Recent Posts

When Vaughn had felt he had finished with the office, he left, looking in the hall but did not see Alistair. He must be in one of the desginated rooms. But just because he told them to scope opposite sides, did not mean Vaughn was going to stick to this plan. He opened the first door on the left, and saw that no one was inside. He did not trust Alistair to get anything that may be of good use. As he previously recognized, Vaughn was unsure of Alistair's intentions of coming here. Was he just along for the ride? Or had he actually taken something with the intent to sell it or use it to buy something for him or his people, since he tended to think of them a lot of the time.

Vaughn heard movement in the next room. The door had begun to creak, meaning someone was opening it from the other side. Vaughn casually placed one hand on the handle of his dagger which was at his side. It may not be necessary quite yet to pull the sword out from its sheath, as it was strapped to his back and would make more of a scene if this man was not.... Alistair. It was just Alistair. When the door had opened, Vaughn had been directly there and stared at the druid for a moment, before looking past him to see which room it was. It was a royal chamber. Wait. It was her royal chamber.

Figures. Vaughn walked past Alistair with a delighted smile on his face. "So you found her room. Did you find anything interesting inside?" Of course Vaughn would not trust his answer. He would have to look for himself. He went to the dresser and began rummaging through the small boxes which would contain some jewelry. And contain jewelry they did. "You seemed to have forgotten to look here Alistair. I am surprised you walked away without a single gold piece." How infatuated was Alistair with this woman? Enough to walk away from the treasures and wealth her room held? Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

"You never know how much time you may have." Her life could have ended tonight. He could have just slit her throat and be done with it. But then, he would not get anything from it. This way, he would be able to make some money and make sure he would not have to find ulterior ways to get it. Of course, part of the reason he was doing this, was because he could. Because he had the power to. And because he enjoyed having a hold over someone else.

Vaughn was both glad and disappointed that he would not have to argue about it. It only meant that she knew she would have to pay him in order for him to keep this secret. Did she actually trust him to? Well, she had very little choice in this moment. "How much do you think a secret like this is worth?" He wanted to know how much she thought she should pay him to keep her identity a secret.

"And what to you would be an interesting death?" It was a bit of a morbid question to ask; what someone envisioned their death to be. Vaughn had no answer to the question. To him, no death was honorable. Death was death. Whether they suffered or not during the process, it did not matter. Death was the only guarantee in life. And that was why he did not fear it. It was what really defined who he was. Cold. Insensitive. Emotionless. Everything that made him a cruel person came from his reckless disregard for death, accepting it when it decided to meet him.

Vaughn chuckled yet again. "Then consider meeting me, your greatest adventure." If she had nothing to look forward to, then maybe he would just have to honor her with his company, repeatedly. He lowered the dagger, released his hand and took a step back from her. He casually placed the dagger back in the holder strapped to his side. "I am not going to kill you. I need you alive." He had a plan, and now, he just had to put it in motion.

"Not necessarily." Vaughn had nothing to live for, but he was not suicidal. He did not fear death, but there was no need to rush it. It was what made him so reckless, and care very little about the consequences of his actions. "You are rather defensive. If you argue this much with your family then it is no wonder they do not try to stop you from riding off." One of the many reasons he could not stand being around his own family. Arguments, fights, quarrels. He had often just remained silent for the duration of the argument, which tended only to annoy them even more. "A kind murder. Who would have thought there is such a thing." Another oxymoron. He would have only associated that with something like an assisted suicide. "Maybe you lack the strength and courage to kill yourself, so you ask for someone else to do it for you." Maybe that was what made her so reckless.

"I have nothing against you Alegra," he said when she suggested that she would do it just to spite him. He just liked seeing the diversity of people's reactions. "Yes," he said bluntly. Answering her question about standing there all day with what she described to be his 'shiny toy', his dagger, his weapon that threatened to end her life in one quick movement. "A knight does not quiver in fear." He knew at least that much. "Even a bizarre one such as yourself." He paused for a moment, not releasing his hold on the knife or her wrist. "You are indeed a woman who is far too passive for her own good."

Vaughn chuckled at Alistair's statement. "You do not need premonitions to know that." It was no secret that Vaughn enjoyed tormenting and irritating others. He took pride in it and found it fully entertaining. He looked to both the left and the right when Alistair suggested that each one go the one way. He did not care where he went, as long as it was somewhere that had something valuable to take. It was a good thing Vaughn had the torch because his designated side was a bit darker.

