she smiled as he asked if she had plans for them. at that point she did. "Well we could make you a hero to them and gain some coin. You are strong and are a great fighter. they would believe you could and had taken me down. turn me in and head to my cave I pointed out before we came in there we could meet and split the coin." She said than looked at the door. "There will be a small group come in soon. you could fight them and say that you want the reward for yourself than we could put on a show." she said all of it at a whisper. the plan was foolproof but she was not sure if he would agree to it.

She took a sip of her drink and watched the door. she was right about a small group coming in. 3 men strong and tall. each with a sword and each quite skilled with it. there faces were not new to Vinsue. the leader laughed as he spotted her. "SilverTail, looks like you ran out of luck. some of my friends and the lord's want to see you." he said with a loud voice. She started to stand and wondered if he would join in or not. and if he would do as she said or not.

At his first glance, Rugal could tell that these newly arrived goons will be more of a challenge, despite the fact that there were 'only' three of them, rather than the seven he had fought off earlier. Dressed much more cleanly and carrying actual weapons, the three did look much more competent than common street rats, indeed. Having given himself a brief moment to let Vinsue's words sink in, the apprentice gave the woman an approving nod. Having slowly stood up, he briefly rested his hand on her shoulder as he walked past her and towards the three men, quickly catching their attention.

- "If there is anyone who had run out of luck, it is you" - Rugal went on to speak - "She is currently my captive, for I had felled her. And I am going to present her to the Lords."

As both Rugal and Vinsue, could have expected, neither of the three were willing to give up their part of the reward. From the looks on their faces, they were not believing that one man could achieve what three could not, either. And the leader of the trio was most eager to voice it.

- "And I hold this filthy lands' entire Pantheon in my captivity. Look, kid, you aren't walking nowhere with our bounty. Besides, whatever it is you did to her, sure didn't involve you beating her into submission, for had you done so, we could tell. So, I'm pretty confident you won't stand a chance against us, either. Now you better move it, for we have a bounty to collect."

Yet another fool who had underestimated Rugal and proceeded to push through him, only to be forcefully thrown against the tavern's wooden floor. And so, Rugal was to fight not three, but two swordsmen, who were quick to assume their fighting stances, ready to deflect the apprentice's next attacks. The young man had looked at the two in an attempt to assess the situation. Although he himself was not a swordsman, he could tell that each of the men had his form well practiced and had Rugal opted to strike, he would most likely regret that. He needed to put them off somehow, and he already had an idea coursing in his mind.

In preparation for an oncoming clash, the apprentice went on to sheath his arms in protective, bluish energy, having folded them behind his back. It might not be enough to allow him to block the well-swung strikes of a blade, but parrying these would be made much easier and safer that way. Now to get these swordsmen out of their zone of comfort…

- "Seeing that you decided to go on the defensive, I take it each of us knows full well where we stand. I seek no further quarrel with you, so how about you aid your companion up, I bring the woman to the Lords, and we cease to get in each other's way from there?"

The swordsmen looked at each other expectantly for a brief while, before one had shot forward, with his blade at the ready, shouting:

- "You're going nowhere with our bounty!"

The man had swung at Rugal, only to have his strike deflected by the apprentice's own swing of his hand, faintly glowing with the protective energy he had summoned. Having parried a strike of the man's sword, Rugal had thrown an energy orb against the face of another of the two men, who was about to follow his crony into the melee. The impact of the arcane projectile made the man stagger but was far from disabling him. Rugal had only managed to fight one of his attackers off before he was left to fight with another one. Eventually, all of the fighting men found themselves in a cycle where the apprentice would fight off a swordsman but another one would engage him before he would be able to deal a finishing blow. So by the time Rugal would fight off one of the men, another one would quickly recover and take his place. The young man's superior stamina was also declining, as his opponents would take turns resting and fighting. Finally, when one of them found himself unable to stand up, the brawl seemed to lean in Rugal's favor. Then, the swordsmen's leader, having finally caught his breath and recovered from being strongly thrown a while ago, proceeded to stand up…

His hand on her shoulder told her that he had agreed and that he wanted to take them by himself. she sat back down and crossed her arms. She was going to look like she was going to escape. she took note of what the 4 men were doing mostly watching Rugal. than once she saw what looked like a chance to get across the bar she stood up and ran for it. she was quickly blocked so she went and sat against the table. they were doing good at keeping her in this side of the bar. She looked around then got transfixed in the fight.

she kept a scowl on her face to show she was not happy. though many times she wanted to help and laugh. he was doing well with the fight wich was no surprise to her. Seeing the leader stand she decided to provoke him to look like she would take any help on getting free. "I thought you guys were better than that. you know the price is yours yet you're letting my chapter beat you. if it weren't for the curse he would not have done came any were near what you all have at bringing me down." she said hoping it looked real. 

The swordsman who had just regained his composure was about to join the melee before Vinsue had distracted him. As he listened to her words, his pensive expression slowly turned into a satisfied grin. Hoping to take advantage of the distraction maintained between his comrades and Rugal, he pointed the tip of his sword towards her, while with his other hand he gestured her to stand up.

- "Say no word, lass - we're leaving" - the man said.

Meanwhile, Rugal continued to defend himself against another of the swordsmen, who continued to put pressure on him with many strikes from different angles. Finally, confident that he had found a rhythm in which his opponent moved, the apprentice had boldly stepped in between the swordsman's strikes, hitting his solar plexus with a strong uppercut. Tired of the fight himself, he watched the man let go of his weapon before doubling over, short of breath. The one he had felled before was being carried outside by the other bar patrons, spurred on by the bartender, who was visibly annoyed by the brawls being common as they were in his property.

