Never a Dull Moment (Zandelia)

by **Shadowfang** on April 24th, 2012, 1:57 am

33rd of Spring 512AV

Shadowfang sat just inside the Establishment, finishing up the process of wrapping his body in bandages to cover his fur. Everything except his fingers and his head from the eyes up was concealed by the wrappings, effectively masking one of his race's defining features. He pulled the wrappings tight around his arms a final time and tucked to loose strip in. He then grabbed the cloak on the floor next to him and pulled it around him, covering his wings. At a glance, someone might think he was nothing more than a very tall, very hunched over leper. He gave Master Tua a final nod goodbye and pushed the door open to walk out side.

He methodically put a hand on each dagger, feeling the hilt and pommel of each weapon. Apparently, this next delivery was going to be so dangerous that Tua was sending two word runners. He had told Shadowfang that he had already given his partner the letter and that she was waiting for him outside. Odd he thought, I did not see anyone waiting when I walked in. Outside, he looked around, searching for the woman who he was supposed to help deliver the message. He took a couple of steps into the street and turned, still scanning the area for anyone who looked like they would accept a line of work like this.

What he saw almost made him jump from equal feelings of surprise and joy. There was Zandelia leaning against the wall of the establishment, letter in hand. He strode up to her at almost a run and looked down at the spy. This recent discovery made him very excited for this job. As long as he was by his teacher's side, he felt like this delivery would be a piece of cake.

by **Zandelia** on April 26th, 2012, 12:49 am

Zandelia had taken up her customary position within the walls of the Establishment once again, leant against the wall and seemingly at ease with her surroundings. It was not entirely a front for the crowds either, she had been within the building so often in the past few seasons now that she wagered she could point out all of the small imperfections in its décor. She knew the regulars too, their faces and their habits as they sought out the best jobs of the day, covered with sweat, and proceeded to bicker over them. She found that amusing, wondering if they would realize one day that to simply take what they wanted all they needed was a spine. This day, however, she had more interesting matters to grab her fleeting attention.

Greiv, the giant weasel and source of unknown wisdoms she thought to herself as she eyed him for a few moments, stood but paces away. A more unlikely source she could not think of, however she had grown to rely upon his unique perspectives.

“Hey Greiv, did you hear about that story about those whores or something?” she asked him, keeping her voice filled with enough feigned confusion to fell an ox if hit with it, “I heard some were found dead, or that they killed some customer with connections or something. Proper dead meat I heard they were now” she finished, leaning towards him almost conspiratorially now.

“Some said that their deaths were ordered” she tapped her nose and took a step towards him now so as to become closer, a gossip willing to converse with her partner. She sought, of course, to persuade some hidden gems from his jaws, if he indeed held any such thing upon the matter.

The mercenary frowned as he fiddled with the handle of his axe, pulling at it in thought as if he were deciding whether her remarks were worth answering. He was professional though, still eyeing up the throng and searching for those a little too willing to fight for employment. She knew she would not like to be on the receiving end of the man’s arsenal, his sheer size and brute strength enough to buckle the most stalwart of knees under its power. Still, he did not see Zandelia as a threat and so posed her no danger. She was an employee after all, he had little knowledge of her outside of the walls of the Establishment and probably cared not to. He was the perfect informant, even if he did not know it.

“Nah, not important enough to order them dead,” he spat upon the floor then with gusto, “prolly just got a bit too involved with cutting money off of their due share. Pimps and madams don’t care much for that. Though..” he seemed about to speak but was then forced to eject a man with a bloody nose and a woman with bite marks upon her arm from the building before coming to stand next to her once more.

“Yeah? You know what then?” she prompted him when it seemed he had forgotten he had been speaking.

“Oh! Well, I heard tell that there were whores gone missing and found dead without no one even caring. Somewhere, forget where now. What’s your thing about whores anyways?” he suddenly asked her, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh, just plotting a career change one day” she grinned at him and left him laughing as another familiar figure came over to her, just as a clerk handed her a missive to run without so much as a word exchanged.

I was wondering when he would finally notice me, the little pup she smiled at Shadowfang as he came up to her, for all the world surprised she was there at all.

“What have we here then? A fellow word runner and my little pupil, how the world turns and surprises. Where’s that letter going then? Maybe we can get there together eh? Be good to see if you listened to what I taught” she chuckled at him as she looked at her own letter and saw that it was for the Wharf and Old Legs.

Perhaps I can bind him to me more this day? she thought as she thought as her plans seemed to come together a little bit more.a

by **Shadowfang** on April 28th, 2012, 10:57 pm

To avoid disturbing the bandages covering his mouth by talking, he simply held up his own letter and nodded in answer to her question. It was addressed to the same place, but for a different person; a man who Tua only described as "baldy." He had told Shadowfang that he would know who the man was when he saw him. The Zith looked down at his teacher and his gaze turned curious. He tilted his head towards the armed man she had been talking to, questioning her silently on who he was and why she was talking to him. Surely she had her reasons, and whatever reasons she had were probably good ones, but Shadowfang's curiosity had been piqued and he wanted to know.

When she had said her piece he turned and beckoned for her to follow, pushing his way through the door and into the city of anarchy. He put the hood of his cloak up to disguise himself fully and fell in step next to the human, not wanting to take off running until he had filled her in with information that he thought was important. He briefly pulled the bandages around his mouth down so he could talk. "I am not allowed to fly. I would be shot down. Tua want's mine delivered before the sky darkens. He told me to say that the same rule applied to you for this one."

