Closed Gold Glitters Bright on East Street (Mortuus)

[Leila]

Timestamp: Spring 46, 513 Leile and Shaco were walking through town, enjoying the cool air on this cloudy day. She had several errands to run today, the first of which involved her going over to East Street and placing an order for a barrel of lager. Apparently her boss knew a guy that got it cheaper than average by less than savory means. She didn't mind the shortcuts to save money, she just really wished she didn't have to be the one going to take care of it. But she liked her job, and liked being paid, and her boss gave her a small pouch of fifteen gold mizas, and told her that if she lost it, she'd be working it off for a while. Shaco led the way, pulling at his leash as the entered East Street, which seemed gloomier under this cloud cover. He said it was almost all the way at the end, a house with a green door. She held Shaco close trying not to draw any attention to herself. The road was muddier here, and she passed a man on the side that was drunk, unconscious, or dead, and sent shivers up her spine. Several uncomfortable minutes passed and she found herself in a conundrum. On the left hand side of the street was a door with a faded green door, and on the right, a door with an even more faded green door. She fretted, getting nervous, decided to go with the one on the left, pulling out the pouch of gold coins. She knocked on the door timidly, praying to the gods that she got the right one. A large man with a smile missing some teeth, lots of stubble, and an unhealthy amount of scars answered the door. He looked down at her, then her gold pouch, then to her dog, then back to her. "What you want?" "Um... um I'm supposed to come to the green door, and um... place an order for a barrel of um... lager. I'm her on behalf of um... World's End Grotto. The usual deal, fifteen gold mizas for a barrel to be delivered." "Sure, sure I remember now. Come inside for paperwork. Dog stay, upset cat." Leila, a little nervous about entering his house asked, "Can you just get the paperwork and I'll fill it out here?" The man, already tired of the naive games, grabbed her wrist violently, and pulled her in the house, causing her to drop Shaco's leash. He slammed the door shut, and she could hear Shaco growling and barking violently as he attacked at the door, trying to get to his owner. The man slapped her hard, sending her sprawling to the ground, her ears ringing, the coins spilling everywhere. "I take your money, and anything else I want," then he spit on her, "bitch."

[Mortuus]

East Street was always less lively during the day. Mortuus supposed that was probably because most crimes were best carried out under cover of night. Her job was no exception, the taking of lives was always easier under a cloak of shadow, it was an art best viewed by two people the assassin and their intended victim.

Today Mortuus was scouting out potential contacts, there was always a ready need for killers like her. While she may have gotten quite a good deal doing some work for the Yshul cult she was always looking for more jobs that wouldn't attract much attention. It was best to have many sources of income than just one stable one.

As always the tall tan skinned woman had her tulwar at her side, the mere sight of her hand upon the pommel of the curved sword was more than enough to deter most pick pockets. Her cold blue eyes saw all, the woman being forcefully dragged into the house across the street, the barking dog trying futally to get inside. Like everyone else she was rather apathetic towards the situation, writing it off as not her problem, at least at first. As she prepared to leave the scene behind her and leave this woman to her fate the other side of her, the stunted moral side of the assassin that her friend Lexa had carfully cultivated told her to help the woman.

She ignored the voice at first, but as it continued to nag at her she finally gave in turned on her heel and headed towards the house.

Whoever she is she had better be grateful, Mortuus thought in annoyance of her own weakness.

The tall woman approached the door cautiously, her hand on the hilt of her weapon as she come closer. The dog was frantic in its efforts to get in, scrabbling and barking at the door. Mortuus eyed the dog carefully as she placed her ear to the door, wanting to assess whatever was going on in their first before charging in.

[Leila]

