Chapter 6: Bandits' Warehouse
Zael's POV
The mercenaries formed a plan to break into the bandits' warehouse and retrieved the medicine for Warren. Zael's job was to sneak in first and take out the guard swiftly and quickly.
According to Lowell, it shouldn't take us long to get to the warehouse the bandits were living in. According to Lazulis City, it took us an hour. The guards were still searching for the 'hot-headed woman and her male companion', aka Lisa and I, meaning that we had to take all of the back routes to get to an already difficult to find building. It didn't help any of us that Dagran lectured me nearly the entire way there.
Dagran gave me my instructions and Lowell helped me up into an open side window. I crouched on the edge of the window sill, hardly daring to breathe. My eyes quickly scanned the room, noting the sleeping guard with his back to the door. Sliding along the thin railing underneath the window, I climbed up onto the rafter that was now above me. I walked along it a little too fast and nearly sent myself flying off the edge at the first intersection. With the kind of skill that only years practice could give, I scrambled to regain my balance. The room was so quiet that my own still-calming breath might as well have been cannon fire.
"The guard's down there. If I cross this beam I think I can get behind him," I breathed out, needing something, anything to make a sound. The words were lost to the air though, barely even noticeable unless you were paying close attention. I almost didn't hear them.
I crept to the other end of the room, slipping once more, where only pure luck and quick reflexes saved me from being discovered. I dropped into the area behind the guard, the sound of my fall seemingly deafening. The guy was really out of it, as he didn't even flinch at my involuntary gasp upon hitting the ground from the rafters ten feet above my head. I ducked behind a stack of boxes, took a breath, and slashed. The only noise was the wind rushing across my sword. It was only after did I notice the ropes and that this 'guard' was already dead, a trap to get the jump on foolish intruders. The realization sickened me.
"Who the hell are you?!" someone growled out. I spun around as two bandits leaped out of hiding to fight me, a look of surprise clearly showing on my features.
I muttered a few choice words under my breath. If Dagran had heard the bandit then there was no chance he would ever give me an important job ever again. The one that had spoken lunged towards me with a small dagger in hand, while his partner started to race behind the shelves I had come out of. He must be going to warn the others, I thought. I decided to pursue the one who hadn't spoken rather than the closer bandit. I ran towards the shelves, shoving the first bandit out of the way. I turned the corner only to come to a literally sharp halt. Barely two centimeters in front of me was a knife. In front of me the knife's owner leaped down and I heard the footsteps of the other bandit approach from behind.
"So you plan to tell us who the hell you are now?" the first bandit repeated. Obviously these thieves had no idea just who they were messing with.
"No," was all I said before I attacked. Clutching my blade tightly, I lunged forward, grabbing the thief in front of me and throwing him into the wall on my left. I hit the ground and rolled forward as, just like I expected, a dagger swiped where I had previously been standing. Flipping onto my back, I swiped my foot under the still standing bandit, causing him to join me on the ground. I practically leaped back onto my feet. Blade still in hand, I went after the bandit I had knocked over second. Standing above him, I quickly pinned the arm with the dagger under my foot and thrust my sword downwards. His final action was spitting at me.
I turned my attention to his partner, only to see that that bandit had recovered. I warily reached behind me for my crossbow and an arrow, eyeing the warehouse. Where is he? Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a flash of peach in murky brown depths of the rafters. There. I loaded the arrow onto the crossbow and fired. A soft thud said that my aim was true and the lack of any other sound meant the target was dead. Still, I double checked. Leaving the corridor in which most of the fight had taken place, I walked back behind another shelf, only to have my suspicions confirmed. The body of a lady, dressed in the thief's attire lay in front of me. I didn't look at her long enough to take in any details. Instead I turning and, using the key I found on the belt of the first bandit, opened the door.
"Right, looks like things are going smoothly," Dagran commented while he, Lowell, and Mirania came in, the other three doing tonight's mission. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief when nobody commented on the bodies or any of the noises that would have probably escaped through the walls of the warehouse.
"Let's split up and look for the medicine," Mirania stated. It seemed like the best thing to do, so we split up and searched the room. The previous silence was destroyed with comments or sounds of things being moved and hitting something else. I went to the back of the room, extremely conscious of everything that was going on in case more bandits came out to play. I had a gut feeling that there was more to this place then it seemed. The gentle blue light in the corner managed to calm my frazzled nerves down, though, and I started to relax as well. After we finished searching the room, with no luck, we regrouped at the small hallway where I had landed. Lowell leaned against a wall. There was a click and a nearby wall slid away, revealing a set of long, dark steps. Lowell looked as surprised as I felt.
