The Knights' Roleplay - Silverkeep Sorcery

[Shadaras]

Jay rolled his eyes and left as soon as Sarn and Burns began moving. Unlike them, he detoured to his rooms to pick up his travel pack; he always kept a bag prepared in case he had to leave, something that he’d learned from his father and the other guards. He slung the bag over his back and grabbed his bow and a few quivers full of arrows with the nock-feather dyed a bright Harlequin green. That particular habit was left over from target shooting and competitions. Jay glanced briefly around his room, nodded, and then left, locking the door behind him.

He walked through the castle at a brisk pace, heading towards the stables using the most direct route he could remember. The delay of getting a travel pack from his room meant that the others had already arrived by the time he had, of course, but from the looks of things he hadn’t arrived much after Burns. Probably because the thief still didn’t know his way around as well as the knights. Jay suppressed a smile at that thought. He quietly moved around the thief and to the stall where his normal mount, a light brown horse with specks and splotches of white called Snowfall, waited.

Someone had already prepared her for riding, which made him smile. He fastened his pack, bow, and quivers to the saddle quickly, listening to Burns’s question with a soft laugh. Of course Tamia knew about the horses; she and that uncanny cat of hers were often working in the stables whenever Jay came to get a horse for riding or archery practice. Not that Jay was going to say anything to Burns. Though he had to admit it was good of the thief to admit his ignorance, at least. Jay, finishing his work, moved to the entrance of Snowfall’s stall to watch and listen to the other knights.

[Tam]

"So now we are to go and investigate these disappearances and this red haired women. I also believe us men will need to rely on our female comrades to keep our heads straight!" Dragus chuckled.

Tamia stared at him, wondering if this was some kind of particularly odd joke. She felt like she ought to say something clever, but nothing was forthcoming. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she realized that Dragus was still talking.

"...More people should be coming to check on their horses or borrow a horse for travel soon," he finished.

"Yes, they're almost here now," Tamia said, rubbing her temple with a dusty hand. "It looks like there's a lot of--"

"Ho!"

Surprised, she turned to face the source of the exclamation. A lean, middle-aged man she didn't recognize was grinning at them from farther down the row of stalls.

“Would either of you be knowing anything of horses?” the man asked brightly. “I will admit to a lack of experience in the matter.”

Tamia nodded. "Of course. You'll be needing a mount for today's ride, then, I take it?" She sized him up. As she did so, she caught his eye, and for a second, she thought she saw a glimmer of... something, tucked away behind his gaze. Something sharp and silent. But then it was gone. She looked away, frowning a little to herself. "For someone your height, you'll probably want your horse to be at least sixteen hands high, and sturdy, for the long days of riding." And malleable, for someone who has probably never touched the reins in his life, she added silently.

She moved down the row of stalls and stopped in front of a big black gelding near the end. The horse was gazing raptly at the field beyond the stable's back doors, and barely acknowledged them with an ear flick as they approached. "This is Wildfire. A terrible name for a wonderful animal. He's the gentlest horse in the kingdom, but he'll bear you to the ends of the earth if you tell him to." She smiled, then paused. "Mind you, he has a bit of a grazing problem. Make sure you're firm with him, or he'll probably wind up gorging himself on shrubbery."

Well done, said Oran, walking the stall divider. Do you think you might pick one out for yourself now, or is this mission too knightly for Little Miss Stablegirl?

Tamia was all too happy to ignore the cat.

"Anything else you need?" she asked the older man as she lead Wildfire out of his stall.

[Draco]

When Dragus was done making a few bundles, he carried them over to his horse, Okita, a black horse with a brown mane. He sets it near his stall, and walked off to get the saddle equipment, walking by Tamia.

"Glad you helped him. All I can do is tell him how to lose his horse."

He continues to walk past, but calls back.

"But he always comes back sooner or later."

He picks out his saddle, and takes it back to Okita. He begins to set him up for travel. He pats his head lightly at one point.

"At least you won't be dragging a wagon on this trip."

