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Zero quickly strode from the doorway and shook Saqr's shoulder. "Ahlan! Saqr!" The raven-haired man groaned and clutched his torso.
What's been going on...? Zero glanced from the bloodied boy lying on a bed of straw to the young woman at the breakfast table, then back to the assassin. She crouched by Saqr and pulled him to the side, so that he was standing with his back to the wall, and leaned forward. "What kind of trouble have you been getting into, my friend?"

"Aah! Careful, girl!" He flinched at the pain in his injured shoulder. "Much has transpired since last we met, but not much for the better..." He hissed through his teeth at the pain.

"I took an arrow in the shoulder on the ride here from Masayaf. I was protecting Anan's sister and outlaws saw fit to shoot us down as we rode through the ravine."

He looked up to meet Anan's eyes. "This is Anan, Zero. Her family was murdered by a rogue assassin and her home razed. We brought her and her sister here, to where she has allies and can be safe. This madam was kind enough to take us in even with the threat of danger we pose to her."

He shook his head slowly and his dark hair fell about his face. "Anan and Mari are only safe because we have fended off any danger that has come this way. Have you heard of the ex-assassin, Strider? He is the same who murdered Anan's parents and also attacked another of the Brotherhood, Rika, who yet recovers from her wounds. Kain has now taken a beating of his own for their sake in addition to yesterdays attacks."

Saqr rested his back against the wall and heaved a sigh that made his shoulder twinge. "We live in troubling times, my friend."

He nodded to Kain when he saw the assassin sit up and assess his injuries. The sight in the alley had not been a petty one, but an assassin's work was rarely artful, especially when the killing was the result of an ambush.

{ What an inopportune time to be leaving too... I will do my best to still post one more time before I leave but if I don't then Saqr will return on the 10th. Best of luck to you, my friends. }

(sorry i have done anything, ive been having problems at home anyway, no to the fun ^.^)

Rika watched as the new assassin entered with Saqr. She appeared to be one of Al-Mulim's assassins, like herself. She listened to their conversation and when she heard Striders name, she cringed. Rika remained leaning against something the pain in her back still hadn't stopped. She heard a mention of Kain, someone she had yet to meet and hearing he had also fought Strider. Rika took a quick peek outside and had a feeling that something happened. After a minute, she looked over at Saqr and said. "Did something new happen?"

Rika looked at the ground and said. "He's bend on causing problems, more than ever before." She looked over at kain, seeing he didnt look like he was on of Al-Mulims assassins. She ignored that fact due to that he help. Rika rested her back against the wall, cringing slightly. "If you see him pass, can you let me know, i dont want him to get away.?"

Zero's hand immediatly retracted from Saqr's shoulder. "I see." she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Saqr. If I had been around, I could possibly have been of some help." She turned to the others staring at her from the breakfast table and gave an awkward bow. "Uhm...thank you." She waited a tiny bit, eyeing the pot of food. Her stomach gurgled loudly. "Eh...may I eat some?"

Kain rises to his feet "Even for assassins, I find all of you strange..." he walks past Saqr, Rika, and Zero, exiting the place, he mutters to himself "An Assassin who trusts others, one who puts Vendetta before Mission, one of whom doesn't take the obvious opening that all in the room are injured, these assassin's aren't professional....as to be expected of Al Mualim's lapdogs..." he walks off, he sees a drunkard, heading his way, and, to let off steam, he grabs the man by the throat and sends him flying into the alleyway, he pulls a sword from the ground, slashing the man in half after breaking his neck with a kick "Silent, quick, brutal, I haven't lost my touch as of yet." he tosses the sword with such great force it sticks in the wall, and he climbs up to the roof, munching an apple he pocketed from the Leader of the fools who tried to ambush him.

Strider ran down the streets, dodging the people as he ran from the guards. "Really, is a bit of food to much to ask for." He yelled, clinching his arm. He continued to give the guards a chase, seeing that he couldn't climb. Once more he found himself infront of the house where the assassins rested. "Note to self, burn this place later." He said to himself. Strider ran into an alley across from the house and dove into a hay bail, remaining perfectly still. "You can't hide forever." One of them yelled as they left the area. Strider desided to remain hidden in the hay bail, until, further notice.

Saqr took Kain's comment into consideration but let the assassin be. He did not feel comfortable amongst them and rightly he shouldn't. Their assemblage was a rather odd one and seemingly too content. At least for now they knew they were safe and as soon as the meal was finished, he himself would leave the hospitality behind as soon as affairs were in order.

He'd been staring down at the bowl of food in front of him for a while before he mentally shook himself, realizing Zero had spoken to him. "Ah... yes. That." He raised his bowl and drank some of the thick stew before continuing, then cleared his throat.

"There was a thief in Masayaf who stole her bag, and I returned it to the lady..." He left out the part about finding a particular knife in the bag, allowing Anan to choose how much she wanted known of her origins. "That is where I'd left you, Zero. I had no mission, still being slightly out of favor with the Master, and so I followed her for a while out of curiosity. It was not long after I found smoke rising over the rooftops and went towards it instinctually to find its source. I had to take rooftops to avoid the hysteria in the streets. When I got there I found Anan clutching her sister and weaping for her family trapped inside the inferno. I cannot say for sure who or what started the fire but we had to flee the city as I was not alone in discovering the grim spectacle and we were seen by many. Two other assassins rode out with us from Masayaf to reach this safe house. Riding hard most of the way, we finally came to pass through a deep valley where, unbeknownst to us, lie a group of bandits in waiting. Escaping their hail of arrows, we made it to the outskirts of Jerusalem finally, but not before I'd been hit by one of the arrows protecting Mari, Anan's sister. Once we made it inside the gates we discovered we were being followed and then he came. The rogue assassin, Strider has been causing any number of acts of arseny and unwarranted violence. After attacking Rika and myself he fled. Since we encountered Kain, also not of the Brotherhood, but exacting his own justice. I cannot say that much has happened aside from that but it seems Jerusalem is wrought with some kind of turmoil and we may have been the ones to bring him here..."

{{ OOC: Thanks for sticking with the antagonistic perspective for Strider and Kain. I sort of made Saqr out to be a big, order-enforcing assassin so you get to have way more fun than me. -jealous- }}