Justice Wears a Clever Disguise! (Spice!)

[Ivory]

Audric stared at Cai, a corner of his mouth trying to twitch into a grin, as if he weren't entirely sure whether the man was kidding.

He often had this same problem with Calent.

But, then, there was no time to wonder as a light swept into the alley.  Audric froze, listening for any indication they had been discovered...but there was none, and, eventually the guards moved on.

But they did share some interesting information as they left...

All traces of mirth vanished from Audric's face as he considered the words they had overheard.  What, exactly, were these people up to?  And did Calent know?  He would have to gather some more information before passing it along to his friend...

And so, when Cai moved forward, Audric fell into step beside him.  They moved quietly over the cobblestones and paused in the shadow at the mouth of the alley as they came upon a terrible scene.  Cages on carts sat in the moonlight, surrounded by guards...  Audric turned to give a questioning look to his friend.

No, he didn't like this at all.

[visualspice]

Leif's face went hard as stone as the sight came clear before them. But then there was a squeak, squeak from the nob being turned on a lantern as it flashed brighter, nearly blinding Leif as he tucked back into the alley. He needed to be more careful, he could have got them exposed.

"We're too close here," Leif whispered. Then as a pair of bats scattered up above, it drew his eyes skyward. "To the roof tops." he said, hitting Audric lightly on the chest as he wasted no time disappearing back into the shadows and began scouting the buildings nearby.
"There, we can climb up from here," he said, pointing to an array of barrels conveniently lined up against a nearby building that sat alongside the church. And he wasted no time in scaling it.

[Ivory]

Audric craned his neck upwards with a slight frown.  What was it with this guy and rooftops?  Did he think he was a bird or something?  No, Audric amended with a slight shake of his head as the shadowy figure vanished over the wall, not a bird -- he wore too much black for that.  Perhaps a bat.  Some kind of bat...man...  Batman.  Audric snickered at the thought.  What a stupid idea.

The sound of approaching guards interrupted his reverie, then, and Audric had little choice but to follow Cai up the side of the building.  He did it with less grace than his counterpart -- but, at least he was quiet about it.

Creeping over to Cai, he hunkered down on the rooftop beside him to peer down at the scene below.

[visualspice]

There were three carriages, and a few carts, unfortunately for the two peering over the side of the building, the contents inside each was hidden well from view. Though curiously enough, a lot of men without armor were moving quick.
As Leif's eyes continued to scout the area, he took in what appeared to be an unarmored mordecai, and then as his eyes continued to sweep the area...
He held his breath as the church door's swung open. A priest stepped out and filled the night with a rush of golden lamp light that hung behind him from the church's crystal chandeliers...
That, in itself, was a detail that made Leif's brows arch. It had been some time since he had attended church, and he hadn't recalled those...

"Hurry up and get them inside, my children. I have the basement door key.." And he moved swiftly, his robes swishing against the ground as he turned around to lead the men down an alley way... which, unfortunately was not visible from 'Cai' and 'Abigail's' perch.

As all f the men began to disappear, carrying and pulling the cargo with them as quickly and discretely as possible, Leif's eyes focused on the open door of the church...
and only one idea came to mind.

"I'm sneaking inside the church."
There had to be some sort of clue, shouldn't there? ANd before Audric could protest, the masked man was already descending back down the way they had come.

[Ivory]

Of course he was...

Audric looked skyward a moment, thinking, "Angsar help us."  And then he was following in his friend's wake!

Stealth, while not Audric's area of expertise, was not completely foreign to the soldier.  He moved silently through the alley and across the courtyard.  Their shadows looked like long, black caricatures of the pair slithering across the pavement.  At the door to the church, they merged into one black mass before vanishing altogether into the interior of the church.

[visualspice]

It wasn't difficult getting into the church, but remaining unnoticed might be a lot more tricky. Leif's eyes were quick to scout the area as he moved through, and once he noticed everything inside the main church hall was clear, he gestured for Audric to keep a look out and keep close as he moved towards the back. A small door near the alleyway the Priest and his men were moving was his obvious destination. And the door was rather beautiful, ornately carved mahogany of one of the patron Saints. Testing the door, Leif frowned as it was locked, but wasted no time in picking it. Once the lock clicked 'open', he released his held breath and opened the door.

A long, narrow hall stretched before them- it's path lit by scones who's flames flickered and danced upon their wicks. Leif's eyes continued to grope through the halls, not missing any details as they moved, but soon came to a door that simply lead out side. This didn't seem right, and as Leif turned around, he growled out his displeasure. "There's got to be more to this hall.."
And as his eyes cleaved through the darkness, he spotted something odd.
One area had a scones no longer lit. Upon closer study, the candle was simply missing. ANd upon even further examination, he noted there was a hidden door.

