Jillian was anxious to leave the tavern before a guard happened to wander in. That was a pretty rare occurrence considering the location of Swine's Place. It sat in the heart of the worse part of the city; an area most guards avoided like one avoids someone with the plague. Nonetheless, her patience grew thin by the time Soran got around to giving her his name. Just as he looked ready to accept her offer of a safe place to hide, a white haired elf showed up.
The sudden appearance of the man Soran introduced as Rowan put a huge damper on her plans. She could always cast an illusion to keep the older man occupied while pretending to rush Soran off to safety but she'd have to use a lot of energy to keep the illusion going; energy she didn't have right now thanks to her magical blinking from roof to roof. She had enough power for at least a dozen silly cantrips or a couple of minor spells but none of those castings seemed right for her present situation.
Her hazel eyes peered at Rowan from under the brim of her filthy hat. Damn him for being an elf! As far as she knew, most elves could sense the use of magic so she'd have to be extra careful about casting anything around him. According to her mother, Jillian had a bit of elf blood in her from her father's side. That probably explained why she had the ability to pick up on magic when it happened to be employed near her.
"If you hide us you'll be paid handsomely," the elf said, breaking her train of thought.
She rubbed her nose, leaving it completely covered with dirt now. "Money talks, bullshit walks," she said, keeping in the character of Huck. "A little sumthin ta grease my palm now would be nice." When the elf handed her a shiny gold coin, she bit down on it. "Ya, it's real alright! You guys got yourselves a deal. Follow me."
As they walked to the door, another plan began to form in Jillian's mind. She would take them to an abandoned building then try to convince Rowan to give her money to buy them all a meal. If he fell for that, she'd head over to Chubby's Diner, buy 3 bowls of stew then stop in a nearby alley to add sleeping power to 2 of the bowls. As soon as youth and his elven friend passed out, she'd swipe the ruby brooch and be on her merry way.
Jillian spit dirt from her mouth as they stepped out onto the small front porch of the tavern. Since the men from the lamplighter's guild hadn't gotten around to lighting the street lamps in this section of the city yet, the dim light they had came from the windows of the run down buildings with candles and lanterns blazing inside. "We ain't got too far ta go," the Huck voice said. "At the end of this block we makes a right then go straight for 3 more blocks and we's there."
Hopefully no one else decided to hide out in that abandoned building tonight because that would certainly pose a bit of a problem. "I best check the place out afore we gos in cause sometimes blabber mouth Dale sneaks in the window and waits for me ta come home, and we sure don't want no bladder mouth around, now does we? If he's there, I'll get rid a him before I take ya's in there."
Jillian was so busy talking she failed to pay attention to her surroundings, missing the shadows that were coming from around the corner. She stopped abruptly when they came face to face with Mortin and his Blood Sucker gang.
Mortin's jaw dropped as his finger pointed at Soran. "Holy shit, that's the guy!"
Jillian kicked the bastard in his shin then holy hell broke loose. The thugs pulled out the lead pipes they had stuck down the back of their trousers and lunged at her and her two companions. When Jillian flicked her wrist quickly a small knife slid to her hand from a contraption hidden under her baggy shirtsleeve. Thinking Rowan a little too preoccupied at the moment to sense her magic use, she cast a shield around herself that made normal weapons bounce off her skin for a short time.
Stay alert, girl! her inner voice hissed when a wave of fatigue rolled over her. Quickly she bent down to scoop up some dirt, throwing it into Mortin's face. She felt a bit of a nudge when someone crashed a pipe into her back but her magical shield protected her from any damage. She wanted to smash her fist into Mortin's mouth but she'd have to stand on stilts to do so since the jerk was so damned tall. Instead she kneed him in the groin then spun around to face the person who'd hit her from behind. From the look on his ugly face it was obvious he was in shock that his pipe hadn't crushed her spine. Jillian took advantage of that shock, plunging her small knife into his ribcage. That was enough to send him running. Most gang members couldn't stand the sight of their own blood and retreated from a fight as soon as they got a little cut.
She turned back to Mortin, kneeing him again as soon as he removed his hands from his sore groin. The gangleader howled this time and was driven to his knees by the pain. "That's just where I wanted you!" Jillian hissed, before kicking him in the face and sending him to la la land. The rest of the thugs should be easier to handle now that their leader was out of commission because he was the one that gave them their courage.
