Archives: New Marmo Republic
Chapter 10: Failed Negotiations
Zira ran with Itoya, falling back to the alley. They caught up with Linda and Zira hissed to the mage, “Quick! We need to get him hidden!” and continued running away from the house. In the escape, she had let go of her control of the wind spirits, so the shield was down. Edwin and Ultarik would have to fend for themselves. Itoya was their top priority.
“Sorry things didn’t work out,” Zira said to Itoya as they ran. As she was the one who suggested bartering for the girl’s release, she felt responsible for the failure. “We should probably go see your father about this.”
Itoya tried to keep up, but already, the not-quite-so-sports-inclined prince was wearing down. “My... father?! He is... that’s not possible!”
Linda was slowly collecting herself when suddenly Zira and Itoya ran into the alley. She was happy to see the young man was alright but a bit sad when she didn’t see the girl behind them. Linda ran behind Zira and Itoya, listening to their conversation as they ran.
“Why not?” Zira asked, slightly frustrated, as she led Itoya and Linda around the streets. “I don’t know if you can handle this on your own. These guys look like serious business, though I don’t know who they could be working with. The nations are all at peace...unless...” Zira recalled the male dark elf who had rescued the female after Linda’s sleep spell. He was wearing a Marmo uniform. “This has something to do with Marmo...” But why would the Marmo go for the princess of Valis? Are there even enough of them left to be a serious threat and need land? Or are the dark elves only mercenaries? Zira’s thoughts were racing as fast as she was, trying to figure out who could be behind the kidnapping.
“Please... Can we stop...?” Itoya panted. Though Zira had slowed from her mad dash, it was no casual stroll they moved at. He could barely think. Itoya wasn’t unfit, but he wasn’t able to keep up either. The poor boy hadn’t run any farther than down the hall to a tutor or to find a book. And now, this constant running was killing him. It wasn’t a matter of motivation, but simply one of physical prowess. Without waiting for a response, Itoya sputtered down to a walk on his own, heaving air.
As Itoya stopped, Zira realized that she had been so caught up in escaping, she didn’t consider the needs of others. Not all of them had the grace and speed of dark elves, after all. They had to get out of sight though, in case they were still being followed. Stepping towards an alleyway, Zira beckoned for Itoya to follow her; “This way.” They could wait there.
Linda slowed down and followed Zira into the alley and sighed. “I am not the alley type, but I am getting use to it by the minute,” she said, looking at them both.
Itoya stumbled into the alley and sucked air over his knees, using them as a way to keep himself from falling down. “Thank you...” he heaved out, “...for trying...”
“You need any help?” Linda asked as she giggled at Itoya and then looked at Zira. “What is the plan Zira?” she asked, still with a smile on her face, but she looked a little more serious now.
Zira had quickly become irritated by Linda as the girl giggled and smiled. “Wipe that smile off your face!” she snapped at the mage, glaring sharply at her. “The princess of Valis has just been kidnapped, we just left our friends to the wolves, and you’re giggling? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Zira leaned back against a wall, then slumped down in defeat. “I don’t know what to do now...” she admitted.
Linda frowned a bit but the smile was still on her face. “Zira, please calm down. I am sorry,” she said as she sighed. She looked away from her and thought. “Please, lets talk about this. Maybe if you share your ideas,” she pause suddenly as she looked at Zira and then at Itoya, “then maybe we might be able to help out.” Linda still had a little smile on her face as she watched them. “I am sure things will turn out fine, I can feel it.”
Zira was tempted to slap Linda across the face. The little girl seemed to have no concept of what was happening here. There was a good chance Ultarik, Edwin, Silemria, or Gaidrich could die out there. Alm too, but Zira couldn’t say she’d really miss the crazy grassrunner.
“She’s not the princess,” Itoya replied, though he was far too tired to keep up the farce. Although he was quickly realizing the double meaning there. In one book he read, it said it was better to deny someone’s place as a relative than to have it used against the royalty and thus the kingdom. The spark of fear caught light in him. What if his father did that? What if Elianna was lost for politics? His father wasn’t like that, was he? Itoya honestly didn’t know. He had never seen the king in such a predicament. But he feared the worst. It wasn’t as if he got to spend time with his father anyway. They barely made it to the same table for a meal. “That’s, uh... ludicrous, err dumb.”
