The Hunt (Nero-Shadow-Wolf & Alice)

The sun was shinning high above the bright blue sky, the wind was rustiling the leaves upon the trees and the animals were at peace with the natural happenings of things. To the east, the Village of Noiren was nestled in between mountains to the south and a river to the west.

It is here the story begins

In the village of Noiren, a wolf by the name of Nero was sitting at his usual table in the Red Snapper Inn.
His fur was a dark black as the night sky, with eye colored a bright Yellow. He spoke with a gruff voice as he asked for a drink.
"Waiter! I'll have my usual Ale."The waiter passed him his drink with a subtle nod as the he was handed a few silver coins for his troubles.

The village below her beckoned a promise of food, drink, a place to rest her weary head. A small pouch attached to her belt jingled with each step she took. A sign announcing the Red Snapper Inn called to her with good smelling food, following her nose and rumbling stomach Ayla made her way inside. The place was packed with both regulars and visitors, finding an empty table she dropped her pack onto the chair and waited for the waiter to come over and get her order. Her's was an easy enough order whatever was on special and some water. The stew was placed on the table before long and hungrily she dug in oblivious to all but getting food in her stomach.

He observed with the female lion walking into the Inn with interest in his eyes. The waiter arrived with her order at the table than passed to Nero's table handing him a slip of paper with information on it. He studied the document with attentiveness as a smile spread across his face."Hey lioness! Could I have a word with you!"He said as he walked towards her table with a certain aura about himself.

Mid bite she heard a voice, a husky voice that sent a shiver up her spine, it didn't call her name, but as she was the only lioness in the room it could only be referring to her. Wiping her mouth she looked up at a dark wolf, the owner of the voice that had affected her so much. "You had your word" she said in a low voice turning back to her meal with barely another look in his direction. Swallowing she looked up and saw that the wolf was still there, sighing she waved him at the empty seat. "Fine what can I do for you?" Ayla asked picking up her glass of water and swallowing a large sip.

How would you like to cash in on a golden opportunity to earn some easy money?"He was straight forward in his business approach as he sat down beside her and showed her the documents of the target that need to be killed."If you help me kill this target we can split the money 50/50 if you chose to help me."

Plucking the papers from his hands she rifled through the documents reading about the target they were to go after, together if she agreed. Nearby was a thrown together town populated by a group of bandits, that recently had started causing a real problem for nearby towns. The mayor here was offering a reward for another who could either bring the bandit leader in alive, or his head back if he was killed. The sum was quite generous, more then she had, had in her pocket in quite some time, even half would get her by for a few weeks. "He's worth more alive" she mussed setting the documents down. Odds were if they didn't team up they would both go after him and end up getting in one anothers way. Together they might have a chance of getting past all the bandits and infiltrating their home base. "Alright let's do it"

Excellent my friend! Now let us get some equipment from the local stores and we should be able to get on with this capture."He said with a relaxed tone ordering himself another round of ale from the bar."So let's get to know each other I'm Nero, I hail from the Forest Elf colonies east of here. I was born and raised to hunt and stalk my prey without ever being heard...honestly I took up the job as an assassin to put food on the table for my wife and child."

Wife and child? Leaning back in her chair she looked at him closely, he didn't seem the type. But as she had learned constantly in the past few years appearances could be deceiving, reflexively she touched the scar on her thigh tracing the mark. "My name is Ayla I grew up with my pride in the plains to the east of here. I left at sixteen and since then I've been doing odd jobs earning money to sustain myself. I haven't seen my family since I left them three years ago." She shrugged and finished the last few bites of her food. "Tell me about your family"

"Not much to say about them...My daughter is three years old and I've been married to my wife for five years other than that I love them very much and I would do anything to keep them out of harms way...even if I must die."He said with a slightly serious tone in his voice which was nearly a growl.

"As it is the money would be good for both of us" she said finally pushing the now empty bowl away from her, picking up the document on the top of the pile she read through it once again making sure she had her information correct. "Enough chit chat it won't get us any closer to our goal" she set the paper down between them looking at him. "Listen my specialty is daggers, and stealth I'm a pretty good shoot." She motioned to the bow and quiver resting on the chair beside her. "Now if we are going to be working together its best we become familiar with each other, if we have to fight in close quarters I would rather not be chopped in half by an erratic swing of a sword or something"

Funny you mention stealth."He said as he showed her a satchel of potions and the sheath for his dagger."I'm adept at stealth as well Ayla. this shouldn't be hard at all."He grabbed his cloak and walked to the exit of the inn.
"I focus on using close quarters combat both with my dagger and paws...more personal that way as well."He said with a sly tone as the two headed out of town by foot.
Time flew by as midnight approached, they shadow of night would cloak their arrival into the bandits dwelling which was just what he was hoping for.

Grabbing her pack she tossed a handful of coins on the table and dashed after his retreating form, not much was said as the pair made their silent way towards the camp of the bandits. There really wasn't much to say all that was required was strength and stealth. Silently she jogged at his side her daggers at the ready should she need them. On the hill over the encampment she held out her arm to stop him. Below bonfires glowed the only light around, as a part of the feline family she didn't need light to see that they had a few men on watch. In a low voice she spoke to her short time partner "there's three men on watch, they need to be taken out quietly" she breathed crouching.

He nodded and unsheathed his dagger and hid in the shadows as a loud clap of thunder ripped the sky asunder, shortly after it started to rain."Great it's raining....now the thunder and lightning will cover any loud noises we make."He said in a hushed tone as he approached the camps outer wall strewn with only a few guards, awaiting his companion to attack the other guard so he could kill the one directly above him.

