Xandur
The sun was nearing the center of the sky over the charming countryside surrounding Bran. Perfect amount of light for some reading. A hooded man walked down the main road to the City of the Black Rose Queen, a white staff in one hand and a large leather bound book in the other. His head was down, staring directly at the book with great intensity. The book seemed to be his world, not paying mind to any of the other nuisances of life. However, he seemed to be aware of his surroundings, seeing as he perfectly avoided tripping over rocks or holes without even lifting his eyes from the text. He soon approached the gate of the large city and was halted before he could get past the main gates. Two halberds blocked his way, but he had stopped without looking up from his book. The man at the registration desk stared at him expectantly. "What's your business here?" the guard asked suspiciously. The hooded man faced his body towards the desk and stepped up to it, all while still reading the book. After a few silent moments, the guard looked as if he were going to speak again, but the hooded man raised a large black stony finger, signaling for his silence. Surprised by the hand that sat in front of him and the unexpected gesture, the guard sat there in silence and withheld his statement. The hooded man then snapped the book shut and put it into his satchel. He then raised his head to face the guard. "I'm here to assist your queen with her bandit troubles." The hooded man stated plainly.
The guards eyed each other, unsure of the man. "Your the second man with an eye-patch to have come through here today. Is it standard for you types or what?
" From beneath the hood, the man produced a simple smile. The guards chuckled to each other, but not in a mocking way. "Right then, name?" the guard asked him. "Xandur." he stated in a pleasant tone. The man eyed for a second, then wrote it down. "Alright then. Your lucky, you just made it. Guess that means your the last one. Jacob here will escort you to the....stables." The guard said oddly, gesturing to a guard behind. The two nodded to each other and the hooded man began to follow the guard into the city.
The city seemed rather active at the moment. He had weave his way through the crowd to keep up with the guard. Though, you could feel tension in the air. Though they went about their daily lives, these apparent attacks so close to their beds had obviously offset them. Still they scuttled on with their shopping and sawing and hammering. Anything to make them forget, to try and say for a awhile, I am content. What with the continent slowly circling the proverbial sinkhole into war, they tried to remain happy. Admirable.......but naive.
They had finally arrived to what they called 'The Stables'. It seemed that in this city, stables meant 'cave in back of castle'. Odd that they would reveal an escape point to a band of mercenaries, foreign mercenaries at that. Xandur wasn't worried though, he rarely ever was. The other men and women there were quite the colorful cast. It seemed a fellow patch was their, a dwarf, a tribal, a noble? Wait.....no, clergy member. Symbol of Janos was a dead give away. Xandur was never really popular with men of the cloth. It had something to do with him being agnostic, he suspected. And finally.....a little girl? As he entered the cave and made his way to a rock, he examined her out of the corner of her eyes. There was something off about her. Her eyes and their spacing, her nose and her cheek bones. Her posture was what gave it away though. She was an Elf. Though, he wondered what had happened to her ears.
As he sat down, he pulled out his book and began to read it, holding it in his massive stone hand. Every so often, the pages would turn themselves.