[Shadaras]

Once all the knights had arrived and readied their steeds, Jay glanced around, shrugged, and said “Mount up” in the same voice he’d always heard his father use with the guards. As if they had just been waiting for someone to give up and assume command, the knights all mounted. Jay nudged Snowfall out into the streets, listening to her shod hooves click on the stones. Behind him, the other knights fell into line, and Jay could hear a few of them still talking as they proceeded down the streets, through a gate, and onto the path of their journey.

The further away from Falcorum they rode, the more uncomfortable Jay got. The other knights seemed to be unaffected. But then, Jay supposed, most of them had grown up outside of Falcorum itself and were used to surroundings other than the city. He glanced back and, with a slight scowl, admitted that Burns was unlikely to have been often outside the city himself; thieves were city-folk, after all.

But as the day wore on, Jay grew resigned to his surroundings and even a little curious; there was more variation out here than in just patrol-distance of Falcorum. That day drew to a close, and the inn they stayed at was surprisingly well-appointed, in Jay’s opinion at least; it was clean and had food that didn’t taste horrible, though with the number of knights the quarters were cramped and Jay chose to simply sleep under the stars instead of deal with the cramped conditions. On the next day’s ride, the knights rode down a dirt road in better shape than Jay had expected, and, asking the farmers they passed, he found that they were fairly near to Silverkeep.

As the knights neared Silverkeep, the most obvious sign of their nearing was the mountains slowly growing closer and larger until they covered much of the sky. Jay kept glancing at the range, knowing he was being more paranoid of it than he should be. The knights rode into the foothills, and after riding over more hills than Jay liked, saw Silverkeep. The stone keep the village-city took its name from was nearly silver itself and shone in the sun. Below it, houses nested like children and Jay thought he could see people walking down paths.

More obvious were the mines themselves, dark scars on the hills and mountains, with cart-rutted paths leading between the holes and the homes. Jay tightened his lips as they rode into the village, glancing around and trying to guess if any of the men he saw had been enchanted. He doubted it, but he would rather be too wary than be caught by surprise. Finally, as they rode by a woman driving a cart, Jay halted. “Excuse me,” he said to her, “but could you direct me to one of the men who’ve been enchanted? We were asked to help,” he added, smiling and bowing.

The woman turned to look at Jay with surprise. “Why, just ask around the mines,” she said. “There’s always bound to be a few around there.”

Jay bowed again. “Thank you, fair lady.” He looked at the other knights as the woman kept going. “Do you want to go to the mines and talk to the people there first, or go up to the castle?” he asked, not entirely sure who he was directing his question toward. He bit the inside of his lip, frowning slightly. “I’m not sure which will be more useful,” he said, thinking out loud. “So... yeah.” He shrugged, glancing around and waiting for a reply.

[Rikku]

The journey was unremarkable, as such journeys go. Burns spent entirely too much time hauling his horse around. Wretched beast. It was remarkably docile, certainly, but – where was the joy in letting some animal do your walking for you?

Well chosen by the girl, though, he had to give her that; the horse gave him less trouble than others might have, despite its name. Made him flinch each time he heard it, that name, though he tried not to show it. And he made sure to sleep well, well away from any of the inn’s hearths.

Didn’t stop the nightmares, of course. But then again, nothing did.

The journey was, by and large, a pleasant one. Burns enjoyed the openness of the sky, and the openness of the air; there was a fresh sting to it that you didn’t find in fair-sized cities like Dunburrow. He spent most of the journey talking cheerfully to anyone who’d listen, and breathing in the air, and smiling.

And then the mountains marched higher and higher up the horizon, till they clawed at the sky. And they were there.

It was a nice little place. The hills were scarred with mines, but it looked quiet. Dozy. And its wealth was in the silver trade, which meant plenty of trinkets ripe for the stealing –

Burns scowled, and started thinking honest upright knightly thoughts, very loudly.

That Jay fellow seemed to be taking the lead, which was well enough. He talked to a woman with a cart, asking about the enchanted men.

(“Stars and stones,” Burns murmured, quiet-like. “The man can actually smile. I’m surprised.”)

The woman told him to ask around the mines, and the Harlequin bowed to her before turning to the rest of them.

“Do you want to go to the mines and talk to the people there first, or go up to the castle?” he said. “I’m not sure which will be more useful. So … yeah.”

He then shrugged.

