A Thief's Job

[Brisinger987]

"Healing you. It's going to hurt, I'm not just healing it, I'm accelerating the whole process, pains and stings included. It's gonna bloody hurt, for a few more minutes. So shut up and let me say the damned spell." Halford frowned, his face going slightly pale, as he began chanting from where he left off, the green light flowing everywhere, and healing Aldanith.

Meanwhile, Halford grew closer and closer to passing out, not sure he could heal the wounds without passing out.

Finally, he finished, and he gasped, releasing the spell, and falling to his knees.

"You're like me, you take a bloody long time to heal, but you heal damned well when you're done..."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith only dropped down, clenching his teeth and fists to surpass the urge to scream and crawl away. It was like if he was ripped to pieces by a pack of wolves. He went unconscious for a short moment, when the whole healing got to its worst point, but woke up immediately after, and realized it was gone.

He didn't feel any pain, he was just tired. He let out a long sigh, and raised himself to his elbows, looking around himself in the small room. "What... Where the hell am I?" he muttered, obviously confused. "And who the hell are you?"

Now that his mind was cleared of most of the distraction, he came to the full realization of what happened. He was deceived, betrayed to the guards, rescued by this weird guy, and healed. That was about what he could figure out...

[Brisinger987]

"You... Are in... My little... Healing shop." Halford panted, clambering to his feet, and standing.

"And I... Am Halford Zanak, your... Healer today..." He was clearly out of breath, worn out, and was worryingly pale, trying to catch his breath and recover.

"And your name good sir?..."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith offered him a blood-covered hand in a dark gauntlet. "Aldanith. Just Aldanith." he introduced himself, blowing a wisp of his white hair out of his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked, watching Halford struggle. "You sure it was a good idea to do it all... So quickly?"

[Brisinger987]

Halford's purple armoured gauntlet extended and shook Aldanith's hand.

"Nice to finally meet another Dark Elf, Aldanith. One not from my original group." Halford felt his strength very slowly return.

"Well, you needed healing. Leave fractures like yours too long, and you can be crippled, paralysed, worse. I just saw a fellow dark elf in need." Halford made a slow walk to the kitchen, grabbing two stolen whiskey glasses, pouring a glass for the both of them, putting the bottle back and giving one glass to Aldanith.

"So. What's a dark elf doing up here? In Uthlyn of all places."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith downed his drink without thinking. "Dirty work needs doing. But I've been ripped off..." he shook his head and growled. "I'm gonna rip those two f****** to the smallest bloody pieces I can. Nine hundreds. Nine hundreds of gold."

He smashed his fist into the wall. "I swear. I swear to the gods, I'll tear their heads off and let them rot like the pieces of shit they are." His language was getting violent and rude when thinking about Baklari and Bazgan, and he breathed in the cold air to cool down. His hand with the glass sunk down, and he bent his back, staring at the ground.

Suddenly, he sprang back to his whole height, and shook his head, barring his teeth. "I want to kill them. I seriously want to kill those assholes." he snarled.

[Brisinger987]

"I can't imagine how that feels." Halford sighed, taking a drink of his whiskey.

"Nine hundred gold... That would pay for virtually anything you wanted. Land. Power." Halford thought heavily on that large sum. He wouldn't know what to do with it.

"Who were they?"

[Anadwen]

Aldanith shrugged and shook his head. "I don't even know." he muttered. "I don't know their names. A big lizard and some... Monster. That's all."

Inside, he was cursing himself. How could he even be deceived like this? He should never have agreed to let go off the stone before seeing the prize... His mind was dimmed by pain and hunger for money, and that was the mistake. If he would be able to think clearly, this would never happen.

But it did... He raised his glass, now empty. "Can I get more?" he asked. If he couldn't get paid, he could get drunk, and forget about it. The guards wouldn't find him that easily.

[Brisinger987]

"No, sorry. The guards round here will check every-" Halford heard a crash, and reached for his staff, pointing at the direction it had come from, then he heard shouting next door.

"They're going door to door." Halford checked out the window, colour returning to his face at last.

"No guards out front. We'll make a dash for the gate. There's little here that will trace them to us. We need to move now if we want to succeed though." Halford walked over to Aldanith and offered him a hand.

"Can you fight?"

