Peaceful Days, Nights of Blood 3 (Hibernating for now!)

[Ty Gwynnia]

Rore sighed. "As it turns out, the two men that have been kidnapping people are our former comrades. They're still serving under our ex-king."

"That b*****d Sardain got an upgrade to boot..." Gorash muttered.

"I hope to the gods that they're still human. Well, relatively for Sardain."  

[Rayne Engel]

Rayne nodded intently, fowning. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be trublesome and painful." She took a few sips of stew. It was yummy. "Were the two well trusted? Would they know a lot of private information?"  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"Aleck was and Sardain had to be due to the war otherwise I would have pushed the king to kill him. Sticking him in a madhouse wouldn't be enough to restrain him..." Rore's mouth twisted into an odd grimace and he picked up orange, scratching at the peel absently. "I don't know what you mean by private information other than the fact that they found us here, whether by accident or not, and might report it."  

[Rayne Engel]

"Well what I meant was like secrets that only the Protectors would know." She tore through her mind for a good example. "I guess like secret passageways, saying and gestures where they could still pull off being a Protector with people that don't know about their change of heart."  

[Ty Gwynnia]

Rore shrugged. "No idea. I'm not a Protector and they're only in Salim, not in Taraxacum. Elistral?"

"We've gotten new members but no one who looks like they've come from that far away," Elistral stirred the liquid in her bowl to cool it off a bit more as she thought, her brows furrowing. "I don't think they'd know of any secret passageways..."  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"They do. It's common knowledge that the Ravagers used tunnels to sneak into and out of Salim, past the borders. I doubt you'll hear any news of them. At least not for some time. But it's nice to see you again Rayne, i'd like to talk privately with you later if you want. Now come and get some food. You look partially starved."

"Yeah, I never did remember what had happened to you in the chaos when Mal came. You just disappeared." Jake slopped some soup in his mouth after he spoke.

"I wasnt there when Mal came, I was in Silver City as some unbeleaivable storm came and pretty much blew my castle away." Demios broke away some bread and chompped down.  

[Rayne Engel]

(( lol Strider, Rayne is already eating. ))

Rayne helped her self to a bowl of soup, but dared not eat any, seeing how Elistrial was still stirring hers to cool it down. "I had decided I wasn't prepared to fight. I still had a lot of questions to answer." She gently blew the soup.  

[Strider Wolfheart]

((meh, it works out. =P))

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Strider sipped his soup cautiously, finding it just warm enough he put the entire spoon in his mouth, swallowing after a few moments. Rayne always gave Strider an eerie feeling, like sitting at the edge of a dark pool.  

[Rayne Engel]

She sat her bowl down, loosing her appetite. "Yes I did. I found an old village far to the north of here. An old woman told me of my parents and took me to where I used to live as a child." She looked at her hands and imagined a dark red covering them before looking back up. "I won't go into details until we're alone."  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"Very well, it'll be a story for another time. First, tell me what you think of Salim now? You left quite a while ago." Strider put another mouthful of soup into his mouth.

"Yeah, the city was rebuilt after you left. The only buildings that survived the destruction were the tavern and the bell tower." Jake had some bread in his mouth so he swallowed before he continued. "They added walls, gates, and three new sections to the city, this is the capitol now isn't it?"

"Yeah, in the news Salim was called, 'The jewel of business and freedom.' I'd like to know who came up with that. Give them a better name." Demios reached for a glass and found it was empty.

"Oh, whoops. Looks like we forgot to pour everyone drinks. What would you like Demios?" Sylvia quickly stood up and headed for the bottles set on the side table near the fire.

"I'll take some tea, thank you." Demios raised his glass as Sylvia came by with a pot of tea from over the fire.  

[Rayne Engel]

"I did notice the renovations." She thought of how much the town really had changed. And the people here. There were new faces and it seemed relationships too. "I'll just say it's very different from what I knew. I wont say if its good or bad till I get the chance to wonder around some." She smiled.  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"I hope that you find your stay here enjoyable, Rayne." Elistral commented, still staring down at her stew. When she figured it was cool enough she ate it all quickly, deep in her thoughts about the old and unused Ravager tunnels. She'd posted guards there ever so often and sent them in to investigate. Sometimes they found the usable parts occupied and sometimes they found them vacant. The thought that they were being used for an evil purpose again made her stomach a little queasy.

"I like the jewel and freedom part," Rore mumbled, half to himself as he dug his short nails into the orange peel and tore it carefully in two. He nudged Gorash in the ribs with an elbow when he noticed his friend wasn't taking part in the conversation. "Maybe not so much the business part, I'm not a politician."

Gorash shot a look at Rore, more than a little annoyed but in some part relieved from his thoughts. The fork came out of the table and he twirled it in his fingers to hold it properly, then spear one of the pieces of fruit Rore was about to put in his mouth. "Sorry about the table..." Gorash said apologetically to Sylvia as he chewed.  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"It's fine. It's an old table." Sylvia poured Demios a drink and looked to the others. "Anyone else want some tea?"

"I do." Jake raised his glass as well and let Sylvia pour. "But you have to think about trading as well Rore. This isn't just politics, it's business, entrapeneaurs selling their wares. Salim is the perfect example of a boom town." Jake took a drink out of his glass before continuing. "You add great location, easy access, wide streets, and liberal trading laws in with the fact that it's a variable crossroad between three major countries and you have a lot of room for growth."

"Or corruption, but that's debateable. Especially after the keep became the capitol building." Strider put some bread in his mouth that was dabbed in the soup broth. Swallowing he continued. "Now we could talk about Salim all day, what I want to hear about is Taraxacum. What exactly happened during those wars Rore?"  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"We have a keep?" Rore asked innocently, confused with the fact that if Salim had one, why hadn't he known and where was it? He reached for his glass and held it up, thanking Sylvia for the tea.

"Do you have any lemonade made? If not, water's fine" Gorash held his own glass between both hands very gently. The fork was still in one, pressed against his palm and the glass.

The ex-knight let his thoughts wander away from Salim and back to his homeland and the people he'd left at Strider's mention of the kingdom. "Which wars? The real ones or the fake ones, or both?" He chuckled flatly as if it was funny, the sound dull, but in reality he was being dead serious.  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"Yes, it used to be just the barracks before they added onto it. But I meant the real ones. The ones the people never knew about until it got out of hand." Strider stopped eating to look at Rore. "The ones that made you and Gorash attempt to run." Everything got quiet except Sylvia pouring Gorash some lemonade and returning the jug to the table.