Behind Those Golden Eyes

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Tal was decidedly torn. He had learned what it felt like to be vulnerable in these past few months and that was a decidedly uncomfortable feeling that warned for caution. At the same time that ball of anger inside of him was demanding he go right now and rip them all to pieces with his bare hands. His eyes flared more brightly and he half turned towards the door in frustration. He probably wouldn't have actually gone after the witch, more likely he would have just found some place to vent his frustration. Either way, Xerxes stepped in his way calmly and had a silent stare down with his son.

After several moments of the silence Xerxes asked Celeria a question without ever taking his eyes from his son. "And how long is that going to take?"

Celeria watched the confrontation between the two with measured wariness, knowing it could go back but also with a confidence she could handle it if they did get out of hand. "About an hour." She said calmly as she returned to her work. Her magic did not require as much material components as Sheila, which is why she was so great at hunting. The pouches to protect the boys from Sheila's awareness and project fake auras were already on them but they would need something a bit stronger to handle being in the middle of a magical fight. That was the main thing delaying her. She had the things she would need to counter magical attacks ready and on her at all times. "Believe me, you will appreciate having some protection when two magic users are fighting."

Xerxes raised one eyebrow ever so slightly and that seemed to win the silent argument. Tal's good sense overtook him and he instead stalked over to the window with little more than a soft growl. He remained there for the next hour, watching the people on the street pass by. He came to attention as Celeria finally started putting her things away and got off the bed, holding out 3 pouches. "These should do the trick." She tossed one lightly to each man. "Now, shall we go?"Tal just barely held himself back from running out the door and instead sort of stuck with the group. In fact, he seemed somewhat inclined to stay behind the sorceress and his father for some reason.

Xerxes waited until they were well on the streets before bringing up the idea of strategy. "So what are you suggestions as to the plan of attack?"

"It would be best she did not know I was there until as late as possible so your boy and his friend should probably go in first, make it look like a desperate attempt. I will step in once they get to magics over their heads and the protections I gave them. You will escort me." She flashed Xerxes a slight smile.

"Sounds fun." Tal said darkly, just as happy to be away from both the woman and his father for the majority of the time.

By chance or luck, they had ended up at an inn that was not too far from Sheila's current hideout. They arrived in 10 minutes and then separated into two groups. Xerxes and Celeria seemed to just disappear while they waited for the boys to make their attack.
 
An hour she said and an hour they waited. Archer would rather have taken them on immediately, but of course he accepted Tal's decision. What else could he do? He almost felt like running over to Jeremy, tell them about the plan and then see what happened. That would be a good way to spice things up a bit. But the witch.. Oops, I mean sorceress, Archer thought sarcastically, would probably notice it. Not to speak of Tal. And it would ruin his chances of any amazing future sexy nights, because he would most likely die. Oh well, he just had to wait an hour.

Finally the waiting was over, and the sorceress threw a pouch to him, one to Tal and one to Xerxes. It seemed mostly like dead weight to Archer, but he accepted it. It would probably decrease the fun, but he just had to hope he could get another kind of fun later. But how likely was that after they had saved the princess, he wondered.

The plan they came up with while walking the street suited Archer just fine. Hopefully they would be able to take Shiela on, on their own. That way they could laugh at the ridiculousness of asking a sorceress for help. But if things went wrong, he guessed it was good with some back up.

"So. What do you want to do? A sneak attack, or just run straight into it?" Archer asked once the other two were gone. Sure, the second option would seem more desperate, but just because you were desperate didn't mean you became stupid. If their attack seemed too desperate, they would probably think something was up. But once again, he left the decision to Tal. He only did the strategic plans when his boss told him to do so.
 
"I see no reason why we should not apply our unique skills to the situation." Tal was attempting to seem casual and relaxed but was obviously very tense. "We are no fool knights no matter the situation." Though even he had to admit this situation came awfully close but he was referring more to the method of attack. "We can split up and work our way in from different entrances and try to meet up at a conspicuous location, at which time I will take point and set off any traps she's set for us. Depending just what they turn out to be I will trust your judgement to follow up or counter as need be."

