AN:
I have come back as promised :)
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Chapter 12: The Flow
Three Days Later:
Gunshots echo throughout the cavern, faintly reaching Eirlet on the other side of the city as another fight erupts in the streets, one of the many that have pushed the Fangs further into a corner ever since the assassination of their would-be leader.
'But none of that matters to me anymore.' Eirlet muses as he passes the guards stationed at the exit to the surface with a nod, entering the darkened tunnel and leaving the city to his back.
'Sherbolt made some progress in the first two days but they've rallied together once more, although they lost a lot of ground they still have most of their strongholds and chokepoints in their control.' He thinks back to the gossip he heard from hanging around their headquarters and from the bedridden Gavec whenever he visited him.
Stopping by one of the few torches periodically spread in the tunnel, Eirlet approaches the wall and looks up, not to the rocky ceiling, but to a hole that leads much higher up.
Strapping his bag tighter across his back he reaches to the wall and grabs onto a furrow in it, securing his hand he looks up and grabs another one and plants his feet on the wall as well.
He starts climbing up the hole, shortly leaving the light from the torch before he stops once more and slaps one of his hands around above him, gripping a wooden rung once he feels it. Now on a ladder, he climbs for a few more seconds, traversing a few more meters before he hits the top.
Eirlet bangs his fist on the wooden hatch above him, needing to wait a few seconds before he hears some shuffling above and the hatch slowly opens itself with a groan, shining light from a lamp down onto him.
He squints as he lifts himself out and into the room, eyes quickly adjusting to take in the storage room he climbed into as the hatch behind him shuts with a loud -Bang-.
"Good, you're on time," a voice gruffly says behind him, the owner wearing white passing beside him with a limp along with the tapping of a cane.
Grunting in agreement he follows behind the older man as they head up a flight of stairs to the ground floor and into an active kitchen with multiple chefs grilling, chopping and preparing food.
"You know your way, now get out before I smack you." the man says with a negligent wave of his cane as he limps away.
SMACK
"Does that look medium rare to you boy!?" The man berates a younger chef who winces at the hit to his shin as he dumps the steak he was holding back into the pan.
Eirlet leaves the two to it, passing by the other chefs and out the back and into an alley, one much cleaner than the ones he's seen outside of Sina, even with the trash from the restaurant on the side.
He turns and heads down the alley, approaching the smoking chef leaning against a wall who glances at him as he comes to a stop beside him before bringing his eyes back to watching the evening crowd of the inner district.
What Eirlet noticed in his time around the district is how similar the one above and below are, and at the same time near opposites, especially during the night. Where in Aurum you have to constantly be aware of the dangers lurking around while playing around, up above, none pay attention to their surroundings, everyone leisurely going about their night as they merrily drink and eat.
'Guess that's what happens when you live in one of the districts with the most MPs in it, although…' he watches as a trio of armed MPs drag a pair of early drinkers out of a bar, roughly manhandling them down the street where they meet another trio of MPs, 'there's never been that many out before.'
He watches the group turn a corner before the man beside him speaks up, "MPs got whiff of what's been happening recently so they're coming out in force and ain't taking any bribes." Eirlet frowns at that, "No one's trying to get any sort of attention cause the higher-ups were booted out of the capital for this and they're pissed, I heard about a dozen MPs were court-martialed up north for trafficking gear and taking bribes."
He takes one more drag before stamping out the light and hands over a folded sheet to Eirlet who takes it, "It'll be good for a couple of days before they change it up again,'' the man informs as he rakes a hand through his blond hair.
Unfolding it, Eirlet looks over the map of the area around Stohess with a careful eye, 'So the big shots are cleaning house through MPs now hm?' His eyes focus on the gaps between patrol routes and shift rotations, spaced apart just long and far enough for things to happen right under a patrol's nose along with a couple of routes just coincidentally going past a couple of buildings Eirlet knows some people don't want others poking around in.
