Welcome to Gaia! ::

James hung forward in the Dungeon. He had come to know only this place, and the arena in the last 12 years. The world outside scared him, only the world outside. He didn't know it and didn't want to. The guards kept his armor three rooms down and after every fight they would suspend him by his arms and chain his feet to the ground. He only wore his loincloth in the prison. He was rather muscular. He was also alone in his cell. The people around him were broken or crazy. Only he seemed to show any normal life. Yet he never spoke. It was not strange that he was here. He had tried to escape 1 to many times. The people didn't feel safe so he was locked away. He hadn't fought in about a year. He waited an hour, then another, then his free time began. Within this time the guards would remove his shackles and he would be able to move freely throughout the cage he was in. Over the last month he had made a plan. It had a few problems but it would work. He hoped. When the guards came in he pulled down and they removed his shackles. As normal one had a arrow aimed at him, and as normal they then unshackled his feet. Then the plan began. He kicked the first guard in the face and threw him towards The guard aiming at him. Then he pulled the arrow from the guard and stabbed him in the eye. An attack which began the chase. James stole the guards keys and unlocked his cell then ran down the hall towards his armor and weapons. Once down the hall he heard the echo of guards screaming to each other and James knew he had about a 20 second window. He kicked the door open and ran over to his armor. He put it all on and then strapped his sword to his back. He put his two throwing knifes in his boot, his axe on his back next to his sword,his net wrapped around his waist and his shield on his arm. Then he left the room and began walking. It was the perfect escape.

Next to the door in a moment, Kenda got off her mount, and carefully helped Paulie down as well. The saddle she had been sitting on had blood smeared on it. "Paulie, are you alright?" Kenda asked, making sure she was still awake.
"Mmm? Yeah, yeah I suppose. Ugh, my head really hurts." Paulie answered groggily.
"Good. Pain means you're still alive. I'll get you patched up in a jiffy." She took her supplies off the horse. "I assume you have blankets or something we can use as well." she said to James, looking around the room.

Kenda broke into her supplies, pulling out herbs and mixing bowls and bandages. Carefully she began tending to Paulie, cleaning the wound behind her ear. "First things first, who are you exactly. That many soldiers would never have been sent to chase after a common criminal. After you've explained yourself on that count, you can tell me your plans. Then you can apologize for causing the destruction of my tavern and home. I know you're not solely responsible for that, and boy is Seth going to explain herself once I find her." Kenda moved on, chewing on some herbs to make a healing paste.

Kenda paused, digesting the new information. "Bread and circuses." she murmured to herself. "Gutsy." She returned her attention to James. "Tell me, what exactly are you planning on doing. I understand what you want to do, but what is your intent. What good is killing a 25 year old girl?"

"Rome isn't the people." Paulie suddenly spoke up, "Rome is an ideal. Even if you killed every single citizen, Rome would still survive." she stated it like a well learned lesson. "The Empress isn't the power, the people are the power. Power corrupts, people get corrupted. Whoever rises to take her place will become even worse. And even if you got ride of them, someone else would take their place. It's a cycle that started with Julius Cesar." she flinched as Kenda bandaged the back of her head. "It's a hopeless case that won't end until human ascend to the higher level of gods."

Paulie opened her mouth to argue, then stopped, shrugged and didn't say anything.
"It seems that you are willing to hurt a lot of people for a result that could take generations. That the ends justify the means, even if the means includes the rape and pillage of all the Roman people." Kenda said. "You also seem to forget the senate. I doubt that the Empress has much power at all over Rome. She's young, and a woman. All the old politicians surely don't condone that."

Kenda locked eyes with Paulie who shook her head again and fell gingerly back, closing her eyes.
Kenda rose, walking over to where James was standing. "Something wrong?" she asked. She could feel his unease, guess what it was about, but the years of bar tend had made Kenda an expert at hearing it from the person himself.