Time Out

Gritting her teeth from the painful strain on her arm, she finally stopped grinding her heel into the big thug's foot and instead placed her own foot behind his at the same time she dropped her center of gravity, grabbed hold of his wrist with her free hand, and pitched him forward so that his skull rebounded off the edge of the countertop. Upon impact, his grip slackened and she managed to break loose, but the formerly trapped arm, whilst now free, was left numb and of little use.
As the musclebound Newt tried to seize her again, seemingly unfazed by the terrific blow to the head and moving more faster and lightly than a man his size had any right to, she sprang out of reach and whipped out her sword. Dodging another lunge of those huge meaty hands, she lashed out in a blur, striking the man in the temple with the flat of her blade, knocking him back a few steps.

Well, Kalena thought, things had sure gone to hell fast! She inwardly shook her head and almost laughed at her own recklessness. It served her right the way she had treated this all so differently than she would have a carefully devised assassination operation. She was ordinarily a studious planner, trained to research the security and floorplans of her targets' homes before ever making a move. What you didn't know could not only hurt you, it could get you killed. An axiom drilled into her for years. But this bounty hunting thing had been just a lark really, paid with as much seriousness and caution as a jaunty lion hunt with friends. She never considered the Inn Keeper would dare harbor a wanted mass murderer that had the whole kingdom in an uproar, much less have a thug readily on hand either.

Kalena's sabre slashed across Newt's arm, scoring a bloody gash, but to her dismay the thug ignored the wound and just kept coming. She quickly backpedalled to the door. “Very well, Madam, I will be going then, but you will rue the choice you made here. I shall make a point of letting everyone know that it was you who harbored this murderer, and how you are culpable for every killing that may follow!”

The loud commotion downstairs got the attention of both Jack and LeLu as they quietly listened through their door to hear what was going on. As Kalena raised her voice she practically gave away her presence and intention. LeLu was about to panic till Jack smirked at her and shook his head no after he heard Kalena storm out of the building. He then had LeLu stay down as he barely peeked out a corned of the window to see Kalena walking away while holding her sore arm to the dark elf.

“The Inn Keeper is willingly sheltering the man, and it's not just an Inn but a prostitution den,” Kalena informed the bounty hunter through clenched teeth. “I'm sure as hell not camping out here for days on end waiting for him to emerge. I'd sooner shoot fire arrows through every window and burn him out, along with that stupid cow...”
Growling, she grabbed her bow, but her injured arm protested at anything more than the slightest movement, and would need time to recover, and she angrily set the bow back down and turned and leaned back against her horse, taking slow, calming breaths.
“This is still your operation. What do you want to do now?”

Jack: By the looks of things The Inn Keeper is refusing to let them have their way here. When I rented a room I came in with a covered hood over my face claiming to be a scholar needing privacy. I had you in a gunny sack to hide you since you had passed out. So she doesn't know what I look like since she only saw my chin. She also doesn't know that you are even here so we need to keep that up till we find a better solution.

LeLu: I doubt they will simply go away Jack. Won't they simply wait us out?

Jack: Who cares. Let them get starve and sick sleeping outside in the cold. We are in a nice room with blankets and food. I have plenty of gold to hole us here for a decade if need be.

LeLu: But we are still prisoners Jack.

Jack: Just till they loose interest. Think about it LeLu.......do you honestly think they can afford to hunt us forever? They are spending a lot of time and money to chase us. That dark elf used a lot of potions just to keep up with my speed. I bet he is already in the negative on his expenses right now. With this kingdom having a such large crime wave going on do you really think they can devote a lot of people to only us? So far I have only seen a handful of people I managed to ditch and the dark elf who seems determined. The noble lady doesn't seem the type to get dirty so its only a matter of time before they have to cut their losses. When they do we will simply walk out the front door.

LeLu: How can you be so calm about this Jack? I am a nervous wreck.

Jack: Meh......my mom is a whole lot scarier than these people.

LeLu: What was she like?

Jack: She was beautiful and always happy. Well until I began creating reckless magic and had a close call or two. Then she was scary mad.

LeLu: She sounds fun.

Jack: Oh yeah......she wanted me to be able to survive anywhere before she had to leave me on my own. If she didn't she would had to feed on me.

LeLu: D....do you have to feed.....like your mom?

LeLu looked a bit concerned as Jack mention the feeding part.

Jack: Naawwwhhh. (chuckle) I'm not a real Incubus.

LeLu: Huh? I'm confused.

Jack: I was born a human and when I was an infant I was put in a floating manger and sent floating down river. My mom rescued me but apparently I was to weak to recover so she absorbed me into her womb and used her body to help me recover before she gave birth to me. Apparently I absorbed a few things from her like my ears and some her powers, but I can't cast magic away from my body or feed off others like she does. Usually she feds off Bandits or Slavers who tried to use our territory.

LeLu: Oh........I get it now.

Jack and LeLu continued their conversation as they were waiting it out.

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