The Great Inner City Escape

You count the seconds in your head as you sit in the chair next to the sleeping Lexie. There isn't really much else to do so you kind of zone out and stare randomly off at the wall before you.

After what is about fifteen minutes the door to the room suddenly bursts open and Zoe rushes in "Darien! Get up, we gotta go!" she squeals out as she runs around the room grabbing a pack and shoving some of the vials that Queen Bree made up inside. "Hurry!"

"Zoe?!" you jump to your feet "What's going on?!"

She looks at you and raises an eyebrow at your blood and dirt speckled armor before talking "No time to talk, Edmin knows you're still here. I overheard the guards talking while I was looking for...well, you! Apparently some royalty members said they saw you in...The Slums?" she questions her words "So they told Edmin you were still in Rathkin and apparently he ordered them to find you and bring you to them."

"Oh shit..." you look around the room "Okay, fine. I'll carry Lexie!" you move over towards your Fiance and as carefully as you can you loop one arm under her knees and the other behind her back and slowly raise yourself up, lifting her out of the bed and into your firm grasp, letting her body rest along your lower chest. "But Queen Bree was coming back with a potion, one we need for Lexie!"

"No time for that, Darien!" Zoe exclaims "If Edmin catches us here we could be in biiiiiig trouble! Okay okay okay!" Zoe finishes packing the medicine into her pouch "Let's gooooo! It's escape time!!" she squeals out as she leads the way to the door, stopping at the entrance to look both ways down the hallway "Clear!" she turns her head back to you with a smile before sneaking out the door to the right.

You follow right behind Zoe's heels, with your Fiance in your arms you work down the hallway passing by many doctors, civilians and royalty members. Most don't pay any attention to the three of you but you know if Edmin knows you're here, there is only a matter of time before all the guards of Rathkin will be looking for you. Lucky for you, it's now getting dark out so you should be able to sneak around in the shadows if needed once you get outside.

"Oh no!" Zoe stops as you run into her back causing her to stumble forward "QUICK!" she lunges to the left inside a patient door and grips your hand, pulling you and Lexie in as well. At the same time she begins to close the door, keeping it cracked open so she can look out it "Guards!" she whispers as she continues to peer out the door.

Lucky for the three of you, this is another empty room. You quickly take a glance and see it's the same exact looking room as one you just left except with it being empty there was no torches or candles lite which meant the room itself was extremely dark.

"This is..." Zoe whispers as a row of two guards walk past the door "Awesome..." she grumbles.

"Huh?" your voice stays quiet.

"It's like...bandits on the run!" she illustrates her story, looking at you as her arms go in a slow sweeping motion "But... instead of being on the run from robbing or murdering someone, it's because..." she gives you sly grin and forms a circle with her thumb and index finger with one hand and then using the index finger of her other hand and pretends her hands are thrusting into each other "Sir Darien, the Queen fucker, strikes again..." Zoe's voice goes low and mysterious.

"Psssh, King Edmin doesn't know I fucked Queen Br..." you immediately retaliate, "W-Wait, y-you know?"

"On the run from the King of Rathkin...da da da!!" she fakes dramatic music "Will they survive?? Will they escape???" she continues her story "Or will the poor Sicilian Sunriders crash and burn all because Sir Darien couldn't keep his privates in his pants?" she turns to face you again and sticks her tongue out. "Oh, Darien, I know Edmin doesn't know you slept with the Queen but it makes a better story if we pretend he knows, yeah?" she raises her eyebrows up and down while nodding at you. "Just go with it!"

"W-What...what's wrong with you." you reply "And that's not what happened..."

"Not what Bree told us!" she grins "She confessed when you were gone, said she felt guilty." Zoe shakes her head at you in disbelief "Tsk tsk tsk! Darien, Darien, Darien! Still not me though! I won't sleep with you! Nope nope nope!" she hops in her place a few times "I know how to handle Darien's charm!" her right hand goes up to her lips as she thinks "Although, we did sleep together...but I mean, like, sleep sleep, not, other sleep!" she decides.

