„There must be some kinda way outta here.” said the joker to the thief, while trying to crouch into such a small position under the stone sill that not even the top of his head stuck out.

“Shut up already!” Growled the other and tried to focus on those cries coming from streets and the tower’s lower sections. “Just keep sitting still!” Pulling his coat tighter over himself, he hid his face under the rim of his hat.

“And just where could we run from here?!” Whimpered the Joker once more, tightly gripping the tip of his shoe, to prevent the tell-tale jingling of its decorative bell.

“Nobody would look for us at the top of the Old Tower.”

“Because no one else is foolish enough to hide here.”

“Now that you admitted this, shut up already!” The former court entertainer truly couldn’t riposte this. His eyes bore into the hands clutching his feet and his mouth pressed into his knees. The shouting blunted to distant rumbling and even his fear started to evaporate.

Above their heads, only the moon’s pale smouldering broke the star-embroidered tapestry of night. The watchtower’s old, moss-dotted fang cast its shadow upon the two fugitives conspiratorially. Below, both outside and inside the walls, groups of torchlights swarmed, dispersed and gathered again and again, looking through rooms, streets and squares, buzzing orders and reports to each other.

When his companion finally broke the silence, the Joker stirred with such confusion as if he had been asleep.

“Why did you follow me?”

“I was fleeing.”

“I won’t even ask from what, I know you’d just claim from the soldiers.” The Joker merely shrugged at the mocking words. “I stole from the count.”

“Me too.”

“I stole his silver.” He patted his bag carefully, to barely make its contents clink.

“I stole his daughter’s virtue.” The thief conveyed his admiration with a long whistle. “So, the big confusion is because of you then. And here I thought I was spotted.”

“One of the servants walked in on us.” A painful grimace appeared on his face. “I jumped out of bed, put on what I could, ran through a few corridors and tried to hide in the count’s archives. That is where I ran into you…”

“The guards followed you and you followed me. Thanks, I think I can figure out the rest.” The burglar rolled his eyes.

The cold of night grew ever grim around them. The Joker’s teeth were determined to replace the sound of the bells from his cap, since his shaky knees could no longer hold them still. The other man jumped at every noise like a bloodhound, peeking out from behind the tower’s pillar, body half-raised. The searchlights began to dwindle, giving room to a full moon’s silvery abyss and darkness between the arches. Slowly, even that silence befitting of nightly hours crawled back into its place.

When from a distance, the city walls echoed with the meows of a cat, the thief jumped to his feet.

“Off we go.”

“What? Where?” The Joker shook the daze from his head.

“Everything’s quiet. They gave up, for now.” To the great news, his companion also got to his feet and stretched his limbs with a satisfied smile.

“But how do we get down?”

“Same way we came up.”

“Absolutely not. You’re not getting me to jog my way up the ridge of a rooftop again. And I’m especially not running through the castle, right in front of the count.”

“You can stay here if you want, but when the next patrol comes, you’ll only have one way left.” He jumped up onto the edge of the battlements, pointing at the pit beyond.

“Well, I could use a bit of exercise, all of my limbs are numb.” Said the Joker, stepping next to his companion. “But if I fall off, I swear to all gods I’ll scream so loud even the dead will jolt awake!”