{Spirit x Eldar} Trouble just seems to find us {Nickolai x Siofra}

Things had been going so well for him lately. He had gotten securely into the town where there had been rumors of the rebels, and for the past couple of days had safely integrated himself into the community. Perhaps not to go that far, but they certainly weren't viewing him as a threat anymore. Or, at least, he hadn't thought they were. Then, as he had walked into the tavern for another afternoon of information gathering and simply taking a break from the almost constant traveling he had been doing lately, they had jumped him.

Gratefully they had failed miserably as they hadn't realized he was actually a trained soldier, but it wasn't a pretty sight regardless considering how outnumbered he had been. Thankfully he hadn't been too far into the building when it had happened, and it had been a simple matter to get out again, but as he was sprinting down the street for dear life he had to admit that this whole thing was pretty pathetic. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he'd done to blow his cover, or if it had been blown at all, but now he had to get out somehow and that wasn't going to be easy.

With Arenia flying not too far above and ahead of him and chirping instructions every few seconds or so he thought he could get through fairly well, but she couldn't fly too far from him so she wasn't of as much use as she could be. Still, she did manage to find him a pile of crates in an alley to hide behind and wait for things to settle down. While he sat there panting and hoping he could catch his breath before they found him again she curled up around the back of his neck with a hum of contentment, earning herself a look of irritation from the man since he couldn't reprimand her with people running past on the other side of the boxes.

What a fun day this was turning out to be.

It was with some amusement that Siofra watched the ongoings from a nearby rooftop. One moment, the man down below had walked into the tavern in good humour, practically whistling, and the next he had been storming out again with a horde of crazy people chasing him through the streets. Of course, those were the men she had been keeping an eye on as well and she had figured the guy they were now trying to get their hands on was a new addition to their gang, but apparently something seemed to be off. Information gathering from a distance did have its disadvantages as well, but females were not accepted in the gang, thus she could not try to infiltrate them.

A dragon above seemed to be giving the fugitive directions as to where to go and Siofra decided to keep track of the merry band of men to see what was going to happen next. Fighters they all were, but they weren’t all too bright when it came to this kind of tactics, thus the half-elf was pretty certain they weren’t going to get the man, but it didn’t hurt to verify this. After all, if the man wasn’t one of them, then he had tried to get in for some reason or other and she was curious to know what that reason was.

Crouching low on the roof over the alley where the man, including the dragon, had now hidden in a pile of crates, Siofra oversaw the situation. The hood of her cloak was pulled far down, leaving her red hair hidden and her face in shadows. One could never be too cautious and she didn’t want her features to be revealed to the rebels, not yet at least.

The rebels had split up to search the nearby streets as they seemed to have indeed lost track of the man, so he and his dragon had done well enough for themselves, but of course, if even one of the rebels had noticed where he had gone or started overturning the crates in a fit of paranoia or overzeal, then the fugitive was going to be screwed. He wouldn’t even see the threat coming, hidden as he was.

It wasn’t too long before a pair of men walked into the alley and slowly made their way towards the crates, checking every possible hidey-hole, every door and window – though there weren’t many of them – along the way.

Let the games begin, Siofra thought as she slowly slipped her bow from her shoulder and an arrow out of the quiver strapped to her back.

What a fine mess he'd gotten himself into now. This had to be the epitome of idiocy on his part, and he didn't even know what he'd done. It figured. It really did figure.

Now that he was stuck behind a pile of boxes he realized that it hadn't been such a good hiding spot after all. Yes his pursuers couldn't see him, but he couldn't see them either. He had no idea where they were. For all he knew they had gathered on the other side of the stacks and were waiting to jam their swords through all at once and turn him into a kabob. With that thought in his head it was difficult to keep from hearing all sorts of strange noises in the alley that weren't actually there... or at least he thought they weren't. With Arenia settled calmly around his shoulders he thought it was highly likely it was just his imagination, but when one's life was on the line...

Suddenly Arenia did lift her head and tilt it to one side slightly, looking at one of the boxes as though she was seeing through it. They're coming he thought, just as he too heard footsteps approach. This was not going to end well. Though he did have his sword with him, he wasn't particularly keen on drawing it against someone. A fight wasn't going to be ideal and he preferred not to have to hurt people. In this case it might be necessary...

Of course, not if he could outrun them again. Or outsmart them. So, intelligently, he tried for the element of surprise.

Bursting out of the crates as suddenly as he had gotten behind them, Nickolai slammed into the pair, knocking one of them over before he knew what had even happened. Drawing his sword as he spun to face the other one, he inadvertently gave the man just enough time to figure out what was happening, though not enough time to grab his own weapon as well. So the man grabbed the first thing available to him and slammed Nickolai upside the head with it. Fortunately the item happened to be a piece of a board. Unfortunately it still hurt.

It was funny how some situations took a turn so very quickly. One moment the man had been hiding, the next he was being hit over the head with a piece of wood. Shaking her head, Siofra watched for a little while longer; only long enough for the second man to realise what was happening and scrambling to his feet, but before he had them completely under him again, the half-elf shot her arrow, instantly grabbing another one.

