A Warm Welcome to Sunberth (Complete)

[Ysabel]

Ysabel reached a hand out towards the dark night hoping to find something to grab on to. She hoped to find Tawk. She heard a small splash signaling that something entered the water. She hoped for her sake that it was Tawk following after her and not a guard that had spotted her.

Suddenly her hand touched something. She recognized the texture as skin. She gripped whomever arm she had gotten a hold of. Even in the dark she recognized the features of Tawk. She gripped him closer to her with her free hand. She smiled at him in the night as the bobbed in the river heading downstream.

“You jumped.” She whispered staring at him in wonder.

[Tawk]

Suddenly her hand touched something. She recognized the texture as skin. She gripped whomever arm she had gotten a hold of. Even in the dark she recognized the features of Tawk. She gripped him closer to her with her free hand. She smiled at him in the night as the bobbed in the river heading downstream.

“You jumped.” She whispered staring at him in wonder.

Tawk submerged himself deep under the murky water. He stayed focused on hiding from the guards. He had trouble getting back to the surface as he only really had one good arm. He battled the current before poking his head out of the water. He glared around, feeling the delicate and soft touch of someone's hands. He sighed deeply with relief as he peered his eyes to make out Ysabel's figure in the darkness. The two slowly drifted down the river. Tawk nodded at Ysabel's remark, -"I couldn't just leave you be.", he murmured while gazing into her eyes. He shifted his point of view, scanning the area for a place they could get out of the river. He noticed with his keen eyes a place where that water became increasingly shallow, perhaps enough to stand up and climb onto the banks. -"Follow me Ysabel.", he called quietly, hoping to check his wound again.

He managed to get his foot down to the bottom of the river near the bank, and propelled himself with ease and climbed the bank. He signalled Ysabel to let him help the boy get up while carefully watching out for the cut-throats or the 'helpful' Nuit.

[Ysabel]

Ysabel felt out of breath as her feet hit the bar of the river. She still had the boy cradled gently in her arms, not really wanting to let go of him. She couldn't explain it but she fet very motherly towards him. This led her to wondering what 'the boys' name was anyway. Shrugging it off she decided that now wasn't really an appropriate time to be thinking of such things.

With her arms quivering slightly she handed the boy to Tawk so he could bring him ashore. When Tawk took the young boy Ysabel dragged her legs through the water her worn dress clinging to her body like a second skin, much like her translucent hair. Her lips had turned blue in the cold winter night and she shivered as she exited the water. She climbed the bank and rested next to Tawk on top of the bank.

Her mind was a whirlwind as she thought about what had just transpired that night. She had escaped. She was saved from her terrible fate. She felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Tawk for saving her. In return she wanted to be that brave. She wanted to help him too. She just didn't know exactly how. She smiled at him weakly hoping that he could sense that she really truely wanted to thank him.

She lay there for a while too caught up in her own thoughts to do anything else when a bone chilling breeze came through. The hairs on her arms raised and goosebumps appeared. She rubbed her arms with her hands hoping that it would create some form of friction. She pondered whether or not to try and start a fire. What if someone saw it in the distance and came to investigate . . . She didn't know if she wanted to take that risk. Instead she curled up to Tawk's side and moved her boy inbetween them so they could share body warmth till sunrise. Before she was able to fall asleep she whispered into the darkness.

"I'm glad you came."

[Tawk]

Tawk sheltered Ysabel and the boy with his arms against the cold wind. He was glad that this had not happened during high winter, lest they would have died. Tawk thought the two had fallen asleep, but Ysabel broke the silence. Tawk painfully grinned, the frost stinging his cheeks. -"I am too." he whispered slowly.

An hour or two passed, and Tawk was sure his companions were asleep. He rose slowly to his feet, his fingers as stiff as iron. He guessed it would be a couple more hours until sunrise. He scanned his surroundings, with a brooding stare. The Nuit was nowhere to be seen and he could hear no noise from men scouring the area. They were safe for now.

Tawk gently shook Ysabel and stroked her face. -"Time to move.", he said with a tired yet delicate voice.

[Ysabel]

Ysabel had an amzing yet terrifying dream. She was with her mother again in Mura. Her mother had run the healing shop where all the healers came to get their supplies. Her mother had gone for a walk with her and soon sped faster making it hard for young Ysabel to catch up. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't catch up. Suddenly arms wrapped around her waist pulling her backwards away from her mother. Ysabel screamed and the arms wrapped tighter around her as her mother faded into the distance and out of sight.

Ysabel screamed and kicked at the arms around her until she was turned around. Hands gripped her arms tightly and she could feel them bruising with the pressure. A tear slipped out of her eye as she saw who had stopped her. It was Tawk. He looked different though. He looked evil.

"She's gone Ysabel. Forget about her, she's not worth anything anyway. I would know." He smirked wickedly and Ysabel screamed out and started hitting him with her fists. Suddenly his face morphed and turned into the one of the Nuit. He chuckled darkly.

"No one's going to save you now little girl." He let out one more diabolical laugh before Ysabel woke up panting. Pressing her hand to her racing heart she looked around at her surroundings to find that she was in the woods. Not alone though. Tawk was standing over her. She cowered slightly away from him but got up to stand next to him.

'Time to move.' He had said. But where to? Did they have anywhere to go? Or would they be outcasts for the rest of time? Worrying like this made her eyebrows furrow and her lips purse.

"Where will we go?" She asked.