"Well, now!" he exclaimed. "The entrance to a secret room, eh? Things are getting exciting!" He turned to face the new pathway. I came up and was about to enter the doorway when Dagran suddenly stopped walking.
"Zael, take a look at this," Dagran stated. His previous anger at me had all but subsided, I could tell, and for that I was glad. I turned to face him to see what he was talking about. He was looking at a banner. On it was a snake wrapped around a pole that had a skull on top. A sense of dread rose in me. I would recognize that symbol anywhere.
"This is–" I began, but quickly changed my statement. "It's Zoran's insignia!" Dagran nodded and a new anger flared up in his eyes.
"That rat!" he growled out. "Should've known he'd turn up here after disappearing from the mainland." Lowell and Mirania looked confused, which they should be, having never met the scoundrel that was Zoran. Lowell approached us, his stride easygoing but tight all the same.
"Who's this Zoran when he's at home?" Lowell asked carefree, as if we were talking about something as mundane as the weather. I caught the nervous undertone, though.
"He's scum. He'd cut your throat for the fillings in your teeth if he could!" Dagran snapped.
"He used to be one of us," I explained. Unlike Dagran, my voice was even, only a little bit of my anger showing through. "But things… changed." I could still clearly remember the time before Zoran had become corrupted with greed. He was a nice guy to have around. A great fighter accompanied with a sense of protection to those he cared about. He had even helped me with my archery. I couldn't say anymore. Dagran had covered what had happened after he changed. Mirania, sensing the tense mood, came up slowly.
"Could you leave your quarrel aside for now? Finding the medicine should come first," she stated.
"Mirania's right. We'll sort this Zoran chap out later," Lowell agreed. Neither one of us wanting to stay on the subject, Dagran and I followed Lowell and Mirania down the short staircase. Towards the bottom, we got the first hint that this warehouse wasn't deserted.
"Hey Boss, what 'appened with you and the barmaid then, eh?" I could hear one bandit ask. Laughter echoed down the halls and, just like outside of the tavern, I started to get a small headache from the volume accompanied with the echo. I pulled out my blade and stood on the other side of the doorframe Dagran was leaning on.
"Boss, when are we gonna start our plan?" another bandit asked, thankfully cutting off the discussion that I really did not want to hear. Now near the source, the echoes had all but vanished, but the volume had unfortunately increased, which didn't help much.
"Easy, easy, you can't just rush a plan like this," a voice I instantly recognized said. Startled, I peered into the room. Zoran was flaunting about there, cocky grin resting permanently in place.
"Seriously though, letting monsters lose in the city, then nicking what we can in the confusion…" one of the thieves said. He laughed. "You're a real bastard Boss."
"I know," Zoran replied. I clutched the handle of my blade tighter.
"No! How could they do such a thing?!" Mirania whispered. Her hands were clasped tight together. She stood slightly separate from us, not daring to cross the open doorway.
"That's how he is," Dagran stated, eyes darkening even further. "There's no limit to the sick things he'll do."
"Let's see if we can persuade them to tell us where the medicine is," Lowell said, leaning casually against the wall across from me. He was smirking and had a dangerous look in his eyes that meant we were going to do anything but be persuasive. He almost always had that look in his eyes.
"Zael, how many are there?" Dagran asked me.
"Six," I answered.
"Including him?"
"Yeah." I realized how harshly my breath was coming. I stood still for a second, focusing on breathing calmly. I peered out again, merging into the wall as much as I could. "There's another door on the opposite side."
"We'll go for a pincer attack," Dagran planned. "Lowell, you and me are on the other door." Lowell nodded, but paused slightly.
"Mate, you look ready to explode," Lowell stated seriously.
"Yeah. Just thinking about that guy makes my blood boil! Zael, wait for my signal," he added, noticing that I was taking my bow out and fitting it with an enchanted arrow. No matter how many times I fired my crossbow, the arrow would regenerate until I took it out. I felt slightly annoyed, but put the bow away. "We'll go on three." Dagran and Lowell started towards the other door. One… Two…
"Three!" The four of us barged in.
