[IRP] The Dead One Calls

[Swift_Assassin]

As Eli joined him, Shad examined his left hand. The pain hadn't lessened any from the punishment it dealt out. He rubbed his right hand over his left, covered in blood as it was, and thought he felt a bump along his hand. I didn't break something, did I? Shad thought. His attention was diverted back to the matter at hand, due to the approaching voices. There was their cover blown. It was going to happen regardless. He saw to that himself. But they were going to make it to the castle.

Then Eli took out another brigand. He dropped a torch that landed before them. The others were alerted to that. Shad glanced over at Eli who apologized to him. He looked...worried. Shad unsheathed the Sacaen blade and looked into the blade and saw that he still looked as angry as when he pounded the first mans face into the ground. He returned the sword to his waist. He remembered something Maisie mentioned. About a ransom. "If your still up to my bad ideas, I got one. If they are in a talking mood, anyway."

Shad ascended the steps, drawing his fire tome with left hand. He roughly cleared his throat as the two remaining brigands looked around, drawing their attention. That was he cast a fire ball onto the ground before him, illuminating himself for the brigands to see. This show of magic had surprising unnerved them, far more than he expected it to. "I'm here to discuss terms."

"Discuss terms?"
"M-magic?! J-just like the brat!"
"Shut it."
"That bitch killed eight of us! She killed my brother!"

Shad cleared his throat again. The first voice seemed to regain his cool a bit, but the other was terrified. And they must have been talking about Maria. She...killed eight men? A girl of ten killed eight brigands with magic alone? He killed his first man at eight and was almost cut in half and suffered short term memory loss from head trauma as a result of it. "That 'brat' is my sister. Her ransom is what I'm here to discuss." Shad could almost see their silhouettes look at each other, then back to him. He spawned a ball of fire in his right hand to give them a better view of his face.

"He looks like one of those guys in those paintings."
"That brat told us her father was dead."
"Then he's the brat in that painting."
"I've heard that someone signed in claiming to be a lord. Thought it was ego, but apparently not."

Who'd he hear this from?Shad dissipated the spell. "That would be me. I would request an audience with your leader to discuss paying the ransom. I imagine that with the trouble my sister put you all through, it would probably be a fair amount more than I carry on my person. I'd like to work out an extension on this deadline."

"Why didn't you use the main road?"

"The rotting corpses of my soldiers make it a bit intolerable to traverse. If you wanted my money, then making it hard to get to the castle was the wrong way to go about it." That hopefully will fool them a bit. He could tell that they were thinking it over. He wanted to look back at Eli, but this plan is more by ear than anything. Shad took a couple steps to the side of the staircase, freeing up options for Eli to act.

"Wait. Did you come up here by yourself?"
"You killed Carl and Les, didn't you?!"

"I came to town with a group of people, but I'm the only one up here. They think I'm in bed right now. I can't possibly wait another night without securing my sister's safety." Shad coughed a bit. "As for your men, I'm willing to pay a larger ransom to atone. That's what you men want right? My family has a large stockpile of gold that we've been sitting on for years." Even as we've been paying for a castle no one has lived in for ten years. Shad put the book down on the ground in front of him and both swords. "As a sign on good will, I've disarmed myself. Just escort me to the castle, and you'll have your money in, say, a couple weeks time."

"Couple weeks?!"

"It's coming straight from Etruria. It has to be smuggled through Lycia so they don't appropriate it." The two brigands looked at each other again. The prospect of gold lingered in the air. If they delivered Shad to their boss, maybe they'd get a bigger cut when it's all divided up. The one motioned to the other to grab Shad so they could escort them. Shad just kept positioning himself so the brigand would have to walk in view of Eli. That's Shad's whole endgame here. And the idiots were gullible enough to walk into it. As the brigand was about to grab Shad's arm, he shouted "Eli!"


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The pair carrying the unconscious  ladies weren't too thrilled with the sounds they were hearing from the rest of the group. Their fight doesn't sound like it's in their favor. The two looked at one another and came to the same conclusion. Get out while the gettin's good. The two men abandoned the others and left the inn, Maisie and Taika in tow. Just because the don't get the whole bunch doesn't mean their allowed back empty handed, after all. They started walking back through town before one of them tripped and dropped Maisie on the ground. The other dropped Taika like a log and helped his partner up. They looked back towards the inn and both gave out a sigh of relief. They should be able to get back before those three could catch up, if they win.