Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 1, 2012 6:04:51 GMT -5
Olivia sat there and just breathed, waiting to get most of the breath back in her before answering. Even then it wasn't a very good answer, on some level she was ashamed of herself. She was supposed to be calm and reserved in any situation. "Yes, no, I don't know." to be truthful it answered both his questions about her health and if anyone was following her. She gripped the arm rests of the chair until her knuckles were white to keep her hands from shaking. She stared at the floor, not looking at anyone still trying to digest what had just happened.
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a1ko4
Apprentice Cook
Posts: 77
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Post by a1ko4 on May 2, 2012 7:04:15 GMT -5
“Hey Bluebird, come in here and meet our new friend.” Tessa came out of the room and waited as Marcus introduced her to the new ranger. She studied him, he was interesting as well. But then, of course, all rangers were probably interesting.
Tessa jumped when the courier pounded on the door. She moved to open it, but the ranger beat her to it.
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Post by rolan on May 2, 2012 19:24:26 GMT -5
“Hey Bluebird, come in here and meet our new friend.” “Why, hello there. It is very nice to meet you.” ,Rolan said with a grin to the young girl before he was interrupted by the breathless young Courier’s rather hurried enterance.
"Yes, no, I don't know." to be truthful it answered both his questions about her health and if anyone was following her. Well, it looks like this day got a little more interesting, Rolan thought as he glanced out the window behind the girl making sure the whoever was on her trail hadn’t made it to the cabin yet. The girl must have out run whoever was chasing her. Well, that figures for a Courier , Rolan thought as he noticed her distinctive dress. Rolan gave her an appraising look and seeing that the girl was nearly breathless he grabbed his waterskin and stepped from the shadows of the window tat he had been observing the outside yard from and said with a slight smile “ Here you go miss drink a little of this and take a few breaths and tell my fellow Ranger and I what happened while while you were delivering your message. I am Rolan, by the way.’
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Post by Brandwyn on May 5, 2012 8:59:52 GMT -5
“Where did she go?” A tall, thin man dressed all in brown asked his partner, both of them were out of breath. “Damn, she sure runs fast,” he panted, leaning over and putting his hands on his knees for a moment to catch his breath.
His companion, a man of muscles, but much shorter and stockier, who was breathing slightly less heavily shrugged as he scanned the ground for footprints. “Looks like she is heading back toward the city,” he answered while carefully marking the trail. “No, wait, she turned here… yep, there is another print. She definitely went up this trail.”
“Terrific,” groaned his partner as if the world were coming to an end.
“What?” asked the shorter man, “you know where this leads?”
The tall man nodded, a miserable look on his face. “Straight to the Ranger’s cabin and nowhere else,” he said and started trudging up the trail, still breathing hard. “Let’s go get her.”
The shorter man shrugged again, “Doesn’t matter, the ranger is gone right now anyway. This will just make it easier – no one to hear her screaming.” He said with a glint in his eye. He motioned to the others with them and they jogged up the trail. As they caught glimpses of the cabin in the trees the tall man motioned them to stop.
“You guys spread out around the cabin and try to stay hidden!” he ordered and the men dispersed, equally spacing themselves in cover around the cabin. “Wish there was some cover closer in. If we walk up there, we are sitting ducks,” he said to his companion who was studying the cabin intently.
“There are two horses here. She is not alone,” the short man observed. He also noticed the smoke coming out the chimney and movement at the windows. “What should we do?”
The tall man thought for a moment and then pulled out his crossbow from over his shoulder. He set a bolt and then watched the windows for several minutes, waiting for a target to present itself. After a few minutes of concentration, he held his breath and fired. The crossbow bolt streaked toward the cabin and crashed through the window, shattering one of the panes. He thought he heard a yelp, but couldn’t tell if it was surprise or if he had hit someone.
“You in the cabin, come on out here with your hands on your head!” He called out from the bushes. “We got you surrounded, so there’s no use in fightin’. You ain’t gonna get outta here alive if ya try it.”
