Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 16, 2011 10:07:15 GMT -6
She was conveyed into the guard house after a brief shouting match with a few of the guards where she established: yes, she was on a mission with Cade and yes, she did have the clearance to enter the prisoner area. She was livid by the time she came to cell door to which she was finally directed. Commander Rezir was standing outside the door and she could not help but glare at him too for the left over anger she felt toward the guards. "WELL... Is he done in there or are you going to stop me from going in too?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 16, 2011 23:22:20 GMT -6
After standing long enough to make the Drow uncomfortable, staring at the floor as though he expected it to grow flowers up between the cracks, Cade roused himself out of rather unpleasant thoughts and turned to leave. However, when his foot touched the first stair, the archer called out a long line of words and strained at the bindings, pulling himself aggressively forward toward him. Slowly bending down, Cade picked up the knives he had discarded at the beginning of the interrogation and turned to look at the angry Drow, red eyes glinting, teeth bared, hatred completely openly displayed in all his features. The soldier moved to the window and propped an old tray over most of it, leaving a bright triangle through which sunlight could still pour unrelentingly in toward midday. Giving the captive no further attention, Cade pulled up his left sleeve to the elbow and slid the thin, flat tips of the knives underneath his skin then withdrew them, dripping, squeezed the wound until it no longer bled copiously, tugged his sleeve back over it, and ascended the stairs.
His knock at the door drew a prompt answer from Rezir, and he was immediately confronted by the angry, fuming form of his companion. He took a hasty step backward, then recovered himself and, smiling charmingly, stepped out of the way of the heavy door as it clanged shut behind him and Rezir locked it. "Successful shopping?" he asked innocently with a grin he had trouble hitching on for a moment.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 17, 2011 19:44:50 GMT -6
She surveyed him still fuming, but she felt slightly better since Cade had arrived. He somehow managed to dissuade or thwart her anger on a regular basis. "It was fine, until some of HIS', gesturing toward Commander Rezir "guards refused to let me in." She paused for a moment, "and No I did not break any of their jaws before either of you ask." She paused again before adding in a mumble, "or skulls, or arms..." She sighed now content to release most of her anger, "Can we just go now?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 17, 2011 23:13:21 GMT -6
The Commander seemed slightly amused by her and gave her an appraising sort of look until Cade interrupted by saying, "Yes we can leave after I speak with the Commander."
"You have your bearings, then?" Rezir asked, turning his attention to Deniel. His eyes flicked to the knives as Cade brought them up and handed them hilt-first to him. Cade kept his hands over the tips until the end, then withdrew them to show the bloodied tips. Rezir hissed a little, though it was uncertain whether it was in glee or sympathy at the sight of the blood having obviously penetrated deeply. "You must, if you used them that far in."
Cade did not say otherwise but allowed both parties to believe what they wished about how the knives came to be as they were. It was better for him if at least Rezir believed he had tortured the Drow. Undoubtedly the creature would be severely sunburnt and dying before three days out even with the protection Cade offered; it would hide the wounds that weren't there. Smiling grimly, he said, "Our bearing lies east."
"And your objectives?"
"I will take Lady Oceanjumper with me; together we were find their nest there and either free the captives or discover their whereabouts and then cut off the head of the snake," he said, pulling his cloak out of his pack at his waist and fastening it around his neck, his arm twinging as he lifted it.
Commander Rezir nodded and the two exchanged a quick salute and goodbye in less than ten words. They parted ways at the foot of the spiral stair up to Rezir's office in the tower.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 18, 2011 11:16:15 GMT -6
Ziako observed the exchange with interest. She was almost certain that the dagger's were not coated in Drow blood. Drow blood was thicker, it didn't flow easily. She remembered the slash to the ankle she had given the one now in the cell. It would have severed the tendon and caused the blood to gush from a human, from a Drow it had barely scratched and almost no blood had flown from the wound. It was part of there survival mechanism, thick blood meant quick healing. There is almost no way it would cause drops to come off the dagger tips. What Cade's purpose for the bait and switch was she didn't know, but she trusted him enough not to mention it. This Rezir was a cordial enough man, but if Cade wanted to trick him she would go with it. She walked beside him silently observing him to figure out where he had drawn the blood from. They were out of ear shot of any guards before she broached the subject in a whisper, "Did you at least wrap a clean bandage around wherever it was you stabbed yourself." She raised her eyebrow at him in the same manner a mother would scold a young child, "If you didn't than we should stop after we leave town." She sighed heavily, "the last thing you need is an infection. Unless of course, I'm wrong and you stabbed someone else... I do however know for certain it wasn't the Drow you stabbed."
