Her Dreadful State of Affairs

[Ladies' Man]

Crossing the street just wasn’t the frolicsome jaunt that it had always been during Gabriel’s childhood. He was halfway to the mayor when a snorting horse came plunging up the road at him, its mad gallop spurred on by the dark-haired man who sat on its back. Gabriel stopped walking as the mount approached, slightly shocked to recognize the crazed rider as Rayse Valentino, the very man he’d been hoping to find. What luck! The only trouble was that the bandit was heading very rapidly after the carriage and Gabriel wouldn’t have a hope of catching up with them on foot.

Thinking time ran out before he was ready. The horse thundered past him, nearly taking off his nose as he stumbled out of the charger’s path. In the split second that the horse was in front of him and close enough to really smell, Gabriel noticed that Valentino’s saddle was something of a cheap piece of crap. He wasn't a pundit when it came to horse-related gear, but growing up on what amounted to a really big farm had left him with a neophyte's eye for leather that deserved to have been retired decades ago. It was the kind of saddle one used on a draft horse if you were short on seats and needed someone to ride the poor animal that also had to pull the wagon. It was lighter than a normal saddle but the straps were stronger, and hanging off the side of one of these devices was usually a long braided rope that could be used to help secure the wagon to the saddle.

Gabriel’s eyes dropped to the ground by the horse’s feet, and not a moment later the rest of him followed, his body slamming to the dirt as his hands seized the rope hanging off the horse’s side and held on for all he was worth.

Given that he did weigh more than the average horseback stowaway—like a fly, for instance—the horse undoubtedly felt the sudden addition of several extra pounds to its burden. Being a working horse and much accustomed to being thoughtlessly forced to carry far more than an animal of its caliber ought to, the animal kept running, swerving only in surprise before it laboriously resumed its frenetic course.

Gabriel wasn’t nearly as nonchalant. In the first few seconds of being dragged across the ground, the only concern that popped into his mind was that his clothes would be absolutely filthy by the time the ordeal was over. A few seconds and several yards of unpaved road later, his priorities had shifted. He was wondering now whether or not rub burns left scars and if it was possible to lose necessary organs to friction. Sacks of potatoes made being towed across the ground look easy, but he was quickly discovering that the dragging process was far from painless.

A particularly large rock snagged on his hip and Gabriel instinctively bounced over, catching a glimpse of astounded villagers on the side of the road who were staring disapprovingly at the spectacle as if it were something a stupid boy had wanted to do for fun. He grimaced and tightened his grip on the rope, legs flailing as he tried to roll over again and failed. The small remainder of his rapidly depleting pride made him want to clench his jaw and Take It Like a Man, to climb up the rope hand over hand until he could pull himself into the saddle behind the bandit and knock his lights out and charge after Elise to rescue her single-handedly, but his fingers were wrapped so tightly around the rope that even the thought of detaching a hand made him cringe. He wasn't going to climb, he wasn't going to let go. If Valentino knew he was there, what would stop the rogue from dropping a knife onto his unprotected belly? A protruding rock scraped against the back of his head and dug its cheerful way down his spine, helping him make his decision.

“Valentino!” He barely heard himself over the horse’s dangerously close hooves. “Stop the horse!”

It was better to be a live coward than a dead hero.

[Rayse Valentino]

The horse got excited for whatever reason and Rayse nearly lost control of it, but it got over whatever shocked it very quickly and kept on running, albeit differently. Rayse attributed this action to his terrible luck with horses, and ignored it. Right as he left the town and got on a rougher road, Rayse started hearing a sound behind him like he was dragging something.

"What the hell?"

As he heard the plea from Gabriel below, Rayse was getting sick of how right he was all the time. He pulled on the reins and the horse's front hooves raised into the air, followed by a loud neighing.

The Contractor got off the horse and was about to reach for his knife, which was now in his left pocket, but he stopped when he saw the pitiful condition Gabriel was in. He really had no time to fight with this guy again. Rather than waiting a single moment for Gabriel to get up, Rayse ran over and grabbed the man and threw him over the horse like a sack of potatoes. Jumping on the horse, he sped off again after the carriage, knowing that time was of the essence.

"Judging by your... determination, I can only guess that you saw the same scene that I did," commented Rayse, thinking that their goals were similar, "And let me assure you that I didn't plan it. When we get up to that carriage, I give you full permission to do what you want to those idiots who took her."

He didn't feel like telling him about his honor as a businessman, or anything of that sort. He hoped that Gabriel would understand that this wasn't some sort of clever plan with his back exposed to the man like this. The road would split into two directions not too far from here, and he felt like he would easily lose them at that point. There were even some bridges they could destroy which would also impede the chase.

[Ladies' Man]

Fate was out to destroy his dignity, of that Gabriel was certain. The horse’s pounding gait stopped suddenly and he heard the bandit dismount. Was he coming to kill him? The option was far too plausible for comfort, but he was having trouble forcing his body to respond to the perceived danger. He’d just about managed to get his fingers to loosen their grip on the rope when he was hauled up and slammed onto the horse’s back, his stomach landing squarely on the cantle of the cheap- but hard- saddle. He was still fighting for breath when Valentino returned to the seatin front of him and spurred the horse again into breakneck pursuit.

