P-4 Descent

"Ma'am, we're almost there."

Pala opened her eyes, turning her head towards the front of the carriage to see the tiny signs of civilisation ahead of her, with the forest of blesmat looming over towards the right. Using the wall behind her to stabilise herself, she clumsily forced herself up and grabbed her blade, her movements dulled compared to her usual calculated self. As she moved forward, the morning sun blinded her and she struggled to keep her balance as she readjusted to the light.

"Ma'am, you can just relax."

"No, I'll walk the rest of the way. Stop the carriage."

The merchant raised an eyebrow, but after a moment she nodded, tugging at the reins and bringing the horses to a slow stop. Carefully, the mercenary jumped off the side, stumbling slightly as she landed on her feet.

"Well, it was nice doing... business with you."

Before Pala could fully balance herself out, the merchant sprung into action and with a slight flick of the wrist the horses began to bound forward. Neither were particularly secretive in their escape, the snapping of the reigns and the cry of the horses right next to Pala's head feeling like a pair of gunshots had gone off next to her ears. Groaning to herself, she spun around and in one swift motion she sliced the back wheel of the caravan apart, bringing their escape to a sudden halt as one horse crumpled over after losing its balance. Irritated and with her left hand massaging her forehead, Pala slowly paced towards the caravan, looming over the merchant who was already in tears, screaming for mercy.

Pala didn't hear a word of it.

Forcing herself through the pain, she picked up the two halves of the corpse, making her way over to a nice soft patch of grass, stabbing her blade into the dirt and leaning on it silently. After a minute or two of rest, she tossed the corpse onto the ground and began digging, not concerned with any damage that could come with forcing the flat side of her blade to scoop of the earth. Once she was done, she placed the two halves inside the hole and carefully pushed the dirt back into place with her foot before moving towards the horse that remained standing, taking off it's reins and jumping onto it's back. Without a word or even a gesture, the horse continued on it's path towards the city ahead.

Welcome to Ainbrandel.

"We've identified the stolen goods. They're from a shipment that was due two months ago. The fabrics themselves were made in Panza by the factory there. Do you have any questions?"

The guard glanced back at Pala to find her blankly staring at the ceiling, almost as if he wasn't there. Quietly he waved his hand in front of her, only getting a response several seconds later as she lurched into action, looking around the room like she has just woken up from a bad dream.

"Are you sure you want to do this right now? You've been awake for like, a week by now. You should just get some more sleep and leave the rest to us."

"Nine days."

Pala suddenly looked far more alert, her gaze shifting from unfocused to sharp enough to kill within a few seconds.

"Are the materials going back to their owners?"

"Well, they'll be sent back to their original destination, the capitol."

Pala silently glared at the guard, who was obviously feeling the strange tension in the room. The silence lasted for almost a whole minute until Pala questioned him again in a fashion that was more akin to an interrogation.

"With this sort of haul, they could sell at market price and run away with enough money to live comfortably for a year. But this thief is a repeat offender, selling these materials for dirt cheap."

The guard looked towards her nervously, not entirely sure what to say. Eventually words came out of his mouth; not ones that were calculated or planned, but his pure thoughts and those alone.

"And?"

"Well, something is obviously wrong here. Look into it."

The guard looked back, now less fearful and more irritated. After a few seconds of fuming, he bit his lip for a few seconds before standing up and picking up his report.

"We'll look into it."

Without a word, he left the room, closing the door behind him out of spite. Pala grunted, dissatisfied with the results of her two weeks worth of investigation and tracking. Holding back her desire to kick the table in front of her, she gazed into the massive piles of high quality cloth and laid before her eyes. As her eyes scanned through the rippled and folds, she swore she could hear the thunk of wood against wood and the cheerful cries of brotherhood. Maybe she was homesick. It had been a while since she had seen her parents.

Therefore, she needed to get to work.

"What'll you be having tonight, madame?"

The barkeep smiled gently as Pala stared at nothing, her gaze completely blank. Behind her the bar erupted in laughter, with the barkeep turning a light shade of pink.

"You lot, shut up before I kick you out for good."

"We know you can't get rid of us, we're your only regulars."

Hearty laughter came from the same group and the barkeep couldn't help but grin slightly. Realising he had been rude, he turned back towards Pala, who was now carefully scanning her surroundings. Everyone else in the pub was located in seats behind her except for one; a cloaked figure sat two seats away from her, sipping away on a bottle silently.

"So uhhhh... do you wanna buy a drink?"

"Give me a shot of the strongest liquor you've got."

The barkeeper grinned, this time fully. He quickly went to the large rack of drinks and pulled out an old looking bottle, opening the cork with one swift motion. He grabbed a tankard out from under the counter and slammed it out on the table in front of her, pouring the whole body inside.

"We don't do shots here."

Pala looked around to confirm it; everyone was using a tankard or drank straight from the bottle. Turning back towards the cocky looking bartender, she locked eyes with him, as if they were locked in a duel.

"You can sip slowly if you want. Like a baby on it's mother's teet.

Without missing a beat, Pala grabbed the tankard and placed it on her lips and then began downing the drink as fast as she could. The normally rowdy pub momentarily turned to silence until Pala slammed the tankard back down onto the counter with a loud thunk. She turned towards the crowd and picked up the tankard, turning it upside down to release only a few stray droplets.

The bar suddenly went wild, bursting into cheers and applause. Pala knew better than to bathe in the spotlight, so she wordlessly went to go sit back down at her seat, careful to not show any signs of drunkenness.

Just as she sat down, she heard a voice call out to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Immediately she grabbed the hand and pulled it in towards the counter, but within the split second that she pulled she realised something was wrong. Their wrist was far too thin to be someone who would challenge her to a fight and secondly, there seemed to have been a tugging from the other side.

"Nice to meet the two of you!"

The person who had called out to her was a young woman, nearly dressed and with long hair. Most definitely not the fighting type, although the sarcastic undertone in her voice told Pala they weren't the type to go down without a fight.

"I want to make you a deal"