POW: Prisoners of War

[Laydon of Jagkha]

“And Laydon?”

The young knight looked up at the senior knight, feigning submission and respect.

“I expect you to succeed. Failure is not an option.”

The knight bowed, his body language too lazy and arrogant to escape reprimand. Or so it should have been. Instead, the senior knight smiled fondly. “Have I ever failed you before, Eustorgius? I must be touched by the power of my goddess to be this impressive, this infallible, this—“

“Enough!” the elder knight admonished, but he could not prevent his laughter. Something about Laydon always made him smile. The young knight was so optimistic. The light in his eyes and the brightness in his heart was refreshing. He was charisma personified. Even so, his threat was serious. Laydon had better follow through.

“My apologies,” Laydon said with a laugh, “I am finished.” And with that he offered a formal salute and stalked off to the dungeons. He was in charge of relocating them to a secret location.

Thick leather boots clunked on hard, cold stone as he made his way down, down, down into the black depths of the Ice Castle. There it was dark, cold, wet, and miserable. The shadow of torture and death clung to every molecule.

[Auspice]

"It's... not red... or blue... I'm feeling- maybe- Green. Green! You owe me a silver." Auspice sat against the wall of a cell, blindfolded. The thing on his face wasn't exactly his- he'd won it in a card game with the actual blind prisoner.
Nobody paid up, despite the fact that he'd won the game twelve times in a row. Clearly they assumed he was cheating. Fun game- easy to cheat at. All you had to do was wear the blindfold and guess which color the miscellaneous item being held up was. Auspice simply looked at them through the mesh, being slightly better at it than the rest of them.

"Guard coming." Apparently everyone else already knew, because he was suddenly being ignored. "Oh good. They'll beat the truth out of you, and you'll be singing all your secrets to them and I'll just sit back and watch." He enjoyed playing the part of insane blind prisoner, even if everyone was sure that at least the 'blind' part was false. "Oooh. Don't tell them anything for a while though, you've got to get spit and blood everywhere first, right?"

Auspice had been very open about the fact that he'd been caught sitting in the kitchens with a veritable feast of poisonous plants, slipping this and that into the soups and salads while the cooks were out dealing with something else. He was just waiting for them to cut his head off now. Then again, they may have forgotten about that.

"So, Guard, who are you here to interrogate today?" It was always fun to watch, or at least listen in when they got dragged off to the other rooms.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

It was not one guard that entered the room but eleven, if you counted the knight that led them. Eleven guards and twelve prisoners. Laydon figured he would watch two while each of the others would be assigned to one. Surely a member of the royal guard would be able to handle a chained and blindfolded prisoner, no? Laydon began walking down the line of cells, analyzing and thinking.

Cocky as he was, he did get the job done. Laydon began assigning the guards to their prisoners. One at a time the guards would enter the cell for their chosen prisoner, switch the chains (adding the new before the old ones were taken off), and then leads their prisoner out of the cell. The prisoners were chained at the ankles and wrists. Each one was then collared and chained at the neck to the prisoner in front of them.

“Keld. You take the blind one.” Laydon glanced sharply at their ‘blind’ prisoner. “And watch him carefully.” One of the two black haired men grunted a reply and strode forward. He was small and thin; certainly not very intimidating. But he was surprisingly quick and agile. His green eyes did not miss much. Keld, with his fair skin speckled with light freckled looked no more than fifteen, but he wore a guard’s uniform. Either he was a rookie or his appearances were highly deceiving.

Keld entered Auspice’s cell and began to go through the same procedure the others hand, starting at the ankles.