The dark elf turned to look at Itoya with a raised eyebrow. She was confused for a moment, but when he stammered, she realized he had to be trying to conceal their identities. “So, what, are you lying, or did those very skilled mercenaries or whoever the hell they were just make a screw up of epic proportions?” Zira asked, her eyebrow still raised.
“Its not... what you think,” Itoya sputtered, unable to look Zira in the eyes. He could barely lift his head in her direction. “I cannot explain! You would not understand.” Itoya’s heart was sinking into icy depression. Everything was falling apart. If he went to his father, who knew what could happen? The entire scandalous back story was enough to ruin any trust his father had in him. On top of that, commoners were figuring it out and he did not have the wits to defeat their questions. Itoya looked up finally to Zira, his eyes on the verge of tears. “You wouldn’t understand...”
Linda sighed as she watched Itoya and Zira. Everything that she said was making things worse. She understand why and just decided to be quiet, then walked away and watched the two from a distance. Being this far would help her keep from saying anything else. She just listened to them as they spoke. Poor Itoya, she thought to herself.
Zira ignored Linda, since the mage decided to remove herself from the conversation. Itoya was Zira’s concern, as his safety was paramount to any hurt feelings. The dark elf had to think for a moment about what to do. Itoya needed to get to safety, and Linda might not have been much help in the battle that was likely raging a few blocks away. Zira couldn’t stand leaving her friends alone, so she came up with a new plan; “Itoya, we’ll need to discuss this more later, but I need try and get our friends out danger. There should be another inn nearby, and I want you and Linda to hide out there. I will cast an invisibility spell on us, then I need Linda to rent a room at the inn. She is the least recognizable out of all of us, in case the mercenaries come searching for you.”
“Whatever you think is best,” the defeated prince said. This entire time, he had no control. From beginning to end, he was weak. Everything his father and teachers tried to instill in him failed. He was not the strong, quick-thinking leader they wanted him to be. This was simply more proof. He couldn’t even manage to protect his own sister...
“Alright,” Zira said, then stood and raised her hands in a summoning gesture. “Spirits of invisibility, let thy form become our form.” She and Itoya phased out of Linda’s sight.
“Linda, please lead the way. Just go to the first inn you find,” Zira said, speaking a little louder than before to be easier understood when Linda couldn’t see her face.
Linda pushed off of the wall as Itoya vanished. “He is go—” she said and was suddenly cut off by Zira’s voice. “Yes Zira,” she said and took a step towards the exit of the alley. “Let’s go,” she said, then left.
“Are you alright, Itoya?” Zira asked as she followed Linda’s lead. Hopefully invisibility hadn’t disoriented him too much.
Itoya normally would have been filled with wonder with a shaman’s power, but his intellectual spark was stifled by the action of this man, this scoundrel, of his own failure, of the loss of his sister. All of it weighed too heavily on his mind. He was tired and aloof with sadness. “No. I’m not. But nothing can be done about it anyway...” he said, beginning to follow.
Linda walked down the streets, looking for a inn, and listened to Zira and Itoya as they spoke. “The closest inn...” she said softly, looking around the street until her eyes landed on one. “Ahh, there is one!” she said and walked over to it, then stepped inside.
Finding the innkeeper, Linda approached and spoke, “Excuse me sir, I would like to get a room for one night please.”
“Five gold,” the innkeeper replied to Linda brusquely.
“Alright then,” Linda said with a nod and give the man the five gold pieces.
Zira silently stepped into the inn, but there was enough ambient noise for no one to really notice her footsteps, or Itoya’s. She was worried that he had become lost, but she focused for a moment and felt the concentration of invisibility spirits behind her. As they stood still for a moment, her exhaustion was beginning to weigh on her.
The innkeeper handed over the keys to a room, marked with the number three. “Room three, upstairs to yer right,” he replied.
“Thank you,” Linda said, taking the key from the innkeeper. She headed upstairs, then looked at the doors on the right and started to walk down the hall. “One, two... Oh, three,” she said, finding the door. Linda then unlocked the door and stepped in.