And the swordsmen's leader, whom he felled first? Having noticed that he had not been laying down where he was thrown down, the apprentice looked up to see him trying to sneak Vinsue past him, and even his comrades. That greedy sneak! Although Rugal was pretty confident that Vinsue will handle herself, he readied an orb of energy he would throw at the back of the man's head, had things turned awry.

"Actually were not, only the victor has that right and you do not count. he beat me you have not. beat him and we might." she stated to his statement. then he grabbed her arm and tried to pull her past. She did not use any of her powers to make it look real. she flopped to a sitting position. the man got angry at her. "I'm not going…" she said before being knocked in the head by one of the other sword men. 

she fell limp to the side as he had knocked her out. the man than turned back to see Rugal throwing the orb. 

The orb had burst into a bright explosion of bluish particles of mana as it had smacked against the man's face, throwing him headfirst against a wooden wall of the tavern. The other man, one that led the attackers turned to face Rugal, angered with what he saw. The apprentice had deftly ducked under the horizontal swing of his opponent's blade, before unleashing his energy-sheathed fists on him. Three strikes, each crashing into the man's body in a burst of mana, made a short work of him, knocking him unconscious well before he finally fell down.

Paying little attention to the surroundings, Rugal was quick to approach Vinsue, who looked unconscious after she took the blow. Not sure whether she continued to act, or she was indeed struck down, he kneeled down and shook her by the shoulder to see whether he will get any reaction. Nonetheless, he did not want to blow the act and as he did so, he spoke to her in his usual stern voice:

- "We had concluded our business here. It is time for us to leave."

If the woman would not react with giving any signs of life, the apprentice would lift her up onto his shoulder and leave the tavern to seek a secluded place where he could tend to her. These dirty alleyways the two had passed before seemed quiet enough, and hopefully shall remain so once he will bring her here.

Vinsue awoke to being shook. The face being so close and the vice being so stern. Immediately got her going for her dagger. Halfway there she remembered it was all part of the plan and grabbed her dagger and swung in a way that he would be able to see coming and block. The room was still spinning but everyone knows that she would not go down without a fight even if she were planning on losing. If he did not block the slice would miss but not by much. She than got up and assumed a stance appropriate for a fight. She hopped he got rid of the dagger because she would feel less bad punching him than she would cutting at him. 

Rugal's eyes immediately wandered to Vinsue's hand reaching for her dagger, which she then swung at him. She did so in an exaggerated manner, giving the apprentice time to react to it, so he knew that she was still conscious, aware of the plan, and acting accordingly. He firmly gripped the woman's striking arm by the wrist and rested his other hand on her shoulder, intent on putting the woman in a shoulder lock as she was standing up. Or at least managing to loosen her pretend death grip on her dagger.

Despite being a mere act, the 'fight' between Rugal and Vinsue seemed to be a tiresome addition to the young man. He hoped that the woman would not insist on dragging the whole scene out further and that the two can quickly get out of there.

the shoulder lock was a success and she lost the fighting urge. "My mistake, I yelled" she said as if it hurt. it did not but she was well at pretending it did. she could have got out of it or she thought she could but knew he was tired from the fight. the dagger had fallen from her grip and she hoped he would pick it up and 'claim it' so she could get it back later but it was an old one that she had stolen from the lords when she was under their custody. she would leave without hesitation.

Maintaining his grip on Vinsue, Rugal pushed her towards the door, ignoring the dagger that had been dropped onto the floor of the tavern. It did not seem to be of much value to him, anyway. The two had finally found themselves outside the tavern, on the streets still lit by the rays of the Sun, which was about to set. The quite romantic scenery was somewhat ruined by the attention that the fight Rugal fought at the tavern garnered, with many people's eyes drawn towards him pretending to hold Vinsue in a shoulder lock.

The apprentice was quick to lead his companion into the nearest alleyway and to take a few sharp turns in order to lose any particularly nosy witnesses. Having thought to have found himself some breathing space, he was about to release Vinsue from his grip, when he heard a loud shout from behind:

- "Leave her alone!"

Rugal turned around to see a shabby-looking man, soon joined by another one, each of which speeding towards Rugal, improvised clubs raised over their heads. The apprentice was quick to recognise the two men as innocents, looking solely to rescue what they supposed to be a damsel in distress. In their rage, however, the could not be reasoned with, so they had to be pacified - preferably as temporarily, and as harmlessly as possible. Having let go of Vinsue, he had conjured what looked like the energy orbs he would usually hurl against his adversaries. But instead, he had raised each orb in front of each of the men's faces as they ran at him, and let them explode in a flash of blinding light. Although one of them had stopped to bend over and rub his eyes, grunting in pain, the other one had ran blindly into a pile of debris on his path. Hopefully he was not too hurt…

Not certain whether to maintain his act or choose to clear out the situation, Rugal decided to do the former.

- "This does not concern either of you. If you value your lives, you will cease following me."

Soon after he said that, however, he found himself surrounded by many more shabby-looking men, some of these wearing what looked like ragged slave tunics. Most were armed, and these who were not, went on to scan the dirty alleyway for anything they could use. While they seemed to pose little threat to Rugal, he would have greatly preferred not to fight them. His eyes briefly turned towards Vinsue, as if asking her to suggest a course of action