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The ranger continued walking straight from her makeshift camp for some ways, not completely out of view, but enough so that she felt like she had the solitude she needed.

She pulled out both blades and slowed her breathing down. Even though her muscles reminded her she had been doing this practically all afternoon, her mind was full again. She had not been able to think things through as she would have liked earlier, nor did she feel like she had been able to separate herself from events enough to look at anything clearly. Maybe this way, she would be able to think and slip back more to what her instincts were telling her. Maybe being in the darkness under a waining full moon would draw her away from her eyes enough so that she could really see what was around her now.

She stood there just feeling what little wind whisked through the trees, smelling the damp air, and listening to the night noises around her before she began to move her blades. Her pace was not nearly as fast as what it had been when she had first gone off alone to do this... before she had been interrupted. Now it was as if she was trying to blend in with the slower nature of the trees around her, her blades only carving the air breath by breath.

She had been on edge for too long and though this was not new knowledge for her, there was a difference in what she knew versus what she felt when she actually took time out for herself to remind herself physically.

One sword danced around her until the other took its place as she spun. Slowly her thoughts began to arrange themselves: Micheal, Kiru, the invitation, and her own physical needs.

As her arms began to burn, she slipped the blades back into their sheaths and sat on the ground, bowing her head in the direction of the camp, eyes closed.

She had kept her focus and frustration on Kiru's threats, but now she realized she had been fooling herself. In some ways, Kiru was the least of it all as she knew where he stood. Reluctance filled her chest as she began to admit to herself what -or more so who- the indecisiveness was over. The 'sword training' that had happened earlier may have pushed it aside for a time, allowing her pretend the previous events had never happened. But everything had happened. If she left it all buried permanently, she'd only remain a fool, and it would happen all over again.

Had she been trying to court death when she threw that dagger? Was she insane?

She wondered to herself, shaking her head as she pondered. Maybe it was all just getting to be too much at once.

"Take one thing at a time," she mumbled, chuckling sadly at the irony of who's advice she was now listening to.

And that was how it would be, she decided. She did not know how soon this vampire get together was suppose to happen, but she would think little more of it until she needed to. She needed to take care of herself and if she couldn't do that, then it wouldn't matter if it was a den of vampires or tavern regulars. For starters, she had not been eating or sleeping very well for some days and it was notably catching up to her. She would work on that tomorrow first thing.

Then she thought back to Micheal again.

She wanted to trust him, she wanted to feel like there was some sort of reliance in stone...

When she finished deciding where her feelings fell, she got up quietly and returned to camp. When she arrived, she only made a brief mental note of vampire's continued absence before ducking into her tent and reading herself for a night of sleep.

The wolf stopped to watched her momentarily and then sprinted back and forth.

Taking little notice of Micheal's movement, Jay started to fix up the straps. "I'm going to head back into town for a short bit. Maybe find something warm to eat, see what the word is for the outbound roads."

Micheal slowed down back to a prance and then sat. 'Okay. What should I do?'

"Tag along? Wait here? What do you normally do in an eve?" the ranger stated, looking back at him for the first time as she pulled tight the last buckle.

The wolf seemed to think about that, what he did before he met her. 'Paint, read, drink...' He patted his tail. 'It would probably be better if I stay any how.'

"I'll leave the tent up then and the saddlebags behind and inside," she said with a nod upon his decision, making one last tug on a part of the saddle to check the snugness.

The wolf nodded as he had a slight smile to his face, somehow even for being in wolf form, as he was in a far better mood.

With a swift step up she had herself upon Dulcimer's back, the horse pawing the ground in irritation of having a wolf nearby though not really making much more fuss than that with his rider abroad.

"As I said, it shouldn't be long," the ranger said, sensing Micheal was in higher spirits than the previous day. She couldn't say the same for herself, but hopefully what she was going to go to town for would relieve some of the bitterness she had so far faced the day with.

The ranger nudged the horse's sides with a 'hup' and Dulcimer snorted as he trotted off into the brush in the direction of the city.

'Don't forget to look at the dresses at least!' Micheal said mentally to her before getting up and walking over to the front of the tent where he plopped back down, watching the grounds.

