Completed For Jenkins' Sake (Kel Tempest)

[Chandray]

Chandray heard Kel out without interrupting him. While he spoke she thought of what he was saying. His view on life and death seemed sinister and the world according to Kel seemed to be a grim, cold, and merciless place. Nothing of this had been visible at the time she had spotted him in the tavern, dancing and joking. He had seemed cheery, easygoing and uncomplicated, though a troublemaker kind of person. But right then a man having a fun night out and not taking anything too seriously. But the impressions of the brief auristic investigation of his aura had told her something else, and now his words added to those impressions. He spoke of life as an overestimated thing that didn’t matter and was easy to steal. To Chandray it seemed like he thought life was nothing else than a worthless trinket deluded fools walked around with carelessly, until it was stolen from them one way or another. Jenkins chattered at her and stuck to Kel like it feared being stolen, just like a life. She looked at the small animal and wondered if it was true that he really knew what he was getting himself into. Maybe he was unwitting but loyal the way animals can be. But in Kel Tempest’s opinion the otter was a tough little being and no pup, and she wasn’t going to argue. He was the one who knew Jenkins best. The cold evening wind brushed her face. She had picked up a stranger on a whim, somebody to toy with for mischief in the tavern, as she had thought of it at the time. That was how she had been thinking, until Kel Tempest had leaned in closer and started to speak about serious and dangerous topics. Then one thing had led to another and here she was now, in company of a man who spoke like a callous killer, and he was asking her how long it was until they would arrive. “What can I say” she answered. “My life is precious to me. And it’s precious to my family and friends. Perhaps even more to them, as if I would die I would go to Laviku and I wouldn’t know anything more, but the ones still alive would mourn me and miss me. So perhaps you could say the worth of one’s life is in what you give to other people. As long as one is alive one can make difference and contribute something to somebody. So I think life and the living people are precious.” As she said this, she thought of more things, so she continued, despite how she could see that her view seemed quite different from Kel’s. “And if you steal a life, as you call it, you are actually not killing one single person, you are removing somebody from all the other people. When somebody dies and is gone it leaves a gap that’s always there. If it’s overestimated or not is up to the one’s who feel that gap to say. If you don’t feel a gap when somebody dies, then I guess you could say that person’s life wasn’t worth much - to you. But it can have been worth much to others.“ After this piece of philosophy about life and death she made a pause before she continued. If Kel had an answer to it she would listen. They were only a step from the bridge now. A tall man came walking slowly and unsteadily from a side street and passed by them, stepping out on the bridge. When he passed under the nearest lantern right before the bridge, she saw that was dressed in a mix of practical simple grey clothes and leathers and he was wearing a short cloak, the hood pulled up, his face concealed in it’s shadow. She felt a strong smell of rum : it was obvious that he was a drunkard. The sound of his slow, light steps on the bridge blended with the sound of the river. Chandray stepped out on the bridge too, and took a few steps, but she wasn’t sure what Kel meant by “arrive”. They had gone for a walk and no particular route had been agreed. She turned around and looked at him and Jenkins where they stood under the lantern, waiting for her to answer the very justified and natural question. He seemed to assume they had a goal and were headed to a specific place, where they would arrive. Chandray only knew her own plans though. She was on her way home, but she couldn’t know where Kel intended to go, so she said : “How long it takes to arrive depends on where you are going.” New pause. “We are in middle of Riverfall, around halfways between your boat down at the harbor and my apartment in Northwind Suites. Are you planning to go back down? Or do you want to walk on ?” The drunkard in front of her had stopped. He was leaning over the handrail of the bridge and seemed to be overcome with sudden nausea. Chandray looked back over her shoulder briefly and then back to Kel again. Laviku ... she could see one more drunkard approach behind Kel, dressed in a similar way as the first one, staggering a bit, but fully able to move on. Petch. This was Riverfall and it was so calm and safe here as the akalaks kept it so. But the akalaks they had met a the stairs had already passed by walking in a totally other direction and were out of sight by now - and Chandray’s belief in the safety of Riverfall was already damaged. It seemed best to leave the bridge again, stick with Kel for now and wait until the drunkards had moved on. She took a step back in Kel’s direction. But instinct made her react to the sudden sound of fast running steps behind her. She drew the rapier and spun around as the first “drunkard” came at her from behind, a sword in his hand, a sabre. Chandray wasn’t an advanced fencer and she had lots left to learn, but she wasn't a beginner. The things she did know, she knew well. Her foot work was in place and without thinking she jumped to the side and narrowly dodged the first attempt to cut her down. Her mind focused on the point of the rapier, her body took a defensive stance in a nearly automatic way. It was the en garde position she had practiced many times, but it was different now when the fight was real and not training. There was also a difference between the weapons and the ways of using them. As the man had a sabre he would try to hack and cut forcefully, while Chandray would try to thrust and stab. The rapier wasn’t made to cut. It was made for running the adversary through. His advantage was that he was taller than her and he would be dangerous if he could lunge and attack before she reached him. Her advantage as the smaller fencer would be to try to "get in under the blade" and close the distance so the man could only backpedal, and likely be hit. She didn’t say anything and she didn’t look behind her. There wasn’t time for things like that. If she started to get scared or insecure she was guaranteed to die. The attacker had her full attention. This was the only that counted now, if she didn’t want to get her precious life stolen before she knew it. He was already retiring backwards, further out on the bridge and increasing the distance between them in order to gain advantage. Chandray followed swiftly, aiming to move in close.

