Standing amongst a group of other adventurers, thieves, and murderers somehow made Rixxan uneasy. She didn’t trust people in general, and this group was here specifically for the purpose of a publically-announced crusade to find a stolen good of the royal kingdom here. So, essentially, everyone here was being given the opportunity to take on the task of finding some stolen royal good, and either returning it or tasking themselves with the job of finding someone low enough to fence it to. While there was likely someone, Rixxan wasn’t really in the mood to lower herself to the black market; she might have been evil but she still had some class. Despite her moment of weakness a month ago with the masked man from the pirate clash, she had done her elven blood no true dishonor even though her actions in life were all primarily of malice and evil intent. 

Unfortunately this city was mainly full of darker skinned people, and Rixxan was not born with anything even nearly describable as dark for skin. In spite of the heat and dryness of this land, she was fully-clothed with black, and a black shawl over her head to hide her bright hair. Her hood atop the shawl and cape simply added to the effect of her looking simply as if she were a shadow. There were two reasons for this attire. The first reason was to keep wandering eyes from noticing her as a starkly contrasting elf girl, and the second was to avoid being recognized by any unsavory-types in the surrounding crowd, for she was sure she would eventually run into someone from Vilpamolan or Adeluna at one of these meetings-for-those-up-to-no-good. 

Rixxan was not one to normally wait for full instructions, and as soon as she found out the likely whereabouts of the item, a mammoth tusk ornately decorated and used for some silly ceremony that was done here ritually, likely on the outskirts of the city in the hands of a group of disheveled rebels, previously guards of the kingdom and tasked with protecting the very thing which they had now stolen. How ironic. She rolled her eyes and strode off, out of the group. She had a very good idea on where she would need to go, and she was not going to wait for the rest of these babbling fools to try and make a mess of things. More than likely, the information was slightly skewed, and the item would probably actually be housed either far from the city edges or within them. The beggars on the outskirts had probably seen something specific, and she planned to find out from them what the real information was.    

The streets here were not something she was used to, the nobles rode atop elephants rather than horses and carriages were pulled by large birds. Rixxan had to keep herself from hissing at them as she was not a great fan of the feathered kind. Whenever one rolled by, she stepped as far out of the street as possible, even creeping into doorways at times. She would roll her eyes and mumble elven swears beneath her breath at them, knowing fully well that no one around here would have even the vaguest understanding of her native language. She eventually found her way to the outskirts, where the beggars and homeless wandered the back alleys and scrounged for anything they could. With a half-filled coinpurse in hand, Rixxan found a congregation of several of the unsavory-types perched on and around a stone wall, most likely discussing the whereabouts of the most sympathetic peoples or the most full garbages. As she approached them, she raised her hands to signify that she meant no harm, and shook the coinpurse. “My friends, I come to ask information of you…” Immediately, they hustled towards her, eyes locked upon her offer of coin. She grinned behind her coverings, “Something tells me some of you may know the whereabouts of a certain tooth, of sorts?” 

Instantly, they hushed and turned in on themselves to discuss in a language that now she did not know. Behind her cowl she scowled, unsure of what to do next. Instead of trying to coerce an answer from them, she simply emptied out the coinpurse onto the ground. 

“Now, let me ask again. Anyone know anything?” Their eyes all widened as the shining silver pieces hit the ground, struggling to deal with the sight of such an amount. They looked amongst each other and nodded, and the eldest one of them stepped forward to speak. 

“In the midst o’ the night, they ‘ere making there way through ‘ere, heading toward one o’ the groups of abandon’d houses at the far side o’ the city. Ya might be able ta find ‘em there still.” 

Rixxan nodded to them and trotted off, leaving them to pounce upon the silver mingling with the dirt. She knew which area he was talking about, specifically because she had hidden out there once when she had done her own set of unsavory deeds here not long ago, perhaps a few months back. Creatures stalked the area at night and it was definitely not terribly safe, but nothing of that sort was enough to phase Rixxan. As she neared the area and left the main areas of the city, she removed her cowl and for a moment enjoyed the feeling of sun on her face, despite the heated and humid climate of the city. The houses, or shacks rather, were in a depressed area of the earth and most likely abandoned to continue the city’s reputation for wealth, which she assumed was just  another very motivating reason for the beggars having to lurk and hide on the outskirts. 

