Giang

[Color Me Fubar]

A man stepped out from the trees, dressed in an outfit similar to an Asha'man, but the difference was obvious. Asha'man didn't normally have dried blood staining their clothes. "Who is that man? Is he the one...?" Kiae stopped her thought as the man began to speak.

"Ah, Melthin, I see you found my pet," he began with a wide smile, as the bird dropped awkwardly to his outstretched arm. "I should have thanked you such a long time ago for providing the Order with such valuable information, I suppose. I'm sure you're wondering what my purpose here is," he continued, obviously confident and completely at ease. His gaze met Melthin's suddenly, the stranger's eyes surprisingly blue. "You're to know that we know where you are. And you had best leave interfering to others, lest it go the worse for your precious Aes Sedai sister," he added with a slight bow.  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

"A novice like you dares to threaten not only myself, but my beloved as well? I should make you into my newest experiment for that statement." His face grew cold as he stared death at the man. "Sadly you will have to send a message back to them for I do not wish to sully myself by being in their presence. They are to know that I wish not to be disturbed and..." He cast his weave out into the woods in hopes to find something. He smiled as deer and wolf came out, the wounds days old and their bodies smelling rather foul. "...That I do not take apprentices, for sadly you shall die here. My weave shall not fall into Darkfriend hands. What I will do with your corpse afterwards though is something I haven't thought of yet."

With little to no delay he had the two creatures under his control charge at the man while he wove a thick strand of air he intended to use as a rather effective whip. This will be my first real duel implementing this weave. I'll have to gather data as I go for future reference.  

[Color Me Fubar]

Kiae remained frozen, unsure whether to interfere and wondering how effective she would be even if she did. "Blasted fool, he should stop toying with the man and kill him before he escapes," she swore, having had plenty of experience with the Order to know that's would happen.

"You're fairly confident despite your skills," the man remarked, his tone bored as if preoccupied with something else. He broke Melthin's weaves over the corpses with a wave of his hand, tying off his own weave without a second thought. "The boy isn't half bad, just cocky," he thought with a twisted smile, surveying Melthin with a disinterested glare. "You had better practice your skills before going around and threatening your betters," he warned the man, sending him flying backwards with one of the deer corpses.  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

I'm going to feel that in the morning. Melthin thought as he mentally groaned and wondered if Esole could feel his pain even though the bond was weakened greatly. He looked over the weave the other man had woven on them and pondered. They were like his yet somewhat lacking. I only see earth and fire not spirit. Why? Did this novice really learn from me or is he being careless with me on purpose. Standing and casting out at the animals, each one fell as their neck broke with a snap. all except the wolf which he promptly rewove as his own and added a few surprises against tampering. I should thank him before he dies. He dispelled the whip and cast a weave he knew would distract him enough for this to work.

"And you are fairly poor at judging people." He knew the man would see millions of poised weaves of Air with some earth and spirit woven in coming from behind his back, all of them rushing at him rather quickly. This will be the deciding factor. If I don't kill him then my weave will be spread through their pathetic little order. And it will be that much more difficult. I must silence him immediately. If he tampers with the wolf then he die and if he tries to unweave these weaves then he will fail. I have him cornered.  

[Color Me Fubar]

"You had best remember my name, whelp. It is Volkhuin, and I shall be the one to crush you when I decide I can learn nothing more from you," the Darkfriend announced, opening a Gateway and disappearing partly through it. "Enjoy your brief existence while I allow it," he cautioned his opponent, before stepping through and closing off the weave.

"Bloody hells and damnation!" Kiae yelled, rushing from her hiding spot and red with anger. "That blasted Darkfriend! I could have used him! A decent job, by the way," she added absently, still fuming and beginning to pace furiously.  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

"It seems cowards talk big and run away too soon. Forgive me, I tend to evaluate before striking in earnest." He looked over his shoulder and undid the weave on the wolf, sighing slightly as he looked back at Kiae. "How long were you spying on me?" His eyes showed distrust as he turned from her and looked back to the corpses. His weave was imperfect. A jack of all trades can never hope to master something I have made and honed over the time I have been away. And who knew that he of all people was befriended to the shadow. His mind twirled and went through every possibility of how he was tracked until something jogged his memory.


