Attempt 2 for posting! Awakening
She had no way of knowing for how long she'd been out. Minutes, hours, days, there was simply no end to it. The darkness, the numb feeling of fog in her head. It was all so… tiring, even thinking and feeling this much…
Who… who was she? She had to have a name right? Something to call herself by, not just 'me' and 'I'… but it wasn't coming. There was just this haze and fog all around her, squeezing her in wet, frigid hands… What was she supposed to do? Just be here… was she laying down? Sitting up? Leaning on something? She couldn't tell… it was so dark…
"Child…" Whispered a voice like a dagger in her ear, red painting the darkness with a throb like a bass note. "You are needed, Child…"
Another throb, another pulse of red across her vision… wait, vision? She… could see something now, not just feel it… darkness yes, but… there were outlines in it. Small things, wisps in the haze, but it was something. She had no hands to grasp, nor feet to stagger with, but move all the same she did. Slowly, too slowly… the outlines faded in and out… fairies maybe? Was she somewhere with those sprites of tales? How could she be so sure she wasn't one of them in this place…
Another pulse, a dull bass note slamming into what she thought was her skull. Founder… wait, Founder? That's… that's right… she always swore by him, something that happened all too often… but why?
Another outline in the haze, something a bit more solid as the fog weakened just a tad. Was that… an arm? She couldn't tell too well, so she moved towards it… somehow. Ah, and there it was, an arm… one that she could now feel flex and move with her want, the fingers rolling and squeezing as she asked. She didn't blink, or didn't think she did, but then it was beside her where… arms were supposed to be. She thinks?
It didn't matter, she had an arm now… and now she could pull herself along. A little faster, even as the sensation of burning shot up and down it, more pulses of red joining it every so often. Little patches of orange as the burn made itself known, and then she had teeth to grit against the pain. And with teeth came the brown of dirt and sand ground between them, yet more hints as to where she was.
The fog lifted further, and now she saw two legs wandering about. They were clad in long boots and seemed to have a skirt over them, odd… but they were legs! And so, she dragged herself towards the meandering set of femurs and toes, the blue of a chill striking up a newly rediscovered spine. The burn warred with the chill in a contest of unpleasantries, one that neither would win. But still she pressed on towards those legs that seemed to call to her, even as the grit settled onto a heavy tongue of lead that could only just taste.
What that taste was, she couldn't name, only that it was deeply unpleasant and spoke to something wrong… now if only those legs would stay still! She tried to call out, yell, something… but nothing came out. It was all she could manage to make some manner of wheezing noise that was barely audible even to her ears. Even still, she kept at it, dragging herself on and on and on after these damnable legs… aha! At last, one wanders close enough and she throws her skull, spine, and arm at it. The silly thing jolted as she caught it, and now became of her. The chill blue raced her spine again, as did the burn as she wobbled on one where two should be. But it was now hoppable, and with direction of yet weaker fog, she could fight on. Hop… hop… hop… flop.
This was no way to be… she could hop a bit forward, then red and yellow of pain and aching would spring forth as a new nose and forehead met the featureless ground. Wait… there's a ground… this wasn't just an odd void, this was solid…
A ground could be pushed against, and she did so… right in time for that other leg to hop over and let her land on it. Hey… those were nice boots, if it wasn't for the strange sensation of crackling orange and red down the entire left side… hey when did that other arm get there? And… when was she wearing all these clothes…?
"Louise…"
Another dagger in the ear, the whisper a spike of raw agony driven into her skull. Hands clasped to ears as she found fingers and palms to act as defense. Something was in her nose now, tickling, a laughing pink… wait, no… pink…
Was… was she pink?
"Louise…!"
Another spike of raw agony, another new part. A cloak, over her shoulders, a smell in her aching nose. Metallic, slimy, a little bit of earthy… was… was that mud…?
"Louise!"
The voice was loud in her ear and the fog snapped away as bleary color took its place, new daggers stabbing into her eyes. She shut them again, blessed darkness greeting her for a moment before more started to reach her rattled brain. The low ringing in her ears, the grit in her teeth, the iron on her tongue, the slimy mud on her skin… Founder it was soaking through her clothes…
"Louise, get up! Please!"
She managed to wheeze some kind of noise, fire alight in her lungs as she tried to open her eyes again. The blur was so terrible all she could make out were these wide swathes of color… black, blue, red… some yellow… a bit of orange… oh, look, a pretty sky…
Another groan rolled out of her achingly dry throat, its intense need for water pushing past to present its case loudly to her overwhelmed brain. She knew enough now to figure out she was on her side on the ground… she was muddy… hurting… and looking towards the sky… why was she so sticky… why did she have all this stuff on top of her head…?
"Dammit…" She heard someone mutter, little more than muffled noise to her still ringing ears.
Darkness came for a brief moment, then left… oh, that was a blink. She was… blinking. It wasn't much, but it got more voices to speaking, so loud she felt her head was going to split open and spill her brain out at last. Something bright and gold pushed through the haze and sweet, blessed relief rolled over her…
"Louise!" She finally recognized the voice as Montmorency, the sweet relief clearing her vision and soothing the underlying burn of pain. "Look at me! How many fingers do I have up, come on!"
