Thomas woke again the same night, after the beating had knocked him dead and back again. It had shaken him enough that he had stopped thinking, and started speaking aloud, rubbing the back of his head as he leaned against the darkened cell wall, unsure of the world around him.

"One can hardly understand" He began, what remained of his glossy hair starting to itch fiercely "Why the guards were so cross, weren't we all sentenced for hanging either way?"

The voice that responded from his right was as smooth as coldest granite.

"Not I, I am meant to be quartered in a week, perhaps earlier after what fatman asked of me." Scar-neck smiled, and his teeth were yellow compared to his pale skin, like a corpse drained dry.

Thomas was halfway through his scalp when a Third voice spoke up, this time from his left.

"They'll hang you first Egil, then comes the quartering. I used to soldier for the king hisself, seen plenty of gallow dances." The man that had kindly shared his worldly knowledge lay in too much dark for Thomas to see anything of him; all he saw was a hand, at the end of a tanned and hairy forearm, stretching to shake his.

"Archibald son of Barth, you may name me Arch, or Archy."

And then it was Egil's turn, Thomas marvelled at the manners lowborn criminals could seem to have, they could have been knights of a long line, or fellow bastards like himself.

"Egil of the Western Slopes, former Crusader of Mira."

Thomas paused for a second, and gave the slow nod of a man who only pretended to know anything at all, another part of him was as sloped as Egil's home. He had never heard of a holy warrior ceasing their task through any way other than death, and for Egil to be Here, in Fernung's worst prison.

Thomas fell back on etiquette, of which he remembered too much.

"Thomas, formerly of the Crowns. You say that bull of a man asked you for death? "

"He did, only without words."

Archi gave the smallest laugh, hidden in darkness from whatever small torchlight that seemed to reach Egil.

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"A noble lord in the flesh, gracing the Blackhouse with his feet, you don't look a ponce."

"I was only ever half a ponce, the only reason the liege lord kept me was his lack of sons."

" A faulty member, " Egil nodded gravely " a mark of demonic possession."

It was then that Thomas knew that both of them absolutely wanted something from him, and began to nervously suspect some sort of trick. He saw it in the sudden friendliness in Egil's blue eyes, the way they gleamed under his short reddish hair ,whether in true friendship or false. He also spied it in the lack of derision for his supposed noble blood by Archi, a former soldier, no former soldiers liked nobles, no one did, including the nobles themselves.

And that was when Archi spoke, his hoarse voice, wiping Thomas' head clean like the last wave of a high tide.

"Speaking of devilry and some such, me and Egil spotted your little trick with the bowl."

Egil leaned in from the other side of him, very very friendly.

"It was noble of you, feeding that gnome lady. For someone of her size, the bowl was enough food for a week.

Thomas carefully kept breathing, and looked around, listening for any voices. It seemed that for now, their little chat remained a secret. Both of his new friends kept speaking, one at a time.

"Would be a shame for nobility such as that to pass away, since we're all destined for hard labour or hanging by the next moon." Archi scratched something as he spoke, Thomas hoped it was his chin.

"The gnome seems crafty, so do a few others, mayhap we might gather ourselves a little crew, make our attempt at an escape."

"I may have a friend who owes me, they could slip us a few daggers, perchance some rope."

"And I, retain those lessons I learned in service to the order."

They both paused, and all was silent

"My talents...were never extensive, and now" Thomas swallowed, and came close to caring about the world again.

Egil laid a hand on his shoulder; Thomas was too frozen to flinch.

"We are both weakened, I by abandoning the Queen of light, and you in your own way."

Thomas paused, and spoke

"Grant me an hour, and I can break the bars."

Archi clapped what may have been his legs. "That's that then."