Flashback Edge of nowhere (Kophesha)

[Karsynwa]

While Karsynwa was not as confident in the bridge as Kopesha, he didn’t resist as she lead him by the hand across the bridge. It creaked ominously with every step and even went so far to sink down in some places. Following Kopesha turned out to be a clever idea as her lighter frame exposed the weaker planks without taking her down with them. After cautiously stepping around those problem spots, he was relieved when they finally made it to the other side.

Then the woman turned and started battering the bridge. Thinking quick, Karsynwa joined in by pushing hard at one of the supports. The whole structure groaned under the strain before finally breaking up to fall into the Mudway. It was unexpectedly satisfying watching the majority of it sink into the water before Kopesha pulled him away. The last thing he saw of the mob was them jeering and accompanying the expressions with a number of crude gestures. Oddly, he thought he saw one of the women smirk before Kopesha lead them down a narrow alley.

Kopesha spoke something in a strange language to herself before releasing his hand when she turned to face him. Those black eyes of hers still disconcerted him, but from this context, it wasn’t hard to determine where she was looking. He met her eyes as he nodded in agreement. They were in unfamiliar territory so his instincts were telling him to lay low for a while. See if they were still being hunted, an if so, take the appropriate measures. However he didn’t have enough information about this city yet to know what those measures may be.

Karsynwa clenched his fist in frustration. Following her down the next alley, he wondered if this place could truly be mapped. It seemed to him that people just built wherever they liked without a care for the suitability of the location. Their first dead end reinforced that fact to him when they came across two houses that were leaning heavily against each other. With the alley effectively blocked, he thought about giving it a strong push to see what happened. However the picturing one of these houses falling on top of him stayed his hand from such experiments.

Instead they retraced their steps to find another alley to go down, this one seemingly a little more promising. For one it had a number of doors down it, too many perhaps without any light peeking through. As he puzzled over that, a door opened towards the end of the alley where it turned into another. It was only open briefly. Long enough to throw out the contents of a chamber pot out onto the narrow street before it slammed shut again.

The sudden movement was enough to prompt Karsynwa to flatten himself against the wall of the alley. Though the wall left much to be desired in terms of protection, it was certainly better than having nothing at his back. Him being the rear guard, he was constantly looking over his shoulder down the way they came to make sure they weren’t being followed. A few times he thought he’d caught a glimpse of a shadow moving towards the far end but he thought that might just be his eyes playing tricks on him in this unfamiliar environment.

“You see anything?” Karsynwa asked after a moment, keeping his voice down to a low whisper.

[Kopesha]

Kopesha quickly learned that she didn't care for this neighborhood in the least bit. It reminded her of a time she ran off from her mother during a hunt through the stony canyons back home. Getting lost there, and here, was so easy to do that it took her mother many hours of tracking to hunt her down. The further they went into this, the more Kopesha wondered if they could get out.

That's when she remembered the words of her father. "We may ever be lost, but Eywaat sees all from his perch." As the sudden movement forced Karsynwa to the side of the alley, Kopesha simply stopped and cast her eyes skyward. Eywaat was watching them too. He was always watching, and that belief gave her comfort.

In a hushed whisper, "My eyes black. No mean I see gooder in dark." It was both a bit of jest and the smallest of admonishments. "I see out." She pointed down the alley, toward where the flurry of movement may or may not have been, at a ladder leaning against a house. "Keep eyes out." She knelt down, sloughing off her pack. It was still dark, but she'd done this several times in the dark of the wilderness. She fetched one torch from its place on the outside of her pack, followed by her flint and steel, kept in an inner pocket. It didn't take but a few strikes to ignite the torch, which she offered to Karsynwa. She put her pack together and reshouldered it, standing up in the process.

She drew her angled knife, taking the lead. An important thing she'd learned in the wilds was that when in the dark, you have the disadvantage. Light helps you more than hinders. Still, she went forward at a slow, careful pace, giving wide berth to doors and alley offshoots when she could. As she reached out to touch the ladder, there was a chuckle, "You should really pay first."

Her head turned toward a shadow, one she had swore she looked into yet hadn't seen anyone. A moment later and a man, human, leaned forward out of the shadow. "After all, it does belong to us Daggerhands." His hands were in his pockets, his face baring stubble and the slick smile of a merchant. "That bow of yours, and knife of yours," he said, nodding at Karsynwa, "should be payment enough."

There was a visual flinch of disgust in Kopesha. There was no way she was parting with her husband's bow. Not now, not ever. She looked to Karsyn, hoping his stronger grasp of the local language, and hopefully more experience with city folks she assumed he had, could guide them to an outcome that didn't involve making things worse.

