More Than expected: (Closed Thread)

[The_gladiator]

Taurean was a bit surprised that she didn’t strike him or immediately pull away. However, he couldn’t say that he was displeased. The moment felt perfect.

He did not linger in the moment, her words were wise, there pray was moving while they stalled. He gave her a nod and his special smile for her, and then headed off through the woods. He seemed to have gone into hunting mode. There was no more talk, but the silence this time was not uncomfortable, it was purposeful. He had gone into a stalking mode.

He abruptly stopped. He was surprised she had stayed with him as well as she had. She was not as silent as him, but he suspected few would have heard her. He faced her and his hands flashed in the intricate hand signals, sign language of the drow. Not sure she had understood what he said, he tried to simplify things. He gave her a gesture that was indicated to mean that she would wait there. He made a gesture suggesting he would walk in a circle around whatever was ahead.

And with that he was gone. It was clear that previously he had been moving so she could follow, but when he melted into the foliage this time, no one was meant to see him, even her. There were noises ahead, voices, an argument.

“They can’t be this far. We’d have found their tracks,” One voice rose above the rest.

“Silence you fool,” another voice. The rest was unintelligible from the distance that celaena must be.

Taurean still did not know if she had understood his hand signing. If she had understood the silent code, he could have made a bird call for her to move into a position to attack, but he couldn’t count on her knowing what it meant. He would only dare to use it if there was trouble.

Taurean’s frown deepened as he counted no less than 10 around their camp. Clearly, they were sharing a meal. He closed in on one of the sentries and dropped in behind him. His garrote that he had produced from his belt pouch, slipping over the man’s neck, landing just so. The sharp wire not just strangling the man, but slicing deep through the throat as Taurean jerked his hands apart.

The second sentry met the same fate, but did get off a shout before he died.

The shout roused the camp who all rushed towards the noise. Cover blown, Taurean Whistled an alert wondering if Celaena would recognize the call that woodsmen of Kierielle often used to communicate when approaching one another. He was trying to warn her that he was returning to her but others were following.

Taurean emerged from the trees at a rapid clip, the bloody garrote wire looped to the side of his belt rather than safely away in the pouch. A dagger was already in his hand. “They come,” he finally said in elvish.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Celaena had done her best to stay quiet and stay as close to Taurean as possible once he'd slipped into his tracking mode. She did not really have any experience at stalking prey herself due to her privileged, high society life back in Kierielle; but she had always enjoyed more active pursuits such as archery, riding, and her private lessons in self-defense and swordsmanship; and so she was able to keep up fairly well.

When he'd stopped and begun to gesture at her in the sign language of the drow however was an entirely different matter. She caught a couple of the more common gestures, but the rest went entirely over her head. He must have seen the confusion on her face, for she was thankful when he switched to more simple movements. Understanding dawned in her eyes and she gave a quick nod of confirmation, staying in her position as he disappeared into the trees.

She could hear a man's voice coming from somewhere up ahead, an argument of some kind. As she waited she wondered, had Taurean meant for her to stay in her position there indefinitely? Surely not. What good would she be here? Hearing the voices, but unable to make out the words she moved towards them silently, though coming at them from the opposite direction as where Taurean had gone and carefully peering through the dense foliage. She crouched low, waiting for some kind of signal to attack.

It came, though not in the manner she'd been expecting. Suddenly there was a shout from one of the men, the others rushing to where the noise had come from. In the commotion she took the opportunity to fire at one of them, his shout as the arrow made its mark reaching her ears just as she heard a distinctive whistle rise up through the wood.

That noise! She had heard it before echoing through the trees during holidays to the countryside of Kierielle with her family. Her father had explained that it was a signal the woodsmen used when approaching one another. She knew it must be Taurean. Hurrying back to the spot where they had parted, she arrived to see him moving quickly towards her from the opposite direction.

"They come"

She nodded and straightened, drawing another arrow and lining it up in the bow, ready to cover him as he ran.

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean found her ready and he took her in with a glance. His eyes didn’t miss anything. He could see the quiver was missing an arrow. He made a mental note to ask if she’d gotten anyone. As he slid to a stop in front of her, he was barely breathing hard. He didn’t need to tell her their surprise was blown, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to flee completely though.

