Prison Break

Rothox had left his thieving tools at the estate along with his good daggers having brought old ones for the staged murder which were now gone, taken by the guards. That's why he left his things safe. It did mean he wouldn't be able to pick the lock so while he waited in the furnace-like cell he watched the guards, trying to time their routes. They came by every five minutes. Rothox heard 'Now,' in his head as one was nearing. He covered himself with the cloak completely vanishing.

As the guard passed his cell he saw no one inside. There was immediate panic in his eyes. He yelled to the guard captain. "Prisoner thirteen is missing!" Rothox heard the pounding of boots on metal. He waited on the side of the door, even though he was in a different dimension he still has to abide by the laws of physics of the material plane while within the limbo zone between the dimensions. Essentially the cloak acted like an invisibility spell while in limbo.

"Where could he have gone?" The guard asked his captain.

The captain checked the door. It was still locked. "The gate is locked…" He looked confused. Removing the key he opened the gate and took a couple of steps into the cell. Rothox slipped behind him but the other guard stood in his way. He paused.

"Are you sure someone was in this cell?"

"Umm, I thought so…the guy they brought in today." The guard was clearly nervous, afraid of being punished for bothering the captain for no reason.

The captain angrily stepped towards him, the guard reactively backed up, which gave Rothox the space he needed to slip by. "Moron there is no way he escaped, this cell was empty." He slammed the door shut, locked it, and walked away annoyed. The other guard hung his head mumbling some swears as he thought for sure there was a prisoner in there. He kept looking back at the cell, counting each one as he did.

Rothox waited for them to move away before he began to search each cell one at a time, for Trixia. He finally found her asleep in one of the center cells, able to pick her out, the long hair a dead giveaway. Not a lot of female prisoners. He summoned a dagger and lobbed it into the cell. It clinked against the far wall. She picked her head up at the sound but in the dark interior of her cell, it was hard to see her appearance.

"Who's there?" Her voice was hoarse after months of living in the ash-covered prison. Rothox looked around making sure guards weren't looking before he slipped his head out from under the cloak, quickly, so she could see him before he tossed it back over his horns.

"Rothox!?" Trixia sat up, she could no longer see him. She rubbed her eyes thinking she was seeing things. "I'm going crazy," She said to herself.

"I'm here," he said. "We are going to break you out." He kept his voice low.

"Where are you, why can't I see you?"

"I'm here, just invisible."

"How did you get in here?" She was still trying to figure out how he was invisible but she would figure that out later.

"I got arrested, it's a long story. I need you to get the guard with your key to come over, so I can steal it from him. Can you do that?"

She nodded. She stood up, her clothes tattered and torn, covered in ash and her already thin body was even more malnourished. Her cheeks were gaunt and sunken, her eyes saggy and her nails black. Living in the Ashen Ring was in itself torture.

"Guard!" She called out.

"Shut up. Go to sleep!" he yelled back at her.

"I want you to fuck me," she yelled back. Hearing a proper lady swear made Rothox smile. That got the guard's attention, among other prisoners who whistled out and started to yell out other obscenities. The guard approached the cell, as he did she adjusted her torn dress to showcase her cleavage and positioned herself beside the bed. Even in her weakened state, she was still a beautiful elven lady, holding herself with a regality befitting someone of her old position.

"What did you say?" The middle-aged guard eyed her up and down, pausing on her breasts.

"I want you to take me, right…now." She rested her back against the wall and placed her right leg on the bed pulling her dress up to reveal her inner thigh.

"About time." The guard licked his dry lips. He looked around before fumbling with his key to her cell. He separated it from the bundle of the keys on the ring and opened the gate. An invisible dagger appeared and slight his throat, deep enough to stifle any screams. Rothox shoved him sideways over the chain barrier and the edge. The body tumbled into the lava below. Trixia straightened herself up, pulling her hicked-up dress back down, as Rothox slipped into her cell. He used the key in the lock to close it back up.

"What are you doing?" She asked, expecting to be leaving.

"We have to wait for the others to come down, they are flying through the volcano. Also, they will come to check on that guard unless they allow them to…"

"They have tried with me, especially that one, he has tried multiple times. I'm grateful he is dead."

"So we wait. The gate is locked and they shouldn't suspect anything."

The sound of yelling not a moment later spiked their attention. The commotion escalated.

"Rothox…this place, where are you?" Julius reached into his mind.

Rothox responded, "Inner ring,"

He looked at Trixia, "Time to go, they are here." He kept his hood off as he unlocked the door, he had to pull back as two guards rushed by towards the outer ring and the far side of the prison. Rothox and Trixia fell in behind them using their loud movements to mask their own.

Flying above the edge of the Ashen Ring were the rest of the Sect. Rothox saw Alissa on the back of Erigos casting a spell towards a guard who then fell over, asleep. The guards in front of him began to take aim with their crossbows. Rothox bouldered into both of them from behind, knocking them over. The guards tried to gather themselves but Trixa came after and stepped on their backs, forcing them back down on the hot metal. She ground her heel into one of their backs while spitting on the other. A few droplets of moisture sizzled on the metal.

Four more guards blocked their way to the outer ring, brandishing their weapons. Rothox tossed two daggers, one at each of the middle two guards. He aimed to injure, not wanting to kill unnecessarily, they were just doing their jobs. Both daggers pierced shoulders hampering their ability to fire their weapons. The two other guards fired, Rothox took a bolt in arm as he stepped in front of Trixia. His third dagger found the gut of the one that shot him and before he could hit the fourth, the guard took a fiery bolt to the back. He yelped in pain, and fell to the catwalk, rolling.

"Trixia hurry," They both ran forward, forcing past the injured guards, one took the brunt of a hit and tumbled over the edge between the rings. More guards rushed around the outer ring, leveling their crossbows. Trixia and Rothox had a small window to get to their friends.

"Jump!" Harim yelled and flew to the edge, the heat and ash swirling around him. Julius dove with him as Alissa did her best to slow the guards.

Rothox jumped straight for Harim. For a brief second, there was nothing but lava below him then the corded arms of Harim caught him. Trixia was his first thought as Harim began to drift up. Glancing over he saw Trixia was in the arms of Julius. He was managing to carry her with no issue. A few bolts sailed towards them, harrowingly close. The shouts fell away and the bolts no longer reached them as they flew into the smog.

The city was on high alert as they flew towards the western wall of the fourth district, back to Trixia's estate. They stayed low just inside the edge of the volcano until the Golden Brand at the gondola wouldn't see them.

A few feet from the grounds of the Sweetbrier Estate the flight spell ended, Harim and Erigos fell the remaining five feet. Erigos landed with a thud, letting Alissa slip off his back. Julius set Trixia down on the grass. The adrenaline that had kept her going faded and she leaned against Julius for support. She didn't even know him but she was grateful for his aid. Harim helped Rothox to his feet after he struggled to hold him when the flight spell let out. They rushed inside the back entrance hoping they had gone unseen.