[Auspice]

Auspice sat through the whole ' tie 'em up and move 'em ' procedure before he thought to ask the obvious question. "Are we being moved?" Of course, this degraded into him rambling as much to himself as to the man helping him into his traveling clothes. "I mean- I figure it makes sense if I'm being moved- you just want to get me off to the hangman's noose in time for lunch. You're doing the others too? I thought there was a law about that. Then again- that might be a Fae law... Shifter one maybe. Dunno. Guess it doesn't count since I've seen everyone killing prisoners pretty much everywhere. You guards aren't a happy lot anywhere, are you? Watch where you're putting your hands, man. Oh! Is the castle being invaded? Stormed by Fae I assume, yes? That would be fun. You think they'd let me go? Oooh, or keep the other prisoners for more interrogations? That would be fun to watch, just when they think they're being rescued, too. So- you new to the job?"

Instead of putting up the effort to actually look at him, Auspice was doing the proper 'blind' act and had his face turned off towards the wall. "Wait- oh! I'm being held down here for attempted murder. I'm not actually with them. Remember- there was that whole fiasco with the luncheon about a week and a half ago?" He really didn't want to be taken out into the garden and buried in some sort of mass grave with the rest of them. No, he deserved his proper public hanging. It was MUCH better for his reputation to be seen flying away at the last minute in the middle of a crowded square.

"I should really shut it, shouldn't I? You'd rather I shut it. I get that a lot." Auspice hated chains in general, but he especially hated it when guards used them in an attempt to get him to stop talking. Oh yes, there were all sorts of creative ways to shut up a talkative prisoner. Like he'd said earlier- not a happy lot, guards.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

The blind one would not shut up. Laydon ignored this. He had his own prisoners to deal with. It was Keld’s job to handle his own prisoner. If he could not, Laydon would be sure to write that up in his final report. Secretly, Laydon was amused by the prisoner. He admired the thing’s optimism. Thing. Did he really see the shifter as a thing? Even after…? This was different.

This prisoner tried to poison his people’s food. He truly was a thing. And with that, Laydon continued to ignore him. Keld did not. His green eyes burned into the prisoner. “Say one more word and I will beat you. Say another and I will cut your tongue out.”

That did catch Laydon’s attention. “Peace, Keld. We do not have time to waist cutting out tongues.” Laydon paused thoughtfully. “However, a slit throat would be quick enough. I am sure nobody would mind the early execution if he is giving us too much trouble. We can always use another for the public display.”

“Yes, Sir Knight,” Keld responded deferentially. It was cute, really, the way the guards looked up to the knights. Cute and important. It helped keep things ordered.

[Auspice]

"I hear peacock tongue makes better pie." Auspice wasn't in the mood to be told to shut up. If this idiot really tried to slit his throat, Auspice would take the chance of Shifting and see where that got him. Probably as far as 'locked in a dungeon naked', but you never knew.

"You'd need another pigeon Shifter for the display. Throw a Human up there and it's not going to send one ounce of a message to the Shifters. They'll all think I'm still alive. Because, you know, the Human isn't exactly going to revert to a pigeon shape on his own..." He flinched away from Keld and started to keep a good eye on him through the blindfold. If Keld went for a weapon, it would be time to start rethinking his escape plan. Damn it! He needed full vision, not this half-vision he was getting.

"Hey, hey, I've got an idea." He was doing the bare minimum when it came to moving himself, preferring the 'make everyone else push and pull' version. "I'll kill the rest of the prisoners for you. Free of charge." One of the other prisoners put up a valiant effort to kick him, but the chains were in the way. "Come on, it would be fun, right? I wouldn't even have an escape plan. One last hurrah."

[Laydon of Jagkha]

Keld was a very patient man. Laydon envied that. The whole time the prisoner was talking, Keld remained silent. Up to a point. Because the guard was also a keeper of his word and he did warn the blind man about talking. Emotionlessly, the black haired guard hit the prisoner fairly hard across the face. “Permission to gag the prisoner, Sir Laydon?” The man’s face was neutral.

Laydon nodded. “Be quick.” The guard nodded and left to get a gag from the area where they stored the dungeon toys. Without even needing to be told, the guard in line behind Keld stepped forward so that he could guard his own prisoner and Auspice. This guard almost looked like he could be Laydon’s brother, though he was a few inches shorter. Oddly enough, they were not related in any way.

