Disclaimer: I'm getting tired of saying this. I don't own slayers!
Big Escape
The Seyruun banditgang
The palace dungeon was just like any other dungeon, except that it was a little more humane that most. It was all according to the Seyruun beliefs that even villains deserved some measurements of decency. There were 4 inmates currently there. They were all from the same gang. Right now they were resting and waiting for a trial.
They all looked up as the palace guards dragged in a new prisoner. The new prisoner was still fighting. He was a fairly young man, just in the beginning of his twenties, he had somewhat long silvery hair that touched his shoulders. His entire build suggested that he had some kind of special training. Just before the guards could throw him into the cell, he broke free of their grasp, and made a wild punch at one of them. He missed by a few inches. The guards threw him to the ground, and covered his body with punches and kicks. Eruk didn't move after that treatment. The guards had been told to take it easy on him, but still make it look like it was for real.
He was thrown into the cell. "That might teach you not to mess with the princess" one of the guards said as they left. The 4 bandits started to approach their new cellmate. They was expecting him to be somewhat near unconscious. They stepped back, he wasn't unconscious, he was laughing. Eruk got up, still laughing. He was really grateful, that the guards really had taken it easy on him, but it still hurt pretty bad anyway. He decided to try one of the healing spells Sylphiel had taught him.
The bandits took another step back, as his hands started to glow white. He pressed them against his ribs and stomach "Recovery". He could fell the pain leave his body. He sat down, it was best to relax after receiving a healing spell. He looked at his inmates, it wasn't hard to see that they were surprised by his display of magic. "Haven't they seen magic before? Well, maybe there isn't that many magic using bandits around" Eruk thought. He turned to his cellmates "Stop staring at me, have you never seen magic before?" he asked them rather bluntly.
The bandits didn't say anything. He stood up and stretched a bit. "So, what are you guys in for?" he asked. He hoped to earn their respect. One of them stepped forward "I don't see why that is any of your business, mister" he said. Eruk shrugged "Well, too bad. I was hoping you could be of some use to me when I escape this place". That caught the bandits attention. "What do you mean by that?" one of them asked. "What I mean is, that I have no intention of staying here longer than I have to. I'm after the treasures of this palace, but I could use some more manpower". The bandits didn't seem convinced of his abilities. "If you're that good then why are you down here?" one of them asked. Eruk smiled to himself, it was just that question he had been waiting for. "Do you really think that I was overpowered by the guards?" he asked them "The objective of this first raid was to gain a few contacts, and to obtain the guards schedule" he pulled out a piece of paper from his pockets. That worked like he had hoped for. The 4 bandits were almost ready to give in to him.
"Perhaps we could help each other after all" one of the bandits said, "but how do you intent to escape this place?". Eruk shook his head " You just leave that to me, and we'll be free by nightfall". The bandits didn't seem all to pleased by his answer, but found the thought of freedom appealing. "Get us out of here and we have a deal" one of them finally said.
Night came. The bandits were asleep. Eruk got up and walked over to the window. Just as planned, the cell he was in was on the ground level. He ejected his blades, and focused the power of fire into them. He made a punch at the wall. The magical power was released and blasted a hole in it. The bandits was now wide awake. "Come on, it's your turn to keep your end of the bargain" Eruk shouted. The bandits rushed out of the opening, and Eruk followed them. They got out of the palace gate safely.
He followed them to a little alley. There they got down into the sewers. "The sewers? Isn't that a little obvious?" Eruk asked. "Don't you worry about that, we are going further down. "After a short run the bandits stopped, one of them pressed a brick in the wall, and a section moved to the side. "So that's why no one were able to find them" Eruk thought to himself. Inside was a pretty large complex.
Lots of people were inside. One of the bandits took Eruk to their boss. The bandit boss was, just like Eruk suspected, a big man. "So, you claim to have something we might be interested in, do you?". Eruk nodded, "Yeah, I have the entire guard schedule for the rest of this week". The boss laughed "You think I'm stupid, if YOU have the schedule, then the guards will know it is missing". Eruk shrugged, agreeing with the boss, "You are right, the guards would know if I had the schedule, but how will they ever know that I made a copy of it, instead of taking the original?". That was enough to convince the boss. "Well, lets see if the guards follow the schedule for tomorrow, if that's the case the you are a part of the raid in two days, if not… well let's talk about that if it is necessary. Of course, before I know if I can trust you, you'll be spending the waiting time in one our special guest suites".
