A Violent Encounter

[Alexandra Sawyer]

The day had started much like any other.  Alex had gotten her list of parcels that would need to be delivered by the Enclave and set about her task.  The sun hadn't even reached its apex in the sky before trouble had found the young mage.  A small group of dock workers making their way through the Plaza had caught sight of the seemingly defenseless girl and quickly identified her as a magic user by the Enclave robes she wore.  Her desperate pleas to be left alone not only fell on deaf ears but seemed to serve as fuel for the fire, causing the situation to escalate.  Despite being jerked around by her arm and thrown to the ground, the girl refused to retaliate.  It was only when one of the townsfolk grabbed her by the hair and another yanked her arm hard enough to pull it from its socket did Alex unleash her magical abilities.

With a cry of pain Alex struggled against her much larger captors.  A crowd had gathered to watch the ensuing melee.  Some muttered whispers of mistreatment and savagery, though none stepped forward to stop the violent encounter.  She pulled herself away, sending the attacker gripping her arm tumbling away with a burst of force energy.  In the process he jerked her arm, sending another sharp jolt she could feel through her entire body.  A surprised yelp escaped as she was thrown to the ground for a second time.  The crowd around her grew louder and more restless at the blatant display of magic.

The flash of metal glinting in the morning light caught Alex's attention.  Slowly she pushed herself off the dirt ground and peered up at the man who'd had hold of her hair.  She was released now but he had drawn a long, nasty looking blade with a serrated edge and was stalking closer.  Her mind raced, not even comprehending that an entire crowd of supposedly innocent people would be so willing to stand idly by and watch the murder of a girl whose only crime was defending herself.  It was her ultimate response that incited a riot.

Shifting herself to a sitting position Alex backed away from her attacker and his terrifying blade.  She brought a hand up and flicked her wrist in motion performed by instinct alone.  She could almost feel the sensation of the kinetic force surging forward and gripping hold of her target.  In a quick, brutally efficient act accompanied by the sickening crack of bones the man was folded backward in half, bending until the top of his head nearly touched the ground by his feet.  A crushed rib cage and shattered spine had saved Alex from one source of danger but caused the entire crowd to lunge forward at her.

Hands groped and pulled, lifting her off the ground with a violent jerk.  The painful cry that came from the pop in her shoulder was drowned out by the crowd who were now dragging her off the street where they drove her face first into the stone wall of a nearby inn and held her there.  She felt the warmth of blood beginning to trickle from a cut that had opened up on her cheek and she began to breathlessly gasp for mercy.

And to think, the day had started out so normal.

[Felix Whitegate]

First a few, then many, began to break towards the harbour, the calm, hushed street quickly shifting into a frantic crowd, some baying with excitement, others screaming, the overwhelming cries mingling together... The guard caught a few as he rushed forward to try and break apart the gathering crowd. Mage. Magic. Murderer. Those few were enough to fill the guardsman with a sickening fear; His heart in his throat, now caught in the middle of the surge, he was already being forced forward... Pushed into civilians, some now shoving the guard forward purposefully, it was a mass of chaos. Felix had little to no experience dealing with any sort of magic, least of all some rogue mage bent on bloodshed... But with no Chevalier seemingly present in the surge, and with such a mass of innocents in such a small area, Felix was going to have to muster everything he had to push forward and face the source with all the bravery his training had prepared him for.

The cries grew increasingly louder, shrieks mixed with screams of terror, as Felix forced his way through the raging crowd, pushing and shoving his way through. "MEMBER OF THE GUARD!" He called out above the volume of the horde, "P-PLEASE SEPARATE AND DISPERSE!" He felt a wave of the mob surge behind him, some pushing him forward, others ahead now separating to let him through; He grabbed hold of the back of a few who seemed steadfast on blocking his route, yanking them back with great force as the noble forced his way through the mass of bodies. "I SAID SEPARATE AND DISPERSE!" As the crowd began to eventually move to his commands, a wave of elevated cheering began, some of the crowd now baying for a public disposal by the blade of a city guard. As the crowd began to finally part, Felix took a deep breath, raising his hand up to the handle of his longsword, taking a firm and steady grip and withdrawing the blade; It caught the light, glinting in his hold. "S-STAND DOWN! I am a member of the city guard, you will STAND DOWN!" as he grabbed hold of the scruff of the one pinning the reason for the mob to the wall, yanking him back and-

Felix stared. his expression softening in a mixture of shock and horror; It was no raving murderer, no blood soaked wild rogue, but a young girl. Clad in mage robes, her face was streaming scarlet, blood dripping off her chin and onto her robes, her hair a tangled mess, one arm hung limp at her side... The poor creature was the most heart wrenching sight Felix had seen. His words caught in his throat, the guardsman grew momentarily deaf to the cries around him, to the cheering and baying of the crowd.  