Her aim was true enough, pinning the trouser leg to the ground, only mildly brushing the actual leg. It would be a scratch, nothing more. Of course, the wound might bleed a lot but it wasn’t anything even near fatal or very painful. It would just be very itchy once it scabbed over. Confused, the man stopped his struggle to get up and instead focused on getting the arrow out of the way.

While he was fiddling with the trouser material and the arrow, Siofra let loose the second one, aiming for the wooden board in the other man’s hand. There wouldn’t be enough force to knock it out of the man’s hand but it should hopefully cause a small element of surprise which the fugitive with the dragon on his shoulders might be able to use to his advantage.

The second man had finally gotten the arrow out and was now whipping towards her, squinting his eyes to take in her cloaked, indefinite form with yet another arrow knocked to her bow. Shaking the fist holding the arrow in her general direction, he yelled: “You’re going to pay for this! These were really good trousers! Get down here and fight like a man!”
Siofra just smiled and took aim, deliberately slowly pulling back the string so the man could observe the action in its minute detail, taking into consideration what he had just suggested.

“You might want to hurry up and take him out already,” she called down, though not addressing the rebels but the fugitive, the one she was trying to help.

Nickolai reeled backwards, shaking his head furiously as he tried to clear the ringing from it. His vision swam as Arenia swooped around him, doing her best to be a distraction to the two men so that they would focus on her instead of her 'rider', but as it turned out her actions were unnecessary.

The swordsman honestly thought he was seeing things when an arrow shot from the sky and embedded itself into the man's trousers, pinning him down for a moment. Addled as his brain was he knew that hadn't been caused by him. It couldn't be. He had a sword, not a bow. Unless Arenia had suddenly developed the ability to shoot arrows he highly doubted it had been caused by either of them. Which had to mean someone was looking out for them. Well, at least someone was. They didn't seem to be doing a very good job of that all on their own.

Really this little fiasco wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that he couldn't kill either of them. He could, of course, but he shouldn't. That wasn't his way. Fortunately whoever was shooting seemed to think the same way, as the next arrow embedded itself in the board that had hit him over the head, jostling it in the man's grip and making it easy for Nickolai to sweep it away completely with his blade, at which point he returned the favor by cracking the side of his head with the flat of his sword, sending him to the ground like a rock.

"You know, in case you hadn't noticed, she's a woman, and should be treated with a bit more respect than that," Nickolai commented as he turned towards the last standing man. "And by the way, you shouldn't turn your back on your opponent." That being said, as the man wheeled back around to face him he too received the flat of a sword to his temple and joined his companion on the ground. "Well then, I must thank you for your kind assistance," Nickolai commented, sheathing his blade and looking up at the woman, one hand going to his temple as he winced slightly.

It somehow seemed to have ended up with all of them lying on the ground with varying degrees of pain and consciousness. No matter how out of it they were at the moment though, they’d better not waste any more time in getting out of that place. With all this fighting, she hadn’t paid much attention to what else had been going on and the other rebels may be far too close for comfort.

“You can thank me later. Let’s get out of here first,” Siofra suggested as she motioned for the man to follow while she lead the way on the roof for a while. The next spot to comfortably jump down from would surely present itself soon.

Just as she was about to let herself drop to the ground not too far off from where she had actually just been shooting arrows, she heard the all too familiar sound of running boots. “Ooooh, we’re getting company. Pick up your feet!” The shout was actually a shouted whisper so nobody else would her but the urgency in her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn’t keen on hanging around much longer – in the literal sense of the word as well.

As soon as her own feet hit the ground, she took off running, away from the alley with the downed rebels and away from the approaching footsteps, hopefully quick enough before anyone saw them and figured out what they were doing or had done. “Come on, quickly!” She didn’t wait to see if the man followed her, though she actually should have done, especially since she had gone through the trouble of helping him, and to have done that only to have him fall into the hands of the rebels after all now would just be silly. And completely pointless.

“They can’t see us or catch us. If they do, then we’re both in a world of trouble!”

The immediate threat had passed, but that meant little to nothing in the grand scheme of things. He was still being hunted down like he was an escaped convict and that really wasn't a good thing. Which did make him wonder why she was trying to help him so much, but he wasn't about to complain considering she was the only one who was. Maybe it was a trap, and he wouldn't put too much past these people, but for now he was going to go along with her and see how things went.

She was right though, he just wanted to get out safely. Introductions could wait a bit. He headed off after the woman, glancing up every few minutes just to make sure she was still there on the roof. Arenia was doing her best mother hen impression as she walked back and forth across the backs of his shoulders, fussing at his hair and making odd, quiet little chirping noises in his ears. He didn't dare hush her though, for if he did she'd be pouty for the rest of the day and the last thing he needed at that moment was a pouty dragon.