As if he'd read her mind, the man spoke, "I really wouldn't recommend stabbing me. You'll be riddled with crossbow bolts before you even cut my shirt." He raised a hand, and a loud snap was heard, and a bolt buried itself in the ground between Kopesha and Karsynwa. "Now pay up or move on."

[Karsynwa]

So she couldn’t see in the dark. That was good to know even if he didn’t have a use for that information just yet. With those strange eyes, he’d been wondering about what ability they might impart. Her answer crossed out the only obvious options so he would just have to be ignorant for now. While he’d rather have the full set of his companion’s abilities known to him if he was going to lean on her like this, it was certainly not a luxury they could afford in their present situation.

He considered briefly letting her know about his own abilities, but discarded that idea for the same reasons. They had no idea who could be eavesdropping in this little alley. Karsynwa satisfied Kopesha’s command with a curt nod. A slight shift took place in his eyes when his inner eyelid slid over to grant him infravision. Immediately he was flooded with a wave of new information. First and foremost was Kopesha’s body heat as well as the slight residual light from the things they touched on the way here. Then as he focused his gaze out, he started noticing other details as well. Red light peeking from cracks in a window sill to their left. A rat hunched over in a gutter, peering out at them from its shadowy recess.

There were a multitude of other details as well, too many to properly categorize before Kopesha lit her torch and started walking again. Drawing his lakan while holding the torch in the other, Karsynwa kept his vision as it was. He wasn’t about to get caught off guard by some ruffian in the shadows. However, as it was difficult to see past Kopesha in this narrow alley, he kept his eyes out to the sides and occasionally looked above when something bright caught his attention. The first time was a bird that he foolishly trailed with his eyes before remembering their circumstances.

A foot was the next thing that caught his attention. Something that was glowing a shade more red than the yellow backdrop of the roof. Karsynwa tensed, and was about to stop Kopesha from reaching for the ladder when a voice came nearby corner. Petch it all if he had only checked behind her or insisted on taking the lead he thought as his heart started pumping faster in his chest. His grip tightened on his lakan as he wondered if the man on the roof had anything to do with this encounter. He hadn’t gotten a good look at that fellow as most of his body was obscured by the eaves he was tucked into, but this new fellow he got a good look at. After he had switched back to normal vision of course.

In the flickering torchlight that played across the man’s face and features, he got the idea that this man was better off than most in this shyke hole of a city. At least the man was cleaner than most here with clothes that didn’t look torn in several places. The other interesting thing about him was his choice of words. Namely ‘Us’ and ‘Daggerhands’. He recognized the latter as a proper now, or at least he hoped that was what it was. It could be just slang these people had concocted but even if it was, he got the group implication well enough. The thud of the crossbow bolt reinforced the point. Karsynwa flinched slightly, quickly switching back to infravision as he noticed that the man on the roof had repositioned himself now.

Even with the odds stacked against them, Karsynwa gritted his teeth at the implication that he would just hand over his lakan for the use of a petching ladder, and was strongly considering just taking his chances with challenging the man to a fight when his brother whispered to him. As if these men knew anything of honor. You will just get yourself shot in the back over it. Karsynwa grew uneasy. His brother was right of course which rarely meant well for whatever he was planning. Still, he had to give Finaewa a shot. What would you suggest? He thought back. Better that I demonstrate was Finaewas response with a wave of pleasure. Karsynwa rolled his eyes.

Then it was Finaewa standing there, with nothing to announce his arrival other than a subtle shift of his shoulders into a more relaxed posture. “Careful now.” He said flatly, sheathing his lakan slowly while he raised the torch with his left. “Better idea. You take us to place we can stay. We help you with problem. I don’t kill both your archers on roof.” Finaewa said with a broad smile. That last part was a relatively new development as he hadn’t really noticed the man till he started wedging open the shutters of his window open a crack. Finaewa thought about offering up Kopesha as well to sweeten the pot, but he knew that would only swiftly put an end to his time in the light. There were limits to how far his brother could be pushed.

[Kopesha]

Timestamp:

Kopesha kept a fierce snarl upon her face, even as Karsynwa disarmed himself, relaxed, as he spoke. She listened to his words, but she didn't remove the potential threat of her attempting to stab this ladder-man. She heard the offer Karsyn offered up, thinking it a reasonable one. Earn your place. That was something she could do. Probably.

The man smirked, "I had a feeling today might be interesting. I'm glad I decided to show up to work. You're one of them Akalak fellas from Riverfall, I would be dumb to not consider your threat well founded. Giant, blue petches. And ol' black eyed banshee here, I still got nightmares from visiting the deserts. I think we can come to an arrangement... Though don't expect anything too nice, this is Sunberth after all, and y'all just got here."