[Anadwen]

Aldanith backed up, barring his teeth like a wild cat, at the sound of the crash. He immediately reached for his long, sleek scimitars, and their blades clinked when he unsheathed them. "I can. I don't need help..." he replied, climbing onto the windowsill.

"I'm fine. I'll go first... Follow me, if you can. If not, hide somewhere. I'm going by the fastest, neck-breaking way, and if you can't keep up, don't follow me." he explained him silently, slowly standing up in the open window.

His strength has returned, and except for the ripped clothes and blood stains, it wasn't even visible that he was hurt badly not even an hour ago. He was prepared to jump into the street, and run towards the gate as fast as a striking lightning.

[Brisinger987]

Halford didn't even put a hand on the door. They just had to make it to the gate.

He literally broke the door off it's hinges, and made a mad sprint for the gate, his elven agility making him much faster than the humans that made chase. He headed straight for the forest nearby, checking for Aldanith behind him.

"Come, to the forest. We can defend the forest easier!"

[Anadwen]

Aldanith sled off the window, and making an elegant turn in the air, he raced after Halford. Slowly, he overtook him, and when they were already in the forest, he grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Wait. I have my wolf somewhere around... He can carry two." he muttered, and whistled loudly. "Uthrang!" he shouted. The roar of a beast rang through the air, and from behind the trunks of the trees came a huge grey wolf. His long fangs were pointing out of his mouth, and there was a saddle on his arched back and wide shoulders. At the highest point of his muscular body, he reached to the chests of the elves.

Aldanith grabbed the reins, secured around his head, and jumped onto the wild wolf's back, giving a hand to Halford. "Wanna go on a ride?" he smirked.

[Brisinger987]

"Nah, I have a better ride buddy." Halford stepped out of the forest, and watched the guards swarming towards him.

"Ingemar!" Halford stood, smiling, when the roar came. It sounded unearthly and demonic, but was simply just one of Ingemar's many talents.

The black dragon landed in front of Halford, who jumped up on the back of it, putting his helmet on.

"Fly!"

[Anadwen]

Aldanith stared at the dragon. "How the hell am I supposed to keep up?" he screamed. Uthrang growled, and backed up. "What do you want me to do? Fly? If you didn't notice, I don't have a goddamn pair of wings!"

He shook his head, and pulled the wolf's reins back. "Look, if you are gonna do this, we can say each other goodbye and go our own ways. I'm not a f***ing demon, or anything similar. I can't keep up with a bloody dragon!" he snarled.

The truth was that he was actually a tad scared. His last encounter with a dragon didn't end too well, and he didn't want to be burned again.

[Brisinger987]

"I don't expect you too." An arrow hit the back of Halford's head, and the dragon sprayed fire at them, before Halford revealed the plan.

"Tell your wolf not to bite Ingemar." The dragon ran towards Aldanith and Uthrang, and picked the two of them up, taking flight.

"See? Not so bad."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith clutched Uthrang's reins, keeping calm, but it appeared that the wolf is taking the flight better. He took a deep breath, and stroke the dragon's leg. "Can I climb up? I... I have a bad feeling down here..." he admitted.

He was not too unused to flight, but he still felt uneasy in the dragon's claws.

[Brisinger987]

"Of course." Ingemar spoke, his deep, regal voice clear and calm, and he plucked Aldanith off the wolf, extending his arm as a platform for Aldanith.

[Anadwen]

Aldanith swiftly climbed up the dragon's leg, showing almost inhuman agility and courage when climbing something that high in the air, and found a place to sit behind Halford.

"Thanks." he muttered. "I thought I'm going to fall off that saddle."

[Brisinger987]

"We'll land soon. Shouldn't be too long." Halford sighed, waiting for Ingemar to speak.

"We will go to Serendipity, we will be safe there."

[Anadwen]

Aldanith nodded. "Connlaoth is too risky. Cursed mordecai. If I ever get caught and killed, it will be in Connlaoth, I bet."

He bent over Ingemar's side, and held one hand by his mouth, looking down at the lands. "You can kiss my ass, mordecai!" he shouted, though knowing that nobody except for Halford and Ingemar could hear them. His thin lips twisted into a smirk. That was really about the only thing they could do - wave him goodbye.