The trees in this area were not terribly lush, as were the luscious gardens closer into the middle of the main capital city. It was much closer to looking like the Harena Wastelands than the great kingdom of Mamlak. No magnificent stone monuments of ivory or sparkling gold to be found, just a group of ransacked and beaten-down houses. As she walked down an overgrown path, she heard whispers and clangs from within a house, and darted behind a house quickly to press herself up against the side. The house she needed to target, she assumed being the only house likely having any sort of inhabitants, was quite a few houses away, at the end of what would have been a cul de sac. Likely there was some sort of guard nearby, too, as these men were previously charged with protecting the object, and very well would know that they were being sought out. Rixxan sidled quietly along the side of the building, making her way to the corner, and planned to sneak into the alley between this house and the next to better formulate her plan. As she came to the corner, she took a deep breath and went to slip around the corner, preparing herself for if there was some menacing guard nearby that she might need to quickly hide from.

Instead, she crashed into something–or rather–someone. She rubbed her forehead as she recovered from the shock, taking a step backwards and grunting. Her eyes raised and she felt her skin grow cold as her face dropped. She took one more step back, simply out of shock. Her words, while a whisper, couldn't help but escape her, even though she was in such a dangerous location. 

“Y-you!? What?! No! No, no, no! What… What are you doing here!?” 

When he heard the call to find the Tusk of Divine Conquest, Icarus found himself ready to make some coin while also doing a deed for the royal family.  It would get his name out there and perhaps grant him a bit more status in the meantime so he would have greater access to information within the city.  Having a favor owed to him by royalty would come in handy, at least, thus was the logic that followed.  

In his prior experiences, all lost and forgotten from the second realm he had dwelt in, Icarus had once been known as many things.  He had been feared by criminals as the Black Swordsman, a horrid warrior wielding nightmares and a blade large enough to cleave many men in twain all at once.  Other times, he was known as the secret enforcer of the king of Moon Crest, hunting demons and nobles alike that had forged bonds to increase their power and subvert the royal crown.  With no recollection of those times, it seemed it was simply a part of his nature to seek to serve those in power to increase his own standing.

Icarus was used to the city streets of Mamlak, mentally having a detailed layout of the streets that permitted him to find shortcuts everywhere he went, coming at last to the square where the entire situation and all details were being laid out.  Among the details learned, it appeared that the group likely holding the item were a bunch of separatists that wished to emancipate their tribal lands from the Mamlak monarchy after they had previously been conquered.  The conquest happened decades ago, but as the generations grew up, so too did the old flames of rebellion.  

From what he gathered, there was a heavily fortified system of caves the group made their hideout, consisting of dozens of fighters and nearly a hundred conscripts from their village.  The reason the Mamlak army had not chosen to invade and they had hired out numerous adventurers was due to the fact that they did not want the blood of countless villagers that perhaps had not chosen to rebel on their hands.  It was better if it were at the hands of mercenaries without any true allegiance collecting on a bounty.  That way, it would prevent any further political strife or at least minimize it.

The area of the city that were rented out by their group had been deserted several days ago following the discovery that the Tusk of Divine Conquest was missing.  After finding that out, Icarus departed straight for the area, seeking to locate the homes they had been in for any possible further clues prior to setting out for the caves a short distance into the desert to the east.  Icarus arrived at the houses, seeing the place akin to a ghost town for the five homes that were actually there.

Scanning the perimeter, he noticed no one around and decided to enter the first one to the far left.  Politely knocking first, he waited a moment prior to crossing the threshold and took a look around the perimeter.  It appeared the city guard had already been here and tossed the place, searching for any evidence they could find.  He did a momentary scan, looking around each room before leaving and repeating the process with each of the other homes.  

