Completed All Tied Up

[Lucian Hill]

Fall 55th, 514 AV - Late Morning

Lucian awoke, groaning. Everything hurt. The raven couldn't remember what happened the night before - though he could feel the after effects. His head was on fire, a dull aching in his limbs. His eyes blinked open, only to be greeted by the dim lighting of a tent-room only lit by glimpses of Syna streaming in through the cracks. This wasn't his apartment, and this wasn't his bed. The raven moved his arm to stretch, only to find it restrained.

Tightly.

He became all too familiar with the sensation of rough rope digging into his skin, wrapping around his arms and legs and effectively keeping him from moving. He considered shifting, briefly, but found himself worrying over how the tight ropes would effect it - a raven was smaller, for sure, but would he be able to untangle himself with simply wings and a beak? He contemplated for a moment, before a second and much more sudden realization hit him. Slavers. Someone must have found out he was a Kelvic, though he tried to keep this point of his life relatively reticent. Either that, or they decided that the tall, lanky boy would make a good human slave. This reasoning did not make much sense.

His heart began to beat faster, panic rising in his chest like bile rose in his throat. He would be able to escape, surely, if they took him out to sell - they'd surely untie him, perhaps put a collar on him, and he'd be able to shift. Easy as that. He'd lose his newly purchased winter clothing - coarse wool shirt and pants that he had acquired for the sole purpose of living through the winter this year without freezing to death - but he'd be able to buy more. What was important now was the fact that he was tied up in a petching slaver's building and he couldn't move.

"Hello? His voice was tentative, as the raven couldn't see anyone else in the dim, but the small chance of someone else being there was enough for him to call out. The fact that he couldn't see enough to figure a way out at the moment was bothering him, though he forced himself to view the situation like another puzzle. The only difference was that finishing the puzzle would be the difference between getting out free and living in slavery.

With this in mind, Lucian began to focus more on how he would get out. His eyes were getting more used to the low light, and he could make out some shapes in the tent. Other people, a desk with a stack of papers and what appeared to be an unlit candle. He could hear people moving outside, people shuffling and vague shouting that he couldn't, and probably didn't, want to make out.

He tried relaxing against his bonds, only to be reminded of the horrible soreness and aches that accompanied being tied up for hours. His tried to pinpoint where on his body the knot was holding him together, though he was edging on surprise that he was tied up in rope rather than simply tied up in chains. He glanced around the room again, a groan escaping the back of his throat.

Petch it all.

[Shai]

Shai was on her back. Not the the traditional sense, but the literal. There was nothing defenseless about her position. Her feet were up as a guard and fangs bared in dire threat. Slender alabaster needles, prepared to end life and melt flesh. Three slavers had her bound and in a corner, but none could get close enough to grab her.

Her claws were interlaced behind her back and then bound in some kind of mittens. That was all that really allowed them hold her. Without chains it was hard to hold a woman with razors for nails.”Come on Azo, take your shot!” She snarled, “You think you can take a Widow? Let us see it!” Her voice rose into a crystalline scream.

Finally her words must have reached through a thick skull, one tough lunged and grabbed her by her unbound hair, much like one would grab a snarling cat. He held her close to his and dragged her back into the room. Before he could get her there though, she sank her fangs into his forearm. Venom pumped from her glands into the deadman’s flesh. The man gave a raging howl in reply.

The door to Lucian’s room slammed open, but instead of the Symenestra woman being thrown in along both she and her capture were shoved back. The door slammed shut, like a coffin.

Shai was dumped unceremoniously on the floor. The Spider’s body rolled almost as if by reflex taking the impact and leaving her face done but none worse for the wear.

The thug ran to the door, pounding. “Le’me outta here!” The cacophony continued accompanied by shrill cackle from the thief. Long black hair hid her face but the vicious vitriol couldn’t be hidden by merely obscuring features.

