Bon looked to DHarem, "Varis was just carried off to a clinic, and Thomas appears to be in prison."

"We're down to us three at the moment. What happened to that mage? Didn't you have him?"

The councillor stared at DHarem, "You're a fairly interesting group..."

DHarem ignored the councilor (Not sure which one is talking to him), and turned to look at Bon with a incredulous look.

“What? Is Varis alright? Why Is Thomas being held?” He said and then appeared thoughtful for a moment before continuing, “I attacked the mage and we fell through the roof into the building which was burning. The mage however escaped, he vanished using magic.” He sounded embarrassed a little at admitting the man escaped him.

He turned to the Councillor (please let me know which one this is, I’m not sure), “Why is our friend being held? Is he hurt? If so I hope he is receiving treatment for his injuries.” DHarem has a tendency to sound a bit commanding at times and this time is no exception. His tone could sound disrespectful when his concern for his companions is concerned.

Bon replied quite simply, "Varis should be fine, I can guarantee nothing for Thomas. He was locked up for apparently killing the councillor for Magic who appears to be alive. Thomas is probably in a bad state, but the prison guards won't let him get any worse, I guess."

A glance at Karrain and the councillor for War began, "Our guard captain is quite... zealous. Good luck getting him to give up your friend."

DHarem raised and eyebrow at the Councillor for War; he turned to Bon and Karrain, “Tell me everything that happened starting at the time of the attack.”

(Assuming they tell him everything that he did not witness)

“Thomas wasn’t trying to kill the Councillor,” he said after a few thoughtful moments, “he was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He began to pace as he gave his summation of what happened to his companions and the Councillor for War who was still standing there.

“While I battled the Mage on the roof, Thomas must have been coming up behind us; I thought I heard a rattling of armor. He must have came up as the Mage and I crashed through the roof; the tiles of the roof were of a … inferior makeup more so than I thought.” The last said with another note of embarrassment for some reason.

“There was a fiery explosion above us as we crashed down into the building,” he continued as he paced, “our falling actually probably saved our lives. I suspect that the Councillor for Magic was the one casting the spells at the Mage whilst I engaged him. I surmise that he cast a fire spell of some sort and that poor Thomas was struck by the blast and it flung him off of the roof to fall upon the Councillor of Magic.”

“It is the only logical explanation,” he said stopping his pacing to stand before the Councillor for War, “I must find the Captain of the Guard and explain the situation. He will see my reasoning… or provide his evidence to the contrary.”

He turned again to his companions, “Find Varis and check on him and the Councillor of Magic; I will find Thomas.”

Turning he left the square headed to the nearest guard station, there he would inquire about the location of his companion and the Guard Captain. He would continue his inquires until he found the Guard Captain; he would introduce himself as a Seeker of the Great Library and explain the results of his summation.

“So you see Captain,” he said as he finished, “this is the only logical explanation as Thomas was part of our group and we were hired by Councillor An-jantar as he suspected someone intended to harm Councillor An’Inglefar during the Contest. “

Looking the Captain square in the eyes he squared up his shoulders and said, “So Captain, unless you can provide proof to refute my expert analysis of the events that transpired, I recommend that you release my friend.”

He stood there as if daring the Guard Captain to attempt to match wits with a bonified Seeker; a follower of the Great Verona, Lord of Wisdom and Knowledge.

The guard captain frowned, "Your story is flawed. Why would An'Jantar hire your band of misfits - no offence meant - rather than simply trusting the city guard? Your summary tells me that you only succeeded in saving the councillor for Magic due to pure luck. Other than that, we have a severely burnt assassin, a disappearing mage, and a group of mercenaries who HAPPENED to turn up to join in with this."

DHarem raised an eyebrow but maintained his demeanor, “Are you calling me a liar? I take great offense at that. My friend is innocent unless you can provide evidence to prove otherwise. I demand you provide evidence now or take me to my friend whom you shall release immediately.”