Zira followed Linda closely, her focus torn between keeping from being heard or felt, and making sure Itoya’s presence was still felt behind her. Once she stepped into the room, she released the invisibility spirits and sighed heavily. There was no one in the hall to see her or Itoya re-appear, so she didn’t bother holding the spell until the door was shut.
Itoya was in a daze of depression. He kept walking even after entering the room. At the window, he finally stopped, staring out into the world. He was defeated before he began. He had no words.
Zira shut the door behind Itoya as he entered the room. She could tell by his body language that he was in anguish, but she didn’t have the time to waste comforting him. Perhaps Linda could be of some help there. “Alright. Keep Itoya here,” she said to Linda. “Nobody can see him. I’ll be back with the others soon...I hope.”
Zira went to the room’s window, unlatched it, then jumped out into the alley behind the inn. This was the second time she had to jump out of a window tonight... Standing back up, the dark elf started running back to the safehouse.
* * *
Ultarik switched to his big axe as Zira and Itoya made their escape. He stepped back and grinned, waiting for anyone bold enough to charge at him. He wanted to ground the archers, but he could not risk the princess’s safety. Instead, he faced the enemy like he would have in the past, not afraid of death and ready to take as many out as he could. “I’ll catch up to you guys, just go!” Now he waited for them to come at him, for the precise moment to take his swing.
Six men bull rushed Ultarik, blades drawn. Two flanked him on each side slashing at his legs, while the others kept their swords high to deflect any attack Ultarik might want to launch. An ax user only had two types of attacks, horizontal and vertical: one was easy to dodge, and the other was easy to deflect.
Gaidrich burst around the corner of the building to see Ultarik being mobbed. Bloody brave fool, the merc thought as he continued up the side of the courtyard. As big and as no doubt strong as Ultarik may have been, no one could manage those odds for long. Gaidrich approached as quickly and quietly as he could, hoping to strike at the enemy from behind.
Edwin took a defensive position, holding his dagger and sword at the ready for the rush. “Ultarik, we only need to buy time, try not to let yourself get surrounded,” he said. Darting next to Ultarik’s side, Edwin slashed his sword out to push by one of the men flanking his side, keeping his dagger ready to parry if the case came to it.
“Of course, let’s give them as long as possible.” Ultarik assessed the situation, and realized he would have to leave one flank exposed. If he left the front flank, he would die. Yet if he left the other flank, he might walk away with injuries. Bringing his axe for a horizontal strike, he made his move at the front flank. He couldn’t die here, so he would remove that chance alone.
The first of the four in charging got hit with the ax, cutting through his torso, the while the one beside him deflected the ax high with his blade but the force of the blow still knocked him sideways into the third charger, throwing the third blade off course, missing Ultarik’s chest by lancing low and offside. The fourth one, however, found his mark, the blade biting into Ultarik’s left shoulder.
The one charged with crippling Ultarik’s right knee was engaged by Edwin, and had no chance of attacking the flank he was assigned. Turning his sword away from Edwin, he pushed two steps forward and used the butt of the pommel to attempt to bash Edwin out of the way.
The final flanking man, fell back from Ultarik’s flank. The original plan had failed miserably, but there were still plenty of men within the building ready to rush out at the signal. Better now than never, he thought as he dropped away. “All men, Group out front! Formation Dark Dog!” he yelled, giving signal to the group of mercenaries camped out still in the burning building.
Men poured out of the building, in step with each other and fanned out into three jagged rows, six men per row; archers in the back row, swordsmen with their shields raised in the front two rows providing cover for the archers.
Ultarik scowled as the blade bit into his left shoulder, after the initial plan had been foiled he held his axe tightly. Upon hearing the order and seeing the enemy get into formation, he realized he was in over his head and not even any of his axes could save him here. “Bad for us but impressive. You got any brilliant ideas Edwin? I’ve never faced soldiers before...” The wound on his shoulder was not the issue now, it was the threat of the formation against them.
Holy... Gaidrich’s thoughts trailed off as the enemy mercenaries surged from the house. Whoever trained this lot missed his calling. He shoulda been a general! Reversing his course, Gaidrich retraced his steps towards the corner of the house. It was a risky move, exposing himself to hostile eyes for longer then was completely smart, but the archers had to be disrupted, or Edwin and Ultarik would be pincushions.