He whistled, and the hidden snipers both made their way down to the street, arms lowered but still loaded. "These two will take you to a safe house here in Stumble Alley. You may stay until high noon tomorrow. Clean it out and we can consider it a fair trade. If it's not when we check tomorrow, we can easily find you anywhere in this city. And abroad. Do we have an agreement?" He winked at Karsynwa and blew a kiss at Kopesha.

Kopesha felt her rage, Chokaji's passion, flaring up in her that this man might insult her, insult him like that. Her emotions were a raging river, threatening to burst the dam, as Sootay sidled over next to this mysterious man, hiking his leg on his boot. Instantly her mood lightened, as she stifled a giggle at her guardian. "We have agreement."

With that, the man nodded at the subordinates, and one began walking down the alley, as the other waited to walk behind Kopesha and Karsynwa. Kopesha sheathed her dagger, though shot the mystery man a nasty look before walking off. It was a shame he wasn't Chaktawe, the mundane races seemed to miss the subtleties of the Chaktawe glare. She followed after the first man, who led them around a few corners, into a dead end.

He pointed at a door all the way at the end, "That's the safe house. We'll be back at noon." With that, he left, laughing and playfully jostling his partner. Kopesha wasn't quite sure what to make of this. They'd been instructed to clean this place out? Had she misheard him? Or was her Common not so strong that she'd misunderstood. Cleaning wasn't exactly something people would need help with. She kept all of her belongings clean rather easily. Her and Chokaji's tent was perfectly clean. It would be so strange for someone else to clean the things you hold dear.

She walked up to the indicated door, reaching for the handle when she felt a soft creek flow across her fingertips. She focused on the sense, closing her eyes, gently placing her finger tips against the wooden door. She slowed her own breathing, stifling it down. First were the smallest of splashes of water. Breathing not her own. Water jagged stones, someone shifting their weight, close. Water splashing against large boulders, footsteps. She stepped back from the door, making her way to Karsynwa, "Persons in houses. Two. Maybe more two. One stand against door. Persons try be quiet."

She looked back toward the door, slowly realizing what clean it out meant. Get rid of those inside, and they could keep the house. She drew her knife, knowing it was a means of survival. "You fall door?" She was ready, just waiting for confirmation from her partner. She didn't like to kill people, but the desert was a cruel mistress to those who were too soft. Survival often meant at the expense of others, and that was a trade she would make every time. She had survived at the expense of her husband, a trade that came too soon in her life. "Rain Mother watch us. Fast like rain, strong like river."

[Karsynwa]

Finaewa shot a toothy grin over at the two archers as they came striding up. Not seeing any other heat signatures he switched to his normal vision so he could get a good look at the fellows that had been lurking on the roof. They were a grubby sort just like the man standing before them. Their hair was greasy and matted to their scalp, and they all supported wiry, unkempt facial hair. Finaewa scrunched his nose up in their direction before turning back towards the man that was addressing them.

“Will do.” He said after a chime, pausing to meet each of the men’s eyes in turn. It gave him a twinge of enjoyment to see one of the archers tense at his look before they turned around to lead them further down the alley. Then there was a sharp pull from within, and Karsynwa blinked awake, almost running into Kopesha as they walked along. Why had he been following her so close? But there was no time for such questions now. The man following behind them made his hand itch and he had a sneaking suspicion that Finaewa had gotten them into something he was going to regret. Clenching his jaw, he counted out the steps between him and the man that followed behind. Too many he quickly realized, much to his disappointment as they followed the other man around a few tight corners.

There had been opportunity to spring a trap there, but he didn’t have a high degree of confidence that there were not more of these Daggerhands lurking around this alley, waiting to see if he tried something. He could definitely kill these two even if Kopesha decided to only distract them, but more than that would be a problem. Grimacing, he kind of wished he’d never stepped foot off that boat in the first place. This day was on a fast slide down shyke hill, and only time would tell if they landed soft or hard.

Their ‘safe house’ turned out to be a hole in the wall at the end of small alley. Nothing set it apart from the cluster of buildings it was a part of save for the fact that the archer had pointed it out to them. Karsynwa let the man go without commenting or even looking at him for that matter. He had a feeling if he laid eyes on that man he might just do something foolish. Instead he focused on the task at hand. ‘Cleaning’ this poor excuse for a house. His gaze flickered over for half a chime to the infrared spectrum before changing back when he couldn’t make out anything behind the cobbled together structure.