Gabriel frantically grappled for purchase and snagged his fingers on one of the straps hanging down the side of the saddle, anchoring himself to the animal before he slid off the back. He tried to ignore the pain of bouncing around on the galloping horse’s ass for long enough to figure out what was going on. Why hadn't the bandit tried to kill him? He doubted that Valentino was claiming him as a prize in lieu of the gold, but it didn’t make sense to kidnap him as well as Elise since he certainly didn’t have any rich suitors back in Tradepost who’d bargain for his safe return. And if he’d been planning to snatch the girl and run in the first place, why would he bring Gabriel along for the ride? The only plausible explanation was that Valentino had been just as surprised by the sudden kidnapping as everyone else, meaning that the brutes who now had his woman in their carriage were acting under their own authority!

The fragments of Valentino’s speech that reached his ears over the clattering of his own teeth validated his suspicion. Dismissing the automatic assumption that the rogue was lying, which Gabriel’s current humiliating position really didn’t endorse, he was left with the conclusion that the two of them were, as unlikely as it seemed, working towards the same goal. They were after the carriage for different reasons, he hoped, but for the first time all day somebody else was on his side, and the realization brought such a glow to his spirit that Gabriel almost found himself ignoring the ignominy of the traveling arrangements.

Lifting his head to peer past Valentino’s leg to the road ahead, Gabriel tried to find his bearings in the nearly landmark-less farmland around them. Of course, he’d gone the back way sneaking into town and hadn’t been on this road since the last time he’d come to Tradepost with his father, so he really had no idea of what he would be able to estimate distance by anyway. But there was that fork in the road where the bandits had first tried to pull the wool over his eyes . . . how far ahead had the kidnappers gone with Elise?

“There’s a fork in the road,” he shouted at the back of Valentino’s head, his voice riding an undulating scale as his lungs bounced in his ribs. “Can’t we go any faster?”

The obvious solution to that made him wince and tighten his grip on the strap. If Valentino tried to push him off, he’d take the horse down with him before letting the bandit go after Elise on his own. She’d missed the fight, but there was no way she’d be able to spurn him if he was the one who rescued her from mutineering kidnappers.

“Is that . . . ?” Gabriel squinted and tried to focus on the road ahead of them despite the jostling of his skull. Was that a cloud of dust in the road ahead of them? “I think we’re gaining on them!”

[Rayse Valentino]

Damn it, I shouldn't have picked this idiot up. Now we'll never catch up to them! Rayse already regretted picking Gabriel up, but it was already too late. Although, this regret quickly faded when he found that he did catch up to the carriage. They had not yet taken the fork in the road, not that it mattered at this point since Rayse would see which turn they took anyway. Rayse tried his hardest to get the horse to go after, but it was already at top speed and by the look of it, not able to keep it up much longer.

"Listen, I'm gonna get alongside the carriage. I want you to jump onto it and knock out the guy at the reins, alright? I want that thing stopped."

Rayse wasn't sure how capable his accomplice was, but if Gabriel failed then at least he would be out of the way for the rest of this. At the very least, he could provide a good distraction. Far ahead of both him and the speeding carriage, a large white post separated the fork in the road, with two signs at varying heights detailed where each path lead. Rayse got closer and closer to the carriage, and Eric noticed him.

"Boss! What are you doing out here?!" Eric yelled out, but Rayse couldn't hear him.

"Stop, you idiots!" Rayse yelled, aware that Eric was looking squarely at him now.

To no avail, however. He continued to gain on them and he was almost alongside the carriage. Now's your chance to be a real hero, pretty boy.

[Ladies' Man]

Gabriel was becoming more and more impressed with the stamina of the suffering beast beneath him as the carriage grew larger and larger with every pounding hoofbeat. The carriage was so close that Gabriel could taste the dust kicked up by its churning wheels and had to squint to keep the dirt from ruining his eyes. He could see both men, one at the reins and the other struggling in the backseat to hold down the angel that struggled against his hold. The brigand standing over Elise was casting curious and wary glances at the approaching horse and riders, but Gabriel saw the hem of Elise’s white dress fling up into the air as her leg swung out to kick her captor in the jaw and the big man wisely returned his attention to holding her down.

Jump onto it? Gabriel heard Valentino’s orders, but in his current position he wasn’t sure that he was even capable of obeying. He’d been to the circus once and had seen the incredible acrobatics women in leotards could pull on the backs of trotting stallions, but that didn’t quite translate into knowing how to pull off any stunts firsthand. He was stuck stomach-down on a horse’s rump . . .

The wheezing mount was now neck-and-wheel with the carriage on its right, so close that Gabriel could hear the yelp-punctuated snarling that was being emitted by the fearsomely gorgeous beast in the backseat over the grinding of the wheels and the pounding of the horses' feet. Elise was fighting for her own freedom! The realization made Gabriel feel ashamed of himself. A woman of her size and rearing didn't have a chance against these two trained brutes, but if she was still fighting when she didn’t have a chance of overpowering her captors, who was he to hem and haw about performing aerial stunts to save her life? Love flowed like a cup of strong wine down Gabriel’s throat. He would do anything for her.

The horse’s breathing was becoming almost frighteningly labored as it raced energetically down the road, and Gabriel knew he had to act quickly before the animal decided to just pass the carriage altogether. Tightening his grip on the saddle strap, Gabriel pulled himself forward until he was leaning out as far as he could without falling completely off. He reached out with his free hand across the narrow gap that separated the horse and the carriage and grabbed the edge of the seating compartment, quickly following with his other hand and pulling his body along after, his legs sliding off the back of the horse and skidding along the ground for the few seconds it took Gabriel to hook his elbows over the side and drag his feet up to the sideboard.

