Fable - Ask A New Noose

[Aleric]

Vel Anir - Slums
The Painted Rat

There were bars, there were taverns, and then there were places like the Painted Rat. Filled with murderers, cuththroats, robbers, thugs, and every other kind of criminal one could think of the ramshackle building had been a mainstay in the Slums of Vel Anir for as long as anyone could ever really remember.

When the Guard came calling for a wanted man, it was the Painted Rat they visited first.

Somehow the building made up of driftwood and ancient rotted steel had survived the Revolution and the preceding undead attack. Perhaps kept safe by the unpleasant stench which surrounded it. What came to an approximation of music could be heard as the old and rickety door to the tavern creaked open, nearly falling off it's hinges in the process.

A few people inside turned their heads. The barkeep, spinning his knife on the table, stopped the blade in an instant. His features twisted for a moment,something between a snarl and a smile, and then a bark of a laugh escaped his throat. It was an unpleasant guttural sort of sound, the type of thing that belonged more in the mouth of a goblin than a man.

"I thought ye were dead, lad."​

The shadowed figure in the door lingered for a moment, staring in silence, and then stepped into the bare lamp light of the tavern.

Most paid him no mind, either mired in their own drink or too focused on the misery of their own lives.

The figure stalked across the room, rickety wooden boards which barely kept the muck beneath away squelching as he stepped. In the back of the room a boy stood, his lips thinning as he quickly ducked out the back entrance of the tavern. The figure raised a hand, sweeping away hair which had covered his face. The scar across his face making the barkeep scowl. "I need a drink, Teto."

"Where'd you get that then lad? Prison, or wherever the fuck you been? They said you was Hanged. Lilea-ah fuck I guess it don't matter. You shouldn't be here, the 'Robber still has his birds everywhere."​

"Ah, he always did." The figure mused. "Trouble is though."

Aleric tapped his fingers against the bar. "I said I'd meet some friends here."

 

[Oralie]

Walking around Vel Anir, in any part of it, late at night without her hood on was asking to have someone give her a dirty look. In the richer parts, the guard was likely to show up in under five minutes, but out in the slums— or what Oralie could call slums— the guard didn’t patrol as often. Even when they did patrol they tended to keep a bit of a blind eye to certain things. No, in the slums one didn’t have to worry about the guard too much.

There were far deadlier people here to worry about instead. People who had different rules and laws one had to follow. People who knew how to fight dirty and would do so without hesitation. It was a tough lesson for Oralie to learn; a lesson she was still learning. Truth be told, despite her time in the Anirian guard, here in the Vel Anir slums she felt completely out of her element. Sure, she knew common tongue, but there were so many unspoken rules that she may as not know their language in the first place.

She rolled her tongue along the roof of her mouth, caressing the words in her mother tongue which she could never speak aloud. It made her homesick. She wanted nothing more than to feel the hot sand against her bare back as the island waters rushed up to cool her dark feet and legs. She wish she could hear the call of the fishermen or the squeals of children playing sharks and stingrays.

But here she was: in a dark, dank, dreaded hole of a place were the foul stench was most definitely permeating through her cloak. The hood was over her head, but through some stitching and sewing of her own, Oralie was able to make a wrap around collar that covered her neck and the top of her lip. Her bronzed eyes and dark skin still gave others a hint of that otherworldliness but at least no one could point her out to be someone to harass.

Soon enough, Oralie found the Painted Rat, pausing for a moment. She had yet to be here but there were stories about this place. Stories she wasn’t sure she wanted to see if they were true or face. Regardless of the doubt that seeped through her bones, she reached out and opened the door, stepping inside. Despite not wanting to look lost, she most definitely did, casting her gaze here and there.

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo was just getting off his shift for the night. It had taken a little persuasion from the boss to let him off a bit early, but he had made plenty for the night.

As he walked down the muddy street outside the Painted Rat, Cosmo stood out like a sore thumb. His pastel wardrobe provided, what he thought, was a much need splash of color to the drab place.

The stench of the much on the edges of the street was enough to remind him why he had worked so hard to make it out of this area. Now, he served a much higher clientele.

When Cosmo made it to the doorway, a grin lit up on his face as he recognized the person standing just inside the doorway. He quickly stepped in and hooked his arm through Oralie's.