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[Kel Tempest]

“I ain’t sayin’ life ain’t important. I’m just sayin’ their actions ain’t backin’ up their words.” Kel couldn’t comprehend why she didn’t understand what he was saying. It was simple really. If someone said life was important to them, he expected the person to do everything they could in their power to protect it, but it seemed very few did. He shook his head; he’d never understand land dwellers.


The three began crossing the bridge, the sound of water reaching his ears faintly as it flowed far below them. Suddenly a man appeared out of the darkness and stumbled past. Kel looked at him with interest, seeing him stumble about, a wry smile crossing his face. How many times had that been him after a late night of drinking.


Kel was distracted from his thoughts as Chandray took a step towards him. Suddenly she whirled back around, rapier drawn, as the man behind her attacked. Outrage struck Kel as he watched the man attack her. But not because she was in danger; no, he could care less about her. It was because the petching woman was the one who got to fight and not him. That was just bad manners.


Kel stepped forward, trident held in hand, ready to throw himself into the fray when Jenkins screeched loudly behind him. Kel spun, weapon held in a defensive position across his chest, eyes darting around, looking for the threat. The Svefra’s eyes locked onto the second man who charged across the bridge towards him, quickly closing the distance, two odd looking weapons held in each hand. The objects glinted in the moonlight, three, large curved blades extending from each handle. Kel wouldn’t have even noticed the man’s silent approach had it not been for his tavan’s warning.


The man’s chakram slashed through the air at Kel’s face. The Svefra batted one of the weapons aside, steeling clashing loudly against steel but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the second one that flashed through the air. The second weapon ripped through his shirt and into his side. Kel managed to spin to away just enough to avoid taking serious damage, receiving only a shallow cut. He winced as the razor sharp edge sliced through flesh, blood instantly welling from the laceration. Kel snarled, blue eyes flashing in the dim light.


Kel leaped backwards, creating distance between them, not wanting to have more damaged inflicted upon himself than was necessary. He kept his eyes locked on his opponent, resisting the urge to look back at Chandray, hoping she had her attacker occupied. He hoped if she was cut down she’d at least have the courteous to scream so he’d have some amount of warning before he was attacked from behind.


The Svefra swiftly stepped forward and shoved his trident forward, hoping to spear his opponent through the stomach. The man deflected the three pronged trident away from his body, second chakram flashing through the air back towards Kel’s exposed side. Having learned from his mistake previously, Kel hastily flicked the butt of his trident up and caught the man’s weapon between two of blades and shoved it away.


The Svefra, too close to make good use of his trident, snapped his foot up and kicked the man in the groin. His foot connected with the soft tissue of the man’s genitals and a low moan emitted from the attacker, the first sound the Svefra heard from the man. Kel’s snarl twisted into a grin as the man doubled over in pain, knowing full well how much a well placed blow can incapacitate even the most seasoned fighter.


“That the best yeh’ got? Yehr’ gonna have teh’ do better than that mate.”


Kel took a step back, smirking as he allowed the man a moment to recover. Kel didn’t want to just kill the attacker. Where was the fun in that? He wanted to make sure he suffered first. It was all a part of the dangerous game they played.


Besides, the man cut him. He deserved it.

[Chandray]

