Breath of Fire 2: The Destined Child
Chapter Thirteen: Den of Thieves
New Haven – Katt's Perspective
It was pouring down rain this morning when I woke up; out the window, it looked like somebody was just dumping buckets of water, so it was no disappointment when Bow announced that we wouldn't be heading to Hometown until it dried up a bit. The sound of thunder clapping is what woke me up, and a moment later my room burst with brightness from a bolt of lightning, and I was wide awake. Thankfully it was morning when that happened, a bit earlier than I usually got up, but too late to drift off to sleep again.
I wasn't the only one awake, in the bathroom, I smiled a bit to myself when I saw Patty there, dabbing some kind of salve on her eye where I hit her the previous day. It was something that I saw a lot in the coliseum, a healing balm; it helped revitalize minor injuries, and moments later the dark blue bruise vanished. She glanced over in my direction, and then away; so, the silent treatment, that was fine with me, I didn't like her much, so having her not talk to me would be perfectly fine with me.
A moment later she had vanished, and I had this enormous bathroom all too myself. It was a relaxing half hour later that I joined everyone down in the common area for breakfast, and Bow announced that we weren't going anywhere today, and we could enjoy a peaceful day here. I assumed that he would want to get himself cleared, and was looking forward to us being rid of that annoying thief, Patty, but he seemed to be alright with us just spending the day here, and it didn't seem so bad, they did a great job building us a new place to live.
It was a testament to how big the room was that even with everyone here, it wasn't crowded. The six of us, the thief, and even the two shamans and their grandmother were all here, and there was still room at the table. Breakfast smelled good, and when I sat down between Nina and the red headed shaman, Sana, there was a fair share of food made.
"You and the carpenters did a great job on this house for us, Bow. I'm surprised that they appreciated what we did for them in Captaina to put this much into the town; it must have cost a fortune. It's grown a lot in just a couple weeks" Nina said.
"It wasn't all them, someone has been shipping building materials over here since you guys left. Have you noticed the room up on your floor that is locked?" Bow asked her.
We both tried to go in last night, but it wouldn't budge, and there was no handle. Somehow a room had been built here without Bow's participation, and by somebody else, and an S was emblazoned on the door; neither of us had any idea what it stood for. "I was curious about that, Bow" Nina started. "How is that room getting built if no one can even go in? It seemed to be sealed by magic, and I heard voices from there this morning, but didn't notice anyone coming up since last night."
"Wish I could tell you, Nina, not even the carpenters have any idea what's behind that door, and how it's getting built, but there are sounds of people working there. I tried knocking, no one answered, there was no lock to pick, and I don't know who sealed the door, but it's some powerful magic preventing us from going in, way out of my league."
Their conversation gave me something to think about. This place was home, and somehow, some mysterious magician forced their way onto Nina and my floor; perhaps I was being selfish, but I didn't really want to share with someone that I didn't know, but if it was sealed with magic, that was Nina's territory, she could figure out what was there soon.
"I'll look into it today, Bow" she said after a moment, and then turned back to her breakfast. She had fallen deep into thought, as she often did, and would provide little conversation while she was thinking things over. Bow turned his attention to Ryu, saying he was in no rush to get back to Hometown right now, having everyone here had made the town a lot livelier; Ryu however said that Patty wasn't going to be docile for long; she would probably get sick of waiting here and try to escape soon. Good luck with that, little thief I thought, I would make sure she didn't get far till we cleared Bow's name.
Patty was down at the end of the table beside Rand, and sitting across from Ryu. She was talking to the big guy about something, I couldn't hear, but she seemed to have taken a liking to him since we caught her. I was trying to hear what they were saying, but their voices were too low, and a second later, the red haired shaman elbowed me in the side, hard.
"Hey, kitten" she said when I turned and glared angrily at her. "I heard you're quite the fighter from our little winged friend over there," she said nodding at Patty. "I've been looking for a sparring partner since Shinny left us. How about we kill some time after breakfast and I show you some martial arts?"