In one of them, he found a journal hidden beneath a cracked floorboard.  The writing was illegible and it seemed there was a series of patterns located on one of the pages, bringing to mind some sort of spell or ritual.  Tearing it from the journal, he folded it neatly in his pocket and found nothing else of value in either the journal nor the rest of his searches.  Finally satisfied, Icarus departed the area, mask still on as he was forced to take a step back as something or someone ran straight into his chest.  Hand on his weapon, he instantly relaxed when he heard a familiar voice of a woman he had known not too long ago.

"Me?  Searching for clues.  Why would you come here?  Anyone else that's actually planning on going after that Tusk is headed to the caves.  Won't be that many, though, seeing as the place is a veritable fortress," he said as he looked at the Elf.

Rixxan’s face turned from one of shock and disgust to anger in a moment as Icarus started. She threw her shawl down on the ground and stomped on it, grinding it into the dirt with her heel as she cursed the beggars who had directed her here. “No! Damn it!” She gritted her teeth and returned her attention to Icarus, having to prevent herself from attacking him out of sheer rage as her blood boiled. She did not take kindly to being wrong.  

Eventually her temper settled and she rolled her eyes at him. “Well I am going to assume you’ve gathered some sort of information here, and now you’re headed for the caves yourself, so I may as well just follow you there.” Her smile was convincing, but if he knew what she planned for him in her mind, he would likely not have been too keen on her scheme. He would be helpful to guide her through the first bit of the caves, and then she would find a way to dispose of him. This time there would be no meddling pirates to stand in her way or to capture her and keep her from utilizing her magic, and overpowering him would prove difficult but much easier. Good-looking and a good lay as he may be, he seemed to have a habit of showing up and giving her an incredible amount of bad luck, as well as getting in her way. While his disappearance didn’t have to be permanent, she would prefer him dead and out of her way completely at this point. However, so long as he was encumbered enough to be out of her way, that was adequate for her as of now.

“So, what did you find out back there? Did you get anything worthwhile out of those shacks or did you simply lurk around for nothing?” She hoped he was of the type where he would share with her whatever information he had found; she had judged him to be more of the ‘good’ kind of person rather than a shady crook like herself and hoped that it was the case, and that he may even be foolhardy enough to trust her as an ally as  they had been forced into being upon their first meeting. He led her to the caves without much complaint, making Rixxan even more sure of her plan’s success.

For a moment they paused at the start of the caves, and Rixxan contemplated whether it would be wise to summon up a weapon yet. If she had to make a quick escape, it would likely be a poor choice to have her hulking broadsword strapped to her back as it would only slow her down, and when she sought to get rid of Icarus she had planned to mainly implore magic to do so, and having a weapon such as her smaller bastard sword might only get in the way and prove to be her undoing. As she remembered from the fighting on the ship, he had proven to be not only skilled but also terribly quick with a weapon, and most likely would be able to take her out in a moment if it came down to only combat between the two. She sighed as it became clear that magic would be her best and only choice, and followed him into the dark.

About two minutes into their walk in the caves, they had yet to happen upon anything aside from old bones and such, and Rixxan was formulating her plan to get rid of Icarus. There were plenty of loose rocks in this area of the cave, and plenty of stalactites as well. Her plan was simple. Loose a horde of boulder and rock onto him and trap him under it, then run off laughing as he struggled. Perhaps she would free him after she found the Tusk, or perhaps she would leave him to die. It would depend on her mood in that case, and she would deal with that when it came up. Her elven eyes were much quicker to adjust to the light in the caves than a human’s would be, and she had already found a wider spot of the path up ahead with enough debris on the ledge to bring down upon someone. Even if he were quick to move out of the way, he would still be struck by some of it. She smiled at her idea and began to slow her pace gradually until she had fallen a few metres behind him, taking care to make it look as if she were simply wary of this dark area of the caves. When she was sure he wasn’t looking, she took the chance. With a good-sized ball of energy wrapped around her hand, she shot it off to dislodge the rocks as she called to get Icarus’ attention at the moment the rock was struck. “Hey, Icarus,” she yelled, and he looked back to her as the boulders came rolling.