"Who do you think you are?!" Zoran shouted. Mirania rose into the air, preparing to cast her healing spell.
"Good to see you again, Zoran!" Each word was drenched in hatred. I slashed at a bandit in front of me, only to have it guard against my blow.
"That stupid haircut… If it isn't Pretty Boy Dagran!" Pretty Boy Dagran was Dagran's old nickname. He hates it when people him call him that nowadays, though.
"Who're you calling pretty?" I focused on the guard, annoyance rising. I had taken out harder enemies than this without breaking a sweat! Taunting laughter rang out. I grit my teeth.
"You wanna join my gang, is that it? I don't mind, as long as you crawl over here and lick my boots! Then we'll talk!" That comment did it. I lost it. I shoved my sword forward at lightning speed, destroying the armor on both sides of the bandit I was fighting. I spun around, baring my teeth like a cornered wolf. The remaining bandits had surrounded me. I merely grinned and darted forward, ready to take them all down at once. I kicked one while dealing with his friend using his own sword. I could feel the attacks of another bandit, but they didn't hurt. Two down, one to go. I lunged, startling the youngest bandit. My sword blow was accompanied by one of my hardest punches to this day. The bandit dropped, whether he was dead or just unconscious, I didn't care to find out. I looked at the blood on my hand for a second, grin still there but slowly fading. All of this happened so quickly, that Dagran hadn't even finished his response to Zoran.
"Fat chance! You'll be the one crawling!" We surrounded him, swords pointed out in front. If it wasn't for the fact that Mirania was looking at me worriedly, I would have attacked Zoran by now. Instead, I had to stand my ground, barely restraining myself, my breath ragged from the effort. "Now be a good boy and hand over the medicine that you stole." I saw Dagran glance at me before staring at Zoran again.
"What, you want a share of the profits?" Zoran asked, eyes darting wildly around the room. He put up a cold front, but I was an expert at sensing emotions. Zoran was scared, but confident. "I knew you were no different from me!" Mirania landed a hand on my shoulder, my only lifeline at the moment. I glared at the hand, before I noticed a bright blue light and a circle of crosses. I glared at it instead; it returned my glare with twice the intensity.
"Quit dancing about, or your head's coming off!" Dagran warned, finally reaching his end of tolerance. Dagran's blade was right in front of Zoran, a flick of the wrist would kill him. Zoran put his hands in the air, but put them down.
"All right, I give in. The medicine's on that shelf over there. But you ain't getting it, Pretty Boy!" Zoran shouted, running away.
"Hold it!" Dagran roared. Zoran smirked and stopped where he was. He slammed his foot against the ground once. Lowell and Dagran fell. Angered, I attempted to lunge at him, but the floor gave out and Mirania and I fell as well. Above me I could hear Zoran's laughter. I was going to-
I landed in the water, and all my anger just… left. It's hard to describe the feeling. The best I can do is say that it dissolved into the water just like the blood on and surrounding me that was a mixture of both my own and the bandits'. The event left me drained and in pain from the scratches I had gotten in my carelessness. I treaded water for a minute.
"Mirania, are you alright?" I asked. She climbed out of the pool.
"I'm fine, Zael," she reassured me. "And how are you?" She asked it as if we were just having an everyday conversation.
"I'm good." I tried to say it calmly, but I could clearly hear the shaking in my voice. Shivering, I climbed out. Mirania looked ready to comment, but I cut her off. "Where are the others? Dagran! Lowell!"
"Oh dear, we've been split up?" she murmured. A strange noise came from the water while I approached her. "There's something in the water!" she exclaimed. I turned around. Reptids climbed out. There were six of them. Mirania rose into the air."Remember, you can heal your wounds in one of my magic circle," Mirania reminded me, referencing to my complete ignorance of the circle earlier. I waited until she had sent down the healing circle around me before I took off into the fight. I could feel my injuries healing themselves. I attacked one, slightly surprised when my slash only broke skin-deep. I kicked the Reptid instead, knocking it over. In a smart move that ended up with bad results, I pounced on it and tore through its throat with my blade, feeling disgusted as yellow blood spurted onto my face. I flipped back onto my feet only to find myself surrounded. Annoyed, I spun in a quick circle and succeeded in scaring the Reptid's back a few feet. Not wasting a second, I dove towards one, which ended up stabbed, and crouched against a shattered pillar. I felt five sets of eyes on me. Only four wanted me dead, though. I peered over my shoulder, timing my attack just right. Three out of the four remaining Reptids had come close, all right next to each other. I leapt out of hiding, my single sweep taking them all down at once. I stepped backwards into the heal circle, before racing forwards once more. The final one wasn't much of a challenge. Six out of six were down, and I was as fully recovered as I could get at the moment since healing circles could only fix my physical injuries and could do nothing for the exhaustion that the lack of adrenaline had given me.
