A Different Kind of Predator [Antar]

[Renly Summers]

Day 53 of Summer, AV 511

How did it come to this? Renly's ass was sore, raw from the vibrating wood makeshift seat of the wagon. She sat in silence as she stared down, tracing her leg with her gaze down to the boot. The gentle caressing of the wagon wheel faintly tickled her leg as she sat there, but it wasn't nearly enough to lift her spirits. The ropes were tight, her shoulders ached, the wrists chaffed from the binds that were cranking her arms behind her back. This would have been humiliating, bound to the many barrels in the back of a small time merchant wagon, destined for slavery. Sunberth, petch the place. Renly would have given her left eye to see the city burned down, and the right eye to make sure every walking scumbag that lived there couldn't escape as it did. The young woman stared around her slowly, she was bored, angry, but the silent brooding type. "What'sa matter darlin'? Lookin' fer mah cock again?" The man chuckled. Renly had forgotten his name, never cared to pick it up. She only knew the man for a day, and for roughly nine-tenth of that day she's imagined roughly fifteen hundred different ways she'd like to torture him, punish him, kill him. She had never killed a man before, but gods be damned, she was certain she could now, if only she weren't bound and her possessions wrenched from her. "What? Nothing to say? Cocks got yer tongue?" The man roared into laughter that only a true idiot could possess. The man was a simple armed guard, and along with the driver of the cart, made the first of two that were watching for the care of the vehicle. They were merchants by trade, but Renly had learned that their merchandise was either stolen, or filched from the cold hands of the dead, often recently dead. Perhaps she should thank the gods that she wasn't dead, and only abducted to be sold as a slave, but she wasn't. "Bring it near me and you'll lose it." Renly spit at the man as he walked behind the cart, though it fell short of his boots by mere inches. He only scoffed as he stepped closer and slapped her across the cheek. A cheek that was already purple and brown from bruising. It was outstanding how swiftly your life could change in a matter of days. He wasn't a true warrior. A thug, sure, and he had a sword at his side, but she was near certain that he was a weak bastard with nothing but brute strength enough to wrestle young girls to the ground and tie them up. He had at least that though, Renly experienced that first hand. Renly found herself literally counting the seconds as they passed, trying to do anything to keep herself from screaming in anger and flailing like a madman in her bonds. She counted a minute or two when the cart rocked and choked. The wooden vehicle lurched and squealed thrashed, then stopped its motion entirely. Renly glanced at the wheel to see it had fallen into a hole of sorts. How the driver missed that was a mystery to her, but neither of the men seemed particularly intelligent. At least this would prolong her inevitable journey to slavehood.

[Antar]

Today was a different story. Today's story wasn't about taking pride in one's work. It wasn't about dealing with feckless halfwits you wished to take advantage of. It wasn't about trickery to cajole those into doing what one wished. No... Today was none of these. Today was about murder and something far more satisfying to the darker natures that prowled in the shadows of sunberth's wilds. Merchants traveled upon the roads to Sunberth as they journeyed back to their strongholds of corruption and depravity within the city's demesne. All for the sole purpose of creeping to a place far away from the prying eyes of Ravok's Black Sun religious order, or the reach of their feared Ebonstryfe or the sailors and searats of the Zeltivan Navy.

Sunberth was a second and often times a primary home for which such merchants came to rest their laurels, gamble away their profits, and rest in the beds of their chosen female partners. Whether their partners were willing or unwilling was a different matter entirely of course, though few cared to differentiate between the two. They were merchants of death, and drugs, those who had faired themselves well plying to the degenerates that lived in other cities before they aspired to bring their personal prizes back home with their hard laundered gold.

Yes, that was the life of a Sunberth merchant. Almost all were all disreputable sorts, that felt themselves honored to dabble and fund the more sinister prospects that their political friends required. Courts of far off gentry in cities such as Syliras sometimes used them as contacts for hiring underhanded deals and brokering trades of weapons or to garner profitable expenses on other cities that were solely to their main city's benefit.

In this regard, Noth presumed many a merchant were like social chameleons, with the surprising ability to blend in with the average populace. And the one's he was after were no different then the rest save for one single element: they possessed something far more crucial to him, then money or gold. Or of more value than his own skin.

