Sorran stalked towards the murderous Honour Guard, who was laughing, unaware of anything around him. He sensed the crowd's eyes on him, suspicious as he drew ever closer. "Enough!" Sorran shouted, grabbing Daran'ee's shoulder roughly and forcing him away from his victim. The heretical Sangheili lifted his head out of the water as the Honour Guard's pressure lessened, gasping and pale faced, moments away from death. "What do you think you're doing?" the Honour Guard demanded of Sorran, drawing up to his full height. Sorran sighed, knowing what was about to come. "That Sangheili was exercising his religious freedom. You have no right to kill him!" Sorran replied aggressively, drawing courage from an unknown location. The heretic was lying on the ground, water spurting out of his mouth. Daran'ee didn't reply, instead dealing Sorran a heavy blow in the jaw. He staggered back, reeling and dizzy. A few moments later, Sorran felt his own head in the raging Honour Guard's grasp, and was suddenly forced underwater just like the heretic had been. Sorran's mouth opened in shock, and a torrent of water flooded his mouth, seeping into his lungs. He immediately closed his jaw, attempting to stay calm. He tried to draw his head back above the surface, but he was well and truly trapped by the other Honour Guard's grasp. His arms were still free however, stuck high up in the air above the water. And he still had his weapons at his belt. Sorran groped around his waist until his hands clasped around something familiar -- the hilt of his sword. Driven by some deep Sangheilian instinct, Sorran activated the energy sword with one fluid movement, slicing through its sheath and slicing the Honour Guard who was him in the stomach. Daran'ee gasped as he felt the burning blade sear his skin, and his grip faltered. Not hesitating for even a moment, Sorran drew his head out of the water and drove the full length of the blade deep into the Honour Guard's chest. Purple blood sprayed out of the gaping wound only to be turned into a gaseous, fuchsia vapour. Sorran shoved the very much dead Guard of the end of his quivering blade with a noise of disgust, and found himself the subject of many horrified eyes. The Prophet who Daran'ee had protected had was frozen with shock. The only sensible thing to do was to run. Drawing out a plasma pistol, he fired a few warning shots at the outraged crowd behind him, and they fled in the opposite direction instantly. The Prophet was barking orders at them, demanded that they rip Sorran to pieces. His words fell on deaf ears. Sorran turned to bolt, and nearly tripped over as his foot connected with the petrified heretical Sangheili who had started all this trouble. "If you wish to live, you had better follow me," Sorran hurriedly snapped at the shell shocked Sangheili, who was staring with unseeing eyes at the Honour Guard's corpse. Growing annoyed, Sorran kicked him in the ribs, dragging him back into reality. "Run!" Sorran barked in an uncharacteristically stern and commanding tone. The Sangheili nodded, coughing up one last spurt of water and staggering to his feet, which seemed unsteady. Sorran looked behind him, and saw a group of Sangheili Constabulary step out from a Shadow transport, starting after Sorran and his new friend. Their armour was slow and cumbersome however, and soon Sorran had darted into a dark, old alley, practically dragging the heretical Sangheili behind him. He listened for a few moments, before pausing. "We lost them," Sorran stated with relief, letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Spending more time in a prison was not one of his top priorities. "They tried to [i]kill[/i] me!" the heretic was gasping out, nearly babbling nonsense. Sorran wheeled on him then, spurred on by anger and distress. "Did you really expect anything different? Spouting blasphemy, challenging the words of the hierarchs? Had it not been for my far too charitable hand, you would be lying at the bottom of that lake right now!" And then, to Sorran's complete horror, the Sangheili began to cry, shedding tears freely and without restraint. He realised he'd gone too far. "I apologise if I came across as harsh, but by the gods brother, what I spoke was the truth. You [i]must[/i] be more careful about what you say, especially in these troubled times," Sorran consoled the husk of a Sangheili softly, looking down at his trembling body with pity and compassion. [i]Besides, have I not done things just as idiotic in the past -- if not more so?[/i] "Don't leave me!" the weeping Sangheili suddenly burst out, clinging onto Sorran's leg with dogged determination. Sorran sighed audibly. [i]Why me[/i]? After much deliberation, he finally reached a sensible decision. Well, in his eyes at least. "Worry not dear brother, my Master's house is a place of refuge. I shall take you there. We have much to discuss."