The executioner walked off alone, off to the inn. The mask served well to hide his face from any who wished to take vengeance for the condemned. Though, in this case the mask served a different purpose. The executioner walked up the stairs of the inn, until he came to room 22. Two guards stood before the door.

“The one in this cell may be next for the chopping block, so I’m told,” said the executioner. “If he has any last words I wish to hear them.”

“If he’s sentenced to death it’s to silence him,” said one of the guards. “Which makes his last words irrelevant.”

“Quite the contrary,” said the executioner. “This one felt such guilt for his sins that he begged the Grand Inquisitor to have him beheaded. He’s repented of his sins, but wishes to die before he can commit more and fall from grace again. I’m doing this to save his soul.”

The guards exchanged looks and both shrugged. It wasn't as if such a thing was unprecedented. One produced the keys to the cell and unlocked the door. “Five minutes.”

“Thank you.”

Dario sat in the corner of the cell, hanging his head in his hands, but when he heard the door opening he looked up to see the executioner walk in. “No! I haven’t even been questioned yet! How can the Grand Inquisitor-“

The executioner motioned for him to be quiet and pulled off his leather mask.

“Emylas?” Dario whispered when he saw his face.

Emylas shook his head, letting his hair fall back into its usual shape. “So hot in that mask. I’m here to get you out of this cell.”

“Why?” Dario asked. “More importantly…how?”

“It’s like I told you before,” Emylas rolled up the mask. “I’ve gained great power as a sorcerer over the years. There are spirits in my service, yet even with their help I cannot liberate this city from the new Inquisition. Not alone.”

“I came here to stop the slave trade here,” said Dario. “The Inquisition accomplished that goal, therefore my work is done. Once I escape, of course.”

“You came here to abolish slavery, and the Inquisition is merely another form of slavery,” said Emylas. “Besides, don’t you want to save the woman you love?”

“What?” Dario paused a moment, as if trying to recall something. Then said, “Azalea? She’s nowhere near this city.”

“Come now, my friend, be honest,” said Emylas, “With yourself, if not with me. Azalea’s not the woman you love. Maybe she once was, but no more. I’m not a fool, Dario. I know who truly holds your heart.”

“…Evalina…”

Emylas snapped his fingers. “Yes, Evalina. You know who she is, what she is. It’s only a matter of time until the Inquisition finds out who she is too. Once they find out they’ll kill her, or worse, sever all her limbs and ‘re-educate’ her.” Emylas shuddered at the thought. “I can help both of you, and you two can help me. Together we can liberate Nox, make this city truly free for the first time.”

“We’d need an army to do that.”

“I have one,” said Emylas. “I just need to get to them.”

“You have an army?” Dario asked, incredulously.

“Allies, really.” Emylas avoided eye contact with Dario. Surely Dario had guessed what army he was referring to by now.

Dario groaned. “And you want my help to get to them? Why should I trust you?”

Such an idiot question. Emylas grabbed Dario by both sides of his face and said, “Because the alternative is for you to stay here, under the Inquisition’s watch. In time they’ll torture you to get answers. Then they may decide to kill you. Or they might find out about your patronage of the slave trade. You’ve heard how they punish carnal crimes, yes?”

“I didn’t know she was a slave,” Dario said.

“They might not care. Considering the particular part they cut off…” Emylas made a gesture with his hand passing in front of his loins, as if it were a blade. “I wouldn’t risk it myself. Then there’s the fact that you’re a justicar. They don’t much care for the Cult of the Father. So, are you coming or not?”

Dario sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “I can't believe I'm doing this. Did you manage to grab the keys to my shackles?”

“What shackles?”

When Dario opened his eyes again the shackles on his hands and feet were gone, and Emylas stared down at him with that same infuriating smile he’d worn when Dario confronted him about Duat. Emylas reached up his left sleeve and drew a long-sword, one far too long to truly have been hidden there, and handed it to Dario.

