Chapter 11
Vince screamed in agony as the talons of the leader of the SSC pierced his flesh. Blood was staining Vince's clothes. He couldn't see straight, everything was a blur. The leader only laughed, along with the other members on the bridge.
"Ready to talk now?" the leader asked.
Even though he didn't know anything about the wall, Vince knew he couldn't leak any information. "N-no, I'm not s-saying anything…."
"Very well then." The leader replied, and pushed his talons deeper into Vince's body. "Now?"
"NO!!" Vince yelled, as loud as he could, the pain overwhelming him. The leader flinched.
"Hm. Usually they submit. Well, I suppose we have to kill you." He pulled his talons out of Vince and pointed to the large Iv. "You, make sure he dies as slowly as possible."
"My pleasure," the Iv said with as much malice as he could. He walked over and raised his right arm, the point of the bone sticking out looking especially sharp.
Dammit, Vince thought, what can I do?! I'm going to die!
Even through all of the pain, Vince remembered his training with Virgil. His face! The Iv was cocky and didn't seem to notice that even though Vince was in great pain, he wasn't harmless. The soft skin of his face was exposed. Vince felt around behind him and grabbed the hilt of his sword. The blade was broken, but the tip was still sharp.
Right before the Iv tried to stab Vince, the human swiped his stub of a sword across his face, spilling even more blood all over Vince.
"SHIT! NO! MY EYES!!" the Iv roared at a deafening volume. "I'M BLIND!!" He stumbled backwards into the other SSC members, knocking them over. He got back up, swinging his right ar at Vince as the human got up. His situation still didn't seem much better. Come on! he thought to himself, There's got to be something you can do! He couldn't make it past them or go back, they'd just chase him in their chariot. While Vince was trying to think of a plan, he had walked backwards into the side of the bridge. That's when his idea came to him. While the blind Iv was still getting closer, Vince started slashing at the ropes suspending the bridge.
"Stop him! Stop the filthy human!" the leader ordered, but it was too late. Vince had cut through several ropes already, and the weight of all of the creatures on the bridge was too much. It gave away, sending the SSC leader, the blinded Iv, the rest of the members, and Vince plummeting into the abyss below.
Hours passed. Vince awoke to the sound of rushing water, and opening his eyes, he noticed he was floating down a river. Weakly, he pulled himself onto the bank. His shoulder felt like it was on fire. Blood was still seeping out, and he felt dizzy. He sat down on the bank, and tore a long length of his shirt off to rap around his shoulder to stop the bleeding.
Vince looked around, and found his sword being carried off by the water. He snatched it out of the river, just in case any members of the SSC had survived the fall. He walked along the edge of the river, in the direction he thought the Tril city was in. Along the way, he found some bodies of the SSC members, but none of them were the leader or the blind Iv. Vince wondered if they had been carried off by the river.
After a few minutes, he saw a small Vuul with its back toward Vince. As he got closer, he thought it was a male, as they were smaller than the females.
It was just standing there, looking at a large rock on the wall of the cliff. It noticed Vince and growled, then quickly ran away. Vince decided to take a closer look at the rock it was staring at. He noticed it could probably be moved with enough force. He started pushing on it, but the strain on his injured shoulder was too great.
Exhausted, Vince sat on the bank of the river. Suddenly, Vince could hear something running towards him. He quickly stood up, and raised his small weapon. But it was only the male Vuul he had seen earlier. Behind it was a Gode, but it wasn't wearing a sash and didn't appear injured in any way. The mark on its chest was an x with strange designs on it. It reminded Vince of Telemachus' symbol.
"Ah, this is what you saw," the Gode said to the Vuul, in an accent that sounded Italian. "Good work, Apollo."
Vince, puzzled, asked, "Who are you?"
"Hello, surfacer. I'm surprised I didn't meet you at the palace. I am King Telemachus' son, Aegeus," he stuck out a hand, and Vince shook it. "You are Vince, yes? Orestes told me about you."
"Yes, I'm Vince. Why are you out here?"
"My father sent me out looking for you. My tracking skills are phenomenal."
"Why did he want to look for me?"
He leaned a bit closer and said, "My father is suspicious about Hypnos, who is a high ranking officer in the Iv army. Personally, I think Hypnos is a great person, but I'd rather be safe. When I saw that the bridge was out, I got worried and decided to search down here."
Apollo, Aegeus' pet Vuul, was rubbing himself against the leg of his owner. Aegeus looked to him and said "What is it?" Apollo ran over to the rock he had been looking at earlier. "Ah, I see," Aegeus said, "Nice work. I've also been looking for traces of a SSC hideout, and I think this may be it."
He went over to the rock, and with surprising strength, he moved the rock out of the way so a tunnel appeared where the rock used to be. Above the tunnel, SSC was carved into the side of the cliff.
"Well, let's go in." Aegeus said to Vince. "Apollo, stay out here and tell me if there's any trouble out here."
Aegeus went into the dark tunnel, and Vince followed, sword raised. There was dust everywhere, and a musty smell. If this was a hideout, it must have been abandoned sometime ago.
Eventually they came to a large opening, with papers all over the floor. Tacks holding nothing up were all over a wooden board leaning on a wall. Aegeus walked over to it and picked up the one piece of paper that was on the board. It appeared to be a map of the Sacred Land, at the top it said: Location of New Hideout.
"Perfect," Aegeus muttered. "Just what I was looking for." He looked over the papers on the floor, and exclaimed, "A member list! Wonderful! Even the leader's name is here!"
Before Vince could ask who it was, a loud bark was heard outside. "What was that?" he asked.
"Damn, I think it was Apollo," Aegeus replied. "I'll go see what it is."
"OK, I'll wait here."
He went back down the tunnel again. Vince heard loud sounds as if there were a struggle, and a yelp from Apollo. Vince didn't know what to do. He had no doubt Aegeus could handle himself, and Vince's shoulder hurt badly just when he raised it, but Aegeus could use the help.
Against his better judgment, Vince set off down the tunnel to help out the Gode prince.