She proceeded to hold up three fingers, and at last the pained one remembered her name. A croak, barely a hiss, squelched past parched lips as iron lingered on her tongue. "…Three…"
"Praise the founder!" Montmorency exalted. "Heaven above, that fall you took! We heard you hit the ground even all the way up on the roof!"
The blonde moved in again and started to give the aching, burning patient a more thorough look. "Damnation though… you're lucky to even be conscious right now. The impact's probably shattered your ribs on the left side, same with your hip. No need to guess for the arm, and I suggest you don't look at it, I'm using all the concentration I have so you don't feel it."
Well that was the perfect motivation to not look over and see what's wrong… not! Louise, for that's who the patient knew herself as now, felt her head shift over… and felt five separate burning knives slam into her brain as she registered that her left arm was a broken mess. She could see bone sticking out, surrounded by clean water, in… two spots…
Oh Founder.
"What did I just say?!" Montmorency screamed as the poor girl she cared for started to flail and wail. "I told you explicitly not to look and you did! Siesta, put her to sleep again, I can't work with her thrashing like this!"
Louise didn't have a moment to get another scream out before a soaked rag was pressed to her nose and mouth, a sweet smell and horrid taste entering her nose and mouth. She thrashed and gagged against it with all her mouth, trying to cry out more, but her grip on reality started to slip. Further and further she sank back into the void she'd so struggled to crawl from and by heaven did she claw not to go back. But in the end, she was helpless, and her mind vanished again beneath the void, at peace for now.
Montmorency grunted and did the gruesome work of resetting the arm at long last, all of the water she had working at stabilizing the group's nominal leader. The healer was tired, sore, and above all furious. Furious at Siesta for that dumbass charge off alone, furious at herself for her own wounds slowing her down. Furious at Guiche for vanishing to who knows where only to turn up right on time. Furious at the complete ninnies hovering over her!
"Move dammit!" She barked as Kirche tried to enter her space. "If you make me lose focus and she loses something, there's no armor in this reality that'll save you!"
That got the Germanian to back off at last, though not without a growl. She wanted to help dammit, but much as she did… Founder it just hurt seeing Louise like this. Seeing her get thrown clear off the building, not able to help as those… things assaulted them. If Guiche hadn't found them and brought his golems in to pin the things for the deathstrokes… she didn't want to think about it.
They'd been caught with their skirts down and paid for it. Her own armor had turned aside fang and claw alike, but it couldn't do everything. She could still feel herself smarting from where the heat of the attackers had singed her, the mail on her joints turned against her. And that was the least of their injuries, Siesta still looked like she was on death's door. Then Tabby had gotten one of them to clamp its maw on her thigh and almost tore the muscle clean out.
Guiche was really in no better straights, his shoulder still coated in blood from what he assured was his own battle. They couldn't even get a good look at the bastards that did all this, every slain… hound, she guessed, fell to ash the moment they stopped breathing. Poor Monmon, she'd been trying to get them all to just stop bleeding when Tabby had staggered over to the roof's edge. Hearing her panic had just been the sour cherry on this awful sundae.
So here they were. Monmon doing her damndest to keep Louise from being crippled. Siesta weeping as she kept her mistress unconscious while looking pale as the grave. Tabby leaned against the wall with her leg wrapped and just looking tired. Guiche at the mouth of the alley barking in a hoarse voice as his golems secured the area.
And her, just standing here with an ash-blood stained claymore held limply in one hand. What in the hells was she supposed to do? Sure, they all had first-aid training, but this was well beyond anything she could really help with…
A curse spilled past her lips, native tongue rising up. There really was nothing for her to do right now… She wasn't nearly as injured as her more lightly armored group… and damnation, Flame was at least doing something by drying the place out with his fire. Sylphid was off tracking down Neb and Wardes, even little Robin was doing something by filtering out the muddy water!
A squeak made her look down, Verdandi looking at her with sad eyes. Poor guy, he wasn't very much use right this moment either… All that strength she'd been cultivating, wasn't doing them much good right now was it…? Wait… wait a minute!
Verdandi sensed her perk up and squeaked again, Kirche whispering to him. "Verdi, I need you to go up to the roof. The ash should still be there, I hope, can you get me some?"
Verdandi looked a bit confused by this but nodded and dove into the street again. How it was he could dig himself up a building, Kirche wasn't keen to find out, but she got her ash a minute later. It wasn't much, the breeze on the roof carrying much of the ash away, but it was something. Thanking Verdandi and giving him a pat, she gathered the ash and clanked her way to the carriage.
Miraculously, it hadn't caught fire in the initial volley. Some quirk of housing a contraption that ran on fire magic probably, but she didn't care. It meant their luggage, and more importantly their alchemy supplies, were still intact. She wasn't exactly gentle with the case holding most of it, but she got what she needed, lit some kindling and had a combo of three colored liquids boiling shortly after.
"Kirche, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Guiche asked as he marched by, voice little more than a rasp from all the shouting he'd been doing.
Kirche shot him a rude hand gesture as she watched the beaker holding her concoction carefully. It was imperative she keep the temperature right or this wasn't going to give anything beyond a really bad smell… there!