They had taken her cloak, her lockpicks from her hair, her weapons from hip but they hadn’t dared take her armor. Still there was some weapons intrinsic to her race that could not be stolen, and they had met with the most deadly.

A voice answered their fellow from outside, “Petch no, she might be rabid.”

The scum had taken one more thing, more vital that armor or picks or any weapon natural or man-made. They had taken Chell, her familiar. No doubt they thought him a trinket for sale, as long as they believed that they were safe. Should his magical nature be discovered, all of this mess would go from bad to worse. Then she would need to call in favors to silence all hint of such a rumor. That would turn the day from bad to downright sour. She had been saving those favors.

Slowly the pounding ceased, tapering away as the thug sank to the floor. “The numbing agent.” Shai explained eyeing her call companion. As ashen as her skin was, she looked like she could be this man’s shadow. It was almost remarkable, or would be when she was in a less precarious decision. “The Azo is as good as dead. Give him a few hours, there is no cure.” She muttered bitterly. When the thugs were not her main focus she was decidedly less ferocious. The acrobatic rolled her shoulders and then stretched them around her tiny frame. With a quick twist the thief rolled back on to her rump. Her arms were crossed, tied, mittened, and tied again in front of her. The humans had been right to be fearful.

Her amethyst eyes turned on the other prisoner, “Moniker and skills boy. If you want out of here, your ticket just arrived.” She was incensed and skilled, they had picked the wrong target. At the end of the day it was in their best interest if she got out of this place without outside help. If the cavalry arrived they would tear the building down to the foundations. Sunberth was all about who you knew and Shai knew many. “I am Saris.”

[Lucian Hill]

Lucian simply stared. There was screaming of something about a 'Widow', whatever that was, and soon afterwards blinding light as a man and a thin, lithe woman flew into the room, the door slamming shut after them. The man didn't seem to notice his presence, but the woman certainly did, talking as if both to him and to herself. His eyes widened when she spoke about poison, and while he had no idea what 'azo' meant, he assumed it to be some sort of insult.

He still couldn't see much in the dim, though it appeared that she was as remarkably pale as he was. Many of the denizens of Sunberth seemed to be sporting farmer tans, though it seemed as if Syna decided against touching hers as much as she avoided tanning Lucian's. She was quite a terrifying person, and obviously skilled, from as far as he could tell as she twisted around in the dark and ended up with her arms in front of her. He looked at the man slumped over, covering most of the light that streamed through the crack in the bottom of the door. It was a shame.

The connection between the shouting of 'Widow' and the mention of poison from the pale individual hit the raven much like he wished a brick wouldn't. He knew what Widows were - they were stories that parents told their children. 'Don't be bad, or else the Widows will crawl through your window and take you in the night.' He later learned, in very few details, that they stole fully grown women rather than children. Regardless, this thought made the woman in front of him both scary and not so much at the same time. He had no need to worry about her stealing him away - he was male, and as far as he knew, they only took women. His fears about her poisoning him as well melted away as soon as she asked for his name and skill set - though his skills were not particularly spectacular.

"Lucian. Hill. I'm really jus' a pickpocket...and a bad one at that. But um, I can also turn into a bird? A raven, to be clear." He rambled in nervousness, talking much more than he usually would. He still eyed the woman, barely making out her form in the lack of light. The raven couldn't tell whether she were attractive or not, not that it mattered in this situation much. He pushed against his bonds, attempting to sit in a more comfortable position. When this manouver failed, he simply sat there dumbly, looking at the girl. Saris.

The raven sighed and cocked his head to the side. "I'll be just a moment." After contemplating the risks to shifting into a bird while tied up, he decided it was worth it - a raven was much smaller than him, anyways, and the ropes would just fall around or on top of him. Then this woman could pull them off of him, if necessary, and he could shift again. Of course, shifting was tiring - he'd have to grab something to eat soon if he did this. Anything, however, was better than being sold as a slave.

