You can lead a horse to water... [by Nightcandle]

[Anonymous]

Judal rubbed the top of Amadeus' head, ruffling his hair and getting some strands coiled around his fingers.

Amadeus cringed. Whatever the creature wanted in exchange for his release probably wouldn't be pleasant. The woman couldn't agree to it. He looked up at her and crossed his eyes a little, trying to think of some way to tell her. Talking was out of the question and he couldn't gesture since his hands were bound and the creature's hand was on his head.

Maybe he could mouth it. She'd have to be looking at him for that to work, but it was worth a shot. He coughed raggedly a few times and mouthed 'No, sword, cut'.

Judal tilted his head upwards, pretending to consider what it might want. "Something amusing," he purred, looking back at the girl. "It would have to be entertaining, at least as entertaining as Ittuska is. If it wasn't entertaining or fun it would have to be tasty. Good enough to make me forget losing little Ittuska. Hmmhmmm... if you can find me something that's entertaining, fun and tasty I'll give you Ittuska and you'll never have to see me ever again."

[Anonymous]

Arelnath narrowed her gaze significantly as she listened to the creature, keeping a tab on the human out the corner of her eye; just catching the words he mouthed in her direction. No, she couldn't set him free yet despite the urge to. She needed to see if what this creature truly wanted was reasonable enough that she wouldn't have the need to use the sword behind her. All in all, attempt to keep things peaceful . . . she reminded herself.

She tried to relax a bit, tempted to sit herself down and negotiate things out. But then that blade would be revealed and her back-up plan would be shot into the light. Releasing one hand from the hilt, she brought in up to her lips and tapped a finger against them gently in thought. In her thoughts, anything was better than holding someone captive. But that didn't seem to tbe the case here.

What was going on in that creature's mind exactly?

It wasn't long into the thinking process that she abandoned her thoughts."I'm sorry . . . I don't have the specific idea of anything that could possibly fit that. And suit you." Letting out a sigh, she slumped a bit back against the blade. "I can't make out your way of thinking. Anything should be better than a captive human. But that doesn't seem to be the case with you . . . And that's where I hit the wall."

[Anonymous]

Judal's lips parted into a wide grin, he resumed petting Amadeus' head stroking it slowly, disinterestedly. "You sound like you speak from experience."

Amadeus frowned a little, either she didn't see them or she didn't understand them. Lip reading wasn't a familiar subject to him, he didn't know how to do it or if he was enunciating the words well enough for someone that could do it. He exhaled through his nose and glanced back at her shoulder, looking for the sword again. Not there. Had he been seeing things? He couldn't remember if dehydration incouraged hallucinations.

Judal let his eyes slip back down to his human. He was just watching the girl, he wasn't even trying to get away from his petting hand. Usually Ittuska struggled most amusingly to avoid being touched. He couldn't be broken already, not Ittuska. Maybe he just needed another break, after his first break he was much more interesting. It could give him time to work on that little experiment he'd been itching to try, and possibly get him something to test it on...

"Hmm you do strike a good point. There are many more interesting things than captive humans. Humans can be so dull," he paused, gauging the girl's reaction. (Amadeus' eyes crossed.) "I should try something different, an elf maybe. Or one of those great bull horned men. No, no, no, no, maybe I should try something smaller, smaller than a man. A little cat perhaps? The clawed feet should make it a challenge to contain hmm?"

[Anonymous]

Arelnath's eye twitched a bit. Calm negotiations were things that she had been placed through for the experience. Nothing that had a life riding on the outcome since the ones she had studied and participated in were mere practice between her and Lords and Ladies of the kingdom. Then, they were given specific things to discuss. Now, she was working on her own whim and conscience. It was exasperating.

But she retained to keep her thoughts collected and orderly and not to stress herself out. She consistently told herself to think of it as a practice game; one with a very high price to pay. It wasn't evident that she was a little antsy with all of this, but it wasn't completely hidden either. Yet as she listened to him further, a slight relief came to mind. There was nothing personal that she held against other creatures -- since her brother was three-quarter demonic blood -- it was just that at the moment she was valuing in own kind over any other.

"You're in holding of what will be the exchange for his freedom, not I. 'Tis your decision, and your decision alone." The sooner that this all came to a closed compromise, the better. "A cat, hm? They can be quite a challenge," she said, agreeing with what he had said and somewhat urging him to go with a decision along those lines. She didn't want to place pressure on him and have things go wrong. Everything was fine so far, but then again this creature wasn't one bit of a predictable being.