Just as soon as he would have thought they might be getting out of this mess, he too heard footsteps coming up and his pace instinctively turned into a sprint after the woman. "Go," he whispered to Arenia, who took off instantly and flew above them, below the level of the rooftops so as not to attract attention, but high enough where she had a much better view than he did. He wasn't taking any chances on getting ambushed or losing track of this woman.

"No kidding!" he replied, glancing back over his shoulder extremely briefly. "What'd I do to piss them off anyway? Guy can't walk into a bar around here? I didn't think I sucked that badly at blending in." Evidently he did though, and that was something he would have to work on. Assuming he made it out of this mess so that he could work on it.

“You know exactly why,” the half-elf retorted but didn’t add anything else, concentrating on her breathing rather than wasting more breath on unnecessary words. They were sprinting along winding alleyways towards the outskirts of the town where Siofra knew a place where they could easily slip out into the fields behind. The one condition though was that they had enough of a headstart so they could rush across the small bit of open space until they could disappear inside a barn.

“We cannot lose our headstart or we’re not going to make this. There is a stretch of open plain that we need to cross. If they don’t see us traverse it, they aren’t going to go there. Nobody in their right mind would go to open space when fleeing.” She shouldn’t have talked for so long, it had compromised the air she still had left but otherwise he might not have done it.

The last house was coming closer with every step and Siofra slowed down a little, enough to try and calm her breathing just that little bit before she grabbed the man by the arm, hoping they were far enough away from the rebels and dragged him out into the open and across it. She was running flat out now, hoping that it would be enough. From the sounds of the footsteps, she was almost certain that they’d be fine but there was no way to ever be completely certain.

Only a few steps more and Siofra slowed her speed just enough not to run head first into the barn door, using her momentum to heave the door open so they could squeeze inside.

Yes, he supposed he did know. Somehow he'd tipped them off and they'd figured out he wasn't who he'd claimed to be. Maybe he wasn't as cut out for this whole undercover thing as he'd thought. Well, obviously he wasn't, judging by how he'd been beaten over the head with a board and was now running for his life. If that didn't spell failure then he didn't know what did. Well, hopefully his escape would go just a little bit better than that whole episode had. This woman certainly seemed to know what she was doing, so Nickolai thought things were likely to go well.

At least until she brought up running across a wide open plain. That didn't exactly seem like a good idea. They didn't have any other options though, and she did have a point. "Go distract them," he said to Arenia, who nodded in agreement and flew off, screeching an alarm at the top of her lungs several streets over and heading off in the complete wrong direction when some of their pursuers finally located her.

Nickolai, for his part, sprinted after her, pushing himself faster when she started to outpace him slightly, before barreling past her through the open door, spinning and skidding to a halt so fast that he unbalanced himself, ending up crouching with one hand on the ground, facing the door. "Did we lose them?" he asked, hoping that they had and that Arenia would be able to get away safely. It was far simpler for a small Magpie to get away than it was for them to at least.

It was with a thundering heart beat and ragged breathing that Siofra watched the plain through a slit in the door, which she had pulled shut as quietly but quickly as possible as soon as they had both been inside the barn. For a long time, she didn’t reply to the man’s question, keeping a wary eye out for probably longer than she needed. One single man had appeared around the bend from where they had come, had taken one look at the plain and turned around again.

“Yes, I think it’s safe to say we lost them. They don’t believe we’ve crossed the plain and with your dragon distracting them and leading them elsewhere, we might just have gotten away now. But they will keep hunting for a couple more days at least. You infiltrated their lines, they aren’t going to take that lightly. I just hope your dragon isn’t going to lead them straight back here once she’s done with her mission.”

It was a harsh thing to say most likely but it was a possibility Siofra kept in mind. The men could possibly realise what the little dragon was doing and track her once she thought it was good to return to her master. Though the half-elf really hoped it wouldn’t happen that way.

“I’m Siofra, by the way. We haven’t really gotten the chance to introduce ourselves yet, have we?” She grinned at the man as she finally completely turned away from the door, satisfied with their momentary security, and studied him. It was the eyes that captured her most, an unusual golden colour, though the rest wasn’t bad to look at either. He would definitely be able to hold his own in a fight if it came to one, though one he knew was coming. He had been a little out of his game in the alley. Or maybe a bit of muscle was an illusion, maybe it didn’t mean squat. Appearances could fool, after all.

“How did you end up getting mixed up with these guys anyway? They aren’t the kind anyone would voluntarily try to be friends with, in most cases at least.”

Despite being more out of breath than if he'd tried holding his breath underwater for the short amount of time they'd just spent sprinting, Nickolai tried valiantly to keep himself quiet for fear of giving them away. It wasn't easy considering he felt like he was about to keel over if he didn't get air into his lungs and now. Still, he managed it for the time being while he waited to see what she would say. He could only assume that there was nothing there considering she hadn't said anything, but one could never be certain when one couldn't see for oneself.