Narrowing his eyes, he gave Kopesha a suspicious look before taking a step forward. He wanted to ask how she knew that, but there was little time for such talk if what she said was true. So, instead he fell into what felt natural for him. Raising a hand, he approached the door before looking over at Kopesha. Giving her a slight nod in response to her suggestion, he carefully stuck the torch into the ground before he drew his Lakan and repositioned it in his left hand. Then walking the rest of the way up to the door, he started knocking on the door with his right. Three heavy raps, loud and resounding through the quiet of the alley.

“If I have come in, you die. You come out, may live.” Karsynwa said loudly before taking a step away from the door and falling into a stance where his Lakan was held by his left hand in an underhanded grip while his right hand was free to grab if it came to it. He decided to give them five chimes. They took three. The first two passed in nearly complete silence before their muttering became so loud that you could hear the buzz of it through the door. Not enough to make out any words, for him at least, but enough so that he could tell they were having an intense conversation within. Motioning with his right to the corner, he hoped Kopesha would get the gesture and tuck against the wall there. If there was two or more, they would need the advantage to make things quick. Otherwise this could get real messy fast.

Hesitantly, the door creaked open and a bottle sailed through before it promptly slammed shut. Karsynwa dodged the clumsy projectile, then charged the door. Angling his shoulder, he slammed into it an to his surprise, promptly bounced off with a jolt of pain running down along his left arm. The cheap wood cracked and shuddered against its frame with the blow, however it failed to budge in any conceivable way. “They block door some how. You hold fire?” He grunted to Kopesha, thinking quickly about how to solve this problem. Karsynwa settled on a simple but efficient solution. After a test kick to the base of the door, and watching how it appreciatively bent in, he started kicking harder until he’d knocked out a decent hole in the base of it. Then he held up a hand to Kopesha letting her know, and shook his head, hoping again that she would read him correctly an hold off on throwing the torch within.

“You see light? It fire, coming for you.” Karsynwa barked as there was a heavy sound from the other side of the door before it was thrown open. Two men emerged. The one in the lead was bearing a large bowie knife while the man following him had a club. Hoping Kopesha would be able to deal with the latter, Karsynwa focused on the man with the knife. He took a step forward as the man slashed from above. Well above his own head at least because Karsynwa was about two feet taller than him and the blow came down low. Punching out with his left hand, Karsynwa met the knife with his Lakan. The cross guards became tangled together as the two blades met and forced Karsynwa to pull back or risk getting a cut to his forearm as the man yanked his blade free.

The man pressed him in his retreat, slicing up towards the middle now forcing Karsynwa to back peddle further down the alley as he dodged the frenzied slashes of his opponent. It was not easy. More than a few times he found himself having to make a disadvantageous block that earned him a knick here, a scrape there, all the while he was rapidly running out of space to maneuver. He decided he would have to try something a little more bold with this man, and switched the Lakan to his right hand before the man came on with his next overhead slash.

“Myri guide me” He whispered softly in Tukant as he stepped to the outside of the man’s strike. The man tried shifting his blow to angle towards him as he made the move but it was too late. Karsynwa had seen the steps he needed to take, and had waited for the last possible moment to make his move. With the Lakan in his right hand, he deflected the dagger away from him before hooking his right arm through the man’s overextended right arm hooking the length of the dagger behind the man’s elbow. Then with his left hand he gripped the man’s wrist and with a sharp twist of his hips, carried the man into the wall with his own momentum.

Of course, so in tangled, Karsynwa slammed right along side him. The man immediately started to try to turn his dagger on him again, but Karsynwa had a good grip on his wrist. Unfortunately, so did the man on his. To complicate matters, things quickly turned into a scrum when the man slipped onto the ground and brought Karsynwa down with him. What followed passed between a few heartbeats but felt a whole lot longer to Karsynwa.

The man lashed out with his forehead slamming Karsynwa in the chin causing him to bite the tip of his tongue. As blood pooled into his mouth, Karsynwa responded by kneeing him in the groin. The man curled up and managed to get his bowie knife angle in such a way to go for a stab. Karsywa jerked out of the way, but still the knife managed to graze the shoulder of his leather armor. There was a tingle of pain as it bit in slightly, the tip getting snagged on a studded disk. Sensing the opportunity there, Karsynwa snapped his head forward, bashing his forehead into the man which left him briefly dazed as the man’s grip slackened on his right wrist. Pulling away from the man, Karsynwa sat put, and then after a chime stood on his feet, wobbling a little as he looked for the other combatant. Behind him the man groaned and squirmed on the ground, blood pouring from his freshly shattered nose.

“Kopesha?” He asked, a little confused as to what he was seeing with everything being double.

