenched teeth, and then shifted into a heavy gray wolf. He immediately bent and began cleaning the wound with his tongue. Jarad could see it was bad: cutting deep into Cameron's thigh. The only lucky thing about it was that his bone wasn't broken.

Jarad wondered whether it was best to wait here with Cameron or go hunting. He opted for the later. "Stay here, and try to stay hidden as best you can. You're not getting far on that leg."

Cameron grimaced but nodded. It was clear to Jarad that he wanted to go fight.

"Don't worry," Jarad said dryly. "We're outnumbered. It's doubtful that you'll miss a chance to fight a few Riders yourself."

Cameron paused and then he grinned, and in his wolf form managed, "I'll tear him shreds."

"Aye, you do that," Jarad muttered, already sliding forward. A decapitated man rose from the ground before him, and he started, then grinned, remembering that Kane was casting his illusions. The sight was gruesome and frightening, with the creature flowing blood and ichor, with light half-passing through him. Even though he knew it wasn't real, Jarad went around the creature.

He was heavily aware of the fact that the Riders had all the advantages. Cautiously, Jarad moved past bushes and other objects, his senses on high alert for any sound or movement. Even with his hyper-awareness, he wouldn't have found the man if the other hadn't suddenly half-risen and slammed his sword down. Jarad rolled, feeling the weapon cut into his side, and came up in a half-crouch, drawing his sword in one fluid motion, which continued into an uppercut aimed at the man's midsection. Not surprisingly, it didn't connect, but Jarad's left hand was already aiming a throwing knife at the man's throat. He spun it out just as the man thrust forward with his sword at Jarad's chest. The weapon bit, but not deeply, Jarad leaping back. He lifted his sword up and down, cutting the other man's weapon away, but the fight was already won, the stranger having moved directly into Jarad's throw.

He found himself breathing heavily: not from exertion, but from adrenaline. The adrenaline burned away his sense of pain, spinning him around and towards the next possible spot. He didn't quite make it, just managing to see the arrow aimed at his face in time to spin away, using his sword to knock it off-course. Two men surrounded him, rising up out of the dark. One had an arrow aimed at him, the other a sword pointed at his back.

"Drop your weapons, rebel," the man with the arrow grated.

Oh, this is good, Jarad thought dryly. He lowered his sword and then abruptly brought it up again, covering his head with it as he dropped to the ground and kicked out with his legs at the archer's knee. The man gasped as his knee audibly cracked and he fell over, arrow flying off. Jarad was disappointed to see that it missed the man behind him. He didn't have time to think about it, though, as the man's sword cut the skin against his throat. He rolled sideways, just missing have his throat cut, and used his off-hand to interpose his dagger. It was a bad position.

The Rider stood over him and laughed: Jarad was on the ground, with his body twisted. He dropped his sword and jerked out another throwing knife. The man spun aside and then came down with his sword at Jarad's midsection. Jarad had no sword in range, but he drew another dagger from his belt, hearing the clash of steel as the dagger in his left hand met the man's sword. The man's eyes suddenly widened, and he collapsed on Jarad.

Jarad punched upwards with both daggers, and then rolled over on top of the man's bloody corpse. He staggered to his feet, surprised to see a very bloody but still living Fynn. A knife protruded out of the Rider's back.

{OOC} Only 1445 words... ;D Have fun with this. Willow can fight as many people as she wants. lol.