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Lady Railly

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~-~Chapter 7~-~

When Yorin had last seen the town, it was in ruins as it had been invaded by the Itav Initev so many times. Now, lots of the demolished buildings had been remade, and the marketplace was freshly stocked with all sorts of goods, each with a seller trying to persuade you to buy something, even if you didn't need it.

Oden led the gang out of the buildings part of the town and into the marketplace. This was obviously where they got their food from, they didn't hunt like the Itav Initev did. Fresh fruit, such as apples and pears, were pouring out of sacks on wooden tables. Fish were hanging lifeless by their tails whilst the seller shouted "Bargain! Bargain! Two salmon for one bronze coin!"

Yorin looked around at all of the offers around him, as he had never actually paid attention to them - he was usually just too focused on looting whatever he could on the rare times his ex-gang came here. Then his eyes rested on a man, in tatty brown clothes, in the distance shouting something unaudible. Making his way past the rest of his gang, he walked towards the person, wanting to know what he was saying. The man seemed to have his eyes on Yorin's sack - that's why he wanted to go further towards him.

"I have the greatest magical power ever!" he was shouting to passer-bys. "I will double all your cash! Just give me any type of coin, an' I will use my magic to duplicate it!" Most of the passerbys ignored him, but those who didn't just smirked and muttered amongst themselves. Yorin raised his eyebrows at the offer, but decided to try it.

He walked up towards the man, clearly spotting that he was still gazing at the sack like a malnourished person at food. Yorin opened it up and took out a handful of gold coins, taking care not to drop any on the floor as he didn't want people crawling underneath his feet to get them. When he had got a reasonable amount of coins in his hand, he asked, "Can you really duplicate my money?" The man nodded. "My speciality is gold!"

28-Feb-2012 20:07:22 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:48:24 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Yorin nodded, and gave him a full smile, before handing him the gold coins, all of them, to him. He expected the man to close his eyes and mutter some sort of spell.

Instead, he took off.

With the gold coins clasped in his hand, he made a run for it, grinning to himself, thinking, ~Wow. What a stupid person, falling for a trick like that!~ What he didn't realise was that thinking slowed his down, and Yorin caught up with him easily, the sack carefully carried on his shoulder. He quickly put his hands over the man's stomach and clasped them, before pulling him to him. "Give...me...the coins...back..." Yorin ordered sternly.

Some of the shoppers had seen this incident occur, so they too were running to Yorin and the man who had scammed him. "Please, just keep him still, while I get the coins back," he told them breathlessly, as two of the people held him under his arms. Yorin prised the man's fingers off the coins, and they fell to the floor with a soft clang. Quickly, he picked them up, and stuffed them back in his sack.

Yorin thanked them, before the shoppers dragged the man in the tatty clothes back to the marketplace. He managed to break free of them though, and he started running the opposite way to where Yorin was walking. Then the Vetini Vati caught up with the ex-spy.

"You shouldn't have left us," Oden told Yorin, sighing. "What happened?" Yorin's eyes dropped to the floor. "He nearly scammed me off some gold coins, but I managed to catch him and get the money back." Oden nodded. "Well, let's go back, and you can use your money on something worthwhile." Sighing with relief, Yorin brought the sack back down from his shoulder and held it with one hand, before walking back to the marketplace with Oden and the Vetini Vati.

When they had returned to the marketplace, Oden reminded Yorin to stay with them as he walked towards the fruit stalls. Yorin stared at the apples and pears stacked in sacks. He had never actually tasted one before, let alone buy one.

28-Feb-2012 20:07:28 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:49:11 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

However, Oden was talking to the man at the apple stall then. The man had a dark brown beard, almost black, and wore a more bright colour than the scammer - navy blue. "I will have six apples, please," Oden was saying. The man brought out a rather small sack and placed six apples carefully into it.

"That will be six bronze coins," the man muttered as the leader of the VV brought out a small horse-leather bag and emptied the six coins into his hand. He handed it to him, and the man smiled and thanked him as Oden turned to what was left of his gang, noticeably Yorin. He laughed when he saw the expression on Yorin's face.

"Haven't you had one before?" Oden asked. Yorin shook his head. "Well, why don't you try one now?" The ex-spy shrugged and gingerly took one apple out of the small sack. He brought it to his lips and took out a bite from it, not too big but big enough to have the taste. Yorin licked his lips to get more of the taste. "That IS nice," he said, grinning. Oden grinned back. "Good. I'm guessing it's your first ever fruit?" Yorin laughed a little and nodded, taking another bite, bigger this time.