Not taking the lead, then. He sounded positively indecisive. Burns was amused.

“If you want to know something,” he said, “you don’t ask the people high up, because they’ll give you naught but falsehoods. It’s not in their best interests to deal in truths. If you want to know something, you don’t talk to the lords in their keeps, you talk to the peasantfolk that work for them. Leave that grass alone, you wretched beast.” He tugged at the reins. “Then again, it’s the peasantfolk that are affected by this. And I remember something about how people were found staring at Silverkeep, in some manner of trance? Like it’s the root of things. Might be better to go there. Might be better to go to the mines.”

He scratched absentmindedly at the back of his right hand, where the brand was.

“So, in short,” he concluded, “either’s good. I’d rather head to the mines, though.” He grinned. “No need for horses in mines, yes?”

I talk too much.

But that’s better than talking too little, by my way of thinking.

[Deleted]

Sarn had tried to walk with the others for about the first few minutes of the journey, but soon enough, the annoyance of dragging his wings over the rough ground grated on him. He waited until most of the entourage had passed him and then leaped joyfully into the air, circling slowly around the group, just high enough to float over any treetops that might come his way.

He could still hear spatterings of the knights’ conversations, but he didn’t care much for their words, a he cared for was the feeling of freedom. He spent the day flying ahead of the group and acting as a scout for them, and when they stopped at a little inn, Sarn wrapped himself in his own wings and slept on the cold ground. The next morning he spotted Silverkeep from his vantage point.

“I see the keep!” he called down, though he wasn’t sure whether anyone heard him. When they drew closer to the town, he landed next to Burns and walked the rest of the way, much more excited than he should have been.

It was only when the subject of what they should do arose that Sarn took interest in the conversation. Burns made a nice logical speech which led him to the conclusion that following the woman’s advice would benefit them best.

“Personally I would much rather gather information before barging into a keep where a sorceress waits. The mines would be a good idea, but perhaps we should also speak with the town physician. Whoever he or she is, they’re bound to have seen a few of the enchanted men and could give us some good information. I’d gladly do that then go into a stinking, dark, dank … mine.”

The thought of entering such a cramped space, of being unable to stretch his wings for who knows how long … Better to stay in the town.

[Tam]

There were two things that Tamia tried not to think about as she nudged the fleabitten gelding, Misty, into a walk: one, just what exactly she was getting herself into, and two, the extremely smug cat lounging on the pommel in front of her.

It was a wonder that Oran was there in the first place; the cat despised horseback riding and usually spent journeys of this sort huddled down inside her backpack. The fact that he had deviated from his normal routine was a sure sign that he was trying to prove a point, and Tamia spent the first few minutes of the trip with her chin up, staring resolutely at the road and focussing on just how silly a name "Misty" was.

You can certainly run the distance from the stables to your quarters and back rather quickly for someone who 'might have been a knight, once,' the cat's thought drifted by, lazily.

"I've been keeping up my physical training," muttered Tamia, keeping her eyes on the mounted knights around her for any sign that they might be able to hear her. "Which means I can still throw a cat pretty far, too."

Oran flicked his tail and ignored her. This entire mission seems like little more than a highly-elaborate plot to get you lot out of the castle and showing the taxpayers just how marvelous you are, to be honest, he mused, but I'm glad you decided to go all the same.

Tamia shrugged vaguely and watched the road, adding the orange tunic in her saddlebag to the list of things she didn't want to think about. After a while, the Feberi took to the sky and began circling the group, scouting out the surrounding countryside. The girl watched him idly for a while, reflecting on how few of the current knights she had actually made an effort to get to know.

The day wore into dusk uneventfully, and though Tamia stayed awake for many hours that night -- silently practising her horseback-style swordplay in the inn's courtyard until she was sure she would be ready for any ambush the road to Silverkeep might throw at her -- the next day's ride was just as slow as the previous had been.

Well, said Oran, as the young knight covered her yawn with the fist clutching Misty's reins, that was smart.

It wasn't long before they crested a hill and the keep and its village appeared before them, gleaming in the light of the afternoon sun, tucked away into the mountains as if they had always been there.

