Ben's Tent
Choosing to ignore the man's strange comment concerning shooting the person he was sworn to protect through the hand, Ames gave a single nod of his head in response "I would have to speak with Skorj, he has a better understanding of which mercenaries have loyalties to something other than gold" the bodyguard spoke in a low voice, agreeing that they would indeed require more than three people to achieve their aim "...I shall return in the morning and see if we can't devise some kind of a plan between us, but for now I must leave you, I have been away from the Lady Stiorra's side too long already, so until tomorrow, goodnight" the man quietly finished before ducking out of the tent and disappearing into the night allowing Ben to return to his much needed sleep.
Lilith's Tent
With Drake not only managing to divine the name of her condition from her rather vague description but also describe it's symptoms, Lilith would pause midway through the act of brushing her hair to listen as he proceeded to say that it not only didn't bother him, but that she was still a good person in his eyes with the mercenary girl giving a short chuckle in response "most guys think it's wonderful when they first find out, a girl who never tires of sex, though after about a week of me continually waking them up during the night and hitting on them in public they quickly decide I'm not worth the hassle...as will you in time" she finished with a brief look of sadness flickering within her emerald green eyes as she continued to make her preparations for bed.
Snuggled beneath the collection of blankets and furs that made up her bedding, Lilith would wait until Drake had joined her before extinguishing the solitary stub of candle she owned; plunging the pair of them into darkness as she began to answer his question in a low voice "Not much to say really...my mother died of fever whilst I was young and my father was killed defending Rithe Halla, leaving me and my baby sister to live in our uncle's tavern, in which I spent my days waiting tables and turning tricks for a little extra coin until..." Lilith’s voice suddenly cut out dead and even in the dark of night Drake could sense that she was struggling with something painful; a secret she longed to share with him but couldn’t bring herself to unlock the door that had been barricaded closed for so many years with the secret eventually defeating her like it had done every other time she’d approached that door within her mind "...I just left ok...anyway I ran away with husband number one who promptly got himself killed over a game of dice leaving me miles from home and with a giant debt to pay off, so I went back to scrubbing clothes and whoring, and don't you dare look at me like that! Like I'm some poor little lost lamb driven to a life of sin through desperation, or because I was lead astray by wicked men, No! They were my choices and I made them so don't you dare judge or pity me!" she snapped at him, though for the life of her she didn’t really know why.
Silence would follow her outburst as Lilith tried to compose herself; wondering whether she should leave the rest of her tale unsaid and simply go to sleep, then again, Drake was the only person other than Guido to take and interest in her outside of the bedroom and so she quietly continued "Anyway…It was after a few years of following one army or another that I would meet Drago; oh Drake I wish you could have met him, he was so beautiful, intelligent and he had a wicked sense of humour, he was also the only man I've ever met who was able to keep up with me…and he taught me to fight...its been two years since he died but I still miss him, everyday I think about him and it still hurts when I realise that he's gone...but anyway the pair of us then joined a mercenary company of which myself, Guido and Drago's sister are the only survivors...now as much as I'd love to learn a little more about you we really ought to get some sleep, we've had a long day and I'll most likely want to have sex with you come the morning so..." Drake would feel a pair of lips gently kissing his scarred cheek, followed by Lilith shifting to a more comfortable position and slowly drifting off to sleep.
The Morning
True to her word, Drake would be awoken early the following morning by an amorous Lilith looking for him to satisfy her needs, with the girl seemingly oblivious to the various scars and deformities he as she sought to make him succumb to her desires with ever increasing fervour.
What was more surprising however was finding Guido sat outside by the campfire waiting for them “Guido…you came back” Lilith would say in a shocked voice upon seeing him sitting there; the look on her face saying that she was more than a little happy to see him.
