In Search of Redemption

[Lanfear57]

 Silas' eyes glowed. The Esherhal Knights had been through his village several times when he was a child, and he finally got to meet them up close in person.
 It was said that they would one day rid the whole earth of all pain, that they could tell if you were bad just by looking at you, and that if they ever caught you doing something you shouldn't they would punish you beyond anything. They were in search of some holy relic that was said would help them vanquish evil.
 He felt a slight twinge of fear for Alton, but the kid had to learn for himself that things came with consequences. He just hoped they weren't too rough on him.
 He had never been allowed to speak to the knights when they passed through, and he didn’t know if he would have the guts to do it now. He wanted to join them; he might be able to make up for all the blood spilled for other’s sport over the past year. Surely a quest for a holy crest could help clean his conscience of the dead.
 “Er.. Sir Knight?” He started, a slight crack in his voice. The knight turned to him, slightly lifting the blade resting on Alton’s neck. “He was only looking, and I’m sure he would pay for anything he took. Right, Alton?” Dammit, he cursed inwardly, irritated that he was still sticking up for the kid, just minutes after he wanted Alton to learn something.
 “Right.” Alton had wriggled away from the Knight, and as he stood up, a coin seemed to jump to his fingers and start dancing through them. “Me pay when man wake up.” He was struggling through common again, something he hadn't done in ages, and suddenly hoped that the knight would understand it.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios looked at the newcomer in frightened silence. He didn't know who he was, but he looked very menacing. Daios didn't understand some of the conversation, but a horrible thought occurred to him. Had the Oligarchs sent someone after him? To kill him?

[Lanfear57]

 Silas hadn't heard Alton stutter his Common like that since the kid had first come to the Arena, and that was when he was scared s**tless. Common wasn't his first language, he had learned that much, but couldn't coax the hidden past from the boy. He had given up quickly, having more important things to do, like stay alive. Alton liked him because he hadn't made fun of his strugling when he got there, even though it only lasted little more than a day before his grasp of the language returned.
 Silas prodded Havinar again. "You have more guests," he said, hoping the old man's friendly, if somewhat strange, demeanor would put the Knights at ease.
 This was turning into quite the party, he mused, taking stock of the people that had accumulated - himself and Alton, both from the Arena, Daios, from some part of the mountains, Havinar, a traveling merchant who fell asleep at quite the wrong times, and two of the most famous figures in the land: the red-cloaked Esherhal Knights. Hopefully this would not lead to trouble.
 "Come on Daios. Be polite. They're relatively friendly if you haven't done anything wrong" he said to Daios, who seemed to be trying to turn invisible along with whatever horses were pulling the cart.

*****

 Alton shook himself slightly, and pulled together his composure. Looking scared only made them think you were weak he thought, as he made his way over to Havinar with his usual puppy like spring in his step. He frowned when he saw Silas trying to wake Havinar again, but lightened his expression when he saw Daios looking in his direction. The merchant really was very interesting and he wanted to buy this mirror.
 He had given up his thieving for the most part, but it would be far too easy to make the pretty mirror disappear once the red-cloaks weren't watching. They seemed to be studying him, waiting for a wrong move. He grinned innocently at them, feeling inside that they somehow knew he had gotten into a lot of trouble for things like this before.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios looked from Silas to the red-cloaked men.  They still scared him, but he trusted Silas.  "Ah...  Many greetings... ah, sirs."  He hadn't any idea what to call them.  Then, feeling a little awkward, he whispered to Silas, "Who are?  Why... wear red?  Are special?"

((OOC: I got nothin'))

[Lanfear57]

 Havinar seemed in a rather deeper slumber this time, and did not respond, but simply snorked a bit louder. "Well, I suppose I will leave him in your care then, Sirs" Silas nodded to the two Knights "and we will take our leave. We were ridding these hills of some vermin and got a bit sidetracked." He paused "If you are to be in the area for a while, I suggest not attending the Arena, it would not be to your taste." he added, slightly more harshly than he had intended.
 Alton quickly placed the mirror back on the cart, in a place where he could find it should he come across the strange merchant again, and followed Silas as he headed in the direction back towards the caves. He snuck a glance back towards Havinar and the Knights, who were looking at the man curiously, as if wondering how he could sleep in such a position, and without a care in the world.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios nodded at Silas's words.  He understood enough to know that the man was proposing leaving.  That was fine with Daios, and he had to restrain himself from running.  And really, he didn't care where they were going.  Just so long as they were leaving the stern and scary knights behind.

It didn't look like they were being followed.  Once they were out of earshot, Daios looked sideways at Silas.  "More of... red ones?  Ah, I mean...  many?  Scare me."  Then, mostly to himself, he said, "Wonder who work for?  Dangerous, maybe, if work for some people."  Then, aware that he probably wasn't asking a question that Silas knew the answer to, he asked another question.  "Where going?  More goblins fight?"

