Sadina's Compound and Gardens

Arturus with petal in tow. He comes in quietly and sticking to the shadows as to avoid any undue attention.

((out of time sequence))

The garden is dark, with just a few shuttered lanterns to barely light the paths, but not the sheltered areas of the garden, the only ones about are the typical guards outside, and they know to ignore the figures slipping through the secret gate, because only certain people have been given the access code to the magically guarded and locked gate, and any tampering will highlight the culprit to guards with magically enhanced bolts and crossbows.

Sadina sat in the grotto alcove where the fountains will cover the sounds of any conversation within. With her is a box, covered in scrollwork. And of course, she is armed to the teeth, as usual, though no one would know by looking.

Arturus coughs quietly from the darkness and he steps forward into the light. Petal is behind him one step and to the left and moves with him as per instructions. He waits to be acknowledged before he comes closer. He knows the lethality of Sadina. Not that he couldn't defend himself and had before even from her as he knew her temper too. But he was by no means unarmed either.

   Swiftly and silently they fanned out to hide amid the shadows and alcoves along the street.  Wary of the guards, Mordar signals to Jannor, asking silently if they should remove Sadina's guards and surround the compound, but he shakes his head.  There was no need to approach further.  If they did they might alert someone to their presence.  It is enough, thought Jannor, to know that Arturus is there.  He will depart whenever his business at this manor house is done and we will have our "chat" thereafter.
   They had followed Arturus carefully, Jannor's sons all accomplished trackers, trained by their father of course.  Being many, they could trade places as they shadowed their quarry, so that he need never see the same man behind him twice, and thus not know he was followed, were any of them to be spotted, which they almost never were.  They had tracked Arturus to this lavish estate and quickly informed their father of Arturus destination.  Now Jannor waited in the darkness, his eyes gleaming with malice as he replayed the events of their last parting in his head.
   Ever so quietly he whispered to himself."You left me for dead, Arturus old 'friend.'  And I nearly did die as you intended.  How ill fated for you that I did not.  How unlike you, to leave something unfinished.  A serious mistake, to be sure, and one which you shall soon have cause to regret." Jannor's fingers played across the ugly scar on his neck.  "I'll wager you know I'm here, by now, so its only a matter of time before we meet, you know it as well as I.  Fate casts the dice and all must play."

              Petal trembled slightly, not from the chill of the night but from a mixture of apprehension and excitement, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her skin prickled with goose bumps as she shadowed her master, moving as quietly and keeping in his shadow wiling herself to blend into the shadows, many hours of  her life had been spent in just such a way, trying to avoid notice, trying to become one with the furniture. A good slave knew when to be silent and inconspicuous if Master wished her to remain unseen and unheard then she would do so. Silently she repeated a few words of a song long forgotten by most, soft soothing and calming it had always helped to ease her nerves before and now she silently repeated it almost as a prayer.
          Here eyes and ears were open, her eyes darted from shadow to shadow, here ears tuned to every sound. The crunch of gravel under foot, the sound of boots on the cobble stones. Any cough, whisper or little noise that would give away anyone who might be watching. She was worried not for herself, but for Master, his life was her life, if he was injured or killed her life would be over.

OOC:
12:33, Today: Petal rolled 20 using 1d20+6. 12:33, Today: Petal rolled 15 using 1d20+2. spot . 12:31, Today: Petal rolled 12 using 1d20+5. move silently. 12:31, Today: Petal rolled 11 using 1d20+3. Hide.
Held action if anyone hostile appears she will cast “CAUSE FEAR” at anyone who draws a weapon.or attacks her master or her.

 "I know you are there Arturus. You may come forward, but tell the girl to stay where she is for now."

She looked up as she awaited the curier/assassin/spy to come forward and join her on the bench.

As Arturus moves forward he motions petal to his rear to follow "NO she needs to come forward to. I can't train her nor have her be at my back if she is just a ignorant pawn. I will die that way as you well know. I am not being disrespectful but since I have this responsibility I might as well turn it into a asset not a liability." He doesn't raise his but he doesn't leave any room for doubt either. He always worked on his terms or he didn't take the job. Because he always made good even in his failures he was allowed this eccentricity.