As per usual Tal did not ask for input or consent but turned and vanished into the shadows the more conventional way and started working his way around to find a good entrance.
 
"Roger that boss." Archer said with a grin. Setting off a witch's traps was quite foolish and risky, which was why the idea interested him so much. The assassin might not be able to disappear into the shadows like Tal. Instead he used his leg strength and skillfully ran between hiding places without being noticed until he reached a good spot to get into the building.

Inside, Shiela was concentrating on getting some information out of the sleeping girl. At the moment the girl was allowed to speak so that the witch could get something out of her sleep talking as the nightmares took over her mind. It was first when noises could be heard from somewhere in the building that she realized something was wrong. Fast she forced the girl back into the spell, so she wouldn't be able to move nor talk, and then she left the room which was locked with both seals for demons and locks for humans.

"What's going on?" She asked a guard that came running, obviously to inform of an intrusion.

"A couple of guards has been killed, and two men are trying to get further into the building." He reported. Shiela already knew who they were. Why hadn't she noticed them earlier? Their auras was completely invincible. "Go tell Jeremy and then get back to your position." She ordered him and he rushed away. The only reason he could report must have been because her first few seals had held Taliesin back. But if Archer was with him, he could easily erase them. It would be enough for the dead guards blood to cover parts of her markings for them to become ineffective.

She did however have one trump card waiting for them if they came too close. One of her traps would not only weaken demons, but also humans. They would both fall to the ground completely helpless if they past a certain point. Then it would only be to push a sword into their hearts and they would be gone. Of course the spell was forbidden, and costed many human lives to make, but that it was worth. They would be completely overtaken by the souls of the dead sacrifices, blinded by their sorrow, pushed down by their grieve. They would experience their horrible deaths over and over again until Jeremy, some guard or Shiela decided to ease them from their suffering. Oh how easy it was to take homeless or unloved people from the streets and kill them off without anyone ever missing them.
 
Jeremy did not need to be told. He couldn't sense Tal or Archer but their handiwork was hard to miss. The fear a man felt as he realized he was facing no normal man but a demon in human form was unmistakable. He wasn't worried quite yet as Sheila protections were slowing them down but he did make quick time to the room where Sheila was. If it came down to it, he knew he had the final trump card against the demon.

He strolled into the room with a light rapier on his hip but he did not plan to use it. Instead he pulled out the same small dagger he had tried to fend Archer off with and ran a hand along it lovingly before flashing Sheila a grin. "It seems we've reached the end of our game with the demon. I assume you're prepared for this?"

Tal was becoming irritatingly familiar with the feeling of weakness now. On the bright side it meant that he was getting more and more able to compensate against the weakness so he could defend himself while trapped in the spells. It mostly consisted of reminding himself that he was part human as well, but effective was effective. Once Archer came along and started taking care of the seals, the witches defenses seemed more and more like jokes and Tal was just starting to think that just maybe they would be able to rescue Aisha without the sorceresses aid when they stepped into a new hallway and he felt all of his strength drain out of him. He saw a different symbol at the end and realized that Archer was on the ground next to him for some reason.

For the second time that month he felt the cold touch of fear and reached with his senses to try and find his father and Celeria though he knew he would not be able to sense them at all. He heard the door at the end of the hallway open but could do nothing as the sound of footsteps neared. For the first time he could sense Jeremy's actual aura, laced with pleasure and satisfaction. It seemed he had come to watch, or more likely to take his own pound of flesh as it were.

He kept telling himself that the sorceress had a plan and that his father would not stand by as he was killed but it did not help as the witch was standing over him, picking up his own precious sword to slay him with it. Then, several things happened.

Celeria stepped out of a shadowed corner, a weak Xerxes hanging on her shoulder. She raised a hand, a purple ring glowing angrily before a blast of energy knocked Sheila away and further down the hall. At the same time she put a hand on the wall and melted away the glyph of weakness. Xerxes seemed to come back to life and sprang in front of the door, keeping Jeremy from darting back to hold Aisha hostage.

