Secret :
40th Fall 514 AV
The Sun's Birth. Members of the gang would always recall the great loss of being driven out of their beloved Gated Community by those wretched magic users in their cloaks. Marone would most definitely join the mob against them when their identity is discovered eventhough the act itself is slightly hypocritical but as the old saying goes, 'it's only wrong if you get caught.'
And Marone was only waiting for the day when they are caught. That is for sure.
The loss was not without some gain however. Marone in realizing his new home is lacking in quite a bit of the things he enjoyed previously would have to venture into the city more often to obtain them and found the underground tunnels of the city which has been repurposed by the Sun's Birth being very useful. He could go almost everywhere in the city as long as he wanted to without its usual denizens posing their usual risk to him.
That was one of the reasons why Marone didn't quite mind being out slightly later as opposed to his usual practice back in the Gated Community. The tunnels were safe by virtue of its lack of traffic which came to a surprise for him when he heard noise in them. Marone has encountered others using the tunnels before. Members of the Sun's Birth, explorers or people wanting some security for the night but this? This was different.
It wasn't just one voice or even a group of voices. As Marone stood still trying to listen he could make out a few harsh voices. Men obviously and although Marone couldn't make out what exactly they were saying he could tell from their tone that they weren't the type of people he wanted to be meeting in these tunnels by himself. With the voices coming his way it shouldn't have been a hard decision for him to just take the other way.
But there was another group of voices accompanying the men. Nothing that Marone would have expected to hear in the tunnels at this time. Some were crying, some were wailing, some were sniffling but those which actually spoke did so in a soft voice. A begging tone. They were obviously the ones being threatened by the men.
"Punch me in the nuts if those aren't children. What is going on over here?" Marone asked himself.
This is one of those examples where curiosity is proven to not be good for a person's health in Sunberth because Marone having already grown too comfortable with the safety provided by the tunnels allowed himself to move a little bit more closer towards the source of the sounds he was listening to. Until he could pick out the details of what the children and the men were saying.
They were the usual things. The men trying to force the children to shut up. The children all crying about wanting to go home and see someone called Jillene while the other more cool headed ones were trying to dissuade the men from doing anything too rash. After all they were only children.
"They're just kids." The cry reverberated in his head even as he heard it.
Marone would've liked to help. There was still some sense of decency in him despite being indoctrinated with the Sunberth values or lack of from birth but there was nothing he could do. Not alone that is. It was at moment he came to the realization he was already a little bit too close for comfort but he didn't know what to do.
His fight or flight instincts kicked in to the side which dominated Marone most as he immediately seeked out a hiding place. The tunnels were poorly lit which would help when he found his hiding place if it didn't deter him from finding a suitable one first but eventually he found one. Without delay he nestled into his hiding spot and concealed himself the best he could. The only movement and sounds he allowed to come from himself being his breathing as he tried to keep himself as still as possible.
With not a moment too soon as the group reached the edge of his vision. Being so close he was able to hear the leader of the men egging everyone on. His subordinates, his wards, his prizes, they all received the same rough treatment to rush them forward.
"Hurry up you lot. Because you numbskulls had to play around with the goods, we got separated from the rest of the group. I'm not going to take no problems because of you."
Marone gave a sigh of relief when he heard that. good news to say the least. This wasn't even the main group and they're all in a rush. Surely they wouldn't have a reason to keep a look out for any other presences near them which would help him make his getaway undetected.