By the time they had moved over to the fish and meat stall, Yorin had finished his apple but grimaced as the smell of raw fish and chicken met his nose. However, it seemed that Oden was used to the smell. He walked up to the tables, with salmon and trout flat in lines on them. "I would like two of each, salmon and trout, please," Oden asked, flashing the woman a smile. The woman was wrapped in a very light green tunic, and she had light blonde hair, falling past her shoulders.

She carelessly took two trout and two salmon from the stall, noticing Oden already had a sack. "Would you like another sack?" she asked. He nodded and the woman shoved the fish into another bag and handed it to him. He smiled at her, before turning back round.

Yorin had been watching Oden do all this, when he felt his sack move by something else. He turned around and gasped in surprise.

28-Feb-2012 20:09:50 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:49:54 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

There was a little boy tugging at the sack. But what surprised Yorin was the condition he was in.

The boy was probably around his teenage years, but really he looked as though he was an eight or nine year old; he was malnourished. His matchstick arms tugged at the bottom of the sack weakly, and as Yorin raised his sack up slowly, out of the boy's grasp, he looked at the ex-spy with eyes full of despair. And... Yorin was moved. He was actually moved.

His eyes darted from the boy to the sack, and back to the boy, and to the sack, and they kept doing that. The boy's legs were so frail and thin that he had to kneel down, and he was reaching up towards the direction of the sack, but obviously he couldn't reach.

Yorin bit his lip nervously, and then put a hand into the sack, rummaging for some coins. The little boy's face lit up with glee as Yorin brought out two shining gold coins. Looking at them and then at the boy one last time, he handed them to the malnourished child. The boy then gave a weak smile, a small exclaim, and then ran, or rather limped, back to his mother, who was sitting at the opposite side. She had watched the whole thing.

Yorin smiled at the woman as he walked over to her. She smiled back timidly, as Yorin spoke for the first time in a while. "You... seem to be short of money," he muttered, trying to think of something to say. The woman nodded. "But... you were part of that gang... who invaded this place. Why... are you with them? Why aren't you attacking us like you normally would?"

Yorin sighed, shifting from one foot to the other. "It's a long story. But I can't tell you now, I have to go." With a half-wave, he rushed back to the Vetini Vati, and Oden was smiling at him. Yorin looked at him with an expression, as if to say, "What are you smiling at?"

Oden's smile widened. "You've already changed, I can see that," he simply said. "You've gone from being cold and not caring about others, to..." He gestured at him, not able to find the words.

28-Feb-2012 20:09:50 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:50:24 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Yorin laughed and raised his eyebrows. ~...Really? Well, yeah, it's true,~ he thought, as he began following Oden towards the village, as he had heard him saying things about recruiting. ~It's time to get new members... I really hope the villagers aren't scared of me. After all, I was a member of the Itav Initev.~ That led him to an even more worrying thought. ~They would have found I was gone by now. What will happen when I go back, and maybe bump into them? Then again, Oden and the veterans of his gang will be able to protect me.~

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a tinkle of coins drop onto the floor. He turned around immediately after hearing that sound, although in a way that was a mistake. More coins poured out of his sack. But how? He inspected it and realised there was a rather small hole in the bottom of it, but big enough for a single gold coin to fit through.

That was when he saw a man. A masked man, with a silver-coloured knife and a small piece of sack near him. He also had a coin in his hand. Well, quite a few coins, actually. Before Yorin realised what was happening, the man took off. Yorin contemplated running after him, but that would probably just make things worse, as there was still a hole at the bottom of his sack. And it would empty out even more coins.

As quickly as he could, and without spilling any more coins, he picked the existing coins that were on the floor up (he was surprised no-one had stolen them) and put them back in the sack, using the small hole. Then, he covered up the hole with the palm of his hand and carried it like that, one hand clutching the top of the sack, one hand supporting it from the bottom and also stopping any more coins from falling out.

He walked over to the Vetini Vati and had no need to tell them about the incident; they had seen it all themselves. "You've been in a lot of incidents today," said Oden, sighing. Yorin agreed to this, before walking straight into the centre of the village.

