"So who are you?" Equa was quite tall, a menacing towering shape covered by shadow with glowing blue eyes that in the mind of the small thin bandit named Eymik looked like a monster out of a fairytale.
"I uhh… im.. im ehhh…" She couldn't tell him her name, in fact she couldn't tell these adventurers anything. If they learnt she was a bandit she may face a cruel fate. But lying her way out of this one would be hard.
"Stop, can't you see you're scaring the poor girl? she's all skin and bones" Gnist rubbed the frying pan shaped mark on her forehead as she stood up in the small girl's defence. She was weak to all things small and cute, who did not seem like they could protect themselves.
"She could very well be one of the bandits we are looking for" Equa was not the kind to be fooled by mere appearance. The child may be frail, but with their rugged clothes and sheathed dagger the immediate instinct of Equa was to assume fowl play.
"It's easier to teach kids to kill than adults, I should know" Jakurk leaned more to Equa's side. Lessons and experiences from his own life taught him no child could be trusted. "But if she was a bandit you'd think she'd have a friend or two, but she has none as far as i can see" Bandits weren't the smartest or brightest bunch, But they did know that strength could be found in numbers. Yet this child was undoubtedly alone.
"Exactly it's just a child Equa, probably some adventurer's apprentice who lost their way in the deep tunnels" Gnist gave Equa a glare which told him to back off. Which he did reluctantly. Snorting as he walked away. Gnist got down to Eymiks level. "Hi, im Gnist what's your name?"
Oh lord above they are on to me. Eyemik felt the pressure. Back in the bandits camp there were only two people who were considered strong, the leader of the bandits Sirap, and her right hand man Hallos. One knew they were strong based on simply their presence. But the pressure in the bandits camp was nothing compared to the one she felt now. Perhaps it was due to the fear of being uncovered but perhaps it was for another reason entirely. She needed to lie like her life depended on it and it needed to be good.
"My name is Kimeye" Her name spelled backwards, am i dumb was all she could think. "Im a thief.. as in i can pick locks and sneak around enemies… yeah…I dont steal from people you know..cus thats bad?" Fuck she was bad at this. What were they going to write on her tombstone? Dumb ass? Troglodyte? Frogeater? Velskan?
"So, Kimeye the thief, why are you alone in a place like this?" Equa was far from convinced, especially by the poor attempt made by Eyemik to lie her way out of trouble. His tone seemed to bother Gnist just as much as it did Eyemik.
"Well… I was in a party of adventurers, we were just hunting monsters, you know nothing special, and then we were attacked by bandits! tons of bandits! Led by a vicious hound! And in the commotion caused by the bandits, I got separated cuz of the bandits, you know?" Yes that sounded almost natural, just a few more good words and she was quite possibly free of suspicion.
"You mentioned a hound, were they one of the bandits chasing you?" This time it was Jakurk who sought an answer to a question which had been plaguing him ever since the small thief ruined their dinner. She had shouted in fear of a hound and although there must be at least a handful of them on the island, it seemed like quite the coincidence should it be someone other than Opip.
"Did i?..Well yes there was a scary large hound among the bandits who ripped apart our swordsman like he was nothing! I was so scared" Eyemik threw herself into the welcoming arms of Gnist. Fake crocodile tears made her appear truly as a lost frightened girl in the middle of the dark dungeon.
"What did the hound look like?" Jakurk did not care.
"Lay off would you, There, there it's alright" Gnist liked protecting small weak things. She couldn't help herself. "Can you tell us where the fight took place? Do you think you could guide us there?" She was more careful with her questions and more soothing. She was, after all, a good person.
"Uhh, yes of course i can" What?! Why did they want to keep her around? What if the hound was still there? What if any of her friends had survived. And why did it feel like a bad idea to stick around this particular group of people?
"What? What's the point of helping this stray or her party? we've got enough freebooters as is" Equa cast a quick glance to Jakurk who was in the middle of scooping one of the small bits of mutton from the floor, hoping to follow the five minute rule.
