Open Chronicles An Unexciting Day

[ZafiraJade]

Caravans filled the streets of Allria as the sun beat down on its people - men shouting at each other from their posts, women laughing and walking along the jewelry side of the market. Children chased each other around, disrupting the fruit sellers in the area. A heavy scent of savory meat wafted around the marketplace as people continuously chattered, light music filling the air.

It had been an unexciting day.

Zafira had gone back to Alliria for upkeep as well as the opportunity to leave Elbion even if just for a day. The day had quickly turned into a fortnight which presently found her smack in the middle of rush hour with people pushing up against her from faraway lands. It hadn't been eventful at all which Zafira appreciated. Always one to chase after adventure, Zafira had grown exhausted by her tireless desire to see everything. She hadn’t felt the familiarity of home in a long time.

And what better place to find that familiarity than in Alliria’s damp jail cell?

Zafira let out a groan and leaned back against the dark cobblestone. It hadn’t been her intention to interfere. She was waiting for someone else to do it. Possibly the handsome man who she had eyed taking care of his horse. Unfortunately, he had turned a blind eye to the disgusting interaction which left whatever attraction Zafira had for him nonexistent.

The little boy had just been chasing after another small girl when he had accidentally bumped into an angry, thin man and dropped all the apples and pears from the bag in his hand. In a fit, the man had started yelling cruel words to the boy and proceeded to hit him when Zafira had interrupted.

“Really Sir, have you no one your size to pick on?” Zafira had asked sweetly as she caught his wrist. The man had let out a yell before trying to attack her which was really truly his mistake. Somehow another woman and a man had gotten involved with Zafira smack in the middle of the fight, and now here she was, spending her time in a cell. She would have blasted the door open if it weren't for her annoying weakness to iron.

“How long do you plan on keeping me in here?” she yelled, swallowing her pride and finally sitting on the crate.

 

[Maecey]

In the cell next to the Witch stood a small Halfling, small even for a Halfling one would say.

Her face was an amalgamation of indignation and slight rage, her fingers wrapped around the bars of her cell and her ears twitching slightly as she opened her mouth. "THE GUY HIT ME FIRST!"

There was a guard down the hall, though he wasn't really listening at this point.

"I SHOULDN'T EVEN BE IN HERE!" Her hands gripped the bars a bit tighter and she shook them violently, or as violently as she could.

There was a bit of rattling, but it quickly fell into silence a few moments later.

When no answer came she kicked the bars. "FUCK!"

Maecey swore as she backed away from the front of the cage, shaking her head and letting out a puff of air in frustration.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira's head lifted at the feminine voice.

She hadn't even been aware that there was another girl in the cell.

At her anger and shouts, Zafira muffled an amused laugh. She had to straight-up put a hand on her mouth when she heard the sound of the iron rattling strongly against the cobblestone.

She took a few steps forward, careful not to touch the iron.

"Did you win?" Zafira asked, a smile evident in her voice. Zafira was angry, of course. So much so that she imagined dumping the piss bucket at whichever soldier would come down as a demonstration of how livid she was. In fact, she would have done so had she not remembered that her only advantage was that the soldiers didn't know she was a witch. Too bad her mother gave her the stupid weakness of iron.

 

[Maecey]

"Of course I did." 'Won' here was of course a rather subjective term.

The reason she was in prison in the first place was because things had rather...escalated to the point where such things were necessary. An ordinary bar brawl didn't really warrant a trip to jail, but if one of the participants ended up dead...

Well that was enough to send a halfling to jail.

Fingers tightened for a moment and she let out a huff, a hand running through her hair and tossing some of the mess over her shoulders as she looked at the woman in the cell next to her. Maecey cocked her eyebrow as she looked at her.

"What are you here for?" She asked. "Selling counterfeit bones?"

The Halfling didn't like to stereotype but...well the other woman did look like a witch.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira leaned to the side of the jail cell to see the...elf woman? She looked just as pissed as before, huffing and tossing her hair back angrily. Zafira cocked her head. She looked kinda adorable.

Then she opened her mouth.

"What are you here for?" She asked. "Selling counterfeit bones?"