One in particular, a man named Mardigan possessed information that only a few could benefit from, and Noth was one of those very few. A black leather wrapped book, whose contents were coded with ancient cyphers of names of people in the darkest of places who were capable of darker deeds then ripping off the common man, or enslaving children. A book held in a locked chest marked with silver. Wive’s tales told that for the right price, those services had been contracted out to the highest bidder, though nothing was ever proven. All rumors could say was that: Mardigan was the 'bookkeeper' , a dangerous fellow to be sure. Much more dangerous than the two oafish curs he tended to bring with him as muscle on his business trips. It was said Mardigan was a man that could smile as he twisted the necks off babes, or laugh as their mothers cried.

He needed that book, but Mardigan wasn’t a joke to take lightly, and neither was his protection. Rumors said one of his thugs was a kelvic, a wolf type with connections to a gang in the city. Antar didn’t care; as far as he was concerned, it was just another more obstacle he had to kill to his target. If he could scare the brute off, or distract him then he would to not deal with the hassle, other than that: he could always use a new fur coat.

It was for this reason, he’d waited and watched as the information he gathered marked the route Mardigan was to take. He’d been waiting for days, at the bend of the back road, covered in broken camouflage, mud and dirt. Calmly and quietly waiting like a sand spider for his prey to come to him. For this singular purpose, he’d dug a trap upon the sandy road. A set of pits with a dusted tarp covered over in dirt.

Watching from the forests, he had held his breath as the wagon had come into view.

He had waited and watched, watched as the wagon ever so slowly it made its way towards the trap. It's wheel had been caught down in the first dug hole. The horse's leg fell in the second as it pranced around to steady itself against the weight on the harness from the stopped wagon. The animal screamed in a shrill tone as one of the three men on the wagon noted its plight, and the fact that it had been hobbled with a broken leg. The still harnessed animal flailed wildly in pain as it’s motions strained and tipped the wagon’s edge to come crashing down down at an odd angle as the axle buckled from two opposing forces: the mire of the trap, and the thrashing of the wounded animal.

To the untrained eye, it would still appear as if the hole was from nowhere, it's tarp still speckled in a camoflauged layer of sand and dust. To others who had small knowledge of such things it would be apparent as deliberate.

From far away with his bow in hands, he waited and watched as one of the brutes leapt from the wagon top to saunter closer to the wounded creature before drawing a greatsword from his back. From this angle, he had not see the signs of the woman's struggle with the brute inside the wagon bed. If he had perhaps he would have taken the opportunity for an easy kill at the man with the greatsword. Instead, he simply watched as the brute the animal’s head was severed with one swing. With it's eyes still wide, the decapitated skull clattered down into the dust of the road and the horse's blood began to spill upon the sands of the road as the corpse crumpled to the ground, spasming slightly in it's death throws.

Yet still Noth watched, and waited. .. the killing time would come soon enough. It was all just a matter of patience, and he chose to savor every moment of this day. After all, this wasn't a job... this was personal. This was the first step on a path of a higher order. This was revenge in it's purest of forms.

[Renly Summers]

The Wagon groan and rocked as the barrel Renly had been found to tipped and tumbled over the back of the wagon, dragging her down to the ground with a painful crash and a gasp. The man that had been tormenting her merely chuckled as he left her stranded on the ground. She wouldn't be able to go anywhere, not when that massive barrel filled with Gods-know-what was holding her down like a rapist forcing himself on her. She wheeze as she stared into the forest nearby, there was nothing else she could really do, not except for licking dirt from the ground of course, and she wasn't quite hungry enough for that yet. Actually, she hadn't an appetite at all since she had been kidnapped from her tent. Should have known better than to trust a few "honest" smiling merchants. As she stared, Renly Summers managed to spot something that her captives were much too arrogant and preoccupied to care about or notice. A man, and he was poised to strike at them by the looks of things. Perhaps he was here to steal something, or he had a vendetta against these men. No, chances were, since they were only a day or two from Sunberth (which would be longer now that their only horse was headless), that he was only one of several. If there were merchants who doubled as small time slave traders, why couldn't there be a typical band of bandits that could mug them blind or steal their valuables from their corpses? Renly sighed to herself as she closed her eyes. One way or another, this mess she was in didn't seem like it was going to improve for her. She was going to be dead, raped (again), or sold into slavery. Which one was the most pleasant, she had yet to decide. Hell, it was possible she was destined for all three. Regardless, she would do nothing to alert the man, nor to draw her captives' attention to him. Let them have their battle. If they were distracted long enough, then maybe she could escape. "Damn... Why'd you kill the petching horse? It's just a leg. It coulda still walked us home. Idiot." The first guard, the one Renly had been forced to stare at all day as she sat bound to the back of their wagon, was chewing out the man that killed the horse. That made one guard distracted, possibly two (not that Renly could see them from her earthworm's view of the dirt), which left the third man on the wagon, and the man in the woods that would, most likely, notice her moving. If something would happen, then she could get to work on her bonds. Clever as she was, she managed to smuggle her eating knife in her clothing. It wouldn't cut well, but it was her only option. It didn't take much movement to get a short weak sawing motion with that dulled blade, but it was going to take plenty of patience and a great stroke of luck. And with any luck, they might notice each other and all die so that she could just walk away, back to her tent, her horse, and go... somewhere.