Satisfied, he folds up the map again and pockets it within a fold of his dull brown wool and leather jacket, the weather starting to get cold enough to wear one, and hands over two silver coins. Pocketing the money, the man gives him a two-fingered salute and heads back down the alley and into the restaurant.
Heading out into the street, he follows the flow of traffic heading out of the district, many of them being farmers or traders finished selling their day's food and wares and heading out with near-empty carts or carriages.
Looking around as he gets closer to the gate leading out of the district, his eyes land on an old farmer guiding his farm horse down the street.
Weaving through the crowd, he approaches the side of the cart and hops in beside the man, only getting a glance before they continue on in silence.
Turning the final corner, Eirlet gets a look at the long line of people trying to get out of the district as the man beside him sighs in annoyance and lines up as well. It takes a good half hour before they get their turn.
"Hey Leo," one of the garrison soldiers tiredly greets the farmer.
"Finn," he greets.
"Sorry about this but we need to quickly check your cart and person, it won't take long so you and your grandson can go on in a minute." he apologetically asks.
The two easily agree as they step down from the cart where a soldier hops into the back and starts sifting through the empty crates while another approaches Eirlet.
"How you doin' kid? Been a bit," the lanky man greets him with a smile, getting a shrug in return.
"I hear ya, the MPs got spooked by something and they've been on our asses since," he complains as he gestures for the bag on Eirlets back.
He continues chatting up Eirlet, getting some gestures back in return as he goes through the bag which reveals nothing else besides spare clothes and some food and water.
"Raise your arms for me," he does so and the man quickly and barely pats him down.
"Alright, you're good to go, take care of your gramps you hear?" He ruffles his hair in farewell, getting an annoyed stare in return.
Huffing, he hops back into his seat with Leo following a few seconds later.
"You two are good to go." Finn waves them off.
Nodding, he flicks the lead in his hands and the horse starts to move again, shortly leaving the duo behind along with their half a dozen armed compatriots.
The two stay silent as the cart rumbles over the trodden dirt road, staying that way as the sun drops down to the horizon.
Sitting up from his slouch, Eirlet eyes the buildings a short ways away. Slinging his bag over his shoulders he nods to Leo and leaves two silver coins on his seat as he hops down onto the ground.
"C'ya kid," Leo waves without looking at him as he pulls ahead, leaving Eirlet to walk the rest of the way.
Walking down the dirt road, he glances around at the fields surrounding the area, holding acres of food fenced off. In the distance, he can see sparse buildings spaced out with one or two lights streaming through windows, just a few specks of light in the dark farmland.
The path changes to much more packed and firm dirt, indicating him entering the village. Windows within the buildings are lit up in the decently sized village, each house spaced far enough to let the village with barely thirty buildings seem much larger.
He goes through the near barren path, passing very few people as he turns to a building with only a single window lit up and a curtain blocking the view within.
Walking up to and stopping in front of the door, he looks around and seeing no one in sight grabs two pins from his pocket and brings them to the lock, one simple enough for him to jimmy open in a few seconds.
Pocketing his tools, he turns the knob and opens the door, revealing a near barren hallway, lit up only from the doorway to the kitchen to the right.
Shutting and locking the door behind him, he walks down the hallway and turns into the kitchen, and dining room.
Dust covers most of the area, the only thing out of place being the lit oil lamp on the dinner table. Approaching it, he turns the knob on the oil lamp until the flame is snuffed with a -click-, leaving him in darkness.
Turning, he heads back out the hall and approaches the stairs, specifically the wall nested beneath the stairs.
Stopping in front of it, he moves his hands to the edge of the wall where it meets the stairs, moving his fingers up and down the edge until they catch onto two grooves above and below. Grabbing onto them with his fingers, he pulls back and feels the wall give out and slowly start to swing itself open.
With a grunt of exertion, he pushes the heavy door wide open, revealing a small room, more of a rather large closet really, only large enough to take two steps forward with the rest of the space taken by a few crates stacked on either side and a small table at the end.
