Servant turned Criminal

[HideHere]

Caden was running as fast as he could, every breath he took seeming to send fire to his lungs, his stomach feeling as if someone was punching it with every ounce of air he brought into his lungs. He had forgotten how long he had been running, but he had not stopped since that dreadful moment back in the shop when he saw his master fall to the floor, the lifeless look in his eyes staring sightlessly at Caden. Caden had knelt down and picked up something shiny that was under the arm of his master. It was a knife, covered to the hilt in blood.

It would be that dreadful and fateful moment when he would see another servant open the door and see the other servant above the master with weapon in hand, and at that moment yell out murderer at the top of her lungs. Caden, having nothing else he could think of, ran for dear life away from the sound of alarms and the shouts of the city guards preparing to come after him.

His master had been Nysander Corvin, the Royal Advisor to the King of Kydon. Caden had been bought a month ago from a farm under Lord Barron. Now, Caden was being hunted by the whole of Kydon, and for something he hadn't done. Finally stopping, some several miles away from the capital, he collapsed against the tree. He was in the Corgon Forest, outside the capital. It would be some time before they came after him, he suspected.

What should he do? Keep running or go back and plead his case? If he went back, they would throw him in the dungeons. His only bet was to get out of Kydon as quickly as possible and fast. He would also have to find a way to clear his name and find out who had reasons to frame him for the murder of the Royal Advisor and also why they would want the Royal Advisor dead.

It was a huge task, and it would require Caden to go into his past once more, something he had sworn to do when he had come to Lord Barron those dreadful ten years ago.

[[Fantasy setting. Do as you wish, and make up whatever you want, however from time to time there will be some things that happen.]]

[Ria Hawk]

"Who are you?"  Someone had come up behind him, quietly enough that they hadn't been noticed.  A tall, thin young man stepped out of the woods into a pool of moonlight, leaning against a tree.  He had dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was looking at Caden with an expression somwhere between curiosity and anger.  "No one comes here, especially not at night.  So who are you, and want do you want?"  A sword was propped up next to him, balanced on his hip.  It was still sheathed, but his hand rested on the hilt meaningfully.

[HideHere]

"Who are you?"  The voice cut through Caden's thoughts like a knife, and he slipped to his feet in an instant, coming around slowly to face the tall, slim man.  Caden was unarmed, and he doubted he would have any chance of getting the sword that was sheathed at the young man's hip. "No one comes here, especially not at night.  So who are you, and want do you want?" Caden quickly thought of his options. He couldn't tell the truth to this young man, he would turn him in for the bounty that was sure to be on his head.

"My name is Caden, stranger. I want to get the hell out of here, however I'm lost. Have been, in this d**ned forest, for several hours now. Thought I had saw something chasing me, and realized it was my fear. Could you help me out?" Caden had learned, after years of being a servant, to play submissive and calm. He was a big man, pushing into his forties, with black eyes and a tan dark face. His build was slightly muscular, his body lithe and well toned. His hair was cut short, nearly to the scalp. He was tall, however not as tall as the young man that stood before him."So how bout it? Help me out? I'm unarmed."

-----------------

Sir Alec Kindre shook his head. Nysander Corvin had been a small and quaint man who had never meant anyone harm. However, this small man had an iron will and had been the Royal Advisor to the King Harold for some forty odd years. Everyone knew that Kygon was on the brink of war with Saltaria, the powerful and mysterious Empire to the east. Quiet and tight security had been placed on the Royal Advisor and other high members. They would have never guessed that a simple servant would be the assassin.

“What do we know on this Caden?” He said, turning to Skard, his personal assistant.” Almost nothing. He had been working for Lord Barron of Ithen for ten years before Lord Corvin bought him after the Royal Advisor had finished visiting Ithen. There is no information on a Caden.. “ Alec shook his head and stepped away from the body and into the blinding light.” So, you’re telling me that we have no idea on who he is?”

“Yes, we do.” A voice said, and appeared as if from some form of teleportation, which was probably it, the Duke of Salina stepped forward.” May I speak with you in private Sir Alec?” Alec nodded and they went to the side, away from the officers and guards.” Caden Locklear is not what he appears. Do you remember the Massacre of Kardinia?” Everyone knew of the Massacre. The Massacre that happened ten years ago. Two hundred soldiers were sent after hearing of skirmishes on the Eastern border of Kygon. They were slaughtered by Saltarian mercenaries.” Caden was at that battle.”

