Chapter 8: The Watcher
Miria remained impassive as the guard entered the chamber and took in the scene.
Some glanced at the bodies but soon most their gazes stayed on her sword and eyes.
OF all the guards with fearful expressions only the guard they had met at the gate, Greg, stepped forwards apparently unfearful.
"You two are under arrest for using false identities, and for the suspected murder of Benalian Citizens" Greg stated, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
Osrik's eyes widened "Murder?! Of whom?!!" Osrik demanded, glaring at the guard appalled.
"For the murder of Molimo Zurgriks, and three women, and also for entering this city under with a false identity." Greg stated sternly glancing at Miria's blade.
"What!! You can be serious; it was the yoma that did this!!" he exclaimed gesturing at the corpse on the ground.
"Regardless of the circumstances you are both still suspects, come along quietly or we will use force if necessary" Greg warned pulling his sword an inch out of its scabbard.
Miria had expected this sort of response, and glanced around the chamber for an exit.
Apart from the door the guards came in, Zurgriks' back room was completely sealed.
She saw two ways they could do this. One would be to make a run for it knocking away the guards blocking the exit.
This would cause a massive hunt to capture them within the city, most certainly alarming the other yoma.
Or, they could allow themselves to be captured and try to negotiate their way out of the jail.
Miria saw little hope of this, seeing the nervous expressions on the soldiers faces as they looked at her.
She noticed Osrik cast Jonar, the guard who had helped them, a pleading glance.
But the guard simply put on a grim expression and slowly shook his head.
Seeing he would get no help, Osrik sighed "...fine." he stated.
He dropped his scythe on the floor in front of him, and gestured for Miria to do the same with her blade.
Reluctantly, Miria let the sword drop to the stone floor with a loud metallic clang.
A few hours later they found themselves sitting in a small prison cell.
Their trial had been set for tomorrow, so until then they had to wait.
As they waited Osrik began whispering when the guard wasn't paying attention.
"Have you recovered from your injuries?" he asked with a touch of concern in his voice.
Not wanting to alert the guard with her not so discreet voice, she simply nodded to his question.
Seeing her affirmation he continued "Good, the effects of those pills should have completely worn off by now. Are you ready to finish this job?"
Puzzled by his comment she nodded, now staring at him across the darkened room.
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Seeing Miria nod, Osrik turned to check on the position of the guard.
There was only one guard stationed in this section of the prison hall this late at night.
Currently the guard was roving back and forth across the hall and their cell entrance.
Although he could probably pick the lock with his hidden set of tools in his cloak (which they conveniently forgot to search due to worrying about Miria), the guard would most certainly walk by their cell again before he could finish.
He wasn't comfortable using this trick in front of others, but saw no other way to avoid detection.
Looking out into the hall, his eyes darted across the shadow until he found one that was sufficiently big enough.
Timing the guards pace, he waited until just after he had crossed their cell.
Immediately closing his eyes and concentrating on the form of the shadow beside him, he felt his form begin to blur.
The cold empty feeling that enveloped him informed him of his progress.
As he floated through the darkness he was blind, deaf, and mute.
Still keeping the image of the shadow in the hall in his mind, he propelled himself forward with his will.
Soon he saw a light in his mind's eye, as he kept moving towards his destination the light grew larger.
Soon he stood in front of a portal rimmed with light with a picture of the hall in its center.
Steeling himself for what he was going to do, he plunged himself through the portal.
Osrik emerged though the outer shadow, directly behind the guard.
Silently sneaking behind the guard, he picked up a loose stone on the ground.
Striking the back of the guards at a certain point, the guard collapsed with a dull thud.
Gingerly grabbing the key's to avoid any noise; he padded back towards his cell.
Miria stood watching him with a mix of shock and suspicion; he knew an explanation would be needed.
'First thing first' Osrik thought, as he unlocked the door for her.
"I'll explain later, for now let's get out of here and finish this job" he whispered reading her expression.
Miria whispered as quietly as he suspected she could "I sensed the yoma in this building a few minutes after we arrived, but it was very faint."
'So it's been hiding under their noses the whole time." Osrik thought as he signalled for Miria to follow him.
After a moment she nodded and they quietly made their way out of the jail hall.
If the yoma is here we'll need our weapons Osrik thought as they neared a turn in the hall.
Raising his closed in the air, signalling for Miria to stop, he glanced around the sharp turn in the hall.
Seeing no guards he signalled for her to follow and led them up a flight of stairs to ground level.
He vaguely recalled passing something like an armoury on the way here, which would be a good place to start.
After going down three corridors, they finally came to two large iron doors.
Osrik tried to open the old doors but the weight and rust made it difficult.
He shrugged and cast a glance at Miria.
Walking up to the door, she pulled it open as if it weighed nothing at all.
'Remind me never to get on her bad side' Osrik noted as they entered to armoury.
Once inside they searched through a pile of confiscated weapons and found theirs.
Now armed, they made their way towards the exit; it would be too easy for the yoma to surprise them here.
They came to what looked to be a flight of stone stairs leading upwards.
As they cleared the stairs, his stomach grew cold at the scene before him.
Half a dozen guards lay strewn across the main hall of the prison, their bodies mutilated by what looked to be brute force.
What was left of some of their battered face told him that they had been caught off guard, too late to form a defence.
"Can you sense anything nearby?" he whispered to Miria, keeping his eyes on the dark corners of the room.
She shook her head once; most likely it was hiding its yoki to get the jump on them.
Osrik's mind worked to piece together what had happened, no doubt the work of the yoma.
From the way it had killed these men outright, it most likely had no intention of hiding anymore.
