No Rest for the Wicked [M]

[DragonSong]

@Paladienne

CW: Child trafficking



This was not what he had signed up for.

The job had seemed simple, easy money: show up at the agreed upon location, stand guard for a couple of hours, take his pay, leave. Whatever this Dorian guy was doing was probably illegal--okay, definitely illegal, he wasn't an idiot--but Cass has sort of decided that...well, as long as he had plausible deniability, he couldn't say he was really involved in anything too sordid.

He figured it was just a typically robbery, maybe some sort of more advanced heist. He had not been expecting, nor signed on for, taking part in a slave operation.

He definitely hadn't agreed to kidnap a bunch of kids.

"Godsdamned motherfucking asswipe shitheels," the dhampir growled under his breath as he jerked his shortsword out of his fellow guard's back. The man had slipped up, mentioned what it was they were actually doing at this--this school or whatever it was, and without blinking Cassian had severed his spine.

Breathing heavily, he gave the body a firm kick to tug his blade the rest of the way free, glaring at the corpse as it sunk to the ground. "You guys just fucked with the wrong merc," he hissed, and turned on his heel.

He wanted to just go charging in, caution be damned, but the part of his brain that was still working logically knew that was a bad idea. Though he hadn't exactly been involved in planning this operation, he'd overheard a bit of what Dorian said about the place's defenses--namely that they were nigh on impregnable.

The slavers had only gotten in through some insanely powerful relic that, if he thought about it too hard, he realized they'd probably killed for. It apparently worked as a sort of mini-shield against the school's defenses. And he had no idea how long even that would last.

But he couldn't exactly just stand around and wait for them to come back out: not only were there twelve of the slavers left and only one of him, making confronting them as a group a spectacularly bad idea, but there were kids in there for gods' sakes!

"Oh...hells!" Gritting his teeth, Cassian drew his other short sword and made his way to the front gate. Least expected option, so he should have the element of surprise, right? Sure, he'd definitely set of the wards, but hopefully he could find Dorian and take out the leader before they actually managed to grab anyone.

...If he made it out of this alive, Snowcall was so going to kill him.

[Paladienne]

The wards were going nuts.

Astyrian closed the book he'd been reading and stared for a long moment at the opaque mirror that dominated one entire wall of his quarters' common space, watching as a perfect likeness of the school and the grounds appeared on the wall. It was a simple map for all its elaborateness, but the purpose of this map was to show where the wards surrounding the school were being breached, and if any of those who breached the wall of magic had made it onto the grounds. Anyone who passed through the wards were given a sort of... tracker. It was simple magic, hardly noticeable even by those who had power. It didn't harm the person, simply showed Astyrian their location within the grounds. There were different glows upon the wall then, lights blooming like tiny flowers. There was a cluster of green in the dormitories, showing that all his children were in their rooms if not their beds. Blue showed the staff - teachers, groundskeepers - also still in their quarters but moving about with frantic motion, for the alarm would have woken them from sleep and alerted them to incoming problems. And red...

Red showed enemies.

There was a cluster of red heading down the main hall of the school building, heading toward the dormitories. Another red light was still near the entrance of the breach, and there were two fading red lights that winked out even as Astyrian watched. Then that lone red light charged into the school.

Astyrian narrowed his eyes as he watched that lone light. Enemy? Friend? He didn't know. And he honestly didn't care. His job wasn't to care about the intruders. It was to end them.

The sun elf pushed himself from his seat and tossed the book down on the cushion behind him. He didn't bother to grab the dark blue stole that announced him as the school's headmaster; rather he grabbed a black cloak that he pulled over his bright hair. No sense in giving his enemies knowledge that he was coming. He left his quarters and headed down the stairs, meeting a few of his staff in the hall. He quietly issued orders, and then left them to it. They were all trained warriors, trained assassins, trained killers. While they wouldn't ply their craft openly where the children could see, no enemy that they came across would be treated with mercy. So long as they were out of sight of the children, their enemies would be torn to pieces.

Astyrian himself headed for the largest cluster of the red lights, the cluster that had been heading for the dormitories. His last glance to the map had shown that some of the lights had split off into different halls, no doubt to search rooms for treasures. Well, his subordinates could handle those fools. What he was after was the ringleader of this stupid endeavor.

Astyrian paused as he came around the corner of the school building and the outside pathway that would take him to the boys' dormitory. The doors had already been blasted open, and within, he could hear the cries of the children. And he could hear the harsh voices of men demanding that the children shut up and be quiet. He heard the defiant voices of a few of the oldest boys, the ones about to graduate from the school and join the ranks of the initiates of the Nightshades, but as strong as they were, as skilled as they were, they were just children.