"Well, don't you look absolutely stunning tonight."

Cosmo whispered in her ear as a matter of fact and walked with her into the bar. A few of the individuals in the bar turned and looked at them, but Cosmo remained confident. He even shot a few small smiles and even a few winks.

Many were just surprised to see someone like him here, while more than a few quickly turned away with blushes on their faces, perhaps having partaken in his services.

 

[Aleric]

By the time Oralie and Cosmo stepped into the painted rat Aleric had gotten his drink and retreated to the far corner of the room.

He watched the faces who stepped through the door. Looking at them with a close eye. Searching each and every one of them before they moved towards the bar or stepped to one table or another. His face was half shrouded in darkness, and what he had told Lileas echoed in his mind.

"Aleric is dead. To the Guard. To the Gutters. To the world."​

Those words rang in his mind even in that moment.

The told him was dead and buried, better off forgotten and left behind. The gang that he had built scattered and broken. It was time for the new, for something that could ripple out even from the tattered shack of the Painted Rat.

And he knew exactly how it would begin.

"Good evenin', you lookin for a drink?"​

Teto said from behind the bar, looking at the two newest entrants to the ramshackle tavern, Aleric watching the trio from his perch at the back of the bar.

 

[Oralie]

She knew it was Cosmo who had just entered by the scent alone. But one glance down at his pristine white hair and eyes the color of chive blossom and it seemed that everyone just knew. Cosmo had an air of flirtatiousness that Oralie couldn’t match, but she understood it’s usefulness. Besides, she knew she didn’t look stunning at all— probably looked more like a dreary, bad omen of death. Maybe Cosmo did find that stunning, the Guard certainly did.

Silent and imposing, she looked at the bartender with a surprisingly cool look in her eyes. Her fingers went to touch the coin purse she had to sew into her trousers, and even then she needed to check to make sure it was still there. Anirian thieves had hands like no other. Which reminded her to pull her arm out of Cosmo’s hold, not that she didn’t trust him but….

“One…” Oralie’s accent was thick, and she cleared her throat as if it could make her speak common without an musical lilt causing certain sounds to float in the air between them. “Whateva he’s havin’.” Oralie said, jerking her head towards Cosmo. She had learned she only liked the taste of alcohol after she was a few drinks in, other than that, every drink before then never quite seemed to be to her liking.

But when one wanted to drown sorrows, alcohol was the perfect thing to dive into.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo squeezed Oralie's harm tight like a reassuring half hug before she focused on the rest of the room again. Cosmo scrunched up his nose and brow in thought as he looked at the bar.

"I don't suppose you make an Ostian Iced Tea."

She already knew the answer and continued looking back behind the bartender. There was not much of a point in asking for wine.

"Oh, two glasses of that Allirian whiskey. The good one to your left."

The bartender rolled his eyes but moved to get the two their drinks. As he did, Cosmo went to scanning the room.

"By the way, we are looking for a friend. Has a jawline that looks like mother earth came up and chiseled it herself?"

Before the bartender could give her a confused example, Cosmo gave a little squeal in excitement.

"Never mind. Found him." He snatched up his own drink and waited for Oralie to grab hers before yanking her along over to the shadowed figure. Aleric was covered in darkness, but Cosmo would not be forgetting that jawline anytime soon.

"Hello, looking magnificent as ever."

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Teto was about to offer a rebuke, mentioning that Ostian Iced Tea was about as likely to be found in The Painted Rat as Elise Virak herself. This place was barely capable of supplying the second shittiest ale, much less anything fancier.

"You take a few too many liberties, lad!"​

The Bartender said, though by the tenor of his voice it was easy to tell he wasn't serious. When Teto got serious, the telling was in the knife in his hand.

Aleric only shook his head as he watched the exchange, not being able to help the slight smile which pulled at his lips. His eyes flickered through the rest of the tavern as his two friends made their way over towards his boothe. "Never really much learned subtlety, eh?"

The Hanged Man jested, smiling and slowly leaning forward, tapping the rim of his mug.

"Have a seat, eh?" Aleric said, his foot kicking out one of the stools opposite. "The two of you are as bright as bonfires in this place."

But then, that was part of the point.

