Chapter XII

"…And into the Fire"

Note: This is where Soulblighter-2 left off on writing The World of Chrono Cross: The Porre Affair before he passed away. Everything after this point was written by me, Dixxy, or Alba Aulbath.

The rest of this work is dedicated in loving memory of Soulblighter-2.

May you rest in peace, my friend

A definite stench hung in the air of the holding cell that the young knight now found himself in. Vomit, blood, bodily wastes, and perhaps even rotting corpses were amongst the smells that lined the chamber, though he would not have been overly surprised to have found creatures such as rats or cockroaches making their homes in the walls that lined the old castle.

Glenn watched with mild interest as a small mouse crawled across the cold stone floor of the cell. It stopped briefly at the toe of his shoe, standing on its hind legs to sniff. It looked around, nose twitching as it tried to smell something, probably its mate or some small morsel of food. Feeling sorry for the mouse, Glenn picked a crumb from his dinner plate and gently placed it on the floor beside the creature. The mouse scampered over, sniffed it with curiosity, then picked it up and bounded off towards the wall, where it squeezed into the cracks of the bricks and disappeared.

The holding cell was apparently in what had once been Guardia Castle. More specifically, it was in a tower that must have been used as a formal jail before Porre had taken over the northern continent some years ago. Now the castle was being used as a Porre military base to keep a close tab on the slightly volatile area of Truce, where the Republic knew there was a resistance movement.

Glenn sat quietly in his cell, wringing his hands in worry. After their arrest, he had been disarmed and separated from Leena. The sudden loss of his companion worried him- was she all right? She was, after all, just a girl. A girl with a lot of spunk, yes, but still very much a child. Glenn bit his bottom lip, wondering if he should have tried to convince her to stay in Termina where she would have been safer- now her very life was in danger.

That thought frightened him.

But it isn't over yet, Glenn thought to himself, placing a hand on his forehead. The execution is still two days away- there is time to try and escape. But how do we do that? The entire tower is crawling with Porre soldiers and they'll most certainly shoot an escaped prisoner on sight. I'm also unarmed, and I'd imagine that Leena is unarmed as well. Still, I have to find a way to get out of here.

The lieutenant looked outside his cell. Two guards were on duty, casually talking about their wives as they leaned nonchalantly on their rifles. All right. If I'm going to escape, I'm going to need to get rid of those two before I do anything else. Then I have to find Leena and get her out of here as well. But how?

Slowly, Glenn got to his feet. The two guards jumped, turning towards the inside of the cell, rifles pointed at the prisoner. The knight stared wide-eyed at the guns, shaking his head as he made stretching motions. The soldiers relaxed and turned back to their conversation. Curious, Glenn took a few quiet steps towards the soldiers. Much to his pleasure, neither man made a motion to move.

Taking even more precaution than before, Glenn slowly began to make his way towards the Porre soldier. As he edged closer, the distance only seemed to increase and his footsteps seemed to pound loudly against the stone floor of the prison cell. Still, neither soldier moved, now having moved onto a discussion about some party they had recently attended together, probably a social function not much different from the ones that the General threw on important occasions.

Closer. . . closer. . .

After what felt like an eternity, Glenn was standing at the entrance of his cell. Slowly, he lifted his hands, spread them, and reached them through the bars. The Porres began to stir, sensing his presence for the first time. Quickly, Glenn slammed their heads into each other, praying that the blow would knock the two men unconscious. With a resounding thud, the soldiers slid to the ground, dropping their rifles in the process. The lieutenant silently cheered and knelt to the ground, reaching through the bars to try and locate the keys.

* * * *

Leena wasn't sure which was worse- the anxiety she felt over her impending execution, the fear she felt for her traveling companion's safety, or the hungry looks that the guard was giving her. She pretended not to notice him, but she wasn't sure if she was doing a very good job at this from the chuckles the guard was emitting. Leena took a sudden interest in her hair and began to twirl it around her finger.

There was only one thing in her favor, and it had been that they hadn't searched her thoroughly enough when she'd been brought into the base. That was stupid on their part- she still had her dagger. Still, it wouldn't do her much good unless she was in close range, and she was nervous to approach the guard on duty due to his wanting looks.

