Charlie sat in the platform above the rest of the barn, with barely enough room to put his head up all of the way without hitting the tin roof. A small, square window overlooked the city, few windows lighted and few people walking the streets or sailing down the canals. It was finally, completely quiet and the moon hung over the city, lighting up the large, granite palace, high above the rest of the city. This almost made him forget about Hollee being somewhere in the city captured, or dead. Almost. Not a second of Charlie's day went by though without him worrying about what was happening to her. Each day he couldn't find her, he felt like a failure, and that he was just letting more and more happen to her. They were running out of time to even have a chance at saving her.

Three days had passed since she had dissapeared and everyday, the theives had put aside their tricks on the public of Knor to find her and bring her back to safety. So far though, nothing had been learned about her situation. Charlie turned his head and looked down to the barn floor. Their newfound dog was running in circles in the middle of the barn. That dog was crazy, and he almost never stopped moving, even at night. Charlie decided to move down to the floor of the barn and stood up halfway, making sure not to hit his head. He moved to the right side of the small platform and grabbed a hold of the rope that fell down to the dusty floor. Charlie moved himself down to the floor and was greeted by Monty, the white and black patched medium sized dog. He patted his head and then moved over to the table to the right of the barn and grabbed the deck of cards. He tapped the deck on the table, deciding what or if he'd even play.

((Lame, sorry.))

Kohl yawned and turned over in his sleep on a torn-up couch. They hadn't done much in a while, so he was almost enjoying the quiet time when they weren't bugging people and taking their stuff--not that all that wasn't enjoyable, he just liked lazing around from time to time. It wasn't all that great, though, once he considered the reason why they were all hanging low. To say it simple, he missed Hollee.

THUMP

"Oof!" Kohl coughed as he was forced awake by a large object suddenly landing on top of his stomach and nearly knocking the wind out of him. He glared at the dog standing proudly over his gut as if it was he who owned Kohl and not the other way around. Not that the dog was his specifically, but still. Monty, as it had been named, began licking his face. Kohl sputtered and shoved the dog off him, sitting up himself and wiping the slobber off his face and the hair off his once-tidy collared shirt. Sighing in aggravation, he rubbed at his tired eyes and looked around the dimly lit area of the barn. His eyes landed on a familiar figure sitting at a nearby table and decided to walk over and join him, sitting across from Charlie and propping his still-half-asleep head up with the palm of his hand.

"I don't think I like the dog," Kohl commented dryly instead of a greeting. He yawned again and looked up at the moon shining. "Man, what time is it? Do you ever sleep?" he half-joked.

Out in the city, Melanie was up and at it. Melanie missed Hollee, and liked to search around for her, but that didn't stop her from doing things. She was almost always the earliest up out of the group, so she would go and do things while waiting for everyone else to get up. She would often go and steal things at this time, because anyone outside at that time was either sleepwalking, tired, or was a guard. At this time, she would also practice climbing around things and finding obscure routes around other things. Aside from all that, one of her favorite pastimes was messing with the guards in the city, which was what she was doing right now.

Melanie had pickpocketed a small bag of gold from the guard's pocket. She then got in the guard's direct line of sight, saying, "Got your gold!" holding up the bag. The guard checked himself, realized Melanie had stole it from him, said, "Stop, thief!" then began to chase her. With a smirk, Melanie ran down a dead-end alley, and the guard thought she had just made a mistake. As the guard rounded the corner, he looked around, not seeing Melanie at first, then looked up, seeing her waving playfully at him from the roof. "Catch ya later!" she yelled as she ran off, rooftop to rooftop, headed back in the direction of the barn.

Before Melanie entered the Barn, she put her hands together over her mouth and whistled a bird call, signaling the group that it was her and not a guard. She ran and jumped at the side of the doorway, climbed it and sidled across onto the top of the door, swung to gain momentum, let go and then grabbed a rafter, pulled herself up onto it and leapt across them. She got to a little platform with a makeshift bed on it, which was hers, and she jumped onto it and relaxed a bit, satisfied in the loot she snagged.

Atari was not one who would just wake up. It always took something to wake him up. Usually loud noises didn't work, unless about 8 feet or less away from him. And besides, he was deep within the confines of a large pile of hay. Incredibly soft hay, that was perfect for sleeping on. Not even the noises they were making below had woken him up yet. Atari was actually the only one without a real bed, but he was content with his hay. Of course, there was no way he could stay asleep forever.

When Meanie jumped in, the creek and vibration of the landing onto the wood disrupted his sleep. "Please, just let me sleep Hol...." Atari began to moan, however, then remembering Hollee was still missing. Hollee was the one who had origially found him hurt and brought him here, as well as the one who had always woken him up. She seemed to be the best at waking him up. Atari poked his head out of the hay, looking around. He decided that since he was awake now, he might as well get dressed.

He noted to everyone "Morning!" as he walked into a room that was only accessible via an entrance by his "bed", and he yawned, looking at a bunch of different hanging clothes as he took off his old clothes, deciding what to wear today when he steals from someone. So many ways to trick, fool, and steal from people, which one was he going to do today.....

