Two swords are better then one (kinkyBunny/Legion)

Catraya paced the streets occasionally glancing over at a large heavy iron door that was being guarded. Two of the city's patrol stood on either side while the general of the king stood off to the side looking just as impatient as Catraya. The door was not usually this well guarded as beyond it was the catacombs for the capital and it hurt the king to have to restrict his citizens ability to pay respect to those who had fallen. But as of late something was not right as a crew digging out a new tunnel turned up dead. There was no signs of the attackers nor a single crew member to interview but the claw markings on the bodies suggested something powerful. Throwing guards into the catacombs could surely take out what ever it was but that would cost him lives and cause a massive panic by sending the army in. No the better option was to contract the hunt of these beast to sell swords who wouldn't draw attention and the catacombs could remained locked for construction as the official story.

Catraya was a unique sell sword as she was an unusual mix of demon and human blood. Not that one could tell as her appearance more resembled her mother's human nature except for her eyes which had a more demonic color and look to them. She wasn't without influence from her father as she was born with a talent for magic both destruction and alternation. Combined with her years of training with pure blood demons she wasn't an easy target to take down. By the age of eighteen she had left the tribe of demons after her father was killed on an expedition. He was the only reason she was allowed to stay and even though she was raised by them she didn't know if the hospitality would end. She had never known her mother as she died during childbirth never seeing her before she passed. She had been told of her family's farm and sought it out hoping they would give her shelter.

After riding for a few days she found the farm but was turned away as they feared the demon blood in her. she moved on to the nearest town taking refuge in the inn. That was far she got her first contract as her demonic armor made her stand out. It was a simple task of removing a few goblins from a cave that was being converted into a mine shaft. Since then she continued her life as a sellsword roaming from town to town increasing her reputation with each contract completed. It wasn't long before she was able to settle in a decent city even buying her own home which more acted as place to occasionally rest. She didn't mind the chaotic life style as it was never dull and kept her moving from place to place.

When the king of the capital offered the job she was more then eager to take it as it would be the best paying contract so far. There was one catch that she hated and that was being told another would be hired to help make sure the task was completed. Despite a quick showing of her skill and even besting a high city guard the king remained firm on his decision to use two. Catraya sighed walking over to the general as she was eager to begin and was tired of waiting around. "Let me start now and who ever else can catch up." She demanded only to get shut down by the man. "You shouldn't have to wait much longer i believe that is her." He said pointing to a dark skinned elf coming down the street.

Luthian naturally was late for insignificant search and kill missions. She like Catraya was a guildless sell sword, not that either one of them hadn't been scouted out by a few of the city's working guilds. Job's like this weren't like assassinations or intelligence jobs where she had to be in a certain place at an exact time. With that line of thought, she had taken a detour through the market. Making sure to be equipped considering she only caught wind of this job in the last few hours.

Luthian and Catraya were two names for sell swords that were fairly known through the city, hell the king had hired them separately for various jobs that needed a more delicate approach that most in his military couldn't deliver. However the both of them were also known to be rivals, trying to take a job before the other. Once in a blue moon they had almost fought in the street be it a disagreement or one of them looked at the other wrong on the worst day. Needless to say they were both good fighters, but most establishments weren't keen on being ground zero if they both decided to full on butt heads.

The last moment of conflict that nearly broke out between them was after Catraya had outed Luthian's condition to nearly an entire tavern. Thankfully all the damned fools in there were drunk, or half way on their way, so most of the people didn't remember the half demon woman outed how Luthian failed to see a curse-trap lock on a scroll chest. The curse was supposed to reverse the gender of whoever triggered it, however it had only half worked on the dark elf; leaving her a little less woman and a bit more man and leaving her having to adjust to some extra dangley bits.

However she finally showed up about an hour and a half late, but her small pack was set with torch cloth, first aid materials, water, food, and bolts for her crossbow that hung from the small of her back. Her blades all freshly sharpened, a short sword on her hip, and two daggers in booth sheathes. As back up in case she lost any of her weapons, or ran out of bolts, she'd bought a set of leather gloves with metal under the leather at the knuckles.

She smiled at the general, "My my General Tyrell, looking grumpy as usual today. The sun does your scowl some good." she said before her boots scuffed to a stop and her eyes fell on Catraya. "Oh well I'm glad I wasn't running too late here General, or else you would have had to settle for second best here. Run along Catraya, the big girl is here to handle the work." almost every word she ever spoke to Catraya, unless the elf was drunk, was scathing. Luthian had spent more than a few decades building up her reputation as an assassin, information broker, and all around sell sword, but Catraya waltzed in one day and started swiping some damned good jobs from under her feet.