Just as Eruk suspected the "Special guest suite" was a prison. He had a cell of his own, but he could hear that there were other prisoners in some of the other cells. He looked around, there was nothing of particularly interest to him inside the prison cell. The only thing he could do now, was to wait. He knew that the guard would follow the schedule he had given the bandits. He sat back against the wall. There was a bandit placed on guard in front of the cell. "Hey" Eruk shouted to get his attention. The guard turned his attention to Eruk, "yeah, want do you want?" he asked. Eruk played his role casual, "oh noting special, I was just wondering about why there are so many prisoners here. I mean, I have worked alongside many gangs before, but never seen that many prisoners before". The guard laughed a bit "Oh those?" he pointed to the other cells, "they are our savings".
That didn't help much on Eruk's understanding. "What do you mean by savings" he asked. "What I mean is" the guard answered "that we hold these people for ransom, but frankly, most of them are sold as slaves". Eruk was disgusted, these people were into slave trading? "No wonder Phillionel wants them stopped". "Oh, that's nice" he simply said. No matter how disgusted he was with the whole thing, he had to keep up his cover. He turned to the guard once again "Could you at least try to keep them quiet, I'm trying to sleep here".
Time passed slowly with nothing to do. Eruk spend most of his time sleeping. Not that he was all that tired, but it seemed to be the best way to kill time. He was woken up by the sound of the door to the cell opening. He opened one of his eyes too find out what happened. A girl was thrown into his cell. "what's going on here?" he asked. "Don't you worry about that" a bandit said "we are just running out of room here". Eruk stood up "so? What's that to do with me? I guess this means that you have verified my information now". The bandit shook his head, "we still need to check a few more shifts, why don't you think of this as entertainment for tonight?" The bandit laughed and closed the door.
Eruk turned his attention to the girl on the floor. She looked like she was a few years younger than him. Her clothes was ragged and bloody. She looked around in the room, she was scared. Their eyes met. The girl crawled backwards, her fear was obvious. Eruk sat down, thinking that it made him look more frightening to her when he stood up. He looked at her, she wasn't moving away anymore, but she was far from calm. " Easy, girl" he said, trying to sound as calming as he could, "you have nothing to fear from me". She calmed down a bit, but she was still watching his every move. She quivered a bit, and as if the movement had hurt, she started crying.
Eruk got up and moved slowly towards her. The girl immediately pulled back. "Don't worry, I just want to help" he took of his cape, and threw it to her "Here take this, it has kept me warm many cold nights, now it looks like you could use it". The cape landed in front of her. She jumped a bit, like in shock, but then picked his raven black cape up and wrapped it around her. "Thank you mister" she sniffed "you… you are not going to do… anything to me, are you?" Eruk shook his head "No, I'm not. Listen I'm not like those guys out there. If I had wanted to do anything to you, I would have done it already".
It was obvious that she didn't trust him yet, but she had calmed down quite a bit. It was quiet for a while. Eruk took the time to observe his new cellmate. From what he could see clearly in the dim lights, she had fairly long brow hair, that hung loosely down her back, almost in the same manner that Sylphiel had her hair. He still hadn't determined her age, but she looked like she was about 16 or 17 years old. From the way she was dressed Eruk figured that she had been working as a waitress, when she was captured. She didn't have any indication that her family would ever be able to pay a ransom.
"that poor girl will probably be sold as a slave, unless our plan works" Eruk thought. The silence was occasionally broken by the girls sobbing. Eruk suddenly noticed the smell of blood, it had been there ever since the girl was thrown into the cell with him. "Are you wounded?" Eruk asked her. She was startled. Eruk stood up and started walking towards her. She pulled back. "Don't worry" he said "if you're hurt, then maybe I'm able to help you". She relaxed. Eruk took a good look at her, there was no serious injuries, but she had a whole lot of small cuts and bruises. He said nothing out loud, but he was thankful that it wasn't anything more serious, he doubted that he would be able to cure anything bad with his limited knowledge of magic. "Listen to me" he said " I think I can heal your injuries, if you'll let me". Her eyes widened with fear "you are not going to hurt me are you?". "Just like I said before, I have no intention of harming you" Eruk assured her "Now lay down on the floor, and I'll try to heal you ok?". This time the girl agreed. Eruk moved closer, and chanted a healing spell. His hands were glowing. He never touched her, even though his magic were most powerful when he touched his target. He figured that she would panic if he did.