Leila looked up at the man through stinging tears, the fear of death and harm quickly kicking in. She quickly flashed to the many days leading up to her moving out last season, where her dad was teaching her to defend herself. "Since you've made up your mind to move out, which I fully support," then dropping to a mutter, "Even if your mother doesn't." He led her out to the backyard, "I want you to know how to take care of yourself. There is a lot of danger in the world, and you can't always rely on others to help you. There are several important lessons you need to learn, and the first are the weak points of the body. This will not make you some great fighter, so if you can run, then do so. This will just help you reach that opportunity to escape. Back to the weak points, they are toes, fork of the legs, throat, nose, eyes, and ears. If you can damage those just enough, you should provide enough time to get away. Now stand there, I'm going to try and attack you, and I want you to do the proper thing." He moved so that he had a very open stance, and then stepped violently, quickly in her direction. The eighteen year old girl yelped, turned and fled, leaving her father there laughing. "It would seem you did pay attention to what I was saying, even if that wasn't what I was going for. Now, let's say you can't get away without fighting back. Let's go again." He rushed toward her again, she squealed and kicked upward, her shin striking him in the groin. She fell to the ground after losing her balance, with him joining her shortly after doubled over in pain. She quickly scrambled, and ran away. Through pained gasps, her father responded, "Great job honey. Now help me up." As she reached down, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down, wrapping his arm around her neck, starting to choke her. Her arms flailed wildly, while her father calmly said, "Remember what I told you." The girl's fist wildly flailed against his face, but his hold maintained. She continued to scramble til she found his ear, which she pulled and twisted hard, causing him to yell loudly and released her. She then stomped on his toes and scrambled out of reach once more. "Well done, well done. Another thing you need to know is that anything in your environment can be used as a weapon for you, and against you. Some people see a chair, where others see something you can hit an enemy with. Just remember this. We will practice more later." Returning to the present, Leila kicked wildly up at the man, but he was so tall her short legs couldn't even reach his groin, causing him to laugh. He looked down at her with lusting eyes. Until her heel slammed down on his exposed toes, causing him to squeal several octaves higher than normal. But he didn't fall. He grabbed her by the front of her dress and picked her up, her legs kicking wildly against his trunklike midsection. "You're gonna pay for that bitch." He pulled back one large fist, when luck smiled upon Leila. Her body slipped out of the dress, leaving her in just her slip, and her foe punching air, losing his balance falling toward her. She moved just enough to not be crushed as he fell into his table, sending a one the wooden legs flying. He was still between her and the door. She quickly grabbed the leg, and held it behind her, as he started to recover, his nose bleeding, and a look of pure hate in his eyes. He got up to his knees and reached for her, grabbing her wrist once more. But with her other arm free, she jabbed the narrow end of the leg into the lump of his throat, causing him to choke briefly, and letting go of her. She quickly ran for the door, seeing freedom, when an iron grip took hold of her ankle, and she slammed into the wooden floor. Breath lost for a moment, as he pulled her towards him, she managed a single shout, "HEEEEEEELP!!!"

[Mortuus]

Mortuus narrowed her cold blue eyes, her blade already sliding from its sheath with a very sinister hiss. The desprate sounds of a struggle and the shout for help was all the evidence the assassin needed to know what was going on inside. Her hand fell upon the knob, ready to throw open the door.

This was not exactly something she was used to, usually she was the one killing a struggling and helpless victim. The role of rescuer was one foreign to the tall woman, she had been taught that the strong survived and the weak deserved whatever they got. Something was changing in the assassin though, and it was all Lexa Maze's fault. If this situation had occured before she had met her friend she would have never given this problem a second thought and would have left the woman to her fate. Now though, with all of her conflicting emotions finally being given a chance to come to the surface of her mind, she felt obligated to help here.

The woman threw open the door and swept inside, her long curved blade out before her. There was a scarred and rather ugly man pulling a distraught woman towards him, his eyes glinting with malice. As he looked up to her to see who had burst into the house Mortuus fixed him with a stare that would frozen the blood in most men's veins. That gaze was often the last thing many of her victims saw before their lives were cut short by her blade.

"Release the woman and I'll consider not washing the floor with your blood." The assassin commanded her voice seeming as if it was a few degrees below freezing.

[Leila]