The ranger's mood took on a sour note before she took a breath and let it out, not replying to the crazy wolf behind her. She had told herself the previous night that she was not going to bother with that until she needed to and that certainly was not now.

"And remember, I'm not paying a stone coin without proof," the merchant said trying to instill some sort of authority, looking between both the ranger and the other group of mercenaries. "You are still free to look yourselves but mind you, only the first to bring back any solid or worthwhile new info gets paid. There's only more in it if any of you manage to bring back any of those who were with the caravan."

Jay nodded with a slight bow and got the gentleman's name and how to contact him before bidding him and the other mercenaries a good day.

It wasn't long after that she returned to camp and dismounted.

Micheal, still in wolf form, raised his head. 'Find anything good?'

"Enough to line my stomach where it's needed," the ranger answered initially as landed on the ground. "That and a possible job. Sounds as if someone's wagon went missing anywhere from a day to three days out from the city," she explained as she removed the saddle.

Micheal chuckled. 'Well I guess that's better than no news. So, what do you have to do?'

"See if I can't find out what happened to it before some other mercs do," she replied, hefting the saddle up in her arms. "Honestly, bandits probably got to it as it doesn't sound like the man paid enough to have a decent amount of guards, but that's just guess work. It should be easy enough to find some sort of proof of that without having to even confront anyone." She said as she walked over toward her tent.

The wolf got up and moved out of the way. 'How far do you suppose this wagon is?'

"That's probably the trickiest part. I'm leaning toward three days. This guy was eager enough about his wagon to probably wish it was closer to the city when it probably wasn't." She stopped walking toward the tent and paused. "Is this something you want to join in on? We could start out tonight."

He looked at her and then nodded. 'Sure, I don't see why not.'

Turning around she went to put the saddle back on Dulcimer, before returning to the tent for the saddle bags. As she was doing this, a mist starts to creep into the air.

"Splintered weather..." she cursed to herself as she was still getting everything together, including packing the tent and her sleepbag. "Fortunately, it shouldn't hinder much unless it keeps up two, three day from here... well, me anyways." Probably wouldn't affect Micheal at all really. Actually, for him, it was probably better with the rather gloomy weather. She couldn't look around at night and this would allow Micheal to be out earlier in the day when she could use her eyes.

He laughed. "Yes, what is normal? It's only an illusion created by minds."

"Ever changing and different from person to person if it were to even exist," she added in after she was finished with tent. Stepping away from Dulcimer, she looked about the area to see if she had been forgetting anything. As it didn't look like it, she threw a foot into the stirrup and hauled herself up into the saddle.

"Time to head out I suppose. We'll skirt outside the city and hit the road from there. After that..." she paused to think, "we'll just have to keep an eye out for any signs of the wagon, though I doubt we'll see anything for a day."

The vampire watched with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to start off as water slid off every feature of his face and the tips of his flattened wet hair.


Micheal focused his eyes on something ahead of them.

"Hmm... New form of road making?" he lightly said though in a bit of a serious tone, scanning the area for possible threat. The road far ahead of them seemed to be marked... no gouged out to some degree. Three or four grooves in the dirt seemed to make a trail that went straight off the road and into the trees, what was dug out already filling with rainwater.

"Hmm?" the ranger sounded, interrupting her searching which had almost become automatic after two days in the saddle with breaks to camp and rest. "What are you talking about?" Her own eyes not seeing what Micheal was talking about settled on him instead.

He closed his eyes and then opened them again. "Nothing. Just seems these lands are flooding quickly," he mentioned, not adding anything more.

As the two closed in on what Micheal had seen in the road ahead, the ranger stood up in the stirrups. "What the..." she muttered as she tried to get a better look in the rain.

"That's what I meant," Micheal said lightly and started scanning the area again.

Oh... sorry," the ranger apologized over her own inadequacy as they closed in. "That's definitely not any flooding..." she muttered. "Do you spot any tracks around here?" she hopped off Dulcimer as they got a little closer and led him to the other side of the road where she tied him off.

Micheal looked in her direction before lithely running to her side. "You want to go in," he said, trying to control his frustration now.

