Young Writers Society

Mattathias glanced at Keith, red gaze looking him over. It wasn't his fighting ability that Matt worried about, it was his sneaking one, and Matt admittedly was just used to taking care of things himself. he wished he had his sleep powder. It would make this a lot easier.

"I wasn't planning on shedding any blood," he replied, looking up the stone bricks of the walls for a moment before sinking his talons into the rift between the rocks. He pulled himself up, taking a few moments to get used to the feel of the stones before slithering up it like a lizard up a fence and then wrapping his claws around the bricks in the ceiling. A few moments later, he was hanging directly above Kartiel, reptilian body plastered to the rocks and cloaked in shadows.

Kartiel looked up at him, studying the darkness before heading towards the exit.

"It's optimistic of you to hope that," the god said. He was already trying to test out the limits of his new form, conjuring little bits of darkness at his fingertips and creating shapes in the air right in front of him as his tail swished back and forth. He needed to get a good handle on them if he wanted to be useful. "Considering that we were both thrown into a jail cell and they threw a muzzle around your mouth, I don't think they're very fond of either one of us."

"Obviously, but if they don't see us coming, we have nothing to worry about. They're just doing their jobs. No need to kill them for it if we don't have to. Besides, if we do get spotted, they're likely to call the alarm--better to stealth it."

He shimmied across the stones to follow Keith, reptilian heritage made very clear in the way he half-slithered, half-crawled across the ceiling. The further he moved, the more the shadows clung to him, and as they approached the torches he snuffed them out.

Kartiel came to a sudden stop in the hallway, the words that Matt had said only just registering. Even though he was saying them through Nerezzar's lips with Nerezzar's voice, the words didn't sound right coming from Mattathias Jermaine. He knew that he had changed. They had already established that. But for Matt's first thought to be kill instead of fight...

...He couldn't tell if it was how Matt did things now, or what he expected the man who had ruined his life to be like.

Both options made a knot grow in his stomach. He let himself stare at Matt for another moment - just barely making out his form in the darkness - before turning his attention back to the corridor ahead.

"I wasn't planning on killing anyone," he said, his voice a little colder - a little more distant - than he had intended it to be. Then he hesitated, questioning if it was a good idea to be causing even more divide between the two of them. "We just might have to do a little bit of fighting to get out of here, and I wanted to address the possibility that we might have to throw a punch or two."

"We won't if you don't get seen," he replied with a bit of a chilly tone to his voice. He was still rather mad at Keith and he couldn't help that it came out in his manner, and, admittedly, he was a little bit offended that the god didn't seem to understand that this was exactly what rogues and assassins did, and if a punch got thrown, he was doing it very wrong. One could say many things about Nerezzar but when all was said and done, he was a damn fine sneak, and it wasn't often that he got seen if he didn't want to.

He paused, scanning the shadows to make sure there was no one within earshot before glancing down at Keith again. "Look, it's literally my job not to be noticed until it's too late. Just...let me do that, and it's very unlikely any fighting will be necessary. If it comes to that, we silence them and down them as quickly as we can and how we go about that depends on the layout."

"...Fine," he reluctantly said. He didn't bother to look back at Matt; he just kept his eyes on the corridor ahead of them. "But if you do get discovered, I'm not letting you kill anyone. We don't need murder to get out of this."

"I don't plan on killing unless it's necessary," he replied. "But sometimes, unfortunately, it is. Some of us aren't immortal gods."

With this, he slipped away into the shadows. The torches went out as he passed them with all the sound of a sneaking serpent. It was a simple matter to remove guards from commission in the dark. He'd simply drop behind them, cover their mouth with a scaly hand, and drop just enough venom into their bloodstream to knock them unconscious for a good long time. Once unconscious, he'd simply drag them to the side of the hall and repeat the process.

It wasn't long before Mattathias--though by now he might just as easily be called Nerezzar--alighted before the door and pulled the keys from one of the guards, flipping through them to figure out which one unlocked the oaken threshold.

Kartiel's tail twitched uneasily behind him as he watched Matt go through the keys. There was a confidence and smoothness to the simple action that made him feel uneasy; it wasn't difficult for him to notice the differences between the old Matt and the new, and the similarities between this new Mattathias Jermaine and Nerezzar Cephalos.

But he didn't have any right to voice that concern when he was the one who had inadvertently made him this way.

It didn't take long before the door was open. He slipped into the passageway and padded down the hallway, sniffing the air to figure out which way the exit was each time they hit an intersection. Every once and a while a guard would pass but it wasn't hard to fool them in the narrow corridors: he'd simply trick them into seeing a wall where the hall that he and Kartiel were in and they'd stroll right on by.

It wasn't difficult, that was, until they reached the main room.