After a short while, they encountered a woman driving a cart. Tamia was too far back in the procession to hear the words that were exchanged, but she was able to catch the tail end of Sir Jay's question to the knights around him.

“Do you want to go to the mines and talk to the people there first, or go up to the castle? I’m not sure which will be more useful,” he was saying. “So... yeah.”

Tamia raised an eyebrow at her leader's uncertainty, but said nothing. She guided Misty out of the ranks of the other horses and moved closer to the front of the procession, doing her best to slip by each rider unnoticed.

The man she had chosen a mount for yesterday was there, and was in the middle of tentatively suggesting that they head for the mines, but the Feberi seemed to have different plans.

“Personally I would much rather gather information before barging into a keep where a sorceress waits. The mines would be a good idea, but perhaps we should also speak with the town physician. Whoever he or she is, they’re bound to have seen a few of the enchanted men and could give us some good information. I’d gladly do that then go into a stinking, dark, dank … mine.”

"We could always do both," Tamia spoke up, praying that no one would comment on her sudden appearance. "We could split up, I mean. A few of us could ask around the village for information, and the rest of us could check out the mines before we all head to the keep."

[Strife]

The surrounding area of Silverkeep had been fairly tranquil during the arrival of the knights, aside from a small crowd near one of the mine entrances that was slowly growing larger. Based on the whisperings of the crowd, one of the tunnels had apparently caved in the previous night and trapped someone inside. Since the incident, relentless effort had been poured into breaking through the stones before the unlucky soul suffocated from the lack of oxygen. Just now, they had succeeded.

The afternoon air was filled with the distant sound of victorious clapping as a pair of silver miners emerged from the darkness of the cave entrance, sharing the weight of an unconscious man between their arms. The man in question was wearing the simple garments of a commoner, but what made his appearance striking was his thick, black ponytail that stretched down to his waist. His body was bruised and stained with dry blood, and he was covered in so much dust and dirt that the natural colors of his hair and clothing were barely recognizable.

The workers rested the man against a nearby stone. One of them said something to the group of onlookers, and a handful of them immediately turned and rushed downhill into the village. Meanwhile, the workers proceeded to wipe the dust away from the man's face and clothes.

Upon further inspection, there were a few more noticeable details about the man. A small cluster of hair rested on his chin in a goatee fashion, with two thin, vertical streaks of gold on either side. This made him appear slightly older than his natural age of around twenty years. It was also apparent to some degree that his clothes did not fit him, as his pants and shirt appeared loose even though he had tied them to his body with belts. He also had a slim physique, which may or may not have been caused by starvation. His ponytail was split and tangled, and it had probably seen better days, but it was thick and sturdy enough to remain mostly intact.

While none of the villagers knew it, he was Blacktail, the Indigo Knight who inexplicitly disappeared before the events of the first war of the guilds.

As water and bandages were gathered by the villagers, Blacktail's fingers twitched briefly, and he began to pull himself back into reality. His head stirred with many feelings - pain being the strongest - but the memories of how he got to this point did not reach him. Quite frankly, he wasn't even sure of who he was. His heartbeat pounded through his head like a hammer, and it didn't help that so many people were crowding around him.

Blacktail's eyelids felt like heavy stones, but he tried to lift them anyway, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes with deep brown pupils. He saw the people walking around beside him, as well as a group of figures in the far distance, but the light of the afternoon sun was too intense for him to make out who they were. He allowed his eyes to slide shut again, if only for a moment.

[Draco]

The trip was long and slow, but it was more lively then when Dragus normally travels alone. He was used to traveling away from the castles on a regular basis, and knew some of the inns and good places to rest for most of the trip. He even got the fee at the inn reduced for some information on the next big trade item the next season.

During the trip he struck up a few conversations with most of the group. At one point he was forced to share a horse until his own returned from wandering off.

When Sarn told them that they were getting closer to the Keep he sat up to try and get a better look. He never came to this town, so he was looking forward to seeing it. As the group passed the woman with the cart and soon stopped to discuss the plans, he looked listened to what everyone was saying.

"I think splitting up would be a good idea. A group and go into town and the rest can check the mines. We need to work from the bottom and work our ways to the top in questioning people. Save the higher ups in the area for last, they either don't know what is going on, don't care, trying to hide it, or are the cause."

