PM to join [Sunberth Forest] A Shackled Shipment (Aliara)

[Kaie]

By the time Kaie rounded a corner and skid to a stop in the snow, which almost took her out, Aliara's work was already finished. Amber eyes blinked curiously. The boy was not run through. There was not enough blood in the snow to denote a fatal wound by sword or otherwise. He merely thrashed now and then beneath his captor, spitting blood into the earth and groaning something fierce at the other woman. Kaie approached to stand over the scene, her gaze settling blankly on Aliara. The clash of swords had ceased for the most part. Devin's voice roared orders, having successfully rallied the rest of the remaining mercenaries to conquer the bandits. With the battle finished, she could already hear the familiar, weakened cries of the slain. She could hear the steel that slid beneath their flesh.

The Myrian turned to find what she expected the others to be doing. One of the mercenaries, blood matted in his beard and a nasty gash creating a limp with his leg, slammed his ax into the chest of a grounded bandit. Nearby, a pike man jerked his weapon into the belly of another. Leaving none behind. Kaie brought her focus back to Aliara and her de facto prisoner. She crouched beside the woman while the boy wiggled. "Not such a great line of work for someone who doesn't like killing," she pointed out, though her tone was incredibly far from patronizing. Her bloodied gladius tip rested against the ground, bruised hands folding over the pommel so she might rest her tawny chin. "Way I see it, you have three choices. One, you off the boy here and now yourself. Your catch, your kill. Two, you walk away and let someone else take the heavy burden. And three, you knock him cold and bloody him up. If you're lucky, they may overlook a body that looks very much dead."

The savage rose, mind traveling back to the boy she chased down in the woods. Eyes glanced toward Devin and the rest of his paid troops. "Maybe you'll get lucky with another option. Devin might just be able to accept your catch, not as a prisoner, but as an addition to his slave shipment." And with that the Myrian wore the mask of the hardened savage. She trudged toward the crossbow boy she'd knocked out previous, only to find him stirring with loud moans and clutching his skull. "You!" She snarled loudly, teeth bared and hands shooting down to throttle her next victim. His eyes widened, mouth hanging open speechless with the sudden fear that seized him. There was a hush of amusement that fell at her back. A glance told her Devin and the rest had momentarily paused their task to follow the enraged, outbursting Myrian. Let's give them a good show. She heaved the boy up with her Myrian strength, and hurled him into the deep thickets.

"Myri, forgive your daughter for pledging this final blood sacrifice to come another day. I know we give no quarter, as you do not. Yet there may come a day when this boy can repay his debt, and gift me with a life more worthy of being taken for you," growled the woman in her native tongue loudly and more fiercely than would've made sense to do had she been speaking Common.
"No, no! Please! Mercy!" the boy whimpered miserably, winded from being hurled and landing so flatly upon his back.
"Not for you." And the gory gladius made a wide arc downward. Silence followed. Devin and the other mercenaries nudged one another, making a mockery of the boy's cowardly death, and returned to their bloody business.

Hidden within the dense thickets, the boy opened his eyes to find the gladius embedded deep within the earth beside his face. The Myrian crouched low to him, and made a show of tugging her reddened sword out. "Be still and shut your mouth. This is the first time I've spared an enemy. It will be the last. You will tell no one about me. You've never seen me before. You don't know my face. A time may come when I might find you again and call upon you. Then the debt will be paid. Do you understand? Nod your head." She whispered darkly, and the boy slowly nodded his head. The woman wiped her sword across his chest to clean both sides. Then she stood and sheathed it, leaving the terrified boy frozen with the thickets.

"Alright, ya shykes! Let's get moving! Double time now! Your mums can kiss your boo boos after we make a killing off these petching slaves! Get 'em going, Darrel!" came Devin's booming voice again, but this time from the wagons. There came a flick of the reigns and the horses stirred back to motion, tossing their heads nervously. "Lemmy, if that petching wheel falls off again, I swear to all the damned gods I'll break your legs!" Kaie returned to the trail alongside her previous post and hoped Aliara would do the same.