At the other end of the hallway, Tal sprang into life as soon as he felt the spell lift. Before Sheila could even start to recover was lifted from the ground and her neck was snapped. Tal seemed to pause and think for a moment before he went ahead and ripped her head clean off, just to make sure. He then froze in surprise as the body started to look odd.

Jeremy knew he was done for. He took in everything that was going on in the hallway and knew what he must do. There was a great deal of calm in that. He knew he was twisted and not what everyone would consider a 'good child'. He had no delusions that the battle they had been fighting had been one of right or wrong but of mutual revenge. And so he lifted his own dagger and made one last move to spite Archer. "Well grandfather, I tried." He murmured to himself with a wiry smile and drove the dagger home. He was dead instantly and fell to the ground with a surprisingly peaceful smile.
 
Shiela raised an eyebrow at the question. "I'm not a fool." She told him. Of course there were preparations. Of course she was ready for some sort of attack even though this had been quite unexpected. If only she had kept a better eye on the guards auras, then she would have known earlier. But that did not matter. She still had them right where she wanted them.

Archer was busy slashing throats and getting rid of the circles. It all seemed a bit too easy as he didn't need to get rid of the whole circle as when they had been at Kellen's place. Shiela was a strong witch. She should have known that it wouldn't hold them for long. Still Kellen had done worse magic tricks against them during their attack. Could she truly have been so unprepared? Maybe they wouldn't need that sorceress after all. Just as the thought came to the assassin, his knees gave up and he fell to the ground.

As Shiela felt them both drained on energy, she stepped out from the room and came towards them in the corridor. "Ooh, poor little demon. It seems like your journey ends here. You should have been better prepared." She mused as she picked up Tal's sword. "Don't worry for your little friend. We'll take good care of her. I might even give her your head as a souvenir." The witch lifted the sword. The moment was lovely. The only thing in the city that would be able to harm her would finally disappear. There would be a long time before such a threat would come back. She would be safe for a long time forward.

With a devilish smirk, she pushed the sword down. But instead of hitting the demon, Shiela was pushed backwards, dropping the sword halfway through the corridor. She hit the wall, and for a moment she blacked out. As she regained consciousness she tried to understand what hit her, but before she could figure anything out it was too late. The demon broke her neck, and if that didn't kill her, the removal of her head from her neck definitely did. Only seconds later, the body started to change. It aged rapidly, becoming wrinkly and dehydrated, then turning into ashes.

Meanwhile, Archer was ready to take care of Jeremy for the last time. But before he got the chance to truly break the contract between his former master and himself, Jeremy struck his dagger into his own chest. The assassin looked shocked at the body lying on the ground. "That little bastard." He muttered. He was fairly sure the brat did it just to take away Archer's joy of killing him. At least this time Tal wouldn't be able to blame him if Jeremy came back.

Archer kicked the dead body, not to confirm his death, but because he was annoyed, and right after something grabbed his attention. Light blue orbs was shining in the ashes of the witch's former body. Slowly they floated upwards in the air and turned into something that looked like human sized white smoke. Every one of them only stayed for a few seconds before seemingly disappearing into the ceiling. Though for anyone standing outside, they could probably see the smoke like lights coming from the house and going up to the sky. At least a hundred of them appeared and disappeared.

"That's not something you see everyday." Archer commented with a whistling as an introduction to his sentence. He had no idea what had just happened. He did not know that the death of the witch freed the one hundred souls Shiela had killed to stay young forever. One for every year she wished to lengthen her life with.
 
Tal was decidedly startled when the witch started withering in his hands and hastily threw the pieces of her body to the ground and stepped back, just in case whatever it was would start to effect him as well.

Celeria watched the souls float up with a mix of pity and anger. "I am glad you brought this woman to my attention. The lives she has taken for the most perverted purposes are free now. " She turned her gaze to the two assassins. "Between spells like this and the one she caught you in who knows how many she has done worse than murder." There was just a hint of pressure in the hallway, much like when Tal was angry and his aura was starting to become almost a physical thing except Cel kept it wrapped up as much as possible. "Anyway, I believe there was a woman you were after?"

Tal had not forgotten Aisha, but he was honestly somewhat afraid to go in the room and see what state she was in. "There may still be guards about, you and father can go check on her while Archer and I guard the door."

