But still neither man had a clue whom the golden bladed knifes that came with the crimson one were meant for. Still puzzled, Scorpio eased the sheathed knife from his leather vest, using the faint light of Kaljorn to read again the marks, nine in total. Three marks on the Sheath. At the bottom, the seven blade star pattern that said all members and houses in the Allegiance of the Blades must aid him in all ways, near the opening, the upturned hand marking this as a rescue mission, and between, a bear skull lying upon a broken spear. The middle still puzzled him, as it marked the one he was to save.
The hilt gave three more clues in similar sigils. At the pommel, a wolf and pup were marked, near the narrow guard, a fanged skull of a man, and between them a symbol from maps, but different. Four arc marks used to show hills, three overlapping, with one beneath and to the left.
Skittering of pebbles over the cobble stones in the alley leading to their hiding place drew both Scorpio and Codi's attention. Before the walker came much closer, they heard nails scratching the baked mud walls five times. Then barely a whisper of cloth, as the tall, hyena-headed Hrelgrim called Seth-ma joined them.
"Your acts, though appreciated by the living, have stirred the hornets harshly, Codi." Seth-ma let his tongue twitch out the side of his fanged mouth, a sign of amusement. "But the boy, his acts have the whole city in a fit. Does he have to carry that damned stinger?" A three fingered hand, tipped with long, black claws gestured to Scorpio's back.
Codi Duhn grinned. "You try to get him to leave it. Besides, we all would be dead in that chamber, save for that dammed chained ball of his."
Seth-ma gave a soft bark of agreement, but still shook his head. "All now know who to seek. The Scorpion is too well known, and that stinger well feared. The city is on guard for him." The Hrelgi snarled, as a strong smell of blood tainted the air. "And trying to draw him out. Too many bards tell the tales of how he turns vicious when children are hurt."
Scorpio clenched his fist on the knife hilt, as the screams of little ones began nearby. It was his great weakness according to fellow Blades, but one he refused to set aside. And that pup beside the wolf on the hilt called to that belief that children should be protected at all costs. "Leave me if you must." He whispered.
Codi merely chuckled. "Hell, boy, draw the blade and find out if it is here we must act." His own golden knife lifted from its sheath, as the older man used another short appearance of Kaljorn to read the marks on the steel's business end. His teeth showed suddenly, as the mirth died and anger rose.
Feet padding on stones beyond the crates turned Scorpio's head to the gap, noting two shadows racing down the alley. A woman and a girl, by the hair lengths flowing atop them, but that was not sure. His own coppery mane, fallen from the traditional braids, was nearly as long. The pair slowed as they reached the crates the three assassins hid behind. Years of hunting prey, beasts and men both, let Scorpio stay still, as the two caught their breath. Kaljorn's light lit them for a few breaths, making them flinch. Both wore leather breeches, wide belts that cinched their waists and abdomens gently, and wool tunics. The woman's all deep verdant of a forest, the child's had green bodice and long red sleeves. Their leathers black, save circles etched into those girdles. There the elder sported two green circles, inscribed with black marks of a bear holding a spear, the child's were different, one like the woman's, the other very familiar to Scorpio. A Wolf holding a saber in its teeth. The same design on his mentor's own red and black leathers.
"Kiltyen." The word slipped out, leaving the clansman to star back at his companions, as the runners jumped back, distancing themselves from the crates.
"Blood drinker, you will not have my child." The woman snarled.
A foul curse in the tongue of the short folk burned the air, as Codi rose up, revealing himself. "Yania, we seek not your blood."
The woman's arm, trying to push the girl behind her, halted suddenly. "Codi?" The voice broke into sobs. "Though we were lovers, I cannot trust one of the clan that destroyed Hanval."
Codi stepped carefully from the knife and sheath where they could be seen. "Though I wear the badges of my clan, you know I am outcast for what I do, Yania. And you know what this means." The blade on the dagger was red, not gold. "Who escaped Hanval?"
The woman hesitated, trying to keep the girl behind her, but youth's curiosity overwhelmed her attempt, as the child sidestepped the arm suddenly. Snarling again, she attempted to snag the child's arm, failing. "None I know of, though Katvi was riding circuit of the farms."
"And your sister knows who to speak to amongst the clans, to buy a blade of vengeance." Codi whispered, eyes locking on the young girl, about seven walks of the stars across the sky old. "Eight years ago, the last time we met..."
Nervously silent, the woman merely nodded.
Seth-ma rose suddenly, disturbed. "Who would buy a blade that lets a killer save his own love? Who would take such coin?"
"Dzhino would." Scorpio said, softly. "And the Master of the Blades recently serviced of a blade he would offer to no others, amid the hill-baronies."
Standing up, the moon lit up the great bronze ball of the Scorpion's Sting, upon the hunter's shoulder. "It would be best we find some refuge, and other way from this place."
Seth-ma growled, turning back into the alley they'd used to reach this point, so close to the wharfs and ships that promised escape. "Stealing the fodder of the Asa-amu-mud is foolish. No paths will be left to us, save those into the Ki-Gedim-Du, and the land ghosts walk is not safe for you, Scorpion."
"Nor for the one who raises those ghosts, and owes me a debt of blood and souls." Scorpio whispered, still staring at the pair of Kiltyen females. "But if that is the path for them to be safe, we must take it." Lifting the gold dagger from his vest, he drew it finally, noting the blade was black.
Seth-ma fell silent, turning back. Blades of Vengeance and Succor were rare, never had he seen two at the same time, in all the centuries he had lived.
Along a wall, something stirred. A form rose, one of the tusked swine from the forests and plains around the city. The shoulders of the beast rose nearly to the chest of the half-elf, who stood a full spear tall. The death pig, snorted, eyes glowing a strange yellow in the moonlight. Seth-ma drew in a sharp breath. "Athalani, a namusah!" He roared, grasping a javelin from the quiver on his back. "Run, you fools."
Even as the Hrelgi moved forward, the beast rose on its hind legs, as a sickly saffron glow covered the wiry-haired hide, body twisting into something fouler. "Slayers and fodder, all caught in one grasp." Gravel marked growl sent shivers even up the spine of one used to such foes. Scorpio reached for the end of the chain of his Stinger, knowing this fight would draw more such beasts.
