"Cheers," Kjan replied, waving jauntily before downing the last of his ale. He considered purchasing another pint or two, but ultimately decided that he didn't feel up to starting off the next day with a nasty hangover. Especially not coupled with excessive amounts of walking outside in the cold, which they inevitably would be doing.

Finally, after several more minutes of watching the few patrons remaining in the inn's common room, Kjan stood up and deposited his empty tankard on the counter. It really was a crime, he reflected, to be going to bed this early - and alone - in a tavern, but there wasn't exactly much else to do. The appearance of the soldiers earlier had quieted things down significantly, and he was a little tired from all the walking and sleeping on the ground that they'd done in the past few days. Probably just as well, too, that they all lay low after the commotion caused by merely mentioning the Phantom's name.

Sighing in resignation, he went up the stairs once more and went down the hall until he found the only one of their rooms that wasn't already locked. Further inspection confirmed that the other occupant was Ayden, which Kjan supposed was acceptable. At any rate, it was probably wise to have someone relatively responsible rooming with him. The man seemed rather...excitable, at times. Removing his cloak and any weapons that might be potentially harmful to lie on, Kjan collapsed onto the bed and was out in a matter of seconds.

--------------------------------------------------

Silvryn stared at the door for a few seconds, mildly shocked. Whatever reaction she had been expecting from Eledhe, it hadn't been quite that. Evidently, she'd unwittingly discovered a sore spot of the mercenary's, if such a violent reaction was anything to judge by. She considered it for a moment longer, then decided that it was of little importance. Likely as not, the mercenary was simply already in a sour mood.

She watched the snow falling outside for a few minutes before realizing abruptly that she really was quite tired, and that bed did look rather inviting. She had quarters of her own in the Keep, of course, in which there was a bed, but the quality of said bed was debatable. It had been used for over five years, and Silvryn stongly suspected that a few stones had been used along with the straw and feathers to stuff it. And then there was the matter of sleeping on the ground for the past few days....

At length, Silvryn decided that it certainly wouldn't hurt to be well-rested for once. Laying her sheathed sword by her side - she fully expected the mercenary to return eventually, and likely in a less than cheerful mood - she slid under the covers, closed her eyes, and drifted into slumber with remarkable ease.

((Sorry guys - long posts to follow))

When Eledhe came down the narrow stairs, expression stony, the common room was empty. The innkeeper looked as though he'd retired, and just as she entered the one remaining barmaid vanished into the back room. The fire was flickering still, but increasingly made up of glowing embers. Ostensibly, the members of their group had all retired.

Striding across the room, she dropped into one of the worn armchairs, folding her arms to stare into the dying flames. They dwindled eventually, as though her icy gaze had hastened their demise, but she hardly noticed. Almost absently, she reached again to trace the points of her ears. Who did she have to thank for those?

A filthy noble.

Eledhe shifted position, scowling. She couldn't get away from them, not even when she was alone. You might almost pass as a noble yourself. "Wonder why that is," she muttered sourly to herself, kicking off her boots with more fervor than strictly required.

"Why what is?"

The sullen inquiry came from the other side of the semicircle of chairs clustered about the fireplace. Eledhe started up in spite of herself. Oh.

"Too cheap to pay for a room?" she snapped, settling back into the chair. Liell was the last person she'd have willingly had a conversation with at this point in time - besides possibly Silvryn.

The legs of his chair dragged as he pulled it closer to the fire. "What about you? Your friend there is conveniently financing your board, I suppose? Where'd you pick him up?"

She could just see the sneer on his face in the dying light. It didn't improve her mood. "Ask me no questions and I'll refrain from decapitating you where you sit."

"You're as nice as ever."

Eledhe did not deign to reply, only drew her knees up to sit in seething silence, and contemplate forcing him to go away with a skillfully placed throwing star. She had nearly decided to do it when he rose to lean casually against the mantle, to toy offhandedly with a dagger before speaking. "Weren't you the one who was so contemptuous of loyalty? I suppose we're all hypocrites at one time or another..."