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 18, 2011 23:20:54 GMT -6
He gave her a slightly startled glance before flashing a quick, small scowl at her and striding out from the tower into the afternoon light. It seemed warm out because of the lack of wind. Cade's sword tip poked out from beneath the edge of his cloak as he walked, the metal on the scabbard tip glinting. He should have known better than to try to pass that off on her and felt a little chagrined at her comments. "Don't worry about it," he murmured. "I'll be fine." They headed back through the court to the Northern Gate, passing through the small press of people looking into carts set out for market and walking in and out of the shops that had their doors propped open. Children played around the statue, which Cade paused in front of momentarily before walking straight out the gate, into the snowy lands reaching out to the north of Wintersgate.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 19, 2011 15:08:41 GMT -6
She followed him out into the snow without complaint. He seemed decidedly lost in his thoughts, so she was content to simply continue into the wilderness. It was a peaceful enough day as she glanced around at the terrain. They started out on the road toward Snowhaven, but moved off the road at some point and began to head east. She was content to simply follow wherever it was they needed to go. "So..." she started cautiously, "Anything I should know about say........... what exactly we're doing?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 19, 2011 22:48:42 GMT -6
It was one of those days that could have been called perfect if it had been in a lower climate where birds would have sung instead of wolves and flowers would bloom in the place of snow banks. The Northern Crest was rather trough-shaped, with the eastern section sloped distinctly upward and dominated by high-reaching mountains that meant the ground was covered with snow nearly year round, the center sloped down into a marshy delta, and the western portion rising into mountains again, though they were not as high and did not get the snow of the east. Here, it was cold. The people were tough and withstood conditions of nature that usually only the Drow, wolves, and bears bothered with. Wintersgate kept the Drow sectioned off from the rest of the Auburn Isles and Snowhaven acted as a rear guard. Cade had no notion of what he had been venturing into when he requested an assignment in the Northern Crest. He had sought the solitude of the roughened wilderness, somewhere to get away from the world. 'But here was not where I meant to go, either,' he thought, contemplating his task. Ziako's question pulled him back to the pair of them walking through the deep snow toward mountains and the Drow. He was reminded that he was not alone: he had a companion to consider. He laughed, pulling up his left sleeve and digging out a small, squat jar he kept in one of the outer pockets of his pack for easy access. Looking down at the slits in his forearm where he had slid the interrogation knives horizontally beneath his skin, he spoke through the lid in his mouth, "Who would have thought I'd be out here with you of all people." It was a statement. He rubbed a few fingertip's worth of the green salve on his arm, secured the lid back on the jar, dumped it back in his pack, and wound a length of bandage around them. Resecuring his sleeve over top of the bandage, he said, "All you need to know, Lady Oceanjumper, is that we're killing Drow. We won't see them until a day or two out; they're holed up in a cave at the end of a mountain canyon, 25 or so, with a higher ranking directing them. No, I don't know if our people are there. All I know is they're the one's attacking, and it's got to stop. We go in, we kill, you leave the leader to me, we see if we can find the prisoners from there." He shrugged, smiling down at her. "I don't really believe in plans. Act according to the situation is my belief."
That was, perhaps, not all the information he knew, but he had spoken truly: it was all she needed to know. He could remember the way the archer had looked for his reaction upon giving the name Gnarlbranch as the commanding officer. Fighting off the urge to shiver, Cade decided to try his best to keep that history to himself. Any information about that and it might be that he'd have to deal with a revenge-driven, cyclonic, flurry-fighting girl when they actually came in contact with the band.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 20, 2011 12:40:08 GMT -6
She had listened without complaint to Cade's examination of the situation. It sounded simple decided too simply for a Battle Plan of Deniel Cade. He was definitely hiding something, but he had also tried to hide the wounds so she wasn't surprised by his evasiveness in the context of the last few days, though it was unusual for him. Suddenly, His earlier words dawned on her. "What do you mean ME of all people." If they had been in the middle of a town instead of out in the wilderness, she probably would have screamed at him. Since, they were in fact trying to move covertly she settled for a normal volume with an outraged tone. She may not have great emotional control, but she also wasn't suicidal enough to alert every Drow in a mile of exactly where they are.
