The Nexus

The head of the arrow was aimed precise, pointed, metal tip shimmering just slightly in the moonlight. The glimmer would fade as clouds began to pass over the white orb in the sky, and the very slight sound of the bowstring being pulled back drifted into nothingness.

Surveying her surroundings, she judged the best path to take, and who she would need to take out, all to not be caught. The hedge guards were spaced out nicely, and Robin judged it to one of two ways she could go. Either way, she would have to kill two guards.

Aiming carefully at the first set, she waited, hoping they would turn just enough to land a fatal hit. But she paused. The first hedge guard seemed... somewhat distracted.

Narrowing her eyes a bit, she turned to the other two. They seemed more the prime targets. Quickly, she let loose two arrows, each guard falling with a small thud, that would draw little attention.

And she was gone off the wall, silently moving across the couryard, barely visible in the shadows and she trudged over the fallen guards, slipping into the castle quietly.";

Sawyer was anxious. But he knew better than to show it. Sure, he replaced his weight on either hip from time to time, but he wasn't trained to stand here like a statue like the other guys! That and he could really take apiss right about now... He wondered how badly he might be scolded for slipping off to relieve himself and he looked around for some sort of commanding officer. There was none to be had and just as he was going to lean in to tell the other guys he was going to make water, an arrow thudded in them in quick succession. Buried deep in the men's sternums with only the fletching visible, there was no way they'd survive.

"Sonnofa--" He immediately back pedaled and put his hand on the sword at his hip, searching around for the arrow's bow. Growling an oath, the man began to pound inside to the courtyard. Someone was making some sort of move on his loot and he wasn't about to let it go. Clanking in his 'borrowed' armor, the hedge knight was looking for an intruder.

The halls were large, and there were many of them. Occasionally, a guard would walk past the hall she was in, but it was easy to hide against the wall, in the shadows of the protruding stone. She had only been in these halls once before, but she acted as if she knew them well.

Former servants, and other peoples of the court had divulged information to her. And it had helped her in knowing exactly where she was going.

If she wanted the scepter though, she was going to have to be quick. Taking that scepter would be a huge blow to the King, since it was often seen as his symbol of power. And a man without that is nothing.

She rested her back against the wall, as she raised another arrow, turning quickly down the next hall and making quick, flawless aim to hit the guard at the end, guarding the door. Easy enough, she made her way down the hall, pulling open the door and looking into the room.

On a velvet pillow, sat the scepter, waiting silently until it would be used in judgments the next day. There may have been an expression of some sort on her face, but the mask she wore hid it well.

Slowly, she'd begin to make her way over to the object.

Sawyer slowed down to a less harried, less distracting pace as he got to the inner parts of the castle. He wasn't stupid and he could see the other guards inside were not alarmed... Which meant one of two things: The guards didn't know there was an intruder, or the intruder had not gone this way. But there was only one thing he could think of worth stealing and he had designs on it. No upstart with a bow was going to take it right out from under him.

He nodded to his fellow knights as he walked the halls he'd walked so many times in the past few weeks. He had everything planned, just a few more days and he would have struck.. He was going to have to think on his feet now, come up with something quick. And hopefully catch the thief in the act...

The hallway was quiet, too quiet. Hram, the guard who was usually stationed in front of the scepter room was not a quiet fellow. Coming closer, Sawyer could see he'd be quiet forever now. Grunting, he stepped over the body and peered into the room. He could see a shape and his expression fell. Perfect, they'd already gotten their hands on the thing... Time for quick thinking.

Nonchalantly, Sawyer shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. "Seems like you were caught in the act, Archer." He had a cocky grin on his face and held his hands up in surrender in case the intruder were to turn on him. "Now, way I see it we got two options. You try and get past me, all in closed quarters where I have a sword and you have a bow. Or, you get on out of here. No harm no foul."

