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 Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:41 pm
"Well, you're a bit of a fool," the Warder informed him, dropping to a crouch beside Noj. "I come to help after that woman asks me and here you are, insulted by my presence. Perhaps I should just let my Aes Sedai take your woman and be done with it." He stood up, glowering down at the stranger. "And don't be so full of yourself, boy. An idiot man channeling willy nilly and becoming involved in fights he couldn't possibly win isn't worth the time of any Aes Sedai, save a Red. And mine doesn't much care for fools like you," he continued, turning away. He was prepared to leave the man where he lay and go back for the woman - his Aes Sedai had sensed saidar being inexpertly channeled and wished to take the girl to the White Tower for training. His partner Warder remained with their Sister, while he had been sent after fools.
Cellyn remained glued to the saddle - she had tried to dismount and Light Dancer had almost thrown her in punishment. Sighing, she rested her cheek against his neck. "What a day," she groaned, but froze when Jurel appeared in the woods, mounted on his horse.
"Your bodyguard is a fool," he informed her. "He probably isn't dead, but only someone bloody arrogant would try to fight all my men. Sure you don't want another guard?" he asked with a wink.
She stared at him. "You're an assassin. You kidnapped me," she pointed out. He shrugged in reply.
"Because I can be bought, milady," he reminded her. "I may not be as strong as that man, but I'm smarter, I'm sure. And not nearly as foolhardy."
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:19 pm
Noj laughed at the Warder as he walked off. He didn't really care about the man's opinions of him. He didn't seem to realize that he did what he did to get Cellyn out, nor did Noj care too. The Warder was arrogant, if skilled. Noj might be able to match him if he was at his best, but whatever. He'd gotten past the point of acting macho to impress people. Standing up, Noj wandered through the trees, it'd take a while for him to find Cellyn and Light Dancer again, but he didn't feel like whistling amidst all of the chaos. Apparently an Aes Sedai wanted Cellyn, which meant that he had to face them down too. It was almost too much to handle, but he'd seen worse. He wasn't sure why he was taking this job as seriously as he was. Probably because this was the first time in a long time that he was successfully protecting someone, and by the Light he wasn't going to let his streak end against some measly woman weighted her pride more than anything else in creation and her boy toy, or toys. Whatever. He looked a right mess, cuts and blood covering him, his clothes chopped into ribbons in places. The cuts were shallow, almost as if the Creator had guided the blades to touch, if just, so that he'd feel the pain but wouldn't be debilitated.
Stepping out into a small clearing, he spotted Cellyn on top of his steed, taking to the assassin with the crushed arm. Walking over, he looked up at the boy, blade still in hand. "Do you have business with us? If not, I'll have to ask you to move on." He glanced toward the brush. "You too. In fact, I don't rightly if you do have some agenda me or my charge, and I'm sure she feels the same." Patting Light Dancer's flank, Noj sighed, grabbing at Saidin again. It was still there, if rather strongly. It was clumsy and bumbling, but it was still there. Bloody woman.
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:15 pm
Jurel snickered at Noj, despite the pain in his arm he was managing rather well. "All right then, milady doesn't seem to have the tolerance for me at the moment anyway. If you ever require my services, I'm sure you know people who can find me," he informed her, wheeling his horse around and disappearing into the forest once again.
Cellyn stared at Noj, surprised he was still walking. "I'm going to assume you're alive, since you're bleeding," she finally said, debating on whether to dismount or not. He'd have to help her back up anyway and that would only cause more trouble, so she stayed on. "Where'd that Warder go? It seems he helped you, at least," she added thoughtfully, peering at the man. She managed to look comfortable and regal even while wedged in a saddle on a warhorse far too big for her frame.
The Warder in question was returning to his Aes Sedai in the town the pair had just left to report what had happened.
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:56 am
Noj looked around, he could have sworn the Warder, or at least someone else was there. No matter. "Helped yes, but the man only did it because it suited his interests, if you had said something I'd be rotting. No matter." He was beginning to feel a bit dizzy. Probably from blood loss. "Cellyn, could you go through my saddle bag on the left side, there are some bandages, that I think I need." After that, he slumped against a tree, sliding down till he was sitting. "And could you help me to apply them? I'm..a little worse for wear."
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:38 pm
Cellyn slid off the horse, a little unsteady on her feet, and quickly found the bandages in the bag. Noj had already discarded the cloak and was sitting on it, but removing his shirt had seemed to be too much of a task for him. She knelt down next to him and began to matter-of-factly strip him to the waist. "Looks like you should have just gotten on Light Dancer, he could have outrun them," she remarked dryly, too used to patching up her cousins to blink at the blood and bruising.
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Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:25 pm
Noj shook his head and coughed. "No, then they would've just chased us. I what I did made sure they wouldn't go after us, even if it was fool hardy." If only he had better control of Saidin. The only downside he saw at this point in going to the Black Tower was that they'd keep him there and let him rot, and Noj wouldn't have that. "But I apologize, this is going to slow us considerably I would think." Light it hurt. He felt dizzy too, probably due to the blood loss. It wasn't rapid enough to endanger his life, especially now that he was getting bandaged. It was a stab at his pride that he didn't have the strength to do it on his own, but he was beyond that.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 9:09 am
She rolled her eyes to what she thought of that, finishing the bandaging rather quickly with a practiced hand. "Well, I suppose it would have been worse without the Warder's help," she remarked dryly, getting up and returning what was left of the bandages to the pack. Cellyn wasn't sure if Noj could travel fast, but she was damned if he wasn't going to travel at all, not with that man still somewhere in the area. He'd get up on Light Dancer if she had to haul him up there herself.