That was until the fireball, and the forest fire. It had not rained down this far in some time so the foliage was dry and when the fireball whizzed passed him, expanding into a ball of fire blocking their escape, he skidded to a stop throwing out an arm to stop Celaena.

The trees began to burn like kindling. “Other way,” he stated unnecessarily. However, this would turn them back towards their pursuers. “Go towards the river,” he said. Thinking if they were close to the water, they would be close to safety should the forest continue to go up like it was.

Taurean started in that direction just assuming she would follow. He came upon one of their pursuers, his dagger slashing the man’s throat before he knew what hit him. Taurean slowed just long enough to collect another pair of daggers, and now he held a shorts word in his hand rather than a dagger. An arrow hissed past him, and it was clear the archer from the day before was still alive. “If you have a shot, take it,” he ordered Celaena. He didn’t tell her not to waste her arrows, she knew that.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

The fireball had indeed been a surprise as it had wizzed past their heads and lit the dry, rain deprived trees before them, but Taurean's arm had caught Celaena and she'd skidded to a stop with him before they'd gotten too close to cause harm. She recovered quickly from the shock, following after him in the opposite direction towards the river before they were stopped again, this time by an attacker. Taurean made short work of the man, but then an arrow hissed past, barely missing him.

Instantly Celaena ducked behind a tree to shield her body, her keen eyes peering round it and searching through the trees in the direction from which the arrow had come and spotting movement.

“If you have a shot, take it.”

"I see him," she replied to Taurean, still in Elvish, as her eyes focused on the man.

Quickly she lined up the shot, pulled back the arrow, and released it at the other archer.

 

[The_gladiator]

Their attacks flew at the second time. The arrow creased the man’s leather armor and he grunted. It at first looked like Taurean’s thrown dagger had harmlessly missed the man, but as the man began to swear as he tried to line up another shot the truth of Taurean’s throw became evident. He had slashed the bowstring with the throw.

“That will buy us some time,” Taurean said as he started jogging towards the river, the fallen man’s sword still in his hand.

It became clear that their attackers weren’t extremely organized as another man ran at taurean. He let him pass and hamstrung the man as he passed with the sword. He wondered idly if Celaena would finish him on her way past or would she leave his screams of pain as a distraction to their enemies. The yells could also act as a signal for where they were. “Kill him,” Taurean ordered a step later, realizing the danger of the man’s cries of pain.

Steps later Taurean was at the edge of the water. He turned and followed the river down away from the fire. The foliage was more moist this close to the river, he hoped this would protect them from the rapid spread of the blaze. If he looked back, he could see a wall of smoke filling the sky.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

“That will buy us some time”

Celaena had smirked as she'd turned and followed after Taurean through the trees, more than a little impressed by his dagger throw and the slashed bowstring. When another attacker had then lunged at him as they'd jogged towards the river she'd quickly used her free hand to withdraw one of her daggers from the harness beneath her vest, ready to come to his aid against the attacker, but Taurean quickly took care of the man and leaving him immobilized on the forest floor.

She thought for a moment as he started to head off again that he might leave the man there, crying out on the ground in pain. She definitely didn't feel sorry for the man knowing what his plans had been for her and others like her. Let him suffer and then live out his life as a cripple. Then she heard Taurean's order though.

"Kill him."

She remembered driving a dagger up into the gut of one of her attackers the night before in desperation and self-defense, though this situation was a little different. She didn't allow herself time to think about it though. With a flick of her wrist she spun the curved blade outward and brought it across the man's throat in one clean, fluid motion as she passed, his cries going silent as he gasped for air that would not come and his eyes going wide as he bled out upon himself.

She quickly turned away and didn't look back, chasing just a short distance behind Taurean towards the river, the smell of smoke rising up around her while the crackling and splintering sound of burning and falling trees grew louder in her ears.

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean abruptly stopped in his headlong flight as a wall of fire rose up before them. “Seriously?” he couldn’t help exclaiming aloud. As if this tinderbox of a forest needed anymore fire, his irritation escaped his control in such a juvenile outburst.

They were trapped though, wall of fire before them, forest fire behind them. Taurean considered rushing through it and hoping he wasn’t burned too badly. He turned back to her. Shoving the sword through his belt he looked at her. “How strong a swimmer is you when you aren’t drugged?” apparently it was their destiny to be under water together.