Kiae's words to him near the beginning of the journey when he discovered the bird that had been trailing her. "They've been following me." Of course! They've still been following her. How much information have they obtained from her? Isn't she acting a little too upset over losing that peon? "Or would you like to keep that information private?" Somehow his own mind had put him back to distrusting Kiae. Yet he couldn't shake the distrust that now held him. He had to know that she was not giving the enemy information, intentionally or not.  

[Color Me Fubar]

"What are you insinuating, boy?" she demanded, whirling around with narrowed eyes, a dangerous look in them. "Of course I would prefer to keep that information private, only myself and the Amyrlin know about any of this," she added testily, hand over her eyes. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she paused and rolled her shoulders before staring at Melthin again.

"I knew he was somewhere around here, but he was using a shield to block my own weaves," she explained tersely. "He's improved greatly since I last dealt with him - I didn't even recognize him at first. I suppose he learned a lot from watching your careless public weaving," she added. "I didn't know his name until now. He's the only human Darkfriend I've encountered, besides a few flunkies and that Black Ajah. I was hoping to learn more about him before he left again."

Muttering to herself, she resumed pacing, trying to plan out her next move since her only link to the Order had now left for the time being. "Blood and bloody hells," she muttered, frowning.  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

Melthin pushed his glasses up and just smiled, trying to keep from exploding on the Yellow at her comment. I took the utmost care at concealing my weave. She must have spat it out because she's still cross that he ran. Still, I cannot rule out that he may surpass me. All the more reason I need to begin my work. He turned from her and started trotting rather quickly back towards the tinker camp. He had far too much to do and not enough time to do it in now that he knew he was being watched. "Follow. Eyes and ears hide around us here." As he trotted he listed everything he would need in his mind as he planned a way to obtain the darkfriend Volkhuin and all others there after.

I must borrow quite a bit from Rowiyl and his camp. Thirty knives, two sets of parts to make prototypes, an outfit for each, and a weapon for each of them. I shall also have to experiment with concealment. I should have been able to have found him days ago if he had not been so thorough in his hiding. Yet why use the owl? He had to have known that I would easily see it and hear its call, deducing that something was amiss and ultimately finding out that I was being followed. It doesn't make sense. I must squeeze the answers out of him myself and toss his corpse to the wildlife after I am done. Why do they wish to learn about myself? Or my weave for that matter? If he had went past Rowiyl or even through the Tinker camp was beyond him. He was too far lost in his own mind and the dark foreboding truths it was already giving him.

Yet when he had stopped it was in the same little area that he had drawn the sketches for his own puppets. He sat down and scooted into the desk, His hands crossing in front of his face as he stared forward rather blankly. "Ward against intruders who can channel and against spying." He didn't want to seem like he had become bossy but the whole fact that the man had used a weave he had tired to keep secret had unerved him slightly and sadly for him, it showed on his face as well.  

[Color Me Fubar]

"The Aes Sedai have a weave against evesdropping and spying already, a ward. It would be a simple matter to reinforce the weave to include concealment as well," Kiae mused. She had followed the man after a moment of thought, deciding it would be worse not to. She wove the aforementioned ward around them in the next moment, deciding to be safe than sorry.

"Why did he show himself so easily?" she mused, tapping her foot again as she focused on the ward. "If it were a trap, that would make sense, but there were no others around. And I doubt his intentions were to capture or kill - he could have accomplished that easily, and has had numerous opportunities in the past. His arrival may be just to throw us off guard," she continued. "The Order likes playing with people - Light knows they've tried often enough with me. This may be just another plot to see how far they can push us."  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

To Melthin, time had stopped and it seemed as thought he was starring down at a stones board. There are far too many pieces to use an effective strategy in capturing the lesser players. And we are in no position at the moment to try a move against them. "Then well will just have to pull a little. Pride is the worst fault anyone can have after all." As he tried to ponder out how exactly to do so, he wrote hurriedly on a slip of paper a list of everything he would need. What if...no that will not do. If I use hostages then I would be no better then they are. He held out the slip of parchment to her and continued to stare blankly at the wall. "Have these gathered and brought here, then we shall continue our research here for the rest of the time being, wards included. I shall have nothing more stolen from me by the shadow. Do I make myself clear?"