[Kopesha]

Kopesha crept over to the corner of the alley, waiting to see what Karsynwa did. Which ended up being a farcry from what she had expected. He knocked on the door. It was a bit distracting, how unexpected it was, followed up by him shouting. It seemed he had no interest in an element of surprise style ambush attack. Odd choice in her opinion. Kopesha held her knife in a forward, offensive grip in her left hand, crouched, bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready and waiting. Her right hand, she held out close to the wall, feeling for the vibrations inside. She first felt them talking, hurriedly and hushed.

She tensed as the door opened, her eyes following the bottle in an undisciplined manner, watching it shatter on the stones behind Karsyn. She watched as the Akalak charged the door, getting ready to rush in after him. Except he bounced off the door, and she inwardly cringed, suspecting that would be a blow to the Akalak pride. She heard his question, and she gave a single curt nod, picking up the torch so as to hold fire per his direction. She crept in close to the door, waiting to throw the torch. She watched as he beat a chunk out of the door, saw his hand come up indicating to wait. She followed his orders.

Then all of a sudden, the door swung open, and Kopesha, having been waiting like a coiled spring, swung the torch as she'd been prepared to do. This sent the torch straight into the groin of the second man. The blow itself was weak, not disabling the man, but it did have the lucky, beneficial effect of setting the man's trousers on fire. The man dropped his club as he began batting down on his trousers to put out the small flames.

Kopesha, slow to switch to her knife after having swung the torch, brought it in an upward stab at the man. He openly smacked her hand away, sending it hard into the door frame. The man rushed forward, tackling her onto the broken stones of the alley's ground. He weighed at least twice as much as her, and his shoulder had driven much of the air out of her, and her ribs were burning after it, but she did manage to keep an arm free. Her knife hand was gripped against her side. She remembered one important thing that Chokaji had taught her, and that was in a fight for your life, there's no such thing as honor. Anything goes in survival. And so as the man began to get up, resting on one hand, his other pulling back to deliver a punch, Kopesha reached up and grabbed his ear, yanking it toward her, trying to pull it off.

The man howled, his punching fist stopping to grip her hand and rip it from his ear. He rose up, straddling her hips, one hand on his ear, as he punched down. Kopesha raised her one arm to block her face but he delivered the blow to her gut and she heaved the remaining air from her lungs. She was pulling on her knife arm, slowly wriggling it free from being trapped between her legs and his, as another blow rained down toward her face. She caught it with her forearm, which then smacked her in the face, but still softened the blow somewhat. Another punch came down, and Kopesha's knife arm was freed, without her knife. Her hand shot out, grabbing his sleeve, slowing the blow that collided with the side of her face.

She knew she was in trouble, she was seeing colors and could barely breathe. She felt him jerk his sleeve from her grasp, and in doing so, he opened his stance straddling over her. And she seized the moment to crunch upward and throw a fist directly into his groin. The man howled and fell backwards off of her and she rolled away to her knife side. Heaving, she managed to get the knife in hand, but was still slow to get up, gasping for air. Her vision was blurring, but she saw the man rising to his feet, turning, toward his club he'd dropped. Kopesha knew it would be over if he got that, and she crawled forward as fast she could, two strides at most, and swung a desperate slash with her knife. She caught the man in his calf muscle, just above the ankle, splitting flesh. She fell from the off balanced swing, catching her chin hard on a stone beneath her.

He howled loudly, falling off to his side and directly onto the burning torch that had been dropped. Once more, it ignited his clothing, and he began trying to roll and bat the flames out, but it spread faster than he could get it out until his entire wardrobe was ablaze and he was unable to move enough to put it out. It wasn't long until the shock from the pain killed him and he became a stinking, burning pile of flesh there.

Kopesha was slow to rise. She managed to get to her hands and knees, knife still in one hand. She looked over, seeing Karsyn wobbling, the other man a groaning, bloodied mess. Him calling her name sent a fury through her, an indignity at checking on her, finding her incapable. She forced herself to rise, despite her ribs burning hot from the injuries, and she glared at Karsyn, spitting out a phrase, filled with venom, she'd learned from Korvelic back in Riverfall, "Finish you hunt before eat my table!"

Her right arm wrapped around her abdomen, her left weakly held her knife. One eye was already beginning to swell from being punched, and she lurched toward the door. She expected Karsynwa to finish his kill. She leaned heavily against the door frame, looking inward. She saw a grown woman and a younger woman, likely a daughter, huddled in the back of this small house, clutching each other. Kopesha snarled. She held up two fingers in her knife hand, growling her words through pain gritted teeth, "Two chimes. House empty. Or we empty."