Shifting into a raven, he was perched on the ground, lost in a pile of coarse wool clothing and ropes. He tried escaping, only to stay lost, squirming in the pile like a rat. After ticks of struggling, he managed to get his head out, staring at Saris and letting out a low croak. Forcing himself through the hole, he wriggled around and hopped out, strutting forward before shifting back into his naked human form.

He sighed, turned away from the woman, and pulled his clothing out of the pile of ropes, quickly slipping the rough wool on and turning around. Stretching and rubbing his sore muscles, he looked at Saris.

"Much better. Need a hand, then?

[Shai]

As the crow-boy changed, Shai nodded. Her fingers already wriggling inside the mitts, one short rip sounded. Murmuring just above as whisper, as she watched him change without shame. “You are a kelvic?” The spider had seen a number of them, a falcon, a lynx, and a ferret. Now a crow. Wondering as ebony claws continued to shred the cloth with twists of wrists. “Good I can use that.” Amethyst eyes never left the young man, though her appraisal held no avarice, only speculation.

“Will you check the room? I will be out soon.” Finally the cloth was shredded beyond repair, living little frilly cuffs at her wrists. Bringing her hands near her face she began tracing the knotwork by sight, looking for a weakness to twist. “Look for anything we can use. That door will not open without help.” After a chime she found the weakness and wrenched her arms around so her right hand could slice through the left arm’s bindings. The rest fell away when the slack.

Dexterously rolling forward and on to her feet she headed for the thug slumped in their chamber. His pockets were empty, and he had little else besides a belt. The belt pulled off. Wrapping the leather around her arm a number of times she buckled it again, letting the tail hang off.

Her eyes trailed after her fellow captive. She waited leisurely, though the way her muscles tensed and joints were bent implied a promise of action. Her mind pushed towards Chell, it had always been so easy to speak with him. Chell? she called out to the familiar to no avail. Shai couldn’t even tell if the familiar had moved further away. The silence felt foreign and a gentle ache of fear took new breath.

“Lucian, did they take anything from you?” Shai realized she couldn’t exactly recall the thugs taking her things. She only knew they were gone by the lack, she always kept those things with her. Running ashen digits through pockets and person, she found nothing. Not a miza, not a knife, not a pick. Only the belt she stolen and… She reached up beneath her chest armor and removed a black feather.

She only took a moment to examine the little plume before returning it. Did she know this crow somehow? Or was this related to… how did she get here? Shai’s stomach sank. Stalking over to the window. Her low-light vision was finally adjusting, and the darkness was becoming less of an obstacle. “It is time to leave, I think. If we can get out, we can circle around to the front and see what they have.”




[Lucian Hill]

He stretched, nodding at her commands. Just the way she was getting out of her own bindings proved that she was much better at this than he was, and he wasn't going to let stubbornness get in the way of his escape, or the explanation of how he got here in the first place. With how easily he had escaped from his bonds, his captors must have either thought he was a large kelvic or that he wasn't one at all - both of which were confusing. Where did they get their information to begin with? There was, of course, the chance that they took the Raven simply because he'd fetch a few gold mizas on the market - while he was thin-boned and not particularly strong, there was bound to be someone out there that could buy him.

He decided not to dwell on it.

His vision was adjusted to the dark again by now, enough for him to make out vague objects from the light of Syna in the cracks of the door and through the dingy curtain covering the dingier window. He crept over to the desk in the corner, the main question in his mind why he had been locked up in an office to begin with. The raven skimmed over the papers, unable to read the handwriting, and opened up one of the drawers, digging through it quickly. In the back of the drawer were a handfull of quills and a closed bottle of ink, though he ignored those and pulled out what appeared to be two golden mizas. He pocketed them, briefly considered sharing them with the widow in front of him, and eventually decided to give her the second.

After handing the miza to the widow, he continued his inspection of the desk - noticing a small key lying on the top of the desk, he pocketed that as well. A quick glance around the room revealed nothing to put the key into, other than the door. He strode over to the door, but it didn't fit.

