The Written Tapestry

Rethis couldn't help but smirk as Brorin spoke. "With pleasure..." He looked over at the slave girl cowering, making a mental note to himself. "On my call..." He stood up behind him, extending his arms outward and looking up to the sky. Within seconds, the mage's body was covered in flame from head to toe. As he brought his hands into his chest, so too did the flames condense into a white hot mass. "Get down!" He threw his arms outward quickly, the white hot flame spreading from his body in a circular pattern. Anyone who was not ducking or laying down would instantly be incinerated. After the carnage settled, the mage collapsed to the stage floor.

Hearing things calm, the girl's head rose just a bit to peer out over the square. The two men on the stage caught her attention, and she watched them with a furrowed brow and fear in her eyes. For all she could tell, they'd killed everyone. She might just be next. And then suddenly, flames burst from the man standing near the front. Immediately, her head went back down, her entire body trembling with untold terror.

Feeling the rush of heat come from his travelling companion, the warrior rises stiffly to his feet, the butt of his axe grounded on the stage to help heave himself up. Wincing as even the slightest bit of weight rested on his injured leg, he surveys the damage done. The guards were all done, and the flames had gone a little further than he expected, a couple of nearby buildings smoldering slightly. "Great, not only is it full of slavers, but it's about to be all on fire, too." As he spoke, a bell began to ring off in the distance, likely a warning or call for reinforcements. "We should get those people freed, and then get the hell outta here. We aren't gonna be too popular with the people who have money in this town..." Reaching down, he snaps the fletching off of the arrow with a hiss of pain, before shoving the rest of the shaft out the front of his leg, to avoid the damage done by the broad arrowhead. "I'll get the ones in cages, you get the ones shackled. Figure you can deal with the metal faster than me. Axes were meant for wood anyways." With a pained grin, he begins to limp towards the cages.

Rethis nodded in agreement. "Good idea. I don't have enough gold on me to pay for all of this anyway." He looked around to survey the flames he had wrought upon the village, hearing the bell sound in the distance. Before Brorin set off, he shot a small lick of flame from his fingetip at the open wound on his leg. The wound quickly cauterized, the process itself most likely coming with it's fair share of pain. "That should help, now let's get this done." He worked to free those shackled, cutting through the metal with a blade of flame that protruded out from his hand. The mage approached the seamstress who had been cowering and knelt down before her. "We're not here to hurt you, miss...you have to trust me." With that, he grabbed her arms and moved them far enough away from her body so that the flame wouldn't scorch her. Cutting through the metal with ease, the firebrand finally dissipated from his hands.

The girl listened to the men nearby, but her mind was shattered for the most part. Even as one of them approached and knelt down to free her, she twisted into a small ball. Once the shackles were free, she was on her butt and skittering back away from him until she hit the backdrop of the stage. Eyes wide, she shakily fought her way to her feet, the furthered wounds across her arms and legs becoming apparent at these much closer quarters. Grasping the sheet that hung in place, she slowly edged her way toward the side of the stage, gaze never leaving the man who'd set fire to the world around her.

A sharp hiss of pain was the only acknowledgement of the cauterizing fire. Well, that, and a glare over his shoulder that threatened to set the -mage- on fire if he weren't more careful.

"As if you ever have ANY bloody money," he mutters to himself, eyeing the cages before him. All manner of exotic animals were held within, including a few more people. The humans looked odd though, their skin a dark tan, with black tattoos covering most of their skin, even their faces. As he neared those cages first, one of them grinned ferally at him - the man had his teeth filed to points! Glancing from this cage to the next, he wasn't sure he wanted to free either - the closure beside the strange man held a large cat of some type, orange with black stripes, and paws as large as his head.

With a heavy sigh, he holds out his axe, readying for a great swing. Unfortunately for nearly everyone involved, he hadn't bothered to clean it yet, and as he bellowed "Get down!", he swung the gory weapon with all his might, shattering three cages at once in a whirlwind of splintered wood.
"Flaming shoddy work, that's what it is," he grumbles as he moves on. Thankfully, both creature and man seemed too stunned to move right away, and he carried about setting the rest of everything free, glancing over his shoulder every now and then to see how his travelling companion was doing.
"Figures, he goes after the girl first," he rolls his eyes. "That one's going to be trouble, I'd bet."
 

Rethis reached a hand out towards the frightened girl. "Miss...please. We need to leave, now." He eyed Brorin with a smirk as he spoke of their gold situation. The dwarf was right, though...even if Rethis didn't want to admit it. As Brorin tore apart the cages of the remaining survivors, the spellcaster looked back at the girl. He noticed her hesitating, and simply sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "We can do this one of three ways, miss. You can come with us and walk on your own two feet, I can encase you in a magical force field and have to float along with us...stopping for air every now and again...OR..." He points over to the angry looking dwarf and his giant bloodied axe. "...I could have my friend over there carry you over his shoulder, keep in mind his armor tends to have sharp edges." He nodded, completely sure this would rouse the poor girl to her feet. He awaited her reaction with a hint of impatience, noticing the strange looking humans emerging from their cages.

