Going Home

Sammie walked out with Ariana in tow and they both looked over to the front desk. Marina was arguing with two men dressed in grey trousers, white shirts and matching leather vests. The one man was tall and olive skinned, his hair was a muddy shade of brown and he had blue eyes.

While the other was short with blonde hair that stuck up in every direction and a medium fringe. He looked significantly younger than the man beside him and more intelligent. His grey eyes locked with hers and she felt something strike her hard. "I told you I'm looking for my niece! I know for a fact she came in here! Young girl, black hair and aquamarine eyes." The man shouted at Marina.

Marina refused to let him bully her. "Sir, if you want to file a missing persons report you may do so. Hell I can even help you with filling out the paperwork but as far as giving out personal information of anyone in this establishment is strictly forbidden!" She hollered back in a significantly smoother voice.

"I'm that girl's uncle!" The man shouted back. The younger man tapped the older one's shoulder. "Boss, she's not here. The info we got might have been wrong." The young man said as he nodded his head towards the guild members that were sitting and hanging out close by.

Sammie stepped in front of Ariana to block the men's view of her just as the taller man looked towards the members. They were all standing there some where sharpening their tools, others their claws, others were flexing their muscles and Seeley was viciously chomping on his slab of meat.

The taller man stepped back and gulped. He raised his hand and hit the younger one hard across the face. "Fool! How can you get the wrong information?! Now we bothered these nice people for nothing!" The man yelled as he towered over the younger one. 

With a scoff he turned away from the young man and bowed to everyone in the hall. "I am extremely sorry that we have disturbed you! I have punished my employee for misinforming me of my niece's location. Please do not hold it against us." The man said remorsefully before he lifted his head.

He grabbed the boy by the hair and hauled him upwards. "We need to find that boy again and beat that information out of him!" The man hissed into the young man's face. Ariana's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Her mind was racing when she heard the word 'boy', her thoughts instantly went to Roy. She stepped to the side of Sammie and ran forwards.

She stood tall, held her head up high and her eyes became fierce as her hands sat on her hips with a lollipop sticking outwards. "Are you looking for me?!" Ariana shouted. The man let go of the younger man's hair and looked at the girl. He started to wring his hands together and his eyes grew wide.

"Ariana! My sweet niece! I have been looking all over for you! Your mother feels awful that she sold you so I came to buy you back and take you home." He said as he opened his arms signaling her to run into his embrace.

"My mother is Lady Zula, I have an older brother and sister. That is my entire family, I don't know who you are nor am I your niece." She stated with conviction that caused the man to wince at her words. He pulled out a handkerchief and started dabbing the sweat away from his face.

"Ariana don't be silly, your mother, my sister, is Chandra Clayton your father is Lester Thistle you were born on May 20th of 12XX at the break of dawn. Your mother gave birth to you in your home at Marigold Path by the forest." The man started ranting but Ariana wasn't going to budge.

"Really Ariana, how could you not remember your favorite uncle Charles, look I even brought your childhood friend Cayden Remo. You remember him right?" The man asked desperately as he yanked the young man forward. The left side of his face was starting to swell while his grey eyes looked at her with disdain.

"I am not leaving with you." Ariana said between her clenched teeth. Charles took a step forward and suddenly everyone in the room pushed their chairs back and stood up. Charles gulped and started to slowly step back towards the door. He looked to his left and even saw the mousy lady aiming her cross bow at him.

"I guess, we will talk another time then." Charles said as he opened the door and pulled the young man with him out of the hall. Leaving everyone in silence.

Ariana dropped to her knees and let out a giant sigh of relief. The hall erupted into applause and cheers as some of the members raced over towards her. Seeley was the first to reach her and picked her up into the air. "You didn't even let go of your lollipop!" he laughed as he spun Ariana around, making sure his crocodile face didn't hit her.

"Well little girl you have quite a set of balls on you!" shouted the burly man with the busy eyebrows that covered half his face. "She's an iron clad queen." a tabby cat lady called out. Ariana giggled at their remarks and smiled brightly as she extended her arms outwards as she was being spun around.

"Well now, you all see she is a head strong little girl who will cause trouble where ever she goes." a strong voice shouted over the crowd. Everyone became silent and looked towards the balcony. Brian there stood, tall and proud while Lady Zula stood beside him fanning herself gently.

"For some reason someone is trying to rip this child from her new family and Lady Zula is refusing to let that happen. She is here to hire three of you to be this girl's body guards until the threat is eliminated. The pay is not the greatest, meals and boarding will be provided and any level is allowed to volunteer. So whom among you will leave with these two women?" Brian announced arrogantly as a grin spread across his face. 

Seeley was the first to speak up. "I will! Any fool with eyes can see she is something extraordinary." Ariana's face lit up and she hugged the lizardman with all her might. "If Seeley has volunteered I might as well go too." A tabby cat woman purred loudly.

"Perfect, but we need one more!" Brian boomed into the hall. To everyone's surprised it was the good doctor who stepped forward. "I might as well go too, who knows if the enemy might try some underhanded tactics." Sammie said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Brian raised an eyebrow and gripped the railing. "I don't think I can spare you Sammie." Brian said in a low, thunderous voice.

Sammie waved a dismissive hand into the air. "The medics are well trained and need experience. Me not being hear will be good for them besides if it's something serious happens, send for me I will just be down the way." Sammie said with a dismissive tone. Brian's eyes became somewhat deadly as he gave his approval.

