The remainder of the night did not see a change in shifts. Quibbis had remained as Corian's guard, but had learned to allow for some peaceful silence between his odd conversations. When conversation became boring, the necromancer had gone around the small room to collect whatever pebbles and dried leaves he could find, and laid them out at the edge of Corian's cell to fill in some of the squares he had neatly drawn in a grid. Corian knew how King's Square worked, and reluctantly accepted the necromancer's offer to play.

It was a dead brain against a head full of leaves. Despite this, Quibbis had won every. Single. Time. Corian had been playing the game on repeat for three hours without a score on his side of the square. It was a matter of pride over entertainment at this point. He played until the sun found the slotted windows in the room, and sunlight splashed across his back. He hadn't remembered being so focused, his attention settled on winning this last game as Qubbis danced his queen around the board cutting down his fleet. When he sat in the direct light his skin dried faster, and the light's warmth would turn to a painful burn within a matter of minutes. It was probably the main reason Quibbis had ushered him into the cell furthest from the slotted windows. But he didn't care if the back of his neck was bubbling at this point, he had to win.

It wasn't until the latch leading to the cellars opened that Corian withdrew to the shade of his cage. A single set of steps made their way down, iron boots scraping against the stone as Rikki came into view. They looked around the room, passing the makeshift board game and sliding a chair over to Corian's cage to sit.

Quibbis sprang to his feet. "Are we switching? I will be back, I have cards! We can all play!" He passed Rikki before any motion could be made to stop him, scrambling up the stairs and out the door.

They remained silent as the latch closed, rigid as a statue and chin dipped to stare at the game on the floor. Corian eyed them cautiously, hoping they weren't taking in the sight before wandering off to tell their father. But instead, when they stood again, they crouched down, eyeing the board for a mere handful of seconds before grabbing Corian's horse and trapping Quibbis' queen.

Corian eyed the move, keeping his lips flat while he wished he had thought of that.

Quickened steps reached Corian's ears as he rested against the bars of his cage, his attention drawn to the windows as a shadow passed them. Quibbis' excited cries were the next sound to reach the room as the necromancer threw open the latch, nearly falling down the stairs as he pushed past Rikkihalynia and latched onto the gate of Corian's cell. He tore it open, flaunting that he had yet again forgot to lock the door. "Sweet face! There's another sweet face!" He rushed over to the cringing blond with demented excitement, yanking on Corian's wrist only to fail at bringing him to his feet. "You must see him!"

Rikkihalynia came between the scuffle, shooing Quibbis away from dragging Corian outside and ushering Quibbis out of the cage with a couple satisfied claps before they nodded.

Quibbis' attention fell to the board, his face souring at his pinned piece. "Now Rikki, no helping." But his disdain did not last as his thoughts reeled right back to why he had come running back without his cards. "Can't I take him outside for a few minutes?"

Rikkihalynia answered Quibbis' question with a pressing silence, turning away and plopping back in the chair.

To their dismay, Quibbis didn't catch on, letting out an excited whoop as he skittered back up the stairs. "I'll just bring him in here! You're right Rikalblegh!"

As Quibbis' manically excited rambles rounded the window once more, Rikkihalynia glanced at Corian again, a mysterious undertone of emotion crawling through their mask.

Corian knew the exact face they were making under the veil of bones, nodding in silent understanding at their situation. He'd given them the same face after every pointless punishment his father relished in delivering, and the tables had been turned for quite a few years now.

Rikkihaylnia barely nodded in response, almost fearing that Inprobus could see through the stone walls. With a fluid motion they pulled a package wound in fresh leaves out of their satchel and tossed it at Corian,

He grabbed the gift and unwrapped it, staring at the small morsel of seared fish. He apologized to the fish before downing it with a couple chews.

Rikki waited for him to finish the food, then pointed at the potato sack that had been discarded to the side of the room, motioning for him to pull it over his head.

Corrian laughed out a scoff, but obliged.