"I don't think so. Lucian contemplated her question for a few more moments, noticing the dark object in her hand that looked vaguely like a feather in the dark, - was that his? - and finally decided that the people who had taken them were not very good at what they did. "Tha only thing they coulda taken would be some mizas." He could not reason as to why they'd lock people in a sort of office unless there was no where else to put them. He stepped over to the window, moving aside the curtain and peering through the dirt. They were on the first floor, and the window wasn't locked. The raven turned to Saris.

"We can get out through here, we're on the first floor." Lucian took the initiative to go and tried opening the window. It wouldn't budge, not with his tiny arms. Looking at the widow, he knew it probably wouldn't open for her either - so he took his foot, (they had let him keep his boots?) and tried kicking through the window. The force of the kick was enough to crack the glass, most of it falling to shards in the street below. The raven stuck his head out, peering out. The alley the window had been facing was deserted, though he could see activity on the street adjacent. Pulling back into the room, he looked at the widow again.

"Ladies first, I think."

[Shai]

Shai’s lips curled into a smirk at Lucian’s, ’I think’. Perhaps once the widow had been a ‘lady’. Still with no cloak to impede, it was a simple matter to climb through the window. The way leverage was used though, couldn’t be possible for a human. Flat palms used the wall like ledged handgrips and she pulled free of their chamber.

Syna glared down and Shai winced covering her eye. The which pupils had dilated impressively in the dark now made the light painful. The spider leaned back against the wall, waiting for night vision to fade. The salty tang of the sea hit her all at once, coating her tongue as the foul ‘Berthian tide was known to do. They were on the seaside, that narrowed their location significantly.

Staring at the ground, still letting her eyes adjust Shai waited until Lucian was out and asked, “Do you know what you were doing in there?” Slavers made the most sense, it wouldn’t even have been the first time. Thinking back though, none of them had mentioned anything about sales. The unknown seemed infinitely worse than a known slaver.

Tentatively the spider’s gaze swept over their alleyway. No guards were evident but that didn’t mean the front door would be equally unoccupied. More and more memories that ought to exist simply didn’t. It was an unnerving feeling, was Lucian under the same consequences?

Thoughts of lost memories dwindled as her mind flinched at the alien silence. Chell would have been reprimanding her already in his own pragmatic way. The sick feeling was beginning to make clear Chell wasn’t in this location at all, there should have had some sense of the familiar by now, but there was nothing. “So little crow, is revenge your vice? Because all of the information on our imprisonment is going to be guarded by flesh,blood, and living breath.” Her fingers flexed towards her hip where her war fans were missing. A silent curse before she spun on her heels towards the corner of the building.

Out of all those in Sunberth that could be locked up with the Symenestra, there was something divinely ironic about it being a kelvic. A carrion bird. They had much in common she had not chosen to share. Although most of the commonality was assumption based on his form. For all Shai knew he may be adverse to meat of any kind. Shai smiled, the pair probably looked like ghosts so pale in the sunlight. Vengeance would be nearly poetic.

A beggar child passed beyond the mouth of their alleyway. The boy was a pickpocket, just as Lucian had professed to being. His little eyes were watching passersbys, looking for a distracted individual.

Shai whistled and flicked two fingers towards herself and Lucian, drawing in the boy. He hesitated at first, it was clear then he was not new to the streets. In Sunberth you learned suspicion and paranoia before the first foot fall hit the broken cobbles. Pearly lips quirked as the young pickpocket finally scampered towards them. “Two pickpockets and a cat burglar stood in a Sunberth alley” Shai half murmured, half sang as her lips curled into a full grin her fangs retracted into nearly invisible spikes.

“Boy we need information, quick and easy. You will get your dinner tonight from whatever thug controls your troop. Scout the front, tell us windows, doors, arms… whatever it is you see.”

