Private Tales The Stabby Thread

[Talus]

"Don't need a bed." He said, exhaustion still coloring his voice.

A small smile touched his face at her suggestion.

"Scars are as normal to me as they are to you I think." He told her, his eyes half lidded. "Our training I suspect isn't all that different."

In another circumstance that might have been funny.

Slowly Talus pulled himself up off the ground and wandered over towards a wall. "Is that life debt still in effect?"

He said, yawning slightly.

"Or am I going to have to wait for a knife in my back?" He was joking of course, but as he leaned against a wall it was more than clear he was about to pass out.

 

[Artemis]

A few different retorts awaited on her lips in response to his jest but she settled on, "I suppose you'll have to wait for that knife." A small smile that widened only after his eyes fully closed. Moving slowly, she tugged back on her blood-stained shirt, wincing nominally.

The last thing she needed to do was pull out her stitches.

She left the armor off. For now. Stepping away from the stool, she positioned herself by the wooden-slats they'd entered through and kept watch. Her eyes wanted to close too. And her body ached. She'd need to sleep eventually but for now, she'd be their watch.

Fingers idly ran through her long, ashen hair as her other hand practiced flipping a small dagger.

 

[Talus]

Talus slept.

It was the deep sort of sleep, the kind where you did not wake even if a mage exploded a fireball by your ear. No dreams passed through his mind, nothing at all in fact. The runes had taken so much out of him that Talus was simply gone.

Sleep was welcome.

He had no idea how long he was out for, no idea how long the rest actually lasted. The runes had only gone on for a fifteen minutes, but in that time it seemed they'd taken the energy out of him for what seemed like weeks.

Eventually though, Talus snapped awake. "Wha-"

His eyes snapped open, immediately gazing around the room as he grasped for his sword.

 

[Artemis]

Fingers like a viper snapped out and snaked around his wrist.

Other hand held a finger up to her lips in the SHHH gesture. Her grip was on his sword arm and not gentle. She knelt next to him, her attention half on his startle awake and half on the slats they'd walked through.

There were voices just outside.

Hopefully just a group of townsfolk passing by.

Her features looked worn. Tired. But her eyes were bright and alert. She'd stayed awake and on watch the entire time he'd slept.

 

[Talus]

Talus stayed quiet as she motioned for him to stay quiet. His ears seemed to prickle slightly, lips thinning as she listened to the voices just by the door. His fingers tightened for a moment, searching for the sword that he'd used to kill the Assassin.

After a few seconds he found it.

He grasped the blade tight, though didn't draw it from it's scabbard for fear of making too much noise. A quick flickering gaze was shot to her, and then slowly the voices began to move away from where they had been. "Eventful."

Talus commented as he let out a groan.

Magic had a price, and it seemed the price of those gauntlets had been extremely heavy. His muscles felt like they were on fire, every little bit of him as sore as possible.

"Fuck." Talus swore quietly.

 

[Artemis]

Her fingers released themselves from around his wrist as the voices disappeared. She winced as she turned too quickly. They had to leave soon. They couldn't afford to stay here for too much longer. The injured assassins wouldn't take long to regroup. They might search the area. Though, there was a better chance they might go straight to House Relek.

She hoped.

"I need rest," she rasped. "Can you keep watch for a few hours? Wake me after two if I'm still not awake."

 

[Talus]

Talus nodded his head. "I should be alright."

The gauntlets had hit him pretty hard, but he wasn't an invalid by any means. Using the sword as a Crutch, Talus pushed himself up off the ground and stretched slightly. His back straightened, and he cracked his neck.

"I would not." He began with a frown. "Suggest the floor."

A smile was flashed towards her. "Unless you want to wake up with back pain."

Briefly he wondered what her plan was now. Technically the debt she had held with him had been paid, she could have gone any time while he'd slept. Oddly enough though, she was still here.

 

[Artemis]

She frowned as she looked up at him. Had there been a bed in the back? She'd forgotten to check, hesitant to leave Talus' side while he was vulnerable. "You could always offer your legs as my pillow," a rare joke from the assassin as she stood, feeling like an old woman.

Walking slowly toward the back, down the small unlit dusty hallway, she came to a small back room. There was a derelict, small bed against the far wall. More boarded up windows with some light streaming through the slats. No door. That was good. She felt a little safer that way.

She eased down on her stomach, not caring about the dust or dirt there. Head remained turned toward the hallway opening. Her eyes began to close and soon enough she was out.

 

[Talus]

"Then we'd be kind of fucked if someone walked through the door." He smirked at her, watching her go for a few seconds before he turned back around and glanced at the boarded up window that lay behind him.

He didn't like what had gone down at the house.

Part of it had been on him. He hadn't studied the gauntlets enough and the magic that he'd been able to use with them had been far above what he had expected it to be.

Perhaps if he'd paid more attention Artemis wouldn't have needed to risk herself.

A sigh escaped him, and the still haggard dreadlord sat himself down on an old stool that had been left behind. He leaned his sword in the crook of his shoulder, watching the door and carefully listening to the movement outside as the hours passed.

 

[Artemis]

She woke when it was dark. Palms came to push at her eyes. With a soft groan she arched her back and dragged herself to sit up in the bed, long legs coming off the edge. Palm dragged down her face.

Damn, those stitches smarted.

Stretching carefully, she pushed herself to a stand and padded back toward the front room where the dreadlord would be.

"Any trouble when I was asleep?" Her voice was a whisper.

 

[Talus]

He shook his head. "Things got quiet."

A part of him had wondered if that was because of the city outside dying down or if the assassins had come and done something.

The men he had knocked unconscious would surely have woken up by now, and that meant that the word was out about what happened. "We should go."

He told her.

"The longer we linger the more likely it is they'll find us." Talus did not want to find out what happened if they did.

 

[Artemis]

She gave a quick, sharp nod.

"Leave nothing behind. They might send sweepers." She didn't think she needed to explain that term to the dreadlord. She began gathering up the extra saddle bag. Giving a quick peek outside into the darkened streets, she squeezed gingerly back out of the building, between the boarded slats.

With a small grimace, she hefted up the saddle-bag to her own horse.

 

[Talus]

Talus swept over the small room with a fine toothed comb, collecting anything that might be recognized as evidence before he pulled himself up and grabbed his saddlebags.

With a quick step he followed out after Artemis. "What will you do now?"

He asked her as he readied his horse, somewhat surprised that it was still there.

"I can hide you in Vel Anir." At least for a time. "If you need it."

 

[Artemis]

She looked at him over her shoulder.

"I'd like to stay with you a few weeks to make sure my Order didn't figure it out."

Protect him if she needed to.

"Then if nothing happens...perhaps I'll be on my way." Fingers tightened the straps of the horse expertly. "That is, if you'll permit me to finish my debt this way?"

She wasn't sure if her being stabbed in that shop counted or not. He'd be the one to decide.

 

[Talus]

"Yes, though it will not be at the cabin." It was too dangerous.

If she was discovered there it would likely lead to one, or both of them being killed. He had a better plan for ensuring that both of them would actually be able to make it out of this alive.

"There's a Fort near here." He told her. "Controlled entirely by the Guard."

There would be no questions there. The men who were stationed in that place were loyal as could be, and that meant they wouldn't be a leaky sieve of information. "It should also give you a chance to heal properly."

With that, the two of them set off.