It wasn't long before Quibbis' singing voice returned, the necromancer practically dancing down the steps as he dragged a soldier down by their arm. Corian eyed the golden sigil plastered to their shoulder, a commander's rank shown by five stars crowning a golden bird. They were tall, their back curving beneath their broad shoulders. Despite their crisp uniform being tailored to cuff at their wrists, they had pushed the fabric up to their elbows, and had neglected quite a few clips and medals that were good practice for their rank to wear, and left their shirt unbuttoned to their collarbone.

Corian eyed the man curiously, holding back a smile at the metal helmet they wore that concealed their face with a visor.

That was just one more soldier that he could use in his escape.

Quibbis threw his arms out to frame Corian to the new guest. "You're just in time! We'll be taking this one off to the psyche ward when the mission ends, so I'm so glad you hopped into this one cutie pie!"

The soldier looked around the room, strangely comfortable with his odd guests. He finally settled on facing Rikki, paying them a curt wave. "Hey Rikka."

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Rikki did not pay back the wave, but the familiar voice spurred Corian snap his head around to the commander. He recognised it, and hardly believed that it was coming from the person Quibbis had dragged into the room. He had known the man it belonged to as a close friend, someone he had stuck with before tutoring and well into his training courses with the Heroguard. "Justin?"

The commander turned his head, removing his helmet to allow his black hair to topple out in ringlets. It settled just above his shoulders, the commander's sharp grey eyes landing on Corian in confusion. Corian knew the face, and rose with excitement, "Justin!"

Corian pulled the sack off his head when Justin's expression did not shift to familiarity. Then the commander blinked, staring at him for a few painful seconds before it clicked. "Corian?"

Justin went to grab the cage door, stopped as Rikki stuck their foot out to pin it closed.

"Hey man! How's it..." His eyes travelled up and down Corian's clothes, his expression sinking to worry. "You doing okay?"

"Been better. What are you doing here?" Corian laughed, his voice cracking with a dry twang of panic when he remembered Rikki and Quibbis had ears on the conversation. "I thought you were-"

"What? Dead?"

Corian barked out a laugh. "No! Why would I think that?" He stepped closer to the door with an excited fling to his eyes. "I thought you weren't all about that hero business."

He shrugged. "I'm not. I was just walking through town and some soldiers started following me."

Corian stopped, squinting at his embellished armour. It was clearly specific to the king's royal army. "Why are you dressed like a commander?"

Justin shrugged, toying with a clip pinning his cloak. "Looks alright... feels comfortable."

Corian stared at his uniform, joined in confusion by Quibbis and even Rikki who had turned their head slightly.

Seemingly satisfied by the reaction, Justin cracked a huge smile, "I'm screwing with you!" He gave Rikki's shoulder a playful smack, which was met without a reaction. "Got you too! Got promoted two cycles back, saw a mission down here to scout for some witch, saw my old man was on a mission close by, thought I'd accept it as an excuse to pin him down for lunch."

"Your father was here?"

He leaned against the bars and scoffed, "What do you think?" He let out a sigh, looking down at the small board game his foot had brushed. He acknowledged Quibbis' gestures as to whose turn it was, moving Quibbis' queen to kill the horse. "There was a distress call the other night. He said he was on the way, but duty calls every day of the year for the great White Knight."

Rikki turned their attention to the board, still committed to blocking the gate with their foot. They waved their hand, a small root sprouting through a crack in the floor and grabbing Corian's paladin to take Quibbis' queen. The root slithered across the board, grabbing Quibbis' king and placing them face down.

Checkmate.

Corian composed his excitement into a small thumbs up that he shot Rikki. Rikki did not return the gesture, ignoring Quibbis' gripes as they scattered the board into a pile of dead eaves and rocks once more.

Justin let out a small sigh, turning to face Corian through the bars again. "I shouldn't complain about my father. I mean, look at you. Should I ask?"

Corian shook his head in defeat. "I'm sure my father told you."