Finally she spoke and he was able to breath a sigh of relief. "She probably won't come back for a while, just to make sure we got away and that she did as well," Nickolai said, not too worried about Arenia. She was small, nimble, and incredibly clever, so what risk was there to her? The woman was right though, she would have to be careful when she returned or else it would mean trouble for them. "They'll probably think to look here eventually though," he commented, hoping it wouldn't be anytime soon. They'd no doubt think they were somewhere in the town still, and it would take a while to search the entire place, especially with Arenia distracting them. "I think they'll be busy for a bit though." He'd never seen anyone catch Arenia when she didn't want to be caught.

"Nickolai. Nice to meet you. Not much time for introductions when one's running at top speed," he commented with a chuckle. "I must thank you, you saved my life out there." More than likely anyway. He'd have had to fight his way out and it wouldn't have been pretty. Not at all. "I owe you." It wasn't quite a life debt but it was close, and he fully intended to repay it at some point in time. That was what a gentleman did after all. Now wasn't the time though, now was the time to get their bearings and figure out what they were going to do.

But first he needed to explain what he was doing there, which wasn't an easy task by any means. "I'm part of the Defenders," he said honestly, not about to lie to a woman, particularly when she had saved his life. "I was attempting to infiltrate their ranks to see if they were part of the rebels but evidently I didn't do it as well as I thought. Maybe Arenia gave it away, I don't know for sure. All I do know is all my hard work just went down the drain." More likely than not he'd said something that had given himself away. Proven to have too much information or something of the like. At the very least, they'd caught onto him and that was all that was important. "I take it you don't work with them though," he commented, not about to ask outright in case she didn't want to share. He hadn't seen her around any DDC members though, so he couldn't definitively say she belonged there.

Siofra cocked an eyebrow, wondering whether the man was serious or not, but he seemed to absolutely mean every word he had said. Sure, she had helped him but she hadn’t been of the impression that she had saved his life. In fact, she was almost certain that he would have been able to fight his way out but it would have taken longer, and the truth of the matter was, she had a few questions to ask him about the rebels. So in the end, since he seemed to think he was in her debt, he could repay her with information.

But oooooh my, a defender. Now that put her in a bit of a pickle. “The dragon was most definitely a clue, yes.” Siofra turned back to the door for a while, needing to think things over before she said another word. Saving a simple inhabitant of the island from getting into the wrong crowd was one thing but helping someone who could potentially blow her own cover, well that was a completely different matter. None of the defenders were supposed to know who she was or what she did, and here she was, hiding with one of them. Good thing that not all of the rebels knew her face, or pretended not to know or not to have seen it, since they weren’t too fond of her heritage and her quick ascension through their ranks.

What to do about this situation though? He hadn’t exactly asked her if she was one of them but the hint had been there. Had he been sent by Atleon? Or had he come on his own? Some kind of secret mission Atleon hadn’t told her about?
They did have the same target however as Siofra needed more information on that particular cell as they had been a thorn in her side for a while now, not exactly disobeying orders but they were catching her attention more and more often as they seemed to be unwilling to take orders from anyone associated with her. And she had the suspicion that they might intend to go rogue, though defying Zartear was probably the most foolhardy thing they could do.

“Why these particular rebels? Are you aware of what you have gotten yourself into?” Maybe she should fish for a little bit more information after all before replying to any question, whether direct or indirect, he asked her.

Catching a movement next to the city walls, she turned back to Nickolai and motioned towards the back exit of the barn. “We’d better get a move on already. I’m sure your dragon will find us, but we need to make sure the rebels don’t catch us. It would end badly for the both of us.” None of the rebels would recognise her for who she really was but she wasn’t willing to push her luck either.

He wondered what she thought of him, given the look she gave him. Perhaps he seemed a tad dull-witted given his complete inability to do what he was supposed to. His superiors would no doubt think the same way. Ah well, it couldn't be helped. He'd thought he had been successful. What could have changed? After all, if they had recognized him immediately they would have jumped him then and wouldn't have waited and given him potentially useful information. Now he just had to get back with it.

"Ah, well, I suppose I'll have to leave her behind next time," he commented. Or hide her. She wouldn't take well to being ditched after all, and as obedient as she was he was fairly certain that was one order she would completely disobey. Now that he thought about it though, it really hadn't been a good idea to walk in with her. Wouldn't be making that mistake again.

"Evidently not," he said ruefully. "I mean, I thought I did." He'd just gone where they'd told him to and tried to do what they wanted, that was how the whole thing worked. Evidently there was going to have to be a little change when it came to his missions. Assuming he got any more after this. They might not be as forgiving as that. For all he knew he could end up pushing papers around a desk and using Arenia as a modified mail carrier. She'd take so well to that, he knew.

But it seemed they didn't have long to wait before there little hideout was jeopardized, and Nickolai was quick to get up. "She'll probably come along at night if she's smart. Which she is." Smarter than he was half the time, and he still wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Good for her at least.