I pretended to think about it for a moment, but was eager to show her a thing or two. She was another one that made a bad first impression with me, I guess I was over being mad at Ryu for wandering off with her, but she was another one like Patty that seemed cocky, but unlike the thief, she was willing to get into a fight so I could put her in her place. Nina looked over, and smirked, she had come to know I enjoyed a good fight, and the shaman bugged us both by taking Ryu away with her shameless flirting.
Soon breakfast was over, and it was still pouring out. Sana, who had spent a lot more time here than any of us, led me down to the basement where a dojo had been made, and I glanced around in appreciation.
"After they finished building our house, I was able to talk some of the boys into a few additions to this place. I like fighting, and Bow mentioned that you used to be a big hit in Corsair, so I figured we could get some use out of a place to hone our skills. My sister had them work on a library and something else; I kinda lost interest when she started babbling about books. Men are pretty easy to wrap around your finger, if you know what you're doing...little free advice for you there, kiddo."
She started off doing something nice, and then switched to an unwanted criticism. I was looking forward to hurting her a bit, just because I didn't flaunt my body to get what I wanted like she did. She began stretching and doing some warm ups, and I did the same. A moment later, Sten and Bow came down to join us, I wasn't expecting company, but it would be good for the two of them to watch her lose some of her over confidence. However, as I watched her for a moment, I could tell she was quite agile, and knew her techniques. We both put on heavily padded gloves so we wouldn't hurt each other, and I picked up my staff, walking onto the mats, but she stopped me.
"No, we're not using weapons, little kitten" she mocked. "I'm just here to test your hand to hand skills, no staff." Fighting without my staff wasn't something I was used to, I always used a weapon, and having to put it off the side threw me off a bit. It wasn't that I wasn't trained, I was just used to having it with me, oh well, and I would still teach her a lesson.
"Sure you're ready?" she asked, and I just nodded. She was quick, throwing a series of jabs at me before attempting to trip me, but it was an obvious starter, get me on the defensive and change attack point. I leaped over it easily and grabbed onto her shoulders, flipping over and driving both my feet into her shoulders, she tumbled forward, but quickly rolled to her feet.
"Nice move, and here I thought you were going to fight like a girly girl" she said, and I felt myself getting angry again. "I may have to actually try with you, kitten."
I jumped at her, but she dodged and swept my feet out from under me before I fully landed, and I was face first on the mat. Spinning my legs around to hit her if she was near, I was on my feet again and aimed a few roundhouses at her, but a second later found myself on my back again. Punching the mat in frustration, I hurried to get up again and tried to tackle her, thinking if we were both on the ground, I would take her out easily. It seemed sound, but she was practically dancing around avoiding me, laughing in a mocking tone.
Once...Twice more, she knocked me off my feet, and then stopped. "I think we should probably stop for a bit, you're getting all angry there, Katt" she said to me when I flipped up, and I felt my face all red, and my tail swinging wildly. "That temper is something you should work on, it's just a friendly match, but I noticed it's easy to get you worked up, so we should call it for now."
I wanted to snap at her, but having lost to Ryu in a match, and now the cocky shaman who I wanted to teach a lesson, bested me, somewhat. After a moment of thinking about it, I figured she might be right, I really wanted to attack her, let her leave a bit bruised, but allowed myself to calm down for a few moments. "All right, but no more calling me kitten, or kiddo, I hate that, and you're not that much older than I am…though you look it" I said, suddenly thinking of a way to get under her skin.
She just smiled at that. "Nice try, but I'm not as easy to enrage as you Worens. Anyways, I'll be down here quite a bit, so try and practice too if you don't want to eat the mat as much next time."
New Haven – Bow's Perspective
I had wanted to clear my name ever since that unfortunate night at Trout's, hoping that when Ryu caught the girl who stole from him, and brought her back, I wouldn't have to worry about hiding anymore. After meeting her, I was beginning to realize that my freedom meant that hers would be gone. She seemed to not worry about what was coming, almost as if it were something of little consequence. Getting to spend time around her, she wasn't what I expected, Patty seemed like a loner type, and had that confidence of someone who could do her job well, better alone that working with others. At the same time though, she wasn't coming across as the type of person who would consider others less important. She was angry when they first arrived, but today seemed far more welcoming at breakfast.