She slumped there, trying to grit through the pain, as she watched the two women race through the house, packing clothes and such. When they moved for food, Kopesha barked, "No!" The women flinched, grabbing their packs, rushing out of the house. Upon seeing the flaming body, Karsyn, and the other man, they wailed, and rushed down the alley screaming and crying.

Kopesha looked back toward Karsyn, and toward the man she expected to be dead. "House clean." Then she bent over, heaving up what little contents were left in her stomach. Thankfully there was no blood in the mess she produced, but the action alone set her abdomen aflame.

[Karsynwa]

Date, Season, Year

When she answered his query with a biting retort, Karsynwa smiled. It was a scornful smile that lacked any mirth. He hadn’t doubted her till this very moment when she uttered something that was almost too familiar. A saying that spoke more about her than he’d gathered so far, and one that left a bitter taste in his mouth. To be mocked by an outsider with a phrase from his own tongue.

“Look with eyes, not only ears. My hunt is done.” He said pantomiming the statement before her turned to the man squirming on the ground. The man tried to scramble back when he saw Karsynwa approach, reaching for the knife on the ground beside him. Karsynwa picked up the pace, and stomped on the man’s hand before reaching down to grab a handful of the man’s hair. He yelped as Karsynwa promptly drug him to the side of the alley where he propped him up against the side of the house. Still clenching a fist full of the man’s hair, he knelt and twisted the man’s head so he was looking him in the eyes. They were bright green eyes that looked out of place amidst the patina of gore on his face.

“Friend why Daggerhand want you dead?” Karsynwa asked as he sheathed his Lakan with his free right hand. The weapon put away, the man relaxed slightly but not much as he was being held up at an odd angle by his hair.

“Since when the Daggerhands working with a big blue freak like you? You just hear that name son, and hope to scare me with it. Fresh off da boat I bet you. You better get off now before I sail you down the river. I got friends you k-” Karsynwa stopped the man with a hard slap across the face. He sputtered, and spit out a long line of blood before grinning darkly up at Karsynwa.

“You’re a spritely one aren’t y-” This time it was a punch to the gut that knocked the wind from the man as he gasped, and clawed at his chest. Karsynwa released his grasp on the man’s hair, letting him hit the ground sideways as he struggled to recover from the blow. It wasn’t something he did for the man’s sake though because he was hearing noises coming from the house. A faint weeping that suddenly grew louder as two women burst from the door. Well a woman and a girl.

Abruptly standing up, Karsynwa crossed to the center of the alley to catch both of them. The woman stumbled right into him in surprise allowing him to easily wrap his right arm around her while his left reached to grab the girl. His hand locked around her elbow for a heartbeat before she yanked it from his grasp, spinning away from his following grab before continuing to run full pelt down the alley till she disappeared around a corner.

Seeing that her daughter had escaped, the woman tried to fight him now putting her feet up against the wall and kicking off of it in an attempt to push him back. A futile attempt because she scarcely weighed ninety pounds soaking wet and Karsynwa had no problem wrapping her up in his arms till she stood still. Naturally she tried clawing his forearms next but as they were covered in leather armor it did her little good.

“Stop!” Karsynwa shouted in her left ear before slinging her down onto the ground. She fell with a quiet whimper, curling up into a ball there till he pulled her to her feet by grasping the back of her neck. Pointing her face towards the man who had only just started stirring up into a sitting position, Karsynwa asked harshly, “You know him? Speak, or stay silent forever.”

The woman started wailing at that, and it took him shaking her several times to get her to quiet down. Finally, she simply nodded before burying her face in her hands crying quietly. “You know her?” He asked, pushing on the woman while he watched the man’s reaction. Which curiously, there was little if nothing of one to see. The man simply glared up at him, and didn’t have any smart words to say. Karsynwa shrugged. He supposed that was an answer in and of itself.

“Your girl is smart. She won’t come when I kill you both.” Karsynwa said flatly as he watched a trickle of sweat work its way down the man’s muddy brow. The woman started crying louder while the man curled up into a defensive ball against the wall. A ways down the alley, Karsynwa thought he heard someone shuffle, perhaps the girl lingering nearby. His eyes flicked between the pair of them before he let out a long sigh. Hadn’t even been a day, and he was already tired of this city.

“First one answer lives. Why Daggerhands want you dead?” Karsynwa asked as he stomped down on the tip of the man’s foot. He’d been about to say something that came out as a howl that was quickly drowned out by the woman’s frantic reply. “Ole Mitch stole something. He ere burnen now, but we all apart of his lot.” She quickly fumbled out, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand as she looked up at him with something approaching eagerness. There was something unsettling about how quickly the woman had turned about. One second she had been a blubbering mess, and now there was an unmistakable keenness to her eyes, something he would have to watch out for among these Sunberthians in the future.