"You know, sweet cheeks. . . you've been awfully quiet in there."

Leena sat up with a start, looking around in confusion before she saw it was, indeed, the Porre soldier acting as her guard. He was now fully turned around, looking into her cell with his arms crossed and a smile on his lips. Even though she couldn't see his eyes through the dark visor of his helmet, she could only guess that he was looking her up and down. Leena furrowed her eyebrows and clutched her fists in response to the man's look. "What does it matter to you if I'm quiet or not?" she asked. "In a few days time you all intent to silence me permanently, do you not?"

"Yes, we do- you are, after all, a traitor," he said. One of the corners of his mouth slowly crawled up his face and he briefly let out a chuckle. Leena slowly inched her way away from the offensive soldier, eliciting a full belly-laugh from the man. She winced as the guard continued. "Quite a bit of spunk you got there, too, although I suppose anyone involved with the rebels must have a little bit of guts to stand up to the Republic like you and your male companion did. I must say I'm taken by the concept."

Leena swallowed.

The Porre soldier looked over both of his shoulders, then reached for his belt. "It would be a shame to let such a pretty girl go to waste at the hands of the executioner in a few days, wouldn't it? You're so young and pretty- it would be a shame if no one ever got the chance to enjoy you."

The village girl felt the blood drain from her face. Oh no. . . not this! she thought to herself. Then, she shook her head. No. . . you have your dagger- you aren't completely helpless and defenseless. She held back a grin. Besides, if you can get his keys, then you can get out of here and find Glenn.

The soft tinkling of metal on metal rung through the air as the guard produced a ring of keys. A rather stupid grin was plastered onto his face as he fumbled with them, searching for the one to open the cell. Leena continued to chew on her hair, never taking her eyes off the soldier as her free hand slowly moved towards where the hidden dagger was resting. It was now or never, and Leena knew it.

With a resounding click, the door was open, and the guard stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. "It's just you and me, doll-face," he said in a low, husky voice. Leena's eyes widened. "Tell me- how would you like it? Quick, or slow? It'll be a question you'll be asked again, I promise you that."

"Get-"

Before Leena could get another word out, the guard paused, a shocked look on his face. The soldier's eyes were wide and glazed over, a small, high pitched squeak emitting from the back of his throat. His body jerked slightly as he placed his hands over his chest and fell to his knees. Leena side-stepped as the man slumped over face-first, dead before he hit the floor.

Nervously, Leena turned to see what had killed the man. What she saw surprised her. It was another Porre soldier, holding a long rifle with a now very bloody bayonet on the nozzle. His lips curled into a grin, which puzzled her even more. "What in the world?" she asked. She leaned forward, squinting forward as she tried to analyze the man before her. She couldn't help but smile as she recognized a familiar scar on the newcomer's cheek.

"Are you all right, Leena?" Glenn asked, raising the visor of the helmet to confirm that it was him who had come to her rescue. The Dragoon looked at the body on the floor, and the averted his gaze back to his traveling companion. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No, but he tried to have his way with me," Leena said, shuddering slightly as she hugged herself. She looked back up at him, then knelt down to pick up the keys on the floor to open the cell door again. Once it was open, she gave Glenn a quick peck on the cheek and then got down to business. "While I appreciate you saving me from that beast, might I ask what you're up to?"

"I knocked out a couple of guards and 'borrowed' their uniforms and weapons," he said. Glenn jerked his head. "I've got another uniform and a weapon for you in the corner- if we're going to be walking around here to find the exit, we'd best go incognito. Hopefully no one will suspect anything."

Leena opened the door to her cell and stepped out, staring at the body nervously. She slowly nodded. Glenn began to hand her the uniform, which she slipped on over her existing clothing. The Lieutenant kept watch, rapping his fingers on the rifle. Seeing the blood from the soldier, he began to absently search for something to clean the blood with- the last thing they needed was to be seen with a bloody weapon- that would arouse suspicion.

Glenn turned to check on Leena, only to see her trying to stuff her hair into the helmet. With a little time, she had it the way she wanted it and on her head. It was a slightly large fit, but it would have to make due. "Ready?" he asked. Leena nodded, putting the rifle over her shoulder. Glenn nodded. "Let's get out of here before something else happens."