[Antar]

While the men began bickering, Noth slowly stepped ever closer, circling around to get a good look at the wagon, and begin taking inventory of the merchant's weapons. Aside from the guard with the greatsword, he spotted the merchant he was here for clad within confinging purple robes as he watched the other merc chime in to berate the guard, "Damn... Why'd you kill the petching horse? It's just a leg. It coulda still walked us home. Idiot."

His eyes noticed the rapier at Madigans belt, and a telltale set of beads wrapped around the right wrist like a rosary of prayer beads to some misbegotten facade of a god. A common devotional ornament that any might possess. He knew different though, they were assassin's beads, which held a small wire garotte. He eyes shifted to the one in the back of the wagon as he stopped arguing as Madigan held up a hand... and a small flame came to hover above his palm. It lanced forwards, scalding the greatsword wielding merc across the face. It wasn't long before he seemed to growl at Madigan before he held up one hand to silence the guard. " You disappoint me Pup. First I let you off easy you stupid mutt, you disappoint me. I was nice enough to let you have some fun with a girlie, and then you gotta do something to my horse! You are seriously more trouble then you're worth, Cidan! Just how are we supposed to lug the goods back to sunberth on foot? Well answer me. What did you think you were doing you petching git?

Out of the corner of his eye he Cidan shrug a bit before sheathing his blade to take the time to scratch his head with one hand, and his quads with the other." Just trying to deal with the Meat's problems. Still easy to get back to 'Berth fine right, Maddie?"

In the top of the wagon Noth noted the man there having a small shortsword, a gladius at that, sheathed at his hip. He was just staring at the grisly scene and shaking his head, as he seemed to sigh at Cidan's idiocy. Upon his back lay a holstered shortbow and a small quiver.

The purple robed figure crossed his arms over his chest and started tapping his foot upon the earth. The man in the back stamped his foot impatiently, as he sarcastically remarked, "Yeah... and what about our cargo, you mutt? Hmm? You think the bloody raven is going to like it when we show up late?"

The one called 'Cidan' seemed a little tasked by thinking up a reply as he looked back towards the merchant in charge. "What's the bloody raven got to do with anything boss, what cargo you talking about? The petching little girl we had fun wit' last night? She's still strapped over the barrel if you want a turn. After all, we can just leave her as dead weight now, can't we? After all she shouldn't get us much on the markets."

"No you gits, Beren means the cargo that's hidden in the back of the wagon Cidan! What do we usually deliver to the Raven and Crow you imbecile? Things Robern's men don't want coming in the city. For the love of akaji, I let you get the stripling girl as a bonus. Was that so wrong of me Cidan?" Was it wrong for me to let you have your fun.

At the mention of the word bitch Noth's mind realized he was concentrating too much on the trio, and recognized their must be a fourth somewhere. A captive, a slave in the making.

At the mention of a girl, Noth shifted his position and crept forwards another ten feet to peer up over the slight rise of the road. His eyes settled upon a woman, bound and keel hauled over a barrel. For an instant her eyes seemed to stare into his as she noticed his position before looking down and away before he hunkered himself down closer to the road bed and pondered his next moves.

At Madigan's jibes Cidan bared his teeth and it seemed the hair on his neck seemed to stand a little."I ain't a dog, Beren. I'm a wolf. Best' ye' remember that. Besides, we gots more of the poppy that if we dose her out of her mind she'll never remember what we're saying."

Noth's attention swiveled back towards the pair as his eyes narrowed in what he fingered to be the kelvic Madigan was rumored to run with. Inside his head, Noth was already absorbing the information. Beren, the second guard, Cidan, the wolf kelvic, and Madigan the merchant. Together the three were a dangerous trio. He knew his chances were better to take them one by one if they could be split off from each other.