Stepping inside, he flips the lid of one of the crates and grins at the gleaming metal that he sees. Three crates filled with flesh-cutting blades, enough to last him a long while even if he splurged and in the other stack another three with fully fueled gas canisters ready to be used.
'Well goddamn,' he grins as he places a gas canister back, 'this is gonna be a hell of a year.'
He walks up to the lone table where his bow and quiver rest on top along with a letter. Setting his bag on the table, he grabs the letter and breaks open the seal, unfolding the paper within.
E,
You are a high-value acquisitioner and courier now. Ko is at the training ground and will be your contact for targets, drop points and suppliers. Everything you get or carry will be hot and will have many after you, plan accordingly.
Meet him tomorrow.
S
'So the same shit I did before?' Folding the letter, he cranks the oil lamp on the table open and throws it inside, watching the flame eat the paper, 'Probably a lot harder actually. He said I'm going after high-value items, so probably important supplies for the fight going on right now.'
He lets out a huff as the paper crumbles to ashes, turning the lamp off he nabs his bag and weapons, leaving his ODM gear, and heads out the storage room whilst shutting it behind him.
He heads up the stairs, aiming for the only room he knows that has a bed in it.
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The Next Day:
Eirlet lets out a quiet hiss as he sucks on his bleeding digit, waiting until it stops before he goes back to patching the hole in his pants.
He just finished sewing the hole that ripped open earlier on his trek to the training ground before he hears the clopping of hooves on the ground from outside, getting closer.
Dropping his spare pants, he heads to the open window facing the small path leading to the building and peaks out of it. A horse gallops further down the path, kicking up dust behind it as its rider leads the horse closer to the cabin.
Seeing who it is, Eirlet relaxes slightly and sets his bow back against the wall beside the window and slides the arrow back into its leather sleeve.
Opening the door, he waits for a few seconds before Kores reaches the house, trotting to a stop by the steps.
Dismounting from the saddle, he nods to Eirlet as he ties his horse to the railing, "Eirlet, may I come in?"
He nods in response and waves him on in, walking back into the small hunting cabin, one likely owned by either Sherbolt or Gavec.
Sitting back down on the chair laden with fur, he throws his pants back into his bag as Kores pours himself some water from a pitcher set aside before sitting down with him by the table.
Taking a deep gulp of the cool water, he sighs in relief, taking a moment to relax before questioning Eirlet, "So you already know what you're generally going to do right?"
Seeing a nod, he brings out two folded sheets of paper, opening one to reveal a map, 'Wow, how much did they have to pay for this?' Raising his eyebrows, Eirlet roves his eyes over the sheet covering most of the table, detailing essentially everything within the top-right portion of Wall Rose.
"Now, there's two jobs lined up for you, both time-sensitive. First is right here," he runs his finger along a path from the northern Sina district of Orvud to Stohess, "there's a small supply run for the Fang which is on its way from Orvud, its already on the move and will reach Aurum in two days."
"But we know that they'll be passing through Willow hills," his fingers circle an area to the northeast of Stohess which is covered with hills, "by tomorrow, that'll be your best chance to act. It's a relatively small guard detail, not wanting to get a whole lot of attention, so your job is to hit them hard and bring the goods undamaged over here." He finally rests his finger on a marked position on the map, the only landmark near its remote position being a hunting village a few kilometers away.
Eirlet hums as he runs his eyes over the map before bringing his own out as well, fortunately just about covering the area he'll be doing the ambush. Comparing the maps, he marks down the few paths available to traverse the area, and notes with some amusement that the overlapping patrol of two squads of soldiers would leave the area clear for about an hour, 'So I'll have less than an hour to hit them and clear out.'
'If they're smart, there's only three paths that they'll take, all of them hard to ambush from,' he chews his lip in thought before eyeing a hill near the center of Willow hills, 'That point is close enough I can overlook each path at different points and let me get ahead of them quick enough, that'll do.'