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Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 5, 2012 9:50:16 GMT -5
Olivia took the water and drank deeply her throat she was parched. She took a couple of deep breaths then began. "I was walking along the road minding my own business when three of them jumped out at me from behind a tree and some bushes. Don't ask me what they look like cause I can't remember and quite frankly I wasn't exactly paying attention. I can't quite recall what happened exactly to the last detail, my fighting instincts just kind of kicked in and I lashed out at the one nearest to me. I think I hit him on the knee or at least the shin bone. It's not important where, sorry, I pulled out my dagger and slashed at another, he dodged and a man on my left shoved me. I lost my weapon kicked again, then I scrambled to my feet and ran all the way here. I don't know why they attacked me." “You in the cabin, come on out here with your hands on your head!” He called out from the bushes. “We got you surrounded, so there’s no use in fightin’. You ain’t gonna get outta here alive if ya try it.” Olivia stopped talking, Then jumped to her feet with a cry of alarm as the window broke.
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Post by Brandwyn on May 8, 2012 20:45:15 GMT -5
“Here you go miss drink a little of this and take a few breaths and tell my fellow Ranger and I what happened while you were delivering your message. I am Rolan, by the way.”
Marcus ducked in front of the window so he could see Olivia’s face better. The water seemed to be helping, so he stepped back and looked out the window again. Had he just seen movement at the edge of the tree line?
“Rolan, do you see anyone out there?” Marcus turned his head to look at Rolan.
‘Crash!’
Instinctively Marcus ducked but he wasn’t quite fast enough. A crossbow bolt crashed through the window, breaking the glass and Olivia shrieked and Marcus felt a burning sensation across the back of his neck. The bolt grazed the bare skin across the back of his neck and Marc yelped more in surprise than pain.
Out of the corner of his eye he thought he could tell the general area the bolt had come from.
“You in the cabin, come on out here with your hands on your head!” He called out from the bushes. “We got you surrounded, so there’s no use in fightin’. You ain’t gonna get outta here alive if ya try it.”
He raised his bow and fired an arrow back in that direction which is also where the voice emanated from though he couldn’t see anyone. It glanced off a tree and went skittering out of site into the woods. Marc dropped back from the window to grab a bandage from his med kit. The back of his neck stung and it was bleeding rather heavily. He didn’t have time to properly cover it, so he just loosely wrapped the bandage around his neck real quick and then stepped back to the window, but making sure he didn’t present himself as a target again.
“You ladies stay down and away from the windows,” he ordered calmly. He deliberately peeked out through the window, his arrow ready, presenting himself as a target he called back, “You have one chance to either surrender or high-tail-it out of here, otherwise you aren’t going to get out of here alive.”
Marc lowered his voice and said softly to Rolan, “you think they really have us surrounded? I don’t actually see anyone out there.”
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a1ko4
Apprentice Cook
Posts: 77
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Post by a1ko4 on May 9, 2012 6:49:37 GMT -5
“You ladies stay down and away from the windows,”
Tessa nodded, her eyes wide with fear. She moved away from the window and crouched down beside the kitchen counter, motioning for the courier to join her.
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Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 9, 2012 8:27:06 GMT -5
Olivia frowned well this was certainly not her day today. She joined Tessa by the counter and sat there. She gave the girl a smile despite how she was feeling on the inside. "Nothing like a little adventure to get the blood pumping hm?" then she had an idea. "Is there any water left in the bucket from the coffee? Better yet is there any coffee left?"
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a1ko4
Apprentice Cook
Posts: 77
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Post by a1ko4 on May 9, 2012 14:28:37 GMT -5
"Nothing like a little adventure to get the blood pumping hm?" then she had an idea. "Is there any water left in the bucket from the coffee? Better yet is there any coffee left?"
Tessa was a bit taken aback, did Lady Olivia want coffee? Why would she at a time like this? "I don't know." she answered. She had no idea if the ranger's had drank any while she hid in the bedroom. "Why do want coffee?"
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Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 11, 2012 21:59:30 GMT -5
Olivia grinned at her. "For the bandits, don't you think it's nice to give them some nice hot coffee since they are knocking so nicely why not give them a pleasant surprise?"
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a1ko4
Apprentice Cook
Posts: 77
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Post by a1ko4 on May 14, 2012 6:59:37 GMT -5
Tessa nodded, finally getting an idea of what she meant. She crawled toward the fireplace where the coffee pot still stood. When she got there she picked it up and half ran, half crouched back to Olivia. "Here you go." she said, handing it to her.
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Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 16, 2012 8:18:34 GMT -5
Olivia grinned and sloshed the hot contents around a little. "Perfect."
