[B]ack [W]here [I] [B]elong

[Kaison of Larris]

Thrand paced silently alongside the jet black stallion, he looped the lead rein through the halter and spun on his heel, face not showing the spike of pain the simple action cost him, he tossed an order over his shoulder at the stable boy, who at his arrival had turned very pale and nearly fallen over his feet in his haste to offer help, the master of the house had returned, it had been six long months since he had last been in Eslantia, and even longer since he had visited this particular house. Thrand rolled his shoulder blades, easing out the kinks of three days hard riding, he had ridden flat out to be here by sunset, the last thing he wanted was to be caught outside the gates at night, even with his contacts, the gates opened only by express order of Emperor Cairon, the sound of his name even made Thrand hesitate, when Cairon ordered you locked away, well, there was no helping you then, all the contacts and favours under the sun would do you no good.

He ran a hand through his pale blonde hair, his piercing, icy gaze flickering to the hands of the clock tower, it was still several hours until the sun set completely, plenty of time to travel around the market place, renew old contacts, ensure they were still keeping their side of whatever bargain Thrand had made with them. Thrand set off, after a quick wash and change of clothes, he was now wearing a deep green doublet and black boots and belt, he strolled through the stalls absentmindedly, not paying attention to where he was going in particular, he stopped at the meat stall, the butcher glanced at him, looked away and then returned his gaze to Thrand, who smiled, a fake sickly pleasant smile, and surprisingly at that moment the image of Tamber popped up, the disapproving look, the scowl, the anger she had on her face whenever she saw Thrand, it came as part of the profession he told himself, shaking the memory away and he snapped at the butcher,

"Evening Turnold, still keeping up your side of the deal I hope...?"

The butcher nodded vigorously, Thrand narrowed his gaze, if he ever found the butcher was lying to him...well he would never lie to anyone ever again. Thrand continued down the street, tossing silver coins to the children he saw on the street, Thrand could spare the money, and this was one area where he was known to be compassionate he had once been just like them, starving, parentless, going to bed cold and hungry and waking up the same, always bruised and tired, it had been hell. Thrand sighed, his gaze flicking to one boy in particular, he was running it seemed head on towards himself; Thrand paused to watch, a brief smile crossing his features, it vanished quickly as he saw the boy was clutching an apple, evidently stolen, in pursuit was an out of breath guard, who was nevertheless gaining on the boy, as he passed, Thrand’s arm reached out like lightening and grasped the boys wrist, yanking him into the side alley to his right, before casually sticking out his foot to trip over the guard, he stared hard at the boy for a moment and then muttered under his breath,

“Better step on it…”

Before turning to face the blustering guard now in a heap on the floor and roaring,

“You IDIOT can’t you see where you’re going?! Honestly I’m going to lodge a complaint to the officer in charge of your force, going around running into honest folk, throwing your weight around, well mark my words, you will live to regret it, name and number soldier!”

“But…but…t-the boy is…”

“Don’t give me excuses you are a waste of public money is what you are, completely incompetent in every way….”

His gaze flickered to the side alley, now devoid of all life, he hid a smile, he had never been shown such kindness by people, and the one time he had got caught, for he was generally as fast on his feet as they came in the backstreets, he had suffered the consequences. Several arguments and painfully slow explanations later, Thrand strode away from the scene that had long since quietened down. Thrand sighed deeply looking up at the star dotted sky, and considered ruefully that the afternoon was well and truly over, he turned, a lesser man might have been surprised, but Thrand was an assassin, and trained never to be surprised, he took in the scene, two men, ten feet tall, swords in their hands, murder in their eyes. Thrand’s mind flashed, the butcher, traitor after all, did these people never learn? He could not be trifles with, messed around with or insulted without their being a heavy price to pay. His hand was a blur as his knife struck the first man under the chin, death was instant, the second hesitated and was met a second later with Thrand’s other knife, it was only luck that spared him, he instinctively took a step back, before rushing at Thrand, sword drawn, Thrand sidestepped and smartly rapped him hard on the side of the head, Thrand had killed both men taking only one step.

Thrand grimaced, he wasn’t taking his pain killers anymore, his wounds sustained by the guards in the mountains had healed, but under the skin they would still take time, only the scars remained as a reminder of the horror that had taken place there, the memories of a moment that never should have happened, had Thrand been careful, it happened again, Thrand whirled around the slight sound that the boy had made causing him to look up sharply, the boy he had saved earlier was standing not far away, down the other side of the alley, Thrand cursed, he paused and then said in a voice that was silvery smooth and wreathed in caution,

“How much did you see?...”

[[S]am]

Lance

“How much did you see?”

The words caused a shiver to creep up the boy’s spine, sending shockwaves through his paralyzed brain. For a moment all he could think about was ’oh God, he killed them and now he’s gonna kill me!’ But common sense took hold and he took a few hasty steps back, judging the range of those daggers the man had thrown earlier. Lance was positive he was well within range. He gulped and started as his stomach wobbled, and then a small black shape fell heavily to the floor, growling and grumblings in protest.

“Boy drop Nightshade, Nightshade doesn’t like boy, might decide to eat boy...”

