Asa immediately pulled out his lance from the corpse which quickly turned into sword.
“Not if I kill you first right?” He jokingly stated before sheathing his blade.
“Anyways, you’re not just gonna kill us, magic users, because we saw glimpses of your face now, would you?”
"This seems like an awful lot of money for some people who know magic," Guinevere said as Arthur explained her mission, should she choose to accept it.
"Oh, I assure you, they can be quite tenacious!" he chortled. "I see you have come well-equipped, that's quite a large sword you have there. And in the most lovely colors, too!"
Guinevere's Sieglinde Rose was propped up on the side of the couch, the tip not quite piercing the shag carpeting. "It's a relic of my old hunting days," she said dismissively. "I used to work for the Caravan out in the Shiaran Desert hunting wyverns and dragons for a living."
"Ah, yes, they have a booming Hunters Guild presence out in that area, do they not?" Arthur asked, leaning back into his comfy chair. "Euh, Jameson? Would you please fetch us something to drink?"
"Yes. I will be right back," the massive manservant grumbled. It looked as though he didn't even part his teeth when he spoke. He turned and left the room silently, the marble flooring in the hallway betraying his large footfalls.
"Where'd he come from?" Guinevere asked in a low voice.
"Southern Isles. Wonderful man, likes to maintain a gruff appearance."
Jidhr was taking in the whole scene with wide, dark brown eyes, looking from the boy to Asa. He cleared his throat once, then spoke up quietly. "I…he looks like a magic user too."
Danny looks up in surprise and lowers the Scythe.
"Thank God!" He laughs in relief. "I thought you guys were hunters or something. Well then, let me introduce myself fellow magic-users. My name is Daniel, but you may call me Danny. I'm the Descendant of Death. This is my Scythe," he motions with the Scythe. "Don't try to use it, and this is my Cloak."
He lowers the hood of his Cloak, revealing his boyish face and striking eyes. He runs his hands through his hair and looks closely at the two.
"So, who are you?"
Jidhr paused for a moment, tapping his finger against his leg for a long while before speaking again. "I'm…Jidhr, and I do water magic."
The metallic magician nodded.
“The name’s Asawin but I prefer being called Asa. I’m a metal based magic user and one of the infamous Mythical Warriors from TSL” the man introduced himself.
“Fair warning though, I will not hesitate to kill you if you hurt me intentionally. Other than that, nice to meet you” the man gave the newcomer a friendly smile like what he said was a joke.
Hosea was cleaning the dagger he held in his hands, glancing out the window every so often. Listening to the sound of the rain, and the occasional thunder reminding him that he was still awake. He was also keeping an eye out for anyone coming after him. Down stairs he could hear the sound of people laughing, a fight broke out once, or twice, in the bar below him. He likely wasn't gonna get much sleep tonight. It would be enough to get him through the next day however. Hopefully he didn't get any unexpected visitors. He wasn't going to hold his breath though.
Danny smiles back and nods at the two.
"Well, I hope it doesn't come to that. Now, I seem to have teleported to the wrong place. Where are we?"
"A barn. Abandoned," Jidhr told him, eventually standing. "Found it around a day ago."
“Oh, Jameson! Thank goodness you’re back! We were starting to become parched!” Arthur was now leaning a bit further back in his chair, his light frame sinking deeper and deeper into this armchair. The manservant set down a pitcher of ice water with cucumber and lemon slices floating at the top, along with two empty glasses. As he poured, Guinevere decided she needed some more information.
“I would assume that most magic users wouldn’t simply expose themselves?” she said, taking a sip from her glass. “Do you specifically know any magic users around here? Anyone especially prominent or powerful?”
“That’s one of the main issues, unfortunately. Because the country has cracked down on them so hard, the few that do remain have managed to masquerade as regular people for many years,” the nobleman explained. “You will have to find them, somehow. I have heard rumblings from around town of at least one or two people suspected of using magic, but nothing more. I suggest asking people around town for any rumors they may have heard. It doesn’t matter how you obtain the information, just as long as you can guarantee results.”
Leaning forward over the table, Arthur whispered “I have most of this town in my back pocket, you know!”
Guinevere smiled and laughed, noticing Jameson’s deeply-knit brow as his master made the remark.
Lightning flashed and Hosea looked out the window again. For being a wanted man, he didn't seem to have anyone coming after him at the moment. It was a bit more unsettling than what he liked. "You're being to jumpy," he mumbled to himself. "Calm down, you are capable of getting out of anything." He didn't usually talk to himself, unless he was really on edge. He figured it was just because he was in a new town, and he didn't have any of his buddies with him. He was alone, but he wasn't going to let that stop him.