Lori had been up long before the rooster had crowed near the old abandoned barn. She had pulled on her soft but strong leather boots and headed out the door while the stars had still been fading. She was now at a market, her cape pulled around her small slim form. Guards were everywhere, trying to sniff out her kind, the kind that didn't mind stealing to get what they wanted.

Lori didn't speak. Well not very often. When she did it was because what she had to say was of the utmost importance. As Lori ambled aimlessly through the crowded market place, her ears rang with sounds coming from the vendors and people of the great city that was their home. Not Lori's, their's.

"Fresh exotic fruit from the jungles for sale!" A shrill voice piped in from the crowd.

Beautiful beaded jewelry, come buy my magnificent necklaces!" Another voice sang.

That was the thing. Lori believed that everyone already spoke to much. Why should she give her voice to someone who does not want to hear it? As Lori walked further into the crowd, a small bag of gold coins beneath her cloak jangled softly. She hadn't come here to steal, then again she had stolen the gold coins. Lori looked around beneath her cloak, making sure the guards weren't looking at her. But one was. His intense, cold stare did not send shivers up Lori's spine, but it did make her wary.

A delicious smell arose, crisp, Pungent, salty. Lori sniffed the air before eyeing an open bakery just on her far left. The baker had pulled five fresh buttery loaves from the oven and placed them on the window sill to cool. Lori felt her lips pull back into a grin as she began to drift over to it. Her stomach growled insistently as her feet slid of their own accord to the window. The guard was still watching as Lori turned her head to glance back at him. His eyes had narrowed as she'd moved, always keeping a close eye on her. It made Lori uneasy, she knew the guard thought she was a thief. And she was. Lori also knew he would not catch her. The guard was big, and probably not too light on his feet. While Lori was small and slight, she could run faster than anyone here, even though she was probably half their height.

Lori had made it to the baker's window, and hesitated. Her hands raised from inside the cloak, her blue eyes flickering around to see if anyone was near. The baker was occupied at the moment with two yelling customers. She took a deep breathe, and from the folds of her black cloak two slim hands slid out. One holding a bag containing five gold coins, the other, grabbing all five of the loaves of freshly baked bread. As soon as she had grabbed them and dropped the sack of gold, she made a break for it, dashing in between people's legs and sliding through the excited crowd. She heard the guard bellow at her and at the other guards to grab her.

She'd known this was going to happen, but she hadn't had breakfast and neither had the other's at the old abandoned barn they called home. She closed her eyes, the entrance to the market was filled with guards already, there had been more than she had expected. This was not good.

Use the knife.

Lori's eyes shot open as the small voice in the back of her head. It was herself, suggesting. But Lori hated using that knife. That knife held memories. Memories she did not want to pull out. But as the guards grinned at her, no not grinned Leered at her, she knew what she had to do. The free hand not holding the large loaves of hot bread went to a leather sheath at her waist. She gritted her teeth as she pulled with all her strength and a smooth glittering dagger slid out, her hand firmly grasping the handle. Lori ran harder as she neared the guards, holding the dagger at arms length as she did.

The guard would never know if it had been himself or a small girl that had hit him. The only thing fresh in his memory was the sting of metal against his soft skin, and the gentle brushing of a cloak as something jetted past him. The other guards stared in horror as the man that Lori had graced with her dagger looked down at the stinging arm. A deep cut lacerated his arm, not enough to kill him.. The guard watched as deep red blood bubbled out. He ripped his cloak in half grimacing as he wrapped it around his injured arm.

"THAT DAMN GIRL!" he screamed, his eyes raging as he turned to look at the road the girl had set off on, though she was only a dot in the distance..Going, going, gone. She had disappeared. The guard swore to himself he would kill that girl someday. Because he had been humiliated. By a street rat. The Chief Guard of the King's own guard had been slashed by a pitiful streetrat. "I'll get her.." He said to himself, grinding his teeth against her as his eyes searched the hills. But he was only fooling himself. For no one had caught Lori yet, and according to her, no one would.

Lori burst into the barn, her eyes shining as she pulled off her hood. Her short black locks curled back against her ears as she put the bread on a leaning table near the center of the barn. She grabbed an oily rag and wiped the blood off of her blade neatly before tucking it back into the sheath. She gave a small sigh before flopping into the hay in the corner, the smell of fresh bread saturated throughout the abandoned barn. Lori did not call out, for she never spoke without a reason. They would find the bread soon enough when they grew hungry.

Hearing someone run into the Barn, Melanie jumped up off her bed, drew a hidden knife, leapt across the rafters, and was about to leap down on whoever it was, until she recognized it was Lori. "Jeez, Lori, can't you ever give a signal that it's you?" Melanie said, then re-sheathing the knives. She then dropped down and grabbed the rafter she was on with her hands, swung to get momentum, leapt off of it and off of the wall in front of her, then back onto the rafters, going in the opposite direction. She jumped across them back to her bed, and jumped back onto it, laying down and letting out a sigh. Melanie could already smell the fresh bread, but she wasn't hungry yet, so she decided she would eat later. Just laying there and being bored, Melanie called out, "Hey, anybody wanna go do something? You know, something fun?"

