The Medicine Show.

[Striker]

Striker reached down and ripped off the captain's shirt, looping it over his shoulder, and gritting his teeth as it tightened. It looked like he would be relying on his right arm for a while - only a small problem with his weapon of choice. Stretching what muscles had not recently received a rather aggressive acupuncture treatment, Striker looked over the bloody scene. Uniforms everywhere - Dead, but not gone - someone would come back to fill them. A young woman chained up, a fact that simply did not sit well with Striker. Okay, sure, she used them to deflect the law, but Striker would have used that trick himself if he were a quicker thinker. He hadn't had a chance to see her really fight, but he simply didn't feel... good... about tossing her back into the fray.

Striker picked up the rapier and made a few experimental swipes in the air with it. It felt... light. Too light. Like there wasn't even a weapon there. Unsatisfying. He shrugged and regretted it immediately, a reminder of what the blade could do. He shrugged, and tossed it into the back of the cart. The potion salesman could use a weapon.

As he walked back to pick up the girl, Striker turned to Silas. "It's good to know we'll be working together, but we should talk about this over some drinks. For the time being, let's get paid. You keep working on the flowers. I'll... clean up." He grunted, picking up the young woman with his good arm. "If we're interrupted again, surrounded by this uniform cemetery, I don't think we'll be in much of a position to negotiate, and that looks like it'll take some time." The wounds shooting lighting through Striker was making him all business for now, and it bothered him. He'd just survived, after all, and it sounded like he'd landed himself a much steadier job than he had anticipated. Striker’s tail flitted around. Mixed feelings at this discovery? Better to focus on the task at hand…

Woman in cart, check. Check the guards – a few pouches with lunch money, four swords, the woman’s blades, and one guard’s uniform that looked like it might fit me. Silas, quit looking at me and get back to the flowers. Okay, five bodies. Part of one is still stuck to the halberd, which needs to be dealt with. Best to start with the uniform I’m “borrowing”. That would most certainly be difficult to explain. Water sounds like it’s running from the east, so better get him moving and… he’s still alive. Best take care of that.

Four trips to the river and a quick bath to scrub out the vast quantities of blood slowly caking Striker’s fur, and he was back to the clearing, watching Silas work his science. “So… what do these flowers do anyways?”

[Fight OH]

It smelled cluttered, if there was a smell for cluttered. It was mildly warm in the back of the cart with all of Silas’ random knickknacks and potions, correction, uncomfortably warm. Acellya’s head nodded back into consciousness in a rather quick manner. There was no few moments in between unconsciousness and consciousness, just a quick blink back into it.

“ What the hell is this?” The first words and thought that really popped into her head, mainly because of the shackles on her wrists. She tested them to see how far they’d let her move by pulling her arms out to her sides, or at least trying. Not very far. These weren’t the cheap kind, they were the real deal. And her weapon? Obviously not with her. But there was no need to panic, she could see around her there were obviously many things she could use to get rid of the cuffs. She was no lock pick, but she was sure she could smash them apart somehow, or maybe saw them apart.

Shifting her weight from her bottom onto her knees she began squinting her eyes in the dim light to see what was available. Everything was in chests, no use to her unless she could get them open. But that’s about the time she noticed that the bigger ones weren’t locked, just the small metal one. The owner must have been careless, and obviously not familiar with taking prisoners. This couldn’t have been the captain’s doing. Did those two flower pickers really defeat the guards? A smirk spread onto her face and she felt a new respect for the two men she’d chosen to screw over. But, putting her in shackles wasn’t necessary.

She sat back down and used her feet to unlatch then lift the lid of the chest. There was a hair brush along with other nonsense inside. But the important thing was that the lid was fairly heavy. She turned her back tot h e open trunk and set the chain link attaching the cuffs together on the corner edge of the trunk. With her hands out of the way she gave the trunk a little kick and the lid fell back down onto the chain. She heard a clank, and pulled her hands forward to see if she’d been freed. There was some resistance, but she could tell it was ready to break, so she just pulled a little harder, then Snap! The cuffs were still around her wrists but at least now they weren’t linked behind her back.

