The Wrath of Ceriden Malkaan

Ceriden suppressed a grimace when he saw Sabina bringing her horse along. He would very likely spook the horse with what he was about to do, and tracking the beast down would be a pain. He was tempted to tell her to leave the beast behind, but that might make the spy suspicious.

Ceriden led the way, making a path that was not straight toward the spy, but one that would bring him within striking distance with his magic.

Hoping to appear less anxious than he felt, Ceriden asked Sabina, "So, what do you think of Dalen so far?"

He didn't really listen to her reply. Instead, he was struggling to control his anticipation of the inevitable upcoming fight which caused his heart rate to spike. Admittably, Ceriden hadn't been in a fight in quite awhile, so he was rather nervous. His mind began to play scenarios in his head about how the battle might turn out and what he would do in different situations. Wanting to verify that his quarry hadn't moved, Ceriden silently re-cast the life detection spell and glanced in his target's direction.

The spy was still hiding in the shrub, but had changed position. He/she was crouched, but was holding a hand out as if...

The spy was drawing a bow.

Too late, Ceriden realized he was staring. The jig was up. He quickly pulled up a ward as the spy released the string, producing a faint twang. The arrow froze in the air about a foot (0.3 meters) away from Ceriden's face. Before the spy could get off another shot, Ceriden cast a bolt of lighting at his foe, sending the spy flying and igniting the shrub. He probably also spooked Sabina's horse, but at this point he could care less about that.

Ceriden advanced quickly on his fallen foe, launching another bolt of lightning at him (Ceriden could see that the spy was probably a man at this point) before he could regain his footing. He marched around the flaming bush and stood over the spy, who lay unmoving.

"All too easy," Ceriden muttered before beginning an incantation to a spell that would keep the man, whom Ceriden noticed was an elf, unconscious until the hex was removed.

Suddenly, the man came back to life, sweeping Ceriden's, legs out from underneath him. Crafty bastard, the mage thought, realizing he had been tricked. Before Ceriden could get back up, the spy was on top of him, a dagger having appeared in his right hand. The man rolled the dagger into a reverse grip and tried to stab Ceriden in the heart, but Ceriden brought his arms up to hold the attack off. Ceriden heard himself scream as the man stabbed his left hand, but he had bought the time he needed. The mage struck the spy with a wave of telekinetic force, throwing the elf off of him.

Ceriden staggered to his feet, cursing at the pain in his hand. He saw his foe lying dazed at the base of a tree the mage had unintentionally thrown him into. Feeling a fury come over him, Ceriden ran over and delivered a vicious kick into the spy's side, breaking a few ribs and causing the elf to curl into a fetal position.

Ceriden stepped back and took a breath to collect himself, then cast a numbing spell on the elf, which would make it difficult for him to put up much of a fight or run away. He then cast a healing spell on his hand. As he did so, the elf croaked, "It's too late, villain. She knows everything. Reinforcements are coming at this very moment. Surrender now, and your lives might be spared."

Ceriden glared at the elf, wondering if he was bluffing. "That we shall see," the mage muttered as he knelt by the fallen spy and placed a hand on the spy's face. Ceriden then cast a potent and very uncommonly known spell that was probably illegal, but he was most likely an outlaw already anyway, so...

Ceriden closed his eyes, and he saw the world through the spy's eyes. Ceriden looked through the elf's recent memories, unfortunately confirming that what he had said was true: Adisla Styliane had indeed been informed that Gareth was likely a vampire, and that her agent had been attacked by Ceriden and reinforcements had been requested.

Ceriden would have liked to have continued looking, but time was no longer on his side. Ceriden pulled out of the man's head. He then applied pressure to the elf's carotid artery until he passed out. Once that was done, Ceriden cast the hex on him that would keep him unconscious until the curse was broken. He stood up and took a breath. Time to find Sabina and Gareth and get out of here.