PM to join Betrayed! (Daniel Connor)

[Bolivar]

Date: Fall 61, 513 A.V
Location: Along the Kabrin Road

An ambush!

The words resounded in the squire's head endlessly as he looked at what had just happened. Looking at the dark, northerner next to him his eyes showing off a myriad of emotions Bolivar wondered if it was a betrayal on Connor's part. Not even three bells out and they had met some trouble.

Though Bolivar could not trust in some random stranger in concerns with that of the Knights. Soon after ambassadors from Sahova the request came out for assistance along the Kabrin a day after. Being one of the first on the scene Bolivar had happened across the Northerner Vantha named Daniel who was also privy to the request. It seemed that whomever was sending out the request needed all the help that he could find.

Though Bolivar thought little of it at the time he and Conners came to an agreement to check what the fuss was about before deciding who was to answer the request. If it was a matter that required the knight's attention Bolivar would have to intervene but if it was only of minor importance it was all Conner's to profit from. Besides... it was nice to have someone to talk to while traveling.

So eventually they came to this point. The city quite a distance their ambushers had the advantage in manpower and equipment. The equipment being bows, nothing the squire was too happy with. The horse under him feeling threatened by the sudden development Bolivar tried to rein in the nervous horse as he looked at Conners for instruction.

"Have any idea what's going on here?"

[Daniel Connor]

Daniel had signed up for the protection job without a second thought when he saw the large amount of zeros following the dollar sign. He smirked, after this one, he would be eating well for months. Now, he was regretting his decision somewhat. Archers had popped up on the side of the road 50 meters ahead of them. He swore, his eyes growing a dull grey. Ambushes were the worse. He was a melee specialist, his punches could break sculls, his kicks fractured spines. But, when ranged combat was at hand, he only had his gauntlets with the dart launcher, and even that would not work well past 10 meters. His companion, the knight Bolivar, looked accusingly at him, as if this was his doing. He shrugged; how was he supposed to know this would happen? He sized the men up. All five of them carried bows, while two he saw had a short sword at their belts. It was not looking good for them. He had practiced blocking arrows with his gauntlets, but if more than a few were coming at a time, he was royally screwed. He looked down at his borrowed horse, and thought that it was unlikely that he would be returning it in one piece. Bolivar looked to him for instructions, to which he replied hurriedly, his Vani accent showing through, “Off the side of the road, quick! It will be harder to hit us in the trees. Get off your horse, if you value it’s life.” Daniel jumped off his horse, and dashed to the trees. A an arrow thudded into a branch where his head had been seconds ago. He hoped the knight was right behind him.

[Bolivar]

A quick examination and both men already knew what had to be done. It was mildly amusing that Connors thought that the squire cared about the horse rather then himself. Odd but understandable. Dressed up pretty in his borrowed equipment Bolivar wasn't much too far from Conners but the difference was noticeable enough. Hearing the arrows but not quite seeing them Bolivar surprisingly looked back to see a massive lack of arrows where they were moments ago.

Either they were saving their shots or they had missed the mark entirely. That or they misinterpreted their intentions. How easily could "Lay down your arms and submit" be misinterpreted? Easily enough, thought Bolivar nut he wasn't going to risk getting shot by one of those arrows. Even with the armor it wouldn't be wise to risk it.

"You sure these are not friends of yours?"

By the looks of it they were dealing with a ragtag mercenary band of sorts. The likes of which seemed too petty to have any real organization or skilled members but the squire had to be sure.

"No? Just checking."

Casting a suspicious eye at Daniel one more time before letting the issue go Bolivar shrugged off his axe to ready himself. How exactly would he do this? To both fight these men and still worry about not getting blindsided by this man who he made a hasty alliance with? Simply aggravating. Of course that option was still there but... actually that wasn't a bad idea. But first.

"You wouldn't happen to have something for times like these would you? I'd be willing to look past certain transgressions if it meant we can get them out of our way."

oocSorry about that. Came back after a break and came up with this... non-descriptive junk.

[Daniel Connor]

Daniel shot Bolivar a withering look. He would not affiliated himself with these lowlifes. He always thought the difference was that of a chef and a cook. A cook merely prepared food, while a chef created works of culinary art. No, he was well above their pay grade, no doubt more than all five of the men combined for this job. Though, he doubted they would be around long enough to collect their gold. His knight companion continued to eye him, and he pretended not to notice, instead readying darts and testing his blade gauntlets to see if the spring was well oiled. He smiled as they shot out into a ready position with a satisfying click. The blades, tinted red, seemed to thirst for blood. A need he would satisfy momentarily. As they ducked behind a large tree, Daniel said, “If I can get within ten meters, I can shoot poisoned darts at them. It will make them weak and blur their vision a bit, so they will not be able to shoot or fight well. I have eight darts for five men. If you can keep the two with swords busy for a bit, I can make this fight fare too easy for us.” He motioned forward as he ran towards the men along the side of the road, arrows whizzing randomly over his head; the were not the best of shots. Coming to a large stump near the edge of the road, Daniel took cover from sharp rain. The two men with weapons were going to be upon him soon, he hoped Bolivar would pull through. He took aim and pressed the button on the bottom of the gauntlet. A metal dart shot out, little more than a blur, and thudded into a man’s gut. The man gasped and coughed blood, but he did not pay attention to that, he was loading another dart to be fired.