Now, her weapon. With both hands she began rummaging. She expected her weapon to be hidden well, but to her disappointment, she couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. The men must have still had it. No problem. That little silver box was locked tightly for a reason. She took it up in her arms, it was a little heavy, but nothing she couldn’t manage. Before showing herself she peeked out of the cart, and could see the two men still picking flowers. Who the hell were they?

With a sigh Acellya kicked her legs out over the edge of the cart, pushing aside the door. She crossed one leg over the other and held the silver box in her lap like she would an infant. And with an entirely confident voice she shouted out to the two in the flowers.

“ I knew I could count on the two of you. I thank you, but you’ll have to pardon my rudeness. Where’s my weapon?”

[Silas]

A glance was given to the bodygaurd as Silas filled his bag. "Well, you see, I have this affliction...Well, I won't go into gruesome details, but I need these flowers for a cure." He seemed tense relating the quick story, as if speaking of the sores on his arm scratched at a sore closer to his heart. They had only known each other for the lesser part of a day and even though they had gone through a life threatening experience, Silas still wasn't ready to pour his heart out to this cat-man.

Silas stopped when he heard the voice. No, that could be. Could it? He turned around to look at the woman that he thought would be unconcious in his cart. But she was not unconcious. She was awake, and unrestrained. He blinked, turned around, looked back at her, opened his mouth to say something, but had nothing to say. He raised and dropped his hands and scratched a bit at his beard before admitting, "Well, that did not seem to go as planned."

He continued a moment until his burlap sack was sufficently full of flowers, before he walked over to the cart, tossed the bag in, grabbed the box of money, and yanked it from her grasp. "Not yours," scolded Silas, wagging his index finger. "And I'll give you your weapon when you tell me just who the hell you are and prove to me that you're not just going to cut me down where I stand."

There wasn't much that he himself could do to her, of course, but he did have a very large bodygaurd who had the use of atleast one muscular limb. He figured that was enough. "By the way, how're you feeling? You seemed to take quite a beating." The alchemist walked over to Striker and held out the metal box. "Hold this for a moment, will you?" He turned his attention back to the girl. "What were those men after you for anyway? Did you insult one of their mothers?"

[Striker]

A cure? For his own disease? Not a chance. Some of these damned flowers had better turn into cash money, or there would be a very strongly worded conversation about the… nature of Striker’s employment.

Striker, however, decided it could wait. The man had to eat, money would come, and there is plenty of ways to earn it. In addition, the prisoner had managed to get herself out. Armed? No – she had left the cart without borrowing any of the guards’ tools. Good news, but better to stop a fight before it began – and the woman invariably killed Silas. Staff end first, Striker pushed his weapon between the two arguing parties. Twisting the staff to separate them, Striker barged into the woman, planting himself neatly between her and Silas, leaving the man holding the box. She could be the greatest swordsman in Althanas, but there was no way she could take Striker down unarmed, even with one arm tied behind his back. He stared down at her, silently, and waiting for an answer to Silas’ questions.

[Fight OH]

She let the box go with no resistance, mainly because she felt like this was more entertainment than it was a threat. She held her hands in place for a few moments after the box was removed, then finally dropped them to her sides, watching Silas baby the box. She could wait to get her weapon, she decided. To her it seem Silas was definitely nothing to feel threatened by. And that big cat man… well he looked intimidating, but everything looked intimidating if you took it that way.

The rapid fire of questions gave Acellya virtually no time to answer them as they came. And what was more, just as she opened her mouth to make a few explanations the cat-man made himself a very solid wall between she and the flower man. She wasn’t looking at Silas anymore but a chest full of orange and white fur.

“ You think I could hurt him without my weapons?” Acellya asked rhetorically while folding her arms. The answer was, ‘yes’, yes Acellya could have done a number on Silas even without her weapons. But, that wasn’t her intention at all. “ Look, you can calm down, Tiger. I’ll answer whatever questions you have, because I’m sure we’re not going anywhere until the both of us are satisfied. That means your man gets his answers and I get my sword.”

