The Ciianthan Truth: Spies

Simon and Susa

“I think,” said Simon, walking with his sister through the crowded market place, “That a good place to start would be by looking up recently hired mercenaries. From there, if we can even get to the records, that is, we can see who the most likely suspects are.” Susa was silent for a moment, gazing distractedly at the crowds. Finally, she said, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice

“You made that up just now, didn’t you?” Simon looked sheepish.

“Well, yes.” His sister grinned. “But that’s not important. Look, there it is - the Mercenary Quarters.” They had been to the head quarters for all mercenary activity in the city a few times before. They had rather liked the large building, with its neat, open spaces. They didn’t, however, like the look of some of the people inside it. Some looked as normal as the two of them, but others, well… they looked like they had had a rather nasty incident with a very large pair of shears. Some of the bigger ones looked like walking mountains of weaponry. The thing all the men and women had in common, though, was the deadly force they could release upon command. More exactly, upon payment.

As the twins made their way through the crowd, they began to notice a pattern in the people they passed. Large groups would disperse suddenly as Simon and Susa walked by, giving them uneasy glances. Solitary figures would go at right angles to them when they passed, and children playing in the streets would turn and run for their mothers at the sight of them.

“It’s like they’re afraid of us,” Susa whispered. Simon silently agreed. They could both tell that something was very wrong. The people of the town were, on the whole, very friendly towards them, and their sudden change in behavior was startling.
Walking up the short flight of steps leading to the Quarters’ entrance, Simon noticed a friend of his loitering across the road. He raised a hand in greeting, but his friend just went red in the face and turned to walk down the street, pretending that he hadn’t even seen Simon. Hurt, Simon looked after him a moment before turning to ascend the steps once more, but instead ran into a young woman.

“Watch it,” she said irritably. She was about twenty, Simon guessed, with long blond hair and blue eyes, that were, at the moment, staring daggers at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, politely, before noticing her clothes. She was dressed like a mercenary. “Excuse me,” He said, as she went to walk past them. “Do you work here?” She stiffened and turned on the steps.

“I did,” she said, “but not anymore.” Susa took her brother’s arm, but addressed the woman.

“Could you wait here a second? I just want to, um, talk to my brother a minute.” The woman sighed, but nodded. Susa dragged Simon up the steps a little way before beginning in a low whisper.

“We could ask her to tell us about the ‘incidents’. Maybe she could tell us something.” Simon wasn’t so sure. He didn’t trust mercenaries. Susa saw the doubt on her brother’s face. “C’mon, Simon,” she wheedled. “What have we got to lose?” He shrugged.

“Yeah, fine. Let’s talk to her.” Susa grinned at him before heading back down the steps. Simon trailed after her, still uneasy about the whole business. He listened as his sister told the mercenary that they had some questions to ask her, and maybe even a job to offer, they didn’t know. They would pay her for her troubles, of course, and finance wasn’t an issue. Simon felt like groaning out loud. Yes, they had money, but it was their father’s money, and he would want to know what they were spending it on.
But then the woman shook her head.

“No.” she said grimly. “I’ve been dismissed. I’m just a,” she grimaced, “civilian, now they’ve taken my unit and rank away.” Susa put on a sympathetic face, but continued on with a shrug.

“Well, then there would be no harm in talking to us, would there? I mean – we’re just a couple of kids, after all. Besides,” she waved her hand in the air, thinking of a reason. She found one. “Lunch is on us. Come on,” then Susa, bold as brass, grinned and gestured at a nice little restaurant they sometimes ate at. Simon moaned inwardly. She had charisma; he had caution, even though they both had a fair share of brains. It just wasn’t fair.
The woman, looking resigned, agreed, and followed Susa through the crowd, with Simon lagging behind.

“So,” he heard his sister call through the noise, “what’s your name, anyway?”
The woman smiled slightly at Susa’s eager expression.
“Karana,” she said.

Shahara

What was going on? Shahara peeked through the small window of the guest house door and saw two guards posted there. Moving across the house, she found two more posted at the back door, too.