Their eyes met, his taunting and hers icy enough to result in frost on the mantlepiece. Her next words were worthy of deadpan Silvryn. "I can't imagine what you mean."

"Hmmm." Liell managed to make the monosyllable sound soothingly patronizing, which (if possible) served to further blacken Eledhe's mien. "How odd...scruffy fellow who was in here before can't be paying you much. What's his name...oh, Phantom Grey."

"Dear me, how unfortunate," said Eledhe smoothly, rising to her feet. "Wasn't it Article Three in the Assassin's Handbook that drunkenness is the sign of an uneffective mercenary? I do believe you're slipping, Liell." Rising, she casually stepped toward him, tapped a finger on his forehead. "How sad."

Faster than she'd thought he was capable of moving, he grabbed her wrist. "Drunk, am I?" Seven levels of the underworld, somehow that smile did not bode well. "I suppose it's just another fragment of my inebriated mind that Eledhe Darkstar's picked a side....a side with Phantom Grey."

"That's right," said Eledhe, a touch less smoothly. "I have exceedingly sharp objects on my person, as you well know. Kindly let go. You're repeating yourself."

The words might as well not have been spoken. Casually, Liell turned her hand over. Promptly, Eledhe balled it into a fist. "This is connecting with your head if you don't -"

"So you're not loyal to him at all?"

"No, you fragment of pig's dung! Let go!"

It was too late to jerk away when he neatly flicked the parchment from her belt pouch. "Hmmm. It says Eledhe Darkstar hereby pledges her services to - how coincidental, look at that, Phaerin Grey - for the recompensation of...my, that's a low number. In fact, it's not much of a number at all."

"Give that back!" Eledhe whipped out a throwing star, eyes blazing. "I didn't mind using this before and I don't now."

He did, but kept the parchment. "No loyalty, eh?"

Curse him. Curse him every single way under the sun and moon and stars that Eledhe had ever heard, and some she hadn't. "You know as well as I do those don't mean a thing."

"Really?" Liell raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Prove it."

Eledhe stared at him. "...sorry?"

"Prove it. You could get a lot of valuable, shiny pieces of metal for turning in one of those outlaws upstairs."

Eledhe's mind worked rapidly. Right, no loyalty. She didn't have time for denying that anymore. Aye, she had allied herself with Phantom Grey, if only to overthrow the nobles she hated. And if Liell went anywhere with that knowledge...there would be no more rebellion. So she needed to prove she wasn't loyal, then? She could do that. There were more outlaws in the party - more wanted personages, in fact - than solely the Phantom.

Lazily, she let a smile curve her lips up. She'd always had a flair for acting. "Happily. Would you like to know which royal figurehead is sleeping upstairs?"