And the man did freeze under the woman's fierce gaze, Leila looking up in shock at her, at the blade held aloft, at the viciousness in her voice. Leila took that moment to kick free of his grip with a gasp, only to see a furry blur pass her by. Shaco. His massive body moved past her to her attacker, his jaws clamping down on the man's shoulder, eliciting a pained howl, blood trickling from his maw. The man went to punch her dog, but Leila through herself on his one good arm, trying to pin it to the ground. He may have been strong, but there was no way she was going to let him hurt her family. He struggled violently trying to shuck them both off, only causing Shaco to strengthen his bite, now jerking his head side to side, tearing the flesh further. Panicking the man laid slack, and hollered, "I give up, I give up! Get him off of me! I'm sorry!" Leila slowly got up, making sure the man didn't try to strike Shaco again. When he didn't, she commanded her friend, "Shaco, down. To me," as she stepped away from the injured man. Shaco thought against it for a moment, then released him, then quickly skirted over to Leila, who was standing near the door by the bladed woman. The man's shoulder looked awful, just before his good hand covered it. He laid there, apparently at the command of the women now, defeated, and he knew not to test his luck. Leila looked around his small little flat, "Stay where you are." She tried to say it with the ferocity the other woman had, but she felt it came out more as false bravado. She grabbed up her pouch, and began filling it with the fallen coins. Satisfied she moved around the man's home, looking for details about him. She quickly learned to pick up on people's personalities based on their homes from her mother dragging her around to all her 'friends' places. There was a stack of empty wine skins, beer flagons, and spirit bottles in a corner. She peered into a bedroom from the main room, and saw a broken child's rocking horse. On the wall was a crude drawing of a woman, a large man, and a child. She made an assumption of the man, and pitied him deeply. So she decided to play on a hunch, "Here's what is going to happen. You're going to get up, give this woman that saved me whatever money is on your person, since you're just going to use it to get drunk. Then you're going to come with me across the street so that I can make this delivery. Finally we are going to go get your shoulder fixed up before it festers, which I will pay for. If you have any problems with any of this, then you will die a slow, painful death from infection. You may be okay with this, but I don't want that on my conscience." The man's shoulders slumped, beaten, knowing he was hers to do with as she pleased. She turned to her savior, "Thank you, if it hadn't been for you showing up, I'd probably be dead or in a layer of hell I never want anyone to experience. I know you owe me nothing, and in fact I owe you my life, but would you mind escorting me and our new... 'friend'. I don't have much money, and it would seem neither does he, but I can certainly find some way to pay you back. I'm eternally grateful, and will be forever indebted to you."

[Mortuus]

The scene that unfolded before Mortuus was rather amusing and brought a ghost of a smile to her lips, which disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived. Mortuus still kept her sword out, but brought it down out of gaurd, she really had no desire to play escort to anyone it did seem very professional.

Then again, neither is rushing to the rescue of some random woman, the assassin mused.

She turned her attention to the man that was now in the woman's custody, her cold eyes still very much hostile.

"If you have the money you have my time, for a little extra I'll gut this fool like a fish." Mortuus said, directing her words at the woman but her eyes at the man.

She took no satisfaction in how he flinched, to the assassin he was just a possible extra to the payment she'd get from this woman. Lexa probably would not have liked that little remark but she had already saved some random woman who needed help, there were limits to her good will. The assassin returned her gaze to the other woman, awaiting her response.

[Leila]

Leila frowned, wondering if this woman was some sort of sellsword, a person whose sole task in life was to make money by hurting people. She felt that it was these kinds of people, those willing to do anything for an easy miza, that led to the nastier side of life. She had no doubt that the woman worked hard at her job, but it felt so unnecessary to the world's benefit. "You'll get your money, minus a little extra should he die. And if I die, you get nothing but time lost, but I doubt that will be an issue. And he's a man, not a fish, and should not be treated as such." She turned to the wounded man, "Let's go before you bleed to death. First across the street, then to the University Infirmary. You can lead the way." The man slumped past the sellsword woman, Leila close behind, posture straight, face forward, as the man dripped his way along. "The green door," she commanded, not looking back to see if the woman was joining them or not. Leila and the man made it to the door, his face slightly more pale, as Leila knocked. A short, wizened, bald man answered, squinting up through thick spectacles, "Can I help you?" Leila smiled, held out the pouch of coins, "I'm here for an order of honeyed mead on behalf of World's End Grotto." The man snatched the pouch, held it in his palm, "Hmm... fifteen goldies... so you're wanting it delivered directly?" to which Leila nodded, "Alright, expect the delivery three days from now. Good day to you ma'am." The door was shut, their business concluded, and leaving Leila surprised at the man's quick efficiency. While their business was going on, however, a few things happened that only a trained eye could see. A man across the street had seen Leila's injured friend leave his house, a look of recognition and hatred upon his brow. A bird call and a wave signaled two more companions, one on the roof of the injured man's house, and another in the alley next to his door. But perhaps the most important aspect, to some, was the fact that the man who'd signaled, carried a pouch from his belt that looked oddly like a money pouch. And it sure hung heavy. The man on the roof trained a shortbow on the injured man, drawing the arrow back, taking a breath, then loosing it with a slight twang, as the arrow flew down toward its target.