 

[Oralie]

Her tongue clicked along the roof of her mouth, her full lips further being tugged down into a frown as Cosmo asked for a Ostian Iced Tea and then switched it to the swill that was Anirian whiskey. Regardless, Oralie made sure to pay the bar tender as Cosmo was already twitching in anticipation for seeing Aleric.

“Don’t ya wanna keep the tab open?” The bartender asked with mild sarcasm, as if he knew if he laid it on too thick that Oralie would be prone to believing him. She shook her head, paused, then added another coin as an apology. Taking the glass of room-temp whiskey, Oralie followed after Cosmo and sat down at the table, not yet drawing back her hood.

Clearing her throat, Oralie took a sniff of the liquor and then promptly set it down, her feline-like eyes scrunching up in displeasure. Then, with a practiced measure, she spoke just like the Anirians in the guard, pulling up on those four years that she had heard nothing but common.

“Not my fault Cosmo dresses in more colors than in a rainbow.” Oralie said, her accent from before completely obliterated. “But suppose you can say I’m still learning how to be subtle.” She finished, and leaned back in her chair to cross her arms over her chest. “Of course, it’d be easier to blend in if I knew why we’re meeting here, and why.”

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

"First off, I would not be caught dead wearing all black. You might as well be screaming, look at me I'm up to no good. Second, maybe you should not have picked a bar where the people would notice anyone that wasn't their usual customer." Cosmo challenged with a pout.

He had originally suggested the meeting place be the Golden Lily where he worked, but that idea had quickly been shot down because of his connection to the place.

Cosmo swiftly downed half of her glass of whisky and could not stop the small grimace that grew on his face.

"Besides, why shouldn't we show off just a little bit? Let them know what is coming."

She glanced around the place. It would not be a stretch to say even with his own theatrics, most of them would not remember them. To many in this dung heap called a bar were drowning their pathetic lives in the strongest liquor they could afford.

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric couldn't help but grin at Cosmo's words. "Very astute."

The Hanged Man said with a shake of his head, tapping the table in front of him in a strange tick. His gaze flickering between his two companions before finally settling on Oralie.

"We're here to be seen." He revealed, though both of them had guessed that fact by now. Neither Cosmo nor Oralie were fools, otherwise he never would have counted them in his company. "And."

He said as his gaze shifted. "To fulfill the promises I made."

Lips thinned.

"Or start to." Both of them had their own lives, their own agendas. It had been Aleric that pulled them together and sworn to them they would have what they wanted. Now he was fulfilling that oath. "In..."

He glanced over towards the wall, where an ancient and three times broken clock sat on the wall, it's gears still barely turning. "Five minutes a man will walk through that door."

Aleric pointed to the entrance of the tavern. "Cosmo, I need you to get him into the alley. Oralie, I need you to knock him unconscious."

 

[Oralie]

Her broad shoulders held back her plethora of dark curls as she leaned forward, eyeing both Cosmo and Aleric in mild disbelief. Oralie was tempted to ask why even stand out if they were going to get a man to head out into the alley to then knock him out? Why not knock him out right here the moment he even stepped through the door? She doubted anyone would really put up a fuss about it—

Oralie’s golden gaze flared as she made eye contact with Teto. Well, perhaps there were a few people who wouldn’t want to have such havoc happen inside the Painted Rat.

“Lotsa people can walk in in five minutes,” she said, jamming her pointer finger down onto the dirty wooden table, feeling some sticky glue itself to the pad of her finger. “Give us some descriptors so we do it right the first time.” Not that Oralie couldn’t go around knocking out every other man she saw walk through that door. But upon recent years, more than ever, she had become obsessed with the specifics of things.

Then again, didn’t every good criminal group have someone who had a type a personality through and through?

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo frowned as he began to nurse his drink once again. A playful pout came across his face as he pulled out a small bag containing make-up.

"Ah, Aleric, I was hoping you would actually pick me to do something interesting, or at least difficult."

It really did not matter who walked through the door for him. Al would point them in the right direction when it was time, and any many that he would find here would basically think the same.

He had a wig in his bag. It would take a little sway to his hips and a giggle here and there and they would be putty in his hands. Thank goodness Aleric had also called Oralie here because he hated having to do dirty work. It was so...messy.

Oralie Aleric

 

[Aleric]

"When I was still a kid." Aleric began as he looked between his two new companion, watching them with all the patience of a stone.

His eyes settled on Oralie.