Astyrian started for the dormitories, walking with measured, even steps even as he gathered his power around him. The moment he crossed the threshold of the dorm, the lights that ran on power immediately shut off, immersing the rooms in darkness. The only source of light was the fire dancing around Astyrian's clenched fists.

"Boys," Astyrian said, his voice soft but carrying in the darkness, "take your brothers and go."

Even in the darkness, Astyrian heard the soft rustling of clothes as the boys quickly fell silent and began to move, getting further away from him even as he approached the invaders. He brought one of his hands forward, allowing the firelight to grow just enough that he could see the first of the men who'd broken into his school. His eyes landed on the ancient, rusted relic one carried, and he could sense the magic even from here. That would be troublesome, but nothing he couldn't handle.

"Did you know, sometimes the more enterprising characters from Zantaric try to sneak in here?" Astyrian said, a cold smile creeping across his face. "Do you know what stories are told about those fools?"

Before one man could even retort, there was a soft hiss, and he was suddenly immolated, his scream filling the dormitory.

Astyrian chuckled at the startled cries of the remaining men. "Nothing. There are no stories told because no one survives to tell stories." His golden eyes flickered over the rest of them. "Now... let's begin the lesson. You'll live long enough to regret breaking in here, at least."

[DragonSong]

It was painfully easy to follow the sound of children's cries through the building, and in under a minute Cassian had reached what he assumed to be some sort of dormitory.

He apparently wasn't the first one to do so. He rounded the corner just in time to see a man--obviously a mage, he could power rolling off him in waves from down the hall--step into the room and watched the lights go out. He could hear him speaking, vaguely, and gathered that he must have been one of the caretakers here: a teacher or something, probably, someone charged with defending the school and the kids.

Well. Great. At least he wasn't going up against Dorian and his group entirely alone. He'd just have to hope this professor or whatever could actually hold his own in a fight.

And that he wouldn't just kill Cassian on principal, assuming he was one of the mercs.

Well...worth a shot.

The darkness wasn't a problem for him; in fact, he could use it to his advantage, keeping himself relatively hidden as he stalked down the hall toward the blasted doors. He was well practiced in moving silently through shadows, always keeping one ear perked for sudden sounds behind him that might indicate an ambush.

A good things, as it turned out. It seemed not all of Dorian's men had gone after the kids--he heard footsteps, trying and failing to be stealthy, patter against the floor behind him as one of the slavers rushed him.

The dhampir twisted out of the way and caught his assailant's shirt at the same time, checking him with his hip to send him tumbling over onto the floor. The man gave a sharp cry that was equal parts pain, surprise, and anger, then sprang to his feet even as Cassian darted forward, blade drawn.

Steel clashed against steel as Cassian's short sword met the slaver's long dagger and they strained against each other, teeth bared in nearly identical snarls.

"You!" the slaver spat at him. "You're the one supposed to be on guard--you killed Alek!"

Cass smirked. "Yeah," he admitted easily. "I did."

[Paladienne]

Astyrian cocked his head as he heard the clashing of steel outside in the hallway. Reinforcements? Or had one of his men come across one rat that managed to escape him. He didn't know. Honestly, he didn't care. These worms meant nothing to him, and he could care less about what happened to them. They had stepped into his territory, and therefore their lives were forfeit. They had dared to try to take his charges, and therefore their bones wouldn't even see the light of day when he was done with them. His eyes roamed over the men that were left in the room, including the smoldering ashes of the man he'd just immolated.

"I'm not really in a generous mood tonight," Astyrian said, flicking his fingers. A small spark jumped from between his forefinger and thumb, illuminating one side of his face with blue light. "So I really don't care for explanations. I don't give a shit why you're here. So go ahead. Do your worst. Because you aren't getting out of here."

Astyrian saw movement out of the corner of his eye and shifted to one side as the man rushed him, a blade leading. It was a simple movement, one that took him just out of reach of that blade. Honestly, what did these barbarians think they were fighting? Did they really think they could defeat one such as him? Even if he hadn't received martial training by the sanctity of his position of birth, he'd received it upon joining the Nightshades. True, he hadn't gone through all the training many of the members had, considering his own prowess, but the men he faced now might as well be infants before him. He doubted he even really needed magic to defeat these fools.