“Hey, what are you doing? Get off!” Elise’s captor glared up at him indignantly, but his hands were occupied with pinning her down, and his lack of attention earned him a kick to the stomach that helped him return his attention to the more immediately dangerous captive. Gabriel took advantage of the man’s occupation and sidled along the sideboard until he was directly behind the front wheel, separated from the driver by only a half-foot divider of painted wood. How long did he have before the one in the back abandoned Elise to come get him?

Gabriel took a deep breath of dust-laced air and stifled a cough as he launched himself at the driver, kicking at the side to propel himself at the thief’s burly shoulders. The tackle was badly conceived and was even worse in execution, but he did manage to hit the outlaw’s broad back. Unfortunately, he hit it with his face. Gabriel scrambled for balance on the partition as quickly as he could, but the big bandit now knew he was there and threw a backhanded wallop towards his face. It wasn’t exactly a roomy seat, and with the driver still seated and Gabriel halfway off the divider, he didn’t have much of an option for dodging. He swung one arm to meet the incoming hand in a feeble block and recoiled with a yell when the collision of forearms made a crack that sent a painful jolt up his arm. He was still on the rebound when the driver turned further in his seat to come at him again, this time with a driving fist that slammed into Gabriel’s mouth, propelling him off the partition and into the mayhem of the backseat.

[Rayse Valentino]

The small patch of trees at either side of the road whizzed by like a blur. Rayse had just caught up with the carriage when his horse's momentum started to decline. He looked to his right and saw Dereck, still fully armored and looking into the back seat. The Mercenary's helmet was on the floor and he wasn't watching the road. Eric's helmet was also off and put away. Slavery would be too good for you, wouldn't it Dereck? Rayse suddenly found himself being outran by the carriage. The horse was giving way! So it was decided: He needed to get on that thing since Gabriel failed to stop it.

"Come on, hold out just a little longer..." Rayse said to the horse, hoping somewhere in the back of his mind that it understood him.

He steadily pulled his legs up from the stirrups and balanced himself on top of the horse, just barely keeping his balance. While he lamented this stunt, he didn't quite believe that Gabriel could do this himself. Well, maybe he wanted to punish the mercenaries himself after all. Whatever the reason, he jumped and crashed through the door, knocking Dereck off the reins and sending splintered wood at him. After a moment bracing himself, Dereck wiped the wood off his arm and stood up, meeting Rayse face to face. The horse had slowed to a complete stop; exhausted.

"What the fuck are you doing, Dereck?!" Rayse fumed, his knife already out and held in front pointing upright to indicate he was threatening the mercenary.

Dereck finally developed a spine and replied, "F-Fuck you, Boss! You brought us all the way out here with the promise of our debts being paid, and we ended up with nothing! I'm not stupid, there's no way you would've done what you did in there if you weren't plannin' somethin'! That place was dirt poor!"

Rayse had just about enough of this. Who was it that suggested Tradepost in the first place? That's right, DERECK! Now he had the nerve to blame... Okay, no more talking. Rayse went in to stab Dereck in the throat but the man charged at The Contractor, yelling and screaming, knocking them both backwards with Rayse landing a quarter of the way off the speeding carriage with the mercenary on top of him. His knife had fallen to the floor of the carriage. Rayse honestly didn't think the man had it in him. Dereck's gloved hands grabbed hold of Rayse's neck, pushing him down and trying to force him off the carriage. The Contractor's own hands were on Dereck's, trying to reverse the action.

"You're not so tough!" Dereck exclaimed, as if he needed to reassure himself of this fact rather than demean Rayse.

Rayse, in what appeared to Dereck as an act of giving up, let go of the hands around his throat and instead latched onto ropes hanging at both sides of him. The mercenary had a sadistic grin plastered all over his place, and in his presumptuous victory he failed to notice Rayse's body tensing considerably. There was one thing Dereck wasn't doing right now: holding down Rayse's legs. The Contractor lifted his legs up, and pulled as hard as he could on the ropes while he kicked directly upwards, with his body tilting backwards. The next thing Dereck knew, he was flying off the damaged side of the carriage and into the woods. Rayse used the ropes to drag himself up, noting that it wasn't the first time he did that stupid move today. However, before he could revel in his victory and check on what was happening in the back, he noticed something in front of him...

"Shit."

The tall, white post that separated the two roads was seconds away from colliding with the horses. Rayse grabbed the reins as quick as he could, and pulled. The horses veered sharply to the left, tilting the carriage almost halfway and rapidly decelerating it. He wasn't going to make it! He jumped off the carriage and found himself rolling around in the grass behind the white post while the right side of the carriage smashed into the pole, destroying most of the front seat while sending the back box of it spinning behind the pole, on the other side of it where Rayse was. Aside from a few bruises, he was fine, but he immediately turned his attention to the wreckage in front of him.

[Ladies' Man]

Gabriel forgot the pain in his forearm in order to better focus on the misery that was blossoming on his face. How could a protrusion as forgettable as a nose suddenly decide to emulate the susceptibility to agonizing sucker blows of a far more sensitive organ? He managed to contain his vocal outburst to a single yell of pain, but as he flew back into the solid and unyielding mass of the bandit he heard a soprano screech and a bass bellow harmonize with his shout into a pain-filled chorus of surprise. He slammed hard into Elise’s captor, knocking the large fellow onto the seat of the carriage, and then fell gracelessly across Elise's upturned belly, his head smacking against the seat on his way down.

“Get off me!”

