Of Shadows and Swords (Chiarra)

Archer shook his head and patted her hand. "Oh, hold on to that for a while. I've still got some reserves with me, and little hidden places we can make detours to if we have to. Lucius will scold me for taking you into dangerous parts of town, but there are always dangerous parts of town." He laughed a little. "Come on. Let's go fence some jewels."
 
She followed him, a bit nervous about going somewhere to fence off some jewels, but they needed money and as long as she stayed with Archer, she would be fine, she reassured herself.
 
Archer led her along, looking for the signs every town had, subtle though they were. He was trained to see them though, the certain ways people held themselves and how the building itself was located a bit removed from the rest of the town's main traffic. He took her down a few steps into a lower room, and went tense as soon as the door closed behind them and he saw whose room he had just walked into.


". . . Shit."
 
She followed him, not sure how he knew where this place was, but he seemed to know where to go. Maybe he had been here before? When she followed him into a building and went into a lower room, the door shut closed and Archer cursed. "What's going on Archer?" she asked him, nervous and scared.
 
Archer cringed at the sound of his own name and just managed a hesitant smile and a wave when the four people inside the room looked over at him. "Good afternoon, gentleman." He said, pushing Melody behind him and subtlely towards the door. "We must have wandered into the wrong place. We'll just be go- " A hand clamped around his arm as he turned to leave, and he almost swore again.


"Fancy seein' you here, trader." Or traitor, perhaps, he couldn't tell which. . . This wasn't good.
 
He spoke to the four people who came into the room and pushed her behind him, moving towards the door. Before he could get there though. "What's going on?" she asked, frightened. She hoped they would just let them go, that they wouldn't do them any harm. What did they want with them anyways...or was it Archer they just wanted? If they let her go, she would go and get Lucius and come back with help, but she doubted they would let her go for that very reason.
 
Archer cringed when the grip tightened and pulled him back to face forward again, but gave his most winning smile when - almost - face-to-face with a man twice his size and perhaps a foot taller than him. "Good to see you again, Russ -" He cut off though, when the large hand caught him by the throat, and struggled for air.


"Tired of y'r words," The big man growled, and just dropped Archer on the ground when he'd held him long enough, conscious still but hurting and for a short moment unable to pick himself up again. "Lock the door, Jay."
 
She gasped when Archer was grasped by the throat and her eyes widened in fear. When the man dropped him, she ran over to him and knelt by his side. "Archer," she said, very worried and scared. Was he okay? "Are you okay?" she asked. "Please," she begged them. "Just let us go, we didn't mean any harm," she told them.
 
Archer fought the urge to pull the knife from his belt, or from his shoe, or from under his other shoe, or even his left pant leg. They were all hidden exceptionally well, except for his belt, but he didn't want to make anything worse. He had a 'passenger' now, he couldn't just go around fighting his way out when he couldn't watch both her back and his in such a small space, with so many enemies.


So he let himself be dragged to his feet, didn't guard against the fist that slammed up beneath his ribs and drove what little breath he had from his lungs.


"You thought you could steal from us and get away with it?" The 'leader' hissed, but didn't come close, let his underlings do their work instead, keeping him on his feet when he felt more like passing out instead. He could stay conscious. He'd seen worse before. "You should've known better."
 
Melody's hands clamped over her own mouth as she watched what they were doing to Archer. "Stop it!" she shouted. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight and Archer wasn't going too....if only she could go and get help but the doors were locked and she couldn't get out. "Please stop," she begged them, frightened tears in her eyes.
 
Archer managed a smile through the pain, fighting for footing even though someone had a hold on his arms to keep him up and keep him in place. "Don't worry, darlin'." He said, a faint drawl to his voice as he fought for breath again. "This is noth-" A knock to the jaw cut him off and snapped his head back against the shoulder of the man holding him still and he fought a bit to keep upright and not just sag to the ground. He did still have to turn and spit blood onto the floor. "Kitten licks. . ."
 
She looked at Archer. How could he say that? He was barely able to stand and she just gasped and held back a scream as he was punched again. She looked at the man that could easily break her in half with his little finger. "What did he steal from you?" she asked him, fear in her voice.
 
The question caused a lull in the beating, the blows stopping for now with the leader distracted enough he wasn't giving even silent directions. "Steal?" the man laughed. "What doesn't this welp steal?" He shook his head. "He 'stole' everyone's cut of a bounty, that's what he did."


"Did not," Archer insisted, though blood was still leaking into his mouth from either a split cheek or a loosened tooth - he couldn't tell. "Just took what was mine, tha's all." That got him a flick of a hand and then another punch to the ribs that had him coughing and wheezing and fighting not to hurl.
 
