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Lady Karol, Empress of Rome, was upset. General Vortak stood next to the chair she was sitting in, quietly surveying the situation. The two legionaries in front of her looked nervous. Everyone knew that the Empress had been in a rather foul mood ever since her sister disappeared. "Let me get this straight." she said slowly. "They just, burst in, tried to kill the man, then burned the entire place down?" her face was unreadable, but it was easy to assume she was angry.
"Well uh ma'am, Empress, my Lady, I don't know if...burned the entire place down quite fits it...part of it still stands..." one tentative soldier choked out.
"If it helps, that was the place where most of Rome's crime tends to come from. We know for certain that a thief use to live there, and one of the infamous bandits would often head in. About once a week. It was where the scum of Rome use to stay." the other, a more cocky man, said.
"I. Don't. Care. Who lived there!" Empress Karol stood up, furious. "An entire building! The place is ruined, people have run in terror. The people are going to think that the Legionaries can simply waltz into any building for what they want and destroy it!"
"You Majesty, please-"
"And, if you can believe there is an and to this, now the central point of all our crime, the place we could at least try to keep tabs on is gone. Criminals will scatter! Any control we had over it is now gone!"
"Ah, please Ma'am, there is more to this. The men were trying to catch James Winchester"
Karol paused, "Who?
"A gladiator, from Greece. He's been fighting for about 12 years now."
"Legos, you know I don't watch the games. Not voluntarily anyway."

"Oh gods." Karol sounded more exasperated than scared, though both the Legionaries in the room and General Vortak had jumped to attention, ready for a fight.
"James Winchester." the Legionary named Legos said, more to Karol's benefit than anyone elses.
"Oh, great, another gladiator who's out for my blood for one reason or another." Karol said. "What are you after, angry because my armies killed your family, furious for imprisoning you, livid because in some way I have no control over, Rome has harmed you? Or are you just another one who thinks that the key to tearing down this 'great' empire is by going through me? I really hope it's the last one, wrong though it may be. I'm tired of being blamed for things I can't stop, I'm tired of being pushed by everyone in the senate to find myself a wonderful Emperor to marry and produce heirs for, and I'm tired of everyone looking at me like I'm either a god, or some kind of disgusting demon on the underside of your boot!" Tantrum over, the Empress stood up, trying to recover her poise. Her face, now unanimated, looked old, already showing small wrinkles of worry. Her eyes were tired, and her dark hair had peppered with grey over the past five years. "So." her voice, fully recovered from the angry teenager tone was deep and soft, "You want to kill me? I'd almost welcome it....almost"
Vortak glanced back at her. You didn't attack unless the Empress told you to. And she didn't seem to be telling them to. The three would only attack if James did first. Vortak knew he was hurt. With any luck he wouldn't get even worse. If he choose to attack, the General wouldn't allow the younger two to kill him, he knew Karol would have a fit over that.

Legos ducked to one side, narrowly avoiding the blow. The other legionary wasn't so lucky. It took only moments before he was overwhelmed by the wolf. Karol didn't even bother to step away from the whip. It caught around her waist, and she lurched forward. Up next to James, she pulled a dagger from a hiding spot on her waist. It was at his throat in seconds. "Do it." she said calmly looking him right in the eyes. "Go ahead, I'll dare you." the look on her face was expressionless, but her eyes reflected a strange emotion. Vortak, who hadn't done much in the span of time had pulled out his sword, the blade at the back of James' neck. If he were to do it, he would be dead in seconds by either the Empress's hand, or that of her trusted general.
"If you want a chance at whatever plan you have of succeeding, you really shouldn't." Vortak said from behind him.

Vortak managed to dodge. It would take quite a lot to take down the veteran. He slammed an arm hard under James' chin. Legos leaped back from the wolf, climbing on the table in fright, frantically trying to escape a deadly bite. Hearing the ruckus and finding dead bodies all over the palace, the new guard watch had found their way to the war room. The door had jammed in the midst of Fluffy's first fight, they couldn't get in.

Vortak batted the wolf away with one swing of his arm. It lay still, whether dead, or unconscious, Legos didn't want to find out. It was at that moment that Adelaide landed through the window, looking over her shoulder where James' had fallen. "Huh." she looked up at the two men staring at her. "Um...well this is awkward." she backed slowly away. "Really, I'm just after the assmunch that took her. I swear." Inches from the window when Vortak suddenly spoke.
"Look after her." he said. "Don't let her choose to die."
General and thief locked eyes for a moment. Adelaide nodded, then leaped out the window to follow James.

Adelaide leaned forward slightly on the horse, stroking it's mane with her fingers. "Yes." she said simply.