He lifted a hand and struck the back of the man's shoulders with a well-placed jab, feeling the cluster of muscles give under his fingers. The man hit the floor with a sharp cry, but he couldn't rise. All he could do was flop around on the floor like a fish out of water, trying to get his feet beneath him. Astyrian knew turning his back on the man wasn't the wisest move, but another of the intruders was rushing him, this time swinging at him with a dagger with a wicked hook at the end of the blade. Astyrian skipped backwards, snagging the first man's fallen blade with quick fingers. He caught the hooked blade with his own, surprised by the man's strength. It was almost on par with his own.

Almost.

Astyrian pivoted on his left foot, allowing the human to slide past him. The sun elf then flipped his dagger around, and he stabbed the blade forward. The dagger easily pierced the soft skin of the man's throat, sinking deep. The man burbled and clawed at the dagger in his neck, but Astyrian simply kicked the man in the chest, driving him to the floor. With a casual flick of the wrist, flames ignited around the man's body, charring him to ashes.

"Well, that's two," Astyrian said with a small smile. "How many of you are left?"

"Get him! Get him!" screeched the man Astyrian believed was the leader. "Kill that bastard!"

"Bastard?" Astyrian said, his smile growing and acquiring sharp teeth. "I'll have you know that I was legitimately recognized by the country of my birth. There's a record and everything."

Of course, that record now was probably destroyed, along with any link he might've had to his birth family. Not that it mattered anymore. He was dead to them. And they were dead to him. The only thing that mattered now was removing these bastards from his home and making sure his children were safe and accounted for.

The remaining men rushed him, attacking en masse for the advantage. And had Astyrian been anyone but who he was, it probably would've been enough to kill him. But he was indeed who he was. A powerful mage, an assassin, a Nightshade. And he wasn't going to lose here. Couldn't afford to lose here.

Astyrian ducked under a swing and landed a hard punch to the man's solar plexus, driving his breath out of him. Pivoting, Astyrian dropped low and took out another man's legs by sweeping his own into the path of his feet. As that man fell, Astyrian spun upwards, lightning jumping from his fingertips. The electricity snapped and cracked and left the taste of burning metal in the air, and with just a simple point of his finger, Astyrian directed the spell into the heart of the man closest to him, bursting his chest in a splatter of blood and bone. It was enough to make the remaining men pause.

Astyrian sighed and ran a hand through his fiery hair. "Did you really think that was a good idea? Honestly, the children can do better than you."

[DragonSong]

Cass could barely make out what was happening through the doors. He could hear some of the words, the screaming, caught the occasional bright flash of light and felt the crackle of magic over his skin, but as it all happened a second, and then a third, of Dorian's men converged on him, forcing him back into the room with the bulk of the fighting.

Just in time for a spray of blood to catch him in the side of the face. The man whose chest had just fucking exploded what the hell sank down to the floor as Cassian whipped his head around, a brief flash of crimson lighting his eyes. Instinctively, his tongue flicked out, tasting a drop of the blood that had spattered over his cheek.

He wrinkled his nose. Small men to the very end, it seems.

He didn't exactly have time to react more than that though, because Dorian himself caught sight of him as he swung his short sword toward one of his assailant's necks and the slaver all but growled.

"Fucking traitor," he hissed, evidently distracted from the terrifying mage for a moment. "Did you sell us out to the bastard, huh?!"

"What? No!" Cass drove his blade through his attacker's chest too easily, slicing flesh and bone as easily as a hot knife through butter. He kicked the body back off his sword and finally got a good look at the cause of the rest of the slaver's hesitation.

His head cocked slightly to the side and he glanced back at Dorian with a smirk. "I mean... I'll probably still help him kill you, but does it really look like he needs me to?"

Without turning his head, he suddenly snapped his off-hand out, throwing his second blade like a javelin directly through the throat of the man who had been sneaking up behind the bright haired elf. "On your left," he noted calmly, and threw himself back into the fray as the fighting broke out again.

[Paladienne]

Astyrian simply tilted his head back to avoid the projectile thrown by the dark elf and his eyebrows shot toward his hairline, his eyes going wide at the sight of the other elf fighting alongside him. Clearly the kid was an ally, and so Astyrian wasn't going to object to the help. Just as clearly, this kid wasn't a moon elf. He just didn't have the look the stupid Moonbeam did. Rather, he looked like something... different. Something Astyrian hadn't dealt with before, but had certainly heard rumors of. Either way, the kid was on his side for the moment, and therefore wasn't worthy of a second, harder look.

There would be time for that later.

Astyrian turned toward the leader, barely glancing at the corpse on the floor. The kid's knife had driven straight through the human's throat, a precise blow that completely severed the trachea and had hit the spine on the other side, effectively killing the man. The sun elf locked eyes with the leader and he lifted his hand, allowing flames to spark to life mere centimeters above the tips of his fingers.

