Lord Shield's Bar.... I've no idea what number.

[Skydracgrrl]

ooc- Tancred.. [img]graemlins/bigeyesad.gif[/img]

[Tancred]

OOC: Damn you and those puppydawg smiley eyes! Ok, ok… having said that, this was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever written for the Bar, for some reason.

IC: Meanwhile…

***

"Well, it’s a long story," begins the knight, settling himself down on the bed. "It… it’s hard to know where to begin…"
"The boy’s got himself into a feud with the psychotic red-head knightess and is expecting to be assassinated any second." One gets the impression Karnas is grinning.
"That’s… about the size of it…" agrees the knight. "I was part of... well, just a prank, really! But it cost someone a shot at the title, and I guess I underestimated just how much that means to some people."
Lyulfe thinks for a minute.
"How much does it mean to you?"
"What?"
"Seriously," asks the dragon. "What's stopping you just leaving here and running for it? Do you have to compete in this joust?"
Tancred is silent for a moment, deep in thought.
"That's a good question," he answers. "But there's no backing out now, dragon, even if I wanted to. It's a matter of honour now."
Lyulfe snorts. "Seems to me, a knight can always get more honour... wha IS going on out there?"
The Song Dragon pads over to the window, where in the street below a ruckus is forming - but he doesn’t get a chance to report; hurried steps are heard on the stairs outside, and Skye stumbles her way into the room.
“Tancred! Someone’s trying to get rid of you with…” she manages, before her eyes roll back in her head and she topples to the floor.
Lyulfe sighs.
"Looks like she's had one too many drinks to handle the excitement," he quips.
Tancred gets up from the bed, kneeling by the comatose bard. He lifts her head gently, opening one of her eyelids.
“Is she alright?”
Skye gives a loud snore.
“Pining, probably,” sneers Karnas.
The dragon cuts across them, putting on his very best authoritative tone. “Given the circumstances, I think we should get moving, don’t you?”
“What?”
The dragon nods toward the window he is gazing out of. “Come see.”
The alley by the inn was somewhat crowded, to say the least. Knights and peasants and other ne’er-do-wells were clustering around a team of squires bearing the badge of the Knights Hospitaller; the famous white cross on black.
A young knight was being carried out on a stretcher, his face bloody.
Tancred grimaced. “There’s a look of the Orkney clan about the sleeping guy… damn womanising Orkneys.”
The dragon looked back and forth, from the knight’s red nose to Skye’s ruined shirt. “I think we’d better go without being noticed – if that’s possible...”
“Surely the inn is safer?” Karnas quips, a sly tone in his voice. “Why, I bet the boy here was just about to suggest you and I stay in a separate room as a decoy, while he ‘ministers’ to the floozy here…”
Lyulfe doesn’t say anything, but takes a few steps closer to his bardic companion. He shows some teeth.
Tancred sighs, irritated. “Back to the pavilions, then? With any luck, we should be safe there. At least no-one will try anything so overt as a frontal attack in a camp full of hungover knights.”
“Sounds better than this inn. Pick her up, then.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s not as if I can carry her, is it?” the dragon turns the full force of his withering sarcasm onto the knight. “Me, without opposable thumbs and everything. And the glowing stick over there isn’t much help. You’ll have to carry her.”
Tancred mutters something under his breath. With Karnas’ gleeful laugh still in his ears, the paladin carefully hoists Skye over his shoulder. He totters over to the bed – trying to get his balance aright – and rams the mocking sword into his scabbard. Skye can be heard, mumbling quietly to herself.
“Are there likely to be archers sniping from the rooftops, do you think?” Lyulfe smiles with hooded eyes. “I knew I should have worn my gem-encrusted waistcoat.”
Silence, except for the creaking of floorboards. After a while, the cheerful creature harrumps and shrugs with his wings.
“Sorry. Dragon joke.”
“We can but hope they’ll aim for you first, lizard,” drawls the sword. “With luck the average humour level in the city might go u – what’s that?”
Both dragon and knight look down at the floor. Sure enough, the pouch of innocent-looking powder has made itself noticed.
Lyulfe pads over to it.
“Smells a bit sugary… I’ve never smelt her carry anything that smelt like this before.”
Tancred carefully deposits the sozzled Skye onto the bed and leans down, taking a little of the powder on his finger. Giving the dragon a quizzical expression, he goes to taste it.”
“Don’t do that, you silly man!” yells Lyulfe, as Tancred goes to taste a little on his tongue. “It could be poisonous!”
“… That’s ridiculous. What would Skye be doing with poison?”

[ 01-13-2003, 09:36 PM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Tancred]

OOC: I just realised since I deleted a post it looks like I havent posted. I have now.

BTW... welcome back Legolas! I daresay we shall work to try and get the plot back in your your direction once more.

Tanc

[Legolas]

OOC: Thank you, Tancred [img]smile.gif[/img]
Holy-boy seems to have his hands full at the moment, but I'm sure the pickpocketing bard will show up sometime in the near future. Until such time, there's no need to rush headlong in that one direction. We have a while yet to view the scenery, so to speak...

