It had been too long since Cari had to find her mark.  The last one was a drawn out process and ended up with torture and teaching.  Cari smiled, it was a good day that day, but Demus was gone now, and Cari had to survive still.  But this mark left a clear trail, a clear trail right to the middle of Tar Valon.  Cari sighed as she saw the shining walls about her.  The Great Lord wanted this man dead, and so he would have it.  Cari tried to block out the fact that Demus had left but it was always a lingering pain.  She had no one else left to trust. *There is always Yearn* He's a bloodly light fool.*Yeah but he loves us, me anyway*  Shut up!  And silence echoed in Cari's mind at her mental command.  It was rare, but the shadow was pushing and pulling at her insides and she needed to keep control.  She could hear it softly laughing in her mind.  It was getting stronger and preying on her.  It wanted out.  Wanted to kill, to bleed someone to watch the blood drain from their bodies. It wanted a challenge, Cari could feel it's desire and it grew inside her as well as the final moments were approaching.

 

Cari made her way into town and to an inn that didn't have the highest reputation in Tar Valon.  There was no need to be near the tower, her mark was closer here.  Cari didn't have much with her, she tried to bring aslittle as possible when out on a kill even if it meant traveling for days.  Cari's sword was at her hip, and her daggers in their sheaths on her wrists.  That was about all she needed, clothes could be washed.

 

Cari made her way to her marks house.  It was dark inside and it was dark in the shadows. Cari slipped in through the window and let her eyes adjust to the moonless inside.  Cari slipped around the house till she found her mark.  Peacefully sleeping in the room alone.  Cari covered his mouth and his eyes shot open.  Cari smiled the whispered in his ear. "The Great Lord doesn't want you to share your information."  And in one quick motion she slit his throat from ear to ear.  Cari smiled and the smell of the blood tickled the back of her throat, she watched as the blood pooled around the body.  Cari heard a something break and fell down in pain.  The shadow laughed in her head manically.  The others paniced, they knew what had happened, Cari soon realized that the pain was gone and that she was no longer in control.  Not again.  It hadn't been the first time the Shadow had gotten lose, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

 

Cari tried to pull the shadow back but it just laughed as it left the way she had come in. 

 

The shadow took them to the walls of the great White Tower.  It stood in the shadows of the wall that guarded it.  The shadow mumbled.  "A challenge."  It was going to kill in Cari's former home, a place where she knew people.  She new this would not turn out well.

 

The shadow crept up to the top of the wall and hid in the shadows.  The Tower Guards were watching but they didn't see.  The shadows were dark.  One walked by the shadow and it waited, and watched and got the timing of their movements down.  There was one, who was well out of sigt of the others.  It was a split second, but it was enough.  The shadow reacted and grabbed the man before her.  She licked his neck then slit his throat.  She waited until there next moment and threw the body over the side of the wall.  The fall could kill him, she hoped it did.  Cari licked the blood that had fallen on her hand.  It was in control now.  Cari knew it was going to be a long ride.  Each kill would only fuel it's power more, and she may never get that control back, but she wasn't going to stop trying.  The shadow slipped back out of the Tower Grounds and watched it would find another mark soon.

 

Cari

 

 

 

(ooc: I'm assuming this is early morning, though it could also be evening; let me know if it matters and I'll change it)

 

Visar was up and moving just before dawn, beginning his exercises for fitness.  It was a few days now that he had been training, and already he was beginning to show better shape.  Yet he was getting tired of running around the practice yards every morning.  He decided he needed a slight change of scenery.

 

Where shall I go?  In the city?  Well, the city could be dangerous...Perhaps just outside the Tower Grounds will be alright.  he reasoned to himself.

 

He let the guard at the gate know what he was up to, and started running.  The sun was just coming up from the east, the sky a multi-hue of colors.  As Visar made his way around at a good pace, he noticed the walls' shadow lengthening.  Hesitating slightly, Visar cursed himself for a superstitious fool, and ran through where the shadow touched the ground. 

 

After a minute of running under the dark shade of the wall, Visar slowed to a stop.  Something was not quite right.  It felt almost as if someone, or something was watching him.  He glanced up at the wall, but couldn't see anyone.  He glanced at the streets, but found them completely empty of traffic.  No one was shouting and running business this early in the morning.  At least certainly not mid-town by the Tower.  Maybe over by the Harbors...