Knowing they would need to maneuver under the water more than even the previous night Taurean began to yank off his boots, tying them together by the laces, which he hung around his neck. It was clear he didn’t want to lose them but he wanted his feet for better control under the water.

He finally spared her a glance to see if she was following his lead. The mud was soft and squished under his bare feet as he stepped into the river. The water was cold, but that fire would be hot. He had to swim beneath it, as the wall of fire extended into the river. “Let’s hope this isn’t a trap,” he grumbled in elven.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

“How strong a swimmer is you when you aren’t drugged?”

"Strong enough," was Celaena's quick reply, moving away from the wall of fire and towards the river.

Seeing Taurean begin to take of his boots she followed his lead, quickly removing her own and tying the laces together so that she could hang them around her neck as she hurried towards the water's edge and hopefully not lose them in the current as they swam. She swore slightly as she noticed that the fire extended out into the water. How was that even possible?

“Let’s hope this isn’t a trap,”

"Even if it is, we've no other choice at this point," she replied as she wadded into the river, wincing slightly from the cold as the water rose up her torso and once more plastered her clothes to her frame as she moved deeper into it.

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean looked at the wall of fire which appeared to be on the surface only. It was sending up hissing steam where it contacted the water. “I could explain magical theory of how it’s possible, but we don’t have that kind of time. Lets just hope it does not extend below the water line.

He looked over his shoulder to see her right behind him. “If nothing else I’ll die knowing that you look sexy in wet clothing,” he joked as he took several long deep breaths saturating his longs with oxygen, forcing out carbon dioxide. He then dove under the water and started to swim. He was aware of the weight of the boots around his neck, weighing him down. He fought down the panic, he would need them later, he couldn’t leave them behind.

Mental exercises helped him keep his control as his muscles moved him deeper into the water. He was hampered by the weapons, she the pack and bow, the sword caught the water and dragged awkwardly. However, those were secondary concerns.

His feet kicked him deeper and deeper. He then began to swim forward. He was aware when he was under the fire, the heat washed over his body, like a line that he could feel himself passing, down his neck, back, hips, and finally his feet. He was clear but he had to go further so that he did not come up too close to the fire, and had to give Celaena room to pass it too. His lungs were burning for air but he kept his mouth closed, refusing to let the bubbles escape let out the precious air.

Finally, he dared to surface. He came up gasping in a great gulp of air, he tried to just let his mouth surface but it was enough, an arrow skipped off the water inches from his face. He took in another breath and dove in, kicking for the far shore. Thinking if he put the river between them, they might get a breather.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Celaena had modeled Taurean's deep breaths to fill her lungs as much as possible with the oxygen that she would need to complete the dive to the other side of the fire wall. She was a decent enough swimmer, but had only ever done so recreationally before and had never really needed to test her skills when it came to diving for prolonged periods like this. She tried not to dwell on that thought at the moment though, diving down into the water right behind him.

She kept her focus on following him and not the weight of her boots and the pack, or the heat of the flames that she could feel above her as they swam beneath them, knowing that doing so would only cause her to panic and run out of air too soon. As they started to ascend however she could feel the burning within her lungs, making her rush for the surface.

His lips broke the surface of the water just a few moments before her own, which was good because in her rush for air she'd paddled too hurriedly, her entire head emerging as she gasped for air for a moment before diving back down. Just as she did another arrow skimmed the surface just above her. She'd been lucky, the archer that had fired at Taurean being in the middle of retrieving another arrow when she'd surfaced so obviously.

She quickly swam after him towards the opposite shore.

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean swam hard for the opposite shore. He suddenly had a sense of danger; He threw himself up onto a rock going up it hand over hand until he was on his stomach out of the water. He caught one of celaena’s hands as she swam past, bending backwards as he worked to haul her out of the water onto the rock. “Out of the water,” he snapped. And even as he caught her under her arms, coming to his knees to swing her out of the water, there was an arc of blue lightning that shot into the water. “That bastard never gives up.” He snarled. The jolt he felt through the rock was nothing compared to how it would have felt in the water. “Did it get you?” he asked as he breathed hard.