She grabbed a small rag next to her bed and pulled a couple of her knives out, wiping them down and polishing them. After that, she pulled out her Benchmade model 42 Balisong (butterfly knife) and did a few tricks, including the helix and Behind the 8Ball. The Balisong was one of her favorite weapons, so she practiced with it often, becoming more and more skilled with it as time passed. "Oh, hey, I know! Why don't a couple of us go and mess with some of the guards in the city?" Melanie asked, flipping the Balisong closed and hiding it again. She got up and jumped off her bed again, grabbing one of the rafters and spinning around it a couple of times, then jumping down to the ground. "So, who's with me?" She asked, walking backwards towards the doorway.

Lori's eyes shot open as she heard Melanie walk towards the doorway, she had suggested they go mess with the guards?! Not a good idea. Lori shot out of the mound of hay she had been sitting in and jetted in front of Melanie, her hands swinging across her chest in an X shape, wild guestures, flying hands, everything that said NOOO!.

Lori widened her eyes, this wouldn't be enough to get Melanie to stay in the barn. She gritted her teeth as she ran to one end of the barn, jumping onto a hanging rope and swinging herself to the hayloft that was "Lori's designated area." She picked up a black ink pen and a small scrap of paper, scribbling furiously as she slid down a pole sticking out of the ground and jumped back in front of Melanie, shoving a note that said in plain bold letters,

DON'T! No seriously, Mellie, if I go out there again, I'll be thrown into the dungeon or some other horrible place with rats in it..I, um, I kind of almost cut the Chief Guard's right hand off, and he got pissed off. He'll kill anyone right now, including you!

Lori steeled herself for Hollee's lecture about abuse of the guards. Then remembered that Hollee was no longer here. Tears burned in Lori's eyes as she remembered Hollee was gone, she wouldn't be here to understand Lori's hand signals instead of words, she wouldn't be here to make the others eat Lori's wonderful cooking, or eat the bread Lori bought.. Hollee was gone.

Lori snapped back to attention as she looked at Mellie again, pleading with her eyes as she stayed in front of Mellie. Though Melanie was taller than Lori, Lori was just as powerful, maybe a little more sturdy, and just as agile. She remembered all the spars they had had, and all the fights, they were equally good with a knife, and they were best friends. Lori usually followed Mellie's lead and added a twist all her own. But this time Lori knew it was different. Mellie hadn't almost cut off the sword hand of an important officer like the Chief. Lori was in trouble. But she had one stroke of hope. Melanie was Lori's best friend. And if anyone could help Lori, Melanie could. If Melanie wanted her to come, Lori would go. She loved Mellie like a sister, and she would go anywhere with her..

Then again, maybe Mellie wouldn't want her to go. Maybe she thought Lori was a nuisance. Lori's face fell at this thought, what if she didn't deserve to be Mellie's friend? This had always worried Lori. But Mellie thought rationally and knew how to stay hidden. The only way Lori was going to be able to go in the market again was if they killed the Chief Guard..And Lori didn't think she was capable of something like that.

As she waited for Mellie's response, she twisted the ring on her finger, feeling the X insignia on the side and trying to remember what it stood for..What did that stupid X stand for? Lori's face was still sad as she fiddled with the ring. She hoped Mellie had a plan..But Mellie wasn't a miracle worker..

Melanie stopped as Lori tried to stop her. She wondered briefly what it could be about, then walked around, until Lori brought her the note. Melanie read it, seeing what situation Lori was in. "The chief guard, huh?" Melanie said, "Well, why didn't you finish the job?" she added with a laugh. Melanie didn't like the part about the chief guard being willing to kill anyone at the moment, but she had gotten away from him before. She would have forced her way past Lori, but she knew how equally matched they were, and knew she wouldn't be able to get out the door without Lori allowing her to. Melanie noticed tears in Lori's eyes, and asked, "Aw, are you OK?" Melanie watched Lori, unaware of what thoughts were going through her head. She saw Lori's pleading eyes and sad face, so she put a hand on Lori's shoulder saying, "It's ok, I won't go out there if you don't want me to. All we really need to do is lay low until things cool off out there. If they keep up a search for long enough, then I'll go and deal with things. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." She walked over and gave Lori a side-hug, comforting her. "No worries, we can definitely get through this, as long as we stick together." Lori was Melanie's best friend, and wouldn't let anything happen to her, no matter what the cost was. "So, do you wanna do something else?" Melanie asked, trying to change the topic.

Lori felt reassured after Mellie's side hug. She hugged back, and brushed the tears out of her eyes. She gently took the note from Mellie and grabbed the fresh bread, stuffing it into a nearby cabinet before sliding back to Mellie's side. She smiled at Mellie, happy that she wasn't going to go out. She pondered for a moment at Melanie's question. What else was there to do BUT steal? She brightened quickly as she brought the pen to the back of the scrap of paper, scratching another note on the side,

The guard's are busy at the market place, as long as we stay hidden, we could get into the castle...You know how much gold is in there. We'll have to ask Charlie first, and maybe get someone else to come along just for fun.