[Ria Hawk]

Sage looked at the man through narrowed eyes.  There's something he's not telling me...  He couldn't tell if the older man was lying or not, but he didn't quite trust him.  Well, as long as this Caden didn't threaten Master Johnathan, it would be just as well to get him out of the forest.  "Kydon City is a league to the east.  It's the closest one, if you want out of the forest quickly."  Sage really didn't like being so close to the city; it held bad memories for him.  But Master Johnathan said that Corgon Forest was neutral ground, and that it would be safe; Sage would do as he wished.  He owed Johnathan his life; in return, there was nothing Sage would not do to protect him.

Right now, that meant getting this stranger out of the forest before their sanctuary was discovered.  "I can go with you part way, if you're afraid of the forest."  He said it with a little bit of malice; he hated strangers.  "Although I don't know why you took it into your head to go through the forest instead of taking the road around."

[HideHere]

The young man seemed to narrow his eyes, and Caden knew that some part of the man believed he was lying. It wouldn't bother him, as long as he helped. The quicker he got out of the forest, the better. "Kydon City is a league to the east.  It's the closest one, if you want out of the forest quickly."  He certainly did not want the man to take him to Kydon City. Everyone was hunting for him and soon, he suspected, a force would be put together to hunt him down. No one did murder in Kydon without being repaid in full.

"I can go with you part way, if you're afraid of the forest." The anger in the man's voice was like a knife, but Caden ignored it. He disliked strangers. So did Caden, however he had to ignore it. "Although I don't know why you took it into your head to go through the forest instead of taking the road around." Caden shook his head, and scratched his chin,"I certainly do not want to go to the city, so perhaps the next closest place?"

------------------

Sir Alec Kindre rose an eyebrow,"He was at the battle?" Reports at the time said that no one had survived the battle, and some ten mercenaries were found with the dead. At that time, Alec had been a soldier part of the Seventh Legion on the western outskirts fighting orcs that were coming down upon Kydon. He had only learned of the massacre when he came back to Kydon City on leave.

The Duke nodded,"He had been in the Kydon Military since he came of age. Before that, he had lived in the Taikan Solon Memorial Orphanage before being adopted by a merchant family out of Corialia. He had been part of the Ninth Legion." The Ninth Legion had been the Legion to gain glory during the Jainin War, fighting Jainin and holding back the army that Jainin had sent."During the war, Caden rose to the ranks of Colonel and was recruited by Kydon Intelligence for a select group."

Sir Alec shook his head,"And what was this select group that he was part of? Obviously nothing good." The Duke could onyl nod,"The group called themselves Shadowstalkers. They were denied to exist by us, and worked below the King. They broke up eleven years ago after an ambush in Seleriea and Caden did free lance work for us. He was leading the Kydon company to where the raiders were supposedly camped."

[Ria Hawk]

Sage gritted his teeth.  "The next closest village is four days north from here."  Inwardly, he was cursing.  It wasn't good to have strangers in the forest for too long, but if Sage killed the man now, when he hadn't shown a threat, Master Johnathan would be upset at him.  "Killing's only something to be done in self defense.  And it's always the last option.  If you forget that, Sage, you're not better than those who gave you those scars."  He sighed in frustration at the memory. 

He didn't like leaving Master Johnathan alone for too long, but he couldn't very well let this man run around the forest unescorted.  No telling what he'd find or what harm he'd cause.  "I'll take you to the river.  Then you can just follow it upstream until you're out of the forest.  That will put you about a day west of the village."  This was becoming seriously irritating.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

Josey hid in the darkness near the pair of men who had been talking in angry voices they had awoke her from her sleep and she did not like that one little bit. she stepped closer and looked upon the faces in the clearing there was a tall lean man, Josey had seen him around before but never up close and then there was the older man big build but not as tall as the other, she had never seen him before, she leaned closer resting the palms of her hands on the nearest tree. a long shimmering sword at her side, "so this man does not want to go to kydon city i wonder why" josey thought as she stared at the two for a moment longer before pulling herself behind the tree and looking up at the night sky. josey had long black hair and whiteish skin which hid her well in the dark, she was tall and slim around her early twenties, her high cheek bones made her look elegant, but her dark eyes made her look almost evil. josey held on tightly to one of the protruding branches of the tree and began to listen again.

[Ria Hawk]

((OOC: Hey, Callista!  Dunno where HideHere went to, but I'll play with you!  I don't know if he's coming back, but we can send his character away until such time as he does.))

