As he watched Daemon crawl shakily from his hiding place and saw his many wounds and poor state, Victor couldn't help but feel bad for his assassin. His innate will to help others might have even caused him to help the man, had his attacker not disappeared. Realizing that the fight was still on, the Bard watched the trail of blood carefully, just in case he might have to shoot another arrow.

When the circle overlapped, however, Victor gave up this strategy. He realized that his only chance was that his teammates might attack again, considering they seemed to know where Daemon was even when invisible. He closed his eyes, saying a quiet prayer so that the Goddesses might grant his allies strength, and waited for the outcome.

At the sound of the "Thunk", the Bard swiveled in place, expecting to confront his attacker. Instead he found himself in the welcome presence of Zayxin, his fellow apostle. Smiling, but saving his voice for later, he nodded his silent thanks to the Goron and looked down at the heap that was Daemon. He felt a sharp pang of sadness again, but it passed when he looked up to see his second ally: Thespin, who had been his savior once before. Another silent thanks was followed by a growing smile, and Victor managed a few simple words.

"How'd you know?"

Even through the bard's sort of half-smile, Thespin could clearly see Victor's pain and subtle loss of innocence. The young archer let his own smile be replaced by a frown, and he pointed a gloved index finger at the crumpled assassin at his feet. “You don't need to feel sorry for this man, Victor. He tried to kill you; that's not acceptable.”

It was then that Zayxin spoke, his loud rumbling voice having not been hear since he disturbed Victor's short rest about a month prior. He seemed to be just as straightforward as always - brutally honest and blunt. “It's a good thing Thespin and I werrre sent to find Daemon. We were inforrrmed that some of his trrreacherous assassin frrriends werrre attacking adventurrrerrrs in Hyrrrule. We must have arrr-” The Goron was cut off as Thespin patted his thick, sturdy back with one hand, interrupting his update.

“If I may, Zayxin, we really should be getting back to our assignments. No time to sit around pronouncing our r's all day, right?” The Goron growled as a warning, but even Zayxin had to agree that when a Goron was giving a speech, it would be long. It seemed that the over-emphasized and delayed pronunciation of the letter R was unbearable to some, including Thespin, who would prefer to speak for the Goron rather than wait patiently.

“I don't understand why Daemon would be attacking you, Victor. But one thing's certain, these mercenaries, who Myst, Maverick and the others took in as comrades, must be working on their own private agenda. To murder one of their brethren Apostles would be like an act of treason on our organization - which, by the way, is called Carock's Apostles. Not sure if you knew that yet,” explained Victor's fellow bard, unaware that Daemon had already notified the Hylian of the secret title. “Tristan told us when we were dispatched that already Sloan the Hylian and Martir the Goron were found dead. Whoever defeated those powerhouse assassins must have been skilled. There are others scouring the area for the four remaining. But you should know, Victor, that you just witnessed the death of the ringleader. Did he say anything about their plans?”

Victor nodded quietly at Thespin's reassurance of the assassin's bad intentions, and then smiled at the mention of the typical Goron habit, partly because he had always liked it, and partly because he was glad he wasn't the only one who heard it. When Thespin asked if Daemon had spoken of his plans, however, he frowned.

The Bard knew his attacker had said something of his task, but had a little trouble remembering it at first. When it finally came back to him, however, he realized that it would be hard to explain with his damaged throat. Still, he managed to cough out a few strained words.

"Killtactic... Assassination. Patching unit back together... Test... subjects... Alpha, Denning, Arco... Blank, Dogura, and Reg too... King of Calatia... List... Carock's Apostles... destroyed... Calatia's greatest opponents..."

At this point, Victor simply could not go on. He quickly lifted a hand to his neck in an attempt to massage the pain away, and looked to the two Apostles for a response...

Zayxin grimaced as Victor gestured towards his pained throat. He rumbled out a simple thought that he knew Thespin could agree with. “Should've brrrought a mage.” His comrade nodded, but said nothing. Zayxin began to berate the bards, of course. “You'rrre both barrrds, don't you have songs forrr injurrries like these?” A hollow chortle escaped his gigantic Goron lips and then he was silent. For a moment, it seemed as though both savior Apostles refused to speak.

