I'm sorry this took so long and the writing isn't that great!

***

Xavier swiveled his head, making sure the hallway was clear before he and Crieff exited the storage room. Crieff closed the door softly behind him. 

“Ready?” asked Xavier, his voice barely above a whisper.

Crieff nodded and, just as they had planned, slung an arm over Xavier’s shoulders, faking a limp. The two stumbled down the hallway, until they ran into an Ordinary with medium brown skin and long dark hair, who was walking quickly and with purpose, her boots clacking on the stone floor. 

“Ah, excuse me,” Xavier called. The Ordinary turned. “My comrade here has been injured”—here, Crieff winced, shifting his stance, as if to prove Xavier’s point—“so if you could point us in the direction of the medicinal supplies…?” 

The Ordinary looked at them suspiciously, brow furrowed, and Xavier kept flashing his perfect smile. After a moment, she replied, “Yeah, it’s just down those stairs and the first door on your left. You can’t miss it.” She gestured in the direction they should take.

“Thank you so much,” said Xavier, making his voice sound relieved, and Crieff offered a weak smile. The pair took off down the hallway. As soon as they were out of sight from the Ordinary, Crieff and Xavier ceased their acts and hurried down the spiral staircase. When they reached the bottom, Xavier quickly surveyed the hallway, making sure it was clear, before they both stepped out of the stairwell. 

“First door on the left,” muttered Xavier as he and Crieff walked over to it. “Okay, I’ll stand guard outside the door. You go in and try to find the cure, alright?”

“How am I supposed to know what it looks like?” Crieff asked, nervously fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Xavier said. This didn’t reassure Crieff in the least bit, but still, he swallowed, pushing his worries down, and opened the door. 

Neither of them could have predicted what was about to happen next.

Neither of them could have known that the Ordinary who had given them directions had actually misled them in an attempt to keep them busy, keep them away from their goal. Neither of them could have known that she had recognized them from the descriptions Gold had given all the Ordinaries and that right now she was hurrying to alert everyone that Xavier and Crieff had infiltrated the Ordinary Brotherhood.

***

Tag: @Moon Wolf! 

(Is Rora playing?) 

Crieff made his way inside, holding his breath a little as he looked around the almost too-clean room. It had shelves stocked with all sorts of strange things, from jars of dried herbs to vials of oddly-colored liquids. The shelves were made of a smooth, polished wood that looked like it had not a speck of dust on top. To him, nothing looked anything like the cure. 

How in the world am I supposed to recognize the antidote?, Crieff wondered. He walked across the room, examining everything. He would shrink back a little every now and then whenever he heard the slightest noise. Even though he was pretty sure it was safe, he still felt vulnerable to have his cover blown. 

Luckily, when he looked closely at the jars and vials on the shelves, there were small labels on top of each one. He read each one carefully. Star anise, yarrow, rosemary, parsley, willow, chamomile, wild garlic... Crieff wrinkled his nose as the sharp scent of garlic wafted towards him. He shook his head and continued. Sage, mint, honey, tulsi leaves...I think I heard somewhere that tulsi leaves and honey can warm you up, but I'm not sure if it would be the cure for Ardie. 

What he didn't notice as he was reading each individual label was a woman dressed in a cloak who made their way into the room and behind the wooden counter. The woman stared intently at Crieff, like a tiger waiting for the right moment to pounce on its prey. 

The strange figure was obviously another Ordinary, and she was sent there to keep an eye on Crieff and Xavier in order to distract them and ensnare them, as orders from the Ordinary who had spotted the pair first.

Crieff at last looked up and spotted the Ordinary. He immediately felt scared and surprised that Xavier didn't notice the woman first, and a bit stupid for not noticing her himself when she came in. Nervously, he met the person's intense stare.

Crieff cleared his throat and said, "Um, I'm just here to look for the cure for Ar-" He stopped himself just in time from saying the name Ardie. "The cure for my limp," he corrected. He began to limp and leaned against the wall to rest to try and seem more convincing.

The Ordinary's stare continued to bore into Crieff, but her lips drew into a sort of gentle smile as she said, "Go on. I'm just the person in charge of the store, the manager." 

Crieff nodded, relaxing a little at the manager's kind voice. Little did he know that he was starting to fall into a trap. 

The manager tilted her chin a little in a questioning way and said, "But didn't I see you walking normally before?"

Crieff froze. His cover was blown now. He couldn't possibly escape this in any way.