Hmm. If no one's willing to give me answers, I'll find out for myself. She though as she moved to a small closet. The stairs behind the door were dusty, since the basement here was used for storage than enything else. Shahara slipped down the steps, picking up her skirt and stepping with extreme caution so that a noticeable trail wouldn't be left. Not that anyone would guess that she knew of the secret escape tunnel her father had had built under the property. Of course who would have guessed that a refined lady such as herself would be practicing stealth by sneaking into her father's private office?

The trapdoor to the tunnel was almost completely covered in dust, and Shahara was almost equally as filthy by the time she got into the tunnel and shut the hatch back. She found the box of matches and the torch that lay on the ground. It took a few tries, but she finally managed to get the torch lit and made her way through the tunnel and out the hatch at the other end. She quickly extiguished the torch and threw open the trapdoor. The bright sunlight stung her eyes, but she pulled herself up and shut the hatch, dragging the false bush back over it.

She brushed as much dust and dirt from her as she could, then headed off into town. She needed to get her "other" clothes. The guards would notice her in no time if she kept on fine silk dresses and fancy jewelry, which she began slipping off and stowing in the hidden pockets she had sewn into her dress. She then took to the back alleys, slowly making her way to an old friend's residence.

She slipped out of the alley, hesitating at the corner to make sure no guards were around. Then she moved into the crowd, suddenly glad she had failed to get all the dust off her dress. It dulled the color and let her blend in with the crowd. She made her way across the street and around the back of the small restaurant her friend owned. She knocked in the special way she and her friend had come up with. After a few moments the door opened and Shahara huried inside.

"Shahara? What are you doing here?" The small mousy woman asked, her voice a barely audible hiss.

"I need my stuff. What's wrong, Tira?" Shahara moved around the woman to a set of stairs that led to the restaurant's attic. She opened the attic door and slipped in, Tira following behind.

"Nearly every guard in the city is on the look out for you! That's what's wrong!" Tira began rubbing her hands together nervously. "If you're seen here I'm bound for the dungeons."

"Well, they've already found me, but I snuck out. And what are you talking about "the dungeons"? Why are the guards looking for me?" Shara had pulled a chest from a closet and began pulling the contents out. Light chainmail, black tunic, dark grey breeches, and black boots, all followed by her dual scimitars. The last thing in it, and the one thing she left, was her bow, broken in a battle against raiders that had plagued her Aunt's village for years.

She quickly removed her dress, and finery, and threw it into the chest, then pulled on her mail and clothes. The comfortable weight of her scimitars on her hips was welcomed and she grinned at the familiarity. A warrior by heart, but a Lady by birth. She'd choose sweat and the ring of sharpened steel over silk and the clink of fancy tea cups anyday.

"Look, all I know is that the city guard is after a group of people. What they're charged with, I don't know." Tira said, stowing the chest holding Shahara's dress back in the closet and shutting it tight.

"Well, then," Shahara moved back downstairs to a water basin and washed the make-up from her face. "I'm going to order some stew and listen to the local talk."

"I mean it, Shahara! If anyone recognizes you here, I'm going to spend the rest of my life hanging by my ankles in the castle dungeon!"

"Calm down, Tira. Nothing will happen to you, I promise." With that, Shahara walked through the small side hallway and into the main part of the restaurant. She took a seat at a small table in a corner and looked around carefully, her ears trained on the medley of voices around her. She watched a trio come in, a boy, a girl, and a woman she'd seen going in and out of the mercenary hall across the street. Interesting, that someone like her would hang around with a pair of kids at this restaurant.

*I just posted my profile, but am being kicked off take a look, and if you okay it will post later.*

I'm not sure what's happened lately and some of these posts seem a little out of hand, but I'll try to fix some up. Sorry if I haven't posted for a while. Christmas takes a lot out of my life, *dies*.

---

Linx's stomach was still growling as he went to sleep that night. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, he had been awake since noon and the sun had just set. That had to be a record for him.

With a yawn he fell to the bed and struggled to untangle the blanket from underneath his body. He groaned once and tugged - the blanket came loose and he grinned in triumph.

Linx wrapped the blanket around his entire body including his head. A voice sounded as Linx's loud snoring started, "Well, that was easy. Just arrived and he's already down. Nicely done is I do say so myself."

"Shut it. One of these days I swear I'm going to hit you. The usual?"

"Slag, bag and tag him."