My mind kept wandering as I stood off to the side while Sten, Katt and Sana were practicing new combat techniques with each other. It reminded me of the few times I observed Ryu practicing with a few fellow Rangers. They each wrapped their hands in thick pads so they wouldn't actually injure one another while practicing. Each of the three had a different style; Katt took a more direct approach hitting the more obvious points against her opponent, face, chest or midsection, but she dodged easily and almost danced around whoever she was fighting against. Sten was nimble, and was holding back by the looks of it, he would strike at joints like the knee or ankle, places that may cripple if he was putting his full force into it, and it made me think he would be a deadly person to let close in a fight. Sana was good at defending and countering, she would block until an opening presented itself, and then strike out to knock whoever she was against off their feet. This seemed like the kind of activity Ryu would be interested in, and I was beginning to wonder where he was.
For a while when the three of them were training, I was keeping my own abilities honed. Targets moved about on the far wall quickly making it difficult to hit for an amateur, but I had spent some time here already and found it was greatly improving my ability to hit them in the center even having the second to adjust before they were in a new location. After about an hour I decided it was time to leave here for now, there were things to prepare for when we did go back to Hometown, even if it was going to be a short trip there and back.
The storm finally let up before the evening, which meant we would have time to get to Hometown without worrying about night catching up to us. Rand and Sten decided to just wait here for our return. They claimed it was to just relax here, but I was betting that the two shaman girls had something to do with them wanting to stay in New Haven, and couldn't blame them.
Katt was in a cheerful mood now that she let off some of her steam while practicing with Sana and Sten for a while. Nina seemed deep in thought, as usual, and was quiet, as usual. I was wondering why they were joining us, but after we set out, I was glad they did.
An outpost was set up not far from Mount Fubi, running from the lake across to the base of the mountain, and manning it were about twenty mercenaries that, as we approached, looked at the wanted poster of me, and smiled greedily.
New Haven – Ryu's Perspective
The heavy storm died down to a light shower by late afternoon, and soon five of us were ready to make the trip to Hometown. In the month since we left him here, Bow seemed to be keeping himself busy training – probably out of boredom, but he had improved a lot in a short time. Katt decided to come to keep an eye on Patty. They were quite different, much as like and Nina, but they got off to a bad start. Nina wanted to return to Hometown just to let her former mentor know she was alright, but, like Bow, I didn't think she considered that place her home any longer.
The trip back to Hometown was leaving me with an uneasy feeling. We arrived back to New Haven by ship so did not cross the plains from Mount Fubi to Hometown, and therefore did not encounter Trout's guards on the way, but they were plentiful now. A large outpost had been set up with the wanted poster of Bow's picture and a reward for his capture. They didn't want to allow us to pass with him, insisting we hand over the fugitive to their custody, and when we refused, they became violent. Trout's guards didn't seem that intelligent before, but now seemed to be driven by a fierce greed. I was carrying the Dragon's Tear now, and around their presence, the jewel in the middle was a dark orange, nearly red. Though I didn't fully understand everything about it, a darker color like this usually meant that the person would have dark intentions – though it would be easy to tell after a moment interacting with them.
"Hand over the thief, Bow, unless you plan on opposing Lord Trout's orders to capture him." He demanded.
"Hate to tell you this, chump" Katt said to him "but, you've been searching for the wrong thief all this time, Patty here is the one who robbed Trout's place, and we're going to see him now to clear things up, so move it."
Rather than moving out of the way, a few more approached to block our way with their weapons drawn. "That reward will be ours; I suggest you do as we told you if you don't want you and your little friends to get hurt, fur ball."
He barely finished speaking when her staff swung around and sent him flying about ten feet away from where he stood. The other guards took action, and surrounded her, but she was nimble, and dodged several of them easily, and I quickly evened the odds taking a few of the mercenaries' focus. Nina cast a few spells that burned their weapons, or sent them flying hard against the wall of the outpost, and Bow stayed near her, fighting off any that got close, and disarming a few with his crossbow, but was careful not to injure them much. Patty just avoided the fight, easily moving out of the way if one focused on her. Katt was fierce in battle, her staff connecting hard against their head or striking their exposed chests with enough force to send them flying through the air. Twenty to four, unskilled, inexperienced and slow, soon all of them were knocked unconscious.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side, Katt" Bow said to her with a chuckle.