Lori gave Mellie a wicked looking grin, letting her read it then crumpling it up and tossing it to the floor of the barn. She wouldn't go if Mellie didn't go. They stuck together. Lori and Mellie were deadly when they were apart, but on a mission together? They were unstoppable. Slight of hand and foot, they could get anywhere without being seen. And Lori knew that she had riled the Chief Guard up enough for him to call all the reserves out of the castle. She raised her eyebrows at Melanie, waiting for her response. Like Mellie, she got restless easily, and the only reason she wasn't out there was because the stupid Chief Guard didn't know how to work a sword. She'd be fighting him right now if he wasn't so useless.

Another reason Lori wanted to go into the castle was to interrogate someone about Hollee. Hollee had been like a mother to Mellie and Lori, she had loved them like her own daughters..What with Lori's mother gone, she felt extremely attached to Hollee and was determined to find her at once. She tapped her foot against the barn floor, she wasn't impatient, just curious to see Mellie's reaction. Mellie loved a good adventure just as much as Lori did, and as they were UNSTOPPABLE, they could acomplish anything..But with Hollee missing, Charlie had been on edge lately and he might not let them, and Lori knew if Charlie got pissed off everyone suffered.

Lori thought about the good old days when no one had been able to stop their little group of bandits. They had tried and failed, all the guards loathed them, and people feared them. After Hollee disappeared, Charlie had gone silent and it unsettled Lori since she was the one that didn't talk much. She sighed once, pointing to Mellie, then to herself, then to the open barn door with an excited smirk. As though to say, you, me, outside, now, let's go steal! Lori almost laughed at herself. She had grown used to not talking, but it was still slightly confusing to other people, and her hand guestures were slightly odd..Oh well, that's Lori for you.

Melanie read the note Lori brought her, and grinned. Melanie knew that if the chief guard was injured, he would call all the reserves out of the castle, making it a prime target. Melanie was excited about this, because lots of higher-ranked people lived in the castle, and they had plenty of stuff for her and Lori to steal. She really wanted to do this because she had been eager to make a big catch for a long time, but they never quite had the opportunity, and now here it was, staring them straight in the face. Thoughts of Hollee crossed her mind, since these were the kinds of missions that Hollee would normally accompany her on. She quickly shook these thoughts off, getting back to the matter on hand.

Melanie saw as Lori pointed to her, then herself, then the door, 'saying' that they should go now. Melanie knew that Charlie was sort of the leader and probably wouldn't let them go, so she got an idea in her head. She wouldn't give him the choice to let them go or not. "Hey Charlie me and Lori are going to the castle bye!" She said quickly, then grabbing Lori's hand and practically dragging her out the door. She ran onward in the direction of the castle, and as they started to get closer, she stopped for a moment. She let go of Lori's hand and ran at a nearby building, running up one of its short exterior walls, and getting up on the roof. She then turned around and leaned over the edge, with one arm down over it, which was signaling Lori to grab it so Melanie could pull her up, so they could continue to the castle on the rooftops. It was always more fun that way.

Lori pondered about this for a while as she was dragged out by Mellie. As Mellie climbed atop the roof and held out her hands she frowned. Now that she thought about it the castle seemed slightly more dangerous than she had realized. And if they didn't have the whole entire group, just Lori and Mellie they could get into big trouble..And only the two of them would be there.

Lori ran up and caught onto Mellie's hand, swinging herself up to Mellie's level. Lori had a warning look in her eyes as she pulled Mellie down, a guard screamed out order's his voice hoarse,

"Find that girl! She'll hang!" He cackled afterwards and the sound of armor clinking shifted into Lori's ears. She pulled a small notebook out and grabbed the pen she kept with her at all times. Lori wasn't scared of the guard, but she was scared of what he could rile up. And if she was the one to blow their cover and get them killed, she'd never be able to forgive herself.

Maybe we should go somewhere else besides the castle...Like a Villa? How bout' Marjory Hillington's? She's so vain if we sold all her jewelry in the market we wouldn't have to steal in a year.

Lori didn't want to explain the bad feeling she had, and she hoped Mellie would understand. Lori didn't want to be a kill-joy, but she had a bad feeling, and when Lori had a bad feeling she was usually right. She frowned, trying to put as much emotion as she could.

Please Mellie, please understand.. She thought to herself. They could go anywhere but the castle, it had seemed like a such a good idea at first...And then everything had fallen apart when Lori had thought about it hard enough. She hoped Mellie would agree, Mellie had always been the more adventurous, Lori was good natured and went with it, but right now wasn't a good time..And she had a feeling Charlie wouldn't approve of this either.

Melanie was confused at first when Lori pulled her down, but quickly realized what the purpose was when she heard the man yelling. The trip to the castle would be too dangerous. She heard the armor clanking, and knew the soldiers would be upon them in minutes. That would be bad, because that would draw unnessecary attention, and probably a lot of nearby guards. Melanie looked at the note Lori showed her, and said, "Yeah, I guess that's a good idea. Even if we do get that much money, though, I'd still want to steal. It's fun! Come on, I know a shortcut!" Melanie beckoned for Lori to follow, then cartwheeled into an alley. This alley was linked to a large system of maze-like alleyways, and one of the alleys led straight to the uptown. Marjory Hillinton's house was in the uptown, along with all the rest of the rich and snooty people. It was always a good portion of town to hit when you desperately needed money.