Guinevere has already gathered her things and was waving goodbye from the porch of Mr. Gelder’s mansion. Opening her large umbrella and stepping out onto the street, her heavy leather boots squelched in the mud of the street.
Well, shit, she thought. I’m working for a corrupt and potentially crazy man with a butler who probably trusts him less than I do.
Unfortunately, business was business. If she could at least bring proof that she killed them, that might be enough to get the reward. However, information seemed to be few and far between.
The bar might be a good place to start, the huntress thought as she recalled years of experience in obtaining information.
The bar was open despite it being around 11:00 in the morning, but a shopping wet menu outside the door signaled that the bar served lunch and dinner, too. As she walked in, the cloaked figure from before immediately stood out to her. Without so much as a greeting, Guinevere sat down in the seat across from him and tried peering into the hood he wore. The low lighting and cloudy skies obscured the man’s face, but she could tell that he was immediately off-put by her stature.
“You seem like the kind of person that knows more than he intends to let on,” she said quietly, leaning forward and placing her arms on the table.
Hosea looked at the woman in front of him, not entirely sure if he could trust her or not. You can rarely trust anyone. Why would she be different? He'd gone down to the bar to get some water before getting some rest. Go figure this lady would come up to him. "I usually keep to myself yes," he finally replied to the woman.
Asawin yawned.
“Now that that’s settled, I’ll take my leave…” he said to the two people. Without waiting for their responses, he turned his back to them, covered his body with the cloak he brought with him and ran back out into the rain.
It was only a matter of minutes before he arrived at a bar. Being him, he would want to meet new people. He walked in and looked around the place first before lowering his cloak’s hood to his neck, revealing parts of his face. He sat down near a window, wanting to look at the scenery while sipping something refreshing.
As a second cloaked figure walked into the bar, Guinevere slowly turned around, but faced forward again when the character pulled his cloak down and went to get a drink. Clearly trying to get out of the rain instead of join the man in front of her.
“Listen, all I need is some information. I’ll even pay you, I just need to know if you have any information about magic users in the area. I’m ‘hunting them,” she used her fingers to create air-quotes. “…And I’m looking to get some reward money and see if they can’t help me with another proposition.”
Asawin nearly choked on his drink when he heard some woman near him talk about ‘hunting down magic users’. He was scared, sure, but he wasn’t in his magic form so he looked like a normal person right now. The cloak he came in with also looked like an ancient piece of cloth more than anything. He took another sip of his drink. Setting the cup down, he looked out the window, trying not to worry about this woman on the table beside his.
Hosea sat back and pulled his hood down, revealing his scarred face and the black eye patch over his left eye. He knew this was going to happen. "Ma'am, I got to this town maybe two hours ago, I come from close to a years journey away. I do not know hardly anything about this town. And while I have heard rumors of magic users, I have seen none. And before you ask I don't know where any would be." He was lying, but he had been trained to hide all emotion, so he was hopeful that she would believe him. He didn't realize that behind him was another wanted poster of him.
Because Guinevere was much taller than the man in front of her, she clearly saw the wanted poster behind him.
"That's a shame," she chuckled. "It's just that you looked so much like a regular around these parts!" She directed Hosea's attention to the poster behind him. "But I supposed you can't be him, right? Your nose isn't the same!"
Out of pure curiosity, Asawin turned his attention to the poster the woman beside his table had pointed to. It wasn’t surprising to him, however, that the man tried to lie about his identity. Magic users are being hunter after all.
Fortunately for him, the only parts he had seen pictures of him in wanted posters were by the outskirts of the town. He was interested. He was interested about how the man on the table beside him would take care of the situation.
Hosea turned and looked at the poster, then he shook his head. "No, that's me alright. The people creating the posters here just can't draw worth a damn," he sighed, realizing that trying to keep up the lie would be pointless. This woman was much more diligent than he wanted. And judging by her weapon, and posture she was a hardened fighter. If they fought they could tear the place apart. He didn't know what she could do, and she didn't know what he could do. "Alright, fine you won't get any information about magic users, how about that?" He was lying about not knowing where a magic user was, aside from himself. But he wasn't lying about being from a place about a years journey away. He had only gotten to this town a few hours ago.
If she attacks, I'm out. He decided silently.
Guinevere became more exasperated. "Look, I know for a fact that you're lying. If you supposedly just blew into town, why do they already have a wanted poster of you?"
Putting her right finger and thumb into her mouth, she gave a sharp whistle that got everyone's attention, including the bartender. She gave a silent gesture comparing Hosea and his wanted poster, and the bartender quickly reached underneath and grabbed a lever-action 12-gauge shotgun. The other residents grabbed what they could, either weapons they had on them or any that the bar could provide including chairs and metal-banded steins.
