Closed Unexpected Work II

[Kynier]

9th of Fall, 518 A.V.

Continued From...

With two Sigils set to try and send the horses, assuming they were going to be horses, that were pulling the shipment into a panic, Kynier felt that there was not much more they could do other than select where they would wait. Kynier took a few steps down the street, scratching the underside of his jaw in a thoughtful manner. “We need to be someplace where we can see both of the Sigils to know when the shipment passes them,” he thought aloud. His eyes went to the lift side of the street. On the left side they would be able to see the glyph that had been drawn on the wall. Kynier started walking down the street, keeping his eyes towards the left as he searched for a good place.

The street itself was long and straight, but the buildings were not in alignment. Some stuck out more into the road than others. A few hundred feet down the road there was a two-story building that protruded into the street more than others. Kynier looked at it with interest. “That building,” he said as he pointed it out to Koroshtoph, “that might be what we’re looking for.” With a brisk walk he approached it. As they came around to the front of the structure it became apparent that it was abandoned. The upper half seemed to have suffered a fire and the roof had collapsed as well as some of its exterior.

“Let’s take a look inside,” he said as he made his way in. The entrance door was closed but unlocked. Inside the room was clear except for the cobwebs that were forming. Rats scurried out of sight as they entered the main floor. Whatever damaged had been done had left the first floor untouched. With a quick look around, they found the stairs leading to the second floor. Kynier led the way only to discover that the destruction had hallowed out the next level. Before the top of the stairs had been reached, they could see across the whole second floor. The structure had been built mostly out of masonry and the stones had the scars of a fire. The stone surfaces of the walls and floor were charred but only small parts of the walls had collapsed from the damage.

Kynier stepped through the puddles forming on the floor as he went to the front corner that had a hollow window frame on both sides. From there, he was able to see a fair distance down the road and could vaguely see about where the glyphs rested based of a few distinguishing landmarks that lay around them. Kynier stepped away and looked at the small collapse that had occurred in the wall on the front of the building. It was more than wide enough for a man to fit through. “This is where we’ll wait,” he said without smiling. “From that window we can see them coming, as well as when they pass the Sigils. There’s plenty of distance to see the wagon approaching to time a jump.”

“The intension being, that once we’re on the wagon we remove the Dragoons that are riding on it and take control.” He paused as he realized a slight flaw to the plan. “Do you know how to drive a wagon?”



NaNo Post: 553

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

His companion grew silent and didn’t provide an answer to his question. Perhaps the Hypnotist was starting to have doubts after all. Kynier walked back over to the window frame that over-looked the route the wagon was going to take. As he waited, he fidgeted with his vest nervously. The prospect of facing three or even four Dragoons had his nerves on edge. As the fabric was rubbed between his fingers, Kynier looked down at himself and realized something. He had nothing to disguise his appearance. That would be a wise thing to do since he was going to be stealing from one of the more significant gangs.

The mage plucked a hair from his head and delved into himself to retrieve his Djed. Willing the mystic energy to his hands, he smeared it over his vest and his face. Then he started turning it into a weave for a Shield. As the pattern began to take shape, he offered the strand of hair to it as a tribute for a second task. The hair dematerialized from his hand as Kynier concentrated on the blocking sight. The Djed darkened as the weave settled into place, until it became unnaturally dark. Kynier’s vest and his face were now concealed, making it difficult for anyone to be able to identify him. There were no Dragoons that he knew or associated, so it was unlikely that any of them would. But there was always the off chance that they could see him after, later in the season, or a year from now and recognize him. Better minimize the chance.

Anxiety was taking a strong hold of him. This whole scenario was not to his liking at all. There was almost no time to plan a trap, and he had only been able to afford a few chimes of observing his target. The whole thing was being done in haste, and that worried him more than anything. One mistake was all it would take, and it was probable that a mistake was going to occur. As much as he thought and hoped for it, Kynier knew he wasn’t going to leave this unscathed. The opposition was armored, and he was not. They were trained to be efficient fighters, and he was simply experienced by necessity. Hopefully, Koroshtoph was as good as he had initially led Kynier to believe.