 

Visar glanced toward the wall, and stiffened as he saw a small, dark shape crouched beside it, almost completely hidden in the shadows.  In fact, if he had not stopped he would surely have missed it.

 

He paused, trying to figure out if it was a threat.  He hailed it nervously, trying to see if it would respond.  Silence.  After waiting for a couple minutes, Visar saw that the small shadow did not move.  After a while, curiosity won over fear, and he crept slowly towards the form.

 

As his eyes adjusted, Visar made out a small white splotch.  As he came closer, he recognized it as a tear-drop shape.  The Flame of Tar Valon.  It looked like the surcoat of a guardsman, he realized in shock.

 

He rushed over, and shook the guardsman, hoping with all his might that the man was just taking a nap.  But however hard he shook, the man would not wake up.  Visar knelt closer, and felt the man's face.  It felt cold and wet to the touch.  He knelt down, and tried to feel the man's neck as he had seen some men do.  Nothing.  Only sticky wet that came off on his hands. 

 

He was breathing heavily as he tried one last time to furiously shake the man by the collar.  He...He's dead!

 

He glanced around, trying to determine the cause.  The wall was a ways up; perhaps the man had fallen to his death.  It was too hard to see clearly or tell for sure.  Visar stood, his body trembling in fear.

Blood and Ashes!  What do I do?  I...I gotta report this!  But to who?!

 

Visar glanced around, but saw nothing that might help him recognize the guard.  What was worse, he saw that he was almost completely isolated.  If the man hadn't somehow fallen by accident, what if the man's killer was still around? 

 

Burn My Soul! Standing here won't do me a thing!  This isn't the first time I've seen a dead man, either. Shape up!  I've I gotta go tell a guard!  They'll take care of this.

 

Visar took off, running as fast as he could around the walls to the gate.  He stopped in front of the guard from earlier.

 

Gasping for breath after the long sprint, Visar tried to convey the horror of what he had just witnessed.

 

"Th-th-th-ere..."

 

"Th-there's a man....a d-d-d-dead man!"

 

"On..."  "By the walls.  Th-that way!"  Visar jabbed a finger back where he had just come from.

 

The guard nodded, and spoke to the other guardsman looking after the gates.  Then, three of them took off running to carry the message.  One to the gatehouse, one to the barracks, and one to the White Tower itself.

 

Visar stood there, feeling as useless as a fish out of water, waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

Bryon was sitting in his office as usual. A furious knock came and a tower guard with out waiting for an answer burst in. "Someone's dead!"  He explained what had transpired and Bryon let out a sigh.  Either this was a fool man's joke or it was real, he'd find out one way or another.  But he wasn't going to do the dirty work, he was to busy.  Bryon stood outside his office and waited until the first person passed by.  It was Kynwric Gaidin.

 

"Kynwric, I have a job for you.  Go with this good men and see what it is they are on about and find out who did it."  It was a direct order, and he was sure the Gaidin would follow it, he hoped that it wouldn't interfer with whatever the man's Aes Sedai set him about, but he needed someone trustworthy about this.

 

OOC:  Kyn, can you go calm Visar down and start your investigation... I will start the open thread in a few mins but I think Visar needs a bit of assiantance for his character dev in finding a dead body.

 

Bryon

"Kynwric, I have a job for you.  Go with this good men and see what it is they are on about and find out who did it."

 

Kynwric turned to regard Bryon ashe was given this order, he nodded his assent while saying "Of course."

He turned to look at Visar and beckoned him calmly. "Come on, show me what you've found." He figured it was likely some other trainees idea of a joke, but this boy looked as if he had seen a ghost. He also looked as if he was about to yammer on ceaselessly. "Keep quiet lad, I don't want to know anything till after I can see the scene for myself. You have been taught how to calm your nerves, yes?" Kynwric asked more to put him at ease than he actually wanted to know.