Having a plan for the ambush, he nods to Kores who speaks after emptying his cup, "The next is something a little more new and requires quite a bit of… finesse." he hesitantly tacks on.
Eirlet raises an eyebrow in interest, "You'll have to head north and nab a cart from a caravan here," he draws a path from the northern Rose district of Utopia to Karanes, "in five days, a military caravan."
Eirlet scrunches his eyebrows at that and stares at Kores incredulously, 'What the hell? Is Sherbolt trying to get me killed?'
"We know, we know. There'll be a hell of a lot of guys on it," he raises his hands placatingly, "but we've greased some wheels to give you a better chance. About a third of the guards got reassigned to Orvud cause of the chaos down under, and the drivers we're taking from are in on it as well, so honestly? It's less of a nab and more of a very hostile business exchange."
'...that still doesn't make me feel better about my chances' letting his doubts be seen clear as day, he agonizingly drags his eyes back down to the map and tries to get a plan in shape.
"Also," he winces slightly as Eirlet groans but plows on, "when you grab the cart, you'll have to escape any pursuers, and then pass the checkpoints that'll be placed at nearly every path looking for you to finally get back here."
Eirlet blankly stares at Kores, finding that he's done he slowly drags his eyes back to the map again, 'If I do this, how the hell will I pull it off?' he wonders.
He stares at the map for a few minutes, going through scenarios which ultimately fail, 'It'll be easy to nab it and escape, the hard part is getting past the checkpoints and patrols looking for me after,' his eyes go over the few paths that a cart with supplies would be able to take, the major ones guarded constantly with soldiers with the out of the way ones still connecting with the major ones at some point.
He hears Kores light up the woodstove, having gotten up whilst he was planning, and heating up the stew he had made earlier.
Chewing his lip in thought he drags his eyes around the map, looking for any way to get around the soldiers before his eyes land at the edge of the map. He pauses his roaming gaze and focuses on what he sees, looking back at the caravan's route and mapping a path between the two points.
'There's five days left…' the corner of his lips tug upwards, curling into a grin as he formulates a plan.
Getting his journal out, he quickly writes down what he needs and slaps it in front of Kores as he sits down back in his seat, bringing two bowls of stew for the both of them.
Dropping his spoon he picks up the paper and reads it over, Eirlet slurping on his stew as he watches the man grow a grin of his own.
"We'll foot the bill."
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The Next Day:
'Damn its cold,' Eirlet shivers as he raises his scarf higher up his face.
Perched on top of a cliff larger than those surrounding it, he raises his telescope to his eye and looks over the terrain, mostly being small, rocky cliffs. Scanning over three separate portions in the distance, each a path through the rocky environment, reveals them to still be empty.
'How much longer are they gonna take?' He lets out a sigh in annoyance, already feeling sore from sitting in one place for the past two hours.
Shifting his position to get some blood flowing in his legs, he looks back to the paths, finding nothing for the first two but his eyes widen in surprise and a bit of joy as it lands on a group just entering his sight of the path.
'Four, five. Five guards, three on horses with one upfront and two in the back and another two sitting on the cart.' Thankfully for him, the cart has no cover over it so he can just see the crates occupying the whole space and so, no extra guards hiding for him to worry about.
Scanning over the group and their surrounding area one more time just in case, he sees no one else nearby. Compressing his telescope and pocketing it in his jacket, he grabs ahold of his ODM handles and leans over the edge of the cliff, slipping and falling off of it.
Quickly turning his body before he falls too far, he launches a grapple and shoots himself to the side, heading in the direction of the group he saw to cut them off.
Flying through the air, he flies between cliffs and takes tight and fast turns with a mix of gas and parkour.
After barely two minutes of flying at high speeds, he's crossed the distance of two and some kilometers and stops himself on the edge of a short cliff across from the path where the cart is going to pass through.
Locking his handles back into their blades resting in his box sheaths, he crouches as he unslings his bow and nocks one of his arrows, keeping himself behind an outcropping of rocks as he watches the curve in the path where the group will come from.
