To Change A World (Closed)

[Raige]

The two warriors travelled through the forest silently, neither making a sound as they moved nor talking to one another. The smaller of the two stood at six feet tall, and under his cloak seemed to be of an average build. The larger of the two stood around seven feet tall, and even though he too was concealed in a dark green cloak, it did not do much to hide his broad shoulders. The silver moonlight played about the smaller man's long golden hair, making him look almost angelic in the shadowed forest. The larger man had his hood drawn, so no features other than his size could be determined. The only identifying feature on either of their clothing that could speak of any allegiances or ties to anyone were the small silver dragon emblems that clasped their cloaks about their necks. These emblems proclaimed them to be Hunters, part of the at-once feared and respected group of elite warriors that patrolled the kingdoms.

The Hunters owed no allegiance to any particular kingdom, but instead followed their own leader, the Interpreter. This man was responsible for setting down fair and just laws that superceded any and all kingdom laws. Murder is illegal. Stealing is illegal. Bounty hunting is illegal. Rebellions are illegal. Rape is illegal. Abuse of children or wives is illegal. These were the Common Laws, and justice was normally swiftly dealt to those caught by the Hunters. With the Hunters, there were no courts, no trials. Judgement was immediate, swift, and normally brutal. Murder begat death. Rape begat death. Bounty hunting begat death. Rebellions were crushed ruthlessly. Abuse begat death. However, the Interpretor also had the power to de-throne kings and appoint new ones. The Interpretor had the final say in disputes between kingdoms, and within kingdoms themselves in the case of the inhabitants being unsatisfied with their ruler. Even though the Interpretor could wield such power with no one to answer to, there had never been a single case in the history of the world of Erna of an Interpretor misusing his power.

On this particular summer night, these two Hunters were travelling through the kingdom of Felania. It was surprisingly cool for a midsummer night's evening, but neither Hunter was chilled by the air. They were tuned in to their surroundings, listening and watching for anything out of the ordinary, although neither really expected anything to happen tonight. Felania was a tightly-run country, and usually had little problem in the ways of crime.

"Gods, this is so boring," the smaller man said, breaking the still night air. His voice was quiet, soft, almost musical. He waited for a response, but when none came, he continued. "Felania doesn't have any disciplinary problems. Why do we always get sent on patrol through this kingdom? Why aren't we lucky enough to get sent to Satir, or Glenwal, or Riksha? We were the top of our class!"

The larger man stopped in his tracks and placed his hand on the smaller's chest, stopping him as well. For a moment, he didn't speak.

"Yes, Naga, we were at the top of our class. That is why we are sent to the most decent of countries...because it is our duty to represent our brother Hunters...not just kill criminals."

The larger man's voice was deep, and he too spoke quietly. The larger man began to move again, heading in a slightly different direction than that in which they had been moving.

"Raige...I'm tired of this! I'm bored! I'll forget how to use my sword or fire my bow if we don't get to fight!"

Raige snorted. "We fight enough. We practice against one another every day. Your skills will only dull if you let them. Besides, I think your boredom is about to come to an end." They had stopped near the edge of the road that travelled to Felania's capitol city, Felan. As they watched the road, they saw a figure come running down the road. It was a woman, judging by the way it ran. She was frightened, that much could be heard by her breathing. Raige squinted his eyes a little and spotted the figures running after her. Three of them, steel glinting in the moonlight. Raige saw all that he needed to see. He stepped out onto the road just as the woman was almost upon him. She ran headfirst into him and screamed. He held her with one arm as she thrashed against him and petted her hair.

"Hush now, little one. Everything will be fine now."

She looked up at the giant of a man with the low, comforting voice, and gasped again when she saw the dragon emblem. She stopped struggling and stood there gaping at him. Raige continued watching as the three men approached rapidly, then skidded to a halt roughly ten paces from him. They were panting from their exertion, but even so held themselves upright with the training that only comes from time spent as a soldier. Raige's sharp eyes took in every detail about them, calculating their strengths and weaknesses in less time than it takes to tell.

"..H-Hunter...thank you for apprehending our slave! She ran away tonight while we slept and we gave chase. She might've gotten away if you had not caught her, and for that we give you thanks. We will pay you handsomely if you'll just return her-"

"I do not believe," Raige's voice cut through the man's easily. "that this woman is your slave. Nor is it my intention of returning her to you."