Again he was beginning to slip into anger as he thought of how the man had used his weave like nothing and thought that it was already at its peak. If we ever do obtain him, I shall have to request that I personally interrogate him.  

[Color Me Fubar]

Kiae raised an eyebrow in his direction, both amused and irritated at his ordering her around. "I'll do it, but only because the Tinkers won't listen to someone as pretentious as you," she replied with a smile. She leaned down to stare him in the eye a moment later, however, frowning. "If you ever think of ordering me around again, however, you had best think twice. Or you shall be on your own and out of a chance for revenge. Do I make myself clear?" she asked softly, staring at him a moment longer before straightening.

"I'll be back shortly," she called over her shoulder, striding back into the camp. The list wasn't very long and the items, luckily, were easily obtainable by her resourceful friends. Passing the list onto Rowiyl, who also served as the sort of head of the band, she took the opportunity to rest a bit with a sigh.  

[x_Matrim_Cauthon_x]

He continued to sit and ponder while staring at the wall. I'll need to hollow them out and do a little tinkering myself. At the least it should only take me a day or so. But I should still leave the room to make sure they don't become suspicious of me and figure out that I'm planning something. Yet they might already know. If they've been tracking me for this long then they know my nature and what I will do in this sort of situation. I need something that they will not expect. Let us hope that this is that unexpected factor.

After what seemed like a good five minutes, Melthin stood and began seaching the room of any insects and other creatures, making sure he was indeed alone. A thorough search revealed nothing else was inside the room besides him. Good. Nothing inside spying on this room. I will have to continue to check the room each time. If need be I will have to have three or four of these spots. If only I could travel, then I could use my other houses and labs. Yet those have most likely already been ransacked by darkfriends and set up with spy's in case I return. For now this place shall do. He walked back to his chair and sat down again, continuing to contemplate his next move.  

[Heavy-Metal-Hippie]

((Eh... I been gone for a while. sweatdrop Totally my fault, I've kinda been pre-occupied lately.))

Cobain strode through the Tinker camp, hands in his pockets and resting on knife hilts. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew from what he was getting out of the Bond it wasn't pretty. Muttering to himself and trying to get his bearings straight- he was still somewhat new to the Bond, and had to turn about to find the right direction- Cobain finally caught up to Kiae in Rowiyl's wagon. He burst in and looked around. "What's happening, Kiae? Is there trouble again?" He pulled the knife from his pocket and twirled it into a ready position. "Are you alright?" He asked, noticing her looking exasperated and just plain tired.  

[Color Me Fubar]

(No prob, my posts might suck because I've got a lot on my mind right now. I'll try to keep it going.)

She looked up and raised an eyebrow at him, sometimes a sign of amusement, sometimes one of aggravation. It seemed to be a bit of both this time. "Rather late, Cobain," she replied, her tone surprisingly mild. "A Darkfriend attacked outside of camp. Either he knows Melthin or has at least studied his weaves extensively. And while I believe I've been able to dissuade Melthin from his less-attractive experiments for the time being, this one has no such regard."

She closed the book with a sigh and shook her head. "I didn't even sense his approach, which I suspect is because he used a Gateway to both come and depart before causing any major damage," she groused. "In fact, I suspect his entire appearance was merely to cause concern and unnerve us." She paused again, eying her Warder. "And what would you say if I suggested Bonding Melthin? Purely for practical reasons," she continued.  

[Heavy-Metal-Hippie]

((It's cool, no worries. I'd totally get it if you took a few days off. God only knows I've done that often enough. sweatdrop ))

"I always seem to be late for these things." Cobain replied sourly, sighing and slipping the dagger back into its sheath. "Bonding him? I thought you hated the man. I can't pretend to be able to tell you what to do, but is it really a good idea to Bond someone just for practicality? It's your decision, of course." He said again, shrugging.