The girl jerked at the sound of the nearby cages exploded into a spray of splinters and shrapnel. Her eyes leveled on the prisoners the dwarf had just freed, widening with every passing second. There was no trust in her expression, not for a single living creature and certainly not for any of them. A lump was visibly swallowed down her throat as the human male reached out toward her, her body pressed so tightly to the backdrop that she looked like she was simply trying to flatten herself and disappear. No such luck would be had though, and eventually she would have to decide between running off and chancing survival on her own or sticking with these two capable fighters in hopes that they'd not do worse to her than the slave traders had.

Staring long and hard at the hand stretched out toward her, she finally raised her eyes to meet his if only for a split second before shooting passed him. She'd settle in near him, but seemed to refuse the idea of he or the dwarf touching her in any way. There was a quite obvious limp and stiffness to her movements, but she was capable of walking at the very least. Lowering her head, she waited for the men to move so that she could follow, never once speaking.

The most dangerous of the beasts fled the destroyed cages quickly, slipping into the shadows amongst the buildings and disappearing. Which left the dwarf only to deal with the wild animals. Something about those men, the feral looks in their eyes... With a shudder, he glanced over his shoulder again.

"Oh that looks like it's going to be fun," he complains to himself quietly. "Fool man with his fool women." Shaking his head, he bellows to scare the animals away, as they too disappear. Sauntering as best he can with his wounded leg, he makes his way back to the mage, his massive axe wiped mostly clean and fastened to his back once more.

"If it weren't for the fact that this place is gonna be swimming with unfriendlies, my 'dear' friend," the sarcasm dripping from the word was almost tangible, "I'd say give her some money and let's get going. As it is, let's just get going." He chuckles gruffly, surveying the scene. "First town we come across in days and we bloody well destroy it. I get the feeling we aren't too good at this." Shaking his head with another laugh, he heads towards the gate they had come in. Unlikely that reinforcements would be coming that way. However, a few steps is all he manages to take as he realizes that in addition to slaves, and animals... there were supplies! Which meant...

"Ale! Sweet, bubbly, blessed ale!" Within moments, two small kegs were strapped to his back alongside his axe, looking for all the world like two fuel tanks. Which, they almost could be. Jabbing a thick, stubby, gauntleted finger at the rest of the stack, he calls over his shoulder, "If you two are done gettin' 'acquainted', load up on some edibles and let's get outta here! Not lookin' forward to gettin' locked up again."

The man grinned as the girl complied with his request, resting his weight on the staff as they walked towards the dwarf. As his companion yelled out to him, he replied in kind; "We're good at keeping ourselves alive...that's the only skill I'm concerned about keeping honed at this point." He chuckled along with him, gently nudging the shaken girl. "Hey, what's your name?" He paused for a moment, looking over her expression and attempting to gauge her response prior to her even speaking. "Mine's Rethis. That there..." He points towards the now ale-tank clad dwarf. "He's Brorin, nice guy...just don't make fun of his beard." He offered the girl a warm smile, attempting to lighten the mood in this rather grim situation. He took a detour to round up some supplies for the road, taking handfuls of bread and fruit that was left behind. The man tossed the girl an apple as he once again replied to his companion. "You know you're gonna throw your back out one day carrying all that ale, old man!" He laughed boisterously.

The girl stood still as a statue as the two men bantered back and forth, her gaze moving all the while to their surroundings. Spouts of fire were climbing the walls of nearby structures and lapping at their arched rooftops. Not a single scream or frightened sound echoed from anywhere. One exhausted icy blue eye shifted back toward the men as the fire wielding one nudged her. Immediately, both hands raised into balled fists...that seemed to be lacking fingernails, and she slid back to rest her weight on her back foot. Fear and survival instinct glared at Rethis from that one blue eye. She didn't seem to pay much mind to the dwarf. He'd leveled an army of men without blinking an eye, but he hadn't touched her. The fire wielder had.

When finally his attention turned from her and to the supplies, her stance relaxed and she hobbled forward at slowed pace. Distance seemed favorable to her. Leaning down to search through a particular crate, one hand shot up to catch the apple that was tossed and could have very well hit her right in the side of the head. Pausing to glare again at the fire wielder, she snorted before returning to her search. Several hunks of dried meat and bread were tossed into a burlap sack as she stood. Again, her movements halted save for the slow focused turn of her head as she seemed to search for something. Carefully approaching a shattered cage, she knelt down and took up a fairly intact stick of bamboo. As she stood again, she looked over it's height. Her knee bent quickly, and one bare foot slammed against it's middle, snapping it in two. A moment later, she returned to the sack of goods, adding to it what looked to be a couple of wineskins. Tossing it over one shoulder, she leaned against her new makeshift walking stick and began to hobble on after the dwarf, never once looking as though she'd thought to respond to the introductions or rescue.