Sharcha, the serpentine

"Hey, cheer up. That nun didn't know what she was talking about. Besides, even if the arrow won't kill Arakarin, it'l definitely kill one of his underlings! SO, that's good, right?"

"I appreciate your attempts to help me, Sophie, but stop it. If it won't kill Arakarin, it's useless. The sages gave their souls for nothing."

Silence weighted heavilly on the travellers untill the door swung open hard.

"It's...IT'S...!!!" Everyone turned to find a man covered in cuts and impact marks. An eye was missing, seemingly recently lost. He fell, and a few women rushed to help him. He whispered something inaudible to most, and died. One of the women looked up with tears forming in her eyes. She tried to speak, but couldn't.

"Speak, woman! What did he say?!"

"....Sharcha. Sharcha is coming here." Crashes overlapped each other as stein after stein shattered on the floor.

"HERE!? What do you mean!? Where exactly!?"

"This tavern! He'll be here soon!" Panic took silence's place as the prevelant mood. Even the travellers weren't completely immune.

"Sharcha?! Why? What would he want here?" Sagus stood slowly and walked toward the door. "Where are you going, Sagus?"

"We're leaving, Sophie. Come on, before Sharcha gets here."

"We're just leaving!? What about these people?!" Sagus looked back, smiling.

"Tell you what. If we bump into him, we'll fight him, as fate intends. If not, we leave them to their fate. Deal?"

Marianne gasped. "How can you be so cruel, Sagus?!" He only winked and resumed going to the door. The girls followed.

Only a third-mile from the tavern door, the group encountered a dead-end. The road went on, of course, but it was blocked by a tall, very thin humanoid figure, cloaked in silver with sinister-looking gold designs on it. His face, like the travellers', was covered by a hood.

"You are blocking my way, little mages. I will not ask you to move, I will simply move you."

Sagus stepped forward, drawing a short sword from under his cloak. "You are Sharcha, right?" The being said nothing. "Show us your face, unless you are afraid."

The being paused, then laughed. "Afraid? Of what? A midget with a toothpick and his girlfriends?" Two long silver fingers came out from under a sleeve. They were much longer than any human's fingers, and super-flexible, despite lacking apparent joints. They hooked the hood and pulled it back, revealing his face. Human form, but with a more rounded front and a protruding nose and mouth area, like an animal. His skin was not skin at all, but bright silver scales, contrasted by his large golden eyes. His pupils narrowed to slits when the sunlight first touched them. He grinned as he dropped his cloak. Hs body was long and skinny, though obviously muscular. Again, his joints weren't immediately visible, almost as though his whole body was jointed. He dressed in dark grey, and had two daggers by his side. Daggers to him, anyway. To Sagus and his companions, they were more like short swords. "Yes," he said. "You are right. I am the one you suspect. One of Arakarin's highest-ranked followers. Sharcha, the serpentine!"