"Hey!" the bartender called out to the ones with improvised weaponry. "You break it, you buy it!"
Asawin raised a brow at the people in the bar. Maybe he was not expecting that, he didn’t know how to act in that situation. There were really three options for him right now; leave immediately, go with the customers or help out this magic user…
Of course, being him, he chose the dumbest option. He stood up and grabbed the male magic user’s wrist.
“Come on, catch up…” he smiled teasingly at the female before revealing his metallic wings and accelerating both himself and the magic user upwards, breaking the roof of the bar and flying off somewhere else. He made sure he had a nice grip on the man’s wrist, otherwise falling from the height of a skyscraper wouldn’t end in such a nice image. He stayed in the sky for quite sometime, still deciding where to land.
Hosea hung limply in the man's grip for a bit, before twisting around putting his feet on the man's chest and pushing away. Twisting his arm free, allowing himself to free fall. And to make sure whoever this was didn't grab him again he frequently slowed time and let it return to normal. He neared the ground and spotted and light post just in his reach. He caught it as he fell past, twisted himself around it letting go in a gainer and lander perfectly on his feet. "If I want help I will ask for help," he mumbled, pulling his hood up and walking away in silence. He came from a place where they did stupid stunts like jumping off places higher then the empire state building and landing just the way he had. It was a normal thing for him. And while he appreciated the man trying to help out, he hadn't been done talking to the woman and he could get out of places on his own.
Asawin cursed a little under his breath when the man fell on his own. Though, he decided that if someone was going to attempt to get out of his grip, it was most likely for a good reason. In regards to that, he didn’t follow the man down but instead flew towards a mountain not so faraway from the center of the town.
Tolkalee stopped outside the bar, and looked up at the sign. If he walked in there he would likely be attacked. However his pack was still in his room up stairs. And he needed it, it had his book of herbs that he was making. And it had the book he was writing about his times in a crazy lady's army. He could stop time and walk through without a problem, or he could scale the side of the building to his room. Either way it was a pain in the neck and he preferred not to have to expend a lot of energy.
Asawin came to a stop near the top of the mountain. He landed on a small ledge, barely standing on it. He looked down at the small group of trees beneath him and sighed as it reminded him of parts of his past. Though it quickly changed when an arrow came straight for his head. He knew that it was obviously one of those greedy humans as his quite the price as well. He flew down towards the miniature forest and began a hide-n-seek with the human archer.
Looking through the nice hole that the two men made in their hasty exit, Guinevere stood and simply sighed.
"Wasn't… expecting that, but alright."
"So?" the bartender's voice cut through the silent crowd. "Are you going to get them, or what? You said you were hunting guys like them, right?"
The huntress sighed again. "Yup. On it." As she made her way to the door, she stopped in front of a man quivering from fright. Clearly, he couldn't handle his drink nor watching an overzealous getaway, so Guinevere took the drink out of his hand, chugged the almost-full mug, and handed the empty container back to him.
Hosea stepped to the shadows before Guinevere came out. His dark colored cloak hiding all traces of him, his training kicking in to keep him completely hidden. He was one of those people that was only found when he wanted to be found. That was how he dropped off the radar for close to thirteen years, living right under everyone's noses and sometimes standing right next to them without their knowledge. There was only one person that he knew of, that could track him down. But that was only that he knew of. He hoped that this woman wasn't some super human that could find him by reading his mind or something like that.
Danny suddenly appeared next to Asa, surprising him. He had his Cloak on and his Scythe out.
"Hey. I saw you flying overhead and followed you here. I also took care of that hunter for you."
He had noticed metallic wings and knew it was the magic-user he met earlier. He didn't know who he was hanging on to though. He left the untalkative one suddenly without explanation, and he chuckled inwardly on how confused he must be. He noticed it was only Asa and was confused.
"Where was that guy who you were flying with? Where is the guy you were flying with?"
"Ah shit, where'd he go?" the huntress grumbled. Looking around, there seemed to be no sign of any magic users despite them blasting out of the roof not ten seconds before. It was still raining hard, so any footprints would have been washed away. However, the distinct sound of water hitting fabric caught her attention as she passed an alleyway. A good squint and a few steps forward revealed the cloaked form for Hosea.
"Listen, I'm not actually hunting you guys!" Guinevere whisper-yelled into the shadows. "I just need you to give me proof that I supposedly 'killed' you so I can get some reward money! Do you mind helping me out with something else, actually? It's a large commitment, but it might give you a place to stay for a long period of time instead of standing in rain-soaked alleys all day."