As Silemria came around the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. A phalanx formation? Leaning against the building, she frowned. Kidnappers were generally just brigands who get a bright idea and try to enforce it. Thus far she had seen traps used, and fortress warfare. A phalanx formation was the last information she needed. These were soldiers. Looking over at what they were facing, she sighed. That narrow alleyway might work with the close quarters fighting, but not with the archers raining down death. With the building burning as it was, the only saving grace is this was their entire force. If any others were still inside, they were risking death from smoke inhalation.
Reaching the corner again, Gaidrich was relieved to see Silemria emerge from the other side of the house. Now we got ’em, he thought with a grin. A falsehood if ever there was one but things were looking up. A bit. Hefting Sunderer, Gaidrich made for the back line of soldiers. He couldn’t risk signaling Silemria and giving himself away. He just had to hope she saw him and had the same idea.
Looking around, Silemria was planning her attack. When Gaidrich started his advance, she sighed. Well, it was risky... but then again, she assumed some of those archers had been the one goading her, and such an offense would not be tolerated. Her muscles tensed, and she lowered her stance, then began her own run at the archers, a smile on her face for the bloodshed that would likely follow.
The peripheral vision of one archer caught Gaidrich’s charge out of the corner of his eye. Cursing under his breath he checked the other side, sure enough Silemria was charging as well. “Pincer attack!” He yelled turning on his knees to face Gaidrich, firing a shot off, nearly missing Gaidrich’s shoulder. The formation changed as quickly as possible, swordsmen horseshoeing around the archers to provide cover for them.
Gaidrich grinned as the arrow zinged past his shoulder, then scowled as the mercenaries swiftly folded around the archers. Good. Real damn good, he thought as drew up to the formation. With a snarl, Gaidrich launched a two-handed swing at the nearest soldier’s swordarm, seeking to maim his foe quickly.
Cursing under her breath, Silemria still charged. The only saving grace about this was that it had thinned out their lines a bit, but that still left several rows to go through before hitting archers. Which meant the best bet might be to get close, and use the swordsman to obstruct the archer’s aim. “Don’t get in me way, bloody peons!” she growled, doing a quick move right, then left, before attempting a lower strike at one of the swordsmen’s legs.
Taking both chargers head on the shield bearers took the brunt of the charge with heavy damage on their side. Those hit by the blows either perished immediately or were mortally wounded. However, they kept rank. The archers fired arrows out at the two attackers. There were two lines to deal with the charging duo, and now it was their turn to push back. With arrows pouring out of the back row, the two shield rows banded together to push back Gaidrich and Sil away from the archers.
The fighter pitted against Edwin took the young mercenary down, viciously stabbing and twisting his sword in Edwin’s joints. With a yelp of pain the young man went down and lay there, bleeding out.
* * *
Gaidrich broke into a savage grin as his foe crumpled under the axe. The mercenary had heard the yelp, but couldn’t find its source in the scrum. Hope that was one of them, not ours, he thought. Gaidrich fell back slightly from the driving soldiers, trying to stay close to the twinned ranks of swordsmen to obstruct the archers’ aim, and looked for another opening.
“Bloody ’ell!” the female mercenary growled, watching as the line, like liquid, simply reformed and held. She had hoped that the sudden attack would cause them to break... obviously it didn’t work, and now the arrows would do the damage. Fortunately, the wound she had given had done its job, and as one of the soldiers began to fall, she ripped the shield from his grasp, and kicked his body back into the line. It wasn’t to break it, but rather to push it back away from her. It would be slow, but if it worked at least she had a defense against the arrows. Holding the shield in front of her, Silemria lowered her stance and waited for them to move back forward. Maybe she had a plan yet to hatch...
* * *
Zira returned to the site of the battle via rooftop. The dark elf had climbed up on the rooftop of a building a block away and had been traveling that way to avoid being noticed. She didn’t want to waste more energy on another spell if she didn’t have to, and she intended to offer some ranged assistance. She didn’t have a bow, but she had throwing daggers at least.
She was able to spot the safehouse from a good distance away, due to the fact that it was on fire. “Shit!” she spat. I hope the princess got out. Those kidnappers must have escaped some how...
