Jilleen didn't need to be told twice. Even if people called her an abomination, she had good control over herself, and she wasn't going to fly off the handle just because the king was out and about. Adellah knew that she was beautiful and graceful and didn't care. Jilleen had to care very much. Her charms and her dancing could mean the difference between them being written off as talented performers or being recognized as who they were and surrounded before they could change back.

Jilleen was more inviting than graceful, her moves provocative and enticing instead of emotional and theatrical, but she got the job done. She couldn't count how many eyes were on her, but she was certain that everywhere on her body was being explored...and probably worse.

As Jilleen sat to take a rest, Damion called to the crowd to join him adn his lovely partner for a dance on the ring floor. With that he begins to play a healthy jig, and people swarm into the ring. Damion turns and quickly says between songs to Jilleen "Could you please go ask one of the others to kidnap us a member of the king's party. This confusion should provide enough of a diversion." He leaps into the next song, A lively tune that sounds sort of like the base line from "My Generation".

OOC: My Generation is a song by the who. if you claim to like classic rock and don't know this song that is bad.

The Healer's tent. There his prey and the Healer tending to him waited... and another. standing guard are we? Why? Do you suspect that he is hunted? Do you know why?

By any normal means, it ought to have been easy to walk into the tent, slaughter the healer and the peasant that stood guard over him, and kill his prey, in seconds before any guards could arrive, and yet...

...and yet his sixth sense told him otherwise. That peasant was more than a peasant, though what, he could not say. Somehow he knew that it would not be as simple as all that. Better left till someone, one of them left the room. Then he couldd strike, swiftly and without mercy, as he always did.

Thomas was on his stage, performing his routine. His stage consisted of poles that were very high off the ground, several trapezes, and a large net near the ground, in case he slipped up.

Thomas twirled through the air with quickness and agility, pleasing the crowd with death-defying flips and spins. Every so often, Samuel would hop down from his perch and join Thomas in his act, flying loops around Thomas's suspended body midair.


While everyone was about doing their business, King Roland the VII made his entrance to the Grand Celebration. He was seated upon a lavishly decorated chair, connected to large oak poles which were carried on the shoulders of several slaves. He wore lavish robes of deep purple and crimson. A crown rested lightly on his head, and a ceremonial sword hung at his hip. There was a wide ring of soldiers surrounding King Roland at all times. No commoner was able to get within 15 feet of the King, and that was the way Roland liked it.

The King looked about the place in a slight disgust. He looked down to his side, where a very tall young woman with dark grey hair was walking along.

"Look at them, Nerrana. Such a pathetic lot. They plod through their days, doing only what is necessary to keep moving. But on days like these, they move with great energy, simply devouring the hours."

The woman looked up, her face never changing.

"They do what they can to survive. I respect them for that. It's only when they demean themselves through such events that they earn my spite."

King Roland looked around at the carnival, not very amused.

"They call this a celebration? Where are the gladiators? Now THAT is an event. Two warriors entering a ring, there for no other reason than to eliminate the other. The anger. The passion. There's no better way to enjoy a special occasion."

King Roland turned his head slightly, and saw a man flipping through the air on trapezes, landing lightly on each post, simply to flip back and do it again. He smiled a little.

"Maybe we can have some fun with this after all."

Roland snapped a finger, and an attendant came in close.

"Slave. What does that performer do?"

"He's an acrobat, sir. He does amazing feats in the air. He's a big hit with the children. He has a pet hawk that he allows them to pet, and he'll even fall down into the net, if they ask."

King Roland smiled widely.

"Slave. Go to that performance stage, and have the net removed. Then request that the man do his jump."

The slave stuttered.

"But..but sir. Wi-without a net, the man could -"

"The man could die. I know, slave. Now go do what I say."

The slave rushed off to perform his tasks.

King Roland looked back down at Nerrana.

"These circus people will do anything. Even jump to their deaths. It's not a gladiator fight, but at least it's blood that will stain the grass."


Thomas was currently on the ground, playing with the children. One of them was hanging from his left arm, which he used to lift the young boy off of the ground. Samuel was flapping around the children's heads, delighting in their giggles. Just as Thomas set the boy back down, he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned, and saw a pitiful looking slave.

"Excuse me, sir. The King requests that you perform one of your jumps."

Thomas looked at the slave, then looked at the King. The King stared at him with an evil smile. Thomas's hood was up, so his eyes were covered in shadow. His long black hair flowed out though. Obviously, the King hadn't recognized him.