 She stood up and started to move away from the concealed bower. The anger in her was almost palpable. This upstart seemed to forget who found the gutter snipe, lifted him up, trained him and started him upon this career of his! Well, he would soon find many doors closed to him once word of this impertance got out, she'd make sure of that!

 "Then we have nothing further to say to each other, and we will have no further business dealing. You may show yourself out, and rest assured the lock will be changed upon the door if you should ever chance to try to use it again. I bid you leave at once and never return."

 She stepped out past him quickly and moved toward the shadows near the wall, where roses grew upon the stone, or seemed to.

Arturus doesn't flinch a bit. "Mylady can do as she wishes but I am not being imper tenant. You know my work and if I have a new tool it has to be broken in correctly or is worthless or worse fatal. You would not ask for me unless it was critical. Well I can do no less with my tools. I don't presume to tell you your business, please let me run my own for after all it is my neck that is being risked." Arturus falls silent and waits for the anger to pass. If it doesn't he will just shrug it off an move on.

 "This is too important to allow any chance of a slipup Arturus. I will allow you to have her along on this mission, yes, but I will not allow her to hear what we have to say at this point. So, you chose what is more important to you at this point. Your new plaything's training, or a commission from the Head of the Assassin's Guild."
 "The girl is but a slave Arturus, and does not have a need to know. She has, at this point, an ingrained need to obey, and would be hard put to break conditioning should she be captured. I am sure you will train her well, but she is not yet trustworthy and it is not just my head or yours or hers that can be lost if this information falls into the wrong hands."
 "She may come closer once we have discussed the most important things, and I will insist that she be geased by Hieronymous before she can join the convoy. But even that can be negated if the Enemy gets ahold of her. Do not underestimate the power of this enemy. He has already caused the death of Sidi's parents, and has tried to kill her and her sister several times. A slave is nothing to his implacable determination to erase this family from the world. So, do you still insist she know every little detail?"
 She crossed her arms and gave him a look that said she would not compromise more at this point.

Arturus contemplates for the moment and then decides. "Done but I will reserve the right to bring her in as I choose later. She might be a slave but she is my new tool which I plan on exploiting completely to my enemies or targets demise. She shall be properly trained or she will be dead. There is no middle ground in my part of the profession and you know that I do not tolerate errors." He waves petal back and moves close to Sadina to hear what she has to say.

 She nodded and waited until petal moved away, then moved back inside the bower. She sat down and pulled a locked box from a recess behind the stone bench. Unlocking it, she pulled out a scroll case, plain leather, worn with use, not really much to look at. But anyone with magical powers would see it was bespellled by someone with power.
 "I cannot begin to tell you how important it is to have this delivered into Calipha Feyda's hands personally. It is vital. Empress Sidi's life is even more in danger than it has been in the past. The Enemy is on the move. Calipha Feyda must be warned as well. The Enemy is set to kill us all if he can. Do not fail to be on guard yourself, for he would not wish warning to reach her! Now you see why we cannot allow even the smallest weak link on this mission."
 "Inside this tube goes a list of all known or suspected operatives of The Enemy. He is an implacable evil being who has held a grudge these many decades. Do not underestimate his power, for it is great. Do not let this item out of your hands for even 1 second. This list must reach Feyda!"
 "Trust no one you do not know well. You can trust the General, but even he does not know you carry this. Galen or Fairaday are two others you can trust, but they do not know you carry this either. Go in safety and May the Goddess Preserve you Arturus!"
 She pressed the scroll case into his hands, as well as a pouch heavy with golds and silvers. Then she stood and bowed slightly before hurrying toward her estate.

Arturus looks at the tube and then it disappears into his cloak into a secret pocket. He then moves back to petal and says "We are to leave now. I will go to the spectacle of the combat and see what I learn but know that as of now both our lives are on the razors edge and you must learn as fast as you can. You must also learn to accept pain and go past it. I am not sure how to teach you that but we might improvise that. Be on alert and trust no one absolutely no one but me. If you do you might die. Think hard and think fast for your life DOES depend on it as well as mine. Come." With that Arturus moves quietly to the exit. He is very wary and is looking for anyone, thing or shadow that is out of place. The weight of the money bag was substantial that he didn't even bother to look.