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Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed and he placed a hand flat on the table. Most of Gilgamesh's servants moved into action, quickly arming themselves and looking for any sign of trouble. Two of the servants hopped on horses and looked ready to bolt at a word. "I fear you have chosen your words poorly and for your sake I pray that I am misreading your meaning. But it sounds to me that you are suggesting that my Skadi is in some form of danger. If that is the case, and you are keeping me from her without excellent cause, gold will be the least of your concerns."

Lykala laughed loudly. "Oh, come on! Like Skadi needs any help with any trouble she gets in. She can just bash her way out and be done with it; I suppose the case is the same with you, right? Just slaughter anyone who doesn't do what you want?"
He leaned back on his chair, two legs hovering; he was completely oblivious to the weaponry around him. Gilgamesh wanted what Lykala had; he was unlikely to harm him until he had at least some shred of information, and that was something he was unlikely to surrender. Negotiations were his game, his pride, much more so than his dancing daggers or minimal magic skills.

"If that were the case you would already be dead and I would have continued on my way by now. No, I prefer to be more subtle, more precise. Intelligence and leverage over raw strength." One hand still on the table Gilgamesh drained his glass as the back legs of Lykala's chair broke, causing him to fall to the ground. "I believe you have wasted quite enough of my time." Gilgamesh stood and took the bag of gold, his servants began packing up the table. "Scout the road ahead. He may have been trying to stall us." He commanded the riders before looking down at Lykala. "Last chance, where is Skadi going?" Gilgamesh asked as he poured about half the purse into the hands of a servant. The other servants began ushering the onlookers back to their work.

A dark elf woman dressed as Skadi was without armor, less the wrappings, stepped out of the carriage. If not for her blond hair, lack of scarring, and unusually sweet smile she could almost pass as Skadi herself. She walked over to Gilgamesh and put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh come on Gilgamesh, there's no need to be in such a hurry. He's just trying to be a good businessman, like you. He doesn't want to see anything bad happen to your fiance." He thought a moment, "Hmm, you're right. Stop." The servants stopped taking down the table and instead put it back up. Gilgamesh nodded to Lykala and the woman walked over and offered him a hand up, with a wave of his hand Gilgamesh repaired Lykala's chair. The servant returned with more wine. "My apologies, my friend, as I said I have been looking for Skadi for some time now. I have allowed my feelings of longing to distract me and cloud my judgment. Please, as a token of my apologies." He placed a thin book entitled The Five Laws of Gold in front of Lykala. "Angela, please stay." The woman nodded as another servant brought a chair for her to sit in, placing it next to Lykala's.

Lykala bounced to his feet and dusted himself off, shrugging nonchalantly. "S'fine. I get that a lot from your type," he replied, placing a soft hand on the seat he replaced. "However, I do believe the damage is done, and our business is concluded."
He inclined his head, an half-hearted attempt at respect; his smile fell from his ears into a cold grin of denial, that remained until he flicked a dagger through the book. Retrieving it, and scowling, Lykala span on his heel and left Gilgamesh.

Angela shrugged and Gilgamesh sighed, "Lykala, you have the potential to be a very good merchant. When you tire of seeking trouble you should come work for the Tarkad empire. You could make bags of gold like the one you failed to secure today, in less than a month." He strode off towards the inn, Angela in tow. "I hope you understand that I won't be so generous next time. And she won't be able to protect you." The servants stowed everything while Gilgamesh questioned the inn keeper about Skadi.

Another hollow laugh rang from the Syrium. He span and walked backwards, twirling his dagger; an open invitation to try him. "Like I care for your petty machinations!" he yelled, stuffing the dagger away and making a beeline for the road to Pureuron, all thoughts of supplies gone from his mind.

Gilgamesh ignored Jason and continued speaking with the inn keeper, but Angela sat down next to him. "Skadi doesn't care one way or the other about who Gilgamesh spends his time with, as long as it isn't her." She took his apple and tossed it from hand to hand. "You know, some aphrodisiacs are made with apples." She said as she smelled the apple. "If you were stopped by a woman saying something about darkness and shadows on your way to Gridemas you may wish to follow that young elf man." She kissed the apple and then kissed Jason's wounded cheek. "There, I've placed a spell on you now. Eat this apple and you shall feel a little better, young Onetle." She whispered into his ear before placing the apple in his hands and taking a small bite out of it. With that she danced away back to Gilgamesh as he placed a few coins in the inn keeper's hand before going up the stairs.

Skadi's ears picked up the pounding of hooves and ducked behind a boulder just before Gilgamesh's scouts passed by. She looked back towards the town and then back up the path. If he sent out the scouts then he mustn't be sure of where I am, I'll just wait until they've gone back it shouldn't be more than an hour or so. She slid around to the other side of the rock, facing the township to wait. She knelt down like she had in the clearing with Aislin and waited with one hand on Blood Drinker, should she get attacked by anything or if they noticed her on their way back.

Lykala groaned the moment he heard Jason call out; this day just couldn't get any worse. He ignored him, kept his focus purely on putting one step in front of the other. He stared straight ahead, towards the distant Preuron - or so he hoped.
The approaching footsteps grew louder; Lykala snapped, pulling a dagger and pointing it straight at Jason. His eyes blazed with a coldness he hadn't felt in avery long time. He spoke through gritted teeth. "What do you want?"