When Chandray heard Jenkins scream out loud she was distracted and lost her focus for a tick. It was only for a tick, but a tick was all her adversary needed in order to move out of range. She had nearly, but only nearly managed to get in under the sword and attack back, but now the other fencer had the advantage instead. He knew it and she could hear him give a sound, it was maybe a short laugh. Again, Chandray fell back on the things she had trained until they had become automatized and worked without thinking. Her body was back in en garde, the left arm behind her, her front foot pointing forward and the other foot turned to the side in order to let her move with high speed and force once she would lunge. But she knew this wasn’t like lunging at a training dummy. Not at all. The adversary would come at her and try to cut her and she would need to fence at the top of her skill. The basics of fencing were things like the footwork and how to move forwards and backwards, how to hold the weapon, how to lunge and thrust, how back away in order to not get hit and how to stop a thrust or cut. Chandray knew this already. But her adversary seemed to know the basics too. It remained to see if he knew more ... she would soon see, because the man didn’t stop to give her time to think and plan. But the ticks he spent laughing was all Chandray needed for the auristics to kick in. Fuelled by the stress and pressure of the immediate threat and the need she felt to defend herself at all cost, her auristic perception expanded with a shocking speed she’d never experienced before and the impressions of the attacker’s aura enhanced her urge to save herself. There was a dark and relentless intent to kill, a merciless feeling of iron, blood, death. And there was also the impression of an inner laugh, the high self-confidence of a skilled fencer, and of a sick sort of pleasure, like the bastard liked to kill for the sake of it. She didn’t want to stay in contact with this twisted aura, but she did, as the auristics might be her only advantage right now. It would maybe give her a slightly increased chance to predict his movements, so her own reflexes could let her parry the next strike and take her on from there. Because fast reflexes was what she would need now. Fast reflexes to parry and doge, and equally fast reflexes to try to get in under his weapon again, gain the advantage, attack - because attacking like an aggressive wasp was her only way to win this fight. And she wanted to win. She wanted to live. She didn’t think of this. There was no logical reasoning. Her mind had simply taken this position, bent at winning, as automatically as her body took the physical positions. Survive. This was all that mattered now. Next moment she was engaged in the fight again, as the adversary’s blade swept through the night air, towards her throat, and she got the rapier up just in time to meet it and stop the cut, already stepping to the side in order to disengage again and move in closely to attack. She carried the series of movements out seamlessly and her rapier thrust at the man’s chest, aiming for the heart just like when she used to practice on a dummy. The man had time to move slightly to the side too and the thrust hit his left shoulder instead. She was near enough to hear a small sound over the noise of Bluevein River beneath them and the more distant roar of the falls : a small sound of metal hitting metal and felt the rapier bouncing off of him ... he was armored, it could be mail or it could be studded leather, she couldn’t see this in the darkness on the bridge. Still at advantage and under the adversary’s weapon she lunged again and this time he moved to the side, backed away quickly while circling around her. He backpedaled again and she got in a new thrust, but it seemed to bounce off of him too. They seemed to be pretty evenly matched. Chandray had moved when her adversary did, and while he jumped backwards and out of reach for her again, she could see what she hadn’t seen while they were behind her back : Kel was fighting another attacker. While her attention was on her own adversary, she could now also see that second adversary attack the svefra with some kind of weapons she didn’t recognize, but there seemed to be many sharp blades on them. She saw Kel back away, try to fight back with the trident, then go at the other man in a classical brawler way. The svefra seemed to have the upper hand and his adversary was moaning on the ground. But Kel seemed to just stand there, watching. Maybe the man who was down was already lethally wounded and dying ? She observed and registered all this only briefly and she didn’t stop to think about it. It was just one more thing to fuel the urge she felt to fight for her life. The sabre came sweeping at her again.

[Kel Tempest]

Only moments pasted while the man was downed but it gave Kel just enough time to get a good look at his opponent. The man was clad in dark leather concealed by a black, billowing cloak. His features were obscured by his hood, the pale moonlight unable to penetrate its depths. Kel was uncertain what to make of the man in front of him, he and his friend seemed to appear out of nowhere, attacking without reason. He was impressed by the usage of such unusual weapons and the attacker himself moved with the grace of an acrobat as he flourished the blades skillfully.


But he wasn’t the only one who knew how to wield a sharp edge.


Kel grinned as the cloaked man staggered back to his feet, having shrugged off the pain and thrust his weapons to his sides in anger, cloak billowing behind him. The razor sharp blades glinted dangerously in the light as the two slowly circled one another, gauging one another, testing one another for weaknesses. The Svefra knew he had range on his opponent but the cloaked man was far more agile than he was. If he got close, Kel was going to be in a load of trouble.


The Svefra began to feel restlessness rile up as they circled and it finally became too much too bear. Kel finally let the frustration strike. He shoved his trident through the air, jagged prongs intent on ripping through the man’s chest but was easily deflected to the side. The second chakram sliced through the air horizontally, aimed to slit the seafarer’s throat wide open. Kel’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the blade whip through the air and he instinctively jerked back, feeling the instrument barely miss its target.


Kel dropped to the ground and kicked out a leg, intending to sweep his opponent off his feet. But the second he dropped, he knew he had made a fatal error. He watched in slow motion, desperately wishing to take back his action but unable to, as his cloaked opponent swiftly jumped over the leg and slammed his boot into the Svefra’s stomach as he landed.


The air whooshed out of Kel painfully as the man drove his heel into the Svefra’s torso. The man lifted both chakrams above his head and brought them down simultaneously towards Kel’s chest. The tattooed seafarer might not have had oxygen but he’d be damned if he let some petching stranger run him through on the streets of Riverfall.


Kel swiftly brought up his trident and caught both blades on the shaft of his weapon with a loud clash, metal biting into the leather wrapping between his hands. The attacker grunted as he tried to force the curved blades towards the Svefra’s throat. The veins in Kel’s neck bulged as he fought to keep the sharp points away from his body, sweat breaking out across his forehead from the strain. He was only able to keep the knives at bay for a little while but ever so slowly, they inched closer.


He could see his reflection in the glint of the blades, his black hair sticking to his face, eyes narrowing in anger. He wouldn’t lose.


Kel released all the pent up frustration in one motion and ferociously jerked his knee straight up into the man’s gonads as hard as he could. The man let out startled gasp as he was once again savagely kneed in the crotch. Kel took advantage of the moment as the weight was temporarily lifted and shoved sideways, knocking the blades away. The man staggered to the side in pain and Kel rolled, jumping back to his feet.