Even in the moonlight, the man visibly paled. One of his companions spoke up.

"What business is it of yours, anyway? This is Felania! We solve our own problems, we need no assistance from any Hunter! Return the girl to us!"

Raige gently moved the girl behind him, hiding her behind his great bulk. He slowly brought his hands forward and caught each edge of his cloak and pulled them back, revealing the swords hung on his hips.

"This girl is under a Hunter's protection. Return to your homes, or go to your graves."

Raige watched the men for the tell-tale signs that they were about to attack. He saw one of them spread his feet just a little, another tensed his sword arm, and that was all he waited for. His swords flashed into the moonlight, and he watched as one of the men immediately fell to the ground, dead. Had either of his companions bothered looking, they would have seen an arrow protruding from his ear, but as they were too busy charging Raige, they neither looked nor cared. They came on him at once, swinging their blades with all of their might, shouting warcrys to invigorate their bodies with battle fury. Unfortunately for them, despite all of their training, they were no match for a fully-trained Hunter. Within moments, both of the men lay on the ground, pools of blood spreading from their bodies. Raige wiped his blades on their clothes and returned them to their scabbards as Naga walked out of the woods, returning his bow to its place on his back. Raige turned to the small woman who was standing there, wide-eyed, shivering in the night air.

"You are safe now. Do you have a place to stay?"

She didn't answer, but stared at the bodies on the ground as Naga dropped a single dragon tooth token on each body. Raige reached into his cloak and pulled out a small bag of coins. He took a few of them out of the bag and returned the bag inside his cloak, then took the girl's hand and put the coins in them.

"It is not safe to travel alone at night. Find an inn, get some rest. You've nothing more to worry about."

Raige moved by the girl and began travelling down the road, away from Felan. Naga followed suit, bowing briefly to the girl and flashing her a smile as he passed her. They travelled a few hours before moving off the road and making camp for the remainder of the night. There were only 3, maybe 4 hours until Erna's sun would break over the horizon, but that would be enough. They each found whatever place was most comfortable to him, within sight of one another yet well-hidden, and easily drifted off to sleep.

[Khavi]

It was over much to fast for the girl to react. Her eyes were hard on the bodies of her assailants and the Hunter placing dragon teeth on the bodies, even as the larger warrior knelt before her, speaking gently. She finally looked at him when she felt the press of cold metal in her hand, and looked down to see five golden coins in her palm. Enough for two days at a decent inn...

"It is not safe to travel alone at night. Find an inn, get some rest," he said. "You've nothing more to worry about." With that he stood, and left with his companion. The girl watched them leave, frowning after them.

Nothing more to worry about? she thought, looking back down at the coins in her hand. Thank you for the coins, sweet Hunter, but I can't go back... I'm dead as soon as anyone spots me in that town. Dead or worse.

She pocketed the coins, and drew her cloak tighter about her shoulders. The night air was cold as she trudged down the dirt road, a lonely runaway.


Several hours passed, and her stomach was aching with hunger. She hadn't eaten since the previous afternoon, and it was another half day's travel to a town she could safely find food in... Maybe there was fruit in the trees, or berries on one of the many low-laying bushes. It would tide her over for a while, get her to an inn along the road or a village.

As she crept through the woods, she came across something even better than berries... One of the Hunters that had saved her earlier, sleeping peacfully. He had to have food stashed in one of his bags, something she could easily theive out of his sleeping grasp.

Creeping closer, she saw it the larger one... he had a hard face when she had seen him, but sleeping he gained a peaceful quality. Forgive me, Hunter, you saved me and I steal from you... but I have to eat! she thought, kneeling next to one of his bags. Silently she opened it, peering into it... Nothing edible. Flint and tinder, a map, a small knife. The next bag yeilded little success, but the third gave her what she was looking for.

Cait, you genius... she thought, hunger tearing at her insides as she looked down into the bag.

Salted pork, the last part of a loaf of bread, and a little cheese. Soundlessly she slid the food from it's resting place, and settled the bag back in it's original resting place. She started backwards, stood and turned around.

Caitlin was immediately halted in her tracks as she walked face-first into the smaller of the hunters. All she could think as she looked up at him was that he had a handsome face. Even as he gave a steely gaze down to her, he seemed to have a kind face...

