At the same time, outside R'ileigh Manor.
The maids, butlers and all the staff of the manor are outside, looking at Zara in the company of the Band of Roses. They have been ordered to keep their distance from the mercenaries at all costs by the Viscount.
Zara is standing in the middle of Hector, Lyse and Gavric. Elyra seems to be elsewhere.
The Viscount walks outside calmly, with a look of confidence that sharply contrasts the look of fear on his face he had a few days earlier. He approaches the group, with eager but calm footsteps.
"Within five days, huh?" He starts. "You lot are quite the efficient party." He says with a smirk.
Hector, the de-facto leader of the group in Arryn's absence stands between him and Zara. "How's the business going, Dear Sheffert, sire?" He jokingly omits the man's title.
"You have no manners, just like that barman from a few days ago." The man says. "I'm the Viscount of this region, boy. I will be addressed accordingly."
"Ah, quite mouthy today, aren't we, Dear Sheffert?" Hector says again, this time adding a cheery laugh at the end.
Sheffert frowns. "I have no time for this child's play. Return to the manor at once, Zara. Allow me to deal with these cretins."
"You know you should address these cretins with more gratitude..." Lyse says, holding onto Zara. "After all, we saved your 'daughter', like we were asked to."
Zara looks away from the Viscount.
The Viscount sighs. "Bring out the money." He says, signaling a butler with a leather bag to come forward.
"Astute, aren't you?" Lyse says sarcastically.
The butler is about handing over the money to Hector before it is shot down and encased in ice from the roof of the three-story manor.
Elyra's voice goes out from Hector's wristband. Brace yourselves, it's a trap!
About twenty-five men clad in clergy clothing emerge from the shadows of the night cast by the Viscount's home.
Sheffert laughs. "Ha! You think mere mercenaries can outsmart me? Do you all take me for a fool? you think I'd do business with criminals without a backup plan?"
"What do we do, Montie?" Lyse asks. "Seems like Arryn's suspicions were correct."
"What else is there to do?" Hector replies. "We've faced more numbers than these before. Treat them like the monsters they are."
With that, arrows pierce through the heads of two clergymen and they are both frozen stiff.
"Gavric..." Hector calls as he engages an assailant.
"Yes?" Gavric replies, punching an enemy away from Zara.
"Keep her away from the bad guys." Hector says, and finishes off his opponent with a quick high knee to the face.
The Viscount is being protected by his own mages and bodyguards, stationed at the entrance to the manor. The confidence is still present in him, as he has a strong belief that he will win.
However, it doesn't take long before the numbers advantage is upturned. He is surprised but still determined. He sends out a mage to retrieve Zara amidst the chaos.
Meanwhile, of the twenty five clergymen that attacked the group, only five remain, as Lyse uses a wide range fireball that engulfs four men at once.
The group returns to a singular formation, with Gavric, Lyse and Hector forming a perimeter around Zara. Two more opponents are impaled by Elyra's arrows.
Suddenly, Zara starts screaming and shouting for help as she ends up in the hands of a mage in front of the manor. Hector turns around to see a pebble in her place.
"Substitution magic?!" He says, puzzled.
"Zara!!" Lyse runs to her but her path is cut off by huge arrows of light falling from the roof, that she narrowly evades. "What the fuck?!"
Elyra is seen by Gavric falling off the roof. He jumps to catch her and sees her panting for breath, bleeding from her side. "Ely?! What happened?" He yells.
She points to the roof. "She's here."
The group turn their attention to the roof.
"She? Don't tell me..." Hector says.
A feminine voice is heard from the rooftop.
"Surely you have taken too much this time around, Sheffert. Using my men as a diversion?"
The woman jumps down in front of the group. Her hair is golden brown, shining in the moonlight and the light from the Manor's courtyard torches. Her skin is fair, Her eyes are opened to reveal a beautiful set of amber irises, almost ethereal to behold. She is dressed in clergy robes, with a long coat attached to her shoulder. On the back of the cloak is the insignia of the Church of the Sun, A crescent moon beneath a red sun.
"You're..." Hector starts.
"Yelena Isidro. Seventh Seat of the Upper 12 Reverends. Nineteen and a half years old. A pleasure to meet you." She interjects.
"The Mother Isidro?" Hector queries, shocked.
"I believe so. You must be the second-in-command of this group." She says.
"I don't know much about that." He replies.
"Took you long enough, Isidro." The Viscount says. "Take care of things here, I have to celebrate the return of my daughter." He gets up and turns to leave into the Manor.
"You aren't going anywhere, Sheffert." She turns to him. "You used my men as pawns to fight over a single woman. I won't let that get by me..."
"Right." Lyse says.
"You are equally as guilty, mercenary." She looks at Lyse. "He used them, you finished them off. There's no saving either of you."
