The Machine [Open/Accepting]

[lil_lollypop1]

"Of course. There are ten of them." Lianne replied. "But the people after me are hired by bishops so I'm not sure which secret passages they know about..." She muttered. "I... I think I know which exit we should take. There's one that leads to the kitchen. It's right next to the knight quarters and sick bay." She said, stepping in front of them. "Please follow me." She said, stepping out in front of Damien and looking around. She then dashed gracefully with light feet down a row of books, staying within Damien's eyesight. She listened carefully and looked around before motioning for them to come.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien kept his gun at the ready as he followed Lianne's trail. You never know when an assailant would spring out and attack. Damien wasn't going down without a fight.  

[lil_lollypop1]

When they had caught up, Lianne started slowly walking down the next corridor, trying to be extremely cautious when she suddenly stopped and perked up, looking around. Her eyes suddenly lit up and she turned to run, but a mercenary bolted from behind the bookcase and grabbed her by the hair.

"Got you, you little mouse!" He yelled, grabbing her as she struggled, trying not to scream. She didn't want to give away their position.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"Let go of her" Damien said, aiming his gun at the mercenary.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"Sorry. I can't do that. She's worth too much money, dead or alive." He replied, putting his gun to Lianne's head as she still struggled against his grip.

Seeing what Damien was doing, Jian stayed out of sight and slowly back tracked, swinging around to get the mercenary from behind.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"I see. It certainly will be a scandal when foreign countries find out about the Grand Priestess' assassination. How do you plan on covering that up?" Damien asked.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"That's not my problem. After all, officially, you were the only ones who were here with her. And with a little bit of forged evidence, I think the other world leaders would more readily believe the words of the bishops over yours, don't you think?" He replied. "Getting rid of the person in charge while also turning the whole world against their greatest threat. From what I hear, this idiot went through great lengths to make sure no war broke out. They said it was killing two birds with one stone."

Jian circled around and spotted the mercenary, still letting him talk. In his cockiness, he was dropping information like a moron, and Jian didn't want to stop him prematurely.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien saw Jian and just let the mercenary keep going. His cockiness would be his downfall. His mouth was letting all the information out and Damien was just soaking it in. "Well, isn't that rather cunning on the bishops' part. Of course they'd make me the scapegoat. They fear me and my power" he said.  

[lil_lollypop1]

"I think it's more of the land and power that comes with it." He replied. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be ruler of the world?" He replied.

"That's madness" Lianne replied. "Our city wasn't built to maintain an empire."

"Really? Well what about those..." He began as Lianne stepped hard on his foot. "Alright, that's it you little..." He began.

Jian stepped out, whacking the man on the back of the head with his gun to knock him out. Lianne was knocked to the ground by the mercenary's weight as she crawled away from him, breathing slow deep breaths to calm herself down.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

"Well, he's out...for now. We gotta keep going before any others find us" Damien said. He looked at Damien, then to Lianne to see how they were doing.  

[lil_lollypop1]

((Damien looked at Damien?))

"I agree. Are you alright Priestess?" Jian asked.

"I- I think so..." She muttered, trying to stand, only to collapse slightly to her left and grip the bookshelf to keep herself up. She winced and began to rub the side of her leg. "I-It's not too bad. I should be fine..." She muttered with a frown. "We should keep moving." She said, beginning to walk quickly with a limp while using the bookshelves as a light crutch to ease some of the weight from her leg.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

((I meant Jian. emotion_facepalm ))

Damien watched Lianne. Hopefully this wouldn't slow them down too much. "Well we need to keep going. Tell us if you need help" Damien said, the last part to Lianne.  

[lil_lollypop1]

((I figured. lolz))

"Alright." She replied, not wanting to ask them for help. She slowly led them down the hall and down a few passages. 'Ah... here it is..." She muttered, walking up to the wall. She pushed a button on the side of the bookshelf as the wall opened up to a hallway lit by motion-sensing lights. "Mind the first step down, and lets hurry before they find us." She told them, using one hand to lift her dress while still using the other to cover her face. She carefully made her way down the steps, wobbling a little on her hurt leg as she stopped and turned to the button on the wall, waiting for them to come down.  

[Eternal_PrinceOfFire]

Damien quickly followed the Grand Priestess. If they were lucky, they wouldn't run into anymore people trying to take out Lianne.  

[lil_lollypop1]

Jian followed behind with Damien, turning to make sure no one was following before heading down to their sides.

Lianne pushed the button, closing the secret passage before letting out a small sigh. The passage was large but the air was thick and moist because of the humidity from the rain. She limped a little, going further as more of the lights lit up. "The path is straightforward. There's only two turns." She told them.

"Are you sure you're alright? You've been limping quite a bit." Jian replied.

"Whether I'm fine or not doesn't change what we need to do. It only hinders it." She replied, looking away. "I can bare it." She told him.