He took a step forward and came nose to nose with the guard, even though the Captain was a bit taller and stocker than the Seeker.

“You are on the verge of making me angry Captain,” he said in an even tone that only the Captain could hear, “and by Lord Verona, you don’t want to make me angry. You risk the wrath of my Lord; whom you really don’t want to anger.”

The corner of a smile appeared.
The captain was almost smiling, "I'll take that down as a threat, then, shall I? I'd like to just make it known to you that I don't like being blackmailed."

He stood up and began pacing the office, "You ask for proof of my accusations? From all appearances this friend of yours just jumped off a room and ran the Councillor through with a sword. If that isn't assassination for you, I recommend that you wait until the case goes to court."

Varis?
The voice receded, echoing into the darkness.

Varis...we've searched every corner of here.
Varis knew this. This voice, those words. It was DHarem.

They had been locked in. Beyond Tithuana, in an old archeology site. Though it was claimed to have been picked clean of anything long ago, Varis and DHarem had been approached, offered a task as mercenaries for protection, by a man who had claimed to have found the secrets to opening some hidden chamber within the strange ruins.

They never found out their employer's name. Varis had grown suspicious of the 'scholar' as he led them to and into the site, though. His suspicions had led Varis to remain silent about the fact that, as a member of the Caese family, Varis knew full well the histories and findings from a variety of ancient sites, buried forretresses and more, symbols of a war long passed. However, neither he nor DHarem saw what was coming. Led into a chamber opened by some old mechanism, they were locked in from the outside. The chamber was no secret, in truth. While it was a single room that had lockable foot-thick stone door opened mechanically, it had been picked clean like everything else long ago.

The man's idea, DHarem and Varis had agreed, was to starve them to death and take whatever they had afterwards. As mercenaries they wouldn't have been penniless, and there were at least three other skeletons in the room. A serial killer, all as some kind of elaborate robbery that was essentially untraceable, as any story can be made up about missing guards.

It was pitch black, though. They had no torches, but Varis had summoned a small intangible orb of light to see by, somewhat. They'd been in the room for well over an hour, looking for some second way out.

Varis, what do you expect to find? You're too calm for being locked in a pitch-dark room shared by three whom have long starved to death.
DHarem had asked him that. In an even tone, as always...but it was the closest Varis had ever come to sensing fear from the Seeker. Varis himself wasn't particularly prone to giving in to fear himself, but he normally lacked the endless reserves of stability DHarem had.

But the would-be murderer was unfortunate in his most recent targets. Varis had intended not to tell DHarem what he was looking for, earlier. He had merely told the seeker to 'search everywhere'. Being told what to look for narrowed your perceptions.

I know this...my grandfather came here. He'd found that, in one solitary room of this digsite, there was, essentially, a secret passage in a sealed room. What was found within was profitable for the family, as we controlled the trade from a site that was thought to have been emptied of treasures. There are plenty of sealable rooms, so it may not have been this one, but I remember him talking about it...it was the mortar between two stones that was uneven, slightly, and held some small crack to pull out a part of the wall...
Varis had trailed off, deep in thought as he tried to remember. DHarem seemed to understand, and remained quiet.

They found it.

Varis was lucky that day. Both of them were. Lucky that a chance conversation with a grandfather he barely knew allowed Varis to know the key fact that would save them both from a horrible fate. Lucky that they had a light source. Lucky that he had someone strong and agile enough to slip a heavy stone from it's socket in the wall, despite dozens of years of mold and weight that crushed it into a stubbornly unyielding wall.

As the dismantleable wall was taken down piece by piece by DHarem, revealing a passage that led to a few more chambers and a final second exit to the surface, Varis made one last use of his magic in that chamber. He'd written words on the wall that would last for months, glowing. They wrote:

THE UNFORTUNATE LAY HERE, ONCE. WHATEVER THEY WERE IN LIFE, HERO OR VILLAIN; THEY DID NOT DESERVE THE FATE THEY SUFFERED, FALLING TO BETRAYAL. REMEMBER THEM.

