Lucia shook her head after hearing what the mercenary had said. What was going on? Were they mere pawns in some sort of grand plan? She thought they had come here to set someone free, not the daughter of figures who were almost deemed mythological if not deities. Why was Gonye holding back so much from them? All these questions in her mind and more buzzed around in her head, so that she did not hear the approach of Khast. She whirled around with frightened eyes when the man finally spoke.

"He's gone" she said with her eyes tearing up "Or at least he's going, he said there's nothing we can do for him" she looked up at Khast for some sort of guidance "B-But we can't leave him here! What will they do to his body? This isn't right! We're just pawns...pawns..."she looked downwards with her shoulders slumped. What were they to do? How would they escape from their current predicament. Were they not surrounded. Most importantly, could she trust Gonye? At this point, that was the only question she could answer; no.

The old nomad gave a scornful frown. Prying the girl away from the dying mercenary was going to be as difficult as he had anticipated. He examined the soldier's wounds in a bit more detail. While particularly nasty-looking, they didn't seem fatal. Killament hadn't had time to finish him off properly. It didn't matter, though. Gonye's orders were to leave the man behind if he couldn't walk.
"That isn't anything new, Lucia, but we can't be bothered worrying about it now. Gonye's torn down the barricade, and we're about to move out. If there's truly nothing we can do for this man, then we're going on without him."

"So we're just leaving him?" she said tearfully, though she still got up from the fallen mercenary's side. "I-I can't believe we're abandoning you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Lucia said while turning away from the mercenary.

The mercenary's eyes remained closed as he cringed for a moment and shook his head with what little energy he had left. "Go... Didn't ya hear me? Just let me here. Let me to my peace."

___

Downstairs Gonye had completely torn away the barricade and was preparing to exit the tower. With his able-bodied men and his lightly wounded comrade about him he impatiently awaited Lucia and Erratus' return as he held the young girl at a distance with a guiding rope.

"What will you do with me..." The girl inquired in almost defeated voice.

"Use ya' as a shield, then give ya' back before we get tied into any of this political nonsense that I couldn't honestly give a s*** about." Gonye violently answered as he peered up the stairs.

Erratus was taken aback by how quickly Lucia had been convinced to leave the man behind. Perhaps the girl was beginning to see that the world was a cruel and unforgiving place. The sooner she learned that, the greater her chances of survival would be. Even so, he couldn't help but be slightly concerned by the rate at which she was making the transition.
It occurred to the nomad that, as long as the group held the princess hostage, they had Ostarius and his men in the palm of their hands. They could have plenty of time to get the immobilized mercenary to safety. Hell, they could probably even force Ostarius to give him medical attention. It made the nomad wonder if the mercenary leader really planned to leave his man behind. In any case, the thief made his way back to the base of the tower to find Gonye ready and waiting.

Lucia's heart remained troubled as she walked down the hall away from the mercenary and his wounds. She felt terrible abandoning the man, but what could they do? Sure, they were probably on some sort of hidden schedule of Gonye's, but how could he simply leave one of his men behind, mercenary or not. She shook her head to herself as she walked down the flights of stairs, she and the others would need to have words when they reconvened. She did not make any comment about the girl being held out on some sort of leash like an animal.

"The mercenary you sent up before me is wounded" stated Lucia to Gonye impassively "Though, he knew that we had to go, so, I suppose we should leave before things get worse."

"Well put." Gonye answered back quickly to Lucia as he removed the final bar from the door. "We're goin' out and from here on, deeper into hostile lands. Keep yourselves close and don't let anything out there escape your eyes... He'll be wantin' her back and we have no way of knowing how far he'll go to endanger his own plans and us to get her." Using his shoulder Gonye rammed his body into the door a few times before it completely popped from the stone frame. Another mercenary quickly came to Gonye's side and with a few more hits the large iron door of the tower plummeted to the ground outside the tower. "Damned rams..." Gonye groaned as he rubbed his shoulder for a moment before stepping out of the tower with his prisoner in tow. Cautiously, Gonye looked about the area. The hordes of soldiers that had gathered outside of the tower early had vanished just as quickly and even though the group was technically in a war zone the area around the tower seemed completely quiet and still.