She leaned forward and whispered it. He smiled, too.

~~~

A sheathed sword. Eledhe allowed herself a smile before she removed it and tossed the weapon to Liell, motioning with a finger to her lips for him to be silent. Contemplating for a moment as she stood to look down at the sleeping Silvryn, she beckoned to him with the same finger.

"Your majesty," she whispered, bending and placing her hand over Silvryn's mouth. "Do wake up."

_________________

Silvryn jolted upright. Or rather, she attempted to, only to be thwarted by the mercenary's firm grasp on her arm. She groped blindly for her sword, panicking slightly when she couldn't find it. She might have ordinarily stopped and taken time to clear her head, but then, she wasn't ordinarily being forcibly restrained by the Phantom's pet mercenary.

She tried to shout, but Eledhe's hand over her mouth kept it from doing much good. Simply put, the mercenary was stronger. Silvryn kept struggling, until in the shadows behind Eledhe, she was just able to make out the man from earlier. He was smiling quite eerily and steadily advancing with a length of rope. She saw the fist coming half a second before she blacked out.

------------------------------------------

Kjan rolled over in bed and let out a low groan. It was scarcely even light out! There was absolutely no reason why he shouldn't have been able to close his eyes and go right back to sleep, especially given his natural inclination toward sleeping late. Yet for the past half-hour or so, he had been wide awake, despite his repeated attempts to the contrary. He blamed the absurdly early time of retirement the night before.

Sighing, he finally sat up and decided that if he was going to be awake, then he might as well do something productive. Glancing at the still-sleeping Ayden, Kjan went over to the washbasin, splashed a little water over his face - his second bath in as many days - and dried it off with the provided rag that he supposed was intended to be a towel of sorts. There. He had effectively killed two minutes. He briefly considered shaving, but he hadn't brought a razor of his own, and he doubted that anything provided by the innkeeper would be particularly serviceable. Besides, a little stubble never hurt anybody.

Kjan opened the shutters a bit and looked outside again. It was only lightly misting now, but hardly anyone was on the streets on account of it being so blasted early. Sixpeaks was, for the most part, more of a "passing through" sort of town than one where you would settle down to make your living, and so most of its inhabitants weren't the sort to get up at the crack of dawn, either. Still, since he had nothing better to do, he decided that he might as well go have a look around. Maybe he could find an open shop where he could buy a pipe....

-----

An hour later, Kjan strode into the Phantom's room uninvited. "They really do need to consider upgrading the security around here. I was able to pick that lock in under ten seconds," he announced as he closed the door behind himself. "This is outrageous." It became evident that he was no longer referring to the locks when he threw a stack of parchments down in front of the Phantom. "All over town, these are. We're just fortunate that half the town's probably still sleeping off a hangover. And would you just look at them!"

Closer inspection showed that the stack was actually comprised of multiple copies of two different parchments. Specifically, 'wanted' posters. One bore a fairly accurate sketch of the Phantom, along with the appropriate title, an enormous reward, and the typical 'dead or alive' sort of stuff. The other was similar, only it had Kjan, no title, and a considerably smaller reward. "Twenty silvers! If I'd known that I only had that much of a reward built up, I'd have booby-trapped the Regent's personal outhouse or something while we were still in Y'rydha. Honestly, I'd have thought that five years of being actively involved in the rebellion would have earned me some sort of infamy. It's not as though I've been sitting in the Keep twiddling my thumbs."

He picked up one of the aforementioned posters, only to make a sound of disgust and drop it. "There's not even a name! Just 'rebel,' and not in very big letters, either. The least they could do is say 'dangerous rebel' or something, if they're going to bother with it at all. They're essentially saying, 'Bring us the big, bad Phantom at all costs! Oh, and if you happen to see this minor troublemaker about, bring him in as well, hmm? But don't go to too much trouble. There's a good chap.'"

Letting out another disgusted sound, Kjan sat down on the edge of the bed that was opposite the Phantom. "Anyway," he said after a moment, apparently over his rant. "This could be a bit problematic. I pulled down as many as I could in the immediate area, but there's only so much you can do before people start taking notice and wondering why you're pulling down a bunch of wanted posters for someone who bears a striking resemblance to yourself."

