Juoram Dulcei seems pleased by this reply. "You do me a great service by agreeing to that," he offered, looking at her for a moment longer than intended before continuing on. "Perhaps there is something I could do for you, in return for your kind efforts on my behalf?"

Juoram Dulcei looked almost amused at her simple request, masking the distaste he felt at being asked to perform such a menial task. Instead, ever the pleasant gentleman, he draws out his baton, which is a good foot shorter than Natalie's and coloured a rusty red.

His incantation is quick and roughly spoken, conjuring both a glass and the water to go inside it. It was ice cold, the glass frosting a little.

"There. I hope that suffices," he said simply, replacing his baton in a matter of seconds, gesturing to her with a nod. "Please."

Juoram Dulcei quirked an eyebrow, his face almost expressionless otherwise. "I used pure magic, dear woman," he explained simply, knowing that trying to explain any further would either confuse her or was a sure-fire way to get a bounty slapped on him as well.

"You are quite welcome," he bowed, this time only a shallow one, sitting down beside her at the counter, his eyes paying attention to the whole bar, rather than just her.

Juoram Dulcei looked mildly offended by that seemingly innocent query, scowling. "Magic is not a thing to be idly used for trickery and amusement," he said coldly, bringing his gaze to look upon her with finality.

"I only call my magic 'pure' because I was born gifted, rather than training myself how to use the incantations from a young age."

Halting, he gave her a hard look before shaking his head. "Not that that is any of your business," he stood, evidently intent upon leaving. "Forgive me; I have dallied enough as it is."

Natalie was in two minds. Her wound was healing well, despite her lack of care for her own body of late but instead, she was nursing a grievious hangover.

It was as she stumbled down the stairs that her bleary eyes trailed across the bar area, shock clearing her head as she realised who was standing at the bar. Oh no.

It obviously wasn't too late to backtrack, taking a step upwards to flee. Juoram had figured out a way here; it didn't matter how, just that he was here.

Juoram Dulcei Anastasia would never know it, but her comments would be something that Natalie owed her life to, as Juoram tore his gaze straight back to the woman, eyes narrowing in contempt and a bit of frustration. "I do not accept drinks from strangers," he retorted, glaring at her with little reserve.

"I have little patience for fools, woman and I certainly have no interest in your friends unless they are on my list." Despite his words, she had his attention for the moment, though he was hardly amused, his frown deepening at the sly smile on her lips.

Natalie dashed up the stairs at a pace that was less than sensible, stumbling over twice but fear of being seen made her sober slightly.

Her brief appearance in the bar ended with the swish of a door closing as she began to ascend the stairs once more.

Juoram Dulcei [color=olive]smirked in return, fleetingly amused by her reference to the nice gentleman. "I expect he had better things to do with his time, so you'll have to make do with me."

Now, she shouldered on, badgering him about his manners and decorum as well as his lack of ability to do his job. He didn't mind so much about the latter; it wasn't the first time he had been mocked and it surely wouldn't be the last. Instead of exploding, he took a few moments to close his eyes, breathing deeply to try and channel his quickly building anger out of him.

"I called your friends fools, not you," he snapped, stopping mid-flow as his gaze flickered towards the staircase, a stupidly familiar aura flooding his senses.

Well, damn, damn and triple damn! Now he knew she was here and that complicated things. "Look, I'm not amused by you in any way and even if you do possess magical ability," he said, referring to the bizarre little puff of purple smoke from earlier, "I do not just go around assassinating and provoking random mages."[/c

Juoram Dulcei looked at her in incredulity at her query, ignoring the urge to reply to her previous taunting statements with the fastidious determination of a stone. "No, I most certainly would not. It would be suicidal and pointless to pursue such a bounty alone," he argued back reasonably, giving her a very curious look before shaking his head.

All that mattered was getting to Natalie and either sealing her, or making sure she never spoke of her secret again, so he defiantly began to take steps away from the enraptured girl, who appeared to be feeding off of his frustration like it was a beloved snack. "How revolting," he muttered underneath his breath as his strides took him closer to the staircase.

Juoram Dulcei stopped before the strange symbol, casting a glance back at her in evident contempt at her words and apparent spell. "I do not need yours, or anyone else's permission to go anywhere, so if you please," he gestured to the arrow, evidently pointed in her direction with a grimace. "Make it disappear before I do."

Juoram Dulcei An ameteur? Him? What in the Gods' names was a Vector? Well sod.

He took a few steps back as the Vector, as it was apparently named, began creeping towards him from its once stationary position. "I do not appreciate being called an amateur. I am a perfectly capable sorcerer," he snapped, gazing over his shoulder at her with a distasteful look. "Sorceress Oldburn may not be a threat to you or anyone else in here, but she is a threat to me and my own. Her... talents need to be limited or extinguished."

So, she wanted an apology did she? Fine, Juoram told himself, I can grin and bear that humiliation as long as I can finally get going after Natalie.

