He Isn't Lost

[Simon Danvers]

Simon Danvers had unpacked his things earlier that day. And because all he had to do for the rest of the day was relax, he decided to explore the town a little bit. With new clothes on, due to his other ones still feeling a bit damp, and Checkers at his side, Simon left the castle in search of excitement. The only weapon he brought with him was his dagger, resting carefully below his pants on his lower leg.

It was very exciting for him, being outside without the cold, rough snow. It was peaceful, calm. Nice. The stalls were fancy, and interesting. The people were laughing, and carrying on with their day. Simon, not paying attention, lost track of where he was going.

The sun was nearly gone, leaving the sky orange. Simon and Checkers decided to head on back to the castle to get some shut-eye. That is, until they realized they were lost in the alleys.

Simon had decided to take a shortcut through one of the alleys, which did not exactly work. Strangers passed them- rather creepy ones that looked as if they were going to mug him- one even tried to sell a bunch of objects to him. That guy was probably the freakiest yet.

But, seeing as he had no idea what he was doing, where he was going, Simon stopped. A look of some sort of defeat crossed his face- Checkers stopped next to him, the dog's eyes wide, a sad look on his face.

Simon looked down at the dog, before raising his head up high. "I'm not lost!" he protested, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm not!"

[Deleted]

Ezhno walked down the cold and damp alleyways, his worn guitar strapped around his chest as he plucked the strings slowly, with no intent of playing an actual tune just simply something to pass the time. To add a little flare to the night. His clawed toes clicked against the alley pathway and echoed lightly with the moist drips of water and other sounds around him. It was growing rather dark but that was no trouble to him. He preferred it that way, he was used to it.

The Stellio's tongue flicked out as he scented the air. An he was soon disgusted, it smelled like wet dog. It was a smell he had thought he was rid of when he left the keep. He turned up his head and scowled. Damn dogs....

He had thought about many things on his travels to Avaleur, his freedom, the man who had freed him. The men who had enslaved him. He had been taught something while he staid in the keep. He ha seem the power if darkness and he wished for nothing more than to have it. So that none could treat him as less. So he would be the one on top. Always.

The Stellio came to a corner and heard small, quite breathing. With the flick of his tongue he tastes the dog and some other flesh.
He stopped playing before turning the corner. Ezhno stood still and said nothing. Standing in the shadows as he looked at the small boy, rwally near his own age probably, but being a Stellio he not a small boy as one would imagine a human.

[Simon Danvers]

Simon had heard the small notes of an instrument. The tapping of claws against stone. It nearly made him shiver with fear- it sounded somewhat morbid. If he had known it was someone of around his age, he might not have been so frightened. But in the darkness of the alleys, as the sun set, he would not assume it were a boy. No, he would surely assume it were a murderer.

Both Simon and Checkers glanced where the sounds stopped, Simon a bit bug-eyed, and Checkers just curious. The dog tilted his head, and gave out a small bark.

"Q-Quiet down, boy, it's nothing."
He muttered the words, so close to a whisper, and the words meant nothing to him. It had to be something. He felt like he was being watched; a feeling he had for most of the way through the alleys. But somehow it felt more real this time.

Checkers sat down on the cold path, with his head tilted towards Ezhno. The dog could see the lizard man; though thought nothing of it. The dog had never seen his master attacked before, so he feared nothing.

Simon, on the other hand, could not see Ezhno. He blended in enough that Simon only saw the darkness.

"C'mon, Checkers, lets go," his hand twitched- wanting nothing more than to take the dagger hidden from sight- but it would only unnerve his poor companion. So despite his head pleading to grab the dagger he fought against it, turned around and began walking.

Only a few steps in, and he stopped. Turning, he raised an eyebrow. "Checkers? Come on."

The dog ignored Simon, wagging his tail at the hidden man and gave another bark, just a tad bit louder this time. Simon huffed, turning to his dog and crossing his arms.