She herself had darted back and out of harm’s way as some nearly missed taking her out. The dust started to rise as the sound of rolling and colliding came to a halt, and Rixxan started to carefully make her way through the area. Her plan had worked, as Icarus was stuck–although still alive, to her dismay–with one leg between two of the larger rocks. He worked to try to free himself, though Rixxan could not forsee him breaking loose anytime soon, and she simply smiled and waved at him as she walked by and off into the deeper dark of the caves.

A few uneventful minutes went by before Rixxan started to come down from her satisfaction of taking Icarus out. She put her hands into her pockets as she strolled along, terribly surprised that she had yet to come face-to-face with any guards or people also searching for the Tusk. Upon coming to a intersection, she found herself tasked with choosing the new direction for her path and wanderings. One way led down, most likely into a more connected system of tunnels where it would be easiest to confused wanderers and adventurers, and one led straight, most likely to another way in or out of the tunnels. She took the path down, treading carefully and slowly. It grew too quiet and too dark for even her eyes as she made her way down, and she started to worry. Perhaps she should not have gotten rid of Icarus so early on.

A few small rocks crumbled and fell to the ground, startling Rixxan. She sidestepped and turned to back against the wall, but her back did not find a wall, and she rambled backwards for a few steps before finally backing onto something. She sighed a breath of relief and went to place her hands on the wall, and to her dismay found no wall at that spot. She realized what was going on now, and went to scream as a hand went over her mouth and pulled her arms behind her back. Just as she went to shoot back a bolt of energy, she was struck over the head with something hard and forceful, and crumpled to the ground.

When she came to, she found herself in a strangely similar position as she had been in the last time she had the misfortune of running into Icarus. She gritted her teeth as she observed her surroundings, a room-like dead end of a cave with one wall made of a cell door, only metal bars. The light of a torch halfway down the hall-like cave was all that lit the area, but it was enough. With anger budding up inside her once more, she drew upon more magic to try and melt the bars down with dark energy, but much to her dismay she found that they barely grew hot at all. She exhaled heavily.

“If that idiot has to save me again…” She leaned back against the wall and slid to the ground, thinking of the ways she would have to apologize to him now. More importantly, she wondered how long it would take him to be loose of the stone prison she'd trapped him in and find his way through the caves. He would probably end up luckier than her, maybe even find the Tusk. What if he left her here to die? She pulled her knees to her chest and let her head drop as she waited.

It seemed that the Elf was already prepared to follow him out to the caverns despite the little indication she really wanted nothing to do with him unless it benefitted her.  It was a pity in Icarus' mind.  The pair seemed to have impressive chemistry when it came to their natural competitiveness and abilities that seemed to complement one another.  Something in her was different, something that made her unwilling to trust others. 

Icarus was similar in that respect.  He rarely chose to trust anyone and refused to care too deeply when it came to them due to his own personal experiences that gave him great reason to refrain from offering his heart to others.  Too many of those he held dear had died untimely deaths and the only survivors among those he truly did love were his master Cain and his son, whom he hadn't even named before giving him to nobles in the northern kingdoms.  Every fiber of his being felt his life essence, though, and he knew his son was growing, gentle as his father hoped he could be in an era of peace.

"Yeah, I suppose you can follow me for a bit.  Just try not to kill me and we can keep it the same as last time.  We work together and split the bounty, everyone goes home happy," he said, giving a nice warning concerning her predilection toward betraying him. 

When she asked about his findings, he had no inclination to tell her at first, only shrugging his shoulders in defeat, but he kept the patterns and formulae in the back of his mind where he held most of the information he had acquired over the years.  Icarus didn't know when, but he had the suspicious feeling that when their objective seemed close at hand, Rixxan would make her move and betray him once more.  He would remain vigilant when that time came and if it came to it, flay the flesh straight from her bone so she would remember to never cross him again.  A dagger to the back was something he definitely didn't want, but he would make do with the situation.

Together, the pair wandered into the desert outside the gates of town, beginning the trek to the caves that the resistance group had chosen to make their fortress.  The walk was a few miles and after the second hour, Icarus found it in the distance, the blaring heat of the sun beating down on both their bodies from overhead.  It was perhaps only another hour before the darkness in the cliff wall that marked the cavern was directly before them and a cool breeze fought against the nearly intolerable heat.