"If only there was somewhere we could climb up…" Mirania said, coming to stand beside me. I rinsed the sticky blood covering my face off using the pool we had landed in before joining her in scanning the walls to try to find an exit.
"Is that… a drainage channel?" I asked, pointing up the channel in question. "Maybe it leads to somewhere else?"
"I can feel a breeze coming from up there," Mirania agreed. I felt the section of wall underneath the hole; it was damp and easy to get a grip on, but was still solid enough that it wouldn't collapse under our weight.
"We can climb up here," I said, already starting to climb. The wall wasn't that tall, so it only took a minute to climb up. Once at the top, I turned and helped Mirania the rest of the way up. The ledge was a couple inches above the actual height of the tunnel. The first thing that I noticed after dropping down was the fact that we were walking through a form of watery sludge. Only slightly bothered, I took off.
"Erm, Zael…" Mirania started. I slowed my pace to an easy walk. "Who was that Zoran gentleman?" She asked the question nervously, afraid I would go off on her like Dagran had. I took a deep breath and answered, keeping my tone even and void of emotion.
"He used to be a mercenary. Dagran and I even fought side by side with him."
"Really?" she asked, surprised. I nodded and sped up considerably. The path was pretty straight-forward, so I didn't worry about losing Mirania. I stopped in front of a barrier, Mirania finally catching up. I heard a loud clang and turned to find that the gate we had ducked under earlier had finished its descent.
"A dead end," I muttered to Mirania. I heard the echoing of footsteps. "Huh?" I spun around to see a piece of wall crumble away and Reptids starting to pour out.
"The wall!" Mirania gasped, surprised.
"Let's take care of these and go through that hole," I said. She nodded. During the fight, I didn't realize I was telling the story of what happened to Zoran until long after I had already started. "That lowlife sold us out for money. He switched sides and tried to kill us." If I hadn't been fighting, I probably would be remembering what had happened, which was something I dearly wanted to forget. I threw up my guard, weaving my way around the enemies to the mage in back. "And now…" I took down the mage with a clean cut. "Looting, slavery, smuggling, murder, he'll do anything." One of the swordsmen fell, and I guarded against a blow from the other. I kicked it into the air and took it down with my blade.
"Were he and Dagran particularly close?" Mirania asked gently. She could tell this was a touchy subject. I searched the Reptids' packs; all I found was some Gnome Copper, which was pretty useless, since it was only used on knight's armor, and a pair of Cloth Greaves, which I quickly tucked into my own pack. You never know when you'd need a spare set of greaves.
"Thick as thieves," I responded, ducking through the archway. "That's what Dagran really can't forgive. He used to be a mate."
"Oh, I see," Mirania whispered. I didn't say anything else. I wouldn't unless I had to. What Zoran had did hurt. He had helped me fight an entire hoard of Reptids less than a week before his betrayal. He didn't manage to kill Dagran or me, but Dusk and Wolfe, two other members of our band back then, had been killed pretty brutally. Trust me, I had seen the bodies. I stumbled upon a treasure chest, inside was a Blunt Copper Sword, a useless weapon. I closed the lid and continued on. I pulled a right, ducking under another gate. On the other side, I ran into Lowell and Dagran, which brightened my spirits. It was hard to be sad when hanging around Lowell or Syrenne.
"Dagran, you're all right," I said, hiding against the wall. It was more of a statement than a question, if he was here, then he was still hanging on and alright.
"Right as rain," Dagran stated anyway. "And you picked a good moment to join us."
"What's up?" Dagran gestured with his head into the archway, and I took a quick peek at the Reptid Gladiator.
