Chapter 3.
Trouble Begins.
The last rays of sunlight were fading from the sky by the time Karel had returned to the inn. He cast a shadowed look around the cramped common room. There was a small group of men clustered around the spluttering fire place, and two women sitting in a darkened corner, there hoods drawn up casting their faces in darkness. The swordmaster shrugged and hurried towards the ramshackle staircase, eager for a nights rest in a bed. 'Even if I'm sharing it with lice' he thought bitterly.
"Karel!" a voice shouted from behind him.
The swordmaster turned slowly, his hand wandering down to the hilt of his Wo Dao. "Yes?"
A man with one leg and a cane slowly stumped over to the swordmaster. "It's good to see you."
Karel arched and eyebrow. "Do I know you?"
The man recoiled in mock horror, before a grim expression settled onto his face. "I'm Sharn," the man extended his free hand "It's good to see you alive." Karel reached out and uncertainly grasped the former tactician's hand.
"Hey!"
Both men turned to see Raven weaving his way around the inns other patrons, a tray with bread, slightly moldy cheese and –by the smell of it- week old meat cradled protectively against his chest. "Give me a hand," he said to Karel "Go get some drinks."
The swordmaster shrugged and wandered over to the bar, he looked back over his shoulder and watched Raven and Sharn disappearing upstairs. "Save some for me!" He shouted at their retreating backs, they both appeared not to hear him. Karel muttered a few choice swear words under his breath as he approached the bar.
Karel froze as a hand grasped his shoulder. "You need to come with me," a soft, feminine voice said in his ear "Now," Karel stiffened as he felt the tip of a knife touching his ribs "I'm sure you won't argue."
Karel closed his eyes and groaned softly. "I think I'll have to decline."
The woman dug her dagger into his ribs. "You don't have an option."
Karel chuckled. "What if I wanted you to kill me?" The woman froze. "What if there was nothing I desired more than the feeling of my blood flowing out of me?"
"You don't mean that." There was a slight quaver in the woman's voice.
Karel grinned. "You're right," he turned to face her "But I'm not coming with you." The woman made a clumsy grab at Karel's arm.
"Shyunpa…" Karel whispered.
He vanished. The woman looked in disbelief at the spot where he had been standing. "Ho-?" Her question was cut short by the feeling of a sword piercing through her hood and slicing into her neck.
"Never underestimate me." Karel whispered to her body as he carefully lowered it to the ground. He tossed a silver piece to the barkeeper. "My friend has had a little too much to drink, make sure she gets the normal treatment."
The surly barkeeper scowled at Karel as he stepped out from behind the bar and grabbed two fistfuls of the woman's robe –feeling her up in the process-, dragging her to the door, pushing it open and heaving her out into the gutter.
Karel chuckled quietly to himself, 'The barkeeper thought he had just disposed of a drunk, it should be a while before anyone realizes she's missing.'
There was a rustling sound and the sound of the door creaking open. 'Her companion,' Karel cursed out loud and dashed after the vanishing robe robbed figure 'How could I have been so stupid?'
"What are you doing here?"
Raven blinked as Sharn questioned him again. "What?"
The tactician sighed and swallowed a slice of cheese before continuing. "I asked you what you are doing here."
Raven shrugged. "Mercenary work mostly," he looked at Sharn "Why?"
The young man gave the red haired warrior and secretive smile. "Because the Raven I knew didn't do anythingunless he had a reason whether it was trying to avenge his family or," the tactician smiled "Beating Sain into a pulp because talking to Priscilla."
The mercenary winced at the last part. "Please don't talk about her."
The tactician looked confusedly at Raven "Who? Priscilla? Why?"
Raven looked away from Sharn. "I don't want to talk about it."
"But I-"
Raven rose, his eyes dark and his face set in a snarl. "I said I didn't want to talk about it and that is final!" He roared the last word and yanked the door open. "I'm going to get Karel." Raven slammed the door with such force Sharn was sure it would break.
The tactician waited a few moments before cutting himself another slice of cheese and chewing on it, lost in thought.
"You didn't have to kill her," The other woman was huddled over her companion's body "She'd never hurt anyone." The woman stroked her friend's cheek.
Karel winced when he saw the woman's face. 'No,' he thought 'She's hardly old enough to be called a woman, she's more a girl.'
The other woman rose and threw back her hood, she was older with worry lines along her brow, she had the same striking teal hair as the dead girl. "You killed my daughter," she drew a dagger out of the folds of her robe "The commander be damned! You killed her!" The woman was screaming now, tears running down her face.
Karel sighed and reached for his Wo Dao. "I can see that this will only end when one of us lies next to her," he wrapped his fingers around his blade's hilt "And it won't be me."
The woman screamed and lunged at him. "Die you murderous fiend!"
Karel watched as she came, not moving, not even blinking as she raised her arm to strike. "Shyunpa…" He whispered and vanished.
The woman spun on her heel and prepared strike again, however before she could take one step a great wound opened across her chest, sending a spray of crimson onto the pavement. "Monster," she croaked hoarsely "What have you done to me?"
Karel walked past her, lightly pushing her on the shoulder so she collapsed next to her dead daughter. "Killed you" he replied simply. He didn't look back at the dying woman and her dead daughter as he entered the inn, nor would he ever think of them again.
The woman looked at her dead child. "I'm sorry," she whispered "I failed you and I failed the commander," she coughed and grasped her daughter's hand "I'm useless aren't I?" With those words she slipped into deaths cold embrace.
Raven looked up in exasperation as Karel entered. "Where have you been?"
Karel smiled sheepishly. "Nature called."
Raven blanched before turning on his heel and walking back towards the stairs. "And to think I was worried about you." He muttered under his breath.
Karel relaxed and followed after Raven.
A man with lavender hair and a purple head band stepped out of a near by alley. He blanched at the sight of the two woman's bodies; he knelt beside them and pushed the hair out of the child's eyes. "You never were good at thieving," he sighed before rising "It appears you weren't any good at spying either." He gave a pitying look at the bodies before vanishing into the night.