Walking ahead of Rixxan, Icarus passed a few natural structures and a wash of light flooding the interior from above in the first chamber.  He tuned his senses to pull in as much sound and visual movement as possible from in front of them, neglecting his back to the Elf that had previously made life rather difficult for him.  Mistakenly, he had trusted her enough to the extent he hadn't expected her to betay him now and didn't notice she had allowed a great bit of distance to open between them.  Kneeling down for a moment, he looked into a deep crevice that sank deep into the earth below them, blackness lining the area.

Icarus heard his name called and instinctively knew he had already committed his fatal error.  Before he could even react, rocks and boulders were rolling toward him, prompting his descent into the abyss below, although he seemed stuck and unable to right himself or fall downward.  Trapping his leg with a set of boulders was perhaps the best thing that could happen to him because he didn't know how deep the pit was nor what lay at the bottom of it.  It may very well have saved his life despite being extraordinarily unfortunate at the same time. 

He remained inverted, dangling precariously over the pit.  I'm going to beat her within an inch of her life.  Between a rock and a hard place, how screwed up is this? he thought to himself, trying to secure a means to free himself to no avail.  If there were any sentries in the area, he would be in a very difficult position and the Elf was likely going to have to fight her way out if she were lucky enough to get the chance.  That is, before he came back for her.  He would ensure she suffered for this.  Nothing in the cavern indicated a collapse was even possible, meaning she had worked her magic to orchestrate his possible demise once more.

There seemed no option for him as he struggled and he funneled through all the magic he had studied in his youth through his mind, coming up empty-handed.  Thinking now of the words and markings he had seen on the page in the room, he recalled one that had several similarities to earth based animation magics.  Focusing his mind, he took in the rocks above him and channeled his thoughts and the spell directly into them.  Suddenly, they began shaking, as though vibrating from his magic.

Seeming to squeak as though alive, the rocks that held him up began to retreat away from the pit, still clutching his leg and pulling him up.  When at last able to clutch the edge of the abyss, he pulled himself up carefully and the rocks released him when he was fully over the edge.  Rolling away from him, they continued to squeak and rolled away, releasing his sore ankle that fortunately enough was not broken.  As he stood up, they fell over lifeless once more.

"Thanks, I guess.  Wait, why am I thanking rocks?  This day just gets weirder.  I'm going to kill this bitch for making me lose my mind," he said to himself as he brushed himself off and continued down the path leading further after Rixxan.

His mind focused once more, Icarus could see the few guards present, dragging an unconscious or perhaps dead Elf with them.  They moved further into the tunnels and he followed them, shadowing their movements and mentally mapping the area as he went.  Eventually, he came to an outpost with guards present and was unable to go further as he saw nearly a dozen men standing in wait as the men proceeded with Rixxan in tow.  His swords rested at his side, but he found no inclination to draw them, seeking to go without alerting them if possible.  Leaving a massive body count of militant civilians that hadn't done more than steal an important artifact after being thoroughly disgruntled with near-slavery was not worth it in his mind.  

Ducking into the shadows as the patrol returned, Icarus evaded their eyesight and lingered, hypothesizing the checkpoint ahead into the actual manmade structure that comprised the headquarters of this rogue organization.  More men came out, seeming to expect additional people to come into the caves looking for the Tusk or perhaps the woman they had captured.  Icarus wouldn't leave them disappointed, but perhaps he would leave them wondering what happened and how they had been made to look like fools.

Trailing along the wooden barricade, he moved out of view from the checkpoint and climbed the wall carefully, quietly rising over the top and coming face to face with a man that was already raising his weapon to strike him.  His fist compacted quickly and found the man's jawline, fracturing it and sending him to the ground unconscious.  Dragging the man, Icarus hid him in the darkness, out of sight from anyone that may happen to come upon the area.  Taking the man's shirt and pants, he tore them into strips and bound his arms, legs, and gagged him before departing.

