Innes was starting to protest her a bit before the guard walked in.
"Don't even get me started on the future of our kingdom. I wouldn't even be here if-"
he falls silent as Katya points out the guard and gets up from the table, trying not to be too abrubt. He catches a glimpse of the guard as he starts to slip away towards their room.
Fortunately, he's still only tipsy; a light hum drones in his head, but he's still perfectly able to put one foot in front of the other. Once up in the hall, out of the guards' views, he fumbles with the key a bit and unlocks their room.
Once they're both in, he closes the door as quietly as possible.
"What do we do if he checks up here?" he asked.
Katya steals a few brief glances at the man before ducking into the stairwell and making their way to the upper floor. Silently, she slips in beside her brother. "Easy," Katya says, flipping a knife from her belt and into her awaiting palm. "We kill him. By the time they realize a single guard is missing, we'll be in the next town over." A smile that only brings trouble settles across her lips. "If not, then we'll have a long nights rest with no worries whatsoever."
"I'll leave that to you, then," Innes sighs.
He still reaches for a dagger just in case, but he's nearly certain that Katya will more than happily take care of the guard, should the need arise. She was out for vengeance- and that was on everyone involved, even the guards, some of whom had very little to do with the overthrow of their parents.
Innes presses his ear up against the wall facing the hallway, listening for footsteps. He is more than a little flustered and out of breath.
Katya has to roll her eyes at her brother's semi-drunken state. From now on, they're both limited to only a single ale each. They're going to have to be in peak condition at all times, especially when moving closer and closer to the castle they shared in their youth. Carefully, Katya listens to the door, noting a few sets of footsteps but none of them hearty nor determined enough to be those of the guard's. "You should get some sleep," Katya says after a few minutes of silence. "I'll watch the door."
Innes frowns. He usually doesn't sleep at night much anyhow. He especially wouldn't be able to knowing there was a guard in the same building as them, probably out for their heads.
Yet, he sits firmly on the mattress. He looks between Katya and the door.
"I'll try, I suppose," he says, "I've had quite a lot of trouble sleeping this week. I can take watch if you'd rather rest."
Innes already feels like he's starting to sober up, and it's not a pleasant feeling.
Katya scoffs and levels her brother with a glare. "Go to bed, idiot. I'll wake you up in a few hours to take the second watch, alright?" In a compromise Katya hopes will make them both happy, she returns to her vigil, staring at the door. The inn room luckily has two twin sized beds set on either side of a large window overlooking a back alley. The siblings travel light, all of their belongings in bags on their backs or belts, making a quick and quiet exit easy. If the guard somehow has backup, they'll have to make their getaway quick and silent. For all of their sakes, Katya hopes that the man is alone and not in the mood for checking individual rooms.
Innes tries to sleep, but it's sporadic and shallow. He dreams of that night again and hears the screams. The screams of his parents, his sister. But also the service staff, the royal guard, the people who put everything on the line to protect the royal family and still failed.
He stirs a lot as he sleeps, occasionally gasping for breath as he wakes up.
Katya alternates her attention from watching the door to watching the window. Across from her on the second bed, Innes hardly gets any sleep. Katya hardly gets any sleep. They're both lucky if they get a few uninterrupted hours. She sniffs, wiping her nose with her knuckle as she rests her cheek on the top of her bent knee. She has to wonder if the nightmares will subside when back within the castle, the throne rightly restored to their bloodline. Part of her prays it will, the other part knows that it might only get worse. Knowing if she doesn't try now, she'll won't get a wink, Katya stands and crosses the room in a few, short strides. Softly, she shakes Innes from his light sleep. Wordlessly, she points to the door and then to her own bed before unceremoniously flopping onto the thin mattress.
Innes wakes with a bit of a start. But when he sees Katya make the short signal to him, he's relieved. He's relieved he's the one taking watch now. Not because he doesn't trust her, but because his vigilance has become pretty habitual at this point, even through the night.
Innes hears the periodic creaking of floorboards, footsteps on the stairs, but nothing worth noting. Perhaps they are, in fact, safe for the night.
(Want them to get caught and have to flee or nah?)
(ohoho yeah we should have them get discovered,, but there's not just one guard,, there's like a dozen >:] )
It doesn't take long for sleep to find Katya. It grabs ahold of her mind before forcefully pulling her beneath the blanket of unconsciousness. Katya always sleeps heavily, but never for very long. Somewhere while swimming through the inky black, Katya begins to hear voices and relive memories she would rather leave buried. She turns over onto her side, fingers knotting in the blankets beneath her. Something tingles on the back of her neck and her subconscious tells her something is very wrong.
( :o ooh yeah love that drama)
Innes is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the door when he hears a set of footsteps on the stairs. He doesn't think anything of it at first, but then more steps join them.
Frantically, Innes stumbles over to wake Katya.
"There's a group of 'em," he whispers, "We need to get out now"
Katya stirs awake silently, blinking the little sleep from her eyes as she assesses the situation. Footsteps outside–all of them stopping at their door. "Shit." She hisses, reaching for her bow sitting on the floor. "Get the windows open. I can buy us some time." She casts her own quick glance outside. Morning seems to be only an hour away. If the villagers begin to set up their morning markets, they'll be able to make a clean getaway with the crowd as a diversion. Turning her attention back to the door, Katya nocks an arrow and points it straight at the door. It thumps. The hinges rattle. They're planning on knocking it down.
Innes grabs his bag and stumbles towards the window. He works quickly and quietly to push the pane up, but he's fumbling and nervous. Yet, by some miracle, he manages to push the window up with a heavy creaking sound. The guards still haven't burst through the door quite yet. He goes to the second window, but it's stuck.
