Dreadlords Doesn't Look Good

[Cenric]

Veiara - Cortos

"Well this isn't looking good." The redhead said as he perched his chin upon one of the parapets upon the wall. To his left were a couple of guardsmen, to his left a few of his fellow Dreadlords and some Initiates. Most of them were stationed up here for watch, though a few had simply decided to take their hours off and sleep up here.

It was quicker in case the Free-Cities began another assault.

"How long have they been at this now?" Thought they had not yet crossed the border into Anirian Territory, the Alliance of Free-Cities was certainly making its presence known. More and more Cortosi cities were falling to their combined armies, and Veiara was only the latest to suffer their rebuke. Fortunately for Veiara, they had long since signed a treaty with Vel Anir for their defense. "Two, three weeks?"

Right now that meant a handful of Dreadlords, and just a hundred Guardsmen. In a few days time, it might mean more, but none of them knew that for sure. "Sen."

Leiara called out to him, using that odd nickname.

"Why do you sound so happy?" She asked. "We're in a fucking siege, you shouldn't be happy. We haven't eaten more than a few crackers for days now. Even you should be cracking a little."

"It's 'cause he ain't really here, Leiara." Cenric glanced over towards the man who had shouted.

"How dare you, Olf. I'm just as here as you are, just as hungry as you are. In fact, you know I'm in three places where I happen to be very hungry." He did not mention that he was also in several other places where he was not so hungry. Explaining his magics was ever difficult, and he was here with Ein's body, and very soon it would require most of his focus.

Using a vessels magic always did. "Looks like they're going to come at night."

Cenric said, nodding his head at the far side of the all. Seeing the men walking through camp with the extra torches for that night.

 

[Norah]

Norah had eaten more than a few crackers each day. She'd very quickly learned the way into the kitchens. Either by her magic or her natural affinity to get behind the doors of locked places. She had two biscuits in her pockets. She didn't know if any other initiates had been assigned here.

The days had been busy with watches and those much higher up than her trying to come up with a plan to get out of the web they'd now found themselves stuck in. Funny how the Anirians always thought they were the predators.

Her small, curled up form would almost be missed in the shadows of the walls where even the light of the additional torches didn't touch. But she was very much awake. Listening when others thought she wasn't. Right at the feet of the redhead.

 

[Yuric]

Yuric didn't think his eccentric superior to be odd for his calm demeanor in any fashion. On the contrary, the Initiate also felt quite at home on a battlefield, if for no other reason than his proximity to them growing up with his mother, a field medic.

That didn't make the sight of the gathering Free City forces any less concerning, though. Just because Yuric was comfortable with death did not mean he wished to bring about more of it, if he had a say in the matter.

Being a Dreadlord, he rarely had a say.

"They know our advantageous position would allow us an easier fight during the daylight." Yuric observed, his head poking out curiously over the wall. The lack of food hadn't gotten to him, but that was only because he'd been careful about expending himself too much. Yuric hadn't communed with the Spirit World in days, and that isolation from his magic caused him far more distress than hunger. "Not that the odds will be overwhelmingly in their favor after dark, either."

Some part of Yuric had to admire the Free-Cities tenacity. Honestly, he didn't entirely disagree with their cause. Alas, he was an Initiate, and his mission was to turn them back. Accomplishing that goal overruled his personal feelings.

"At least it means we won't be waiting much longer."

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

Boots thundered up the wooden stairs at a quick pace, not caring if they kicked anyone in the process. The grumbling of Dreadlords did not slow her, but she had a message to relay and none of the other Guards had volunteered to deliver it to where many of the Dreads had holed up.

"Oi!" Rhory huffed at seeing so many bodies taking to sleeping, their legs stretched out in her way as she aimed to cross the parapet. "Worst place to choose to sleep." she grumbled, slowly placing her boots between the obstacles. She did not like being slowed down, but the Guardswoman was free and moving towards the Dreadlords and Initiates that were awake and chatting.

"Yeah, well, there is movement happening on the north side." Rhory had heard the tail end of their conversation, and took a moment to catch her breath. Not that she needed much time to recover her breath, she continued. "We counted near two hundred, split. There is a force stationed above the main pass, and reinforcements are still two days out."

Reinforcements and supplies. Perhaps a meal could be had for everyone, but not if the enemy take out their force in the coming days.