It was... Just a child. 

[Alexandra Sawyer]

The stern, powerful voice that cut through the din of the ravenous crowd was barely heard by the young mage. The moment the hands pinning her to the wall relented, Alex slid to the ground. Her heart pounded, thudding deafeningly in her ears. She coughed from the dust clogging her throat and slowly lifted her head to peer up at her surprising savior.

And in an instant Alex was transported back to her native land. She wasn't a member of the order tasked with keeping mages safe or in a civilized city, she was living on the fringes of society, ostracized and on the run for fear of her safety. The townsfolk who had grown agitated and violent weren't simple merchants, farmers and craftsmen but now bore the faces of the witch hunters whose bloodlust had led to the brutal murders of her parents.

Fear showed plainly in the usually bright, expressive eyes that locked upon the Guardsman. Alex was paralyzed, unable to move as the still fresh memories invaded not just her mind, but seemingly her entire being. The only thing she could do was curl up in a desperate effort to make herself looks as small as possible and hope everyone would just go away.

[Felix Whitegate]

The sight was so far from what Felix expected, he was momentarily struck silent. Unmoving, his sword still raised in a tightly held grip, his gaze fixed upon the poor young woman cowering before him... Fragile, like a baby bird. Could this poor thing truly have caused the chaos he'd just fought through? It seemed like such a sickening juxtaposition...
As he took a step forward, the roar of the crowd came surging to the front of his senses; Most were calling for him to arrest her, others baying for blood, various insults and slurs slung across to the small shape of a girl were so many in number they mingled into one vile spat curse.
The guardsman fought through the momentary fog in his brain, his heart thundering violently, his training simple and straightforward... Take the mage, forcibly if required to do so. Arrest them. If a blade needs to be used, do so. Take out any threat to innocents. But this child... She... She was so young, she was frightened, she-

Felix shook his head, lowering his blade, which earned him a roar of disapproval from the crowd around him. He clenched his eyes shut, then reopened them, frowning as he gestured with his sword, his voice more commanding. "This is CITY GUARD business! Unless you all LEAVE the area immediately, I will have you ALL arrested for hindering an arrest!"

More jibes from the crowd, but some parted... And the twisted mess of what was once a human being fell into Felix's line of vision. For a moment, he didn't even realise the horror of what he was looking at, and once he did a sickening surge swept through his stomach but was valiantly fought back by sheer will; Red was seeping out onto the ground, mingling with dirt... How... How had this girl managed to... Why had she... Felix opened and closed his mouth, before his gaze caught something else.
A few of the men from the docks who had surrounded the crumpled, broken body, were getting to their feet, the glints of metal catching the guard's eye telling him all he needed to know about their intentions; He may be of the guard, but he was one man...
If they were intent on taking revenge here and now on the street, Felix wouldn't be able to do much without it ending in the death of them both.
He looked to the young woman, quivering, curled up so small, his kind eyes brimming with overwhelming resolve as with great, steadfast intent he rounded on the bulk of the crowd. That was the last thing he was going to let happen.
"This will be DEALT with PROPERLY!" He spoke sternly, his voice heavy with threat, before he turned to the young woman, bending down to the cowering form and taking a firm but kind hold of her arm, speaking now in a soft whisper. "Miss, miss can you stand up? I need to get you out of here before both of us end up at the wrong end of a dagger."

[Alexandra Sawyer]

The stern, booming voice that cut through the din barely found its way to Alex's ears. She stared up at the guardsman for a long moment before a sense of understanding washed over her face and she nodded. Her arms raised as Felix reached out to her and she allowed him to help pull her to her feet. She swallowed hard, her hands shaking as she stepped closer to Felix, using him as a barrier of sorts to shield her from the steadily dispersing, yet still rowdy crowd.

The diminutive mage didn't resist, moving along at Felix's urging. She didn't have to be told twice to escape. She remained close to the guardsman, her head kept down until she dared glance over her shoulder to the mangled, bloodied body she had left in her wake. The sudden horror dawned on her and her body began to quiver and her knees grew weak, causing her to stumble before pulling away long enough to wretch and cough. Nothing came out, save for tears that started to silently trickle down her cheeks.

"I swear I didn't mean to." She protested weakly. Her eyes turned up to Felix again, wide and pleading. "They attacked me. I was scared, he had a knife!" Alex's head shook and she continued forward, hurrying away to put as much distance between herself and the horrific scene as possible. "I didn't know what else to do."