"Yeah. The more the merrier," Lykala scowled, "Too bad I'm not keen on having many more stuck up racists. As for Skadi, she's smart - she can find her way to me before I set off properly."
He kept the dagger pointed straight at the youth's throat. "Oh, and as an afterthought. I'm not a boy. I'm twenty-four, got it?" with that pointed out, he took his first steps away from Jason and leaned against a tree, shoving the dagger firmly into the trunk. Part of him was worried about Skadi; after all, no matter how strong she was, she was prone to getting in well over her head; their first meeting was by far enough proof for that.

He likely headed to the township because of news regarding me. It's unlikely he'll leave Gridemas immediately. He usually checks in with a Tarkad merchant, resolves any disputes, and arranges a few trade agreemtns before leaving any major settlement, assuming of course Lykala didn't tip him off as to where she was headed. Skadi's ears perked up at the faint sound of two gunshots and the following sound of the riders heading back in her direction. When the riders raced by again she caught wind of a foul scent. It smelled of wolves, but something about the scent was wrong. She kept hidden but drew her blade, and when she picked up the sound of the pounding paws nearing her she rolled out into the path and swung upwards as hard as she could. She managed to catch the worg by surprise and cut deep into it's shoulder. It fell to the ground, yelping loudly, as it's weight crushed it's now weakened leg. She scanned the area, but saw no others. "Strange, even worgs hunt in packs. Why are you out all alone and so near this settlement?" The nearly horse sized wolf managed to pick itself up and snapped at Skadi. She hit it on the side of the skull with the hilt of her blade and sent it reeling backwards with her empty fist. It then decided to pounce on Skadi, pinning her blade beneath it's girth, and tried to bring it's teeth to bear on her throat. "Seen this before." She said dully as she put her left arm between it's fangs, thankful for the armor. Of course it's jaws were designed for crushing and she didn't have long before the armor would start to give way, so she pulled out her small hammer and jammed open it's mouth permanently. While it tried in vain to close it's mouth she pulled the knives out from atop either of her wrists and jabbed them in behind it's ears. The beast's now lifeless head flopped down on top of Skadi, pouring saliva on her. "Ugh, worg drool." She spat.

"Well, that could have been worse." She managed to lift it up enough to roll out from beneath it and now that it wasn't trying to kill her she noticed one of it's rear legs was twisted badly. "They left you because you were a hindrance, eh? I'm sorry." She ran her hand through it's fur apologetically. The riders would likely not be returning, since they ran into a live worg, implying that Skadi had not been that way, but if Lykala were done with Gilgamesh he would head this way sooner or later. Hopefully after he got supplies. Those thoughts in mind she decided to just sit and wait. After cleaning her blades she sat on the ground and leaned up against the worg. She would keep it company, at least until the heat left it's body. She ran a hand through her hair and noticed it was wet and sticky, pulling her hand away she noticed it was died red, most likely blood from the knife wounds to it's skull. She shrugged, it would just mat her hair down a bit more than usual after all.

Lykala hung his head, and caved in. "Right. Well, the moment I get the opportunity to abandon you, I'm taking it. Okay? I don't care what you've heard, or even if you're bloody destined to save this whole continent. You're as bad as Skadi, and I can only just deal with one Skadi," he sighed, frustrated with his current predicament and longing for the languid peace of his hometown. Everything was much, much easier then; serious doubts were currently being raised about his sanity, ever since leaving Pyuto. He missed it gravely.

Lykala rolled his eyes and set off without a word. Jason had lived only a few miles south of him, so he was very glad that he'd taken the northern route, from Alcina Wharf and taking a small boat to the harbor not too far from Rigulus. It was certainly longer than travelling straight from Pyuto, through Mimas, and then to Zelzagun Fort, but money had been tight and the boat had seemed far more appealing.
His eyes flitted back to Jason momentarily, to see if he had had a change of heart and was now wandering off elsewhere. Sadly, that wasn't the case, and he was also talking to him. "You decided to fight because you were bored," he deadpanned, not impressed by that in the slightest, "Right... I am going to meet Skadi. You can wander off on your own."

Lykala shrugged. "It could be due to the fact that you immediately started a fight with me without even knowing half of what actually happened," was the terse, almost venomous reply. He scanned the trees ahead, searching for Skadi now in the hopes of not having to cope with this on his own for much longer. "And my name's Lykala. Lykala Rossgrave."
Part of him noted the sincerity in Jason's voice, but his anger at the youth caused him to ignore it for the time being. He quickened his step, wondering just where Skadi had disappeared to.

Skadi got bored of waiting and started back towards the township, in the worst case she would just stop before getting back to town and continue on her way, but she wanted to see if Lykala had gotten himself killed or something first. Waiting for him at the next town would do little good if he was dead after all. She pulled out her sledgehammer and began familiarizing herself with it as she walked, occasionally putting a nice divet in a nearby tree.

When Lykala came into view she slung the sledge across her shoulders with her hands resting on the shaft. And when Jason came into view just after she started jogging to meet up with them. "Glad to see you survived your negotiations unharmed. How much was he offering for me this time? And Ribs, the hell are you doing here?" She bobbed the butt of the sledge up and down lightly, unsure of what to expect from this young man. Of course, he was with Lykala which probably meant he was trustworthy, unless she had misjudged Lykala and these two were hired to bring her back. Unlikely, Gilgamesh wouldn't trust anybody to fetch her but his own self or his larva.