"The other half look to be poisoning the water."

 

[Cenric]

"Fuck, now the water too?"

"Smart. They know reinforcements are coming, you can last a week or two with no food, but water? Honestly, they're a lot more coordinated than I thought they would be."​

Cenric listened to the back and forth between Olf and Leiara, letting the two of them point out the obvious as he shoved himself up from the ramparts. The tip of his boots nudging the sleeping Initiate that had been laying on his feet.

He already knew that he was going to have to go out there. Ein's magic was of the phoenix, meaning he could fly out if things were looking bad. Olf and Leiara would be better off staying on the wall, their magics were not well suited for moving quick and if they all went and things went really bad Veiara was all but assured to fall.

So, better to take the less valuable ones.

"Hey, wake up." The Redhead said, motioning to Yuric. "Time to go kill some people."

"That a good idea, Sen?" Leiara asked with a frown. "We might be able to last the two days unt-"

"Leiara. I'm already hungry, I'm not going to be thirsty too." A wicked grin spread over his face, and the other Dreadlord couldn't help the small chuckle which escaped from her lips. She waved a hand, and the redhead began to walk down the steps. Taking none of the care to avoid the sleeping bodies that Rho had.

"Oh!" He said as he passed by the Guardswoman. "Gather up fifteen of the best you can find."

The Dreadlord commanded Rhory. "Couldn't possibly do this without the Guard."

 

[Norah]

Poisoned water?

Eyes slid open as the redhead's boots nudged her, her fingertips twitched by one of the many knives she had sheathed on her form. A few pictures going through her head on what she'd do with it. But with a breath, she stood with the fluid grace of an Ixchel puma. Her small form slipped free from the blankets.

She stuck close to Cenric's side without saying a word even as yelps of pain from those sleeping were stepped on by the senior dreadlord.

A glance at the guardswoman as if Norah were weighing the value of the blonde's life as her fingers brushed something in her pocket. Without interrupting her movement, she swiped one of the packs from a sleeping guard, slinging it over a sleight shoulder and continued down the steps with Cenric.

The initiate spared no glance or acknowledgement to her classmate, Yuric.

 

[Yuric]

"We counted near two hundred, split. There is a force stationed above the main pass, and reinforcements are still two days out."

Yuric's head spun away from the edge of the parapet, toward the new voice, a female guard who'd been assisting them throughout the entire ordeal. Two hundred? That was... considerably more than he was used to fighting at once. The Initiate wondered for a moment if maybe he'd grossly underestimated the organization of the Free Cities.

Yuric slid from the parapet to his feet and quickly made his way to Dreadlord Cenric with a small salute. The redheaded man was a little odd in his manner of speech, Yuric had found; sometimes talking as though he were in several different places, wearing different identities. Being a Dreadlord, he supposed anything was possible...

He does give off kind of a strange aura. Not threatening or evil, but.. bizarre.

A young woman's voice, one that only Yuric could hear, rang loudly in his left ear causing his eye to twitch at the suddenness. He hadn't realized that Lilly had been observing, or that she'd followed him all this way. A discussion to be had later, when it wouldn't appear as if he was talking to himself in front of his superior.

Cenric turned and began to lead them down the steps and through the slumbering forms that seemed to carpet the floor, with Norah silently slinking in beside him. Yuric paid her an ignored look, not expecting to be regarded by the woman.

He'd quickly sorted out who liked him, and who didn't. That was fine.

"Dreadlord Cenric," Yuric called ahead of him to the man on point. "Forgive my brashness, but even with the Guard backing us... do we have a plan beyond 'kill them all'?"

Yuric had no qualms with killing; It was part of his job, after all. His magic wasn't meant for a full-frontal assault, however. At least, not what he'd mastered of it.

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

"Fifteen?" She repeated. "I don't think---" but Rhory pursed her lips, looked to the younger Dreadlords being roused for battle and sighed. "Fine. I'll meet you and your group soon."

She was much quicker leaving them than she had been getting up here in the first place.

Rhory did not care if she stood on or kicked anyone on her rush back down, but once the Dreadlords saw the white haired guardswoman again, she was standing with fifteen other guards. They varied in ages, in experience. Rhory was only able to rope in those that could stand to work their bodies beyond what they were capable of, and the other guards needed their rest while waiting for rations to be handed out.