"Will we come back for Hector?" one of the mercenaries timidly asked as he stepped out of the tower and behind Gonye.

"It depends... It's not likely we'll have the time to come back. If we can manage this quickly I'll try." Gonye answered sternly before leading the group through the massive plaza like space that stood in front of the tower. Gonye looked down every alley and streetway as they walked up the stoney plaza before stopping at the end and looking up torwards a lip of the upper city that barely hung over the mostly open plaza. "We needta' go up." Gonye uttered as he motioned upwards with his hand. "Most of the lower sections of the city have been turned to impassable ruble, I'm sire it will be quicker to use the second level." Gonye's voiced echoed about the plaza as he searched for a ramp way. Gonye remained silent for some time before spotting a set of ramp ways in the distance and a few streets he seemed interested in. "Cozun, Khast, take point" Gonye's finger shot out towards a roadway to direct Erratus and his new mercenary companion where to go. "We'll follow at a distance if you see anything or are attacked get back to us.. Do not fight." Gonye ordered as the mercenary he called 'Cozun' stepped forward, straightened his body in acknowledgement before nudging Erratus. "Come on then." he added as he headed towards the narrow street

Lucia was surprised by the sudden disappearance of the mass gathering of troops but moments before. Perhaps it was that knight who notified the rest of the troop that the girl had been captured? As one of the mercenaries asked whether they would come back for their fallen comrade, her attention was immediately caught though she wore a mask of indifference as she listened. Deep in her heart she hoped that they would be able to return for the man, and that he would be alive on their return. All they had to do was survive this present ordeal.

Erratus was unnerved by the complete lack of opposition as the group left the tower. Were the guards planning an ambush? They weren't going to simply let a group of intruders make off with Ostarius's precious bargaining chip. Honestly, the nomad would prefer to be surrounded by troops at this point. At least then he'd know where they were.
The thief's thoughts were interrupted by a nudge. It was one of the mercenaries, a man by the name of Cozun.
"Come on then." He said brusquely before heading off toward a side street. Erratus followed silently.

It became incredibly clear as Erratus approached the street Gonye had pointed out that compared to the outer walls this area was a complete and utter mess. The street way was so terribly narrow that three men walking shoulder to shoulder would barely be able to fit and most of the stone that had been laid into the road had eroded away or sunk deep into the muck leaving behind incredibly uneven ground and treacherous sink holes that could easily swallow up a leg. The buildings that lined the street had begun to arch inwards as well, creating a terrifying effect, one that made it seem as if the buildings were about to collapse in and crush the very street that supported their foundations for well over 150 years.

"Your name is Khast, right?" Cozun started as he entered the streetway and took a cautious step over what appeared to be a large gap in the road. "I need you to watch the windows of these houses, if you see anything move and I mean anything just stop me. Alright?" he whispered as he cautiously peered into the ground level window of a house to his immediate right. "Don't yell or anything either... We need to be as quiet as possible, they have to still be watchin' us from somewhere..." as he finished speaking a light speck of water dropped onto Erratus' face. Rain too, as it would appear, was coming to hamper their mission.

______

Gonye watched closely as Erratus and Cozun traveled far ahead of him and his group and only after the pair entered the streetway did he begin to follow. "Listen-" Gonye spoke frankly as he peered over at Lucia who now seemed aloof and distant compared to her earlier self. "I'm only doin' what needs to be done so that we can survive this, it may seem wrong now but it'll make sense later." Gonye paused as he felt a trickle of water from above that slowly increased to a light misting. "I promise ya, everythin' I'm doing is necessary."

Erratus paused as Cozun spoke and replied with a slight nod when he was finished.
"Whatever you say." He replied distractedly, observing the surrounding buildings carefully. His eyes flicked from window to window, searching for any sign of life. The two scouts were in a particularly vulnerable position here. As long as they apart from the Kane's daughter, they were fair game for the soldiers. Hopefully, though, the ever-present threat of damage to the girl would stay their hand. The nomad looked to the sky as a small droplet of water landed on his nose, but quickly returned to surveying the windows.

