A Princess, a Knight, and an Assassin Walk Into a Tavern...

Clarity

Taking the two guys out on the trail had helped some of her still angry energy. And HAWKE had decided that instead of keeping his hands 'the hell away from her' as she had requested, he kept brushing his fingers over her skin lightly. At first on the path to taking out the two men ahead of them, catching up with her, he had halted her with a feather light touch to her shoulder. Her urge was to hit him again, but the 'bar whore' had made her feel weak, and she firmly stood her ground, letting him touch her. He kept his fingers on her for a moment, then, making eye contact, slid his fingers down her arm slightly and away. It made her breathe hard and she had to shake her head to clear it and refocus. And then they had dealt with the two men on the path.
His fingers brushed her hand again as they walked, behind West, something that could've been an accident, if, when she had looked over sharply, his ears didn't turn pink, and he was smiling softly at the ground. He reached up absently to rub the spot on his cheek.
When they met up with Duningham, who's face was more of a wreck than Hawke's, and came up with a plan, his fingers lightly brushed the small of her back as she stepped in front of him. And when she stopped sharply and whipped her head around, he simply smiled lopsidedly at her, leaving his hand where it was. He all of a sudden had the 'busy hands' she'd accused him of having, and she wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
She just knew it was dangerous to have her thoughts in so many places at once. She had run Tollie through the three quick movements with the dagger again, and had given Ser Beau a test to make sure she wasn't concussed. Those were two things to think about. And now she was supposed to lead West and Hawke around the side, but she had to be concerned every second whether his big hands were going to be reaching out to touch her or not. She was still not a hundred percent against stabbing him, but she would end up doing it by accident if she were on edge and he wasn't careful.
"You can't...I need to...I can't think." She muttered under her breath, taking a deliberate step out of his reach.
Hawke nodded as if he understood, but took a step towards her, which made her suck in a breath and have to look up to meet his eyes. His eyes were so happy. Completely inappropriate for their current situation, she thought. "I just didn't want you to think I had hands for anyone else but you, I've already made that mistake tonight." He said in almost a whisper,then louder, "lead the way."
Clarity sighed, that did nothing to clear her head. She made eye contact with Duningham and Tollie before nodding briefly, and taking off into the night.
All was going well, they had taken out 4 patrolling pairs, and had checked 3 houses, and were making their way around the back of the house when her spine began to tingle. They hadn't come across anyone in about 8 minutes, and that was unusual. Especially now that they were in the thick of it. It wasn't THAT late, and there should be at least somebody stumbling to find a bathroom. She just couldn't put her finger on what was wrong. They needed more time. More reconnaissance.
She heard some noise behind them, and just then, Tollie screamed. Clarity turned just in time to see a legion of armed Raiders coming up behind them. She threw two of her daggers, making contact, not fatal, with one of their attackers, before barrelling off in the opposite direction, Hawke right behind her. They were running closer to the main house, when she saw a group of Raiders coming their direction. They were surrounded. They tried to turn back the way they had come, but the men were too close. Hawke broke in the door closest to them, and she ran inside, doing calculations in her head. If they could funnel them into a hallway, at least she'd be able to take two at a time, but there were far too many to hold them off that way. Maybe if they jumped out a window, they could surprise from above, and reach Tollie before too long. But there were still too many of them, and she was turned around now. They dashed up the stairs, her trying to think of anyway to get them out of this.
At the top of the stairs they took a left, and could hear the men enter the house. They smashed into the closest room, and barricaded the door behind them. That would at least buy them some time.
But looking around, she had made a fatal mistake. This room had no windows. The only way out was the way they had come. Hawke finished moving a bureau in front of the door and turned around to her. The last time she had been this trapped she had lost her leg, but there had still been a way out. Now there was nothing she could do. They would have to make a stand. When Hawke looked at her questioningly she just shook her head 'no'. She started repositioning her daggers, going into battle mode.
Hawke interpreted the look on her face, "Or...OR we coule LET them catch us. Put up a good fight, but not good enough that they kill us right away. They might take us to this Riek kid, and if Tollie's scream was anything to go by, she's probably captured already." He stepped close to her, holding her gaze. "You can get us out of anywhere in 30 minutes flat...It could work, and nobody needs to be a martyr." He smiled down at her, his eyes very soft.
