The knife was pressed against the childs' neck, The little light in the alley glinting off its sharpened steel edge. At the other end, the men stood, armed with clubs and swords, five in total; They had tried to stick him up, but he had managed to kill two, and grabbed the child on his way here. He was unloved by everyone in this city, that covered the whole of the earth; Why? Because of who he was, The history of his family.

The Rodetan's were long known by the rest of the world a family who worshiped Good, instead of Evil or Neutral as was normal in those days. All the other families that worshipped Good had been wiped out in the great Crusade of Evil a hundred years back, The Rodetan's only escaped because they had managed to hide and bribe they're way out of being killed. The man holding the knife, Though he was a Rodetan, he did not worship Good. Nor was he raised up with those ideas in mind. No, He was raised to believe that Good was gone in the land. There was no hope, This was the end of Good as they knew it; Though there was one in his family that still knew the innocence of youth, Who knew what it meant to have hope.

John Rodetan shifted slightly, the knife cutting a little of the boy's neck, a tiny trickle of blood dripping down. "Now back up, And let me go. Or I'll gut the kid." he said promptly. A small path formed in the group, and he walked forward, boy held firmly up against the knife. His family was expecting him, he knew; The disease that ran through the city had infected many so far, and many saw it as a blessing from Evil to be taken into the ranks of his grand undead army. Personally, John thought it was the begining of the long-expected end. He had been in the middle of buying supplies from a local store when he had been held up by the bandits, Who worshiped Neutral. Another safe house, he thought warily. Another place to hide, to plot a way to break back out into normal life.

He got out into the street, and dumped the boy down on the cobbled earth, Running away. Family ties would only get you so far in this land, he thought to himself. Atleast Darlene was safe, he thought grimly. Stupid kid. He laughed as he ran, licking the blood of his son off the knife...

William hit the dirt with a dull thud as his father threw him down onto the ground, leaving him to fend for himself. He burst into tears, the slight trickle of blood running down his neck a reminder of the treachery and sin that his father had commited. He got up onto his feet, running after his father as fast as he could, but was shoved aside as the bandits chased after him.
"Catch the bastard! I saw him, He's got money!" one yelled loudly.

William sobbed silently, pulling himself into a corner, as the rain started to fall down. Thunder resounded loudly in the distance, As William prayed to Good that nothing befell his parents, however horrible they had been. Nearby, a baby was thrown out of a window, landing a few feet away from him. It was followed shortly by blood-curtling screams. "Stupid whore, I told you to abort the damned thing!" a man yelled, followed shortly by a cry of pain from the woman in question, sobbing out loud for the baby girl. William crawled forward, scooping up the bundle that had been a baby; Its poor skull had been caved in from the impact with the ground, killing it instantly. Rain fell, washing the infants face of blood, revealing a purely innocent face.

Will brushed his hand against the wound, muttering a slight prayer to Good as he did so. A light filled the alleyway, emminating from his hands, And everything seemed to stop moving. The sound of rain died down, the smell of the piss and shit from the chamberpots disapearing. The clouds above them parted, a single ray of light shining down upon him as babies skull slowly healed, And she started breathing. There was a few muttered gasps from windows and the alley head, as people looked and saw him doing this miracle.

Then it all resumed. The rain, the smell, the light faded, the clouds rejoined. And the baby cried out. Will picked her up, carrying her into the building she had been thrown out of, knocking on the door. An angry man threw open the door, Face red from yelling. "What do you want, Brat?"

"Sir, I.. I found your baby out in the alley." He said, holding the child close to his chest. The man stared at him, his anger momentarily forgotten. Behind him, a woman cried out. "She's alive!"

The man snapped back to reality, Turning to the woman. "Shut up, Bitch! Your mistaken, kid, Our baby is dead. Get out of my face before I punt you down the staircase!"

Will just stared at him, openmouthed. "B-But.." he started, Only to be greated with a kick to the face. He tumbled backwards, using his body to protect the child as he rolled down the staircase. A woman cried out again, and the man slammed the door shut, screaming at her. Will picked himself up off the floor, and, sobbing, carried himself and the crying baby back out into the rain.

"I SAW WHAT YOU DID KID!"
As Will looked up he saw a man, the man's face was full of anger and he was clearly inebriated.
"YOUR NOTHING BUT A FILTHY WITCH!" The man shouted raising a knife up as if to stab Will "I'LL GUT YOU!" The man brought his knife down but the blade was stopped inches away from Will's neck. A second man had appeared, his white hair wet from the rain he grasped the first man's wrist with his left hand and held a knife to his throat with the right.
"Scum like you dont belong in this world." Wolf said as he slit the mans throat. The man fell to the ground gurgling and spitting up blood which also poured from his neck, the mans limbs were flailing wildly and he gasped for air only for his lungs to fill with blood, he made one last hate-filled look at the two before he died. "This city is no place for someone like you kid." Wolf said "Most of the residents won't take too kindly to you. But i won't let them harm you. What is your name?"