[Anonymous]

Amadeus' jaw parted slightly when the creature pondered taking a cat in exchange for his freedom. A cat? He was almost tempted to look over his shoulder to see what sort of expression the creature had. Was it serious? Trying to mock them by saying that a cat was more of a challenge than a human?

Shouldn't he be delighted that the creature wanted something so simple for his freedom? If this scenario happened during the first couple days the creature held him captive he would have been elated at being let go for a simple cat, which would hopefully claw and bite its way free of anything used to contain it. Now though, he wondered if the creature was playing another game. Or maybe he wasn't. There was always the chance that it was serious, slim but there. His eyebrows began to pulse.

Judal ran a dark purple tongue over his teeth and crossed his arms, tapping a claw against a bicep. "Yes. Yes that's sounds about right. A cat in exchange for Ittuska," he locked eyes with the girl. "A mature cat, no youngling that could be destroyed with a single claw."

[Anonymous]

Arelnath almost wanted to go and question this creature further, possibly shoot an insult at him for thinking a cat was more challenging than a human. At this point, however, she really didn't care if that was an insult or not. She'd take any and every insult she had to in order to give this human back his freedom. That was far more valuable than any type of pride that she had. A life was a life. Pride was nothing compared to that in her eyes.

Letting out a sigh, she gave a nod of her head. "Then it's a deal, right?" Raising an eyebrow, she couldn't help but let her grip tighten on the hilt of the blade. If it indeed turned to be some sick joke, she wasn't about to go and make more negotiations. She'd just cut Amadeus out of his bonds and get him out of there. Always needed a backup plan for when things took a turn for the opposite direction. Yet there was the feeling that there was a strong sincerity in it all.

"Ittuska for a cat . . ." Arelnath swallowed. Keep it cool, don't drag it out any longer, she told herself in her head. "How long do I have to get you this mature cat?"

[Anonymous]

Judal laughed and patted Amadeus' head again, ruffling his hair with his claws. "Take your time, find a good cat, Ittuska isn't going anywhere. If I were to cut his bonds now he would probably sit where he was and wait for return." Judal slipped his hand down further, curling his fingers around Amadeus' chin and forcing his head back. "His eyes haven't left you since you came."

Amadeus' eyebrows crossed and he jerked his head side to side. The creature didn't react, it was still looking at the woman, that smirk still on its face. He stretched his hands as far forward as they would budge. There was a chance that the woman was talking a deal with the creature to distract it, if that was the case he didn't want to hinder her any when she decided to free him.

Judal dropped Amadeus' head and 'hmmm'-ed; tapping a finger against his chin, and swishing his tail rythmically back and forth. "Perhaps I should accompany you when you get this cat? I would hate for you to forget about it. It would make Ittuska so unhappy if you never showed up at the fountain with the cat."

Amadeus' shoulders spasmed and he took a quick look up at the creature. Was it serious about trading a cat for him? For all he knew it could be another facet of its game, going along with the trade until he was bored with it and stopped. On the same note, with what he knew the creature could be serious...

[Anonymous]

Arelnath's hands twitched behind her back. She didn't seem to be bothered that Ittuska was watching her the entire time. Who could blame him? If someone were trying to get her out of a situation like that, she'd be watching him, or her, the entire time as well. You could never tell who was going to stand by their words and who wouldn't. Apparently, the creature was way ahead in the thought process about that than she was when he suggested his tagging along in the hunt for a good cat. That was what bothered her more than anything.

He wasn't to be trusted, that was made clear from the start of the whole thing. For all she knew, he could turn the tables and attack her before she even blinked. She didn't want that. Strange how the world really worked, it wasn't amusing to her one bit. Normally she despised the life she had, but now sheltering seemed very desirable at the moment.

�Fine,� she said, looking down at Ittuska as she only knew him, �I wouldn’t want you to think that I was a fake in my words and agreement. You may accompany me to select this good cat for the exchange.�

She didn’t want to know how Ittuska was going to react to her going along with his idea, so she moved her gaze off him. He knew more about this creature, yes, she was sure of it. But she didn’t want some sort of a discouraging look from the human. It wasn’t something that was going to keep her spirits up in the effort. What spirits she had, anyhow. Not many, just enough to give her the nerve to keep standing there and not instantaneously attack the foul and loathsome being. Arelnath kept her thoughts to herself.

