Chapter 4: Chapter 4

With a gasp, Elijah came back from his memories.

And they were, indeed, decidedly his.

"Wow" Elijah said between pants, "I died twice. Sort of."

With his memories coming back, he remembered his demise when he took a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong neighborhood, getting ganged up on 1v10, the scuffle ending with 9 people on the floor, and 5 in critical condition, including him.

Which is pretty awesome, Elijah thought. 

"Maybe I'm immortal!" He gasped.

"Are you doing well back there?" One of the men sitting around the fire asked.

"Don't worry about it," Elijah waved him off, And he went back to eating. Elijah stretched his arms with a sigh and paused. Looking at his hands, he wondered when he got them loose.

Looking at the pants before him, he put then on and, and quickly decided what to do next. Wait far everyone to fall asleep and then sneak out.

He put his arms around the tree again, making it look like he was still tied. Before long the bandits fell asleep and it was time to start moving.

He stood up and looked around.

The fire was put out, but he could see everything in the moon's dim light. The smoke still rising from the blackened logs, the twenty odd tents that he couldn't see from his previous seating, the other person tied to a different tree. As he was about to walk away, he heard a whisper.

"Psst. Might I acquire your assistance?" A very dishevelled man whispered. He looked around thirty, and his beard had probably seen better days. From what Elijah could tell, he was human.

And he was tied up.

"Okay" Elijah replied. Elijah walked over to the man, who was more covered then him, through the various tents. Before reaching the man, he spotted a sack by one of the flaps. In a second he took it without much thought and put it in the only available place-his pants. Walking behind him, in mere moments he cut the ropes with a knife he had no idea he had. It was quite ornate and seemed really  sharp. The man threw the ropes off and stood up. Elijah came around again to face the man properly.

"Oh wow you're tall," he said in surprise. He was taller then the bandits but still shorter than Elijah. He had wide shoulders and a thin waist, and muscles all over, along with an angular chin, long blond hair and eyes of a similar color. He looked kind of heroic. "What are you? Never mind, we should leave with haste," he straitened his priorities, looking around to make sure he and Elijah were in the clear, then looking up, gazing at the moon and stars, before continuing "come, there's a city this way. We'll be safer there." he gestured, and started walking away from the camp, placing his steps carefully.

Elijah followed, and after a short walk away, when they were out of earshot, he asked "so what are you doing here?" 

"I was traveling on the road to Sintarr when I was ambushed."

"What's Sintarr?"

"The capital?" He said in a way that screamed 'obviously, stupid!'

"What are going there for?"

"Visiting a friend. I had not seen him in some time and was of mind to meet him once more."

He was walking more confidently now, not needing to be quiet anymore, and he looked relaxed. He then sighed.

"Though I should probably look for a new weapon now as well."

"Why? what happened to your previous one?"

"It's with the thieves, along with most of everything else I had owned. At least I still have my knife" he reached for his pocket, then tapped it again, then started patting himself hurriedly. "Where's my knife!?" He sounded frantic.

Elijah realized he still held the knife from before.

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"You mean this?" he asked, turning from his stride and holding up the knife.

"Yes," he said, relieved. "Where'd you get that?"

"Probably you," Elijah said with a shrug.

"Probably?"

Elijah smiled, then turned once again and continued forward. He could feel the man's gaze rest on his tail, following behind him.

"I asked this before, but what are you?" the man asked, coming out of his momentary stupor. 

"And I haven't yet, but what are you?"

"What do you mean? I'm clearly human."

"Are gold eyes normal?"

"No," the man admitted, "but not unheard of. You, in contrast, are a whole different class of strange."

"I'm a tabaxi."

"On what plane? You look like you've been skinned" He asked sarcastically.

"I'm a halfbreed" Elijah countered.

"First I've heard of one. I've heard of half-elves, but that's about it. Care to enlighten me?"

"I'm half tabaxi and half something else."

"That's it? What about your other parent?" 

"I wouldn't be an orphan in the slums if I knew my parents."

He slowed, and when he died up again "Sorry," he apologized. And they continued walking in silence for awhile.

"How long until we get there?" Elijah asked, too bored to stay quiet.

"It's about two days' walk from where I'd been ambushed, but I traveled with the bandits at a slow pace in the same direction, so about a day and a half 'till we spot the wall I estimate."

Seeing as they had a long time ahead of them, Elijah asked "what's your name?"

As the man was about to answer, Elijah interrupted saying "wait, wait, I've got a better idea- lets play hangman!"

"Hangman?"

"Yeah, you tell me how many letters in your name, and I guess which ones. When I make a mistake, you add one to the count. When I guess correctly, you tell me where the letter is placed in your name, or all of it's places if it has more. When it reaches six, I lose, and if I guess all the letters before that, I win."

"Letters? I thought you'd said you were from the slums? Aren't they usually illiterate?" He turned his head to squint up at Elijah.

"So? Doesn't mean I'm stupid."