She took a step back from Striker, not because she was intimidated, but because she offered a bow. “ My name is Acellya Windgate. You gentlemen happened to be conveniently in position to get me out of a small bind. You see those men were after me because of a silly little bounty. Nothing really,” she shrugged. “ A few gold pieces over a stolen apple or two, seems like petty crimes aren’t so petty anymore.” She paused for a moment to see if they believed her bull s*** story. She had a bounty alright, and she was sure the two of them knew that. But she’d have to make sure they didn’t get any wise ideas. After a moment of silence and examination of facial expression Acellya offered a light hearted smile.

“ And I’m fine, thanks for asking. Are you a doctor? I see in the back of your cart, “ she nodded her head back. “ There’s some trunks of potions… Of course, that’s none of my business,” she continued to smile, as real as any, “ So, why don’t we call it a day, and be glad we met. My weapon, sir?” She extended her hands towards Silas and Striker.

[Silas]

"Ah yes, a tiny bounty that would send a squad of armed gaurds to bring you in and give them license to kill anyone who tried to stop them. I'm sure such an act would be done for so little money." Silas wasn't stupid. He was a liar, a cheat, a miser, and many other negative adjectives, but stupid was not on the list. He shook his head. "No, no, I'm sure it's a sizable bounty. Even the Captain mentioned it. Which is why he's dead." A smirk came to Silas's lips. "Didn't want any competition for that cash."

He clasped his hands behind his back and looked to the girl with those green eyes of his. His head was pounding, but his thoughts were clear, and his mind was calm, maybe even cold. "Miss Windgate, you are going to make us some money today. I mean, you did bring us into this unwillingly. We deserve some recompense for saving your ass, don't you think?"

His smirk grew into a smile. "But you have very little say in the matter. I'll put it to you plainly. We are going to turn you in. You can either cooperate and go quietly and no harm will be done to you, or you can be knocked unconscious and we can dig up some more restraints for you. The choice is yours in that matter."

The alchemist watched her for a moment and sighed. "Of course, it's a very raw deal for you. We save you simply to throw you to the wolves? Surely I'm kinder than that, right? Well, maybe I am."

A plan was beginning to form in his mind. The reward would be a fair amount of money, he figured. Even if it wasn't a fair amount of money, it was free money, and any money that is essentially free is good. However, if he let them toss her in the brig, he would not only be throwing away an asset, but also making an enemy, and those were never a positive thing. But he wanted her to experience some form of punishment for dragging them into her problems, and he wanted that reward money, so the solution would have to be complex. Maybe even nonsensical.

"Here...is what I propose to you, Acellya. You cooperate with us, let us take you in, and we earn that reward money. In return, we will break you out of prison. After that, we can either go our separate ways, or you can travel with us. So, the choice is yours. Either cooperate, and get out within hours of your capture, or resist, and rot in jail."

[Striker]

Striker nodded. Yeah, of course! The bounty had to be huge! Otherwise why would the captain of come? And she had played them for fools. Still, the idea of walking back into town right after killing the captain of the guard sat poorly with him. As well as throwing the poor young woman into the same pit with people like... well, people like himself, for instance, was just wrong.

But, what are you going to do? A little money goes a long way, and a lot of it goes further. Oh well, the poor girl can handle herself... wait, what?

Striker snapped back into attention, distracted by his own rationalizations. What was Silas saying?

Looking at his new partner, he groaned inward. Oh lord, the man was serious. Ambition was one thing, but this would land the three of them in the same cell!

"Um... Silas? I hope you don't mind telling me how we're going to..." The sound of gears beginning to turn silenced Striker. I mean, what if they could pull it off? All that money, without losing a bit of sleep - and Striker had seen the inside of a prison armory - a long story - and the more he thought about the idea the more he started to like it.

"Well, that guard uniform did look like it would fit me..."

[Fight OH]

Acellya’s smile faded until it no longer existed. But in it’s place was a slightly dropped jaw and entirely puzzled eyes. She didn’t want these guys to get any wise ideas, but they’d shot right past that and went straight to crazy. Were they serious? Were they sane? Turning her in for money was one thing, but then breaking her back out? Where was the logic? She had to put a stop to this crazy talk before anything else jumped over the edge.