"You are what I say you are you mongrel and don't you forget it! Now since you just forced Beren to shout out our business to the world we're just gonna have to kill the damn bitch so no one knows before we reach Sunberth at all! We could of at least sold her to pay for a new horse!"

Ordinarily, the idea of a woman being near a mark wasn't an issue. He'd kill anything that got in his way. But something in that brief moment made him recognize a small portion of the hatred burning in the woman's eyes. It was as if she had gazed into her future to see things worse than death standing on all paths. And yet wasn’t broken. He could only imagine the willpower needed not to lose your spirit in front of such cruel revelations. But then he realized something more inimical to the woman, she was slowly attempting to free herself.

Noth came to a decision when the man from the wagon top hopped down to approach the other two, the argument began to take on a louder tone, as Madigan began to berate Cidan further. What he was about to do was against his worser nature, but the small shreds of his conscience demanded he take the risk. He was downwind of the kelvic, it should be fine so long as the wind held.

He could see from his new position the girl was still struggling with her bonds.

Shimmying forwards at a crawl as the three ventured to the other side of the wagon to argue more, Noth crawled in the dirt up towards the woman's position. His hand strayed to the string of his bow as he began to see the damage the beasts had done to her. He wasn't a fan of rape, it was unseemly.

Reaching out he tapped her on the forehead to gain gain her attention and he saw the girl look up and into his eyes again as he was less then three feet from her. Her eyes seemed to stare at him as he held a finger to her lips as he silently mouthed the words, "You help me. I help you. O-kay?"

He looked at her, hoping for a nod to say she understood. From the far side of the road, an audible slap rang throught he air as Madigan smacked the Cidan in the face. Causing the kelvic to growl like the wolf he was... in an offhand way, it reminded him of wolves in a pack mentality vying for the position of the alpha male. Whatever the case it might actually be, Noth would almost certainly bet Madigan would come out on top.

Slowly drawing his kukri from the sheathe at his left shoulder to limit the noise, Noth leaned forward in order to shear through the bonds binding her legs to the barrel. For all he knew, she had already been working to free her hands. Whatever the case, the next few seconds they would have to be crucial in their silence. If they were quick enough, and quiet enough both of them could sneak back to the brushline on their side of the road as the three kept arguing amongst themselves. After that... whatever would happen would happen depending upon whether the two decided to flee, or in Noth's erstwhile hopes... fight. But whatever they did, they'd have to do it in the smartest way possible.

After all, it was five days walk to town, more if they took the time to hunt these petching bastards down.

[Renly Summers]

She dropped the knife. Renly bit down on her lip viciously, scolding and punishing herself for not keeping her grasp on the makeshift weapon, no matter how awkward the binding on her hands made the situation. Renly wanted to scream in her boiling anger, but what would she gain by drawing attention to herself? Another strike, a closer watch, no more chances to escape. She would save her anger, she could just release it later, if there was a later. "Now since you just forced Beren to shout out our business to the world we're just gonna have to kill the damn bitch..." Renly was the bitch, she knew that. It was the name they've given her, along with whore, maggot, and girl. Bitch was his favorite. The robed man never addressed her directly, but referred to her as nothing more than a profit, a small profit. Hell, and now he thought she was some kind of threat? Yes, she had overheard a bit more than he wanted to know, more than she wanted to know, but it was a death sentence. What luck? Renly opened her eyes again, drawn to figure out which of the bastards was here to kill her, but to her surprise it was the man in the woods. He spoke, he needed, or at least wanted, her help. She would have found it funny that the assistance of a girl bound to a barrel was essential to his goals in any way, except she was both desperate for liberty and little more than a stone-cold seeker of vengeance. She nodded vigorously as he made his offer. No words, silence. She had been quiet most of the trip, she was accustomed to it already. Beren sounded smarter when he didn't talk. Hands and feet were severed, which was the mark of the first time she smiled in a full day. It was brief, but the soothing coolness on her wrists felt wonderful. Never again would she take freedom for granted. Renly followed Antar into the bushes and trees, hiding herself from sight by stripping off that graying once-red cloak of hers and rolling it up to hide it next to a shrub. "Beren, I said the bitch dies. See to it!" The leader's patience must be running out, he was always hateful to the kelvic, but even Beren was being barked at now. Reluctantly, the man nodded and moved towards the back of the cart. He must have wanted a few more moments of pleasure, but risking as much wasn't worth the wrath of Madigan apparently. It wasn't until he was standing over the barrel and staring at the ropes that had obviously been cut did he understand what had happened. She escaped. He bent over to pick up the eating knife she had dropped. Pathetic excuse for a weapon, didn't do anything to the ropes. "Hey, she's gone. Got away. She cut her ropes with this knife." There was a moment of suspenseful silence as the three men (or two men and one kelvic) stared at each other. The moment ended as the now red-faced Madigan struck Beren with the same hand that had assaulted his wolf companion. Oddly enough, Beren also growled, perhaps he thought he was too strong for Madigan to be treated like this? Who knows the reasoning. "Split up and find her! She knows too much thanks to you idiots. She can't go far without food, water, or shelter. Look for caves or ditches, perhaps she stumbled in one. I want her brought back, dead or else both of you are. Now go!" There was no hesitation in the two guards now as the divided up, one into the forest on either side of the road. This would offer a chance to catch them alone. Perfect. The whole while Antar and Renly were watching the group Renly had been wrenching off her clothing to reveal an interesting looking suit of tight armor. It held no real value in defensive purposes, but the coloration and patterns told the true purpose of the armor. It was a disguise of sorts. Camouflage. Next, she dug viciously at the dirt ground with her short nails. It was fairly moist, not rock solid for certain, and would work well enough to smear on her hands, her face, her hair. At least to Beren's eyes, she would be hard to spot. The Kelvic's nose would be a different story though. "Give me that." As she whispered, Renly pointed at the Kukri blade that Antar had used to cut her bonds. She'd prefer the bow personally, but she would do with anything. After all, what help was she if she wasn't armed to help him? This would settle her debt to him.

