Opportunity part 3

Kim wasn't sure what to make of what appeared to be soldiers entering the inn. She suspected something was going on but she didn't have a clue as to what it might have been.

She looked around for Jonas, and found him at a large table that had been created by moving a few of the tables together. However, she could tell he wasn't surprised by the armed men entering the inn, though he certainly acted like it. Just not enough for Kim to think he actually was surprised.

"May we help you?" Jonas asked, his false innocence giving Kim a headache for some reason.

"These men escaped the jail they were being held in earlier this morning. We've come to take them back," the man who seemed to be in charge answered.

"Really?" Jonas asked. "They've been here all night. You can even ask the innkeeper."

"We're not going to ask anyone who can be bribed to say anything," the man spat. "They're coming with us and nothing you say can change that." The man suddenly paused as he smiled evily. "Unless you'd like to come with them."

Jonas shook his head as he sighed, looking defeated. Though, as the soldiers, started to get the young men to stand up, and put manacles on them, attaching a chain to the manacles, Jonas spoke again, not showing any hint of the defeated posture he'd taken. The men who had been at the tables looked uncertain. Like they had been through this before, but were uneasy about it happening again.

"By the way, what evidence do you have that these find young men are the ones who broke out of that jail?" he asked, looking towards the ground, as if he was afraid to look at the soldiers.

Or maybe they're part of the city watch, Kim speculated in her mind, watching the events play out.

"We have eyewitness descriptions of them that match these trouble makers, and there's the wounds that we bandaged on them," the one in charge replied smugly, as if everything had been already established.

"Uh, bandages?" Jonas asked, looking confused as he lifted his head and started examining the new 'friends' he'd made who were being taken away.

"What are you looking at?" the leader of the watch asked impatiently.

"Well, you mentioned that you'd bandaged their wounds, but, uh, I don't see any bandages."

The watch leader motioned to the newly captured men impatiently and snapped as he looked at them, "Look, you can clearly see them on-" The man stopped talking when he suddenly realized that there weren't any bandages on them.

Kim suddenly recalled how Jonas had wanted Elin to come down stairs quickly, as well as how Elin had come back up carrying a good amount of bandages, that had clearly been used and had blood on them.

Kim then looked at Jonas with an appraising look. It was clear Jonas was playing at something here, and whatever it was, it clearly involved him playing fast and loose with not only the truth, but with whatever was actually going on down there.

"As you can see, my new friends don't have any injuries that needed to be bandaged," Jonas said after a few minutes of stunned silence. "So, whoever escaped couldn't possibly have been these young men."

"That would have been easily remedied by sending for a healer," the man retorted.

Jonas nodded. "Yes, well, how about this," he suggested. "You let them sit back down, though you can leave the chains on them for now, and you send someone to check with the healers in the area to see if anyone was called to this inn and why."

"What would that prove?" the leader snapped, though doubt was starting to grow in his voice.

"It would show that these young men didn't need to be healed. That they were all in perfect health when whatever incident at your jail occurred," Jonas said, looking like his was trying to help the leader of the watch out.

Elin tugged on Kim's arm. "What's going on? Did I heal some people I shouldn't have?" Elin whispered to Kim, her eyes on the scene below them.

Kim merely shook her head. "Don't worry about it, my gem. I'm sure Jonas wouldn't have had you heal them if they were a threat to us," Kim answered in a whisper.

"Then what's going on?" she asked, starting to look rather nervous.

"Well, from what I can gather from what I see below us, that Jonas broke these men out of jail and brought them here so you can heal them. However, since the city watch doesn't know about your abilities, they won't know to ask you. So, Jonas is helping these men get off free from whatever it was that they'd gotten picked up on in the first place," Kim answered.

Elin sighed. "I thought so, but why would he want to help criminals out?"

Kim patted Elin on the head. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure Jonas has something in mind. He's playing at something at least, so we might as well let it play out," Kim remarked. "I doubt he's left anything to chance at this point."

Elin nodded, still looking rather worried. Not that Kim could blame her. All it took was one mistake and Jonas could be ettig carried away with the watch. Although, she had to admit, if he wasn't caught by this point, he wasn't likely going to get caught by these people anyway.

"How long is this going to take?" Elin asked, "I'm hungry."

"Yes, I'm sure you are," Kim answered, watching the scene below closely. "Want to go take a seat at one of the other tables? I'm sure we can get it without having to deal with the city watch and those men they're trying to arrest."

"Sure!" Elin cried happily.

Kim smiled to herself. Elin could be difficult to handle when she didn't get her way. Kim assumed it was because of her privileged upbringing, though she couldn't say if that was it exactly or if it was merely part of Elin's personality. Either one could be the case.

Though despite that, Elin did at times seem to accept the situation at hand didn't always accommodate her desires. Fortunately, this time allowed an option that Kim could help Elin without having to wait for the mess Jonas brought to them to create a problem in this regard.

As Kim escorted Elin down the stairs, the city watch kept an eye on them, though they seemed to relax when Elin took a seat at an empty table while Kim went to the innkeeper for some breakfast.

Kim would have assumed the innkeeper would have demanded payment upfront, but she guessed that he was more than a little distracted by the scene unfolding in his common area and he acquiesced Kim's request for two bowls of food wihtout even thinking about payment. Not that he would let them leave without paying, Kim was sure.

It didn't take long before one of the waitresses working at the inn brought the food, which looked to be a kind of soup, much like the dinner had been. Though, there did seem to be more chunks of meat in it, but she couldn't really be sure. At the very least, she couldn't help but wonder at the lack of diversity in the diet this world seemed to have for meals.

With the inn at the village they'd stayed at, it was much the same. A kind of soup for each meal, though this one at least had a little more variety in the kinds of soups. Not that it changed much really, soup was still soup.

"So, the fact that you were talking about the jail where we had the breakout happen this morning when we arrived was just a coincidence, right?" the person in charge of the watch asked casually.

"Was it?" Jonas asked just as casually. "These young men were telling me about some of the troubles they've had in the city. Many of which ended up with them getting arrested. I think Saul said they'd all gotten arrested, what? Five times?"

"Six," the youngest of the men replied.

"So, why were they talking about the jail?" the watchman asked.

Jonas waved his hand as if to wave the question away, like he would a bad odor. "It's simple really. They were just at the part of the story when they were being held and waiting for their parents to come pick them up after a brawl that left a tavern demolished and several bystanders injured."

The watchman involuntarily groaned. "Yeah, I remember that incident. I really had hoped these young lords would have learned their lesson from that," he commented.

"They have," Jonas assured him. 'I'm sure they have no idea what happened and would be willing to answer any questions you might have about it."

Kim smiled to herself as she noticed the look of alarm on some of the men's faces. They quickly wiped it off of their faces, but Kim had caught it, though she didn't think anyone from the city watch had. Not that she held it against them.

"That can wait until I hear back about the healers," the watch leader replied. "If it comes back what I suspect, then those questions won't matter. If you're correct, then I'll ask them. Even if it's merely a formality."

"We're more than willing to cooperate," Jonas assured him.

Kim could only roll her eyes at that. Of course they'd be willing to cooperate. Only as long as it leads the watch in a different direction than the one they should be going in. Although, she had to admit. Jonas was manipulating the watchman masterfully. Almost like he was a trained mentalist.

As Jonas had said that, the conversation ceased in the common room. Which Kim was happy about. It let her and Elin eat in peace. Not that she really expected it to last long. It was at least nice while it lasted.