Crouching down on a rooftop overlooking the fight, she noticed that her comrades were largely outnumbered and possibly outclassed. Ultarik was being mobbed, the female mercenary and Gaidrich were fighting around the outside of the enemy formation, and Edwin... Zira noticed that her friend was down. As much as she wanted to check on him first, she had to worry about the other three. Drawing three daggers from her corset, the dark elf aimed for the line of archers and let them fly.
One of Zira’s daggers hit it’s mark in the throat of an archer, the other three went wild with one ricocheting off a shield and the other embedding itself in the leather of another archer’s armor. While the wounded archer went down, clawing at his throat, three of them turned their attention to the rooftops and took fire at the dark elf while the rest held ready to fire at Gaidrich or Silemria once given a clear shot.
* * *
The four remaining fighting Ultarik attacked the big man with vigor. Slashing at his arms and legs they wished to inflict the same amount of damage that they inflicted upon Edwin and bring the big man to his knees.
Seeing the four men around him, Ultarik only really had one arm to use freely. If he could clear enough of a gap he could throw it. Grabbing one of his throwing axes he hacked towards the sword arms of as many of his attackers as possible in his initial strike. Seeing how Edwin went down, he would not go down without fighting back.
Easily deflecting Ultarik’s attack with his throwing ax, the four men surrounding the big man noticed he wasn’t paying attention to the fight. If he was more concerned about his friend’s welfare than his own, then the fight was already won. Overwhelming Ultarik, the four mercenaries violently hacked and stabbed at Ultarik’s arms and legs, crippling the big man with ease. One of the mercenaries, taking revenge for his friend who had fallen in the initial charge stood on Ultarik’s right shoulder and struck with his sword about the barbarian’s elbow. With the first hit, the tendons and cartilage crushed under the swing of the sword, the flesh tearing away from the bone and muscle. At best the barbarian was incapacitated, at worst he’d bleed out in a matter of minutes.
Ultarik was unable to do anything as his weapon clattered to the ground. With a sudden grunt from the attacks piercing his body and cleaving his arm, he passed out from the pain and blood loss. His last thought was that he’d managed to help the prince escape at least...
* * *
Something was going wrong. Gaidrich could feel the tempo of the battle shifting, becoming quieter near the front. He could only assume something had become of Edwin and Ultarik. Oh lovely. This has not been one of my finer battles, the merc thought as he maintained his distance from the line, never taking his eyes from the foe.
As archers fired at her, Zira took the quickest escape, rolling down the roof. The arrows embedded themselves in the shingles where she had been crouched. The dark elf reached the eave, then twisted in the air as she fell so she could land in a crouch. Now that’s the third time I’ve had to leap from a high place tonight, she thought.
The next archers fired upwards, towards Zira’s position after she avoided the first volley. Meanwhile, the first three archers nocked new arrows and prepared to fire. Two more arrows clattered onto the street near her, and another hit the roof, but Zira had taken cover under the eave in the alley.
It was clear that they couldn’t defeat this enemy, and even if she was fresh, Zira doubted she could summon enough dark or sleep spirits to incapacitate the lot of them.
Luckily, their salvation was in sight. The fire and noise had inevitably attracted the attention of the city guard. Armored guardsmen were running down both streets. However, her relief was short lived as she realized that she may have to explain to him what they were doing fighting, it wasn’t as if they could run away, they had to take Ultarik and Edwin.
Hearing a sound of pain, Silemria gave a brief look back towards the alley. Edwin and Ultarik were in deep trouble, and they weren’t in great shape as it was. With those archers, there wasn’t much they could do. If they got shot in the back, both were dead anyway. She was about to write both off as simply two casualties, when she saw something move, one of the archers fall dead, and the others aiming towards the roof. That’s going to be the only distraction I get, better use it.
With a grunt, she threw the shield into the nearest foot soldier. Fortunately, with as heavy armor as they were wearing, it was unlikely they could make up the distance she was about to cover very easily. Giving a slight chuckle, she made a dash towards the ones that had attacked Ultarik and Edwin. However, she knew full well that the numbers game would get her as well, and she wasn’t about to deal with them at all sides.