He looks off in the direction of the mines and nods his head lightly towards it.

"I'm willing to join the group to ask around the mines."

[Rikku]

Burns shifted around in his saddle. He’d already spent more than enough time in that saddle, to his mind. Why were they hanging around so? Surely the elite of the King’s knights were more well-organised than this?

On the other hand, this way, everyone got the chance to add their opinion. Which was a good way of doing things, he reckoned.

Sarn was less than enthused about the whole ‘mine’ thing, for which Burns could hardly blame him – the man so obviously belonged out in the open. He raised some good points, too. Asking the physician and such was a good idea. Burns wouldn’t mind doing that; he liked talking. But he still thought going directly to those most effected – the common working folk – was the most immediately important of the strategies, if they wanted accurate information.

The helpful girl from yesterday sidled up to the front, quite slyly. Burns grinned. Did she somehow think she could be heard without being noticed? That was a fool notion. Then again, some people weren’t overly comfy when attention was on them.

“We could always do both,” she suggested. “We could split up, I mean. A few of us could ask around the village for information, and the rest of us could check out the mines before we all head to the keep.”

Burns nodded his agreement to that. If this was a thief crew, someone would just give the orders and that would be that, he thought. None of this time-wasting and –

Stop thinking like a thief, looby.

“I think splitting up would be a good idea,” Dragus, the man with the troublesome horse, agreed. He talked some more, basically repeating what Burns had said, before adding, with a nod towards the mines, “I'm willing to join the group to ask around the mines.”

“Right then,” Burns said, and he tugged at Wildfire’s reins, pulling the horse’s head up from the grass it had been snacking on. He didn’t have to stand in the stirrups or even crane his neck to see the mines fairly clearly, for which he was thankful to his height. “Something seems afoot at that mine there, all busied and crowdsome. Might be a good place to start.”

He got the horse moving, heading towards the mines. It was a bit abrupt, breaking off this sharply, but it wouldn’t do the young knights any harm to ask around and make decisions for themselves, instead of letting the group do it for them.

Besides, sitting around on horses all day was dull. Even if you were talking.

Partway to the mine that was in a curfuffle, it occurred to him, belatedly, that he should maybe have stuck with Sarn. But being a squire didn’t mean following your knight around all day, did it? It better not. He could do no good that way.

And there was no doubt that Sarn was not one of the number headed to the mines. Burns grinned at the thought of it. Before Sarn’s exact word choice hit him, and it stopped being amusing.

I’d gladly do that then go into a stinking, dark, dank … mine.

Stinking. Dank. Stinking and dank he could deal with. Dark … dark he could deal with too. But folk couldn’t work in the dark.

There would be fire.

Burns swallowed and started turning his househorse around. “Actually,” he began, “now that I give it thought, it might maybe be better for me to go where Sarn—”

He stopped. He looked around again. “Who’s that?” he said, eyes narrowing. “They’re all gathered around someone. Who? Why?”

Looks like I’ll have to head to the mine after all.

Curse you for a fool, Bartholomew Burns. You’re thinking too much like a knight. A thief would remember to think things through.

[Deleted]

A group of knights started moving towards the mines, a group which included his squire. Sarn was a Feberi and Feberi were just a little bit vain and vanity was the only thing that had made him accept the task of “rehabilitating” the thief. Had he felt any less vain, he wouldn’t have taken the trouble. After all, he was a creature of the skies. But he was also a creature of great compassion and he knew Burns just wanted to be rid of his horse – that was something Sarn could well understand, so he made no effort to bring Burns back.

“Right,” he called, “whoever’s coming with me, you’d better come now.” He started walking toward the center of the town where he knew the town square and plaza were. He had seen them from the air as he’d come in to land only a moment ago and a healer or physician would generally have premises near there.

Just to be sure, he stopped a passing man who was able to confirm that the physician, Renkin, had a little rented room on the south-east side of the town square.

“But good sir,” the man added, “I’m fairly certain ol’ Renkin only knows how to be fixin’ people, not birds.”

Sarn was not amused.

