WOT Adv 298

Vaid frowned. His last encounter with the Children had not been... pleasant. They had a way of making him think too much. 

But he left himself little time to think. He reacted instinctively, his mind already planning how to stop these men. The building didn't seem like a good place to attack, but if there were "others", he had to act quickly. 

Vaid listened closely to try to hear if anyone else seemed to be in the building other than the three men.

Vaid cast his weave of spirit and air about the room, but could hear no other sound than these three. If he were going to act, he would have to do something quickly, the two were making for the latch on the door, swinging it open. The third--the bearded whitecloak--didn't seem to make any sign of leaving and stood at the table, his eyes following the departing compatriots.

 

Before he had time to convince himself to be careful, Vaid jumped into action. As quickly as he could, he wove air, tightening it around the door, jamming it fast. He tied off the weave, and quickly continued his work on the window. With only two exits to the house, it was easy to do. 

He stepped back, admiring his work and listening for the inevitable curses from inside. He stepped back from the window so he could not be seen if they tried looking through it. 

Vaid had cut his previous tendrils of air and spirit, to harden the air around the doorway, so he could only hear muffled curses over the keening of the wind. He saw the one of the hooded men try in vain to dislodge the door and then turn to say something to the other man. He began his second weave, trying as quickly as possible to harden the air in place around the window.

The whitecloak and the two men had weapons drawn, Vaid hoped in argument. He ducked out of the way and crouched behind a nearby rain barrel as the whitecloak man pointed his sword to the window. 

 

The window and shutters smashed open before Vaid could finish his second weaving, sending splinters of wood and shards of glass onto the street. One of the hooded men rolled to his feet in a quick fluid motion, his cloak torn and tattered from his abrupt action. A thin short blade caught a glimmer of moon light filtering down into the street. His hood turned left and right scanning the street. 

Vaid tried to keep his breathing still. This man was so fast! He had little hope that he could catch him in air, the man would notice and be on him in a second! But, if he could remain hidden, if just for a moment... 

He kept himself behind the barrel, not daring to peek around, not yet. He spun his weave again, sealing the window. At least then the others would not be able to help.

Vaid quickly wove strands of air tightly around the shattered window opening and prayed he had not been seen. Perhaps, the treacherous wind blew out his cloak at the wrong moment; perhaps he hadn't crouched down low enough behind the barrel to avoid the hooded figure. It mattered little in the end, Vaid heard the rush of soft steps and looked up in time to see the man slashing at him with his knife, the determined look of a practiced killer on the man's face.

Vaid fell backward as the man leaped over the barrel and tried to fend off slashing blade. One foot carried the man over his shoulder which the man turned into a smooth roll to his feet, spinning to face him. Vaid scrambled to his feet as well, and was relieved to feel a small cut across his forearm. It was a small thing, and would have been hardly noticeable, if not for the itchy burning sensation he soon felt.

The man gave a cruel smile and approached cautiously, his blade poised to again.

 

Vaid looked at the wound briefly, feeling genuine fear for the first time since the dungeons. Poison? He didn't have much time then. At least the building was sealed. He turned to face the man, who was clearly more competent that could be hoped for. He was dangerous. 

Vaid's mind raced, eyeing the man silently. He made sure his face showed no fear. He had to try to stall the man. He did not know if the man suspected him of creating the weave, but he needed some time. 

"Who are you? What do you want with that woman?" The criminal mind couldn't resist monologuing, and that might give him enough time to try once without dying. 

Vaid spun air. He spun it hard and fast, weaving as much energy into it as he could. As much as the fire...

 

"The woman is just another job," the man said in a flat whisper, his eyes as dead as his tone, but they darting about looking for openings as he strode forward. "As are you for what you now know!" With a lunge he struck, quick as a viper, a second dagger suddenly appearing in his other hand.

Vaid leaped back just in time, and both daggers whistled through the air inches from his face.

Fear gave way to anger as the power flooded through him. With the light and the heat that coursed through him, he sent more flows of air spinning forth toward the man, to capture him, to hold him so that he could destroy the nuisance at his leisure. The strands thickened and congealed as he sent the invisible web into the street.

The man instinctively knew something was wrong when his cloak became caught first. His eyes bulged wide from Vaid to his cloak, but he acted quickly and slashed it off with a muttered curse, yet another flow seized around his boot and then curled up his leg, entrapping him then finally around his whole person.

"Burn you--" was all he got out before a gag of air crammed into his mouth.

Vaid smiled and expanded the area as much as he could hold and was satisfied to see even a piece of trash frozen in midair and a rat frozen in mid-step while the wind battered at his own cloak.

 

Vaid waited a full minute for the man's eyes to bulge and roll back in his head before he released the weave letting the man fall to the earth with a dull thud. He then proceeded cautiously to the window and peered inside, but the room was darkened, and he couldn't see anyone moving. Straining to hear above the keening of the wind, Vaid heard a faint screeching sound followed by a crash coming from the other end of the house. Then silence.

 

Vaid cursed, then circled the house quickly, huffing from the strain of the effort he'd put into his weave. 

 

Rounding the street corner, he looked down two empty streets. He could see nothing but pale moonlight filtering down into the alley way and bits of trash blown about by the wind. But he saw in the moonlight a darkened hole on the side the the house where one or more of his quarry had likely broken through the wall and escaped into the streets, leaving behind only planks of old wood, quickly pried loose and broken in haste. Listening intently, he could hear above the wind, receding foot falls coming from a narrow alleyway in front of him.

 

Vaid frowned. If it was the second thief leaving, he was likely to simply run away, but if it was the Child... Vaid looked quickly into the hole, looking for a sign that the Child had fallen.