"Fine. Anything the King pleases."

Thomas grabbed the pole, and quickly scaled its height. When he reached the top, he looked down. He noticed his net was gone.

"That sadistical bastard... I had harbored some small hope that there was a mistake in the assassins. But, if he takes enjoyment in watching the innocent suffer, then something bad has happened." Thomas sighed. They would have to kill the King after all.

The drums began to play, and Thomas jumped from the pole. He reached out and grabbed a trapeze. He flipped on the trapeze, letting go at the height, and soared up higher into the air. Then, he fell.

As Thomas plummeted to the ground, King Roland leaned forward in anticipation. He couldn't wait for the impact. The lumping sound heard when the soft body hit the hard earth. The crack when the ribs shattered. The slight sucking sound from the lungs filling with blood.

But his fantasy shattered.

Before he landed, Thomas positioned himself so that his feet were below him, and his knees were slightly flexed. It was a technique Thomas had learned long ago. When falling at great heights, you should make sure that you spread the force through your entire body, instead of allowing it to concentrate on just your legs.

Thomas landed, making a divot in the ground.

The crowd applauded loudly, shouting and whistling. Thomas stood up. His hood had flown backward in the fall. King Roland could now see his eyes. His brown eyes. The eyes that were concentrated on him. The eyes that were piercing his soul.

And the scar over the right eye.

That scar! That blasted scar! The scar that kept him up at night. The scar that taunted his waking memory. That scar.

King Roland stood up in his chair and shouted.

"Gaurds! Arrest that man! Arrest him now!"

The gaurds came from around King Roland, and fanned out toward Thomas. His identity found out, Thomas had no more reason to stay inconspicous.

When a gaurd got in close, Thomas grabbed his arm, shattered the elbow, and kick-pushed him into the next closest gaurd. He twirled over another gaurd, grabbing his hand and pulled it up by his neck, forcing him to spin to quickly to block, and punched him in the face.

As Thomas was about to continue going, the gaurds caught his attention. They had picked up the boy he had been playing with before. And they had a sword to his throat.

"Come quietly, or the boy dies."

Thomas gave little hesitation. He raised his hands, and the soldiers grabbed him. They pushed him towards King Roland, and dropped him to his knees. King Roland smiled, his face filled with malice.

"So. The legendary Hawk Knight returns to Incrad. Amazing. Truly amazing."

King Roland looked to the gaurds.

"The other knights must be here too. Search the grounds. Imprison the entire carnival. No perfomer, gaurd, or slave shall escape. Throw them all in the dungeon, and find the Knights!"

King Roland looked down to Thomas as the Hawk Knight was dragged away. The look of hate in Thomas's eyes didn't frighten him. It was that blasted scar.

(OOC: Time to get caught.)

He smiled up as he heard Thomas' act getting a very good review and then was a bit caught off gaurd at the following gasp. He peeked his head out to see about ten guards just standing there and they didn't look very nice. They raised thier swords but stopped as he put up a finger then drank a cure. He grew back up to the original Niall and fell back inside.

They followed and were greeted by Forte's teeth and the sight of Niall putting on his cloak. He picked up his club and head out looking across the newly created battle field. He pulled up about five firewave potions in his left hand and began his walk down to the center stage, "Well Forte now the show has truly begun!" He saw more gaurds coming and laughed as he happily crushed them with his club and went on, "Let us not disapoint them!"

OOC: *In the background plays Stalker Goes To Babylon*
Also if you haven't read my news in the sign in thread do it now.

Rulick had been walking along to check out the circus, and the collapsed tent, when all of a sudden he saw Thomas' little spectacle front of the king. This was bad, now they were all going to be hunted down, and the innocent circus folk were going to get caught in the middle of it. This wouldn't stand in Rulick's mind, he wouldn't let it happen.

"Damn you, Roland. What happened to you?" he thought as he pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get to the place where Roland was. It was difficult, but he made his way there in a minute or two. It was only then that he was confronted by about five guards, and with the orders to arrest anyone in the circus or anyone who got near, they immediately went after Rulick. He was quickly overpowered, but able to fight, and these guards seemed to want to kill him for some reason. He was quickly forced to hit one of them with his left arm, and the punch pulled his sleeve back rather easily, revealing the scars on his arm.

"Those scars... IT'S THE DEMON HUNTER!" one of the guards screamed as he readied himself for the upcoming fight.

