While I walked, I ran the situation over and over in my mind.� Partly to see if I could find a way that I could have done any better and partly to take my mind off my considerable failure.� I had no idea if the gang would go ahead with the plan without me, but if they did, I was worried that their chances would be much reduced with me stuck on the wrong side of the wall.� And if they cancelled the opportunity of a lifetime due to my mishandling of the situation, I wasn�t sure I�d be able to face them.
I must have walked for about ten or fifteen minutes without really registering where I was going.� When I took stock of my situation, I found I was soaked through and in an area of DownTown that I didn�t know well.� Since it was starting to get dark, I figured I�d be better off indoors, so I followed the noise coming from a nearby ale-house and ducked inside.
Luckily it wasn�t busy and having bought a warming drink I was able to find quiet, out of the way table where I could wallow in my situation.� The drink warmed the mug, which in turn warmed my hands.� Steam began to rise from my clothes and I started to feel a little better.
I took stock of my limited options.� Part of me thought that we should have gone to Faircrest earlier, so that a setback like this wouldn�t derail the whole scheme.� The trouble with that idea is that it�s difficult and expensive to find lodgings in Faircrest if you�re not a resident and are dressed for DownTown.
I could, maybe, wait for the gates to open tomorrow.� The trouble with that idea was two-fold.� Firstly, if Jackalman � I was using my rude name for him � was on duty then he would probably block me again.� Secondly, the gates opened quite late in the morning and the heist should have already been in progress by that point.
This was a tricky one.� The only way out of DownTown was through the gate, but it was guarded and anyway I doubted that I could open it.
I thought about some crazy schemes such as swiftly trying to join the guard, which didn�t seem helpful.� Or perhaps lighting a fire, but in the rain that seemed a big ask.� Equally, the guards on the Faircrest side wouldn�t have any incentive to open the gate in the event of a fire, just the opposite, in fact. I briefly entertained the idea of setting fire to a particular guard, but aside from making me feel better it seemed an unnecessary risk.
However much I was avoiding the thought, there really was only one solution.� I was going to have to go over the wall.