Aranea opened her mouth the speak but he left before she could say anything. A soft grumble left her lips. “God damn it Kain..This is the last time I ask your ass for help..” She had no idea where he went and honestly, she didn’t have time to worry. Aranea wanted him with her as a sense of protection..not so he could wonder off elsewhere..
Letting out a sigh, she walked into the small town, pausing in front of a building that had three snow mobiles parked. Stepping by the door, she knocked three times. A panel opened at the top as a pair of hazel eyes glared at her.
“Password?”
“Gil speaks louder than words.”
The panel closed as several locks were undone. The door soon opened and Aranea was welcomed inside by an ex-mercenary donning her former colors –black and grey. He led her to the far back where she was stopped and instructed to strip herself of weapons. This was predictable as the day was long.
Merely giving a nod, she handed over her lance and a gun she held under her skirt. She then removed her helm before she was ushered into a room with black double doors. There, a single table with a short dark skinned male wearing a black suit smoked a cigarette, nodding his head to her with a grin.
“Ah Aranea baby! I’ve been waiting for you! Heard you were here on some business. My boys didn’t give you much trouble, did they?”
A hiss left her lips, glaring at him. They both knew that the men that worked there were her’s but after a spat between the two, it was agreed that those who wished to deal with the black market left with him and those who didn’t remained loyal to her.
“Stop trying to be so damn cheeky, Marcus. You know why I am here..”
He leaned his head back in thought, tipping his chair. “Ohh yes..you want the civilians we rounded that the Empire had – those who were the families of scientists who perished in their own experiments.Look; they could make a great profit for us.No need to look for bounties or anything. Most of them would fetch quite the price..It would be a waste to let them go.”
“We? You know I don’t deal with human trafficking. Geez..you haven’t changed at all in these past four years..” she spat. “Just tell me where they are and I’ll be on my way. You promised you would lead me to them.”
His grin grew wider. “Oh did I..?”
A moment later, three men attempted to subdue Aranea. She pulled her arms out of their grip and turned to kick them only to feel her body go numb as a tranquilizer gun had been used, a dart hanging from her right shoulder. Falling forward, her vision blurred. The last thing she saw was Marcus smirking down at her.
____
About twenty minutes later, one of the guards exit the building with Aranea over his shoulders as another spoke to him about which cell she was to be placed in. The pair seemed all too happy to have their former mercenary leader as a bargaining chip for them to use.
Having taken his position, the Dragoon watched from a distance as Aranea disappeared into the buildings, uneasy from the moment her boots crossed the threshold and wordlessly preparing multiple spells that would aid should things go poorly. Though nothing happened. For ten minutes he sat in silence, watching the village like a hawk, taking note of all the poorly disguised mercenaries he could see from his position.
Two, guised as wife and husband patrolling in a slow circle around the perimeter. Another on a porch pretending to be interested in the day’s articles. One on the device they’d called a “phone” who appeared to be talking to someone. Then several who were in whatever they would call hidden but stood out to his trained eye. He would need to remember them when the fighting began.
Another five minutes past and he began to get antsy, fingers clenching and unclenching. This was taking too long. Dropping back to the snow, the knight steeled himself for whatever was about to happen, his feet starting to carry him towards the village at a slow, reasonable pace. He was going to keep his pretense of traveller for as long as possible. As such, he adopted a hunched over appearance, allowing his hair to fall loose to give him a slightly dishevelled look. Better to be underestimated than dead.
“Please...” he intoned weakly, sounding as pathetic as he could as he approached the two sentries, “I...need...food...” A fall to his knee for dramatic effect. Behind them, however, he was thoroughly aware of a door opening and two mercenaries exiting with a familiar form slumped over one’s shoulder. Shit, so his instincts had been correct. And things were about to pop off.
Even as the sentries approached, false worry plastered on their faces, the Dragoon silently prepared to summon his lance. He waited just as long as he could before, calling the weapon to his hand, spinning from the knee, and plunging it into the woman’s throat. The other hardly even had time to react before the lance was pulled with a wet sound and thrust through his chest. Kain was reminded with sickening clarity of how easy it was to kill humans compared to monsters.
But he didn’t have time to focus on that, tossing the cloak to the side and allowing it to fade back into the ether where he’d called it from to reveal his full armor set. He didn’t stop to give them a single moment to think, tossing his lance towards the pair holding Aranea and using his magics to follow it - closing the distance between them in a few moments as he drove the shaft of his weapon into the one holding Aranea and forcing him to drop her.
With a hand, he summoned a vial and crushed it over her prone form - hopefully waking her from whatever slumber she was in. “I am good, lady Highwind, though I cannot say I’m good enough to take them all on my own...”
jacobvanloon
snowghoul
kaledo-art
2087
turnnoffyourmind