"I hate being called fur ball, and these jerks had it coming anyway" she replied smiling.
As we got closer to Hometown, I found that Patty's eyes ventured to the Dragon's Tear a few times, but she would look away when I caught her glaring at it. Katt was keeping an eye on her too, probably looking for another reason to hit her again, she took enjoyment from it the previous time, I could tell, and seemed full of energy after fighting.
Finally we arrived back at Hometown, but it felt different from the last time I was here, no longer a welcoming city. At the main entrance was the same guard who allowed me to leave with Bow before, but he looked shocked that we returned. He was accompanied by two others in the same uniform that Trout's guards wore, but they weren't the only ones, a great number of guards in the same uniform now occupied the town, on streets, at the entrances, in front of the stores, the magic academy; in short, Hometown no longer felt like a friendly place, and more like an untrusting community. The two with us escorted us to Trout's mansion, and I could feel the townspeople looking at Bow with anger, hatred and disapproval, he was a criminal to them now, responsible for the changes to their once beloved home.
Trout was a larger man, slightly heavy, but dressed in fancy clothing that was probably custom made for him. He wore several gold chains and bracelets and rings, and a gold embroidered red smoking that matched the rest of his outfit. A greedy smile crossed his face when he saw that he had Bow now in his custody.
"So, this is the thief who broke in last month and got past all my security, I must admit, I am impressed that you demonstrated such skill, you look like the last person I would expect to be able to steal from me, not exactly a thief's build, my portly Ranger." He was saying as he circled around Bow, looking over him.
"Actually, that's why we're here; Bow isn't the one who robbed you. You've been chasing after the wrong person" I told him, though as I said it, I felt the Dragon's Tear grow cold again, and didn't really like the idea of turning anyone over to him, but at this point there was little choice. "It seems Patty here was the one who took from your treasure room, Bow was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were able to bring her and your lost possessions back. Don't worry; the Rangers will make sure she is dealt with lawfully."
His eyes turned to her, and he began circling her as he was Bow a moment ago. "Well, this is more like what I was expecting, limber, agile; she looks like the type that would be able to get past my defences, and she'll do nicely. Guards, escort these fools out and take her to the cellar."
"I don't think I feel comfortable with her being left here" I started, the look in his eyes was leaving me uneasy "It's the job of the Rangers here to deal with those who break the law here, if you don't like it, you can take it up with Elder Mason."
Just then, I noticed that we were joined by far more of Trout's guards, ten more joining us in the main lobby here. "Foolish Ranger, do you really think I would leave such a skilled thief in your hands? Just be grateful that I don't lock you and your flea bitten friend up along with her. Now, I suggest that you follow my guards out of my home before I change my mind."
"Wait, you can't just leave me here, Trout collects thieves and makes them steal for him, Ryu, he has a dungeon where he keeps them locked up" Patty said suddenly.
One of the guards stepped forward and slapped her across the face. "Shut up thief, you will not spread your filthy lies here."
Katt looked ready to hit him, and I was feeling the same way, my hand on my sword.
"I assure you, I do not have a dungeon full of thieves stealing for me, I suggest that since your work here is finished, you depart before I decide to have you locked up for disturbing my home."
I would have words with the Elder about this, but for now, we were lead to the door by an escort of armed guardsmen. It wasn't far from his mansion that they turned and went back, leaving us in the darkening street.
"I don't like this, buddy" Bow said once we were away from the guards. "Since when is Trout the one who locks people up, and where did all those guards come from?"
"Bow? What are you doing here, they're looking for you" whispered a voice behind us. It was Kilgore, the man who originally hired Bow to break into Trout's home.
"Kilgore, it's alright, I haven't been caught. Ryu here and his friends caught the real thief, but there's a problem."
He just nodded, "follow me; it's not really safe talking about this in the open anymore."