The Phantom groaned and opened one eye, muttering something incoherent. The only distinguishable word was 'sleep', unsurprisingly. "It's only an hour after dawn," he groaned, sitting up. "Sadist...unfeeling cad..."

Mid-yawn, one of the posters caught his eye. Grogginess forgotton, he snatched at it. "Underworld's gates! These are all over?" Still reading, he groped for his cloak and boots with his other hand. "...calls himself Phantom Grey...dead or alive, preferably alive...fifty gold?"

For a moment he looked vaguely complimented. "I could buy an entire noble's household with fifty gold...but never mind that, we've got to leave or we'll be sitting in a dungeon before the day's out." Having thus completely failed to notice Kjan's less impressive poster, he half-fell out into the hallway while still jamming on one boot.

Banging on doors, the Phantom attempted to do up his cloak with his free hand and jabbed himself with the pin. "Rise and shine, we're leaving!" He opened one and hastily closed it. "Er, sorry, ma'am. Silvryn! Eledhe! Ouch, this pin...Silvryn!"

He banged on the door once more, then ventured to open it. He blinked. "Kjan, do you know...? Silvryn? Eledhe?"

The Phantom stepped inside, undone cloak trailing. Both beds were empty, the one untouched and the other with the coverlet crumpled against the wall and the pillow several feet away on the floor. Frowning, he reached for it, and a ripped piece of parchment on the rumpled sheet caught his eye.

Sorry. Highest bidder. Princesses are valuable.
E.

There was a moment of frozen silence in which the Phantom's cloak dropped from his shoulders.

_________________

Haiyya was not a morning person. Fortunately, bards were late-night entertainers, and generally not expected to rise any time before noon. Unless, of course, they were travelling that day.

Which she was.

She remembered this fact as she woke briefly to turn over, noting the early rays of light filtering past the cracked wooden shutters. "Stone the sky," she groaned, then lay there for several minutes more until she could convince herself to get up and dress. Her pack, prepared the night before, lay near the door, along with her instruments in their padded cases.

She had just pulled her boots on and was twisting up her hair in a knot when a commotion of banging doors traveled down the hall. Her own door burst open and closed just as rapidly with a barely distinguishable "Er, sorry, ma'am." By the time she had looked up to see who it was, the door had shut.

She should have remembered to lock it last night. Apparently she hadn't. She really shouldn't forget things like that.

Knotting her sashes about her waist, Haiyya tied her money pouch securely on and checked the room expertly, making sure she'd left nothing behind. Then it was off through the door and down the hall, swinging her equipment onto her back.

Passing a room with an open door and complete silence, she looked in curiously. A rumpled bed, disarray, and the Phantom (claimant) shaking off the immobility of surprise. She couldn't help interjecting, "Ermmm... something wrong?"

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Kjan returned to his own room first, double-checking to make sure that his pack was ready to go before turning to face Ayden. "Oi! Time to go," he repeated, shaking the man awake. "I know at least fifty unpleasant and potentially harmful ways of waking people, and I'm not afraid to employ any of them. Or, on second thought, there are several methods that I'd still like to try out. Stay in bed as long as you'd like."

Once he was reasonably certain that Ayden was at least conscious, Kjan moved on to Ash and Jate's room. They really did need to look into replacing the locks around here. "Rise and shine, ladies." He abruptly pulled the covers off of both beds. "Quickly, if you please, unless you fancy checking into the Regent's dungeons for a permanent stay. Or at least until he hangs you. We're leaving in five minutes, should you wish to join us." He glanced at Jate and added as an afterthough, "Or if you don't."

He headed down the hall to Eledhe and Silvryn's room, only to find the door already open and the bard - Haiyya? - standing outside. "Greetings," Kjan said amiably, nodding in her general direction before sticking his head inside the room. It was...empty? Well, empty of the expected individuals, at least. The Phantom was there, standing motionlessly beside one of the beds. But neither Eledhe nor Silvryn was anywhere to be seen.

"Did the ladies already get up?" he asked, frowning slightly in bemusement. "I didn't see them in the common room when I went down earlier, but it's possible that I missed them...."

Princesses are valuable. For a moment the Phantom remembered, very vividly, a certain scene around a campfire. "I have little interest in being stabbed in my sleep, Phantom. Please be careful."

"Oh aye, something is bloody well wrong," he growled in Haiyya and Kjan's direction, shoving the scrap of parchment at them. "Tell me that piece of parchment does not indicate that for five years I've trusted a bloody turncoat." In other circumstances he might have watched his words around the minstrel woman - she had hardly allied herself with them - but Silvryn was gone!