Xerxes raised an eyebrow but had an idea what was probably going through his sons mind so turned into the room with a shrug. He stopped at the doorway, his lips pressed tight as he now had to deal with his anger at the state of the girl he regarded quite fondly.

Cel moved past him and made an angry noise herself before coming up to Aisha. "Here child, speak to me." With some effort Cel could manipulate the spell Sheila had cast on Aisha but it would take some work to undo it entirely.
 
Archer was quite surprised that Tal hadn't ripped the door off the wall, rushed in and taken the girl away from there. In difference to Xerxes, Archer had no idea what was going on in his boss's mind. One moment he wanted to save her, the next he let it go to the others just as the job was about to be done. It didn't make sense to him. But human emotions rarely did. Once he would have easily sympathized with his feeling, once he would have known how it felt like when someone dear disappeared and you only wished for their safe return, and you feared to see them in case they weren't fine. Now he couldn't even remember those feelings. When he did think about that past, he could only see himself as a fool.

If she could, Aisha would have been shaking rapidly out of fear. She had woken up, locked up inside her own body, while the commotion was going on outside. Was Tal there? What happened? Was he okay? A strange voice suddenly surprised her. "Who are you?" Aisha asked and was almost startled over hearing her own voice. She still couldn't move though. Had Shiela allowed her to speak while she was still asleep and then forgotten to put on the spell again?

Not being able to see the person she was speaking to scared her. Was it a friend of Jeremy? Would she hurt her? But more importantly, "What's going on out there?" It was completely quiet now. It scared her more than anything. If Tal had attacked, why wasn't he speaking to her? Had he lost? God let it not be so, Aisha prayed for the first time in many years. Never did she let herself ask her God for anything, because she did not believe in a God that would grant wishes on demand. But if ever her God would give her a wish fulfilled, she wished it would be this one. Let Tal be safe, and keep him that way.
 
Xerxes realized immediately that Aisha must be having more problems than the ones he could see on her aura and body. He stepped up next to Cel immediately. "It's okay Aisha, we've taken care of the witch and that boy." Jeremy took care of himself but it was close enough. "Tal is outside." He knew that was what was really concerning her. "This is Celeria, a friend of mine. She's going to help counteract what the Witch did to you."

"We need to get her to a better place." Cel said to Xerxes.

In the hallway Tal had relaxed marginally. Aisha was talking, that was good. He could now take a moment to enjoy some amusement at Archer's bafflement. Since the time Archer had explained the motivations behind some of Aisha's words and decisions after the first rescue, he'd always considered the man to be the more emotionally astute of the two of them. He supposed now that Archer just knew about being weak.

Tal entered the room then and moved to join the group. "I will carry her. Let's get out of here." Even with the somewhat tempering presence of his father around he didn't wait for a response but instead picked up Aisha very carefully, pausing only at a motion from the sorcerss.

"Wait, give her this first." Cel pulled a vial out of the pouch on her hip and poured the clear liquid down her throat. "Now lets get out of here." Unlike the last potion Aisha had had, this would taste like slightly sweet water and would go down her throat almost before she knew it was there. It would ease her pain and 'prime' her body for healing.
 
Tal was fine. If she could, Aisha would certainly have relaxed her whole body by that point. But it was already as numb as it could get. She automatically tried to nod in response to Xerxes words, but found herself unable to do so. "Okay." She instead replied with shaking voice. It was hard for her to mentally relax even when surrounded by friends. After all, she had no idea if the process to get rid of whatever magic had been cast on her would hurt or not. If the girl Celeria could get rid of the magic or not. And for some reason, Tal wasn't there. Why wasn't he in the room?

As if God had heard and granted her prayer, she finally heard Tal's voice as he entered the room. Shortly thereafter, his arms was carefully wrapped around her. Even at such a gentle touch, the young woman still felt the pain going through her like a knife. She did not make a sound however, because it wouldn't change anything. If anything, she might just worry the people around her more if she didn't hold back.