Right as the three liquids finally combined fully, she added the ash. It boiled for several seconds before the ash glowed a burning orange in the solution and a plume of brimstone erupted from the beaker, alongside the distinct scent of spilled blood. That… really wasn't the best result, and her curse made sure to get that across clear.
She kicked the beaker over and stamped out the flame, the concoction spilling out to evaporate on the hot spot the fire left. More brimstone and blood, meant one thing. It was esoteric, something they'd only learned for the sake of a 'complete education' by the lizard's own words…
"Fuck." She spat. "Guiche… you know what that means, right?"
The blonde nodded solemnly, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. These weren't just shadows or conjured beings of ash and fire… those had been out and out demons. Those shouldn't exist outside the religious texts and stories…
"Clean your lip." She grunted at him. "We've had enough shit for one night…"
"I'd say so." Came the voice of the captain they'd hired, his head poking out of the bar door. "That wasn't ten minutes, and it was all over… My-my, you're all quite young to be that well trained."
Kirche whipped her head around and pointed at him. "No thanks to you and your lot! I've half a mind to march in there and take our gold back!"
"Ah, but milady, you paid us to take you into Albion, not lay our lives down for you. Though, if I might, what's this about demons?"
Kirche audibly growled at the cheek of this man. Beard wasn't even that good and here he was, having a lark at their expense! "Well, sir, that's need to know for those looking to actually fight! If you're just taking us into Albion, you don't need to know!"
The captain's eye glinted and he grinned. "Touché milady, you make a good point. Well, assuming you're all still alive come the morning light, you can find our ship docked on the main tree. We'll be tucked right into the topmost branches, berth 2."
Kirche huffed and waved him off. "And per usual, you'll have your entire payment in hand the moment we show up."
The captain laughed for true this time. "Then I look ever so much to having such capable individuals aboard my ship. At least it'll make the voyage interesting, if nothing else."
Kirche still had half a mind to go and smack him, but he ducked back into the bar and likely went off through some back entrance. No point pursuing when they had more important things to do. She nodded to Guiche, who went back to ordering his golems about. Only then did she return to the rest of the girls.
By this point, Monmon finally had Louise set against the wall of the building and cleaned up a bit. Water still coated and flowed over her entire left half, but at least the arm was… straight, and not a piece of weird art. Propped her right up next to Tabby too, helped their poor healer multi-task better. Time to deliver the bad news. "Girls, I figured out what attacked us."
Siesta was the only one able to look over, sitting beside Monmon. Tabby was still mostly unresponsive beyond a glance and getting Monmon to look away was near suicidal at this point. With a deep breath, she dropped the anvil. "We just got torn a new one by Founder forsaken demons."
Siesta threw her head back and groaned. "Are we damned then, to have been injured by them?"
"…No." Tabitha answered at long last. "Demons… would want souls, not injuries… even scriptures say… wounds taken in battle against them… are not tainted."
That at least satisfied the handmaid. "Something, I guess… we'll need to get some holy water now, if there's such things out there…"
"What we need is somewhere to rest." Kirche groaned, fatigue starting to make itself known over her aching muscles. "And to get out of here before the panic of all that flying about finally brings the guards over here. None of us want to explain why students have all this gear on them, kinda ruins the whole 'secret mission' part of this."
Montmorency's water started to drain from Louise. "Well load those two up, I need to get our illustrious leader into a sling. I've set her ribs and fixed her muscle damage, but the arm's going to need a lot more treatment than I can provide sitting here in an alley."
Kirche nodded and jogged over to take Siesta and Tabitha onto her shoulders, neither protesting as their much stronger friend hoisted and hauled. Montmorency pulled out lengths of cloth binding and a few sturdy twigs, setting Louise's arm. Once bound, a cloth sling held the arm to the unconscious girl's chest, Montmorency staggering to her feet. With a low sigh, she mustered the last of her strength and hooked one hand under each shoulder, dragging Louise out of the alley where the corpse of their foe still lay bleeding.
Once out of that hell, Kirche arrived while Guiche dispelled his golems, the remainder piling into their carriage. It wasn't organized, or anything less than cramped, but it was covered and dry. Kirche briefly busied herself drying everyone off to keep it that way before looking to the small dial she'd sat beside.
"Colbert, I sure hope your contraption works."
And with that muttered prayer, if it could be called that, she shifted the dial aside and inserted her wand. A low, muttered chant passed her lips as will flowed from its dredges within her, fire sparking within the mechanism beyond and flowing down into the contraption proper. Sensing the incoming, Guiche shoved a case aside and grabbed a set of reins, gazing out of the front slat with wary eyes.
Siesta and Tabitha took hold of Louise and, using what strength they had, braced themselves against the seats opposite where Guiche and Kirche did their work. Montmorency took charge of their supplies, a final whisper of her willpower summoning some watery ropes to quickly lash everything down.
There was the sound of something catching, then a loud wheeze like an old man with a cold. The entire carriage lurched, a loud whirring starting up alongside a series of puffing huffs. Guiche seemed to panic for a moment before yanking hard on the reins, something slamming into place before a dull roar rose from the floor of the carriage and they… started to move! Slow for about ten feet before a clang sounded and the whole thing shot off down the street, trailing steam the whole way!