"We have to get home, boy, classes start tomorrow and I don't want to be kicked out from the castle for waking up too late."
The squire sighed, realizing it was no good. Checkers acted like this when he saw squirrels, or rabbits. So perhaps this was it. Perhaps the claw noise he heard was just a squirrel.

That eased Simon's mind as he awaited his dog to get bored.

[Deleted]

((pitiful post alert XD))



Ezhno found himself in a staring contest with a tiny pup of a dog, and it was annoying, after hearing castle and classes, he wanted to eavesdrop, but now it seemed like this dog would become a nuisance in this. He jutted his head forward quickly for a moment in an attempt to scare the pup away, hoping to get it moving. He didn't like the taste of dog so he would rather it not come to that.

[Simon Danvers]

(( It's fine lol ))

Typically, the squirrel or animal of sorts would run away. Not want to face the dog. And Checkers, the little gentleman, would not give chase. It would be clear that he had already scared the poor animals. But when Ezhno jutted forward, Checkers ears perked up. One thing ran through the dog's mind, a thought that would run through most dog's mind at the sight of a humanoid doing that.

Play?

Quickly the dog jumped to its legs, laying part of his chest on the ground with his head, and his butt high in the air. His tail whipped to and fro viciously. He barked in amusement, nearly ready to run up to the man.

"Checkers! Calm down boy, what is it?!" Simon moved towards the dog, standing beside him. To Simon, it looked like his dog wanted to play. But to others it might look like he was giving way to a vicious attack.

The dog barked once more, and Simon sighed.

"Look it's nothing!" Simon began jogging over to the spot rapidly, where surely he would spot the hiding man if he stayed there.

[Deleted]

Ezhno clenched his jaws tightly, he was tired of this. If he ran the dog would give chase, at least that is what it seemed, and now the boy ran at him. He would have a head start then. Ezhno waited, standing still, his natural camo in this dark night would allow him to be near him without Simon realizing it.

When Simon got close enough, he swept with his leg and grabbed forward ready to slam the boy to the ground. If successful, he would be able to run away and have a good head start with the man on the floor no doubt about it, at least in Ezhno's mind.

[Simon Danvers]

Simon was taken by surprise as suddenly his feet were swept from underneath him. Perhaps his pup really had seen something after all, and Simon had just proven to the dog that Checkers was, in fact, a bit smarter than him.

But Checkers was taken by surprise as well; he had thought this man wanted to play. Not hurt his dear friend, something that Checkers had never seen anyone do before.

It happened quickly. One moment, Checkers had his play face on. The next, his gums and teeth were bared as he barked rather viciously. Tail sticking straight out, claws digging into the ground. Simon had never seen that before- but didn't have time to think about that.

"What the-"

Simon was suddenly slammed into the ground, a dazed look on his face. He hadn't been expecting that. He wasn't expecting anything, or anyone, to be there. But there was.

Before Simon had even hit the ground, Checkers was running towards them, clearly ready to pounce if Ezhno gave him enough time to.

[Deleted]

Ezhno's hand lifted quickly from Simon and he dashed down the alleyway, throwing things in the way of the pup, if only to make it give sooner, he didn't care too much but he shouldn't leave the man all alone without what seemed to be his brain. He turned a corner and climbed up a wall, a little ways off the ground and looked below him, hoping to find that the dog had let him be...

[Simon Danvers]

Simon just lay on the ground dazed as his dog hopped over him and gave chase. Checkers was nearly upon him as they both turned a corner, and suddenly... the lizard man was no longer in sight.
Checkers stopped, a low growl in his throat as he looked around and sniffed. After thorough sniffing, he realized that the trail just...stopped.

The dog was thoroughly annoyed, but knew he could do nothing about it. So without even looking up, he turned around and went back the way Simon was.