Brown curls turned as she faced the man, another arrow knocked and pointed at him, threateningly. The scepter had been placed her her leather pack, and she had been ready to leave. But now, there was someone here. A guard.

She was silent as he spoke, still aiming at his chest as she contemplated killing him. He was right though. In such close quarters, it would be hard to land an arrow if he could see when she would be letting it fly.

Her lips pressed together under her mask, as she studied him.

"Let me leave then, and you will have your life..."

Sawyer's grin widened when he realized with was a woman. She was clearly thinking over his words or else she would have acted by now, but as a precaution he laid his hand on the hilt. He loosened the sword in it's scabbard and tilted his head.

"Now, now. You know you're not leaving here with that precious cargo, right sister? Ain't no way." He took a step forward. "Put the scepter back, or we're gonna have an issue."

"No," she said bluntly, her fingers playing with the string of the she still held taut, letting him know that she was more than ready to let it go if he continued to advance.

"Do not call me your sister, when you pledge loyalty to the very man I despise. You should be more appreciative that I let you live. Now let me pass..."

"Hey, hey, hey now. I'm just a hedge knight, sister. You don know what that means don't you? Dubbed a knight but I ain't got no loyalty to any man but myself." He hadn't stopped advancing. He knew if she shot him at this range, his platemail wouldn't do squat to stop that arrow. But he was counting on himself to at least be able to deflect it to a non vital spot.

"I said to put the scepter down, sugar."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," she said, frowning under the mask. "And I see you do not value your life, so let me put an end to it..." Her fingers seemed to react naturally, sliding free from the string as she let the arrow loose.

He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was not about to give in at all. He began to pull his sword from the sheath right as she let fly her arrow. Thankfully, he was expecting this and he fell out of the way in time to let the thin piece of wood fly past him and thunk harmlessly into the wall. Growling, the knight got back to his feet and made to tackle her, or at least slam into her and make her lose her footing.

The noise was probably attracting more attention than he'd like, but at least he wouldn't look the villain.

Robin hadn't been expecting her arrow to miss... at least, not completely. A hit to the arm or something was expected, but he was lunging at her, and she braced herself.

She stumbled back a bit at the impact, but managed to hold herself upright. She put her hands on his shoulders, and attempted to push him off.

"Gods damn you, get off!"

He hadn't expected her to hold her ground so well, but he wasn't going to be dissuaded so easily. Sure, he was sure that he was heavier and bigger than this chick and that she was going to go down.. But plans change! She was struggling against him now and Sawyer's grin slipped back in place.

"Now, now, no need to be so handsy, sugar. I'll give you what you want without a fight, promise." He winked at her and pushed off, holding his hands up again. "Go on now, run out of here and don;t come back."

She was surprised when he backed off, but didn't let her guard down. She quickly sidestepped around him, until her back to was to the door, walking backward toward it. Not particularly fond of his attitude, she was more than ready to leave.

Hand on the door, she pulled it open and quickly slipped out, making her way through the halls once again, back the way she had come, hoping to escape before that guard alerted anyone, or another person found the dead guards.

Sawyer took his sweet time watching her leave. It might of been the best part of his day, really. She'd come in and messed up everything he was planning.. But in a way, she'd actually given him the perfect out.

He could hear shuffling in the halls as guards from either side seemed to react finally to the ruckus. Slowly, they poured down the hallway to find Hram full of an arrow. Sawyer took his chance and lowered himself to the ground. By the time the other guards went in to see what had happened, he was groaning and standing up.

"What happened here!?" One of the guards called out. Sawyer was feigning just getting to his feet, rubbing the back of his head.

"There was an intruder! He hit me on the back of the head when I can to check on Hram and the Scepter." He groaned and looked as if he was in a lot of pain. "I must have been knocked out."

"Where is your helm, hedge knight? It was foolish of you to not wear it. Go to the infirmary at once." The knight was one of the stiff necked old men who was sworn to this castle. He looked about to burst from the shade of red his face had gotten. But he didn't seem particularly angry with Sawyer so much as the situation.