Princesses are valuable. "Curse it, curse it, curse it - dark gods, when I catch up with her -"

He was sorely tempted to kick the bedpost, but some instinct of survival kicked in. "Right," he said - or rather growled - and snatched his cloak off the floor. "They can't be far. We'll find out from someone which way they went. If Silvryn's able, she'll try to leave tracks." The plan spiraled itself out in his head. Ask which way - follow the tracks - catch up - how could they catch up, with so many of them, and only Eledhe and Silvryn to track - the pair could move faster. Never mind that, they could do it. Silvryn would slow Eledhe down. Catch up, and then by the seven levels of the underworld Eledhe would wish she'd never been born.

"Why isn't everyone up?" he thundered, bursting out into the hallway. "We have to leave, now!"

_________________

Ash was usually a sound sleeper, and it took nothing short of an earthquake to wake him early in the morning. When he heard the Phantom's voice, though, he woke up quite suddenly and flung himself out of the bed. Something was wrong- very wrong. Strapping on his weapons, he shook Jate's shoulder. "Best be up, lad. The Phantom doesn't sound like his usual cheery self."

He flung his cloak around his shoulders, then hopped out into the hallway, still pulling on his boots. The Phantom, Kjan, and the lady bard were gathered around Eledhe and Silvryn's door. "What's going on? Where are the women?"

Ayden had managed to rouse himself from the bed at Kjan's dire-sounding threats, though he did not fully believe them. However, he hadn't made it past the wash basin before he heard the Phantom's voice thundering. He cringed. He was already definitely not on the Phantom's good side, and if said unhappy person was grumpy, then life had just gone steeply downhill. As a matter of fact, it seemed to already be in the bottom of the well by now.

Scrambling to get his tunic on, he shrugged into his coat, pinning his cloak on overtop, then put his pack on his back and headed out of the room. It was a sight to behold. Everyone else was timing their room-exiting for the same moment, with the exception of Kjan, the Phantom, and the minstrel, who were already deeply troubled outside. Ayden swallowed hard, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach.

Sidling up next to Ash, he kept his eyes fixed on the Phantom--just in case he remembered the day before. "What happened?" he whispered.

_________________

Kjan grabbed the parchment and quickly read it. This day was just getting better and better. Swearing quite eloquently under his breath, he turned around to face Ash and the others. "They're not here," he said shortly. He started to go after the Phantom, only to pause and whirl around again. "Actually, can everyone go back to their rooms for a bit? If we keep making this much noise, the wanted posters won't be necessary. Be ready to leave at a moment's notice, though."

As everyone complied, Kjan took off after the Phantom. "Hey!" he called after him, to little avail. The Phantom didn't seem to be paying much attention at the moment. "Listen!" he tried again. No response. Kjan was having to practically jog just to keep up with the man's long strides. "Would you just- Phaerin!" he said quietly but insistently. "Can we maybe discuss this for half a moment? Perhaps have some sort of plan? Please don't kill me for saying this, but we just promised a dwarf a rather large sum of money in exchange for his taking us somewhere. You know better than I how important that somewhere is. I'm not saying that we shouldn't go after them, but we have to take it into consideration."

"Don't call me Phaerin," said the Phantom, that being evidently the only thing he'd picked up. "Listen, they can't be far. We'll ask someone which way and Silvryn will -"

He broke off, staring at Kjan. "Dwarf? Oh - underworld's gates -"

Turning, he swore explosively. "Dwarf. Heartshard." Silvryn. "Eledhe's going to paint my name all over the country, we can't go with him now." His words were followed by a moment of silence. Agonizing realization dawned.

"So," he finished, dangerously quiet now, and stepped back to drop into one of the inn's chairs. "Either we go after Eledhe and stop her, and let the Regent's men find the Heartshard, or we..." But they both knew the other possibility. "Curse her. Curse her to the seven levels of the bloody underworld."

Expression stony, he got to his feet. "We're off, then." He paused before ascending to collect the rest of his possessions from their room, and if the Phantom could look alarming, he did. "If I ever find Eledhe she had better bloody have out every bloody weapon she possesses."