[Felix Whitegate]

Felix knew protocol. He knew the strict set of laws he was duty bound to follow and uphold when it came to dealing with unlawful actions performed by a mage, and yet... All of that was forced to the back of his mind. All the guardsman was focused on was getting the young girl to safety, far from the baying crowd. Thankfully, after he'd brandished his sword and made his threats, the gathering had begun to reluctantly disperse; Even the men who'd withdrawn their weapons were keeping their distance. Attacking and attempting to butcher a mage out on the street was apparently perfectly fine, but they clearly weren't willing to dish out the same actions to a member of the city guard.
Felix could feel the shake in the young mage's form as he carefully led her away, keeping her close, his other hand still holding tightly to the handle of his sword. He paused as he felt the girl momentarily pull away, turning to face her as she wretched; Felix quickly placed a hand on her back, risking a glance to the body, before quickly taking care to block her view from the broken and bloody remains. "Miss, you have to-" He urged, leaning down to speak to her in a low whisper to avoid any stragglers from the crowd catching his words, when she cut across him.

The mage looked to him with wide, pleading eyes, glossy with tears and desperation in her voice. Any small notion that he still needed to follow protocol left at the back of his mind fell away instantly; He stared at her, his own gaze filled with concern and fear for the mage, before he gave a nod. "I believe you, Miss... But we need to get you out of here." He gently took hold of her arm again with his free hand, leading her from the scene, blocking her view of the remains with himself until they were finally out of sight down a sidestreet.
Felix then stopped, casting a look over his shoulder back the way they'd came, breathing out a low sigh when no one had followed them. He slowly slipped his sword back into it's scabbard, before casting his kind eyes to the mage; Bloody and clearly suffering from her injured arm, Felix couldn't help but feel a near overwhelming need to protect the poor, quivering young woman... He simply couldn't drag her back to the Citadel to be confined in irons.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "... Miss, I'm... I'm going to take you back to the Citadel, and I'm going to get you cleaned up. It's best that you don't come out to the docks for some time," He spoke kindly, although with urgency. "... I... I will speak to my Captain if it becomes an issue. I will give my word that what you did was purely out of defense."

She was only a young girl... A terrified, desperate young girl who acted on instinct because she feared for her life. A man defending himself from a would be killer with his blade would be ruled as acting in defense... How is a blade any different in it's barest concept then magic?

[Alexandra Sawyer]

Alex nodded faintly at Felix's reassurances. She was steadily calming, the quaking of her body fading with each guided step. This wasn't the first time she'd had to fight using magic as her weapon, though killing had never gotten any easier. Each instance she was forced to do so weighed heavily on her soul, stripping away her usually cheery and bright demeanor. She brought a hand up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye before it could streak down her dirty cheek.

The Guardsman's sudden proclamation of Alex's innocence and his willingness to defy the laws of Goldcrest. As if the gentle way in which he approached her wasn't surprising enough, being told he believed she would never do such a thing without being pushed and his assertion she wouldn't be arrested immediately gave her pause. She pulled quickly away from the Guardsman, her eyes widening in surprise as she peered up at him. "B-but..." She stammered for a moment before she shook her head as if she was snapping back into reality after being put into a trance that lasted just a couple seconds.

"You... can't do that can you?" Alex shot a hurried glance over her shoulder before pulling her cloak tighter around herself and starting forward again, a wince coming from the pain that shot through her injured arm. Her head lowered to the ground in front of her as she with haste. She wanted nothing more than to go home and wash the blood and guilt from her skin, though her conscious wouldn't let her do that at the noble guardsman's sacrifice. "I appreciate your words, Sir." She said without a waver or stutter to her voice. "But why would you risk your life for mine?"

[Felix Whitegate]

Felix was aware that what he was doing was far from what he was expected to do, not just by the laws of the guard but by social standards... Many still held a fear for those that could use magic, and if Felix hadn't been there, he was certain it wouldn't have been just one life taken... Although most had been calling for an arrest, he'd picked up on the few baying for the mage's blood.

When she flinched away from him, Felix quickly removed his hand, not wanting to panic her any more then she was already; She stared at him, seemingly dumbfounded by his words, before speaking up. His heart pained at the slight stutter to her voice, and the manner in which she tried to further cover herself with her cloak. Scarlet was still stained across her face, mixed with dirt and the gloss of tears... She looked so frail, which was a startling juxtaposition given what she was capable of. Felix cast a hurried glance over his shoulder once again, before reaching for a small brown, weathered satchel he kept strapped to his belt; He couldn't very well let the poor young woman return to the citadel with blood over her face, given it would raise questions if seen by the wrong people. He paused on taking out the handkerchief, glancing to her when she questioned him.