[Lanfear57]

"Yep. C'mon kiddos, let's go get the goblins before they realize that some of them are actually dead and didn't just club each other too hard." He chuckled, and started back up the hill toward the caves, leaving the cheesy smell of Havinar's coat for the slightly rotted smell of goblin sweat.


[OOC sry, I'm up to 13 classes. $%^ me /OOC]

[Ria Hawk]

((OOC- Sokay, I understand.  ))

Daios followed him, still a little worried about the possibility that someone might eventually come after him.  To keep his mind off of it, he asked something that was nagging at him.  "Why?  Think caves no good for mine, goblins not like outside, so why?  Goblins stay in caves, peoples stay out, what problem?"  He was getting a little more confidant with the trade-tongue, maybe soon he'd be able to speak it more or less right.

[Lanfear57]

 "Thing is, they don't always stay in their caves. the only thing close enough really for them to raid is the arena, but if they get too comfortable, and start breeding" he shuddered, trying not to think on that too much " then they'll move closer to the towns and start stealing things, killing small, or sometimes larger animals, and stuff like that. they're extra mean, semi-smart, and I use the term loosely, vermin."

 They reached the entrance of the cave and he heard noise from within. "Ah. They know something's up." He lit a torch and drew his sword, almost eager as he crept into the darkness. oh great he thought as he recognized the emotion, as soon as I'm doing it for myself I like it. He stopped, and Alton ran into him and yelped "Hey!"

 Then the goblins were upon them, having heard the noise and seen the torchlight. Silas swung his blade, all hesitation vanishing.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios yelped as a pair of goblins charged at him.  Goblins were mean, and a lesson he'd learned early was that they tended to orient on the weakest target.  Back home, there'd usually been enough miners in a group that the goblins thought twice, but there were only three of them now, and he was easily the smallest.  He threw his hands up in front of him to protect himself, and suddenly the goblins rebounded off of the air in front of him.  Instinct had saved him; he didn't yet understand how to create a shield, although he was working on it.

He twisted away from them and backpedaled, putting distance between himself and them.  However, he hadn't seen another one nearby, and it tackled him, knocking him off his feet.  The two of them struggled, each trying to pin the other.  Daios was small for his age, not much bigger than the goblin.  He tried to remember one of the tricks he'd taught himself, but couldn't seem to. 

[Lanfear57]

 Silas quickly dispatched the one on him, torching its face and slicing through its shoulders and back while it screamed in pain. He saw the purple flash a bit more distinctly now that he was watching for it, then turned, and dropping the torch to the floor, hauled the goblin off of Daios and threw it against the wall where it was stunned momentarily. "Do something to it, kid! If you're all magicked out, hit it with the torch." He turned away, and watched with some pride as Alton tumbled nimbly behind the third goblin and brought his short blade cleanly into its back, emerging just below the chin.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios lunged for the dropped torch as soon as he could.  He grabbed it, and swung around just as the goblin shook off being stunned.  The torch connected with the side of it's head with a crack, and it fell over and didn't get back up.  Daios didn't move for a moment, breathing hard, satisfying himself that it was dead.  It was. 

Suddenly, he felt a little dizzy, and dropped to one knee.  He'd only suffered a few minor scratches, but that wasn't it.  He hadn't eaten since yesterday (or was it the day before?), and combat was more physical activity than he'd done since his panicked flight down the mountain.  It was all right, he could keep going.  As soon as the dizzy spell passed, he staggered to his feet and waited for Silas to lead the way.

[Lanfear57]

 Silas was too busy admiring Alton's agility to notice Daios stagger after battering the goblin. "Nice work, Al-" he stopped as for the first time he was ignored by the one person who had practically idolized him since they met. Turning, he watched as Alton put an arm around the small Daios, who suddenly seemed even more scrawny then before.

 "Hey, you all right there, buddy?" Alton said gently, "You really gave him a whallop there! Here," he pulled a flask from somewhere in his loose leathers, and handed it to Daios "this'll burn like the nine hells themselves, but it'll make you feel better." He glanced around conspiratorially " I snuck it from the storerooms at the Arena, don't tell Silas, mmk?"
 At the slightly confused look, he laughed a little. "Ah, don't worry about it. just drink a little, slowly now. It helps when you're tired and hungry and need to keep going."

 

[Ria Hawk]

Hesitantly, Daios accepted the flask and took a sip.  He coughed and spluttered as it went down.  It was stronger than anything he'd ever had at home, but it helped.  He handed it back to Alton.  "Th-thank you."  He felt a little steadier now.  He looked around, "No more goblins here, what do now?"

