I was sticking to the shadows as much as I could, trying to keep the drunkard for realizing he was being followed. Step by step I drew closer as he walked down the street and I could feel my legs and arms tensing up. Soon enough he would pass by an alley, and I would rush him them, seizing him and dragging him into the darkness. It would be easier to drag answers out of him of I didn't need to be concerned with normal people seeing and freaking out over the questioning process.
All of my plans went out the window though, when there was a sound of a fall, and a heavy, fleshy thud a a body hit the ground. The sound came from behind me just as I started to move out of a patch of shadows into the moonlight. Poor timing - because the drunkard turned around at that point, drawn by the noise. His eyes locked onto me for a brief moment, swinging past to look to the sound, before shooting back to me and going as wide as dinner plates. He stood there, frozen for a moment, before he turned and I could see his body tensing up, preparing to run. I cursed under my breath.
There was no more time to wait. If I didn't want this to become some dragged out chase, I had to act then and there. So I did. Between one breath and the next, I sprang forward, my feet making divots in the ground beneath me as I launched myself at the crook. He was still turning, his body twisting as he started to run, when I slammed into him, tackling him to the ground. We rolled and bounced, I'm s tangling together as we flew down the street propelled by the force of my lunge. When we finally stopped rolling, I was beneath him, and he slugged my jaw once, hard, trying to stun me before he fled. My head rocked back, bouncing off the pavement - but my hands locked onto him, fingers digging hard into his legs.
I had not grabbed someone like this in a while - and so I didn't even think to control the amount of force behind the grab. My fingers tore through cloth and flesh, driving into his leg muscles. The man let out a scream of pain as I threw him off of me, curling into a small ball as his hands frantically grabbed at the bloody gouges in his legs. I planted a foot on him, though I doubted he would be going anywhere any time soon, and looked back down the street.
A young drow woman was behind us, slowly rising at this point. I narrowed my eyes. She had come into the bar my target and I had been in, not long before the man had been thrown out. My head tilted to one side, then the other, as I examined the young woman. Was she working with the kidnappers? Alerting this man to try getting him away? A woman would make it easier for the kidnappers to lure children in. Or was she just an unfortunate extra? My hand drifted down to the handle of my Saw-Spear as I ignored the whimpering, blubbering sounds from the man beneath my foot.