[Skydracgrrl]

ooc- now now, you know girls neever snore.. [img]tongue.gif[/img] and Lyulfe could possibly be persuaded to see Karnas's view about Tancred and Skye's situation.. he is a sidekick afterall.. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

ic-Lyulfe said to Tancred dryly "Why would she have a pouch of sugar? I doubt that makes any more sense than poison. And if what you say is true..." he drawled, looking outside once again, "Then I would bet it's poison. It makes sense why Skye had to bloody that man's face, if that was the case. She could have just run away from him instead, but she waited to get this." he snatched it from the knight and snuffled it cautiously.

~~~~~*jumping back just a little..*~~~~~

Skye could feel warm arms around her, lifting her from the bed. She murmured nonsensical noises, too sleepy to bother trying to make and logical words. When she was set down again she mumbled under her breath "Oh, good... didn'... drink anything.... Tancred...don' like... powder..." she sighed and drifted deeper off into sleep.

ooc- sorry Tancred, but you made me resort to my sad puppy eyes im not known for my patience ^^;

[Tancred]

He stands there for a moment, sugar-coated finger raised, staring at the Dragon. His gaze slowly turns to the window, and the thought of the bloodied knight crosses his thoughts.
A voice... effete, chirping... echoes in his mind.
"... then there was d'Akwitayn - a goblet of wine he'd been holding exploded..."
Tancred stares at the sugary stuff on his finger in horror.
With hurried motions he cleans the stuff off. VERY thoroughly.
He marches to the bed, picks up th somnambulic bard as carefully as he can whilst still being as quick as possible, and moves to the door.
"Let's go," he orders, in stern but worried tones.

OOC: I dunno about 'warm arms'. Tanc has this depressing habit of wearing old full-plate everywhere. I think it's because that's all the clothes he owns.

[ 01-15-2003, 07:30 AM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Skydracgrrl]

ooc- yeah well, there's a warm body in the armour so... *shrugs*
Legolas, I think you can make your char bump into us now [img]smile.gif[/img]

ic- Following after the anxious paladin, Lyulfe muttered under his breath "No wonder why Karnas always teases you... I give you a speech and you try to eat the stuff. She, on the other hand, mumbles a few words in her sleep and you're scared to death."

[ 01-16-2003, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: Skydracgrrl ]

[Legolas]

Joram turned back to his other side in an attempt to shut out the sounds of men hurrying past his pavillion in their metal boots. When they began shouting as well, he gave up with a sigh. Rubbing the sleep from his pale blue eyes, he sat up and pulled on his clothes. When he had finished and was about to step outside, he changed his mind and put his proper knightly armour over the padded shirt and breeches. It took a lot more time, but he did feel more comfortable wearing something to protect him, even if he wasn't quite sure whohe needed to be protected from. He ducked through the tent opening, using his free hand to try and to rub some order back into his sleep-messed hair.

Outside the shouting was louder, as if the twilight embraced the sounds of the living the candles inside sought to banish. He could see shapes moving between the pavillions, hurrying in the direction of the city walls. The guards wouldn't let anyone enter the city this time of night, so he assumed they were heading for the inn where travellers usually waited for the night to pass so they might pass through the gate. Now it was used by those who didn't want to miss any part of the tournament.
Not sure about his reasons for doing so, Joram nonetheless followed the other knights and squires. The inn wasn't the only building on the wrong side of the wall, as over time people who couldn't find homes inside the walls built their own on the outside. The king of H'Azelle wasn't too happy about this as it gave the enemy an advantage during a siege, he allowed them to remain where they were while peace lasted.
Moving through the miniature maze of the buildings, Joram soon turned a corner which allowed him a view at the inn. At the sight of the mob standing outside, he slowly turned and crept away. There seemed to be an argument going on, but he suddenly didn't want to hang around to learn more, nor wait for the - likely violent - end.

Looking back over his shoulder to reassure himself noone was following him, he never spotted the man appearing before him. Joram bumped into the man, who almost dropped a bundle of clothes he carried in his arms.
His heart skipped a beat, but then he recognised his old friend.

"Ah, Tancred. I see you're still awake. Ehr... you're just taking a walk as well then, are you?"

[Tancred]

Tancred is caught completely by surprise, walking around a corner into the sinister silhouette of an armoured man in the shadows. Torn between not dropping Skye and drawing his sword, the cavalier manages to fumble both enterprises wonderfully, almost losing his balance in the process. Tancred shuts his eyes, grimly expecting a sword to strike him down where he stands…
"Ah, Tancred. I see you're still awake. Ehr... you're just taking a walk as well then, are you?"
He opens one eye.
“Joram!” he cries out in relief, opening the other. “Thank the gods… we need to get back to the pavilions, quickly – where the hell are they?”
Skye mumbles something in the sudden quiet.
“What did she say?” drawled Lyulfe, laid-back as ever.
“Er… I think she said ‘Mummy’?”
“Sounded more like ‘Money’ to me.”
“I thought it was ‘Honey’…” insinuated a heckling, educated voice.
Tancred makes a noise. It sounds very much like steam escaping from a high-pressure valve. If the knight’s red, shaking face is anything to go by, it also sounds very much like a man whose patience and sanity are skidding on the very edge…

[ 01-18-2003, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Skydracgrrl]

Lyulfe made a chuffing sound, resembling laughter. "Or maybe it was dummy, can't be sure... Although it might have sounded the most like honey..." He grinned toothily at the sword with amusement. Before Tancred could say anything in retaliation, Skye clutched onto his neck with a sigh, still asleep. This action made Karnas and the dragon both break out in another bout of laughter.

[ 01-18-2003, 11:59 PM: Message edited by: Skydracgrrl ]