"Slag", a popular chemical among Courtesians, consisted of different mixes of scum found from the weaponsmiths metals, almost like rust. Except this particular slag was mixed with ginger root forming a powerful sleeping agent which could last from one to thirty days depending on the dosage.

Bagging and tagging is pretty self explanatory. The two mysterious men slipped a dropped of slag into the snoring mouth of Linx and watched as his body sagged into complete unconsciousness.

1.

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The twins and recently fired captain were sitting in at a booth, waiting upon their lunches. Sahara watched them listening in. While waiting upon their food they began to chat. Soon, they were so consumed in their strange conversation that they did not notice their surrounding grow steadily quiet. Sahara also enchanted by what they were talking about paid no attention to anything else.

Nor did they see the two men enter the restaurant, sun shining behind them blinding anyone who cared to look at them. Not that anyone was left in the restaurant apart from Susa, Simon and Karana. Everyone had long since fled.

When the four finally noticed the silence it was too late. The men, working together as they always did, but would say otherwise, knocked them out. Karana, being the soldier, put up a good fight, but she too succumbed their infalliable co-partner fighting.

The two men smiled at each other and whispered, "What do you know, four for the price of two!"

"Oh, shut up. Come on. Slag, bag and tag them?" asked the other, his silhouette only visible against the shine from the bright light.

"What else?" the other asked, another manly figure against the sunlight as they approachced.

2, 3, 4 and 5.

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(I'll add some stuff on later for the others.)
so watch this post if your character hasn't been mentioned yet. And others please wait for my next post or - you can wake up in a dungeon with nothing except clothes and the other people.)

Nykyrian (Nyk)-

Nyk slipped silently through the streets, flitting from shadow to shadow. Wide silver blue eyes stared around him at the first city he had ever seen. Beside him, Frost growled his hackles raised slightly.

He turned to see what was bothering the wolf and blinked in disbelief. Those metal men were taking people away, and no one was trying to stop them. Baffled, Nyk glanced down at an equally confused Frost.

Frost cocked his head his voice flowing in Nyk's mind. "Something is not right here wolf brother. I don't know much of humans, but what I do know says this is very wrong."

Nyk crouched down to stare into Frost's golden eyes. "So their bad men? Fair game?"

The wolf opened his mouth and smiled, baring razor sharp fangs. Nyk grinned in return, his smile no less feral for the human face that wore it. Their voices twined silently together. "Let's go hunt.""Let's go play."

Nyk pulled a cap over his distinctive white silver hair, and together the pair slipped through the streets, silently following the guards and their sleeping captives.

I've asked a lot and haven't got an answer so I'm just going to post for my character. I posted his profile on the dt.
*by the way are we in a town or are we in the capitol*

Johnathan [John]

I walked through the hall of the court. Following a scribe to Julius and followed closely by three mercenaries. Julius enjoyed throwing his money around, it made him feel better than everybody else. Hiring mercenaries instead of accepting the guards that every court member was entitled too was just one way he did it. Many court members had residence close to the great chambers but only Julius kept a permanent residence near by. The doors were tall here and the rooms wide with marble floors. The scribe led me to a balcony it had ivy draping down from the door, I had been here many times before it was Julius private balcony, he'd wasted over half his fortune having built on to the court building , most of it spent getting the kings permission. As the doors were swung open by two mercenaries who were wearing golden robes and looking embarrassed. Julius was staring over the capital and long off to the mountains of heelopeer. He finished a fleeting conversation with Luke. The two normally despised each other but Julius was smart. He new the with Luke as the knew regent he would have to play nice.

" John, John , John" Julius said and Luke disappeared without a word. Julius patted me on the back and poured me a drink. I didn't drink Julius brandy it was the first trick I learned. Julius had grown up the son of a rich man who's bandy was drunk across the lands. The special brandy that Julius made was a family secret and the strongest brandy ever. In all my time as Julius escort guard and friend I had never seen another man drink a glass with coughing wheezing and looking up with teary eyes.

"Julius what do you want, escorting me over half the capitol under armed guard, what have I done" I asked and Julius through his glass at the wall missing a mercenery by inches.

"you know what you did, spy" Julius said.

"every court member has got together and picked people with ability and power to spy on the court. You were one of them, after all on the night of the kings death you visited him while he was eating his meal, the guards said you talked an hour before arguing and leaving."