[Shadaras]

Jay grimaced as the other knights started talking. From a few of their expressions, he suspected that a number of them had assumed he’d be their leader, simply because he’d always been the one to get fed up and make sure everyone kept moving while on the journey. He wanted to point out that he wasn’t the only one with leadership experience, that the knights were supposed to be equals and they had never officially said he was their leader or anything of that sort. In the end, he wasn’t sure it mattered, but if they continued expecting him to be a leader, he supposed he would need to step into that role.

As he thought ruefully about that, his fellows seemed to come to a decision of sorts: they’d split up. “That doesn’t answer the question of who goes where,” Jay said, tapping his fingers on Snowfall’s saddle. “Likely, we should—”

Burns started riding off. Jay swore under his breath, a scowl returning to his face. That expression seemed to be his typical response to the thief-turned-squire. He turned Snowfall and tapped her to get her moving again, quickly catching up to the clumsier squire. He didn’t say anything, though he made sure to keep abreast of the older man and to keep part of his attention on him. The rest went to studying the environment and the mine. As Burns had said right before he’d turned and left, something seemed afoot down there. Jay couldn’t think of what it was. But then, he didn’t know anything about mining; his background was in the city and the forest, not the mountains.

Jay’s attention snapped back to Burns when the man began turning his horse around. “Actually, now that I give it thought, it might maybe be better for me to go where Sarn—”

“I think I can take care of you just as well as Sarn,” Jay said, more coldly than he’d intended. He would have continued, but Burns himself stopped and turned back to the mine.

“Who’s that? They’re all gathered around someone. Who? Why?”

Jay laughed. “Guess we need to find out, squire.” He leaned to the side and gave a gentle tug on Burns’s reins to get his horse moving forward once more, then began moving Snowfall. His eyes strayed back to the mine, trying to make out more detail than what Burns had just mentioned. “Looks like they just brought whoever that is out from the mines,” he murmured. “Maybe there was a rockfall in there.” They continued riding down, and, as they neared, the story came out in the mutterings of the crowd: there had been a rockfall, a tunnel collapse, and the man had been trapped in there.

At the edge of the crowd and a flat space, Jay dismounted and carefully looped Snowfall’s reins around a post that seemed strong enough to hold. “Be a good girl,” he said, patting her white-flecked nose. The mare snorted at him, and Jay smiled, pushing his way through the crowd as quickly as he could while still keeping an eye on Burns. The thief would be better at moving through the crowd than he, Jay was sure, but he made a good effort nonetheless.

When he emerged by the man, Jay paused just outside the innermost ring of people and studied him. Loose clothing, almost like he’d lost weight recently, long hair, especially for a man, a goatee with gold streaks – why did that seem familiar? – and bloody peasant clothes. Jay stepped forward and tapped a man on the shoulder. “Who is he?” he asked, gesturing at the unconscious-looking man. “Have you sent for a physician?”

The miner shrugged eloquently, and one of the other men cursed, stood, and started making his way through the crowd, presumably to fetch the physician.

Jay sighed and looked for Burns. When he saw the thief, he went to stand beside him and asked, “Do you recognize him?” He wouldn’t be surprised if the man had been a thief with a bout of bad luck, getting caught in a tunnel collapse. Even as he spoke to Burns, Jay kept his eyes on the bloodied man.

[Rikku]

Jay laughed. “Guess we need to find out, squire.”

And he can laugh, Burns thought wryly. Wonders never cease.

The closer they rode, the clearer the story became, told in the whispers and rumours of the crowd gathered around the man: the tunnel had collapsed, with the man inside it.

What could a man’s purpose in a mine be if even the miners knew not? This had to be tied in with the enchanter somehow. There was naught of interest in silver mines but silver and sulphur and silver-glance, and darkness.

Burns slid thankfully from Wildfire, hitching the beast onto a post as Jay did. It wasn’t that he was ignorant of horses, exactly. He could probably work them with wondrous skill if he gave mind to it. He’d just never seen the need.

And he certainly wasn’t as incompetent as all these young’uns seemed inclined to think. Admittedly, yes, he was acting open and friendly and ignorant, because better to be seen as a fool than a danger. But this could get absurd if he let it. I think I can take care of you just as well indeed.