"You know, we did give you a few coins for an inn... any reason why you're poking around here now?" he asked, looking down at the food in her hands.

"I... I was hungry..."

The Hunter chuckled, nodding. "I can see that, little theif, but why aren't you in the town where it's safe? Pretty little girl like you, you shouldn't be out here so late..."

The words touched on a nerve in Cait, but she held in her temper. Best not to get in a tangle with a Hunter... "I can't go back into the town, they won't have me there... Please, sir, I'm sorry for stealing, but... I'm hungry, and if I go back into town, they'll..."

"Fine, I won't let you starve... Hang on to what you've got, and move on to the next town. But don't let me catch you sniffing around here again, all right?" he said. He was smiling again, the same handsome smile he had given her earlier in the evening.

"What's this, then?"

Cait looked up, and saw the larger Hunter loom over his smaller partner's shoulder. Looking back over her own, she saw that the space he had been sleeping in was empty... She hadn't even heard him get up!

"I caught us a theif, Raige, but she didn't take anything much too important... better let this little fish back upstream, wouldn't you say?" Cait looked from the smaller to the larger, trying to calm her racing heart.

"Off you go," said the larger, motioning down the road. Cait exhaled in quiet releif, and started away down the road. She kept her head down, tucking her ginger hair behind her ear. She didn't want to keep attention on herself as she walked away.

[Raige]

The two Hunters watched the girl walk away, head bent down as though she was ashamed. Raige looked to Naga, who was continuing to watch the girl walk. Raige stepped into Naga's line of sight and folded his arms across his chest.

"Whatever you're thinking, don't. We helped her, she stole from me. We'll never see or hear from her again. We owe her nothing, she owes us nothing, we're square. So don't go thinking."

Naga looked up at Raige, his face a mask of puzzlement. "I wasn't thinking anything."

"Good. Keep it that way. Let's go."

Raige turned and stalked away, heading back towards the road, Naga following behind. The walked in silence for only a few moments before Naga broke the quiet.

"You know...a pretty girl like that shouldn't travel alone."

Raige continued walking without answering, but took a deep breath to try and boost his patience.

"I mean...she's pretty small...she could easily land herself into trouble out here. You know what kind of scum prey on the travellers on the roads...she wouldn't stand a chance."

Raige exhaled noisily and pressed on, trying to ignore Naga's comments. Naga picked up his pace and walked beside Raige.

"We could just go with her to the next city and leave her there...just to keep her safe out here."

His patience completely blown, Raige whirled on his friend, grabbed his by the straps of his leather armor and lifted him clear off the ground.

"Dammit, Naga! It is not our job to babysit every pretty girl we come across! Don't you remember the last time a girl struck your fancy?"

Naga frowned a little, trying to remember. "Was she the blacksmith's daughter?"

Raige shook Naga a little. "No, you idiot! She was the captain of the guard of Dren's daughter! We had to brawl our way out of the inn we were staying at! 2 of us against 20 of them! That's how you got the scar on your shoulder, remember?!"

Naga's eyes lit up with the memory and he laughed. "Yeah, but that was fun, wasn't it? And man, was she a great lov-"

[color=red]Raige dropped Naga and shook his head in disgust. "No Naga, we are not travelling with her. The answer is no."

They reached the main road, again travelling in silence. Raige had just begun to think that Naga would indeed forget about the girl when Naga spoke again.

"It's only two days time, Raige. Surely she could go with us that far."

"NO!"


Two days later, the trio of travellers arrived at the citygates of Hartshire. The Hunters knew the city well and easily found their way to Raige's favorite inn, the Golden Scale. The three went inside and were greeted warmly by the matron, an elderly woman by the name of Rosie, and she guided them to a table by the fire, next to a group of rough-looking miners. The three seated themselves at the table, ordered their drinks, and made themselves comfortable. Raige removed his cloak and the scabbards from his belt, hanging his cloak on his chair and leaning the weapons against the table, close to hand as Naga did the same with his own gear. Raige settled back into his chair and took a drink from his large tankard of ale after thanking the matron's daughter, Karina, for the drink. He sighed contentedly, then rolled his eyes as he heard Naga talking to the third traveller, the girl. She had kept up with them on the way here without complaint, but the constant conversation between Naga and her annoyed Raige. Not that the two were talking, but because when he travelled, Raige liked to keep things quiet so that he could hear things one would not normally hear if one were talking.

