As Alenius walked into the city center, she could already see the disruption that had been caused the night before. Several mercenaries were still passed out on the street and had it not been for the city guard, would have already of been robbed by the street urchins. Alenius was accompanied by twenty of Duncan's personal guard, all of which were fully trained Cawanor soldiers. Cawanor, with its extensive wealth, gives its soldiers the best training and armour available, making them the elite fighting force of Formaroth. And it certainly showed; the soldiers were wearing full plate armour and great helms. Over their armour they wore a cloth tunic with the Cawanor's crest colours dyed into it. They were armed with steel swords and had shields that had the De Reimer crest on it. Alenius had changed from her leather armour into the same attire as the rest of the soldiers, though she did not wear a great helmet. At her right side hung a flail and at her left was a sheathed dagger. As they made their way into the inn where the mercenary captain was sleeping, Alenius turned to face the soldiers under her command. "You come with me" She said signalling to the man closest to her "The rest of you stay here and make sure none of his mercenaries try to interfere" With that she made her way up the creaking wooden stairs as she made her way to the room that Duncan's spy had said was currently occupied by Claus. As Alenius tried to open the door to the room, she found that it was locked. She briefly looked at the soldier who had come with her, giving him the signal to get ready, before kicking down the wooden door and charging into the room "Claus Rotstein"! Alenius's voice spoke loudly and with a strong sense of authority "Under the order of Lord Duncan De Reimer you are under arrest" - Claus Rotstein was merrily dreaming away about some nice cottage with apple trees in full blossom and... his mother?... asking him come try the apple pie she made. Just when he was about to take a bite, one heavily armoured man kicked down the door. The young woman whom had joined him in the bed was screaming and hastily getting anything on to cover herself up before vacating the room with the blanket. The entire scene was rather chaotic and Claus didn't manage to get out much more than "What are you doing in my..." when he got hit in the face with a backhand strike from the soldier. "That's enough!" Alenius barked at the soldier. Claus may be a problem for the moment, but that's no reason to bring him to his trial beaten up. As Claus was ordered to get dressed he put on his hoses and his gambeson which had his shoulder plates attached to it, then he was dragged out just as he managed to get his boots on. He could see some of his men in the hallway and in the hall watching the scene unfold, more soldiers were stationed to create a path to bring their captive along. "Ey, Jones." Claus shouted as he was dragged along. "Make sure everyone have some fun while I’m gone..... I’ll be back in a while..." He kept on, he was met with the gaze of one or two hateful soldiers and the wicked gaze of Alenius. Better see what these guys want, Claus thought. Perhaps someone took offense of the party last night.... hehe, suits them right. Claus was grinning, Alenius couldn't in the world guess what was so funny about being dragged out of bed early in the morning, beaten and dragged out of the house. "So, are we off to a fun place?" Claus asked Alenius, blood running from his nose and with a bruise on his left cheek. He was simply met with disgust. "If you call being dragged before the royal court to be tried for numerous offences fun" Alenius said as she looked at Claus with disgust "The greatest offence being marching your entire army into Nyhem, fully armed and without any permission from your superiors". Alenius signalled to the rest of the soldiers who proceeded to march out of the inn alongside Alenius. The soldier who was carrying Claus quickly pulled him sharply to his feet. "I'm not carrying you all the way to the keep, use your own two legs" He hissed at Claus. "Jeez, give me a break, I’ll walk I’ll walk." Claus told the soldier whom had so rudely awoken him earlier. "Well miss... I see a problem with your accusation.... sure I walked the entire Steel fist into Nyhem, parade and everything. I hardly see that as illegal.... also, last time I checked, I was in command of the Steel fist.... making me the highest superior... anywhere, since we're not hired at the moment." Claus said with a few pauses mixed in, Alenius didn't say much directly, but was clearly not pleased with the claims. "Can I have some water, the headache is killing me...." Claus asked, but was met with a hissing growl from the soldier. "No." He then spat out. Met with a clear sigh from Claus Rotstein. This was going to be a long trip he thought. "Your superiors are the lords and ladies who rule this city" Alenius explained "if you are staying in their city then you must obey their laws. As for the parade, while there may be no official law against it, if a random army shows up without making its intentions known then it could be viewed as a potential coup". Alenius spoke calmer than she had before. Alenius took pity on Claus when he was denied water by one of her soldiers. After all, she had had her fair share of hang overs in the past. "Soldier give him some of your water, we don't want him passing out before he arrives at the keep" The soldier started to protest, but the withering look that Alenius gave him instantly silenced him as he begrudgingly handed his water skin over to Claus. "Hm? Cheers!" Claus confusedly, followed by thankfully acknowledged after Alenius had allowed him water. Perhaps he had missed some compassion in this woman, or perhaps she was as blunt as she stated. Regardless of what, he now got water and was gulping away happily. Long years out in the field had gotten him the odd habit of drinking a lot when given the chance, since