He paused for a second and tried to remember if there was anything else she needed to hear. He was sure that there was nothing else, or at least he thought there was. He glanced down at her. "Plan?" he asked simply. If it were up to him, they would simply begin running towards the Wharf in the straightest path possible, but he if there was one thing he knew about Zandelia, it was that she always had a plan, and that her plans would usually work.

by **Zandelia** on May 30th, 2012, 10:13 pm

Zandelia listened to Shadowfang’s own destination, his missive heading in the same direction as her own being a pleasant surprise. It had been some time since she had had any company when racing through the darkened alleyways of Sunberth. In real terms it meant that the survival rate for their little sojourn was all but guaranteed as a certainty. Still, she knew how luck could run against you if you were too presumptious and so did not voice such thoughts out loud. She instead thought quickly, running through the mental map of the city she had gleaned over the years and seasons. She knew the streets as well as anyone she fancied, her knowledge put into practice easily enough. She had a route planned within moments, serviceable and direct as she could figure it.

“The plan is not to die dear Shadowfang, not to die. However,” she smiled softly then at him, almost knowingly, “I do have some directions for us. We head east from here, cutting through the alleys between here and the docks. It’s quicker but more dangerous. Still, a good way to see how much you have learnt eh?” she chuckled then as she began to lead him towards the entrance of the first alleyway.

And, I think, before beginning we need to set some ground rules. He hasn’t seen me work nor worked with me. If I am to show him anything he should know the score before setting out, it is only fair she thought to herself sternly, schooling her mind not to show favoritism in an overt way, not until she was ready to do so.

“Now, I run fast and I run hard Shadowfang. You either keep up or you fall behind. Crimson Edge you are and that’s as good a phrase as any to sum up the motley crew,” she began with the most important rule of them all, “second, you do what I say and when I say it. If I tell you to wait then you wait, attack then you attack. We will likely encounter opposition in at least one of the more open spaces in the warrens so be wary and stay alert. I’m not getting killed today. Are we clear?” she asked him, awaiting a small nod of assent before setting off without a backwards glance.

The pace she set was fast but not as fast as she could go for the most part, her words were more for dominance than anything else. She would not leave him behind but he did not need to know that, especially if the desire to not get separated kept Shadowfang giving as much as he could possibly give I terms of effort. Being able to coax out the best in someone was the first stage in infiltrating their mind. Soon enough, if her plans came to fruition, he would begin to see her as a way of excelling. The drive to succeed was a powerful one to use in binding him to her. She did not look back, did not talk as she pumped her legs rhythmically, balls of her feet skipping across the dusty ground as her breathing became deeper and faster. She took them through the warrens, taking a right at first and head south, roughly, to avoid some of the more dingy areas of the region they were traversing, and then heading back east in their endeavor. After a little while she began to slow a little, her caution being of more need than her speed as they crossed the threshold of danger, a small time gang of sever rats and their little turf war a notable obstacle if their luck ran out.

“Stop” she hissed back to him softly, motioning with her arm for him to halt close behind her. She leant her back against a nearby wall, noting how the sweat was already cooling and her clothing sticking to her skin. She tilted her head as she tried to discern any others ahead of them, seeking the telltale footstep of mutterings of roughened thugs.

“For the next section we must be careful, avoiding any fights if we can. We aren’t stupid after all. Still, we will probably face some form of opposition,” she told him with the barest of whispers, “perfect time for you to take the lead then. Show me what you can do lad” she told him as she placed her hand upon his shoulder and took up her place behind him.

Letting him set the pace for a bit will give him time to recover too if he finds himself a little tired from our run she thought as she kept her one-eyed gaze flickering across their surroundings.

by **Shadowfang** on June 6th, 2012, 10:52 pm

Shadowfang was immediately at Zandelia's heels. Her pace was fast, almost too fast for him, but he was able too keep up with difficulty. However, with every twist and turn she would inch ahead of him, not enough that he would be left behind, but just enough to worry him that he would not be able to go as fast as she did. Then, thankfully, they slowed and soon came to a stop. He leaned against the wall next to her, trying to keep his fast, heavy breaths quiet. He just sat there and rested for as long as he could until she put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him in front of her. Wait, she wanted him to lead? He spent no more time asking questions and quickly began to come up with a method to get through this area which his partner obviously was suspicious of.

He crouched low and took a couple of tentative steps forward, tuning his ears into the city around him. His eyes were next to useless in this bright light, but his ears were as sharp as ever. He listened closely, detecting every noise in the immediate area. He heard a group talking in low voices but could not quite make out what they were saying. Still, it would be best to avoid contact with anyone, especially a group. The thing that worried him was that the voices were in the direction of their destination. He drew a throwing dagger and rounded the corner, headed in the opposite direction of the voices, still crouched but moving fast. They would need to find a way around. The less confrontation they had to deal with, the better.

He did not bother to look back at Zandelia to see if she was following. He knew she would and he could hear her close behind him. He rounded a corner and was spat out into a street. He could hear people in houses on the other side of the narrow street, but no one on this side. It seemed that they were in the no-man's-land between the turf of two rivaling groups. He could not decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way they would probably have to fight someone in order to make it out alive, but Shadowfang was going to try to delay that event as long as possible.

From what he remembered of the first groups position, they would need to make it to the end of the street and round a corner. Then it would be a mostly straight shot to the docks. Or perhaps weaving their way through the maze of alleys in the no-man's-land would be safer. He forced his way through the door of the first house to find it empty, luckily. He ran over to a wall and wiggled through the window that led to a small alleyway. Unable to find another window that would lead them into the next house, he traveled along the alleyway until he was spat out into another narrow street. Now he needed to run past another house and get into the next alleyway without being seen.

Before he could begin moving, an arrow clattered off the ground right in front of his foot. He heard people begin shouting and knew that more arrows were probably on their way. Without any further thought or even looking back at Zandelia, he took off at a sprint towards the next alleyway.