Artemis - dream

II - the one i'm looking for

She raises her gloved hand and slowly pushed open the door.

The room was dimly but well lit and a good amount of people were scattered around the room. The ceilings were low and a few wooden banisters help support it. Tables were placed around the room, each having a different flower placed in the centre. Most of them were full with bustling people, all having their own conversations, food and drink.

Aerin made her way through, raising her hand slightly as she passed the bar, the barman said nothing just nodded in her direction and began filling up a glass.

The girl stood by the bar, resting her forearms on the wood and tried to look as casual as possible. She was glad to see everyone continuing with their evenings and paying the cloaked and mask figure any notice.

In practically no time, a pint was pushed over to her. Aerin nodding at the barman and slid over a few gold coins, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the glass she began to navigate her way through the pub.

She made her way to the back of the pub, picking a seat in the middle against the back wall.

She didn't want to remove her mask so she just opted for holding it.

Aerin began to listen to what the people were saying around her, trying to pick up any clue to finding who she was looking for.

No one said anything of her interest for a while, so she just sat observing everyone.

These people intrigued her, everyone seemed to be so friendly with each other. Their joyful tones and cheerful laughter filled up the room and made the atmosphere comfortable, these people could've been friends for years or minutes and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

She ended up moving tables. She was more comfortable now that no one would be that suspicious of being there. She had been there for nearly an hour and no one had mentioned the name she needed.

She was close to giving up and just trying another one of her methods, but just as she was about to stand up she finally heard what she was looking for.

"The kings going to get us all killed one of these days. He and his two princes frolic around this kingdom as if they own the place knowing they put shit all into the upkeep of it. Never seen that man work a day in his life." a man to the table next to Aerin exclaimed, clearly passionate and wound up about the so called king.

"Thats what people are saying made those people rebel, and I can't say I massively blame them. I just hope to god whatever they've got is better than here" another man said in response.

The conversation continued in the same context but not once did they mentioned the name of the king or the princes.

She didn't even know if the identity of the princes would lead her to where she needed to go, but she hoped it would at least lead her in the right direction.

Aerin watched as a small child ran up to the man who had started the converstation.

"Hey pumpkin" the man said with a bright smile on his face as he pulled the little girl onto his knee.

"Hey papa, what you talking about?" she said, sticking her thumb back into her mouth once she had begun talking.

Aerin smiled at the girl, children were so innocent and sometime the girl wished she could go back to her childhood, before she had gone through everything she had over the years.

"We are talking about the king and his princes baby" the man smiled softly.

"king dream!" the little girl exclaimed, clapping slightly.

Aerin's breathing stopped.

That's the name she needed.

That was the name neatly written on the ripped piece of parchment she had recieved in the mail.

She didn't know it was the king.

This complicated things.

Aerin calmly stood up, leaving her untouched drink sat at the table. She walked out of the pub, still trying to act as casual as she could with the new found information.

She made her way back out of the town, having to sneak out after hiding behind a house in order to avoid the guards who were now conversing near the gate.

She kept in mind that the gates would be shutting soon and if the town even had one, curfew would be soon. This only meant she couldn't walk on the path and in public.

This wasn't a massive issue for her as she was very skilled in her job and could pretty much bypass anyone without them even knowing she was there.

After getting out of the gate she quickly made her way over to where she had stashed her gear.

She swung her bow over her shoulder with her quiver. She slid a longer knife into the harness on her thigh, making sure the blade was sat securely in the leather sleeve so she wouldn't cut herself.

She followed the wall of the castle until she was around the back before scaling the wall.

She continued the climb up, aiming to reach a open balcony on the top of one of the towers.

Aerin swiftly scaled the bricks of the building, keeping an ear out for any guards or servants but she heard none. 

She pulled herself over the railing after a few minutes of climbing. She leaned against the railing in order to catch her breath a bit.

She had climbed onto one of the seemingly tallest towers meaning she basically had a view of the whole castle.

She began to scout out her bearings. 

There was a courtyard towards the entrance of the castle, with stair either side leading into separate buildings that connected to the main castle. These wings were a few stories tall and each one a balconies on it that stretched the entirety of the building.

The main castle consisted of a large church like building facing directly towards the entrance. The castle that built up a bit, there was seemingly no symmetry or cause for where half the buildings were placed from there. It all seemed to be consisting of building and towers all clumped together.

Aerin noticed however a large room of the left of the church building that seemed to have windows in the roof, light still bleeding out of them into the night sky.

She hopped over the banister and made her way over to it.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

I made a little mood board thing of how I imagine the castle as I couldn't find a photo that accurately represents how I see it.