"Dammit..." Rulick muttered to himself. This was getting bad, they knew who he was now, he had no choice. Covering himself in his armor, but not summoning the Pain Blade, Rulick pushed his way through the guards in front of him. He was quickly in the clear, and started sprinting toward Roland, his glowing red eyes seeming to glow with a hatred they'd never shown before. It wasn't long before this demon was charging through the line of knights guarding the king. The green form made it through, but was quickly subdued by a group of angry guards.

"What happened to you Roland?! You've become no better than the people you fought a year ago!" A piercing glare of red went straight to the king's eyes, the shape of Rulick's demonic armor and intensity of his glare making him seem like he wouldn't show any mercy if he got to the king. "YOU'RE AN EVIL AND SADISTIC BASTARD NOW! YOU SHOULD ROT WITH THE DEMONS IN HE--" He didn't get to finish his screaming as two guards started hitting him on the head as hard as they could until he was obviously unconscious. To make it even more obvious, his armor dissolved away to reveal Rulick without a disguise, breathing lightly and definitely unconscious. Roland's guards started hauling the limp body away as they looked over the man to see if he was hiding anything.

Damion lifted the long horn with the clever little dart hidden inside and aimed at the young woman beside Roland. Thomas wanted Roland alive so Damion fired at the young woman who he missed, but he did manage to take out a man who appeared to be a captain in the king's guards. Roland turned and shouted something, Damion didn't hear what. He turned and kicked the nearest guard in the chest, dove for his bag, and tossed the claymore he had hidden within it to Jilleen. Then the gaurds mobbed him. As they began to drag him away, he lashed out and dug his teeth into the guard holding his left arm's neck. He laughed a demonic laugh even as the guards pummeled him into unconciusness.

Cecilia heard the commotion before she saw it. Before long, guards were rushing around the circus camp. Even her new disguise wouldn't help her now, she saw, since the guards were rounding up even the innocent circus performers.

A few feet in front of her was the group's wagon of goods. <If only I can get my arrows,> She dashed to the wagon and quickly rooted through and came upon her bow. Her eyes caught sight of her small knife, and she tucked it in the folds of her dress, hoping if she was caught, the guards wouldn't find it. Strapping on her quiver, she climbed on top and started shooting. She was hindered by so many innocent civilians running amidst in the chaos. Before long, a group of the guards, armed with sheilds stormed the wagon, she tried to hold them off, but before she knew it, one was right next to and had siezed her arm.

Cecilia yelped as the guard roughly twisted her arm behind her back, "Come with us or I'll break your arm like a twig, Archer. Wouldn't be much of an archerer with a broken arm, would you?" He sneered, and one of the other guards seized the quiver and bow from her before she could act otherwise.

Dragging her roughly, with her arm twisted behind her back, the guards brought her to King Roland, "We got this one, Your Majesty."

(OOC: getting caught is always the best part. heh ^^; )

Jilleen offered herself up without incident, and was a little surprised to see that one of the knights who taken her under captivity was the young knight who thought she was his sister. She wondered how she could use to her advantage.

She was also playing another game. Jilleen was obviously very beautiful, and if the king was also a horrible womanizer as well, then Jilleen might be spared the dungeon for the harem chamber instead. But then what? She didn't know. She definitely knew who to take out rapists, but if they bound her and whatnot, she wouldn't be able to resist. Jilleen assumed a very feminine and vulnerable stature, her eyes misty with tears, her teeth gently clenched with anxiety, her body hunched like she felt she'd take a beating any second now. Something had to give.

Adin was standing and watching Wave perform when the commotion started. A few at first, but people started running past in panic. Guards came through the crowd, and spotting Haas and Phil, ran towards them. Two more ran to the net, apparently going to cut it. Wave, distracted by the guards, started to fall, bouncing into the net only moments before the guards managed to cut it. In her second bounce, she hit the ground with a loud smack, but apparently was unhurt as the soldiers pulled her roughly to her feet.

Adin was about to fight, but then remembered he hadn't interrogated Pilo yet. If he wasn't identified as a knight, there was a chance he would be put somewhere with the rest of the performers. Noting that his knives would be a dead giveaway, he quickly ducked into the crowd for a moment and removed them all. Slipping them into a few peoples' pockets, without anyone noticing, of course, Adin stood straight as the soldiers came up to him.

"Come here, you!" said one of the soldiers roughly.

Adin quietly went, knowing that hair and skin color were the biggest part of any disguise; it was unlikely anyone would recognize him.