[Lanfear57]

 "There should be at least a couple more, and whatever loot they've got. Then we've got a safe, and free, if slightly smelly, place to camp for the night. Daios, you hold the torch and stay to the back." Silas pulled his old short blade from his pack and handed it to Daios. "I don't know if you can really use this, but you might as well have it. I can teach you later if you want."
 He led them through the cave tunnels, which were surprisingly straightforward, the little branching quickly looping back on itself or dead-ending in deep pools or narrow holes to the surface and light. The walls drew apart from each other, and the cave formed into a large room from where grunts and snorts came. It sounded like someone choking to death. Silas guessed the remaining goblins were asleep and motioned for his companions to halt behind him.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios took the sword carefully, then stayed to the back of the other two.  He could use a sword, a little, enough that he felt safer with it.  When Silas motioned to stop, he halted, listening.  The other goblins were asleep; he knew that sound well enough.  He still didn't understand, really, why they were hunting the goblins in their own lair, but he knew things were different here.  Maybe at home, the goblins weren't a threat because they were scared of the Oligarchs.  Everyone else was.

He couldn't quite tell how many there were, the echoes were bad.  If they woke up, it could be bad.  But surely, with the element of surprise, they'd be okay.  It looked like the way they'd come in was the only one, that could help too maybe.

[Lanfear57]

 "Ok kids, here's the plan" Silas murmured, keeping his voice from echoing "Daios, you stay back here, you look exhausted and the torch will likely wake them up. If they do wake up, come in swinging or magic something at them, ok?" He turned to Alton "I'm impressed. You've stopped trying to make me deaf with your chatter and can be pretty d**n good in fight. Lets see you keep your feet quiet too so we can just whack their heads off and see what they've got back here, eh?"
 He turned back to Daios "If anything happens and you need help, yell. There can't be a whole lot, cave's too small. It's easier to keep them asleep though."
 He motioned them both to silence, and for Alton to follow, and set off towards where he thought the sound was coming from. Soon enough, in the little light that drifted in, 2 lumps were fuzzily outlined on the floor. He motioned Alton to the smaller and looked at the larger.
 It was hideous, and not like any goblin he had seen before. It was bigger, uglier, and smelled worse. He shrugged, and slashed at its neck. Vile smelling, hot blood splashed on him, and his sword was mostly stuck about halfway in its shoulder. Silas trying to pull it out with it bellowing and flailing at him while Alton ran back over, having easily dispatched the other one, a regular goblin.
 "The hell is that?" Alton said, lending a foot and stomping on its face as Silas finally tugged his sword free and plunged it into the things chest, its arms slowing and finally dropping to the floor.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios listened.  If there were any other goblins in the cavern, the yelling would have brought them on the run.  But he didn't hear anything coming.  He wasn't too far away from one of the pools of water, and something about it caught his attention.  He studied it for a moment, trying to find out what was different.  Then he realized it was that the ceiling was dry above it.  In every cave he'd been in, pools of water had one of two sources.  Either the water dripped from the stone above, or it came from under.  He held the torch out, looking down into the water curiously.  The water was very clear, and he could see down to the bottom.  And it looked like there was a tunnel under the water, leading further back into the cave.  It looked big enough that they could fit, if they wanted to.

Sometimes, Daios was too curious for his own good, but he wasn't stupid.  He slipped back to where Silas and Alton were.  "Something.  Found tunnel, maybe leads somewhere.  Have to swim if go look."  He did want to go look, but if the others didn't, he wouldn't.  It would be a bad idea to split up now, there could be something unpleasant on the other side.

[Lanfear57]

 "Hey look there's a fire pit already" Alton said, falling back into his usual quick jabber, "so we can make some hot food and get some rest before we do anything else. How's that sound Daios? Especially if we're gonna be taking a cold swim. And lets see what stuff they've got laying around here, that's half the reason we came in the first place!" He started to poke around, having taken the torch from Daios, and found a couple of beat-up wooden crates along one of the walls, with the tops just resting on them. Sliding them off, he saw one had several large chunks of wood - whether they were supposed to be clubs or firewood he couldn't tell. They were getting used as the latter.
 The second crate proved to have much more interesting contents. It had a couple of decent looking daggers, which Alton immediately hid *somewhere* in his leathers. Silas glanced over and saw metal glinting and wondered what he didn't know about Alton, where he hid so many things in the armor that looked like it wouldn't block a thing, yet always seemed to put its thickest part between every blow and its owner's body.
 The crate also had a light metal shield, which Alton tossed quickly to Silas, who caught it and was surprised at its lightness - it weighted maybe three quarters of a normal shield, because of the design. He liked it.
 Alton saw something glint in the bottom. At first he thought it was just light from the torch reflecting off of some water, but then he reached down, and pulled out a bright red stone. "Hey Silas, Daios, take a look at this.." He danced it along his fingers, letting the torchlight glimmer off of its facets, seeming to be captured within its faces.