The downward spiral of doubts was broken by sight of his target. Creeping into view was a wagon, and Kynier was pretty certain it was the one he was waiting for. If not, then everything had already gone to shyke. Preemptively, he drew both his cold iron short swords. Reversing the grip so that the flat side of the blades rested against his forearms. Watching carefully, he waited for any sign of the Glyphs activation. The inside of his chest was being hammered by his heart, and breath was growing ragged. It wasn’t too late. He could still walk away and allow the wagon to make its delivery.

No.

Kynier shook his head to rid himself of the notion. If he walked away now, then he’d suffer the Viper’s poison.



Word Count: 524

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

Hazel eyes were transfixed on the area that his trap lay waiting. As the wagon and its escort drew closer, Kynier prayed that at least one of them would be successful in their activation. By reflex, he prayed to Akajia. Wishing to possess the nimbleness of a shadow and to live up to his name as a Nightstalker. Then to Myri, that he would have the necessary strength to obtain victory over the Dragoons. Strength of body as well as strength of spirit. When he was done, he took several breaths to try and ease the tension building within. “Here they come,” he said aloud for the Hypnotist to hear.

The distance was too great to see if the first Glyph activated. Paniced whinnies rang in the air as Kynier saw the horses pulling the wagon begin to rear their heads. They did not begin to bolt as the two of them had hoped, but the horses were at the very least unsettled by the Hypnotist’s spell. Not even ten ticks later, the other Glyph activated. There would be no doubt about this one. From the overhead clouds that had been producing a light rain came a single bolt of lightning to connect with the ground close to the wagon. Under the veil, Kynier smiled, for that had been exactly what he had wanted the second Glyph to do.

A bright flash and crack of lightning sent the horses over the edge and beyond the driver’s ability to control. Suddenly, the wagon began moving much faster and the men escorting it were all shouting. Skittish animals were driven scared by what appeared to be a natural lightning strike. The wagon was moving in their direction, and fast. Too fast for Kynier to take a hard look at the number of Dragoons around the wagon and the number of them that were on the wagon. Kynier was too focused on watching the movement of the shipment to quickly calculate when he’d need to jump. He moved away from the window frame and towards the center of the broken room. The sounds of running hooves pounding the ground approached as he stared at the opening in the wall that overlooked the street below.

“Get ready to jump.”

Kynier counted down from five. Each number felt like a milestone closer to an immense regret. At one, he sprinted the four steps that led him to the broken wall and jumped. In the air, his heart and his lungs froze. Tanroa seemed to slow the passage of time for his eyes to perceive what was happening. A driver was yanking on the reigns to regain control and two other Dragoons were sitting adjacent to him. Kynier bent his knees as he descended onto the open back of the wagon. The crate his feet hit splintered under his weight and served as an anchor that prevented him from rolling over the side. Kynier brought his arms up in front of his face to avoid faceplanting on the wagon.

“I don’t believe it!” a voice exclaimed from the front of the wagon. Kynier turned his head to see one of the Dragoons was already climbing into the back of the wagon, while the other was just turning to see what the first was talking about. Quickly, the mage pushed himself back up and kicked his feet free of the broken crate. Kynier realized he was standing close to the back edge of the wagon. Whether his companion had failed to make the jump, or chose to not jump at all, was something he’d never know. It was one against three. Not favorable, but better than eight.



Word Count: 610

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

With flick of both his wrists, Kynier held both his weapons before him. Against his preference, he took two careful steps closer to the Dragoon. The wagon was full of crates and chests, leaving very little room for comfortable footing. The first Dragoon drew a long sword and hopped onto a chest. Amusement was spread on his face as he took the initiative and attacked. Light glinted off the long blade as in was brought down from an overhead swing at Kynier. The mage brought up Glister and its color changing blade to deflect the attack to miss by only a little.