"Then if you don't have a limp," the manager continued, in the same kind tone. "What are you doing here?"

***

Tag: @Rora (Who hopefully is playing now)

Oh, um...I forgot to mention this earlier but I don't think Rora has been checking CB, ever since she posted on July 1st...at least I haven't seen her on the CB irl. 

It looks like we may be starting a new round. @Moon Wolf, could you tag someone? 

Crieff stared at the manager, trying to think of some kind of explanation.

“You said you were looking for the cure for ar…?” Her voice trailed off.

“Oh, um…arthritis,” he finally said.

“Arthritis,” the manager repeated doubtfully, inspecting Crieff, who tensed up again. “You don’t have arthritis.”

“Oh, um…I meant…”

“He meant that a friend of his has arthritis,” Xavier cut in, opening the door that he’d been listening behind. “And he needs a cure for it.”

Crieff gave Xavier a grateful look. He’d never been good at this kind of thing.

“Then why isn’t your friend here instead?” the manager asked, glancing at Xavier briefly before returning her attention to Crieff.

“They’re sick,” answered Crieff. “Um…really sick. She’s um…freezing to death and so in addition to the arthritis cure she needs–”

Xavier’s eyes widened at this. He shook his head vigorously. “No, Crieff,” he mouthed. Thankfully the manager didn’t see him.

Crieff stopped mid-sentence.

The manager’s gaze latched onto Crieff more firmly than ever. “Freezing to death?”

“No, no, I meant, um…sneezing to death.”

Xavier stepped in front of Crieff hastily, before there could be any more mistakes. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, ma’am, but my friend here has had a long day and he would just like to take the arthritis cure and give it to his friend who is actually not sneezing to death. Thank you very much for your help, but we’re actually going–” He pulled out a fire red bottle he’d been eyeing all along and flung a handful of coins onto the table. “–right now. Bye!”

“Wait a minute–”

But Crieff and Xavier had already ran out of the store, back the way they’d come.

“That was close,” Crieff said, panting. “But we got the cure, and now we are getting out of here as fast as possible before the manager figures out who we are and what we are really doing.”

“She already knows!” Xavier’s grip tightened on the cure, as if he was afraid of losing it. “I can tell. If we don’t get out of here it will be–”

They both stopped at the top of the spiral staircase to see the hallway filled with Ordinaries, Gold among them.

“Too late,” Xavier finished.

*** 

Crieff and Xavier were trapped. Before them, a hallway filled with Ordinaries. Behind them, a spiral staircase that ended in a hallway most likely also filled with Ordinaries.

“What do we do?” asked Crieff. It was meant to be a whisper, but his voice was high-pitched with fear.

Xavier said nothing, but Crieff could see his eyes scanning the hallway, looking for a way out. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“There’s nothing to do but fight our way out,” Xavier said, as the Ordinaries drew their swords.

Creiff looked in wide-eyed horror at the Ordinaries filling the hallway. “There’s a dozen of them and only two of us!” he protested.

“Either we fight, or we just let them throw us in a cell. Those are our options.” 

Crieff knew which one he preferred. So when Xavier drew his sword, Crieff did the same. Together, they fought their way through the dozens of Ordinaries, the clink of metal on metal reverberating through the hallway. Crieff disarmed a few of the Ordinaries, and Xavier knocked one unconscious with the flat part of his sword. 

Sweat and blood soaked their clothes and their hair, and they were both breathing hard, but they were still standing. For a moment, they thought they might have won.

But then they saw that there was still one more Ordinary standing. 

Gold. 

They were wielding a pair of swords with golden hilts, and their eyes were narrowed.

“Did you actually think you could get away with this?” Gold asked. Their voice cut sharp as the swords they were holding. “I thought the terms of our agreement were pretty straight forward.” 

“You’ll never take over the kingdom,” Crieff spat. “Akhalia won’t let you. She’s smarter than that.” He might have been trying to convince himself as well as Gold. 

“People do crazy things to save the people they love, Crieff,” said Gold. “You ought to know that by now.” 

Something about the condescending tone in Gold’s voice made Crieff adjust his grip on his sword and lunge at Gold. The Ordinary easily blocked him. Crieff jabbed again and again, but it was clear that Gold was the better swordsman. Xavier finished up his duel with another Ordinary across the room and rushed to Crieff’s aid.

