echo

You could always make one

"he may be grumpy but he's no traitor. He has helped me before, besides he owes me one" She grinned and followed the dwarf down the alley way. "So whats this hideout of yours?" she asked upon catching up to the dwarf. She hid her uneasiness of the much too quiet night with teasing the dwarf. "please dont tell me its the same one the guards discovered within two hours of you establishing it, i mean come on everyone has their weak points but that was just pitiful. Or it could just be a sign over the growth of the viscounts over powered guards..." she took that into account for a moment then shook her head. "but seriously where is this place?"

Soon the sun was gone and most of the adults asleep. Charlotte sat on her bunk staring out the window in silence, "after so many hours not one fool proof plan of escape... if it has been thought up it has been tried and failed already" She sighed and layed down, "I guess the best i can do for now is make sure the kids make it through the winter" She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but the bitter cold of the building made it almost impossible to sleep.

Joker thought this over for a minute before speaking, "what if we could get support of the nobles. I know it wont happen out of the goodness of their hearts" She smirked a little at the thought, "what if we had.... a bargaining tool?" she offered. "That way the viscount will be low on numbers and funding, with the noble's money we could overtake his rule in no time." She looked around the area that was visible to them from the small corner of town, most everyone had gone home. "We should find a place to continue this talk guards will be here soon to in force curfew."

Charlotte rid the thought from her mind, "i can't leave everyone here... no one would be able to take care of the kids...." she sighed and watched the snow for a while. She knew German winters were anything but merciful, even in her warm house it could be awful. This will be dangerous if not fatal. She glanced back at the children before making her way back to the adult camp. She assured everyone no one sick and they were staying warm before receiving her share of the rationed bread. She sat on her bunk eating silently thinking of how to get out of the camp without getting caught.

"I agree the goblins are not a threat to the viscount, more of a public nuisance." She looked down at her knife, "no it wasnt our meeting place that burned no one was inside" she said. "But the warning is clearly there" Joker clenched her free hand. "Thus is going to turn real serious fast. Dral they know who I am... none of the elves are safe anymore" she put her knife away and looked at the dwarf. "With how careful ive been its apparent he has gotten even more powerful" she adjusted her scarf to cover more of her face.

great day at the range with my trusty 9 mil!!

"Well he wouldnt be able to look at even if he wanted to" she said shrugging looking over at Dral. "I suspect its either a pile of ashes or in the hands of the viscount by now." Joker took a knife from her belt playing with it absentmindedly. "But nevermind that the letter is no longer what concerns me" She looked at Ander trying to decide his true motive in getting involved in all of this. Joker put her knife away, "the viscount's nobles are going to more extreme measures to rid of us"

She smirked and dropped down, "thought you were losing your touch old dwarf". Joker leaned against a wall and looked over the two in front of her. "So you got some messed up heritage" she commented looking over at Ander. She hadnt realized he was half human until Dral mentioned it, but now that he had it was pretty obvious. She looked back over at the glowing light in the sky then at the men. "Oh and by the way the you would have no interest in the letter."

Soon the kids grew tired and Charlotte sat with them reading the same story she always did until they were asleep. She moved them all to their beds and peaked outside at the watch tower. "Where is the look out...? There no light on..." she wondered if something was wrong with the guard. Then the thought came to her, "...maybe I could escape...." she looked down the path leading out of the camp. The usual guards were stationed there but they were drunk as usual.

After a few hours of rest she woke up and decided to visit the children. She ran quickly through the snow and enetered the building. All the children were bundled up in blankets and she smiled sitting with them. They sang quietly in german to cheer themselves up and Charlotte got up and danced with a smaller girl laughing and singing.

She looked at her feet and nodded a little before returning to the building. She sat on her bunk and everyone stared at her in silence, "im fine... " she said curling up and closing her eyes suddenly feeling exhausted. Charlotte fell asleep quickly and for the first timd in a long time had no dreams.

"Well you just saved my life so I figured I could let it slide" she said softly ignoring the comment on her small size pulling the jacket tighter around herself. Charlotte watched him make the snow ball finally recovering from the adrenaline pumping through her body."im Charlotte" she said looking back up at his face.

Joker put her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle. "God dral is an idiot..." she thought waiting to see if he would give up the names. "He better now im watching... maybe hes not as good as he used to be" she sighed resting her chin on her hand. "Hes not even attacking the elf for being a twit... maybe hes going to therapy?" She smiled at the thought and looked over at the horizon, the sun was starting to sink and the fire from her house was becoming more visible. Joker shook her head and looked back down at the men.