The guard returned shortly with a leather strap that had a leather ball in the middle. The ball went into the prisoner’s mouth and then the ends were secured at the back of his head. It was not a comfortable kind of gag and the wearer often drooled, but it was effective. It would not stop the man from making those annoying guttural noises, but it would stop the talking. Much better.

[Auspice]

Well wasn't that thing a little... well, it was a bit much wasn't it? He was used to more practical gags- dishrags and the like. Auspice managed to bite the guard when he tried to put it in, fully aware of the fact that he might get slapped a few more times. And if he was lucky, Auspice would be close enough to a full moon to give the guard a whole new outlook on life. Probably not, though. He hadn't turned into a pigeon on accident yet, and he didn't recall anything about needing to see the moonlight to make full moon transformations start to happen. "Gaashgakahh" replaced the perfectly understandable 'you might want to get that checked'. Oi, this was going to be a long trip.

"Khhhkth. Atkahahkgh. Gh. Gh. Hkkkk." (You never told me where we were going.) "Hsht. TchTchTcht. TchTch...th." (Shit. This is annoying.) After a few attempts at communication, he resigned himself to long "Hsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghst" noises which held no particular meaning, but were annoying as hell. Sure, he could have given up and just been quiet, but he was already starting to get spit everywhere, and his mood had only gotten worse. As if he'd been serious about killing all the prisoners, anyways.

To make things worse, all the moving about had made the blindfold double over his eyes. He was actually blind now, at least until someone hit him again. He was pretty sure that the guards were in too much of a hurry to deal with any more Auspice-related holdups, though. Dammit! Maybe he'd come back and peck their eyes out at the next full moon. The world needed more blind were-birds.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

The bite earned Auspice another smack to the face. From then on, every time the prisoner made a noise, Keld wacked him in the back of the skull with the handle of his dagger. If Auspice fell unconscious, at least it would save them all from being annoyed to death. Keld would have to carry the man, but it was a small price to pay. Maybe he could even get permission to force the other prisoners to carry him.

Laydon watched Keld for a few moments to make sure he had a handle on Auspice. Once he was satisfied, he gave the official order. “Move out!” It would be interesting to see how well the prisoner handled the stairs…Laydon led them out of the dungeon and into the dank corridor that would eventually lead outside. Guards were stationed every few yards in case a prisoner every made an attempt at escape. They were rarely needed.

The guards were none too gentle with the prisoners. If one fell, they were pulled roughly to their feet and made to continue. If any of them died on the way, their bodies would be left for the slaves to deal with. Laydon could care less.

[Auspice]

After having one of his more artful Hsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghsts answered with a sharp crack to the back of the head, Auspice brooded in silence. Fine mess he'd gotten himself into. Not only was he operating blind and chained up, but he couldn't even talk, and they weren't even halfway to starting off on whatever death march he'd been dragged into. What was the rule? Oh yes- Do not enter the Ice Castle. Well how was he supposed to know that it would carry the personal weight previously uncarried? That this law, of all the laws, would actually affect his lifestyle? Poor advertisement, that's what that was. What else had he gotten away with? Murdering other Shifters? Check. Territory violations and mourning the dead? Check. Slave trade? Check. Good thing there were no orphans around, he really didn't need any more shots at Karma's revenge.

Nobody bothered to warn him about the stairs. Dammit! They'd done that on purpose, hadn't they? "Hssssshght. Tc." Auspice tripped before he had time to realize he was falling. He decided to let somebody else pick him up. If this was really the death march he had it cut out to be, then he wasn't the least bit interested in getting to the end of it. Better to fall over and let them bleed him like a pig right at the start- and was that a breeze? Auspice could swear he felt a breeze. It wasn't quite an outdoorsy sort of breeze yet, more like a breeze from a part of the building that tended to see sunlight, but still. At the first sign of an actual breeze he'd shift- guaranteed. He wasn't quite sure about all the extra entanglements and what they'd do throughout the process, but he was sure of the fact that his pigeon form was smaller than what they usually handled, and if he shifted right he'd be home free. He wouldn't even have much trouble finding a place to lay low in if he kept his pigeon shape.