"Woooooaah!" Kirche cried out as the carriage bounced and rumbled and rolled down the street, moving a lot faster than any of them had expected! They were racing down the road like they had a team of five horses pulling them along at full gallop, swiftly finding themselves shooting out of the area and into a populated street.
"Founder in heaven!" Guiche screamed as he yanked and pulled on the reins, working the mechanisms of steering as best he could. They weren't exactly like directing a horse, to put it mildly, and it was only his screams and people leaping aside that kept them from flattening anyone on the way!
Kirche had to hold on for dear life, her wand feeding the contraption as it rattled and roared down the street, Guiche cursing now in some vulgar tirade against all things fragile. Really, it was a miracle they hadn't run headlong into a wall!
"Wall!" Guiche promptly screamed, yanking on the reins as hard as his poor arms could manage. The screech of the steel-braced wheels pierced every ear for half a mile as the carriage rattled and skidded across the stone street, sparks flying as it turned hard and slammed into a building's wall with enough force to throw Tabitha from her seat, Montmorency leaping with the force to catch her and take the impact. Something cracked in her arm as she absorbed the shock, but the blonde soldiered on as the carriage recovered, though moving much slower now in the direction Guiche turned it.
"Fuck!" Kirche cursed, the wheeze of the mechanism hissing out from under their feet. "That broke something, damn it all!"
A shout drew her attention out the window, and she saw several armed individuals running at them, all of them bearing what she thought was the insignia of La Rochelle's guard force. Getting caught was not on the list or priorities thank you very much!
"Monmon!" She hoarsely roared at the blonde, who'd just managed to secure Tabitha back in her seat. "Water on the back of the wagon, now! We need to give this fucker a kick down the hill!"
"How do you know there's a hill!" Guiche cried back, trying to coax what speed he could out of the wrecked mechanism. "I mean there is one, but how'd you know?!"
Kirche growled and stomped the floor, the wagon rattling forward. "We're on an incline, I can tell as much, now water or we get dragged in chains to the jailhouse!"
Montmorency groaned and pulled the absolute last crumb of her willpower to bear, coating the back of the carriage in a film of water as the guards closed in. Kirche's wand whipped out and stabbed into the water, a burst of raw heat, not even fire, slamming into the film.
A burst of steam shot out as the water flash-boiled, the force of expansion sending their wrecked carriage careening down the hill. The cloak of steam afforded them some protection, the guard thrown into disarray at the sudden and very hot screen, but it wouldn't hold them back for long.
"Abandon the carriage!" Kirche ordered, voice a croak at this point. "Grab everything that's absolutely essential and leave the rest, we don't have time!"
Guiche whipped his head around as the carriage started to slow, the mechanism and momentum giving out as they came to rest in an intersection. "What about Louise and Siesta?! They're in no shape to move!"
"I'll carry them!" Kirche barked back. "Just get what you can and run for it!"
This final order at last seemed to snap Tabitha out of her general malaise, the petite girl springing up in her seat. She started to grab whatever was important, mainly potions and vital ingredients. "Burn the whole thing if you have to Kirche, we're not leaving this for… whatever the hell those things were to find!"
Kirche blinked at this sudden return to life, but voiced no complaint. Nor did Guiche or Montmorency, who retrieved the party's supply of money, medicine, and rations between them. Kirche then grabbed the unconscious Louise and the so-shocked-she-couldn't-move Siesta before kicking the ruined carriage's door open. "Not a week in this thing and I have to burn it, Brimir's Blood!"
The mobile members piled out of the carriage, Guiche and Montmorency running for the nearest ally with Tabitha hobbling along after them, the wound in her leg not quite healed enough to run after them. Kirche kept up her casual blasphemies and hurried after them after giving her own gear and that of her two erstwhile bits of luggage a final check.
Only to see something of immense import still in the carriage, time slowing as she saw it.
A pendant, hanging off the carriage's door handle. She remembered it well, a gift Louise had given Siesta shortly after the young maid had entered her service. Siesta treasured that pendant above everything, keeping it hidden well away and safe at all times. It must've come loose in the crash and flown out of its casing!
Shouts reached her ears and she looked up the hill. The steam cloud was fading and the guard organizing. They had to leave, but if she left it…
"You owe me Siesta…"
Kirche breathed in deep and all but shoved Louise into Siesta's arms before heaving and throwing the both of them into the alley, shocked cries telling her they'd been caught, if painfully, by the rest. Nodding, Kirche ran to the carriage and grabbed the pendant, only to scream as she felt a bolt slam into her shoulder and throw her into the ruins of the carriage. Fuck, they had crossbows?!
Multiple thunks sounded as the carriage wall and door were pierced by more bolts, Kirche hunkering down to weather the volley. She had the pendant, but damnation in a basket she couldn't feel her arm! Gritting her teeth, she used her functioning arm to pull herself up and glance outside, a far more emphatic oath spilling past her lips as she saw the guard advancing on the carriage. Slowly, cautiously… they had to know she was probably a mage or there may be a mage in here with her.