The sudden pain had distracted her from Celeria's words, so when a sweet liquid started to flow down her throat she got slightly frightened. What had they just made her drink? Everything the witch had given her had made things worse. She was in Tal's safe arms, and still she couldn't help but be gripped by panic and anxiety. What if they couldn't break the curse? What if she would be stuck in that lifeless body forever. Aisha did not dare to speak, because she knew if she opened her mouth again she wouldn't be able to do anything other than to cry and sob.

Archer waited outside, making sure no one would make a desperate attempt to attack them. Though usually when someone's master was dead, they tended to just flee and find a new one. It wasn't like they could get payed for their work once the boss was gone. But there was some crazy and loyal people out there, so it was always best to look out. As expected, the building was empty. Those whom hadn't been killed had fled once they had realized that they had lost.

On their way back, Archer glanced towards the girl. He was sure he had heard her speak before. Had she fallen asleep out of exhaustion? No, it didn't feel like she was sleeping. "Know what's wrong with her? Except the obvious." He asked as he turned to the sorceress. He was quite sure even Tal was curious what it was that kept Aisha in that state. The wounds wouldn't need any explanation, at least not from a sorceress.
 
Celeria had brought up the rear while Xerxes lead the way out, surrounding Tal and more importantly Aisha in a sandwich of protection. Cel took a few moments to respond to Archer, looking very distracted. "She has been tortured magically as well as what you can see. There is also a spell that has completely stolen her will and it was all I could do in the moment to free her speech." She didn't seem inclined to say anything more and was silent all the way back to the inn. No one else seemed much inclined to speak either.

Back at the inn Celeria had Tal put Aisha on the bed and then firmly pushed all of the men out of the room. "Find somewhere else to be for the night." She said shortly before shutting the door behind them and locking it. She then returned to the bed and took a good look at what she was dealing with. "You poor child." She murmured mostly to herself. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed, though she knew she could handle it all. Dispatching of dangerous creatures was more her thing than healing and fixing though. She was having a hard time deciding whether to deal with the physical or other issues first. Reluctantly, she decided the magical wounds would have to wait and pulled out her advanced version of a first aid kit. "I'm going to tend to your wounds now so I must remove the remains of your clothes." She made sure to announce everything she was going to do before it happened because she knew Aisha would not be able to see it happening.

Tal's face when Celeria pushed him out the door was just short of murderous. He hid the expression quickly but the glittering anger in his eyes deceived him. Without a word he turned towards the stairs and was down them a little too fast for a human. It was times like these he wished he could get properly drunk.
 
Stolen ones will huh. That was quite an interesting spell. Even though he probably never would be able to use it, considering he didn't have any magical powers, it still seemed interesting enough to look up, if he could find it anywhere. Archer might have had some fantasies of taking his victims wills away and then torture them while they were still conscious and could do nothing about it. At some point they even went into making his victim torture themselves. Luckily Archer would never get the powers to do such things, otherwise the people he was assigned to murder might have gotten a rougher time than what already was.

Eventually they got back to the inn, and as fast as they arrived, all the guys got thrown out again. Archer wasn't angry over it, but he couldn't deny it had stumped him a bit. "I think a celebration drink is in its order after such a successful mission." Archer smiled. He didn't keep it a secret that he was happy over not having to bother with helping that girl out. Leave it to the witch to take care of and she would be fine in no time. With that Celeria there, Tal, Archer and Xerxes would probably just be in the way if they tried to help.

"I think we might need a few more drinks than planned." He mumbled as Tal disappeared, not too cheerful. Archer could always hope that Tal was so angry he would wish to get rid of it with sex eventually. He started to follow the other man, though considering the speed Tal had disappeared with, it was more like tracking.

Aisha was quite happy and distressed at the same time. The distress came from the fact that Tal wasn't there anymore, and she had heard them leave. But at the same time she would not have wanted them there when her clothes were removed. Once again she wished she could just nod as she was told what was going on, but instead she had to reply with a small "mm". Her body didn't hurt anymore. It felt quite numb. It must have been the potion she had been fed before.