_________________

Kjan followed, his own expression not nearly as dark as the Phantom's, but certainly not cheerful. He was angry as well, of course, but mostly just puzzled. Eledhe had had plenty of opportunities in the past five years to betray them - why now? They hadn't treated her like an ordinary mercenary; they'd included her in top-secret discussions almost from the start. That she knew the location of the Keep at all was enough to earn her the Regent's automatic favour, if that was what she sought. Why wait five years, and then make off in the middle of the night with the princess? That they now sought the Heartshard likely had something to do with it - regardless of how valuable Lady Silvryn was, Eledhe no doubt knew that they couldn't rightly choose her over the Heartshard. The stakes were too high if someone else got their hands on it first. But then, for that matter, why not simply wait until they had the Heartshard, and then make off with that in the middle of the night? It simply didn't add up, in his mind.

Sticking his head in Ash and Jate's room once more, he announced that they were leaving in two minutes, then went back to his own room to retrieve his pack. As he double-checked to make sure everything was secure, he repeated the message to Ayden. "Oh, and the Phantom's in a slightly murderous mood," he added, hoisting the pack up onto his back. "Try to refrain from doing anything stupid."

While he waited for the others to emerge, Kjan leaned against the wall outside his room. Abruptly, he realized that the bard was still standing out in the hallway. "Hullo, again," he said, inclining his head slightly. "I hope you're having a decent morning, at least?"

(sorry for not posting yesterday - I was pretty sick)

"Oh, terribly," Haiyya reassured him. Not being a member of the traveling party, she hadn't felt the need to return to her room, as the rest had done. The bits of conversation that had drifted up the stairs - which she had been conveniently positioned to receive - had been vaguely enlightening.

"I must admit that my curiosity has been piqued, though. For example, what is this 'Heartshard' - it sounds like something from a song." To forestall any reluctance from Kjan, she leaned back against the wall also, folding her arms over her chest and shaking back a loose wisp of hair. "Of course, I could always go to the military outpost in town and suggest an immediate search of the inn." She winked. "That might be exciting, too."

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

"Eavesdropping, were you?" Kjan inquired mildly, only half teasing. Appearing to suddenly be very fascinated with the filth that had accumulated under his fingernails, he took his time coming up with a suitable response. They couldn't very well tell the woman everything - especially considering that sharing news was central to her occupation. "The Heartshard is a somewhat important something-or-another that happens to be somewhere that we can't find," he finally replied, waving a hand vaguely. "Nothing of great significance, really."

Somewhat mockingly, Kjan folded his arms across his chest as well. "If you're going to the outpost anyway, could you perhaps tell them that there's also a bard staying here who seems to be a bit of a rebel-sympathizer herself?" he asked with a smirk. "One can never be too careful these days....Oh, and you may want to hurry. We're departing imminently, and I've heard that the Phantom is nigh impossible to catch once he's faded into the mists."

"Better hurry what?" said the Phantom, hurrying out of their room with his pack half-on. "I hope it's 'better hurry up, Kjan'." He turned to Haiyya, executed a short bow, and said, "Pleasure making your acquaintance, m'lady, but I'm afraid we're off. If you ever decide I'm actually Phantom Grey, I'd be pleased to have you as an ally. As it is, I'd appreciate some discretion on your part." He didn't say it, but his set expression did - I've already got one liability.

He nodded, a touch curtly - even now, his thunderstorm self of before was receding, but he wasn't exactly jovial - and turned. "Kjan, let's go. Erdhod was meeting us at the entrance."

_________________

It seemed as though he had just gotten to sleep. But nooo..here Kjan had to come barging into the room waking him up. And then Ash continued the business when Jate tried to just roll over. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes blearily, Jate saw the sun just coming up in the window.

"Hang it all, why are up at the bloody crack of dawn?" He muttered into his hands. He moved over to the basin of water. And had to hold back a gasp as the iciness splashed his face. As he was drying with the "towel" by the bowl, Ash entered the room again.

"Why are you back? I thought we were leaving. Does this mean I can sleep some more?" Jate asked hopefully.

"Of course not. Get ready to leave immediately."

Groaning, Jate pulled on his boots and cloak. Keeping everything else on helped him stay warm while he slept and now, he thought ruefully, helped get ready. Picking up a few other odds and ends, including his daggers and newly trimmed walking staff, he sat on the edge of his bed. Noise from the hall brought him to the door, and he saw the Phantom, Kjan, and their new bard friend heading down the stairs.

"Looks like we're leaving now," he called back to Ash as he headed after the three.

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going on a journey through my old claims