"Marina you got all that?" Brian shouted towards the front desk. Marina stuck a thumb up into the air and had the contracts done up for the three, all it needed was their seals. "Well little lady, it looks like we are going home with you." Seeley said happily as he carefully nuzzled his cheek against her head. Ariana couldn't help but smile brightly.

After they signed their contracts, Seeley, Clawdean and Dr. Samuel Grey escorted the ladies back to the open market. Ariana became enthusiastic with her new entourage, she went crazy with ingredients and bought as much as everyone could carry. "Mom we're having the best feast tonight!" Ariana shouted as she jumped into the air.

The adults couldn't help but be infected with her energy. In their moment of bliss they saw Ariana run just a little ahead of them, they thought it was fine as they were so close to the brothel that they didn't see it coming. In a blink of an eye she disappeared.

"Ariana!" Lady Zula started to scream. The girls in the brothel house heard Lady Zula's cry and rushed outside. Seeley dropped his bags and went on all fours while Clawdean jumped onto his back. His speed was amazing as he ran to the last spot they saw her before she vanished. All that was left was a a bag full of apples. Rin jumped forward with knives in hand. Her eyes glowed red as she looked at the spot.

She bent down and touched a cobble stone. "Magic circle, very mediocre. She should still be close by." She said as her eyes turned back to green. "Separate, locate and rescue." Clawdean said as she jumped off of Seeley's back. Seeley's gaze turned murderous. "We'll meet back here once it turns dark, those monsters better pray I don't find them first." he growled before he snapped his jaw.

....

Ariana looked around she wasn't expecting to suddenly appears in an alleyway. It was still light out so she didn't feel too frightened, she shrugged and started to march forward as she swung her arms forward and back. "Where do you think you're going to little miss." said a very low and scratchy voice.

Ariana looked around but saw no one, so she shrugged and kept marching along. "Eh! I asked you where you think you're going and you rudely ignored me?! I swear no one's taught you any manners." the voice said as three men jumped down from up above. Ariana tilted her head sideways then looked above.

"Oh?! You were hanging out on the balconies! No wonder I didn't see you! Well hello there, I apologize for being rude but it's not very polite to talk to someone without looking them in the eyes." Ariana said innocently. "Could you please come closer?" She continued.

The man in the middle stepped forward. He was slightly tanned with patches of red on his shoulders and nose. He was taller then average, had an eye patch cover his left eye and messy golden hair. He wore what looked like a whites bandages that wrapped a few times around his torso and baggy cargo pants. His face was scarred with four lines extending from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his jaw line.

"My I please have your names." Ariana said sweetly as she brought her hands together in front of her and rocked on the balls of her heels. "I'd be Jasper, a merc from the Western region of Glamorgan and these be my two comrades in arms." he said gruffly as he pointed to the right. "This be Wendell." a scrawny looking man in a rice hat, long platinum hair and a baggy, blue jumpsuit nodded his head.

"And this be Don." he said as he pointed to his left, a beserker looking man stood there with his well toned arms crossed over his chest. He wore a white head band around his head and his green hair stood up in spikes. He wore just a brown, fur vest, dark green harem pants with white pin strips and a battle axe strapped to his back.

"Hello Jasper, Wendell and Don my name is Ariana. A pleasure to meet you." She said as she curtsied. The three men looked at each other unsure on what to do. Ariana lifted her head and smiled brightly. "You should always bow at least a 90 degree angle when you meet a lady, it's good manners you know." Ariana said sweetly.

The men nodded to one another and all bowed. Ariana held her breath, this was her only chance. She ran to the wall beside her and jumped, her foot landed on the wall and she used it to lift herself into the air. She stretched out her body as she flew through the air and landed on top of Wendell's head. With all her strength she used it as a stepping stone and furthered her jump. The movement was so light and fast that the men had no idea she had gotten past them until Wendell fell forward.

They straightened their backs and turned to look behind them, just in time to see Ariana wave good bye before she disappeared. "After her!" Jasper cried out and picked up Wendell by the waist like a sack of potatoes.

Ariana kept running as fast as she could. She had no idea where she was heading and hoped it was to the brothel. Then she heard people screaming and looked back. Her body broke out into a cold sweat as she saw Jasper and Don bulldozing their way through the crowd behind her. She let out a small "Eep." and urged her body to run faster.

She saw the street split into a four way intersection and thought she would try her luck by turning right. She looked back and saw that she was able to gain some distance from the men, who were probably debating which way to go. She giggled to herself as she kept running.

Then she heard more screams. She didn't want to look back and decided she need to hide instead. She saw a potion, spells and casting shop and ran inside. She slammed the door shut and ran to the back of the store. The shopkeeper looked at Ariana suspiciously. "Kidnappers are chasing me." she said breathlessly as she panted heavily.

"Please help me!" She cried desperately. The old man ran up to her and grabbed her writs. "This way." He said as he moved to the back and unlocked an emergency exited that was almost undetectable to the human eye. With a heavy sound of stones moving the door opened wide. "Go on." he urged.

Ariana gave her sincerest thanks and ran through the door. It lead to another alley and she looked around. She didn't want to to go to the main street and opted for the gap between the houses. She started to squeeze her body through when she heard the emergency door start to splinter apart. She urged her body to move faster and was just able to making it in before the men stepped out.

"That way!" yelled Jasper as the other two men followed him towards the main street.