Then the arrows came. They weren’t really accurate at this distance, but as long as they would hesitate to go in the water, they were sitting ducks. “How good a shot at distance are you? Can we fire back? I would hate to waste arrows at this distance with little chance of reward. I’m a good shot but with as few arrows as we have, I wouldn’t trust myself to hit anything, at least nowhere near a one shot one kill ratio I expect of myself.”

Taurean knew they should go back in the water, get to shore, but yet he did not wish to get electrocuted either. “I’m open to suggestions,” he commented dryly as he looked back at their attackers and then to the equally distant far bank.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Celaena had been confused at first when Taurean had suddenly hoisted her out of the water and onto the rock with him. Why was he stopping from reaching the opposite shore?! In the same moment however she saw the flash of lightening and felt the pulse of electricity shoot through her, making her gasp in response. The sensation was far from pleasant, but it was definitely worse than being electrocuted to death.

"I'm alright," she assured him as she tried to catch her breath, pressing herself down against the rock and trying to avoid the disarray of arrows being shot at them.

When he asked if she could hit one of them from this distance she nodded.

"I'll need a minute though," she replied, noticing how her hands shook a bit, the intense dive in the cold water and then the shock of the lightening having taken a toll.

As she breathed in and tried to steady herself, another idea came to her, though she wasn't quite sure how to carry it out.

"If we could draw some of them into the water after us somehow, the wizard wouldn't be able to fire any more lightning without hurting them too," she told him.

 

[The_gladiator]

“So perhaps if we sit here long enough, they’ll come in the water to get us?” he asked, “Or am I supposed to try taunting them like I’m some sort of halfling, or is it the gnomes that taunt, never mind. I’m not sure I’m good enough at insults to lure them in the water, but perhaps just resting here will lure them in. The risk is that Grendel will get the range and blow us off the rock with lightning or a fireball.

As he spoke a cloud formed over them and they were suddenly pelted with hale and snow. “Or that,” he said shivering in the sudden cold. He pressed himself over her using his larger form to keep the pellets of hale off her so that maybe she could shoot back when it was done. It was freezing especially after the water and already being cold.

He tucked her head to his chest tucking his face against her hair as he tried to shield them from the pelting conjured snowstorm.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

"Ouch!" Celaena had cried when the snow had begun to fall upon them both and she'd suddenly felt the sting of the hail pellets hitting her.

She'd brought up her arms to try and shield her head, but before she could even finish she felt Taurean move to cover her instead, his larger body shielding her from the worst of it as he tucked her to his chest. She curled her body tighter, bringing in her arms and legs, trying to make herself as small as possible beneath him to escape the stinging ice and snow. She could feel his hot breath against her hair, hear the beating of his heart within his chest.

"If we are within his range, is he within ours?" she asked quickly, speaking of the wizard, readying herself to fire an arrow, "Is he on the shore where I could reach him with an arrow?"

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean held her to his chest. He tried not to think about how good she felt. He heard her words and felt her readying her bow. “He probably has on a stone skin dweomer. So, a single hit would not hurt him. If only there was a way to hit him multiple times to wear away the spell. It can only absorb so many hits.

Taurean squinted through the snow to see the shoreline. “He’s there behind a few of his men. “If there was only a way to hit and knock pinecones or apples on him. Something heavy enough to wear at the spell.” He was clearly thinking aloud now. Hoping between the two of them they might come up with something.

Suddenly he saw the spell caster preparing more ingredients. “He is casting again. Shoot now, you may not hurt him, but you may be able to disrupt his concentration.” Taurean was shivering with cold yet he still sheltered her from the last of the snow even as he ordered her to take the shot.

He was worried they would need to take their chances in the water.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

“He’s there behind a few of his men. “

Celaena shifted herself beneath Taurean to follow his gaze and look in the direction that he indicated, listening to his explanation of the spell that he suspected the wizard had cast to defend himself from attack. She shivered a bit, but not nearly as bad as Taurean, who's body was still shielding her from the words of the cold and snow.

She readied her arrow and looked for something above the wizard that she might dislodge with her shot and cause to fall down upon him as Taurean had suggested, but unfortunately saw none. When he started to gather ingredients to cast again however and Taurean told her to shoot so that she could break his concentration an idea came to her.

Seeing a bottle of some strange liquid that the wizard was now holding in his hand, she lined up her shot and fired.