He halted, turned to face Anastasia with a thin smile, bowing as deeply as he had earlier, before rising to meet her eyes with an intense look, but no expression on his lips.

"Please forgive me any offence I may have caused you, miss..." he trailed off, looking a bit stunned. He didn't bloody know her name.

Juoram Dulcei Natalie hovered by the top of the staircase, breathing deeply, panic seeping through her body like it was a drug. He was down there and she couldn't sodding move from here. It must have been some miracle of fate that stopped him from traversing up here to find her.

Between her injury and hangover, there was nothing she could do but wait until either she could move or until he got to her. It seemed like such a long time before either of those would be happening.

Juoram Dulcei looked almost if she had asked him a totally inane question. “It is a conduit, strengthening my link to the magical energies. I can still cast without it, but it’s reflexive to draw it.”

He sounded almost defensive, eyes turning warily towards the symbol on the ground at the stranger’s abrupt change in mood. “She is not better than us… Sorceress Oldburn is merely a obstacle that chose to make herself an enemy but you didn’t ask me for my reasons.”

He was then rather taken aback by her sudden ranting, bewildered to the point of gaping. He not heard of the four witches but that did certainly not make him an incompetent sorcerer, for they were evidently from different worlds. “No, I have not, but it is evident we do not originate from the same world or universe, so I find that no great surprise,” he answered smoothly, taking advantage of her foul mood to calm himself. Her attention was thankfully away from him, for now.

Juoram Dulcei Natalie half-screamed at the sound, fearful eyes falling upon Lazarus as she recognised him, relaxing only marginally. “Escaping,” she replied quickly, trying to force herself to stand, not at all pleased to see he was grinning but thankfully pain kept that emotion from her features.

Juoram Dulcei Natalie looked hesitant for only a moment before nodding, half-crouched against the wall. "Please," she replied, eyes reflecting her discomfort at her entire situation.

Juoram Dulcei Natalie stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. "The people who forced me to leave my home, I suppose," she answered cautiously before looking a bit perplexed. "Thank you Lazarus."

Juoram Dulcei Natalie sighed, knowing she owed him a better explanation than that. "The man downstairs in the purple robes; his name is Juoram and he's trying to kill me."

Now she was making a concerted effort to stand, nearly getting there with, her teeth gritted in concentration. "I'll be alright; I don't want to get you hurt."

Juoram Dulcei “As much as I am enjoying this bantering, I’d much prefer to go after my quarry before she successfully evades me and not for the first time,” he scowled at her, somehow sensing that pretty words were not going to deflect her questions nor that blasted Vector blocking his path. “She used forbidden magic to get here and now she has left our world, the sorceress might reveal her magic to others. We cannot allow that; our world’s sanctity must be preserved.”

The Wizard of Oz; what nonsense was she talking about! “I have no idea what a ‘flick’ is, nor do I have any desire to know. Unless your witches and wizards are going to help me achieve my goals, why does it matter whether I know who they are or not?” he challenged, drawing his baton in anticipation of hostility from her. “Let me past before…”

Juoram Dulcei The sudden flash of steel made Juoram jerk to the side almost instantly, feeling the blade slice the air where he had just previously been, baton pointed directly at his assailant, Lazarus. “I have no quarrel with you - or her or anyone except my target!” he snapped, his icy eyes cold with anger.

Juoram Dulcei Natalie stared at Lazarus in horror at the speed he dashed down the stairs at, it making her head hurt as well as wondering what precisely he was going to do. “Lazarus!” she shouted after him, but it came out as a mostly strangled cry. The sorceress managed to balanced herself up against the wall, her gaze intent upon what she could see of the bar below.

Splinters erupted from the ceiling and she gaped, determinedly taking a few steps downstairs.

Juoram brought his free hand to grip his baton tightly, bringing it up to neck height just in time to block the savage strike that reverberated down his arms, the shockwave forcing him to generate magic to remove the dizziness.

The noise came first to his attention, mistakenly glancing upwards to notice as splinters fell directly into his eyes, Juoram resisting the urge to make verbal his pain; he had and would endure greater. He could still see after all, jumping back as best he could from Lazarus.

Juoram Dulcei Swords Juoram wasn’t very good with but fire, he could definitely handle, returning his baton to a one-hand grip. “Dgentiac,” he whispered, and almost instantaneously, a torrent of water sprung forward, spreading out before him into a frontal waterfall-like shield which thankfully took the brunt of the blast from him.

Natalie had reached the bottom of the stairs, her own baton drawn as an incantation formed on her own lips, wincing as her dress seemed to bleed crimson.

Juoram Dulcei 's eyes visibly widened as the stranger leapt fearlessly through the water towards him. A change of tactics was clearly in order, Juoram's mind racing as he thought.

However, there was one flaw in this moment that he could not ignore; he couldn't dodge that incoming blow as he was.