Before the cloaked man had time to react, Kel swiftly lashed out, trident slicing through the back of the man’s leg just above the knee, severing the tendon. He screamed as the muscle and tissue were ruthlessly severed and collapsed to one knee. The Svefra stepped forward and grabbed the back of the man’s head and smashed his knee into the dazed man's face. He could feel a sickening crunch under his knee cap and saw blood gush freely from the smashed cartilage as he released his head. The man rocked backwards at the blow and landed on his back groaning, holding his face and leg.


Kel kicked both chakrams away, hearing them clatter across the bridge and crouched beside the prone figure, the butt of his trident resting on the cobblestone as he leaned against his weapon cockily. Sweat still beaded his forehead and his breath came labored from his fight but his smirk still remained fixed on his face.


“Yeh’ really gotta learn not teh’ expose yehr’ self like that, mate. I mean c’mon, twice in’na row? Tis’ just bad taste…”


Mockery danced amidst his words as he grinned at his fallen opponent. The hood still partially concealed his face but showed enough to see his mouth covered in blood. The man grit his teeth and snarled as he looked up at Kel.


“Just…kill me already.” The words came out raggedly, between gasps for air, pain clearly lacing his words. Kel shook his head sadly and sighed dramatically.


“Sorry, mate. Can’t be doin’ that just yet. Yeh’ just sit tight fer’ a bit. How ‘bout we just watch our friends fight it out, eh?”


Kel winked, feeling the rush of adrenaline still pumping through his veins. He very nearly died and he could feel exhaustion creeping into his limbs. He could feel the cut along his side slowly oozing blood and he would definitely had a boot shaped bruise along his chest on the morrow.


But that was all a part of the game.

[Chandray]

Chandray had managed to dodge out of range of the sabre again, and her adversary had circled her again, so she had her back to Kel anew and couldn’t see what was going on behind her. Now she was fencing at high pace, while she moved forward and aimed to get in under the adversary’s weapon and hit him, and he was moving backwards and staying out of range, trying to get in a cut at her. There was no way she could stop fencing now. She had to go on, just go on, keep him occupied and continue to try to close the distance. The only things she heard were her own labored breath, the noice of the river, and the sound of iron against iron. When it came to skill and technique the adversary didn’t seem to be any better than she was, but she had started to realize an important thing : he was maybe stronger and would maybe last longer, if this fight became a matter of edurance . Chandray had resumed her fencing training in winter and she wasn’t weak, but fighting like this was another thing than just training alone or even with a sparring partner. This required far more of her, in all ways. She could sense with her still open auristic sense - the adversary was going at full capacity but there was kind of an impression of energy and fitness, and no impression at all of tiredness. There was still also the impression of anticipation ... like he wanted to kill for the sake of it. This impression and the absolute certainty she felt of death if she did a mistake, made her fuelled her resolution and made her keep her focus and fight on like this weird encounter was all that existed. It was like the two of them, the adversary and she, were the only two people in the whole world. The contact with the man’s aura enhanced that feeling. It helped her parry his cuts as it increased her feeling for what he was focusing at and where the sabre was and how it was moving, but it also disturbed her. She found it repulsive, the aura her mind was clinging to. It seemed twisted. She felt a new sensation of sudden alarm shot through the sabre-fencers aura ... Just for a tick the man’s eyes had darted away from Chandray and her rapier as he looked over her shoulder and back at his accomplice and Kel. A tick was all she needed to finally close the distance, get under the sabre and thrust. As it had seemed like he wore armor she aimed for the throat. The man realized it and tried to save himself by backpedaling, but it was too late. She was already at advantage, and the rapier hit him on the side of the neck. She could see blood, but she didn’t know if she had hit a vein. Pain, fear, desperation, agony ... the impressions flooded her unexpectedly, conveyed to her by his aura, strong and impossible to shut out. Chandray lost focus. Before she knew it her adversary had moved backwards with a forceful jump. Putting his hand over the would on his neck he spun around and ran. She stared after him, stupefied. It must only have been ticks that passed by before she started running too and went after him, but he was fast - unnaturally fast as it seemed to her - and she wasn’t able to catch up despite that she was running as fast as she could. He escaped her like a fish who had torn itself off of the hook and disappeared into the darkness at the other side of the bridge. Chandray stood for a few ticks, spent, breathing hard, and felt like she had failed. The unknown man was wounded and she didn’t find it likely that he would want to resume the fight this evening, but if he survived he would still be around and she would need to be on alert and look over her shoulder all the time. It was an eerie and disheartening thought. But it was no use running around in the darkness at random. She turned around and started running back to Kel while she finally allowed herself to let her auristic sense close.

[Kel Tempest]

Kel watched with keen interest as the woman fenced back and forth with her opponent. He had never seen that sort of combat before. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked too…clean, for his taste. The forced stance, the ability to only stab with the tip of the blade, all seemed to put the one wielding the blade at a disadvantage. He would much rather have preferred to have a weapon that was more versatile while he fought to increase his chances of winning. He wasn’t afraid to go below the belt, both figuratively and literally.