"Right. Took a match to a whole village. Remember in our second week of training? They almost booted you out cause you couldn't hit flint well enough to get a campfire going? I swear you squeaked every time a spark flew at you," Justin replied, ignoring Corian's sulking frown as Quibbis cackled. He casually walked behind Rikki's chair to grab it and force it to turn sideways. Rikki's foot slid right off the gate, and Justin stepped in the way before the follower could readjust their position. "Wagon's ready, out you go prisoner."

Corian pulled the sack back on his head, waiting for Rikki to fasten the chain around their wrist and lead him to follow. After a dicey journey up the stairs, Corian could see the light of the outdoors spilling from the rickety building's doorframe. Fresh air. He quickened his pace, but not enough to overtake Rikki. As soon as his foot passed the threshold he felt a force impact his back, causing him to stumble forwards as a voice boomed from behind him.

"Keep walking, demon."

Corian almost snorted at Justin' staged tone, thankful for the sack on his head hiding the grin he had just cracked. His voice had grabbed Inprobus' attention, the archon stood next to an iron wagon, chattering with a small group of soldiers that were fiddling with a pile of objects on the ground. As they came close, Justin coaxed the chain from Rikki, pulling Corian along to the wagon with a few more choice insults that were loud enough for Inprobus to catch.

They came close enough to see the project in the dirt. Chunks of smooth metal with arcane etchings splayed out into the familiar shape of a large dog. There were two of them, one far more put together than the other. The two soldiers knelt close to the ground were bickering with one another as to which of the arcane metal rods belonged to the front and the back legs of the deconstructed hound, and Inprobus, who definitely knew the right answer, simply soaked in the sound of their argument.

Justin pushed Corian into the wagon instead of allowing him to walk up the steps, causing him to trip over his feet and awkwardly land on his face like a sardine. He heard Justin's booming voice from behind, ordering Quibbis to go help with packing, which the necromancer obeyed without question. He saw a shadow pass, Justin's hand pressing into his shoulder as a quiet whisper met his ear. "Sorry."

Corian gave him a thumbs up, waiting for the door to swing shut before he pushed himself back up. He eyed Justin in surprise when he noticed he was still in the carriage, watching him secure the chain to the wall, and then walk over to Corian and punch the wall above his head with a reverberating thud. Corian flinched, eyeing the spot in confusion before looking back at Justin mouthing a word at him. Ouch.

Corian squinted. "Ouch?"

He moved his hands, spurring Corian to make it sound just a little more believable, and landing as kick on the bare wall.

"Ouch! Lay off, skathead."

Justin checked his shoulder, crouching down to whisper as quietly as he could. "Inprobus asked my squadron to take you to the psyche ward. We'll take you close to a landport and tell the Heroguard you escaped. I'll try and convince him to split off here."

He grabbed Corian's shoulders, dragging him a few feet and punching the wall that he dropped him off at. Corian let out a couple fake coughs to sell the act.

"I can't." Corian whispered, paying Justin's confusion with a sorrowful frown. "I can’t leave Rikka."

"Rikka is connected to him, she's his Follower," Justin argued.

"Then we sever the connection." Corian replied, fully understanding the weight of his words. Justin had the expected reaction, his eyebrows lifting incredulously at the suggestion of killing an Archon. Or, better put, the astronomical possibility.

Corian motioned for Justin to smack the wall again, faking a groan of pain.

"I injured his arm, the left. Has he moved it?"

Justin stopped, planting his foot in the wall right next to Corian. If Inprobus couldn't move his left arm, he would need to depend on Rikki for any complex spells. And if they had Rikki on their side, or at least, distracted, the Archon was a sitting duck with eleven magicless soldiers and a scarecrow that picked its nails instead of fighting. He gave him a silent nod, his eyes understanding as he left the wagon. I'll let you know.

He popped his head through one last time, smiling. "Burn in hell, scum."

Corian snorted.