"If you don't mind, I would like to chase down the son of a bitch who thought they could get the jump on me." Sawyer inclined his head and scowled.

The old knight considered. "Fine, I shall send a few of the castle guard with you to increase your forces." Sawyer nearly let his face slip.

"Let me go now, while they're getting ready. I can scout ahead." The knight looked dubious and Sawyer thought for sure he'd pressed his boundaries. But the man finally nodded yes. Sometimes it paid off to haul a long con and gain people's trust.

Without hesitation, Sawyer was sheathing his blade and running for the stables. He knew the others would not be too far behind, so he grabbed the first horse he saw and tacked it. The platemail was cumbersome, but he hadn't the time to shed it if he wanted to get away clean. Moments later, the destrier was tearing out of the stable with Sawyer on it's back.

Back over the wall, and disappearing into the trees, Robin didn't stop until she was a good mile from the castle, deep in the woods. She panted a bit, leaning against a tree, to catch her breath. She reached up, removing her mask in order to breath easier. Oh her left cheek, there was a dark blue marking, a star-like shape with circles weaving around the edges of it and a dot right in the middle of it.

Her green eyes scanned her surroundings, before she grinned to herself. "Finally..." she said, reaching to her side, pulling her pack up. But that grin faded quickly, when she realized that her prize was not in the pack at all.

She panicked, pushing herself off the tree and looking around. Had she dropped it? No, it didn't seem possible. If she had, she would have heard it hit the ground.

Then what happened to it?

She paused for a long moment, before a deep frown found her face. "Damn him! He took it!" she yelled, throwing back on her mask, as she counted her arrows. Three were left. That was good enough. She only needed on to kill him. And this time, she didn't plan on missing.

Starting toward the man road, she could follow it back toward the castle, and perch on the wall til she found the man again. But as she drew close to the road, she heard horses....

She ducked into the cover of the woods again, waiting...

No, just one horse. Her interest perked up, and she watched and waited for the rider to go by.

Sawyer wasn't riding the horse very hard anymore. He was keeping it at a steady pace though, so in case he heard more horses coming he could spur it on. His grin was pretty plastered on now. He'd finally gotten out of that hellish place and made out with some pretty sweet stuff to boot.

Robin had immediately knocked another arrow, and aimed it at the rider and horse. That damned man... was he after her? Or --

She thought for a quick moment, remembering how he had attempted to take her down. It had been odd, like he hadn't fully tried. He had taken that scepter from her... but why was he running?

There wouldn't be any questions, as she aimed for her target. She had to choose either him, or the horse. Picking one, she let her arrow fly.

He was just relaxing, reveling in his thoughts of how he would spend his mountain of gold coins... But something thrummed and Sawyer turned his head just in time to see an arrow bury itself in his horse's rump. The destrier was used to battle and loud noises but not pain and the stallion reared in fear. Sawyer hadn't the time to react the way he should and didn't manage to grab anything to steady himself.

Tumbling over a horse's backside in plate mail was not something he ever wanted to attempt, but the horse had decided for him. The wind was immediately knocked out of him as his back met the ground first. Wheezing and more than likely bruised, Sawyer writhed on the ground fighting for air as the horse's fear got the best of it and it shot off up the road.

Robin was immediately making her way toward the man, not caring that the horse was running off. That wasn't her problem.

Her foot found its place on his chestplate, as she looked down at him, her next arrow aimed at his face. "Where is it?!" she said angrily, doing her best not to just kill him right there, and search his body. She had to keep him alive... just in case.

"What!? My horse? Running down the road to freedom you psychopath! Who shoots a horse!?" He'd just regained his voice as Robin struck her foot onto his armor. If she looked carefully, there was no place on him where he could have been able to hide the scepter. He put his hands on her foot and pushed, despite her arrow aimed at his face. He was more worried about the runaway quadruped.

"I ain't got nothing woman!"