In the meantime, Simon just layed there. Astonished.
I'm supposed to be a knight one day...and I just got my ass kicked.
He couldn't say he felt too impressed with himself at that very moment, as Checkers slowly approaced and licked his face.

"Good boy...I'm alright, don't worry," he murmured comforting words to the dog as it nuzzled its face into the crook of Simon's neck.

In seconds the boy was back on his feet, and brushed himself off with furrowed eyebrows.
"What an asshole, though...but we really should be getting back. It's nearly pitch black out now, and I really need sleep. Bright and early day out tomorrow."

[Deleted]

Ezhno was pleased to find that that mutt had missed him. Stupid thing as it was, it was brave, to chase him, a Stellio capable of dismembering him rather easily.

The boy crawled as silently as he could, with very light claws clicking, back the way he had ran and kept his distance as he watched the other boy get up and continue on his way. He listened closely... and wondered if the castle held any treasure, was this boy a noble? could he hold a ransom? What could he get out of this situation? He smirked just thinking about it.

[Simon Danvers]

As the boy dusted himself off more, Checker's ears flicked left and right. All he could hear was a tiny clicking noise- not very loud, but it unnerved the dog. Would his master be attacked once again?

The dog let out a huff. No, because if it happened again, Checkers would kill the other man.

"Look at me, Checkers, the day before my first day as a squire and I've already gotten my ass kicked!" Simon played it off as a joke, but it was clear that his ego was hurt. The dog's attention turned to the human once more, listening intently.

"I mean...it was such a cheap shot, too! Attacking an unarmed man..." what he should have said, was kid. And what he forgot to say, was armed except for that dagger.

He brushed off his arms once more, coming to a fork in the road. He gave off a large sigh. The squire had no idea where he was going.

He looked around, Checkers doing the same. But Checkers was not looking for the way out; he was looking for the lizard man, whom he truly wanted to rip apart. An animal that had seen his master get attacked for the first time. Surely, Ezhno would be his arch-nemesis until the end of time.

[Deleted]

Ezhno held in the laugh he felt like allowing to escape him. Cheap shot, there was no such thing. Such was life, you either lived, or you died, everything inbetween was an illusion.

He watched as Simon came to a point in which he knew not which way to go. Ezhno pulled of a piece of brick and chuckled it toward the right, allowing it to skip across the ground, maybe the dog would hear it and convince Simon, one way or another, to begin the path of exiting the alleyway. If Ezhno wanted to learn about treasure or something like that, he needed this boy to keep moving.

[Simon Danvers]

(( Ezhno is pretty lucky that Simon talks to his dog as if its a person lol ))

Checker's ears shot up, and a snarl escaped its lips before bolting down one way of the fork in the road.

With a surprised yell, Simon called out, "Checkers, what the hell are you doing?!" He had never seen his pup like this. Understandably this was a new situation to Checkers, he was bound to react a certain way.

Simon ran after his dog, who had stopped mid- walk and was now sniffing the ground. A feint smell by a brick, but nothing else. This agitated the dog even more, another huff escaped its nostrils.

The dog calmed down- only a bit- when Simon finally reached him and patted his head.

"It's okay boy, really, we'll be fine. We're probably nearly out of these damn streets."
He continued to walk as he spoke to the dog once more. For one, Checkers always seemed more at ease when Simon talked. And another thing, Simon himself felt at ease with the dog. As if it understood him completely.

"Just you wait, in a few years time we'll be armored up and fighting in wars; alleys like this won't mean anything at all! Hell, maybe we'll know more secret passages in the castle."

From the map given to him, Simon only knew three- and unknown to him they were all just escape routes through the castle, none to even get in or out of it. But he thought they were much more interesting than that- he thought, perhaps, one lead to a secret underground tomb, or one lead off of the cliff the castle situated itself on.

He had wild imaginations for a squire, to think that such a low rank would be given much secret information at all.

[Deleted]

Secret passages in the castle?! Who was this kid? Ezhno was hooked. He would follow him until he knew exactly what he could get out of it. He smiled, his luck just kept gettin better.