Looking up from where he’d been tending to the kettle currently bubbling over the fire he’d built he would offer a kindly smile to the young redhead as he spoke up in reply “of course I did, I promised Drago that I’d look after you and I can’t very well do that passed out on the floor of a tavern now can I?” though judging by the rumpled state of his clothes and his bloodshot eyes he had indeed spent a portion of the previous night doing just that.
Leaving Drake’s side to eagerly throw her arms around Guido; the mercenary would offer her an almost fatherly smile as he hugged her back, though he couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than she was as he spoke to her in a mischievous tone “So Drake huh? Plaything or husband number three?” he asked prompting Lilith to pull away from him and glare “Guido! That’s awful! I’ve only been with him for two nights…though he does seem to actually give a crap about me…” she confessed with the briefest of blushes appearing on her cheeks before turning the conversation to a somewhat less enjoyable topic “Are you ok? After Arcturus…I…I didn’t think you’d be coming back or at least not without attacking Drake first” Lilith quietly asked, clearly concerned that Guido may still turn on Drake and try and avenge his mad friends death, instead the Mercenary gave a weary sigh and a shrug “my friend was killed by somebody I considered to be a friend trying to defend another friend from the first, there isn’t a positive outcome to that scenario…and besides we both know that Arcturus was never the same after his brother’s death, I just wish I’d realised how badly his mind had cracked” he said clearly struggling with his friends death but accepting it for what it was; promising himself that he would take good care of the one friend he had left.
The Cave
The young couple had barely finished dressing when the heavens opened up, causing them to dash the short distance to the cave’s entrance whilst sheltering beneath Illrea’s cloak.
Slightly damp and with Selune still giggling in delight as she clung to him the pair had scarcely set foot inside when they were approached by a trio of Sentinels that promptly dropped to one knee to offer their allegiance to the new Warden.
Twice more this would happen before they were able to locate Logain seated beside a fire; the large, blonde haired Sentinel giving a single nod of his head in greeting before silently inviting them both to join him with a hand gesture “The state of the world is that mankind is trapped between two powerful nations; The Sidhe and the Kavori, and mankind is either unwilling or incapable of fighting back in any meaningful way” Logain quietly explained how they had tried enlisting the help of the various lords to form an army to fight back against the Sidhe only to find them far more interested in squabbling between themselves or worse were actively collaborating with the enemy. In part it was this frustration over humanities desire for self destruction that drove Kaella to increasingly brutal tactics in the vain hope that she could make them follow her through fear alone “…if we could get but a few to join us then the rest would quickly follow, but nobody wanted to be the first and risk becoming a target for the more ruthless nobles, not to mention the Sidhe …you’d have to ask Kaella about the Sentinel’s history too I’m afraid as she’s the only one to have served with the original group” it was at this point that Marie would approach the trio dragging a young dark haired woman behind her like a naughty child being brought before an elder for punishment.
Meekly standing before Illrea in a plain wool dress with her long dark hair brushed so that it fell across her shoulders it would take Illrea several moments to realise that the attractive brunette was in fact the former Warden; Kaella.
It was clear that Kaella had been crying heavily and by the way she was wringing her hands and struggling to meet his eye she was just as nervous about their meeting as he was, if not more so “Kaella has something to say to you, to both of you, Don’t you Kaella?” Marie spoke in a stern voice that caused the girl to flinch before then hurriedly beginning to make a series of hand gestures that were promptly cut short by the blonde “They don’t understand sign, you’ll have to whisper to them like a child…though you wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t ruined your voice again!” she snapped, once again causing Kaella to flinch in a manner that was most unlike her and no doubt a direct result of whatever Marie had done to make her tow the line.
After a few moments of hesitation Kaella would cautiously approach Illrea in order to stand on tiptoes to whisper directly into his ear, though even with this measure he still found he had to concentrate in order to hear her faint raspy voice “I…I wish to pledge m-my allegiance to….to the Warden…please” she whispered in a shaky voice before hurriedly dropping to one knee with a pleading look in her eye as she awaited his answer.