She really was quite shrill up close. The indignation in the lady’s heavenly voice made Gabriel scramble all the faster for a means of rising, but the box was certainly not meant to be laid in long-ways, and his legs were resting uncomfortably against the wall of the partition in front of him. Gabriel didn’t even have time to appreciate his proximity to the angel of his existence, because the big man behind him was quicker at getting his balance than he was and was already starting to kick at Gabriel, muttering angrily as he swung his armor-encased leg in the limited space of the open-topped but close-sided carriage.

Gabriel tried to use his non-throbbing arm to block the kicks, but his wrist only withstood a few blows before the pain made him literally roll over, grasping at his now dually aching forearms. Elise was lying parallel to the seat, her hands tied in front of her and a furious glower on her face as she squirmed vigorously in a noble attempt to escape Gabriel’s weight. He had rolled towards her head and was facing her again for the first time in far too long, his elbow digging into her stomach as he tried to evade the thief's blows, but the man’s toes kept jabbing hard against his spine and he couldn’t think of anything brave or romantic to say.

“Do something, you idiot,” Elise roared, her cat-green eyes flashing. Gabriel’s mind raced to appease, and a loud crash of wood from the driver’s seat in front of them distracted his personal kicker long enough for Gabriel to come up with a plan. The smash was most likely Valentino, but even he probably couldn’t take care of two attackers at once, so it fell to Gabriel to make sure that this bandit stayed occupied in the backseat. His new friend was already shakily trying to climb over Elise's flailing legs to get to the action in front, but Gabriel knew that he had to stop him.

Trying to ignore the dripping blood from his nose that was already staining his shirt, Gabriel rolled down Elise until he hit the tottering bandit, making the man shout as he lost his balance and toppled down onto the other two. Now there were far too many people in so narrow a space, and the thief’s armor and hefty frame made him take up more than his fair share of the limited room. Elise let out a wheezy gasp as the large man splattered, and even Gabriel sandwiched between the two was feeling sorry for himself. But he wasn’t done yet.

Using his elbow to keep the bandit’s knees out of his face, Gabriel twisted his torso and reached into the collar of his own coat, sliding his hand down his shoulder blade until his fingers reached the Virtue hidden beneath his shirt. The thief on top of him unexpectedly started screaming and thrashing madly, and Gabriel glanced over to see that Elise had managed to get the man’s fingers between her teeth and was voraciously chomping down on his digits. Gabriel almost smiled. Where on earth could one find a girl as fine as she?

He had to restrain his eagerness to see the dagger as he pulled her carefully out of his clothes. He didn't have the heart to kill the man, but one cut from Grace was all that it would take to ensure that rising to help his fellow criminal was not a viable course of action. Making certain not to cut himself with the dagger on her way out, he placed Grace’s gleaming blade against the bandit’s leg and drew a long, quick cut along the length of his thigh. The man’s kicking worked against him, driving the dagger deeper than Gabriel had intended. His screaming turned into keening shrieks, and his knee caught Gabriel across the jaw as his flailing increased in energy.

“Get the heck off me!” Elise was not one to let a measly bandit outvoice her. She had apparently lost his fingers or else bitten them off enturely, and she was now bucking and twisting wildly, a futile effort since Gabriel couldn’t move until the thief did and he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Grace’s effects were already working on the bandit, and when he tried to push off the floor of the carriage to leverage himself into a more defendable position he only managed to hold up his shoulders for a second before he fell over sideways, moving like a drunk in a puddle of molasses.

“Don’t worry, Elise,” Gabriel called to her confidently as he returned Grace to her sheath and started to worm his way free of the bandit’s weight. “Everything’s under control now!” Valentino would definitely have been able to handle the other bandit, and it would then be a simple matter of stopping the carriage before he came back to help them. He could see the man’s head over the partition. Any minute now . . .

Gabriel grew a lot better acquainted with the side of the carriage as it tilted hard and tossed its occupants sideways. He heard someone’s head smack against the wood of the door and heard the bandit’s armor clanging around as the man was knocked off his Gabriel-high perch, his sudden clumsiness not helping him to maintain his hold. He saw his dark-haired partner suddenly disappear from the front of the carriage in what seemed a very decisive leap, and a moment later the crashing of nearby wood brought him to the conclusion that he was probably about to die.

Like dice in a cup the three rattled around on the floor of the carriage until it yielded to the reality of the pole, their shouts reaching a frenzied crescendo when the force of the impact sent the bandit flying out of the box to land in a still pile a good three meters away. Gabriel was thrown out after him and slammed facedown into the unforgiving earth with less severity, the wind knocked completely out of him.

Elise's suffering at the bottom of the stack payed off; she was barely moved thanks to the men on top of her who kindly stolen her inertia. The carriage came to lie in a dismal heap on its side, and though she was pitched out onto the ground when it toppled, she immediately stood up, staggering only a little without the use of her hands to steady herself. Her white dress was now a dingy brown from the dirt of the road and her golden hair was a snarled mess, but she still straightened her spine like a queen as she looked around. Her eyes landed on Valentino and her lip curled in an angry sneer. Her hands being literally tied, however, she merely bared her teeth at him before stepping across the wood fragment-littered grass to the still body of her captor. She bent down to peer at his face and, once satisfied that he was still alive, began to wail on his side, her dust-stained dress like a waving banner as it moved in tune with her swinging legs.

Gabriel watched her out of the corner of his open eye with a dreamy smile that was small enough not to stretch the skin around his aching nose, too winded even to move his head enough to get a better view. There wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt, but seeing his beautiful wildcat alive and, well, kicking made all the suffering worthwhile.