"Err, well..." you try to reason. "I can expla..."

"Shush Queen Fucker!!!" Zoe forces her words over your own as she lets out a soft laugh "Come on!" she waves you on as her head looks through the door and glances both ways "Coast is clear! The escape, continues!" she slithers back into the hallway and continues towards the exit.

Making your way out of the Infirmary was easy enough and when you got outside you figure it would be even easier. With just the afternoon sun slowly setting it would soon be pitch black out, maybe in another hour or so, which means as long as you stay in the shadows, it will make escape just that much quicker. You hug the side of buildings, walking through out the smallest alleyways you can. You let Zoe venture ahead for the most part and when she motions that it's all clear she gives you a wave and you follow behind shortly after.

Since you know the area better you continue to point and tell her the directions to go. You lived and breathed Rathkin for half a decade so you knew all the tricks. The biggest issue was, unless you slide down into the mote and work your way through the slums you were trapped inside the Inner City. There was no way you could walk through the front gates so your options were quite limited.

"What do you think we should do?" Zoe questions you as she breaths heavily from the constant exertion of running.

"Umm.." you ponder, trying best to think of a solution "What if...what if we go to Karisi's old house? We know that area, maybe we can hide in there, would Edmin think of that?"

"But that's deeper into the city..." Zoe mumbles out.

"Exactly. He would expect us to run away, not infiltrate in deeper."

"Ahhh!!" Zoe smiles at you "Clever Darien!" she taps your nose with her index finger "Clever clever clever!"

"Although..." you hesitate "I don't know what her house got turned into or who's living there now..."

"Whelp, it's our only plan for the time being so let's just give it a shot." Zoe's head moves up and looks over the pile of wood you are hiding behind, scouting the horizon "Come on, Queen Fucker!" she laughs "Time to go..."

"Will you stop calling me..."

"Eek!" she let's out a louder than normal shriek "Guards!" she ducks back behind the pile of wood. You can hear the march of a handful of guards jogging around the grounds most likely in search for the three of you. Her head peers over the pile once more as the sounds of their footsteps fade in the distance "Okay, let's gooooo!" she sings as she stays hunkered down and moves deeper into the Inner City.

The three of you make your way further into Rathkin, hugging the walls and dodging many of the searching guards of Rathkin. As you turn some final corners you can see the house that belonged to Lady Karisi in the distance. You were nervous for what the house has become but you also knew you needed a place that you could hopefully hide and you thought this might be the best place for it.

"Darien..." a weak voice echos out from your hold.

"Lexie!" you look down at her as you continue to cradle her in your grasp "How are you feeling?"

She groans slightly but forces a smile up at you "Alright, a little...drowsy and sore but...uhhh..." she let's out a grunt before her eyes close again and she immediately is out again.

"Lexie? Lexie??" you whisper at her, noticing her breathing has gone back to normal. "We gotta find someplace to rest, I can't put her body through all this stress..."

"Look." Zoe points as you crouch down and look towards the entrance "No guards there but..." her hand drifts off to the side, looking where all the marble fountains and shrubbery is "Just...nothing?" she questions.

"Karisi's old chambers." you mumble "Let's go there, it's big, plenty of room, has a bathroom with a tub for water. Hopefully whoever is in control of it will either not be around for a few hours or will accept our presence." you take a deep breath "Pray it'll be some royal member of Rathkin who will accept your stay."

"Karisi's chambers eh? Of course you know where that is!" Zoe chuckles "The Queen Fucker strikes again!" Zoe turns red as she gasps for air between her laughs "A-Although..." she wheezes "I guess at the time she wasn't a queen..." her hand goes to her chin as she ponders "But she is now, so I guess it still counts." she continues talking to herself.

"Focus, Zoe!" you yell at her in a whispered tone causing the high commander to regain her thought.