Zafira's eyes narrowed. Now, she had plans to be completely civil, but hearing the tone of the discourteous woman, Zafira leaned back. "Aren't you a bit short for an elf?" Zafira asked without skipping a beat. She let her lips quirk up into a sweet smile, her face a blank slate from what she was feeling.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey looked at the woman. "Do you want to get stabbed?"

The words weren't said in way of a threat, just a simple question that came with a raised eyebrow and a small shrug of her shoulders.

"Questions like that don't exactly lead to friends." True enough really. Insulting someone, particularly about something like their height wasn't exactly the best way to ensure you didn't make enemies.

Of course, that ignored the complete fact that Maecey had done the same thing.

"I'm a halfling." She said, wagging her finger at the moment. "From Allerton."

As she spoke Maecey began to search around her cell.

 

[ZafiraJade]

"Answer depends on how badly you want to get out of this cell," Zafira said, taking pleasure from the woman's irritation.

Zafira swept away from the cell and sat down on the crate again, throwing the hood of her cloak onto her head and leaning back against the cobblestone. She was going to ask the woman if she wanted to assist her in getting out, but evidently that wasn't going to work out.

"Neither does asking a witch if she sells counterfeit bones," Zafira pointed out, closing her eyes. She was going to be here for a while so might as well rest until she heard the soldier coming.

Then, she'd act on her plan.

"You are a far way from home, no?" Zafira asked, reiterating a bunch of random spells in her mind.

 

[Maecey]

"Fair." Maecey commented in regards to the witches counter at her owned hurled insult.

She continued her search as the Witch spoke, looking for any hints of bare metal or something she could fashion into a lockpick. Her lips thinned as she reached the bed, finding a small set of springs thay had obviously seen better days.

Quietly the Halfling began to play with them, bending back and forth until the metal was brittle enough to break off in her hand.

"Not that far." Maecey commented as the spring broke free in her hand. "Just a few hundred miles."

If she had a fast pony she could probably get back home in two weeks, not that she would ever go back. Allerton was…boring. Being thrown in a prison cell wasn't great but it was better than having the same conversation for the fourth time over the same beer.

The world was far too exciting to ever go back. "Where do you hail from?"

Maecey asked as she began to bend the spring.

 

[ZafiraJade]

"Elbion," she didn't mention that she hadn't lived there for years now.


"Already tried that," Zafira said, her voice monotone, eyes closed. The Halfling was getting restless.

She could hear the Halfling pace aggressive around the room of her cell before it had gone silent. Zafira knew she had picked at the springs, an action she herself had tried two hours before. With a gloved hand, Zafira had pressed it into the lock but the spring was too soft for the lock.

"Just wait for the guard, and we can get out. Distract him, and I'll get the keys," Zafira said quickly, unaware that the Halfling had killed anyone. She was under the assumption that the woman was like Zafira - finished something someone else started.

"Witches aren't good just for counterfeit bones," Zafira teased, feeling herself soften.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Maecey]

The Halfling considered the words for a moment, frowning slightly.

She was not really looking to add assault of a guard to her eventual charges, but she figured that if she got out there was no way for them to catch her again. She could simply skip town for a while, maybe head to Elbion.

It was supposed to be nice there this time of year. A few seconds passed, and then she nodded to the woman. "Easy enough."

It took only a few moments for the Guard to make his rounds, the sound of his whistling grating Maecey's ears about as much as ceramic plates rubbing against one another.

"Hey!" She called to the guard, the man stopping in an instant. "What the hell is this."

The Halfling pulled out the bent spring. "You just leave this shit laying around in your prison?"

For a moment the guard looked perplexed, quickly stepping up to Maecey's cell to inspect what she was holding.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira pretended to be disinterested, pulling herself to the back of her cell. She could only partially see the guard, but it would be enough. Slowly, Zafira pulled the cloak on her head to cover the changing of her eyes. It was a disadvantage that Zafira had learned to live with - a 'deformity' that came completely from her mother.

Emerald eyes sparkling into a bright pumpkin color, Zafira felt for the keys from the man. She didn't want to hurt him - didn't even have to. All she needed was to get the keys from him carefully. She slid it lightly from his belt as he conversed with the Halfling. All of a sudden, he pushed forward, looking at whatever the Halfling was showing him.