The kid just stared at him, eyes wide. Then, stuttering, "W-..William, Sir."

That was the best he could do, with the situation he was in. The baby he held started to cry, her pudgy little face scrunched up. He quickly patted her head, and tried to get her to calm down, making soothing sounds. After a moment, she settled, and fell back to sleep. "Er.. Uh, t-..thank you."
He glanced at the body, and then back up at the man.

Taima hated Graile. Too many people here had tried to take her life at one point or another. Her slender hand went up to her ears, instinctively, making sure they were well-hidden beneath her hair, beneath her hood. Sure, she could hold her own against a few Evil worshipers...but why take a chance? She didn't want to cause a stir, not with all the gold she had on her head.

Normally she would have skirted Graile, traveled through the wasteland surrounding the shithole and gotten what she needed before returning to the compound, but today was different. She felt something from within the place, something...new. Something that wasn't as dark or grey as the rest of the world.

She could also feel danger. Anyone here would kill her in a heartbeat, and they'd smile as they did so. Taima had gotten away too many times. Evil didn't forget. At least a hard rain had started; should she need to, she could throw some wind or lightning at someone, or at least make them awfully wet.

Her keen ears picked up a disturbance up ahead. She crouched low behind a wall, and saw a man, bleeding on the ground, his throat slit. Well, what a greeting. Another man holding a bloody knife. A baby girl and a boy...

It was the children that gave off the strange feeling. No evil emanated from them, but something else...something warm. Something light. Something colorful and new and sunny, nothing like what she sensed from all other humans. An odd need to protect these kids was aroused in Taima, and abandoning her hiding place, she jumped the wall and walked over, slowly.

She plopped down next to the boy, right on the stones. See if a human woman would do that. Taima wasn't exactly ladylike.

"Hey, scout, who's this little wonder?" She caressed the baby girl's cheek. "Seems you two have found yourselves in a bind." What was she doing? She never cared about the abused children here before; there were too many to help, anyway. But she couldn't take her eyes off the baby.

She looked up, paying attention to the man with the bloody knife. "What's your story, then?" She kicked his leg playfully. "You don't look like a baby killer. I'm Taima."

For effect, she tried to conjure up a gust of wind to knock the white-haired man off his feet. Instead, she simply made the rain pour down at the place he stood.

"Ahem...whoops." She laughed quietly, hoping to cheer the sad little boy.

Unfortunately, all this weather calling and people meeting had distracted Taima, and she failed to notice that her hood had fallen down when she jumped the wall, exposing her elven ears. She also failed to notice the small crowd of townspeople gathering around them all.

She gulped visibly, but smiled awkwardly and stood. She raised an eyebrow at the white-haired man "Well, mister man, looks like these guys want a fight. You up for it?"

And then the rain began to pour, very, very hard.

"I'd pay me a little more respect if i were you elf," Wolf almost shouted over the sound of the rain, "perhaps in combat i can show you why."
A tall man brandishing a club charged at the group and in one graceful movement Wolf pirouetted and threw his knife at the man whilst simultainiously drawing his sword with his left hand, the knife hit the man square in the stomach and he fell to his knees.
"FU-" The man shouted, but was interrupted half way through his first word, as wolf's sword penetrated through the back of his neck and out the other side.

Taima watched the swordsman, smirking. "Pretty good, you big lug. But can you keep it up?"

She winked at the man, and knocked an arrow to her longbow, aiming at an oncoming townsperson. The man stopped mid-stride, terrified, seeing his last moments as Taima's arrow flew for his left eye. It hit spot on, and the man fell over backwards, blood oozing out of his head.

"Alright, big guy, you take the left, I'll take the right, and we'll see who can kill more of these bastards!" Almost laughing, happy to have a partner, Taima called the wind to her aid and giggled as the crowd before her fell back, pushed by the storm. Sure, she wasn't evil...but that didn't mean killing couldn't be fun. Especially when your life was at stake. Making sure the children were safe, she knocked another arrow to her bow and aimed.

Wolf always looked foward to a good fight. Too bad it was going to be all to easy.
Wolf retrieved his knife from the fallen man and sheathed it, before charging headlong towards the townfolk, sword raised and ready to strike.
Two men charged from the group at him, he tripped the first with a leg sweep and slashed at the second ones neck "Go for the throat..." Wolf whispered to himself as his sword cut the mans jugular and blood sprayed from the wound. He turned round to stab the man he tripped before facing the crowd once more. He glared into the eyes of the crowd and saw a mixture of fear and hate amoungst the men and some at the front slipped backwards away from Wolf.

