NOVEL SIMPLE 7. Captains orders
The hall, empty and quiet, painted a picture of the last few minutes. Specks of blood on the walls, a jailer jailed, and the other unconscious. What the walls didn't show was Abigail's own internal struggle. She was near naked and didn't want to go up the stairs in such an indecent condition. The reasons for why, valid as they were, didn't matter. It was principle alone that stayed her feet, and the lack of an easy solution.
Except that wasn't true. Abigail could take the jailer's armor. She wouldn't be needing it in her unconscious state, and peeling it off of her was easier than expected.
The same could not be said for putting it on. It was an uphill battle. Her breasts were a bit - a lot - bigger than the jailers, and she barely squeezed them into the chest piece. The pants, a mix of metal and fabric, nearly died on the way up her thicker legs, and the helm was an easy fit.
Abigail was as ready to go as she was gonna get, and headed up. It was eight short steps, and they were all terrible. Her breasts, big as her head, had too much freedom. They bounced around the confines of her too tight chest piece, nearly taking it off of her more than a few times. Her pants, constrictive, tight, could do nothing about all the movement in her rear. She was as the sea in a storm.
There were eight more sets of stairs she had to go up before she finally reached the courtyard, and it wasn't empty. Jailers, in sets of two to three, sparred with one another. They hefted great swords and hammers and magic at one another. The dedication on display was impressive, and she paid as little attention to it as possible as she walked by.
The guards offered her no such courtesy.
They stared. Blatantly. Some, she was sure, because they didn't recognize her, and others for... Different reasons. It was another storm that Abigail would have to weather through, and she did. All the way across the courtyard, to the base of a set of stairs that led up to the captains office.
Then she was stopped by the sound of feet rapidly approaching her from behind. She turned to face them slowly, and her eyes met the slight scowl of an elf, his helmet off as he appraised her. It was clear he didn't recognize her, and that he knew she wasn't supposed to be here, but what was she to do? Her first thought was to punch him, her second was to run.
She didn't get a chance to think of a third.
He offered a hand for her to shake. "You're new, right. I'm Xylem. And if you wondering, we're supposed to be training right now. Sparring to be exact."
Abigail reached a hand past an enormous boob and shook his, scratching her head, thinking of ways out of this. "Oh, thanks. But I can't spar with you... Now, I'm busy."
He smiled and started walking out into the wider courtyard area, gesturing for her to follow. "Too busy to follow orders? Come on, it'll be quick."
Her brain pulled blanks. She didn't know what to do, and she almost followed.
A roar from above put an end to that. "Xylem escort the new recruit to my office!"
Every head turned up towards the captains office. Xylem saluted. "Yes sir captain Phloem!" Then he turned toward her. "Come on recruit, I guess you are too 'busy' after all."
Abigail followed without a word, and behind her the guards returned to their training. It was loud, with every clash of a blade following every step she took upwards. The sounds rang in her ears like warning bells, gradually getting louder. Halfway up the steps she started to believe that it really was a warning of some kind. The office above her wreaked of danger in that non-obvious way, subtle as a veiled hammer.
If she was someone else, she might've taken that as a sign to turn around, but it was too late anyway. Xylem was already opening the door, and she could see the captain glaring at her through the crack.
He knew. There was no way he didn't. Unless they really were supposed to be having a new recruit come in today. Someone she was sure she didn't look like and couldn't pretend to be, but that didn't stop her from walking into the office and staring the captain in the eye, a silent dare to call her out. He answered with a stare of his own that sent Xylem out the room and convinced her to sit down straight across from him.
They were alone in his office, a rich dark brown box, a fireplace in the corner, a desk between them, and a too small wooden chair beneath her. At his back a giant map that she swore to take with her.
"You've got guts." He said, bringing her focus back to him. "The last time I saw someone pull something so stupid was when I was a recruit. They were torn limb from limb in front of me. A nasty sight."
"Were they in stolen armor as well?"
"No." He said with a shake of his head. "No, I simply want to know why the bird flys. Why it would chase the sun. Knowing it will never reach it, and I believe you capable of fulfilling my desire. Now please, speak."
Abigail took a sip of her drink. She gave herself a few minutes to think, and answered honestly. "Just love I guess."
It was not the most entertaining answer, but it was the truth. Abigail wouldn't be here if she didn't love Esbern, she wouldn't have even gone through the portal in the first place. Which must've seemed weird to the captain based off the look he was giving her.
"Love? You risked life and limb making a brazen attempt to sneak into my fortress, for Love? If I didn't have charcoal in place of a heart I'd think that was a beautiful response. Stupid, but beautiful."
"Stupid?" She mimicked. "Love is anything but stupid! It's wonderful and if anything, you're stupid."
"Really now. I'm stupid. Even though I'm not the one who was just caught trying to impersonate a sentry several sizes smaller than myself? I don't even know how you thought that would work. What, did you assume we were blind?"
"I didn't think it would work, it's just better than nothing!"
The door opened. A guard stuck his head through. "Sir, there are two sentries downside that report of an intruder in our midst!"
"Oh really?" The captain asked, teeth flashing her a smile. "Well then, you keep watch of my Guest here and I'll go see what our jailers have to say."
"Yes sir!" The guard responded, and then saluted as the captain slinked past him and down to the courtyard.
As soon as he was gone, Abigail got up. The action sent her chair skidding back a foot, and reminded her of the size she now had to work with. It also got the guards attention, pulling his eyes towards her as if by a magnet, and as he opened his mouth to speak, Abigail lunged at him.
Her body cried out in pain as she closed the distance between them in seconds, arm throbbing silently as she grabbed the guard and launched him out the window. Then, before the pain could get any worse, she hopped over the Captain's desk and tore the map off his wall.
Map in hand, adrenaline thumping, She realized that she didn't have an actual escape plan. The office only had one exit - the entrance, and she could already hear boots coming up towards it. Across from the door was a wall, that should presumably be facing away from the fortress. If it wasn't, it would still be better than the alternative.
Abigail kept that in mind as she ran at the wall with every ounce of strength she could muster.
It didn't work. The wall, too strong, too well made, resisted her charge, and all she managed to do was make the pain she already felt worse. Undeterred, she ran at the wall shoulder first again.
A stone became a little loose.
Again, and dust rose into the air.
Again, and her arm made a sound like a snap.
A fifth time, and stone fell out into a river below. She fell with them. Into the deep's cold embrace, river water rushing towards her, carrying her away with it as she held the map out of its reach.