"Damn it," she murmured to herself, her hold slipping because of the iron bars. She slid to another corner and repeated the magic. With her magic, she made sure to spread out the keys so that they didn't jangle together. The keys dropped in front of the bars, and Zafira covered it with a large cough, sweeping the keys under her cloaks, wrists brushing against the iron.

 

[Maecey]

The Halfling tossed the bent spring towards the guard. "Here."

She offered open both of her open palms to show the man that she wasn't carrying anything else in her hands.

"Just think how a less trustworthy prisoner could have used that." Maecey offered, not exactly as a threat but as a way of warning. The Guard swore and shook his head, offering a few quick words before turning away and stalking down the hall.

Clearly the Allirians didn't really like it when someone second guessed their guarding potential. Maecey smiled to herself slightly, waiting for the man to walk away completely before she turned to the witch.

Her ears twitched expectantly.

 

[ZafiraJade]

"Just think how a less trustworthy prisoner could have used that."

Zafira bit back a laugh at the irony. The Halfling may have been a bit rough around the edges, but she was definitely amusing. As the guard walked away, grumbling to himself something about a pay, Zafira pushed the key into the lock. She could feel her skin burn lightly from the iron, but she ignored it.

It was one thing to work with someone getting out of a jail.

A complete other trusting them to help you back.

Once out of the jail, Zafira closed it quietly behind her, sashaying to the area where the guards had taken her gloves. It fit tightly against her skin and let herself smile in triumph.

She unlocked the Halfling's cell. "Madame," Zafira said with a teasing smile, playfully offering her a courtesy as she pushed the cell door open.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey took a half bow as she stepped out of the cell.

The Halfling knew that this was really only the first step, her lips thinning slightly as she moved to the witches side and peered down the hall.

On her way in she had spotted a few crags that would fit her, but it was unlikely the much taller woman would be able to fit through them. Still, Zafira had done her a favor, so she felt the need to at least help the woman.

"How do you plan to get out?" She asked pointedly.

There were still a dozen guards between here and the front entrance.

Maecey also didn't need the woman to get captured and tortured, then have her spill the beans about a certain halfling that escaped with her.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira bit her lips, brows furrowing. Huh. She hadn't thought of it yet.

"No idea," Zafira shrugged, the epitome of calm. Zafira had ended up in situations like this plenty of times before. She had come to learn that in the end, things would always work out.

As it would now.

She had counted how many guards were outside as they'd made their rounds. Six men. Two of them were constanly dozing off. One of them was a drunk. The drunk one also happened to have been eyeing Zafira.

Its the other three that would be the problem.

"But I'll figure it out," she eyed the crags. "I believe you have the perfect escape though, darling,"

 

[Maecey]

Maecey in general did not have much of a conscience. In fact more often then not she felt fine lying, swindling, and doing whatever else she possibly could to make sure she could get the upper hand.

There was nothing wrong with it. People had often tried to take advantage of her simply because she was short. Many humans assumed that she was a child of some sort, while others simply thought their height meant they could do as they pleased. Of course she often proved them wrong on this.

Nevertheless, while she had very little in the way of morals, the guild did hold to a system of favors.

Someone helped you, so you help them.

It was really that simple, and it allowed the world of killing to keep on churning without anyone collecting too much debt or gold. Her fingers tightened for a moment, and then she let out a sigh. "Alright. I'll help you get out."

She told the woman.

"I'll create a distraction." Again. "Just wait here."

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira was about to protest. The simple fact was that she didn't like getting help from people unless she absolutely had to. It made her feel as if she had a connection to someone which only went completely against the notion of floating away. More people you rely on, the more bonds you have tied to you.

She regarded the Halfling for a moment.

Zafira doubted she had any ideas of holding onto a connection or the sort. Zafira nodded, sliding the hood of her cloak on. "Thank you,"

 

[Maecey]

"Yeah yeah." Maecey offered with a dejected wave of her hand.

She wasn't entirely sure about this plan, if you could even call it that, but with a flick of her ears she moved out of the hall and directly where the guards were standing.