There was no nobility in combat. That was for snobby knights with nothing better to do with their days then diddle around. When blades were locked, no one cared about honor; they were too preoccupied with staying alive. The only honor that was worth having was standing over your dead combatant the victor.


A flicker of motion caught the Svefra’s eye and he swiftly brought a trident blade across the injured man’s throat as he attempted to drag himself away while Kel was preoccupied. The man froze as he felt the metal pressing against his esophagus. Kel snorted and looked down at him disapprovingly, tearing his attention away from the duel.


“I’m watchin’ teh’ fight, not blind yeh’ petchin’ idiot.” The two locked eyes, hatred seething from one and mockery from the other. “Besides, where yeh’ think yeh’ are even gonna go, Mr. Hobble Leg?”


Kel patted the side of the man’s face insultingly and looked up again at the duel. He cocked an eyebrow in surprise because while he was interacting with his defeated opponent, Chandray had drawn first blood and sent the man running away. A few ticks later, she came back and Kel grinned at the man in front of him.


“Ahhh. Good, gooooood.” Kel pulled the trident away from the man’s exposed neck and flicked it up and over his head, resting it on the ground behind him. He reached around towards his back and wrapped his hand around the hilt of his kukri tucked away in his black sash that wrapped around his waist. He pulled the curved blade free and held it up gleefully for the man to see in the pale moonlight.


“A’ight, mate. Listen up all close like. Yehr’ gonna tell me what I be wantin’ ta know.” Kel waved the tip of the blade teasingly close to the bleeding man’s face, emphasizing his point. Beneath the playful demeanor and attitude, there was something dangerous just under the surface. There was a dark glint that glimmered in Kel’s eyes and a slight edge to his words.


Kel caught the edge of the man's hood that still concealed half his face with the tip of his blade and pulled it back. Two dark eyes glared up at him, short cropped hair surrounding the top of his head. Blood smeared his face, clotting up around his clearly broken nose.


“You think I give a petch what you want to know?”


The words were tight with pain and fury as they lashed out at the Svefra. Kel shook his head mournfully and sighed.


“I think yeh' wanna live and yeh' know if yeh' don't be tellin' me what I be wantin' teh' know, yehr' gonna die veeeery painfully."


The seafarer looked up at Chandray and winked.


“Aye Channty, I’ma need you to put yehr’ hands over his mouth. He’s gonna make a tad bit a noise here ‘n we don’t be wantin’ anyone ta come runnin’ just yet.”


If she complied and placed her hands over the injured man’s bloody mouth, Kel would grab the man’s ear with one hand and slash the kukri through the air, slicing through the cartilage and tissue, severing the ear from his body.


Sometimes to get a stubborn man to talk, the only way to lose a tongue was to take all the body parts away until it was the last one remaining.

[Chandray]

Normally Chandray would have been appalled as she realized Kel actually meant to toture the captive and was asking her to hold her hands over the man’s mouth while Kel did whatever he planned to do - in order to prevent the man’s screams to be heard by somebody ! But right now, after the fight she’d been in and with the other man still running free it was different. She was angry and upset and somewhat emotionally numbed after having focused on trying to kill her adversary and felt his intent to kill her. It would be silly to not make their prisoner speak. Information could mean difference between life and death in the times to come. She looked at the captives bloodied face. The nose seemed broken, she observed despite the scant light from the lanterns nearby. And he was on the ground and staying threre, in an oddly helpless way. The man met her gaze defiantly. “I’m not a fool” he said. “You’ll have to kill me anyway. What difference does it make if I speak or not.” He managed a laugh that broke abruptly. “I’ll not tell you a word and if you try to silence me I’ll bite your fingers off ! Would serve you right you thieving bitch!” Three’s lots of things you don’t do with maimed hands and play musical instruments is one of them. She was a musician and her fingers were about the most precious she owned. His defiant words definitely did nothing to make Chandray feel more friendly towards the captive. But she hesitated, she didn’t want to lose her valuable fingers, and the man noticed. He gave one more of his abruptly breaking laughs in no matter the bad position he was in he seemed a bit triumphant. “She doesn’t dare, mate” he said boldly, seeming to address Kel, but all the way meeting Chandray’s gaze, so she felt the words were actually meant for her. Anger flooded her. She wasn’t going to take this shyke from a captured assassin. She was often an easygoing and cheery woman, but this man had aimed to kill her, and Kel and Jenkins too, and now he topped it off with insults. She could see the tear and the dark stains on the side of Kels shirt - they hadn't been there before the fight.And the otter ? She had heard the animal scream out loud, and it had sounded like a warning, but now she wondered if Jenkins had had more reasons for the scream ... “You don’t know anything about what I dare or not dare” she said grimly. “You’d better listen to my buddy here. He’s serious, so I advice you to speak. Who are you? What did you mean by calling me a thief ? Why did you attack us ? Who are you working for, or are you just muggers ?” A new abruptly breaking laugh. The captive spit blood on the ground beside him with all the bravado of a man who has everything to lose and nothing to win. Instead of giving up he tried to negotiate : “I’ll speak if you take me to a healer. If you try to make me speak out here on the bridge I swear I’ll take the answers to all your questions with me in death! “ But he must speak, because she must protect her life, and this meant she needed to know what she was dealing with. The chimes that had passed with her trying to interrogate the captive had however given Chandray time to think. She wasn’t going to risk her fingers for this scum, no way, but she was going to muffle whatever sounds he was going to make, when Kel did whatever he had in mind. Still holding the rapier in her right hand she did what she would normally just be abhorred of : she put the rapier point right over one of the mans eyes, and the annoying eye contact finally ended as he looked at the rapier instead of at her. At this point Chandray lifted her left foot and her boot came down on the mans’s mouth, pressing down resolutely - she suspected this would silence him more efficiently than her hands would have done. Now the captive started to make muffled sounds in a quite desperate way and it seemed like he was speaking after all. To Chandray it seemed right to give him one more chance to change his mind. If he was getting reasonable and willing to speak without Kel encouraging him there was no need to put more pressure on him, she thought. “Your last chance to speak voluntarily” she said. “Use it well.” With this she took her boot off of his mouth again to listen to what he would say. If the man still refused to answer them, Chandray would go on and follow Kel’s instructions, but instead of her hands she would use the boot to mute the man.The whole situation was horrific. Never had she thought herself capable of something like this, but anger, fear and necessity drove her on.