“ Stop,” She held up on hand, palm out. “ Just stop right there.” Before she said anything more she had to take a breath, a deep one. Now, Silas was right, she was in no situation to make any decisions, but there was just something so… “ Ludicrous. You’re plan is complete ludicrous. You want to take me to jail, just to break me out again? You want me to cooperate through that, then travel with you?” repeating the plan was really just for Acellya to make sure she had heard the man right, because there was always a chance of misunderstanding.

Unable to think of the words to express her failure to understand how the gears in this man’s head worked she could only think to herself. What had she gotten herself into? Was it a trick? Get her to go peacefully just to leave her in the jail to rot anyways? No, this man looked genuinely inspired by his ridiculous plan. Was he THAT money driven?
He was. And like he’d said before. She was going to the jail one way or another. She didn’t like the idea of things not being favorable for her, not one bit. She’d have to turn a few things around, even if she was the captive.

“ Alright,” She regained her composure and brushed a lock of pink bang out of her face. “ You want to collect my bounty and you want me to travel with you as perhaps a second…,” She looked over Striker to figure out exactly what he was doing with a guy like Silas anyway. “ Body guard,” she guessed. “ I can cooperate with that. If you have a plan that is. But! What’s in it for me?”

Her questions was straight forward. She wanted something out of this deal, something more that the prospect of being let out unharmed. Because really, those silly local jails couldn’t hold her all that long anyways.

“ The way I see it, you can knock me out for days if you’d like but I’m going to wake up. And when I wake up, there’s going to be questions asked, and I’ll tell you now… I have all sorts of answers I could give them, and all sorts of names I could drop, Silas.” She smiled sideways at Striker for dropping just the name she needed to make this work for her. “ No one would have to be curious about what happened to these guards. I have all the answers.” She could be all business too, but her guard was set on high right then. She kept her senses sharp, just in case the tiger decided to make a swing at her.

“ I want a third of the reward money.”

[Silas]

Silas listened to her, but his smile tensed when she asked for a whole third of the reward. "No," he said simply. She certainly had courage asking that, and Silas respected that, but that was not something he was going to do. "You are not in any position to negotiate.

"You want to know what you get out of this? For one thing, you get your freedom. For another, if you let us break you out, you'll have employment. Not only will working for me give you a source of regular income, it will also provide perfect cover for you, a fugitive. The reward is ours, either way. Striker and I will split it, and some part of it may go to your first payment for working for me. Look as it as our payment for saving your ass." He leaned on the cart. "So, what's your choice? Freedom or imprisonment?"

He could scarcely believe that she actually thought she could negotiate such a thing. It was a surprise that she would even think of it with her freedom in the balance. But, she seemed to be a crafty girl. It wouldn't be too out of character for such a person. Heck, Silas himself would probably try the same thing in her position, so he couldn't hold it against her.

[Striker]

Striker stood literally in the center of negotiations. He sighed. Everybody wants more than his or her cut.
“Silas, she’s right. Even if you change your name, uniforms are going to follow through on the description of the men who killed their captain. Last I saw, the first thing you do in a town is declare that you’re in it. That’s a problem. A big problem. Not impossible to deal with, but if we can avoid it, we should. If we’re going to be working together, this is not something I want to deal with.”
He peered down at Acellya, grinning a little. “Anyways, we can trust her. If she talks, our jailbreak will not work, and all three of us will end up in jail. They’ll promise freedom, of course, in exchange for your help, but we all know they lie like dogs.” Striker spit on the ground, and thought a bit longer. “We do have your weapons, but we’ll probably need to fight our way out of jail, when things go wrong. That means, as soon as your cell opens, you will need to be armed. It’d take all three of us to fight our way out, and the only way that works is if we move fast.”
“But, at the end of the day, we’re doing you no small favor, springing you out of the big house when we could just, y’know, walk away. You want your third? You got to work. What can you offer us, to make this worth a cut of our money?”
Everyone had something to offer. Everyone knew where a secret treasure was buried, or knew where a rich man hid his cash. Even if they didn’t know its value, like Striker’s flower patch. Truth be told, Striker would rather kill someone than leave him or her to die, and he wanted to make this work, but there wasn’t much point in making this work if the woman didn’t intend to pull her weight. What made her worth bringing along?