Don't Shoot the Messenger [Solo/Job]

Escort:

Yum.  Melon.  Altair had just come from the market where he had bought the largest watermelon he had ever seen.  And for a great price too.  It had taken some haggling, but he got it done.  The sun was high in the sky, and there was very little commotion in town today.  A perfect day to just sit and watch sheep.  With melon.  Yum.  Melon.

He had almost gotten back to the field when he came across a startling site.  A little girl, who couldn’t have been older than eight, was being harassed by a pair of men in black.  They were huge men, both easily three times the size of the girl.  They appeared to be carrying knives, and whatever they wanted, the girl didn’t have it.  They started to approach the girl, slowly at first, but then the girl bolted down the street past Altair.  The men started to run after her.  Altair thought fast.  He had his rod on him, but he couldn’t reach it while holding the melon!  But he had to do something.  Altair almost shed a tear as he pretended to slip and hurled the melon into the face of the first thief.  The melon shattered and so did the thief’s face, knocking him out cold.  ”Oh no!  I’m so sorry about that, please forgive my clumsiness! Altair said.  While he just wasted the melon, he had to restrain himself from laughing at the site.  But the other thief was not so happy.  ”You’re going to pay for that one, shepherd boy…” the thief said, before running at Altair with his knife in an attempt to slash across his chest.  Altair slowly reached for his rod, and simply waited until the thief was close enough before ramming the rod into the thief’s stomach using a technique he had learned to slay wolves.  The man staggered for a moment, and then fell.

Altair looked at them men, wondering why they would possibly be chasing a little girl.  Then he looked at the melon.  Altair sighed.  Such a waste of good melon.  He then went to look for the girl.  He walked up the street and found her, hiding behind a bunch of barrels crying softly.  She gave a small shriek when Altair approached her.  ”No no, it’s ok.  I’m not one of them.  You’re safe now. Altair said soothingly.  ”Why were those men after you?” he asked.  The girl looked up, tears streaking her face and spoke softly saying, ”They were trying to take my letter for Mr. Shaw.  I don’t know why.”  The girl started to whimper, and continued, ”I don’t want to go anymore.  Please don’t make me…”  She pulled her legs up and started to cry again.  Altair sat beside her and put an arm around her.  ”Do you know what sheep do when they get scared?  They run to the shepherd to protect them.  I think the safest place for you is with this Mr. Shaw.  Do you want me to take you there?”  The girl didn’t move for a long minute.  Then very slowly, she got up and nodded.  ”Ok.  We’ll walk together.  We’ll go through the marketplace so that if there are other thieves, they will have to make a scene to get to you.  We can ask the vendor’s if they know how to get to Mr. Shaw.”

They walked unimpeded all the way to the marketplace.  Once there, they asked one of the vendors if they knew where a Mr. Shaw took up residence.  And unfortunately, it was on the other side of town.  The only good thing about it was that Mr. Shaw had bodyguards around his residence, so when they arrived, they wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked again.  They began to walk away when a large man stepped in front of them.  ”Can I help you?” Asked Altair.  And when the big man grinned, he knew it was trouble.  Altair barely got his rod up in time to deflect the knife the man was holding.  Two more blows were exchanged, one cutting Altair along the arm, but then the man overextended on the third.  Altair took the opportunity to make a rising strike against him to the chin.  The man was knocked out, and fell over instantly.  Altair was about to pull the girl into an alley to hide, when a woman screamed.  Two more men, both as big as the last, were heading towards them at a considerable speed.  Altair whipped out his staff, and used it to create a diversion by knocking over one of the fruit stalls next to him, eliciting a yell from the owner.  These thieves obviously didn’t care about being seen.  They stumbled over the fruit, giving Altair just enough time to grab the girl and run around a corner.

The chase was on.  Altair had stopped for a moment to put the girl on his back so he could run at full speed.  But the men were faster.  They surprised Altair by running along the tops of the buildings, away from the crowds of people who walked along the ground.  Altair tried to lose them by ducking in and out of alleys, but the men were too fast.  They surrounded him in a two way alley by dropping down on either side of him.  Altair was trapped.  The men moved in slowly.  Altair lowered the girl to the ground, and told her to get behind a barrel and stay there.  She did as she was told.  The men started to move towards her, but Altair stopped them with a taunt.  ”So two big men are going to grab a little girl, instead of fighting like real men?  Oh, I get it.  You’re actually women aren’t you?  That would explain the lack of bulge, but not the sheer ugliness.”  The men flew into a rage, flying at Altair at full speed.  Altair used a technique he learned to slay bears to get behind one of the men, and landed a killing blow to the base of his skull.  What Altair didn’t count on was the sheer speed of the other man.  He ran right over his downed partner and landed a wicked slash right to Altair’s stomach, almost gutting him.  Altair clutched his abdomen, and almost keeled over from the pain.  But the sight of the man moving towards the girl, who was now shrieking in terror, bolstered his fighting spirit.  Altair put on a burst of speed, and with a jumping swing, landed a blow with his rod right to the man’s left temple.  Had he swung his rod any faster, he would have popped the man’s eye clear out of his skull.

Altair dropped to the ground immediately after that.  He clutched at his stomach, which was now bleeding profusely, but was able to see as the man he had stuck fell to the ground as well.  Altair smiled to himself.  At least the girl was safe.  He fell on his side, and motioned for the girl to come closer.  ”You have to go get to Mr. Shaw’s house now, ok?  Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”  He was lying, but the girl got the message, and ran off.  Altair rolled over and took a look up into the sky.  The clouds were beautiful today.  And then everything went black.

When Altair awoke, he was sitting in a cushioned bed, and the girl was sitting next to him, along with another man he didn’t recognize.  ”You gave us quite a scare there.” the man said, a twinkle in his eye.  ”we almost thought you might not make it, but you pulled through like a true hero.  I’m Mr. Shaw.  I’m the new guardian of this little girl.  In case you were wondering, the letter she was holding were nothing more than guardianship papers.  Those bandits probably thought it was money or something they could use to blackmail me with.  Had I been there, I would have ripped out their gizzards.  But then, you did that for me didn’t you?  You’re a good man.  And I’m going to reward you handsomely for saving this girl even though it put you in harm’s way.  But for now, why don’t we just enjoy some melon together.  A little birdie told me you didn’t get to have any of yours.”  Mr. Shaw brought over a large plate with slices of watermelon on it.  Altair thanked the man, and with a grin on his face, took the most enjoyable bite of melon he had ever tasted.  Yum.  Melon.

~1429/1000~