"Running around the Gutters, I learned something." He leaned forward in his chair, reaching out and taking a coin that had been sitting before him. Slowly he tapped it against the table, letting the sound ring out. "The boys who were quick to jump, the ones who would hop on anything shiny that floated by."

Eyes slowly drew towards Cosmo. "Well, those swift little lads. They'd get something, but more often than not, they'd miss something better just coming by."

He smiled. "Patience."

It was a story that had not an ounce of truth, but he'd learned the lesson well enough in Harrowgate.

"There's more to come, but these things have to start small." He looked back at Oralie finally. "He's an older man, white hair, white mustache, glasses. He'll be wearing a dark blue suit with red accents."

 

[Oralie]

The woman snorted at Aleric’s little story. To be fair, it’s not that she didn’t believe the story— she hadn’t been running around the Gutters as a child and even now she hadn’t been here long.

“Aye, patience is valuable,” her eyes darted to Cosmo but quickly came back to Aleric. “But I’ve always heard a saying around these parts that the early bird gets the worm.” Regardless, she got what she wanted: a description. She looked down at her drink, held it up as if she might actually take a sip, and then set it back down on the table.

“The key to anything is moderation, balance. Feast or famine, animals know it and we know it, but some have forgotten what it really means to starve.” She pursed her full lips, considering her words. Where was she going with this? Why was she feeling anxious— now out of all times? “Sometimes you need to be hungry to go further than you thought possible.” Oralie mumbled, dipping her chin down low so the tall collar of her cloak hid everything but her eyes.

With a measured flick of her wrist, she purposely spilled her drink over the table.

“My bad, let me go get something to clean up and find myself a new drink.” Oralie stood up from the table, taking her half-empty glass back to the bar top. She planned on staying there for awhile until a man with a white mustache and glasses arrived.

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo rolled his eyes at the growing seriousness between her two companions. He applied some makeup and fitted the wig correctly. Most of Cosmo's clothes were purposefully bought so they could quickly switch from gender to gender with just a few moderations.

Patience?

He supposed it worked sometimes, but too much patience and that was sloth.

Hunger?

It could be used to drive one forward, but too much of that and it was just gluttony.

Both of those ideas had the inherent problem that there was too much grey area between the good and the bad...

With a quick shift of his clothing, and his imagery shift to that of a woman. She had always preferred...

LUST.

"Well, that leaves us two. If we weren't waiting then I would suggest other things to pass the time, but I suppose we can just drink." She said with a flirtatious wink.

Oralie Aleric

 

[Aleric]

"I suppose that's the other side of the coin." Aleric admitted to Oralie before she departed.

She made a good point, and he knew exactly what she was trying to say. If he did not value her opinion he would not have asked her to join him. The Gutters, all of Vel Anir's underbelly, had never much been full of trust. While he did not trust Cosmo and Oralie like he did Lil, he would hand them a rope.

Even if they eventually turned out they would use it to hang him.

That was the only way these things worked. That was the only way he wanted it to work. Aleric didn't want to be the Robber, he didn't want to watch his back even when he slept. He didn't want to force people to work for him. "But."

He said quietly as Oralie stood.

"I can assure you, I've never forgotten what it feels like to starve." Something serious flickered over his face, and then he nodded as the Islander stepped away.

His attention turned to Cosmo, and his expression broke into a smile as she almost instantly transformed in front of his very eyes. It was a skill, that by his estimation, was like nothing he had ever seen. His head shook as she offered her flirtation.

"Ah I'm afraid not darling." Aleric said with a chuckle. "The man knows me, and if he sees my face."

A shrug. "I'll wait for you in the alleyway."

With that Aleric stood, quickly making his way towards the back door and leaving the two of them in the common room. A few moments a man stepped inside, his description matching the one Aleric had given almost exactly, though his clothes were practically radiant.

He looked a man who did not belong, though he swaggered up to the bar as though he owned the place. "Teto! The usual!"

The mustachiod man called before even making it to the bar.

 

[Oralie]

Oralie hadn’t bothered in getting another drink, but she did want to, at the very least, clean up her spill on the table. She did owe that to Teto at the very least, and she supposed the two she had left back there. Luckily, by the time she had been begrudgingly handed the damp cloth, a loud command announced the arrival of what Oralie presumed was their target.