one never knew when water was available again. He actually noted this when half through the bottle, stopped and thankfully returned the bottle to the muttering guard. Claus knew how the guy felt, some fool who was stomping around feeling all important in their city. He recognized the look, he and his men had the same one when outsiders were stomping around on their turf. "While the lords, kings or whomever happens to rule the city have influence over what I can do, I don't recall doing anything illegal. And if some of my men did they will of course be punished by the rules of the Steel fist." Claus began to explain, but was met with a silent grumble from another guard whom was flanking them. "Hmpf,probably 'punished' with some more booze." The man was clearly not very respectful of the Steel fist, but Claus ignored him. "Sure, we did cause a bit of a rumble, but you must understand our situation miss." Claus was not a diplomat, but he was smart enough not to start unnecessary fights. And trying to explain his motivations in simple terms to people had worked out unexpectedly well in the past on several occasions. Claus had found himself in the whole under arrest situation, and was calm and did not try any stupid moves. He saw one of his men some distance away following them, but he was sure he was only there to check the situation since he recognized him as one of his scouts. "We've been out seven years. With only a few permissions for leave, i myself have been home... what? Twice in that time! We're humans and want some fun when we're finally back in a nice big wealthy city, not my fault old Roddy died." His nickname for the king while not glamorous, was spoken with simple indifference. It was clear Claus wasn't fond nor spiteful of the old king. Alenius pondered over what Claus had just said. Perhaps she had misjudged him, he wasn't the typical brute that most mercenary captains were. At the very least he listened to reason. "I understand your situation, truly I do, but it is not my decision to decide whether you are guilty or not. That responsibility lies with the court. Head advisor Duncan De Reimer will be overseeing your trial. As a hint of advice I wouldn't call King John 'Roddy' while on trial. It won't go down well" Alenius said with a slightly humorous tone in her voice. She signalled to her men to quicken the pace so they could get back to the keep before the steel fist company figured out what happened to their leader. "Alright, I won't call him Roddy on trial." Claus answered with a smirk, and tried to straighten up a bit. His headache was getting a bit lighter, and he was rather the spectacle as the group was moving down the streets of Nyhem. Several people looked in wonder, and that meant Claus as a captain needed to at least try keep his image up. Even if being almost in his underwear and in custody sort of worked against him. Soon Alenius and her patrol of soldiers arrived at Miserth Keep. Miserth Keep was a massive construct made entirely of slate and granite. The keep had numerous towers branching off from the main building and on top of many of them were ballistas and trebuchets. There was only one way into the keep and that was over the bridge that crossed over the moat, which separating the keep from the rest of the city. On the other side of the bridge was a heavily fortified gatehouse. As Alenius passed through the gatehouse she raised her hand causing the soldiers under her command to halt. "Take him to the dungeons" She said to two of her soldiers before she then turned to Claus "When your trial takes place I am unsure, but I know it will be soon. I am sure you can survive the prisons dungeons till then" She finished with a smirk. With that said Alenius turned round and headed off to the keep to report back to Duncan. - Claus was far from happy with the recent turn of events. He looked back at the previous "conversation" he'd had with miss Alenius and realized that was one of the more pleasant people he'd met since coming back to the "civilized" world. He sat on top of a knocked out brute as he pondered with his fist to his chin. The man had tried to drunkenly clobber Claus, but was sidestepped and felled and hit the floor snoring. With the lack of good furniture in the dank smelly dark dungeon he'd ended up in, he used whatever he had at hand. Too bad one of the most pleasant women so far had put him in a dungeon... Claus was quickly thrown out of his pondering when a muffled scream echoed from below. It was not the first one, and not the last. Lovely, a torture dungeon, no extra sleep in the morning, no more good food, no songs, this was exactly how he had wanted to spend the first day home from campaigning.... he heard a grumble from his left side. The top layer of the dungeon was for simple crooks, they mostly shared a single large room before being shoved off to individual trials or simply let loose again. The lower levels, who know how many those were, was for more heinous crimes and interrogations. Slumped to a wall in the large room they all shared was one of the Steel fist mercenaries resting, he had his kettle helm over his eyes and was lying in a way that didn't seem possible to have a proper nights sleep in. It seems that this poor fella was caught rousing up the streets a bit too much, and probably the guardhouse was filled and he was brought here to sleep away the worst of the smell of alcohol. Claus recognized the man, crossbowman, didn't talk much, reliable in a fight.... drank his utmost when he could. He just shook his head thinking of his poor soldier, at least he was not alone in this dark cell. He had his unconscious soldier, the snoring brute, someone in the back constantly itching himself in his sleep and not to forget the fat guy by the waste bucket who burped and farted loudly at the most unexpected of moments. Claus shook his head again, he actually looked forward to the trial. [hider=Credits] [@TheDuncanMorgan] [@Klomster] [/hider]