"She won't be going anywhere. Our courier should have informed you when you accepted that this was a two person job. The catacombs are massive and we don't know what's down there. If one of you happens to fall to an ill favored fate, the idea is that the other might at least return with information on what is down there. You'll both be working together on this." the General sighed, "Just try not to kill each other in there." He turned to his men. "Open up the gate. We'll be locking it back up after you enter. Someone will be stationed out here at all times, three hard bangs when the job is done or one of you is dead and we'll you out."

She scowled at her unexpected partner. "Oh she'll be fine, so long as she doesn't get in the sight lines of my crossbow." she said as her scowl turned to a bitchy smile as she walked towards the door as the guards worked on getting it open.

Catraya could kept an eye on the figure as it walked closer her eyes rolling and letting out a loud sigh as she could tell who the second hired sword was. Tyrell just looked at her keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. It was no secret that the two of them were rivals as the tension in the room spiked whenever the two of them were together. she could now see why the king hadn't told her who she would be working with as it would have defiantly made her decline the offer. She ignored her words as she was use to the condescending and scathing tone of her rival. She did chuckle a bit as the dark elf had over looked the part of this being a two man or woman job.

"You know for someone who's suppose to be good with information you tend to make a fool of yourself quite easily." Catraya remarked back as the general had to correct her in trying to get rid of the half-ling. Catraya was aware that her age and lack of experience was a sore spot for others in her field of work. It was why she never signed with a guild as they always wanted her to work up from the bottom despite her being able to best the leader in a sparing match. The answer or excuse was always the same saying she had to learn the rules and how to play with others. She had always trained in a group but even in the early days when she lived with her demon family she did solo missions. They trained her hard not giving her any breaks because of the human blood in her instead it seemed she was pushed harder.

But all that paid off when she reached adult hood and was able to fend for her own and not have to rely on others to help her. "Don't waste your bolts anything in there will die by my sword and fire." She responded as the two were polar opposites when it came to fighting. Luthian going for a more strategic and stealth combat while Catraya preferred to be up close and personal. Her tribe had a very aggressive style rushing the enemy down with heavy swords and chaotic spells. Their relentless approach was to always keep the enemy on the defensive and not allow them time to think of a new strategy. It was this reason she didn't like working with others as those outside the tribe trying to help would most likely cause a bit of friendly fire.

Catraya walked in walking along side her rival as the door slammed shut behind them and the lock was reengaged sealing the two of them in the catacombs. The entrance was a long tunnel leading down to a connecting hub of different catacombs. The tunnels were lined with angelic statutes and old family crest barely lit by the flickering torches. She fished a hand into her own sack it being much lighter and smaller as it only needed to carry her rations and a few survival items. She whispered a short incantation summoning a small mage light that hoovered over her shoulder so she could read the map she pulled out. "One of the perks for being on time. So the attacks were about here where the new tunnel was being excavated we should start there and look for any tunnels that aren't marked. "Catraya said not happy about the whole situation but the quicker the two got this done the sooner they could be apart from each other.

The one thing that Luthian had to be grateful for was the fact that all of her more delicate work was safe. Luthian could accomplish things with stealth and finesse, that brute force and explosions couldn't handle if Catraya's life depended on it. She really thought for a moment about just walking away, however backing out of a contract endorsed by the king was quite ill advised. The truly worst part of this job was the fact that there was nothing to go off of for what they'd be going up against. No one had even been sent in to recover the bodies so that it could be determined what might have killed them, be it weapon or beast.

The door closed behind them with a bit of a booming like clap, and she looked back and just rolled her eyes back before accepting the situation. She would have grabbed a torch, but Catraya seemed to have the whole light situation covered. Her torches might need to be a backup, even mages ran out of fuel at some point. She looked at the map, she didn't have to like working with Cat, just tolerate it long enough to get the job done. "If we can get that far in, I can take a look at the bodies that the king's men have seen fit to just leave rotting." the main cavern of the catacombs was a wide room with a tall cavern ceiling, the far walls had tunnels drilled in that branched down into the earth and would spider out. "Let's get going halfie, I want to have some kind of an idea what the hell we're up against before it finds us."

She looked once more at the map and matched up a tunnel off to the left. She made her way up to the entrance and pulled out a dagger, marking the tunnel wall with an arrow of the direction they were going to go. She looked back at Cat, who was looking at her then the map and back at her like the elf was taking nonsensical actions. "What? We have the map for now, it gets wet, burned, or god if we're looking for a beast and it gets swallowed up we'll want a backup way to find our way back." She shrugged. "Come on halfie, after you. You're the one with the light after all." she said putting the dagger back in her boot and pulling her crossbow.