He walked the crowd easy and quick, slipping through gaps with the unthinking ease of a cityman. He reached the centre of the gathering a goodly while before Jay, and let himself grin. Open and friendly and ignorant, that was him. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel a little malice now and again.

Not to mention that a little malice would be expected by people who had every right to be suspicious of him, and its absence would seem strange.

Stars and stones. It was so much easier to fool folk you didn’t need to think well of you.

Jay was beside him, asking, “Do you recognise him?”

“No,” said Burns, knowing what he was thinking. “No peer of mine.” The boy had some sense, at least. Reasonable to think Burns would know of a fellow in such a situation, poking around where none but miners would go, when miners knew naught of him. It was the act of a thief, or a madman, or one enchanted.

Burns took another look at the man, considering him. He was bloodied and dusty, and pale beneath the dust, or just pale, maybe. Twentyish, by the look of him, slender-slim and starved. His long jet ponytail was tangled and torn, and his gold-streaked goatee looked odd on his weary face, like it belonged to someone older, someone not all dirt-streaked and unconscious-like.

And there was something else. It was tricky to define, but it was something a thief had to learn to recognise quick, if a life free was what he was wanting.

“He’s a knight,” Burns said. “A smith by his hands, but a knight by his bearing. You want to know more …” He gave the ponytailed knight a longer look. He was prone, tired, but no knight would let that stop him for long. Soon he’d stir, if he wasn’t conscious already. “I suggest you ask him yourself.”

The smith-knight with the ridiculous hair. Didn’t I steal a whole wagonload of bullion from under his nose, once?

Best not to mention that.

[Strife]

Blacktail heard the echoes of voices around him, but his tangled mind couldn't make heads or tails of what was being said. He only saw colors, and he only heard murmurs.

One of the villagers returned to the group from the town, a fresh bowl of water in his hands. After routinely excusing himself as he passed through the crowd, he knelt down beside the half-unconscious man, dipped a cloth into the bowl, and carefully let the drippings slide down Blacktail's face.

Blacktail groaned and opened his eyes again. The cold and soothing touch of water was just what he needed to sail himself back into the seas of reality. He turned his head gently towards the villager who was watering him and lifted his hand towards the washcloth. The villager, satisfied with Blacktail's quick recovery, gave him the cloth and took a few steps backward.

Cloth in hand, Blacktail wiped the dust and dirt from his face, then lightly tossed it aside. He leaned forward while staring at the ground, blinked several times, and rubbed his right eye with his index finger. He then tried to lift himself from the ground, but as soon as his posterior left the dirt, he felt a sharp pain jolt across his back like thunder. He stumbled back to the earth, letting out a groan of pain between his gnashed teeth.

Carefully, he dipped one of his hands behind his giant mass of hair in order to search for the source of the affliction, but he could not find a specific area. He didn't know if anything was broken, but he hoped that wasn't the case.

Blacktail scanned the faces around him once again. Some of the villagers were just staring at him, while others were exchanging dialog in an attempt to learn exactly what had happened in the mines. In the distance, the town itself looked relatively undisturbed, with people casually roaming the streets and going about their daily routines.

He then took notice of a pair of individuals standing close to him. The way they were dressed seemed to indicate that they weren't a part of this group. What intrigued him more, however, was how they were staring at him while conversing to each other. The other folk surrounding him were doing either one or the other. One of the men also seemed... familiar... but again, his memories eluded him.

All of the activity surrounding him was starting to make him feel a bit uncomfortable, so in order to distract himself from it, he proceeded to wipe the dust off of his clothes, starting with the loose sleeves of his shirt.

[Draco]

Dragus followed the others to the mine and tied up his horse. Unlike the other pair who went through the crowd to see the man, he made small talk with a number of villagers and miners. He walked over to the collapsed mine and stared at it for a few moments before turning back to the crowd.

He sifted through, politely excusing himself a few times, then stood with the other two a moment after the mystery man woke up.

"It would seem he's up now. I think it would be best if we talked to him in private, or at least somewhere less crowded."

He motions to the large crowd they were standing in the middle of.

"Not exactly the best place to question someone. After we can start asking about the reason we came here originally."