"If you need to talk with your dragon for a moment, go ahead. I'll wait, but keep it down... at least for my sake. Not everyone can move as fast as you," the ranger replied, a grave look on her face as she looked up and over at him, water dripping down her cheek as a few drops snuck by her hood. Her own voice had sunk into a whisper even with Micheal right next to her.

While the sound of the rain didn't pose a problem for his hearing, it posed a problem for hers. Micheal looked at her and his voice was barely heard over the pattering. "Dark is being difficult when I tried speaking with him. As of speed, you can be as fast as I am," he thought out loud as a diminutive smile crossed his face.

"Not of my own abilities," Jay said, ignoring his smile. "Are you finished speaking with him or are you waiting on some information from your dragon yet?"

Micheal clenched his fangs. "I've was done talking with him when he started quoting my own blasted statements."

"Okay, so done," she whispered as she looked into the woods. "If you sense anything out of place, warn me if you can," she added before stepping forth into the broken up part of the trail, beginning to follow it.

His focus then was from one area to the next, taking every detail, staying just behind the ranger. After a short stretch of time, he lightly chuckled. "I bet some coin that I am going to need a new shirt again."

There was the sound of a forced sigh from under the cloak ahead of him. "I leave you to bet with yourself. I don't have the spare to do otherwise," she muttered, giving in to an answer.

"There's some in your saddle bag," he mentioned offhandedly.

"Yours if anyone's then as it wouldn't be any of mine," she muttered.

Micheal looked at the ruts in the ground some more as the wagon's tracks began to straighten out just as the road disappeared behind them. A little ways ahead, the ground started to gradually go downhill, eventually banking more steeply.

"Any ideas?" he asked, noticing that the wheel ruts were not as deep here.

"There's nothing other than the damned wagon trail from what I can tell," Jay said, apparently angry at what seemed to be a gap in the information before her. "This isn't dragon work. If a dragon got the wagon, there would have been pieces everywhere. Other than back at the road, there isn't even a hoofprint out here."

Inside, crates and boxes were broken. Shattered glass reflecting what little light from the tree infested corner lay all about, even outside the back door. No body was to be see anywhere inside the wagon, however. There wasn't anything moving at all from what the ranger could see.

In the meantime, Micheal started sniffing the air randomly to see if he can pick up a scent at least in the muddling rain. At first there was nothing.

Then the wind picked up and he frowned.

It was faint, but it was there. Even with the rain making a mess of everything, there was the smell of flesh. Dead. Maybe decayed. Just a hint of blood. Some of the smells indistinctly resembled ones from the road they had come in by.

'Smells like a fresh graveyard here,' he commented, taking a breath in as he began to slowly walk in her direction, growling every now and then as he went.

"All I have is a big mess here," Jay replied as she inched closer to the back. "There's no one here, alive or dead. Hard to tell if there was a struggle with this thing in the shape it is in." Taking one last look around her, she stepped through the crooked door at the back, glass crunching under her boots though she tries to step around as much as she can.

Getting a closer look, some of the broken pieces of glass are in fact not glass at all but mirror shards. Intrigued but for a moment by a quaint reflective piece, the ranger continued looking around, skimming over the shelves and broken containers that were lying about before a scrap of paper next caught her eye. Taking care of the glass and other sharp objects as she wasn't wearing gloves, she picked up the paper and read it over. In her hand was a list of contents for particular crates.

"Well, he wanted proof..." the ranger muttered, remembering what the merchant in the town had asked for, as she stuffed it into a belt pouch.

Looking around the back of the wagon revealed little else. There were some small blood stains on either wall that the rain hadn't been able to wash away, but other than that, it was much less of a gory mess than what she had expected. Jay exited the back of the wagon with a small hop down and out onto the wet ground.

"Seen anything yet?" she asked in her hushed tone to Micheal.

He stopped growling for a moment. 'No, not unless you want to see where this graveyard is.'

"Maybe it's best we do," she whispered, moving to meet up with Micheal. "There's something... 'wrong' about all this." When Micheal nodded, she continued. "You'll have to take the lead." She held her bow ready once again and set an arrow against the string. "I don't know where this place is that you're talking about."

Micheal nodded again as he took a deep breath in and then sniffed the air to pick up the scent once more, starting to walk in that direction.