[Aliara Cantrell]

Her eye continued to throb and she found herself arching in more than just one spot. Aliara’s legs ached as did her arms but she couldn't relax yet. Placing her elbow just below the boy’s shoulder blades Aliara scanned the surrounding area for any of the mercenaries that would know what to do with the boy. A muffled sound sentence came from the boy’s snow filled mouth as he complained about something that Aliara couldn't make out. He began to thrash again and Aliara lost control momently as the boy jerked upwards. The boys head collided with her mouth and with a burst of pain and blood her lip burst. Pushing him back down Aliara heard the crunching of snow of behind her.

Attempting to hold her prisoner as steady as she could, Aliara looked behind her to see Kaie moving towards her. Internally sighing in relief Aliara turned back to her prisoner and tightened her grip. The fact he was a boy that only appeared to have the frame of someone only few years older then herself bothered Aliara slightly, yes she was doing relatively the same thing but she was so young and there were others throwing their childhoods away just as she had done many years before.

As Kaie crouched beside her Aliara felt even smaller then she did usually, the mercenary beside her had so much more experience and what she said was right, Aliara had not urge to kill anyone or anything for that matter, it just never settled right in her head. Its an odd thing to hear in Sunberth, most who agreed with Aliara would keep quiet about it and those who didn’t only lasted days.

“I.. I’ll think of something…”

Aliara would think of something she had it to… Rising to her feet Aliara dragged the boy with her kicking and screaming. It had been something Kaie had said, ‘Accept him as a slave’ Aliara wondered if that was really an option. Dropping the boy and rolling her shoulders Aliara scanned her surroundings, everyone was trying to locate any other bandits or lost stock, maybe she could just slip him in somewhere, after all slavery had to be better than death right? Grabbing the wriggling body by his feet Aliara began dragging him towards the slave cages, every blow she had taken ached and her eye pulsed as she crunched through the snow. The longer she heard the boys muffled tears the more she began to wonder if slavery was better than death. Dropping his legs once again Aliara finally decided what she was going to do with the boy.

“Shut up would ya’”

Rolling the boy back onto his back Aliara ran her gloved fingers under his nose to collect his blood. Cringing at the feeling Aliara her bloodied fingers over the boys neck and ears. She was going to fake his death, no one had caught a glimpse of him except Kaie and Aliara hoped Kaie wouldn't rat her out. As the boy continued to sob Aliara slipped her kurkri from her boot and grabbed his clothes. Sliding the sharp blade over the frozen fabric Aliara tried to mimic the cuts that would have occurred in a fight. As Aliara sat in the cold snow attempting to save this boy’s life the mercenaries on the other side of the caravan were doing last minute checks and unknowingly being Aliara’s clock.

She was out of time, pushing herself to her feet Aliara looked down at the boy, he looked dead if he would shut up and stop wiggling, looking around her Aliara found nothing that could make him stop, being left with one option Aliara lifted her boot and stamped down hard. The sickening crunch was enough for Aliara gag and look away from the body. Rolling him over Aliara untied her scarf and backed away slowly grabbing it.

Holding her scarf and trying to look as normal as she could manage Aliara rejoined the crowd of mercenaries bustling around discussing what had happened. One of them caught one glimpse of Aliara and frowned, he reached out in a matter of chimes and stole her soiled scarf. Aliara opened her mouth to complain but then she saw he was filling it with snow, shocked Aliara watched in slience ignoring the chatter around her, the mercenary stood back up again and threw it towards Aliara and made a gesture towards pressing it against her eye.

Nodding Aliara started to make her way back towards her original post as Devin began to yell orders once more and caused movement in the mercenaries. As she reached the slave cage Aliara noticed Kaie, pressing the homemade icepack to her eye Aliara avoided looking at Kaie as she resumed her post.

“I hope he isn't noticed…”

[Kaie]

The group trudged onward with the moan of wagon wheels and stressed horses. Men limped and griped about the cold, the travel, the ambush, and their wounds. Their formation was more staggered than before. Bodies had dropped and the caravan guard was halved. They were more vulnerable than before, Kaie quickly realized. They could only collectively hope other bands of thieved had their greedy gazes elsewhere. It wouldn't be long before they reached their destination anyway. At least that's what she guessed. In any case, the captured slaves had settled quietly in the cage. The thieves had been the closest thing they had to a chance at escape, even if that meant the intentions of those that cut down their captors was to enslave them all over again. There was naught to do now but accept their grim futures within the City of Anarchy.

