It was in the afternoon when the next series of reports from her various spies throughout the city. It was the usual theft and murder. No matter how often she seemed to squash the crime within the city, it always sprung up somewhere else. It was like dealing with weeds. No, it was like dealing with weeds and c*** melded together into some sort of unholy machination. It was only after reading the last report of kidnapping in broad daylight that her eyes widened in horror.

According the report a foreign woman with startling yellow eyes had been kidnapped by two men. They had broken into a bookshop, coincidentally the same bookshop where she had obtained her book just that morning, and she had attempted to escape through the roof. The spy's report stated that she was most likely taken to be some sort of slave sold in the black market. Immediately she arose from her desk with both pistols slid into their holsters on her hips and she marched quickly to the barracks were her Dragon Guard awaited for departure. They all stood at attention and grew silent as she walked into the rowdy barracks.

"You ten" Aranida stood before a group of men who bowed before her obediently. "You'll be assisting me in the rescue of a kidnapped woman. The remnant Avia has been captured by slavers and is going to be sold in the black market. As she is our temporary employer of sorts, it would be very unprofessional and undignified for the Dragon Guard to let ill befall her while under our care. See to it that we all make it out alive, and no fool-headed antics. I need warriors, not bandits." The men nodded and followed Aranida outside of the barracks to where she could hear a commotion of sorts occurring right at her gates.

"Begone with you beggars!!" exclaimed the guard to an elderly man and a boy. "Lady Aranida has enough on her plate, and does not need the likes of you to further burden her!" He refused to open the gate to the peasants.

goddammit kiki if you have time to dick around in whimmy's rp you have time to dick around in your own rp

"That brute Gigantes trashed my store and made away with your guest!" Mahmoud complained, "I will not stand for this!"

He shook his fist!

---

"That the path I chose should always be the one my faraway Father can approve of," he replied, "He is closer than I thought though."

He had always lived that way. Even if his job was questionable, he had always tried to be as merciful as he could. Qalim stroked his right arm as he thought about it.

Eris shrugged her shoulders, her hand rose to her chin as she began.
"To each their own I suppose, but if you don't mind me being blunt perhaps it's time you think less of your father and more about what is ahead for yourself."

As Eris came to a finish Lucien sped pass the carriage to Nadev speaking to him as quietly as possible. The whole caravan began to slow to a gentle stop as Lucien quickly took his place in the back. Before the caravan was a forest road that skirted by a ridge for quite sometime. Alhashir and Nadev began to speak to one another in a foreign tongue and before long Galaonis was involved as well. Lear simply sat and listened, glancing back at Lucien every chance he could get.

"Something wrong?" Eris questioned softly

"Neo-Potak" Lucien muttered in response.

Upon hearing the name of the brute which was of no friend of the law, Aranida walked over to the gate concerned."Gigantes?" she asked out loud, even though she was already sure she heard the name. So he was the one who kidnapped Avia. She couldn't say that she was surprised.

"Elder, do you know the direction in which Gigantes left? This is an extremely urgent matter!" The troop of men who had followed her assembled in a line behind her.

Sera patiently watched over Tyr as he slept to make sure he was completely alright after his bizarre fit. God had given her the ability to heal indefinitely, but she wondered why he entrusted the power to her for the whole journey instead of just this one time. Perhaps there was something more to it, maybe God had an idea of what was to happen to her and the thoughts of when and why she would need this power frightened her.

Then, the carriage slowed to a halt.

"What's going on?" she cried out to the driver. "Is there something there?"

Tyr's sleep turned out to not be as deep as she thought, as he woke up the instant she shouted. He was tense and bothered, lifting her arm from his shoulder and escaping her grip. Sword already drawn, his face reflected disturbed thoughts and he stood up with no words.
He heard it.
God had told him.
______________________

"What a record! This auction is too amazin', gentlemen!"
Sal was hardly able to contain his excitement. The men churned out bids at every chance they could get, always countering the last offer exponentially.

Gigantes peered down at Avia, who was slowly regaining consciousness. He did not feel right about this. Normally he was fine with whatever deed they performed, because they needed to survive, but this was different. She was a woman, and a beautiful one at that. As he though about how he could not do this, he threw her over his shoulder and made his way out of the warehouse, exiting out the back alley.

He knew Sal and the entrepreneurs all watched him and could hear them chasing behind. He would never be able to make up for this, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

It lightened his heart that at least the Lady addressed him with the respect he was due, but now was not the time for that. He pushed Bahaa forward a little roughly.

"Bahaa, show Lady Aranida the way."

The child turned to him with worried eyes which he felt though he could not see it.

"Go on, I don't think a blind old goat like me will be of much use. I'll wait here until you return."

The scruffy short haired youth approached her slowly, trembling each step of the way.

"This way, miss Lady Aranida."

Making sure they followed, he took off the usual place the slave traders held auction.

