A visit to see old friends

~she watched as art got gagged. and then when she punched art Indis Lunged at her tackling her to the floor.~

~He watched as the thing lunged at Erika, then he turned and looked at Jade, still by the fireplace. He knew Erika could handle herself well enough in a one-on-one situation. He stared at Jade, holding the blade tighter, almost willing her to make a move.~

He had a window of opportunity as Louis had to move aside to let the woman behind him to tie the gag on, but Louis was too well trained to let his grip go. He kept his head straight as he saw the punch coming, he couldn't afford to let it move about this time, not this close to the blade.

Then Indis started to attack the woman. He saw a new chance. He gathered magic and started to put his hands behind the chair, back in the position they had been when he was tied up.

He couldn't see Louis behind him, so had no idea what he was looking at, or if he was distracted, however, with his arms now out of the way, he could see the floor more clearly, and the object of his desire. Perfect. Behind the gag, he smiled and glanced over to Jade, wondering if she could see his cocky grin through the material.

Then he glanced back to the floor, ready to make his move.

~she glanced to her father and saw it.. that grin she got from him.. she could help but grin back at him as she looked at louis. she felt the stone climbing up her as it covered her neck you could see the change of color and She was just about completely stone and she took a running leap from the fireplace and kicked the chair that art was on knocking him back away from the blade. and she stayed crouched down her skin now fully stone. she could keep this up as long as her stamina held. her eyes looked up at louis.~

~she had indis pinned to the floor and she sat up and started laying punches to indis's head know she would be out cold soon.~

~trying to kick out from under erika but she out weighted her and was alot stronger the indis was so she decided to just take it let erika wear herself out with punching.~

He saw Jade change and then come towards him. Oh no! This was going to....

He felt the chair legs shatter in the impact as he flew backwards, into Louis, taking him to the floor too. He spun around, grabbing Louis's wrists and holding them on the floor. He had the advantage of being on top, so weight was on his side.

~He saw a change int he girl, not understanding what was happening, then quick as a flash he was on the ground with Artimus astride on top of him. He had limited movement in his hand, but he waved the rapier around, hoping he might make contact with something.~

~At least the gag held. The last thing he needed was Artimus gloating.~

~she started to chuckle and was looking up at erika~

"Are you done yet?"

~she heard the chair and the tumbling of people~

"It seems louis is having trouble."

~she growled as indis started laughing~

"What the hell are you?"

~she looked over to see art having louis pinned and stands up to go get art off him.~

~she sees Erika on top of her mother as she turned to see what happened as she stood up Jade came at her stone fist still there and clocked erika in the head hoping to put her out.~

Artimus avoids the flailing sword, keeping all his pressure on Louis' wrists to keep him down. He hears Indis' voice but ignores what she's doing, not wanting to break concentration on Louis.

~He realises the sword isn't going to hit Artimus, so he drops it, giving him both hands free. It also gave Artimus a tempting target to go for. Would he rather have the sword or Louis?~

~He swings with his legs, hoping to catch Artimus off-guard~

~as she stood up and turned she got hit square in the face~

"Where the hell did you...come.. from.." ~she fell to the floor totally out. Her nose bleeding from the hit.~

~she rolled up from the ground and grinned at Jade as Erika hit the floor. Then moved over to art and louis looking down at them.~

~she pulled a dagger out from the front of her shirt and walked over to her father cutting the tie on his mouth. so he could talk. and then tucked it back in.~

"There you go. Well Louis your Lady is out." ~Jade crouched down next to him. as her skin started to change back to a skin tone instead of marble.~

~He looks over and see Erika knocked flat out, then he looks back to the thing and Jade.~

"What the heck are you?"

~He stopped struggling, he knew when a fight was over. Better to save his energy~

Artimus managed to avoid the swinging legs, then waited while the gag was cut off. He felt Louis give up, but knew it might just be a trick, so he kept the pressure on for a moment longer, then pulled himself and Louis to their feet. He let go of one of Louis' wrists and twisted the other behind his back, holding it up and threatening to break it.

What are they? They're my family. You threaten them, you threaten me. You attack them, then I'll come at you with everything I've got. Art's voice was a rasp, you could tell he meant every word.