[Rayse Valentino]

Rayse felt like a migraine was coming on as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He had half-expected someone like Gabriel to jump off the carriage at the last second heroically with damsel in hand, but this was something else. Pretty boy appeared to be immobile, Eric was passed out, and the oh so lovely, gentle, fragile maiden was kicking Eric so hard it was like she expected candy to burst out any time now. Rayse got up, brushed as much of the grass stains off him as he could, and walked over to where Eric was being beaten.

"Move," he said in a dejected voice, knocking Elise aside like an insect.

He didn't even look at her while he did that. That's how little he cared about everything, at this point. Plus, he doubted that she would listen to him anyway. He reached down and pulled Eric up with all his strength. His arms were shaking as he held the big man up to his own face, the mercenary's feet dragging on the ground. Rayse brought his face over to Eric's, and took a deep breath.

"WAKE UP!" He screamed into his face, causing the unconscious Eric to spring to life and move around so much that Rayse lost his grip and dropped him.

The Contractor shook his hands. His palms were now red and sore from holding his mercenary up.

Eric stood up, seemingly oblivious to everything that happened, "B, Boss?! Where's Dereck?!"

Rayse could only scrunch his face up, narrow his eyes, and clench his teeth as he said, "What?!"

Before Eric knew it, he found himself on the ground again, with a huge fist mark on his left cheek.

He put his hand to his cheek, complaining, "What was that for?! I was only followin' orders!"

Rayse planted his foot into Eric's armored bosom, "Yeah, not my orders, you imbecile! You think you're going to get out of this that easily?!"

"Ow! Ow! Hey! Stop it! Stop it, I said!" Eric bellowed, finally grabbing Rayse's foot and throwing it- and Rayse- backwards.

He got up and decided to think for himself for once, "Listen to me, this time! Dereck was right! I'm tired of followin' everythin' you say! I'm bigger than you, how about you do what I say?!"

Rayse couldn't believe he was hearing this. Okay, that's it, I'm done with you.

"You better start running, Big Eric, because I'm about to put you out of your misery."

Eric wasn't going to take this abuse anymore, "What am I, some sorta dog that needs to be put down?! I'm tired of you!"

Eric reached pulled out one of his many swords at his side from its sheath and charged at Rayse with an obvious limp. The Contractor decided to exploit this, and quickly stepped forward and ducked as Eric was about to strike down at Rayse, putting his hands on the ground and sweeping his leg under Eric's feet. Big Eric was taken in by this attack and fell over backwards, losing his grip on his sword due to the immense pain of being hit in his injury. Dropping to the ground with the sword beside him, Eric held his ankle tightly.

Rayse stood up, a little somber after causing his mercenary to get into such a pitiful state what he had done. The Contractor decided to blame Dereck for this: Look what you did, you son of a bitch! If you just listened! Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Dereck. He looked back to where he kicked him into the patch of trees, and he was decidedly absent. Rayse could only assume that he ditched Eric and ran off. He was tired of this entire affair, however, and didn't seek to pursue his runaway mercenary.

He pulled out his pack of cigarettes, lighting another one, looking down at Eric and asking, "How long you been a mercenary, Big Eric?"

Eric looked up at The Contractor standing over him with a confused look on his face, "Is this one of them mind games I was warned about? I ain't buying it!"

"Just answer the question."

"Well damn, boss, more than fifteen years at least."

"You ever wanted to retire? Just live a peaceful life in the middle of nowhere in a place like this?"

For the first time in this job, he felt some sympathy for the big oaf. Well, not really. There was something he wanted him to do. In short: Yes, he was playing mind games.

Rayse continued, "Before you and Dereck pulled this stunt, I convinced the mayor to take you and your entire troop into the village as craftsmen and workers. This place has no money... now. This plan is still salvageable, we just need to wait until it has some money after all these projects are done. I'll come back someday to collect my pay. I'm give you a chance to get out of this life, and this is how you treat me? Damn straight I treat you like a dog, running away like that."

Eric let go of his leg and slowly got up with a sorry look on his face. It seems that Rayse's speech was having some effect.

"I'm not sticking around to see how this turns out, so it's up to you as your last job," Rayse said, taking out his cigarette and pointing back towards the town. This was the main purpose of his forgiveness; to tie up whatever loose ends he has in town without actually having to go back there. "I want you to go to the rendezvous point and tell them the passcode: Necklace. I told them that the words of whoever says that will be treated the same as orders from me. The mayor knows the score."

"I-I..." Eric stuttered, somewhat sober now with his head hanging low. "I don't know what to say..."

"Don't say anything. Just get out of here. There's a horse not far behind that you can use. Hurry up, I don't know how much time you have before they burn the place down!"

"Y, yes s-sir!" Eric yelled, then limped out into the road.

With that done, he looked towards Gabriel. Unfortunately for the young noble, His arrangement with had nothing to do with keeping his mouth shut in front of Elise.

He stated, "Since I couldn't keep my word, you can keep your damn money."

He looked away but clearly addressed Elise in a loud, audible voice, "If my men cause any trouble, tell them I'll be on their asses faster than they can imagine."

Rayse would've gone back to town and confirmed this himself, but he was just so done with this place. Before he could forget, he went to the wreckage and retrieved his knife that was perfectly intact to the side of it. Liviol was a damn fine material, he thought.