Finally, Thespin unfolded his arms and frowned, apparently having had time to consider Victor's choked words. “I don't like how this is unraveling,” stated the Trinian blandly. “Maverick said that dark skies were on the horizon. I knew it was a metaphoric omen, and I found myself cocking an eyebrow when he said it. An overused expression like that is out of place coming from that man.”

“Those seven ingrrrates solemnly sworrre themselves to ourrr orrrganization,” interrupted Zayxin. “Of courrrse Maverrrick knew all about theirrr “unit” beforrre it was disbanded. He trrrusted that they would be beneficial allies to us; theirrr goverrrnment - and financial aides - rrruined them when theirrr serrrvices became unnecessarrry. But you say that this evil man was worrrking forrr Calatia? Maverrrick would not have expected these seven merrrcs to rrreturn to those who had damned them.”

“Listen, Victor,” chimed in Thespin, likely tired of the Goron's incessant, R-delayed ramblings. “The leading powers in Calatia aim to strike our alliance to the ground. They formed a treaty with Hyrule years ago when Myst and the others began to form the Apostles. Both kingdoms are very... impartial to our existence. We are lucky you survived; I know not what Daemon and his followers were trying to do, but the fact that they were in our council for a time means that Calatia knows a great deal about us. You can expect Hyrule to turn on you eventually, as well. You would do well to check your back whenever possible.”

Zayxin concluded the statement with a simple suggestion. “Be surrre to rrreturrrn to the castle at some point. If Alpha was attacked as well, therrre arrre things that Myst will want to discuss with you.” Thespin nodded in agreement, and the two cloaked men drew up their hoods and stepped back into the shadows, returning to whatever they had been doing before arriving to Victor's rescue.

Victor nodded in understanding as the two Apostles explained the meaning of Daemon's words. It all seemed rather impossible, to have two countries after such a small group. And a harmless one, at that. But he could tell by Thespin's tone that they were being very serious.

He managed an "OK" before they left him alone in the woods with his thoughts. The Bard loved Hyrule more than anything else in the world, it seemed so wrong for him to be part of a group that was considered dangerous by his beloved home. Still, he trusted what had been told to him when he first joined the Apostles; that they were for Hyrule, not against it. Victor just hoped Hyrule would figure that out. in the end

Tired from his fight, he trudged his way back to the road and headed towards North Castle, preparing and casting Favor of the Goddesses on himself to heal his wounds. Hopefully it'll be a while before I have to cast that again, he thought. Fighting had never been his specialty, after all.

OOC: Don't wanna break tradition, so here's a bit of familiar meanness to Victor

IC:

As Victor trudged through the woods towards Hyrule Field, and ultimately North Castle, his innate life spell was unsuccessful. It seemed as though the Goddesses were not paying attention to the happenings in the woods at the moment. It also seemed as though the bard was simply cursed with bad luck on that particular day; attacked by an vicious assassin, wounded at the throat, told of a wavering alliance between himself and the throne, and now his hopes of feeling better along the way were ruined.

The last noticeable sounds of the bard's exit were lost as he distanced himself from the clearing, and the dead assassin. From west of the scene, more cracking of twigs could be heard, and the shrill cries of birds being disturbed from their nests. A short, fat man emerged from the thicket, his eloquent green jacket covered in leaves and other assortments of woodland junk. He brushed himself off with thick, fatty hands, and wiped sweat from his brow. A lick of brown hair hung out from under his green, pointed cap, and he failed to notice the twig fragments sticking out of this. The senator of Calatia truly looked ridiculous.

Creeping closer to the fallen man, Lerimus Dublin eased his way across the clearing slowly. For all he knew, the expert assassin could spring up and attack at any second. As he came close enough, however, Dublin realized that Daemon was, in fact, dead. This sent one emotion to his brain: relief. He extracted a weathered rose from somewhere in his overcoat, and let it drop to the body of the departed man named Daemon. “Stupid man,” he spoke in his chubby, treacherous accent. “Killtactic can never reform. May you rot in the depths of wherever fools like you are destined to fry.” The fat senator hobbled away from the assassin, following Victor's path out of the woods, but not following Victor in particular. He was headed for Tantari, where he had arrived. His last task was to see that Feris had been defeated, and he hoped the ship would be there to pick him up by that point. He didn't want to spend another moment in this kingdom. Killtactic Assassination, save for the final mercenary, who had escaped her intended fate, was finished.

<center>~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thus Ends Chapter II: Assassins And Traitors</center>