After Taima felled a few more men with her bow, she noticed that the crowd was getting larger. Much larger. Sure, the white-haired knight was tough....but even so, things were looking bleak. Soon, they'd be too tired to keep going.

Taking out a woman with a knife, Taima quickly turned around and ran to the children.

"Hey, kid, you know how to fight?" She looked at the young boy intently, and handed him the dead woman's dagger. "Look, you're gonna have to learn someday, why not now? We're gonna make a run for it, make sure you've got a good hold on that little thing". She nodded toward the baby girl.

Running lightly over to the large knight, Taima shot off another arrow. "Alright, mister, you might think you can handle all these crazies, but we've got kids in tow. I say we make a break for it. We'll cut across the left side, yeah? And head for the mountains." The crowd was starting to close in, some of the fighters no older than thirteen or so. "What do ya think? Either way, I'm getting those two the hell outta here."

Exhaling deeply, Taima rushed toward the crowd, thunder clashing in her wake.

Will just drew the rusting knife, licking his lips. He watched the fight, Holding the knife as best he could in his left hand, the right holding the baby. It was all a bit shocking, but hey, dont look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

He pushed himself to his feet, and rushed after them. "C-..Clear a way! We gotta get out of here!" he yelled, staying out of the fighting as best he could. Someone came close to him, and he threw the dagger at the person. It was hard to tell if it was a guy or a girl, but he -did- know that he didnt kill them. The knife clattered down on the ground, and he didnt stoop to pick it up.

"H-hurry!"

Wolf hesitated.
He didn't like the odds he was facing and his hand started to shake. He quickly stopped it.
"okay..." he said to himself "lets do this." he ran full pelt towards will screaming like a mad-man, he jumped straight over will and cut one of the crowd right across the chest. Wolf sheilded his eyes from the blood and swung his sword amoungst the crowd in stylish yet brutal strokes.

Taima glanced behind her. The boy was there, and the big swordsman behind him...good, they could defend the front and rear and keep the children out of harm's way. Looking to the front once again, she barely had a second to register a blunt object coming her way. Dodging it, she called up a bit more wind and knocked over the men in front of her. Time to run, now more than ever.

"Alright, guys, make a run for it! It's clear!" Well, mostly clear. Unfortunately, the battle was starting to get to Taima, and before she could dodge it, a sword sliced down her right arm. Swaying on the spot, Taima used more wind to blow down those around her, blood dripping down her forearm and fingers. She needed to compress the wound before she bled too much...but now wasn't the time for it.

She ran.

She ran, clutching her bloody arm, blowing down single men with small gusts of wind on the way. She had little energy left, and mentally chastised herself for being careless earlier, using more energy than needed to call rain and wind. Slowly, the bleeding took its toll, and Taima slumped to the ground. The city's gate was still some ways off...she knew she wouldn't make it, so she sat, waiting for more enemies to close in.

And close in they did. One man inched toward her, axe raised, poised for a kill. Using her last reserve of energy, Taima focused her mind on the storm, on the static building around her, on the metal of her attacker's axe. One large, hot, bright crack of lightning struck true, and the man fell over, burned to death, his body smoking. A small twinge of happiness came over Taima; she had succeeded, she'd killed her attacker.

And then she fainted.

Will was running towards the gate, when he saw Taina fall. Most of the crowd's attention was towards the other, with the sword. He'd lost the dagger, but he still have the baby, who was sleepign soundly in his arms. They seemed not to notice him, as he stopped in the middle of the street. They pushed past him, roaring obscenities and starting to fight eachother over now.

He looked around, side to side. It that everyone was just fighting eachother for no reason now. He swore that he saw a man with a dagger in his head pick himself up the ground and continue fighting. But then, it was all just chaos, wasnt it?

Mustering his courage, Will ran over to Taina, dropping to his knees beside her. The baby didnt even notice, gurgling lightly in her sleep. He put his right hand over her wounded arm, and muttered a practiced prayer.

Slowly, the wound on her arm closed, the flesh knitting itself back together. There was no sign that there had even been a scar, after he finished. He winced, blood trickling down from his newly-recieved wound on his arm. There wasnt enough time for him to have just plain heal the wound; And he didnt want to attract attention to himself. This way was less flashy than what he had done before, at the cost of not actually healing the wound. Instead, he simply took the wound off the person, and onto himself.

When it was done, he shirt was starting to soak with blood. The wounded arm was hugged to his chest, though he made sure not to get any of his blood on the child, if he could help it. He stayed there, trying to look weak, insignificant. The fighting raged on.