All he really needed to do was keep quiet and wait. It was more difficult than expected, considering how much he wanted to vomit from the gag, but it was doable. He wouldn't be facing the fate of all the other prisoners, and keeping that in mind helped quite a bit.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

Auspice fell and Keld pulled him back up, none too nicely. The line if prisoners continued to move at an awkward but steady pace and Laydon led them through the corridor. They twisted and turned, continued straight for a bit, and then did some more twisting and turning. It was like a complicated dance. Eventually, however, they reached the end.

A large door, obviously guarded, was all that separated them from the outsiders. The guards saluted Laydon respectfully before opening the door and stepping out of the way. Bright sunlight hit them all with full force. It was strange to feel the warmth of the ray caressing his face after that musty wet dungeon. It was a nice change of pace.

The effect it had on the prisoners varied. Some sighed and looked almost happy. After being without sunlight for so long, it was nice to see again. Even if they were about to die. Other prisoners grew afraid. Seeing the sun meant they were one step closer to the end and these prisoners had not yet resigned themselves to death.

A few yards away was a large cart hitched to two brown horses. Metal rings were set into the cart; these were for the prisoners’ chains.

[Auspice]

Auspice's reaction was a little slow. At first he wasn't processing that the heat might possibly be from the sun, or that the fresh air might be coming from the actual outdoors. Then he wasn't sure whether or not he could actually shift without hurting himself between all the various restraints in place.

Then, of course, he just went for it. Otherwise he'd be fairly dead fairly soon, and shifting wouldn't matter in the least. Aside from a momentary hitch when he got a little caught under everything, the Pigeony version of Auspice had no trouble hopping his way out of line.

He would have flown away, had he more logic, but Auspice was more interested in revenge. It wasn't really Laydon's fault that Auspice had gotten himself thrown in prison, but Auspice had no trouble with blaming him anyways.

He flew over and sat on the man's head.
This, of course, didn't seem exactly threatening. After all, he was just a pigeon. A slightly pudgy pigeon, sure, but a pigeon nonetheless. Perhaps he might take a shit, or peck at the man's eyes, but there wasn't much he could really do that would cause more than a little discomfort as far as first glances were concerned. Go on, little Human. He would have liked to talk during all of this, but had to make due with gloating in his own mind. Go ahead and try to get me, little human. I'll put on a lot of weight if I decide to shift, and then you'll regret everything you've done to me.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

“Sir Laydon!”

One of the most irritating things about guards was their inability to think for themselves. Of course, they were specifically trained that way. They needed to react instantly when given orders. Personal thoughts only got in the way. In instances such as this, a prisoner shapeshifting into a bird, even the most stupid of guards should be able to quickly react without needing to ask Laydon for permission.

And that was how the knight found himself wanting to murder Keld, who failed at catching Auspice before the pigeon had fully shifted. To make matters worse, the cheeky thing was now sitting on his head.

How on earth had they failed to find out this man could turn into a bird? Laydon would love to know who was responsible for that lack of information. But first…

It was time for Laydon to trust the men assigned to him. They may not be good for thinking, but they were trained to fight. More importantly, they were trained to aim. “Archers.”

That was all it took. It only took a split second for four men to have arrows trained on the bird. Laydon swore that if any of them struck him, he would have the guard thrown out.

[Auspice]

Stalemate. Auspice couldn't shift, and surely Laydon wouldn't actually trust the archers to aim properly while he was still on his head. If he tried to fly away, Auspice was fairly certain there would be an arrow in him before he got anywhere, and moving in general would probably be taken as flying away.

With all of those complicated stipulations, Auspice ended up squawking. It was a friendly sort of 'why don't we talk about this, guys?' squawk, but he wasn't sure how well everyone else understood pigeon noises. He ducked a little lower into Laydon's hairdoo and kept his eyes on as many archers as possible. There were some advantages to having eyes on the side of your head, even if they sometimes gave you a giant blind spot in front.

