OOC: This thread is tagged to
@Midnight!
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Karishk Mealin nearly broke the man's wrist, though it must have been sprained. He yelped and pulled his hand away from her money pouch. He turned and disappeared into the crowds. Karishk had no intentions of following him, no, the bounty hunter was content with knowing he hadn't stolen her money, and she was on a job.
She had been tasked with capturing a thief for a guild of other thieves. Apparently the thief Karishk was charged with capturing had done something to anger the guild of thieves,something that Karishk hadn't been told any details of. But this was her job. All she had been told was that the thief was a middle-aged man with turquoise hair, had two katanas as his weapons, and that he was going to be taking a caravan out of Essyrn in the next week.
Karishk aimed to capture him before he left, for that would make things less complicated. But now she had gotten a tail on the man, and she knew she was close to finding him. She may even find him today.
She stopped in front of an old building several stories high. It was an inn, and if the information she had procured was correct, the thief was in this building.
She went inside, and asked for the man by description. She was met with a headshake. "S'rry," the man at the bar said. "I cannat give out who be stayin' at ma inn. If ya want ta find sommone, you got to go find um yerself."
Karishk narrowed her eyes, but nodded and went up the stairs to the first floor where rooms were. She went along and tried each door. Most were unlocked and empty, and the few that were locked, when she knocked, the door was opened by someone who wasn't who Karishk was looking for. of course, if the thief had companions, one of them could have opened the door, but from what the bounty hunter knew, the man was traveling alone.
Karishk knew she had come to the right door when she tried the handle, it was locked, she knocked, and heard scuffling inside, as if someone was packing up their things extremely fast.
"Open up!" she said loudly, and there was no answer. She took a step back, and kicked the door. It flew open, revealing the thief. His eyes widened when he saw her, and he dashed for the window, which was open. She ran after him, but he was out before she got there. He landed and rolled on the street, taking off. Karishk followed, landing on the street in a roll as well, and took off after the man.
He was fast, but she was faster. She cornered him in an alleyway, where they both drew their weapons.
"Drop your swords," Karishk said. "And I won't hurt you."
"You won't!" the man said. "But the people you're working for will!"
Karishk nodded. "You have a point." Then she attacked. He was an okay fighter, but Karishk was better, and in a matter of minutes both of his sword were lying behind her, out of his reach, and Karishk's sword was at his throat.
It was a long few days for Midnight with a lot of walking, but finally he had finished the last stretch of his trip to Essryn. Strangely he didn't feel tired, only relieved that he didn't have to worry about the walk anymore. He had been attacked by bandits multiple times on the long journey from his Order's headquarters in Serendipity. The same fate awaited them all, though Midnight would have preferred to have made the journey peacefully.
Now that he was in the city, though, his first priority was getting something to eat and finding a place to stay. After a good fifteen minutes or so of asking around and mostly being ignored, someone told him that the easiest place would be an old inn about not too far down the road. He thanked the man and took a few steps, then stopped to observe the people around him. He always liked to know everything going on around him. For now, the only thing he noticed was a beggar asking the people to the left of him for some coins. Before the man could move on to Midnight, he began walking down the road.
After walking for what felt like a few minutes, though Midnight wasn't particularly worried about how long it had actually been, the top of the inn was clearly in sight. The road so far had been mostly empty and the walk was quiet, but as he approached the inn he began to hear the sounds of someone running. Soon enough a man came sprinting around the corner before disappearing down another alleyway. Just behind him was a woman who appeared to be chasing him. Now he was intrigued.
Midnight activated his wraithwalk ability and surged forward, turning down the alleyway after them. He didn't know what was happening, but if this was an innocent man he was not going to let him come to harm. When he finally caught up to them the woman had already appeared to have bested the man in a sword fight. The shadows danced around as Midnight moved through them and it was clear on the man's face that he noticed something was wrong, his eyes widening at the sight of the suddenly moving shadows. Midnight's thoughts were confirmed when the man spoke. "The shadows... They... They're moving on their own!"
He stepped out of the shadows behind them, saying nothing yet. Then he held out his right hand and suddenly two shadowy chains erupted from the ground, each attempting to wrap around one of Karishk's wrists and hold her blade away from the man.
Karishk noticed the shadows a second before the thief yelled, and she dodged away from the shadows, she was fast, but they were faster, they wrapped around her wrists tightly, she could not pull free.
"Who are you?" she snarled angrily at the man who had appeared out of the shadows. "What business do you have with me?"
Midnight heard her questions, but at that moment the other man tried to run and Midnight held out his hand once again. Two more shadowy chains exploded out of the ground just behind the man and wrapped around his arms, pulling tightly and tethering him in place. "I haven't decided which one of you is free to go yet."
