Thinner - 1.4

"The term will start on Monday," the stranger rasped.  "I want to create a party."

Ann peered into his hood, trying to see his face, as Lex leaned forward and responded.  "We're mages.  What would you bring to a party?"

He idly drew one finger along what would be the top half of the war scythe if it were unfolded.  "I fight.  I fight very well and I'm intimidating."

The two girls looked at each other and Lex shrugged.  "We could use a fighter," Ann said.  "We could also use someone more, well more dexterous if you have any suggestions?"

The figure nodded.  "You wouldn't want to follow a stranger through dark streets," he rasped.  "Meet me here tomorrow, at morning bell.

"That's an excellent suggestion," Ann drawled, thinking about his dark streets comment and how late it was getting.  "We already have to meet someone at morning bells.  We could meet you at forenoon?  Also, what's your name?"

"Forenoon would work fine," he rasped.  "My friend Is Miles.  They call me Red," he said, gesturing at his robe.

"Just the robe?"

"I told you, I fight very well," he rasped.  "Things bleed.  It doesn't show as much with this color."

"Ok, then forenoon we'll meet you here."  Ann looked over at Lex, who nodded in agreement, and the two stood up and exited.

"That was a waste of time," Lex said as they stepped outside the tavern.  "Only one person and he 'fights, very well'?  Maybe we should have gone in separately or gone to the school first or put up an ad."  As they turned down the sidewalk to to head back to more reputable parts of town and The Middle Court, a brown-haired man in shining plate armor raised his sword in front of them, blocking their path.

"Ladies," he said, waggling his eyebrows at them and raising his other arm to show his armored bicep.  "If you're looking for muscle… you don't have to look much farther than… Sir Kade," he said reverently as though his name was something to be prized.  "Don't worry," he said confidently, "I'll escort you, keep you safe."

The girls looked at each other, dumbfounded.  This was how he was introducing himself to them?  Like that?  And at sword point?  Lex raised her arm to begin casting as Ann dropped a hand onto a dagger, but a sound of wood sliding against wood and some metal clicks came from behind them and they spun around to see the man in the red cloak, his war scythe standing ready at his side.

The knight snarled at him.  "Stay out of this, Red!" he yelled, letting his sword arm drop.

The man in the cloak ignored him and said to the girls, "You should be fine heading home by yourselves.  I'll meet you here at forenoon, then?"

"Yes, thank you," Ann said as they hurried around Sir Kade, who stood there looking frustrated as they hurried down the pavement.

Kade walked forward while Red folded his scythe back up and snarled, "When will you learn to stop poking your nose into business that doesn't concern you?"

Red didn't say anything but merely stepped backward then turned and walked off into the night.

The next day found the two girls waking with a smile on their face, having enjoying a mattress much softer than the ground they'd been sleeping on for the past couple weeks.  "Thanks for coming with me, Lex," Ann said, looking over at her friend.  "I'm glad you came with me."

"When your father first assigned me to you," Lex said, "It didn't take long to learn that you were the type of master I wanted.  As if I would have let you go off and adventure and leave me behind with them."

"I'm not your master," Ann hurriedly interjected.  "I freed you before you made your Pact.  You can go anywhere.  But I'm glad I have a friend here with me."

"I couldn't have asked for a better friend," Lex said.  "I want to hitch my wagon to yours."

"All the way to the stars," they finished in unison.

They reluctantly got out of the comfortable bed, put their robes on and used the water closet, then cast a quick cleaning spell on themselves to freshen up for the day.

Stopping to grab some fruit and bread for breakfast, and to refill their waterskins, they found Torin outside.  He guided them to the college, then back home, pointing out several landmarks and mentioning how different sections of town that they passed changed at different times of the day.  Ann paid him his coin and he ran off as they headed back towards the tavern, only to find Sir Kade standing outside as though he'd never left.

"Ah, there you are," he said smugly, his eyes roaming up and down their robes, "I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show.  And I knew you didn't want to miss… this show."  He took up a pose again, displaying his physique, as Red stepped out of the tavern behind him, his scythe folded up.

"They're not interested, Kade."

"That's Sir Kade," he said, whipping his sword out as he turned.  "And I'll be the judge of whether they're interested.  Ladies," he said, turning to look over his shoulder at them then directing his attention back to Red.  "Take a look at him!" he called out loudly, "And decide who you'd rather be with."  Two squires stepped out of the tavern at his shouted words and quickly pulled back Red's hood, showing his face for the first time then just as quickly stepped back out of reach, giving him a wide berth and rejoining Sir Kade.

Red didn't seem to have an ounce of fat on him.  Lank grey hair fell limply over his seemingly over-large cranium.  His eyes bugged out of hollow sockets.  His cheekbones looked as though they could cut and his paper thin lips barely seemed to meet over his too-large teeth.  "I made the mistake," he clearly rasped, "Of acting like you when I asked a witch to make me thinner."  His eyes burned with fury as he looked at Sir Kade and the squires before he reached up and pulled his hood back into place.