"You rogue bastards! You haven't the slightest idea of who you're dealing with!" Sir Savoir snarled savagely as his helmet was ripped off.
"Ohhhh we've got some idea." One of the two hooded men replied in a low and hoarse voice.
Sir Savoir smiled crudely, "Is that right? Well, I've got some idea of what you're insides look like, but I'd still like for your friend to show them to me by ripping you apart anyway!" As he spoke, his lips sparkled. His teeth glimmered, spotless and inviting, shaping and sheathing the words he spoke in a thousand voices and luxurious sounds.
The two figures remained unmoving.
Sir Savoir's arrogant rage died down and shifted into unknowing fear.
Then one of the men removed his hood.
His hair was a long dark mess of curls. His sideburns were long and thick-- shaved low in length but reaching almost all the way up to his eyes. His eyes. They were green and cat-like. They were terrifying. There were myths and legends about those green cat-eyes. Some men hunted the myth and failed upon meeting the legend. A fact made obvious by the nasty scar across his neck.
"Lejan of Agustia..... Survivor of Panther-Clan."
Lejan crouched down to be face level with him— though he was too big to be fully even. He shook his head disapprovingly and looked back up to the other hooded man standing over him, "Damon, what in the twelve hells would a leading Knight in the Lawed-Lands know of the Clans? Aren't we all just mongrels to them?"
"Shit..." Sir Savoir cursed.
Damon took down his hood, "Well.... I'm intrigued. But this isn't anything definitive."
"How's this then?" Lejan asked before his hand moved in a blur, snatching up Sir Savoir's arm to tear off the gauntlet and reveal tattoo on the underside of his wrist. Hidden beneath a patch of false-flesh resin of course.
"That's the mark of the Silk-Walker Thieves Guild..... how'd you...." Damon marveled.
Sir Savoir panicked. "Please! I can pay you! Any amount!"
He grimaced as Lejan grabbed his face and forced open his mouth, revealing the rune burned into his tongue and more etched into his molars.
Damon stared dumbfounded.
"Well, I keep my eye on the crime guilds. Maybe it's the cat in me. They move in my shadows. I have an informant. He gave word that a new mission was off to a great start. Thanks to a handsome smooth-talker. A few weeks later, what do you know, Riverrule gains a new leading Knight. Handsome. Well spoken in ways they hadn't seen since the kings rise to power. Plus, it's obvious. Thieves guilds look at this place and all its minerals with drool coming from their mouthes." Lejan explained to Damon. "And if you needed anymore evidence, look at how stupid those knights were. He was priming them to be swindled in broad daylight. You and me both know Charm-Speak dulls the mind over time."
"Please… any amount of money. I can get it for you!" Savoir begged.
"We don't want just gold, Savoir. You know that if you know about the Clans. If you know not to try that Charm-Speak on us anymore because you know we do not have human ears or minds. We want integration. We want help as we've helped you all. At least that's what the others want." Lejan said with an eye roll.
"Then— I'll get that for you! Just please… don't kill me!" Savoir begged.
Lejan turned his head, "You'll get that for me?"
"For all of you! I swear it!"
Lejan met Savoir's eyes. "But isn't there no honor amongst thieves?"
His skin began to darken and steam and the lace tieing down his armors popped and untied.
Bloodcurdling screams echoed through the marsh. But in the nearby density of Riverule, it was all drowned out by the howling of the wild-woman.