[Antar]

The man watched the three argue and bicker like dogs from afar as the woman began preparing herself. With one eye he watched the woman smear bits of the forest loam over every visible patch of bare skin to darken her appearance. That was fine, he had done a similar thing as well, darkening the skin of his own with mud and dirt, and bits of shrubbery to scatter his profile from view. It seemed like the man named Beren was heading in their direction. The one armed with a shortbow and quiver, with a gladius at his belt, Beren.

The man was moving into the brush and towards the woods after them, as the wolf kelvic ventured towards the other side of the road. The pair splitting apart was a desireable outcome, now the goal would be to lure Beren into an area where he could be disposed of without the others knowing. Glancing over his left shoulder he judged them a short ways away from the deeper wooded thicket, there were a couple of hills there, as well as favorable terrain in which they might set an ambush. Of course... the woman would be a viable lure to draw them out.

'The question was how?' There were a number of ways, but he didn't think a battered woman would take too kindly if she had been stripped bare and left tied up on a string like bait to catch a fish. Besides, it always worked better when the bait cooperated.

It was at this point he heard a voice lightly whisper, "Give me that." Turning his head towards the girl, he noted her pointing to his kukri and he considered things. Having her armed was a risk, a risk that she might stab him in the back. But it was one he'd have to take. With a brief nod, Antar made his decision. Twirling the pommel of the dagger towards the girl he handed the sixteen inch weapon over with a minimum of fuss before pointing to his eyes and then back towards the darker shadows of the inner forest, and then back to Beren.

He was trying to tell her they would have to work together to lead the man named Beren deeper into the woods to find a place to make the killing quiet. When she took the blade, Antar didn't wait for another reply, before he began to slink back back deeper into the forest to take cover behind another tree. It was a deadly game they would be playing, as they would have to keep note of where Beren was compared to them, yet somehow keep far enough away to keep from his notice. So far, Beren and his cohorts only knew about the girl after all, she was the target being hunted, and he was the unknown piece upon the board. She would have to play the part of the hunted, which shouldn't be so horrible. After all, the hunted always had the advantage.

Noticing the girl following him and then taking the lead, Noth risked a glance towards the road, to see the archer taking time to notch an arrow to his bow. Like a babe in the woods the man had to mutter incessant jabberings. He couldn't hear them from this distance, but if Noth he would have heard the guard mutter the words, "Come out come out wherever you are girlie. Your friend Beren just wants you to come back, I'm not going to hurt you... really."