 

As they approached the scene Kynwric told Visar "Stand back, let me have a look first. Then I'll have questions." And he slowly approached the body, taking in the scene. A high wall, and the corpse was enough of a mess for the fall to have been the cause. The top of that wall was a secluded spot, on a normal patrol route, nothing unusual for the man to have been here if he was on patrol. He squtted near the body taking care not to step in the blood which seemed to be oozing from near the man's neck. He checked just below the man's collar and there it was, wound to the main artery. Nicely done and professional looking, or at least someone who knew how to kill. Finally Kynwric turned the man's head to see who this Guardsman was, wiping some of the blood on the man's tunic he recognized the face. Charlen. He remembered the Tower Guard from some time ago, he did not know him well enough to have more than a cursory sorrow. Too many years of having people close to him die had hardened him to caring about any but his closest friends and family. He took a thorough look around the rest of the scene and did not notice anything else amiss. Eventually he turned to look at Visar and then turned to walk towards him. "Alright, tell me what you saw... did you touch anything? Move anything? Take anything?"

Someone who looked like they were in charge finally arrived, and instructed Visar to show him what he had found.  Visar started to voice something, though he was unsure whether to protest going with someone he didn't know, or to just describe what he saw to the man to try to make sense of it all.

 

But the man quickly told him to be quiet and to calm down, so Visar tried, focusing on his orders, and trying not to think about anything else.  He quickly led the man round the wall to the place where the body was.  The shadows were no longer quite as long, with the sun slightly higher in the morning sky, and so the surcoat of a guardsman was a bit more clear to see.

 

"Stand back, let me have a look first. Then I'll have questions."

 

Visar nodded and hung back where the sun still shone, glancing down at his hands.  With a sudden feeling of disgust, he realized that they were smeared with blood from touching the body.  Hastily he wiped them on his tunic, but the stains did not completely go away.

 

The man inspected the body, and turned back to Visar.  Now came the questions. 

 

"Alright, tell me what you saw... did you touch anything? Move anything? Take anything?"

 

Visar took a deep breath, and told his story.  He almost managed not to stutter.  Almost.

 

"I was out for a morning run, and I saw a shadow by the wall when I came round.  I d-didn't know what it was at first, so I went closer.  I f-found his body.  I...I shook him a few times to try to wake him, hoping he might have only b-been asleep, but he was d-dead when I found him.  I was sure of that.  I ran back as fast as I could back to alert the guards." he concluded in a rush.

Kynwric nodded and took a deep breath. "Very well, go wash up and change clothes and return to your regularly activities. If I have any more questions for you I will contact you." He turned to look back at the body and then back at Visar. "One last thing, do you know this guardsman?"

 

Once Visar answered the question Kyn dismissed him and turned back to the scene of the murder and was talking to himself. "Need to go up there." Glancing to the top of the wall and then back down. "Since he was obviously stabbed up there." Hearing the tromp of boots coming up the stair Kyn turned to see the detail had arrived to deal with the body and he gestured for them to continue on, admonishing them to be careful and let him know if the found anything. He then tromped his way up onto the top of the wall to see if he could find anything.

"Very well, go wash up and change clothes and return to your regularly activities. If I have any more questions for you I will contact you."

 

"Yes, sir!" Visar replied, wondering how in the world he would do things normally with a guardsman mysteriously dying, maybe even murdered.  The man asked another question.

 

"One last thing, do you know this guardsman?"

 

Visar glanced at the guardsman, wondering whether his answer meant anything.  But as far as he knew, he didn't know the man.  He shook his head and said.

 

"No, I don't know him."

 

After that, the man dismissed him, and Visar was more than happy to comply and get away from the scene of death.

 

First things first...need to wash this filth off me, and then maybe I'll get busy enough to forget about it.

 

Yet he feared he would not forget the first stain of disruption in his new life, just as he never forgot that moment that ended his old life in Tear.  Both murders...both with a knife, too it looked.

 

Shuddering, Visar tried to push it to the back of his mind, and picked up the pace back to the Tower Grounds.

 

Kynwric watched the young man go for a minute, He is hiding something...but not this I don't think. He then turned back to his 'crime scene' and traversed the stairs up to the wall and began to search that area as well. Unfortunately it did not seem that he was going to turn up any more clues from this scene and Light... the sun was already high in the sky. Loraine will simply have to understand, there is no shirking this duty... it holds too much importance.