<div align="center"><strong>Autolycus</strong><br/><em>Leading Sorcha out the Main Gate</em></div><br/>Yes, she knew horses - it took her saying it for him to remember. He'd seen her with the horses before, when she'd just arrived. Speaking to them, whinnying like she was one of them and it had worked, they had been calm around her. Trusting. Her skills might be very useful for Autolycus himself was no good with horses. Oh he knew how to sit one, how to ride, but the grooming and handling were things he tended to leave to the stable-lads.<br/><br/>He watched as Sorcha took the collar, surprised she obeyed so easily and more surprised when she leaned against him, brushed her face against his rough beard, nipped his jaw but gently, carefully. So close. Warm and soft and pleasant-smelling now that he'd washed her. Did she know what that did to him? Was this - he couldn't help wondering - a calculated move on her part, knowing how he felt about her, using that so that he might help her escape?<br/><br/>Well, would never know if he left her here.<br/><br/>"Come," he grabbed her leash, then knelt to grab the handle of his chest. The corners of the chest that rested on the floor left furrows in the earth as he dragged it out the door. A clear trail. No matter, they'd know he'd gone soon enough.<br/><br/>"Gnaeus," he greeted the guard as he reached the main gate. "Open up, please."<br/><br/>Polite as ever. And not offering any kind of explanation as to why he was leading a slave, dragging that great big chest. Or where he was going, for that matter. He was a free man, he shouldn't have to explain himself, though he'd taken care to formulate an excuse in his head... Just in case the man did ask.