Scowling, she considered her options and groaned. Really nothing for it at this point, not if she was going to actually make the escape. Sensible people would just surrender at this point, but lesson one from Neb… never act like the enemy expects you to.
She gripped her wand in her still functioning hand, prayed under her breath that she'd not be crippled, and roared with the last of her willpower. "Flamen!"
Fire poured from her wand in a deluge, liquid flame engulfing the carriage, abandoned chests, seats, mechanism… and Kirche. It was as if witnessing a pyre to those on the outside, the carriage immolating in a roar of thunder and shriek of super-heated wind. Kirche screamed as the fire and heat tore at her skin and hair, but summoned all her strength to fling herself at the carriage's window, crashing through the glass as a burning effigy. Burning, burning, so much burning… but still she crawled to her feet and dashed into an alley, the pyre drawing all attention away from her agonized cries and flaming form. Luck, at least this time, was on her side when she turned the corner. A trough of water to collect rain for use in the surrounding buildings lay full before her, and she threw herself into it. A massive hiss filled the air as she did, the flame snuffed instantly but her pain far from soothed.
She came up screaming and sputtering, the trough giving way beneath her armored bulk a moment later, the poor young woman rolling across the ground with heavy clangs and bangs until she came to a stop against a wall, panting and weeping but holding tight to the pendant. Blearily, she looked down at it… and wept further. God, it was so warped from the heat of the fire…
Hands fell on her shoulders and she lashed out violently, a scorched first slamming into the first one before a familiar shriek of pain reached her ears and she whipped her head around, eyes wide. "Monmon!"
"God in heaven you're all big fucking morons!" The blonde screamed as she cradled her hand. Kirche hadn't broken it, but the metal was still hot and had burned her on impact. "What in all the levels of hell were you thinking?! Going back, throwing those two at us without a word of warning, burning yourself alive near enough?! WHERE DID YOUR SENSE GO YOU TWO BIT EXCUSE FOR A GERMANIAN?!"
Kirche… really had no answer to that. God it hurt, it hurt so bad… just breathing was agony… water… she needed water…
"I've half a mind to leave you there and die of infection." Montmorency seethed. "But I'm not an idiot, nor someone that leaves a friend to die. I'm about to shove something abhorrent down your throat, but it'll get you up and moving. You follow every word I say to the letter, got it?"
Kirche could only nod mutely, vision already darkening as her mind started to shut down. Anything to stop the agony…
Montmorency leaned down; hands shaky as she produced a small vial. The contents were a mystery to Kirche, but she could only mewl in pain as the blonde forced her mouth open, popped the stopper… and forced the single most vile sludge ever devised down Kirche's throat. The redhead gagged and flailed at the horrific taste, the revulsion mixing with her pain to make her nearly throw up. She only managed to dry heave before Montmorency took the rest, poured it onto a cloth, shoved that into Kirche's mouth, and squeezed the sludge directly down her throat.
Kirche flailed and screamed for several seconds more before her mind suddenly cleared of the pain and revulsion. In fact she… felt nothing at all… not even Montmorency's cloth and hand in her mouth. Once the impromptu gag was gone, she found her voice, even though she couldn't feel her jaw and tongue move. "What… what the hell was that?!"
"A very special anesthetic." Montmorency sighed, the sudden clearing of pain letting Kirche see how haggard her friend was. "Completely blocks out your senses while keeping your motions intact. Family secret recipe, one I only managed to get right a couple times. That was one of the successes."
Kirche just stared at her, the feeling of nothing making her feel… weightless. Strange as it was to string that thought together. "But… but why?"
"Because I can't drag your bulk back to the others! Unlike you, I'm not built to haul someone a good foot taller than me in full plate armor across the ground, so get your scorched ass off the ground and follow me." Montmorency snarled with as much heat as a spark off a dying coal.
She pulled Kirche up, the redhead unable to feel any of it as she suddenly got taller than the blonde. She didn't feel her hand get taken through a soaked cloth, or her legs and feet move. She could not see the scorched mess that was her armor, nor the blisters that bloomed across where the heat had burned through to her skin. Nor she could feel her hair, though she could only hope it wasn't too bad…
Montmorency took them through a series of twists and turns, stopping and forcing Kirche to duck aside several times as patrols ran by, but she never really felt… anything. Just this dreamlike floatyness that made everything seem so surreal…
Eventually, Montmorency forced her to 'sit' again, or some facsimile thereof. Kirche did so, gaze turning to find Louise beside her, still out cold, and Siesta just beyond, staring at her in horror. Ah, she'd finally come back to her senses, good.
Ignoring the sound of the crossbow bolt getting removed from her shoulder, Kirche thought she smiled and held out her useless hand to Siesta, presenting the warped pendant. "Hey… you dropped this…"
And from then, blackness.
-Guiche-
He couldn't believe how fast things had gone to hell.
Just that morning they'd entered La Rochelle and gone about trying to find their ticket into Albion. He really should have known that something was going to go wrong the moment both Wardes and Neb left them behind to pursue their own avenues, but nothing like this!