None of them noticed her at first, all of them a little busy looking above her to actually see the Halfling walk in. Ordinarily that would have been insulting, but here it allowed Maecey to stroll into the middle of the room before speaking.

"Hello boys." She offered the room. "Anyone got a smoke?"

The Guards all turned, two of them instantly standing.

Maecey smirked, and then booked it directly towards the window.

 

[ZafiraJade]

A row of angry screams and shouts followed the depart of the Halfling who's name she still didn't know. Zafira smirked lightly. Maybe in another life they could be friends.

With her cloak on, Zafira slid against the rough cobblestones, noting all the guards turned in the Halfling's direction. She was about to make her leave when she saw one with a sword come far too close to the Halfling for Zafira's liking. Eyes cast low, Zafira's hand went up and she pulled the man to his knees with her magic, causing one of the men to look in her direction.

Quickly, Zafira ducked behind a crate until the man's attention swiveled away before making her escape. She went into the direction the Halfling would go towards if she'd escaped from the windows.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey was faster than most Humans.

It was a thing that would have surprised most of them, hell, all of them who had to learn the hardway always seemed to curse. Normally her people were slower, just by nature of their stubbier legs, but well...The guild had ensured that wasn't true.

The magic had hurt when she'd undergone the procedure, but it was well worth it in situations like these.

As one of the guards moved to snatch at her Maecey took three quick steps to the left, her lips breaking in a smile as she reached forward and snatched a small butter knife of the table. It flipped in her palm, and then she chucked it at a guardsmen leg.

The blade pierced into his thigh, his mouth opening in a scream.

Then she made a break for the window, pouncing through it's open expanse like a squirrel.

 

[ZafiraJade]

Zafira bit her lip, feeling her nerves start to prick at her.

She forced herself to calm down. Zafira very rarely got nervous. She didn't let herself get nervous. But Stars, it had been a good ten minutes, and the creeping suspicion that the Halfling may have not gotten out filled Zafira with a sense of dread. She didn't want her death to be on Zafira's hands.

She was just about to go back to the dreary cells when she saw a burst of flaming, red hair all of a sudden, running towards her. Zafira exhaled a sigh of relief, covering it before the Halfling saw.

"You took quite some time," Zafira said with a lopsided smile.

 

[Maecey]

"Go! There wasn't exactly time to sit and chat. The Guards wouldn't wait around to heal their injured friends, at least not all of them.

They needed to disappear into the city before a gaggle of Guardsmen made their way down the hall with swords drawn and crossbows at the ready. Maecey could dodge a bolt or two, but before long there would be an alarm.

She had no zeal to deal with that nonsense. "Go go go!"

The halfling called out repeatedly to the Witch.

 

[ZafiraJade]

"You have a very high temper for someone so very tiny," Zafira commented, still at ease. Noting the Halfling's frantic actions, Zafira grabbed the woman's hand with her pale, cold ones and pulled her against a tree, half covering them.

Cloak still on, Zafira tightened her hands on the Halfling's arms, eyes flashing golden as they slowly blended in with their surroundings. The hold wouldn't last long - Zafira didn't have the energy for it. But it would be enough time for the guards to think that they disappeared.

"Relax," she whispered to her, Zafira's breath even and low. She could hear the guards pass, their heavy footsteps hitting the dirty ground roughly.

 

[Maecey]

Maecey froze in place, her fingers tightening slightly on a weapon she did not have.

In her mind she played over half a dozen scenarios of discovery, wondering just how quickly she could kill the nearest guard with her hands. She'd done so before, but it was never easy and always bloody.

It would be the fastest way to get a blade though.

She would need one if all of this went south. Though she had no doubt the witches magic would work, there was no telling for how long or how well. Biting her tongue and holding in a breath, Maecey silenced everything she could as the Guards ran by.

 

[ZafiraJade]

The Halfling was deadly silent. Zafira peered down to look at her. She was holding her breath, the perfect semblance of a statue.

Zafira was tempted to tell her that she didn't have to be so quiet - people didn't look for things they couldn't see. But noise was something Zafira could not cancel out.

Instead, Zafira leaned back against the tree, slumping against it while the last of the guards made their way back to the cells.

"We're clear," Zafira said quietly, lifting her hold. Her shoulders released from its tense hold.