"That looks like a strong one, there. I'll lure it towards us. When it gets close, attack and take it down," Dagran ordered. I nodded, and tossed Dagran my crossbow, still loaded. Dagran fired an arrow by the Reptid's head. Confused, it walked towards us. "Now! Cut him down to size!" He hadn't even finished the sentence before it was defeated. It had only taken me one sword slash. But it had been a gladiator! I had fought one only a few hours earlier and it hadn't been nearly as easy. Dagran looked at me with surprise, but gave me a bit of praise nonetheless. Okay, maybe he wasn't fine. We stepped through the door that the Reptid had been guarding. Inside was a summoning circle. The patterns on it were different from the one in the Reptid Caves. I knelt down in the circle to get a better look when five Reptids suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the glowing blue light screamed for me to notice it. The enemies had fallen a bit away from us. The light twinkled knowingly and I realized that nothing was moving. I was the only thing that could move.
Tee hee! You humans are so weak, a female voice taunted inside of my brain. I was offended by the comment. But I like you, so I guess I'll help you out.
"Who… what are you?" I asked. Laughter was heard, but where it was coming from was unknown.
You remind me of an old friend. He acted the same way you did. The two sentences were said with sadness and regret carefully hidden beneath the happy tone. Who knows, I might answer that later, so don't be upset, it laughed, with a sudden mood change. I was getting annoyed with this voice. Oh, cheer up. It's not every day I chose a soul to pass some of my knowledge onto. I mean, you've already managed to learn my most basic trick, Revive, but any fool can learn that with time and loneliness. How about we try something more advance?
"What are you talking about!" I shouted.
Gale. It's an important word where I come from. In fact the spirit of Gale taught me this trick. Build up your spirit, focus on a destination, and surrender yourself to the wind is what he had said. Tee hee!
Time spurred back into action, leaving me baffled. What was I supposed to do? It was confusing, but I tried to follow the voice's instructions. I got to my feet and pulled out my sword. I twisted my upper body slightly, closed my eyes, and focused on where the Reptids had been. Feeling stupid, I opened my eyes only to have them widen in surprise because I was surrounded by a mini tornado right in the midst of the Reptids. The attack left me disoriented, I could probably only do it four or five times in a row without stopping to regain my senses. Luckily, it left my enemies just as mixed-up as I was. Although I don't take as long to recover as they do. I managed to land a fatal hit on one before the others recovered, encircling me. Lowell and Dagran raced over to assist me, Lowell choosing to be a physical fighter for this battle instead of a mage. Dagran handled two at once with skill, leaving Lowell and I to each fend off only one. The Reptid I was fighting lunged suddenly and I leapt to the side. Thankfully, I ended up with only a gash rather than skewered onto a sword. I winced as pain exploded in my leg, but I tried to use it as an advantage. Tried to. I ended up on the ground, guarding an attack that came way to close to my neck for comfort. I lashed out with a kick; it hit the wall on the other side of the chamber, startling Mirania out of her spell. I looked up and saw Lowell and Dagran wrapping up their fights. Mirania came rushing over.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked, worried. The question wasn't directed at me. Mirania was already taking care of me, muttering words in an ancient tongue while tracing my injury. It took her only a minute, but in a minute I hardly dared to breathe in fear that she'd mess up the spell. The last time she had messed up, Yurick had temporarily gained a tail. By the time she had finished Lowell and Dagran had already left to scout up ahead. The two of us got to our feet.
"Hey, Mirania, what does Gale mean?" I suddenly asked. She looked taken aback.
"It means wind or breeze. But wherever did you hear that?" Wind, huh? It explained a lot. I mean it is impossible for a normal attack to generate a tornado, so that left magic as the alternative. But wind based magic? I had never even heard of that kind of magic.
"Oh, you know, somewhere," I answered casually. She gave me a glare and I sighed. "All right, I might have been eavesdropping and heard someone say it in a conversation, but I didn't want to seem rude by asking what it meant." It was a half-lie. Mirania sighed, she was too kind to interrogate me. That's why I had decided to ask her. If I had asked Lowell or Yurick, they wouldn't have held back with the questioning. I still felt guilty that I lied to her. The two of us climbed up the ladder.
"You really need to- Oh. Oh my," she cut herself off, stopping suddenly. I barely managed to avoid crashing into her. "Reptids… They're really going to let these loose in the city?" Dagran and Lowell approached.
"Then he'll take advantage of the chaos," Dagran was already growling. "That's how he does things." I could physically see the green breath of the Reptid inside of the cage. None of us stuck around. Instead, we raced right by. I noticed a light, and used the chest behind it as an excuse to head through it. Inside was a set of Brave Greaves. I quickly caught up and was halfway into the room where the others had entered when an arm shot out and blocked my way.