Raige's thoughts were broken by one of the miners. He was obviously drunk, and was being very rude to Karina.

"Wha' d'ya mean, I've 'ad enough? I'm still thirs'y!"

Raige took another drink as he tried to ignore the commotion coming from directly behind him.

"Please sir, you've obviously had too much to drink. If you'd be so kind as to pay for your meal and drinks, I'd be much obliged." Karina said meekly.

"Pay for that shlop you call food?! An' thish horshpish you call ale! How's abou' me and my boysh pay for nothin' an' take you home wif us?!"

Raige turned in his chair just a little, enough to see the miner catch hold of Karina's skirts. His companions were laughing loudly, and she had a fearful look on her face. Raige's nostrils flared, and he turned back around in his chair to face his own companions.

"Easy, Raige. Don't kill anybody," Naga said, grinning.

Raige downed the rest of his ale, slammed the cup on the table, and stood up.

"I won't. I think a few broken bones should do the trick."

With that, he turned, walked behind the miner, grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head forward onto the table once, twice, three times, and then let the unconcious man fall to the floor. Her skirts released, Karina, slipped away behind the bar. The miner's fellows jumped to their feet and Raige grinned, spreading his arms as if to say, "Well, come on then." The four men leaped at Raige at once, fists flailing. Raige laughed uproarously and engaged himself into the brawl.

"Aren't you going to help him?"

Naga was sitting in his chair, drinking his ale, watching the brawl and laughing. "Hahaha, no, he's just blowing off some steam. Watch, he'll let them think they're winning, and when they close in to finish him off, he'll really let them have it."

The girl watched and, just as Naga said, Raige performed the way Naga predicted. He let the men get in a few punches, one of which landed squarely in his left eye which immediately began to swell, and fell to the floor. The men moved closer to pounce on him, and just as they were about to, he jumped to his feet. He grabbed two of them by the hair and smashed their heads together, face first. The third he planted a firm, solid kick square in the balls. The man let out of high-pitched scream before Raige gave him an uppercut to his chin that sent the man flying backwards and landing bodily on a table, crushing it. The fourth miner jumped on Raige's back, his arms around Raige's throat, trying to choke him. Raige reached up, grabbed the man by the hair, pulled him forward, turned his head, and bit the man's nose off. The man experienced pain such as he had never felt before and fell to the floor, sobbing and holding the bloody hole where his nose had just been moments ago. Raige spit the man's nose on the floor beside him and gave him a solid kick to the gut.

"I suggest you and your fellows learn some manners."

Raige went around to the men and collected all of the coin purses, then went to the bar and laid the purses on it. He unhooked his own and added it to the already substantial amount of money on the bar.

"Sorry about that, Karina, but I couldn't let them treat you like that and get away with it."

"Oh Raige...I'm used to it, you silly man. Even so, thank you." She reached up and took Raige by the ears, bent his head down, and kissed his forehead. "Another drink?"

Crimson to his earlobes, Raige mumbled yes and said that the money on the bar was for damages, rooms, their meals and drinks. With plenty to spare for a tip. He returned to the table, tankard in hand, sat down, took a deep drink, and sighed happily.

"Feel better, you big monkey? Not going to sulk anymore?" Naga asked, laughing.

Raige glowered at Naga. "Yes, I do, and I wasn't sulking."

[Khavi]

Cait watched the battered men leave, her eyes epsecially on the one clutching his face where his nose had been. Raige had certainly proved the better of the brawlers, and Cait was equally impressed and repulsed by his actions.

The face that he had so easily taken down five men equal in size to him was impressive to the young woman, but the fact that he resorted to biting the nose off of one of them had caused her to recoil in revulsion.

It wasn't until after all five men had shuffled and shambled out of the tavern that she looked back around at her two unlikely traveling companions. The cheerful Naga, who rarely seemed to stop smiling, and the large and brooding Raige, who rarely opened his mouth to utter more than a few growled sentences at a time. The two were talking again... or at least, Naga was talking again. Raige was, as always, sharply silent.

"Is he always that brutal?" she whispered to Naga when Raige walked to the bar for more ale. "I mean... he bit that fellow's nose right off his face..."