"Where do you want us?'

 

[Cenric]

"Of course we do." Cenric said, though for a moment it did not seem like he was going to elaborate. Instead he lead his two tag-alongs down the streets and through the city. Staying quiet until eventually they found the same rendezvous point Rhory had.

A smile touched the older Dreadlord's face as he noted the Guards, perhaps only because they managed to stand. Rationing had taken it's toll, and gathering even this sorry lot was something to be impressed about in the situation.

He'd be even more impressed if they could still swing their swords. "We're headed out of the city."

Cenric told them plainly.

"Our goal is not to kill the enemy, at least not yet." He stated simply, motioning for the others to gather around. "We want to draw them out, and away. They'll likely send thrice our number, knowing we'll have Dreadlords."

For a moment he glanced up at Norah and Yuric as though assessing them. "Kill as few of them as you can."

He motioned towards the Guards.

"That goes for you too." Cenric said simply. "Do your best to incapacitate, better if you don't even wound them."

 

[Norah]

Norah was pressed in tight on one side by a guard and next to Cenric on the other. As the bodies pressed in closer to circle the red-headed dreadlord, Norah used that moment for sleight of hand. More specifically, going for one of Cenric's pockets.

A guard next to her scratched his head tiredly and blurted a question, "Why the fuk not?"

Norah wondered if Vittoria were here if she could follow a directive like that.

 

[Yuric]

Yuric shared in the guard's curiosity, even if he was far more baffled at the bluntness of the query. He was fairly certain it was the first time he'd ever heard a guard speak so crossly towards a Dreadlord. The Initiate followed closely the Dreadlord and Guards, most of whom looked absolutely famished and exhausted, no doubt thanks to the lack of nutrition that rationing entailed.

It did seem odd, though, that the order was to incapacitate. Not that Yuric had any qualms with sparing lives, but their enemies would be most certainly aiming to kill. Whatever Cenric had planned, it ran the risk of putting all of them into a very precarious position.

As was their job, he supposed.

"All due respect, Ser, Going non-lethal against such significant numbers seems... ineffective. Have we a way to confuse or disorient them? Slowing down the flow of enemies would make sparing them a sight easier."

He felt Lilly giggle in his ear, saw the glimmer of light from the corner of his eye as she sat on his shoulder.

Looking to volunteer, Yuric? I know that look in your eye. Trying to show off for the girl?

It was all Yuric could do not to snort. Norah seemed about as open to bonding as a starving Knoll. The boy wasn't so sure he'd ever even heard her speak, let alone be impressed by anything.

You're right. Of everybody here, I think she scares me the most.

Cenric
Norah
Rhory Grimmere

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

Rhory lifted a brow.

The other guards all grumbled and shook their heads, but they miraculously stopped when Rhory lifted a hand to silence them. "Alright, slow them down. Distract. What else you got planned?"

She looked to the younger Dreadlords, Initiates, and wondered what their abilities allowed them to do. The girl looked scrappy, but Rhory chanced that the girl used that presumption to her advantage. The other, a boy, seemed too well mannered, too green.

You were green once yourself, she thought to herself.

"Anything we should be aware about?"

There were times she wished Arn was around, or even Owain for he loved to take over leading. Arn at least was a good thinker, a good leader. Rhory only hoped to live through this in order to yell at him for not being ordered to man this front with her.

 

[Cenric]

There was a time when Cenric could have incinerated the Guardsmen for simply speaking, much less asking a question. The days when Dreadlords had been titans among ordinary men, and not reduced to simple officers.

As he looked at the unwashed lout that had cursed at him, Cenric found himself yearning for those times. If only because people would have just followed his orders. Explaining everything was so tedious, and it would only serve to make the day three times as long as it needed to be. ”Because every one of them you kill, is one who can't help us later.”

The Dreadlord replied ominously, offering the man a smile before he regarded one of his two Initiates.

” I'll be separating the platoon with fire. We need to cause chaos and discordance.” Cenric said, knowing that once the enemy broke formation it would be easier to pick them off. He then motioned to the two Dreadlord students. ”If you have a way of slowing them further, all the better.”