“Okay.” He said as he kneed the man in the face. To the man’s credit, he blocked a good bit of the force behind the blow with his arms but the back of his head still bounced off the wall causing him to slump sideways onto the ground. The woman took the opportunity to scramble for her things that had been dumped across the ground to which Karsynwa reacted by grabbing her by her long dirty brown hair and dragging her back onto the ground. Then stepping back over to the man, he put his boot on the side of his face.

“Stop, or I do you.” Karsynwa growled, and the woman abruptly stopped struggling against his grasp. “Stand up.” He barked, watching her carefully until she complied. The man was beating weakly against his boot though he paid him little mind for now. His focus was on the woman who was slowly turning towards him with a hint of defiance in her eyes.

“Against wall. You move, die. Simple.” He said shoving her till she was nose to the wall then hesitantly he knelt beside the man. Drawing his Lakan, he quickly plunged the twisted dagger into the side of the man’s neck before springing to his feet. The woman still cowered against the wall, occasionally glancing down the alley towards where the girl had run.

“You. Inside house. Talk, then go.” Karsynwa said grabbing her shoulder before steering her towards the entrance. He gave a small, curt nod towards Kopesha as he passed inside.

[Kopesha]

Kopesha recovered from her vomiting, wiping away the edges of her mouth. She stayed kneeling there, looking across the way to see that Karsyn had the woman and his man before him, and the girl was gone. The things you miss in a few moments of heaving up your guts. And she watched Karsyn as he questioned the man and woman, violently. She wasn't sure for what reason. They'd accomplished their goal, but it seemed Karsyn needed more from them. But she did notice one thing. She saw Karsyn turn his head, as though he'd heard something.

He turned his attention back to the pair, but Kopesha wasn't about to ignore his instincts. He had heard something. She slowly pulled herself back to standing, stepping over her puddle of vomit, moving a bit further down the alley, one arm still clenched around her midsection, the other hand out in front of her. She was feeling for more vibrations, but she wasn't getting much. It didn't help that the pain that was radiating from her ribs was overwhelming her other senses. She didn't walk much further down the alley, as she had no desire to expose herself to more harm. She turned back toward the house, and that was when she felt the rush of one quickly moving person move across her fingertips like a quickly rising tide. Kopesha stiffened a bit at the sensation but kept going forward, doing her best to just seem in pain and oblivious to what she'd just felt.

She saw the one man now bleeding out as Karsyn was guiding the woman into the house. Why was he keeping her? The others had said they wanted the place cleaned out, and this went against that task. It was strange. Kopesha stepped into the house first, drawing her knife, hoping there were no others inside. A quick search of the first floor found no one else, and Kopesha snatched a loaf of bread from a cabinet as she walked up the rickety wooden stairs, the only other exit from the single room they'd entered. After the first few steps creaked loudly, she abandoned all hope at trying to be stealthy and she walked up. The apartment was three rooms stacked atop each other, with a ladder that led to a hatch in the roof up top. She didn't find any people, though there was a very aloof cat in the top most room.

She returned back downstairs, still clutching her ribs as she grabbed a bottle of wine she found earlier. She ripped out the cork, spilling some of the wine, before taking a really, really long swig, so as to numb the pain a bit. Tasted like vinegar, horrid stuff. Still, not the worst thing to happen she supposed. She was waiting on Karsyn to have a moment for her to tell him what she'd felt earlier.

Meanwhile, outside, a man and woman stood at the end of the alley, holding the girl that had run off, her mouth bound, tears streaming down her face. The woman spoke to the man, "This ain't our territory, Bobbeh. You's knows we can't be heres causin' trouble."

Bobbeh growled, "Shut it, Melinda. Neither me nor me sister will be disrespected in our bar. Not by outsiders."

Melinda shrugged, "Alright, but its gonna's be expensive if the Daggers gets involved. And I hears thems vigilantes is around these here parts."

Bobbeh snorted derisively, "How long til the rest of the crew arrive?"

Melinda smiled, "Withins the bell. Goldreh hads to rounds them up."

"Perfect. I hope our little warriors are ready to come out and play."

[Karsynwa]

As he pushed the woman inside, Karsynwa took in the room. It was smaller than he expected, and cramped. What sparse furniture there was left little room to maneuver as he found a chair and pulled her onto it. Her collar tore a bit as a jerked her down, drawing out a soft whine from the woman as she tentatively grasped the front of her knees. She was trembling and for the first time, Karsynwa was feeling a trace of regret before he met her eyes. There was something cool, and calculating about those grey eyes even as they looked at him so full of fear.