"So what, Isidro?! I was taking back my daughter from criminals of the state! You're going to punish me?" The Viscount complains.
"I wouldn't be a keeper of the peace otherwise." She says, closing her eyes.
"What are you going to do? Put me under house arrest? Only the first Seat and the Paladins can do that! You're still under me!" He protests furiously.
"Those who look at social status as power have never tasted strength for themselves." She says, turning to the group. "You are a strong bunch. However, you took the lives of my men. That will not go unpunished."
Who the hell is this lady? Lyse complains telepathically with her wristband. talking about punishment and all that bullshit...damn it! I want to hit her so bad! but she's also really pretty too...I can't harm someone that looks like that! And she's younger than me too...
"Focus, Lyse." Hector says.
"What, Ely can talk over wristband but I can't?" She complains.
You remember what Arryn said. We can't take her, even if we all rushed her. Hector uses the wristband.
The mage holding Zara captive suddenly has his head blown to bits by a single arrow. Zara screams at the blood and brain matter on her face, and the Viscount, Yelena and the group look up at where the arrow was fired.
"If you can't do something about that obvious injustice, then I will." A voice goes.
"Who goes there?" The Viscount yells, grabbing onto Zara tightly.
"Who do you think, you idiot?" Arryn steps into the moonlight.
"Boss!" His group rejoices.
"Barman!" The Viscount curses.
"Arryn..." Yelena says.
"Been a while, hasn't it, Yelena?" He says. "I've got a present for you."
He turns, picks up two bodies and throws them down to the ground, where she makes an astral bed for a safe landing. "Andi and Rudie." She says.
"Your skills are as sharp as ever." He says. "Your brother's tailing me again. It's not funny anymore."
"I see. They didn't make trouble for you, did they?" She asks.
"They didn't. They were worth a good laugh...and besides, they're alive, aren't they?"
She keeps quiet.
"Let my group go. I know you can't fault their motivations..." He says.
Arryn and Yelena turn to Sheffert and Zara.
"...Plus, I know you've been waiting to set her free from this hellhole." he continues. "Go on...Run." He says to Zara.
Zara looks at him in disbelief.
"What are you still waiting for?" Yelena turns to her. "Go with your new friends."
"What?! Since when was that a part of your job description, Isidro?" Sheffert complains.
Suddenly, a heavy pull drags him away from Zara and dumps him in front of Yelena. She stares him down with her bright, amber eyes. "Sleep, old fool." She says, and immediately, his eyes are closed and he falls unconscious.
"Your group is free to go." She says to Zara. "However, be careful not to cross paths with me or any Reverend. You are now a member of the Band of the Roses in my eyes."
The group runs to her happily, and Arryn jumps down to the ground.
"Way to go, Yelly." Arryn says, walking past her.
"Hold it." Yelena says, and a spectral arm pulls him back by the shirt. "You aren't getting off that easy."
The group behind them puts their guards up as they see Arryn's movement impeded.
"Come now, Yelena. If this is about that thing I did with Master's cape, I apologized about that five years ago..." Arryn says.
"You fool." She says, tossing him at a wall. He crashes into it, taking the full impact without any reinforcements.
"You came out here in that shape?!" She yells at him, with a tone that would indicate worry. She also seems to be talking about the visible bandages around his head and arms. "What would you have done if my brother got here first? And why are those eyes out? You want to kill someone?"
Arryn coughs. "Well..."
"You!!" She yells while ruffling her hair.
The group is confused, thinking among themselves about the relationship between these two.
She kisses him. "That's for the trouble my brother caused." She says.
The group yells out in shock. "WHHAAATTT!!!"
Suddenly, a beam of light narrowly misses Arryn's face. The group turns back to see the face of a man exuding bloodlust enough to kill anyone by just staring.
The man looks almost exactly like Yelena, save for a light beard and a taller, broader stature.
"Could you keep it down, big brother...I'm having a moment here..." Yelena says, without looking at him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" The man yells.
"Been two months, Micah." Arryn says nervously. "Hopefully, you lost your memory from two months ago too?"
In a sweeping move, Micah rends the entirety of the east wall, shattering it to bits, only missing Arryn by a hair's breath. "Ah, take it easy, big brother!" Arryn says.
"Who are you calling big brother, you rat?!!"
The group is even more confused, as there are two members of the Upper Class of Reverends, but neither are focused on them.
"Arryn, let's leave this place already!" Hector says.
"Yeah. I'm working on that!" Arryn says, as he dodges blows from Micah. "You guys leave without me. Remember, Dock 15..."
Arryn dodges a few more hits and runs away, Micah giving chase, and Yelena chasing Micah.
"Erm..." Zara starts. "Does anyone know what just happened?"
The rest of the group looks in the direction Arryn ran and chorus. "No."