Upon crossing the final, oaken threshold, they were met with a massive hall. Marble pillars rose to a vaulted ceiling, and the tiled floor was lit with gilded braziers, the light flickering off marbled stone walls and a stained glass window that was perched high across the room from the door. It depicted what appeared to be an angel coming to Earth.

None of this was what was concerning however; rather, it was the man in gilded full plate who stood under that very window. A heavy, feathered cloak covered his back in deep umber that matched the hue of his hair, and his eyes were such a pale yellow they were almost white. A greatsword was strapped to his back and a creature that neared the size of a pony sat beside him. It had the hindquarters of a lion and the forequarters of a Golden Eagle, and it sat beside its master with an acute gaze.

If they were seen...

Matt closed the door quietly, praying they hadn't been heard, and turned to Kartiel. "How much do you want to bet that's a lawful neutral pally out there, and a high-level one at that?"

"I won't make any bets on that," Kartiel said, "but I will guess that we're going to need to come up with another plan."

He didn't like the looks of the person out beyond the door. Everything about him suggested - the armor, the sword and the creature - that he was a threat. If that wasn't enough to give Kartiel a bad feeling, the fact that he was the sole person in the place two supposedly dangerous people were being held implied he was a great guard.

Kartiel let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

This wasn't going to be easy in the slightest.

"This is the only exit. Assuming my nose isn't failing me, anyways. We might be able to sneak around him. Or...if we create a diversion, maybe..." His voice trailed off. "I have an idea. I'm not an infernal draconian but I am resistant to fire." He closed his eyes, trying to remember the room. There were braziers. If he could knock one or two down and get the man distracted they could run for it. Could his shadows do it for him? He hadn't tried something like that before, but he had entangled people, so it wasn't much of a stretch--right?

"Okay, what if I pull one or two of the braziers down with my shadows? It'll set a fire and while he's distracted we can bolt. Plan?"

It sounded like the type of plan that could go horribly wrong, but they didn't really have any other options. He would just have to hope for the best - even if the thought of putting Matt's life on the line made a knot of worry grow in his stomach.

He nodded. "It sounds like the best one we'll be able to come up with."

Matt nodded, pushing open the door a crack so he could see the braziers. He focused on the one nearest the paladin and slowed his breath, focusing his magic. Shadows slithered from the walls and the flames flickered. Come on, come on. His jaw clenched with effort--never before had he tried to make his darkness coalesce sufficiently to interact with the metal of the brazier.

The shadows wrapped themselves around it, trembling even as the flaming brazier began to wobble. He bit his lip, feeling the energy drain from him. Almost there...

Clnngh!

It fell, clattering across the tiles as burning embers scattered across the floor. A smile danced across his draconian lips: he'd done it.

But there wasn't time to celebrate.

No sooner had fire began to lick at the tapestries than Mattathias bolted out the threshold, sprinting for the vast double-doors that were their only exit. The gryphon rose and spun, giving chase, and he spread his wings to propel himself for the last several yards...

...and slammed into the doors, throwing them open and falling into the street.

Matt's plan had been great in theory, but terrible in practice for exactly one reason: while Matt had a nice, speedy exit, Kartiel found himself awkwardly lingering behind the doors as the fire began to spread. He had fully intended on following Matt. But then the gryphon had noticed Matt and nearly caught him - leaving Kartiel to deal with it guarding the one exit.

And if the man in the armor was the least bit good at his job, he would have realized two prisoners escaping was more likely than one.

As if his realization was a prophecy, the man turned and started to head towards the door. Kartiel let loose a very, very loud swear - he was caught, and both he and the man knew it. The man readied the absolutely enormous sword. Kartiel swore again, then called to the magic within him. It was time to improvise, even if he didn't know half of what his body could do now.

Darkness shot out of the ground. Suddenly recalling something he had heard Thymea mention years ago about another darkness user, he let the darkness coat every inch of his body, adding layer upon layer upon layer to simulate a suit of armor. It was just as cumbersome to move in as armor would be, but he was able to withstand a swing of the sword.

Now Kartiel took the opportunity, darting for the same door that Matt had gone out of a little over a minute before. He dodged the swipes of the gryphon, tumbling out through the doorway and into the streets.

Kartiel wasn't right behind him. Matt spun around, stalling even as yells erupted down the street. Come out, come out, come out...His talons dug into the dirt and he spread his wings, ready to go back in--

--and his partner fell into the road beside him, with a gryphon at his tail. Matt didn't waste a moment as he grabbed Kartiel by the arm and leapt into the air without asking or even warning the man as he would've if there'd been more time.

Taking off was more difficult than he'd initially anticipated with the weight of another man combined with his, but he finally managed to get fully airborne and start climbing. He wouldn't be as fast or as maneuverable but if he could just get high enough that he was out of the archers' range he could start to glide and get them somewhere safer to stay the night.