Private Tales Those Fallen

[Anastasia]

Ana stirred, having half drifted off, she looked up between the two with a confused expression before his words settled in.

She relaxed back a little, her face pressed back to his hand even as he accepted the food and Valerie slipped off with the news.

"You have a plan," she stated softly, more clarity to her voice and mind than before.

 

[Saul Talith]

"I do." Desperation created the best opportunity.

They needed Arrawaith to be desperate.

"He has a partner, I'm not sure who it is, but they'll want to see results." That much was clear of anyone who would support a Templar like Arrawaith. He did wonder who it actually was, but that was something they could learn later. "They need me dead, or broken."

He explained. "As long as I escaped there's always a chance for me to come back and attempt to rally the Templar in Alliria."

That would be the thinking.

"Worse, I could bring others." He mused. "Arrawaith needs to show his partners I'm not a threat. I'm going to show them just the opposite."

 

[Anastasia]

"Hmm," she sighed softly. "Let them destabilize themselves over it. It's a good plan." It was a safe plan, one she approved of.

She glanced at the food and tried to sit herself up, but when that became to much she merely laid back down, grunting through the strain and distracting herself with more questions. "What will you do to show them?"

 

[Saul Talith]

He smiled softly.

"The secret Vault in the city." Ana would of course know what he was talking about.

Long ago the Templar had created a vault outside of their compound, buried deep beneath one of the financial institutions within the city. It was where some of the most precious relics of the Templar were stored, and also most of the organizations funds and treasures.

"We're going to rob it." He smiled. "All of it.'

 

[Anastasia]

A small smile crept across her face. "Saul, that's..." brilliant. No one would get hurt. Their numbers wouldn't matter, and they would hit the Templars were it most mattered.

And the strength this steal would bring to their own crew... Those items and wealth were invaluable.

She squeezed his hand, shaking her head. "I'm sorry for my words before, I don't-"

 

[Saul Talith]

"Don't worry about it." He said with a squeeze of his hand.

Robbing the Vault wouldn't be simple. There were guards on it of course, both from the city itself and the Templar, but it would be less difficult than attacking the Compound.

"I'll send someone to watch the vault for a few days." He told her. "See how things are there and when we're ready we'll hit it."

Saul smiled. "This ship will be able to hold most of it."

Of course, it also meant that Arrawaith wouldn't be able to sell any of it.

 

[Anastasia]

But she did worry about it. She always worried about things.

Ana bit her lip, a sense of guilt forming in her gut. From now on, she would never speak like that to him again. It wasn't what he needed from her. It wasn't how she should behave. She had been weak to do it.

"It's a good plan," she told him, fatigued. "I should be patched up and right as rain then," she told him, swallowing hard and nodding. "I'll come with you."

 

[Saul Talith]

He glanced at her, perked an eyebrow, then frowned slightly. "We'll see what Leane says, yeah?"

Saul hated the idea of putting Ana in danger when she was at her best. Injured? Well she wasn't hot on that idea in the least. He'd rather she just stay safe and comfortable on the ship if there was even a hint of her injuries left.

"For now eat your food." He encouraged.

His mind was still working out the details of the plan of course, trying to set things in place so that he could tell the others with more confidence. Ana believed in him, and that would go a long way, but he had to make this look good.

He couldn't let them lose faith.

 

[Anastasia]

She grunted, straining. "Help me sit up." And once he did, she swayed, leaning into his body as the herbs had their way with her head. "I'm fine," she reassured, patting his chest. She nuzzled her face into his neck, quite unlike her but there it was.


"Mmmm, what are you still doing down here anyways? And whatyou let Leone give me?" She asked, abruptly connecting dots.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Something to help you heal." He told her softly. "And help you relax."

Saul wasn't going to lie to her.

She needed rest, and she needed to heal. A part of him wanted to say that he would have done the same for any of the Templar,m but in the back of his head he already knew that wasn't exactly true. He couldn't...and wouldn't deny his feelings for Ana, especially now.

He just didn't want the others to think he was distracted because of her.

Saul knew what he needed to do, knew what had to happen for them to take the next step. "I'll head up soon."

He assured her quietly, flashing her a quick smile that was only barely hidden by his mustache.

 

[Anastasia]

Anastasia 'hmmmed', letting her eyes drift close again. "If you're sure..."

She looked about to fall asleep on him this time, her breath slowly evening out. "You're a good Leader, Saul. You know what needs to be done, don't... don't listen to the naysayers. We'rejustscared." She slowly patted his chest, kissing the skin closest to her lips. all the while her eyes remained closed.

 

[Saul Talith]

She was falling asleep.

Good.

Ana would need all the rest she could get in the next three days. As much as he didn't want her in danger, she was easily the best of them in a fight. No one was a match for her within their special craft. He was close...sometimes, but Ana was unquestionably the best.

"Sleep for now." He said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "We'll talk more when you wake up."

Until then he would plan, and tell the others.

 

[Anastasia]

The days passed in a blur to her. More drugs, she was sure. More things she shouldn't have said-- shouldn't have felt-- frustrating feelings boiling to the surface, defective because she couldn't stomp them out.

Ana had never been self-conscious about her difference in nature before. But as the group had changed and new demands were placed on them on, she felt there was no longer a place for her sensitive reactions in their bid for survival. She didn't actively understand she felt this way, but it was there all the same.

So when the vivid dreams stopped and the haze pulled from her mind, she woke with a sense of resolve she had not had before.

Near death experiences do that do a person.

Her eyes flickered to Berrek, a swath of weapons spread out around him, the task not completed as he had drifted into sleep watching over her. She licked her lips, parched, and pulled herself up with a grunt. He startled to.