Teto seemingly knew the man’s usual, already getting to it despite one patron at the bartop being disgruntled that their order would have to wait. Oralie tore her eyes from the prestigious clothes and couldn’t help but to wonder what on Arethil was a man like that, wearing something like that, doing here.

He stood out, and proudly did so.

Oralie couldn’t help but to think that actually getting him out of the bar and out of sight into a alley might be difficult. She went to their table as Cosmo was leaving, and began to slowly, methodically, clean it. One couldn’t tell but Oralie kept a watchful eye. She trusted she would know when would be a good time to leave.

Luckily, she blended in well in the darkness of alleys. She would slip out soon enough, just once she could make sure Cosmo could get the job done.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

Oh, bright, loud, and confident those were always the easiest to break. A small smile appeared on her face as she remained in her seat for another moment. She gave the man time to get his drink and get comfortable, enough that it would not look strange when she finally walked over.

When she decided to move, Cosmo sashayed across the room. With her new appearance, it was like most of the men in the room had forgotten that Cosmo had been in the room for some time as she noticed many of them walk towards the man.

Sadly, the actual encounter was boring and predictable. A smile and an introduction, followed by a laugh at his joke, then came to her hand resting lightly on her arm while he bought her a drink.

In between his telling her another wonderful story that she would never remember, she snuck a glance to Oralie to let her know that she was fine.

By now, it was becoming clear that the man was near putty in his hands, and Cosmo gave Oralie enough time to slip outside. She leaned in close to the man's ear and whispered.

What she said would remain a mystery, but whatever it was, the man hastily downed the last of whatever liquid courage he could get from the 'usual' before he stood up with a straight back.

He led her outside, and all the while Cosmo whispered sweet nothings in his ear. It was less about the words themselves and more about letting the hot air from his breath caress the man's skin. She might as well let the man experience some excitement, it was the least she could do for what was about to happen next.

Oralie Aleric

 

[Aleric]

After stepping outside Aleric had quickly clambered up one of the side-walls of the alleyway. Finding a perch on one of the shanty roofs of the Gutters.

He had the perfect view into the alleyway below, a black cloak now hanging around him to ensure that no one would spot him where he was. Arms rested on his knees as he waited, knowing that the man would appear any time now and that the two others would quickly set to work.

A small flicker of excitement ran through his chest as he waited.

It had been a long, long time since he had done something like this. A proper job.

Harrowgate had taken away the thing that he enjoyed most; the work. It wasn't stealing that made him so gleeful, it wasn't even sticking it to the upper crust of Vel Anir. It was the thrill of a plan working out, of something going well. That excitement greeted him now, like an old friend that he had not seen in a very long time.

A door opened, casting light out as Oralie stepped outside and hid herself away.

Then a few moments later, the door opened again. A wide smile spread across his lips.

By the end of the night, they would all have a little of what they wanted.

 

[Oralie]

Cosmo had succeeded, and understanding that everything was going to plan, Oralie extracted herself from the dingy bar to the outside world. He cloak still covered her face, helping her to blend further into the shadows. She was still, like a cat waiting at a mouse hole. Seconds and minutes passed, a knot forming in her stomach. She was anxious. She was always anxious whenever she was still.

Soon enough, the door opened again.

Two figures: Cosmo and the man. Oralie remained as a stature. She had already considered the man’s height, his weight, using those numbers to think of how best it would be to knock him out. The perfect moment arrived, right as they were both within arm’s reach.

The woman took a step forward, grabbed the man by his shoulder to then fling him against a dirty wall, firmly untangling him from Cosmo. A full second hadn’t even passed when Oralie slammed a fist to the underside of the man’s jaw, a trick she had learned from her time in the Guard. Close to the chin so that it would make his brain rattle inside his thick skull. A clean knock out. Well, with how his head and hit the wall behind him he would have one hell of a concussion, but the job was done.

He crumpled down to the ground, mouth agape and eyes closed. Oralie held him up, looking over her shoulder to where she expected Aleric to be. There was more steps to be done than just knocking this man out.

Aleric Cosmo

 

[Cosmo]

Cosmo guided the man out with ease, by now his hands had begun to wander across her body, something that would leave most civilized women aghast, but Cosmo just smiled through it all like she had been taught. There was a bright side to this, knowing Oralie would probably get the man good and then Aleric had some plans for the man.