"I never should have left…" He panted to himself. Here they were, tucked into the darkest alley they could find, little more than an afterthought of building sprawl in the course of the city's growth. Two left turns only ten feet apart and it'd brought them to a dead end of stone walls overgrown with ivy, tile eaves above ever threatening to fall and brain them… and plenty of rats before his last golem had driven them out. He really shouldn't have dispelled the ones he'd had before the carriage shot off like that…
Sure would have made keeping the guard away a lot easier, but hindsight really was 20/20 there huh?
Guiche glanced over to the girls. All of them were passed out, not one of them able to stave off an exhausted sleep. Montmorency had been keeping them running for hours on end, using every dreg of her energy to just get them here. Without her, Louise… would by all rights be either dead or crippled. Same with Siesta.
Then Kirche had all but gotten herself captured, followed by what looked to be suicide… all so she could get Siesta's pendant back. The redhead had passed out from her own exhaustion shortly after giving the pendant back, and that had been the last straw for the maid too. Once sure all three of them were at least stable, Montmorency had collapsed onto her pack and gone right to sleep.
He glanced over to the final member. Tabitha had conjured a great burst of energy during their flight from the carriage, but after she'd gotten Siesta and Louise thrown at her and watched Kirche light herself aflame like that… she'd passed out right after Louise had been set down, sprawling on the ground. He hadn't had the strength to really do much for her besides get her a pack to act as a pillow either…
"And what do I have to show for it?" He wondered aloud. "Verdandi went silent after the carriage took off… even though I can still feel him. Couldn't find Neb or Sylphid or Sir Wardes… not even Flame…"
He had no idea where the salamander had gone. Best guess was he'd either gotten thrown off when the carriage crashed or run down the wrong alley while everyone was trying to flee.
His gaze drifted to Montmorency's cloak. Poor Robin had been providing all the water he could to help Montmorency in her work, but he'd gone into what amounted to hibernation after calling forth so much just to treat Louise. There'd be no waking the frog for at least two days while his energy recovered.
"Some 'defender' I've been…" He looked to the sky above, the light of the surrounding buildings obscuring the stars. "Those damned hounds… came out of nowhere, like… they were trying to keep me away."
Such a turn… he couldn't have seen it coming in his wildest dreams. He'd just been following Verdandi, trying to keep his dear mole out of trouble and giving the town a look. Maybe see if there was something useful he could buy from the myriad stalls set up among the streets. The wonders of being in a port town like this usually meant wares you couldn't find elsewhere, and he'd planned to take full advantage.
But barely minutes after he'd entered one of the market squares, Verdandi had given a squeak and just… dug off. Guiche tried to call after him, but his dear mole had been unusually stubborn, and even blocked off any thoughts or feelings through the bond they shared. Bare minutes later, smoke and brimstone had poured from one of the roofs and… God, so much screaming…
He had no idea what happened then, only that hound shaped phantoms had come howling down onto the market and started tearing people apart. Anyone those smokey maws could reach, they tore into. Man or woman, young and old… it didn't matter. Those things, those demons cared only for the slaughter…
Guiche had been the first amongst the entire assault to gather his wits and summon his golems, the Valkyries marching forth to lay into the smoke laden hounds with their weapons. But the hounds were as unnatural in strength as their appearance belied, tearing through the bronze constructs with reckless savagery. They cared not one whit about their own protection so long as they could savage a new target.
He'd lost half a dozen Valkyries before he'd discovered that. Right as one of them charged him and he'd prepared himself to try and fend it off. Its lunge had been so telegraphed and wanton that a quick order saw it impaled on a Valkyrie's spear, a second's blade cleaving its raving head of glowing cinder from its scorched neck. Even separated the head had continued to snap and try to get at him for several seconds… not something that would leave his dreams, he didn't think.
But that one kill was enough to at least rally the guard that were still alive. Gathering to him, he'd fallen into ordering them forward only to slay once his Valkyries had gotten the attention of the hounds, an effective wall formed from which he put down a trio of the beasts himself. The guard and his golems did the rest of the grisly work, the entire attack lasting at most a minute.
He hadn't gotten even a moment to breathe before he saw an entire street go dark in the area below him, the market he'd just fought in perched atop one of the surrounding cliffs. The pricks of fire that appeared a moment later, followed by a wall of ice rising from the street, told him all he needed to know. Verdandi calling him at last to give the quickest route there had made him near hug the mole right there.
And while his haste to the scene had ultimately saved the lives of his team as they too were assaulted by the hounds… it hadn't given him the time to speak with the guard about it. Even with his help, they'd want answers, answers he couldn't give… Even less so now that they'd fled the scene.
"Accursed need for secrecy…" He mumbled to the still air. "Kirche at least is going to have a wanted poster now… me too, probably… 'Suspects Wanted for Questioning' I can see it now…"
That'd be fun to explain to Father, assuming they managed to get caught… which may just be the case, if the steps he's hearing from further up the alley mean anything. Cursing under his breath, he called on his own dregs at last and forged a hole in the ground, sinking himself and everyone else down almost six feet before covering the hole with a six inch 'lid' of rock. It was rough, it was slipshod, and he had to let several holes the size of large coin remain, but… the road was already worn and cracked when they got there.
He hoped it'd be enough.