"The kid's not wrong," Astyrian said, his voice as cold as a deep mountain lake in winter. "I don't need his help to kill you. Right now, you're probably the last one left. And do you remember what I told you before? How there are no rumors about survivors?"

The fire on his fingertips spread then across his hand and up his arm, until his entire left side was covered in the flames. Raising his arm, Astyrian pointed his index finger at the leader, and turned his hand so his thumb was facing upwards. The flames writhed then, extending to the shape of a bow. Astyrian did nothing but smile, almost anticipating the future of this moment right now. Would the leader turn tail and run? Would he try to fight? Would he beg for his life? Astyrian didn't care.

A flaming arrow, barely the size of a feather, formed at the tip of his finger, at the crux of his flaming bow. Astyrian felt more than heard the pop of lightning as the sparks jumped from the flaming arrow's tip, wreathing the arrow in golden crackling energy.

The sun elf's breathing completely stilled for a heartbeat, and then the arrow fired, speeding along in a swirl of fire and lightning. Then Astyrian breathed again, deep and long, and in the split second it took for him to exhale again, the bolt shot through the chest of the leader. As the lightning burst out from his back, wreathing him and the hall in bright light, the flames that the arrow had been made from swirled upwards in a great conflagration, greedily consuming the leader's flesh. Astyrian turned then, raising a hand to catch the wrist of yet another invader before the man's sword could cut him in twain. He twisted, stepping toward the human and using his hips as the fulcrum on which to flip the man over and wrest the sword from him.

As the man hit the ground, Astyrian flipped the blade in his hold so he could grasp the hilt. His long fingers curled around the hilt and in another smooth movement, he slammed the blade through the man's middle, twisted the sword, and then pulled up, cracking through the human's sternum.

Astyrian released the blade then, his eyes casting about the dark for any more enemies. Seeing none, he turned his attention to the dark elf that had, ironically enough, turned against his allies and had made a stand with Astyrian. That should've been enough to stay Astyrian's hand, but the bright elf wasn't taking any chances.

Raising his hand again, he cast a quick spell of binding, snapping the darker elf's legs together, and his arms to his side. Even when the other hit the ground, Astyrian kept his distance, staring hard at the other man.

"So. You have about three seconds to convince me not to take you out with the other trash." Astyrian said, his voice pleasant.

[DragonSong]

Ah, shit.

He'd seen this coming, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Sighing heavily, Cassian looked up from where he'd been wiping his blade on one of the downed slaver's shirts, then rocked back on his heels. Or tried to. It seemed he was stuck in place.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"I hate magic," the dhampir growled under his breath, glowering up at his captor. Louder, he added, "Well, to be perfectly honest with you, there's not a whole lot about me that should stop you." His head cocked to the side and he continued, "But you'd probably really piss off some pretty powerful people, and I dunno if you wanna bring that kind of trouble down on your head. Especially after all this."

He shrugged, as it was about the only motion he could really complete in his current state. "I know that sounds like I'm bullshitting you, but seriously. You don't wanna fuck with some of the guys I represent." Another shrug. "Aside from that...I mean, I did help out here." He glanced around, considered, then added, "Not that you really needed it, clearly. But that has to count for something, right?"

He tipped his head back to look up at the elf with the most charming, relaxed grin he could muster in his current situation. He thought he pulled it off pretty well, all things considered.

[Paladienne]

Astyrian's brow quirked up as the boy spoke about powerful people and how his demise might just piss them off. Did he not know where he was? Did he not know who he was dealing with? Did he not know what stood before him right now?

"Are you fucking serious?" Astyrian gasped out, half laughing half choking in surprise. "Do you have any idea what you incited when you stepped foot on this property? Do you have any idea about the people I work for?" He held up a hand to stay the dark elf's words. "No, of course you don't, because if you did, you would have convinced these assholes not to even try."

Deciding the kid wasn't going anywhere for the moment, Astyrian turned his attention away from him and toward the mess in the dormitory. The kids certainly weren't going to be allowed back in here until that was cleaned up. And it would be hell to get the bloodstains out of the walls and the bedclothes, so those would have to be removed and replaced. Gods above, he didn't even know what he was going to write in his report about this. And they would be expecting a report, or they'd drop down on his doorstep and expect him to give him a song and dance about what happened here. And of course, if Moonbeam dropped by, under whatever pretext he decided to use to investigate, Astyrian would be hard-pressed to cover this up and say nothing happened that he couldn't handle.