She couldn't take Archer being punched anymore. "Here," she said, quickly bringing out her mother's necklace. "It's worth a lot of money, you can take it." She hoped it was enough to stop him from punching and hurting Archer. "Please," she said. "It's all I really have. You can sell it and then split it."
 
Archer started to protest, but a smack to the side of the head made him dizzy again, even if it wasn't so hard as the punches from before, and the leader stepped forward to take the necklace from her. He took it aside to examine it and then glanced at his lackeys. ". . . Take his bag and tie 'im."


Archer fought for the bag, with a few jewels he'd wanted to keep left in it, but wasn't up to fighting shape and was shortly bound at the hands and dropped on the ground.


((Must get dressed for work. Back in a few))
 
When Archer was dropped to the ground she went over to him and winced at the sight of him. "May I have some water please?" she asked their captors. She then turned her attention back to Archer. "Are you alright?" she asked him, though she knew it was a stupid question, of course he wasn't.
 
Archer managed a faint humming sound in answer and struggled until he'd opened his eyes again, shifting uneasily on the ground. "Peachy." He said, moving a bit to check his bindings. "Be a doll and help me up so I don't choke." Maybe if she used that water to give him a drink and they were counting his jewels he could have enough time to sneak a knife out and cut himself free.


((gtg to work in five))
 
That was exactly what she planned to do with the water, thinking he could use it. She nodded and gently helped him into a sitting position, not wanting to cause him more harm. When she finally got the water she wanted, she held it up to his mouth and tipped it carefully so that a small stream of water would enter his mouth.
 
Archer drank carefully so he wouldn't actually choke, but worked on getting the knife out of the back of his belt at the same time. When he had it free and he thought he saw someone starting to turn around, he made a show of coughing wetly and turning his head away from the cup. If they thought he was choking, they would probably be happy, but it meant they would also not be paying attention to what his hands were doing behind his back. When they turned around again, talking noisily amongst themselves, he pushed his fingers against the ground and arched up enough to kiss the worry off her face. "Don't you worry your pretty little head," he whispered quietly enough that only she would hear, "Close you're eyes and ill have you out of here in a flash."
 
When he turned his head away from the cup and coughed wetly, she was afraid she had put too much in his mouth and pulled the cup away, about to ask if he was okay when he stopped, but then he kissed her. Her eyes widened a bit and she blushed, her lips still tingling a bit even when he pulled away. She nodded and closed her eyes like he wanted, hoping he was right.
 
((Ergh T~T I used you're instead of your. . . Nooooooo! DX))


When Melody closed her eyes, he made the last little slice and the ropes binding him dropped silently to the ground. He rolled gradually forward until he was still crouching low but was on his feet, not wanting to be noticed right away, then made a quick dash for the others. The knife in his hand landed square in the back of the largest man's left shoulder, Archer's weight behind it shoving it deep, and as the man fell Archer dropped to his feet, spun low to draw another knife from his shoe, and hurled it into the exact center of the next man's chest. After that, only the leader was left, and Archer vaulted over the table at him. By the time they high the ground, he had another knife to the man,s throat.


"Don't move, Mason." He said, smiling a little. "This is why I get all the cash when all you do is sit behind a desk." He spun the knife around and cracked the hilt against the man's head, knocking him out cold, then swept the jewels and necklace into his bag and ran back to where Melody was, grabbing her and pulling her other feet as they ran for the stairs. "Time to go!"
 
((Lol, It's okay ^_^ ))


She opened her eyes the moment she heard fighting and watched, a bit wide eyed, as Archer fought off the men. She had to look away though, unable to watch as the knives killed all but one, that he just knocked out. They deserved it though, she thought, hurting Archer like that. She was glad Archer was okay. He ran back over to her and grabbed her, pulling her up and she followed after him, not arguing about it being time to go. She was glad they were finally getting to leave. When they finally made it back to safety, she looked at him. "Do you need to go and see a healer?" she asked. "Your ribs could be cracked." It was clear she was very worried about him.
 
Archer shook his head and just leaned against a wall, panting hard and trying to recover. "Nonsense," He said, breathless still, and shook his head. "All a healer will do is bind them, even if they are cracked, and I can get Lucius to do that."
 
She still looked worried for him and when he had rest enough and was going to start walking again, she took his arm and wrapped it around her neck, to help him walk. "Lucius is going to kill you, ya know, for getting into trouble." She knew the two of them enough by now to know how they would react. "Especially when I was with you." Archer at least, could very well get scolded when they got back, she didn't know if she would though.
 
Archer just gave a weak smile, letting her take just a tiny bit of his weight as they walked. "Oh, no doubt about it. He might pity me if I bleed a little, though."
 
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