[Renly Summers]

It was almost eerie how much Antar and Renly were alike in their thoughts at that moment. She was the one the so called merchants were looking for, and it was obvious that they didn't care to be on the wrong side of a two against three fight. Their only option was to separate them, and the best way to do that was bait. She was the bait. She shook her head slowly as she grabbed her red cloak once again and draped it around her body. She didn't bother explaining to Antar what she was doing. If he didn't know, he could catch on. Where her camouflaged suit helped her blend into the earthy tones of green and brown, the faded red coloring did wonders to make her stand out like a sore thumb. She took Antar's Kukri in her hand and held it under the flowing length of her cloak, in case Antar decided to leave her, she had something to defend herself with, then without any attempt to keep silent or stealthy, she simply trotted off deeper into the woods. Beren didn't take long to recognize the red on green background, and instantly gave chase rather than opting to call for his allies or to shoot her down with his bow. In the past many hours she had been stuck glaring at his ugly mug, she had learned him to be a man of perverse desires. It was likely he wanted just one more go at her before killing her off once and for all. "Hey Precious, come to Beren." Renly wasn't moving particularly fast, she was too weak to do so even if she really wanted to escape the man. As she swerved around trees and ran through bushes, Beren gained on her rather quickly. Within a minute or two, she would have to try and spill his intestines, assuming Antar did nothing to prevent Beren's assault on Renly of course. It felt so strange for Renly to be in this position. Feigning to flee from a predator. She had often been the predator, stalking rabbits, chasing squirrels, shooting at deer, etc. She was a hunter, used to feeding herself often, and retreating to the cities when she wasn't doing a good enough job to survive by her own hand. But this, this was strange for two reasons. The first was she was, in fact, the prey. Beren was the predator looking to feast his fill of her body and kill her. Her plan's success depended on too many things she couldn't control, making her, without a doubt, not the predator in this situation. She was depending on Beren's lust to prove stronger than his wit, which was proving true at the moment. She was depending on Antar to be as violent and dangerous as he seemed, which was still a mystery to her. She was depending on Antar to not leave her with Beren, since she had some odd feeling that Beren wasn't the man he was after, and separating him from the others may have been his goal from the start. So much she was depending on that she just could not control. But then, she was also a predator in the small way that, as a prey she was using very underhanded tricks to gain advantage over her predator, so that she may switch roles with him when he least expected it. A feigned vulnerability would lead to opportunity. Renly hid behind a tree and listened intently, listening for footfalls on cracking twigs and shattering leaves under thick heavy boots. Listening for Beren, listening for Antar. It was hard to hear over the drumming of her heart, but dammit did she try.

[Antar]

While the red garbed girl began leading the mark away, Noth began to follow on his own arcing path ahead of the pair. Darting from cover to cover, tree to tree, while keeping Renly in sight as Beren began to stalk her. He was heading to a place that looked suitable. A rise in the forest loam sported a few crags and rocky outcrops and crevasses with overhangs which might allow him to get the drop on Beren if he was lead this way.

It was a short climb, if a tough one up the rock, but Antar made it to lay upon his belly the shelf. It was the high ground he had lain in wait upon before, and gave him a vantage point over the road bend and the surrounding forests. The archer, Beren was breathing heavily as he shoved aside a pine branch after it whipped into his face. His step on the soft forest loam, barely making much noise, save for muttered curses when he tripped slightly on a rotting log.

Beren was making headways towards the girl, and if she wasn't careful, she'd be caught.

As Renly stopped behind a tree, Noth cupped his hands together and notched his thumbs over the first knuckle of his index fingers, fashioning them into what hunters called an owl whistle. Blowing lightly from the cover of the brush in the rocky crags, the sound echoed around him and off the rocks, a haunting sound much like the hootings of a spotted owl.

It seemed to draw her attention for a barest moment, and for a time their eyes met in silent accord, as Noth pointed backwards at an angle behind Renly where Beren was approaching. The man couldn't see him from the intervening foliage of the forest branches, but Renly could. If she didn't move quickly, she'd be flanked. With a quick raise of his left hand, he motioned in a 'come hither gesture' telling her to move as he tried to convey a sense of urgency in the matter.

Hoping she'd seen him, Noth ducked back down into the cover of the grassy overhang. Thinking that the setup was almost upon him, the rogue slowly reached with his left hand to begin quietly unwinding the set of beads from his wrist. Straining his ears for the woman's and Beren's approach, Noth counted down silently as he prepared to make his move, the moment Beren followed the girl into the boxed crevasse nearby, a shelf one might try to scramble upwards in their haste. With a silent prayer to akajia, Antar hoped it wouldn't become a literal dead end for the girl. After all, they still had two others to kill before revenge was satisfied...