Post #2740893 in Assassin's Pledge: Devastation, a roleplay on RPG

When Marcel heard Quinn's warning cry, he felt no chill that froze him in place. Instead, his blood was set on fire. His golden eyes shone with a flickering orange glow as his head whipped around to the place he'd heard her voice, the grip on his blade tightening. The Te'i Sai were here and Quinn would not have screamed out their presence if they were not here to collect his or... perhaps their other companion's heads. There were several things he'd done that someone would call the Te'i Sai down on him for, but at that moment, his mind was blank of examples. All that was going through his mind was how he could fight a Te'i Sai agent and win.

The Te'i Sai were assassins, masters of shadow. Lost in this smoke, he was at their mercy. They could strike him down without letting themselves be known. There were reasons assassins struck from the shadows - they were cowards, killing those who generally had no means to defend themselves, striking warriors down in their sleep rather than take them in a duel. However, if the rumors were true, and this attack was any proof, the Te'i Sai weren't the usual breed of gutless opponents that Marcel had dealt with before. The Red-Eyed Demon was said to have come from their ranks, after all. While that fact would usually deter any reasonable minded person, Marcel did not possess such a mind.

The smoke cleared before he'd made it to Quinn, but he made out Jeanne, ten feet ahead with her back turned to him. Marcus was off to the side, blocked by one of the Te'i Sai. He counted no civilians and four Te'i Sai, possibly more on the rooftops, one of them in possession of a very unimpressed looking Quinn. His teeth clenched as he began storming forward, with an incredible show of self-control as he held himself back from sprinting up and taking a swing at the captor's head. Despite Quinn's bored expression, he noticed her trembling.

Quinn was in fact more irritated than afraid, as she usually responded towards most things that could kill her. While waiting for the cloud to clear with the Te'i Sai, she had wriggled slightly to try and get more comfortable but was squeezed and sliced in response. She attempted complete stillness after that, but by the Gods it was hard with her involuntary shaking. She had been in this situation once before, four years back now, and her escape was less than appropriate for any lady and she would've preferred to never do it again. Something told her that such a tactic wouldn't work on the Te'i Sai, anyway.

When the smoke was gone, she was hoping for it to reveal nothing. Instead, she was confronted with... Jeanne. Her shoulders sagged in the Te'i Sai's grip and she let out a defeated sigh as the jester struck up casual conversation with the assassins that held Quinn's fragile life in their hands. When Jeanne began trying her luck at flirting, she stared dully at her and raised an eyebrow, an expression resembling a disappointed mother. She could see Marcel take his stance behind Jeanne, staying his blade for now and scanning the rooftops. Even Marcus was still trapped in here. She felt her annoyance and fear give way to seething anger. These idiots were supposed to make a run for it! That was the entire point of her warning!

"But we can’t appreciate such beauty if we’re dead… ri-right, Quinn?”

Quinn returned Jeanne's tear-brimmed, pleading gaze with a death stare.

"Jeanne..." Marcel said, stepping to her side, "Get back."

And then, to everybody's shock, Jeanne did something amazing.

Quinn hadn't noticed the creaking of the horse, but at Jeanne's command she squeezed her eyes shut. There were two ticks and then her vision flooded with red as the light pierced her eyelids. She took action immediately, the moment her vision went red, jabbing the tip of her (sheathed) umbrella into the Te'i Sai agent's rock solid belly. The assassin's grip loosened, and in that slight moment Jeanne's grip on Quinn tore her from her captor. The blade that had Quinn fixed in place had lifted from her throat, but as she was yanked aside by Jeanne, she was pulled through its sharp edge. There was a strangled gasp of pain as Quinn felt cool metal slice through her dress by the base of her neck, against her collarbone. She clamped a hand over the wound as Jeanne led her down an alleyway.

"You were supposed to run without me," she grunted as they ran, then snatched her wrist from her savior's grasp, "But thank you."

She shoved her pink umbrella into the hand that had held her wrist then hitched her skirts to snatch her pistols from their holsters. She spun them once around her fingers, muttering, "I'm sure Cre'Est's 'Gods' will have mercy, given the circumstances," before tilting her head back and looking at the sky, aiming both of her pistols up at the rooftops, "They have the jump on us here! We have to get somewhere crowded!" She snapped at Jeanne as she ran behind her, watching her back and the rooftops. Marcel was not following and she couldn't see Marcus, yet. Please let his physique not be just for show, Quinn stressed internally, then another thought crossed her mind, And please let Marcel not do anything stupid. Shuddering, she turned her thoughts from the men's situation and refocused her mind on the escape mission at hand. Thick blood dripped from the cuts on her neck and chest, leaving an unintentional trail for them to follow... or the Te'i Sai.

Marcel had also followed Jeanne's advice, shutting his eyes and lifting an arm to cover his eyelids and block out the brilliant flash. He could feel himself smiling as he heard Quinn be escorted away. He had to admit, Jeanne's trick worked better than what he had in mind. She was full of surprises, that one. He felt reassured leaving Quinn in her care for now. With Jeanne's resourcefulness and Quinn's ruthlessness, he had faith that they'd make it out. The Te'i Sai had split to chase after the runners, but Marcel had not taken advantage of the flash to also make a run for it. No, that would have been what someone with a reasonable mind would have done.

"You," he said, pointing Shiver at the Te'i Sai he had a personal bone to pick with - the one who had held Quinn, "I've been waiting to fight one of you." His golden eyes held the glimmer of a man whose childhood dream had been re-realized, if that dream were to take your head. The tactics and clashing of steel that had been running through his mind since he'd first heard Quinn's warning shout were flashing on the battlefield before him. "After all my years on the road, I haven't seen anything like what I've heard you can do."

His stature changed as he took up the stance of a Shaharan knight, focusing himself and omitting anything deemed a distraction. He took in a breath, foot scraping the imaginary sands on the cobblestone, then grinned.

"Duel with me!"

The mercenary shouted at the enemy and charged.

Snippet #2740893

located in Cre' Est, a part of Assassin's Pledge: Devastation, one of the many universes on RPG.

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