"Thats true" I said

"You chose half of the guard force that went to escort the boy and you easily have the skill to fake the princesses death."

"oh yeah what what about the prince how did I manage to do that one" I shouted.

"Their are other spy's out their that could of done that one" Julius said

"your going to be taken to the dungens were you'll rot and finaly die after the iron man treatment" Julius said. I shook my head their was no way I was doing to be iron maned. Iron manned was one of the worst punishments imaginiable they would make amour espcialy for you and while still boiling apply it to your bare skin until you were encased in amour. Then you would be sealed to a stone base your arms chained up to your side and left to starve. Once you were dead they would leave you their and eerie statue your skelton still inside. A punishment reserved for evil kings and traitors.

"Hell no, I'll go down fighting" I said calmly. I heard the guards take out their swords. I didn't give the chance to use them sprinting and jumping off the balcony before catching one of the flags and using it to swing through a window. Three surprised guards looked up. I took them down befire they even realised who I was as I crached vthrough the door I looked down the hallway to see more soildiers pouring out coming to get me. I sprinted off slowly letting one catch up with me . I swung my leg out and hit him in the face knocking him out the other all stumbled to a halt. I grabed the fallen soldiers pike and stabbed one guard before axing the other. The guards behind them had swords. After a few blows my pike broke in half. Fast as lightining I jumped back missing a sword then I slid underneath hitting them both in the back of leg and causing the to fall to their knees.the next guard got a kick to the. He droped his axe butI caught it and slammned it in to one of my kneeling prey, The other one I began to beat with my blunt stick until two guards hoisted me up. I stole a dagger from one of the the two idiot who lifted me up and stabbed them both. As they dropped me I turned around so I could see my enemy. the guards had backed off trying to gather themselves. I went to attack but was suddenly hit by a dart then another. Before I could gather myself a punch knocked me down. I was paralysed. The guards smirked and I knew they were gonna get revenge. One picked up by blunt stick and swung!

I woke up in a dark cell all my body aching. As I groaned out in pain something moved in the darkness.

*sorry it's so long*

And thank you for your own capture. Capitol.

------------

The men glanced at each other. Both were highly skilled warriors. They grinnned to each other and turned sharply down an alley. Nykyrian turned after them and was shocked to find that they were missing. His wolf caught onto the slip first, and was about to warn his hunting partner, but it was too late.

Both the men jumped from the roof knocking companions out. They looked at each other and grinned, "This just keep getting easier."

"It's like we're magnets and they're . . ."

"Metal?"

"Other magnets I was gonna say, but that's good enough."

He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Slag, bag and tag them?"

"Not the wolf. We'll lock him somewhere else." He grinned at the whining canine resting underneath his foot.

"Well, let's get to it."

7. They had gotten 6 earlier.

------

Linx rolled around and began to cough. His mouth tasted foul. Worst than the time he had attempted to eat worms and muds. Worse than the time he had eaten rotten cheese. He dry gagged and blinked rapidly.

It was dark, dank and cold. The air even seemed sinster. The only redeeming feature was the fact that he shared his cell with six other people. They all seemed to be knocked out or something along that line.

He stepped towards them, his head throbbing and body staggering and gave them all a quick look. A strange group. It looked like a female soldier, twins - some sort of nobles, a wild man, a woman (judging by her soft features she was the daughter of a Courtesian) and a strong guard.

Linx whistled loudly in awe and glanced around the cell. There was nothing amusing around. So he did the next best thing. He began to shake his cell mates to wake them up to see if they knew anything about what was happening.

He shooking one widly and slapped them on the face. It might've worked, it mightn't.

------

Anyone can be this person. And also if I've missed someone out please PM me.

*No one know's about Nyk, so let's just say he grabbed them because he was following them. Also, Nyk inherited his power to talk with animals from his mother, so Kent (his father) would recognize it. His mother could also shapeshift, an ability Nyk has yet to learn, the most he can do is call on an animals senses.*

Nykyrian(Nyk)-

Nyk groaned as someone shook him awake, all he wanted to do was sleep. Memory flooded back and his hand snapped out to grab the wrist holding him. He opened his eyes and sat up, glanceing around the dank room. People were sprawled on the floor, slowly waking up, Nyk vaguely recognized some of the people he was following.