As Josey listened to the two men, she gradually realized that another was doing the same.  A man had quietly come up, actually standing beneath the tree she was perched in.  He seemed to be a few years older than the dark haired (and angry) young man.  He wasn't so tall, but was thinner, although it was hard to tell his actual build, because his clothes were very loose on him.  It was hard to tell what color his hair was in the moonlight, but it was a pale shade.  He was standing with one hand resting on the tree trunk; he was holding a cane loosely with his other hand.  He was apparently listening to the conversation, his head tilted a little to the side.  However, he didn't seem to be watching them, oddly.  He was staring off into space, apparently at some point far to the left of the two men.  He was enough behind the tree that they hadn't seen him, and didn't seem to have noticed the girl above his head.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

((OOC: righty-o))

Josey jumped as she heard breathing beneath her, crouched low on the branch and bent her head down below it silently she managed to swing down to a lower branch just above the mans head, she looked down at him with her black eyes "who are all these people tonight, they are stopping me from going to sleep" josey thought to herself, she groaned perhaps a little to noisily because it seemed to of got the attention of the man beneath her. with a little leap she was hidden behind the trunk on another higher branch which creaked slightly with her weight, although she was only a small girl this was only a small branch.

[Ria Hawk]

The two men had started walking away, presumably heading for the river. The man standing beneath the tree hesitated as they did, trying to decide if he was going to follow. He had actually taken a cautious step out from behind the tree when he heard a noise. He turned sharply, towards the tree. For a moment, his eyes met Josey's, but where hers were black, his were white and filmed over. "Who's there? Sage? Is that you?" He had a soft, cultured way of speaking.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

josey stared for a moment before edging a bit closer "did he see me?" she thought to herself, she looked over at the two men as they began to walk away,  "who's there? sage? is that you?" Josey recoiled slightly trying to figure out wether she should answer or not. At last her soft voice floated down from the tree "i am not sage! who are you? do you mean me harm?"

[Ria Hawk]

The man looked up in vaguely her direction when she spoke.  Clearly, he was blind.  "Oh.  Hello."  He smiled a little.  "My name is Johnathan.  I don't mean anyone harm.  Who are you?  We seldom get visitors here.  People don't like the woods."  He seemed nice enough, although a little confused.  He put his hand back on the tree again, and patted it a little, trying to ascertain the height.  "And why are you up a tree?"

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

"my name is josey, and its easier to hide if your up a tree" she said with a bit of a giggle, she dropped down silently to the ground seeming to avoid all of the leaves which had nestled on the ground, "i like this woods alot" said josey looking around at the trees which seemed to move in towards them to listen to there every word, "i always have since i was a child, i think" she said the last couple of words in a mumble. "what are you doing in the woods all alone and who is this sage?" josey cocked her head to the side and looked at the two other men who had began walking in the direction of the river.

[Ria Hawk]

Johnathan readjusted his gaze as the girl spoke, when he realized she had moved.  He didn't ask what she was hiding from.  "You're different than most, then.  Although I didn't know someone came here so regularly.  But I live here, now.  And I'm not by myself; Sage is a very good friend, and he lives here with me."  The other two men had vanished into the woods.  "Actually, I had come to find him.  I know he was around here somewhere, but I seem to have lost him again."

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

"i might be able to help find him what does he look like?" asked josey cocking her head to one side, "if it may help there were two men here just a while ago! one quite tall the other a bit shorter!" josey looked over to where the two had just been and then turned her head in the direction they had gone, "the tallest one said something about taking the other to the river."

[Ria Hawk]

"Well, he's taller than I am, and unless something has changed drastically in the last five years, is dark.  Beyond that, I'm not too sure.  But I heard his voice a few minutes ago."  Johnathan frowned.  "The river...  I hope he's not planning something drastic.  He doesn't like strangers."  He considered a moment.  "The river is a little farther than I think it advisable to go."  He started walking in a slightly different direction than the two men had gone.  "What are you hiding from?" he asked curiously.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

The question came as a surprise and josey whirled round and looked at the man "n.nothing" she stuttered with a forced calm, "i'm not hiding from anything! what are you hidding from" josey knew the blind man could tell she was lying.

[Ria Hawk]

Johnathan laughed softly.  "All right, you don't have to tell me."  He shrugged.  "I'm hiding from people who want to see me dead."

[Pariah]

OOC: May I cut in ladies?  It seems that nothing's happening yet...