'What's the line?' Micheal asked artlessly.

"What??" the ranger asked confused and tense at the disruption.

He continued to explain, 'I hear clicking noises. The cavern is going to make things more difficult... rotting flesh... echoing sounds. My sight, strength, and speed are my options. And if you get hurt... let's just hope you don't.'

The ranger tipped an ear toward the cavern, straining to hear whatever Micheal was hearing, her muscles burning to move forward and look down through the entrance. Whatever it was though still remained hidden for her, either due to the distance or possibly the sound and smell of the rain.

She looked back at Micheal trying to read what he was hinting at. "What does that have to do with the line?" she asked, forcing herself to be patient, continuing to occasionally glance in the direction of the hole.

Micheal looked forward and away from her gaze. 'If this ends up being too much, I will get you out either by carrying you or making you a temp pawn.'

A frown sprung up at her mouth. "I have no problems with the former, but the latter isn't going to make me any faster if we run into anything," she muttered, watching the cave entrance again with narrowed eyes.

'Wrong,' he boldly answered back, shaking his head. 'So I told you. What's your plan?'

She grumbled something incoherent as she let it go. She had made her say and he had made his. "First things first. I want a better look," she whispered a she got up and worked her way to the entrance of the cave that opened to the sky like a overly large well.

"This could be interesting..." he said as he walked up to her side and looked eyed the inside of the cave. The opening was probably about the size of the wagon though it would have been a tight fit if anyone had tried. He could see the bottom of the pit, a good four story drop. Something he could easily handle, but too sharp for a slope for his human partner most likely. There only seemed to be one direction that branched off from the bottom of the cave, but from the height and angle they were at, it was hard to tell were it might lead.

"Fraking bladeshards," the ranger cursed under her breath as she looked down the hole.

Micheal looked at her. "You say some unusual words..." he said before holding out his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.

"You would to if you were me," she said, now briefly hearing a click or two from the cave as well. She looked over at his hand. "It's not the drop," she muttered looking down. "Worse to worse, I'd just use rope. Well... depth is the problem in the sense that I was expecting it to be more shallow which would give it more light."

The answer went unheard by the ranger as her arms gripped around him tightly like freaked out cat minus the claws, low-volume curses slipping from her throat at the initial step back that took them over the edge. Her eyes were as wide as an owl's at this point and if her adrenaline wasn't going before, it sure was now.

Micheal couldn't help the smile that came to him. "Jay, I said close but not that close... though it's kinda nice."

The ranger just growled as she held on, the string of curses had finished, her wait for the ground more important than making any sort of crack back at the vampire.

Micheal just left it at that until the torchlight started to touch the rock floor, and he stopped about a few feet above the ground. He looked at Jay. "You can let go now."

The ranger looked at him with a slight glare, looked down at the floor, and then looked back at him with nearly the same glare before she instantly just let go and dropped to the floor, making a light thud as her boots hit the wet dirt and rock.

Micheal waited for her to grab the torch while he kept his eyes closed to its ever-changing light. "Sorry," he said.

"Apology accepted," Jay muttered as she took the torch from him and then turned away to look down the tunnel that led away from the bottom of the entrance. When the torch flickered a bit, she took few steps toward the tunnel to move it away from the skylight the rain was still coming down through. So far it didn't look like there was anything out of the ordinary. Moss, rock, cobwebs, water... though some of that was probably just from the rain.

Micheal chuckled as he hoped up like he was heading out of the hole but then landed straight down, facing the tunnel the ranger had started down. With a hesitant frown, he asked, "You can see okay, right?" The torch would be a set back for his own sight, but it was something he would deal with for the time in being if she could see as well.

"A little ways, not terribly far though," Jay replied, switching the torch to her left hand while getting her sword out with her right. "Nothing looks unusual," she whispered, but her sound was much quieter than before, as if she was trying to hear over herself.

She noticed the clicking had stopped.

The ranger's sword was held out defensively in front of her as she started to move down the tunnel. If she couldn't smell the scent of decaying bodies before, the smell reached her nose now the farther she got, now understanding where Micheal had come up with the acid comment. There was something off about the smell.

Maybe the bodies have been tampered with, she thought to herself as they moved on.