<div class="floatleft">(https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/002/442/653/large/oscar-acosta-rivera-noir-elf.jpg?1461787851)</div><br/>Speedy little bastards. Well, speedy big bastards. Ingram doubted he would be able to dash up stairs like that while wearing his weight in metal. He doubted he would even be able to stand in one of their cumbersome getups. At least they seemed competent enough. Hopefully they could sort things out on their own, and the whole thing would blow over.<br/><br/>He grew significantly less confident in this theory at the sight of the vines and struggling guards. His heart beat fast. What lay inside was anyone’s guess. Being invisible did nothing to ease his mind – it only added additional variables to be concerned about. It seemed to him that at any second, the people around him would suddenly see him appear. How long did the magic last, anyway? Perhaps that was something he should have asked.<br/><br/>Someone was moving inside the tower. He skirted past the vines, following the guards as they bolted up the stairs. They certainly had stamina. Luckily, Ingram did too. Whoever they were chasing, they were leading them higher and higher, cornering themselves at the top of the tower. A dubious course of action. This either meant that the assailant was being stupid, or they had a plan. Ingram doubted it was the former.<br/><br/>The guards stopped at the head of the stairs, blocking his path and half of his sight. However, he could see well enough to determine that he had been wrong. Until now, he had been almost certain the whole debacle was Qaizel’s doing. He knew without knowing why that the drow must have been framed. Watching her abscond in a panic with the dazed and restrained prince slung over her shoulder altered his opinion ever so slightly.<br/><br/>He was cornered and conflicted and didn’t have any time to think. This wasn’t a rescue mission. Ingram had agreed to get in, learn what he could, and get out without being caught. But the guards were frozen, and Thazel was turning toward her only means of escape, and something had to be done. It just had to.<br/><br/>When the glass broke, Ingram didn’t think. As swiftly and silently as he could manage, he turned down the staircase and bolted toward the floor below. There was no way he could get past the guards without being noticed. Luckily, all windows lead out, and the tower had more than one. He slipped into the room below and rushed to the window, throwing it open. Reckless, maybe (probably) but good decisions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. He perched on the window, bracing his hands on the frame and searching for any sign of the drow and the prince.<br/>