"Hold up," Lowell said, retracting his arm. "We've gotta recon that enemy formation." They looked at me expectantly. I glanced at the enemies, over time I had learned to pay attention and by a simple look could tell you what the enemy was, whether it was a physical fighter, a mage, or a healer, and which of the six elements it was affiliated with.
"There's a mage in the middle of the back line," I whispered. "A healer's waiting right behind him. Lowell, don't use magic," I added as an afterthought.
"Recon's just as important when you're out on the pull! Don't you be forgetting it!" Lowell mockingly scolded, aloof grin on his face. I crept through the ruins, putting myself in a perfect position to attack the mage and healer. That was when I noticed that the enemy heal circle on the ground. After that I saw Lowell and Dagran fighting the Berserkers.
"Zael, draw the enemies' attention. We can win if we fight inside my Heal Circle," Mirania whispered. It was a good plan, but one that wouldn't work if we didn't take out the other circle. But to take out a magic circle we would need a strong breeze… It struck me that I could just use Gale to do it. Even if it didn't work, I would still be close enough to wipe out the healer. I took a good look at the battlefield and closed my eyes. Inside my head, I focused on that one circle. I opened my eyes to find the air around me tainted black with the healing spell and a very dizzy mage and healer. I stabbed the healer, retracting my blade as quickly as I could, while trying not to choke as the air cleared up. I quickly turned on the mage, giving it a fast slice on the shoulder before kicking it into the air and bringing it back down with my blade. I spun in time to block an attack coming from the two remaining Reptids. One of them came at me again, but this time I jumped backwards, leaving a Reptid who was stumbling around like an idiot. I used this opportunity to kick the Reptid in what I knew from experience to be its weak spot and watched it crumble. The others were already taken care of. I charged through the door, curious to see what the Reptids had been guarding.
"Careful, Zael!" Dagran shouted, entering right after me. Inside was a chained Ogre. This wasn't something that Reptids would guard unless they were planning to ambush somebody, and I had my suspicions of who that somebody was. I walked out to the middle of the room, just out of reach of the Ogre's spiked club. Or so I thought. When the Reptids came down, I wasn't surprised, in fact I had been expecting this. What I wasn't expecting was to be sent flying into the back wall. Dagran came over and helped me up. "Don't take it head-on!" he scolded. I could barely hear him over the ringing in my ears. "We've got to think of something." My world was slowly starting to come back into focus, although there was some darkness at the corner of my vision.
"What about that pillar?" I asked, pointing a shaky arm in what I thought was the general direction the pillar was in. I was beginning to see clearer, thanks to Mirania's heal circle. After I had stopped seeing two Dagrans, I continued. "It looks pretty important. If we destroyed it…" Hopefully, if we knocked it over it would land on the Ogre's head.
"Yes, that pillar! It's supporting the whole ceiling on its own." I couldn't tell if Dagran was being sarcastic or completely agreed with me. Maybe it was both.
"Lowell, can you take it down with some magic?" I said. Even though the room had stopped spinning, I still did not trust my aim to perform a shot that I only had one chance to perfect.
"Do I get extra pay for demolitions?" Lowell asked with a grin. He was already rising into the air. Lowell had almost finished the spell when I noticed Dagran in the middle of the room, battling a Reptid. He had known that if he was over there, he would get squashed, right? Not thinking I raced forward and yanked him away from the fight, barely dodging the club flying towards me. Ignoring the pain exploding in my head, I gave Dagran a hard shove towards Lowell and Mirania, not needing such a boost myself. I had almost made it past the condemned area when the world was plunged into darkness.
"Zael, are you alright?" I heard a voice asked as I awoke, which I recognized as Mirania's. I opened my eyes slowly, but they were still stabbed with light. I blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision.
"Zael's thick head can take anything," Lowell commented sarcastically.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that!" I said with a laugh that was quickly cut off with a rush of pain. I brought a hand to the back of my head but pulled it away quickly. Just touching my head made the throbbing in there worsen.