Came the complaining growl, as Lance rapidly signalled the young cub desperately for silence. There was no way out of this situation, the man must know that Lance had seen everything, and because of that Lance knew that he needed some other way of escaping. Nightshade might have been able to create a distraction long enough for him to escape, but he would never leave the cub in the mercy of such a man. Bright, earthy, unnaturally green eyes blinked rapidly, matching the colour of his hair. The man had seemed nice enough before, he clearly pitied and helped the poorer population of the city, the beggars and young kids who had taken to the streets. Lance didn’t look much better, with tatters clothes and a cheeky grin that said ‘keep your money close because otherwise I’ll have it’ as well as a mischievous glint that always got him caught, like with the guard earlier. The man was standing very still and quite, hawk-like blue eyes glaring at him coldly, like shards of ice looking into his very soul. He knew he had to say something, anything, something that would get him out. Nightshade was at his heels, whist Raffi was perched on a roof nearby, looking very interested in the shiny ring that rested on the man’s finger. Lance hailed him down and screeched at him warningly, telling him on no uncertain terms that if he even though about getting that ring, he would ban him from his shoulder forever. Raffi looked mightily offended, and for a while the boy and falcon were screeching at each other angrily, their argument filling the street. Lance won, and when Raffi had settled down he skittered nervously over to the man, large green eyes wide with apparent fear.

“I…I saw everything…but I won’t say anything to no one, honest! I don’t like guards anyway, I mean, who needs them? They only lock you up for no reason anyway…right? And try and arrest poor, innocent children for stealing when they’re quite clearly running away with an apple and an angry shopkeeper chasing after them because they’ve overpaid, and the shopkeeper wants to give them the change!”

He rattled off, getting rather heated in his explanation. He had thought that it was an excellent excuse, but the guard hadn’t even paused before trying to grab him and hand him over to the authorities. Lance scowled, aware that the man was watching him very closely, and shifted uncomfortably, wanting to ink into the ground, away from this scary figure who could kill two trained guards so easily. Nightshade sat quietly panting at his feet, sometimes complaining about wanting to be picked up, wanting food and wanting to play with the big human. Lance growled at him for silence, explaining that the big man had just killed, and that it was vital for him to be silent. Nightshade looked up, puzzled, telling lance that the big man was clearly hunting, and that they shouldn’t be in his way. Lance growled louder, and another fight broke out, this time involving snarling and growling. Lance knew he must sounds barbaric and strange, animal sounds coming out of a human mouth, but he didn’t care. He never tried to hide the strange talents he had possessed since birth. He looked at the man again once Nightshade had stopped grumbling, wondering if he was going to kill him anyway, or if he would just let him go. Or they might be able to talk for a while, perhaps the man knew more about picking locks than Lance did…it would certainly be interesting to find out…

[Kaison of Larris]

Thrand admitted for a moment he was knocked slightly off balance by the fact that the boy could speak to the bird, and the...was that a wolf cub? Thrand considered the child, he seemed sincere, but he knew that for the right price, and the right amount of persuasion, the boy could be pressured into revealing anything, and everything he knew, Thrand couldn't afford for this particular guise to be linked to himself, he used it as a front to make a good many of his hits and the loss of Andréa the merchant would be a loss for his career, this character was one of the first he had ever built up, under the protective eye of his old master, back then he had been more...well he had felt more secure, he was much more now, but, nevertheless the men he had killed weren’t around the threaten him anymore, there was only one thing for it he would have to pull rank, a seed of an idea set itself into his mind, but it would never work and Tamber would kill him...but then again...

Thrand pulled a silver talisman out of his cloak, it glinted slightly, the bright red emblem of the fox blazing out the unnatural red of the undying flame, the symbol of the second in the underworld, answering only to the King of Thieves, master of the shadow and the knife, commanding the Lord's and feared throughout Ariafrost, his eyes glimmered, he moved forwards the talisman resting on his cloak, he paused a faint smile coming to his lips, he knelt and tufted the puppy on its head, his gaze flicked to the falcon, he raised an eyebrow at the boy but gave no comment, about his appearance or his gift, there were many strange people in Ariafrost. He paused and then said, his gaze now trained on the boy,

"As you have gathered I am Fox, better known as Thrand...now as you have also most likely gathered, what happened here was not...legal, those were not guards, at least I don't think they were, leaving you here is not...in my best interests, so you will have to be dealt with..."

He mused, of course it wasn't in his habit to go around killing children, and he didn't realise the effect his words were having on the boy who had assumed their implied meaning, Thrand was still wondering what to do with the boy when Raffi, who had lost control over the sight of the glittery talisman had dived and was now latched onto the talisman shaking his head like a dog trying to pull it off Thrand's neck, Thrand paused before tapping the bird on the side of his tail features, the bird, as Thrand knew it would stopped and opening his mouth for an instant, Thrand whipped the talisman inside his cloak and Raffi took flight, proceeding to sulk in the corner, lamenting the loss of the glittery thing that hung from the tall ones neck.

"I think I'll have to...keep you."

He finished after a pause, he could find work for the boy, but that would be dangerous, he would have to keep him close for the time being until he was older and could be trusted or threatened to keep his mouth shut.