"There. That should take care of most of your injuries" Eruk said. He was hiding how tired he was. Magic always seemed to wear him out, especially healing and levitation. He figured that the reason for this, was the longer amount of time they required to cast and maintain. "Thank you mister" she said, her fear was vanishing. "Don't mention it" he replied "and, by the way, you can just call me Eruk". The girl nodded "in that case you can call me Taki".
Eruk was pleased that she had calmed down, perhaps he could kill some time talking to her. "So, Taki, would you mind telling me how you ended up here?" She started sobbing once again. Eruk reached out for her to calm her down. She suddenly looked angry "So that's your game you filthy bandit, trying to trick me into a false sense of security? You almost succeeded too, but I'm not all finished yet. As long as I can scratch and kick, you'll never touch me". Eruk quickly pulled back. "Whoa! I didn't mean anything wrong". It was obvious that she had a fighting spirit.
He decided too use a drastic measure to gain her trust. He stood up. "Taki, do you see these?" his blades shoot out from his gloves, just as he had suspected she froze. She had never expected her "attacker" to be armed, she pulled back as far as she could "I'm sorry" she screamed "Do what you want, but please don't kill me". It was just that kind of reaction he had hoped for. "That's just what I intend to do, Taki".
He took of his gloves and put them on the floor. "Now I'm unarmed". He turned around "Now is your chance, If you really want to kill me. Just pick up my weapons" Taki was surprised. Eruk knew that she was unable to use his weapons, and because of that, he had let the blades stay out so she could use them as knives. She took a step forward and picked up the blades. She held out her newly acquired weapons at him. Eruk just sat down "listen to me Taki, we can keep up threatening each other forever, or we can talk. The choice is yours". Taki calmed down a bit "why are you doing this to me?" she asked "I know that you are working for these guys, just… just get it over with". Eruk stared directly at her "Taki, like I said earlier, if I had any intention of harming you, I would have done it now. Just calm down, I might be able to help you get out of here".
She didn't seem convinced just yet "Get me out of here? but you are a bandit too, aren't you?" she asked. Eruk decided it was safe to let her in on the some of the truth. "I'm not a bandit, I work for these guys at the moment, but I don't like the way they do things, and I figure there will be a reward for turning them in" he explained. She looked at him, not sure if she believed him or not. He continued "now that you know my secret, I'm completely at your mercy. If you decide to tell those guys what I just said, it doesn't matter if it is the truth or not, they'll probably kill me just to be sure that I'm not going to sell them out".
She nodded "I… I want to trust you" she finally said. Eruk was relived, things were finally starting to look good. "I know this is sudden, but you need to give me my weapons back" he said "if somebody sees you holding those things, they'll kill you for certain". Much to his surprise she agreed. "I said I wanted to believe you" she said, her voice was clear and there was no sense of doubt in it, "You placed your life in my hands by telling me that story, I want to trust you". She sounded more mature than she looked.
"I worked at an inn, in a small town outside Seyruun. We had been attacked by these guys before, but usually they only took food and valuables. This time was different though. Instead of just the normal stealing, they started killing people. They grabbed a few prisoners too, myself included" She told him. She had started crying again " they… they killed my parents". Eruk nodded, he didn't know what to say to her. "But I'm gonna be strong, I wont let them beat me" she continued, it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself. "I would rather not talk more about myself" she said "why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Eruk?" He shook his head "I would like to do so, but I would endanger some of my friends by doing that, perhaps I could tell you something when we are out of this mess, ok?" She seemed to understand. They were cut of by someone banging on the door. "Hey newbie, We're ready to plan the raid tonight. You have 30 minutes to finish up in there".
Both Eruk and Taki were startled by the sudden sound. "Listen Taki" Eruk said "You know what they think we were doing, right?" she swallowed hard and nodded. Eruk continued "We have to make it look like they were right" He stepped forward, and knelt down "listen we need to make this look realistic" She was a bit scared, but she agreed. A few minutes later, Taki was lying on the floor, covered in Eruk's cape, but with some of her clothes torn, to give the impression that she had been struggling against him. "Don't worry Taki, I'll do everything I can to get you out of here" Eruk assured her before knocking on the door. "OK guys, You can let me out now" he shouted.
A bandit opened the door "So had a pleasant night? That girl is a real beauty right?" Eruk maintained a cold attitude "Cut the chatter, I'm here to work" his expression softened "but if you're going to sell her, perhaps I'll make a nice offer".