So he apparently hadn’t known what he was about to get himself into. Or so he said. Siofra wasn’t quite sure what to make of Nickolai, though there really was no time to dwell on this any longer. “Alright, let’s go.” The half-elf was already crossing the barn when the man replied to her comment about the dragon, but he was quick to follow.

At least she wouldn’t have to worry about losing him somewhere on the way or him getting himself into more trouble than necessary. He was quick in his reactions and movements and didn’t need to be told things twice. If he really had been sent by Atleon, she was sure he had been handpicked and this wouldn’t be the last mission Nickolai would do, whether he had been found out or not. After all, any native among the rebels had to stand out in the end, even if quite a few had joined the rebels’ ranks in the short time they had been on Dragons’ Cove.

“Up for a little more running?” she asked as she pushed open the back door to reveal yet another open field. “This place is surrounding by fields, I know.” She sighed, almost sensing the disheartening thought that most likely came to Nickolai along with the notion of crossing the greenery: potential discovery. “They rarely venture into these parts. They haven’t come from the front of the barn and there aren’t many exits out of the city. Plus, they didn’t believe we crossed the open field on that side,” she pointed back over her shoulder, “so I doubt they’re going to believe we’re going to cross this one.”

Either way, they had to do it. No amount of dillydallying was going to change that fact. “Well then,” Siofra ushered the man outside after scanning their immediate surroundings, “pick up your feet!” Closing the door, the half-elf took her own advice and ran. Her partial elven origins definitely gave her a bit of an advantage when it came to stretching her legs but she hadn’t been running like this in quite a while, and she realised with shock that she had started to be a little out of practice. She would have to take up more conditioning exercises again rather than trying dumb-witted soldiers into becoming mediocre – at best – archers.

Soon enough however, even though it felt like an eternity, they reached the cover of the trees growing erratically and without any kind of hint of a pattern on the other end of the field. “We should keep on walking for a bit and find shelter for the night so your dragon can catch up.”

He hoped he didn't sound like half as much of an idiot as he felt, because if he did then he had to look like the biggest moron on the face of the planet. Well, considering he probably already looked like that anyway before he even opened his mouth, perhaps that wasn't that big of a deal. Okay, getting out of this little situation was more important than anything else at the moment. Worrying about his outward appearance could wait.

He didn't want her to have to lead him around though, just because he wasn't willing to put her at risk anymore. She could obviously handle herself, and it wasn't that he had any issues with taking help from others, but he didn't want any harm to accidentally come to her along the way. Unable to think of a way to say that without making her mad, Nickolai decided it was best to keep that to himself and just keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't come to any harm. Assuming a situation ever came that required him to assist her of course.

"Seems like that's all I do lately," he replied with a quiet laugh. "Good thing I don't really mind it." Of course, when she opened the door and all he saw was a wide open plain before them he felt his facial features fall for a moment before he caught himself and cleared his throat quietly, nodding slightly at her words. "All right. Might as well get going. Standing around here staring at it isn't going to get us anywhere." Too bad he couldn't just teleport. Could some dragons do that? He hadn't heard of any that could that he could think of, but that didn't really mean anything. Arenia would probably know considering she was a dragon herself and was more knowledgeable on such things than he was.

If she was right then they would be incredibly lucky because it truly was the perfect getaway. Unfortunately it did require their pursuers to think that they were more intelligent than to sprint across not one but two open fields, which did make him wonder about their mental states if they thought this was a good idea. "Seems like the best plan I've heard so far." Considering it was the only plan he'd heard thus far that wasn't saying much of anything, but it was true.

Nickolai sprinted along with the woman, praying to anyone and anything that would listen that they wouldn't be seen. That he wouldn't suddenly hear shouts go up behind them that meant they were about to be swarmed by people who were less than happy to see them. All in all getting out of that mess with only one fight was a feat of good luck and skill.

And a bit of tampering on Arenia's part evidently as a huge crash echoed out of the town behind them and he heard voices raised in protest. "Oh goodness, I wonder what she's up to," Nickolai chuckled, glancing back briefly before taking in their surroundings. "All right, shelter, check, good idea." Not that he knew where they were so he wouldn't be that much help. "Too bad she isn't here now considering she could scout around. Lemme see..." There was no obvious way to go so he thought that choosing a direction at random would probably be the best bet. "I guess we ought to just go this way," he commented, pointing off towards their right. "Unless you have a better way to go. I don't want to stay too close to the city."

Siofra heard the crash, as well as the immediate protesting voices, and she couldn’t help but grin. “Whatever she is up to, it sounds like her plan is working out!” Dragons could be incredibly resourceful at times, and she had noticed that first hand more than once, but she kept being surprised by just how many good ideas they sometimes had.

Unsure herself about where exactly they might find some decent shelter, Siofra followed Nickolai as the man chose to go right. Any direction was as good as the other, it seemed, as long as they stayed in the woods and moved away from the city. There were a couple of caves around, she was sure but the trick would be finding them. Worst case, they’d go up a tree. It would still be better than being exposed at the bottom, and she preferred higher ground when it came to defence.

