"We've got a problem," Sparrow whispered across the table.
"Let me guess, you've fallen in love with me?" Reaver joked.
"What? No. On the top of the clock tower are three assassins waiting for one of us. Someone's taken a contract out on either you or me. Or both of us." Sparrow casually replied, trying not to raise suspicion.
"I hardly call that a fight. I could take my little friend here and have the bastards saying goodnight in seconds." Reaver placed a hand on his holster, offering a smug look to Sparrow.
"No, we can't attack first. There may be more of them around, waiting to catch us by surprise. That's usually their plan. Have a few rookies start the fight, and attempt to finish it when you think you've defeated them." Sparrow explained, urging Reaver to put the gun away.
"I see... so what do we do now?" Reaver moved his hand back to the table. Sparrow was surprised, usually Reaver never wanted to listen to other's ideas. She was prepared to argue with him about the plan.
"Well, we can either wait them out, or take them head on. Either way they probably won't attack until business has died down, which gives us a few hours at least." Sparrow explained, "Thank you." One of the barmaids had dropped off their drinks.
"Alright, well I guess we could either come up with some sort of escape plan, or how to overcome them. I highly doubt an escape is a wise idea, granted that you just said they're probably scouting all over the place." Reaver stared at his drink for a moment, before noticing it looked odd. He looked to Sparrow's own stein as she raised it.
"Don't drink that!" Reaver quickly swiped the glass out her hand.
Sparrow stared at Reaver, annoyed he had stolen her drink.
"Reaver, what the hell?" Sparrow reached back for the glass.
"No stop, the color in this isn't right...and it looks way too thick for ale." Reaver pulled the glass farther from Sparrow as he studied the liquid.
"What?"
"Look, the ale is usually a brighter amber. This is almost orange." Reaver held the glass to the light so Sparrow could see the difference.
"Well ale isn't always the same color, if its towards the end of the barrel it might go dark." Sparrow tried to reason.
"Yes, I understand that, however it doesn't get thicker. Watch the way it moves." Reaver slowly tilted the glass. The liquid inside almost clung to the container, slowly moving.
"So has someone tried to poison us?" Sparrow stared at Reaver.
"Not necessarily poison, but if they wanted to get the upper hand they might try to slow us down. I'd guess there's a sort of sleep sap, or something similar in it. If we had drank it, we wouldn't have noticed anything was off until too late. Whoever wants us...they're trying to capture us alive. Or make sure they can finish us off." Reaver concluded.
"Strange. Usually assassins try to, well, assassinate me. This is new, they've got a full strategy." Sparrow leaned back in her chair. Something in the corner of the bar caught her eye. Focusing her attention through the patrons, she finally identified what it was. A man was watching them, intently. His eyes were glued to the heroes as they studied there drinks. Then, he met Sparrow's eyes.
"Oh shit..." She realized he was probably a part of the attack, probably the watchman of the group.
Reaver looked up, noticing the expression on her face. He was just about to turn when Sparrow grabbed his hand on the table.
"Don't turn. There's another one watching us in the corner. I'm sure he knows we figured out something's wrong." Sparrow turned her attention back to the table, "Well, pirate, how do you feel about some improv?"
"Oh I'm ready. How are we starting?" Reaver responded, almost excited.
"Go to the first room on the second floor, Dan only rents it to me anyway. From the doorway you can get a clear view of the table he's at. I'm going to go interview our little friend in the corner here." Sparrow brushed the dagger in her boot. "He tries anything, you take him out."
Reaver moved to the second floor, and Sparrow made her way to the bartender.
"Dan, there's about to be some action in the building, so if you could find a way to get the patrons out of here, that would be great." Sparrow gave a warning.
"Alright, thanks for the heads up. I'll get the back exit ready." Dan set down the glass he had been polishing, and grabbed a key.
Sparrow made her way through the patrons, until she was sitting directly across from the watchman.
"So I noticed that you've been watching my friend and I at our table...watching our every move." She traced her hand along the wood of the table, staring at the hand laid across it.
