"Shit, fuck, fuckin' shit..." Bart ran against the gathering crowd. The people headed towards the town square, while he headed back to the Inn as quickly as he could. He was only meant to be casing out the square today, but someone had moved the schedule up and now he was out of time. Unfortunately wearing a cloak, running away from where everyone else was going was the opposite of subtlety.

"Oi!" A town guard blocked his path. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" He grabbed Bart's cloak and pulled it back. The guard recognized the face instantly. "Wait I know you, you're.. Urkk..." His words were cut off as the dagger pierced his neck. Bart quickly ran off before anyone else could catch him.

Bart heard screams of citizens behind him, as more guards gave chase. He was blown now. Normally when this sort of thing happened, he'd make for a dark alley or the sewers and lay low to avoid putting his compatriots at risk. Unfortunately there was no time for that. He lead the guards straight to the Inn they were using as a temporary base.

"Hey!" The Innkeeper yelled at him as he came through the door, dripping blood on the wooden floors. Three guards followed after him. "He went upstairs," he informed them.

"We need to move now!" Bart instructed as he barged into the room he shared with his three companions.

The sturdy man at the back grabbed his large battle axe out of pure instinct as the 'intruder' entered the room. The female Elf had jumped over the table, with a rough sketch of the town square, as she went for her bow. The hooded old man raised his hand, ready to throw a fireball.

"Bartholomew? What is the meaning of this?" the Merlara asked. "Is that blood?" Bart ignored her for now as he ran for the center of the room, crouched down and threw a throwing dagger at one of the guards that followed him. "What have you done?" she asked annoyed as she grabbed an arrow and loosed an arrow into the chest of the second guard.

The third guard hesitated as he saw his companions fall instantly, he went to run to call for help when he felt a hot ball of fire hit him in the back. He combusted instantly and died halfway down the stairs.

"You better not have fucked this up," Gregor grabbed Bart with a firm grip. "This job was meant to pay us a King's Ransom."

Bart twisted and turned until he was free from the grip. He turned and faced the rest of the group. "I know that, Gregor!" Bart spat the words as he went for his trunk to grab his twin swords. "I'm an expert at this you know. Sometimes things don't go according to plan. Sometimes, the lying weasel you tortured gives us the wrong fucking day!"

"The execution is today?!" Samuel realized. "Oh, there's not enough time, I haven't planned any escape spells yet..."

"The crowds are already gathering, Samuel. There's no time, we either rescue the Princess now or die trying."

"Fuck, yeah!" Gregor grabbed his axe and ran out the door. He loved it when the plan was, there is no plan."

Samuel turned towards Merlara. "Make for the roof tops, give him cover," he instructed. She grabbed her quiver and climbed out the window and made her way onto the roof. "Bart, Gregor's not going to get there in time, I need you to make your way through the crowds and get to the Princess as soon as possible."

Bart strapped his swords under his cloak. "What are you going to do?" He asked as Samuel as he ran for the door, making his way pass the two corpses Gregor had already moved.

"I'm going to try and figure out a way to save the Princess's life," Samuel said as he disappeared in a shimmer of light.

Bart shrugged and made his way down stairs. He used the stair case to jump over the charred corpse, which now had a rather large footprint in his back. The innkeeper was by the door, head knocked into the wall and unconscious, at least Bart hopped he was just unconscious. He had no problems killing people, just not innocent ones.

Bart knew these streets well by now and knew several different ways to get to the town square. He already knew which way he wasn't going as he heard screams and shouting in the direction Gregor took. Bart didn't mind brute force, in cases like these. It made sneaking by in broad daylight so much easier. When some guards tried to stop him as he ran he pointed them towards Gregor's direction.

Bart managed to get into the town square and push his was threw the crowd. Despite the commotion that Gregor was causing, the Duke felt everything was under control and was not going to deny his subjects the execution he had promised.

"For too long, the Monarchy has taken from us," the Duke yelled. "For too long they get fat and enjoy their life of luxury, using your hard earned coin!" Bart knew for a fact, it was the Duke taxing the townsfolk more than what was asked. He then redirected their anger at the monarchy and when the Princess came on behalf of her father she was imprisoned and scheduled for execution. Bart had no idea what the Duke had planned after that, but this territory was on the edge of the Kingdom's boarders, so Bart suspected he intended to defect.

"Princess Bethany Wolfheart, I sentence you to death by beheading," Bart heard the Duke say just as he got to the base of the stage. He was too late. Bart took off his cloak and drew his swords, if he couldn't save the princess, he'd at least avenge her death.

He slashed at two of the guards near the stairs ran up on stage. He watched as the executioner lowered his axe, clean through the princess's neck. Something looked odd though, the axe seemed to shimmer, as it struck and instead of blood and bone, fresh skin covered the princess's neck stump. Bart only hesitated for a second before driving one blade through the executioner, letting it go so he could drive his second blade into the treacherous Duke.

The crowd was in an uproar and were about to storm the stage to avenge their former leader when fire erupted around the stage. Samuel shimmered in next to Bart with a blood covered Gregor and Merlara by his side. "Grab the Princess, so we can get out of here," he instructed.

Gregor didn't hesitate as he grabbed the headless body, which began flailing in his arms.

"Put me down!" Bart heard the voice of the princess coming from the basket her head landed in. She didn't seem to fully grasp her situation just yet. She only felt that someone had picked up her body. Bart looked into the basket and picked her up by the side of her hair. Samuel's magic never ceased to amaze him. "What is going on..." Bethany noticed something was wrong. "My body!"

"Better in this state than dead princess," Samuel stated. "Now let's get out of here." Samuel teleported all of them back to the Inn. It was easy enough as it was close by and there was already a rift in the dimension fabric from when he teleported out.

Merlara closed the door to the room as best she could, to both avoid unwanted attention and to protect the princess from seeing their earlier kills. Gregor put her body on one of the beds, while Bart put her head on a counter.

Bethany looked at her so called rescuers rather confused. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Samuel. "Oh, good. Wizard, you're here. Surely you can reattach my head to my body," she concentrated and got her body to get off the bed. "You've gotten blood all over me!" Bethany was not impressed when she saw how she looked.

"Better, theirs than yours princess," Gregor shrugged as he began to clean his axe.

"What sort of magic is this, Samuel?" Merlara was curious, as she inspected Bethany's neck, touching the soft skin. "I've been around for five hundred years and I've not seen anything like it."

"Hey stop that!" Bethany commanded. She didn't like the feeling of someone touching her neck.

"Something of my own design, I've been toying with it for a while now. Magnificent isn't it? By all accounts, you should be dead, but hear you are. Not in one piece but alive nonetheless."

"If you invented the spell, you can put my head back on my body," Bethany was getting impatient. "I understand this is a curiosity but I will not suffer this indignity for a moment longer!"

Samuel hesitated, he wasn't sure how to explain this. "That axe should've killed you your highness," he began slowly. "My magic saved you. If I were to undo the spell...." He paused long enough so he didn't need to say it himself.

"I'll die?!" Bethany's body fell backwards onto the bed in shock and she winced for a moment. "Some rescue this was."

"Hey, you're alive aren't you?" Bart asked as he picked her up again and faced it towards her body. "You can still control your body, so no real harm done. So long as we get paid, I don't particularly care how we saved you." Bart placed her head by her arms. "Though I do suspect we're not going to be paid as much as originally promised." Bart turned to the rest of the group. "Now let's clear out of her before we need to fight our way out."