Keeping his first weapon in contact with the longsword, he lunged forward and swung at the man’s leg with his other weapon. In an effort to dodge, the Dragoon tried raising his leg above the attack. However, his arm was too cumbersome to allow him to succeed, or the man simply didn’t have the necessary flexibility. Kynier’s other blade bit into the back of the man’s leg, but it was shallow. So much so that Kynier wasn’t sure that he even penetrated the armor. What it did do was disbalance the man. In a crash, he fell over on his back.

Seeing the opportunity, Kynier slashed down at the man, only to have the attack blocked by a panicked adjustment of the longsword. The Dragoon had one hand on the hilt and the other bracing the flat side of his blade near the tip, as he held it between him and the mage. After Kynier had hit the improvised shield twice with frenzied attacks, he made a horizontal slash to go under the weapon to hit at least one of the hands holding the weapon. The Dragoon was trying to squirm away and regain his footing when Kynier’s third attack caught him on the forearm. The man yelped from the impact. If Kynier had failed to cut the man, the bludgeoning impact of his short sword against the armor was likely to have been painful.

A motion caught his eye. The other Dragoon had climbed into the back and was coming at him with a mace. Kynier took a step back to be out of reach. His heel ran into a box and nearly caused him to fall over. He was able to steady himself by setting a hand on top of a crate for balance. The mace wielder came forward as the other got back to his feet. Kynier was scowling beneath the shield. There were too many obstacles and not enough room to maneuver. As ill advised as it would be, he’d have to stand his ground against the Dragoons. “The stones you must have to think you could take this shipment on your own,” the mace holder said with a blood thirsty grin. Kynier only narrowed his eyes in response and hunched forward a little. It set his head forward, inviting an attack from the mace wielder. One that the man was all too happy to take. As the man swung his mace sideways at Kynier’s head, the mage ducked down and made a backhanded cut at the Dragoon’s weapon arm.



Word Count: 526

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

It was the momentum of both their attacks that had done it. Kynier’s cold iron blade cut through the armor, sheered the skin, and tore at the muscles and tendons. The Dragoon’s grip was compromised, and the mace fell from his hand. Kynier yanked down on his weapon to pry it free, slicing more of the man’s arm. The man cursed loudly in pain as he cradled his wound. The other Dragoon pushed past the man to cut at the mage with his longsword. The attack was at a diagonal and aimed for the head. Kynier squatted underneath to allow it to fly past.

The wagon lurched at it hit something in the road. Kynier swayed and nearly fell over from the violent jostle. Both of the Dragoons remained on their feet as well. Kynier tried to keep an eye on both of them at the same time but gave more focus to the one that still had a weapon. Another overhead swing came down at Kynier, one that he deflected to the side again. Immediately, he noticed his error. The way he deflected the attack exposed his back to the wounded Dragoon, who lunged forward to wrap both arms around their attacker.

Upper arms were pinned to his sides, and the man’s momentum took Kynier off balance. There was no room for a step to readjust and they both fell over. Kynier tried to twist so that he’d fall more on his side than his face. A corner of a crate caught him in the ribs. While it buckled and splintered beneath him, it was still excruciating to receive the hard-pointed poke. It felt as though he were cut, and the wet warmth of a fresh injury formed around the area. His grappler did not sound any better than he did. The both of them groaned loudly and moaned from crashing on the shipment containers.

For an instant the man’s hold loosened and Kynier brought up his arm to take advantage of the additional range of motion. Switching his grip, Kynier dug the blade of his weapon into the man’s leg with a hard jab. As Kynier squirmed to get free, the Dragoon still standing took a step forward and made a thrust with his longsword. With a hard pull of his core, Kynier sat up sideways to get out of the way. The sword’s tip thrust itself into the Dragoon’s comrade. With a shift of his upper body, Kynier half swung half fell with his short sword onto the sword wielder’s hand.