â€?But . . .â€? She stopped. There had to be a line drawn somewhere. She was going to draw it now while she still could. â€?You can’t turn your back on the agreement, and you can’t change your preference of what the swap shall be. So I hope you’ve thought it out. And once the exchange is made, you cannot â€" I repeat, cannot â€" come after Ittuska ever again.â€?

[Anonymous]

Amadeus sighed when the woman agreed to let the creature tag along. If she refused the creature might attack her while she was leaving, or keep up its civil act and wait for her to pass out of sight before dragging him away, or something. If the markets were busy today there was also a chance they could lose the creature in the crowd. Then the woman could cut his bonds and they might be able to take the creature down when, if it saught them out.

Judal smirked and rested his hands on Ittuska's shoulders, pressing his claws into them and perking his ears towards the girl. In the pause after she continued on, Judal's lips drew further back and his claws pressed harder. A ghost of a smile flickered across Amadeus' face before he winced and scowled.

"I wouldn't dare think of considering it. If I were to attempt to retake Ittuska, then you would have every right to come take the cat. And, as much as I might desire to take Ittuska back from you, I might just as much desire to have the cat. Do you know where we might be able to find a good cat?"

Taking his hands off Ittuska's shoulders, Judal stood and grabbed the back of Ittuska's neck, dragging him to his feet. The sudden motion disorientated the man, he swayed a bit and his knees started to buckle. Amadeus eventually got his feet steadied, though his neck started to ache where the creature was holding him.

[Anonymous]

A good cat . . . Good cat . . . Strange, she couldn't recall one that was good enough to fit his specifications. Darn it, that wasn't good. Not one bit. But alas, Arelnath wasn't about to give it up that easily. With the cats that were around here, surely there was one that would fit perfectly even if she had to search for days to discover it. But that was to be her little secret, and she kept it from showing on her face. Nothing like that was a wise choice to show and let it be twisted around and fired back at you. Hard lession learned.

That blade was still held tight in her hand as she turned her back to the creature to gaze at the streets that were behind her. Where to start was the main question. The second one was the thought of if it were possible to buy a cat from someone. Some person had to sell cats, she'd seen it before. Probably a figment of her tired mind. Wouldn't be the first time for something like that.

"The more aggressive and strong solitary cats will probably be in the alleys of the other side of the village," she stated, pointing her finger down the main street of the village that cut directly to the other side. A quick walk, nothing diverting of the main street. The quicker, the better.

She swallowed hard, keeping her back to the creature and the blade held tightly against it. Yeah, she had gone and shown him that she had a weapon. What a brilliant move that was, but she went on like she hadn't done anything of the sort. Don't make a fuse and everything'll be all right. Or so she hoped as she started to walk toward the main street, taking a quick glance back to see if the creature was following her.

[Anonymous]

Amadeus quivered when she turned around. If the creature didn't know she had a sword before it did now...

Judal's eyebrows raised when the girl turned around. She had a toy. How sneaky, putting it to her back to keep it out of sight. He wondered if it would cut her back if she happened to slip.

"Aggresive, yes," Judal mused, walking after the girl and dragging Ittuska beside him. "That should be an interesting challenge. Ittuska can be aggresive, but he is a clever coward and tries to avoid pain as much as he can. It would be nice to have a creature that wouldn't get so concerned over whether or not it suffered a few little hurts."  Judal flashed a fangy grin at the girl when she looked over her shoulder and trotted forward a few paces to walk even with her. Amadeus almost lost his footing during the sudden change of pace, he stumbled around a bit before he got his footing.

"Ittuska isn't usually so clumsy." Judal loosened his grip on the man's neck, pricked his ears forward and then to the sides. "Do you think your sword will cut your back if you were to slip?" He tilted his head to the side and reached behind her with his free hand, running the tip of his pointer finger on the edge of the blade, a line of thin black blood trickling from it.

[Anonymous]

Clever to avoid pain . . . Smart. Very smart, now if he had avoided that creature that was holding him in bondage, then he'd be on a good streak of avoiding pain. Sure, she didn't know all the details, and she didn't need to. Actually, she didn't want to know. It would more than likely prove to be more information than what she was aiming to know about.

Her senses were drowned by the chills that ran down her spine, the hair on the back of her neck prickling up as if she was nipped at by a cold breeze. Those hands of hers tightened around the hilt when the creature ran his clawed finger down the sharpness of the blade. Her back had stiffened and her posture was much more proper than it needed to be right now. This snagged the attention of a few villagers, but she blocked them out.

"Yes," she said, "it probably would slice my back up pretty badly if I slipped and didn't bother to move it." What was she to say? Nah, I'm too skilled for that? Sheesh, she was only a girl as she was told. But even for that, she was good.