The footsteps grew closer, each one echoing in the chamber he'd made like thunder in his ears. Each small clack of a boot on stone, every scrape of the sole, all of it set his frayed nerves to their very edge. He had to prepare himself, had to be ready…
His hand curled around the hilt of his saber. He wasn't going to kill if he could help it, but if they dodged the hilt-strike and tried to call for others… there'd be no choice, not if it meant keeping his friends safe. Not if it meant all this pain was to amount to nothing here and now.
A small point appeared in one of the holes, a dagger's blade. Guiche's throat dried and he held his breath, holding perfectly still and hoping against hope that they'd not tried to root about further. His grip tightened hard on the hilt of his blade, trying to swallow through a parched throat. Every little motion and scrape of the dagger made his entire body shiver, the grind of it almost a shriek in the makeshift hiding place.
Once… twice… thrice… and then it withdrew. The steps moved away, Guiche unmoving until he could hear them no more. He breathed at last, slumping down against the wall, relieved that at last some rest could be had.
WHAM!
The slam of something heavy hitting the 'lid' jolted Guiche right back up, the stone above cracking heavily as another heavy blow struck it. The lid had one, maybe two more blows from whatever that was before it gave way!
"Not without a fight." He growled, looking to where the girls laid passed out and vulnerable. "Not without a God forsaken fight."
Guiche drew his saber and held it ready, judging by the flicker of shadow in the cracks and the location of the epicenter to draw his target. Just needed… the next hit…
WHAM!
And with an ear-splitting crack, the lid shattered into rubble, dust filling the air as it crumbled away beneath a final heavy blow. Guiche gave his best, hoarse roar and surged forth on his last burst of strength, saver flashing through the dust and debris as he launched himself up to face this opponent.
A screech and the flow of hot blood met him a moment later, his saber sinking into flesh of some sort as he struck. His momentum was enough to carry him up and onto the thin ledge of rock that remained from the lid, the dust clouding his vision a moment longer before a strong gust blew it away.
Horror overcame him as he looked at his victim, Flame's screeching bleats in his ears as the salamander flailed and writhed on his sword. Guiche pulled the blade out of the poor beast instantly, stepping back out of shock and falling back into his hole. The last thing he saw before his head slammed into the debris below and darkness claimed him was Neb's heads reaching down while Wardes loomed over the hole with grim horror.
Ah… good, they finally showed up.
And so darkness came.
-Neb-
"Sweet and holy Ashan, what happened to them?"
The hydra looked on in abject shock as Wardes examined the unconscious students. They were all in bad shape, ranging from total depletion of their reserves to burns and puncture wounds. Louise had the worst of it, signs of intense healing unable to disguise the broken state of her entire left side.
Wardes stood with a sigh, shaking his head. "I do not know, but it looks like they were attacked by more than just humans. Claw and teeth marks, but none of the kind I've ever seen. Closest I can pin it is some kind of large hound, but none I know of can dent steel."
Neb's gaze narrowed. His bulk was in the next street over, heads shrunken into his body so one of them could reach over and take this in. "Not a few hours separated and this happens… someone was watching for us, had to be."
Wardes turned to look at him, eyes stormy. "How would they even know what to look for? While you're… certainly impressive, we both split from them before entering La Rochelle at all. Unless they were specifically on look-out for us in particular…"
Neb's frown turned to a scowl. "…They just may have."
Wardes connected the implication almost instantly, frown turning to an outright scowl. "Fouquet. There were rumors she was working with the Reconquista, funneling part of her looting towards them. It'd explain those golems that attacked us."
Neb snorted, snarl rising at the reminder. "If you'd not flown off on some cock-sure belief you could find transport before the rest of us even made the docks, that wouldn't have happened. I get you're used to working solo here, Captain, but look at those injuries and tell me doing so was the right call."
Wardes matched the scowl. "Your interruption prevented me from securing that transit. Scared off the entire crew."
He huffed and shook his head. "No, now's not the time to snip and jab at each other over the failings of the day. We've both done much worse than simply get in each other's way."
Neb lost the snarl. He could respect the admission at least, even if the Captain's cavalier style of mission advancement rankled him to no end. "…We did, yes. The wounds they bear are proof enough of that."
He switched his focus to Flame, leaning down to nudge the poor salamander. A quick use of his own fire had staunched the blood from the stab wound, but the poor guy looked heartbroken. "It's alright, Flame… we had no idea they were in such bad shape that Guiche would jump out like that. Let alone that, well, they were in there. I'm sure he'll apologize the moment they're all awake."
Flame croaked in pain, Sylphid cooing from above. All of the familiars had followed gathered around by now, except for Slyphid up in the sky. Even Leonidas was perched atop one of the buildings, on watch with his keen vision. It was a painful sight to see their masters like this, especially Neb and Flame. Louise and Kirche were just in such bad shape, and Siesta still looked so pale…
Neb sighed and looked to Wardes. "Let's get them out of here. Regardless of what happened afterwards, they managed to get us a ship. We can get the whole story from them once they wake up and recover a bit."
Wardes nodded. He didn't know who that ship captain was, but it was thanks to him they even had an idea of where to start searching. Verdandi, the dear mole currently nuzzling his out cold master, had led them to this hollow spot, but… to think they were all down there in such shape.