Wolf turned around to see Will unprotected kneeling next to the Taima, he sprinted towards them as the crowd closed in on him.
Wolf charged recklessly into the crowd with his sword, at this close quarters any normal fighter would be taken down by weight of numbers on all sides, Wolf span, jumped and sliced, every stroke part of a beautiful dance of death. He reached Taima and lifted her onto his left shoulder.
He turned to the boy panic in his eyes "We have to get out of here!" he cried "Run and don't stop!". He turned back to the crowd and tried to clear an opening for Will.

Something hard and bumpy was holding Taima up. As consciousness slowly drifted back to her, she realized someone was carrying her off, and she groaned. She must have gotten injured. Nothing seemed to hurt, however, and this confused her. No matter, worry about the task at hand.

Noticing her carrier's white hair, Taima snorted and yelled, "Well, mister, seems that you're tougher than ya look. I think I can run on my own, though, thanks!"

Sure, being toted around was nice, but it was hard to impale anyone with a few arrows during it.

William glanced at them, and then back at the fight. As they ran, it slowly grew smaller and smaller in the distance. But yet, it seemed to pick up in ferocity as the people started to fight amongst themselves. Their rage, built up for a lifetime, had finally a way to be vented. Even if it was pointless.

He winced, the wound on his arm bleeding more. The baby cried now, as he lost his concentration. "I... n-need to r-..rest," he panted out, starting to wobble slightly. Blood loss had turned him pale, quickened by the running they had been doing, the load he had been carrying. The pain was hard to ignore at this point.

His shirt was deep red, wet and slick. A crimson trail had slowly paved itself down his shirt, to his pants, and onto the ground bellow him. It began to puddle there, with every weakening step he took. Finnaly, he slipped on a cobblestone that was already slick with water. The world swirled around him for a moment, before everything went bright white. He collapsed on the ground, just barely managing to avoid landing on the baby, who wailed even louder.

Wolf looked at the now conscious Taima "Actualy i was hoping to use you as a meatsheild incase i couldn't manage to dodge a blow back there." He said jokingly "But since your okay i better put you down."
Wolf put Taima down on her feet and turned to look at will "You any good with wounds" He said to Taima, looking at the obviously hurt boy. Wolf stepped foward and gently lifted the baby from Will, he had absoloutely no idea how to look after children and he hoped he wouldnt be stuck with it to long.

Taima responded to Wolf's gibe with a snort, and turned to Will.

"Shit. This kid has lost a hell of a lot of blood." She bit her lower lip, not quite sure what to do. She hadn't had to deal with any major wounds before. She knew they needed bandages, though. Fast.

"Hey, Wolfy boy, can you cook?" the elf asked, sitting down and grabbing the end of her cloak. "The kids are gonna need their strength, and so are we. I'll see what I can do about Will."

Carefully, Taima ripped pieces from her cloak, creating makeshift bandages. She tied each around Will's wound in different spots, pulling tight to stifle the bleeding. This wasn't looking good. They needed a doctor, or something to keep the wound clean. Maggots were great for cleaning wounds, if not a little dangerous. For now the bandages would have to be enough.

Looking back up at Wolf, Taima raised an eyebrow at the bundle in his arms. She stood up and took her, gently, and sang softly to ease its cries. Slowly but surely the baby hushed, but didn't sleep. The little thing started at Taima curiously.

"Why don't you look for some wild vegetables. Maybe some tubers or a rabbit. Anything. I'll stay here and keep the kiddies safe." She smiled at Wolf, assessing him. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

Wolf laughed at the elf girl's last question "There is no point in worrying about the past now, in the end it will be for the greater good. Here have this to keep you going." Wolf reached into a small satchel at his waist and handed taima a small hunk of cheese "I'll go get some more food for all of us."
Wolf wandered off around a corner and as soon as he was out sight and hopefully out of hearing range, Wolf doubled up in a small coughing fit. Looking down into his hand wolf saw blood "Shit..." He said to himself quietly "I dont think I have much time left."

Wolf walked back into the city, most people would call him crazy for returning somewhere full of people trying to kill you, but Wolf knew they were out to get him anyway and he might as well take his chances in one place just as much as another. He took back alleys and detours until he reached the market. Wolf searched through the empty streets and closed market stalls for some food, if these had been the stalls of good people he may have felt guilty, but this city was filled with the greedy and the wicked. The stalls themselves were empty as the owners had packed up their produce and taken it away, not leaving a single crumb. With a sigh Wolf turned and lifted up a rock about the size of his fist, before throwing it violently into the window of the bakery, reaching in and grabbing three loaves before running into the night, back towards Taima and the children.