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean had thought that the wizard was casting again, perhaps preparing another lightning bolt. He had thought the bottle in his hand had been the glass rod that was a part of that spell’s ingredients. However, Celaena had observed something he hadn’t for something very unexpected happened when she shot her arrow.

There was the hiss of the shot and then the tinkle of broken glass. The ease with which the arrow shattered the glass, combined with what came next were enough to tell Taurean exactly what the wizard had been holding. The bottle exploded with a roiling burst of fire, that may have done no harm to the wizard, but the archers standing just in front of him were not that lucky as they went up like torches. The liquid in that bottle was designed to spread out and had probably sprayed out when the bottle shattered.

Taurean realized the wizard must have been planning to coat the arrows with the oil of impact in hopes of perhaps destroying the rock they sat on. Still shivering from the cold Taurean recognized this was their opportunity and ordered “to the water again,” He didn’t praise her for her shot, however he did give her a squeeze on her shoulder, which could have been encouragement to dive back into the water, or perhaps just that a praise for her shot.

Then he was gone from her back, twisting into a dive into the water, the angle of his hands keeping his dive shallow skimming him across the water. He knew not if the wizard had been injured, what he did know was that they wouldn’t have long. However, he could hear distant splashing. Apparently their going into the water had caused a few of their pursuers to go in the water after them. They must have made that decision assuming their wizard was down for the count. Foolish, he thought to himself if the wizard really was fine then he could no longer use lightning for fear of hurting his own men.

Taurean never even looked back to confirm she was behind him until he was out on the far bank, and it was a steep wall that he had to climb. Reaching a ledge, he leaned back down to offer Celaena a hand up. “Are you alright?” he finally asked eyes scanning over her as he hoisted her out of the water, their wrists locked together.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Celaena had dared not hesitate even a single moment as she'd seen the fire erupt from the bottle and engulf the men standing near the wizard and then heard Taurean's order to return to the water. She dove back in, the splashing sounds of their pursuers and the adrenaline in her veins urging her on even as the cold of the water and from the storm that the wizard had conjured tried to make her muscles grow stiff and slow. She finally made it to the edge of the water and reached up for Taurean's offered hand as he bent down for her, gripping it tightly as he hoisted her up onto the ledge with him.

"I'm fine," she assured him, not yet releasing his hand as she caught her balance and turned her head away from him back towards the water to check on how close their pursuers were.

Once more she was soaked head to foot, her hair and clothes plastered to her lithe frame, a puddle of water forming around her bare feet. She shivered slightly but didn't seem to notice, her attention on the men in the water as her hand reached back for an arrow.

"Shall we see how they like being fired at when they come up for air, or do we keep moving?" she asked with a frown, her eyes narrowing.

 

[The_gladiator]

Pulling her from the water. There was a part of him that wanted to gather her close, but he did not dare, it was not the time. There might be time for that later.

He stayed her hand as she reached for an arrow. “Nay, Lets plan something different. He then began to set up rocks on the ledge, with some broken tree limbs positioned just so under neath them. When the others reached for the branches and roots it would hopefully bring the boulders down on their head.

This accomplished with her assistance, which he secured by giving her orders where he could and trusting her to follow along the rest of the time, it was time for them to go.

Taurean took her hand and helped her pick her way along the ledge until they came to a type of natural staircase up the cliffs. “Try to put your feet where I do,” he said, not releasing her hand, steadying her along the path as they found at the top of the stairsteps a cut between two rock walls. “Climb,” he urged as he placed his back against one side and his feet against the other and began to chimney up the space. It was dangerous what they did, but hopefully would keep them out of view.

Finally, he reached the top and laying on solid rock he reached down for Celaena, pulling her to safety. “We can rest,” he said, and even the hardened assassin sounded winded and tired.

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Celaena wasn't certain if it was adrenaline that kept her limbs moving and able to keep up with Taurean as they scaled up the cliff or just sheer stubbornness and determination on her part not to fall behind, but somehow, finally she made it to the top and laid out on the rock beside him as he pulled her up.