Slowly, Ezhno got closer to the two, in order to keep earshot. He didn want this information to go by unheard. He adjusted his guitar more firmly to his side so that it would make no noise as he shadowed them. They were still a few twists within the alleyways.... How to get him to talk more important information and less nonsense with his dog... Why WAS he talking to his dog like this?! It made Ezhno roll his eyes. Some men were idiots.

[Simon Danvers]

The dog's head shifted back and forth constantly, clearly weary. Simon was not calming his dog down as much as he usually could; which made the squire more and more nervous as the minutes rolled by.

"Checkers...calm down," he said, much more sternly than he usually spoke to his dog. But the dog would not calm down. In fact; he stopped entirely, sniffing the air with slanted eyes.

Perhaps the dog finally realized that the lizard man might be in the air- on a roof. Perhaps he smelled something entirely different.

But either way, it was freaking Simon out.

"What's gotten up to you boy?" he said, pursing his lips and rubbing at his arm nervously.

[Deleted]

Ezhno watched, impatiently before sighing. "Bunch of clockcrunchers." he began scaling the wall rather noisily towards the roof. He was tired of this wild goose hunt. Treasure in the castle, in this shit hole probably very few sacks of coins anyway. What an uneventful night.

As he climbed, one of the bricks crumbled, nearly sending him to the ground, his claws dug into the side as he slid almost halfway down before they caught and he came to a hault. "Damn. stupid bricks, even the Kingdom is falling apart." he says as he laughed to himself.

[Simon Danvers]

Checker's instantly looked up as he heard the man scale the wall; instandly a low growl emitted from his throat. Simon was about to ask him to calm down, when suddenly a piece of brick smacked to the ground.

The squire clenched his teeth and instantly reached for his dagger, as Checkers began barking violently. Without much hesitation, Simon gripped the dagger tightly and threw it at the man.

Of course, Simon's chances of hitting the man wasn't good, just with his aim. But then the fact that the hilt could hit the man. But, Ezhno was still for now. Perhaps Simon would get lucky. Or, perhaps as usually, his skills would just prove inadequate.

[Deleted]

The dagger did hit and it would have perhaps been better for Simon if it hadn't. The blade jabbed into the tender spot on the Stellio's side. With Ezhno being of the dark type of Stellio his scales were already softer than normal Stellio grade. A throwing blade was something that would normally only scratch but it hit him in the side, where his scales were just slightly less hardened due to the fact that he had often been tortured on his sides. They hadn't the opportunity to heal quite yet. Ezhno dropped and landed on the alley pathway.

"What the?" He reach back and down and felt the dagger and wound. "You serious?!" He said getting angry as he turned toward the two. His eyes glaring, long claws stretched and ready.

[Simon Danvers]

Simon went a little bit white; currently, he did not have any other weapons. Limited magic. Very limited. And it was dark outside at this point.

Luckily he had Checkers with him, or he would surely be a dead man.

The dog growled, and got low to the ground as he stood in front of his master, ready to attack.
"H-Hey, you attacked me first man! And clearly you've been following me! It's your own damn fault!" he spoke with honesty. Though perhaps he would have felt differently if he realized the stellios was around his age. Simon had never seen one before.

In just a moment, one of Simon's hands lit up slightly with a flame. Enough to see around them, and hopefully enough to scare the man off. Though most would think the boy was just being silly with that thought; it was such a tiny flame after all.

[Deleted]

"YOU ran at ME. Let's get that straiht. And if that dog jumps at me Ah won't have to find another dinner tonite so keep it leashed would ya." Ezhno barks back.

"You are lucky ya knife didn't hit me guitar our AH ya really would have been cactused." Ezhno looked at the flame in interest but in very little worry. "Its not me birthday, you can put that candle out before ya hurt yaself. Now run along before Ah change me mind."