“Once we leave this room we have to go straight to room 27 to get Evalina,” said Emylas. “Then we have to head straight to my home.”

“What’s at your home?”

“A secret passage that leads out of the city, underground. Hopefully the inquisitors haven’t found it yet.”

“There’s got to be an alternative. What if I go tell the other justicars what’s happened here?”

“Would they really care?” asked Emylas. “Would they have enough justicars to deal with it? Think on it, really. Besides, if they find out about Evalina they’ll kill her.”

“True. Damn. Couldn’t we go to the Arxians for help? We could go to the nearest Arxian lord and tell him-“

“Lord Kenaz would certainly liberate this city from the Inquisition,” Emylas nodded, “But he’s part of the slave trade too. They bought him off almost ten years ago. The man worships his pocket-book. He’d see the slave trade reinstated just to fill his purse. You want to stop both the Inquisition and the slave trade? You’ll need my allies’ help.”

“Who are your allies?”

Unwise to tell him the truth just yet. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you if you won’t-“

Emylas impatiently pulled on his beard. “I’ve spent too much time explaining this to you, Dario,” said Emylas. “Now, get this through your thick head! They could find the secret passageway at any moment. I need to move out now. I’ll do it without you if you still have doubts. Make a decision. Today!”

“Fine! I will come with you!”

“Good. Ready yourself.”

Emylas and Dario both crept up to the door. Both stood where when the door opened it would block them from the guards’ sight. Emylas donned the leather mask again and shouted, “Help! Gack! He’s got me!” trying to make it sound like he was being choked.

The door burst open and both guards came running in with swords drawn. Emylas and Dario slipped out the door and slammed it shut. Emylas produced the keys from his pocket and locked the door, breaking off the key in the lock. “That should hold them.”

“When did you grab the keys?” Dario asked.

Emylas chuckled. “When indeed. Are you wondering where my powers as a sorcerer stop and my skills as simple pickpocket begin?”

Dario shook his head. “Nevermind.”

The two of them dashed down the hall, straight for cell number 27. “No guards posted at her door,” Emylas said. “They must not have thought her as dangerous as you.”

Once Emylas unlocked and opened the door Dario ran in, dropped his sword, and threw his arms around Evalina. She clutched him close to her and sighed into his shoulder. “I thought we were both going to die,” she said.

“They’ll never take you from me. No one will!” said Dario.

Emylas grunted and patted Dario on the shoulder. Dario let go of Evalina and the three of them ran down the halls of the inn.

“What’s the quickest route back to your house?” Dario asked.

“Across the rooftops,” said Emylas. “Far less likely we’ll get caught up there too.”

Dario's eyes widened. “You want us to jump across rooftops? Seriously?”

Emylas led them up the spiral staircase towards the roof of the inn. “It’s safer than trying to use the streets below to get there. They’ll find us and butcher us. Worse yet, we’ll probably survive the butchering.”

It wasn’t long at all before they’d arrived at the roof of the inn.

“None of us really have the right shoes for this,” said Evalina.

“Typical woman,” said Emylas, “Always worried about her shoes.”

Evalina gave an insulted grunt, but Emylas smirked at her to let her know he was just joking with her. Her furrowed brow suggested she didn't think it was funny. Neither did Dario.

Emylas dropped the executioner’s axe and pointed to the next closest rooftop. “You see that? There’s a wooden board sitting there.” Emylas stepped back a few paces for a running start, then dashed forward and leaped across the gap between the inn and the next rooftop. As soon as he was across, he picked up the wooden board and extended it across the gap, forming a make-shift bridge for Dario and Evalina.

Dario looked at Evalina. “Can you make it?”

“I think I can,” she said. Evalina stepped up onto the board, spread her arms wide, and walked slowly across the gap between the houses.