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 21, 2011 13:33:18 GMT -6
He flinched at her tone as though expecting to be clouted about the head at any moment. He thought desperately for a logical explanation that would ask for no further information past the surface. "Well, think about it: how often does a maid go out on reconnaissance and destroy? This is an odd situation, for certain."
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 22, 2011 8:09:26 GMT -6
Ziako crossed her arms across her chest and simmered. He had gone with the 'your a maid' explanation. She somehow believed that was not what he meant. The fact he seemed to think she was going to hit him was amusing though; she would forgive him for now. "Fine," she huffed indignantly at him. She continued to walk through the woods and simply observe without saying much. Until unfortunately, her pride got the better of her. "I'm not just a maid, I can track better then most of your garrison and I'm a damn fine knife fighter who's not afraid to use her fists if necessary. Even with no formal training, I'm a better candidate for this mission than most of the soldiers in Snowhaven. The Captain, yourself, and Krell being the ones that I couldn't take one on one in a fight. Even so, I bet I could give you each a hell of a time. " It was a pleasant image that caused her to smile. It would be quite the series of fights that she would eventually lose.
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 22, 2011 15:36:48 GMT -6
Cade couldn't help but laugh. "I know, Madame Fists; why do you think I brought you? I could have taken anybody I wanted--Undangi, Semfarra, Gattela--any of them. Instead I bothered to convince Captain Tremath to let me take you. I'm just thinkin' that was awful nice of me, that's all. Got you out and about and gave you an opportunity to kill Drow. Mighty nice." He drew out the syllable to a length that dissolved into a laugh again. "Mi-I-I-ghty nice."
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 22, 2011 23:18:29 GMT -6
"Remind me to thank you when Hell freezes over." she replied sweetly. She liked getting out of the city, but she had a feeling this little excursion of theirs was going to get a lot worse before the end. She picked up something out of the corner of her eye that seemed odd for the middle of the woods. A light dusting of snow had fallen a few hours ago. What it had buried appeared to be tracks, deep tracks. She walked over trudging through the deep snow and squatting down to examine the half buried markings. It looked like a large party passed through this part of the woods. Most likely, the tracks came from a horse. They were two deep to be deer and only hooves left the circular impressions. looking around no other signs of disturbance were visible, just the tracks. "Well, I guess we just learned something new. It looks like our missing party came this way and I somehow don't think it was willingly." She gazed thoughtfully at the tracks, "No one drives a horse through snow this deep unless there's no other option." A little farther along the track she could see a whitish, grayish mound of snow. Moving up to the mound as quickly as the deep snow permitted, it became clear that the mound was in fact a frozen horse partially buried in the snow; bridle and saddle still attached. It's throat appeared to have been slit down both sides. "Looks like our playmates got a little impatient."
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Feb 22, 2011 23:38:16 GMT -6
Cade bent over the tracks for what seemed like twenty minutes. He kept looking at them, then looking around; looking at them, looking at the mountains; looking at them, looking behind; looking at them, looking at the horse, looking at them, looking at the trees, at the tracks, at the mountains, at the tracks, at the pass, the horse, behind and to the left, behind and to the right, the angle of the sun.... Finally, he dragged his finger through the snow, then buried his hand in it off to one side of the tracks and lifted several handfulls up. Allowing the light breeze to take the snow in a fluttering, glittering veil from his hand, he looked once more at the tracks and joined her, grim-faced, at the horse's corpse. The manner of its death was unusual, even for Drow--they tended to eat hunks of fresh flesh straight from the corpse of whatever they'd killed, but they had evidently been in a bit of a rush and hadn't taken that warm pleasure this time. He counted that as a good sign. The corpse was old, some four or five days, he judged by the tracks. The snow in the past couple of days had been minimal, just light dustings over nights, luckily for them. "We're late, it seems, and they were hurrying. I wonder why that would be...."
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Feb 23, 2011 8:46:33 GMT -6
"If we were tracking men, I would say someone who's in charge was in a killing mood if the party was delayed to long. I suppose that could be applied to Drow as well." She stood and looked up at her companion, "My question is why not just kill the men, especially if the Drow were in such a hurry? I've lived with Drow on the borders my whole life. They don't take prisoners. ever."
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