"Aye, his fights usually end in similar manners. But it's not always the nose he gets, sometimes it's an ear or a lip..." Naga said, and grew suddenly quite serious. "I once saw him remove a man's hand at the wrist. With his teeth." Naga bit his own wrist, worrying it as a dog would, and Cait smiled and gave him a playful shove in the arm.

"Don't kid me so, Naga," she said, and laughed as he did. She glanced out a window when Raige sat back down, and saw it was dark out. She yawned involuntarily, and pushed her chair back to stand.

"I think I'm going to turn in for the night... Been a while since I slept in a real bed, think I want to get an early start on it," Caitlin said. She bent to kiss both Naga's and Raige's cheeks. "Thank you for bringing me this far."

She left them sitting at the table, faces flushed pink as new roses, and smiled to herself. Too bad they're only bringing me this far, even Raige was growing on me... she thought as she mounted the stairs. And they treat me like a human being, which is certainly nice... I'm not 'just a woman' with them. She found the room she was to stay in, adjacent to the Hunters' rooms, and let herself in.

Once inside she removed her boots and threw her cloak over a chair, and sat down at the edge of the bed. Quietly she drew a pendant on a thin gold chain from beneath her tunic, and pulled it over her neck to look at it. The last thing she had left of her mother, murdered only three weeks prior...

"God forbid my father tell anyone who did it... Gods only know what would happen to him then. Has to keep his reuptation spotless, doesn't her?" she murmured to herself, and kissed the pendant before tucking it back beneath her clothing. She couldn't let anyone know where she came from, who she really was.

Her father would try to find her, she knew to much... She had seen the whole thing. By now he had probably sent out her brothers. They hadn't been particularly fond of her either...

"Don't think about it," she told herself, lying back. "Just don't think about it. They won't get you tonight, not with the Hunters so close... a scream'll bring them running." So she hoped. "Who knows... maybe if I ask them in the morning, they'll let me stay with them."

[Raige]

"That girls got problems, Naga. Secrets that she isn't very forth-coming with. Someone is after her."

Raige and Naga had waited a few minutes after Cait had gone up the stairs to be sure she wasn't coming back down before discussing their newfound companion.

Naga sighed. "I noticed she looked around a lot, trying to watch every direction around her at once. Like she was expecting an arrow in the back."

"Exactly."

"All the more reason for her to stick with us! That way, we can be sure that she is safe."

Raige smacked his hand to his forehead, and rubbed his hand down his face as he grumbled.

"We are Hunters. Not bodyguards. We're not supposed to just let people tag along with us when we travel!"

Naga looked at Raige disapprovingly. "I'm sorry, did you just quote a rule at me?"

"Yes, I did. And don't bother quoting any back at me because they don't count!"

"They don't count?! Why is that, you big monkey! They don't count because that would mean that you broke the rules just as much as I have? They don't count because you don't want them to count!"

Raige eyed his long-time friend angrily for a time, trying to find the words to diffuse the situation without letting the girl stay with them. He could find none.

"All right, fine. You want her to stick with us, fine. She's your responsibility. I'll have no part of it."

"What if I need your help in protecting her?" Naga asked, trying to be sly.

"Then she dies. We are shield brothers, Naga, but that doesn't mean I will defend everything wearing a skirt that catches your eye."

Naga's face took on a serious look. "That's pretty cold, Raige."

"That's life. Now come on, let's get some rest. We've got to make it to D'halhatar by the week's end. Long day of travelling tomorrow."

"We'll have to get up early in order for us to get Cait some supplies that she'll need."

Raige grinned.

"No, Naga. You will. I'll sleep until you and she have finished your shopping. Then, we'll leave. Don't even think of waking me up to go with you two into the market. I'll kill you both without even getting out of bed."

Naga laughed merrily as they rose from the table. "Tough talk, Raige."

Raige gave Naga a cold look, and Naga's laughter died.

"I'm serious."

[Khavi]

Cait awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of something shuffling in her room. At first she thought nothing of it, figuring it was the wind blowing through the window and rustling something. Rolling over, she tried to settle back to sleep, only to notice that it wasn't wind blowing through the window...

Someone was crawling in.

