Unscrupulous Acts
Finn launches himself from the carriage in a great swoop, spreading his wings as he glides down a narrow alleyway before flapping his in a few strong beats to propel him up to the rooftops where he arcs swiftly around once and lands his clawed feet on the edge of the rooftop, glaring at the rider that approaches from the south.
Now, many would think that because falcons are diurnal, or because they hunt during the day, that they would not be able to see as well at night. However, their vision is superior to humans on more than just the account of their long range focus. For falcon's cone cells, those which deal with high visual acuity and are concentrated at the very back of the eye can use not only the visual spectrum of humans, but also ultraviolet light. They also have a great deal more of these cells than humans and their eyes are focused entirely differently, allowing for less light to do the same work and at longer ranges. While certainly they prefer to hunt during the day when their greatest sense is at their prime, these birds have been known to migrate for days at a time, never losing their altitude as they glide through updrafts that take them across entire continents. This is a good thing for Finn, who until this night had never attempted this particular shape with no light...
The rider approaches the carriage warily as the horses slowly clatter to a stop with no driver to encourage them on. He holds his bow ready in his left hand with an arrow already nocked although the bow is not yet pulled taught. The man seems to have taken no notice of Finn, who is perched high overhead and a few houses down, viewing with relative impunity. The blonde man looks through the doorway of the carriage first, searching a few moments before he moves up to the drivers seat, searching again before he eventually kicks himself over from his stirrup and turns the cart around, pulling his own horse using the reins as a lead. It is not an easy task with only one hand to use, but eventually the man gets the cart reoriented and makes his way back around to the others, who are still crouched in the street some hundreds of yards further down.
His hearing not quite the level of his vision, Finn is unable to hear the conversation, but eventually watches as the two men help the third, who seems barely in control of his faculties, into the back of the carriage, One of the men takes a seat as the driver and lashes the horses forward, making haste back in the direction of Finn. The last man, the rider, is back upon his horse, flanking the carriage at first. By the time they pass where Finn is still perched the carriage continues its journey north, where the rider with the bow turns westward, seemingly riding aimlessly down the side roads and streets.
After more than five minutes, Finn is confident that neither has he been seen, nor have Mary and the alchemist anything to worry about, so he takes wing back into the skies, landing a short walk from the safe house, where he ends his spell early, and though the drain on his body is exhausting, he convinces his feet forwards and up into the safe house...
On the top floor, Finn finds Mary slumped in a chair, with the alchemist curled into a small ball in a corner, his arms wrapped around his shins and his cheek resting on one of his knees. The man has a far away look and does not even seem to notice the opening and closing of the door as Finn enters.
At the sound of the door, Mary looks up, and gives Finn a weak smile. "I think there are a few things that Dirk neglected to tell us about this job." She says plainly.