* * * *

"Glenn? Are we lost?"

"Leena. . . I know. Yes, we are lost."

Two hours had passed, and they had yet find any sort of an exit. The whole layout of the tower had proved to be much more complex then Glenn had originally anticipated- he had only found Leena due to the somewhat close proximity of her cell. Now the two were trying to find their way out of the complex to find the mysterious Norris and get back to El Nido in one piece. They also had to blend in with the Porre soldiers as much as they could, mimicking the way they held their guns to try and fool them. And they had to find the Einlanzer as well- Glenn didn't want to leave the Holy Dragon sword behind in Porre, as it was too valuable to risk loosing.

"It feels like we're running around in circles!" Leena complained, picking up the pace of her walk to keep up with Glenn, who had a much wider and quick stride than she had. "Haven't we been down this cell block before? It seems familiar, unless they're all the same."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were all the same," Glenn said. He looked over his shoulder and grinned. "It might confuse prisoners trying to escape." Leena didn't look amused, but he shrugged off the dirty look she'd sent him and continued on. "There must be an exit somewhere- how else would the Porres themselves get us in here and out?"

"Why don't I lead for a little while?" asked Leena. She hip-smacked Glenn aside and walked in front of him, swaying her hips as she began to choose a doorway to their left, quickly entering and encouraging her companion to follow. Grumbling something not very nice about the fairer sex, Glenn followed her example and went through the door, hoping that she wasn't leading them to certain doom.

As luck would have it, Leena had found a corridor than led to a staircase. "Impressive, Leena," he commented. In response, Leena turned to Glenn, stuck her tongue out at him, and went down. "Don't even say it Leena, because I already know." He changed the pitch of his voice to a much higher, girlish tone. "'All it takes is a woman's touch'."

Leena couldn't help but giggle. Then, she quieted herself, remembering that her feminine voice might give them away. She quieted herself and continued down the stairs. Glenn was at her heels, keeping an eye out for unwanted guards or commanding officers. The last thing they needed was to be found out.

The stairway led them to what appeared to be some sort of an execution or torture room. Several large axes were leaning against an iron maiden and three guillotines were lined against the back wall. A few other torture devices were also in plain view, some of them, such as an open iron maiden and the majority of the executioner's axes, all of them stained with blood from the necks of many now deceased prisoners. Glenn and Leena cringed at the thought- many of those prisoners had probably been revolutionaries.

But the most unusual thing in the room was not a torture device at all. It was, in actuality, a strange looking man. The man in question had a light blue skin tone with a head of bright gold hair. A large red bandanna covered his nose, mouth, neck, and part of his chest. One of his arms appeared to be entirely mechanical. Something about the man made them both shudder and realize there was something very, very wrong.

Taking a cautious look over both of his shoulders, Glenn decided no one was looking and took off his helmet to get a closer look at the strange. . . thing. . . in front of them. Leena stayed back, deciding that she wouldn't be as good with it in case something went wrong. And, according to how their trip had progressed so far, they were overdue for something to go wrong.

Seeing as Glenn as occupied with the strange man, Leena decided to investigate the room to see if there was anything of any particular value to them. There were weapons in the room, after all- it WAS a torture chamber. But what kind of an extra weapon would be good? Maybe if she could find an extra dagger for Glenn, or perhaps some sort of a sword.

Suddenly, leaning between two of the axes that were leaning against the iron maiden, was the silver blade of the Einlanzer. Leena's eyes widened in happiness as she rushed over, carefully picking the blade up. She looked it over, trying to convince herself this was the legendary weapon. "Hey! Glenn!" she said, waving the sword over her head. "I found the Einlanzer! Wonder why it's down here?"

"Oh, probably because they wanted to use it to cut my head off. But, uh, Leena?"

"Yes, Glenn?" Leena asked, turning to where she'd left Glenn. He'd sounded rather strange, his voice seeming a little strained and raspy. She dropped the sword in surprise and gasped. The mysterious blue man had come to life and was now holding Glenn captive, the fleshy arm around his neck and the mechanical one behind his back, presumably holding his hands at bay.

"You-are-not-Grobyc's-superiors. Grobyc-will-destroy-you."

*****

The next chapter will be written by Alba Aulbath. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

~Dixxy