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Post by Brandwyn on May 18, 2012 11:46:05 GMT -5
“You have one chance to either surrender or high-tail-it out of here, otherwise you aren’t going to get out of here alive.”
The stocky man hiding behind a tree guffawed but the leader silenced him. “I know that voice and it is no idle threat.”
“You know who it is? How?” the stocky man asked in surprise. He peered out from the trunk at the windows craning to see inside the building but he couldn’t make anything out inside.
The thin man studied the house again, without answering the threat Marcus had given. “I ain’t seen him for a few years, but it is the voice of that young snotling the Ranger had as an apprentice. I nearly nabbed him several times out here in these woods when he was practicing.” He frowned. “This presents a problem…” his voice trailed off lost in thought.
The other man looked at him and then mentally tallied who was with them lurking in the edge of the trees all around the little cabin. “Why? We got ‘em out numbered, even if they have another fellow in there.”
“And what if that other fellow is a ranger too?” the tall slim man asked him crossly. “You ever gone up against a ranger before? There’s a reason they say ‘one Ranger, one Riot’ you fool.”
The stocky man laughed again, “That’s a bunch of bunk. They are just men, like any others. They bleed and they can be killed. It’s not like they’re sorcerers or anything unnatural.” He laughed, thinking his friend was being a baby. “Let’s just storm the place and kill them and take the girl. The boss will give us some pretty coins if we bring him a diplomat!” his eyes glowed with greed.
“You go right ahead and run out there and I’ll say something nice at yer funeral.” The other gestured toward the cabin. Their eyes met for a moment each challenging the other and then the stocky man saw something in his friend’s eyes and thought maybe he was being set-up or something.
“Naw, we should all go at the same time.” He started to motion the others to charge and Slim grabbed his hand angrily.
“Yer a damn fool and yer gonna get us all killed.” He shook his head and could only think of one way they would survive this and if they were lucky they might just be able to grab the girl too. He motioned the others to fall back and wait then he called out to the young ranger in the cabin, knowing he had to make this sound convincing. “We don’t want any trouble Sir, we just need that woman. She stole something very valuable from us. We get it back and we’ll go. No hard feelings.”
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Kallie
Apprentice Messenger
Posts: 422
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Post by Kallie on May 18, 2012 21:40:15 GMT -5
Olivia looked up at the sound of the voice.
"We don’t want any trouble Sir, we just need that woman. She stole something very valuable from us. We get it back and we’ll go. No hard feelings.”
Olivia frowned, what was he talking about? She hadn't stolen anything. If she did she would have remembered unless someone had given her a good clout on the head and no one had done that. So what could he possibly gain by lying? She didn't think that the rangers would willingly give her up. And if she had to she would go down fighting. Her frown deepened this was just getting a little insane! What would bandits want with her in the first place? She sighed a little it probably had to do with politics. In politics the person with the most money and people always got what they wanted. All she had to do was figure out who would want her and why. Then find a way to avoid that person and evade capture..... after she got out of this mess, "One problem at a time livy one problem at a time." She muttered under her breath. She gripped the handle of the coffee pot tighter if these no good ruffians thought that they could just take her they had another thing coming!
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Post by Brandwyn on May 21, 2012 20:17:10 GMT -5
"We don’t want any trouble Sir,…”
‘Yeah, right, and I’m a monkey’s uncle,’ Marcus thought, but didn’t voice his true feelings.
“…we just need that woman. She stole something very valuable from us.”
Marcus wasn’t buying that. If that was the case then why try to ambush him through the window? No, it was far more likely that they stole something from her. But why else would they want her? Something weird was going on here.
“… We get it back and we’ll go. No hard feelings.”
“Just like that eh?” Marcus muttered. “I bet.”
Marcus glanced at Olivia and thought it highly unlikely that she would have stolen anything, but as a ranger, he had to ask the question. “Meaning no disrespect, My Lady, but is there any truth to his claim?” He saw her looking rather confused, like she was trying to puzzle something out. “Don’t worry, I’m not handing you over to those brutes either way, but on the off chance it is true… well you understand I have to ask, right?” This was making him uncomfortable. Sometimes being a ranger had its drawbacks.
"Can you think of any reason they might want to get their hands on you? Have you made any enemies that might try something like this?"
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