[b]"Not... bad. Though, where is the mage behind them?"[/b]

"He ran that way, Commander, through the alleys. We may have lost him by now. He summoned that shadow to cover his escape." Ling pointed behind her as she spoke. No sooner had she spoken than another blast tore through the wall behind the Commander, with the rogue mages stepping out of the wrecked tavern.

[b]"Mages, let us... ignore this little transgression. You turn around, forget you saw us, and we do the same. Alright?"[/b]

[i]Transgression?[/i] These renegades seemed to think they had some form of authority. They were bullies and thieves, plain and simple. And now they wanted an easy way out? Ling wasn't about to let them go scot-free. That was why she had chased after the Nightshade, after all: she had intended to recover the bag of valuables.

"Not so fast." She reloaded Kei and raised the crossbow to point at the stone mage, him being the most obvious threat. "Before we even [i]think[/i] about the possibility of letting you lot just walk away, you guys can call your shadow-mage buddy back here. Once he hands over that bag of gold and gems he prizes so much, then we'll talk about letting you go. Unless someone else thinks we shouldn't take that chance?" She glanced towards each of Nataly, Vanahara and Commander Hayes as she posed that question. If the injured Pyromancer was any indicator, the Academy-trained mages had come out better off in the fight. Now was the time to press the advantage that Ling perceived, and give the rogues the option of negotiating their surrender.

At the same time, though, she wondered if she had stepped a little beyond her station. Commander Hayes was in charge, after all, and Ling was second-guessing herself, thinking that she might have spoken out of turn.