Serious Ramifications

[GallusVastel]

Gallus crept through the woods, one foot over the other, eyes open. His bow was in hand, an arrow sitting easily within reach in his quiver. It was a cold day, this got to him, it made him feel guilty...about anything he was doing. He froze,
'Nice on.'
He whispered quietly to himself, he saw that his foot had almost trampled a pile of sticks, giving himself away if anyone was near. Letting out his breath, Gallus began to creep forward once again. As he was sneaking, searching for the target, his mind wandered back to the past few days.

He was sitting in the Hawk and Stallion, a small tavern just down the road from Marn, he never drank alone and did not count the bartender as a drinking partner. So he was sitting there, a glass of milk in front of him, he wasn't too fazed though, he hadn't come to drink, he came to meet someone.
The government official strode through the door, his eyes instantly saw Mr. Vastel, and he asked if they could be seated in a booth. Gallus happily moved, there was no attachment to a seat.
'So, Gallus...may I call you Gallus?' The official asked tentatively.
'Sure whatever is fine.'
'Very well then. What I am about you is strictly off the record, alright? This cannot come back to us. Am I understood?'
Gallus did not know the official, didn't even know his name. Nothing ever came back to them, he did not have a high opinion of this man.
'It won't.'
'Excellent. You know you have quite the reputation within our order.'
Gallus knew this already, but he decided to play the game.
'Really?'
'Oh yes. I spoke with a colleague of mine recently, asking about discreet third-party jobs and he pointed me straight to you.'
'Of course he did.'
He wasn't trying to sound conceited, it simply came out that way, he was just telling the truth.
'What can I assist you with then?'
'This isn't strictly business Mr. Vas...Gallus. My niece lives near here, she hunts mostly, just to survive. Anyway one day she was out, a small group of mages jumped her, they must have been at least somewhat adept as they held her hands up in the air and took what little gold she had without even touching her.'
Gallus knew this was bullshit, this official probably had no niece. This was just another story, Gallus had no idea why this official had it out for these mages (If they even were Mages) and to be honest he didn't care.
'Right.'
'You have...experience with mages?'
'None too powerful but yes.'
'Brilliant. I know they spend most of their time within the forest, as per usual you'll get half now, half later.'
Gallus simply nodded.
The official handed over a medium-sized coin purse, relatively full too. Then he passed a smaller coin purse, looked at Gallus and simply said:
'Expenses.'
Vastel just nodded.
The two stood up from the table, Gallus downed his tall mug of milk, the official giving him a strange look. He returned to his place at the bar, whilst the official proceeded to leave. As he opened the door he stopped briefly, turned to Gallus and said:
'Mr. Vastel?'
'Yeah what?'
'If this comes back to us, there will be very serious ramifications, both on you and ourselves. You should pray it does not.'
Gallus just stared him down, so that was it. This was some typical government bullshit. It was okay, he got paid, a few mages left the world, no harm no foul (Well except for mages, but he tried not to think about that).

Gallus could hear voices now, two females and one male. Speaking to each other, he slipped an arrow into the bow. Silently watched the trio. He noticed the leader, a female, was an elf.
'Oh for goodness sake there Tria! How many times must I tell you, concentrate! And you Harris, keep those hands up!'
Elves. Typical rudeness. Gallus guessed that the two humans were students of some kind. He looked around the camp, dead animals were hung up, strange markings on the ground and odd crystals. These people were doing sacrifices. Gallus had no idea if this was illegal, but it sounded like it was. He drew his bow back, aimed right at the elves neck. If he could get her, the other two would fall easily.
He let out his breath, focused, felt his fingers lightly gripping the arrow, he was in the state now. His old teacher Pyrus had called it The Marking. He let the arrow fly, and with a twang from the bow, fly it did. He saw it sail through the air in glorious slow-motion, he reached up to select another arrow, the current one was about to strike the elf, when it...stopped? The elf turned, saw Gallus, yelled to her students;
'INTRUDER! MURDERER!'
Gallus let fly another arrow, but it simply shattered in the air, he needed shield breaking arrowheads. He had none. The elf held her hand out as Gallus rolled to the side, the tree trunk where his head had been exploded in a shower of splinters and bark. How he hated mages.
He leaped forward into the camp, drew a dagger with his right hand and was about to slash the female humans throat when his arm broke. A loud snapping sound echoed out as his arm exploded with pain. He screamed and fell over, then found he was unable to move. The elf bitch held her hand over his head, muttered some incomprehensible word and his eyes started to shut, the world went dark..darker...he was out.

When he awoke, Gallus found himself with his hands bound and his arm still hurting. The elf was speaking with her two students.
'We have practised too long on simply rabbits and birds, the time comes now for an upgrade, to achieve true ultimate power, greater blood must be spilled. Human is just as efficient as elf or gnome, dwarf is naturally the lesser blood type. Gallus's eyes widened as he realised what these nut jobs were going to do. He was going to be sacrificed. He had to escape, find a way out...anything.