[Tawk]

Tawk looked surprisingly at Ysabel. She looked terrified. Probably just cold. Tawk gently slid his arms underneath the sleeping boy and lifted him up. He cradled the boy carefully and examined his face. It was gaunt and malnourished. -"First thing is first, getting the boy warm and fed.", Tawk murmured, still looking down at the boy. He looked up at Ysabel. -"Then, we'll ask him where he's from and if need be, we'll take him back where he belongs."

-"I want to get out of here before the sun rises, we'll go to a tavern that is far away from this place and is unlikely to host any of the same guards.", Tawk said reassuringly. He turned and noticed, amidst to large houses, a small footpath that could possibly lead them back to the city centre. He started walking slowly towards the path.

[Wrenmae]

Word on the street was that a certain group of escapees had eluded patrol by leaping into a river. It wasn't any more than a rumor really, but escaped slaves held a lucrative position of importance to any cutthroat's heart. At worst, they could settle with the reward and at best, they had able hands to lend to a new project. Once a slave, always a slave. Shroud had no aspirations for capturing the escaped. It was an unnecessary waste of time. His job was more one of aquisition, turning powers of diplomacy to offers of work and gold. The Crimson Edge was using the disaster as a means to boost their own member base. Who was he to stand in the way of expansion. More fighters meant more attention and more attention meant more bloodshed. The battles would be long and bloody, but the victories they eked out of the other syndicates would embolden them in the eyes of the Sunberthian people. Old powers held less sway, felt too heavy around the ankles. The Crimson Edge was new, and picking up speed. So perhaps it was by fate's hand that he spotted the runaways slinking between the larger houses, quiet and moving with a strained sense of purpose. Circling around them, taking long alleys and slanted paths, he came out to block their path, dagger at his side but not proffered out, not yet. Instead the blade tapped against the sheath slowly, click, click, click. He smiled. "You're obvious, you know," He said, shrugging, "The way you slink, it draws the eye and focuses the brain." Tap, tap, tap. "Me? I'd have kept it simple till you were out of the city, but fate doesn't smile on you today...does it?"

[Ysabel]

Ysabel's eyes widened at the new stranger. She now regetted ever wanting to go into town. She looked around the alleyway for a way out of this situation. Any way. She couldn't see any way to escape because the violent stranger had cornered them. She was sure this was where she was going to die. Or worse. . . be sent back to that cage. She started shaking in fear.

She looked over to Tawk desperately. If anyone should die here today it was her. He'd done enough for her and she wasn't about to let him take his own life when this was all her fault. She wanted to speak but her mouth refused to form words. She looked at the boy who was now lucid after we had fed him some edible fruit found in the forest. He still yet to reveal his name. The boy looked just as terrified as herself. When she looked at Tawk he was his usual calm self. Ysabel wished that she could be as calm as him.

Realizing that she had someone to protect she found her voice and turned to the intruder. She kept her face blank as she stared death in the face.

'No' She thought. 'I will not die today.' Ysabel promised herself. She took in a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"You must remember though stranger, fate is a tricky force and she can easily change her mind." She smirked slightly.

[Tawk]

Tawk glared at the man coldly. He realised that in his state, Tawk was not in any state to fight off the man. He confidently stepped forward in front of Ysabel, with his hand resting delicately on his sword. -"What do you want?", Tawk asked commandingly. Tawk rested carefully on his left leg, ready to dart back if the man would attack. Tawk felt a tug on his arm. He looked down at the boy. -"... I'm scared...", the boy whispered, with fear in his tone and a tear trickling down the side of his cheek. Tawk looked back at the man with vigour, ready to fight for the lad if need be.

[Wrenmae]

"Such bravery! Such valor! The cages did not steal it from you then, I trust...your need to live?" Grinning, he took a step towards them, holding up the long blade in his hand. Angling it against the sun, he brought the light up to glance across the Konti and the human, finally angling it down at the child. The boy, young as he was, held back and hid behind the wounded human, shivering. His fear was delicious, it only made the murderer smile wider. "Well now, well now, we find ourselves in an interesting dilemma." With the index finger of his left hand he pointed to Ysabel first, then to Tawk, then to the child. "One, two, three...all slaves by right at this point, I'd set the value at about 600 gold mizas for the lot of you." He paused, looking the Konti up and down. "Make that 700...for the right buyer." Grinning, he took another step closer. "Now there may be more of you than there are of me, but I can shout your location quicker than you can kill me, and I'm confident enough one of you won't be leaving the alley alive." His eyes drifted between them, the smile did not falter. "Personally, I'll stick the kid before I kill any of you...so you better be confident you can move fast enough to stop me, or else it looks like you're out of luck." He menaced them with the blade, stepping in before taking a step back, gauging them. They were tired, exhausted even, dirty and desperate...the best kind of people. "But you have options my friends, options...and it's far more than your real captors would give." He stepped back out of range, tapping his blade against the sheathe again, bouncing it. "You can buy your freedom." The thought brought a chuckle and he shook his head. "Not right away of course, none of you look weighted in the pockets...but I have a perfect job opportunity for a couple of scrappy, desperate people looking to make some quick money." Shouts rose from the streets beyond. Nighteyes boys, already out and about. They would need to move quickly. "What's it going to be? Work for me for a little while and pay for your freedom, avoid the Night Eyes, or we make this bloody and all regret it at the gates of Lhex." Another shout, Shroud frowned, tapping the dagger faster. "Quick now, make up your minds before they're made up for you."