"One word, bandits, were hunting them remember, if we can kill of a few and then get a prisoner to lead us to their hideout we won't have to wander about in the dark like a bunch of fools, and it's the right thing to do, the mage agrees doesn't he?" Gnist could not be stopped when she set her mind to something. A fact Equa had had the misfortune to learn during their years of travel together.
"Sure" Jakurk did not trust the child at all. But if she led them to the bandits he might get to find out if the hound she spoke of is Opip or just some hound.
"Fine have it your way, but if this whole thing turns out to be a trap to lure us into an ambush the first head I'll chop off is the child's Equa stared daggers into the Eyemik which caused them to subtly look away. For a moment Equa almost felt bad, remembering how shitty his own childhood had been. But he regained his composure, he was a Drakyr if his instincts told him not to trust the child then he must follow that instinct. If he could not trust that instinct he would sooner or later find himself dead, that much he knew.
Equa scoffed and began to repack their belongings. Jakurk decided to help just a little bit. While Gnist continued to question who they thought to be Kimeye. "Hey don't let him intimidate you just because you're smaller" Gnist's voice was reassuring, Eyemik felt just a little bit at ease around her.
"And dont worry i wont let anyone hurt something which belongs to me" She smiled as she said it, but Eyemik felt less safe and more like she should get the hell away from these people as soon as she could. "What do you mean by that"
"Alright we're ready to go" Equa broke their conversation as he straddled a large back pack on his scaly back. Jakurk did a small applause as he took up his finely crafted torch. "Ready to lead the way?" Equa turned to the kid.
"Yeah, sure"
Dark damp tunnels. An hour of walking hungry. The stench of old water, and what little light there was came mostly from the group's torches. But at least it was lighter than the darkmarch. Then corpses, several mangled dead bandits almost floating in the low water. Eyemik couldn't help but grimace at their sight. Those were once her friends. Her friend's blood now coated the water red.
"Any friends of yours?" Equa said, looking over his shoulder to gauge the kids reaction. The armour of the bandits and hers were quite similar, but then again most adventurers could only afford cheap leather just like bandits.
"Equa" Gnist did not like the way he was still questioning her new 'friend'.
"Just one" Eyemik made her way over to her best friend. His corpse split in two separate parts floating idly side by side in the murky water. He had already died once before. If they brought him back his memories may be muddled, he wouldn't be the same as before. She held herself back from shedding a tear.
"Look at this" Jakurk stood with his torch by the side of the wall lighting up a painted message on the wall's side. In the common tongue it said. Bandits, Lost our stuff. Heading for Augusts. "Looks like some of your other friends made it"
"What?" Eyemik made her way over, noticing that both the unconscious hill folk and the rage filled hound were nowhere to be seen. "Oh.." Eyemik didn't know what else to say, but she sincerely hoped they weren't going to head after whoever it was that left the message.
"Aren't you happy your friends made it?" Jakurk found her reaction a little bit weak. If it was his companions that had left the message he'd be overjoyed to know that they were alive.
"Of course she isn't, they left her behind" Equa found it an awful display of false camaraderie. An adventuring party which left someone behind in a place like this? a beginner? Such a party was no party worth meeting. Yet even then Equa's trust for the kid did not increase, even though he sincerely pitied her, whatever her story might actually be.
"You don't have to go after them, you can stay with us, what do you say?" Gnist turned with hopeful eyes to the young thief among them. Who did not know what to say.
For a moment it looked as if Equa was going to answer for her with a resounding no, but he stopped himself after a glare from Gnist. And a recognition that following his instincts to such a length that he'd leave a child to fend for themself in the dark may not be such a good look on his moral character.
"Sure..I think I'd like that..yeah.." Eyemik needed to leave, she had to get away from these people, the weird older girl mostly but her heart could not take this kind of environment for long. The first chance she got she was out of here.
Actually I think we should head for August's drop after all" Jakurk stood turned to the wall looking at the end of the message.
"Why?" Gnist asked, hoping he didn't want to get rid of her new friend like Equa.
"Becuase this message wasn't left by her companions, It was left by mine" Jakurk tapped the end of his iron torch on the rock at the end of the message where a tiny scribble like drawing could be seen of an apple. The symbol and name of his party.