Gift for the Guards

[Northen Light36]

Late at night a figure appears inside the guard headquarters, carrying a bundle that looks oddly human-shaped and is tied up with red silk ribbon. There's even a blood stained gift tag with a message attached to the parcel.

With a cold laugh, the figure tosses the bundle onto the desk belonging to the head of the guards and pats it mockingly, ignoring the stink of burnt meat.

"Two down, five hundred and seventy to go," he remarks to it, seeming in no hurry to stop gloating over his murder and leave. In the moonlight from the window, the man's pale grey eyes seem to melt into the whites of his eyes, giving him the unnerving look of having only pupils. "In Taed's name I swear, the Thieves guild will be a mass grave before the year has died."

[Darastrix]

Aaron trudges to the building grumbling softly to himself. He'd met one of the newer guards on his way home from the Red Roc and somehow had agreed to pick up the coat that the other man had left at headquarters. He's going to be taking a delivery fee out of the pockets, that's for sure.

He stops in the doorway, catching sight of the man. "Who the hell are you?" Aaron barks, quickly touching his fingers to his sign.

[Northen Light36]

The man turns, calm despite having been surprised. "Working late..." he rests one hand on top of the other and pauses, then smiles, cruelly. "But then, late nights are nothing new for one of Echo's little pets, are they... Aaron?" He chuckles and adds, "Well, my gift here might be sleeping in a little."

[Darastrix]

Aaron kept his eyes fixed on the man, refusing to allow himself to be distracted. Whatever was there could have his attention after he'd dealt with the intruder. Instead, he focused on committing what little he could see in the pale light to memory as he attempted to start a chant, his intent being to set the man's clothing ablaze.

[Northen Light36]

"Aww, not feeling talkative tonight?" the man asks, laughing. He pulls a silver coin out of a pocket and flips it. "Well what do you know? You get to live another night. Do give my hate to Echo and tell her not to worry. I'll visit her and her brats soon." Rubbing the sign on the back of his hand, the man teleports away.

[Darastrix]

Aaron swears to himself and looks around quickly, making sure the man hadn't just reappeared behind him. Finally satisfied that he's alone, the guard walks over to the desk to examine the "gift" left for him and his fellows. Trussed up and with a card, it bears an unsettling resemblance to the other two murders he's investigating with Dmitri, but Aaron doubts the man he saw is the same as whoever had committed those.

[Northen Light36]

The thief is a popular member of the Talen'sul branch of the guild, named Jinks. Also a bard, the man had a reputation for suducing any lady who crossed his path until one such seduction resulted in a young daughter. Now Jinks was a devoted father, or had been.

There's no mistaking that Jink's is dead. The only part of his body that hasn't been cut, twisted, burnt and crushed is his face. The only question is, where is Jinks' nine-year-old daughter?

[Darastrix]

Aaron swears again and rips the card from the corpse, reading it quickly as he quickly thinks through what to do next. He'll need to alert the other guards, off course. It would be rather hard to get away with not doing so, after all. Then off to Jinks' home in hopes of finding his daughter there, unharmed, though with this kind of brutality, he's not going to hold his breath. After that, he plans to run to the guild and hopefully Echo, or one of her eyes and ears.

[Northen Light36]

The card is simply a mocking threat to Echo, taunting her with the knowledge he's killing her guild one by one and asking her to guess who's next. There's alo a taunt for the guards though, "Don't worry, I'm happy to do your jobs for you."

At Jinks' house though, it's easy to guess where the child is. The house is on fire and there's a child screaming inside.

[Darastrix]

Aaron stops short at the sight before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting to the surrounding houses. "Fire! Fire! Get it out before it spreads!"

He rushes to the front door and touches his sign, willing the flames away as he tries to open the door, his hand inside the sleeve of his coat in case the knob is hot.

[Northen Light36]

The house is burning faster then a box of matches, but the flames still respond to Aaron's control, letting him pass. Something about the flames feels unnatural - this fire was started by a fire type.

The little girl is in her bedroom, bound tightly to the bed and screaming desperately for help.

[Darastrix]

"Hang on, I'll get you out," Aaron says gruffly, using his sign to burn through the ropes that held the poor girl to the bed. He glances around the room a he works, hoping for a window he can fit through once he's freed the child. He figures she'll need fresh air soon with all the screaming she'd been doing.

[Northen Light36]

There is a window, glass-less, as is common in the houses of the very poor, but the hand-made curtains and the windowsil are already on fire. The second the child is freed, she clings to Aaron for dear life, terror choking her as much as the smoke.

[Darastrix]

Aaron holds onto the girl with one arm and touches his sign, murmuring a low chant as he exerts his will on the flames around the window to die down if not stop completely. As soon as the fire is down as low as he can get it, he mutters to the child to hide her face in his shoulder and clambers out the window as quickly as he can.

[Northen Light36]

As Aaron comforts the frightened, but unhurt child, the owners of the homes nearby are all working to put out the fire, tossing water on it and starving the flames of air until the blaze dies out.

"Where daddy?" the little girl asks Aaron.