28-Feb-2012 20:09:51 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:51:08 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

~-~Chapter 8~-~

As Yorin and the Vetini Vati entered the village, Yorin was a little surprised. He saw many homeless people clothed in tattered rags, but he also saw many buildings. They had obviously been remade between the time the Itav Initev had invaded the town and now. Oden turned to Yorin, and said, "Watch closely. We're going to recruit members now, and you'll also have to do it, so I'll give you an example." Yorin nodded and then proceeded to watch the event that happened before his eyes.

Oden strode over to a man covered in dirt and dark brown robes, symbolising he was poor. Very poor indeed. He crouched down so that he was face-to-face with the man. "You know the Itav Initev?" asked Oden. The man nodded sadly. "My house was taken away from them," he muttered. Oden sat beside him. "Well, if you joined us, then maybe you could get your house back. Nearly all of our members we lost because of them. And we're recruiting people now. So would you like to join?"

The man looked up and let off a small smile. "Well..." he said, sighing. "Okay. But how will I be able to fight? That's the whole reason I got homeless. I couldn't stand up to myself and I wasn't able to fight back." Oden gave the man a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. We've got a place where we can train you."

As Yorin was listening in, he heard Oden's words. He had forgotten about the training arena by then. ~Damn, I still haven't told him...~ he thought to himself crossly. *But how can I now? He's in the middle of a conversation. And it probably doesn't matter much anyway.~ At that moment, Oden walked back to Yorin with the man following him.

The leader grinned at the ex-spy and Yorin grinned back at him. "See? It's that simple," he whispered in Yorin's ear. "All you need is a bit of encouragement in your voice, and they will eventually give in and join us. Don't worry, because we will take care of the eighteen others we need. Also, you need to be truthful. Now go find someone to recruit."

28-Feb-2012 20:09:51 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:51:44 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Yorin listened to everything and nodded to everything apart from the truthful part. That included the training arena thing. ~What if the person I'm trying to recruit wonders how he will be trained? What will I say then?~ he thought. ~Well, in Oden's eyes, it's truth, so yeah, I really should say it to whoever I'm recruiting.~

He spotted another homeless man just not too far away from where Oden's recruit once sat. Yorin walked over to him, and gave a reassuring smile. "Would you like to join our gang?" he asked him, the smile still on his face. However, the man in rags misunderstood him completely. His expression turned to one of shock. "What...?" he stammered. "You're telling me...to join the Itav Initev? Why would I ever do that?! They were the whole reason I'm homeless now!" He stared up at Yorin and his eyes seemed to utter one word: "Seriously?"

Yorin closed his eyes and exhaled. He wasn't expecting this, he wasn't expecting the man to completely misunderstand him. Additionally, he was surprised that he hadn't noticed Oden and the rest as the Vetini Vati, thus meaning that Yorin had joined them. "No...no..." he muttered, sighing once more. "I meant, join the Vetini Vati. I joined them, I left the Itav Initev, for a reason that...I can't explain now, sorry."

The man's smile grew again. "Oh, in that case, of course! They protect us as best as they can. But how can I be trained to be as strong and as skillful as all of you?" Yorin grinned slightly at his compliment, but then his worrying thought returned to his mind as he mentioned training. "We have a training area nearby, and you'll be able to train there, along with everything else there is over there."

The man, content with Yorin's answers, stood up slowly. His legs were rather thin, but not malnourished. He had a small pot next to him with some coins, them being silver, gold or bronze. The man noticed Yorin glancing at it and explained, "I use this to buy my food. I beg for money, sometimes by dancing!"

28-Feb-2012 20:11:00 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:52:15 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Yorin laughed a little. "You dance for money?" The man nodded. Yorin's laugh turned into a smile. "Wow. I never thought that's possible. You will never have to do that again. You will learn the skills of fighting, and hunting rabbits and other things for food..." He broke off when he remembered that was what the Itav Initev did. But the Vetini Vati could do that, he just had never seen something like that ever since he joined. But if they didn't...could that be another lie?

Yorin hated to lie; which is why he felt too stressed of possible lies and what could be possibly the truths, and he shook all thoughts relating to that off his mind. "Come on, let's go back to the leader. His name is Oden, just so you know," Yorin said to the man as he started to walk towards the VV. The man followed him, a smile still on his face.

