Julien

They had seized the throne room. Fitting enough. It was politically symbolic, and it was a room large enough to properly secure the Council of Heralds. Who were huddled in one corner of the room. Under the guard of swords, pikes, and crossbows.

He stood up on the dais of the Golden Throne. Looking at it. But not seeing it. His mind was too busy working on how he was going to get out of the problem they had somehow, magically, worked themselves into. Speaking of magic the former First Enchanter to the Imperial Court was off to his left, two steps down, looking up at him. Studying him. The Count de Montbelliard was busy hanging off of his right shoulder. Breathing impatiently.

"Now what are we going to do?" The Count asked.

"Yes," Vivienne echoed, "what are we going to do?"

Montfort tapped his lip, thinking for a spare moment. "We have the Capital. We have it secure. We have captured the Council of Heralds and have them in our custody…" he shrugged. "Hopefully with a little persuasion we can convince them to support our cause."

"But for that, we need Gaspard." Vivienne said. "Who so far has eluded us?"

"Indeed," He said turning back to her. "However, it would be nice to act if I knew all the cards I was playing with."

Vivienne raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing.

"Montbelliard would you please excuse us?" He said, no, ordered to the Count.

The Count raised an eyebrow at him.

"Please, go assure the Council that everything is ok and they won't be harmed."

The Count bowed to him and walked off down the steps. Towards the small knot of troops and people at the other end. Montfort watched him go. Waiting until he was well out of earshot before pressing the advantage or the topic of conversation.

"Our forces that were supposed to attack in the event the Inquisition out maneuvered us and things went wrong?"

"Yes, and things did go wrong." Vivienne pointed out. "So, I assume you are glad they showed up?"

"Indeed," Montfort nodded, "But who ordered them to proceed? For I know it was not I."

"I did." Vivienne bowed to him.

"Indeed?" Julien asked, considering, puckering his lip, "And then what happened at the fortress? I thought the Inquisitor was well secured, and yet she shows up here? And apparently based on the reports that are trickling in from the Dales she also showed up to wipe out our mercenary forces."

"She is the reason I did what I did. That I ordered your forces to take the Capital in the event that she made it through the lines. She did. Because of course she did. And then she used it to outmaneuver that oaf you have for a possible Grand Duke."

"Why didn't you come to me first?"

"There wasn't time."

Julien snarled shaking his head, barking a short bitter laugh. "Everything was depending on you. Your end of the plan was the fullest proof. The most necessary for the success of the plan as a whole. And despite all of these precautions and your constant assurances you could handle it, you let her slip through your fingers. And I have to hear about it only after she makes an appearance spoiling her own trial and that of her entire organization. She out plays us, outmaneuvers us, and forces us to take extreme actions that we both find distasteful."

"What is done is done, you have your throne."

"But how can I keep it if I do not know what Gaspard will do?"

"Yes, Gaspard will strike."

Julien snorted disgustedly.

"You know I trusted you. I put my faith in you and now…I cannot think of a reason why. I had my doubts about this from the very beginning. Yet I pushed them aside? For what purpose? For the throne? I ignored all my instincts. Why? And why should I continue to trust you?"

"Because my darling. Everything will be ok. As long as we stay the course. Nothing can ever harm us. They may try. But we are here. For the Empire."

Julien paused, stiffened, and nodded. Sighing, "Everything will be ok. Come. We need to capture and neutralize Gaspard. Or at least the Inquisition in the process of defending ourselves."

"I might have an idea on that…some of my magic may help…"

Kara

Of all the places that I had expected to go in my trials for the Inquisition, this would be the last one ever.

The stray thought shot through Kara's head like one of her better placed arrows. The place? The Sewers of Val Royeux.

Where all the waste and the drudge and the decay of the Empire went to die. It was ironic. Everyone, noble and commoner alike, was born the same, died the same, and all their waste ended up in the same place. There was no class distinctions with shit after all.

They all smell the same. Kara through trying not to breathe it in as the three members of the Inquisition, Bull, Evangeline, and Dorian, followed her. They walked on a stone path, single file, which led along and followed the slosh as it washed past them. They were walking up current.

"Ah that is certainly a lovely smell you found for us Inquisitor. And here I thought that the dank caves with spiders in it were the worse smell ever." Dorian opined behind her.

Kara grimaced, gritting her teeth.

"This is very familiar actually," Evangeline remarked, "During the war…Rhys's mother…Wynne. Took us down here. Believe it or not I think it smelt worse the first time."