Biting his lip, Nyk choked off a whimper. There were walls everywhere, the animals had said humans lived like this but Nyk hadn't believed them. Worse, Frost was no where in sight. Nyk had never been away from the wolf, not since he was a cub.

His panic was interupted by the boy sitting next to him. "Hey, ummm, can I have my hand back?"

Startled Nyk released the other boy, and turned to meet his curious stare with a wary gaze. Before they could speak their was a voice from outside the cell. "So, the traitors awake."

Jonathan Thorn

I stirred in the darkness as a voice came from outside the dark cell.

"so the traitors awake yet?" The voice was booming and confident. Clearly feeling safe on the other side of the railing. He walked past shining the torch into the cell. His robes were purple. Capitol guards didn't wear purple. We must of be transported to outside the city into a town. Probably near the mountains since their were cold breeze's coming from the cracks in the wall. The glare of the torch meant that I couldn't quite make out the emblem on his robes. I could only see a sword and an eagle, it wasn't much help at least seven towns had that as their emblem. Now I had to use what I knew. Sword and eagle as part of the emblem, near the mountains and purple robes. There were still three towns that used the sword and eagle and were close enough to the mountains to have a cold breeze. If I had a compass I could work it out. Make one! My brain said. I clawed away at the dirt on the floor making a well. I balled up spit in my mouth and continued to spit it into the well until it was full. I took my clean hand and bit down on the pinkie until I tasted blood. Reaching over I let the blood drip into the spit, the iron in it would show me north. It pointed to the wall behind me. That meant the breeze was being blown down south. We were near mugrunda but only one of the three cold towns closest to the mountains had a sword and eagle as their emblem. I knew where we were.

"hey what are you doing?" A guy with fiery red hair said even in the dark without the guards torch light it was visible.

"figuring out were we are" I said flexing my body. The guards had clearly taken vengeance when I was down. My arms and legs were all sore but apart from that I felt okay nothing broken at least.

"how?" He asked.

"it would take a while to explain" I said not meaning any offence.

"who are you?" a female voice said she was sitting next to her brother, they looked like twins.

"I'm Lynx" The red head said.

"Nyk" The wild man said he looked strong and probably had great stamina. His broad shoulders looked like a weakness. They might give punches more reach and power but they probably made his safety circle wider if I got inside it in a fight he wouldn't have the space to throw his punches.

"John" I said.

"what do you do?" Lynx asked the kids.

"were just students" They replied.

"well I can't talk I'm unemployed" Lynx said sighing and sitting down.

"uh me too" Nyk said.

"Mercenary" a girl who had just woken up said.

*anyone can jump in*

*One thing, Nyk isn't a very big guy, strong but it's not really noticable, relying more on speed and cunning then on strength.*

sorry silverdawn

*It's not that people know who he is. It's been reported that there was a wild man living in the jungle - and they were going to get him next. You'll understand later. Also, wow, Jok101, taking liberties of the surroundings and location, much? However, I applaud your genius.*

Linx

Linx yawned and looked at the guard who had just walked away. He raised an eyebrow, "Hey, I thought Capital guards wore the colours of blood and the cloak of Death . . ."

"You mean red and black?" asked Jonathon.

"That's what I said."

Someone else added, "No, you said-", but was cut off by Linx, "Then why the hell are they wearing purple?"

"This is a town close to Megrunda, we've been transported," replied the man.

Linx gave him a long look, "For someone who was out a little a go, you're quite torch."

One of the twins asked, "Don't you mean bright?"

"That's what I said," Linx replied with a sigh and he continued in a drone, it was something his father often told him when he tried to go out of Capital, "There is no way to town out near Megrunda without a pass. They restrict people going through. And inspect all luggage - through either ports or passes," he pasued, "Maybe they're hire guards - or lended by some Courtesian."

The jobless woman remarked, "They could be here to fool us we're somewhere else."

Jonathon shook hs head, "No, I've just made a compass and checked. We're not in Capital."

The twins grinned and came to explain this abnormality, Susa began, "Ahh, but the mountains around Capital have strange rocks in them that-"

"-mess with any sort of compass reading. That's why this place is the safest for the King . . . or Regent - it can never been mapped properly," finished Simon.