Nearing the other side of the village, toward the dark and abandoned alleyways where she had been advised never to go, those bright eyes of hers scanned over the area before she took a step into it. The quick flash of an orange furred tail rounding the corner of a building caught her attention; hook, line and sinker. One hand released its grip on the hilt of the blade, but the other held tightly and kept it by her side as her feet pushed her off forward after it.

She watched the feline as it pounced onto a small rodent that it had been stalking; much like she was stalking the feline itself. Creeping slowly against the wall, she watched it as it sank its sharp teeth into the small rodent's back and listened to it squeal. No other thought and her other hand released the blade to the ground and she lept for the cat, snagging it around its middle and pulling it against her body. Its claw swept by her face, blood trickling down her pale cheek from the cut.

Holding it tighter, she nipped it on the ear. A shrewd hiss was emitted from the feline before it settled down in her arms. Dropping to sit on her butt, she pressed her back against the wall. What a stubborn cat. Yes, perfect for that creature. Perfect indeed.

[Anonymous]

"Very sharp," Judal purred, sliding the rest of his fingers across the tip of the sword. He took his hand off it afterwards, holding it palm up and looking at the lines of blood weaving around the fingers.

Amadeus winced, the creature was pressing its claws tighter against his neck and forcing him to look at his feet. Trying to walk out of the grasping hand made his knees buckle, his back aching to bend into a more comfortable position and the claws digging deeper. Slowing down was a little less agonizing, but it was more like being dragged. Hells, he'd let himself be partially dragged, he wanted to stay in one peice. He saw a few drops of blood fall onto the skirt of his robes and raised his eyes as far as they would go. It'd be good to take in as much of the surroundings as he could. Just in case.

Judal stopped when the girl paused before an alleyway and watched her when she began creeping into it. He wondered if there was a trick to catching a cat, or if they were pounced upon and snatched up like other creatures. The latter would be interesting, he wanted to see the girl pounce on the cat, wanted to see how the creature would fight to resist capture. He took a few steps into the alley and released Ittuska, the human lost his footing, falling and Judal propped a foot on his hip.

His smirk got wider when the girl leapt for the cat and pulled it to her, laughing out loud when she bit its ear. How entertaining! When the cat stopped fighting he leaned over to grab hold of Ittuska's arm and walked to the girl's side, dragging Ittuska (who didn't get a chance to stand up before he was pulled) alongside him.

"A good cat," Judal murmured, squatting on his heels and extending his cut hand toward the animal.

[Anonymous]

Arelnath could feel the creature's laughter creep over her skin like rough velvet, and it didn't feel pleasing at all. Bumps formed on her arms as she cradled the feline in her grasp, raising her gaze from the animal's golden fur to meet the cold eyes of the creature as he stood over her. Not at all a comfortable spot to be standing in, not comfortable at all.

Her gaze was locked with that displeasing creature's, just catching the movement of his hand for the cat out of the very bottom of her vision. That entire form of hers stiffened, and the small feline knew it, it could sense it as the young Adelan's grasp seemed to grip tighter on it; like it was some sort of comfort to her weary self. And in some awkward way, it was. How strange.

The cat's left paw sprung out from beneath Arelnath's arm, claws out and swiping at the creature's hand. It took a second swat at the hand, not seeming to care if it caused damage or not, then clung tightly to Arelnath through the cloth of her dress. Those sharp claws sunk into her skin and the sting amost caused her to drop the cat. When she managed to get it to calm down and release itself from her, she could feel the blood trickle down her skin under the dress and slowly seep through the cloth.

Wonderful.

A sigh passed her lips, and the simple flexing of the muscles in her cheek caused the slightly closed wound from the cat when she first grabbed it reopened and spurted blood down her face once again. Yes, what a great day this was indeed. And what an excuse she was going to have to make up for this mess that was her.

Her eyes darted finally to Ittuska. "Is this cat good enough for the trade?" She sure as hell hoped it was, otherwise all this pain the feline put her through would've been for nothing. Wouldn't be a first, but it would certainly manage to piss her off beyond belief. And Arelnath with the pissed off ambition to send someone through a wall wasn't the side of her someone would really want to deal with. Good thing it was rare for her to get like that.

[Anonymous]

Amadeus scowled and tried to push himself back up into a sitting position. It didn't seem possible on his own, he would rise up a bit then lose his balance and fall back on the ground. If he could make his way to the wall he could that as leverage.