Of course, Varis and DHarem had taken the remains of the others outside, wrapping them first in cloth, and buried them. It didn't seem right, to leave them trapped forever in a prison they thought was infallible.

So many whom value coin over loyalty. It disgusted Varis.

They never saw their 'employer' again. A human in his thirties, Tithuanian, but they never found him. He never even returned to the sealed room; they could only assume he had found out about their escape, and daren't risk returning.

Varis very much hoped he would meet that man again. One day. Not for his own sake, but for the unnamed and forgotten.

No, not forgotten. Varis had long been writing a song for them. He was determined it not be forgotten.

A crash awoke Varis from his sleep.

His eyes suddenly opening, seeing the nurse stumble into the room with a tray, miraculously not spilling the contents anywhere.

Regaining balance quite quickly, the nurse smiled at Varis, and made a quick apology, before offering a small round object, freshly baked, to the bedridden bard.

"Cookie?"

“Appearances?” DHarem replied incredulously, “your proof is appearances?” He laughed at the Captain and smiled at him, “A court is it?”

He walked over to the Captain where he was pacing and stood in front of him again preventing the man from walking, “Sir, if that is all you have for proof then I will destroy you in court.”

He smiled for a moment and then asked, “I would like to see my friend now. He was injured in his fall off of the building. I want to make sure that he is being cared for and will make it to court.”

The inkling of another grin edged inwards across the captain's face, "I don't think you're in the position to make demands like that. You were threatening me only moments ago and now you want me to allow you to see a potential criminal? As Tithuanan law requires, we must keep suspected murderers for a minimum of one day and for a maximum of a tenday without trial. I'll see about getting the procedure sped up, because you probably have a heavy schedule, freelancer that you are."

The word "freelancer" was spat out with small amounts of venom, quite clearly.

"I'll see about getting that trial tomorrow after thirdstrike. Will that be all?"

“No!” DHarem said as he still stood before the Captain, “I am not leaving before I see my friend. So you can take me to him, or lock me up.”

He stood in front of the Captain and if the man moved he would move to block the man until he complied with his wishes.

Varis took the object, surprised, with a 'thank you'. Biting into the pleasantly light delicacy, Varis used his other hand to wipe his eyes. He could get up, he thought, he was strong enough...

"So it shall be, mercenary. Guards!"

Quite quickly two surly, armed men arrived in the office and saluted the captain.
"Escort this man to the street. He is harrassing me."

With an exchanged smile, the two guards each grabbed one of DHarem's arms, and began to drag him out.

DHarem sighed at the stubbornness of the Guard Captain; he regretted what was about to happen.

“So I am not under arrest?” He asked as the guards closed in, it was a rhetorical question as he had ordered them to take him outside which clearly stated that he was not being arrested.

As the guards grabbed his arms and started to haul he let himself be lead for a step or two, then he dipped his body pulling them forward and slightly off balance. His arms whirled like windmills and came around and locked the two guards arms at the elbow; straightening up he leaned back and this put pressure on the locked elbows causing the two guards to stiffen and to rise up on their toes to keep from dislocating their arms at the elbows. With them helpless he whirled in a circle and flung them around and releasing them they flung into a far corner to crash atop one another.

DHarem turned to gaze at the Guard Captain and sighed again, “You of all people should know Captain, it is against the law to touch a Seeker unless he is being placed under arrest for some offense. Since you were not arresting me, I am authorized under Tithuanan law to defend myself.”

“Now,” he said as he straightened his clothes and stared at the Captain, “I will make a attempt to defuse this situation which has gotten out of control and formally ‘request’ to see the prisoner to ascertain his health and condition. As his potential council I have that right under the law.”

He glanced at the two guards as they struggled to untangle themselves and rise to their feet, “I’m sorry!”

He turned his attention back to the Guard Captain his gaze now imploring rather than demanding, “I beg of you Captain, don’t let this get more difficult than it has already.”