Alone in the Dark

Rogue in Hunting

Keana felt his stomach drop as he waved for them to follow him into the back room. He barely controlled his approbation long enough to wait for the door to his private office to close before snapping. "What is it?"

"Sir, its Jus," Tomei stuttered. She was shaking with fear in a way that he had never seen from her before. "He's dead. He never came back after he went to get the response from his contract, we found him downstream in the river. First, we thought he had fallen in and drowned, as he can't swim, but then we saw that his throat was bitten out. Clean gone."

"Who d'you leave behind there?" Keana's frustration disappeared, replaced with a slowly building dread. Belatedly realizing that it still terrified her, he reached out to squeeze one of her shoulders to comfort and bolster her.

Tomei's smile trembled, but she did her best to "Only the twins, Sir. They said they'd wait there in case you wanted them to do anything."

Keana nodded before he turned to look to his two lieutenants. "Gather some of your scouts and fighters, we're going up there."

Everyone stilled, the entire room giving him a look of utter fear, and finally one lieutenant murmured. "Sir, its dark."

"We make our living in the dark." Keana glared hard at them, then noticed the look of abject terror in the faces of those around him.

It was so different from what he usually saw in any of his people and he forced himself to understand where it was coming from. They had all seen the remains of the Lansend soldiers in that clearing.

Keana sighed and inclined his head. "There's not much that we can do tonight, you'll need time to gather a good sized force. Tell everyone to go to ground, rest, and we'll start up in the morning."

"I'll send up a bird to tell the twins to hunker down till we arrive." His lieutenant murmured, looking relieved as the group of them cleared the room.

Keana looked to the fire, frowning in thought as he contemplated the fact that his hardened company of rogues and assassins were now afraid to operate at night. Knowing that he would be unable to sit still or get some rest himself, he turned and paced back out of his office. Slipping through the shadows and pulling up his hood, Keana disappeared into the city streets. He had been a Rogue far longer than he had run a company of them and sometimes his old job allowed him to clear his mind.

It was snowing again; the night cooling down quickly; the streets filling with a dirty slush as people, horses, and wagons made their way back and forth in the day's end. Without a purpose in mind, he stalked back to the Inn that was inhabited by the Lansend Guards.

Keana paused in an alleyway, seeing two of the Royal Guard walk by, their bodies at ease, talking lightly as they passed him. He let them round a corner, out of reflex more than worry that they would see him, before he made his way across the road and into the Inn. There, at a table in the corner, sat the four as they had every night since arriving.

Keana stopped and narrowed his eyes, seeing a man dressed as a simple villager sitting with the group. It wasn't hard to discern that he was the missing fifth soldier. Keana glanced around the room, then back to the table, watching the villager and noting the scar tracing across his jaw, the fake aura of ease that belied a stance ready to fight and the telling sword on his back.

Clearly a Guard. And one with a fair bit of time in his position.

Keana let out a breath to adopt a facade of calm and strode across the tavern. He made his way unerringly towards the table of five Guards and picked up a chair. Before they could respond, he put the chair down at their table, backwards.

His features still hidden by his hood, Keana sat down facing them and murmured smoothly. "Good evening."

They all tensed, hands going to hilts and chairs shifting as they braced but Keana kept his hands empty. He slowly placed them on the back of the chair to show that they were empty, glancing around to each of them in turn.

When none of them said anything, he continued. "Excuse the interruption, but I wanted to see if I could buy you obedient soldiers a round, and perhaps ask after a friend of mine from down your way."

"We haven't been home in several weeks" The one soldier murmured, her hand lifting from her sword hilt as she offered him a shrug.

"I know. I've seen you around here for a while, helping the Royal Guard?" Keana returned easily, keeping his tone light.

"Look, we're just here, enjoying a pint with a friend, we have no information to sell." The largest of the group offered darkly, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Keana. "Nor would we, if we did."

Keana nodded slowly. "Alright. You're probably right, you don't. I just figured you guys were on the same side as me, seeing as how I helped cut your dead comrades down from trees only a few weeks ago."

They froze at his words and he congratulated himself on that small win, for he had stunned them. From the looks of it, they were working furiously to figure out if the information made him a friend or enemy.

Before they could decide either way, he plowed forward. "Look, your contact in Sythe, she's an old friend of mine. She gave me a tip, and she was right. I've lost a man now, so I'm heading back up there in the morning. I figured I'd give her an honest hand with what she's doing. But I wanted to let you know, the enemy is getting bold, they took my man in the village itself, so I don't think it's safe for her to be running around doing what she's doing alone."

The villager watched him for a long moment, then nodded to the others. The other four relaxed visibly, marking him as the leader of the group. Rubbing at his scar thoughtfully, he met Keana's eyes and murmured. "Our contact has been hunting the woods for them the last couple days, hopefully she's able to track them out of the village tonight, then."
Keana tensed at his words leaning forward, his voice barbed with anger as he regarded the five of them. "She's going out alone? Against something that ripped apart twelve well trained fighters? Is she insane?"

The leader laughed before inclining his head. "She's done worse than that on her own. I'm returning in the morning as well. Who should I tell her is looking for her?"

"You should return now, dragging her ass back to wait until she's got reinforcements, is what you should do." Keana shook his head and moved to stand, but the man just laughed at him again.

"Have you ever tried to hold a wolf back from a kill? No? I suggested I helped, and she made it quite clear I needed to come down here today." He ran his thumb down the scar on his jaw pointedly. "She was eight when she did this with a diving knife, merely from pulling her out of half-frozen water before she died of hypothermia. We've learned not to stop her when she's on a hunt."

"I think she may have cut off your testicles as well." Keana snapped, before letting out a calming breath. "I've been trying to form a theory about our mutual friend, and you all make me curious. I don't suppose you will tell me who she really is?"

They all stared at him in stubborn silence, the scarred man smirking thoughtfully at him. From their expressions, Keana knew he would not get any information. Ruefully, he pulled out a card with a black cat on it and put it on the table. The five of them looked at the card curiously, then back up to him.

Keana tapped it pointedly before he slid it toward them as he stood. "Do your best to suggest she wait until we meet up to do anything further."

"I'll make sure to let her know about your request." The man chuckled, making him feel like he was the brunt of a joke.

Keana sketched a half bow before leaving the tavern, finding himself soon scaling the walls of the town to look north. He searched the darkness of the woods long into the night, though there was nothing in the silent woods to give him any hint of the enemy they were facing.

Whether or not he liked it, he had to have faith that whoever Vix was; she was smart enough not to go after these things on her own. Keana scowled as he made his way back to his own tavern, despite knowing there would be no solace of sleep waiting for him.