Kilgore led us to his home where he locked the door behind us and we followed to his dining room. "I'm glad you're back safely, but there's something funny going on in Hometown since you left here a month ago. First, tell me what happened at Trout's, if you don't mind."
Bow recanted the story from having to fight past the mercenaries at the outpost wanting the reward for his capture to having Trout's guards now at the entrance to Hometown and then continued on to meeting with him at his mansion and having to leave Patty there.
"It's not surprising, the majority of guards now are under Trout's control, he's hired many of them to work for him instead of for the town now, and many more have been appearing since you escaped. They outnumber the Rangers now, and when someone crosses Trout, he decides what happens to them. I was hoping that you would have found proof that Trout stole from me, but when you were caught, I was more worried about you getting away safely than anything else."
"So, he actually could have had us locked up for opposing him?" Nina asked
"It actually brings me to my next point, I believe what Patty said to him was correct, that Trout has many thieves working for him, and was hoping that I could ask you a favour."
"What is it?" Bow asked.
"I want you to break into Trout's mansion and see if you can find where he has the thieves locked up. I know I have no right to ask this of you, especially after causing you, and Ryu so much trouble, but I just feel that if we don't find out what Trout is up to, something bad is going to happen here."
"Oddly, I have the same feeling. When we were there, he just gave me the creeps; there is something not right about him. I'll head back in tonight, before he has any more time to cover his tracks."
"So, you agree to do this, Bow?" he asked, nervously.
"Of course, I never back down from saving a damsel in distress. If I get caught this time though, I'll be in real trouble, so I better be careful." He walked over to where I was sitting. "I caused real trouble here by trying to break into Trout's place, buddy; it's up to me to go clean it up. I'll make sure that I get Patty out of there; she probably would've gotten out too without being caught. I promise that I won't do anything stupid this time to alert the guards."
"I'm coming with you this time Bow" I told him to his surprise. "There is something about Trout that I don't trust, and you might need someone to watch your back."
He offered thanks for my support, and we began planning out how we would break in that night. Kilgore somehow got a set of blueprints for Trout's home, however large parts were left unfinished according to the layout, and he suspected others were hired to finish those sections. A few lock picking devices, ropes, smoke pellets that Bow made and other thieving tools were loaded into a backpack for him, and soon Katt and Nina wished us good luck as we departed.
Trout's Mansion – Bow's Perspective
I stayed in the shadows as Ryu crept closer to the guard, and with a solid blow against the back of his helmet, the guard was knocked unconscious. He could move stealthy when he wanted to, but he rarely felt the need to hide his presence, this time he thought it necessary and I found myself glad to have him along, instead of Katt or Nina who I wasn't sure could do this task as quietly, and I also wouldn't want to get them involved and cause trouble for them.
As he dragged the guard out of the way, I proceeded to work on our entrance.
"There, got it, buddy" I whispered to him. Last time I went through the front door, this time was no different, and Trout had done nothing to change the security. I wondered how Patty made it inside, the door was still locked, when I entered and she probably went through a window or some other less accessible way. A small click and the door opened a tiny bit granting us access inside.
It was as deserted as before, and with only a little light coming in from outside, I took a moment to adjust, but Ryu took the lead, he seemed to have good vision even in this kind of darkness. We were both soundlessly moving through the main floor; Kilgore had several hunches where a dungeon could have been created if Patty was right about him, and the first was on the west side of the mansion off the study.
It was occurring to me that for all the guards Trout had escort us out; there was suddenly not a sign of any of them aside from the one by the door.
It was almost too easy getting through here, but then again, the last time was too, so don't get cocky. Stone steps led down, but when we got there, it was just an empty cellar, not a thing was stored down here. It was highly suspicious so we spend a few minutes examining the walls, trying to find some reason for coming down here, but soon was forced to make our way upstairs again.
"Someone is coming" Ryu said and I heard footsteps a second later.
Hiding in the shadows, Ryu and I waited hoping whoever it was wouldn't be checking around here too much, we were hidden by the pillar here, but if someone looked around, we wouldn't be too hard to find. A second later, a wall at the far end of the study opened and out of a passage stepped Trout. I watched him careful not to give away our presence, and saw him close the passage by adjusting a nearby lamp before he left the way we came in. Ryu glanced over at me and I knew we found a secret Trout would prefer we hadn't found.