[Bolivar]

Poison? That was the ace the Vantha had up his sleeve? Granted Bolivar knew very little of the lands north of Syliras and Kalea but he imagined something a bit more mystic. Perhaps the changing eye colors were just a mark of a northerner. The squire initially thought it magic but now it seems that it served no purpose.

Poison darts eh?

Poison wasn't seen in a good life throughout the mixed blood life. It seemed fickle in nature. What does it say of those that made use of it? But perhaps this was what they needed. Something different.

Bolivar nodded understanding what must be done. Darts weren't something that the squire had to worry armored up as he was. He almost trusted Connor. Though with the aim of these hesitant raiders Bolivar was starting to question whether he needed assistance dealing with these upstarts. After all... he was feeling pretty good today.

Rubbing his thumb consciously across his open palm Bolivar quietly mused as he walked into open ground. As if inviting a hail of arrows Bolivar advanced as the makeshift mercenaries missed shot after shot as he neared the thirty yard range. They weren't completely hopeless shots now but they left quite a bit of room for improvement. Peeking out from his most recent place of cover Bolivar shrugged off his weapon of choice off it's harness. Soon it would be time to see whether they were better fighters then shots.

Waving down the archers Bolivar made a very impressionable target for the archer line it's members still fumbling while setting the arrow in place. This was a joke right? A growl escaped Bolivar's lips as one of them actually managed to bounce off the squire's armor. Yea archers were still scary whether they were skilled or not. Looking down Bolivar noticed the edge of each arrows were just wood. It was like placing a warrior against a unarmed youth. Once again drawing the attention of the archer line Bolivar hid as another assortment landed near in the squire's general vicinity.

"Hold! Don't aim for the armored one. Go for the other lad."

Looking over the squire saw one of the lads armed with a shortsword pointing at where they had last seen Connor. The other ambushers having their attention's set on the apparent leader signaled an opportunity for the squire. Feeling a surge of power flow through him Bolivar directed a mass of res out of his hand. With a confidence found in constant practice Bolivar directed his res straight at the man just before transmuting...

There it was! An air blast that sent a man hard on his back. Such a simple skill but instantly gratifying nonetheless. Feeling the djed throughout his system Bolivar gripped his hand in a mild gesture of victory. His more latent power finally seemed to be returning.

"Disregard me at your own risk."

That was decent enough of a distraction for his partner right? With that Connor appeared to deliver his contribution appearing poised all the while. If Connor's front was enough to fool Bolivar of the northerner's evident battle experience, how much more convincing was it being on the receiving end.

[Daniel Connor]

Oun Daniel heard a yelp and a gust of a air, followed by a man hitting the ground. He grinned, that would do just fine. He removed all of the distractions from his mind, giving him a deadly clarity. He channeled his Djed into his legs with a thought, took a shallow breath, then charged the men. Whilst dodging and weaving, just in case, he activated his blade gauntlets, the sharp, daggerlike weapons ready to follow up a punch. The first man died by two punches in the chest, one broke his ribs which punctured a lung, the next hit the man's solar plexis, taking away his breath. He fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. What happened next was somewhat of a blur to Daniel, as he instrinctivly struck out with fist, blade, and foot. The Djed within him serving to make his attacks cause bones to shatter, as Flux magic, once again, proved to be a weapon greater than a sword. He was careful, though, not to come close to over extending, as the horrors he had heard tell of were not something that he wanted to experience first hand. The men had been too slow to react, but it did not matter, as the two men with swords had died first, before they even put down their bows. It grew quiet, and he stopped his movement, releasing the magic. He looked around and grimaced. The five men were disfigured and soaked in red, one's head had been bashed in by a kick. He retrieved his darts from the bodies where the were sheathed, wiping them off, then replacing them in their case. "How's that for a plan?" Daniel called to Bolivar, grinning a little. His shoes had a bit of gore on them, which he flicked of with a sharp motion of his foot. His eyes faded from red to a sea blue, as the fog of war lifted from his eyes.

[Bolivar]

A bit of overkill on the mercenaries part but he did say he was going to overlook such transgressions.

"We barely knew them. Just as well. Now who are you?"

They really didn't deserve the brutality on Daniel's part but what was done was done. Now was the part Bolivar tried to show some form of finesse. Touching the ground besides the devastated men the squire tried to mimic the method that he saw another squire gathered information. Of course nothing revealed itself magically to the squire but he was able to get a closer look at these individuals.