Charlie gave a small, fake smile to Kohl at his joke, but Charlie guessed that he knew why he was already awake. Charlie could barely sleep with the thought of Hollee being out there somewhere, possibly being tortured, or dead. He loved her and couldn't live without her, atleast the way he used to live. He knew he was affecting everyone that he lived with as well, because he used to be so lively, and now he was sulking around and depressing everyone around him. This wasn't him at all and he wanted to go back to his regular personallity. "Can't sleep. Not with her out there somewhere, without us." He picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle, forgetting what he was talking about before.

"What do you want to play?" he asked. They usually all played poker and bet whatever they had gained that day from the rich of the city, but they hadn't done that the past couple of days because of the lack of income because of their searching for Hollee. He had finished shuffling when Melanie and Lori ran by and Melanie said quickly that they were going to the castle and then darted out of the barn. "No," he said, but it was too late, and they were already out of the barn. "Damn it!" He stood up and ran out after them. "Stop!" He finally caught up with them when they made it to the back end of the palace and were knelt down, ready to try and get in somehow. "Stop, girls, we can't. That's the stupidest thing to do. Hollee just dissapeared, we don't want you two to dissapear also."

EDIT: Charlie then noticed one of the gaurds coming after them. "Great," he said, and then trailed after the two girls. The made their ways into the alley and began to zigzag through the town. Marjory's house. They'd eat well for a year. If they could buy any food without getting recognized.

Lori slid ahead of the Mellie, slightly impatient to get to the old rich woman's summer Villa. She had looted here before, grabbing as much jewelry as she could. Marjory hadn't even noticed she had that much. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before. As they neared the monstrousity of a house, she took a deep breathe and launched herself at a drainage pipe on the side of the house, clamboring up it, she made her way to the roof stopping to look down at Mellie and Charlie, and to wait for them at the top.

The tip of the chimney poked out from the roof, Lori pointed to it and then pointed to everyone else, they were going to go down the chimney shoot, like little santa clauses, cept they weren't fat. She grinned at the thought of Charlie going down the chute. She was fond of Charlie, though he was slightly bossy, she understood why. Without him, she'd be dead, and so would Mellie. As she waited on top of the roof, she sighed, she hadn't meant to get so ahead, but with so much going on, she got ahead of HERSELF. She did that a lot, and it was slightly annoying.

Lori pulled out the notebook again and scribbled furiously, since she had gone looting alone in Marjory's house, she knew the way it was guarded and where the safe was. The note was finally done and when Mellie and Charlie got here, she'd let them read it.. She didn't know for sure if Charlie would follow them, but she knew he wouldn't leave them alone. The note was simple and had instructions that read,

Marjory has guards on each floor, but you can knock them out easily since no one really thinks anybody will break into the house through the roof. The safe is locked in the back of her study and she keeps a lot of her gold chains and diamonds in there. Make sure to be quiet, or Marjory will hear, and be careful of the dogs...

Lori sat near the roof, waiting silently. It wouldn't take too long to loot. They were experts at this, and Charlie was with them. They'd be fine, and the guards were busy guarding the market cause of her, perfect.

((OOC: This is my last post for the night, ): Gotta go! I don't mind if you go on looting Marjory's house without me! But I think it would be a lot of fun if you guys could wait! Like, you know get on top of the roof and all! Don't take that as a order! Have a good night!. :D))

Dalyern Longoritie was wandering the city streets far too early in the morning, it had been close to 0200 by now. The shadows of dark alleyways pulled and reached out into dimly lit walkways. Nothing could be heard but the odd deep chuckled of a drunken man every now and again.

She kept to the midnight gloom along stone walls, It had been well over a week since she had been to the barn. Being away from what she considered her family taunted her thoughts, distracted her from the task at hand. Te deep fire red hair that framed her face, was covered by a black hooded cloak, casting black over her face, contrasting with her snow white skin. Her worn down leather coverings made her feet land silently as she begun creeping closer and closer to the man lighting himself a long white cancerous stick.

She loved her family and would do anything to help them, in fact she felt responsible for all of them except Charlie, she never worried about him. Dalyern knew he didn't need any of them, just as she didn't but rather enjoyed having something to care for. There was a side to Dal that her loved ones had never seen, a side she would never show them, yet everything she ever did was for them.

She was nearly there, her hand reaching out slowly, so slowly, so smooth like for the man's trench pocket. She saw what he had placed in there and she wanted that glorious jewel crested dagger.

With out notice a group of people darted pass the man pushing him right into her, they continued running with out seeing her.

"Mel, Lori" She spoke in just the faintest whisper as if it were a ring, being carried out on the wind. "..Charlie" Dal held the man in her arms he was cursing and swearing about kids and moved to chase and hunt the hoodlums down. Her fingers wrapped around the base of his skull, ramming the man's face forward without a word, a sickly sound of bone shattering echoed in her mind while the limp body hit the ground. She raided his pockets, took all she could stashing it in a small bag hung off her shoulder.

