((Slightly shorter chapter, been really trucking on Captive lately – I am really proud with chapter 6 and 7, so I'm looking forward to 8! I hope you will all review and enjoy, god knows it helps me write faster with the motivation =) ))
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Chapter 3: To Serve & Protect
"On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him."
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The key slid into the door rather easily, providing a comfort towards its access, but no ease to the guts that turned to unknowing what was inside.
"Claire?" Leon said as an eerie breeze carried through the graveyard and graced his back.
"I'm here." Her voice was a relief from the silence that often rang back through ears long damaged by gunfire. This time, he felt the wind blocked by her petite frame. The lock gave.
"Here goes nothing," His fingerless gloved hand allowed the etiquette friction to turn the knob. Cautiously and attentively, they proceeded into the church.
Exploration of the first floor didn't take very long; the church was small. The room was lit by candles, that which the flames radiated off a sum of pesetas on a banister. To the right of the entrance, was an extended hallway where a single Incendiary Grenade resided, oddly enough. Yet, with such scarce ammo, none of them protested and headed to a similar hallway to the left of the entrance.
"Go first," Leon urged Claire with a release of his gun and a nimble wave. She paused for a moment, and then turned with an eyebrow rose.
"No… no, I think you better go first." As soon as her mouth closed she moved off to the side to allow him to pass. He climbed the ladder and turned around to view her ascent.
"Afraid I was going to stare at your ass?" He said coolly with an expressionless face, offering a hand to her which she gladly accepted.
"Yup," she declared truthfully, pressing on ahead to view their next obstacle. Leon released air quickly through his mouth, making a 'pfft' sound. At least Claire calmed the nerves.
There was a section of the upper balcony that denied them of getting to the other side; it was barred off indicating some type of imprisonment within the door the bars boxed in. Ashley must be in there. They pondered for a moment, pacing back upon the area given to them and picking up useful items along the way.
"When are you going to need a Candle stick?" Claire pivoted on her left leg and glared over her shoulder at Leon, placing the Candle within a belt loop to seem much like a sword.
"I was thinking of jumping across on the chandelier," Leon announced with his hands upon his hips, ignoring his question unanswered.
"Alright, I'll wait over here in case you fall and break your legs." Leon smiled and positioned himself where the balcony railing was absent.
His lips puckered in a circle, taking in easy breaths as his muscles flexed to ready themselves. Claire's eyes fell upon him, viewing his shape through his black, fitted shirt with an amused half smile upon her face. He leapt, his hands quickly grasping the middle of the ceiling piece, the wood it was built of creaking in objection. He began to swing, throwing his legs out and retracting them in until he was closer to the other open railing across from them. At the perfect time, he released, landing in a crouch before turning to her.
"You try." Humor surged through her, erupting in her shoulders with a vibration.
"I don't think so, open the gates," she sauntered over to the bars on her side of the balcony as he rummaged for a way.
"There is a machine here, operates the lights upon the wall… if we can get them to look like the Insignia on some of the tomes," Leon spoke with a slightly distracted tone as he examined the panel with the three colored lights.
Together, they were able to discuss the possible combinations to replicate the middle insignia. Leon, being a man, who seem to be known to poorly describe details, made solving this puzzle especially difficult.
"Try the red one twice if the black needs to be overlapped like that," Claire suggested. He tried again.
"Here we go," He hit combine, the three colors dancing into perfect fit on the center structure and allowing the bars to rise.
Leon and Clare joined at the door and sent a glance of acknowledgement towards each other. As a gentleman would, he gripped the door and allowed Claire to enter first.
"Don't!" A blonde, pampered girl began to back away towards some barrels in the room. "Don't come!" She screamed with fear as Leon entered beside Claire. Claire's hands went out and made a downward motion in gesture to calm down.
"Ashley –"Claire began, but a flying piece of wood rocketed at her face, interrupting her and sending her off to the side to avoid being pelted.
"Take it easy!" Leon took his turn to calm her, catching the piece of wood that Claire had dodged.
"No, get away!" Ashley sunk between the a set of barrels and Claire seemed to frown at the thoughts within her mind.
"Calm down, my name is Leon and this is Claire… we are under the President's order to rescue you…" Leon tried again.
"My father?" The words were cheery, thrilled, and Ashley's expression matched.
"Yes, that's right. We have to get you out of here. Come with us," Claire smiled as her arm motioned Ashley up and over to her side.
"I'm going to let Hannigan know the news. Start heading out." Claire's crystal blue hues searched Leon's before a smile formed. She nodded and placed her hand upon Ashley's, dragging her off towards the ladder.