He wasn't above using whatever tools he had on hand, it was why he'd taken them along in the first place. ”The smaller force will bolster our own.”

Cenric said to Rhory.

”Bring any who fall to me.” He ordered. ”The faster they fall, the more reinforcements we have.”

 

[Norah]

Head canted to the side as if she was listening to something that wasn't there. Predatory eyes landed on Yuric for a long moment before she slow-blinked in his direction. Sadly, Cenric's pocket had nothing to offer.

"Here," though she spoke rarely, when she did her calculated tone tended to garner the attention it needed.

She flicked a copper coin into the air into the center of the group.

The symbol on the metallic surface glinted in the torchlight and then glowed within, showing a wheel and the fates of fortune. Some of the guards murmered as the coin's inner glow only brightened before it consumed the coin itself, melting and burning the metal away until all that was left was a small circle of ember and fire in the dirt. A pulse of magic left that center and went into all of them.

"Luck will be on our side for the next hour." Brown eyes that seemed almost black in the dark eyed the guards that were larger than her in statue, settling on Rhory, and ending on Yuric. "Don't waste it."

"Let's head out!" One of those larger guards stepped forward. "We'll wait for your signal with the fire," he addressed Cenric, perhaps feeling emboldened by the luck. Norah slipped in beside that group, though the guard around her made sure to give the smaller girl a wide berth.

 

[Yuric]

Yuric kept a stoic look about his face as he listened to Cenric's reasoning. There was some unspoken method to his madness, something he wasn't being entirely forthcoming about, but Yuric knew better than to pry too hard. They were teammates, but there was still a hierarchy, and Cenric's station rested comfortably above his own.

Slow them down.

The boy looked down into his hand, opened to bare the scars on his palm. When it came to distracting a single target, he was comfortable. Even a small group was manageable, given the range of his powers. But this many? He'd never stretched himself so thin. Hell, he wasn't even sure where he'd begin and end. That glare of Norah's, boring into his skull, it almost felt as if she could taste his momentary panic. Like she savored it.

Relax, Yu. You're psyching yourself out. The chastising words echoed in his head, causing him to give it a shake and tear his gaze away from the scorched skin of his palm. Lilly was right; There wasn't any way he'd be helpful if he started doubting himself before the battle had even began. Even Norah was contributing, that ominous looking coin seeming to signal some kind of an enchantment.

"Luck will be on our side for the next hour. Don't waste it."

No thought was given to hearing Norah speak, and he nodded when her eyes fell to him.

"I won't."

Falling in behind the guards as they found new motivation in Norah's boon, Yuric slipped halfway through the veil into the land of the dead, a blue mist pouring from his eyes as he peered beyond the curtain and into the realm of after. He would summon forth all the spirits he could muster, if that is what it took to accomplish their goal.

Cenric
Rhory Grimmere
Norah

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

Rhory nodded before flicking her gaze over the Guards she had gathered. They looked back at her, waiting to see if she would say anything to them. They looked to her despite only being a Private, but she was used to lack of sleep and smaller meals. Her brothers were sure to allow her to experience it so that she understood what it took to be a Guard and not let down the family.

Where she had been brought up with the guard's mentality, that was not necessarily the case for all.

"Gear up and let's move."

 

[Cenric]

(Fast forwarding the fight a bit so we can get to meatier story parts, if you want your char to do something cool I highly encourage just putting it in your post at the beginning.)

The fight did not last long.

With two Initiates and a full Dreadlord's worth of power, the small patrol did not last long. They sent numbers, but when the fire began and the Guardsmen struck at just the right time, the chaos of it all was too much. Between Yuric's distractions and Norah's force lashing down, the patrol was scattered in mere seconds.

Screaming panicked men tried to flee, only to be cut off and brought down. Eventually tied and up and dragged to the side, or knocked unconscious. Only a few were killed, and within ten minutes of leaving the walls the small squad of Anirian's had achieved the first step in their goal.

"Well done." Cenric said, slapping Yuric on his upper shoulder.

"Norah." The Elder Dreadlord called, suddenly seeming to know the girls name. "Take the ridgeline with some of the Guardsmen. Watch for more."

It would take a few seconds to take over those who had been felled.

