I woke up in sickening pain. My arm throbbed, bruises ached and my body rejected the thought of getting up. My mind agreed. Dreamless sleep would have been nice. Instead Envy had joined my nightly terrors. It had become a real procession, Greed's laughter echoing down a hall with screaming children with no faces. Creativity of a polluted mind I guess.

Rolling over and staggering upright, I fumbled around for the blindfold instead meeting smooth skin. It jumped away at the briefest touch and suddenly my fingertips longed for another touch. Lust. I opened my eyes, pointing them at the floor and slowly working up. He was still asleep but not peacefully, quivering, fingers clutching tightly to the blanket like some kind of charm. Demons of the past  gave no rest to any sins.

Pride slept curled next to me surprisingly without my notice. Nuzzled into the corner he looked just like any other kid. You know, with wings.

After checking on them, it was high time to figure out what Nero was going to do. 

I kept my eyes on the ground and used one hand to trace the wall, the other outstretched for potential collisions. It failed miserably. I ended up feeling someone's face, shocked at the feeling of skin on my hand and fell backwards in a jumbled heap. Super deadly human weapon defeated by gravity and someone’s face. Embarrassed, I wasted no time jumping up and requesting they bring me to Nero. At least with a guide I wouldn’t be ambling around the halls, like a chicken with no life goals.With a brisk pace we whirled around corners in a veritable maze of turns and twists.

Once we finally reached our destination a hand clapped on my back and a hearty laugh came from behind. Nero was in a good mood. 

“Hello my friend, how does this morning treat you? Have you eaten? Probably not.”

It was followed by a slew of words that sounded like a mix between a sneeze and a stab wound. But bread was pressed into my hand, still warm and soft. The smell alone almost brought me to tears. Simple food to a soul in pain was balm few realized. I scarfed it down savoring the chewy heat as it slid down my throat. Between bites I tried to ask the question that was the purpose of the visit.

“What do we do now”?

The mirth dropped from his voice, weighing down the conversation like a stone.

“Yes. Of course. The council has decided some things but I will not follow those. They wish to… use I think is the word. I don’t think we should force children to fight in wars they didn’t sign up for. So instead you will go with a merchant. Come over here.”

I looked up from the floor to follow his lead to a table filled with papers.

Every paper was filled with markings and notes. My mind took a full minute to realize that they were maps. Early mornings rarely improved my thinking abilities. Snapping back  to the present I realized he was telling me about the maps.

“The civil war now will only become bloodier. Even here blood will rain. The church is rearming and may support a coup. Nobles to the north have begun raiding again. This city is under the queen. She will be furious now that Greed is dead. We cannot escort you through the …. In my language we would call this a ring of horns. So we send you south, with a merchant that owes us a favor. He said for 100 gold coins he will take you on as guards. I will pay for this. Enjoy the world beyond the bars.

I felt my words leave me. My expectations betrayed me. Luck was smiling today. Finally someone who wouldn’t treat us like animals. Or not, maybe this was a bluff. We had a map marking gold on the spot and are probably the empires most notorious fugitives at this point.

This had to be some kind of trick. While I was questioning his motives, Nero kept on talking unaware of my mistrust.

“One day once the king has died, I will show you my homeland and its beauty. Cliffs, kissed by earths fire, with tree’s the size of mountains. Unfortunately the time will be later. Now you must prepare, for you and your kin will leave the city tonight. Rejoice in the free air my friend.

I was promptly shuffled off by some guards. Luckily one of them guided me back to the room cause I definitely would have gotten lost.

By time I got back everyone was up. The Lizeer trotted over sniffing probably the food on my hands. Feeling a little guilty about not having any bread for the others, I tried to brush the crumbs away from my mouth. The little deer dove onto them, licking the floor. 

After settling into my spot in the corner, I recounted the plan Nero had laid out.

They seemed to share my reaction of incredulity. Turning to see how they felt, it looked Pride was ecstatic, Lust had immediately begun signing to Wrath and Wrath …..  Wrath was smiling. That usually only happened at the expense of someone’s well being. 

“My home was there”.

She came from the south? Since when? Her skin was usually light brown but I thought she was just tanned. Well the more you know. She didn’t even have an accent.

Lust tired of being ignored, snapped his fingers at Wrath. A little rude but nobody likes being ignored. Wrath whisked out of her reverie, began to translate  a flurry of signs. I should probably learn it at some point.

“When and who?”

Not knowing anything made it really easy to answer.

“No clue and no idea. Nero seems to think its the best option and he didn’t give any alternatives.”

Pride piped up startling me. Normally he spoke more than he breathed.

“Shouldn’t we try and use Envy’s map? The gold would be useful.”

Oddly mature for him. Violence tends to speed up the process I guess. Still there were several problems with his idea.

“Well I have no geography knowledge so the map kinda is useless until we find a cartographer.”

He chuckled. “ Teacher taught me how to be a scout. That includes cartography and geography. Birds eye view is more accurate than most maps anyways. One could even say that I’m the greatest… “

I cut him off with a silencing hand.

“Do you want to be riddled with arrows? We already have a big enough target sign on our back without a massive pile of gold. We will just wait for the merchant and decide then.”

The day rolled over and died in a cloud of boredom. Waiting in the cell wasn’t so bad because there was no expectations of change. Here it was waiting for freedom for one more day and my sanity stretched. My emotions were spinning in a beautiful spiral. Envy’s death filled the silence of the room. The only thing that made it worse was the occasional outburst from Pride about “how boring this is”. Luckily the Lizdeer made for ample playthings, playing fetch with a rock on the ground. If they got too rough Wrath would growl and the three would meekly quiet down.

Finally a knock came on the door and we were escorted to meet the merchant with all our meager possessions.