At the foot of the stairs, Antar paused when Kiara paused a moment, wondering why she was stopping. Straining his senses to tell him what was wrong he heard muffled curses through the doorway on the first floor, signs of a conversation being had. But nothing immediately could be discerned.
Taking the lead he ventured slowly up the steps, this time making sure to place his feet as close to the side of the steps as possible where they met the wall and the support brace in order to limit the chance of creaking. Abberant noise was not a friend in this situation. Each step up and it felt like his nerves were on edge, and the nervousness of his task made him feel like his stomach was somewhere below his knees at this point.
And checking behind with quick glances that kiara was following and there was no activity from the guards at the gatehouse didn't help matters any.
Finally, the pair reached the top of the staircase, and Antar moved towards the doorway. For a moment he checked the lock, worried their journey might end here, but luck smiled upon them as the door opened. Creeping his way inside the warehouse the voices below them began to get louder and louder as they continued. Making a quick decision he ducked behind an area with a few sack bags and pointed kiara to another set not five feet from the door. On the far side of the top floor loft several bales of hay could be seen, an out of sorts element in a place dedicated to sales of fish.
Raising himself up a bit to his toes, he skirted a glance below to find on the far side of the warehouse's first floor there were rows upon rows of wrapped corpses, and the air rang heavy with the scent of limestone; to prevent the smell from traveling.
It was obvious this fishery was more then what it appeared to be...
Noth cast a quick glance at Kiara, making a motion to keep a lookout before he turned to creep closer to the edge of the loft to get a better view of the men...
There were five of them below, several armored. Three of them were looking rather unhappy as the leader spoke to the pair they had followed.
"Listen, I don't care if you were bringing me something to make up for the last quota. I want the jobs done on time damnit!" The man with the crossbow muttered an apology before the boss let out another perjurative, "Feth, don't you dare try to make excuses for me either! So you brought me one more body now when I wanted it last night!?! You think that makes things easier? What if someone saw you? What if those buying our goods didn't like how this was being handled?"
The second man from the wagon spoke,"But boss, Them nuits aren't really going to care , are they? I know the bodies go to sahova, but does it really matter? We got the last one to fill the quota of what we missed here now. Might not be a bum, and rather someone who irked Drakius here, but still in good shape. A body's a body to those in Sahova, right?"
"Don't tell me what to do, maggot! I don't pay you to think; now isn't that right?"
"Erh, yes boss. Sorry boss."
"Well then, I suppose that's good. Never do it again! Otherwise I'm sure you should consider I might just give them Nuits a bonus by adding two more bodies to the batch? Specifically yours you two idiots!"
"Erh, yes boss. Sorry boss." the wagon man muttered as the two guards of leader leered a moment before the man spoke again,"
Ach, whatever! You're wasting my time, at least we have the second wagon loaded with the next batch of bodies. Luckily, since you disappointed me last night you two oafs will be the ones delivering it!"
There was a second where Antar ducked back behind sight as the leader turned towards the top loft, "Jeez now I got to get Solomon to prepare another corpse, Lazy bastard usually sleeps up in the hay..." The man turned upwards and shouted, "Hey, Soloman! Get yar' lazy arse up! I got another body for you to prepare to take to the docks, The boys and these two knuckleheads are going to go grab a bite to eat."
Antar mind bit off a curse as the five walked out of the warehouse's large front door as a sleepy cry from the far side of the loft muttered something loud enough to sound like, "M'kay boss!"
Ducking back behind the crates, Antar's eyes met Kiara's as he unwound a set of beads at his wrist. Spreading the garrote wire inside far enough for the darkened metal to be seen. He'd rather let the oaf pass by quietly, but Noth knew if they were in danger of being discovered, he'd have to act. Hopefully looping the wire around Solomon's neck to silence him and constrict the airway while his cohort stabbed him to death.
But that was only if they could take him by surprise. Noth at least thanked their present positons as each one flanked one of two routes the man might take, either coming towards the stairs, or to the ladder nearby...