“No, no, away from the city will be good. Preferably quite far, too.” The half-elf would have to return sooner rather than later though before anyone started questioning her absence, but there was no hurry either. She had disappeared for a few days at a time already, but she should probably not make a habit of it. “If we keep going this way, we should hopefully find something in the small hill up ahead a couple of hours. It will be a bit of a hike but maybe there will be a hiding spot.” Siofra kept her eyes roaming over their surroundings, constantly on edge as she didn’t trust the rebels to not turn up after all, but she relaxed a little now that the immediate danger had passed. “Of course, it has been a while sine I’ve been around that part, but we should be fine.”

The path they were using was decent, not all too well used but worn down enough by travellers to be visible without needing to strain the eyes. Low hanging branches however were a bit of a nuisance, but if that was the worst they were going to encounter, Siofra wasn’t about to complain. “So how long have you two been working together? You seem close, you and the dragon. I’m sorry, I’ve blanked and forgot her name.” Frowning, Siofra looked at him. “Or haven’t you actually told me yet? Wow, can’t be sure on that one either.”

Her plan was definitely working out, whatever it was. He just hoped she wouldn't break too many things in the meantime. Or get herself caught, because he really didn't want to have to go back in there and rescue her. Then again, she was small and fast and even he couldn't catch her when she didn't want to be caught. Considering he knew her the best of anyone around he figured there wasn't a good chance of her needing a rescue mission. "She's very good at diversions when she wants to be," he agreed. Better than he was actually.

It wasn't good that neither of them knew where they were supposed to be going, but he supposed that when one was completely focused on getting out of the town that didn't leave much room to consider what one might do after that. Which meant it was time for him to step up and prove that he wasn't completely useless. Only if he was lucky though, because this little plan of his could completely backfire on him at any time and continue to prove him wrong.

"I agree with you there," he said. The further the better. He didn't need to be found by a scouting party, and there were certain to be a few for the next couple of days. Not that he was looking forward to going back to DDC and having to admit he'd failed miserably, but that was the price of failure now wasn't it. It wasn't supposed to be pleasant. "All right, works for me," Nickolai agreed, making certain he didn't stray from the direction he was currently going. Getting them lost in the woods was a terrible idea, but it would be fitting with how well the day was going so far. Well, it had to start looking up eventually and he decided that now would be that time. "There should be, and if there isn't we can make one." He'd gotten used to creating makeshift shelters over the years and it was a wonderful still to have out in the wild.

Thankfully there was a path to follow which meant he didn't have to try too hard to keep them from getting lost. He kept having to duck to keep from getting slapped in the face by branches but that wasn't that bad considering everything else he'd gone through that day. "Oh man, how long has it been?" He paused for a moment to consider and then realized what else she'd asked him. "I might have, I don't know for sure. It's Arenia though, and she's a Magpie if you couldn't get a close enough look at her to tell. Just a little thing but she's my closest companion. For about... two years or so, maybe more. I've lost track as time went on unfortunately." Time seemed to fly by, and he knew it had been a while since he'd met Arenia, just not how much time it had been.

For the time being, Siofra let herself be led by Nickolai. It was nice enough for a change not having to take charge. In fact, at that moment, she realised just how used she had gotten to having to do everything herself and ordering people around for certain things to be done. It was exhausting and this was a lovely change. Thus, the half-elf stuck to following the man, though of course she couldn’t help keep an eye on their surroundings in case he would end up getting lost. Anything was possible after all, wasn’t it?

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” she joked when Nickolai sounded almost incredulous at the time he had already spent with Arenia. “Two years can pass quite quickly. But no, I hadn’t noticed she was a magpie dragon. You’ll have to watch out for her tendencies for shinies once she gets older. Not that they all have that, but magpie dragons do tend to have such traits. But at least her size will always come in handy.”

They made good time with their way of travelling, not running but not walking too slowly either and Siofra was rather pleased with the fact that there seemed to be nobody else roaming the forest apart from the usual wood animals and a dragon here or there. It was rather surprising however that there even were any dragons left in the area. She could have sworn that they had all fled with the arrival of the rebels. Maybe she should investigate this when she has the time.

“I think the best course of action will be to later return into the den of the lion. They will not search for us within the city walls, so we might be better off inside them rather than hiding out here until they have calmed down enough to forget about that little incident.”
Siofra wasn’t quite sure how well this idea would be received, nor was she sure it would be good for him or his dragon but the half-elf herself knew that she could pass unseen. “I have a few acquaintances who could put you up without any questions asked. But for that we would somehow have to get back inside. Pus, you want information, and you certainly aren’t going to get that out here.”

Nickolai could only hope he was leading them in the right direction, but with the path it didn't seem likely he was going the wrong way. Or that there even was a wrong way. If he got lost here then he absolutely was an idiot. Ah well, Siofra wasn't arguing about their course so she thought it was fine. Assuming she knew the area a lot better than he did, Nickolai was inclined to think he was headed the right way. He wasn't alone out here and he had to remember that, even if he did feel alone without Arenia, who would likely be returning soon.