"That doesn't seem suspicious at all, does it buddy?" I whispered to him. "Shall we go check out what he's hiding?"
I counted to thirty in my head before I signalled for us to come out, and went over to where I saw Trout open the passage from. Pulling on the lamp, part of the wall opened granting us access to a long stairway down. Here it was better lit, though not by much, small torches at least provided some light, but their light made the shadows seem darker.
Down at least four flights of stone steps we went, and the sounds of our footsteps made small echoing sounds even though we were being as quiet as possible. What we found was not what either of us expected. Nearly a dozen cells occupied this dungeon and each one was the home for one or two occupants. Each one of them had a shady look, but was wearing a strange looking collar. As we passed, they were calling out for help to us.
"Help me, I just came here selling Whale Cakes and he took all my money and locked me up" one of them said.
"I helped Trout recover a stolen treasure from the thief in the next cell, but instead of paying me, he locked me and the thief up" said a tough looking man in the second cell.
At the end of the hallway was a set of keys; and next to it was where Patty was being kept, unlike the others; she was chained to the wall, a manacle binding each hand tightly so she couldn't reach the other to escape. Her face was slightly red from where the guard slapped her, and she looked tired. She gave us a knowing look as we approached and Ryu helped her down, "I told you Trout kept us locked down in a dungeon" she said, but at that point the other captives started yelling; Trout had returned here.
There was no place to hide, the door was wide open announcing our presence, and a moment later he was at the base of the stairs.
"Trout, if I get out of here, I'm going to murder you" one of them shouted at him.
"You've already taken everything I have, just let me go, I promise I won't tell anybody!" the Whale Cake salesman said to him.
"TROUT!" one of them yelled at him. "LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARD, I SWEAR YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!"
A moment later he was blocking our exit out of here. It wasn't like we couldn't run past him, but he had seen just who we were, there would be no denying we were here. "Well, lookie here at what we have crawling around in my dungeon, the wrong thief returns to my home, whatever could we mistake him for doing here this time around?"
"It looks like Patty was right about you, Trout, you've been locking people up and forcing them to steal for you, and the Rangers don't take kindly to kidnappers and slavery."
At this, Trout just began chuckling, and the dungeon felt like it was getting darker. "Well, if the straight shooting Rangers think I've done something wrong, however I will get out of this situation."
Ryu put his hand over where he kept the strange neckpiece and put his other hand on the hilt of his sword. "You fool...do you really think I would be worried about what your pathetic guild would do at this point? I own this town. The number of people who work for me far outweigh the few measly Rangers for your little guild of do-gooders. However, I did not get this far by just letting the truth about my dealings get exposed, you are not leaving here, alive."
He backed up further, and the shadows down here seemed to expand to give him a more sinister appearance, though it looked like he was growing taller. His eyes became red, and soon he was so immersed by darkness, two glowing pupils were all we could see. "I was quite impressed by you, Pako, or whatever your name is, you were able to break into my safe almost effortlessly, and only got caught cause of this portly klutz. Perhaps if you are obedient, I shall let one of them go free, what do you say?"
I looked over at her and saw her furiously shaking her head. "It's PATTY, and I don't work for people like you. I find it laughable that you think these two would just let you kill them, you're going to be the one locked up soon, you diluted nut."
"I hardly think that situation will be the outcome, Patty. After I kill them off, I'll have to teach you some respect." He laughed.
The lights dimmed even more, and became almost an indigo color. We couldn't see him, but in the darkness, it sounded like skin tearing. The next thing I knew, he stepped forward not looking anything like the man who we saw only moments ago, he was much taller, though he no longer stood on legs but was supported by nearly half a dozen orange tentacles. His skin had become scaly, his head much larger and almost serpent like, and his hands were sharp looking claws and had multiplied to six. Sharp looking teeth formed an evil grin and spikes ran across his back, ending in a long, thick tail.