[Kel Tempest]

The Svefra was starting to feel every ache, every bruise, every laceration, old and new that crossed his body as the adrenaline began to wear off. His injured leg, still recovering from his previous fight, began to lock up to the point where the joint stiffen, making the limb almost immobile. The cut along his rib cage began to throb painfully bringing it back to his attention, the warm blood dripping down his side and sticking unpleasantly to his shirt. It was hard to take a deep breath; he could already feel the bruise forming on his chest.


All in all, physically, he was not feeling at his prime.


But petch it all if he was going to let the man in front of him realize that.
Kel grunted in irritation as the man resisted Chandray’s questions. They were always so defiant even when they obviously had no way out. But he realized he would have been the same way if the roles were reversed. Besides, when they resisted it forced him to take other means of…extraction. Finally after Chandray seemed to get nothing from the man, Kel butted in.


“Kill? No, no, yeh’ got it all wrong. If we be killin’ ‘ery man who had information, how’d we be gettin’ it? Besides mate, that ain’t no incentive to tell me what I be wantin’ teh’ know.” Kel made a tsking sound with his tongue.


Kel rested the curved point of his kukri along the fallen opponent’s face, resting it against the corner of his eye.


“Yeh’ see, killin’ yeh’ doesn’t give me what I be wantin’. But pain usually does…”


Kel pressed the blade into the man’s flesh, hard enough to cause pain but not enough pressure to pierced his skull and kill him. Blood welled up from the incision and Kel slowly dragged the steel down across the man’s cheek towards his chin. Blood dripped down the side of his face as the blade tore through skin, Kel locking eyes with the man in a battle of wills and pain tolerance.


The attacker grit his teeth and his whole body tensed as nerve endings screamed when they were severed one by one. His breathe came out as a hiss, refusing to show pain in front of the duo. Time seemed suspended as Kel worked. He finally lifted the curved knife and idly wiped the blood off the blade on the man’s cloak.


“Now this is gonna keep goin’. The streets seem teh’ be quiet fer now. We just passed a few blue freaks a while back, so we be havin’ a few chimes to ourselves. Plenty of time if yeh’ catch me drift…”


The man refused to speak, even after both of their combined threats. Kel sighed as he looked down at the cloaked figure.


“Why ain’t yeh’ speakin’? Yehr’ mate left yeh’ teh’ die. He obviously don’t care much about yeh’.”


People being torture, rarely broke after the first round. Granted the man in front of them had been crippled and beaten already, so he was already in a large amount of pain. Kel didn’t know how much longer the bloodied man had to live; he must have lost a lot of blood due to his severed hamstring. Though in all honesty, he didn’t really care about getting anything out of him. Kel just wanted payback; he just wanted the cloaked figure to feel pain. Seeing if he could get information out of him was just a fun little bonus.


As Chandray pointed the rapier directly over the man’s eye and jammed her boot into his mouth, Kel grinned inwardly. It wasn’t really necessary to torture the attacker, the Svefra was just curious to see to what lengths Chandray would accompany him to inflicting unnecessary harm upon another being. Killing someone in self defense was one thing but purposely slowing the process, making them feel every moment of agony as their life force was slowly drained out of their body, tearing each nerve ending by nerve ending apart, well, that was a completely different monster.


That could push a person to a very dark place and Kel was curious to see to what lengths the “life valuing” woman was willing to go. He could imagine all sorts of arguments she could come up with from self preservation to protecting others from the attacker in the future. But at the end of the day, she crossed a line by helping the Svefra inflict pain upon a helpless individual. She may not have done the act herself but by not stopping Kel, she might as well have.


