[with Thomas]

[no_thief]

[A day or two after this.]

There are five of the liveried guardsmen in the inn now, and two in the stables.

Kaya hid the night in a storeroom bin that used to hold apples, and is now peering through a crack in the wall into the common room and trying to find a way past them.

Comments

[no_thief]

Another nod, in between bites. Her fingers and her thin cheeks are smeared with fish grease.

After a moment: "You carried me?"

[vagrant_malkin]

"I offered to, didn't I? You fell asleep pretty quickly."

[no_thief]

She flushes. "Din't mean to."

[vagrant_malkin]

"If I minded, I would have said so, or dunked you in the creek and refused to carry you further. S'fine."

[no_thief]

She's silent, chewing up a scrap of fish skin.




"How come you came to get me away from them?"

[vagrant_malkin]

"Why wouldn't I? Besides, us roguish types need to stick together."

[no_thief]

That gets him another narrow-eyed look, before she drops her gaze to the forest floor and continues munching fish.

[vagrant_malkin]

He frowns puzzledly.

"What is it?"

[no_thief]

"Nothing," she mutters.



"... thank you for the fish. and for saving me."

[vagrant_malkin]

"You're welcome," he says softly in turn. "Did you get enough to eat?"

They're probably going to be traveling more when the sun comes up again, and she'll need her strength.

[no_thief]

"Yeah." She blinks up at him. "Did you?"

[vagrant_malkin]

Idly, he tosses the bones of his fish into the fire, poking at it with his stick.

"Sure did. About ready for sleep here, soon if we're going to keep moving all day tomorrow."

[no_thief]

She looks away as he tosses the bones into the fire, blinking hard.

In that same low mumble: "Yeah. We should sleep."

[vagrant_malkin]

"You going to be able to?" he teases gently. "You just had a pretty decent nap."

[no_thief]

She shrugs. "So if I can't sleep, I'll stand watch."

[vagrant_malkin]

He gives a nod, putting a bit more wood on the fire before going to go settle down.

"Wake me if there's problems."

[no_thief]

"Okay," she says, very low.







Some hours later, the moon rises in a dark sky and illuminates the clearing.

She's nowhere to be seen.

[vagrant_malkin]

The sun's just barely begun to even think about rising, when a bird wings it's way into the clearing. Chirping urgently, the avian makes to wake him, telling him in a way that only he's able to understand, that Kaya is in trouble.

When a glance around the camp fails to produce her, he's on his feet and moving quickly, still shrugging on his coat as the bird leads him to where he needs to be.

[no_thief]

She's got a significant head start; he moves faster than she does. Which means that he's cut the distance between them to something like a quarter of a mile, by the time the sun has made its way free of the horizon.

Which in turn means he's close enough to hear it when a shriek rends the air from some distance ahead, sending clouds of birds winging hastily into the sky.

A second shriek follows, this time with words in it: "No! No!"

[vagrant_malkin]

His heart seizes and clenches in his chest at the shriek, along with the faint and frantic words. He's speeding up as fast as he can though, without giving himself away; he needs to get closer, needs to see what he's dealing with so he can save her.

[no_thief]

There's fairly tangled underbrush around the small clearing ahead; a little creek runs through it, tributary to the stream they waded in yesterday.

Two men in the same blue livery are there, one of them holding a struggling Kaya by the arm.

(The same livery, Thomas might notice, but not the same men.)

[vagrant_malkin]

He wants to rush in, to take both those men on and save her, but they're armed and he isn't. It's a problem, definitely, but it also means he'll have to follow carefully and be ready to spring into action and get her away at the earliest opportunity.

[no_thief]

The one holding her hunkers down to get a better look at her face. "Aye," he says tersely, "it's her."

"Finally," says the other one, in a tone of relief. "Better make sure she's got the box --"

"Right." He looks into Kaya's face, his own stern. "Let's have it, then."

Kaya struggles to pull free. "No!"

[vagrant_malkin]

His next action is decisive and swift. A feathered friend bursts from the underbrush ahead of him, going straight for the eyes of the man holding the girl.

He breaks cover just after the avian, moving as swiftly as he can. His belt knife is in his hand, and while the one man is distracted, he moves in low, making a grab for Kaya with one hand while the bladed one lashes out at the man's exposed gut.

[no_thief]

"Ji, look out --" shouts the other man, his voice mingling with Kaya's shriek.

Thomas's belt knife scores a deep gash through the blue uniform, drawing blood. The guard called Ji lets out a hoarse cry and goes to one knee, and his grip slips off Kaya's arm --

-- and the other guard's sword comes out with a clear singing scrape, and he swings for the intruder's legs.