A Wolf Among Sheep

[Leopold Martin]

The trees and other buildings became few to bare, by the time the group reached the stone steps of the structure. Leopold looked at a few people outside as they glance up at them, and returned to their labor uncaringly. The doors creaked loudly when the front guard led them into the darkness of the building.

Into the dungeon and out of the shackles, they forced Leopold into a cramp cell near Circe. He sighed at the drunkards across from them. If only the two could hold their liquor, all four of them would not be in this hassle. He sat down on a stool and laid his elbow along the table near. “Well,” He started after the guards left. “Do you have any idea how to get out of here?”

[Circe]

Circe remained at the cell door and inspected the lock. It was strong, made of sturdy iron and thick - about two or inches in width. She murmured something to herself before turning and walking over the the cell partition between Leopold and herself. "I think I might, but it might not be worth the trouble." She lowered herself onto the stone floor and leaned against the bars.

"They shouldn't keep us for too long; it was only a fight." She shrugged a shoulder and looked up at the ceiling. She put it at maybe ten feet, just. The cell itself was only about five or six feet wide. Circe heaved out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair as she thought through their options. "It might be best to just wait it out though. I don't think they'll keep us for longer than one or two days."

She looked over at the drunks in their respective cells. Both of them were knocked out on the cots, sleeping off the booze. 'Figures.' Circe shook her head and said nothing. The sound of the dungeon door opening echoed throughout the cells, followed by heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Circe craned her head and tried to see who was coming.

[Leopold Martin]

Leopold sat blankly listening to the snores of the drunken fellows across the way. After the guards arrested them, led them into the dungeon, and locked them into a cold, dirty cell, the drunkards could fall asleep peacefully. “I wish I had their enthusiasm,” He mumbled to himself and Circe as she examined what composed the cells.

“Unless they somehow make something up just to make us stay longer,” Leo said, his attention returning to Circe. “You know how some people can be. Cannot let things go.” He thought about what he just said. Why did he have a very bad feeling he just jinxed Circe and himself?

“However, I do agree,” He nodded. “Escaping the cell for a simple crime as this would just make matters worse-” The door, and then heavy footsteps, stopped Leopold’s rambling in his tracks. The guard did say a man would come to gather their information.

[Circe]

The man who came down the stairs was, in fact, actually a woman dressed in the black armor like the rest of the guards. Hard lines creased her aging face and her dirty blond hair was tied back in a strict bun. She glared at the newest prisoners as she gave them each a once over, her gaze hovering on Circe a beat longer than the others.

Stepping up to the bars, she barked, "Names, both of you. And no funny business or I'll have you two quartered before you can blink." Circe stood and met the woman at the iron bars of her cell, returning her glare just as forcefully. "Circe," she stated. She tried to read the woman's thoughts, but her face betrayed nothing. The guard broke eye contact with her and turned as a second guard appeared next to her.

The female guard dragged him off to a corner and said something to him in a hissed whisper. The man looked around her at Circe before turning back to the woman and whispering back. Their conversation went on like this for several minutes before they both disappeared back up the steps.

"Well, that went well," Circe grumbled as she watched the guards retreat up the stairs. She looked over at Leopold with a sad smile. Damn, and this day had started off so well.

[Leopold Martin]

“Um, Leo-” was as far as his name carried him. He cared not to interrupt the guards whispering in the corner, so he waited for her return. Expect, she traveled right up the stairs with speed. Well, Leo was good enough. Not too many referred to him as “Leopold” anymore.

“I have a feeling this isn’t over,” He told Circe. Why would the guards talk in quiet so long after hearing Circe’s name? Did they know her, her looks, or her voice? Leo was unsure what was going on, but words could not hurt as much what was in store for them. “Do you know any reason why they reacted like that?” He asked Circe.

[Circe]

Circe walked away from the cell door and plopped down onto the cot. "I know it's not. Breaking out of here might not be a bad idea after all." She laid back on the cot and stared at the ceiling, her arms underneath her head. There was a moment of silence before she continued. "But it's been well over fifty years since I was last here. The guards who actually know who I am are either retired or dead."