He was taken into a room where the boss and a few others were planing the raid. They looked up as he entered. "So there you are, glad it turned out that I could trust you" the boss said. Eruk just looked at him "Yeah, well, whatever. Lets just get down to business, ok?" The plan was fairly simple, One team was to occupy the guards at the gate. Another team was to slow down any reinforcements while the last team would go for the treasure. Eruk got on the last team. "I have just one question" Eruk said "Are we going for something special, or just anything valuable?" The boss looked him over "You just grab anything that looks valuable, but if you happen to find an amulet that looks like this, then a friend of ours in the town of Xen would pay good money for it", The boss held up a picture of an amulet. It looked like a fairly ordinary piece of jewelry, but it had an extraordinary beautiful green jewel embedded in the middle.
The plan had been made, and now the only thing left to do was waiting. Eruk spent most of his time alone, secretly writing down all the information he had gathered about the gang. He knew that he couldn't just stay in the palace during the raid, that would be to obvious. The time finally came. Eruk was waiting along with the rest of the team. The signal for attack had been given, and the first wave were already fighting at the gate. It was almost time for his own charge. "OK boys! Lets go!" it was easy to hear the boss's voice, even through the sound of battle. Eruk ran forward with the rest of his team, through the gate. They didn't meet much resistance. The way to the treasure chamber was clear.
The chamber itself were filled with all kinds of artifacts. The bandits quickly spread out and started gathering valuables. Eruk's eyes fell on the amulet he had seen on the picture, but just as he reached for it he heard the booming voice of the boss, "Hey, nice work newbie, you can expect a nice bonus when we get back". Eruk nodded, and threw the amulet to him. "OK boys we've done what we came here to do, let's get out of here" he shouted. The bandits started to pull back. Eruk made sure that he was the last one to leave the room. When no one was looking he threw the note that he had made earlier, and hurried after the others.
Back at the base the loot was gathered and the bandits were counted to see if anyone was missing. The losses had been extremely small, only one was missing. "Well, too bad for him" the boss said. A noise was heard from the entrance. It sounded like someone were fighting. Most of the people turned their attention towards the sound. They relaxed when they saw that it was the missing bandit. He seemed to be struggling with somebody. Eruk watched in stunned silence. The bandits dragged a familiar person with him. "Hey boss" he shouted "I found this one in the shrine, she'll fetch a nice price, or perhaps we could keep her as a pet". He threw the person into the middle of the room. Just as Eruk had feared, it was Sylphiel.
The boss looked at her "You're right, she is a pretty thing" He laughed, and turned towards her "Hey there sweetie wanna play with me tonight?" Eruk was happy that she hadn't seen him yet, he needed an idea, before he made himself known. "These people are ruthless. Gotta take a chance". Eruk stepped forward, "hold it right there". He turned to the boss, "you promised me a bonus. I want that girl, and the one from my cell".
All the bandits stared at him in surprise, no one ever talked back to the boss. "I respect you recklessness, newbie, I have no use for the girl from your cell, but you can't have this one until I'm done with her" the boss said, it was obvious that he was angry. Eruk shook his head "From what I can see, she is dressed like a shrinemaiden from New Sairaag. That means that I can get a good price for her, if she's unharmed. I'm not going to turn down this chance for a profit". Eruk and the boss were staring daggers at each other. "Fine, you win." The boss said "you'll get both of them. just go get the one from the cell".
Eruk walked forward towards Sylphiel. "You'll come with me" he said and dragged her to her feet. She screamed when her grabbed her. He knew that he was using more force than he had to, but there was no way he could let anyone know that the two of them actually knew each other. He pushed her in front of him down towards the prison. He had some trouble remembering which cell he had been in, but he finally found it. Just as he opened the door, he heard the sound of someone running behind him. Before he had time to react he was pushed into the cell. Acting on instinct he reached out to Sylphiel, he got hold of her and dragged her inside along with him.
Taki had been sleeping when Eruk stumbled into the room. He struggled to maintain balance, but failed. He fell on top of her, and dragged Sylphiel down with him. Taki screamed, she hadn't expected to be woken up like that. Eruk quickly got himself together. He grabbed hold of the frightened girls shoulder, "Taki. Taki it's me, Eruk, remember?". She stopped screaming, and opened her eyes. "E… Eruk? Is that really you?". He let go of her, "yeah, I'm back to get you out, just like I promised, now just calm down, ok?".