As he opened the door, doing it slowly so that he was prepared for anyone who might be inside, he shined the light, only to see an empty chamber. Hm. Disappointing. He stepped inside, surveying the room before walk around it, looking for somewhere of value. The sheets looked expensive, but not something worth stealing. There were small ornaments for decoration, but nothing that really caught Vaughn's eye. They had limited space and he was not going to waste it on useless things. He rummaged through the drawers and cupboards only to be disappointed by finding nothing inside. There wouldn't be anyone here as it was if the Princess and King were out of the kingdom.

Boring.

Vaughn just took a few of the useless ornaments, figuring they could get a little something for the silver on it, before exiting the room. The next room was an office. Completely empty of any human life form, and there was just papers neatly folded on the various tables. He rummaged through them, finding maps of the kingdom and some blueprints of the city. He took the piled and dumped them in the bag, rolling the maps and tucking them in his pocket. He had no idea what he was going to do with them, but you never know. Maybe if someone was ever at war with Gwent, these papers would be of value. He grabbed a few more piles, deciding to sort through them later. He adjusted the bag so that the cloth he had first grabbed was covering them. He did not want Alistair to make him leave them and so would show them when they were well away from here.

"The world after all is a stage," he said in response to her statement. She had been obviously referring to what Vaughn had done moments ago, allowing the bandits to attack her, though they did not succeed. If they had, Vaughn would have only missed further entertainment from her. But he would have been on his way and not had a reason to stay and poke fun at this woman. Her invitation was not something he could so easily ignore. She made not be showing any signs of uneasiness in his attempt to intimidate her, but that did not discourage him.

His next actions happened extremely quickly. He moved behind her and while doing so, pulled out a small dagger from his side. He was directly behind her, his body practically touching hers while his arm was around her and the side of the dagger was against her neck. He was not pressing the dagger into her neck, but it was barley an inch apart. In addition to that, with his free hand he grabbed hold of her wrist, keeping it rested at her side but disallowing its movement. It was the hand he noticed her using when she was fighting the bandits, and so prevented her from reaching for her own weapon. These three movements could have been combined into one quick action for he had not wasted a moment. Even if she could not see his face, a sinister smile spread on his lips. He lowered his head so that he could speak directly in her ear. "Do you fear death?" He asked, always curious to people's reactions when met with such a life threatening situation.

[[Hahaha! If it helps at all, he is not actually going to hurt her. He is just having fun playing around with the idea of it, as I am sure you can tell from the post.]]

Vaughn continued to walk, and walk and walk....until finally, a staircase came into sight. Finally. He did not even care how far behind Alistair was. He just moved up the stairs at a moderate pace. Not too eager, and not in much of a rush in case guards came. Guards would make this adventure far more entertaining. Would Alistair kill them? Or was his strange affection for the princess too great? There would only be one way to find out and put those questions to the test. "Do your visions not show you anything useful?" He asked, slightly mocking, slightly serious.

Vaughn did not fully understand Alistair's visions. He did not ask much about it either though. He knew because they had spent enough time together for them to be impossible to ignore. It did intrigue Vaughn though. One of the reasons he knew using Alistair in these endeavors could be beneficial and give them one up on everyone else.

"Yes you would. People are superficial dear Alegra. Unless you could wear your helmet every day and hide yourself from the public eye." Men and women were equally vain when it came to their looks, appearance and wealth. Vaughn perhaps would have been had he cared about anything, even himself. "You are fortunate to not have to worry about that, thus far. But you never know what could happen later if you continue to fight. Your small scratch today could have been worse." He paused, looking at it and now able to get a closer look since he was much closer to her than before. His voice lacked any empathy for the wound she received.

"Besides, how would the daughter of a noble, explain such battle wounds to others." Another curious element to her whole secret identity. Any noble family had the attention of other nobles as it was part of their duty to socialize them. One of the many things Vaughn hated about having been a noble. Though it was fun to provoke others when it came to those horridly boring events and feasts. So how would she explain each cut, each wound, without sounding like a clumsy woman when she should be displaying grace and elegance. Vaughn almost wished he could be there to see her explain it to others. It would be such a humorous story to hear.

Vaughn scoffed, letting out a half snicker. He did not take well to commands or orders, so completely dismissed Alistair's. Of course, it helped that he had no reason to kill the princess, even if he had said things that suggested otherwise. Women we men's weaknesses, and it was truly pathetic and precisely why Vaughn never formed attachments with any women. He would have fun with them, but everything was non committal, and it was best that way. Alistair was a prime example of what happened when things changed. She was softening him up, and Vaughn was losing his accomplice.

"Well then it is a good thing she is not here to get in my way," he said, before turning and continuing to walk ahead. Tonight, they would not have to fight over how to deal with the princess of Gwent. She away from her castle, and that was part of the reason they were here. Well, it was part of the reason why Vaughn had chosen now to come. He still questioned Alistair's motives, but would let it go for now.