 

[Norah]

Luck was a funny little thing. Or in this case, a fate. And it was on their side during the battle. An arrow would suddenly find itself whizzing just past her ear. A sword slashing just short of her torso. A soldier falling from a suddenly spooked horse. Another one tripping conveniently.

Her small daggers would be thrown in the night, firelight glinting off the blades as they found those impossible positions between armor plates. In eyes. Slashing across tendons. Enough to disarm. Sometimes maim. Those who died around Norah were due to their disadvantageous positions, often felled by their comrades arrows or swords. Being in the wrong place in the wrong time.

But with every breath into the night, Norah knew the fate of luck would soon swing the other way. Dark eyes locked onto Cenric and she gave a sharp nod. A look to Rhory Grimmere and some of those around her.

"Let's go."

An impossibly stern command that brokered no argument coming from a pint-sized girl.

 

[Yuric]

Yuric didn't know much about luck, or if Norah's ability to warp it truly was as potent as she seemed to think, but the veil did seem much easier to traverse when the time came to fight. Not that he was so sloppy to have needed the extra wiggle room of course; the paltry handfuls of opposition stood little chance against the others, nor had they seen anything quite like the abilities that Yuric possessed.

With eyes aflame in blue, Yuric pulled weapons and equipment for his allies from thin air. Their foes would stammer and stagger as they bore witness to the floating forms of what could only be described as ghosts rising from the battlefield; ethereal echoes of skirmishes long past returned to bear witness to a new conflict.

Of course, by the time the fight had ended, all of these weapons and ghosts had vanished back to the realm Yuric had pulled them from, save for his own brightly glowing spear planted at his side.

Only Cenric's hand seemed to break his stare toward the aftermath, a somber look cast toward the spent bodies and wounded warriors. It no longer bothered him, the way it did in his youth, but the battlefield did make him think of his mother, how she fared in her own duty.

"Oh, thank you, Sir Dreadlord. I'm happy I could be of assistance." His eyes cast to Norah as she turned away with some of the Guards. Tightening the grip on his spear, he did speak up before she departed. "Thank you, Norah. Your luck made that far less taxing on me than it usually is."

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

Sky was going to kill her.

They were victorious, but the Guardsmen faired plenty of wounds and bruises against their opponents. She was glad not a single one of their number had fallen, feeling quite hungry for more as she lead her group back towards the Dreadlord Cenric.

She offered a smile, her lip cut and the movement cracked it open again. The small bead of blood was wiped away with the back of her gloved hand. "You deserve a promotion in rank for that tactical planning." Rhory was impressed, but even more so at the tight instructions they were all given and adhered to.

All units worked well, had done their jobs dutifully and effectively.

"I don't know where that energy fucking came from." Marveled a panting man further back in the guards group.

"When all of this is done, I'm buying all of us a round." Rhory sighed, ignoring the exhaustion that wanted to seep through. She looked over to the Initiates, wondering if they were beer types or would stick to juice...

Cenric Norah Yuric

 

[Cenric]

"That almost sounds like sarcasm." Cenric noted, though from the smile on his face he hardly seemed to mind.

He glanced briefly towards the Guardsmen who had done their duties well. He motioned for two of them to come with him, and then flickered a smile briefly towards the girl who spoke of drinks. Briefly wondering if any of them would make it through what he was about to make them do.

Yuric and Norah he had no doubts, but the others?

Well, the ungifted could only do so much. "Those of you with weak stomachs may want to look away."

Cenric said as he stepped up towards the prisoners. A few of them stirred, some speaking in cortosi, others trying their best at common. The Dreadlord seemed to ignore all of them, stepping between each one before he suddenly grabbed the back of their necks. Each time, an odd pulse of magic seemed to run over them, and those observant enough would spot a mark upon their flesh after Cenric left.

When each one of the prisoners was marked, he motioned to the two Guardsmen that he had called to. "Cut their throats."

Only a second of hesitation and confusion flickered over the men's faces before they followed through. Each man or woman that was marked executed in turn by Cenric's words. Each one cried, strangled out a finall breath, and then tumbled forward.

It was only when the last of them fell to the ground, that the Dreadlord let out a long breath.

"Right." He began, his fingers twitching, his eyes closing...as suddenly every single one of the corpses began to stand. Slowly, as if haggard and worn, each of the bodies crawled to their feet. Pushing against their bindings, stumbling, but drawing up until they stood once more. "Lets go break a siege."