She pushed through the doors to the captains cabin, Saul's cabin, as it was-- and the place they did their planning as him and the others were draped over spread out parchment. "You better not be going without me," she told them, a flush of color to her otherwise steely expression. She moved normal, though her shoulders were held tight in place.

 

[Saul Talith]

The door was pulled open, a flash of light entering and shrouding Ana's form in an hazy mist. He frowned for a brief second, then smiled beneath the curve of his mustache as she spoke. "We're not."

Saul was not the only one in the cabin of course. Valerie was to his left, Edwin to his right, and one of the other Templar that had joined them after the break was in the center. His name was Robespierre, apparently from one of the country estates out in the Reach.

Younger than them, from the class just after theirs. "We were talking about the bank around the vault."

He told Ana.

"It will have City Watch as security." The Templar Guard would be stationed deeper inside, likely five to ten men. Perhaps a few more now, but nowhere near the number the Compound would have.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana strode forward, standing across from them and peering down at the parchments laid out around them. "We outnumber that," she stated, knowing they were well aware.

She tilted her head to get a better read.

"A simple distraction at the square around the corner here-" she pointed to the map. "Would draw the guard out and leave us just to those ten?" She glanced up, trying to read where they had been on this matter.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Might be ten." He said with a frown, bringing a hand to his face and scratching his beard for a second with an absent mind. "Might be more now."

Not much more of course, the room simply couldn't hold that many people.

They had to account for every angle though, calculate just how many foes they could run into. He doubted there would be more than a dozen at most. Arrawaith would likely be more paranoid about a direct attack than an assault on the Vault. "Either way we'll be outnumbered."

He glanced up at Ana.

"We can't take too many into the city." Another limitation. "Or wear armor."

 

[Anastasia]

Ana grimaced. "So we don't get hit. Simple as that," she dismissed, as if she hadn't just gotten stabbed days before. It would be different this time though, this time she was ready.

"Let talk the distraction? Unless you had something else planned?" She asked, genuine in her curiosity, not a smidgen of sass to her tone. She had missed most of their planning session, it was time to be brought up to date.

 

[Saul Talith]

He shook his head.

Edwin had suggested just killing them all, but Saul had decided against that. If they came through this they didn't want the City Watch to despise and come after them. Best to get rid of the fools. Valerie had suggested paying them off, but they didn't have the funds for that.

Though it would have been the best solution. "Easiest way would be to stage a robbery down the street."

Saul said as he drew back and crossed his arms.

"The City Watch would have to come, but the Templar would stay." The men guarding the Vault didn't give a rats ass about random citizens.

 

[Anastasia]

Valerie pointed to a store on the map. "I was thinking here would be the best spot to stage it. I know the owner. A little coin and he'd play along and keep quiet."

"It's not a bad idea," followed up Edwin.

"Seems like all we've got..." Ana mused. She glanced up, a thought popping up. "... Do you still have those tunics I bought you all?"

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul nodded, the others assenting quickly after him. Ana had bought them all regular clothes at one point, and they would work well for this.

Half a dozen.

That was how many they would bring to this. Just six of them against what was likely twice the number. Not an impossible task by far, especially since they would have the element of surprise...but ther was still a bit in his stomach.

They didn't know all the angles. "Watch out for anything...strange. We still don't know whose helping Arrawaith."

Saul knew it had to be one of the Councilors, someone powerful, but just who was still up in the air.

 

[Anastasia]

The others murmured in acknowledgement, pushing off to go gather their supplies ... and take off their armor. It was risky, but they could slip a light slip of leather under the tunics. Ana had bought them a touch too big for that purpose.

Ana watched them all file out, a shoulder squeeze, a hair ruffle there-- minute signs of affect passed off by the others as they were relieved to see her back in the game. She ignored this, leaning heavily on her arms as she bent forward to study the papers better.

"What have the scouts watching it said about it all? Has there been more movement than normal towards the bank?"

 

[Saul Talith]

"Not really." Saul admitted quietly, obviously still half lost in thought. He was more than a little concerned about doing this, and more so about doing it with so few. Had he not cared about public opinion he might have brought the lot of them, simply stormed the bank and taken what was theirs.

But he knew that would turn into a disaster. The City Watch would fall upon them and arrest them for one reason or another, send them to the dungeons and Arrawaith would have exactly what he wanted.

They couldn't risk that. "Arrawaith is concentrating most of his men back at the Compound, though he's had a few patrolling the docks every day."

Saul let out a loud sigh, running a hand slowly through his hair.

Part of him wondered if this was the right move, if Ana hadn't been right and they should have just left. It would have been easier.

 

[Anastasia]

"Saul... I hate to be the one to point this out. But what's to stop him from procuring a ship and mounting us in the middle of the night? Any of these ships could recognize our men up top and betray us. If he has the backing of a consul member ... he has the means. We're on borrowed time. ...If this is how we spend it, it has to be decisive. We cannot hold anything back. ... Even if it sets us back a step. Losing one of the others is not a cost I think their minds could afford."

She knew hers couldn't.

 

[Saul Talith]

He shook his head for a moment. "Right now he still doesn't know that we're here. Nor that we even have this ship."

Though it was true that it only took one person to recognize them, Saul was more than confident that hadn't happened as of yet. The way that Arrawaith was moving his troops, how things in the city were shaking out...he was confident that he had everything right in his mind.

At least those parts.

"The Anirian ships are still around us, and I doubt they know who we are too." He sighed. "But you're right."

His fingers drummed on the table. "But if we make too much noise in the city the Watch will come for us, and if that happens we'll have more than Arrawaith to deal with."

Not to mention of what would happen if they won.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana took a deep breath, then reached for a stole and gingerly lowered herself on it. "It's a balance then. ... And getting to shore? How do you suppose we circumvent that?"