A thumb was severed and fell onto the wagon bed with a trail of blood behind it. The Dragoon instantly lost his grip of the sword that was skewered into the other. As the man agonized over the sudden loss of a digit, Kynier got to a kneeling position and cut at the man’s knee. The blade bit in from the side and caused the man to twist around as the cut pulled on the knee. The Dragoon fell on his back and Kynier stood up to quickly stab down at the man’s chest with his other weapon. It punctured the leather armor and the man gasped in pained surprise.



Word Count: 534

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Kynier]

With a violent pull, his weapon came free of the soon to be dead man’s chest. Kynier turned his attention to the driver who was still working at getting the horses under control. The mage took a couple of steps forward to stand directly behind the man. He set on blade on the man’s shoulder, next to his neck, far enough that the man could see the weapon as well as feel it. The other weapon’s tip was pressed up against the man’s back just between the shoulder blades. “You have two options!” Kynier yelled over the sound of the hoofbeats.

“Option one; you die! Option two; you jump off this wagon and live! Which is it going to be?” The man held up his hands, one with the reigns loosely draped over the thumb. “Wise choice!” Kynier removed the short sword’s tip from between the driver’s shoulder blades to take hold of the reigns. The driver got up and quickly leapt off the side of the wagon. Kynier sheathed his weapons one at a time before holding the reigns with both his hands. He looked over his shoulder at the road they had been running down for the last few chimes.

None of the other escorts had been on horseback, so five of the remaining Dragoons were about a half a mile behind. Then there was the driver who likely knew better than to follow. Regardless, Kynier thought it be best to let the horses continue to run and put as much distance between him and the Dragoons as possible. While he did not take a seat, he looked over his shoulder to check on the two that he had fought with. Both were laying still in the back. Their only motions were those that came from the swaying of the wagon.

After ten chimes, the horses had taken the wagon through a good portion of the Sunset Quarters and were heading toward the Seaside Market now. Kynier leaned back and pulled on the reigns with both hands. Begrudgingly, the horses came to a stop, but were stamping their feet and snorting in annoyance. When the wagon was fully stopped, he dropped the reigns and pulled out a short sword. He looked at the rigging that had the horses attached to the wagon and cut the critical points. Then, he slapped the horses on their flanks with the flat side of the short sword to get them running again. Left alone with his objective, Kynier walked around the back and looked at the mess he was left with.

With some effort, he heaved the corpses out of the back of the wagon and onto the road. Then he turned his eye on the various crates and chests. The one he was looking for was supposed to be the most fortified looking one. It was the only chest made of iron and had a built-in lock. Kynier took his lockpicking tools from his vest and set to work at opening it. There were four tumblers to the lock, which wasn’t encouraging. He could tell because he dragged his pick from the back to the front of the lock and counted how many times he felt a bump.

It wasn’t done quickly, but eventually the lock sprung open. The third tumbler had given him a fair amount of difficulty because it needed to be pressed higher than the rest of them. But when it was done, Kynier flipped open the chest to see nothing except for a book laying inside. There was also a note written in a very elegant hand. Kynier lifted the note and read the lines.

Dear Warmarshal,

I part with his book reluctantly. While I could not say when it is that I shall be back in my homeland, understand that this is a loan. You have not bought this knowledge nor the right to possess what it will lead you to discover. The next time I return to my homeland, I expect them to be relinquished to me without question. Until then, do be careful with my things.

Farke

The name Farke had no meaning to him, but Kynier blanched when seeing it was a note to the Warmashral. The leader of the Sun’s Birth. “Shyke,” he whispered as he looked at the book. Carefully, he picked it up and thumbed through a few of the pages. None of the words were understandable. But there was also a very small vocabulary used. After pondering over it for a moment, he stowed both the note and the book into his magical pack. Then he looked at the rest of the crates, remembering that he could help himself to anything else that he found.



Word Count: 786

Boxcode credit goes to Gossamer!

[Regime]

This is a Godmodding Intervention.

Kynier, I don't even know what to say about this one. Koroshtoph Ephael Petyr is not an NPC for you to control and solo with. He is another player's character who is currently inactive. At the moment this thread is considered Null and locked.