[Mortuus]

Mortuus merely shugged her shoulders at the woman choice to keep the man alive, it was her money. The assassin quietly tailed the two, an ever alert expression on her face as the woman conducted her exchange with the bald man at the green door. She kept her eyes squarely on the prisoner, her blade ready to slice him down without remorse if he tried anything.

As the woman finished up her business Mortuus' sharp ears immediately honed in on a bird call. A signal. The assassin looked around for the source, turning just in time to see the bowman on the roof release his arrow. Time seemed to slow down for the assassin, everything seemed to move much more slowly in that second the arrow flew through the air.

In that split second the assassin made a desicion, she didn't know who the archer was aiming at but she decided to weigh which of the two people she was escorting was worth more alive. The man was expendable, she might get payed a little less for him being dead but she would still get paid. If the woman died though...

Mortuus immediately pushed the injured man forward, hoping that if the arrow was indeed heading for the woman than his worthless hide would at least provide a decent shield. A hiss escaped her lips a moment later when she felt the arrow graze her arm, shooting into the ground where the injured man had been standing moments ago. Her sword was up and ready instantly, even as she moved to grab the injured man and shove him towards a nearby alleyway. As she moved to grab the woman the assassin looked back and saw the archer already placing another arrow at the ready.

Quickly she grabbed the girls wrist and forcibly led her to the alley.

"We need to get off the street before that archer makes pincushions of us," assassin hissed into the woman's ear.

[Leila]

Before Leila knew what was happening, she saw the man pushed in front of her by the woman. A slight thud, and Leila looked down, seeing an arrow where the man had been, her mind sluggishly catching up to the truth. A sword was drawn, the man pushed into an alley, her wrist grabbed, insistent that she follow the man into the alley. Finally her mind realized what was happening. They were under attack. Twang. This arrow flew into the alley, scoring a deep groove into Leila's forearm, which provided just enough diversion to keep it from hitting the man. She'd never thought she was going to die before, and certainly not like this. Where was Ricky when you needed the Wave Guard most? The two men on the ground advanced toward them, one heading for them in the alley, the other heading for the woman. Mortuus' challenge smiled, with a mace in one hand and a knife in another. Meanwhile, the one that approached Leila and the man held a knife and swung a net that hung from the end of a rope, making small circular motions, a smirk on his face. The man froze, realizing the alley was blocked, some sort of construction going on at the other end, perhaps a new shop being built. And Leila froze, facing their attacker. Her eyes looking for an escape, and finding none. She backed up, unconsciously putting herself between the man, and his assailant, not even sure that they were after him. Maybe they were after her savior, or her, though she wouldn't know why about the latter. The two in the alley backed up to the half built wall, finding it too high to scale. Leila found a few bricks, and picked one up, her attacker advancing down the alley. She chucked the brick, only to see it not even reach the man, bouncing harmlessly to his feet, his smirk widening. She grabbed another, and tried to put more force into it. But he simply sidestepped it, continuing to approach. She scrambled for a weapon, and found a piece of lumber, a few rusted nails sticking out of the end. She grabbed it, her hands barely able to fit around it together, holding it out in front of her like a sword. "Stay away from me, from us! Stay back!"

[Mortuus]

Mortuus had her blade at the ready as her opponent approached slowly, armed with a mace and dagger. An odd combination of weapons if she had ever seen one, however she was not complaining as he looked unskilled in their use. His stance was also rather horrible, his legs were too close together and the grip on his weapons was too tight. Just another back alley thug soon to be dead in East Street.

The assassin noticed that the woman she was escorting was facing some difficulty, another thug. She'd deal with him in a minute, for now...

Her current opponent was careful on his approach, his weapons poised and ready, a sick grin on his face. He struck when he came close, which was the last thing he ever did in this life. Mortuus jumped back from a clumsy backhanded sweep from his mace, and skillfully sidestepped a thrust from his dagger. Her sword immediately swung through the air, the motion almost mechanical at this point in her life.

The man screamed loudly as his hand was cleanly severed by the chop, falling back to clutch his bleeding stump of a hand. The assassin was already advancing on him, her tulwar singing malevolently through the air, slicing into his neck with a sickening wet pop as it severed his spinal cord. The thugs motions became limp and Mortuus pushed his body from her blade, her expression cold.

Now she turned her attention to the other man...