She sighed, completely unconvinced. "If they're any good we'll be dead before we can take down five or six." She returned his gaze.
His grin widened "if they're as good as you, you mean, which they aren't. We COULD make it through this..." She reached up her hand then, she suddenly found that she was sad to die, especially because of this strange man, and layed her long fingers feather light on the bruise she had caused on his cheek. His eyes absolutely sparkled at her gesture, but got tight with sadness "...but if we don't...it's been a pleasure." He held her eyes with his deep blue ones, and reached his hand up to cover hers on his cheek. He turned his head slowly, so that his scruff tickled her palm, and turned her hand slightly. He placed his warm, surprisingly soft, but chapped-from-the-sea-air lips firmly into her palm, and just breathed in for a moment.
They were pounding on the outside of the door now, the door itself cracking. She was finding it hard to breathe. She was caught by the puzzle of this man. At first glance he looked hard, but his expressions were soft. His eyes the softest part, but then they could glint wickedly. And his grins were just as wicked, but they could be boyish or unsure, like his blush. Like his words when he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, or was overwhelmed. Clarity suddenly felt sad that she didn't get to solve the mystery, didn't get to understand it. "Maybe." She breathed. His eyes closed and he dropped her hand.
When his eyes opened they were filled with determination. "Maybe." He echoed. He grinned at her and turned towards the door. "Remember, don't kill them, and they might not kill us."
They put on a good show. Clarity couldn't help but giving a few of them a few deep slashes with her prosthetic, just to be spiteful, but Hawke quickly gave in and let himself be tackled, and she just followed suit. She pretended to get knocked down, and took the time to store her smallest dagger up her sleeve. Then she let them grab her roughly. There were three people on each of them, but Hawke was right, and she was surprised; they didn't kill them, but instead tied them up. Tightly and without mercy, but Hawke blinked one eye at her, before one of the Raiders hit him with the butt of his axe.
Clarity swung out her prosthetic and caught the man who had hit Hawke with the edge, tripping him, and slamming her leg onto his throat. Her guards were on her immediately. One took a long knife, and slashed it down her leg, cutting the straps to her prosthetic, not to mention cutting a long deep gash in her leg. She screamed and struggled as they tore the prosthetic off and hit her in the head with the cap of it, causing her sight to go black.
She heard Hawke roar and heard the shuffle of feet on the floor. She heard two thumps of a body. Then she heard the butt of the axe connect with Hawke's head again, and he let out a grunt.
They started dragging them, and she opened her eyes again. They went down the stairs and out the door to the main house. They were brought into the main house, which opened into a great room. Raiders lined both sides of the hall and shouted as they were brought down the center of it, past several large tables, towards a large seat on a pedestal at the end of the room. Where stood a woman with dark dreadlocks, covered in furs, with a large axe on her back, and a man, who looked strangely familiar and....Tollie!
When she saw the girl she surged against her captors, - having undone the ropes on the walk to the great house - lashing out wildly, trying to get steady on her one leg. She was immediately hit over the head again, and forced onto her knees before the chair. When they hit her, Hawke growled and fought against his restraints. But he too, was brought before the chair and forced onto his knees.
The doors behind them slammed open, and Duhningham marched in, battered head held high, shrugging off the raiders trying to escort her. Her hired mercenaries behind them. She seemed to be in total command, not battered and brought to tow like Hawke and Clarity. West walked in with this group, trying for relaxed and easy, but his darting eyes failed miserably. When his eyes fell on Tollie, he straightened, tried for a nonchalant grin, marching straight up to her. Clarity could tell he was just relieved to see her. So relieved that he didn't notice the man who looked like Tollie march straight up to him, and grabbed him by the shirt. "YOU brought my sister here?! All these people here to protect her, and you send her into danger? Not enough money selling off one of us? You had to lure her out of the castle, and sell her to the highest bidder?"
"Oy! Hands off!" Captain West shoved the man, who must be Riek, off of him.