Bad Merchandise

"Your twisting my arm here Kaine...How about 78?" Draven offered,
sucking air though his teeth.
"Ha! They wouldn't even be worth that if they were real!" the tanned,
stout trader laughed.
"now take your 'sapphires' and get lost! Really" he muttered "Trying
to sell me fakes...bloody cheats.."

Draven turned in defeat toward the steaming market, the sweet, ripe
smell of fruit mixed with the rich scent of Skarvi spices and cattle
dung was heavy in the humid air. All around people haggled with
flustered traders. Screams of low prices and fine wares frequently
ripped though the din as various cattle trains wound though the small
streets. The scene was one of chaos, made almost unbearable by the hot
midday sun. Draven observed the fray for more easy traders on which to
offload his dishonest merchandise. He quickly spotted a stall with a
pale looking merchant, who stared down at the floor as if asleep, an
easy profit, he thought.

With a confident stride Draven waded though the flow of bodies. He
stumbled out of the flow, tripped by a cart and almost falling, hit
the merchants stall, waking him from his trance like state.
"hmmgg...ah!" he sobered "ar..are you here to sell or buy?" he asked
wearily with a deep yawn. Draven pulled out a small cloth pouch and
put on his best selling voice.
"My friend, I have here three of the finest sapphires you will ever see, straight
from-"DRAVEN!" a voice yelled from behind. He wheeled to see a
familiar market guard emerge from the fray. He wore the colours of
Kaeln and had his hand resting on the pommel of his sword.
"I barred you from this market place not three weeks ago did I not?!"
he shouted angrily as he pushed through.
"You did but you didn't state for how long" Draven replied cooly with
a mischievous grin,as he backed into the stall, as soon more guards
materialised from the crowd.

It was now too late to realised he had been followed, reaching for his
own weapon he froze when he felt it gone. Grabbing his side and
turning he saw the frail Merchant was gone and in his place another
guard stood sword drawn in one hand Draven's leaf bladed sword in the
other.
"Shit" He cursed under his breath "I just had to stay here for that
extra hour didn't I?".
"We have our orders Draven, you have countless charges of selling
illegal items and cheating traders with glass pebbles, and the
punishment for those actions is-""safe passage out of the city?"
Draven quipped grinning.
"Wrong" the guard said with an menacing grin, drawing his weapon and
stepping slowly forward his sword leveled at Draven's heart.
"Death...this will be such an easy and satisfying kill" the guard
said, almost whispering; his voice laced with malice. Draven seemed to
look beyond the guard for a second, then smiled lopsidedly
"Wrong"
The guard jerked unnaturally, his face contorted in pain, eyes wide in
surprise as he pitched forward and slumped to the dusty ground,
revealing the steel bolt embedded between his shoulder blades, a
crimson stain starting to creep across his tunic.

A cry went up from the market and Draven reacted fast grabbing small
pellets from a pouch at his belt and throwing them to the ground. As
soon as the pellets touched the earth large plumes of green thick
smoke erupted, disorienting all trapped in the cloud. Guards
spluttered and choked in the emerald cloud as Draven sprinted through
the now screaming crowd, darting in and out of clusters of animals and
fearful people. Diving over a stall and breaking most of it's wares,
he spotted a side alley and pushed himself through the air rebounding
off a tall cart, landing and rolling in the alley. He soon slowed to a
walk and pacing carefully he emerged from the alley and turned sharply
left, entering a doorway.

Barring the door from the inside, he wiped the sweat from his brow and
as his eyes adjusted to the dark, empty room he saw the stairs and
climbed, reaching a rickety wooden door with light streaming through
the knot holes. Draven opened the door and strolled into a roof
garden, filled with lush green grass and a rainbow of colourful
flowers. The sweet aroma of nectar a welcome change to the dung of the
streets. A small keen eyed man stood nervously, peering over the edge
of the garden at the panic a few blocks away. Draven's entrance
startled him and he turned, crossbow in hand
"Oh thank the Shadow it's you....Look Drav you can't keep this up,
that was too close. You live a dangerous existence, close shaves like
that are-""spare me the lecture Solus" he growled grabbing a chair and
sitting at a small table, snatching an ornate bottle of amber whiskey
and pouring large dram into a glass.
"I take these risks, not you so don't start, we would
of had to kill a guard eventually" Draven said harshly, draining his
glass, feeling the burn of the potent alcohol down his throat.

But Solus did not hear, he had returned to watching the street below.
"Oh Shadow save us do you know what guard we just killed". In all the
commotion Draven had forgotten the dead man.
"-Ramnus! The captain of the guard! Oh we are in deep shit!" Draven
jumped to his feet, the glass shattering on the floor.
"No! Don't toy with me, that can't of been him!" Draven said uneasily.
"I'm not that's defiantly him!"
At that there was a loud bang and a muffled shout from downstairs
"Open up!... By the order of the Kaeln City guard!"
The two men sprang into silent action; Solus passing a small blade to
Draven and hoisted his leg over the garden's balcony
"over the balcony!" Solus whispered throwing himself over the ledge.

"Wait!" Draven whispered loudly, grabbing Solus roughly by the
shoulder and pulling him back over the ledge.
"Look! There are guards everywhere! You wouldn't even get four steps
before getting cut down, we're taking the rooftops out of here!"
Draven scaled the wooden garden lattice with ease and pulled Solus up
after him.
"What about the archers they could hit us fro-""We will deal with them
when it comes to it, now stop thinking and follow me!" Draven
interrupted turning quickly and setting off across the sunbaked
rooftops. Solus sighed deeply, one of these days Draven would get him
killed or worse.

The men carefully moved across the wood and mud rooftops stepping
between the gaps that showed the maze like streets and chaos below.
Guards could be heard angrily trying to contain the rabble which was
fast becoming a riot.
"What the hell is going on down there!" Solus yelled over the noise in
the streets.
"What do you expect?! You killed the guard captain in front of 200
people and now they're having their houses raided looking for us!
I'm surprised no fires have broken out yet!" Draven put bluntly. At
that a dull thud sounded from a few feet in front of them, an arrow
quivered, stuck in the wooden roof.
"ARCHERS! Run!" Draven shouted, barely heard over the increasing din.
Sprinting as fast as they could, they could see the city gates rise
from the horizon, shimmering in the heat. Arrows were thick in the air
slamming down all around, but the men pressed on, sopping with sweat,
the blood pounding in their ears.

Crossing countless rooftops, suddenly a nine foot wide street opened
up ahead them, the river of panicking civilians below.
"SOLUS! get ready to jump!" Draven screamed, pointing. Fear flashed
through Solus' mind, he couldn't jump a gap that large. He never did;
as Draven launched himself through the air and landed hard grasping
the roof ledge on the opposite side, Solus faltered for a second,
giving a nearby archer an opening to get a direct hit. The arrow sank
deep into his back below the shoulder blade. Solus twisted strangely
as his lifeless body plunged into the anarchy below, causing yet more
screams.

Draven watched, partially concealed by clothes hanging to dry.
"no...oh Light rest his soul.." he breathed, he shuffled to a wall and
sat against it, head in hands. Too many things had been lost today;
his friend, his work in Kaeln and now if he didn't leave the city his
freedom and life would be next. Rising slowly to his feet he knew
there was only one thing to do.
"Run".