<span style="font-style: italic">"I'm a little hard on coin right now, Mercutio," Jhoran said, pacing back and forth as he usually did when he expected Mercutio to do something without up-front compensation. Every time he passed over a particularly rotten floorboard, the entire room seemed to squeak. "But this ransom is going to change everything for all of us."</span><br/><br/>Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Merc kept his eyes on the floor, trying to pick out exactly what part of the floor was making that godawful noise. "I don't really see how it's changing much for any of us if you can't even afford to hire us to do it." He looked up from the floor long enough to see Jhoran's anger flare and pass in a moment's time, then feigned further interest in the floor. <br/><br/>Jhoran took a deep breath, and Mercutio could tell he was struggling to find something that the sellswords would want to hear. "The ransom that this one will bring will be worth your while, I can assure you."<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"I've heard this one before," Halam growled from near the door, where he was leaning up against the wall. "Only you've grown ballsier since last time. Now you want two of us for the price of… none," he snorted, his thick brown beard twitching as he watched Jhoran closely. <br/><br/>The man had likely called in both of them as he knew they already had gear and wouldn't need an advance. He was a shrewd businessman, that he was. And his ways, annoying as they were at times, usually meant he knew what he was talking about. Of course, that still forced the question of how he was always short on coin. <br/><br/>"If you want us to go plodding across the damn country, we'll need something for our trouble. For," his eyes narrowed, "travel expenses." Such costs included whores and ale, but that was all part of the job.</span><br/><br/>"Aershire is hardly across the country-"<br/><br/>"It's pretty far across the country," Mercutio quipped, quietly curling his fingers around the dirk at his belt. <br/><br/>"-but here," Jhoran continued without missing a beat, stopping in his travel from one side of the room to the other to toss a small coin purse at Halam. "It's all I have for your</span>costs.<span style="font-style: italic">" <br/><br/>As soon as he moved to take another step over the weak, rotten spot on the floor, Mercutio ripped the dirk off his belt and threw it. The </span>thunk<span style="font-style: italic"> that the blade made in the floor was preferable to that damnable squeaking. "This better be worth my time, old man." He took long strides to where his dirk had pierced the wood, wrenching it free and pointing it at Jhoran. "And it better be worth the coin."</span><br/><br/>That had been fourteen days ago. Two weeks that Mercutio had traveled on horseback with Halam, but it couldn't stay that way. Saddle sores aside, they were close to Aershire. Close enough that patrols were traveling right by them. This was good, though, as much as patrols set him on edge. They could exchange for fresh mounts in the city while they still had daylight left, and then come night they could stake the castle out.<br/><br/>Not being much of a man of political nature, Mercutio admittedly had no idea who this lady of Aershire was, or why she was so goddamn important that Jhoran thought that it wasn't going to cost him extra for not giving him half up front. But if there was one thing that he did know, it was that ransoms on nobles tended to be ridiculously high, and quickly paid, even if they were a noble of a lesser family. Most nobles maintained as much pride in their family as the king himself, as much good as that did them, and they'd be damned if they let a long hostage situation tarnish their family name.<br/><br/>"The northmost portcullis should be up ahead, perhaps another hour's ride. We'll have time for new horses, warm mead and a fresh bed before tonight," he said, though it could have been misconstrued as talking to himself as he kept his eyes forward and face shrouded in his hood. He was careful with things like that; it wouldn't do to tip off a patrol. Even though there were no patrols around. Perhaps he was just paranoid, but either way, it had kept him from getting caught a good number of times, and this time was no different.