Disclaimer: Must I? Fine, I don't own anything. Well, I don't own George,
Ercole and Marek, nor any of the other characters from SotL that will later
appear in this fanfic, though I do own Audrie, or Spades, along with Salen
and Jered, and anyone else you don't recognize.
Author Notes: I know you won't read these, since usually I don't, but I'm going to put them up anyways. For one thing, if you read my fic, review it as well. If I don't get reviews, then I think no one likes my story, so I'll just cut it off. That's right, no more Spades stealing loincloths (and she continues this habit in later chapters). Also, I'll only update once I get ten reviews for this chapter. I've currently got several other ideas for fics that I'd like your opinion on, so eventually I will type them all up and post them as an update and would like it if you would vote on which one I should post next. If you actually read this, I'll be amazed, but thanks for reading my fic.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Your...way in? I don't think I understand" Audrie shifted her weight nervously to the other foot. " What exactly do you mean by my being your way in? Your way in to where? And what's so special about me? I think I deserve an explanation here."
"You see, these four men and I" George gestured to the others at the table. "Have been thinking up a plan to steal from the palace over a long period of time. Unfortunately, in order to do this we would require someone to disguise themselves in order to get in. A dangerous mission, I admit, but it would be a perfect way for you to make up for stealing from me."
"Disguise, you say?" Audrie grinned suddenly. She began to untie her braid, and as the hair fell down to her shoulders, it turned to an ebony black, with red hair seemingly attached to the tips. Her eyes faded into an emerald green, to the surprise of the men at the table. "Then you've come to the right person. I happen to be excellent at disguises. I have the gift, and while I can't complete complex spells or even heal, I can change my hair and eye colors. To change the length I merely add hair attachment from horse hair, or even hair from wigs."
The surprise on the mens faces was enough- she broke into peals of laughter. "It's not that complicated, you know!" Grinning, she sat down next the other men. "Now, are you going to introduce me and further explain all of this or what?"
The rest of the night was spent talking and planning. The other men were introduced as Ercole, Marek, Salen, and Jered. The reason why they had chosen her to be the one to sneak in was simple: it would be unusual for a mysterious nobleman to come to the castle for weeks at a time for no apparent reason, but she would be able to pose as a girl from the convent coming to look for a husband during the midwinter festival. It was not unusual for a girl to stay for weeks, even months at a time, giving Audrie plenty of time to steal things of small worth that would add up over the weeks. The plan was mostly experimental, to see if sneaking in unnoticed was possible. ~ ~ ~ ~ "So let me get this right, for the sake of money I have to choke myself to death?" The comment received several chuckles. "What's so funny? I don't find dying from lack of oxygen humorous! I'm serious! This stupid corset....!" This was followed by loud cursing, which, in turn, was followed by even more laughter. Several insults and even more cursing ensued, which, in turn, was followed by further laughter.
At the end of twenty minutes, five men were on the floor laughing outside of George's room in the Dancing Dove. After a momentary recovery, George tapped on the door. "Are you done yet? I was hoping we could leave before I died of old age." The door promptly slammed open, missing hitting his face by but an inch.
"Alright already! It's not my fault these dresses take so long to put on!" Audrie stood in the doorway, this time with wavy sandy brown hair tied up at the top of her head but long enough to cascade down to below her shoulders. Innocent blue eyes and a heavenly smile beautifully accented her hair. In reaction to her sudden appearance, Ercole and Jered sighed.
"Ah, the lass is an image of perfection." Jered smiled and looked upward. His comment only received a scowl.
"Oh, be quiet. This corset is near killing me, I hope to get it off a soon as possible. The sooner I leave for the castle, get there, and am able to take this thing off, the better." She pulled a face as the others grinned.
" You'll be wearing a corset for the next three weeks. From now until the last day of the midwinter festival. If I were you, I'd get used to wearing that corset." George couldn't help grinning at her reaction to this. " And you can't back out now, because the castle is getting prepared to house some five to ten young ladies from the convent, and Lady Audrelinia is expected to be one of them. Luckily we've had it arranged that you're supposed to be from a small, benign fief far, far away. No one should recognize you. We've also managed to find several hidden passageways that should keep you safe should you run to trouble, one that even leads into what should be a guest room..."
