Torin did not hurry up, he was not entirely certain he should be letting this Avialea he had just met follow him back to his house, but Aurin was aware, and Torin was not entirely helpless anymore, even on his own. When he approached the other man again and his arm was grabbed his feet automatically fell into the fighting stance he had been practicing with the Leukos twins. He didn't try to pull away but he did give the taller redhead a look that was halfway between concern and warning.
He tried to dig his heels in as he was pulled along in an oddly mad dash for the exit, but the effort was unneeded as a man stood in the way. It was a relief when the Avialea stopped instead of merely continuing to barrel through the room, but Aurelio didn't seem relieved. Quite the opposite, he seemed afraid. When the one man at the door suddenly became a group of men surrounding them at the door Torin's training from Aurin also kicked in. He wasn't sure who was the wronged party and who had done the ill deeds that had led to this surprising confrontation in a tavern owned by a prince of the city, but Torin was not willing to have his face beat in over it. He hadn't been involved, would have walked away had he been given the choice. But he had not been given a choice and, for the moment, whoever was right or wrong, his only ally was Aurelio.
Stepping a bit to the side he turned so the two of them were back to back. The warm, solid weight of the taller man's wings against him was surprising, but he kept himself from glancing back to see what he was feeling.
He did not answer Aurelio, because boasting about his martial prowess would be a lie, and Torin was not good at lying. Telling the truth would not have helped either of them in the situation any more than the lie, so, instead, he squared his wide shoulders, tenses his forge-made muscles so they showed to best advantage, and made his large hands into two even larger fists.
Torin tried to keep up with the confusing conversation and not think about the oddity of meeting a man with golden skin for the first time on the same day that he met a man with silver skin for the first time. Suggesting to Aurelio that he had, in fact, been caught, also seemed like an unwise use of his mental energy, so Torin began to look for weaknesses. Was one of the men favoring his right leg? Was the one in the middle eyeing the two massive young men with a bit more hesitation than the others?
The training he had received from his mentor to find secrets suddenly found a whole new application for the blond as he steadily searched the eyes before him, the body language, trying to find the men who would break and run if they were pushed, and the ones who might conceal weapons in their sleeves. The bravado, the insults, they weren't the actions of men sure of their abilities. Men who were sure of their prize would have just taken it, the posturing spoke of fear, or, perhaps... Were they waiting for reinforcements?
If so it was a race against time; Torin had already seen the bartender send who of his potboys running for the city guard. This was the nice part of Kalzasi, there would be guard patrols close by, and this was the prince's establishment, Torin would be surprised if he didn't have his own set of guards to ensure that, in the often rowdy tavern, no one got out of hand and caused damage to the property.
When the violence came it was suddenly, Aurelio preempted the threats by pulling his belt knife and plunging it into the insulting man's chest. It must have hit his heart by the way the blood came fast and hard enough to spurt. Then the Avialea threw his only weapon. And missed. Torin winced. He knew better than to try to ape his only ally; his skills with his own belt knife would be less than those of his fists. He swung hard and high at the man to his right side who was momentarily distracted by the unexpected death of his comrade. He felt the small bones in the nose snap, though he'd used a closed fist instead of the flat of his palm that might kill. Aurelio seemed content to commit murder in front of a tavern full of witnesses but Torin just wanted to make it to the freedom of the street. The punch was hard enough to send the man over, stunned for the briefest of moments, but long enough to send him over a table.
Torin did not watch him fall, turning instead to the two other men on his side of the little circle. They were warier now, eyeing his arms and fists as if wondering when he might pull something deadly. It felt strangely good, behind the fear and adrenaline, being an object of fear himself.
The call to 'kill all the witnesses' did not seem to sit well with a tavern filled with men there to watch fights or get into them, and the sound of chairs scraping back as some patrons rose to make a quick exit, and others rose to give a physical opinion on the idea that they were sheep to be slaughtered.
The brawl was over in less than a minute as the fighting men of the High Hopes fell upon the hooded assailants like wolves. Torin got several more hits in, trying to aim for places that would cause significant pain but not enough damage to end any lives, but his participation after the first round of active defense and attacks was perfunctory. The hooded men were outnumbered at least five to one and even the bartender pulled an iron bounded cudgel from beneath the counter as he hopped over it to join the fray.
The city guard arrived in the next few minutes, tying the assailants securely and questioning whoever was willing to speak. Torin gave his story but there wasn't much to it, he didn't honestly know much. The tavern keeper offered a free round to anyone who had helped, but Torin didn't take him up on the offer. Aurin would be at the shop soon and if Torin did not arrive the redhead would worry. He didn't even feel as though he should wait for the healers who had also been called since the only hit he'd taken had been a hard punch to his side. Not hard enough to bruise any bones he'd barely felt it in the moment.
Nodding to Aurelio he said, having to raise his voice to be heard over all the hubbub around them,
"I'm going to go, you can still come with me if you want but I understand if you don't now that you're not in danger." He gave what he hoped was a friendly smile and headed for the door.