Taris opened an eye at being nudged, coming partially out of his meditation and turning his face towards the thief. Something about Envy’s voice warned him something was severely bothering the large elf. At his question, however, both eyes snapped open. For a moment Taris only stared at the other male, before his eyes closed again. The assassin opened them again and looked blankly at Aera’s sleeping form, “She… no Envy. When I checked her for wounds, for what he did to her, the magic reacts to that. She isn’t Envy, you have my word.”

He closed his eyes again and left it at that. Some things were just better left unsaid.

Just as he tried to sink back into his meditation, he felt his wards tremble. Surrounding the carriage were long, nearly invisible threads of ice held by the magic in the gems.
One of them had just snapped.

Then another, and another.

“Envy, trouble!” was all he said, quickly but gently laying Aera on the seat and opening the carriage door as Hadhen gave a warning shout. He flipped up top, next to the human thief, who was pulling a small dart from his arm. Already he was swaying from the poison. “Damn, here drink this,” the assassin told the young man, handing him a small vial and lowering him into the coach with the other elves.

Standing on the roof of the carriage, ice spiraled around his forearms. “Envy!” Taris shouted, “Get ready, the Assassin’s Guild is paying us a visit. Hadhen’s been poisoned, make sure none of them get inside.”

His eyes easily picked them out of the darkness, behind and to the sides of the carriage, magic lending haste to their feet. There were eight of them, plus the leader that landed neatly in front of the elf. “Greetings, Guild-sister,” Taris said calmly, the guild symbol glowing on the back of his hand, “These people are working with me and under my protection, so why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here.”

The other assassin lowered her hood, “Ah, the infamous Shadow Elf. I am Miral. And we have been contracted to ensure the Princess dies.”

Black mist suddenly burst from Taris’ lavender-flecked eyes and tongues of blue flame twined with the ice tendrils around his arms. His voice went deadly cold, “That isn’t going to happen. Leave.”

Miral took an involuntary step back, but managed to keep any fear from showing, even giving an arrogant grin. “Angry? That's fine, the contract is for you, too.”