While she did want to start a conversation, just to fill the room with some sort of sound so she wouldn't have to concentrate on what was being done to her body while she couldn't see, she still felt like it would be a bad idea. If the woman whom helped her needed to concentrate, it would just take longer time if they tried to hold up a conversation. And quite frankly, Aisha had no idea where to start a conversation with a complete stranger.
 
Xerxes looked after his son with a knowing and slightly pitying look. Alcohol did no more for him than it did his son. He considered following them but decided Tal might not appreciate his company at the moment, considering his usual methods of dealing with stress like this. He was at a momentary loss before deciding to run down one of his contacts and have the Sheila mess properly cleaned up.

Tal had not gone too far. He'd made it about two blocks before dropping into a Tavern that looked suitably entertaining. He couldn't get drunk but he could enjoy the high that came from those drawn in by his looks and his ability to manipulate them. He knew Archer would follow but he didn't mind. That was just one more person to entertain him. By the time Archer arrived there were already two women at the center table with Tal and a few others of both genders were eying the scene speculatively.

Celeria was just as happy to leave the room in silence, aside from the odd sound of disapproval she made as she encountered a particularly nasty or infected wound. She worked with efficiency and had Aisha cleaned and bandaged up in surprisingly little time. It was then she finally spoke. "You should probably sleep." She murmured. "It will be easier on both of us as I start to work on the rest of it."
 
When Archer finally caught up to Tal, the man was already surrounded by two girls. The assassin rolled his eyes. Couldn't he have flirted up one guy while he was on it? Though considering it was Tal, he probably just sat there until someone came up to him.

"Having fun without me?" He grinned as he walked up to the table. As if to satisfy the growing audience, Archer leaned in and gave Tal quite a steamy kiss. "You need stronger alcohol. I can barely taste it." He scolded Tal after having backed off. Then he retreated to one of the seats.

Aisha would have given her a harsh frown if she had been able to. "Would you be able to relax enough to actually fall asleep if an unknown person was taking care of your non-moving body?" She asked. There was no way she would be able to fall asleep. Not before Tal was back. or Xerxes. Even Archer would be good enough. Or before she was certain her body worked properly again.
 
Tal's expression didn't change as Archer approached the table, fixed in a slight smirk that only grew as they engaged in a lovely kiss. The feelings of surprise and jealousy were almost as lovely as the kiss. He hadn't even spoken until after Archer left. He had simply let his looks and aura do it's work. He could repel or draw people in by changing the 'tone' of his aura and today it was obvious which one he was using. "There there ladies, there's enough to go around." His gaze swept the bar, making eye contact with every aura he could feel was interested. A few of them almost fell out of their chairs with all that attraction force directed at them. It didn't take much imagination to figure out how the night was going to end.

Cel thought about making the girl go to sleep, but she could understand why the girl would not want to and couldn't deny her reasoning. "Very well." And so she set to work and tried not to think about the discomfort, almost pain, that she was causing Aisha as she started dismantling the spell that bound her will. The settling of her aura would be not quite as much of an ordeal, but only in comparison to the one she had just put the girl through.

When it was all done she pulled herself up from her kneeling position next to the bed and fell wearily into the chair at the desk.
 
Aisha couldn't describe the feeling at all when Celeria started to work. It wasn't painful, but still far from pleasant. But slowly she could feel how her muscles started to obey her will. Or rather her instincts. The more the spell disappeared, the more her muscles tensed and when it came closer to the end her arms were shaking as she finally could grip the bed sheets while waiting for it to be over.

After it was all over, Aisha just laid there for several minutes, finally being able to relax a bit. Her eyes had been closed for a couple of days, and she was slightly frightened that she might not be able to see any longer. A ridiculous fear she realized. Soon she opened her eyes and starred up into the ceiling. "Thank you." She said, still not moving. Her wounds did not hurt at all. She weren't sure if it was due to the medicine before or if they had been completely healed. "When do you think they'll be back?" Aisha didn't even dare to ask what the sorceress might think they were doing. She had a few guesses herself. At least if Tal was close to Archer.

Meanwhile, Archer was quite busy getting drunk and flirting with pretty much any man that came close. He was up for most challenges, and that night it seemed to be a challenge of creating the biggest orgy in history. If you were going to celebrate, you should do it big.
 
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