She jerked up, ready to scream, but someone clapped their hand over her mouth and nose and shoved her back down. She felt the press of a blade against her throat, sharp enough to slit her open if she moved the wrong way. A large man hovered over her, pinning her to the bed with his knee.

"You've run us in a right circle, little girl," hissed the one holding her. "Pairing up with those Hunters, thought you would scare us of, eh? Well, they're not here now, no one's here to save you this time!"

"Come on, Briggo, slice her so we can get out of here!" cried the second, who had finished getting through the window. He was considerably smaller than the behemoth sitting on top of her. "Those Hunters are next door, I don't want to have them come check on her and find us!"

"Shut up, Vincent, you keep making all that noise and they will hear you!" snarled the first. He looked back down at Cait, who was starting to feel faint from lack of oxygen. "Having trouble breathing, then? That's no good... Can't have you miss your own death. I'll take my hand away if you swear you won't scream."

Cait nodded furiously, and he removed his hand from her face. She drew in a great shuddering gasp of air, and tried to fight the urge to yell for the Hunters. If she screamed prematurely, they'd kill her certainly.

"Just kill her, Briggo, we're taking too long..."

"I can't just kill her, Vincent, you know what trouble she's been, to us and the king? Just killing her would be too nice," the bigger replied. Briggo leered down at the trembling girl.

"We can't do it here, Brig, we should gag her and take her back to the cave or something, somewhere we can't be found," the smaller, Vincent, suggested.

"Fine, if it'll stop you whining, we'l tie her up and take her somewhere else." He removed the knife from it's place at her neck, and sat back. "Tear up these sheets, they'll do to hold her for now. She's little, can't be that strong."

The knife away from her throat, Cait figured it was safe to try something... She drew in a deep breath, and let it out in the loudest shreik she possibly could. She managed two seconds of noise before Briggo turned and struck her across the face. He stood up, off of her, and backed away.

"You little bitch, those Hunters'll be in here any moment now!" snarled Briggo. He pulled his knife out, and flew for her. Cait threw herself from the bed and scrambled for the door.

He caugth her by the hair, pulling her backwards, just as the door exploded open. Naga had kicked it in, and stood there momentarily, looking around the room. Raige loomed behind him, looking murderous. Briggo released Cait so he could deal with the Hunters, and Cait immediately slid across the wooden floor to brace herself against the wall.

It wasn't long before Naga had the two bandits subdued, lying unconsious on the floor. Raige bound them together, and Naga turned back to Cait. He knelt before her, and smiled as he always did.

"You all right? They didn't hurt you, hm? Because I can still kill them if they did," he said. Cait suddenly lurched forward, crying into Naga's chest. He seemed a little taken aback before putting his arms around her.

"Come on, it's all right," he said, trying to hush her. "We got it handled, you're all right... right?"

Cait sat back, her eyes closed. Naga brushed the tears off her cheeks, still smiling at her. "Yeah, you're all right, just a little shaken. Don't worry, you're safe."

"Come on, lovebirds, break it up. Cait you can go sit in our room while we clean this up," Raige said, brusque as ever. Naga stood and helped Cait shakily to her feet. They left her in their room while they did whatever it was they needed to do to 'clean up.'

"Poor thing's terrified, Raige, we can't rightly leave her behind now..." she heard Naga whisper as they were leaving.

"You can't," Raige replied, locking the door.

"Oh, shut up you big monkey, you've got heart under all that dumb brawn somewhere."

[Raige]

Raige tossed the two men bodily through the window, not really caring if they died upon impact with the ground or not. He went through the window himself, lowering himself and then dropping to the ground. Naga easily vaulted through the window and to the ground. Raige grabbed the smaller man and tossed him over his shoulder like a sack of potatos, leaving the larger man for Naga to haul.

"Come on, Raige," Naga grunted as he dragged the larger man. "This isn't fair, you could easily carry this guy."

"Yeah, but I can carry this guy with hardly any effort. You're carrying that guy because it's your fault we're stuck with that girl in the first place. Now, quit your bitching and come on."

Raige picked up his pace, forcing Naga to struggle harder to maintain Raige's speed. They went in no particular direction with no particular destination. They only needed an alley somewhere to talk to these two criminals, and then justice would be exacted. Raige spotted a dark alley where they wouldn't be seen by any casual passersby, and went down it. He dropped the smaller man to the ground and slapped him awake. Naga dragged the larger man up beside Raige. Raige knelt down, grasped the larger man's hair, and held his head up so that the smaller man could clearly see him.

