RP:The Double Agent

Part of the A Line Drawn in the Sand Arc

Odd Watering Hole, Southern Sage Forest

Xzavior made his way to the fishing spot and sat along the edge with his tail in the water. He wasn't really planning anything though he was still rather upset about finding out that his friend had been kidnapped... again. With a huff he leaned back and let his back hit the grass and waved his tail back and forth in the water like a pendulum.

Mcracken had, in a kind of reversal of a certain famous idiom, allowed his horse to lead him to water. Both were parched with the search for those who knew Emilia, the kraken walking beside the un-bridled and saddle-less mare as they headed for the fishing-spot. The mare scented the pool first, and trotting ahead was the first to reach it. Sinking her nose into the water, the thirsty equine paid no mind to the naga who dangled his tail there. Not so Mcracken, who’d catch up to his mount shortly after.. Trudging toward the fishing-spot, he slowed his pace momentarily, eyed Xzavior, but raised a webby-fingered hand in the customary greeting. “We meet again.” His voice was rough with dehydration.

Xzavior looked over when the kracken found his way here then to the horse but as soon as Mcracken got close he leaned up on his arms and gave him a side glance. "Details. Everything you know about what happened to her." He didn't bother explaining. Mcracken knew. Xzavior knew. Now he can get what he needs and be on his way. Nothing to prolong it.

Well.... except that Mcracken didn’t trust Xzavior. There was definitely something.. off, about the naga. So Xzavior was ignored for a time, while Mac filled a bag with fresh water and added salt to it from a pouch hanging at his waist. He gave the waterbag a good shake to disperse the crystals in the liquid and drank deeply, draining the container with several long gulps. Mac closed his eyes in appreciation of the drink, and when he opened them he at last looked toward the naga again, “And who art thou, to make demands of me? I know not thee not, unless from the day thy cruelty became evident. And when last we met, when thou proved thyself a liar.” His speech may have been quiet, but the tone of the words gave them gravity— Xzavior was getting nothing from this seaborn, unless something happened to change his mind.

Xzavior swung his tail out of the water to wrap around at the base and bring himself to a seated position, "Oh, I won't deny that I am a liar or cruel. Nearly half a millennium old and my kill count is pretty high. I'm not going to say that I'm a nice guy deep down. Talk to me a few months ago and you'd get a different story," A different story for later maybe, "But I will tell you this. That woman whose been kidnapped? She is my friend. My student. My mistake. I allowed something tragic to happen to her and Sabrina and I took care of her for months while she recovered. I spent many days wondering how to help her and what I could even do for her children. I promised her that she would be fine, but I never even got a chance to show her how to defend herself!" At this point he had came to a stand and made his way over to the other, gradually getting louder to near shouting. Pausing in front of him he stared at the kracken and in a calmer tone said, "So tell me. Who art thou to keep this information away from me?"

Mac was entirely unconcerned with the naga’s posturing, shouting and snide mimicry.. He was more interested in the truth, which was plain to him in those portions of Xzavior’s speech pertaining to the kidnapped woman. The kraken’s gaze was not on Xzavior but sweeping around him as the serpent-man spoke of his friendship with Emilia, the care given the woman, and his mention of Sabrina, whom Mcracken knew. “Tell me what thou dost know about the Deep Elf named Gevurah D’Artes.” It was going to be ‘squid-pro-quo’ all the way here, Mac wasn’t going to make this easy on the self-confessed scoundrel.

Xzavior looked at the man for a second as though studying him for the first time while silently, then not so silently cursing and pacing in the opposite direction. "Of course I know who she is. You can't have my kind of work, be good at it, and not be approached by some connection to her." He shook his head and chuckled grimly. He hadn't been around the compounds long enough to know where anything is! How was he going to get in there and get her out without raising the alarm or suspicion! Ugh... and if he got caught... his mind was racing with halfassed plans on what he could do with little success. Just didn't have the information. "Please tell me I'm jumping to conclusions."

Mcracken kept a long silence after Xzavior spoke, probably doing nothing to ease the naga’s obvious inner turmoil— which in itself told the kraken volumes. “Thou didst not answer my words. I asked thee what thou knowest about her…” In his next breath he answered those ‘conclusions’ that Xzavior hadn’t actually spoken aloud, “It was she who took your friend, against her will.” He studied Xzavior rather more grimly than before, “It is vital that thou dost tell me now, the truth of what business thou hast with this witch.”

Xzavior cursed again though more softly and in a slighty defeated tone. He wasn't one for asking help from anyone but there was no way he would get in there without bringing a lot of suspicion to himself as he tried to map out the area, by himself, "Bare minimum. We chat for a little bit maybe but nothing along the lines of details. Just jobs or potential bounties." He paused for a moment to stare at the man, "Which I never took. I even warned Pilar that the one who had the hit placed on her was her friend. So, there isn't much I can tell you other than if you expect me to find out things for you, and my paranoid suspicions are correct then I would be imprisoned, tortured, then killed before I get anything out of her."

Mcracken heard, in the undertones and subtlest of inflections within the naga’s erstwhile confession that Xzavior was not telling him the whole truth. While details of the lie-by-omission itself were not plain to him, the act of holding back words made a kind of anti-noise the kraken could sense very clearly. “I do not expect thee to spy for me,” he intoned, that grim look sinking into something more akin to ire, the way the kraken’s brows loomed over his strangely coloured eyes. “Nor to rush in and save the woman, in fact the damage wrought by an attempt would be… “ he just trailed off there, “I need to know whom it is I can trust. What is thy friend’s life worth to thee, snake-man? If thine loyalty hath a price, I can give thee gold aplenty.” His tone here suggested that he may suspect yet another reason to dislike the naga.