He didn't know where Rixxan was, but he honestly felt inclined to simply leave her wherever she was and take the Tusk for himself since the tide had turned in his favor and she had betrayed him once more.  It would be a fitting demise for her if they chose to kill her but somehow, he felt unsatisfied by the fact he hadn't directly done something to even the score with her.  He wasn't the petty sort, but she had crossed the line once more and it was now a long time coming.

Shrugging, he took to the darkness once more and snuck around the camp, working his way around dozens of others without being discovered by pure luck and skill alone.  He eventually came to a hallway amidst the fortress that ended with what seemed to be a cell door, a pain in the ass Elf on the other side.  Sitting on the ground, she didn't seem to notice him as he snuck upon the jailer sitting beside her cell until he slammed the man's face against the bars, knocking him out and taking his key.

"Fancy seeing you here.  I should leave you after that.  I expected you to do something but I also had enough hope to think I could trust you for one day.  This is where we part ways, try not to kill anyone.  They're pissed off farmers' kids, not pirates," he said as he turned from her, tossing the key back toward the cell and between the bars.  He departed, heading off to find the Tusk in the darkness of the caverns.

There was a sudden rush of noise that startled Rixxan out of her ball of depression, and she looked up to see Icarus here to save the day once more. He’d disposed of the man holding the keys and opened the doors, though he was certainly not happy with her by the tone of his voice.
 
Rixxan’s mouth twitched sideways with displeasure as he walked away into the darkness, and she longed to run ahead of him and wreak havoc upon everyone in the caves. He had a point, even if it went against everything in her vindictive nature. Not killing anyone would make it easier to travel through the caves, as there would be less commotion and chaos within the tunnels and no one would be looking for her quite so much. Of course, once they found the empty cell they would surely be a little curious, especially if they found their disgruntled and incapacitated friend that Icarus had disposed of.

She stepped out from the bars as Icarus had almost disappeared completely, the darkness leaving just a slight outline of his body as he left her. She crossed her arms, realizing how much of a fool she had been thus far on this mission. Darkness, she thought to herself. How did I forget such a useful skill, she reached out to the shadows and watched her arm start to fade as she stepped further into the dark, disappearing almost completely as she melded into the pitch. She grinned and observed herself, thinking how she would be nearly undetectable at this point unless she knocked into something or someone to give her away. Her vision was much improved, as well, once she was a part of the dark instead of trying to fight her way through it.
 
Icarus was easy to follow. He was avoiding conflict with these people, wouldn’t bring himself to kill anyone as he felt bad for them. Rixxan scoffed at his choice to spare lives, it seemed utterly ridiculous. If he simply killed them all, there would be no resistance! She was maybe fifteen feet behind him as she stalked from the shadows, and in the case of any tricky situations she stood a good distance to save her position. It would be incredibly unfortunate if someone happened to bump into her and frighten her or startle her enough to cause her to lose control of the magic that kept her hidden.

Eventually he worked his way through their headquarters where the tusk was being held, and Rixxan began to creep closer. The shadows were growing more sparse, and Rixxan realized soon she would have to leave them. Her plan could go either of two ways; she would let him grab it and work out of the tunnels, or she would grab it right out from under him and escape back into the shadows, leaving him to deal with the angered people and guards of the area. Once she had followed him into the room where the tusk was kept, she braced herself to leave the shadows. As she looked to the sides, she noticed a guard noticing Icarus without him realizing it. She rolled her eyes and actually leapt out of the shadows, knocking the guard’s legs out from under him. She jumped up and summoned her broadsword, and brought it down flat on the man’s head, rendering him unconscious. Rixxan turned to see if Icarus had seen her, but he seemed preoccupied with a small group enclosing on him. Gritting her teeth as she was faced with two choices now, Rixxan debated for a moment before what she would judge as a momentary lapse in judgement got the better of her and she skated over towards Icarus, knocking one guard who was trying to sneak upon him from behind in the back of his knees. The man went down on all fours and Rixxan kicked him over and smacked him with the broad side of her sword to put him down for a while. Icarus was plenty capable to dispel the majority of the guards coming at him, but Rixxan was able to stave off two of them with a good thwack to the side of the head from her sword, fueled with some extra power from her magic to make sure that when they were knocked out they would stay knocked out.
 