"Great, not another one" I heard Ryu say beside me, and Patty was looking far less confident than I had gotten used to.
"Yes, you may have taken out my associate, Ranger, but he relied on his guards too much, I have no need for those fools to protect me, I shall kill you as he was supposed to and be rewarded for handing your corpse over to the god who blessed us with power."
Ryu had his sword out and I shot three bolts from my crossbow at where stood. Two hit the mark as he backed up into the darkness, but then we lost sight of him. Patty had armed herself with a pair of daggers, but was standing near where Ryu was for protection. The other captives were yelling to be let out, but we had our own problems at the moment.
"Buddy, do you see him around? It's like he vanished..." I began when he slashed out beside my head and a tentacle fell to the floor next to me. The sound of a monster growling angry came from around us, but it was becoming harder to see down here, the torches providing a small sphere of light, but between them was a veil of shadows, and anywhere in there Trout in his demon form could be hiding.
The three of us were clustered together, and twice more he tried to snag us with one of his appendages only to have it cut deeply, but he was careful not to lose another one. We needed to weed him out somehow, he was able to blend into the darkness and become almost invisible, yet he had not resorted to dosing the torches to give himself more of an advantage. I heard the sounds of scales sliding against stone to our right, and fired. The demon screeched in pain as the bolt hit its mark and exploded providing a quick flash of light, and Ryu jumped on the opportunity to strike the demon. I saw his weapon plunge into the demon's left side before the light faded again, and the two of them vanished in blackness. Standing close to me, Patty had her two daggers drawn, but seemed less confident when facing a demon than she normally presented herself. Like me she was looking closely at where Ryu disappeared from, and we heard the sounds of fighting for a few seconds before it would jump to another spot we couldn't see.
"I can't see what's happening in there" she said to me.
After a few moments, Ryu was knocked back into the light, landing breathlessly several meters from us, his sword had a thick, blackish liquid coving it. "Bow, where ever you got those arrows from, hit him again next chance you get" he said eagerly.
It was quiet for a moment before one of the torches lighting the dungeon was knocked from the wall and crushed out. They didn't provide a great deal of light, and only seven remained lit down here, but losing one meant that the demon, Trout had more of an advantage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him reaching from above to knock out the one closest to Patty and me, and fired, pinning his appendage to the wall and causing him to scream in pain. Reaching into my trench coat I pulled out a handful of small spheres that Sten lent to me before we left and threw them upwards where Trout's tentacle ran to, and they exploded. Pinned to the wall, and suddenly blinded, Trout fell from where he had been perched upon the ceiling, and landed next to us. I was knocked back, struck by his tail, but at the same time felt my crossbow pried from my hands. He tore his tentacle from the wall and grabbed Patty with a pair of his arms, and used the crossbow to try and move me away from the light source.
Ryu had recovered and leaped again at the demon, his sword slashing through both arms holding Patty and catching her before she touched the ground. She quickly got behind him and he deflected a couple of bolts from my bow before the demon moved back into the darkness.
I was glad I came prepared; I pulled a pair of smaller crossbows from my jacket and aimed where he last was, but Patty swung behind me slicing off another of Trout's tentacles, and Ryu stabbed his sword into the thick appendage before he could escape, but was pulled off again into the darkness. Seconds passed as the sounds of fighting echoed through the dungeon before Ryu's weapon landed at our feet, but suddenly a loud roar shook through the stone cellar.
The effect that Trout had on the light suddenly vanished and the torches filled the hallway with yellow light. Once again we saw the demon clearly, but now he was fighting against a powerful looking red dragon. I was surprised to see we were suddenly joined here by a dragon, quickly putting together that it was Ryu and attempting to help by firing a few bolts that cut through the demon's scaly hide easily, although it didn't look like Ryu needed a lot of help, he was far stronger physically than the demon, ripping into it with powerful, sharp talons and breathing a wave of fire that engulfed Trout's upper body; at the close range there was nowhere for him to escape to.
The sound of the demon screeching was terrible, the walls shook with the volume of it, and continued for a few seconds after Ryu stepped away, returning to his human form. I reloaded my crossbow after tossing his weapon back to him, and stood ready to fire in case he attacked again.