Waiting for a minute, he sees the lead horse turn the corner, the rest of his group following behind as they slowly clop their way to him.
Looking at the guards, he sees that most of them are bored, not really minding their surroundings with only the leading horse rider paying any true attention to the road.
None of them bother to look up and to the side, otherwise, they would have seen Eirlet peeking over the edge with his bow.
Thwatch
The head of the driver jerks to the side, his passenger staring as the body slumps over his seat and hits the ground with a -thud-. He barely gets time to get past his shock before another arrow pierces his neck.
The passenger follows his fellow to the ground, grabbing ahold of his bleeding neck as he tries and fails to stop it from bleeding around the arrow.
"AMBUSH!" One of the guards in the back yells out as he flips himself over his horse, keeping it between him and the cliff Eirlet's on.
"Fuck!" His partner yells out as he falls to the ground with an arrow sticking out of his leg, having not followed fast enough.
"Get to cover!" The guard in the front yells out as he raises his musket and shoots at the figure on top of the cliff.
Bang
Eirlet ducks his head as the bullet rips a chunk of rock out of his cover before quickly raising himself and letting loose his arrow at the guard trying to get his buddy to cover.
Thwatch
Both stumble to the ground, the one with the arrow in his leg groaning in pain with the other now gurgling and wheezing, his lung failing him as an arrow sticks out of his torso.
Bang
Ducking his head again, the bullet lands much closer to his position as he feels small pebbles splatter on his head.
Getting up and aiming once more, he releases two arrows in quick succession, ending the two injured men's lives and he tries to get a third arrow nocked as the last remaining guard emerges from his cover behind the cart.
Bang Thwatch
Both release at the same time, Eirlet missing his shot and hitting the man in his shoulder and himself recoiling at dust and shards of rocks splattering against his face.
Crouching again, it takes a few moments of wiping his eyes and blinking to get them cleared before he peeks around his rocky cover. Although bleeding with an arrow in his shoulder, the man has enough strength to slash the reins of one of the horses connected to the cart and hop onto it without a saddle, the other three having run away with the first gunshot.
Eyes wide, Eirlet stands up fully for the first time and nocks his final arrow and aims as the man gallops away but has to lower it as the man goes off-road and into a crevice cut between two hills.
Tsking in annoyance, Eirlet slings his weapon back and unsheathes his swords before jumping off the small cliff and swinging after the escaping man.
He doesn't have to traverse long before he's caught up to him, having a lot of experience swinging through the wilderness, much less near open-air with a lot of available grapple points. The fact the horse is a common breed and not meant to go at high speeds through rocky terrain makes it a cinch for him to get right beside the horse.
Releasing one last gas boost, he swings himself to the side and lets himself go into a free fall on a direct arc to the pair. The man turns to him with wide eyes, mouth agape before Eirlet's feet meet his torso and shoves him off the horse.
Letting the man fall behind him, Eirlet launches his grapple to pull himself up and onto the horse with a tight leg lock. Grabbing a hold of the reins he pulls back on it, slowly getting the horse to ease up on its gallop before completely stopping.
'Easy there,' he thinks as he pets the neck of the huffing horse, giving it a moment of rest before tugging on its reins to turn back around.
Clopping back the way they came, he doesn't bother to check on the broken man on the ground beyond a cursory look, limbs bent all in the wrong direction with bone sticking out at some points wouldn't have him living long even if he somehow lived with his skull cracked open like an egg.
Taking a few minutes to go through the rocky path, he turns onto the path that he did his ambush on and approaches the cart and bodies, the last remaining horse having thankfully not run off.
Tying the cut reins back together so that the cart can get moving with two horses once more, he jogs over to the bodies with arrows sticking out of them. Looking over them, he pulls out the arrow in the man's leg easily, the head being slightly chipped but well enough to use again so he wipes the blood off on the corpse's clothes before putting it in his quiver and heads back to the cart, the other ones being a lost cause.