Rookie mistake Sparrow thought to herself. The man remained silent.
"Alright. Don't talk, but just so you know, I also know about your buddies outside. What I don't know, is your plan. I'll tell you about mine though. My plan, is to take all of you out, and find out who sent you. This can be easy, or this can be hard." Sparrow warned, slipping a hand to the hidden dagger. "Who are you working for?"
Eyes were avoided, and there was no response.
"I won't ask again. You either tell me, or you won't like the outcome."
Instead of answering, the man tried to move quickly enough to get away. Suddenly, it felt like time slowed down, and he found his hand pinned to the table with a dagger. Moments later, the pain arrived.
As the spell wore off, and time returned to normal, Sparrow was standing with her hands on the table.
"WHO sent you? I'll dress that wound later if you tell me." Sparrow demanded.
"I DON'T KNOW." He finally broke, desperately trying to pull the blade from his hand.
"What do you mean you don't know? You've got to have some information on your client."
"I mean that it wasn't one person. Just some group that call themselves the 'guild'. They went through a third party who contacted us."
Sparrow reached towards the knife, considering showing more mercy than intended.
"How many of you are there." She questioned, hand gripping the hilt of her dagger.
"20. The boss worried we wouldn't be able to defeat you so he made 5 groups scout the town, and plan the attack. They were going to blow this place up when I left, so they knew when the least amount of casualties would occur."
"What? DAN GET THESE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE NOW!" Sparrow screamed to the barman behind her. Swiftly he opened the back door, and ushered patrons out. Then, he and the barmaids left the building.
"I've told you everything, now please. Take the damn knife out of the table!" Het pleaded.
"Fine," Sparrow placed her hand back on the dagger, and began removing it. "Just one more thing. REAVER, NOW." Sparrow ripped the knife out, and moved out of the way. Less than a second later, the shot rang out, and the assassin fell over. Sparrow made her way to the second floor. Grabbing Reaver by the wrist she kept moving towards the balcony of the building.
"We're gonna have to pick a couple of them off the clock tower, and jump from the balcony. They're going to bomb the building!" Sparrow announced as she pulled out her own weapon.
"How many of them are we up against?" Reaver asked, ready for the fight.
"Our little pal downstairs said 20, though I don't know if that included him. We've fought off way more spire guards than that. Ready?" She held up her gun.
Reaver smirked back, "Ready as I'll ever be." With a nod, they moved onto the balcony, and Sparrow slowed down time. The heroes took out the five assassins hiding out in the clock tower. Then, Sparrow felt the crumbling foundation underneath them.
"That's our cue!" She grabbed Reaver's wrist and the two jumped off the balcony, heading towards the bridge. Assassins began spilling out from different corners and alleys, firing at them. Reaver continued shooting, while Sparrow took on the melee combat, using her will abilities to her advantage. As they made their way through the attackers, and onto the Bower Bridge, Reaver noticed a familiar smell. Gunpowder.
"I think they're going to blow this bridge up!" He called out to Sparrow, who was fending off a highway man.
"Well if that's the case, its time for plan c!" Sparrow dealt a fatal blow to the highway man and started making her way to the edge of the bridge, "Are you coming with or not pirate?" She yelled back to Reaver, who was distracted by an assassin on top of a stall.
"What exactly is plan c?" He yelled back as he ran over to Sparrow.
"Run!" She screamed, grabbing Reaver's hand. Pulling him towards the other side of the bridge, Sparrow once again slowed time. Behind them, the bridge was exploding. As the explosives detonated closer and closer, Sparrow realized they weren't going to make it across the bridge. As she shoved her hand into her bag, she reached around until she felt the guild seal. Activating it, she gripped Reaver's hand hard, as the scenery around them changed, and they were transported to hero hill. Letting go of his hand, Sparrow tried to steady her heart beat.
"What the...where did...where are we?" Reaver panted, out of breath.