As Chandray muffed his voice, Kel grabbed the man’s ear roughly in his free hand and placed the kukri against the base of the appendage, pressing down slightly so he would feel the blade biting into the soft skin. The man’s eyes widened as he realized the trident wielding Svefra was going to go through with his threat. Panicked words came out, muffle by the leather in his mouth. Kel understood enough of the words to realize he was saying, “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”


But he didn’t care.


Kel jerked the blade down, severing the ear from the head.

[Chandray]

Chandray couldn’t believe her own eyes. The man had said he’d speak, but Kel hadn’t cared ! He had just cut off the man’s ear all the same! This shook Chandray out of her numbed state of mind. If Kel had cared about getting information he wouldn’t have stopped the man from talking - because now the man was NOT talking. After one high scream he resorted to a last act of defiance instead. “I warned you” it sounded like he was saying. He had seemed to lift his hand towards the place where is severed ear had been, but instead he moved it to his mouth. There was a leather string with a bead around his wrist and before they knew it the man had bit down on the bead. A very low crunching sound could be heard as it broke. The man drew his breath once, like for a scream, but the scream never came. He was dead. And they hadn’t got any information at all from him. This meant they were now left completely in the dark about what this assault had been about. No - not completely. Chandray had never heard of plain muggers equipped with poison beads they could use if they were in a hopeless situation. It seemed like a twisted and evil sort of win-win arrangement for the man and his assumed employer - dead assassins can’t be tortured, nor can they betray the one they are working for. Wearily she drew the conclusion that he hadn’t been a mere mugger. He had been something else, and so was the other attacker. She told Kel this theory. Then she fell silent and tried to think. She had lost her chance at gaining information. Would she blame Kel for it? No. It had been her own fault too, to be honest. Blame herself? If she would have taken the man to a healer, would he then have been alive and answered her questions? The moment she silently asked herself this question she knew it wasn’t realistic to think so - the man’s whole behavior had been based on him knowing he was in control and had a way out, such as it was. He wouldn’t have said anything, regardless of what she had done. Well, he would maybe have given her a bunch of lies that wouldn’t have made her any safer. Besides she would have been dead without Kel Tempest, such as he was. She realized now that the man with the sabre had fled because he had seen what happened behind her back, seen his accomplice fall, realized that he was one against two now. And perhaps he too hadn’t known if the neck wound was lethal or not. Though Kel hadn’t been too smart when he hadn't let the man speak, she could see now that the svefra was bleeding a bit and looked weary. Chandray had never met Kel before this evening and didn’t really know anything more about his personality than what she had seen in the tavern and during the walk and the fight. The things he had said and done after they left the tavern had been fierce enough but it had all been about how he believed in defending one’s life and survive. When they had met the akalaks at the stairs, he hadn’t come off as much of a thinker, and it was the same with the ear. She didn’t know anything about Kel’s ideas of fun and pleasure, so she just thought the man was disposed to be rash and had acted on impulse. Maybe in confusion too, as he seemed injured. There were many things she could think. But this wasn’t the right time to be upset over Kel and his ways. It had been an assault. The dead man had been an assassin. If she and Kel hadn’t won the fight they would be the ones who were dead now, and the assassins would already have dumped their bodies off of the bridge and down into the river, to be carried down the falls and out to the sea ... As she thought this she realized this must have been their reason for attacking on the bridge. Quick and easy disposal of the bodies afterwards. It grossed her out, it made her feel sick, but she realized this was what she too needed to do now. If the man just had been dead she could have tried to explain that they had been assaulted and acted in self-defense. But a dead man with one ear cut off would be harder to explain. Besides, there was Kel to consider : after what she’d seen of him, she wasn’t sure Kel wouldn’t say things that just incriminated them. It was best to simply not need to explain. Silently and without telling Kel what she was thinking or asking the svefra for help, she squatted and searched the dead man’s pockets. They were empty, no information to gain there. Feeling shaken and unreal, wondering if she really was doing this, she grabbed the dead man and dragged him to the railing, where she eased the body out through one of the spacings and pushed it down. If there was a splash when it hit the water she couldn’t hear it, it was drenched by the noise of the river. “If somebody discovers us and asks why you are injured, just tell them we two were sparring for fun. But we’d had a few glasses of wine at Alements and you went incautious and I went a tad too enthusiastic. So I happened to hit you with the rapier” she said to Kel. “A sparring accident. Only.” Chandray was surprised at herself. Obviously she was able to move on regardless of all this shyke. Who could have believed ... She wasn’t feeling calm exactly, she felt nauseated, upset and very tired, but she wasn’t unable to think and function despite it. She composed herself and continued,then asked Kel how badly injured he was. If it was really bad and he needed stictches she could try to take him to a healer. Or if he didn't need a healer but wanted her to tend to the wound she could bring him with her to Northwind Suites and patch him up there as best she could. In this case they ought to walk silently and as fast as they were able and the next time they could speak would be when they arrived at her residence. Otherwise, if Kel felt he could make it to his boat and just wanted to go home, she would say farewell and part from him on the bridge.