Wiping the splatter of blood on the seat off with a shirt he found in one of the men's belongings in the back, he sits on the seat before flicking his reins, getting the two horses to turn around and trot back the way they came.
'Now comes the boring part,' he runs a hand down his face as the adrenaline wears down and boredom already starts to set in, a decent trek ahead of him to reach the dropoff point.
He spends the next few hours heading down out of the way paths to lose any possible pursuers and keeping an eye on his surroundings, dodging the singular patrol heading to Willow Hills right on time.
The sun is already nearly set by the time he reaches the occupied hunting cabin, having done the ambush near noon, 'Made good time, enough to get some more sleep in before sunrise.'
A man dressed as a common merchant comes out of the building, one wearing a yellow sash and holding a lantern as needed, "Good harvest young'un?" He greets with a tilted smile.
Nodding, he steps out of the cart away from the man, watching him come over and pet one of the horses on its neck twice before he relaxes slightly and steps away, letting the man sit where he sat a moment ago.
"I'll be waiting for the red and gold to come." He says in farewell as he snaps the reins and trots off.
Eirlet watches him go far enough before the darkness consumes him, his guiding light only being his lantern.
Turning, Eirlet heads towards the door of the building, feeling slightly rejuvenated now that he can get some food in and catch some sleep but the shifting of shadows in the forest catches his eye.
Bang Bang Bang
He barely has time to leap forward as the forest to his left lights up and he feels a bullet whizz by just above him, right where his head was a moment ago. Barely registering the slight burning sensation on his side and calf, he clumsily rolls forward, his ODM gear making it an awkward one, and gets up in a sprint and into the building, slamming the door behind him.
'Goddamnit!' he curses as he sweeps his eyes over the single room.
Only a table in the center with furs hung up on the walls and in front of the small, lit, fireplace, a typical hunting cabin. Hearing nothing coming from the windows facing his shooters, he stays low as he approaches the fireplace and kills the flames, dousing the house in total darkness.
Staying on the tips of his feet, he focuses on his hearing, relying completely on it as his eyes adjust to the near pitch-black room, the rays from the moon barely helping his vision.
Setting himself in the corner furthest away from the two windows facing his assailants and keeping himself low, dropping his pack on the ground, he unslings his bow and nocks one of his two remaining arrows and waits.
He doesn't keep track of how long he stays there, the only thing he feels is the small stream of hot blood flowing down his leg and another on his side, soaking his pants and shirt.
Watching his breathing, he hears the faint sound of footsteps crunching on grass and dirt, coming from the leftmost window and near the door, but nothing by the one right beside him.
'Ah screw it,' slowly vaulting himself out the window, watching his box sheathes in order to not make a sound, he quietly lands on the ground outside just as he hears the footsteps stop.
Keeping his bow ready, he stays low and stuck to the wall as he walks along it and peeks around the corner, and sees one man dressed in dark brown with a musket ready in his arms prepped beside the window.
Notching his arrow, Eirlet pulls it back and waits for the perfect moment he knows will come in a moment.
Crash Twatch
The man, just turning to point his gun in and through the window, jerks his head to the side as the force of an arrow going clean through and into the distance pulls him down to the ground, in sync with the sound of feet stomping into the house.
Taking care to duck beneath the windows, he grabs the dropped musket as he passes by the corpse and turns the corner to the front of the building.
"Shit, where'd he go?" he hears one of the men within question.
No one answers for a moment as they shuffle around inside, one speaking up just as Eirlet stops beside the broken door and peeks within and sees three men.
'Shit, one more.'
"Over here, there's some blood that leads out the window. Probably left." One of the men speaks as he leans out the window to gaze outside as the last remaining man speaks up, heading to the window the man he killed tried peeking through from.
"Hey, where's Manny?"
Bang
A gunshot to his body greets his answer, straight from Manny's gun.
'Damn that's loud,' wincing at the volume of the gunshot, he quickly shifts his grip to hold the barrel of the gun and throws it straight at the startled man across the table who was trying to train his own on him.