"Hero hill. I meant to get us into the guild, but this will work. There's a cullis gate we can use anyway." She replied, walking to the glowing gate.
Inside the guild, Sparrow sat down at the table. She examined the map, trying to make a plan. Reaver stood across from the table, watching her.
"So what's the plan now?" He asked, as Sparrow made a few markings on the map.
"Well, we should probably lay low for a few days. Apparently it wasn't a specific person that took out the contract, but a whole group. They call themselves 'the guild'. We don't know where they're based, who they are, or what their goal is. Obviously other than killing us. They'll probably scout Bowerstone for a few days before giving up and returning to their boss." Sparrow explained.
"Alright, that could work. We don't seem to have any supplies here, though." Reaver pointed out.
"I'm not worried about that, theres a camp right here," Sparrow pointed on the map, "There's a few traders there who would be willing to help out. Its also the camp Theresa raised me in. If you don't want to do that, I guess we could always go to Bloodstone, hide out in your mansion for a bit."
"No." Reaver blurted out, "We can't go there. Not now."
"Why?" Sparrow stared at him.
"Because...you see..." He searched for any believable excuse.
"What, did you piss off the wrong person and get your mansion burned down, again?" She asked, amused.
"Something like that...point is we can't go to Bloodstone." Reaver turned away. As he did, Sparrow noticed something running down his temple.
"Reaver...you're bleeding." She walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and turning him back around. Gently she touched the wound, and he flinched away.
How is he injured? What's that on the ground? Sparrow's stomach dropped when she recognized the item.
"The sacrifice." She whispered.
"What?" He looked at her confused.
"The sacrifice is due, isn't it, Reaver?" Sparrow backed away from him, "That's why you wanted to gain my trust, isnt it?"
"What? No, Sparrow, I wouldn't do that to you again. The sacrifice is...coming up but I wasn't going to send you in there again."
"Then what's this?" Sparrow crouched down to pick up the seal. In doing so, she noticed the journal on the ground.
"My journal. You didn't want to secure my house earlier. You were ransacking it!" For a moment, she laughed, "I can't believe you fooled me. Again."
"Sparrow listen, I-"
"No, Reaver. You listen!" Sparrow whipped around towards him," 3 years ago you trick me into going to the shadow court and nearly sacrificing myself for you, then, you betrayed me for a pile of fuckin' gold, right up until the moment that Lucien shot me for a second time. Then, weeks later you show up in what used to be my home, make fun of my murdered family, and I still believed that you were capable of change. I thought that maybe you'd received a reality check, and were willing to become a good person. Oh but how wrong was I. How stupid I am, for believing that you actually wanted to get to know me. That you wanted to be my friend. Instead you were just trying to build my trust again so that you could...use me again" She picked up the seal, and stared at it.
"It wasn't like that! You have to believe me!" Reaver pleaded with her.
Sparrow held the seal up.
"I was wrong. People like you don't change. You know you only came here to try and sacrifice me again for your stupid contract. I should have known I wasn't anything more than a pawn to you. You destroyed an entire town without remorse for your own selfish endeavors. You, Reaver, are incapable of change. You'll always be a self-serving, ignorant jackass looking for the next thrill. Well, you won't get me to fill that contract again. Find someone else to do your dirty work, Reaver. I'm done with you." Sparrow shoved the seal at him, and walked back to the cullis gate.
"And to think, I was actually beginning to think we could have had a friendship."
Come back here, Sparrow! Where are you going?" He called for her, but she was gone.
Reaver, for the first time in centuries, was at a loss for words. He wanted to follow after Sparrow, tell her that it wasn't his intention to sacrifice her. He knew better than that, though. Even if he did follow, Sparrow would just run further away. He stared at the seal, cursing himself for lying to her. For the first time in centuries, he had met someone who wanted to enjoy his company. She was willing to be a friend in a time of need, and wouldn't enable self destructive choices. Frustrated, he threw the seal at the ground.
"Noted, damaging the seal also damages me..." Reaver muttered, sitting down to catch his breath.