Judal grinned widely when the cat struck him and chortled when it struck again, tilting his hand to see if its claws found purchase. They had, a few black beads were welling up. It's attack was weak, barely more than a poke, but at least it would attack. The cat would be entertaining, so very entertaining. Judal extended a finger towards the cat, curling the claw towards his palm and tracing along the edge of one ear with a knuckle. "It is-"

Judal's eyes widened, he hissed and fell on his backside. His lips curled and he glared at his hand, at the girl, at Ittuska, and back at his chest. A snarl rumbled deep in his throat and he leapt to his feet, tail lashing angrily behind him.

Amadeus looked up, shocked. What now? He grit his teeth and pushed himself toward the wall, leaning up and letting himself fall back against it.

"I will not," Judal hissed, fading away like a mirage.

Amadeus pushed himself further up the wall, to a kneeling position. "Hur-" he scowled and bit down on his bottom lip to get some saliva bubbling, swallowing it to moisten his throat some. "Hurry." He held his wrists forward as far as he could, leaning against the wall to balance himself.

[Anonymous]

Good, the cat was perfect for the trade and that was all that mattered. Now she'd be able to get Amadeus out of his bondage and give him a good place for sanctuary from this strange and appearing sadistic creature. Just a few more minutes to wait out and she'd be on her way to trying to forget this and give her fellow human his freedom back; that was all that mattered to her right now.

But those bright eyes of Arelnath's widened as she looked on at the creature and his sudden and frightening new behavior. What had brought it about, she wasn't sure and not positive she wanted to know. And when he faded with those last three words of his, her gaze darted to Amadeus; dazed and slightly searching for some sort of an answer from him.

It didn't come. He seemed to be just as clueless about the whole thing as she was. How wonderful that was. It didn't matter to her for another second. It was time to run.

Not a moment of hesitation and she dropped the furry feline to the ground and hurried over to the steel blade she had left just beyond the building's corner. With a liquid movement, she bent down, grabbed the hilt and whipped herself back around to Amadeus' backside. One hand held the hilt tightly, a quick swing of the blade in a complete circle and the tip of the blade came tearing down through the rope that had his wrist bound tightly. It split with a small sound of shreading threads, the cat sitting just in front of the two of them watching; its head tilted.

"Come on! Hurry!" Releasing the blade, she took grasp of his left hand with her right and pulled him up to his feet.  Whatever it was that had happened to the creature, she couldn't care less. The rope was cut, the path was cleared and she was certain the creature wouldn't be doing a reappearing act; so she hoped. Quickly she scooped the cat up with her free hand and headed toward the pathway that led toward the castle of Adela.

[Anonymous]

Amadeus flicked his hands, shrugging the cut rope away. His wrists were pale where the ropes were, the skin molded with indents like the threads of the rope. It throbbed and began to pinken as blood began flowing up it.

He didn't object when the woman grabbed his hand and pulled him up. His knees started to buckle again, he planted his right hand against the wall and spaced his feet out. The tug on his other arm when the woman began running balanced him out some. Running was easier now that he had a hand to balance himself with.

After leaving the alley his heart began to race, beating strong against his chest. The creature just vanished... why? Vanishing meant no cat, no more sick 'fun' for it. The entire trade had to have been some game. Only, if anything, the creature was straightforward, it wouldn't vanish once it decided it was bored. It would have lunged right at the woman, or done something else equally direct. Thinking about the creature was starting to make his stomach turn, he shook the thoughts away for now and continued to run after the woman.

[Anonymous]

That pathway wasn't the smoothest, let alone wasn't the main pathway to the front of the castle. The rear walls of the castle just peered up over the treeline, the taller towers on the inside peering even higher than that. Arelnath wasn't even struggling for breath as the path started to incline up a slight hill toward the back wall. The path was so familiar to her, down and up, that it wasn't much trouble and felt to her like flat land. But she didn't rush as much as normal since she was leading Amadeus along.

She couldn't imaging what it was like for him to have been trapped by that creature. Just making wild guesses she probably would've been driven mad by the whole thing. Amazing that he wasn't near insanity. But she wasn't sure if he was or wasn't, all that mattered was he was breathing and on his feet. He could've been a murderer before she cut him from his ties and have known it . . . She'd still have cut him loose.

The crest of the hill was in sight, as was the castle's wall. There was a crack off to the left big enough to fit a person through; Arelnath's little escape route from the inner workings of the castle itself. She lead him over to it and looked through. No guards, that was good. She finally released her grip on Amadeus' hand and motioned hers toward the crack in the wall, giving a little nod of her head for back-up in case he didn't see the hand movement.

