Questionable Entrance

[Albert Wesker]

When the ground gave way, Kuzan didn't even have time to get out a "whoa" before his horse went plummeting through the concealed pit. The landing was rough, and painful, for both the riders and their mounts, but speaking luckily, it seemed that the riders, at least, were relatively unharmed. Kuzan suspected at least one of the nasty-sounding crunches had been from his icy prosthesis, and as he floundered in his efforts to get out from under his mount, he felt as well as heard a slight grinding and crunching of ice that confirmed just that.

Looked like his ice wasn't exactly bulletproof anymore. Fantastic to know.

As Ornstein managed to find his feet, Kuzan set both hands on his mount, and with an effort on his part, managed to assist the animal in getting its weight off of him long enough to drag his legs -- well, leg and the stump of the other -- free from their confines. He made a valiant effort to regain his footing and stand, but with only one leg and the sudden return of the purple-clad stranger, he failed, dropping to a knee.

With a scowl on his face, he looked up at the man as he stood on the edge of the pit. Lowering himself, he crouched at the edge of the pit, a pleasant grin on his features. "Places just aren't safe anymore lately. No matter where you go, really... Pirates at sea, bandits on the roads, thieves in the city. It's a dangerous world we live in, gentlemen." As he spoke, a pair of much less friendly looking types strode up behind him, their heavy boot treads announcing their presence before their ugly mugs came into sight over the lip of the pitfall.

"Isn't that right, boys?" A simultaneous chuckle came from the pair of thugs, both nodding in agreement. "We're just here to pass on some hard-earned lessons to the ill-prepared, really. Of course, we do accept payment from our grateful students, and we gratefully appreciate your contributions."

"What sort of instructor need so callously force lessons upon others?" Ornstein said, his voice rising in anger. Well-suppressed it might have been, but it still colored his tone just enough to be noticed. "You are nothing more than a common thug!"

The statement might as well have been a slap across the man's face. He stood bolt upright, staggering back from the edge of the pit, looking a mixture of mortified, outraged and completely and utterly confused all at once. He opened his mouth, let out a sputtering "Y-You...!" and snapped his jaw shut, staring down at them with a look of cold anger in his eyes, but his face quickly flicking back to the mask of friendliness and harmlessness of before. "That was uncalled for, my good sir... I may be a forgiving man, but even I can't let such a slight go unpunished."

In all the commotion, Kuzan had managed to repair his prosthesis, regaining his ability to stand. "Arara..." He looked first down at their mounts, who had been injured beyond the point of riding them any further by the fall, shaking his head slowly. In disappointment, a touch of sadness, and no small amount of disgust and anger. The comment about pirates had set off a spark in his brain. He'd dealt with his fair share of pirates -- more than his fair share, if he was honest -- and had no love for them, with a few very special exceptions. And a highwayman was little more than a pirate that stuck to land routes as opposed to sea routes.

"That's a shame, you know...you can't let that go unpunished." For a moment, his lazy demeanor broke and it was replaced with the cold, militaristic attitude when he had been under orders as an Admiral. "I can't let thugs and thieves go unpunished, either." An icy mist blew from his lips with the words, and subtle hints of frost started to grow over his body, chiefly at his hands. The temperature around him slightly dropped as he lifted his gaze back to the thugs. A dangerous glint flashed across his sunglasses as he remarked, "So I suppose....we have a problem here."