Crack
Luckily the butt of the gun smacks him straight on the nose, likely breaking it by the sounds of it, and so as he goes down Eirlet leaps across the room to the last man and the one with the slowest reaction to his entrance.
Unsheathing the knife from his lower back as he gets closer, he uses his other hand to grab the barrel of the musket the man tried to aim at him and thrusts his knife up into his stomach.
The man gasps as he feels it pierce and reflexively pulls on the trigger -Bang-, embedding the bullet into the ceiling and filling the room with the smell of smoke.
Wincing at the debilitating sound from the flintlock, one right by his ear, his grip weakens as he tries to center himself, giving his opponent enough time to sock him in the jaw.
Unwillingly leaving his knife, Eirlet falls to the ground from the force of the hit but he's quickly back on his feet, enough to dodge the swing of a musket trying to bash his head in.
Backpedalling as he weaves between the man's frenzied swings, adrenaline keeping him from feeling the pain from the knife in his stomach, Eirlet grunts as he blocks a horizontal one with his arm.
Grabbing the barrel with the same arm, he shoves it forward, the man's iron grip forcing him to move along with it as he stumbles backwards.
Reaching around his back, he quickly unslings his bow and stepping to the side, swings it like a bat, straight at the broken nose of the kneeling second man.
Crack
Grunting in pain the man flops back down on his back, groaning as he cradles his thoroughly shattered nose.
'Guess iron bamboo hurts like a motherfucker.'
Holding the bow by each limb he raises it above his head and catches the musket as it tries to bludgeon his head in. Both weapons shake as each wielder tries to overpower the other, the assassin slowly winning, pushing further through sheer rage and desperation.
Using the pressure against him, Eirlet tilts his bow to the side and lets the gun slide off, making his opponent stumble forward due to the force he was pushing down with.
As the man stumbles past him, Eirlet sidesteps and grabs the handle of the knife still in the man's stomach and pulls.
Eirlet can feel the hot blood splatter against his hand as he spins around to face the back of the startled man.
Leaping himself forward, Eirlet slams the knife in an underhand grip straight into the man's back, right where his heart is. The man gasps as he feels the knife pierce through his vital organ, taking shallow breaths as he falls to his knees.
Looking to the side to the last of the group, Eirlets eyes widen when he catches the sight of the man training his musket towards him whilst still laying on the floor.
'Fuck, can't dodge,' Taking a gamble, Eirlet lets his bow clatter to the floor as he grabs the dying man by the shoulder with his now free hand and heaves him to the side.
Bang
Eirlet can feel the force of the lead ball impact his human shield, the force enough to shove the body to lay on top of him and force the breath out of his lungs.
Coughing as he feels copious amounts of blood flowing down around his shield's chest, Eirlet gathers his strength and flips the man to the side. The other man had just gotten to his knees and looked at him with a gaping mouth as Eirlet wobbled to his feet.
Taking advantage of his shock, Eirlet takes two quick steps and juts his knee forward, catching the man in the face for the third time and laying him flat on his back, this time knocked out.
Still coughing, Eirlet rubs his sore chest as he starts to calm down, taking a moment to take some deep breaths before heading to the fireplace and lighting it up again with some matches.
As the glow starts to spread across the room, he takes in the aftermath of the scuffle. The door is broken inwards, hanging on its hinges with its lock shattered. Both men that were shot have their chests caved in with a damn big hole within them, most definitely dead, 'And considering the last has a hole in his head, that takes care of all of them.'
He turns his gaze on the last hitman, 'Now let's get the scene prepped.'
Moving towards the man, he winces as he gets reminded of the graze on his side and leg, 'But first to take care of that.'
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One Hour Later:
Splash
The man startles awake in a coughing fit, his nose not bleeding anymore but still flattened from the multiple strikes to it. He tries and fails to get to his feet in alarm but the ropes binding his arms and legs to the chair he's sitting on keep him still.
