WHO: Cara & OPEN. WHAT: Someone is not amused. Also incredibly confused. Therefore, that someone is attacking a homeless man for answers. WHEN: Late morning. WHERE: Lawrence, Kansas. Downtown. RATING: PG-13 at best.
The forest was always quiet at night. The crackle of flame from the fire that was planted at the center of the four figures spread out across the ground, mixed in with the sounds of the travelers sheltered underneath the tall trees being the only notable noise that took up the area. At the right of the fire, the wizard Zedd was snoozing heavily; his snores being the loudest of the noise filtering through the trees that surrounded the foursome. His tall, thin frame was awkwardly sprawled beneath the tattered blanket tossed over him, white hair flashing like a beacon in the shadows. To the left lay a dark-haired woman. She slept far more quietly; the only signs of her being alive in itself was the simple rise and fall of her chest. The Mother Confessor herself, Kahlan. A few inches off from the Confessor was a man. He had strategically set himself up in that position when they had made camp that evening, as if he were attempting to be as close to the Confessor as possible in the most subtle manner possible. The Seeker's hand lay spread across the dirt of the ground, fingers mere inches away from Kahlan's own. He, too, had long since fallen asleep. Between Kahlan and Zedd, Richard was right in the middle by way of noise. His snores only jumped out on occasion, dying into the silent breaths that followed soon after. Further down, being the farthest away from both the duo and the wizard, was a blonde woman. Unlike the other three, she was the only member of their camp that was not sound asleep. It was her turn for watch, after all, and as such it was her responsibility to stay awake until the appropriate change of time. Feet planted onto the ground and back pressed against the bark of a tree, Cara the Mord-Sith sat quietly.
They had endured a long and hard journey that day. Their travels were as wearying as ever, as were the unexpected encounters that they had discovered on their path. The trouble that they had encountered that day was a band of banelings - beings brought back from the Underworld whose only means of survival was to constantly kill for the Keeper on a daily basis - an experience that had been troubling on Cara's part, as she had briefly been a baneling herself not too long ago. Fortunately, a cure for her curse (but not enough to go around to save the others) had been discovered. She no longer had to kill for the Keeper. All the same, it did nothing by way of making her feel...conflicted. About the banelings. She did not pity them. She refused to believe that. But at the same time, killing them today had not been easy.
Tilting her head back, Cara lifted her gaze to the shadowed branches spread out above her head. It was a quiet night indeed. The kind of evening where she once used to spend her time dragging innocents from the dungeons, tying them up to the rack, and poking them constantly with her Agiel to break the same type of stubborn silence that hung in the air now. It was strange, being on the other side. Fighting with the Seeker. Her eyes fell to Richard. At first, she had joined him because it was what she was supposed to have done. The last of the Rahl line. The Mord-Sith were supposed to protect and serve the Rahl bloodline. But now her loyalty was changing. Now she wanted to protect and fight at the side of the man, not the name. And Cara didn't quite know what to make of that as of yet.
Closing her eyes, Cara let her head fall back against the bark of the tree once more and drew in a breath. It was late. She'd be swapping places with Zedd soon. Then she could rest. No more thoughts of banelings. Just...rest.
"Hey, lady."
Cara opened her eyes. Almost at once, she raised a hand and shielded her face from the bright light that invaded her vision. At the same time, a hand went to her hip, leather gloved fingers wrapping themselves around the handle of the Agiel at her side. The voice had been unfamiliar to her. That and that alone was the only thing that Cara could make out in the rush of confusion that was overpowering her. Looking up, blinking in alarm as she did so, Cara's eyes met the face of a rather scraggly looking man. Dirt streaked his cheeks (hardly an unusual thing for a woman of her time), greasy hair hung across his bearded face, and the rags - strange as they were - that clung to his body were as dirty as his features were. The look of annoyance on his face only served to increase Cara's own irritation, in which she pressed her free hand to the ground (oddly enough, it was not made of grass and soil, but of something hard and sturdy) and stood to glare back at the stumpy, disgusting looking man before her.
"You're in m'spot," the man said gruffly.
"I believe you are -" Cara stopped in mid-sentence, only just realizing that her surroundings had changed. No longer was she playing guard underneath the tree in the forest; she was standing at the end of an alleyway, where there were tin, circular objects lined against the walls. The greasy man that had been standing in front of her began hacking and, with a look of disdain, Cara shoved past him and turned. Agiel sliding from it's sheath, she pointed it at him. "What have you done? Where is The Seeker? The Mother Confessor? The wizard?" The homeless man shot her a quizzical look, hardly looking intimidated by the weapon she held out before him. To him, it looked like nothing more than a leather covered stick with a handle. Infuriated, Cara stepped forward. "Answer me. Now." The man opened his mouth, but before he could speak a sudden, loud noise cracked through the air behind her. Whirling around, Cara flipped her Agiel over and immediately prepared herself for...
Something large and metallic at the end of the alleyway. It made the sound again as two oddly dressed people skittered in front of it. Then the metallic beast roared and began to move forward, the circular objects at it's sides - legs, perhaps? - spinning as it inched it's way out of sight. "What was that?" Cara asked him, turning back to the man. "Did that...creature take the others?" Again, the man failed to provide Cara with a satisfactory answer. So she grabbed him by the throat, slammed him into the wall, and pressed her Agiel to his ribs. The man had not been expecting anything to come of it. So when a burst of unimaginable pain struck him to the core, he was shocked to find himself screaming.