"Hunnigan…" Leon's voice was in the distance, the rest of the conversation interrupted by Claire's feet hitting the ground below.
"Climb down," Claire asked, but Ashley didn't feel comfortable. "Jump, then." Claire smiled warmly, but Ashley was cautious about her skirt, "Here, I'll catch you," Claire said, internally rolling her eyes.
Ashley wasn't as light as she seemed; in fact, the bust of the girl explained a lot of it. As soon as the girl hit her arms, Claire hoisted her down and promised herself she'd make Leon do the heroic catching from now on. Ashley slid off Claire's arms and began to dust her orange sweater and patterned skirt. Next, the girl fixed the headband which kept back her short, blonde bangs. Claire, in response, tightened her auburn ponytail at the top of her head and then tightened her fingerless gloves upon her wrist.
"This way," Claire once again ventured forth with Ashley's wrist within her loosely coiled fingers. They traveled down the hallway and veered left back into the main area of the church.
"Going somewhere?" A man's voice purred. Instinctively, Claire threw back her arm and stuffed Ashley behind her, leaving her arm between the unknown and Ashley herself.
"Who are you?" Claire said as her eyebrows seemed to meet in the middle as he parted his lips to speak.
"I'll be taking the girl," He cooed as he began to approach and she wasted no time chucking her candle stick at him.
A roaring laughter broke out upon capture of the stick, throwing it shortly after to the ground. The old man's eyes, shaded by a purple cloak's hood shifted towards Leon who was now approaching.
"A candle stick… really?" Ashley whispered.
"It was a test," Claire assured in a returning whisper. She could throw knives efficiently and quickly; her brother taught her that. Candlesticks were just a little less dense, either or, she learned a lot from this man's movements.
"Who are you?" Leon said lowly as he cautiously made his way slightly in front of Claire, the duo guarding Ashley.
"If you must know, my name is Osmund Saddler, the master of this fine...religious community." Claire rolled her eyes.
"And what do you want?" Leon sneered, his long bangs cascading down one side of his face as his head tilted with question.
"To demonstrate to the whole world, our astounding power, of course. No longer will the United States think they can police the world forever. So we kidnapped the President's daughter, in order too give her our power, and then send her back."
Claire's core was squeezed by an uneasy, invisible hand as a flash back of Leon crumbling to ground haunted her mind. We have the same blood echoed off the walls of her skull, remembering the message sent by the tall man they met back the cabin shortly after their black out. That one man, who's meeting has haunted her since the get-go and raised several questions in her mind. What Leon catching on to this, too?
"No," Ashley said while shaking her head at the ground, then called out from behind the duo. "Leon… Claire, I think they shot something in my neck!" They both turned around to view Ashley rubbing her neck with the memory. Claire's lips parted with concern, Leon being the first to return his glaring sneer back to Saddler. Both Claire and Leon highly upset that they had touched their mission and a innocent girl at that. This, was going to make things a whole hell of a lot harder.
"We just planted her a little...gift. Oh, there's going to be one hell of a party when she returns home to her loving father," Saddler began to answer the questions upon their faces. He laughed briefly before continuing. "But before that, I thought I might bargain with the President for some...donations. Believe it or not, it takes quite a lot of money to keep this church up and running." Claire's eyes squinted with anger.
"Faith and money will lead you nowhere, Saddler," Leon barked.
"Oh, I believe I forgot to tell you that we gave you two the same gift." Claire moved her hand to her neck and Leon turned to view her doing such. She gave him a worried glance.
"When we were unconscious…" Claire said softly to herself, Leon nodding in response despite him not wanting to believe it.
"Oh, I truly hope you like our small, but special contributions. When the eggs hatch, you'll become my puppets. Involuntarily, you'll do as I say. I'll have total control over your minds. Don't you think this is revolutionary way to propagate one's faith?" Saddler mused.
"Sounds more like an alien invasion if you ask me!" Leon adjusted his stance to fit his cocky attitude.
"Leon!" Claire shouted, grabbing the back of Ashley's shirt and hoisting her back in a certain direction as the Church doors opened. Two men with burning arrows within their crossbows entered.
"Ah – " Claire gasped, Leon's hand falling upon her wrist and hoisting her towards a window. The three ran in a line away from the firing cross bows, but Ashley was at the back and in risk.
"Run!" Claire screamed, tugging painfully on Ashley's wrist to switch positions with the girl. Claire threw her after Leon towards the window. Leon quickly scooped Ashley up once they landed outside, placing his body between her and the shards.