"Who would be foolish enough to test the Knight's might on their own lands?"

Reaching over Bolivar looked for any sort of clue as to who they were. He should have stopped him... at least to question them after. Bolivar had not quite grasped the all of the knight's ideologies found it easy to stomach Daniel's work. Being a warrior first before a soldier the squire was comfortble enough poking through the dead.

Raising an irritated eye at Conners Bolivar held his tongue this time considering the situation. Better to make use of the resources on hand and an extra pair of eyes would no doubt be useful.

"I cannot be too sure but I imagine them to be a passing band going through Syliras."

Wondering if he should raise the issue Bolivar merely shrugged before setting the pair off again. No doubt there would be more bands of these makeshift mercenaries if they continued further. They would have to be quite lest they alert the main body of these vagabonds. Which means they had to cut a way through the Bronze if they wanted any hope of spotting them out before they did.

"Good work. We should get out of here before another group comes. Hopefully. I am quite curious why there were out here."

The last few words showing how little the squire really cared about the why of it all. If there was something amiss outside of Syliras he would make it right if possible. What was the cause of the sudden ambush?

"Keep an eye out. Perhaps this time refrain from killing them so we know who we are dealing with."

[Daniel Connor]

“I do not think this was random, why would they just attack us otherwise? No, they must have been after our employers, and to do that, the had to get through us. Failing obviously, their employers should have hired me!” Daniel joked, looking down at the remains of the men. They were not wearing anything or sporting any ink that would place them in any particular group of mercenaries or gangs. It was something that he found odd, as this must have been just a random selection of ruffians. He was quite proud of his gang tattoos, showing his high rank and feared position. Bolivar was right, more would come soon, and they would be wise to move one before they arrived. He got back on his horse with a blocky, unpracticed movement. He would probably never get used to riding a horse; he believed a man was meant to walk on his own two feet. If these mercenaries were a problem, that meant that the knights were lax, or just had not heard of the issue yet. And if they did, he would also be targeted. “Come, let us go on our way, our employer has need of our escort. And I do not get paid in full until this is over,” Daniel suggested, setting his horse off down the road with a sharp kick of his heels.

[Bolivar]

That's only if this employer of yours intended to pay you at all.

Pulling the reins on his horse Bolivar directed the pair of them a short ways from the where they were. To a shady place with cover leaving the horses further in the wood. From there they would watch and wait to see if these people were in fact part of a bigger group. Some sort of ragtag troupe perhaps are foolishly trying the knight regime maybe?

It only took a short wait until more arrived on the scene. Again with the bows and , now looking, minimal amount of arrows. Some were sporting weapons easily found in the household. Some just dull razors and some short swords. It all seemed too hastily put together these people.

"Something is not right." Muttered Bolivar as he motioned Daniel to wait.

Waiting until perhaps if they were to see their companions already defeated they would understand more? Shifting on his heels ever so slightly Bolivar waited until the group happened across the scene. Panic of course whipped through their faces as they first noticed what had happened. Waiting until the mood settled in Bolivar then urged Daniel to meet the new group.

"They any of them surrender don't mess with them. I've an inkling of who these people are. You don't want their blood on your hands."

Emergin from the underbrush Bolivar was welcomed with a myriad of shouts, exasperations and general chatter. Of course they met with some form of resistance on their part but with Daniel beside him the odds seemed to shift in the pair's favor.

"Lay down your arms or fall by the knight's hand and be counted."

[Daniel Connor]

There were a few more this time, Daniel counted eight. Bolivar did not want him to take the same approach as last time, what with all the murder and stuff. But that seemed to be working in their favor now, as the men looked utterly terrified. The men still did not look like any archers he had seen, so he assumed that they were just as poor shots as the last group had been. “Alright. I will not kill them, and if they do attack, I will disable where I can,” he settled, not really think asking for surrender was a good idea at all. But, to his surprise, a few put down their weapons and sat on the ground with their hands on their head. On of the others bellowed a cry of defiance, drawing his weapon. He was soon followed by the other men that had decided to stand. Daniel let out a sigh, he had promised not to kill. The man charged at the pair of warriors, brandishing their various stabbing tools. A soft click could be heard as he activated the blades and his gauntlets. This time, they would be used to block the men's attacks, rather than for killing. Time seemed to slow down in the small battle taking place. His companion striking men with the flat of his axe, Daniel disarming men with flicks of his knives, which worked with his fists like a lover's sharp dance. He disabled two, but the third one managed to cut his upper arm with a razor. He swore as blood started it's slow trickle down his arm. It was hardly life threatening, but it still hurt like hell! Soon, between the two of them, the men were laying on the ground, some nursing wounds, others unconscious from an axe blow to the head. He would leave the interrogation to his companion, maybe helping a bit if further persuasion was needed.