"Oh yes, it really does. Goes really slowly when you're wandering around the wilderness for weeks on end just to find one little group of people though," he replied with a chuckle. He'd done that several times before on a mission and it wasn't pleasant once one had to sneak around. The number of cold meals he'd had because he couldn't start a fire for fear of alerting anyone... well there was only so much Arenia could do with her internal flame. At least she kept him sane. "Shinies? Oh goody, I'll have to keep her from snatching stuff then. Or else get her a bunch of shiny things." He'd figured she would end up doing something like that but to hear it confirmed was nice.

The fact that they were mostly alone in the woods was a blessing. He didn't want to have to deal with other people at that moment in time and thankfully there weren't any. He did see the occasional dragon and was intrigued by that, but without Arenia there to mediate he thought it best to leave them alone.

"Hmm, if you say so," he replied, a little wary about the whole sneaking back in idea. They'd worked so hard to get out of that place that just walking back in seemed silly. She did have a good point though. "You're right, I'd hate to have to go back and say I hadn't tried everything." That did make him pause for a moment though as he realized something. "Not that I'm complaining but you're being very helpful to a stranger. I mean you could have left it at helping me get out."

Siofra was beginning to have her own doubts about the cleverness of the plan, but she didn’t let it show. After all, it had been her idea and she knew them well enough; plus, it would look sort of bad if she were to go back on her own plans and doubt herself.

At his last words however, the half-elf stopped short and looked at him, lightly cocking her head to the side. He did have a point. He was a stranger, and she was helping him. A lot even.
“You may be a stranger but you’ve been employed by someone I know well. Unless I am completely mistaken. But yes, I could have just left it at helping you get out of your little pickle. I could also have just left you in your pickle as it were.”

Siofra straightened up and crossed her arms over her chest. “Nothing ever comes for free of course.” Her eyes were searching his face, gauging his reaction while her other senses stayed mostly tuned to their environment. “But I’m not going to ask you to do anything you didn’t want to do in the first place anyway. You wanted to infiltrate the rebels in order to get some information. Well, I may be able to provide you with the information you need. In return, are you willing to give me the help I require in fulfilling my own task?”

She wasn’t quite sure this kind of gamble would work out – after all, despite helping, it didn’t give her a free pass and she still wasn’t quite certain on his actual allegiances, even though she thought it really had been Atleon who sent him. He had never fully replied to the question and so Siofra was left wondering. Sooner or later she would find out however. The question rather was how much she could tell him.

Logic told him it was a terrible idea to go back into that town since everyone knew his face, but the sheer stupidity of it seemed to be what made it the smartest. Okay, maybe it wasn't a half bad idea at all. Either way it was going to have to be what they did so he didn't see any reason in complaining about it. He was, however, going to severely question her willingness to actually help him.

He had to slam on the breaks abruptly to see what she wanted, only to realize she was mulling over his question. Well, what would her answer be? Aha... now that was interesting. "I understand," he said, nodding slightly. It probably wasn't safe to talk about Defender business here but he got what she was saying. "That you could have." Which was why he wanted to know what she was doing because it simply didn't make sense.

There it was, she wanted a favor in return. All right then, he supposed he could deal with that. If she really was with the Defenders, which he had no reason to think she wasn't, then obviously it would be fine if he helped her. "I swear to help you to the best of my abilities," he swore, placing his fist over his heart for a moment. It probably wasn't wise, but he was going to have to do so. In the end it would be worth it if they both helped each other and got something out of it. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous about the whole thing considering he didn't know what to expect, but if she was in the Defenders then it couldn't be too bad. "What are you here to accomplish?"

As he spoke Arenia came soaring through the trees and plopped down on his shoulder, making a pleased chirrup in his ear that made him wince slightly. "All right, at least this one's back so we can relax about them following us." He knew better than to think she would have led them there to be attacked.

Siofra raised her eyebrow at Nickolai’s gesture, wondering what on earth he was doing, but then she broke out into a grin. “Good, then I think we understand each other.” She relaxed her stance a little and was about to explain why she was here, but just at that moment, Arenia came back and happily plopped down on her friend’s shoulder. Dragons usually always managed to put a smile on her face and her little chirrup making him wince definitely made her smile.

“My task is to gather information, but of a different kind from what you are gathering, but what I need your help with is to bring the information back to the Defenders. They need it in order to make plans of their own for future moves against the rebels.” Or whatever it was Atleon was planning. She was almost completely out of the loop on that ever since Racksom had gone so devastatingly wrong.

