Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 14]

As I turned away, a light up by the main temple structure caught my eye, the building that now houses the civilians from below. There was a large staircase that led up to it, and four or five people were ascending it, torches in hand. They were cloaked and hooded. A strange sense of wrongness washed over me; a prickling as the hairs on my arm stood on end and something heavy seemed to weigh down on my mind. I couldn't take my eyes off them, no matter how hard I tried.

Why would any of the Soldiers be going up there? The fight was here and if they were healthy enough to climb steps, they were healthy enough to fight. Two more figures, hooded, exchanged words at the base. The taller one nodded and began to ascend, while the shorter hurried away toward the keep. I stumbled towards him, getting in his way.

"Move, fool," he snapped, pushing by.

It was the Noble from Magnis, the Seneschal, and the one Weiss had suspected of being a Greycloak. I watched him head back into the keep and then looked back toward the temple. Suddenly nervous, I moved over to a Mistral soldier catching his breath by the back wall.

"C-Can I h-help you, s-sir," he stammered, trying to sound polite and deferential but far too exhausted for it. He was so tired he'd started to cry without realising it, drawing in heaving sobs of air.

"It's fine," I assured. "I just wanted to ask you something. When you came in with the Mistral army, whatever happened to Corvo's prisoner?"

"The traitor Hero? He was brought with us. Even if he's a traitor, it's not considered right for us to execute him - not Forsaken territory, but it sullies you. Corvo wanted to give him back to Vale so it was out of our hands and no longer our problem. I think he granted the prisoner to the garrison here."

"And where would he have been taken?"

"Well, the keep, I guess."

The keep. The same keep the Seneschal had almost full access to, and the keep which was now on skeleton staff because everyone was too busy holding the inner walls. It was the perfect time to move, to enact whatever plan they had, and no one would notice a Thief escape his cell, especially not if he was hooded and aided by an insider.

—Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 14]