Now, sit down. Jade, go find something to secure him with. I'm guessing the woman will be out of it for a while. See Louis, I don't want to hurt you. You've learnt a lot since I last saw you. I'd rather destroy a stained-glass window than someone such as yourself. But we can't have you following us. Now, why don't you start at the beginning and tell me the whole story of why you seem to hate me so much. I'm guessing the suspension isn't the reason.

He forces Louis into the chair and continues to hold his arm.

~she ran upstairs and grabbed the manacles and saw her daggers sliding them back in place one boot one side. and came down she had her fathers cocky grin on as she showed her father what she had.~


"These shall do nicely." ~she walked behind the chair and ran them thru then took louis hands and put them into them.~

~she then stayed crouched down on the floor back alittle from louis then glanced back to erika and to her mother. Jade said something in elvish to her mother. and got up and moved over to erika. Her mother help pick her up and place her on the couch as Jade looked at the ladies nose. she torn a piece of her shirt off and wiped the blood up and tended to her.~

~ml to her father~ "She will be ok broke nose but she is fine and out."

~After helping Jade out indis moves over towards louis standing next to art. looking at him noticing the changes since she last had seen him.~

~He gave a small growl as Jade returned with his manacles. He could struggle, but it would be useless. No, he'd be free soon, and Artimus said he didn't want to hurt him. He actually believed the man. Maybe if he started to tell the story, it would give Erika time to wake up and help out.~

"Not long after you left, Salarain was attacked. We helped out as best we could and started to rebuild the damage. Then Draco was attacked. The whole place was falling to hell. The new general changed all the guards routines, bringing in his own force."

"As the months went on and nothing changed, my mother called us for a chat. She said we should go try and find you, bring you back. I didn't want to, I still resented you for what you did. And Erika wasn't bothered either way. But jesse said she felt she owed it to you. She convinced Mac who pursuaded me. Tiberious wouldn't though. No matter how hard he was pushed."

"So the four of us set off. We had no idea where you were, but we managed to track you down eventually. Once we got on your trail you were fairly easy to follow. A trail of blood and broken hearts in every town and village."

"A long time into our quest and Jesse couldn't go on any longer. She was too far gone along with pregnancy, so she and Mac made home in a small, quiet village. They left me and Erika to continue the quest, which we did, enkying each others company. We didn't really care about finding you any longer, we just liked the nomadic pace of life."

"Then we reached the town of Whitehorn. You remember Whitehorn?"

Artimus stands and listens to the story, frowning slightly at the mention of Whitehorn. It would be best if Indis and Jade were out of the room for this, but he couldn't think of an excuse.

Jade, you might want to secure the woman, in case she wakes up.

He turned back to Louis, trying not to think why Tiberious wouldn't want to go find him.
He had told Tiberious where he was going, given him directions to find him. Why hadn't he told them?

Yes, I remember Whitehorn. That was where the sorcereress cast a spell on me and seduced me.

~she nodded and went upstairs to see if there were anymore manacles up there in the room. she searched the room for anything she could find to tie up the lady.~

~she listened to his story as Jade disappeared upstairs. she glanced back to Erika on the couch. she looked at art you could tell that the mention of that place made him have the look of not wanting her to hear it at least jade was out of the room. She gave art and understanding look and smile. she knew things happened while he was gone. so she would think nothing less of him.~

"Seduced? YOU were seduced? She was a cleric, for Hecks sake! You defiled her! The green-eyed monster struck again, didn't it? We got into the town about a week after you left. We didn't know what was happening, but they were exiling the girl from the community. We didn't get involved - it is never our place to involve ourself in the affairs of other people's ways, but as soon as we described you they turned on us."

"The girls family took me and lead me off for questioning. They wanted to know all about you. Where you were from, why you did what you did. Who you really were. I couldn't answer half their questions - they seemed to think we were friends and I was covering for you."

~his voice was cracking now as he thought about what happened.~

"They tortured me. They burned my eye out, and I couldn't tell them what they wanted to know! I would have, if I'd known, but I didn't."

~he shook his head~

"Erika rescued me and we went off to recover. Finally we gave up, and came home. And then, there you were. Walking around as if nothing had happened. My eye, my brother. Oh yeah, Mac says they'll be back some day. But I didn't believe him. No, he's settled down now. So now there's just me, Erika and Tiberious."