“‘Ow much ya pa’in?” The boy asked in broken Common.

“After the place is clear, you can have whatever you find, boy.” Shai replied, still amused.

“What ‘f it’s empty? Then aye get nothin.’” He was a surprisingly willing to negotiate. Then again maybe it ought not to have been a revelation.

“Life is a gamble, boy. Take it or leave it.”

Finally, the boy chewing on his chaped and cracked lips, “Fine fine. Aye’ll do ‘er. Yer one crazy vagik though.”

Shai’s smile slid away like sludge before the rain, “Manners boy, never forget them. They will save your life one day.”

“Still a crazy lady.” He added and then stared at Lucian waiting to see if the specter of a man had something to add.

Shai shrugged at his comment. By no means was the spider mentally afflicted, but people rarely understood her motivations. It was not an unusual remark against her.

[Lucian Hill]

Lucian admired the way of her egress, though it only seemed to add to the perplexity that was this widow. Her hands had been used as if they were practically glued to the wall, and how this was possible escaped the raven. He pushed the excess glass out of the window sill, watching it crash to the ground behind her, and hopped onto the window sill, his legs dangling out. Small pointy bits of glass still dug into his arse, though the thick wool was enough to protect him from any cuts that the shards would otherwise provide.

Sliding out the window, the full force of the sea and sun hit him. It was as if, this close to the seaside, the smell of the water was tangible. It certainly hit him harder than it had when he was inside, though not as much as it visibly hit Saris. The time he had spent in the room had been enough to soften the blow to his senses, as the smell simply soaked into everything in that room. Sticking his head out of the window had also dulled the attack on his pupils, though he still held a hand over his eyes and looked around.

The alley they found themselves in was dingy, nothing much found except a pile of soggy, salt-coated crates sinking in the light of Syna that did manage to get over the roof of the building only feet away. His mind fluttered with questions that he didn't dare hope to answer anytime soon, and the question posed by Saris did nothing to jog his memory.

"No idea. I'd be worth somethin' to sell, but I don' think that was on their mind. Not bein' locked up in a office like that, nope." A gentle shrug was all else he had to offer, but with the second statement from the widow he realized his current emotions in full.

"You ever heard of people telling the stories about them black crows who remember faces for years?" This rhetorical question was all he offered in response to Saris' question. He eyed the woman now in the sunlight. She was as sickly pale as he was, the only difference being her gemstone eyes and dark hair. The startling color of his eyes made his own blue ones pale in comparison. The woman was also much, much shorter than the raven, a fact he found interesting considering the confident aura she exuded even when she had been bound. He briefly entertained the possibility of her having been a leader at one point, though her current actions pointed her to being more of a loner than anything.

The raven had noticed the little boy walk up to them and the brief negotiation that had played out between the widow and the pickpocket who, for all Lucian could tell, was probably much older than the raven himself. It was only when the boy looked at him that he allowed his full attention to be placed upon the littly pickpocket.

"We're in the slave market, yeah?" His question was phrased carefully to avoid the boy suspecting that either of them were foreigners. Saris obviously wasn't, not with the tact and care from which she escaped her bonds and the familiarity she seemed to have with negotiating with random kids on the street. The boy stared at him for a tick.

"Ye." Was all he replied, tersely, before turning around and running to the front of the building, supposedly scouting ahead for the pale pair. The raven took a few steps, his boots crunching on the glass. He sneezed and looked at Saris, his eyes narrowed from the sunlight that now spilled even more over the building that had been offering them a nice, shady little shelter, hidden from the street. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a man pulling along a small group of people, maybe three or four if he remembered his numbers, lined up and put in chains. It was a pity, people being born or captured like that. Not that the raven himself could or would really do anything about it. He didn't have the power.

"What would slavers want wit us if they ain't gonna sell us?" His question was directed at the widow, though he supposed he didn't mind whether it was answered or not; it could just as easily be taken as rhetorical, and he was simply doing something to pass the time until the boy came back.

