[@Flightless_Soul] [@EldarionI]

Saga let a small grin escape. He had to play the part. If he showed his hand too soon, he was worried about what would happen next. Luckily, he was no stranger to these games.

There were two kinds of danger. The first was the direct, life-threatening kind. When you’re about to fight a man to the death, your heart races. Energy pumps through your veins, aching for you to make the first move; either ending the threat with a decisive strike, or forcing you to run and fight another day. In short, you know what confronts you, and you respond accordingly.

Then there was the second kind. To illustrate, imagine yourself in a snowy plain. As far as your eyes can see, there is nothing but white. As your boots crunch the snow and you sink thigh-deep into the cold, you feel something wriggling near your leg. You have no idea what it is, but you kick it away, just in case. Then, a few moments later, you feel more of the wriggling things around both your legs. They’re crawling up, through the holes in your clothes. You feel their scaly skin on your soft flesh.

This woman was the second kind. He wasn’t bad looking, not by a long shot, but a woman such as this could do much better than he. She was the type that princes and kings fawned over, and the type that queens secretly envied. The idea that she would bother with a disgraced knight was an alien one. No, she wanted something out of this. Also, a woman like her would never survive in a city. She'd be raped and killed as soon as she stepped through the gates. That is, unless there was a reason she had survived this long.

[i][color=cyan]Just an idle thought, Saga, but maybe she’s after your gold?[/color][/i] 

[i][color=orange]True,[/color][/i] he thought. That explains why she was here, with the commoners. An average man wouldn’t think twice if she were to try and seduce him. He’d fall into the snake’s spell as easily as a rat did. However, he was not an average man. 

[i][color=cyan]I’m so glad that I could be of use to this dull head of yours.[/color][/i]

[i][color=orange]And this is why I hate the fact that you can read my thoughts.[/color][/i]

[i][color=cyan]Oh my, the things you wanted to do to that Oasian girl seventy-three days ago--[/color][/i]

[i][color=orange]Shut up![/color][/i]

All of that happened in the blink of an eye. He had his plan. Now was the time to execute it.

Leaning back in his chair, he made sure to expose his coin purse, which visibly stretched from all the coin inside. 

[color=orange]“Would I mind? From a woman like you? Can’t believe you’re actually asking me! Of course! But before we go, let me tell you a little story. Nothing lengthy, just a little misadventure I had with a friend of mine.”[/color]

He kept on, not letting her get a word in.

[color=orange]“Now this man, Varkas, he was quite the knight, you see. Handsome fellow, even more than me. On the field, no one could even scratch his armor. He plowed through hordes of Orcs, Dwarves, and Elves like he plowed through his women. The Elves, in particular, knew this. One day, he took in some elvish girl as his slave. It was after one of our raids, and he killed her parents some time during that. Of course, the fool he was, he decided to try and fuck her.”[/color]

He took a breath, letting it sink in. Then he continued. “He did. Then he had her go fetch him some ale. He drank it, and little did he know that only one of them would be walking out of his room that night.” 

Saga paused, and suddenly leaned forward in his chair, glaring directly into her crimson eyes. 

[color=orange]“You head for that door, or the only sword you’ll get this day is this one.”[/color]

He unsheathed his steel blade and jolted up from his chair, overturning the table and the empty tankards.