Crinkling his nose, Karsynwa perched on the edge of the table as he swiped the back of his right hand across his chin. It came back wet with blood that glinted darkly in the faint light of the torch. Rubbing at the split on his chin with the ball of his thumb, he flinched slightly at the jolt of pain. He’d have to get that seen to if they could managed to find a healer in this wretched place. Something he certainly wasn’t going to hold his breath for he reasoned as he looked at the pitiful sight before him.

Even the Corra Apartments were a step above this heap of wood and dirt. Like the outside, the interior had a haphazard flavor to it where everything looked either hastily constructed or patching something that had broken so many times that it was hard to see the original construction past all of the repairs. This table for instance he was only barely leaning on because two of the legs were clearly broken and bound to uneven lengths of wood with a frail bit of twine.

An this woman. Had she ever known a bath? Outside it had been hard to tell but now that they were indoors with the scents able to fully circulate he was able to get a clear smell of her. Sweat, dirt, and the unmistakable acrid stench of urine radiated off of this woman, making him slightly nauseous as he leaned in close. With his blood spattered hand, he palmed her chin and pulled it up so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes. The blood on his thumb smeared clear the dirt on her skin and she tried to jerk away from his touch before his hand darted forward to grasp her by the back of the neck.

“Still, or I break.” He said softly, his hand easily almost wrapping around her entire neck as he pulled her slightly forward. It made his stomach lurch how much Finaewa was enjoying this part. His brother always did have a knack for this sort of thing, but right now Karsynwa needed to be in control. He would know when he had went to far where as with his brother, that line tended to be blurred as a rule.

The woman stiffened in his grasp and her hands fumbled with something around her skirt. She barely had time to register the fact that he had released her before his left hand came around to smack her across the face with an open palm. With a cry, she spilled out of the chair and a small knife came tumbling out onto the wood floor. Karsynwa was on her in a heartbeat, his knee planted on the small of her back as his hand grasped her right hand. Her left hand was a non issue as it was pinned under her in this awkward position he’d forced them into.

“I gave chance to talk nice. Now talk here. Who else live here?” Karsynwa barked out, leaning with a little more pressure against her lower back.

The woman opened her mouth to respond but only managed a gurgle as her face started getting redder. Gritting his teeth, Karsynwa let up and let her get a few breaths in before he twisted her right wrist.

“Who else? Talk quick” Karsynwa said, a little bit of spit flying unintentionally from his mouth as he started getting more than a little irritated. She gasped for several moments before shooting him an evil look that quickly melted when she saw him glaring down at her.

“Nobody. You killed em, all em. How many you think we fit in this box seafarer?” She spat back at him, a glob of her spittle landing on his leather chest piece. Karsynwa let that go uncommented as his mind sorted through to his next question. There was a lot he wanted to know about this city but not a lot that he wanted to learn from her exactly. She was an unreliable witness at best and he certainly wasn’t going to push her for more information than he needed. Would save him from having to sort through all of the chaff of what this woman had to say. The woman started to try spewing something else when Karsynwa put a palm over her face and held her mouth shut while he looked over at Kopesha.

“What you think? Anything ask?” Karsynwa asked, struggling occasionally with the woman who was try to futilely wriggle out from under him.

[Kopesha]

Kopesha sat down, back against the wall, grimacing in pain as she watched Karsyn do whatever it was he was doing to that woman. Getting information it seemed, but to what end? She hadn't the slightest idea. She knocked back another swig of the wine, hoping it would kick in soon to ease the fire in her side.

When asked if Kopesha had anything to ask this stinky woman, only one thing came to mind. Kopesha took another long swig, finally starting to feel the numbing heat take over. From her spot across the room, with a voice filled with venom, "Why men want us make ALL you leave? What you do?" Kopesha could see the fire and fury in this woman and was under no illusion that she was some innocent victim.

Kopesha got up, painfully, slowly. She lurched over toward the woman, kneeling down next to her, letting the woman stare deep into her deep, ebony eyes. "Tell true, or I eat you. My people love eat city people. Meat soft. Sweet." She pulled out her knife, setting the wine bottle out of reach of the woman. She shifted her kneeling so that she could reach the woman's buttocks. She grabbed the seat of the woman's pants, slashing away the fabric and tossing it across the room. She then set the point of the knife against one pale butt cheek, and slowly let it spin on the point there. It didn't pierce the skin, but was but a small push away.

"Good, soft meat. Gooder than cow, gooder than pig. Tell true or we eat you ass. Then eat you feet. And eat you while you alive. Eat as much as can. And if we find girl who here, we eat her too."

Kopesha put some pressure on the blade, that just barely broke the skin of the woman's butt, leaning down to stare her in the face once more. "Why want all you gone?"