"The deal" (Eothan)

“The deal”

Eothan slowly lifted his head, immediately noticing the strands of his own bloodied hair dangling down his face. He coughed lightly and tossed his head back to clear his field of vision. He turned his head to the left at the sound of a crackling fire, sighing at the sight of three Caans sat around it. He closed his eyes and remembered the events that had led to this situation, casually walking home and seeing off the woman he had slept with a few hours prior, only to walk into a heavy fist.

He opened his eyes again and muttered a few curse words under his breath; this Caan situation was beginning to get on his nerves, which was frankly hard to do for most people. He had a way of controlling all of his emotions and never letting things get to him, especially if the people were so ridiculous to him. He looked over his shoulder and tried to move his hands, realising he was tied to a post. He looked ahead of him once again and smirked slightly, this was eerily familiar to the situation he found himself in, in Hillsbrad.

“Ah, so yer awake then eh?” said a man as he walked over and looked down at Eothan. He grinned widely as Eothan looked up at him, spitting some blood from his mouth at the man’s feet. “I do my best not to sleep in” he said afterwards.

His head sharply twisted to the left as the man punched him forcefully in the jaw. Eothan closed his eyes and let out a sigh, if anything these Caans were doing nothing for his physical appearance, something he cherished more than most things. “Don’ be getting cocky wit’ me now, mate. Jes ‘cause I gotta keep ye alive don’ mean I can’t beat ye down” said the man.

Eothan turned his head to look up at the man again, wincing slightly as some blood trickled from his mouth. It had taken some time to notice, but Eothan suddenly felt sharp pains over most of his body, as if they had beaten him while he was unconscious. “I didn’t think Caans were the type to beat on a man while he’s effectively asleep, how cowardly”

With those words the man grunted and walked back to the fire, pulling a pistol from a pile of leather armour. “Righ’, time t’shut tha’ cocky mouth o’ yers” he said as he walked a few paces toward Eothan and took aim, firing a shot shortly after that. Eothan let out a yell, gritting his teeth painfully as he stared at the bullet wound in his thigh. He growled and tried to get himself free, slamming his roped wrists against the post behind him.

“Yeh, I wouldn’ bother wit’ tha’ mate, yer na’ getting loose fer shi’. Vanith put one o’ ‘is lil’ spells on tha’ rope, even yer shadow shi’ ain’ gonna ‘elp ye” said the man with a wide grin as he threw the pistol back toward the armour pile.

Eothan watched as the man sat down and laughed with his two “friends”. He was getting very tired of this ordeal and was becoming increasingly inquisitive toward the fact he was constantly being harmed throughout this. Obviously Vanith had more knowledge about Ledgic and the problems he had gone through than previously suspected. Clearly he must have known about Hillsbrad and Iriden’s men, though it was unclear to Eothan exactly how he’d have come across that piece of information.
Eothan closed his eyes and groaned in pain, shifting his left slightly to the side. He was lucky that the bullet hadn’t gone right through and into his other leg, however if the wound were left open for too long, he would be in trouble. He let out a sigh and dipped his head further, the pain slithering across his entire body becoming too much to stay awake.

--

“Sa, y’got that spell o’ yers sorted?”
“It’s finished, yes. I’ll cast the spell in the next twenty four hours”
“’ow’d ye plan on getting close enough t’im t’cast it?”
“I needn’t move from this camp, Mal’. All I need to do is use a ritual beforehand, he has the same blood as us, even if we aren’t directly related”
“Sa’…yer gonna mess wit’ ‘is blood? Th’feck are ye on abou’?”
“I’ll use my own blood to pick the target of my spell, Ledgic’s will standout clearly, he has the blood of the head house”

Eothan opened his eyes and lifted his head slightly, staring at Vanith and Maldrin as they continued their conversation. Eothan cleared his throat quietly and tried to control his breathing, the pain was becoming too much for him to bear easily. He winced and closed an eye, doing his best to stay awake and focus his attention on the two Caans.

He watched as Vanith flicked a small blue crystal in the air and caught it. Eothan closed his eyes and nodded to himself. “A spell that requires a ritual to separate Ledgic from the others. A spell that he can cast from this far away, no matter where Ledgic is, and a small blue crystal” he thought to himself. He opened his eyes again and continued listening.

“Sa’, I know ye said befer tha’ yer spell ain’ gonna kill ‘im, but I still think yer wastin’ our feckin’ time wit’ tha’” said Maldrin.
“This spell is bullet proof, there is nothing anyone can do” said Vanith. He turned his head as he spoke to see Eothan staring at them.

“It would appear we’re being spied on” he said as he gestured toward Eothan. Maldrin turned on his heels and walked towards Eothan, swiftly kicking him in the ribs without a word. Eothan let out a hacking cough and spat blood on the ground; this was the price of valuable information when it came to Caans, then. He smirked slightly at the fact that the most blood shed in this ordeal was his own, a ridiculous idea. It was the second time he’d been in a situation like this, at least the last time Ledgic had wounds of his own.

Eothan searched through his thoughts, swiftly darting through everything he had heard them discussing and committed it to memory as best he could. He was slightly annoyed by how slowly his brain worked in this state but it would have to do. No matter what happened, he had to escape this place and inform people of what he had discovered.

“Are you a man of honour, Dawn?” said Vanith as he slowly sat down in front of Eothan. He smirked slightly as Eothan lifted his head to look at Vanith. “Do I require honour to be a blood soaked warlock tied to a post?” he replied.

Vanith laughed and shook his head as he carefully placed the crystal in his robes. “Now then, you’ve no need to be cocky with me. I’ve not laid a finger on you this time and even then, last time I gave you a parting gift”

Eothan smirked and spat some more blood on the floor. “And such a lovely gift it was. Now, what do you want? I assume you intend to trade me for Alcora.”

Vanith simply nodded and gestured around him with a hand. “He would not have taken her out of this forest, simply because it would have been too much worked to drag her into the city. He wouldn’t keep her at the blade because he avoids such things and he certainly wouldn’t be able to take her home, since no flight master would allow her on a bird” he said.

Eothan nodded and blinked slowly, Vanith really was far better than he expected. Every Caan he had met besides Vale seemed to be a brutish idiot, even Ledgic was lacking the brainpower to think things through as clearly as Vanith had.

“So, here is what I propose. You will use the fact you know Ledgic and the places he could possibly store something in Elwynn, find her for me and I will release you” said Vanith. Eothan raised an eyebrow as he ended his sentence, wincing slightly as he moved his leg.

“You’ll let me go? Now that is intriguing, why would you do such a thing? Surely if your plan comes to fruition you’ll simply kill me anyway” said Eothan. Vanith nodded and plucked a blade of grass from the ground and thread it through his fingers.

“I am not entirely without honour, if you do this for me I will free you. Ledgic has already tried to contact me about a trade but frankly I need more time to make sure my spell is complete. If you assist me and I set you free, I do not need to face him a second time”

Eothan nodded and closed his eyes; he was very tempted to just do it. He might cost Ledgic some time… but the spell isn’t going to kill him, he heard that much. He opened his eyes again and nodded.

“Untie me, I’ll find Alcora for you. Be mindful that I’m still capable of harming you if you break your word”

“Calm yourself, my word is important to me, even if it lacks importance to the rest of them” said Vanith as he stood up.

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