As for Mahmoud, he made his way slowly back to the store. He stumbled once or twice, failing to remember a bump or two in the road on the way over. Having accomplished what he set out to do, his tired body finally told his brain of his weariness. Shaking it off as he always did, Mahmoud went to put the brew on the stove before coming back out to the storefront. He sat down on his usual stool, leaning slightly backwards. A little bit of rest would do some good he reckoned and he closed his eyes until his heart too came to a rest.

---

Qalim was slightly amused by the woman's answer. Not the one he had been looking for perhaps but then the answers usually never were. Under their breath, he caught whispers of a foreign tongue, and reading their lips did little good. However, Tyr had already roused himself from inside the carriage, sword at the ready.

Bandits, highwaymen, robbers, or what have you. What a bother, Qalim thought. He hated fighting face to face. Too much carnage, too open. He could not use the scythe here. Until he saw what they were going to face though, he kept his blade hidden.

Nadev quickly tuned his horse to the back so that he could address both Tyr and Qalim.

"Ahead of us there's an ambush, We've already spotted at least 15 men but it's been decided that we're going to enter the pass regardless. I've decided that Lucien and one of you are going to move on foot to the high ground and hopefully flank our ambushers. Explosives will be involved and there might be a large amount of close quarters combat in the denser portion of the forest. I would select another one of my men but I need as much muscle around the carriage as I can muster."

Meanwhile Lucien was already beginning to unload a few explosives from the back of the carriage, along with a pair of short swords and a tri-tipped spear.

Aranida and her troops followed the boy as he weaved through the street dodging various carts and stalls. She was glad he was making haste and seemed to know where he was going. Every second they took was yet another chance for Avia to be sold. She couldn't imagine being sold into slavery, and she didn't want to think of the following repercussions politically if an envoy from another city had happened to be sold while in her care. Her house's name would plummet and her rank stripped from her. She couldn't imagine it, she didn't want to imagine it. Aranida sprinted faster keeping pace with the boy. She noted that they were entering a much more rundown part of the city, it was always in these areas, where her fine tooth comb could not reach easily, much like a kernel stuck in your back tooth. The boy stopped right outside a dark alley where murmuring along with the occasional clang of a gavel as another individual was sold.

There she could see a large group of various men, and others, who look downtrodden and slightly unkempt, washed solely so that they looked healthy enough to be sold, kept in shackles and grouped together in chains. She despised slavers. Then again, she despised most crime. Swiftly drawing both her pistols, loaded with non-lethal stun bullets made to explode with a blight flash upon firing, she fired them both in the air with a loud "bang!".

"In the name of the House of Lancaster, you are all under arrest. Men! Move out! Burn it to the ground, and try not to harm the prisoners. Everyone else...you're free to decide yourself" Aranida was mad. She couldn't find Avia, if they had already sold her, she'd...she didn't know what she'd do, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty. Her men ran into the crowd, knocking over stalls selling black market goods, battering the crooked merchants cruelly with the butts of their guns.

It was then, that she happened to notice a pale blur of someone slung over the soldier of a large man. She didn't even debate whether it was possibly Avia or not. Aranida immediately began to sprint towards what her instinct seemed to be directing her too. She deftly unloaded one of her pistols, the ammo falling to the ground, and with one hand loaded another one of her custom made bullets. This one was made so that it would explode in a cloud of dust and smoke. She fired it ahead of her at the individual she assumed was Gigantes and slid towards him from behind hoping to trip him up.

Qalim smiled when Nadev spoke to them about the flanking manoeuvre.

"I volunteer for that, I'm much better suited for sneaking around anyway."

He didn't want to look like a thief but he couldn't say anything else. Besides, someone had to make a decision. Tyr was probably better off near the Messenger, who it seemed was a calming presence for him. At least, that's what he reckoned. Not to mention he had a sword, which could reach farther than his knives in a straight up fight. That was just cold hard fact.

When Tyr stepped out he shut the carriage door as Sera attempted to exit and question Lear about the situation. Tyr gripped his blade tightly in his right hand and tapped the left side of his weapon belt to make sure he had access to his hatchet and chain. Neither were normally used for combat, usually reserved for labor jobs, but if Lear's companions were afraid he felt he would need every weapon, improvised or not.

"Tyr! Stop!" Sera called out from the carriage. "I'm not sure you're fully healed! Don't overdo anything!"

She opened the door and jumped out behind him, to which he reacted with a sharp glare. It ripped through her like scissors through fabric and she cringed as his eyes conveyed deep bewilderment.

"I am no zealot, but God told me to."
His voice was cold and wavered as he spoke. For the first time in years he was truly afraid, unsure about what he was about to endure. He had to stand tall and protect her, but he did not want to. He would have rather sat inside the carriage and waited to be attacked than initiate from outside, but just as when God called his children to end their wars, he was called to fight one.
______________________________

As Gigantes ducked into an alleyway barely wide enough for himself, a cloud of smoke formed behind him, cutting off Sal and the auction attendees. He was never quick on his feet, but he knew he could use this to his advantage by swinging another left at the next alley intersection. By now they would have lost his trail and he could drop Avia and escape. He would have to slip away immediately after, as Sal would have the entire market distract combing the streets for him.