Dario took a deep breath and followed suit. The weight of the sword kept him just slightly off-balance, but the further he walked along the “bridge” the more he felt like there was an anchor attached to his waist. His hands shook, and his steps grew smaller. He felt himself starting to fall to his left, so he compensated by leaning to the right. Too far. He started to fall. Dario dropped flat onto the board.

Emylas said, “You’ve fought and killed how many men and you’re afraid of heights?”

“I can’t just stab the ground,” said Dario.

“Well, you could, but it wouldn’t help,” said Emylas with a laugh.

“I’m glad this is so amusing,” said Dario.

“Take the sword off your belt,” said Emylas. “That thing's heavy enough to throw you off balance.”

“What if we're attacked?” asked Dario.

“I'll think of something,” said Emylas. “I always do. Now, do as I say!”

Dario untied his rope belt and removed the sword from it. He gently placed the sword on the board crossing the distance between the two rooftops. It was just as well. It wasn't his grey-steel blade anyway.

“Don’t look at the ground,” said Evalina. “Look at me instead. Crawl the rest of the way if you need to.”

Dario looked up at Evalina. Beautiful, inviting Evalina. Yes, this would distract him from the soul-gripping fear of traversing the distance between two rooftops on a rickety plank several stories above the ground. Dario inched along the rest of the way, almost resembling a caterpillar the way he crawled. He could swear he heard Emylas stifle a few laughs, but he didn’t dare look away from Evalina’s eyes even for a second.

Once he was across and on his feet again Emylas patted him on the back. “There’s our brave warrior.”

“Sod off!” said Dario.

“Only four more rooftops to go,” said Emylas.

“Oh…oh Mother’s mercy!”

Dario and Evalina held the board across the next alleyway as Emylas crossed. Then Dario and Emylas held either end while Evalina crossed. Finally it was time for Dario to cross again, and Evalina and Emylas held the other end. Once again he crawled across, his whole body trembling with fear and only Evalina’s eyes giving him the motivation to make it across that gap.

Twice more they did this the same way, with Emylas trying, though apparently not hard enough, not to laugh as Dario inched along the board on his belly.

Finally, they’d arrived at Emylas’ house.

“Your roof is too low for the bridge to reach,” said Dario.

“I agree,” said Emylas. “Which will make it far easier to jump it. Even you two should be able to make that.”

“You’re crazy!” said Dario.

“It’s really not that far,” said Emylas. “You’ll make it, don’t worry!”

“It’s two stories below us!” Dario protested.

“One.” Emylas held up a single finger. “One story.”

Evalina touched Dario’s shoulder. “It will be alright. Hold my hand and we’ll make the jump together.”

Dario took a deep breath and took Evalina’s hand. His palms were sweating and his knees shaking. “This is crazy…”

Emylas rolled his eyes at Dario and hopped off the roof they were standing upon. His feet landed flat on the roof of his house and he turned back to Dario and Evalina with his arms spread as if to say, “See how easy that was?”

“More black magic, I’m sure,” Dario said under his breath.

“It’s not magic,” said Evalina. “We’re about to prove that. Don’t let go of my hand. No matter what you hold on, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Dario look at me.”

“Yes?” Dario turned to face her with all of his fears and doubts so obvious in his eyes.

“Do you trust me?”

“I…”

“Do you?”

“I do.”

“Then we jump on three, alright?”

“Alright.”

“One…two…three!”

The two of them leaped across the gap and fell down to Emylas’ roof. For just a moment, when Dario’s feet hit the rooftop he felt relieved. Then the roof gave out under their collective weight and collapsed. All of them fell into a heap onto Emylas’ bedroom floor, with broken rafters and shingles all around them.

“Agh! I knew this was a bad idea!” said Dario.

“We lived,” said Emylas, dusting himself off. “That’s the important part. Now…” Emylas groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. “We have to get to the cellar. That’s where the secret passage is.”

Evalina helped pull Dario out of the rubble and the three of them dug through the mess until they could find the staircase. The staircase which would lead them out of the city and to whatever allies Emylas had.