[Kel Tempest]

Blood spurted from the open wound as his razor sharp knife sliced through the flesh and cartilage, severing the body part from the skull. Sticky red liquid squirted from the cut veins and cover the Svefra’s hand and blade, the stream slowing until it was only a trickle. The blood oozed down the side of his head, staining the cobblestone, the pale moon light reflecting off it dully.


Kel felt the rush of POWAH blast through his body, making him feel lightheaded and limbs tingle as he wielded the blade. He had the POWAH to inflict pain on the man in front of him or withholding it solely on his own whim. He controlled the man’s fate in his own hands.


The Svefra’s eyes snapped up at Chandray in irritation when the enemy screamed in pain. Her only petching job was to keep the man silent. Kel scanned both ends of the bridge, waiting to see if anyone came running at the sound. Hopefully the roaring of the waterfall drowned out his scream. The seafarer looked back down at the man just as he bit something dangling from his wrist. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his mouth gaped open before turning still.


Kel was familiar enough with death to recognize it when he saw it.


The Svefra’s head jerked back slightly in shock, feeling the small amount of control he had ripped away from him. The POWAH he had felt, the influence he relished in only moments before as he decided the fate of the assassin in front of him had been torn from his grasp.


He wanted to decide when the man would die. He wanted to inflict more pain on the man for wounding him in their fight. But the man snatched that opportunity away from him. Kel did not appreciate that.


He spat irritably on the dead body and leaned back onto the ground so he could rest. What was done was done and he sighed. He didn’t even look up as Chandray explained what was on her mind. He didn’t care what she had to say. The fun part of the evening was over. Now all he wanted to do was stumble off his to cabin and sleep. He vaguely heard the words that drifted from her mouth.


Mugger, assassin, thief, didn’t matter. They had initiated the deadly dance and had lost. Only a small portion of him was intrigued as to why the man would have poison handy to kill himself with. He wasn’t put off in the slightest that they had originally tried to kill them. Very few people actually liked the Svefra, he was used to that. He had numerous amounts of people threaten to kill him and even attempted to do so. He also knew it wouldn’t be the last time it happened either. It was nothing new to him.


It was as if the universe knew the moment a person picked up a weapon. Because when they did, fate was eager to throw life threatening situations wielding deadly weapons at them in attempts to make or break the person. It was all a part of a cruel, twisted game.


Besides, even if it were an assassin, he was leaving in a few days time. It wouldn’t be his problem any longer.


A lengthy silence had fallen over the two, each lost in their own thoughts. But Chandray broke it, once again speaking what was on her mind. Kel snorted and looked down at his side, pulling up his shirt revealing the six inch long flesh wound trailing along his rib cage. Blood slowly trickled down his side. He looked back up at her and scoffed.


“Please…if yeh’ think yehr’ pointy toy wit’ no edge would be makin’ a wound like this ‘un hurr then yehr’ mad.” Kel shook his head, still irritated that he was robbed of the chance to kill his attacker. Everyone in the city of Riverfall from what he had seen since he arrived, were capable warriors, something he had a begrudging admiration for. They most likely would be able to recognize what kind of weapon would inflict the wound on his body if they saw it.


Kel grunted as he pushed himself to his feet, wincing as he staggered to his feet, leg refusing to cooperate. He shoved his kukri into his sash behind his back and shrugged his shoulders dismissively.


“Ain’t their business anyhow. They can shove their concern fer’ all I care.”


The glint of the dead man’s weapons caught his eye and he half stepped half hopped over to them before picking one up. Kel examined the three pronged weapon, interested in the uniquely styled blades. He turned it over in his hand, feeling its balance and weight. Kel experimented with it, swishing it through the air, nodding his head slowly as he got a feel for the weapon.


Peering closer at the metal center piece that the blades protruded from and his hand wrapped around; he found what looked like a small button. He pressed it and could feel tension from what he assumed to be a small spring under it. He narrowed his eyes, not seeing any change as he held the button.


Kel reached hesitantly for one of the blades and was slightly surprised to feel it give under the pressure of his hand as he held the button. He watched as all three blades moved simultaneously, closing and curving around the handle until it clicked, locking the blades in place. He released the button and pressed it again.


The three blades sprung out with a loud snap.


Kel grinned and looked up at Chandray. He liked the new toy he found. The Svefra quickly closed the blades in its "safe" position and attached it to his sash before doing the same to the second. While he might not have been able to kill his opponent, at least he got something in return.


The sea dweller once again half walked half hopped to his trident and picked it up. He looked over at Chandray and bowed mockingly.


“Well, t’was a lovely night. Thankee for the entertainment, I quite enjoyed me self but I be thinkin’ it be time to get some shut eye. Body seems ta’ be rebellin’ a bit.”

NoteIf you want to make the last post, you can say you saw Kel and Jenkins (who I realize I forgot about during our fight, haha) heading off towards the docks if you'd like. Unless you have more you want to say and do with Kel. Otherwise feel free to include that part.