He turned inside the next alley and dropped Avia into a large box of garbage. She landed with a softly, at this point finally regaining total consciousness, and as Gigantes saw she was fine he escaped down the end of the alley.
Now that she finally gained control of her limbs, Avia began to struggle in the pit of trash. Her arms were still bound, which made it nearly impossible for her to right herself in her current state of being.

"Very well then, follow Lucien as best as you can Qalim. I will warn you he is.." Nadev paused for a moment. "quick" he muttered with a spot of uncertainty.

Lucien quickly finished equipping, sliding two matchlock pistols into his great coat he watched Tyr slide out of the Carriage. "We're going on foot Qalim, the horses are too loud. Give your horse to Tyr and keep up." With that Lucien began to sprint off towards the pass, which was a good 200 meters away.

"Damn it" hissed Aranida as the smoke cleared and no trace of Gigantes remained. She had hoped he would've been disoriented, then again, he was in this business, surely he'd been through this scenario before while kidnapping or running with his loot. She was determined not to let him slip through her fingers, he was so close, she knew he was.

Entering the alleyway with both her pistols raised in front of her, Aranida carefully listened hoping to get some sort of clue as to where they had taken Avia. She froze as she heard a sound and immediately turned to the possible direction it had come from. She waited silently, it could have been a raccoon for all she knew, but still she waited. There it was again! Some sort of disturbance something, someone, was moving.

Without further considering that it could have been some sort of scavenging animal rummaging through the trash, Aranida ran in the direction of the sound. She turned a corner with her pistols poised and aimed at any potential threats. There was no one, but still she could hear something and a large box of garbage shuddering. Slowly walking up to the box she peered into it and was surprised, and absolutely relieved to have found Avia. She resisted the urge to seek Gigantes, Avia was her mission for now, the scoundrel would be hers one day whenever he decided to show his face again.

"Avia!" she said exasperated and helped to pull the woman from the trash, while proceeding to loose the bindings that restrained her limbs. "Are you alright?! Did that man do anything to you? I'm so sorry this happened to you, I should have been more vigilant with your protection!"

Lucien took off like a startled goat. Qalim dismounted as fast as he could and took off as well. Lucien was fast but so long as Qalim could maintain a line of sight, he would not get left behind. Physical exertions reminded him of the numerous chases after quick-footed targets. His body no doubt reacting naturally in anticipation for the conflict ahead. A blade was still a blade regardless of where it was.

---

Bahaa let the soldiers do their work as he took off after the scary miss Lady Aranida. Shortly they found what they were looking for but the culprit was escaping. Or rather he had escaped through the alleyways of the district. Well, if there one thing Bahaa learned from Qalim it was, take the high road. He clambered up the wall using what purchases he could find, doing well for an active boy his age.

It was short before he was on a roof and he could see the commotion caused by the guards and the slavers looking for Gigantes. One street ahead, he could see briefly turbulent traffic heading in the same direction as the pursuers. That must have been Gigantes. Alone he couldn't bring in a fully grown man so the least he could do was find his safe house and report back to the scary miss Lady Aranida.

He set off in the direction he deduced Gigantes was heading. Traversing the dangerous rooftops on his own little mission that the old man had given him.

200 meters had been covered in little to no time as Lucien switched directions, heading around the side of the pass. He stopped for a moment and ducked against a tree as he waited for Qalim. His eyes scouted slowly across the forest ahead of him. "It's much denser than I originally thought." He muttered to himself pausing for a moment to assess the situation.

_____




Nadev quickly guided the dismounted horse to Tyr, eye-ing him up as he did so. "You seem, unnerved." he groaned out as he took position at the front of the caravan. "We're moving onwards, so pull yourself together and move to the left of the caravan." wasting no time Nadev began to calculate the battle plans in his head comparing pros and cons. "They largely out-number us.. but they're untrained fanatics and we have a decent idea of where they're planning to ambush from. If Lucien and Qalim succeed we'll be able to thin their numbers out and perhaps spread them thin, meaning we can counter attack immediately and eradicate their forces-" stopping mid thought he turned back to the caravan. "As we enter the woods Lucien and Qalim will set off a chain of explosives behind the enemy ambushers line, Myself and Galaonis will charge into the enemy line hoping to scatter them and perhaps meet up with others to begin a counter attack on their broken and now exposed lines, while this is happening I want Tyr, Eris, and Alhashir to defend the carriage at all costs."

Alhashir had been digging about in the back of the carriage while Nadev was giving orders, but before long he arose with a small cannon like weapon which he immediately put it on the front of the carriage with him, now he was prepared to move out.