Her feet moved with speed, carefully planting them selves on the ground as she followed after the small group. She had been gone so long she had no clue of Hollee being taken, all she knew was that she had to follow them. The guard Charlie saw was standing between her and him, her only barrier from getting to her family.

She came up behind him, her hand as stiff and a board, straight as a sheet of glass. it came striking down at the base of his neck hitting a vital nerve and he came to his knees in silence falling face first to the floor, snoring soundly.

Lori jolted backwards on top of the roof, Daly had justed arrived behind Mellie and Charlie. The note slipped from her fingers, nearly fluttering down and onto the ground, but Lori caught it just in time. She threw out a small gasp of air as she waved her hands in a motion for all of them to come up onto the roof. She wasn't happy with how much noise had been made by the big stupid clunky guards.

A small whimper escaped Lori's mouth, not out of fright but out of anxiety. Though no one really believed that Marjory's house would be ransacked, that didn't mean they hadn't posted guards all around it. She waved her hands harder, furious at herself for not getting them up here faster. Down below a light clicked on in the window below her, she scrambled back away from the roof's edge, slightly confused as the others were below her. Her cape billowed outwards as she slid across the roof, moving soundlessly and effortlessly. Unfortunately, Lori tripped over a mishappen shingle and crashed down onto the roof. HARD. Her eyes widened as she scrabbled up and ran, light footed to the chimney and waited for the other's, note in hand.

Charlie looked up and saw Lori motioning them to go up. He turned and also noticed that Dal had come by and was joining in on the fun. Charlie decided to wait for everyone to go up before he did, but since nobody was going, he just went first. He began to scan up the side of the large, white house by the gutter, just like Lori had, but the gutter was beginning to slip and loosen off the wall. He was obviously much more heavy than Lori, so it probably wasn't best if he did it. He looked around, quickly trying to find out where he'd move to, to get up to the roof. Why couldn't anything be easy for him.

Charlie looked to his right and noticed the second story window was next to him, and if he stood up on the windowsill, he could pull himself up. He began to move over to it, making sure nobody could see him if he put his feet there. He didn't see anyone there, so he moved over to the window, and once he put his right foot on the ledge, he heard people begin to walk in and light the room up with candles. "Fuck," he said quietly to himself. He quickly pulled his leg back, but it was too late. He could hear Marjory's shrill voice say 'Hey' and then summon the gaurds from downstairs. He looked down at the two girls waiting to climb up and motioned them to stay down and keep out of sight.

He only had moments to decide his next move, and then decided on just going up anyways. He jumped both legs onto the windowsill and pulled himself up. He was almost, up when he felt a strong hand grasp his bare foot and tug. "Lori!" he yelled. "Help me." It was too late though, and he was pulled inside the master bedroom, Marjory in the corner, cowering dramtically as if she was about to faint. Charlie stood up and got in position to fight the large man. He reached down to his pantleg and pulled out his knife that was strapped to his leg inside his pants. Charlie usually didn't pull out his knife, but the gaurd couldn't have picked a wronger time to mess with Charlie.

Melanie kept running as Charlie joined them, occasionally jumping off of things or climbing over other things. She wasn't in a particular hurry, so she didn't run as fast as she could, noting that Lori was quickly getting ahead, also making note that Dalyern was joining them. Good, now we can go by the buddy system. Melanie thought to herself. Once they got to Marjory's house, she quickly scrambled up one of the walls, almost completely silently. Now on the roof, Melanie looked at the note Lori was holding, and nodded a response. It was time to get stealthy.

Melanie quickly climbed up onto the top of chimney where Lori had pointed, then put her arms crossed in front of her and legs straight down and together, plummeting straight down the chimney. She landed on the brick floor of the fireplace, then did a forward roll to remove some of the force of impact. She looked around, noting that she was on the first floor. Nobody was in sight. Melanie silently ran to a doorway and peeked through, seeing nobody was there either. Suddenly, she heard someone yelling from the second floor, summoning guards, and she thought, Great, we already blew our cover? Well, no need to be too stealthy now.

She quickly ran to the staircase and booked it up them, running up to the second floor. She encountered a guard at the top of the stairs, so she jumped over him with a flip and then hit him on a pressure point, knocking him out. She looted the guard's money and then grabbed an expensive-looking vase from a pedestal, and then quickly raced off to find more loot before they had to go.

Lori winced comically at the crashes coming from within the house. But she had a good idea. She sighed dramatically as she vaulted into the chimney, sliding down and out of the fireplace. She rolled to her feet, a crazy look in her eyes. She sprinted after Mellie, but turned in a different direction than her. Lori had been in this house before. She hadn't told anyone, but they had also been here...They hadn't searched the house for locks and safes though, and that was exactly what Lori was doing. She rolled under a table to evade a guard running down the hallway, after he had passed she pushed the table out the window, smirking at the satisfying crash that echoed through the yard.

