Return To The Hamlet
The trek back to the Hamlet was quiet and tense. Gerrick and his dog walked in front, carrying Yllia with barely contained anger in check. Wintermoot and Sapphiron walked behind him, both with shell-shocked expressions. Wintermoot kept staring at her blood soaked hands. Maybe if she tried harder Yllia would still be alive.....
When they finally reached the Hamlet, Gerrick put down Yllia's corpse gently. Then he turned, rushed at Sapphiron, grabbed her tunic and threw her against a wall, shaking her as he did so. "WHAT HAPPENED BACK THERE? YOU COULD HAVE HELPED HER, YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER! INSTEAD, YOU LET HER DIE WHILE YOU SCREAMED AT NOTHING! WHAT IS WR...." He was cut off by a pair of strong leather clad hands grabbing his back, pulling him off Sapphiron and pinning him against the wall. He couldn't see his attacker but damn, he was strong. His lunatic employer appeared in his limited vision, a look of shock on his face.
"What are you doing? Why were you attacking Sapph? And what happened to Yllia?" He gestured towards the pale, cold and blood soaked corpse. Gerrick struggled mightily against the hands that held him. "GET OFF OF ME RIGHT NOW, GODDAMNIT!" His employer stepped forward and shouted in his face "HEY! Listen to me. Calm down and I'll tell him to let you go. Understand?" Gerrick fought for a second, calmed down, then nodded. The employer gestured toward the Bounty Hunter. "Ok. Let him go, Alestrio."
Alestrio released the angry lawman. It had not been the first time that the Bounty Hunter and that lawman and his mutt had tangled. A professional hazard given his line of work. But only Gerrick and his cohorts had those damn mutts. He hated animals, he was not afraid to say. Gerrick turned around, a look of anger on his face when he recognized the Bounty Hunter. "You! Why am I not surprised? Slinking around in darkness, away from the light you hate so much? I'm only surprised it took you this long to get here, mercenary scum." Alestrio kept his silence. Nothing he said would really change anything so why bother. The crazy man who hired him needed his previous knowledge of the Cove area, even if Alestrio was getting a little slow on the draw. He crossed his arms and let his employer speak.
"Gerrick, we need him and I expect you to work well together, understand? Now, what happened to Yllia was a tragedy. Tensions are high. Lets just take it down a notch, ok? You go and bury Yllia in the cemetery while I talk to Moot and Sapph, ok?" Gerrick looked away, still angry, but did as he was told, taking Yllia away. The employer turned toward Wintermoot and Sapphiron, both of whom hadn't moved and still looked traumatized. "Are you 2 ok? Do you need to sit out the next expedition?" Wintermoot shook her head. "I'm... I'll be ok." Her employer nodded and turned to Sapph. "No. I'm not ok. I don't trust myself out there." The employer sighed and nodded. " Ok. Stay here and recuperate. Winter, I hate to do this, but I need you. Tomorrow, get ready to go back in again." He stopped and turned to face Gerrick. "Goddamn it..." Then he and Alestrio left.
Wintermoot started back towards her room before she was met by a familiar face. The Highwayman had returned from the nearby village and was unnaturally happy as he entered the Hamlet. That happiness went away when he saw Wintermoot covered in blood. He was tough, some said he had a hard noggin (some also said he was quick and a cheat, but thats beside the point), but seeing that much blood on the Doctor made him uneasy. He rushed over. "God, are you ok, Moot? What happened?" Moot took off her mask and ran her hands through her hair. "We went out. Yllia, she..... she didn't make it. Gerrick's burying her over there." She gestured towards Gerrick. The Highwayman stared in silence. More death...always more death. Moot continued on her way, slowly, breaking him from his thoughts. He had no idea what to say so he said the only thing that came to mind. " Hey, Moot... I.... I'm sorry. I never told you my name, did I?" Moot shook her head. "My name is Hydra." She nodded, gave a little smile, then thanked him and left, leaving him to go help Gerrick with Yllia.
As Alestrio and the madman walked back to the tavern the lunatic spoke to Alestrio. "Damn, the first casualty. I was hoping it'd take longer. Oh well. We have one more new guy to introduce, but I think that we should do that later, at least for the rest of the team." The entered the tavern where a twitchy and badly scarred man covered in chains sat alone. "Alestrio, this particular Abomination is named Aragonn. Trust me when I say hes more dangerous then he looks."
Aragonn spun around rapidly, clutching his chains. He wasn't very good with them and tended to miss when he did use them but they didn't know that. "Bounty hunter? Why did you bring a Bounty Hunter?" He was already considering escape options. He knew his way around the Weald and he had a healers touch so that area was prime real estate for fleeing. The insane man who brought him here raised his hands in a non threatening way. "Ara, I'm not here to turn you in. This is Alestrio, hes part of the team. Dont worry, as long as I'm here you'll be fine." Aragonn twitched, nervous. But the man had kept his promises....
The next day, a team prepared to go our again. Alestrio the Bounty Hunter led the way, Aragonn stood right behind him, Hydra and his handgun behind him and Wintermoot, as usual, holding down the rear. They prepared one more time to go down into the ruins....
