Fate - First Reply Caught

[Kala]

Angoln - Dungeons

Kala's head was starting to feel more than a little woozy.

The chains which had been bound around her ankles and were currently suspending her upside down dug into her skin every time she moved even a little bit, and the manacles around her wrist seemed to clink even when she didn't move. On top of that, she was pretty sure that the Guard who'd fed her gruel earlier had spit in it before actually delivering the meal.

The situation was, not, what would most people would call ideal. "HEY!"

She shouted, her voice echoing out with the sound of dozens of other prisoners. The Guard walking by barely glancing through the small slit within the doorway of her cell.

"Herman!" Kala called to the man whose named she'd learned only a few hours before. "Herman, why don't you let me out? I can pay you a lot of money. Probably more than double what you ma-"

"Quiet, Thief!"​

The guttural tone of Herman's voice broke through the din of shouting prisoners. His missing teeth adding a strange sort of glint to his accent which Kala had never quite heard before. The Tiefling's features twisted, her blue face turning slightly more red as she shook her head in disbelief at the man's utter foolishness. Who didn't want more money?

"Your little caper failed tonoite! An i doubt you had successin in any other! So just shaddup and wait for the magistrate."​

Herman spat on the ground, shaking his head as he walked away.

"But I'm actually a really good thief." Kala grumbled to herself quietly, listening as the mans boots echoed down the hall.

 

[Ktaris]

Kala

Unknown time.
Darkness.
Eyes opened.
He moved his feet around the edges of this black nothingness, had Eleth claimed him early?
No. It was a box.

"Herman!" A muffled voice shouted.

He kicked the box once, but nothing happened. THUD THUD THUD came three more attempts, the box on the floor near Kala's head rocked a few times but did not open. Could it be an animal by Kala's head, something to torment her?

"But I'm actually a really good thief." He heard the muffled voice shout again.

Then there was patience from inside the box. Silence as Ktaris wondered on the events which had led him here. A drink, a sudden sinking feeling, and then waking up here, had he been drugged? Seeking any advantage or weakness to use, he watched, listened, and waited. His hands were bound by rope tightly behind his back, but his feet were free, they were his only advantage.

Someone was outside so he waited for quiet, several minutes would pass and he would not answer any word or react to anything until silence fell. Then to be sure he waited five more minutes so that any guard might relax their watch.

With a push of his legs against both sides of the box, he contorted his body and then pushed it like a snake, uncoiling the pressure outward, the edge creaked. He did so again but had no luck. Many attempts and many pauses over what could have been an hour, listening for guards or sounds which would make him stop for a time. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity the black box gave way, sweat was on his brow, he was sore and exhausted. Eyes adjusting to the light of the cell, he was greeted by someone hanging upside down, unless he himself was upside down?

Out the Tundra elf crawled, feet first, long black hair and dark brown eyes. He was in a black tunic and pants, with nothing else much to speak of on, though his exposed skin was a slightly shade-blighted black tone in parts, it was barely noticeable, and Ktaris was clearly sweating from that effort. All in all a nondescriptive elf that Kala might never remember in a crowd, and that much was intentional.

You might think he would give pause at seeing an upside-down prisoner, but he took the sight as normal, barely making eye contact or giving any emotion away. Being in a dungeon didn't phase him all that much, there was shadow here, perhaps slaves, imprisonment, it seemed much like home. Only he was on the wrong side of the bars.

Replacing the box's side and being extremely careful not to be seen, Ktaris looked for the nearest shadow to cloak him from sight, instinctively drawn by shadowmancy to the best place to stand, his hands were still tied.... the next problem to solve. A box he could get out of, but barely, this all felt like a test or a rival's attempt to silence him. Perhaps killing Daiches apprentice had struck a nerve in his mentor?

 

[Kala]

"Oh." Well that was wonderfully helpful.

Her mother had always said that a quick prayer would never go unanswered. Kala had never been quite sure about that, mostly because her mother had prayed to various demons and devils, and...well she'd never much liked the divine personally.

In this case though, she had bargained neither with the divine nor the dire, and thus she felt perfectly willing to fall into whatever trappings lay beyond.

"Hey there!" The Thiefling said quite chirpily. "Mind getting me out of here?"

She gestured with one of her horns. "That lever, there."

Previously she had attempted several ways of getting to the damned thing, but it was designed to be out of reach. Even to someone with horns, rather unfortunately. But if the man could trip it, well that would be rather convenient.

"I'll be sure to make it worth your while." Kala said with a smile.

 

[Ktaris]

Kala

Considering her offer, would it really help him to have another disturbance walking around to distract the guards, perhaps. There was silence from the Tundra Elf for a long time, longer than was comfortable. No reaction or emotion that he'd even heard her words. Being cramped in that box for hours or perhaps longer was also taking its toll on his usual flexibility.

Instead eventually when was sure no one was watching, he walked from the shadows over to her manacled hands, "untie me first", the ropes around his own hands an obstacle that would need overcoming, bound behind his back. She may or may not realise she was bargaining now, and although Ktaris didn't see himself as divine quite yet, there was still opportunity here to bargain for.

Ropes rather than chains, very sloppy on his captor's part, leaning him to decide this was a test by Daiches rather than imprisonment. Still, the knot was a good one, and the rope thick, he was having trouble getting any slack. Schemes within his mind surfaced, if he had known his mentor valued his former apprentice this much he would have killed him years ago.

A challenging upside-down untying of wrists, or cutting of ropes for Kala, but could she trust him to help her afterwards?

 

[Kala]

A dubious look crossed the Tiefling's features.

Trust came very, very rarely for people like her.

By nature, and trade, she was a thief. There was little lost love between her kind and the truth. If she had a gold coin for every lie and misdeed she had told and done...well then there would have been no need for her to be a thief.

That was, of course, entirely why she and her ilk had invented ways to ensure that the truth be told. "Tell you what."

She told her, wiggling her hands in the chain.

"You let me out first, and I'll swear an oath." She wriggled slightly in her chains, moving so that she could face the mysterious new companion. "Not that I don't trust you."

Kala didn't. "Plus that looks like a pretty complex knot, and if i try to run you can always just tackle me."

It wasn't like he was chained up or anything.