As the pair silently walked the street a terrible, offsetting weariness began to set in. The sky was beginning to grow darker, the rain was beginning to fall faster, and undefined shadows could be barely seen creeping about within buildings and roof tops.

"Say..." finally the deathly silence that had been filling the air was shattered as Cozun looked back to Erratus for a moment. "Have you ever heard of wights?" the mercenary asked in an uneasy tone as he prepared to round a corner just ahead of Erratus. "The captain... Well I've been told that they're terrible creatures. Terrible, terrible creatures." The mercenary repeated as his eyes nervously shifted towards the highest window of a tall four story stone building. "Wights were once people-" Cozun continued on, his nervous rambling was beginning to grow strange and he was giving Erratus no time at all to respond to his earlier inquiry. "-they were once people but they sold away parts of their souls for something they wanted real bad... Now they wander the earth forever serving, against whatever will they may have, the person they sold their soul to. They try to regain the part of the soul they lost by stealing other, living people's souls." gulping heavily Cozun stopped rambling as a small stone brick from a building overhead slid loose from its support and tumbled down upon the road, narrowly missing Erratus and Cozun.

Erratus quickly looked up at a window near where the brick had fallen from.
"The captain, huh? He certainly likes to keep secrets. This is the first I've heard of any 'wights'. Is that what you think those shadows are?" The nomad said, keeping his voice low.
The rain was beginning to become bothersome. It certainly wouldn't make the treacherous road any safer.

Lucia shivered in the cool temperature and pulled her the hood of her cloak over her head as a light mist of rain began to fall about them, the magically spun threads of fire warming her bones. She listened quietly as Gonye spoke, and passively nodded as accustomed.

"I understand" she replied softly, glancing upwards and taking note of the darkening sky. She wanted to say that she could no longer trust him anymore; that she did not want to be a pawn in whatever scheme she had befallen; that she only wanted to settle down in a place she could call home. She smiled slightly to herself, remembering how not long before when she had been in the city she had longed to be out in the world exploring all that could be seen, though now that she was granted the opportunity for adventure and intrigue, she wanted nothing more than security and stability.

Innately, she could feel that something was not quite right. Surely they were alone, Gonye had said that none of their enemies would seek to harm them so long as they had the girl. Pulling a strand of thread from her sleeve and laying it in a spiral on her palm she allowed the magical bonds that confined the flames to the thread to dissolve and a small tongue of fire floated above her hand, sheltered by her cloak, and emitting light so she could feel less paranoid about the growing darkness.

"The soldiers..." The mercenary muttered to Erratus as the pair prepared to round the final corner before the ramp. "The soldiers with the blue light shining through their visors- I'm certain of it. They're wights. I'm no monster slayer, and I'm sure as hell not any kind of expert on the occult, but every step we take feels like we're getting further and further into something we shouldn't be poking our noses into. I don't wanna' withhold any information from you two, especially you since you're up here with me in the vanguard but I can't really say I know much." by now Erratus and Cozun had made their way to the foot of the ramp that would lead the group to the second level of the ravaged corpse that was Gennenberg.

"All hath begot not of blood nor flesh, all hath been bore by God, forever more." Cozun whispered cautiously to himself as he took a deep breath and stepped upon the ramp which appeared to be barely holding itself together. "Let's hope it holds, or breaks fast and early, I would suggest saying some kinda' prayer..."


From not far behind, Gonye watched carefully with his group as Erratus and Cozun began to climb the ramp and for a moment Gonye himself seemed put off by the thought of ascending something so frail looking.

"Have you ever met your father." Gonye spoke as he redirected his attention towards his hostage. The girl remained silent though, refusing to even acknowledge Gonye's question.

"You haven't have you? What about your brother? Has your brother met your father?" Gonye quickly ran his hand through his hair to release some of the water that was building up on his scalp as he awaited an answer. "Where is your father? Did he just abandon the two of yins?"

"I don't know." The girl finally snapped back as she attempted to huddle her body together for warmth in the cold rain. "I do not know where he is, and I do know if my brother has ever met him... Why can't you just all leave us alone." Gonye puffed and crossed his arms before taking his first step onto the ramp. The girl's hostile and somewhat desperate reaction had driven off Gonye's questioning for now.