“We can rest”

She breathed a sigh of relief at his words, staying where she lay as she caught her breath, but rolling on her side towards him so as not to be so close to the edge of the gap between the rocks where they had just climbed up. This put her facing him of course, and closer, but she didn't mind and didn't think he would either considering how close their sleeping arrangement had been the night before. She noted his heavy breathing and felt a bit better at the knowledge that she wasn't the only one winded after their ordeal.

"You ever think of giving carpentry a try, or maybe a blacksmith?" she joked with a smirk between breaths, "I hear the wages are fair enough."

 

[The_gladiator]

Taurean propped himself up on his elbow as she rolled towards him, so he could better meet her eyes. “I do, and then I get this uncontrollable urge to kill myself at the thought of the boredom. Or else I realize that I have skills with throwing knives, brewing poisons, sword and bow. Great skills to have but not exactly marketable as a civilian.” He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear idly as they lay there. He didn’t even know what caused him to do it, it just appeared stuck to her cheek with either water or sweat or both, and he gently tucked it behind the delicate point, careful not to let more than the heat of his touch brush her ear, he knew well better than to make such an overture to her.

“What about you? You were the one who wanted this life, you could have been happily married, right?” his smile said he was trying to tease her right back. It was still just that slight twitch of lips, but it was the hint of a smile he always gave her. “You did volunteer to be my partner, remind me again, who is more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?”

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Her own smile grew at the way he tucked her hair behind her ear, and at that little twitch of a smile that she was coming to spot more quickly now as he teased her.

"Ha, happily married, right," Celaena replied with a dry laugh, "Perhaps if one has any sort of fondness for their spouse marriage can be a happy thing, but that certainly would not have been the case for me. The man is the same age as my father and just as archaic in his beliefs. I mean, he bet my father for my hand in a card game. What sort of man does that?! We don't have a single thing in common. I'd just be trading one gilded cage for another..."

She paused, her tone growing more serious as she lowered her gaze in thought, her brow furrowing slightly.

"In truth, I'd always imagined marriage would be my chance to escape my father's overbearing rules and expectations for how a woman should behave, to be with someone who appreciated me as I was for once and wouldn't constantly be trying to change me, someone who maybe even loved me and whom I loved as well..."

She gazed back up at him again and shrugged, looking a little embarrassed as she smirked again.

"Silly girlish dreams. I suppose I really am the more foolish between us then."

 

[The_gladiator]

“I’m not really sure I can blame him for gambling for your hand. You are more than appealing and if your father was foolish enough to gamble your hand away, I would have happily taken that bet were it me.” He was still teasing her.

He let his own expression grow more sober as she continued to speak. “That seems counter to what is expected from arranged marriages,” he said softly.

He shrugged just a bit, “At least you had prospects for marriage, I mean, who wants to Mary a slave, turned assassin? I seem to be relegated to lovers that then later try to kill me, like the woman who was almost your boss, or perhaps a single night with a companion.” He shrugged, “But not sure I ever had the dreams of rainbows that you seem to have had, though you make your idea of marriage sound more appealing than most have ever made the institution sound to me.”

 

[BlondeAmbition4RP]

Her smile grew a little at his response, wasn't quite as rueful as it had been before.

"Appealing, but impractical. Silly, like chasing rainbows as you said. I've never wanted an arranged marriage, but of course that's not the norm for a lady of my station and 'breeding'," she rolled her eyes at the term, "Though none of that is a concern now. I'm free to do as I wish."

She smirked again and gave him a little teasing poke.

"Perhaps you have the right idea of it: short lived lovers and single nights of passion. No ties to anyone, no commitments. Free to go where you want and with whom you want."

 

[The_gladiator]

“It is the right idea for some, not sure it’s right for you and your rainbows, though. It’s a fairly lonely life. Yes, you might scratch an itch for a night, but at the end of the day you’re still alone. That weighs on some.”

He shrugged, “It works well for folks like me that don’t make a rule of trusting people, who know that we’re the only ones we can trust, and when we do open up to a longer relationship, we have to constantly be on guard for the time they will stab us in the back. I knew it was only a matter of time before Shyra turned on me. Such is the way of things. Perhaps though it’s not bad to completely lose sight of the goodness of the world as I have.” Even as he spoke those words, they raised questions of where they really true? He seemed to say one thing about himself but had treated her remarkably well, if not somewhat grumpily. She had been trusted enough to sleep around him, to see him sleep.