Charlotte looked at the small crowd of adults that had grown to care for her since she was brought here, "its ok... go back inside its cold out..." she said quietly with a small smile. They reluctantly complied murmuring to themselves about the guard and whether he was really helping or not. She watched them leave and once the last person was inside she looked back up at the guard, "...are you going to get into trouble for doing this...?" she asked him as a bitterly cold breeze swept through the camp. Charlotte closed her eyes and shivered trying to ignore it.

She nodded a little nervously glancing up at him deciding to let the hand on her head slide since he just saved her life. "I-I.... forgot I still had the jacket when I came outside..." Charlotte said quietly looked back down at her feet which were red with cold against the snow. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the jacket in her hands since he didn't take it from her. Her head was pounding from the tug on her head and the panic of near death, she blinked trying to focus on the snow in front of her toes. "thank you..." she whispered finally after working up the courage to speak again.

He gulped and tossed the gun to the side, "m-my apologies sir..." He dropped the jacket into Charlotte's lap. She looked at it then back up at the guard that kept saving her for some reason. She hoped he wasn't serious about the owning her part are she would have something to say about that. The other guard and his buddies ran off yelling threats as they retreated. Charlotte watched them then looked up at the guard holding out his jacket for him to take her hands shaky and freezing cold.

When death didn't come Charlotte slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see the guard. "what...? why is he here?" she thought to herself still trembling uncontrollably. She snuck a glance up at the guard with the gun who still had it against her head, "why didn't he shoot me...?" The guard looked at Lars with annoyance, "what are you doin interrupting an execution boy?" He said gruffly yanking on Charlotte's hair roughly out of frustration. "ah-" Tears came back to her eyes with the stinging pain in her head as she was forced to look up and the gray sky.

Charlotte held her breath holding the edge of her dress so tight her fingers turned white. The guard laughed at her terrified state and shot the ground right beside her. "If you didnt want to doe you shouldnt have stolen the coat" Tears started running down her cheeks, she was trembling waiting for it to be over. Charlotte started thinking about what would happen to her after she died, if there really was a heaven or not.

"I-I didnt! Let go of me!!" She struggled against the large man as he dragged her out of the crowd to make an example out of her. Charlotte was forced onto her knees and a gun was pointed at her head. She squeezed her eyes shut as the cold metal touched her ear. "This is what happens to people who steal!" The guard yelled as his finger rested on the trigger.

Charlotte took the peace and quiet of the day to catch up on her rest sleeping through the bitterly cold day. She gave her blanket to an older women and used the jacket to keep herself warm glad that it was so big. In the early afternoon she was woken up by yelling outside. She joined the rest of the adults outside watching the struggling women screaming to be allowed to see her child. Charlotte looked down at her feet not wanting to k ow what would become of her. Suddenly she was grabbed by a guard, "you little thief! We will just have to teach you a lesson.!" Her eyes went wide as the jacket was ripped from her numb hands.

Joker crouched on a rooftop not too far away from her home. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw guards surrounding the small building. "Damn it...." she watched as they ransacked her home throwing out anything that looked useful before setting fire to the place. "So they know im nearby... heh some warning" she jumped down to be in between two larger buildings. Joker took off running back into town. Once in the presence of people she checked her scarf and made her way through the thinning crowd. "This is not good....." she sighed and leaned against a stone building watching people, two figures in the shadow if a shop. Joker, naturally curious decided to check it out. Upon closer inspection from a roof top she discovered the dark elf from before and a very irritated looking dwarf. Joker sat on the roof getting comfortable to watch the confrontation.

Charlotte sat up and felt the jacket hanging her shoulders. "Hmm?" She looked around, children were still sleeping, the fire was out, and the guard was gone. She took the note from the jacket and read it. "Clothing...?" Her eyes settled on a burlap bag and she ran over to open it setting watm clothes at the end of each child's bed before sneaking out if the building the over sized jacket swallowing her tiny frame. Once she was back in the adults building she was once again bombarded with questions from worried parents. Charlotte got to her bunk and told the story of the strange guard.

After roughly an hour of fighting it sleep over took Charlotte. Her dreams were always the same, a little voice in her head repeating. "get out. get out. get out." No matter how many times she tried in her dreams to escape she was always caught and killed, always the exact same thing the faces of the disappointed germans haunting her as her life was ended. As morning light seeped through the cracks in the boarded window Charlotte stirred from her sleep opening her eyes.

Filling my day with hilarious conspiracy theories^^