But even against two opponents, Gold was still winning. They were faster, stronger, and better trained. 

They knocked aside Crieff’s sword. It clattered to the stone floor and went skittering across the floor. Crieff lunged for it, but a deep slash of Gold’s sword across his shin sent him down on one knee, grimacing. 

“Crieff!” roared Xavier. Gold took advantage of his momentary distraction by knocking aside his sword as well. 

More Ordinaries were flocking into the hallway, and Gold was preparing to strike.

“I do hate to kill you,” they said. “That was hardly a fair fight.”

Gold was about to thrust their sword—

“WAIT!” 

A voice rang out through the hallway. Gold turned around, where a young woman could just be seen at the back of the crowd of Ordinaries. Akhalia.

“Let her through,” said Gold, and the Ordinaries parted at their command. 

As Akhalia made her way to Gold, Crieff said through gritted teeth, “You won’t win, Gold. Akhalia will never give you her kingdom.”

“Is that so?” Gold asked, arching an eyebrow. They turned to face Akhalia. 

She held her hands palm-up in front of her, her eyes downcast. “I surrender.”

Gold gave Crieff a smug grin. 

“You can have my kingdom. Just — don’t hurt Xavier or Crieff.” She looked up, glaring at Gold. “And give me a cure for Ardie.”

Gold smiled. “I knew you’d come around, Akhalia.” Then their eyes hardened, and they said in a cold voice, “Now.”

A pair of Ordinaries stepped forward, grabbing Akhalia’s arms harshly. She protested, trying to wrestle her way out of their grip, but they quickly bound her wrists with rope. 

More Ordinaries came and tied up Crieff and Xavier.

“This wasn’t part of the deal,” snarled Akhalia. “You promised you’d give me the cure for Ardie first.” 

“Did I?” said Gold. With a flick of his hand, the Ordinaries dragged Crieff, Xavier, and Akhalia away.
~~~

This was fun to write. I hope I didn't move the plot too far along. If you guys feel like I did and had a different idea for the way the plot would go, let me know and I can change it :)

(Also I forgot the kingdom's name and didn't feel like going back and sifting through however many pages to find it...oops)

Tag: @Moon Wolf :D

Crieff looked around despairing at the cell he was trapped in. It was tiny and cramped, with barely any room to move, with only a sort of wooden platform that seemed like it was supposed to be a bed. The three were separated into different cells, but luckily, they were right next to each other, so they could talk, albeit in hurried whispers.

"So...what do we do now?" Crieff wondered aloud.

"Nothing," Akhalia said. "What will happen to Ardie?"

"I'm sure there's some way to escape!" Xavier said. But his voice sounded hollow, as he looked doubtfully at the complicated locking mechanisms. It wasn't a simple padlock. There were multiple chains and all sorts of weird machineries to keep them locked in.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps. "Shh!" Xavier whispered. And so each of them retreated to the back of their cell, trying to look as if nothing had happened.

It was an Ordinary, who looked like some sort of guard. The guard walked past each of the cells, glaring menacingly at each prisoner. Crieff shivered a little under his gaze. Beside him, Akhalia just sighed, while Xavier glared back defiantly. 

The guard marched to the back into a room that was out of Crieff's range of sight, and came back with some dry-looking bread and water. Looks like our dinner, Crieff thought miserably.

The guard tossed a hunk of bread through each cell, along with a scant amount of water. The bread looked rather dry and moldy, and the water looked slightly green. Crieff decided to starve for dinner instead.

When the guard left, Crieff turned back to Akhalia and Xavier. "Hey, Akhalia."

"Yes?" Akhalia replied in a dull tone.

"Why did you give up the kingdom?" Crieff asked. This was a question he'd been secretly wondering for a while.

"Why wouldn't I? What would I not give to have Ardie back to normal?" Akhalia said. 

"But we could've done it without risking the...the whole kingdom!" Crieff burst out.

"Are you so sure? What if we couldn't? What would happen then-" she started to say, but was interrupted by Xavier.

"Stop it, you two. I can't believe I didn't notice this before!" Xavier exclaimed.

"Notice what?" Crieff and Akhalia said in unison.

"The cell window!" Xavier said excitedly. When they both looked confused, Xavier explained, "it's a way to escape!"

~~~

Sorry if it's a bit abrupt. Tag: @Lyric 

OMIGOSH! Don't you DARE let this die! This is SOOOO COOL!!! Can I join?!? :D