Yorin then studied the current 'Vetini Vati'. The other veterans of the gang had brought the eighteen other members needed to the gang, so they now didn't need any other members. The man stood next to Oden's recruit. "Thank you," Oden whispered in Yorin's ears. "We've got all the others, so we can go back to camp. Which reminds me..."

The leader started to walk into the marketplace once more, and the recruits, along with Yorin and the older members, began to follow him. They watched as he bought some more fruit and fish - eighteen apples and ten fish, five trout and five salmon - and stuffed it into his already existing sack. "Right, we've got all the food we need," Oden announced to the gang. "Let's go back to our camp, and excuse the mess there. Some of our members were tragically killed, and we haven't gotten rid of them yet."

Oden started to walk back out of the marketplace, into the village, out of the village and towards the exit, which was where the Vetini Vati came out from when they first visited the marketplace earlier. Yorin walked faster than the rest of them so he could catch up with Oden, and then walked with him, sack in his hands.

28-Feb-2012 20:11:00 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:53:13 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

The next morning, Yorin woke up, and immediately turned to the side to gaze at the lovely sack of golden coins he had - only it wasn't there.

Yorin rubbed his eyes violently to make himself fully awake, and then searched for where the sack might be. Nothing. It actually wasn't there.

His eyes widened as he got out of bed and unzipped the tent. He had woken up quite late, and the rest of the Vetini Vati, including the recruits, were sitting on the logs. Oden was cooking some fish over the warm, glowing fire. Each of the members were eating an apple. Yorin joined them, scratching his hair and the back of his neck sleepily. Oden greeted him with a, "Hello, good morning. You look upset. What's happened?"

Yorin sighed and sat down next to him, seeing as every other spot was taken. "I don't know what happened..." he muttered. "The sack you gave me... it's gone."

Oden stared at him in surprise. "It can't have," he exclaimed softly. Yorin nodded sadly and looked down. "It did," he argued. "It isn't there." As he looked up, he noticed one of the recruits had a guilty expression on their face. Yorin glared at him. "Did you steal it?" he asked, his tone soft at first, but growing louder each second. "Did you steal it?!"

"No, no, no...n-no, no, no..." the recruit stammered, shaking his hands in a swiping motion. Yorin stood up and walked right up close so that his face was next to his. "You DID! You're just denying it!" he shouted. Oden stood up as well and grabbed Yorin's shoulder. "Calm down," he murmured, before turning to the startled recruit. "Now, would you like to tell me what exactly is it you know? Over there?" He pointed to a spot that was far enough for Yorin not to hear.

The recruit quickly nodded, stood up, and rushed to the spot where Oden had told him to. They were muttering, and nodding, but Yorin couldn't work it out what they were saying. He really wanted to use his spying skills and listen hidden, but he couldn't. So, instead, he just waited.

28-Feb-2012 20:11:00 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:53:25 by Lady Railly

Lady Railly

Posts: 3,140 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

As Oden and the recruit returned, Yorin was going crazy over what might had happened, and what the recruit had told him. "What did he do..." he muttered, closing his eyes, waiting for Oden to tell him that the once-poor recruit spent it all, or something related to that.

Oden laid his hand on Yorin's shoulder once more. "Well, it wasn't what you thought at all," he mumbled. "Actually, he saw someone take the sack at night, when you were asleep. The person made a noise, which woke him up." Yorin opened his eyes and stared at the recruit. "...Really?" he asked.

The recruit sighed. "Yes...I woke up, and I heard a noise. I looked out of the tent, and I saw someone running out of the camp with a sack in their hands. It looked pretty similar to the sack you had." Yorin nodded, and sat down again. This was when he realised something. "One of the Initev could've taken it..." he said, mostly to himself, but some of it was to Oden.

"How would they know you had a sack of gold coins?" the leader asked, looking curious and confused. Yorin agreed to this, but then he remembered when Oden first gave him the sack. It was at night, and he was still part of the Initev then. Which meant we would have brought the sack back to that camp...It seemed possible someone would have seen it and liked the look of it.

"Well, I brought the sack to the Itav Initev camp, didn't I? When you first gave me it. Which means someone would have seen it..." Yorin explained, sighing. "So...it's a possibility one of them could've taken it." Oden nodded. "We will have to confront them then, won't we?" Yorin agreed, just as Oden brought out the fish and shared it between the twenty-five or so members.

28-Feb-2012 20:15:09 - Last edited on 29-Feb-2012 16:53:57 by Lady Railly

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