Her suspicions were confirmed, as soon as they were outside, the man looked to take control and move forward in this endeavor. His hand never made it to her shoulder, as Oralie stepped from the shadows and proceeded to knock the man out in an incredibly efficient manner.

"Nice work, Oralie...Aleric, be sure to be rough with the prick."

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric let out a whistle, echoing down into the alleyway as he slowly jumped off from his perch on the roof and landed just a few steps behind Oralie. "I've seen some quick knockouts..."

Harrowgate had been filled with fights of course. The Guards never much cared to interfere with that sort of thing, at least not when the general populace was concerned. Some prisoners got a higher regard, but most of the time people could fight and even kill one another without a single Guard ever getting involved.

Though that had been before the Republic.

"But that was something." He complemented, stepping up to the unconscious man. He grasped his lapel, gently slapping his face to make sure he was still breathing. Then nodded his head. "Now..."

Aleric said, straining as he began to drag the man through the Alleyway and towards a nearby door. "As I promised, details."

Easier to talk about now. "This is Geoffrey Avelon the Third, son of Geoffrey Avelon the Second, and heir to the Avelon mining fortune."

The name would not be too familiar, though Oralie would know the company they owned. It operated within the bounds of her lands, having arrived on the Islands with the Anirians and using whatever means they could to explore the scant mineral resources found there.

"He is..." Aleric kicked open the door, dragging the man inside and motioning to Cosmo and Oralie. "Very rich."

 

[Oralie]

Despite her stoicism, Oralie wasn’t as so brusque as to not feel a flash of pride from both Cosmo and Aleric’s compliments. Perhaps a flash of the appreciation appeared momentarily in her eyes, but the rest of her face remained unflappable. The only thing she offered the both of them was a nod of acknowledgement.

Besides, more important things were about to be known— such as who the man actually was. And while his first name meant little to her, his last name did.

“He’s not just rich!” Oralie exclaimed, her accent coming in thick with her rage. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he shat gold! This man… this man!” No other words to describe could come to her mind. Her mind was a jumble of her tribal tongue and trade tongue, and even Naara. Nothing in any of those three languages could correctly describe what this man was.

Perhaps a moment too late, Oralie realized she should help Aleric move Geoffrey, and so she made haste to pick up the man by grasping his ankles. She openly glared at that man, at his stupid white-mustache and how stupid his mouth hung open. She stared so hard she could see that his lower lip was larger than his upper lip. She counted the large, deep pores on his stupid nose.

“Don’t know how you let this boar touch you for so long.” Oralie said to Cosmo, quite thankful that she didn’t need to endure something as awful as that.

Cosmo Aleric

 

[Cosmo]

"Oh, it wasn't so bad...The least I could do after what we are gonna do to him." Cosmo dismissed with a playful grin.

What was a little touching? Cosmo had men and women touching her all the time, and most of them would not be classified as 'good' people. Let them do what they wanted to her physically, but that would never break her.

She looked down at the man as she oblivious shifted her smile from Oralie to Aleric and then back to Oralie. It never had been said, but Cosmo was pretty sure she was not the muscle for this group, so she would just stand there and look pretty.

"Ok, so I love a rich man as much as the next, but why exactly did we knock him out? Are we just going to mug him? I doubt he has too much on him if he came down here."

We they going to kidnap him? A Ransome would not be unheard of, but that might send the Dreadlords after them and that did scare Cosmo.

Aleric Oralie

 

[Aleric]

Aleric and Oralie continued to heft the man into the corner of the room. There was no cell of course, none of them could hardly afford to build a prison or anything of the sort, but there was a length of rope tossed onto a nearby table. "Grab that, would you?"

The Hanged Man said to no one in particular.

No doubt Geoffrey wasn't much of a fighter, but if Aleric could stave off even a half thrown punch it was worth the length of rope. No doubt the kidnapped man would be somewhat...perturbed at the new set of circumstances he would find himself in upon waking.

"We're not going to mug him." Aleric explained as he inspected the old man. "Geoffrey here-"

He grunted as he hoisted the man so he was sitting up. "Is going to help us get into the Avelon secret vault."

A wide smile touched his face as he looked at the other two. "The one they don't want anyone knowing about."

The one a particular little turtledove he knew had found.