The sooner they settle on the idea, the better they'll be for it, she decided with a line coming to her pressed lips. As she moved along beside the cage, she found her head swiveling in search of her assigned partner. Sure enough the woman was quickly falling back into place. Her eye was swollen something fierce, and the expression upon her face read something suspicious. New blood didn't adorn her clothing over the splatters of other foe. No bandit stumbled behind her with bound hands to get tossed in with the rest they guarded. That left one option. Before long, Aliara herself confirmed the savage's best guess. "For his sake more than yours," Kaie agreed lowly with eyes fixed ahead. In the event her mercy was discovered, they'd call her a coward. They'd chalk up her judgement to the kindness and ignorance of women, the ever convenient stereotype. Maybe they would turn on her for it, dismiss her from the job. If they found the boy? No happy ending. "You'll be alright if you did it well. Unless the kid's an idiot, of course. We'll be out of these woods and at the city's outskirts soon enough."

The savage's words proved right in half a bell's time. The wagons rolled out of the woods and into a broad opening Kaie recognized vaguely. The city's cemetery wasn't far off. Ahead of them stood an impressive, intimidating gathering of gritty men. They were armed to the teeth and wrapped in fur-lined leathers to ward off the cold. Wagon wheels rolled to a stop. Silence persisted as both parties proved especially antsy over the whole ordeal. Finally, one man dressed in black stepped forward from the rest of his menacing crew. "Your flock's looking thin, Devin." Ahead Kaie could hear a scoffing from the driver's seat of one of the leading wagons. "Ran into some trouble a mile or so back. Nothing my lot couldn't handle," Devin assured him before he hopped down to land with a loud thud upon the earth. He strutted forward toward the stranger, extending his hand forward at the same time as his partner so they might clasp hands. "Cages are stocked just like ya asked. I held up my end."

There were some threatening murmurs arising from the suspicious crowd of slavers, but a quick hand gesture from their leader silenced them. Another man cloaked in black made his way forward beside the leader. In his hands he supported a heavy looking sack of coins. Promptly, it was pressed into his leader's hand, who then gave it a toss at Devin. The greedy mercenary almost failed to catch the reward with his fumbling fingers. The man practically beamed. "A man of your word like they say. I'll be buyin' me a new shirt the tick we get back in."
"Try not to stain it right away."
"Come on, Boss, you know red's my color." Devin gave the man a mirthful wink, nodded respectfully toward the loyal gang of slavers behind their leader, and turned back toward the wagons. "Alright, boys!" His paused awkwardly a tick, shooting an apologetic look at the women. "Bring the horses 'round!"
"My men will take it from here if you don't mind. Clear out."
"Whatever you say, Boss. You heard the man! Off the wagons! Double time!"

Kaie rolled her eyes but did as she was bid. Turning her back on the forsaken slaves in their cage, the Myrian paced outward to make way for the incoming gangsters. They wasted no time taking control. Cloaked men quickly replaced the mercenary drivers and formed a more formidable guard around the caravan. Along with the rest of the limping procession, Kaie rounded up to Devin a dozen yards from the wagons. A line quickly formed. One by one, mercenaries approached Devin, who reached into the coin purse and procured a counted handful of coins. Once paid, the mercenaries departed without so much of a wayward glance. Kaie didn't blame them. She too was relieved their duties were complete. "Thank you for your service. Gods be with you all. Petch off. You know the drill. Let's hurry it up so we can all go home." Kaie received her share, nodded in gratitude, and passed on by in the direction of the city. Yet along her way something struck her. The woman paused and turned on her heel. Patiently she waited for Aliara to earn her pay and head in her direction. Only then did she put away her coin and offer her hand, as was apparently customary in the strange world across the sea.

"You confuse me more than anything else, about why you do this job, but you were handy with your cutlass after all. I'm not too bitter about us being partnered up through this shyke after all." Kaie flashed the woman a grin of amusement. Many questions about the enigma that was Aliara rose to the surface of her mind. However, none were voiced. Too busy was she recovering from the chaos was she to pry, and part of her enjoyed the mystery anyhow. She couldn't help but wonder if Aider would find it just so when she returned to him that night.