Homecoming

[Thom]

Thom walked through the forest easily picking the best path to the village. He was pretty sure that the message he had received was some sort of joke, but he had to check it out for sure. His brow furrowed as he tried to think of any reason he should even care if his mother was ill. It wasn’t as if she had ever cared for him in any way. She had actually been one of the first people to call for his banishment years ago. Just as he decided he really didn’t care and should go home before any trouble got started a man stepped onto the path. Thom squinted at the man trying to figure out who he was, and more importantly what he wanted. The man stepped forward and grinned “Hello Thomas, I’ve been waiting for you.” The bushes behind him rustled as four more men stepped out. As he looked behind him Thom shook his head, how could he have missed all five men? He brought his attention back to the first man and sighed “Hello Joshua, it’s been a long time.” Joshua laughed and pulled a parchment out of his pouch. He smirked as he handed it to Thom and said “I didn’t think that message would get you to come, but I’m glad it did. You’re under arrest for murder.” Thom blinked a few times and started to read the paper. “This is ridiculous” he said “I haven’t seen Samuel in a long time now…” Joshua shrugged “If nothing else you have broken the agreement that spared your life last time.” Thom looked up angrily “You know good and well I was always allowed to remain in the forest, just not close to the village. And besides, I wouldn’t have come except for the message about my mother.” “Then I guess we have to take you into the village eventually, but if it makes you feel any better it was your mother’s idea to send you that message.” He replied. Trying to think quickly Thom used the last thing he could to try and get away before Joshua lost patience and had his men attack. “Send a message to the Guardians in Trinsic. They will guarantee I come back for trial.” Joshua smirked “Why would I bother doing that? I already have you here.” He motioned to the men standing behind Thom and they stepped forward slowly, nervously eyeing the nightmare. Thom silently cursed himself for not having brought the Cu. “You’re about to make a huge mistake Joshua… I’m the emperor of the Guardians now.” Joshua laughed and turned to his men “I want him alive, but make it hurt. Maybe we’ll get a reward for capturing him now.” Thom motioned for the mare to stay and turned to face the four men. He knew Joshua would wait until the others took him down before joining in; the man had always been a coward. Noticing they didn’t have any weapons Thom stepped forward and caught the first in the face with a fist, dropping him to the ground out cold. The other three spread out a little forcing him to divide his attention. Thom tried desperately to avoid the blows coming from the others, and even managed to land a few of his own. But there were too many, he eventually caught a punch in the eye and staggered back a few steps. Taking advantage of Thom’s momentary lose of concentration one of the other men kicked at his knee. Thom almost managed to dodge the kick but it hit hard enough to send him crashing to the ground. The others took advantage of him being down and proceeded to kick him until Joshua called them off. Thom groaned in pain as he forced himself to his knees. Joshua stepped forward with his sword drawn and slammed the hilt into the back of Thom’s head, knocking him out.

[Calli]

Well... that explains a lot!

[Thom]

The sun was barely up when Thom woke and quietly dressed. He paused a moment at the door to the bedroom, watching Piper until he was convinced she was asleep before leaving and closing the door quietly behind him. He walked quickly down both sets of stairs and slipped out the front door. He closed the door softly and took a deep breath while setting off towards the Trinsic moongate.

He barely spared a glance at most things as he walked by, too absorbed in his own thoughts to worry too much about anything else. He slowed as he reached the gate, and took a long look around before stepping inside. He reappeared on the Moonglow side and set off towards the docks. He boarded a small boat and set off towards Fire Island, and ‘home’.

As he got closer to the island he removed his cloak, sash, kilt and apron; he folded them neatly and placed them under the bench. He let the boat drift in the currents whenever possible, only rowing when it was absolutely necessary; preferring to save every bit of strength he could for when he actually reached his destination. The closer he got to the island the darker his thoughts turned, and he began to reexamine why he was so insistent on going back again.

Before he could get very far with those particular thoughts the bottom of the boat scraped onto shore. Sighing softly he stepped onto the beach and pulled the boat a little further onto shore in case he needed it again. He turned slowly and scanned the surrounding area. There was no sign of any living person within sight of the beach, and Thom’s gaze eventually moved to the mountains where he would find the village.

He moved slowly through the underbrush, continuously scanning the area for any signs that someone had passed through recently. Before long he came to a clearing on the edge of town. He stopped just outside the protection of the trees, trying to decide where to go first. The choice was quickly taken from him though as a man spotted him and called for help.

Thom narrowed his eyes as he recognized the men that came in answer to the call for help. At the lead was Joshua, followed by all four of the men that had helped ambush him last time. The men were laughing as they walked up and formed themselves in a rough circle around Thom. “Well well, look what finally came back” Joshua sneered as he stopped directly in front of Thom. “Didn’t get enough last time?” Thom shook his head “I didn’t come back to fight with you. I just want the chance to defend myself against these charges.” Joshua laughed “you mean you came back to die then. We won’t make the same mistake twice; there won’t be anybody to come save you this time.” Thom let out a deep growl then shook his head again trying desperately to think of something to calm himself down. “Didn’t tell anybody you were coming did you?” asked Joshua with a smirk. Thom nodded “Actually, I did this time” he said. “Well, no matter - one body or two - makes little difference to me.”

The threat against Piper forced Thom to loose what little control he had left. Thom suddenly launched himself at Joshua with a growl coming within inches of ripping out his throat with his teeth. Joshua took a step back and tripped, saving himself from Thom’s teeth, but landing hard on his back. The two men to either side of Joshua both reached for Thom as he was preparing to attack again. The one on the right went down before touching Thom with a blowgun dart sticking out of his back. The one on the left managed to wrap his arms around Thom’s neck and haul him backwards before Thom managed to bite his arm, forcing him to let go. Thom didn’t even notice when the second man fell with a dart in his neck. Thom’s attention was drawn back to Joshua as he started scooting backwards. The third man caught Thom in the lower back with a kick before going down to another dart. The fourth man had managed to get his club out and swing at Thom, hitting him in the right shoulder before going down to another dart. The last man had been anxiously searching for where the darts were coming from since the first man went down, and finally spotted someone wrapped in a loose shroud in one of the trees. He took one look at Joshua and Thom and took off running in the opposite direction, eventually falling to a dart. By this time Joshua had backed up far enough for the figure in the tree to get a good shot at him and he was hit with a dart. Thom crouched down looking at Joshua’s still form; confused.

While Thom was examining Joshua the figure in the tree slid down the trunk until it was close enough to the bottom to hop down. Thom heard the sound of boots hitting the ground, and turned to face it with a growl. Mistaking the blow gun in its hand as a stick he charged the figure as it raised its free hand towards the bandana covering its face. The figure cursed and stumbled back while shooting a dart at him, which hit him in the arm, but it barely slowed him. The figure put some distance between them and shot him again. The second dart hit him in the chest, and the force of the combined tranquilizers finally overcame him, as he stumbled to his knees and crashed to the ground.