[Shai]

Shai’s head cocked to the side and she gave him a sidelong glance. The quip about crows was new but the intent seemed clear. Affirmative, Chell would have said. What was curious though is that spider couldn’t tell if the phrase was also a threat. Her estimation of the crow grew significantly in that moment, but there was no outward symbol of of the change.

The slave quarters, it was a smart question. The spider nodded, noting the same line of chained people. The boy ran off after answering Lucian to do his work. Shai slumped back against the wall, examining the her impromptu companion. Part of her question about vengeance was to determine his temperament, the spider rarely acted without at least one ulterior motive. Food for thought, there was a streak of violence in him. Many times over the seasons, the thief had sought out associates intentionally. Zandelia and Bitzer were both products of such excursions. There was a growing sense that one such associate had just been dumped in her lap without ceremony but not without purpose.

“I do not know Lucian.” Came the quiet answer, “But nothing good.” There was a particular use for live Symenestra that meant keeping not selling and Shai was no fan of it. Symenestra venom had extraordinary properties, especially when the Symenestra was starved before being milked. It was one fate that Shai spent many days in Sunberth specifically avoiding.

When the boy returned it was from the opposite side of the building. He had cased all four sides of the building apparently. Shai turned towards, “Well?”

“Et’s a store. Sellin’ secon hand goods, stuff they pro’bly took from the sods in chains.” The Urchin reported respectfully. “Two doors, one in front one in back. No thugs aye saw.”

Shai nodded, “Alright boy, you watch for us to come out then it is yours.” Her gaze swept towards Lucian and she motioned to the direction the boy had come from the second time. Apparently this was the back end. Shai was a creature of nocturnal habits and her feet skirted the sparse shadows thrown by the morning light and rickety old eaves, but none even closer enough to hide within. There was a question forming once again, why?

Why were they captured but not enslaved?
Why hadn’t Chell come to find her yet?
Why a second-hand store?
Why the feather?
Why Lucian Hill?

Something had happened in the blank spots of her memory. Something they had done together it was beginning to seem like. Had they been allies then as well? Or adversaries? It was odd wondering if the crow knew and was intentionally misleading her. Perhaps a fair case of Sunberthian paranoia or perhaps good instincts. Time would tell, for now he could guard her back but the spider would be ready for the betrayal if it came.

The widow rounded the corner and found the door in question. Her lock picks were one of the many missing tools. It ended up being unnecessary as she tried the latch and found it unsecured. Always the day grew stranger. She bent down before moving it even a hair, there the little thief noticed the first real clue of the morning. There were scratches along the lock’s entrance, someone had picked it recently.

Slowly, with deliberate precision Shai released the latching mechanism and stepped back. Unwinding the stolen belt from her wrist she looked at Lucian for the ready. It might be best if he opened the door, but being pickpocket didn’t mean he could throw a punch.

[Lucian Hill]

The raven did not know what one could use a widow for - this one, especially, seemed too lithe and thin to be of any use as a laborer, and while she was beautiful, something told him she would not be of much use in a brothel, either. He pondered the poison she had spoken of earlier; it appeared to be strong, and had the potential to be used in much more nefarious purposes than self defense and whatever reason the widows had it to begin with.

Settling on this conclusion, Lucian looked at the boy, already wary and paranoid from the cruel Sunberthian streets. It was no way for a child to live, but there wasn't anything that the raven was really, truly capable of that could make a difference in this boy's life. Perhaps going through the store would be enough, but he highly doubted it. He turned his attention away from him, following Saris towards the back of the building and scanning the entire back wall. The building was definitely longer than it was wide, and Lucian guessed that there was only room for a tiny hallway next to the office that they had just escaped from. Being a one-story building, it was pretty obvious now that perhaps the office was the only way to put them to begin with.

