William cursed and went for his sword. This was not part of the plan! Not what he knew of it, anyway. To be fair, when they were going over the fine details, he was halfway drunk. Mead, admittedly, was a siren that called far louder than any woman. More often, though, Visenya had a nasty habit of keeping him in the dark about everything. She thought her pranks were funny, like when they "ran away" from the Red Keep, and she goaded him into a bear cave she "checked" and "found empty". Neither of them were hurt, but they ran right back, not stopping till the outer walls were behind their backs. Perhaps the drink had stayed with him longer than he thought, because his fingers couldn't quite grasp themselves around the handle. Little time to think when all around was a bloody melee, and a particularly ugly fellow was barreling toward one, shouting curses. William backpedaled a few paces and ducked under the first slash. It glanced off the wall behind him. A second quickly followed, coming straight downwards. William groaned, and gave up on drawing the sword, instead pulling the entire scabbard with it to block the next strike. "Hol' thar an' let me cut ya!" shouted the pirate, bringing down the blade yet again. "Shut up. It's bad enough having to look at your face," William spat, jumping left and thrusting with the sword, scabbard and all. It felt a little top heavy, but the added weight meant that striking the chest would hurt more. The pirate stumbled back, letting the scabbard slide off on its own. "Here we go . . ." muttered William, returning previous courtesies with a slash of his own. If he was drunk, the pirate was drunker, and his arm didn't twitch upwards to block the edge until after it ran through his torso. William grimaced. He may have to have a few unkind words with Visenya when all this is done. ___________________________ "Oi! On yer feet!" shouted the warden, taking a pailful of sea spray and dumping it unceremoniously on his prisoner's head. The pitiful figure on the ground sat up, coughing up salt. "Funneh tale, tha Big Boss wants ta see ya. Says somethin' 'bout youse knights would know somethin' 'bout hittin' castles hard." "Good fellow, I keep saying thus, yet you ignore me at every turn. I have not been kni-" "Yeh, yeh, not knighted. Whateveh. Boss wants ta see ya, Boss is gonna see ya. Now get up." He bent down and hauled the little prisoner up to his feet. Then, the distant sound of shouting and crossing swords made its way to the depths of the dungeon. The warden cursed, and drew his curved blade. "Stays here. We's gonna cuts yer knight friends up," he barked, and ran off to reinforce his employer on the surface. Arak stood there, not sure of what happened, until the blood rushed to his head. He had an odd policy of elevation strictly enforced upon him during the past few . . . hours? Days? Point is, if he stood up, he would get beat with a stick. He quickly learned to act otherwise. Now that he was standing, the blood rushed to his head in painful beats, and his legs threatened to give way under him. He leaned on the wall, and tried to think dry thoughts. To appear with vomit on him when rescued by knights would be unseemly. He, with the aid of the walls, stumbled out of the cell and began making his way, step after painful step, towards those blessed stairs of escape. "Hey! Backs ta yer cell!" shouted a voice behind him. Arak turned, groaning, to find a large man, armed with a thick staff, striding towards him. "No, you don't underst-" He began, but the pirate began pushing him inexorably back, shouting curses and threats. "I doesn't care! Backs ta yer-" That was as far as he got before he learned the hard way the few advantages of being short. Arak's foot had made its way from the ground to the delicate portions between the larger man's legs. He keeled over, and was out. Arak quickly took the staff, turned his head away, and brought it down on his skull until there was nothing left but red mush. He knew from hard experience that concussed foes never stayed down upwards of a minute. Now taking the bloody staff, he hobbled up the steps. The knights upstairs need to be assisted!