“Come get me, fools!” she growled, throwing a wild slash at one of the mercenaries, and continuing right back to the alley. If they couldn’t surround her, she had a chance, or at least could distract them until someone could recover Edwin and Ultarik. As she went in, she spread out her stance, covering both ends of the alley, and turned to face them.
Seeing Silemria make her dash, Gaidrich followed suit. The mercenary ran flat out towards the alley, still keeping back from the line. Nearing the entrance, Gaidrich saw what had become of Ultarik and Edwin. Fortunes of War, he thought as he bulled his way into the alley, swinging at a foes head as he went.
Silemria and Gaidrich were retreating back to the alley where Zira waited, and at this point, she gave up on recovering Ultarik and Edwin immediately. If they were alive, the city guard would have them taken to a temple to attempt to save their lives—if not out of the goodness of their heart, then to punish them for whatever crimes they may have committed tonight. Knowing the prince was a priest like his father, she wondered if he could some how discretely pull some strings to get them released...
Out on the streets, the kidnappers scattered. Some were able to escape into other alleys, but others were caught between both forces of city guard. Little did they realize, the ones who escaped were the actual Marmo soldiers, who had a plan of escape prepared. The ones sacrificed to the guard were mercenaries they had hired to fill out their ranks. The mercenaries were not going to go down without a fight though, and these men began to actively engage the city guard, providing a distraction for the Marmo soldiers to get away.
This new fight provided Zira and her companions with an opportunity to gather their wounded, however. The mercenaries were holding their own against the guard, and neither side was paying attention to what was going on outside the fight. “Gaidrich...” Zira said as the two mercenaries joined her. She still didn’t know the woman’s name. “Do you think we can drag Ultarik and Edwin out of there?”
Gaidrich ran a hand through his hair and frowned. “I think so. They’re both torn up pretty bad, but I don’t think they’re dead yet.”
Gaidrich gestured at Silemria. “Give me a hand alright? If we can haul them both out at once, so much the better.” The mercenary thought for a moment, then turned back to Zira. “You should wait here. If the guards spot me or her, we might be able to talk our way out. I don’t think a dark elf would stand much chance.”
Zira wanted to help, but Gaidrich was right. It was better if she stayed out of sight. With a reluctant nod, she replied, “Right. Hurry!”
“Tch,” Alm said from the darkness of the alley, slipping up behind Zira. “I guess I have no choice but to help after all.” The grassrunner moved up beside Zira and patted her outer thigh gently. “Use me. I’m still as fresh as a daisy in the mouth of a virgin. Make ’em go invisible. I’d rather not have ’em followed back to where we’ll regroup.” He forced a spiritual connection with Zira infusing her with a link to the center of his spiritual energy store. “Hurry this up though, I do so despise feeling so connected to others.”
Surprisingly, Alm appeared, and actually provided some help for once. “Thank you,” she whispered to Alm. “Alright you two, I’ll cast an invisibility spell us, then on Ultarik and Edwin as we carry them back. Let’s make it fast,” she replied. The dark elf then summoned the spirits of invisibility upon herself, Gaidrich, and Silemria.
“So this is shamanism, eh?” Silemria stated in a slight tone. She had experienced beneficial arcane magic from human mages before, but this one felt a bit different. This one felt more like someone was over her shoulder watching her... which, considering the source probably was the case. “Alright, headin’ out.”
Moving out of the alley, she suppressed a chuckle. To bad they couldn’t have used this before, it would have definitely turned the tide of battle in their favor. As she approached the two, she picked her target. While she did brag a great deal about her martial prowess, she knew the limits of her strength. In all honesty, she probably couldn’t have dragged, let alone lifted Ultarik for any length of time. Grabbing Edwin instead, she took a brief inventory of his wounds. They would have to get him to a healer, otherwise he’d quickly find his career as a mercenary over. She couldn’t attempt the quick pickup and drag, as a floating body would quickly draw attention. Instead, she began to drag Edwin back to the alley, paying close attention on if anyone was watching his body being dragged away or not.
Gaidrich shook himself as the spell settled over him. Who’da thought that little joker would come in handy? he thought as he hustled out of the alley towards Ultarik.
The big barbarian had taken wounds that probably would have killed a smaller man. It’s still gonna be a close thing, Gaidrich thought as he took Ultarik under the arms and began hauling him back towards the alley. While he might be able to lift Ultarik, it would be easier to drop him and defend them both if something went wrong this way.