"How do you know all of this?"
" I have my ways. Connections, you could say." George smiled.
"And why can't you have these 'connections' of yours do the stealing?" Audrie placed her hands on her hips. "Why make me suffer this corset when you could just have them do all the work?"
"What, and miss all of this entertainment? Never."
" I want a better answer than that, George. I'm not going to go in there and risk getting caught just for you. I may be a decent thief, but I'm not invincible. Considering my chances of being seen, I should be getting something out of this."
"And you are, lass." Jered spoke up, "Three weeks of being treated like a lady. Won't that be nice? Not t'mention the fact that you get a more than fair share of the profits."
"I suppose. But just in case, I'd like to know who these so-called 'connections' of yours are, George." Audrie folded her arms across her chest, attempting to impose her full of height of...five feet, two inches, silently wishing she was taller.
"Servants, mostly. That's how I discovered the secret passageways. Stefan, a hostler. Oh, and a young squire. Alan. If you happen to see him, give him this." George handed Audrie a folded letter.
"I do believe I've seen Alan before. With you, I recall. Served him a few weeks back.." Upon the glare of George she added, "Rest assured, he left with his purse and coins still with him. It's only occasionally that I bother to go overboard with stealing." She sighed and shook her head, false brown hair tossing slightly. Suddenly she slammed her foot down, and a yell of pain came from behind her.
"What was that for?!" It turned out to be some middle-aged man, enraged that she had stepped on his toe.
" I don't like men who decide that just because I'm wearing a dress they can feel up my ass without my noticing. If you don't want a sore toe, or worse, keep your hands to yourself." A glare quickly shut the man up, and he slunk away muttering under his breath as she turned back around to George. "I swear, if that happens one more time I'll do more than just step on their foot."
Suddenly the clip-clop of horses hooves sounded out, signaling that the carriage meant to take her to the palace had arrived. She sighed and picked up her bags. After several farewells from her friends at the dancing dove, Audrie entered the carriage, muttering about dresses and perverted men, and set out for the palace.
Author Notes: I know you won't read these, since usually I don't, but I'm going to put them up anyways. For one thing, if you read my fic, review it as well. If I don't get reviews, then I think no one likes my story, so I'll just cut it off. That's right, no more Spades stealing loincloths (and she continues this habit in later chapters). Also, I'll only update once I get ten reviews for this chapter. I've currently got several other ideas for fics that I'd like your opinion on, so eventually I will type them all up and post them as an update and would like it if you would vote on which one I should post next. If you actually read this, I'll be amazed, but thanks for reading my fic.
~ ~ ~ ~
"Your...way in? I don't think I understand" Audrie shifted her weight nervously to the other foot. " What exactly do you mean by my being your way in? Your way in to where? And what's so special about me? I think I deserve an explanation here."
"You see, these four men and I" George gestured to the others at the table. "Have been thinking up a plan to steal from the palace over a long period of time. Unfortunately, in order to do this we would require someone to disguise themselves in order to get in. A dangerous mission, I admit, but it would be a perfect way for you to make up for stealing from me."
"Disguise, you say?" Audrie grinned suddenly. She began to untie her braid, and as the hair fell down to her shoulders, it turned to an ebony black, with red hair seemingly attached to the tips. Her eyes faded into an emerald green, to the surprise of the men at the table. "Then you've come to the right person. I happen to be excellent at disguises. I have the gift, and while I can't complete complex spells or even heal, I can change my hair and eye colors. To change the length I merely add hair attachment from horse hair, or even hair from wigs."
The surprise on the mens faces was enough- she broke into peals of laughter. "It's not that complicated, you know!" Grinning, she sat down next the other men. "Now, are you going to introduce me and further explain all of this or what?"