Jonathon frowned and then blinked as he rubbed at his head, "They must've hit my head harder than I thought. I forgot about that. However, how do you explain the cool winds?"

Nyk decided to make some input here, "I've felt this wind before. It's . . . not normal. In the jungle Frost thought it was strange too." He shivered.

Linx groaned, "Well, no matter who Frost is, this all just proves one thing. We're in the Capital still, at least."

He looked at the others sitting near him, "Anyone have an clue as to why we're here, because I'm a dead tree?"

"Don't you mean stumped?" asked the lady with a frown.

"That's what I said."

Simon and Susa

Simon and Susa exchanged a look. “Well,” Simon began. “These dungeons could be in the castle,”

“But we don’t think so, somehow.” Susa said, joining in.

“The castle is made of stone, and these floors are made of –”

“Dirt, so we must be in some province near the capitol, or –”

“Else in one of the special prisons built for, um,”

“Traitors.” Susa finished. The twins glanced at each other. They only finished each other’s sentences when they were either exited or worried.

“Ah,” said Karana, who had visited such places before. “The ones with the extensive torture chambers, with dirt floors to soak up the blood?”

“And so far away from the city that the traitor’s screams can’t be heard?” Shahara, who had also come across such things, added. The twins nodded uneasily.

“Yes. This probably means we get the cheese grater,” said Simon, biting his lip. “And the iron man treatment. Iron women too, in this case.” There was a strained silence.

“What is this… cheese grater?” asked Linx curiously. Simon took a deep breath, but Susa replied before he could.

“It’s… very unpleasant, okay? You don’t want to know.” Linx opened his mouth to inqure further anyway, but decided against it. He’d rather not know.

He thought on it.

"Traitors?" he asked with slightly curious tone, "You think we're traitors?"

They nodded in sync, "We've been noticing some strange things."

"Such as?" he asked with an eyebrow cocked, half falling asleep.

"People have been treating us like they suspect us of something." Simon said.

Susa nodded, "Surely by now, you've noticed it too?"

Linx scratched at his chin, "I can't be too bay."

"You mean sure?" asked Sahara with a angry breath.

"That's what I said," he replied with a roll of his eyes, "I think we're in the Royal Courtesian Dungeons - they chuck people who they never expect to see again down here," he itched his nose, "Dad often threatened me with it. Said if I didn't behave like a proper third born I wouldn't get an allowance and instead be put here."

Shahara raised her own opinion, "Well, one of my friends tried hiding me and she said she would be imprisoned if the Courtesians ever found out. Why do you think she said that?"

The sturdy and tough looking woman, Karana, started talking, "I was kicked out of my job."

A guard approached them with a cruel smile and dark eyes, "You'll all be called up in ten minutes. There is something we wish to . . . find out and if you do not come you will rot here for the rest of your short lives - its pretty hard to live without food, ain't it?"

He walked away with a bob in his step as if bringing this horrible news brought him some sort of glee.

Linx waved, "Finally!"

He turned to the others with a wide grin, "So, you guys going to go with him when he comes back?"

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*Opportunity to quit is now. If you come along you have to continue posting.*

Shahara

"And our other option is to rot down here?" Shahara asked. "Thanks, but at least if they're going to execute us, we'll find out what it's for. So, I'm going." Shahara tilted her head until their was a loud, satisfying crack!, and the turned back to the cell door. It was chokingly dark, except for the faint light of a torch set somewhere away from their cell. "I wonder why they'd put us all in one cell? It would be smarter to spread us out into our own individual cell, or at least out us in pairs or trios."

"They underestimate us." Karana said simply.

"You'd be the prime one they'd need to separate us from. Unless, of course, you weren't that great of a mercenary."

Karana looked at her venomously. "I'm a damn good mercenary, court brat."

Shahara smirked. "As long as I'm away from my father, don't refer to me as that. I don't sit around drinking tea all day."

Karana smiled. "I believe you, actually. Those scimitars of yours were nice. No one without some experience could have ever gotten a smith to make them. Even with your pocketbook."

That remark made Shahara wish she had her blades with her. The lightness of her hips was disconcerting. "You've got a sharp eye."

"Like I said. I'm a damn good mercenary."

Shahara chuckled lightly, then turned to the others. "So, who else is going with the guard?"