"Slip on through first, I'll follow after. There are no guards around here, otherwise I'd never be able to slip out so easily."

[Anonymous]

Quite unlike the woman, Amadeus was almost hyperventilating when they reached the top of the hill. Normally it wouldn't have been a struggle for him to get up a hill with uneven footing. He couldn't be too hard on himself though, his body was taxed from his ordeal with the creature. If things went well, it would be over now.

But, they didn't. His ordeal wouldn't be over until he had the creature's blood on his hands.

He was surprised to see the woman running towards a castle. He figured she had to be of some status when she was dealing with the creature, a merchant's daughter or maybe the daughter of a captain of guard. This, was very clearly a castle, which stated that she was a woman of high status. There shouldn't be reason for him to worry though, it was just a misunderstanding on his part. He hadn't done anything unappropriate, yet, and if he had did so out of ignorance.

In a sense, seeing the castle put a little bit of him at peace. There were a lot of people in a castle, if the creature was going to come after him it would have a hard time finding them. Only... he shuddered a little, his sense of peace whisking away, the creature wouldn't hesitate to attack them, or toy with them, or take one as a replacement.

Amadeus chewed his bottom lip again, trying to work up some moisture in his mouth. This time he got a little, barely enough to spread across the bottom of his mouth, his throat began to ache. Talking was out of the question, so he nodded at the woman when she motioned towards a crack in the wall and told him to go inside. He walked to it and placed a hand flat on each of its sides. The closeness of the walls in the crack sent a shiver crackling up his back, he looked over his shoulder with wide eyes.

Just the woman. Nothing more. Nothing threatening. He calmed his breathing and slipped through the crack.

[Anonymous]

She pressed her back to the outside of the crack after Amadeus slipped on through, taking one last look down the hill, to the left, to the right. All clear, no one was following and there was nothing more to worry about at the moment other than getting him in the castle, cleaned up and into fresh clothing. That wouldn't prove a problem, no reason to sneak into the place she lived in. Yeah, that's what everyone else thought.

Turning herself to press her back to the inner side of the crack, she slipped on through after him. It was easy to squirm on through since she was used to it and it was a daily event to do it, too. Once completely through she took a quick look around and snatched a hold of his hand again and made a dash for what seemed to be the back door into the castle's kitchen.

A cook was stepping out, his back turned toward the two of them to dump out some leftovers for the dogs. Arelnath saw him, but didn't wait for him to move out of the way and squeezed right on by him with Amadeus straggling along behind. The kitchen was huge inside, cooks scattered about, different aromas lingering in the air to be smelt. Her stomach made a small rumble as she darted through there. No time for food at the moment, that came after new clothes and freshening up.

Her dress bit at her ankles as she skidded on the floor as the door before them on the other side of the kitchen was swung open. Just a guard, right. Her free hand came up, palm flat, slamming right into the guard's face as she dashed on by. It took him by surprise and forced him to fall on his back, the thud rather loud. Probably wasn't the first time he had been knocked to the floor by her and wouldn't be the last, either. She had long since lost count of how many times she had knocked each of the guards over. And they never seemed to get revenge. Wonder why that was ...

Hand still stretched outward, it wrapped around the post of the stairwell that was coming into view and swung around it until her bare feet touched the second step and made her way up them. Two more guards persisted in standing at the top of the stairs to block her way. Did they always hire the dumb ones? One was rather thin, couldn't weigh too much more than her or be that much older. The other was rather plump and past his prime; he was on the left.

"Coming through!!" That round old guard was the one that received the entire slam from Arelnath's weight as she tossed herself at him. He stumbled to the side and she used him to bound off at the other guard and topple him over.

Grinning, she dragged Amadeus off down the hall for about five or six doors and lead him into the seventh room on the left side. Releasing his hand once again, she shut the door behind them and latched the locks before heading toward the windows and slamming them shut and closing the glass doors that opened out to a balcony; that was latched shut as well. The room was clean, very clean. A large bed in the middle of the room with white sheets and feathered pillows. White canopy as well. The girl scurried over toward a wooden door and pulled it open, a long metal rod jammed between two walls with several different styles of clothing in all different colors.

"We're going to get you some good clothes, cleaned up and fed right. Sound good to you?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at him as she pulled out a normal pair of black cloth pants that seemed to be good for him and a man's white shirt. Just what in the hell was in that closet? Only she knew ...