The rest of the night was spent talking and planning. The other men were introduced as Ercole, Marek, Salen, and Jered. The reason why they had chosen her to be the one to sneak in was simple: it would be unusual for a mysterious nobleman to come to the castle for weeks at a time for no apparent reason, but she would be able to pose as a girl from the convent coming to look for a husband during the midwinter festival. It was not unusual for a girl to stay for weeks, even months at a time, giving Audrie plenty of time to steal things of small worth that would add up over the weeks. The plan was mostly experimental, to see if sneaking in unnoticed was possible. ~ ~ ~ ~ "So let me get this right, for the sake of money I have to choke myself to death?" The comment received several chuckles. "What's so funny? I don't find dying from lack of oxygen humorous! I'm serious! This stupid corset....!" This was followed by loud cursing, which, in turn, was followed by even more laughter. Several insults and even more cursing ensued, which, in turn, was followed by further laughter.
At the end of twenty minutes, five men were on the floor laughing outside of George's room in the Dancing Dove. After a momentary recovery, George tapped on the door. "Are you done yet? I was hoping we could leave before I died of old age." The door promptly slammed open, missing hitting his face by but an inch.
"Alright already! It's not my fault these dresses take so long to put on!" Audrie stood in the doorway, this time with wavy sandy brown hair tied up at the top of her head but long enough to cascade down to below her shoulders. Innocent blue eyes and a heavenly smile beautifully accented her hair. In reaction to her sudden appearance, Ercole and Jered sighed.
"Ah, the lass is an image of perfection." Jered smiled and looked upward. His comment only received a scowl.
"Oh, be quiet. This corset is near killing me, I hope to get it off a soon as possible. The sooner I leave for the castle, get there, and am able to take this thing off, the better." She pulled a face as the others grinned.
" You'll be wearing a corset for the next three weeks. From now until the last day of the midwinter festival. If I were you, I'd get used to wearing that corset." George couldn't help grinning at her reaction to this. " And you can't back out now, because the castle is getting prepared to house some five to ten young ladies from the convent, and Lady Audrelinia is expected to be one of them. Luckily we've had it arranged that you're supposed to be from a small, benign fief far, far away. No one should recognize you. We've also managed to find several hidden passageways that should keep you safe should you run to trouble, one that even leads into what should be a guest room..."
"How do you know all of this?"
" I have my ways. Connections, you could say." George smiled.
"And why can't you have these 'connections' of yours do the stealing?" Audrie placed her hands on her hips. "Why make me suffer this corset when you could just have them do all the work?"
"What, and miss all of this entertainment? Never."
" I want a better answer than that, George. I'm not going to go in there and risk getting caught just for you. I may be a decent thief, but I'm not invincible. Considering my chances of being seen, I should be getting something out of this."
"And you are, lass." Jered spoke up, "Three weeks of being treated like a lady. Won't that be nice? Not t'mention the fact that you get a more than fair share of the profits."
"I suppose. But just in case, I'd like to know who these so-called 'connections' of yours are, George." Audrie folded her arms across her chest, attempting to impose her full of height of...five feet, two inches, silently wishing she was taller.
"Servants, mostly. That's how I discovered the secret passageways. Stefan, a hostler. Oh, and a young squire. Alan. If you happen to see him, give him this." George handed Audrie a folded letter.
"I do believe I've seen Alan before. With you, I recall. Served him a few weeks back.." Upon the glare of George she added, "Rest assured, he left with his purse and coins still with him. It's only occasionally that I bother to go overboard with stealing." She sighed and shook her head, false brown hair tossing slightly. Suddenly she slammed her foot down, and a yell of pain came from behind her.
"What was that for?!" It turned out to be some middle-aged man, enraged that she had stepped on his toe.
" I don't like men who decide that just because I'm wearing a dress they can feel up my ass without my noticing. If you don't want a sore toe, or worse, keep your hands to yourself." A glare quickly shut the man up, and he slunk away muttering under his breath as she turned back around to George. "I swear, if that happens one more time I'll do more than just step on their foot."
Suddenly the clip-clop of horses hooves sounded out, signaling that the carriage meant to take her to the palace had arrived. She sighed and picked up her bags. After several farewells from her friends at the dancing dove, Audrie entered the carriage, muttering about dresses and perverted men, and set out for the palace.