She mulled over it for a second. "Though I'm pretty sure they don't throw away wanted posters, no matter how long it's been. I had just gotten rid of one at the blacksmith's when I saw you." She glanced over at him, then returned her gaze to the ceiling. "They probrably have a multitude of charges on me by this point. I only know of three for certain - theft, extortion, and something to do with the black market."

"I could Change and just blast a hole in the wall so we can get outta here, but the whole guard would be after us for weeks. I don't know what else we can do to get outta here, unless you know how to pick a lock." She grinned at the last option.

[Leopold Martin]

“True,” He sighed. There was less and less of a chance to escape with every passing second. The guards would return soon, possibility with more if Circe was right about not throwing away old wanted posters.

Leopold could not help but chuckle. Honestly, he could picture Circe taking an easy route by just blazing down the nearest wall, but hey, he would too if he had those abilities. “Yeah, I do know how to pick a lock, but where am I going to get a bobby pin and tension wrench?” How could such a righteous man know how to unlock tumblers? Well, he was not always that way. “Or I could turn into a lion and make them go on a wild goose-chase for the missing me,” He joked.

[Circe]

A mischievous smirk crossed Circe's face. “Now a bobby pin I’ve got,” she said, lifting her hands to sort through her wild, dark mane of hair. Her face lit up somewhat as she pulled two slender black pins from the mass. She passed one of them through the bars to Leopold, musing out loud. “You’d think I would know how to pick a lock by this point.” Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, but the small grin on her face remained. “Perfect time as any to learn, I guess.”

She trotted back over to her own cell door, sticking her hands and forearms through the bars. The smirk on her face evaporated, now replaced by a tight-lipped look of grim determination. She inserted the bobby pin into the lock’s keyhole and jiggled it around a bit, listening for the click. After a good three minutes, she started getting frustrated with it. “Damn it, how the hell do you do this?!” she growled. At that exact moment, the lock made a loud click and opened.

Circe removed the lock from the inside and stepped out of the cell, closing the door and replacing the lock. She glanced quickly at the stairs that led to the main floor of the guard’s building, the iron door closed. “Where to go from here?” she asked turning back to Leopold. “That door’s more than likely locked. Not to mention the mass of city guards on the other side.” They still had no clue where their weapons were and there was no telling how many guards were actually in the building.

[Leopold Martin]

He took the bobby pin from Circe, and guided his way to the cell door’s lock. He then said, “Usually you need a tension wrench, especially when in a hurry. First you should rake all the lock tumbles to try to stick them in the unlock positions. Then with a curved end of a pin, lightly push them up until you no longer feel a tug on each tumbler.” Wa-la, by the time Circe opened her cell door, Leopold unlocked his.

Leo forced the door open with a hard shove, and exited the cell-unit. “I’m not too sure, but wherever, it needs to be soon. Unless,” he drifted off into thought. “We wait for them to return and make a run for it?” It was a very risky idea, but it was the only idea he had. He did not know if there were any other doors in the dungeon leading upwards, or downwards. Neither had any weapons expect for their fists and shifting abilities. “Do you see any evidence chest?” He asked, knowing for sure many guards stash restricted items until prisoners pay their verdict.

[Circe]

Circe glanced around the room, her eye on the lookout for anything large enough to hold weapons. "I don't see any chests," she said, "but those crates over there look promising." She walked over to the small stack of crates that were partially hidden by the dungeon stairs. There were three wooden crates in total and each one of them was padlocked. Circe measured them up then swifty kicked one of them with her foot. The wood siding gave way to her leather boot.

"What morons would honestly leave weapons with the prisoners?" she asked aloud, more to herself than anyone else. She rummaged through the contents of the crate quickly; there was no telling when the guards would return. "Crossbows, bolts, a bow, arrows, a mace..." She placed the weapons behind her on the floor as she pulled them out. "I say we just use the crossbows and take out everyone upstairs. Forget being stealthy."

Straightening up after she had gone through the entire crate, Circe picked up a crossbow and tossed one to Leo. "Anyone comes through that door"- she jerked a thumb towards the stairs -"we kill 'em." She gathered up an armful of crossbow bolts and stashed as many as she could on her person. The rest she handed to Leopold.

No sooner than she did so, a multitude of voices were heard right outside the dungeon door. Circe dived behind the remaining crates as the door creaked open, loading her crossbow with bolts.