Edwin started moving, then Ultarik, though Zira couldn’t be sure of who was carrying whom. Either way, it seemed that the mercenaries were doing fine, so Zira settled for just casting the invisibility spell on those they were carrying. The kidnappers and the city guard were still engaged in a fierce battle, and while Zira watched them for a moment, she saw that both sides were suffering losses, though the city guard, even with their numbers, weren’t fairing well against the seasoned mercenaries who used underhanded tactics in a pinch.
When she sensed Sil and Gaidrich’s presences growing closer, she focused on both to be certain of when the masses of invisibility spirits passed the wall of the building they hid behind, and when they finally made it, she released the spell with a heavy sigh. Now they had to do some emergency first aid before they could move them further. Zira went to Edwin’s side. He was pale from the loss of blood, but he still had a pulse. She shredded his cloak, then worked on dressing the wounds as quickly as possible.
Gaidrich eased Ultarik to the ground, his right glove bloodied from the barbarians wound. Squatting beside the downed man, Gaidrich dug out his first-aid kit and began bandaging the arm. “What about the others?” the mercenary asked, not looking up from his work. “The mage and the kid? Did they make it?”
“Yes,” Zira replied as she finished bandaging Edwin. “I had Linda buy a room at an inn nearby, Itoya is hiding with her.” When she finished with Edwin, she waited for Gaidrich to finish bandaging Ultarik.
“Let’s get them to a temple,” she stated. “We should probably pool our resources to afford the fee for healing them both.”
Alm shrugged and tossed forth his only gold piece. “There,” he said, as if washing his hands of the ill-earned coin. “That’s all I can contribute at the moment.”
Looking at the two, and then the gold piece thrown in, Silemria looked away. In all honesty, she wasn’t fully sure she wanted to contribute. If they got injured like this in this skirmish, what would keep them from getting killed in a full scale battle? Giving a light growl, she reached to her sword belt. She had brought most of her funds, and this was a small bit of it. She could still survive on months, if they didn’t keep getting gravely injured like this. Producing a small pouch, she tossed it to Zira. “That should cover their injuries. Now lets go; we can’t hope that the battle will last long enough for us ta plan ’ere.”
Gaidrich finished his work, binding Ultarik’s arm up in a sling. “Alright, which way once we clear the alley?” the mercenary asked, pondering how best to carry the larger man.
“I’m not sure where the temples are...let’s go north though, toward the center of town,” Zira replied. Through the bandaging, the battle on the main street raged on. More guardsmen had joined the fight, but ignored the mercenaries hiding in the alley. Zira stood back up and tossed her hood over her head to hide her dark elven features for the walk. It would be hard to carry both Ultarik and Edwin, but they would have to manage. Helping both Sil and Gaidrich carry the wounded the best they could, they made their way to a temple.
* * *
The putrid stench of sewers wafted up at Aelis as he jumped down the hole with his priestess in his arms. “Some days it doesn’t pay to have the heightened senses of an elf,” he said with a slight gag. In an effort to free up one hand, in case he would need to fight, he slung the slight priestess over his off shoulder and continued on after Jet.
“Well, would you consider that a loss, a complete mess, or a daring plan that you didn’t bother to tell the rest of us about? I suppose it wasn’t a complete loss since we still have the princess,” Aelis asked. “I sure wish my own little princess here would wake up,” he said, smacking Sura’s back end with his sword. “I would like to be able to defend myself better should something come up.”
“I’d say that there was an unexpected hiccup at worst,” Jet sneered. “However, this is not a problem, dark elf. If the prince is wounded by our men it isn’t us that pays the price but the rookie mercenaries he got to escort him. Failure to protect the crown prince from harm usually ends with heads those who failed to protect him on the chopping block. In any case, we’re actually on time for my contingency plan to aid in our escape.” He laughed. “As my favorite saying goes: ’A man who fails to plan, plans to fail’, thus why I have two to three contingencies for every occasion.”