"Second one's not going," he huffs, turning to his sister, "First window'll have to do. Let's go, you first."
Innes is now waiting for her to run away. He has a hand over the hilt of his sword, just in case.
Katya scoffs, glancing over her shoulder at the opened window. "You go. I need someone to break my fall–" Right as the words leave her mouth, the door breaks. Within milliseconds, Katya releases two arrows, landing them home right in the chinks of their neck armor. They fall to the ground gargling, but there are many behind them. Maybe ten more. Katya curses, pushing at her brother before leading out the window.
"Well, shit-" Innes murmurs, jumping onto the ledge outside the window and making his way to the ground.
Innes lands clumsily, pain shooting up his foot. Yet, he's alright; he simply landed awkwardly.
"Come on!" he shouts up at his sister after checking his surroundings for more guards.
Innes sees a group of them not too far away, but they haven't noticed the commotion yet. Before he turns to run, he makes sure he's on the same page as Katya.
Katya doesn't look lands with a soft grunt, shifting her momentum to roll over her shoulder and back to her feet. She lodges another arrow in the forehead of a guard who dared to look out the window. "Move–" She shouts, following her brother around a few of the corners. She keeps an arrow nocked in her bow, the string taught and ready to fire. If there's three down, that leaves nine left. Damn it, she should've stayed a little longer and picked off a few more. "Where to?" She asks as she turns over her shoulder. The sun is rising, the first few marketmen of the day are beginning to set up their shops.
Innes begins to run too, as soon as he knows his sister is ready to go. He glances around. He wants to run into the quiet, dark embrace of the forest, but there's too little to hide their trail there, especially when the guards are likely more familiar with its terrain.
"Marketplace, town square," he says tersely, "We'll see what we can do once we get there."
Aside from the rising commotion acting as the perfect smokescreen, Innes knows that the marketplace is situated pretty far from the barracks, should they call in reinforcements.
Katya nods at the direction, taking off in the lead with a drawn bow. The guards must not have had the balls to jump out the window, forcing them to travel through the inn and around it to even get to the back alley. Katya didn't see any of them with bows. At least she'll have the advantage at ranged. Swiftly, she steps around men setting up a canopy and steps onto a busy street. She checks to ensure Innes is still behind her and returns her arrow to the quiver.
Innes follows Katya closely and ducks behind the canopy as well.
He still hasn't drawn a weapon, much more focused on escape over anything else.
"Okay, I think we lost them for now," he says, panting, "but we need a better plan. We can't keep running yet; we'll stand out."
"Blend in?" Katya suggests. It seems to be their only option. If they fight, more guards will come and they'll only panic the poor villagers. If they run, it'll be easy to target and catch them. Katya doesn't know if whoever sent the guards wants them alive or dead, but she doesn't intend to stay long enough in one spot to find out. "This way–" She steers Innes down another busy street, discretely tucking her bow beneath the wide folds of her cloak.
"That's the idea," Innes agrees, still making sure to follow Katya as closely as possible.
"We should just act like any old customers in the marketplace. Civilians won't recognize us, and it shouldn't rouse any extra suspicion if we're just doing what anyone else is doing, right? But we'll be slowly moving away from the city. Eventually, we should he able to slip past the gates and into the forest."
Katya nods, checking over her shoulder and keeping a concealed hand on the hilt of a hidden dagger. God, she would've loved a long night's rest, but she apparently can't have nice things. The only thing that can't be used to kill someone on her person happens to be a few stolen gold pieces. Well, better put them to use now. She grabs Innes's sleeve and pulls him in front of one of the few stalls up and ready. An old woman with trembling hands sits behind a vat. It smells like heaven, and Katya wonders exactly how many gold pieces it'll take for the woman to give them her soup recipe.
Innes draws out a couple of gold pieces. It does in fact smell heavenly, and is probably cheaper than the inn's food. It'll save them a hunting trip later.
"How much for a bowl?" He asks, still keeping an ear out for any commotion nearby.
Innes' stomach has been grumbling on and off for the past day or two. He grazed on some nuts at the inn last night, but otherwise, he was too focused on other things to stop to eat. Besides, he and Katya are dirt poor now. They left home with effectively no money and even now, they have no steady source of income. When they can afford to eat a meal not made over a campfire, it's a good day.
The wrinkled woman looks up, her dark eyes kind. "Just a piece of silver," her voice like crackled paper coos. Katya doesn't hesitate to reach into her bag to fish out the two coins–well, accidentally bringing up a third with the two.
"Consider this a tip–" Katya says as she places the three coin onto the makeshift table. The woman smiles, the very depths of it reaching the corners of her eyes. With shaking hands, the soupmaker pours them each a small bowl. Katya takes them both and hands one back to her brother. "Thank you, ma'am."
"We appreciate it," Innes adds, taking the bowl from Katya.
He turns away from the stall to look back behind them and sweep his gaze over the street. For now, the group of guards has not come into the central street. There are a few guards, but they're doing their everyday patrolling, blissfully unaware of the situation at hand.
The soup is fantastic and warms Innes to the core. It has been a while since his last good home-cooked meal, especially since neither he nor Katya have that good of skills. Growing up with chefs and other people at their service, learning to cook was never something on their minds. Both could do more than enough to survive, but in comparison, good homemade food was almost life-changing.
Innes partially uses the bowl to cover his face as he watches out over the street. And his gaze shifts back to his sister.
"Let's get moving away from the center," he says, "But we should definitely stop to look at other stalls to help us stay hidden."
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