Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree

(Perfect!)

It was a long, grueling journey. The guard had to fight off a spider once, and they’d run from another. But Aleth thankfully didn’t have to deal with any once he was on his own.

What he DID have to deal with was the numerous broken ribs and that bastard had left him with and all the other bruises and cuts as well. The journey had given him no rest and he was starving. Literally. He was a little anxious about the prospects of being turned away, but was otherwise glad to arrive at the gates of Serpent Keep.

"Who goes there?" a guard at the wall called down. "State your business!"

(I don’t fully remember the plan. He’s going as an escaped slave right? Anything specific?)

“Please!” Aleth shouted. He started coughing, groaning as the force made his entire body hurt. “Please have mercy! I need help!”

(He's posing as an escaped slave, yes. Pages 27-28 seem to cover things in more detail! I think I mentioned a name of a slaver many pages later but I can't remember o_o)

"Are you sick with plague?" the guard demanded.
"He's been hurt, you idiot," another snapped. "Look at him, he's probably caught cold. Let him in!"
"But Lord Ash said--"
"That doesn't apply to unfortunates. Let the man in, Dreas!" The first guard frowned, then turned.
"Very well," he said to Aleth. "Do you have--" The second guard rolled his eyes.
"Open the gates!" he called.

(Thank you! That refresher helped ^^)

“Please,” Aleth murmured again, hobbling toward the opening gate. It wasn’t particularly difficult to put up that front since he WAS injured. “Thank you, the gods bless you, thank you.”

The gates creaked open, and the guards hurried down to help him.
"Get Sera," one of them said, and another took off in the direction of the Keep. "Gods, what happened to you?"

“Slavers,” Aleth croaked, stumbling in. “I escaped with my life. But only barely… I’m. I’m so cold.”

"Give him your cloak." A guard removed his heavy fur-lined cloak and draped it over Aleth, and they helped him toward the Keep. "The apothecary will be here to help in a moment, sir. You're in good hands."

“Thank you.” Aleth grabbed the cloak and wrapped it around himself tightly, savoring the fact that it was already warm from the guard’s body heat. He felt like his body had stopped making heat days ago. “Bless you. Thank you.”

It almost felt odd how genuine the words were just then.

They got the doors open, and a blast of warmth greeted them.
"Infirmary is on the third floor," the guard told him. "Can you make it up the stairs?"

“Gods.” Aleth rubbed his face, considering the question. At this point he wasn’t sure that he COULD even if he wanted to. And he didn’t want to. “Why are they always so hard to get to?”

"Ancient architecture is a damned nuisance." The guard cracked a smile. "We can carry you up if you need."

Well, that sounded humiliating. He’d had enough of getting tossed on and off the horse by the guard sent with him. And now. Defeated by stairs. “No, no, I can make it…. It’ll just take a minute.”

He took the first step and cringed, groaning as his entire body ached with the effort. At least, he hoped he was going be able to make it.

The guard stayed by him, brow furrowed. "I really think it would be best if we carried you up, sir. You're in bad shape--those feet look a bit frostbitten."

(Hey! So, YWS servers can’t handle topics that go longer than 99 pages and this message is the last one before we hit 100 pages — there are 15 posts per page lol — so could you make us a new RP thread? Don’t respond to this thread or it’s gonna bump us to 100 but you can PM me if you have any questions ^_^ can’t believe we made it to 99 pages, incredible!)

“I…” Aleth groaned, having to swallow his pride. The guard was right. There was no chance he was making it up that many stairs on his own. “Fine.”