Two light slaps to his face get his dazed eyes to look up, meeting the dark blue eyes of his target. Leaning back in his chair, Eirlet gives him a moment to take in his surroundings, the fireplace is still lit, showing off the interior of the cabin.
The two are facing each other, one bound and the other not, the kitchen table is sitting nearby with various things thrown about, a bloody needle with thread attached to it, a silver flask and a cut roll of gauze. Past it and in the corner of the room, the man focuses on the bodies of his comrades stacked haphazardly atop another with their weapons, bloodstains travelling across the floor showing how they were dragged.
Snapping his fingers in the man's face, he draws attention back to himself but doesn't say anything, letting them sit in silence for a few moments before the man breaks it, "What- what do you want from me?" He says with a quiver in his voice.
Eirlet keeps quiet before he slowly unsheathes his knife and brings it to his lap, the action making the man squirm in place with wide eyes, "He-hey man, we don't gotta do this right? You don't wanna- Oi!" He stammers as Eirlet stands up and walks closer to him, the blade gleaming in his hand.
"Stop! Stop!" He tugs on his bindings desperately as Eirlet goes behind him and pulls his hair back, exposing his neck, "I can tell you shit! Don't you wanna know who sent us?!" He holds his tongue as the cold metal of the blade touches his neck, the slightest gulp letting it dig into his skin.
They stay like that for a moment, the man sweating buckets as he fearfully eyes the knife to his throat before his hair is unceremoniously released and the knife moves away from his throat.
Dropping his head, he takes gulps of air as Eirlet moves back around and sits in his seat, leaning forward with the knife still in his hands, playing with it in his hands as a clear threat.
"We-we got word of one of-of Sherbolts best runners dropping off cargo here, fro-from the fence you gave it to." He explains rapidly, stuttering in between as he tries to keep his wit together.
'So it was a setup on his part.'
"The boss offered a better deal to him for the info than what he was getting, tha-that's why he switched sides. I swear that's all I know about this job! Didn't even know who you were, just that it was a runner carrying good shit."
Eirlet nods along as the man devolves into pleas, shutting up once Eirlet places the blade on his thigh. Keeping his gaze steady on the man, he reaches into his pocket and shows him a wooden ring, one with an engraving that Eirlet is familiar with.
"It's the mark of our umbrella group, we're a bunch of gangs and shit that made pacts to have an easier time doing shit. It's he-held together by a bunch of nobles in the west and north. It-it started just a few weeks ago, sin-since we joined we've gotten a lot more work and territory than before," He quickly explains at Eirlets prompting expression.
'So the nobles knew the war was gonna happen and they took advantage of it, or their the ones that started it in the first place,' he thinks back to the group that ambushed him and Isla outside the walls, 'They weren't really organized, and looked like they were looting shit as well, so it was probably a more general 'kill everyone' order.'
"You-you don't need to kill me right? Right? I won't be able to go back to my gang now that I've told you this so-so you don't have to worry about me!" He pleads.
His face lights up when Eirlet stands up, not making any aggressive movement, sighing in relief as he bows his head with his eyes closed.
Schlick
'I don't need to but I can't have loose ends,' Eirlet thinks, feeling slightly queasy as he pulls his knife out of his victim's skull and wipes it clean.
He had never killed anyone who couldn't fight back, those that were at his mercy and had surrendered, willingly or not.
'But he,' he swallows slightly as he starts packing his tools away, 'he tried to kill me, and this was the second time I was attacked by this organization.'
He clips his ODM gear back on, careful to not pull the few stitches on his side as he walks past the fireplace and kicks it over, dumping a few flaming logs to the ground and heads out the door.
'Probably could catch up to the backstabber, but I don't have a horse and it's too dark to use my ODM… damnit. Whatever, I'll just tell Kores after the job.'
Shaking his head with a huff, Eirlet heads into the forest from where the men came from, briefly searching the area for anything before heading further north, the burning cabin slowly disappearing behind his back.