They said, all at once, a grin spreading over each of their faces.

 

[Norah]

"Thank you, Norah. Your luck made that far less taxing on me than it usually is."

Emotion besides boredom rarely showed on her face. She kept things close to her chest for a reason. But Yuric did get a small glimpse of surprise before her features smoothed back into their controlled expression.

"Holy fuk! Did you just see?"

"Shhh. Don't be so loud."

"These fuking dreadlords scare the shit out of me."

"Better them on our side."

Norah paused and turned around, a finger pressed to her lips. The guard with her jolted to a stop and paused. Their faces pale in the moonlight. They were probably wondering what they'd see her do. Two throwing knives were gripped in her hands. Wordlessly, she turned and motioned to either side as they climbed.

A knife sailed through the dark, burying itself between armor plates. It made its mark, almost too easily as it buried itself into the Cortosi throat. The guardmen with her charged forward, swinging their swords and shooting their arrows at the enemy.

And that's when things began to go horribly wrong. For Norah. A shuffle forward when her foot triggered an old hunting trap, its metal spiked-teeth clamping swiftly and without mercy around her ankle. A howl of pain lift her mouth as she went down.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk.

 

[Yuric]

It was a distrubing enough sight to the normal eye, to watch as the defeated were cut from life, one by one. Yuric was no naive child; this was warfare, and he'd not expected mercy to come from either side. Still, to watch as the picture of his youth was repainted before his eyes by those he called allies was a chilling experience.

That they then rose back to their feet and spoke in unison, brought back from death as husks to be commanded by one mind... To one with the eyes of Yuric, who could see beyond the curtain of death, it was enough to make him feel sick.

He could hear Lilly sputtering and stammering in his ears, the small ghost flickering out of existence as Cenric's horde came to attention. The boy's hands came to his temples, his features twisting into a grimace as he felt the lines of life and death warped by his superior's magic.

Just don't think about it. He thought to himself, turning his back on the grisly display. Let them travel. Do not peel back the curtain. You won't like what you find there.

It was hard not to feel some pity for the Cortosi, some modicum of remorse for their unnatural fate, but he would not allow what little guilt plagued him to distract from the task at hand. Once Norah and the others secured the ridgeline, they would be able to break the seige and be done with this madness.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk.

Yuric spun towards the echoing cry, spear lifted with point ready to skewer as he snapped free of his turmoil. "That sounded like Norah!" He spoke aloud to Cenric and the others, though they no doubt had made the same observation. She must have run into trouble on the ridge. Reinforcements, perhaps? "I'm moving to assist." Without awaiting an official order, Yuric made a dash for the steep climb up the ridge, blue wisps under his feet as he began to retrace the path Norah had taken. She'd aided him in battle, and he'd no intention of leaving a debt unpaid.

Plus, it meant a moment away from the army of dead.

 

[Rhory Grimmere]

Rhory wanted to hiss at the Initiate for moving before a command was given, but it died on her lips as her face contorted with frustration. No matter if there was a difference of magic between Initiate and Guard, the command of her father rang through her mind like the ghost of a memory.

Bravely, she turned her head to Cenric, ignoring with all her might at the host of dead puppets he strung together.

"Cue to move?" She inquired with an arched brow. It was clear Cenric was the mastermind to this plan, and that she was merely a piece on the board to the grand scheme of quelling the siege. Her muscles ached after the brief skirmish, but she was willing to continue to see the end to this.

 

[Cenric]

"Go." A dozen different voices said all at once, more than a little frustration pouring through all of them.

The soldiers he had taken were new, and control of the new was always more difficult. The sight of half a hundred eyes blended together. The swing of arms was more confusing. A decade ago doing something like this would have taken him days.

Time they didn't have.

Especially when the idiot Initiate's couldn't even do their job right. "Let the boy save her."

His voice hissed towards Rhory just a second later as he realized the opportunity they now had. From the ridge they had heard Norah's cry, which meant the enemy would hear them too. Norah and the Guardsmen with her would now become a target.

"Take whats left of the Guardsmen." He motioned to those still there, deciding that the girl was the best to lead them. "Move to the right of the ridge, I take left. When the enemy nearly has them strike down."

Meaning the Initiates had just become bait.