“Which is also part of the reason why I’m suggesting we’re going back in after a few hours, once they’ve settled down. We both need information and you need to know enough of it to report back so that we can mount a proper defence or attack. I don’t know what the plan is but something needs to happen before these rebels take over more of our home.” She hadn’t planned on making quite such a speech, but there it was. If he was a true defender, then he would agree and have something to say to this himself. If he wasn’t, then she was going to find out now as well. Either way, there was nothing left to lose. If needed, she could put an arrow into him quickly enough, but he didn’t seem the kind to be lying about this and his trouble had seemed sincere. Everything about him had seemed sincere until now, so she had little reason to doubt him or his words, except for her natural tendency at mistrusting people.

He had a feeling she hadn't gotten his response but then he supposed it wasn't all that typical nowadays. Still she accepted it and that was all that mattered. He thought they understood each other too. At least they were getting along instead of trying to kill one another. She certainly could have if she had wanted to because he hadn't been looking for archers at the time. At least Arenia was back and he could relax about that. He'd been concerned as to whether or not she was actually going to be able to get back to him that night.

He was slightly deaf now thanks to Arenia making a noise right in his ear, but he could still hear her well enough. All right, that sounded like a simple enough plan. Plus it didn't seem as though it would require him to do anything too out of place. Going back into the city was going to be dangerous but he wasn't going to have any other choice. Arenia seemed to realize what was going on and she shuffled her wings nervously but said nothing to the contrary.

"All right, we'll do that then," he agreed again. "With any luck they won't figure out what we're doing." He was planning on staying behind as best he could so that they wouldn't realize who he was. That would be horrible if they discovered him again. He was fairly certain they wouldn't allow him to escape again for obvious reasons.

At least she had a good plan considering it sounded better than anything he could come up with. If he was on his own he'd probably be licking his wounds in prison if they were nice enough to throw him there instead of just mauling him and leaving him to die in the street. "Yes we certainly don't need them making more of a mess than they already have," he agreed. "I'm pretty sure Arenia would agree." The dragon nodded in agreement with a quiet hum though she still looked ruffled. She wasn't exactly pleased with the idea but she would go along with it if that was what they had decided to do. Better that than going back and watching Nickolai get yelled at for the next couple of months. Plus if they could help someone else with their task then that was good enough for her.

They waited for proper night time, when the hours were slowly starting to creep towards dawn again, before they made their way back into the city from a different angle. A few hours of sleep with keeping watch had preceded though Siofra didn’t feel all that refreshed afterwards.
The city was quiet and there were only few people up and about anymore; mostly those doing dark deeds that were not meant for the public eye. Siofra ignored them for the most part though, as they did with the trio as well. If you didn’t see, then you weren’t seen – or something along those lines seemed to be a sort of motto on various street corners.

“Alright,” Siofra muttered when she crouched down behind a stack of barrels belonging to an inn. “You’ve been with them, so you know that they favour this particular establishment. There is a bassment entrance somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. Did they show you? Or do you have any idea where it might be? I want to go in and have a look but without alerting anyone to my presence. The barkeeper knows who I am and doesn’t let me through to the private parts, claiming that the front is all that is open to the public.”

It was safe to say that Siofra was a little miffed about it but there was no way she was going to force her way in. It wouldn’t serve any purpose other than to make everyone edgy. Necessary risks she was willing to take, but storming in through the front wasn’t going to get her the information she required. Nor would it help Nickolai’s life in this case. On the contrary, it would put them both in danger. Siofra wasn’t supposed to be all too interested in what these rebels did as long as they followed the rules and Nickolai… well… if the morning’s episode had been anything to go by, then they knew who he was and thus his life was forfeit if they got their hands on him and there wasn’t much she could do about it without blowing her own cover.

In the time that passed Nickolai felt more and more tense from the idea of what was going to happen. He knew it was a poor idea to sneak back into the city but they didn't have a choice in the matter if they didn't want to be reamed out by the other Defenders when they went back. Well, if he didn't want to be. He thought Siofra would be fine whatever happened since she hadn't completely screwed up her mission as far as he knew. Actually he hadn't even known she was on a mission until she'd come out and told him which definitely had to mean something.

But then the more time they spent in the city the better he felt because he slowly got into his element (not that sneaking around in the background was his element) and got used to what was going on. Plus the more time he spent there that he didn't get noticed the more likely he thought it would be that they wouldn't be noticed at all. Evidently stupidity was as rampant in the streets as people were.

"Basement entrance, yeah I remember something about that," he said, choosing not to mention that he'd been blindfolded most of the time he'd gone through that way. He couldn't have Arenia help him either because she hadn't been there for that moment in time. Okay, he thought, just remember how they took you there. "It's around the corner of the building, a few feet away behind another stack of boxes and barrels," he said with a slight nod. That sounded about right anyway since he knew they had to move some things before they could actually enter the passage. "Yeah, we definitely don't want to blow your cover too." Which would happen immediately if they saw her with him honestly. "It's way easier to just go through the back."

Well, as long as no one else noticed anyway. If they got caught doing that then they were really screwed. Fortunately he knew better than to think that would actually happen if they were careful so this seemed the smartest choice overall compared to the rest of their options when one considered that the choice of walking away and going back was not one of them anymore.

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