"Tonight, I'm giving you a choice. Either you die, or he dies, or you both die. If you tell me what I want to know, he dies. If you refuse, you die and I talk to him. If you both refuse, you both die, but in a much more painful manner. Now, who are you?"

"...Please Hunter...have mercy..." the man sobbed.

Naga grasped the smaller man's wrist, and with one swift jerk, snapped it cleanly. The man gave out a horrible scream, with was silenced by Naga clamping his hand over the man's mouth. Tears of agony flowed from the man's eyes as he looked up terrified at the two Hunters. "Tell me, vermin, would you have given that girl any mercy?"

Raige snapped his fingers to get the smaller man's attention. When the man's eyes were focused on Raige, he drew out a long dagger from the sheathe on his forearm and, with only a moment's hesitation to be sure that the smaller man could guess his intentions, thrust the blade up into the larger man's throat, moving it back and forth, turning the man's brain into so much gray mush. Raige withdrew the blade and moved to the smaller man, wiping the gore on the smaller man's throat.

"Now, you don't have the choice to live. You can die quickly, like I just showed you, or you can die very, very slowly. I'll ask one more time: who are you?"

With Naga's hand gone from his mouth, the smaller man began spewing out everything he knew, which was a painfully insufficient amount of information. He and his companion had been hired to kill the woman. Their contact had been someone high in the Felanian government, although he didn't know exactly how high. He didn't know why they were contracted to kill the girl, only that she was someone important that needed to be gotten rid of. That was all he knew.

"Please Hunters....give me a clean death," the man, named Vincent, cried.

Raige stood, put his dagger back in its sheath, and looked down at the man.

"Your death is not my decision. I am not the Hunter that has sworn to protect the girl. Your death, criminal, is in Naga's hands."

Raige put the two of them to his back, catching a quick glimpse of the clawed gauntlets Naga had put on his hands, one 4-inch blade extending past each knuckle of his fist, and began walking away. He had walked no more than 10 feet when the screaming began. By 15, it was over. Raige continued walking, slowing a bit so that Naga could catch up to him. They walked back to the hotel in silence, going in the way they came out. Naga shut and latched the window and turned to look at Raige. The disapproval in Raige's eyes would've been visible even to someone that didn't know him.

"...Naga..."

"No, Raige. She goes with us. She needs our help. She will get it. Swear to me that you will protect her."

"Naga...she's not our problem..."

Naga grabbed Raige's shirt and looked up fiercely into the big man's eyes. "Swear it, Raige!"

Raige frowned down at his old friend. The moments stretched into eternity as different scenes of action formed in Raige's mind. Finally, he sighed, giving in to his friend, as he normally did.

"I so swear."

Naga nodded, and let go of Raige. He crossed the room and went into the hallway, Raige following, down to their own room. Naga knocked softly and went inside. Cait leapt to her feet and buried herself in Naga's arms, sobbing quietly.

Raige watched the two for a moment, then softly closed the door. He knew when he was needed, and this was not one of those times. He went back down the hall and into Cait's room, leaving the door open behind him. He sat down cross-legged on the floor, and closed his eyes.

Raige's eyes snapped open as the first rays of the sun shined into the room. He removed himself from the floor and went down to his own room, opening the door silently and slipping inside. He had eyes only for his gear, which he collected and left without a noise. He walked down the hallway and back into Cait's room, tossing his stuff onto her bed. He began the process of strapping his various pouches and scabbards into their places about his person, then wrapped himself in his cloak, leaving the hood down. He grabbed the key to the room and closed the door behind him before heading down the stairs. He took a seat at a table and smiled a good morning to Karina, who brought over a pitcher of coffee.

"Breakfast will be out in a bit, hun," she said smiling.

He nodded, poured himself some coffee, and took a sip. He began to plan out the direction of the day's journey, not for two people, but for three. Today, he decided, would be the first day of Cait's training. If he couldn't get Naga to ditch the girl, then he could sure as hell get her to ditch Naga. Then, Raige's life wouldn't be complicated by some silly girl with a dark past. Raige hated complications, and this kind of complication was the worst.