A burning arrow tore through the fabric of Claire's black, fitted shirt, leaving a gash between her shoulder blades. She yelped in pain, the fire shriveling up the ends of her hair that were restrained in her ponytail. In a boost of speed, she followed the other two out the window, crashing to the floor by their post. From her crouch, she instantly stood, then fell back into a kneel, in pain. At least Ashley was safe, or at least they were safe – on the outside.
"Claire," Leon inched from beneath Ashley and held his hands out to the gash upon Claire's back, observing the bleeding line the length of space between each shoulder blade. Around the gash, was burnt flesh, the flames on the arrow had thankfully helped seal the wound.
"It's already stopped bleeding." Claire nodded, her teeth deep within her bottom lip.
"Claire… thanks for doing that for me," Ashley said as she approached Leon's side. "Leon… what is going to happen to us?" She added.
"Don't worry, we got into this mess – we can get out of it," His voice had no hint of disbelief in that.
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"Wait here, I'm going to go take a look see," Leon commanded and the girls nodded, hand in hand.
When Leon came back, he was a bit roughed up, but nothing too serious.
"The villagers are back and set bear traps up, I disabled most – but be careful and keep your eyes peeled for others." He turned to Claire, seeing her expression. "I would have told you to come with, but it kind of all happened at once. I needed you with Ashley." Claire's facial expression turned understanding and she nodded.
"I'm back up," Claire reminded and Leon smiled before waving the two forward.
"There is a door, I'll need one of you to climb over and unlock it." They ventured through the door to pass through the two villages.
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"It's open," Ashley's voice was muffled and both Claire and Leon reached for the handle, their fingertips touching.
"Oh," Claire retracted her hand to her chest. "Go on." An index finger extended to urge him on and he opened it. He paused to look her over, his eyes triggering a memory.
"And here, it's for you," she handed him a note and he peered at it.
"I'll take a look at it, thanks," he said as he reached for the door.
"I smudged some of the lip marks," Claire said in a monotone, staring intently ahead while awaiting the door to open. Leon double took towards her, confused, but proceeded to open the door anyways.
"That was longer than it should have been," Ashley had noticed, but Claire placed a hand upon the arch of the girl's back and pressed her on forward.
They continued on until a bridge came into view, a blue fire burning in the distance. They both knew what that was, but Ashley was a bit hesitant on meeting with the Merchant. Once business was done there, they traveled into a nearby cabin, Luis Sera occupying the innards. Yet, they only discovered Luis because villagers began to sandwich them, pissed beyond no belief, and sent them in search of shelter.
"Luis, we have to stop meeting in places like this," Claire folded her arms across her chest with a smirk upon her face after she entered the cabin.
"I'm sorry, miss and –"His eyes went to Ashley. "You found her… and she's fully equipped!" He made a comment towards Ashley's breasts. Claire stifled a laugh, but Ashley wasn't having any of it; she rightfully made herself heard in a rampage of nags.
"Ho ho ho," Luis tossed Leon a block to help barricade themselves in the cabin as he attempted to coax Ashley, but intimidate her at the same time. The sound of the villager's approach getting louder. "Excuse me, your highness," He turned to face Leon. "Is she… you know?"
"She's cool," Leon said, pushing furniture in front of a window, the sound of beating hands upon the wooden cabin becoming known shortly after.
"Let's stand our ground boys, enough of the chit chat," Claire made a step back towards Ashley, backing her toward the stairs. "Ashley, go hide upstairs."
"Okay," She nodded and small thuds were heard.
"It's show time," Luis announced as the Ganados broke one of the windows that was barricaded.
They stood back-to-back, each assigned to a specific window on the bottom level. Luis's window and barricade were the first to succumb. Claire curiously turned her head to view the progress once the first shot was fired.
"Jesus fucking Christ… look at them all," Claire said gravely, returning her attention back to her own area and window.
"Good thing there is three of us, sweet cheeks," Luis commented as he fired a few more rounds.
They were surrounded, sandwiched in a tiny, fragile cabin that nearly moved with their breathing. On top of that, there was a suspicious clunking against the side of the once normal people filled home.
"Leon, I think they brought ladders," Claire warned, a crash taking place upstairs. Sweat beaded on Leon's forehead, his eyes were darting around the room for some type of solution. Then, a scream came from upstairs.
"Go!" Leon told Claire and she rapidly grasped the railing and threw herself over it.
"Use this," Luis said, tossing her some bullets as she advanced upwards.
It was up to this red haired woman, to protect the subject against attack. Upon her shoulders, lied the mission, and to succeed was no doubt in Leon's mind. Fire became the song of the moment, ricocheting sounds off the furniture in the room both upstairs and down. The cries of death were around them, but the mob was unrelenting. Survival was key.
Another scream, a cry for help, came from upstairs. The stomachs of those who were aware of the situation, dropped.