Smelling the stink of the sewers, Sura jerked awake. “What in the name of Falaris?” she growled, looking at her surroundings. The sewers... that was their escape route. Aelis was carrying her over his shoulder, something she’d grown used to on occasions when she lost control and he had subdue her. However, she didn’t feel she had gone too far out of line. “What did I do this time?” she said, hitting Aelis in the back with the side of her fist. “I wasn’t out of control! I couldn’t get that blood traitor bitch to drop the Sylph spell is all!”
“You were removed from play, Sura,” Jet growled. “You hadn’t gone overboard, you were rendered unconscious by a sorcerer. Now is really not the time to talk about it, however,” Jet stated. A smile crept across his thin lips. “I’m just glad we didn’t set fire to the place ourselves. I’d hate to be responsible for the firestorm that will occur because of this.”
“He speaks the truth Sura, someone must have cast a sleep spell on you and you fell right out,” Aelis replied as he helped her to the ground so she could walk on her own. “How long do we have till we can surface again? The stench down here is doing a real number on my nose, and my disposition to this situation,” He stated with a frown as he tore some of his clothing to push up his nose and cover his mouth in an effort to deaden the smell.
Sura pouted as Aelis set her back down. At least she didn’t have to be angry with them, but if she ever found out who that mage was, there would be hell to pay. The same with that traitor elf who was with the prince. Putting her sleeve over her face to mask the stench, Sura turned and followed Jet. Seeing the gagged princess over his shoulder, she dropped her sleeve again to grin menacingly at the human girl.
Jet stopped moving momentarily to take something out of his pocket, handing off the princess to one of the mercenaries. “I figured your delicate sensitivities would be fouled by the stench so I prepared this.” He pulled out a small jar of balm and opened the lid. “Take a little of this and rub it under your nostrils, it’ll block the smell of the sewers for a while. Unfortunately, I could only seem to get it in a jasmine scent, so if you don’t mind the overpoweringly smell of the jasmine plant, then by all means help yourself.”
Feeling a little pang of jealousy because he hadn’t thought of it first, Aelis let out a cough and said, “So what’s the next step of this contingency plan? And could we please get moving soon so we can get out of this stench?” I will have to think of a way to make this smooth talker disappear before he steals my job away from me. Last thing I need is for her to get bored of me.
Sura took the offered balm and stopped to rub it under her nose, then passed the jar back to Aelis. The dark elf gave a slight sneeze at the pungency, but jasmine did smell good. After she had adjusted to it, she gave a pleased sigh. “Mmm... Jasmine has a lovely scent,” she said, then continued following Jet. “We’re going back to the boat, right Jet?” she asked, sidling up alongside the handsome tactician. “And then back home to Marmo.”
“Close, Sura. Close,” Jet stated. “We will be heading back to Marmo, however, the method of transportation will slightly altered from the original plan. This is to throw the people off the scent of the princess and keep them believing that she’s still in town. At the end of these tunnels is a raft, it shall take us along the coast to another ship, which has been waiting on the chance that this plan had to come into effect. From there we’ll take that ship to Marmo, to expedite the process.” He wanted to take the ship from Roid to Shining Hill, then from Shining Hill to Marmo, to further cover the tracks, but it seemed that the best course of action was to not dally and get to Marmo as quickly as possible while still covering their tracks as much as possible.
“Oooh... you’re good,” Sura purred, smoothly wrapping her arm around Jet’s. Beautiful and intelligent, what a catch, she thought. She had her eye on Jet for most of the trip, but he had blatantly ignored her every flirtation so far. She wasn’t giving up though.
At first Aelis scowled at the attention Sura was showing Jet but then he started to think more clearly. This could be to my advantage for a time. She always gets bored with her playthings in the end. It could be my chance to get away from her for a little while. Then he let out a soft chuckle, Besides, it would be very amusing to see how Jet would handle her temper tantrums, he could disappear a lot sooner. With a sly smirk Aelis walked behind the two with a new sense of confidence.
As she was carried over the shoulder of some brute, Elianna had the time to think. Listening in on the conversations, she learned that they were from Marmo. Despite her inability to pay attention in her lessons, she at least knew something of Marmo. Was this some attempt to take back the island from Flaim? Did they want to resurrect the Marmo empire?
I can’t just sit around waiting for rescue, but for now, I’ll just have to bide my time and wait for an opening before I figure out how to escape, the roguish princess began to plot.