He leaned down and looked everyone over again. "… Louise and Ms. Siesta are in the worst shape. Ms. Zerbst's burns are cause for concern, but while agonizing they're far from threatening her life. Louise and Ms. Siesta will need to ride strapped to your back Sir Neboqyu. Much as I trust Leonidas, flight isn't stable enough for the state they're in."
Neb nodded. "I'll meet you around at the entrance to this alley. I'd ask that you get Kirche first, she'll be the most difficult to move in her armor. Sylphid will be taking her alongside Tabitha and Montmorency, while you have Guiche. If my observations are correct, combined with me taking Flame and Verdandi, that should be everyone accounted for."
Wardes returned the nod. "Exactly. I'll meet you over there."
Neb's head retracted to his body and the rest of his heads returned to their normal lengths. Stomping along, he brooded and glared at his surroundings, this section of the city quiet and almost abandoned by this point of the night. The commotion caused by the golem attacks had drawn much of the guard's attention and everyone was being cautious, but now this?
"Rotten and rotten again." He harrumphed under his breath. "The entire barrel spoiled down to the cores. Something is not right about this, and the lack of information to answer my concerns puts me ill at ease."
A flicker of shadow draws his attention, but nothing stirs after that. Bearing his fangs, he hurries up, a fog of some kind hanging over the area. He wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion from such a horrid day mixing with the stillness of the witching hour, but it was eerie enough to warrant haste.
Didn't help that the entrance to the alley was still a tight squeeze, but he forced himself through with only a smattering of cracked mortar to mark his passage. Once there, he found Wardes already having moved everyone to the entrance, Guiche starting to be tied onto Leonidas. Nodding, he looked up and whistled, Sylphid coming in for a landing. She had to be careful, given it was a tight squeeze for her too, but it was enough.
She'd barely landed though, when Neb's every scale shuddered from head to tail, a slimy… oily sensation rolling over him. One of his heads whipped about and glared towards first one entrance of the alley, then the other… "Sir Wardes, tie everyone to Sylphid and Leonidas, now. Flame and Verdandi both, Sylphid can handle the weight."
Wardes looked to him then back and forth to both entrances. "…You're sure?"
"Something's here." Neb answered with a low, rolling snarl. "Something that shouldn't be."
His tone brokered no argument and spoke of danger that Wardes knew was best avoided. With the students incapacitated, to go into battle now was to invite their deaths, and he for one would not so much as consider it without utmost and irreproachable cause. Set, he worked quickly, the air aiding him in the task. Flame and Verdandi made confused noises, as did Sylphid, but a single look from a Neb head silenced them entirely.
Within moments, all of them were airborne and making for the great tree that would see them ferried to Albion. Neb alone remained behind, his nostrils flaring and tongues lashing, seeking every scent as he began a slow, careful march towards the tree as well.
Down backroads and sidestreets did he stalk, eyes ever peeled like lanterns in the dark of the night. He could see every angle around him, every shift and motion. But still, even with his senses tuned to their limit, he could not figure out the infernal omen that sat over him…
Wait… infernal… omen?
"And so, the mighty one at last realizes." Chuckled a deep, warbling voice, a heavy shadow moving of its own volition, independent of any light. "That there is more to this…"
"Grawl…" The hydra hisses, turning about to face the shadow, every fang bared. "How many times must you be sent back to your pens, Hound Keeper?"
The warbling voice laughed, its stretched tone making it sound mixed with the howls of raging dogs. "Ah, but what would I be without my family, hm, old and mighty one? They have already taken so… splendidly to this place, after all…"
The shadow slithers and writhes across the ground, Neb keeping it ever in his sight as it crawled up the wall of a building. "They rage and bite at the bars, wanting to rend and rip at this unblemished world… and pursue this course yet further, then they will. Even if they must get through you."
"You've not raised a hound yet that was able to so much as make me flee." Neb snarled at the shadow, claws digging into stone, muscle coiling in preparation to pounce.
"That much I will concede." The shadow huffed, clearly insulted. "But I need not my hounds to rend you limb from limb, much as I'd enjoy seeing them rip out your immortal heart."
One of Neb's heads sensed the danger before it could arrive, the hydra leaping back as something large slammed into the road beside him, stone cracking and splintering beneath the force. The hydra backed up and shrieked at the interloper, every nerve on edge.
He knew that abyss-skinned, fire spewing form anywhere. He knew all too well the upturned wings and hunched posture, monstrous paws leaning on the ground in a posture of eager aggression. The cloven hooves that had thundered across battlefields since the birth of their race, and the hell-forged armor that clad it.
But most of all, he knew that oily smell at last, that slimy sensation that ran across his every scale.
And the burning red glint of a broken sword, held in a reverse grip of the monstrous, flame spewing creature that had struck at him.
"But I will suffice for my dear lieutenant doing the honors instead." The shadow continued, cruel mirth replacing the insulted huff. "Bring his heart to me, Roxral."
The Pit Lord roared its furious answer and Neb screeched back, knowing this battle could well be his last.
One cut from that Vorpal Blade in the Pit Lord's paw was all it would take.
Ch. End