He turned to Sylphiel "Sylphiel, why are you here?" She was just sitting on the floor "I… I just went into the shrine for a quick prayer, when that guy came up behind me. I was so scared, I couldn't do anything". He looked her into the eyes, "I'll admit that I haven't been planing on you showing up here, but at least we're together again". She nodded in agreement. "Helloooo, I'm still in the room, you know" Taki's voice made them snap out of their little reunion. They both turned away from each other, both blushing a bit. "Eruk, do you mean you know that girl?" Taki asked. Eruk nodded "yeah I do, I owe her my life. We have been travelling together for quite a while now". Taki seemed to understand "Oh I see, she's your girlfriend right" both Eruk and Sylphiel denied that on the strongest. Taki giggled a bit, "Whatever you two lovebirds say".
Eruk decided to ignore the somewhat cherry teenager for the time being. " Sylphiel, I'm really sorry for what I did out there, but I couldn't blow my cover" he stared out, Sylphiel didn't react to his words, but she seemed to be mumbling something. Eruk couldn't understand her and got a little closer. Before he could do anything she slapped him on the side of his head. He fell back, She had never done anything like that before. At the same time Sylphiel realized what she had done, and rushed to his side "Oh my, I'm so sorry about that, I… I don't know why I did that" she shouted. Eruk got up, rubbing his cheek. "Don't worry about it, I was pretty rough with you out there, I guess I deserve it". She had started crying again, "I know, but still…" He cut her off "I said don't worry about it. Sometimes that is the best way to get things out of your system".
He turned serious, and eyed both of his female friends, "I'm afraid that my cover is blown. We have to find some way to get out of here, and I'm have a feeling that we have to hurry, these guys wouldn't think twice about killing us". Or to be more exact, they are probably gonna kill me and have some "fun" with you before killing or selling you, He thought. He quivered a bit, there was no way he was going to let that happened.
They all sat down trying to figure out a way to get out. Taki suddenly jumped up. "I know! How about one of us acted sick! I bet that'll do the trick". Sylphiel giggled a bit "I don't think such an old trick is going to work, do you Eruk?" Eruk looked deep in thought, and didn't hear the question. Sylphiel tapped his shoulder "Do you have an idea Eruk? She asked. He didn't answer at once, but then said "It just isn't enough to get out of this room. There are many bandits out there, and I won't be able to beat all of them". He turned to Sylphiel "you can cast the dragon slave. Can it be done underground?" She shook her head "I think that would be too dangerous, it would probably destroy this complex, and even hurt somebody. I… I can't do that". He had expected something like that. "And how about you, Taki, do you have any fighting skills?" The teenager looked a bit pale "no, I have never been in a fight". Eruk understood, and continued " It would seem our best bet is to wait here until somebody at the palace finds the note I left, and sends somebody to save us. We can just hope that we are left alone until then".
Taki was in shock " That is your plan? What if nobody comes to save us? What if they kill us, or do something nasty to us?" Eruk sat down in front of her "Taki, I won't let anything happen to you or Sylphiel. Not as long as I'm alive". He looked at Sylphiel and continued "even if I die, I'm sure Sylphiel will be able to protect both of you with her magic". Taki looked at Eruk, then at Sylphiel. Both of them had straight faces. Sylphiel was struggling to keep up her appearance, she was terrified, but she had to keep calm, to prevent Taki from panicking. As a shrinemaiden she was trained to hide her emotions, when dealing with people. It was a necessary to learn that skill, when she was dealing with fatally ill people or people who had lost loved ones. That kind of people deserved better than a crying priestess.
"I guess you are right…" Taki finally said. Eruk sat down with his back on the door. "You two try to relax, get some sleep if you can. If anybody tries to get into the room while I'm sitting here, I will feel it, Ok?" The girls sat down at the opposite wall. There they would be facing whoever got into the room. They started talking, Eruk couldn't hear what they said, but he figured that they were trying to get to know each other, after all they had never met before, and probably never would have, if it hadn't been for him. He hoped they would be friends, as he didn't need any disagreements if things turned bad, and he had a pretty strong felling that it would.
Authors Notes:
It would seem that whining helps a lot when fishing for reviews. Thank you very much Slayers Otaku-Girl!!!! A review for every chapter so far? That's great!. You think I'm leaving this story with many unanswered questions? Well, it's that kind of thing that makes people read on, right? A great thanks to you too, Ratmonkey.
So we have ourselves a very long chapter here, I was thinking of splitting it up, but decided against it after all. A new OC is introduced here. Yes, Taki will stick around. She's actually a part of the original show, as an extremely minor character.
Now, will they be able to escape on their own, or will they get some help? Like always, you have to read on to find out!