Lori made a quick turn to the left and burst through an open door. A guard yelled as she barreled through him, sending a punch straight to the left of his temples. He crumpled to the ground as Lori leaped over him, making her way behind the desk to an expensive steel safe. She silently pulled out one if her thinner throwing knives and inserted it into the lock. Turn to the left, then to the right.. Lori gritted her teeth as she slowly turned it back to the left. A sharp Click! echoed throughout the room as the lock swung open. Lori grinned as she saw what was inside.

Bag upon bag of brown silk was stashed in the safe, Lori opened one and gasped at what was inside. Pearls glistened in the faint candle light, ropes and ropes of milky-white shimmering spheres. Lori opened another bag that held fiery rubies, glowing as though they were on fire. She didn't need to open the other bags, as they jangled happily when she shook them. Gold. Lori chuckled to herself as she stowed the bags in her arms, pulling them beneath her cloak. She heard running down the hallway, and guards bellowing furiously. Damn..They were headed this way. Lori sucked in a breathe as she grabbed a nearby desk chair and jammed it under the doorhandle.

The door handle jiggled as the guards attempted to open it. Lori flattened herself against the wall, her mind calculating what to do next. Lori knew she could do it, but right now more than anything she wished Mellie was here, she always felt safer with Mellie by her side.

Mellie..Please come..Lori thought to herself, whimpering softly as the guards began to kick at the door. Lori knew she was in the right hallway on the north side of the house, but Mellie didn't. Lori closed her eyes, there were no windows in the study, and she could break through the wall, because she was on the second floor..Would she die today? Lori didn't know, all she wondered was that if she did indeed perish, would she see her mother?

Dalyern stood at the bottom of the bottom of the building, She moved to the edge, pushing her small body against the wall, and when Charlie was pulled in through the window her mind didn't even have time to process her next move, her body moving instinctively. She gripped the gutter with both hands and scaling up it with precision. Her feet moving in sync with her hands, sliding, gripping, heaving. her light weight body always making it so easy to move with such speed.

Once getting near the window she leapt, her nimble hands grabbing at the frame and propelling her body forward. She came swiftly tumbling though, tucking her body into a roll and landing just a foot before Charlie. Dal reached into her dark cloak pulling out her own steel dagger, tiny fingers wrapping around it with a firm grip, a look of readiness and emptiness filling her eyes.

When ever she has been put in such a situation, to protect herself or others, she seems to lose sight of who she is. Her mind clouds over, and she loses control of her actions. Charlie should know this, he should know the danger she could be to these guards. She never became a liability for herself or those of who she was with, but she became a fierce little spitfire. Out of the entire group it was likely he would be one of the few to know this of her. Out of the entire group, he knew her the best.

Dalyern's eyebrows pulled together causing her face to crease while her eyes snapped from guard to guard, then to the cowering woman in the corner; Dal looking as if she would launch her small body at any moment.

Charlie heard Dal come in behind him and looked back for a second and then looked back at the gaurd. He still had his knife out and was thinking about using it, but decided against it. He never wanted to hurt anyone, even if he stole. The stealing was because he needed food and clothes, but there was no need for killing. He put the knife back into the cloth strap around his leg and decided what he'd do. He didn't want to leave Dal, though he could just run past the man, and knew she could take care of herself, but she was family to him and he wouldn't leave her or any of them.

He was waiting for the gaurd to pull a move, but he still hadn't done anything yet. So Charlie pulled the first move. He moved forward torwards the gaurd and kicked his stomach, then while the man held his chest from being winded, Charlie swept his feet across the gaurds and the man fell onto his back onto the tile floor. Charlie was going to run out with Dal to find the other two who were probably searching the house for gold and jewelry, but then he thought of something that they really hadn't thought of before. Maybe the gaurd would give him some information. If he didn't, well then maybe he'd have to pull out the knife.

Charlie lept on to the man before he could get back up and pinned him down. "Do you know of a Hollee Knox?" he asked firmly. The man shook his head in fear, still looking at Dal's dagger that she was holding. "Tell me the truth, or I'll get out my knife! Did you arrest or kill Hollee Knox?!" The man shook his head again.

"I don't know! You'd have to ask one of the cheif gaurds!" Charlie looked at the man and then to Dal. He then stood up and let go of the man. "Let's go," he said to her and then darted out of the room and down the stairs. "Lori! Melanie!" he yelled, searching for them, making sure not to run into any gaurds, including the one chasing after him and Dal. "Let's go!"

Melanie was in the middle of snagging expensive items, when something went off in the back of her head, like a sixth sense. Something was telling her that Lori was in danger, and she wouldn't have that. Melanie then heard what sounded like a group of guards trying to break a door down. Quickly making her way to the source of the noise, she found exactly that. All the guards turned at once to Melanie, one shouting, "Thief!" and then they all charged forward to attack. Melanie just grinned, getting ready for a fight.