'A farewell feast eh?' Osrik thought with disgust, glancing at the mess of flesh and blood in front of him.
Cautiously they made their way through the bloody hall, at the far end stood their goal, the exit.
'Finally' he thought, relieved to be out of the deathtrap the prison had become.
While he was enjoying this momentary relief, he didn't notice the spear until it was too late.
As he saw the flying wooden shaft two feet away from him, he knew he couldn't react fast enough.
Clang! The piece of wood bounced harmlessly off of Miria's claymore, which had shielded him.
"Thanks" he replied, while pulling out his scythe and getting into a defensive posture.
"Who's there?" he called looking down the corridor the spear had come from.
Greg stepped into the room with his sword in hand and a grim look on his face.
"You two are now also under arrest for the murder Benalian guards, please surrender quietly." He intoned while keeping an eye on each of them.
Feeling rage and outrage at the Greg's accusation, Osrik forced himself to stay calm.
"Sir, listen to me carefully. We-Did-Not-Do-This-The-Yoma-Did." He explained, slowly pronouncing each word hoping the guard would listen.
"Yoma, yoma, that's all you ever say. Get a new excuse because I won't fall for that trick." Greg shot back, pointing his sword at Osrik.
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As soon as Greg had finished, Jonar appeared from an adjacent hallway.
"Greg what's going on?!! Most of the guards here are dead?" Jonar exclaimed eyeing the dead bodies.
"Stay calm Greg, I've caught the suspects give me a hand here." Greg answered keeping his blade pointed at them.
Jonar moved to join Greg, but Miria noticed he didn't have his weapon.
'Where is his sword?' She thought keeping her eye on the guard.
As if reading her thoughts Greg voiced her question "Jonar where's you blade?"
"I'm afraid I left it behind." Jonar replied moving closer to Greg.
"Left it behind?! Where?" Greg stated angrily without taking his eyes off of them.
"By this one's corpse!" was Jonar's only response as he sprang forward exploding into a mass of green, bulging muscles.
Being the only one who can sense yoki, Miria reacted to the sudden movement..
The yoma sailed past her and Osrik and made a beeline for Greg.
Launching herself forward, she realized she wouldn't make it in time.
Now seeing the beast, Greg brought up sword in an attempt to repel the attack.
The yoma simply smacked the blade out of his hands without breaking its stride.
With its spare clawed hand, it tore five long gashes along Greg's torso.
Crimson fluid spilled from Greg's wounds, staining his white uniform.
Miria reached the yoma before it could deliver a finishing blow, pinning both of its hands with her blade.
It had its claws blocked by her blade and vice versa, both were pushing against each other for leverage.
Her strength and the beasts were about equal, this was no ordinary yoma.
This yoma had moss green skin, with small gold eyes embedded in its eye sockets.
While its body was about average height for a yoma, it was clear this one possessed a good amount of muscle.
"He he. Not bad, but not good enough." It snarled gleefully as it twisted its hand a bit.
Miria realized what the yoma was planning, but its weight had her pinned down.
The fingertips of the claw that now faced her became sharper and elongated towards her quickly.
Miria pivoted, allowing the tips to imbed themselves in her torso instead of her head.
Pain exploded in her brain as the fingers penetrated her flesh and burrowed their way inside.
But she knew that her maneuver had made it so she couldn't dodge the second strike.
Noticing this yoma gloated "I wonder how long can you keep this up eh little miss claymore?"
Before it could deliver the deathblow, a scythed-hand appeared in the shadow under its arm.
With a moment similar to that of a whip, the scythe whipped around and sliced deep cuts into the yoma's arm.
After the movement was complete, the appendage sunk back into the yoma's underarm shadow.
"What the hell?" The yoma exclaimed, and backing away startled.
That was all that Miria needed.
Now no longer under the yoma's weight, she rotated her blade so the edge faced upwards.
Realizing its mistake, the yoma turned its attention back to her, just in time to see her blade bisect it down the middle.
Staring at the corpse for a moment she turned her attention to Osrik, he seemed to be in the exact same spot as when the yoma first attacked.
She then noticed his scythe blade, which was varnished in purple liquid.
She had seen him do this before in their prison cell but she didn't know how he did it.
Releasing some of her yoki to heal the wound, she then proceeded to sheath her blade.
Osrik started moving towards Greg, checking to see if he was alive.
The guard groaned as he opened his eyes, and looked up at them.
Seeing the blood freely following from him, Osrik tied a rag to Greg's wounds.
Clutching a hand over the rags, Greg sat up and took in the scene including the yoma corpse.
"Are you alright?" Osrik asked as if the man had been his friend.
Greg looked at him and for a moment looked as if he was deep in thought.
His face then cleared and he clenched teeth "...Get out." he said finally.
"Excuse me?" Osrik asked in a confused tone.
"I SAID, GET OUT!!! BOTH OF YOU ARE BANISHED FROM THIS CITY, FOREVER!!!" he yelled red faced, pointing at Osrik and Miria.
Miria expected a reaction out of Osrik, but instead he just nodded once and got up to leave.
"Let's go", he said walking past her to the front door of the prison.
They made a small detour to the inn to collect their things and headed to the front gate.
As they walked through the gate Benalia, Osrik turned and looked back.
He stared for a moment before turning back and continuing down the path.
"Something tells me it's going to be hard to get Zurgriks to pay now." He said with a mixture of satisfaction and annoyance.
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Sorry this chapter took so long my laptop was in the shop, I'll see if I can keep up a egualr pace from here on in thought. As always please R&R.
Until next chapter: Twin Destinies