"Yes! Yes! Let's go!!" Zoe motions, staying toward the bushes and walking as softly as you can to the main entrance. She cracks the door open and peers inside only to quickly jump back out and throw her back into the wall next to the door "Lots of guards! Like, lots and lots and lots and lots of guards." she looks at you before she goes back to the crack in the door and looks in. She studies the room for a few moments before looking back at you "Although they aren't dressed in armor and appear to be talking with one another."

"Maybe word hasn't gotten to them yet?" you question.

"Well, only one way to find out!" she gives you a toothy grin before slipping inside the castle.

"Zoe!" you give a whispered hush as her body goes inside the house. You swallow hard and listen. You can't hear anything except your heart which sounds like it's beating a mile a minute. Thump. Thump. Thump. It goes on and on as you stand there with Lexie in your grasp.

"Ahhhh!" Zoe yelps as she jumps out from the door.

"ZOE!" you turn your head looking at her with shock.

"Just kidding!" she sticks her tongue out "we're good! They didn't even look at me!" her cheeks bunch up and her eyes close.

With a deep breath "God damnit Zoe..." you grumble out as you move to her. She opens the door for you and the three of you step inside.

Once inside the house, a few of the Rathkin warriors look your direction but truly pay you no respects. You still want to stay somewhat secretive so you hug the side walls of the house and try to move as normally as you can to attract as little attention as possible. If Edmin comes around asking if you've been here you may be in trouble from the handful of warriors that saw you, but you hope he won't even think about searching here, at least for the time being. If eventually he comes around to searching this house, at that point, you will most likely be long gone.

Through the hallways you go, side by side looking casual and like you belong. Again, most guards, civilians and even royalty don't even give you a second glance. You decide if you play the part, of a Rathkin warrior instead of the sneaking, suspicious person it should work out better. A turn to the right, down the hallway, a turn to the left, up some stairs, through another hallway and one more left and you're looking into the door into Karisi's old bedroom. "In there." you nod at the door which Zoe opens up and allows the three of you to enter.

With a quick glance around the room, you see that no one is inside. You exhale a giant sum of air as you run over to the gigantic bed and set Lexie down. You pull the covers back and position Lexie on her back. "Zoe, the bag!" you yell at her which she almost playfully skips over to you and hands you the sack full of goods. As you rummage around in the contents to find a potion to give to Lexie you notice Zoe is looking around the room. She checks out the bathroom, the side room and the little balcony overlooking the outdoor garden before she comes back to the main room "We good?" you ask as you're opening up a vial.

"Yup yup! Seems clear!" she smiles as she moves over to one of the dressers. "Wow...." she groans out.

"We'll stay here for the time being...I pray to the Syndicate Gods whoever is living here now doesn't return!" you say to Zoe but more so are just talking to yourself.

"Darien, Wow, wow, wow!!! Look at this! Wooooow." she gasps.

You pay no attention to Zoe as you're pouring the contents of the vial into Lexie's mouth.

"Darien!" Zoe says again "Wow wow wow! Look! It's beautiful!"

"In a minute, Zoe!" you say with an annoyed tone as you finish pouring the remaining remnants of the vial into Lexie's mouth.

"I can't even...UGH!!!" Zoe grunts hard "I can barely move it.. Uhhh..." she groans again "Oooh, oh, OH SHOOT!!!" she shrieks as the sound of heavy metal crashes hard onto the marble floor. A giant crash echoes extremely loud through out the entire room which causes your heart to jump out of your chest and your eyes to bulge out of your head.

"Zoe!!" you shout at the Sunrider before your eyes wander down to the object on the floor "What the hell..." you notice a beautifully crafted Greatsword, "is... wrong..." you tilt your head as you focus on the huge weapon which most likely takes two people to wield "with you..." and notice the bone pommel, the metal grip and the guard that fans out into six spikes, all in the shape of eagle feathers, "Oh, fuck me..."