He then turned to Karishk and pulled his hood back. His eyes were glowing with magic from maintaining the shadow chains. Rather than answer her, he asked a question of his own. "What business do you have with this man?"
After all, that would determine whether he had any business with her at all.
Karishk struggled in the shadow chains, but to no avail. She glared at the man when he asked his question. "What right do you have to question me?" she snapped. "What I have to do with this man is none of your business!"
Then she stopped struggling and calmed down, still glaring at the man. "Now, let me go."
"If you had nothing to hide, you would answer the question." Midnight said, not showing any sign of releasing the chains. "Simply tell me what this man has done to deserve this fate. I am bound by an oath to protect the innocent."
This whole time the man had been silent, but now he began to speak up. "I did nothing wrong! She barged into my room and then pulled a blade on me! I didn't do anything to deserve this-"
Midnight cut him off. "I can sense your fear. You have something to hide as well."
"First off, I wasn't going to kill him," Karishk snarled. The woman contemplated her actions, she could tell she couldn't escape the chains, and what good would lying do, especially in this scenario?
She sighed. "If you insist on knowing, I was sent to capture this man. He is a thief." She wondered how the man who controlled the shadows would take this, was he a do-gooder who would try to stop her? It seemed like he was, but you could never tell, sometimes even the people you think you know all about can change in an instant.
"Oh?" Midnight said, turning to face the man now. "And what have you done to earn yourself these enemies, thief?"
The man was clearly very uncomfortable. At the question he just started stuttering, unable to form complete words. At least, not words that Midnight could make any sense out of. With a grin he added, "I'm giving you the chance to explain yourself. I suggest you don't leave me to make assumptions."
"I just stole some money!" the man said, visibly shaking. "I needed it to eat, and I stole it from a crime lord! I did nothing wrong!"
Karishk said nothing, waiting for the other man to speak.
"If that's the case, then why are you so afraid?" Midnight said to the man before turning to face Karishk. "You were hired to capture him, but were you told why?"
"Nope," Karishk said. "I was told nothing but that he was a thief and I was to capture him and return him."
She glanced over at the man again. "Are you going to let me go now?"
Midnight let out a frustrated sigh and with a wave of his hand the chains binding Karishk vanished. "You are simply misguided. It appears I was mistaken."
He then turned to face the man. "You must face your punishment for your crimes, as all men must do at some point." With that, he released the chains that were holding the man in place. "Though death is not a fitting punishment."
Karishk stepped back from the man when he unchained her, but she wasn't about to leave yet. "Wait wait wait," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I still have a bounty to complete, I need to bring this man with me," she motioned to the turquoise-haired man, "whether or not he's 'evil'. I gave my word, and that is not something I break easily."
It was true, Karishk was a bounty hunter, and not always the best person, but she didn't break her word unless she truly had to.
"I suppose I'll have to insist I come along." Midnight said, shrugging his shoulders. "That's not a problem for you, is it?"
The question was sarcastic, of course. He was going to tag along no matter what. "I trust you won't mind the company."
"Ohh, no," Karishk shook her head. "You're not coming."
The man who had hired her would not be happy if this man came tagging along.
"Then I'm afraid you won't be taking him." Midnight said, with extreme confidence that he could enforce that claim. "I won't interfere with you receiving your payment. Though your employer seems to have some crimes of his own that he needs to pay for."
The man was still shaking, though he did not try to run again. It seemed that he got the idea that he really had no choice in the matter and was listening intently to find out what his fate would be.
"I will be taking him!" she said, stepping forward, despite knowing what power the man could summon. "I made a deal, and I DO NOT break my deals!"
She glared at him. "Now, are you going to let me take him without a fight?"
"I believe I've made that quite clear already." Midnight answered. Taking the mentioning of a fight as a challenge, he drew one of his katanas. "I've told you what needs to be done in order for you to take this man with you, but if I need to fight, I will."
Karishk knew she couldn't fight this man, no matter how tough she seemed. She sighed. "Okay, I'll do what you say, for now."
Midnight lowered his weapon immediately once the woman seemed compliant and smiled as if nothing had just happened. "Excellent, when are we leaving, then?"
Karishk was not very happy to be doing this at all, but she knew she virtually had no choice. So she sighed and shrugged when the man asked her his question.
"Whenever you see fit," she said, her tone angry.
"Well, I'm not particularly busy." Midnight said in the same calm tone he had been using the whole time. "We can leave now if you would like."
"Fine," Karishk said darkly, crossing her arm over her chest and making her displeasure very clear. "Lead the way."
"I think you might need to take the lead." Midnight replied. "It is your employer, after all."
Karishk sighed and turned on her heel, starting out of the alley way, and if he didn't want to follow, that was his problem. It would not be a long walk, but she didn't say anything, simply walked down the street in silence, she wasn't going to give the man anymore information than that which was required.