He started walking away hastily, only looking back one last time with his cigarette in his hand pointing the tip at Gabriel, "However, I still expect your debt of service to be repaid someday, so don't disappoint me Gabriel Talisman." He had a wide grin on his face as he stressed the last word.

Actually, it seems that Gabriel had some luck today after all. Rayse didn't notice that his shove was too forceful and actually knocked out Elise, so she didn't actually hear any of that.

* * * *

Nearby in the bushes, Dereck lied in wait for the longest time. He heard everything, but he knew that he was helpless in front of Rayse. He decided that he would injure him in the best way possible: To spread rumors all over Knife's Edge about him about what happened here. Stifling his short giggle, he ran off on a different path from Rayse, intent on reaching Knife's Edge long before The Contractor did. Little did he know that his plan would involve Rayse in his most dangerous undertaking of all.

[Ladies' Man]

Outrage flared in Gabriel’s chest when Rayse’s comparatively unattractive figure entered his line of sight to brush aside his avenging angel as if she were nothing more than a homeless old man walking too slowly down the street. He managed a strangled cry that came out garbled from the blood that was running down the back of his throat and, sputtering feebly, pushed himself up as far as his arms could take him, sore shoulders protesting as he reached his hands and knees, lifting his head in time to see Eric’s ill-fated charge. Valentino was good. What would have happened if he had had to fight the bandit leader for real? He wanted to protest Eric's freedom as the gullible flunkey limped away, but the low chances of his being able to stop the much larger man made him stay quiet. Bleeding or not, the guy could probably still crush Gabriel's head between his knees.

Valentino’s clipped voice pulled his mind away from his moral dilemma. He turned his head sluggishly to look at him, struggling to keep up as Valentino's peeved voice sank into his aching skull. Keep the money? Necklace? Debt of service? Talisman? Gabriel’s mouth opened and shut, but he was too shocked to find anything to say. Somebody had let the proverbial cat out of the bag, though the cat in this case was information that would be more damaging to the owner of the feline than the one who let it loose. Was Valentino slimy enough to hunt down his family's fief to rob his mother and sisters? The man had sneered at his 200 gold before; attempting to bribe him into leaving them alone would probably just give the man ideas. His only real option was to let him go and to hope with all his heart that Rayse Valentino had a hidden reserve of mercy or a very bad memory for names. Gabriel watched with a sinking heart as the bandit walked away, his feet kicking up puffs of dust as he strode away on the darkening road.

A soft groan reached his ears and the golden head of the mayor’s daughter lifted off the ground, her eyes hazy with confusion as she looked around. Gabriel's worried thoughts were banished instantly.

“Elise!” His heart almost burst with joy. She was alive and safe and had born witness to his heroics. The day was saved after all!

“Gabriel?” She sounded neither pleased nor excited to see him, only a little surprised, and she frowned as she pushed herself up into a seated position. A mere two yards of splinter-ridden grass separated them, but the distance felt like a mile-wide chasm to Gabriel. He would’ve bridged the gap if he thought he could have managed to move without whimpering. Even his teeth hurt!

“Where’s . . . where’s that bastard criminal?” she grumbled.

“Elise!” He couldn’t keep the reproach out of his voice. A foul word like that ought never to fall from lips as lovely as hers.

“What?” She threw him an annoyed glance and then struggled again to stand up without the use of her bound hands. Gabriel stifled a groan. If she was getting up then he certainly had to as well, but his body had quite a bit of nonverbal complaining to deliver on that course of action. He rose stiffly, feeling as though his body was every bit as demolished as the carriage that sat in a broken heap behind him. His forearms throbbed, his back ached, his whole face was numb with pain, but every thought of physical torment fled his mind as Elise came towards him, her emerald eyes fixed on his, her arching brows lowered beneath her disheveled hair.

“Is he gone?”

“Valentino?” He saw her eyes flicker with disapproval and hurried on, “I mean, the bandit leader? Yes, he’s gone. He lost the fight; he’s not going to burn down Tradepost. Those guys that kidnapped you were disobeying his orders, but we—I . . . we came after you.” There was really no point in lying; she’d seen Valentino and would have no trouble piecing the clues of their reluctant partnership together. All he could pray for was that she wouldn’t suspect any other kind of agreement between the two of them. It wouldn't hurt to hope that she hadn’t caught a glimpse of his undignified pursuit, either.

“Thank God,” she murmured, lowering her head as the tension in her face eased. Gabriel’s blood pounded in his ears and he had to work hard to keep his emotions in check. She was so beautiful! He had to stifle his indignation at her exclamation, however. God? Why thank him? He wasn’t the one who’d been dragged down the road behind a galloping horse, gotten punched in the face, and recieved countless hard-toed kicks for her sake.

“I promised I’d save you, didn’t I?”

Her eyes flickered with what he feared was annoyance. “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.”

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat if you asked me to,” he vowed solemnly. His spine shrieked in protest at the thought.

Her moon-faced shape was smudged with dirt, but her sun-spared skin seemed to glow in the dim light, and no visage had ever seemed lovelier as she looked up at him with cautious surprise. “You . . .?”

Gabriel’s throat was dry. He nodded.

Elise looked away, her cheeks going red beneath her smattering of freckles.

“I love you, Elise.”

She looked up at him with an indecipherable expression and stepped across the grass until she was close enough to have to tilt back her head to see his face, her eyes boring into his with a double dose of intensity. Her eyebrows were lowered pensively, and she had her lower lip caught between her teeth in an innocently sultry way that made breathing for the smitten man an arduous task.