I shouldn't have worried, Trout in his demon form was struggling to stand but was badly burned and a several deep gashes ran across his chest, and one across his face that looked like it came from a sword, and they were burned open from the dragon's breath. A few of the crossbow bolt still stuck out from him as well, and he was missing several of the extra limbs he grew when he changed into a demon form.
"Ugh…" he muttered as he was trying to get up. "All I wanted was to be richer than everyone, dammit, now it's all over…"
Before us, Trout vanished in a flash of light. Taking a few seconds to grasp what we had just accomplished, I then walked over to where the keys to all the other captives cells were kept, and began freeing everyone that the demon. Only a few of them were actually thieves, one was a travelling salesman from the western continent that Trout captured and robbed, another was a bounty hunter he hired, and just locked up instead of paying. Of the eight he had locked up down here, five of them were just unfortunate people who Trout robbed or refused to pay, and kept them imprisoned to stay quiet.
Back at Kilgore's mansion, it was nearly dawn by the time we were deemed free to go. A great number of the guards had disappeared mysteriously, only piles of ash remaining that Nina identified as magic residue, and a few others seemed to be under some kind of control that faded when the demon was defeated.
The Rangers had been growing worried that Trout was amassing a small army, but as far as they could tell he was doing nothing illegal, but upon us discovering the people locked up in his hidden dungeon, they now had proof that he was up to no good. Discovering there was a demon in their own home town was unnerving, but with him gone, they were grateful to us. The wanted posters for my capture seemed to vanish suddenly and I had gone from wanted fugitive to respected Ranger again, though only a few knew the reason why.
Kilgore had a great breakfast prepared for us, and we were joined by the travelling salesman we found locked beneath Trout's mansion who turned out to be his nephew. Patty, unlike the others who we rescued actually stayed around, despite Katt's reluctance to her continued presence, but neither spoke a word to the other.
The sun cast a warm glow over Hometown by the time we left. Walking from Kilgore's mansion, the streets were full of happier looking people than the previous day, and I was feeling much better not having them look at me like I was a criminal any longer. We had not walked very far before I saw Sylvia standing before us.
"Ryu, Bow, I need you two to come with me" she said with urgency.
Author's note:
Another one down and the story progresses. I wanted to start describing New Haven more, but figured that is best saved for later when more people arrive, but it will be getting a new guest soon that I'm looking forward to introducing. I also think that it should have more than just a few rooms for them to sleep in, and of course made the girls floor much fancier than the guys, because that's how it always seems to turn out.
The Shamans will have more depth hopefully by the end because I want them to serve a purpose in this story and others, Sana likes fighting, and though she seemed like a seductress when she first met them, she is really more of the tomboy of their family. Sesso will be the bookworm, Spoo is going to be the girly one, but also a bit mischievous, and the others…well, you'll have to find out when I decide what they will be doing.
Anyways, I do also plan on making the demons more interesting than they were in the game. I figured that Kuwadora had the ability to change form, and when Jean left, he stepped into that role, but he can't match the skin tone, and will retain the dark shade of his original form, that of a chameleon clansman (which wasn't really in the game, but it will be an offshoot of the lizard type clansmen you encounter throughout). The fight there could have been better, but I wanted to move on, and it kind of lacked a bit.
Trout who uses thieves to help him get rich is a greedy man. He has a lot of money, but constantly wants more and makes a deal with a mysterious man to help him take over Hometown with magical golems, much like the ones that Kuwadora used, but he was too scared of being caught that he wanted to deal with the intruders to his home by himself even though they were magical constructs, he still has that non-trusting side to him. I also thought that he, looking kind of snake like should be a sneaky attacker, and in a dungeon, it just made sense to use that to his advantage. He is quick enough to steal Bow's weapon, but is pretty weak when it comes to combat, and against a dragon, he really has no chance
Well, thanks for reading up till now, this chapter took longer than others mainly because of outside distractions and another story that I've been working on, but won't really focus on that till this one is finished. Reviews and ideas for helping to improve the story are always welcome.
Chris