"More will come if we stand around," I heard Dagran say, although from where I was sitting I couldn't see him. Lowell helped me to my feet, and I saw what had knocked me out. Most of the ceiling was missing, exposing the room to the night sky. Around where I was sitting was some fresh blood splattered on some chunks of the rock ceiling, most likely coming from whatever injuries being hit by a falling chunk of ceiling gave me. I wondered for a second how long I had been unconscious.
"Thanks," I said.
"Zael, don't push yourself, okay? I've healed most of your injuries, but I don't want you hurting yourself worse," Mirania stated, her initial reaction fading to be replaced with worry.
"I'll be fine. I promise," I answered back. I could tell she was still concerned, she was always concerned about us, but was willing to leave the conversation at that. Dagran was standing guard by the exit. I walked over to him slowly so that the room wouldn't start spinning like it had when I had stood up. The next room was small and straightforward, much more like a hallway than a room. Dagran barged into through the door at the end of the short hallway. I followed closely behind, Mirania and Lowell coming in shortly after. On the ledge in front of us stood Zoran and a few remaining members of his crew.
"Hah!" he laughed out. "Still alive Pretty Boy?"
"A coward like you won't beat me," Dagran snapped back instantly. "Why not save some time and surrender now?"
"A coward? I prefer to call it being smart! And you've got to be smart to get anywhere in this life! A sword-waving idiot like you wouldn't understand." If looks could kill, Zoran would be suffering through a long and painful death from the glare Dagran was giving him. He wasn't even looking at me, and I could feel the waves of anger coming off of him. "You'll be nothing but a merc, crawling in the dirt for the rest of your stinkin' life!"
"You best watch your tongue before you lose it," Dagran replied coolly, starting to walk towards the ladders leading up to the ledge.
"No need to get so worked up. Here, something to help you unwind!" I could barely hear Zoran's cold laughter over the screeching of a part of the wall opened up and some sort of monster crawled out. Its face, if you could call it that, was nothing more than charcoal black skin covered in glowing purple lines. Its legs had the same pattern, and each of its four feet was nothing more than three purple claws. To top it off, the beast's body was covered in armor. Zoran walked away, still laughing.
"It looks like we can use those landings," Dagran muttered. "Zael! Get up there!" I raced past the others, walking up the steps that led to the one of the two landings that was on either side of the room. From my vantage point on the landing, I could see that the monster had outgrown its armor, as there was a spot on its back perfectly revealed. "How's it look? You should be able to reach it with your sword from there."
"We've got bandits as well, so be careful," I called back. I crouched down below the edge of the banister, waiting. Within moments, the weak spot of the monster was behind me. I turned to slash the beast, but seeing it rear up, dove to side instead. Sure enough, the Terracor, which I had quickly discovered the beast was called, came down where I had previously been sitting. With the attack came part of the banister and landing.
"Zoran… how the hell did he keep this thing hidden away?" I overheard Dagran mutter to himself. "Well he can't have kept it very-"
"Yeesss, get in!" I shouted, completing the slash I had prepared earlier. Luckily, Terracor was large enough that I was able to vault safely onto the opposite landing. I turned around to see the Terracor bouncing off of the walls. The floor beneath me shook as I raced down the steps to deal with one of the bandits due to the Terracor's rolling around. I attacked the bandit in front of me, grabbing him and knocking him out with a knee in the gut and a punch on his now-exposed neck. The bandit crumpled to the ground in front of me.
"Ha ha ha! He's stuck in the door!" Lowell laughed out. I turned to see that Lowell was right. The mighty beast had imprisoned itself within the wood door, leaving its stomach wide open for attack. I began to slash away at it, leaving numerous cuts along its belly and hind legs. Lowell quickly joined me in the relentless attacks.
"Now's our chance! Give it all you've got!" Dagran ordered, joining the two of us. We struck at it until it somehow managed to get free, nearly plowing the three of us over in the process. "Damn! Take cover!" I retreated back up the steps, the other bandit joining me. Below us, I saw Dagran attempt to strike the Terracor. "This thing's covered in armor! Gah, that's tougher than I thought!"
Up on the balcony, I had just finished knocking out the other bandit with the same maneuver I had performed on the first one.
"Ouch!" I shouted as the Terracor smacked me upside the head with its rocky hand. This time I was the one that crumpled. I lay still for a second, willing the dizziness to go away, before climbing back to my feet. I carefully lined up my next attack, planning on using the same strategy again.
"That armor… Doesn't it remind you of anything?" Mirania asked. I didn't really think about the question. Instead, I attacked the Terracor again.