"... I'm a man ruled by his heart over his head," He spoke honestly, casting her a warm smile in an effort to reassure her. "I suppose I must come across as foolish... But I just can't arrest you for simply defending yourself, miss. Don't worry about me, I can handle myself." He leaned down a touch, placing one hand on her shoulder and narrowing his eyes slightly as he used the piece to cloth to gently wipe most of the blood from the poor girl's features. "I mean, who could harm this face?" He cast her a goofy, bright smile, but it fell quickly once he made one last check over his shoulder. "... Let's get you back home."

[Alexandra Sawyer]

Alex had gone to protest but she was cut off by the guardsman's subtle and unexpected quip. Through the tears of pain and distress that had been slowly falling Alex issued a short laugh. It wasn't much but it brought a fleeting smile back to her face. She could scarcely believe she was being afforded any sort of mercy but here she was, being led to the Citadel not to be jailed, but escorted... home.

Remaining quiet as she let her mind catch up with everything that had happened, Alex obediently followed direction and started moving along. Occasionally she would lag behind under the weight of her thoughts only to snap back to the present and trot a bit to catch up again. "Alexandra." She said, her tone soft in spite of how quickly the name had been blurted out. She offered a weak smile before shrugging sheepishly. "My name is Alexandra." She figured the least she could do was introduce herself to the man who had very likely saved her life.

It seemed as though the further away from the near riotous crowd the two of them got, the more at ease Alex became. She was still off, hardly her usual chipper, bright self, but she was beginning to come down from the rush of a life threatening situation enough to mind her manners. "I... Thank you for showing mercy." She said, bowing her head slightly to look at the ground beneath her feet as she walked. She didn't know what sort of repayment the guard would expect for sparing her but she was prepared to offer anything he asked.

[Felix Whitegate]

"Ah, there we go!" Felix grinned when the girl managed a laugh, chuckling before folding the now slightly bloody piece of cloth up, replacing it back into the satchel; He'd have to clean it through when he could, but right now he had far more pressing priorities.
The young girl seemed to be calming, much to Felix's relief; He wondered if she'd perhaps been in a similar situation before this... For someone so young to be attacked so brutally, so publicly... The world was desperately off balance. Although he wasn't quite certain on how things were going to proceed on from this, the guardsman had long made up his mind to go through what channels he needed in order to protect the mage; He'd thrown in his hand with her, and he was going to stick by it.
But for now, the most important thing was to get the girl home, where she could clean up and calm herself fully, where she would be safe and among considerate faces.

Felix was brought from his thoughts by a soft declaration of a name, the guardsman pausing in his footsteps to look back at his charge; She'd managed a small smile, which caught on Felix's lips instantly, and he gave a nod. "Alexandra? It's pretty, miss. It suits you," He replied warmly. During the heat of the moment, he'd failed to not only ask for her name, but to give his own. "... My name is Felix, Felix Whitegate," He replied, placing a hand on his chest and slightly bowing his head politely. He then furrowed his brow, the smile he'd caught from her failing him for a fleeting moment. "... Alexandra. There's no need to thank me for simply doing what should have been obvious... It pains me that it wasn't to so many."
It wasn't that Felix didn't know that Alexandra was dangerous... From the gruesome sight left in her wake, it was more then obvious the young girl had a significant amount of power at her disposal; But regardless of her abilities, that didn't given anyone, citizen or otherwise, the right to harm her.
"... Is there someone you would like me to bring to you? To support you?" Felix spoke softly, gesturing for her to follow, continuing to walk with purpose towards the safety of the Citadel. "Do you have any family in Goldcrest?"

[Alexandra Sawyer]

A trace of sheepishness crept into Alex's eyes as she, once again, glanced away from her unexpected protector. This time, though, it was from his kind words in regards to her name and not the dreadful concern that came with the violent circumstances that had brought the two together. "Thank you." She replied softly, the smile she usually carried never felt far from her lips even in the wake of such terrifying events. "It was my grandmother's name."

Alex fell silent for a moment as Felix spoke. She nodded faintly, silently wishing there were more kind hearted folk around who shared his point of view. The shock of what had just transpired hadn't yet begun to sink in, leaving Alex free to contemplate the tense mistrust the world had for her kind. "If more people thought the same way there wouldn't be as much violence." She said with a heavy, resigned sigh.

A hand came up to wipe at the remnants of tears that had lingered in the corner of Alex's eye. She winced as her fingers grazed the cut upon her cheek. She was quickly drawing inward even as she walked alongside Felix. Her gaze was growing distant and her mind began to relive the horrific moments of mere minutes ago. Her brow furrowed as the image of her attacker's body twisted in its gruesome, awkward position . "Oh gods..." She breathed with a soft gasp. "I killed him..."