"Probably the war dispersing Civilians away from the larger areas or all the press gangs thinning the ranks of the slums by drafting soldiers, who are now dead." Bull pointed out bluntly.

"That's a cheery thought." Dorian muttered.

They continued on for more than a few minutes. They were getting ever closer to…something. There was another spillway up ahead of them. Running through theirs making a T intersection. She strained her ears. There was something over the running water she could just barely hear, getting louder and louder as it went, but still almost imperceptible.

"You know…"

"Quiet!" Kara snapped.

Her people did so quite obediently behind her.

Ping ping…ping ping..ping ping…

The noise went. Kara wracked her brain, closing her eyes as she slowly moved forward.

Ping ping…ping ping…ping ping.

Footsteps.

Kara's bow swung off her shoulder, arrow to her string, all came up as one quickly swinging around at her eye level as she found herself looking down the sights in an eye blink.

Straight on the eye level arrow in the face of her spymistress, Briala. Her eyes went cross as she looked down at it pointed at her, her hands shot up, "Inquisitor! It's me!"

"Briala, Maker's Breath!" Kara snapped

Gaspard and two other Elves, and Sera rounded the corner, one of them saw the heavily armed intruders and went for her daggers, before she too saw who they were and sheathed her weapons, looking curiously at them.

Kara placed her arrow back in its quiver and the bow upon her back.

"I see you found the Emperor." She remarked dryly.

"And kept him safe," Briala returned in kind. "I take it you had the same idea I had?"

Kara nodded, "Tobias is in the sky. The city above, especially the district above our heads is crawling with Orlesian Infantry. We can't go above ground because they would likely spot us and do something about it." She sighed. "Seems Montfort has locked the entire city down."

Gaspard nodded, "These cowards will rue the day they challenged me for my throne"

Kara wanted to roll her eyes, smack her hand to her head, or grunt dramatically, but she had to be nice to the maniac.

"Why didn't you get him through to the Eluvian in his suite?"

Briala glared, "By the time I arrived the Palace was already over run by superior numbers and armor. They had already managed to kill many of Gaspard's guards and support personnel. The only people still protecting Gaspard was the Inquisition. The only way out was through the sewers."

Kara nodded, "You did well but we must-"

She yelled, her companions joined her as their hands clasped to their ears. A barrier sprang up around them seemingly to keep the noise out, or instinct, but there was little they could do.

Though it modulated for a second, getting lower in pitch and volume, finally she could make out a voice.

"Citizens of Orlais," The voice of Julien de Montfort boomed in her head, "Inquisitor Kara Trevelyan. You are an enemy of the Empire. We have you surrounded. Yet, you have evaded capture, and I have the Council of Heralds. So my offer is simple. You have two hours to present yourself to the center of the Orlesian Empire, unarmed, or I will kill a member of the Council of Heralds. And one more for each hour after that. Choose quickly Inquisitor. To all the Citizens of the Empire, if you should see the Inquisitor and bring her before me, or have information leading to her whereabouts, you will have two hundred gold sovereigns."

Kara swore under her breath as the voice faded.

"Alright, we need to get the Emperor out of the city. Now. Evangeline you go with them. Sera, come with me…and take your bow."

"This is a bad situation boss, we should cut our losses and run."

Kara growled, he was right, but then… "No, the Council of Heralds will be needed to put the pieces together. Especially in a Gaspard Emperorship, Julien is a thug…he will try and bludgeon his way through the Game if he succeeds, Gaspard is malleable…no offense." Kara said the last only after realizing the Emperor was there.

"None taken," The Emperor sighed.

Kara nodded. "So, we need to get him out of the city. Evangeline can guard him better than anyone. He rallies the Imperial Army and the Loyalists to the cause, who have to be around here somewhere, news of this will travel fast, gather the rest of the Inquisition, March on the city, and meanwhile we buy time on the inside."

"How?" Sera mocked indignantly.

"We take Montfort out." Kara stated.

Briala snorted, "And how will we do that? Ask him?"

"You have your orders." Kara said marshaling herself and starting to march down the sewer. This forced them to fall in behind her. "Now, go do them."

Briala nodded reluctantly before taking Gaspard by the hand, Evangeline followed in behind her and the two Elves followed suit.

"So, just how do we propose to take Montfort out?" Bull asked.

Kara stopped, turned back to him, and looked at Sera. "I have a plan."