He felt comfortable around Saris, and he had no good reason to; she was dangerous, as he had noticed thus far, and smart. The raven did not feel his usual wariness, and it was confusing. He, however, forced a fake suspicion, if only to keep himself safe from what might turn out to be a trick played on him by someone who knew exactly what was going on. The boy still watched them, patient in his resolve to get something out of his little bit of work scouting the outside of the building.

"Are ya gonna go insi'e?" It was as this question posed towards the pair that Lucian realized he had been staring at the door for a few chimes now. He shrugged off the nervousness, and reached out, expecting the handle to budge.

It opened relatively smoothly, a slight creak in the doorknob itself.

As if to add to the mystery, he opened it fully. The door simply creaked open an empty hallway, the perpetrators of previous note nowhere to be found. They did not stick around long enough to make sure that the two denizens of the room stayed where they were supposed to - they were scared. Lucian was not used to people being scared of him, though he supposed that they were more terrified of the widow next to him than anything.

He padded into the hallway, as much as someone can 'pad' with heavy leather boots, and was greeted by a hallway lit by more dirty windows. He could barely see inside, though light managed to make its way in by what could be assumed to be pure willpower by Syna herself. The hallway was not as dark as he was expecting, which was in itself to be expected. He, earlier, had noticed light coming in from the cracks of the door he now found himself directly next to.

The raven was on guard now, creeping through the hallway with the widow at his back. He made it to a curtain, barring further passage. He peered closely, the curtain thin enough that he could see through to a man, sleeping in a chair behind another desk, but dingy enough that he could barely make out the items on the shelves surrounding him and suffocating the rest of the store.

"There's a man. He's sleepin'. His voice was a low whisper, and he backed away from the curtain, motioning for Saris to go ahead of him. Both of them being so thin, there had been plenty of room in the hallway for both of them to stand side by side if they needed to. He, however, trusted the widow's skills more than he trusted his own, and the raven knew that if he went first he would almost certainly wake the man up.

[Shai]

Shai followed behind, her night leather armor rejoicing in the indoor shadows. If it was all that remained of the thief’s effects it was likely the most important. Lucian whispered the scene and Shai waiting not more than a heartbeat. The barefoot thief brushed past him in the hallway.

Like the ghost of a whisper she moved on the toes of her feet. The man’s breaths were audible over the gentle swish of her armor thighs. It was quick, unnecessarily merciful with two claws she punctured the thick artery running up his dusky tanned neck. In a shift of shadows she jumped to straddle the rudely wakening man. The violent thief pushed the strap of belt into his mouth and held his head down like it was reins, holding his head and screams back. It was a slow and bloody way to go, but Shai’s muscles were fueled by rage and crazed fear. As soon as the pair had entered this room she had known for certain. Chell was not here.

The man was all but dead when the shop’s front door opened. The would be patron got one look at the inside and fled, the spider’s vicious violet eyes staring out from the dim store would give that fool nightmares. It limited their time though. Now someone would be coming, whatever thugs protected this place would be on them in chimes.

Shai ripped the saliva drenched leather belt from the man. His struggles had come to a pathetic end and his blood dribbled weakly now. Beneath her frame, Shai’s knees bunched against the man’s abdomen. Pushing off with the coiled muscles she landed on a feet with a muffled thump-thump on the old worn wood floor. The spider turned back to Lucian, holding the belt by the tongue, essentially as a spiked whip. Only when her eyes flashed at the crow they were full of concern not adrenalin. “Duck!” She snarled in harsh command.

During her struggle the third man, she recalled him from when they had thrown them together in the chamber, had snuck behind Lucian using her as a distraction. The Symenestra was all action, none at her disposal were fast enough to close the distance before the thug could get to Lucian. She was just too far away.

Now would be the pickpockets chance to show himself more than he professed. Lucian was on his own for the precious heartbeats that would matter. Shai tried to dislodge the thought though, it didn’t matter. Lucian was just another face in the crowd.