[Ria Hawk]

((OOC- It's fine with me))

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

ooc: be my guest

Josey blushed and shuffled her feet "didn't mean to snap" mumbled josey "just theres so many reasons why im running. some want me dead some what me just for well other reasons" josey looked to the skys again and sighed "ive been running nearly all my life"

[Pariah]

He'd run all night, as he'd run the day before, and for an eternity before that it'd seemed, his heavily scarred body battered and attacked by the very forest he'd tried to lose his pursuers in.  At first it'd seemed to work, and the Hunters had fallen back, slowly but surely, but then it changed when their numbers were doubled, as another party of them had joined the chase, fresh and driven mad by the stench of his traitorous blood.

It'd been over, more than 40 moons had passed since the night he'd broken his oath to the tribe and fled into the night, and the weeks and months following that had been filled with bloodshed, both his and his tribe's, but time had passed with no other Hunters coming for him, and thinking his name as forgotten by them as it was by him, he'd set his back to the southern hills from whence he'd come and trudged north, into the cities and forests and mountains of the weak ones.

But the star Ofra had spoken to him, a mere week past, and then he'd started running again, the Hunters fresh at his heels with the scent of his blood in their noses again.

Now he ran, as if running were all he'd ever known in his life, driven on by the same energies that the stripping of his name were supposed to take from him, the energies he found in himself again, the energies he'd broken the Oath with.  He ran through the night, right into the camp that Johnathan and Sage had been calling home for so long now.

OOC: Bleh, possibly the worst entry I've done in a while, but it's a hard business inserting yourself into a camp in the middle of a forest that everyone else seems to avoid like the plauge, no?

[Ria Hawk]

Johnathan had been slowly making his way back the way he had come, feeling his way with his stick, Josey coming with him.  Eventually they reached a small campsite, apparently where he had been living.  "Well, if your reasons are anything like Sage's, you can stay here with the two of us.  He'll yell, but I don't think he'll mean it."

A crashing in the underbrush caught his attetntion.  "This is becoming ridiculous!"  A man charged into the small clearing.  Johnathan took a step forward, pushing Josey a little behind him and shifted his grip on his stick, so he could use it as a weapon.  "Who are you?" he asked.  The man was easily making enough noise that Johnathan wouldn't have a problem tracking him, should he need to.

"I think that's a very good question," a low voice growled behind the newcomer.  Sage had finally ditched the other guy who'd stumbled into the woods, only to come back and find strangers in his home confronting the man he had sworn to defend.  He was already in a foul mood, and this didn't help.  His sword touched the back of the strange man's neck.  "Who are you, and why are you here?"  He sounded considerably less friendly than Johnathan.  He saw the girl, but dismissed her for the moment.  It looked like the older man had been befriending people again.  Dangerous, but there was nothing for it.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

Josey reached into the black cloak she had been wearing and grabbed something underneath it but she didn't pull it out. She stood in a defensive stance and looked around at the clearing noting where each tree stood. This night was becoming something of an adventure, she watched as the tall dark man stood with his sword at the back of the new-comers neck she stepped forward next to johnathan and grasped the item harder under her cloak, she didn't like fighting but she could when she had too.

[Pariah]

Crashing into the clearing he stumbled to a stop, his eyes going wide in fear at the two humans before him, and dropping into a posture that was undeniably hostile in nature.  He was unarmed, it seemed, but didn't seem aware of this fact at all, and paid the entirety of his attention to staring at the two before him, finally reconizing that they weren't Hunters at all.

"Who are you?" The one in front, a man, asked him accusingly.

He seemed to struggle to understand what was being asked of him for a second, until the tip of the sword touched the nape of his neck.  His period of muteness broken he started a bit, and began speaking.  "I have no name, I am a breaker of the Oath, and am hunted by my tribe."  Standing straighter and lowering his hands, he looked at the two people before him, a blinded man and a girl who held onto some weapon buried in the depths of her clothes.

Pausing to collect his thoughts again as to the situation, he stumbled though an explaination as to the fact that his tribe viewed him as a taint to be wiped off the face of the earth, and were actively pursuing that end with a gusty that bordered on psychosis.  Also mentioning the fact that there should only be some four or six of them even now moving though the woods behind him as shadows through the night, and that he seems to have brought down a great misfortune upon them, being as he wouldn't be able to run far enough, or fast enough, that the Hunters wouldn't find this group as well, and quite likely slay them on general principle.

"Now, would you please either kill me or take that malformed piece of metal off of my neck?"