[Leopold Martin]

Leopold grinned. Well, these guards didn’t appear very ingenious. Believe it or not, but stealth was Leo’s gain, so Circe’s proposal challenged what he knew best and his ethics. Without stealth, who knows how much chaos they would cause? However, if they did not take their chances, it would all be over without a successful conclusion. “Agreed,” He said taking the crossbow and bolts, and just in case, he took a letter opener from a guard’s table.

He frowned slightly, before loading his crossbow. Leo did not attempt to shield himself, as he pointed in the direction of the opening door. What good would it bring? Leo did not have the ability to know when an attack was about it happen. All he had to his name was aggressive yet careful assaults - his pose tensed, crossbow aimed, and bolt taint. The door opened quickly, four guards at the entrance. “What?” A guard mumbled, as a bolt passed him and into the shoulder of the man behind him, who fell backwards. Indeed her return was not a social call.

[Circe]

The remaining two guards watched their comrades fall to the floor with shock. Their surprise was shortlived, however, as they started to charge down the dungeon stairs with their weapons poised. Circe fired at them, catching the first in the neck and the second squarely between the eyes. The guards' bodies fell and tumbled down the rest of of the way down the stairs.

Standing up from her hiding place, Circe moved over to where the bodies lay at the foot of the stairs. She knelt beside them and felt each of them for a pulse. Nothing. She nodded over her shoulder and bounded up the stairs to the other two bodies and checked them for pulses also. The one who was caught in the shoulder by a bolt was still breathing, so she fired another bolt into his skull. Circe kicked their bodies down the stairs so they were out of sight of anyone outside the dungeon.

Peering around the doorway, Circe checked out the main floor of the jail. No one seemed to have noticed four guards being taken out by prisoners; the door had hidden their bodies as they fell. Sneaking from the door to the other side of the hall, she propped herself up against a counter and waited for Leo, out of sight. 'Oy vey,' she thought to herself. There was a back door right in front of where she hid. Talk about convenient.

[Leopold Martin]

Leo followed the distinct sound of Circe’s footprints up the stairs. Crunch, echoed his ears when Circe finalized the last guard’s kill. He moved along to the side of the staircase, out of the tumbling body’s way. Stealth-like, Leo crept behind her soon after closing the dungeon’s door. The squeak was a mere nothing.

So far, he could not tell if anyone noticed them exit. Well, he figured, no one did since he did not hear an alarm. “Where do you think our weapons are?” He whispered the question to Circe.

[Circe]

Circe lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug as she turned to peer over the edge of the counter. "Haven't the slightest," came her whispered reply. In truth, she hadn't even thought about retrieving their weapons; her khopesh were still at the blacksmiths and it wasn't worth the trouble to try and get her dagger back. She could always just steal another dagger, but she knew that Leo's weapons were harder to replace, especially his halberd.

The main floor of the jail was not that large. A single guard was posted at the door and two others milled about, conversing or otherwise not doing anything productive. None of them were armed beyond the standard clubs employed by the city guards, which in Circe's opinion weren't very effective for keeping order in a city the size of Shovenia. Her eyes scanned the room for their weapons. "There," she whispered to Leo, "over by the front wall." Sure enough, a pile of weapons rested on a table by the door.

Circe loaded a few more bolts into her crossbow and then swung out from where she hid behind the counter. She opened fire immediately, several bolts taking out the guard stationed by the door. The other two guards scrambled for cover as soon as the first guard was hit. "Shit," she muttered to herself as she advanced to a different position. She was now behind a desk, peering over the wood as she tried to locate the other two guards before they got the idea to grab some of the weapons off the table.

[Leopold Martin]

In a few swift movements, Leopold knocked out one of the two remaining guards. The man attempted to run at them, a hunting dagger in hand. He dove for cover, and then jolted across the table into Leo and Circe’s territory. His battle roar was short-lived when Leo rose up to his full height and punched the guard hard enough in the jaw for it to break in two. He then kicked the dagger across the floor toward Circe, and pulled out a knife to silt the fallen man’s brain stem.

They could grab the weapons, and run before any more guards showed up, after taking the final guard out. He knew for sure someone would wonder why the jail room suddenly quieted. As for the drunks, they would remember nothing by the time they wake up. Leopold could not picture their reaction to all the dead bodies around them.