All at once, things started happening. The guards charged at Melanie, so she took action. She leapt at the first guard, drawing a hidden knife and stabbing him in the neck. She drew it back out and slashed at another guard across the chest, but the knife deflected off his armor. She ducked and rolled back as a guard swung at her with his sword, then she threw a knife at him, nailing him in the face. Two down, a bunch to go. Melanie thought to herself. She did a low sweeping kick at the next guard, taking his feet out from under him, then she stabbed that one in the neck. Deciding this was taking too long, she pulled out a blowtube and poisoned darts, then quickly blew darts at a few of the remaining guards, nailing them all on unarmored areas, and they soon fell to the ground, dead. Melanie then ran up to one of the last guards, who was trying to get into the door that they were trying to break down earlier. She put her knives and blowtube away, drew a short sword, and stabbed him right in the gut. Lori would see the sword from the other side of the door, which then retracted. Melanie turned to the last two guards. She threw her sword, which impaled one of them, and the other charged at her. Melanie jumped over him and snapped his neck in midair, then landed softly as the man's body hit the ground. She withdrew her sword from the soldier's body that she impaled, and sheathed it.

She briefly wondered what was so important in the door that the guards had to break in, so she reached through the hole she made with her sword, grabbed for the handle, and found a chair was in the way. She retracted her hand and drew her sword, put her arm through with the sword, and gave a few swings at the chair's supports. The chair quickly fell, and Melanie burst into the room, glancing around, and seeing Lori. "Oh, thank goodness you're ok." Melanie said with a breath of relief. She haerd Charlie's yell and said, "C'mon, we gotta get outta here." She motioned for Lori to follow, and ran to a window. She opened the window and started climbing out, then jumped from the window to a low roof. She stood and waited for Lori, ready to catch her in case she didn't make the jump.

Lori followed Mellie out the window and hesitated before the jump. She bit her lip before hurtling out of the window, she closed her eyes before her feet hit the roof, and with a loud thump! She had landed. She looked around, noticing that there was a nearby tree right next to the low roof. She tensed her legs, then made a running dive for a branch. A sickening creak was let out by the branch, but it held Lori's weight fine. She swung herself onto it and balanced like a cat, grinning at Mellie as she flipped back down to the ground and waited for Mellie to descend with her. She pulled the brown silk bags out casually, as though she were showing Mellie an interesting specimen of bug, and she let them jingle, her grin widened as her eyes seemed to say, We're rich! She started walking towards Charlie's voice, slowly, so as not to leave Mellie behind as she waited.

Lori was a little nervous as she waited. She could hear the guards feet crunching against the grass, the birds hiding in their nests. The wind swaying in the trees. She had always been keen of eye and ear..But she felt oddly cut off. And something about this place seemed familiar..Too familiar..

Melanie watched as Lori jumped onto the roof, then watched as she jumped off the roof, onto a branch on a nearby tree. Melanie smiled, seeing that Lori had made it down just fine. Her grin only widened when Lori pulled out the bags, because she instantly knew that there would be expensive valuables in those bags. Eager to get down and see, Melanie made a running start for the tree, and jumped off the roof, landing on the branch Lori had. There was a harsh crack and splintering of wood, then the branch gave way and Melanie fell. "AAH!" She exclaimed, hitting a couple of branches as she fell to the ground, landing harshly and falling onto her back. "Oh, my leg..." Melanie said, holding her leg in agony. In truth, everywhere on Melanie was hurting, but her left leg the most. She probably had a few broken bones. "Lori, I need help!" She called out, hoping to grab Lori's attention.

Oh shit.. Lori heard the splintering of broken wood and Mellie's scream. She knew that something had broken.. Lori ran to Mellie's side, dropping the bags of silver, rubies, gold, and pearls. She frantically fell to her knees as she inspected Mellie. She hated to talk, but this time it was a necessity.

"Mellie!? Mellie, are you okay?" Lori nearly winced as she heard a pretty melodical voice fly through the air. It was as unfamiliar to Lori as it was to Mellie. Mellie had only heard it twice before. And they had known each other for a long time. Lori's words hung in the air, echoing faintly. She knew that Mellie would be surprised about her speaking, but Lori spoke when she had to. And this was one of those times. She gently lifted Mellie up, she knew that her leg had been broken from the way it was bent..This was not good. She slung an arm over Mellie's waist and lifted Mellie's arm over her shoulders. She could carry Mellie easily. Lori knew that they wouldn't be able to run. And that was definitely a humongous problem. She curled her toes around the bags at her feet and flung them up to her hands. She caught them with ease, still holding Mellie beside her.

The guards shouts were insistent and getting louder. Lori was becoming desperate she attempted to speed up their walking by the tiniest fraction. But Mellie wouldn't be able to run very far. And they would have to zig zag their way through the alley ways. Doubt bloomed in Lori's heart. She would have to speak again..And this time her voice would ring through the city.

"CHARLIE! CHARLLIIEE! HELP!" Lori's bell-like tones echoed among the city walls. The pigeons usually roosting on the palace gates flew up into open sky at her beautiful ringing voice. Lori knew that the reason her voice was so refreshed was because she didn't talk much. But sometimes..Lori knew that it was for a different reason, and that was only an excuse..Somehow her voice came from her past, a past that Lori didn't remember..

Oh god, Charlie help! Lori wailed in her mind as she scrabbled forward with Mellie slung at her shoulders.. This was the first time anything so life threatening had happened. This was what Lori was afraid of, losing her family a second time..