“Let’s make a trade.”

He couldn’t believe his ears, and he couldn’t keep the incredulity from his voice. After all of that did she still not understand how he felt? “A trade? We don’t have to barter, Elise. I’d do anything for you!”

Her eyebrows lowered into a frown and her eyes skirted away from his for a second before returning. “Don’t be melodramatic,” she chided in a firm but gentle voice. “Come on, make a deal with me.”

A shiver rolled down Gabriel’s spine. Did she know? Was she mocking him for that clever but degrading deal he had made with Valentino on her behalf? It wouldn’t have surprised him if the gorgeous treasure before him revealed that she’d discovered his deepest, darkest secret, but the thought still left him cold. He stared into her eyes, searching for even a hint of the disdain that she would surely feel if she knew. Her verdant gaze was clear, however, and the only thing he could see on her face was the intelligent spark that had been a part of putting him under her power in the first place.

“Anything you want, anything you need, anything at all,” he murmured fervently, “you got it.”

Her delicate mouth pulled up at the corners in a warm grin. Her arms rose between them, her hands obstructing his view of her heartbreaking smile as she shoved her bound wrists into his face.

“Cut me loose,” she ordered.

Gabriel’s eyebrows lowered in confusion, but he complied quickly, slitting the rope and returning his dagger to his belt in one easy motion, his eyes never leaving her face. Was that all she wanted?

“My turn,” she said softly, stepping up on her tiptoes. Her arms stayed lifted, and her hands spread to settle on either side of Gabriel’s face. Her long fingers were cool as they slowly slid down from his temple. Gabriel was afraid to move. He didn’t so much as blink. He was even afraid that the slamming drumbeat of his heart would scare her away like a slinking cat.

“I really appreciate everything you did for my father and Tradepost,” she said softly, her mouth inches away from his face, “and for me. I appreciate it so much that I’m going to do something for you that might end up really hurting, but that I, for one, will certainly not regret.”

“Elise?” His voice quavered with hope. She shushed him with a gentle smile as her hands followed the ridge of his cheekbone, sliding gently across the tender skin of his face. He winced. “Ouch, watch the—”

Her fingers moved like a snake. One second her soft hands were caressing his cheeks, and in the next her strong digits had fastened like the jaws of a rabid squirrel around his nose, wrenching it with inhuman strength in a jerk that made a loud crack echo through his skull.

Gabriel doubled over screaming, his face awash in burning agony as he swayed and staggered away, partly in pain and partly in case she decided to come at him again. Traitorous whore! What could have made such a glorious angel become so terrible a demon? How could someone for whom he’d just risked his life repay him with such blatant hostility? All she’d had to do was tell him that she didn’t like him! She didn’t have to go and add injury to insult by tweaking an already ungodly painful wound!

Elise had stepped back the moment her dirty deed was done, and through the unavoidable tears that warped his vision he could see her empathetically bent over with a hand tentatively stretched towards him, an apologetic grimace on her face.

“I’m sorry, Gabriel, really I am,” she cooed sincerely. “I had to do it! You’ll thank me later, I swear.”

He didn’t even want to try talking. Screaming was hard enough with blood still rushing down his throat and chin and tears streaming down his face. As unjustifiable as it felt, this new explosion of pain served him right. This was his just deserts for tricking a town into thinking that he’d saved their homes by merit of his skill alone. She may have just been getting revenge for some personal offense that Gabriel wasn’t aware of committing, but she’d inadvertently exacted justice for her whole town for his chicanery. It was a sign! An excessively painful one, to be sure, but a kick in the pants from the goddess of fate all the same. He had no doubt that his father was rolling around in his heavenly gowns— if the old codger had actually made it up there—at the sight of his son crying because of a woman. It wouldn’t be the first time that’d happened, but the geezer would appreciate the irony of the situation all the more for knowing that Gabriel’s broken heart hurt more than the blooming mess of his nose.

“Gabriel? Are you all right?” She sounded contrite enough, but when she laid a questioning hand on his shoulder he moved quickly to put space between them. As a wise scholar had once said, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled stiffly, straightening his spine and facing her with all the dignity he could muster.

Elise saw his cold expression and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh, come on, don’t be a baby. You’re the son of a lord, remember? What kind of noble wants to go through life with a crooked nose? I did you a favor.”

Gabriel lifted his chin and fixed her with the condescending stare that his father had taught him first-hand. “May I escort you back to your father?”

He unhitched the carriage’s unhappy horses and walked them back to town, making sure to keep at least a full horse’s length between them at all times. He managed to stop crying before they were met by the villagers of Tradepost, who came came out with torches and cheering to greet them. His backpack, which had been lost at the start of the dragging, was returned to him, and the mayor gave him a weary but heartfelt thanks.

“We owe you much, my boy,” he said gravely to the appreciative nods of the crowd around him. “You’ve done us a great service.”

“You owe me nothing,” he answered, keeping all of his emotions tightly under guard. The mayor invited him to stay at his home, and even the redheaded innkeeper’s son protested when he told them that he was planning to leave immediately. He brushed aside the villagers' invitations to their celebration and their worries about traveling at night, and he ignored the curious looks his sudden somber taciturnity elicited. He didn’t have the heart to stay another moment in Tradepost. Every second was torture when he knew that the double-sided Elise was ever lurking nearby, ready and waiting to find him with his guard down to inflict more pain. He let an old woman fix up his face who marveled at his prodigious ability to bleed, choking back bitter tears when she remarked on how cleanly the cartilage would heal. The sky was black when he left, striding down the one big street of the little town with the intent of being as far away as possible before he stopped for the night. A voice stopped him at the edge of town.