He ligthtly knocked and confirmed the paneling was hollow before turning back to Audric.
"Help me find a way to open this." And as the two worked together, fingers groping in the dark, eventually the panel pried free...
ANd before them lay a cold, crawling stair case that disappeared into the shadows of the church's basement. And further down he heard some foot falls as he held his breath. That was definitely the sound of the men from earlier. And as soon as the foot steps faded...
Leif wasted no time in making his way down.

[Ivory]

"You've gotta teach me how to pick locks," Audric muttered as they worked at the secret door.  It was something his training as a soldier had failed to cover, after all!  He was more accustomed to just breaking the damned door down if it stood in his way...

When the door opened to reveal the spiraling staircase snaking downwards, Audric nearly whistled -- but stopped himself just in time.  That would have carried too well down the stonework...  Well, this was certainly interesting.

Having no choice but to follow, he moved as silently as he could after Cai...though they didn't have to descend to the bottom to glimpse what was happening.  Or to see it was swarming with guards.  He put a hand on Cai's shoulder to draw his attention and gestured to a gap in the brickwork.  They had to crouch down a bit to see, but the sight turned Audric's stomach.

Cells.  And, beyond them, something that looked far too much like a torture device.

Angsar above, this was a Church, not a prison!  What the hell was happening down there?

[visualspice]

Audric's stomach wasn't the only one that sunk and turned cold as Leif watched in horror as the men moved along, quick as they could, carrying, in some instances, what appeared to be people lying beneath covered cots.
He furrowed his brow, steeled his breath, and just observed. Not sure what they could do, it appeared as if the duo would have to bide their time.

"It seems as if they're bringing in people to this place," he whispered, his eyes watching as guard after guard brought in discretely covered cots, or cages.

[Ivory]

Audric nodded in agreement.  "But, why?  What could the--"

That was all the further he got.  A high-pitched scream rose up above the dungeon they had discovered, ceasing Audric's tongue and making him reach for his weapon, even as a chill of horror ran down his back.  What he had first taken to be a woman's scream had a deeper edge to it, just beneath that initial sound.

The screamer wasn't a woman; it was a man.  Audric didn't dare imagine what could be done to a man to produce such a sound...

[visualspice]

Where Audric paled, Leif felt his blood boil like the molten lava of a volcano. But he kept it all in, eyes seering down at the men as they brought in the last of their cargo. And after all went silent, he moved away from the wall and descended the stairs.

Keeping careful, quiet steps, Leif found himself in the hallways. And they appeared endless. The murmur of men and shuffling of feet could be heard from down a dark pass. The men had obviously gone in that direction, but the question was- what was hiding in the bowels of darkness from where that man had screamed?

Uncertain what they'd find, Leif swallowed back his fear and continued to walk down the hall. They'd pass room after barred room, that was, after Leif checked, locked. They couldn't even look into it, for the small windows of the doors were locked shot from the other side. Frowning, he wasn't sure what more they would find besides trouble as he turned back towards 'Abigail'.

"It's not safe if we continue to linger here. We might have to wait until morning to break back inside. I can still hear all of those men down the way, and this seems to the the only hall to access this area. Come on. Let's head back out into the street."

[Ivory]

Audric was uncharacteristically quiet.  It wasn't that he was afraid, per se -- he just never wanted to meet whatever had caused those screams earlier.  He and Cai were good, but a dungeon full of guards seemed destined to end in failure.

He nodded mutely as Leif made his decision, momentarily pleased with the choice...

...But how was he to find the time tomorrow?

He'd just have to do it...and hope no one noticed.

"I didn't realize the Masked Mordecai worked during the day.  This isn't just a ploy to get rid of me so you can be the hero by yourself, is it?"

Alright, so Audric was mostly mute.

[visualspice]

"What? Afraid of a rendez-vous in daylight, Abigail?" The masked man said as he made his way quickly down the hall. "As much as I'd like to think we're invincible, we're out numbered by a lot here and I can only see this shady business being conducted at night. During the day... I hope this sort of place might be unoccupied, but I could be wrong."

Making his way back to the staircase, he paused a moment to listen. Good, no one was approaching,a nd without further hesitation, he moved up the stairs. The pair now found themselves back at the top of the stair case, though as he stepped out into the hall and sighed with relief when he thought they were safe, a noise came frombehind them.
"Hey- who are you?"
And upon seeing the masked man, the other man gasped.

"The masked mordecai!"
And Leif wasted no time throwing a knife to his throat.

"Come on!" he said, rushing down the hall. "Who knows how many men might have heard that. Let's just get out of here as quickly as possible."

[Ivory]

Knowing just how little Leif liked to be reminded that Audric knew something about him, he answered cheerfully, "Nope.  Just worried that your absence from Court might be noticed."  Like his might be...