[Ria Hawk]

Food sounded very good to Daios, although he didn't know what Alton meant to cook.  Daios certainly had nothing to cook.  It was just as well that Alton wanted the daggers, Daios couldn't have used them nearly as well.  And he barely knew what to do with a shield.  But the stone caught his attention.  "Pretty."  Without thinking, he took it to get a better look at it, turning it over in his hands to get a better look at it. 

Then he froze, and looked up at Alton.  He'd found it, and he was bigger than Daios.  It was hard to miss the fear in his eyes.  He handed it back to Alton, then quickly backed away, looking at the ground.  "Daios sorry."

[Lanfear57]

 Alton tilted his head, unused to this kind of reaction. He was used to being the smallest one, to having to give things to people so they wouldn't beat him up, and then get them back on his own.
 "Hey, I've an idea, I'm gonna hide it in a hand, and if you pick the hand, then you get to keep it, ok?" he started switching it between his hands, moving quickly, and then moved them behind his back "And remember, if you can pull your own weight, you're not the little guy with us, ok?" He held out his hands.
 When Daios tapped a fist, he opened it to show no gem there. Then he quickly opened the other hand, showing no gem there either. Putting his palm near Daios' right ear, with a flourish Alton made the red stone glimmer, seemingly out of Daios' ear, or perhaps thin air, and handed it with a grin to his surprised audience.

 

[Ria Hawk]

Daios stared.  He hadn't seen anyone do... anything like that, really.  It didn't feel like magic, though.  As Alton handed it to him, he looked at the man in confusion.  He was... giving it to him?  Suddenly he smiled, holding the jewel like it was the most valuable thing in the world.  "Thank... thank you."  He sat down next to the fire, still smiling.  Maybe it was his imagination, but the jewel felt warm.  He liked it.

Meanwhile, Silas had been holding some strips of dried meat over the fire to cook.  Daios wasn't too sure what sort of meat it was, and really didn't care much.  He timidly took the peice Silas handed him, and held it carefully until it cooled.  It wasn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but he'd had worse.  He nibbled on it carefully, but didnt' finish it.  No telling when he'd find more, and it wouldn't be right to keep taking Silas and Alton's food.

[Lanfear57]

 Silas quickly wolfed down his food, another attribute acquired at the Arena. "I'll take first watch. Daios, you get my sleep bag, I'll take Alton's when I wake him for watch." He looked at the two who seemed to have bonded so quickly. He was glad he knew them, it made it easier to think about now than to think about before. He wasn't looking forward to watch and being alone with his thoughts.
 Settling with the back to the fire, he faced the opening to the tunnels and settling in for a spell. He wasn't really one to try and talk to people much, but he could sort-of hear Alton talking to Daios, asking him questions about where he was from and a dozen other things.

 When Silas said he'd take first watch, Alton immediately pulled his sleep bag out and plopped it next to Daios, and started peppering him with questions. "Where are you from? How come you ran away when we first found you? How come you're parents don't want you home?" He hadn't heard Silas' part of that conversation, and that had been bugging him.

[Ria Hawk]

Daios had to concentrate very hard to keep up with Alton's rapid speech.  He was getting better at it, though.  "From Taldos, up in mountains.  Very small."  The next two questions were harder to answer.  He hesitated a moment, fumbling for the right words.  "Taldos... magic is bad for common people.  Only Oligarchs can use.  There was cave-in, Daios used magic."  Here was where it got sticky.  "Parents were scared of Oligarchs, and no like magic.  If go back, give Daios to Oligarchs.  Less bad for them that way."  He didn't want to talk about the Oligarchs.  They scared him, so he changed the subject.  "Where is Alton and Silas from?"

[Lanfear57]

 "Well, Silas is from a little port town called Keldros. It's across the sea. He was captured for the Arena, like I was, only he didn't have any particular reason to get picked up. I lived the last 10 years or so in Caele Aran, the capital of the kingdom across the sea. Living on your own as a child ends up getting you in trouble, so as soon as they considered me old enough to ship me out of there, and managed to catch me, they got me on one of the Arena boats." That was about as much as Silas knew, and he wasn't going to tell them that he knew where he had lived before, or that his stutter when he was nervous was due to learning it later in his childhood. They'd learn if the time came.
 Alton rolled over in his bag, inching closer to the fire. "When we get up we'll check out what you found, and then go get you some stuff in the town that's supposed to be nearby. let's get some sleep." He shut his eyes, and within moments was fast asleep.