Xzavior made everything up on the spot when he lied. A tactic that usually worked to throw people off because when most lies are planned they are a lot easier to detect. Hesitant while talking was another dead give away. Start talking and keep talking. But in this case, he was telling the truth. He really didn't know much about her. Well, there was the whole nightmare thing but that, he didn't think, had anything to do with this. "If you had listened, rushing in isn't my style. I wasn't just thinking about myself when I was worried of getting caught, and after what I just said about her, you thinking that my thoughts on the matter is swayed with coin is very insulting. I'm a bastard, but I'm not heartless, fish man." He was starting to hate that whole "snake man" thing.

Mac, on the other hand, took no offense whatsoever at the fish reference, though he did note the bitterness in its tone. Perhaps it was the ‘nightmare stuff’ he was picking up on, perhaps something else.. in any case, there were still things unspoken between the two water-creatures, so Mac chose his next words very carefully, “Perhaps I ought to have said it differently: I wish to hire thee, naga, for a most dangerous task indeed, for which thou shalt be handsomely compensated.” He stopped talking then – waiting to watch and listen to Xzavior’s reaction.

Xzavior sighed and crossed his arms. Well, at least he caught the hint, "Look. If it has to do with Emilia, it wouldn't only be an insult to myself, but to the connection I have with her, if I accepted pay for freeing her. Unless the coin is for buying supplies for the mission, I'm fine. And if you're talking about something else, I'm going to need all the details you can give me on it before I even decide to accept." Gold was, for the first time in a bit, the last thing on his mind. He even knew that this was some sort of judgement of character and still what his choice was, was his actual choice.

Mcracken took all of that in, and then – smiled, faintly. “Thou didst say she gave you ‘jobs’, this drow-witch.. What I am asking is that thou dost accept a ‘job’ from me… And the reason that I must insist on offering thee adequate reward is that this game between the witch and I is much broader than merely the rescue of Emilia. Also, I wouldst be paying thee to do this ‘job’ without questions, for the less thou dost know, the less thou hast to tell, in the event thou art discovered.” He’d let this settle in the air while he re-filled his water-bag and added salt to it. After a long sip, the kraken continued, “It may, as this silent war unfolds, become most essential that the witch is fed certain information, at specific times. If thou hast contact with her, then letting slip this information that I wilt give thee may expedite the recovery of thy friend, or aid my own cause – or both. The compensation I offer is to allay the fact that you will never be told which it is.”

Xzavior finds himself playing the double agent yet again. Though this time it would be an accurate term. He obviously knew that knowing less kept you safer. But it was also a very dangerous risk that he would be taking. The end game might not be as pleasant as the kracken leads on and he contemplated that part carefully. The part that rubbed him wrong though was the last bit. "So let me get this straight. You want me to feed her information that you want her to know, and in return I get one of two outcomes that are completely out of my hands? That or your dialect is very confusing. Sorry, I speak many languages but your speech is a little dated."

Mcracken's horse had, while kraken and naga hashed out some kind of understanding, drunk her fill and then wandered off to nibble the lush green grass that grew in patches where the forest canopy let dappled sunlight through. The seaborn chuckled at Xzavior’s comment, before he rose to summon the mare with a shrill but quiet whistle. “It hath been a long time, snake-man, since I walked the dry world and spake to its denizens. Let me make it as plain as I can… “ By then, the mare had ambled back over to the fishing-hole, still chawing on a mouthful of rich greenery. Mac snorted a greeting to her and vaulted onto her bare back amid a welter of creaks and groans from his dried-out joints. From horseback, he continued speaking to Xzavior, “The outcome will be the same: if all goes to plan, thou wilt get thy friend back, and I wilt regain what was lost to me. That is all thou needst know, for the immediate future.” Mac leaned down to squint at Xzavior, then, over the neck of the mare. “How is it that such pure hearts as Lady Pilar and the ice maiden call thee ‘friend’, yet thou art capable of deception toward them, and to cruelty such as that I witnessed?” he said it as if he wasn’t really talking to the naga, as much as pondering the problem aloud. “Perhaps thou canst tell me thy opinion on it, when next we meet… But for now, I must go. Tell me, dost thou agree to my terms, naga – or no?” Mac was eager to seek out Sabrina, whom Pilar had mentioned was also a friend of the kidnapped woman.

Xzavior raised a hand as to stop him, "There are many things you don't know about me. Don't be so quick to assume you got everything, when in fact, you may have nothing. Another thing, stop calling me 'snake man,' kracken. Call me Xzavior, or something less derogatory." He didn't answer right away but finally with a sigh he said, "You better not get me killed." Before turning towards his cabin and making his way home.

The white mare bearing Mcracken trotted after the naga as he slithered away, her rider not quite done with the conversation yet. “One more thing I would ask of thee, sna... Xzavior. Mention none of this… to anyone. Not thy closest friend, even. No-one, for secrecy is our best weapon against the witch.”

Xzavior glanced over at Mcracken as he came by, "I know. I'm not really into digging myself into a hole that's bigger then it is right now. Your secret is safe with me." He grumbled as he sped up a bit. He needed a drink. Or three.