As for the question of it's occupation...  "It's a Church, Cai.  Of course it's unoccupied."  Unless it was a holy day, of course, and lucky for them, it was not!

And then...they were nearly discovered!  He frowned at his partner in crime, reaching out to grasp the other man's cape as quickly as Cai had thrown the knife a moment ago.  "Not so fast there."  The cape stopped the other masked man dead in his tracks; had Cai been going any faster, it probably would have pulled him off his feet!  Once Cai had come to a complete (and somewhat sudden stop), Audric let him go.

"If you hadn't killed him, we could have interrogated him."  Obviously.  "And if you leave him here, they'll know to expect us tomorrow morning.  How many throwing knives do you go through, anyway?"  Did he never retrieve them??

Leaning down, he hefted the dead man up over his shoulder with a soft grunt from the exertion.  Dead men weren't light, after all.  "And, just so you know, I'm not climbing up onto the bloody rooftops with this guy."

[visualspice]

Leif shot a glance back to 'Abigail'. Court. Right. He narrowed his gaze and tried to recompose himself before yanking the throwing blade from the dead man's throat.

"I've got at least one," he said, wiping the blood off on the corpse before slipping it away.
"And if we have to climb... I'll help you." And he pushed passed Audric towards the door from earlier...
only to find it locked.
Frowning, Leif tried it again before he realized...
"Shit."
There was no lock on this side to pick. They were locked in! And had panick set in he might almost forgotten...
"The other side of the hall. Quickly. It's the only way out in a way we can do so quickly. We can get the corpse onto a horse and ride out of here. Hopefully no one will stop us."
And he moved swiftly towards the only door- hoping to find it wasn't locked as well, or had any other quirks involved with it, too.

[Ivory]

Taking note of Cai's glower, Audric offered him only the biggest grin ever!

The door posed a small problem...  Audric frowned immediately at Cai's suggestion.  "And I suppose you're hoping they won't notice that either?  If we do that, why am I even carrying this around?"

It was then that he noticed a tiny staircase tucked away in the corner.  Craning his neck upwards, Audric could just barely make out the bells above...  And that gave him an idea.

"Speaking of climbing..."  Audric gestured to the stairs with his chin.  "I bet that goes up to the bell tower.  And from the bell tower, we can get onto the roof.  And from the roof..."

He stopped.

"Actually, nevermind, that's a bad plan.  A very bad plan."

[visualspice]

But Leif disagreed.
"To the roof top." He said, and moved to the stairs. "Hope you brought your climbing boots." It was going to be a long way up.

[Ivory]

Audric sighed softly.  "I hate you."

But it was his own fault for letting his mouth run away with him, wasn't it?

It wasn't long before the body draped over his shoulders began to feel heavier than he would have liked.  "I'm getting too old for this," he groused, rather annoyed at his lack of fitness.  It wasn't really that, though -- or so he hoped.  "How much further do these things go up?"

He'd almost rather fight his way through the entire guard down there than have to deal with anymore of this!

"By the way," he panted, "I was thinking.  If you're going to call me Abigail, I should find something more appropriate for you.  Like Caitlyn.  Cai could be short for that, right?"

[visualspice]

His comment was caught by the masked man by the time he reached the top of the stairs and he smirked down handsomely at the other man. It was only then he reached down to pull the corpse from the other man- it must've been exhausting work, before he dragged the body out beneath the hanging bells.

There were a great number of bells hanging above them- all hanging like massive jewels that draped from chandeliers. He took this time to admire them, seeing as no one would follow them up there before depositing the dead body carelessly in a corner.

"Help me look for a place to get onto the roof. We can see if there's a way to get out of here."
Then he paused to consider...
"Or.. we wait up here until morning."
Chances were, no one else would come up here.
And if they did, they'd be as dead as that other corpse.

[Ivory]

Audric doubled over as soon as the corpse was taken from him, breathing a bit harder from the exertion than he would have liked.  He put a hand against the wall to steady himself, then peered from Cai to the stairs with a slight frown.

"It's moderately defensible," he concluded.  "I wish the walls were on the other side of the steps, but...we could make it work."

Dealing with his wife, however, was not a battle he cared to think of...and so he turned his attention towards finding an exit.

"Besides, we're more likely to be discovered by an altar boy come morning than any soldiers.  I don't know how you feel about it, but that's not something I want on my conscience."

[visualspice]

Leif shrugged.
"Knocking a boy unconscious need not be your concern. I wouldn't kill an innocent." Or at least he hoped he'd never have to. But it was a war they were fighting, or did the other man forget that?
"Well.." he said with a sigh, as he paced around beneaht the bells for a bit. "I suppose we'd best find ourselves a place to get cozy, unless you want to scout out the rest of the church from the roof.."
But how far up they were- naturally, the implied action was foolish.