"Here we go!" I shouted. I missed the banister this time when I jumped.
"It's spinning!" Mirania warned. Lowell and I dived to the side to avoid being crushed by the giant living rock.
"Not a fast learner, are you?" Dagran taunted, leaping down from where the platform he had managed to take refuge on. "Get it!" The three of us attacked again. Like before, the beast managed to pull itself free. Unlike before, it ran over Lowell, knocking him out and probably breaking something or other. I ran out into the danger zone, grabbed my fallen comrade, and retreated as fast as I could. I started to check for injuries, when I noticed that Lowell wasn't breathing. I felt a rage worse than my anger earlier start to build up within me. It was accompanied by worry and I was only too aware of the glowing blue circle. This… this thing killed my friend. Almost out of instinct, I reached down and placed my glowing hand on Lowell's chest. Just like with Syrenne, he leapt to his feet completely uninjured. Relief filled me, but I still took a few deep breaths to make sure I wouldn't have another outburst like before.
"Hey, Zael, what happened?" Lowell asked. I was about to answer, but before I could a shockwave rippled across the ground. Since we were on the stairs we managed to avoid it, but I was still very, very annoyed. Slinking back up the steps, I dodged every attack the beast attempted to throw at me. I clenched my blade and slashed at the beast. I landed perfectly on the rail. Watching quietly and calmly, I waited until the dumb rock-thing had gotten stuck in the door again before leaping down and racing in to attack.
"Waving your arse at me, eh? You're just asking for an icing!" Lowell declared, rising into the air. It didn't matter that Lowell had started the spell. I wouldn't need it. Before Dagran could even get across the room to join in, I had finished the Terrecor. It dissolved into the air along with the blue light. With the power boost gone, I felt exhaustion from all of the battles from today return and I very nearly collapsed right then and there. Still, I managed to stay on my feet. I turned around to see Dagran looking at me with surprise. He quickly recovered, although he did so slow enough that I was able to snatch some Wizard Slayers and what looked a lot like a Killer Cutter from the bandits. I'd have to ask that weapon shop guy…Horace about it later.
"Now, after Zoran!" Dagran ordered. He climbed up one of the two wood ladders stationed next to the hole where the Terracor had come out. I joined him on that side while Mirania and Lowell climbed up the other ladder. The four of us ran up the thin staircase in front of us to discover it lead to where we had been dropped. In front of us I could see Zoran. Breathing heavily from the long staircase, I raced into the room, Dagran stepping aside and walking towards the other door.
I stopped just inside of the room. Zoran turned at the sound of my panting, only to come face-to-face with my sword.
"Surrender Zoran!" I demanded. He fell down and started to back out of there. I didn't bother to pursue him.
"W-wait! Is it money? I'll give you all you want!" Zoran had managed to flip himself over and was now struggling to rise to his feet while running away. "Just… just let me live!" he begged. I saw Mirania enter out of the corner of my eye, but paid her no mind. Instead I watched the events unfold as Zoran finally managed to get to his feet, only to crash into a brick wall called Dagran and fall back to the floor.
"So we're down to begging are we?" Dagran asked with a hint of disgust in his voice. "Why don't you crawl over here and lick my boots? Then we'll talk!" Zoran started to climb back to his feet at Dagran's words. "Well, my fists'll do most of the talking." I noticed that Mirania had picked up a frying pan and was walking towards the retreating Zoran. I didn't notice her plan, however, until she slammed the pan onto Zoran's head with a grunt.
"Take that, you awful man!" Mirania said to him. Dagran looked at the unconscious figure and the dropped frying pan before walking inside the room to join us.
"Mirania just saved your life," Dagran told him. "You won't be so lucky next time." There was a clinking of bottles behind me. I turned to see Lowell fishing through the shelves behind us.
"Let's see… Ha, got it!" Lowell said, holding up a small green bottle with a white lid. Mirania let out a laugh, while I only smiled. The four of us walked out the way we came, not bothering to shut the entrance to the secret room on our way out. We set out for the tavern, happy to find that the guards had stopped the search for me and Lisa at last.
Second time doing this. First time didn't work Just got two things to say. 1. Sorry for taking so long to update. 2. Guess who inspired the voice in Zael's head. Hint: It's a Nintendo Wii/GameCube game. I'll try to update faster next time. Sayonara!