Artemis - dream

XI - back where it started

Aerin had gotten her stuff together. 

The young assassin had spent the day cleaning up the house and getting everything in order.

She decided she need to get her things back before leaving.

There was two ways that could go.

The first way relied on Dream having not found the stash, meaning she could easily slip into the castle and retrieve them. Which for Aerin wouldn't be difficult.

The second way would be if Dream had found the weapons, which would make the process significantly harder.

But not impossible. 

Aerin had noted that the large tower like building that held the staircase she had left the items in had a sky roof similar to the one she had entered in from.

Her first plan of action was to climb the castle like she had almost 4 days ago and simply find the roof and look through the glass to see if it was there. 

This way it took out the annoyance of having to get into the castle again and risking being caught...

...again.

She figured this was the only realistic way to go about it.

So she set off early morning, packing her things up so she could leave just after. 

She rode slowly through the refreshing morning air.

The woods here felt different, she noted.

They felt more alive.

Smiling to herself, Aerin pulled out the map she had folded up into Apollo's saddle and a pencil she had put there for easy access.

She began to mark her path. She wanted to have a good mapping of the area.

She didn't know if she would ever return to these lands but even so she wanted to know more about it, and more so why the kingdom wasn't marked on maps from her land.

The girl slowed to a stand as the sights of smoke bellowing into the sky came into her view to her left.

She steered Apollo to the right to make sure he was a good enough distance from the kingdom again. 

When she's happy that her horse is well enough hidden, Aerin makes her way back to the castle.

The girls wound had healed well enough.

The day prior she had made a remedy her mother had taught her and had applied it roughly every hour. 

The large cut on her arm was still a bit sore but not half as bad as it was and she was assured it wouldn't get infected.

She was dressed more simply.

Of course she still didn't have her cloak so instead she wore a tunic like piece that had a hood and a mask that covered half her face with some dark jeans with thigh harness that held her knifes.

She wore this when it was two warm for her mask or she simply didn't feel a need for it.

She trusted that covering half her face and hair was enough to keep her identity hidden, especially in a place so far from her home where she knew absolutely no one.

The girl was also aware that her mask often made her pretty identifiable. And she didn't want to risk that after failing to assassinate the king. 

The castle came into view and Aerin quickly climb the wall.

She hopes onto the wall of the castle itself, making sure to stay towards the back of the buildings.

It was around mid day now so she knew she had to be extremely careful.

She continued to climb up the castle, just like she had done days before.

She found the roof she had originally entered in now securely shut tight. 

Glancing down through the window she noted how no one was in there and the fireplace was completely out. 

Aerin was curious as to how many people lived in the castle.

Of course there was Dream and the Princes, but she hadn't seen any servants or guards so she wondered if they even had any. 

Pushing that thought to the back of her head, she avoids getting into too much of a view from the window just in case. She made her way to the left, where she had went last time.

Pretty close to her current location was the tower, it was pretty raised from the current roof she was on.

She made her way over and easily hopped up the wall.

She was met with another sky roof, just like she had remembered only this time it was a pyramid like shape raised from the actual roof. 

She made her way around to the other side of the tower, to the wall opposite the one that connected to Dreams room.

Glancing into the room she cursed slightly under her breath at the sight of her weapons gone. 

Of course someone had found it.

She hadn't exactly hidden them.

Aerin quickly moves over to the roof connected to the tower, the one of Dreams room.

This one was also angled so the girl quickly glanced at the balcony below before sliding down the roof as quietly as possible.

She landed in a crouch position and quickly moved so her back was against the strip of wall between the large windows she had exited through last time.

Waiting a moment she quickly glanced into the room only to see it empty.

She sighed in relief and scanned the room for her weapons.

A grin grew on her face at the sight of them lain on the ottoman at the end of dreams bed. 

Just as she pushed the handle to open to door the door inside the roof was thrown open.