Because the truth was - and this irritating chit was right - Astyrian hadn't really been able to handle these intruders on his own. If he hadn't had this elf watching his back, and fighting with him, the chance that Astyrian would have survived this incident without injury was pretty slim. Not that Astyrian was a slouch, or because he was lazy, or out of practice, but just because of numbers. Astyrian would have eventually run out of mana to cast his spells, and then he would have been forced to fight hand to hand combat. And while he was certain he could've defeated the men, he would have certainly been wounded. And that would have been something he couldn't live down.

He was a Nightshade, dammit. Nightshades didn't get wounded, at least not in their own domain.

Astyrian blew out a breath and returned his attention to the kid he had restrained. His eyebrow rose again at the expression on the kid's face, a charming, relaxed grin that Astyrian would have called cute or handsome had his mind been geared toward considering that aspect rather than geared toward murderous action. He did have to admit, the dark elf was kind of on the handsome side, rather attractive in a roguish way. But Astyrian wasn't about to let himself be wooed into a sense of complacency by those looks. He wasn't about to let looks do him in. Because that would be another thing he wouldn't be able to live down.

And pretty things had a tendency to betray him.

They had a tendency to try and kill him.

Astyrian sighed again. "Well, perhaps we can come to some kind of understanding. I'll pretend that I never saw you here. You'll pretend that you never broke in here. I'll take you beyond the boundary and let you go. If you step foot on this ground again uninvited, I will kill you. Sound fair."

[DragonSong]

Cassian began to scowl as the elf spoke. "Hired muscle doesn't convince their employer of anything," he grumbled--almost more for the form of the thing than because he really cared if the mage heard or believed him. "If they did, I would have been told what exactly the fuck these sickos were planning."

He huffed slightly and gave his captor--because at that point that seemed a pretty apt description for the other man--a rather droll stare. "Sure," he said after a few moments of tense, awkward silence. "Yeah, fair. Whatever. Can you stop the magic and let me go now?" His tone was starting to tiptoe toward...nervous. Almost. Just a bit. His eyes kept flicking up toward the ceiling, as though he was...waiting for something.

The potential threat of the Nightshades' wrath didn't seem to bother him unduly, but something certainly did. He twisted his head around to try to look out the window as best he could, judging the hour by the shadows from the moon. Okay, still got a few minutes.

Hopefully the damned beast would exercise some caution. They were in a city, even if that city was Zantaric; if nothing else, Snowcall would be forced to find a safe place to land even if he did try to come after his dhampir companion.

"Seriously." Cassian looked back to the elf, jaw tense and a flicker of some sort of anxious emotion behind his eyes. "Let me go. Now."

[Paladienne]

Astyrian lifted a brow as he noted the kid's nervousness. Since it didn't seem the kind of nervousness that signaled a surprise attack was about to be launched, Astyrian was slightly inclined to let the kid go and escort him off the property. But only slightly inclined. Rather, Astyrian didn't trust this dark elf as far as he could physically throw him, and the more sketchy the boy was acting, the more trigger-happy Astyrian was becoming. He was already going to have to explain why there had been trespassers on the property, and while he'd dealt with them, there was still a certain lecture involved for letting it happen in the first place. And if they discovered that he'd let one of those trespassers go...

Astyrian grimaced. A lecture would be the least of his worries.

Still, he didn't think that the kid would flap his gums and spout stories about what had happened here tonight. And even if he did, he was quite certain that someone would hunt the dark elf down and make sure he never spoke again. And he was quite certain that someone would ensure that anyone the dark elf spoke to, looked at funny, or just happened to be in the same airspace would disappear, too.

Sighing, Astyrian lifted his left hand and quickly undid the binding spell around the kid's legs, but not his arms. He wasn't going to take any chances. Last thing I need is a knife in the back, Astyrian thought, his expression becoming a frown. I'm already going to get it for this. I'd rather not be injured when I have to deal with that.

"Get up. You want out of here so bad, crying 'let me go, let me go', then let's go." Astyrian growled. "You'll get your arms back when you're on the other side of the property line."

[DragonSong]

Cassian let out a short, relieved breath when he felt his legs once more move at his command, though the arms still trapped to his sides were less than ideal.

He did his best to appear unbothered by it, merely shooting the mage a droll look and a quirked eyebrow as he got properly to his feet. "Kinky," he needled--mostly because he felt desperately out of control and his go-to defensive mechanism tended to involve being a little shit. "But, and I mean no offense here, I'm not exactly in the mood. Think we can just ditch the enchantments altogether and call it an evening?"

He shot him another crooked grin even as his eyes flickered upward again, that anticipatory tension still thrumming through his body. C'mon, boy, don't do something stupid...