As Icarus was surely able to handle the remaining few, Rixxan sent her sword back to the ether from whence it came, and backed away towards the chest that clearly would hold the tusk. A simple lock that would deter any normal thief, Rixxan simply blasted it off with her dark magic and kicked the chest open. She spied the tusk and for a second was in awe of its jeweled majesty, before she remembered that she didn’t care and reached in to grab it. Icarus had just disposed the last guard as she looked up, and she smiled wickedly at him and held the tusk up teasingly. “Looking for this, my lovely?” She giggled to herself and stepped backwards to move towards the shadows again, however her own nervousness kept her talking. “Now, I’m feeling generous. If you’re a good man and you see it fit to help me out of these damned caves, we can split the reward! How’s that sound? You already lead me here, might as well lead me back out, ey?” She tossed the tusk from one hand to the other and her eyes burned bright with excitement. “Maybe we can share a little something else after, too,” she finished with a wink, hoping her flirtatious and careless nature could distract what was probably a lot of frustration and perhaps even hatred from being taken out on her.
 
Though she did not want to invoke his wrath, she was not worried about Icarus coming after her. The caves were made of darkness, and she could slink away from him easily as long as she could get to the shadows outside the room. The smile that was glued to her face was a mix of apathy, pure evil, and entertainment. She found this whole situation to be hilarious.

Although it had taken about another hour for him to reach his destination, Icarus was able to avoid being detected by any of the sentries or other resistance members in the underground fortress.  He felt the slight disturbance of magic pervading from an indiscernible location nearby, but the aura proved too faint for him to determine the origin.  Part of him knew Rixxan had come to follow him, part of him even wished it, although another part of him was too angry to speak to her.  

It was his focus on her that kept him from noticing the additional guards that were guarding the room he was currently situated in.  All the time, he had blindly gazed at the chest containing the horn and felt the twinge of pain behind his eye that indicated a locked memory forcing itself to intrude upon his reality.  As always, it was only in bits and pieces, but the fragments wove a detailed enough tapestry that he could once again see himself taking a sword the size of his body and effortlessly cleaving through the chest without any real effort to sieze some prize locked within.  It seemed the previously life he had lived liked to impose itself upon his current reality, bringing to mind any number of variations of the reality he saw before him.

Icarus was able to retain his composure, unfortunately quite late and he was already set upon by the guards before he could snap out of his stupor and it seemed that Rixxan had already taken care of at least a couple of the individuals that descended upon him.  Though they bore swords, Icarus recalled those here were merely the children of oppressed farmers and slaves to a kingdom that cared only for its "holy" monarch.  For all he cared, the great ruler of Mamlak could spend a day among his people and see what they were driven to under his rule.

Despite the pleasant thoughts in his head of the head of state receiving a sound beating at the hands of peasants, he was forced to come back into the fight, focusing on his current situation.  Three men came at him, none of them particularly talented with the blades they wielded.  From a short distance away, he could hear Rixxan's voice, taunting him as she claimed the Tusk for herself and bringing up an offer of a return to the same sort of celebration of survival they previously shared after slaying Dreadbeard in Vilpamolan.

All the man once known as the Black Swordsman and the Demon of Kaerue could focus on was twisting his body to avoid the blades haphazardly swiping air closer to him with each pass.  Each near miss was answered by a blow lashing out from him and the fighters that were supposed to defend the Tusk were beaten back individually and left in a heap on the floor.  Icarus stood winded, but no worse for wear as he focused on the location of her voice, pinpointing her location at last.  

Reaching out with one hand, Icarus lunged forward with an instantaneous speed that defied anything short of magical teleportation and grasped the Tusk as well, the pair now sent by his inertia forward in a tumble outside.  As he landed atop her, Icarus found himself taken in by her stunning beauty again and couldn't help pressing his lips against hers before I punched her in the abdomen, rendering her unconscious.  Taking her and the Tusk into possession, he slung her over his shoulder and began his trek through the darkness once more.