Ugh. Knowing them, these humans probably had a birdcage sitting around somewhere. Dammit if he got caught again.

[Laydon of Jagkha]

Everything seemed to freeze. Even the prisoners seemed to be in their own state of shock. This was a delicate situation. If the werepigeon (seriously?) got away, then the other prisoners could get restless. They may make things terribly complicated. Not to mention the trouble Laydon would get in if he lost one of the prisoners.

“Do not move,” he said quietly. His voice was dangerous, cold. “If you move, I will have you shot. You will die, and you will die now.” That was the only warning the pigeon (of all the creatures to turn into…) was going to get. Laydon then grabbed at the pigeon. If the pigeon was in Laydon’s arms, then he was safe from the archers. On the other hand, any struggling and Laydon could easily snap its neck. If he shifted, he would be in a position that would be easy enough to recapture and would make himself an easier target should he try to run away. If Auspice resisted and tried to fly away, he would be shot almost for sure.

“That was a rash move,” Laydon told the bird man. It suddenly struck him that the prisoners probably thought they were being taken to their death.

[Auspice]

Okay, so that was it. Checkmate. Auspice allowed the Human to move him off of his head. It was better than the alternative. Though maybe... If the prisoners were desperate and waiting to die, wouldn't they try to make a last stand if somebody convinced them to?
Yes, yes. He could see a few nervous ones looking around. The first window of opportunity, and one of them was going to make an attempt. What did they have to live for at this point? The hangman wouldn't mind having less work for a change. They just needed a chance to move, and they would tear the guards apart. Fear did that.
Not that it changed Auspice's failed escape. Oh well. Auspice had planted a seed with his first attempt. His revenge could come later in the form of angry prisoners with nothing left to lose. He decided to snuggle up against Laydon, just to bother the poor man's sanity.
Thank goodness for his terrible birdlike sense of smell. Human males smelled so terrible, and being this close for this long would have been bad.
Let's look at the plus side, he started thinking to himself, something which tended to happen when he wasn't talking, The Human puts me in a room or something, I figure out how to escape, and nobody's around to notice when it happens?

[Laydon of Jagkha]

Captured once again, there were not many choices the pigeon had has far as reactions went. He still managed to make a choice that would surprise the knight. Of all the things Laydon expected, having the bird snuggle into him was not one of them. For a split second, a flash of protectiveness shot through him. Laydon happened to like animals and it was a fairly natural instinct for him to wish to protect something small and helpless nestled into his chest. But Laydon was not an idiot. This was no helpless creature. He was a criminal who almost managed to kill quite a lot of people, many of them royal.

“Move and I will snap your neck, you lousy tick,” the knight growled irritably. He sighed, more than a little annoyed by the disturbance the man caused but also relieved that the problem was currently neutralized. When Laydon spoke again, his voice was louder. “If anyone else decides to step one foot out of line they will be killed. I give you my promise that the death will be as slow and painful as circumstances allow. And on that happy note, allow me to inform you that while you are all scheduled to die anyhow, that time is not now.”

Laydon paused to allow his words time to sink in. “You are simply being transported to another holding cell.” That much he could tell them. The exact location of their new quarters would remain a mystery. “Keld!” The knight appraised the guard you had been assigned to Auspice. The man was trembling. Poor lad. But this was not the time to be soft. “If you cannot handle your job tell me now and you can leave. Otherwise, take the girl and in the name of Biodenae you better not lose this one.”

The young guard, to his credit, straightened his shoulders and pulled on a cool face of confidence. “Yes, Sir Laydon.” Laydon nodded his approval and Keld moved forward to take the girl that Laydon was guarding. Once he was in his place, Laydon signaled for them to move out. “Archers, keep your bows at the ready. If anyone so much as twitches the wrong way, I want them killed. The rest of you, weapons ready. There will be no more disturbances on my watch. Trust me when I say you do not want to be on my bad side…”