“Gabriel!”

He turned to see Elise running down the road after him. She had washed and was dressed in a modest blue gown that made her eyes seem to glow even in the dark. He bit down on his tongue to keep the pain in his chest from manifesting on his face. “My lady?”

“You’re just going to leave? No farewell, no promise to return?”

He almost lost his nerve. She was so beautiful! But then his gaze flickered to her evil snake hands, and he knew that he would never feel safe anywhere near her. She had betrayed his trust at a moment of great weakness, using her wiles and his confessed adoration to strike him where it hurt the most. It was the kind of traiterous blow that a relationship couldn't recover from. A few hours earlier he had been willing and practically attempting to die for her, but now he just wanted to get away before the weakness of his heart made him refuse the wisdom of his mind.

“I may pass through here again,” he said impassively. He bent at the waist in a perfunctory bow, his swollen eyes hard as glass. “Goodbye. I pray that the rest of your life is mercifully uneventful.”

The mayor's daughter stared at him, her mouth slightly open and her eyebrows raised in disbelief. “You really are mad at me! Egads, I just straightened your nose! It was for your own good. Aren’t you being a little silly?”

Gabriel didn’t let himself wonder. “Goodbye, Elise.”

He turned stiffly and continued on his journey, leaving the confounded maiden alone in the middle of the street. He didn’t look back, but he only got a few miles away before the aching of his body forced him to stop and rest. He lay down on the grass of an untended field and stared up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle peaceably above him. He considered reaching down to take off his boots, but even the thought of movement made his bones ache. With a melancholy sigh Gabriel closed his eyes and forced away all thoughts of his long troublesome day.

“Knife’s Edge,” he promised himself.

A bitter smile tugged at the corners of his mouth despite the pain the movement caused his nose. Enough with the dallying; time was wasting away. As soon as it was light enough to see the road, he was going to get up and move on and continue his quest to find his father’s murderers. No foolish brooding over sadistic double-crossers and relationships that were never meant to be. The future was all that he had to hold on to, and he had no intention of letting his slip away from him. There were other beautiful women in the world, and with any luck those others wouldn’t have vicious mean streaks.

Gabriel’s smile grew in a failing attempt to belie the aching loneliness in his heart. Maybe he could try to write some poetry. His sisters had always prescribed that when he was going through breakups before. The heartbroken noble drifted to sleep on a cloud of badly rhyming angst.

There are a whole lot of fish in the sea
Too bad I fell so madly in love
With the one that’s not right for me . . .


((No spoils.))

[Karuka]

This was a wonderful thread by two very good writers. When I first looked at how long it was, I resigned myself to doing it, but it was actually a very quick and entertaining read, for which I thank you both. I'm going to mention little problems I noticed, and I will try not to gush too much.

Continuity: 7.5

I got a very strong sense of the past from Gabriel, and a very strong sense of the future from Rayse. I could have stood to know what, exactly, the mercenaries had done to get into Rayse's debt, and I could have used a slightly stronger sense of the future from Gabriel, but there was nothing else wrong here. Half a point was deducted for Ghost Hunter's disappearance.

Pacing: 8

The first five or six posts really dragged along, but after that it progressed almost perfectly. I felt the knife-fight was rushed a little bit, and there were a couple of transitions where Gabriel took off from a different, earlier point than Rayse left, which was appropriate for this thread, but was still a bit jarring.

Setting: 7.5

I got a strong enough sense of the setting that I didn't feel that the thread was taking place in a shapeless void, but there were times you seemed to ignore it altogether. Gabriel, when you first entered the tavern, you noticed the smell of it. That was good, try implementing a little more of it. We rely on vision so much that we don't normally think of such detail, and it really adds to the setting.

Persona: 8

Rayse fluctuated a little more than he should have, and Gabriel's naïveté was maybe a little over stated, but other than that, spot on. There was very little of the new character awkwardness surrounding Gabriel, so I applaud you.

Action: 9

This was almost perfect. I'm not giving you a ten here because there was a little tightening up and cleaning up that you could have done to smooth out the rough transitions and other little edges, but the action here was good. Something I didn't take off for but wondered about: when Rayse told Big Eric to tell the other guys "necklace," was he trying to ship him off to be hung?

Dialogue: 8

The dialogue made a lot of sense. I liked the "tough guy" element to Rayse and the almost eloquent, but still somewhat gangly speech of Gabriel. The speech had character, down to the NPCs.

Mechanics: 9

There were a few little errors in word choice (mostly when one form of a word was substituted for another), word dropping, and punctuation.

Technique: 7

I saw some good imagery here, especially from Gabriel - I'm not sure if the Helen of Troy comment was entirely appropriate, though. That's an Earth legend. Maybe you could have come up with an Althanean one?

Clarity: 8
Rayse, your flashback in your second post wasn't entirely clear. Next time, try putting >such and such amount of time before< or something. Other than that, good job.

Wild Card: 9

I really enjoyed this thread, and hope to read more of your stuff in the future and write with both of you someday.

Total: 81! Congratulations!

Rewards:

Ladies' Man receives 1,490 EXP 460 GP
Rayse Valentino receives 3,223 EXP and 440 GP
Ghost Hunter receives 200 EXP

I'll be nominating this thread for a JC!

EXP/GP added! Rayse Valentino levels up!


Movement pending JC decision