Vin had been in the city for 10 days, and while he usually tried to avoid notice he had run out of funds and needed to get more before he moved on to try and avoid his brothers spies. Though he hated to admit it he was lonely, since he had been forced to flee six years previously he had been on his own, he had travelled with Chanu for a time until he had been murdered two years before, at that point he had decided it was safer for him to remain on his own. It was this desire for companionship which had resulted in him helping out an elderly woman on his first afternoon there, this lady Nettie had taken him home with her and fed him and offered him her spare room. Though Vin had been unwilling at first to accept her help she had worn him down and he had agreed, as the days had worn on she reminded him more and more of his mother who had been dead for eight years, he was going to miss her when he moved on but there was no way he could stay.
He was brought out of his thoughts by sounds of a fight from an alley, looking down there he saw a man some years older than himself being set upon by around 6 others, he was managing quite well but Vin knew that there was no way that he could win the fight. Drawing two knives from his waist he prepared to join the fight.
"Leave him alone." He said
"Keep out of this boy." One of them said with a sneer.
"Y'all must have better things to do than this." Vin said already looking round the alley to see where he could be tripped or where there were weapons that he could use if and when he lost his knives.
"Unless you want to be locked up then you will not interfere with royal business." The same man said. Vin had not realised who the group were and he was on the verge of walking away when he looked at the man they were fighting. The man was maybe 10 years older than him, his dirty blonde hair was cut short though it was longer at the front and strands of it were falling into his eyes. It was the eyes that spoke to Vin though, he could not be sure what colour the eyes were but the sadness in them was almost a mirror image of that he knew was in his own on occasion. Seeing that sadness and resignation Vin knew that there was no way that he could just leave the man there to be killed.
"I can't walk away." Vin said simply, this seemed to be the words that broke the stalemate and two of the men walked towards him. The blonde man was moving as well and had laid into one of the men holding him. The two men attacking Vin held the curved swords which seemed to be common for this part of the world as opposed to the straight weapons of his homeland, the only problem with this was that Vin had sold his sword 4 years back and his knives did not have the reach of the other mens longer weapons something that could be a slight impediment on him winning any fight. The blonde man on the other hand held a sword like the other men so did not have the problem of reach, however there were 4 men facing him so he was outnumbered.
Quickly looking round to see if there was a position that he could defend himself from easier than where he was at the entrance to an alley. He knew that if he could get far enough away from his assailants then he had a chance. From a distance he was deadly with those knives, he was good at close combat but not as good a result of the training that he had engaged in his younger years. Seeing a crate a scrambled up it and sent a knife flying towards one his assailants, it buried itself in his throat and he collapsed gurgling to the floor. The few seconds that it took Vin to pull another knife was enough for the second man to get close enough to try and grab Vin's leg, a boot to the face sent the man reeling back and gave Vin a chance to jump down and get in close to the man to a position where he would have the advantage over the other mans longer sword. This move was not without a price as he felt a searing pain down his right side, sinking his knife into the mans stomach he pulled it out and ran to help the blonde.
The blonde had downed one man by punching him into one of the mud brick walls, another was sprawled on the floor with his throat cut, the two men that were left however had seen how easily the two men had dealt with the others and after grabbing the man who Vin had stabbed and the one who had gone into the wall they ran.
Chris was willing to admit that it was a stupid move on his part to have got lured down an alley, he had left the palace for one afternoon tired of all the scheming that surrounded the place and someone had tried to get rid of him. The fact that he could have died was not one that he was blind to and but for the stranger he could have been seriously hurt.
"Thank you." He said looking at the stranger who was retrieving a knife from the throat of one of the royal guards.
"Nothin' to it." Vin replied with a small smile. Chris was shocked by the sheer beauty of the mans face in front of him, he had noticed that before but when the man smiled he was by far the most attractive man that Chris had ever seen and he was used to be surrounded by attractive people. He also looked like he was not a native to the land and if Chris had been in any doubt the clothes and hair proved that he was not from Forner.
"Well thanks then." Chris said holding out his hand. The other man hesitated for a minute as though he suspected a trap before returning the gesture and the pair shook hands.
"I gotta go." Vin said as he pulled his hand out of Chris' and hurriedly left the alley. Once his rescuer had gone Chris hurried back to the palace, he would have to get Ezra to exercise his contacts in the city and find out who the man was as Chris had not felt as strong a connection to anyone since the day he had been introduced to his former wife Sarah and that had been 10 years before. He wanted to find the man and to discover a way to make the loneliness that he had seen in his eyes disappear.