Ayla wrinkled her nose as water droplets pelted her tawny fur, rain was not her cup of tea. But, for now it would suit their purposes, it would act to silence any noises they made. Stepping away from her "partner" she positioned herself under one of the guards, unsheathing her dagger she looked towards Nero and signaled her readiness. In the next moment she launched herself at the guard before the man had time to call out a warning, or even knew what was happening his throat was cut and the body dumped onto the ground below.

Nodding at her signal, he jumped to the guard and plunged his dagger deep into the mans throat as he fell off of the wall down to the forest floor below leaving the two free to scale the wall into the camp."A clean kill...now let us find a vantage point to scout out the remaining enemies."He said with a hint of pride in his voice.

Ayla put her fingers to her lips a clear indication she wanted his silence, her ears pricked in the direction of the noise. Loud laughter could be heard in a nearby tent as the bandits off duty drunk themselves silly. "We don't have to kill them all, I think we can sneak past that tent" sidling closer she spoke in a voice so low no one but him could hear it, "over there, see that tent? I think that's where our man is residing" she pointed at a tent bigger and grander then the rest. Either the captain of this rabble slept there, or one of his men thought highly of himself. "Ready?"

Yes we do have to kill them all, these bandits have shaken down one too many people in Noiren. I plan to sabotage the camps Weapon supplies...than blow the place sky high."He said in a hushed tone moving into the shadows of the rampart walls."They should have gunpowder in an underground area on site, I'm thinking...we torch it and run like hell."His plan was crazy but at the same time worthy of doing, the men down in the camp did deserve judgment...and he was prepared to serve it.

"You do realize that the captain of this little gang here is worth nearly twice as much if we bring him in alive?" she hissed back at him. The noise below along with the thunder and lightening made her nearly inaudible. "Fine we blow shit up if you want, but we catch that man first, if we blow him up along with the group then there might not be any proof to bring back that we killed him. He might just turn into a smoldering pile of flesh, think man we either need the man or the head. I'm going with the man here he's worth more"

That was the plan, You would move in to capture the captain and escort him out of the camp after we eliminate key objective blocking enemies....I plant the black powder bomb in their weapons stache and whatever enemies aren't aware of our presence will die in the blast of the explosion clean and simple...now are you ready to go?"He said with a reassuring tone in his voice as he showed her the bomb.

Having never used a bomb on a mission...or at all, she looked at it with something akin to fear. It looked so unassuming laying there on his palm but inside that there ball was the ability to kill many people. Nodding she turned her head towards her next goal. "Give me ten minutes, I'll bag and tag the man and have him up on the hill before you can say rib-bit." Her voice sounded sure of herself, but inside she wasn't so much, wouldn't do to let him know that though. Taking a deep breath she dropped off the rampart and into the camp, it wasn't hard to get into the commanders tent, everyone seemed very distracted by the ale they stole earlier that day. Holding her breath she entered the tent, a large form in bed told her he was there, tiptoeing in close she looked down at the form dagger at the ready. The next thing she knew she was on the ground pinned by a giant of a man who weighed three times she did. His breath stank of ale as he leaned in close. "Trying to kill a man in his bed? Bad little kitty"
Hissing she sank her teeth into the only available thing she could reach... his lip, her sharp teeth sank into tender flesh ripping. Roaring he pulled back, leaving a chunk in her teeth, a chunk she readily spat out. Her hands free now she flipped her daggers up pressing them against his throat. "Little bitch" he spat at her as one hand groped for something to knock the man out with. He took the opportunity send her flying onto her back again. A little clock in her mind ticked out the time, she only had five minutes left. Scrambling to her feet before he could pin her again she dashed back just as he lunged forward, her hand grabbed the first thing it came into contact with. Just as he lunged past her she brought the shield up and slammed him on the head effectively knocking him out.

Within moments the man was tied up tied. "Fat bastard geez" she hissed as she dragged him out of his tent, it took a lot more effort then she thought to get the man up the hill, he was still out cold as she hunched down beside him her eyes on the camp below.

Meanwhile down in the Gun powder storage, Nero was finishing up wiring the fuse to the bomb as sweat began to pool at his brows."Damn I really hate working with this shit...but hell I love watching it go boom hehe."He let out a sinister laugh as he finished arming the fuse."Good now to light it and get the hell out of here."Without a moment to lose, he struck a match and lit the long fuse connecting to all of the powder barrels before he made his escape to the hill he and Ayla were supposed to meet on.

A dark figure made its way towards her, her senses went on high alert as her eyes narrowed focusing on him. Didn't take long till she realized it was Nero, relieved she turned and checked to be sure her captive was out cold, and that his bonds were on good and tight. Nodding satisfied she settled back on her haunches just as Nero joined the pair. "Its all in place I'm assuming?" she asked eyes turning towards the encampment now, soon enough that thing would go kaboom and the men would die. "Least they won't be causing trouble anymore... odd how easy this all was. Well no use complaining... the money is all I'm doing this for"

Well of course the bomb is in place and I assume the boss is with you?"He said as he took a long look at the camp exactly 30 seconds from detonating."Oh and by the way we have 30 seconds before the bomb explodes...if you are wondering how I know that...don't ask it's complicated."

"The boss man is right there" she jerked her thumb in the direction of the big black lump beside her. The man was quiet, of course he was still out cold so it made total sense. "I won't ask, so long as you don't ask why the boss man is missing half his bottom lip" counting down the thirty seconds in her head she wasn't surprised when she reached one and the whole place lit up. A loud roar filled the air followed by the screams of the drunken bandits as they were blown to smithereens. "And that takes care of that, come on let's get this guy back, collect our reward, and call it a night"