"We might as well get moving before it gets dark," she remarked. Morning had come and gone, but it was well before noon at her rough estimation. Plenty of daylight left to burn.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:20 pm
Noj nodded, taking a deep breath and pulling himself to his feet. Walking as normally has he could, he took another before hauling himself up onto his warhorse and lending a hand Cellyn to help her up. "I'm ready, but when we hit anything close to a town we need to stay there for a while. I'm...a bit worse for wear." Plus, he felt safer in a more enclosed space when dealing with a channeler. He didn't have much experience, but the less space between him and a channeler, the more options he had. Plus rooms only have a few easily usable entrances, so a sneaking Warder would have a harder time ambushing them.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:25 pm
Cellyn took his hand and allowed him to haul her up behind him, settling her saddlebag with her possessions on her lap. She didn't ask about the mule - she had the feeling she wouldn't like the answer at all. "All right. I'd say we should stock up on supplies again, but there doesn't seem to be much of a point," she added wryly. "I suppose we can just make do as we go."
"Except for my things," she added to herself. Stocked items were one thing to lose - her personal items were another. She had no idea there was an Aes Sedai looking for her - she wouldn't even know why, if it came down to it. She didn't see what the big deal was about her small Healing ability in the grand scheme of things. However, there was an unsettling feeling that the Aes Sedai would want to know about the dreams she was having...Cellyn shook it off and hung on as Light Dancer began to trot down the road, careful not to touch any of Noj's wounds. "Thank you, by the way," she added quietly, her gaze fixed on his back.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:55 pm
Noj glanced back. "A pack horse is probably a better solution, as long as you don't ride it and we tie it to Light Dancer, it'd be hard for him to bolt." It was annoying though, having to completely restock every time they hit a bump in the bloody road. "And don't worry about it. Any decent man would've done what I did, given the choice." He truly believed that. Noj didn't really think enough of himself to believe that he actually had a moral code above the standard right and wrong. "All we have to do is continue heading south. Though, I can almost promise you that the Warder and his owner are going to be in the next town." Light. "So be ready for it, he helped me because it benefited him and his cause to do so, but I don't think that he'll think too kindly if I get in his way." Which was the truth. The man, and most undoubtedly his puppeteer, wanted Cellyn, and if Noj got in the way, they'd most likely attempt to deal with him, and wounded as he was, Noj wasn't entirely sure what he could do about it.
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Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:14 am
Since she didn't know the true intentions of said Warder and Sister, Cellyn only nodded. "I can't imagine why you would, but that's fine with me. I'd rather not interfere with them either," she agreed. She thought on the idea of a pack horse and sighed. "I only bought a mule because I thought it might withstand the cold better," she admitted. "And wouldn't be quite so flighty...are you sure it bolted? Because I've never had a mule so high-strung," she added, peering at him a bit suspiciously. Cellyn shrugged a moment later - it didn't really matter anymore, she supposed, what was done was done.
"Most decent men might have, yes," she said thoughtfully, a few minutes later. It seemed she was more speaking to herself than Noj. "But most hired men would have taken the supplies for their own and be done with me, not rushed after me in a forest full of assassins."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:02 pm
Noj shrugged, a motion that brought him some measure of pain. "I like to believe that aside from being a hired man, I'm also a decent one. Also, I apologize about the mule, but it was my fault. I had to chase after you, and a mule couldn't very well keep up with Light Dancer, and I didn't want to just let the thing freeze tied to a tree, so I let him go. I didn't know how far the chase would leave me. I don't really think it's worth the time but we could track the mule down if you so wish."
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:29 am
Cellyn copied the shrug, having suspected as much. "Who knows where the thing went, it's probably back in the village by now. And it would be a waste of time to fetch it at this point. Might as well just let the lucky b*****d who finds it keep it." It would be a waste to go all the way back, she thought, especially without knowing who else might be behind them waiting for a retreat.
She hoped they would come across the next village within a day or two. Her face hurt and she knew she would have a nasty bruise.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:18 pm
Noj sighed, inwardly along with a shake of the head. He had gotten himself into a rather strange situation here. Darkfriends, Shadowspawn, Asha'man, Aes Sedai, Warders, Assassins, what next? Bloody three headed lions? No, don't think that, otherwise it will happen. Fully expect there to be a three headed lion, that way one won't come along. "Life sure seems to have gotten troublesome over the past few days hasn't it? I normally tend to lure trouble, but never to this magnitude or repetition before." Next thing you know, Noj would be a proper person leading an army or something. Sighing, outwardly this time, Noj glanced back. "I apologize again, but I'm feeling a bit of exhaustion kick in, do you mind guiding my friend here, he doesn't really need it so you should be fine." Without waiting for an answer, he leaned over onto Light Dancer's main and fading into much need sleep.
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 10:11 am
She scrabbled for the reins, although she knew she was being silly. The last thing Light Dancer needed was her telling him where to go, but she held them lightly in any case. Cellyn was forced to lean against Noj's back unless she wanted to strain her arms stretching the entire way and sighed.
"What a sight I must make," she thought morosely, not even rolling her eyes when the horse snorted in what seemed to be agreement. There didn't seem to be much for her to do except ponder on her fate in life and that was about as appealing as prying her fingernails off one by one. The scenery didn't offer much distraction - snow blanketed the sleeping forests and the road itself, leaving Light Dancer to go where he may. That left Noj, which was a disturbing idea in and of itself. The man confused her, having conflicting projections of what he was, and she wasn't sure if he even knew who he was yet. The thought was a bit unsettling and she sighed.
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