Gallows stirred as he felt a loose cloth sack filled with ice press against his forehead, relieving his slight fever. It felt nice and he leant into the coolness, all the nerves in his body shaky and weak. His eyes were a little bit blurry, but he nonetheless recognized Shane sitting beside his bed, the youth noticing the newfound awareness of his older brother. He moved the ice pack away and smiled, the only person nearby. "Good morning!" Shane said brightly, receiving a drawn-out groan as an answer.
That groan eventually formed into words. "Urgh… Shane? What the… heck happened to me?" Gallows felt tingly all over, but the feeling was decidedly unpleasant and it hurt a little. He was lying on one of the beds upstairs in his house, staring dully at the ceiling. He had done this many times before when he was inflicted with a hangover, but his hurt stemmed from his body, and not the clogged-up feeling of his mind. This was worse than a hangover, Gallows had never been or felt this unwell for a very long time now.
"From they way you were twitching and burned, I guessed that you may have been electrocuted." Shane answered slowly, keeping his words fairly simple so that his injured brother could understand them. He had studied medicine before, and knew the effects electricity could have on the brain. The best thing for Gallows right now was to not force him into thinking too hard. The elder brother made an attempt at getting up, but his nerves failed him and he slumped back onto the bed, listening to the sounds of glass being moved, tools being implemented, and the sort of noises one could easily find inside an apothecary.
"Geez… well… when can I get up again?" He asked, feeling scratchy gauze around his face. His clothing was a little stained with his own blood, after spurring Mearas like the wind and running from as many monsters as possible, it seemed that a hasty departure only made the monsters even more eager to catch you. Gallows had been forced to fight in a weakened condition for far too many battles. It had been a race against time, and it looked like he had barely made it. All he could hope now was that he had brought home the right plant.
Shane shook his head in disapproval. "You won't be getting up anytime soon," He warned Gallows, "Give yourself a break, big brother. Please relax, you have already done more than your share of work. Leave the rest to us, we almost have all of the ingredients now. All we have to do is wait for Virginia and Jet to get back. Until then, Catherine and Grandmother are working on the cure downstairs."
"They're doin' the antidote? Here, let me up, I wanna help. You know I'm good at that stuff…" He tried to get up again, nearly managing to get himself off the bed, but was forced to concede defeat as Shane pushed him down again, hardly allowing him to move. His body protested from the motion and he had to obey their commands, going limp and sighing. He really wanted to give assistance.
"I'm really sorry about this, but…" Knowing that it would be the best thing for Gallows's health, Shane lent over and pressed two fingers against an artery running parallel to his jugular vein, timing the pulse of blood silently and applying just enough pressure as was needed. The technique only took about ten seconds before it was successful, the pressure point skill making Gallows's consciousness quickly slip away. The big Baskar closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Shane continued his quiet vigilance, leaving the people downstairs to their work. He himself really wanted to help, but this was something Catherine needed to learn all by herself, with a little aid from Halle. The antidote could readily be made from the ingredients without much hassle if circumstances were right, but besides the physical ingredients, there was still one other that only Catherine could provide. A miracle. If Clive needed a miracle, then Catherine was the only one who could give it to him. She was the deciding factor between success and failure.
In the end, everything would all be up to her.
xxx
The bandit team had paused outside the foot of the proud mountains, four of the five people looking up and trying their hardest to see it's distant peaks. Kaitlyn was gaping, she had never seen anything so huge before. It just went up and up, so unbelievingly high that it's tips were shrouded with fog and cloud. Romero was holding a hand above his eye to see properly, and Ravendor was not too far away, leaning up against the trunk of a long dead tree.
"Well, here we are." He announced, obviously pleased. He saw Romero and Kaitlyn glancing up the mountain-side, laughed softly, and then shook his head, amused. "No, not up there. It would have taken us all day if that were so." He got off the side of the tree and beckoned to them, the raven sitting serenely in the bark-flaking branches landing gracefully on his master's shoulder. Ravendor barely noticed, and walked away. Kaitlyn held on tighter as Dario looked around and then followed his boss with hesitation, prompting Romero and Antonio to follow close behind. The harsh rock of the mountain did not slope gently up as it was supposed to, but it was divided into heights platformed into other heights. It's structure was very similar to a step pyramid.
Ravendor turned a corner, one hand against the rock wall as he moved, reaching a dry scrubland bush, growing stubbornly close to the wall and barely staying alive. He paused, turning around and smiling. Wrapping one hand around the flexible part of the bush's trunk, Ravendor pushed it aside and revealed a small hole in the rock face, badly cut and oozing claustrophobia. Gesturing to the entranceway, the bandit leader tried his best to keep his smile pure. "Alright now. Dario, Romero, in you go." He got twin looks of alarm, but ignored them. "Please trust me, it is not as cramped as it so chooses to present itself."
The two bandits just stared.
Dario set Kaitlyn down on the ground and looked worriedly into the tunnel, a bead of sweat rolling down his face. It looked very, very narrow. Was the Boss being serious? "You gotta be kiddin' me," The bearded bandit croaked, "I… I can't fit in there! I'll be stuck!" He backed away from the opening, holding up his hands. Kaitlyn moved over to Ravendor's side as he motioned for her, taking the man's hand. Kestorael cawed happily at her and Antonio grinned, as if he knew something that the others didn't.
"We will follow you two in a minute." Ravendor smirked, focussing his gaze on an agitated Romero. "I trust you all have no complaints about this? Romero, do you object?" The blonde bandit paused, looking startled out of his mind, and then shook his head vigorously. "I thought so." He continued, nodding tranquilly. He stepped back, pulling Kaitlyn with him as he moved. The two bandits reluctantly crept up to the tunnel and shot an imploring glance at their boss, who seemed not to notice their misery. Antonio was fighting to keep a straight face behind him, and the gunner and ninja somehow did not notice this.
Whimpering, Dario set his knee on the edge of the tunnel and looked inside, darkness and the spikes of jagged rock poking up into the passage. He swallowed hard, turned to see Antonio give him an eager thumbs-up, then he pushed himself inside.
It took him nearly a minute to fit his entire body in, and it required a great deal of wriggling and grunting as well. Romero went in after with a lot less fear, he was much thinner than his older brother, and more flexible to boot. Besides, after his little 'talk' with Ravendor, Romero didn't particularly want to irritate his boss again. Soon, no visible trace of them was left to the other three. Antonio could not take it anymore. He collapsed into a fit of laughter, clutching at his stomach and sniggering. "B-Boss!" He spluttered, "You so mean! Oh, that evil!" He started to laugh again, and Ravendor merely shrugged, still smirking.
"I said before that I would have my fun," He answered knowingly, looking at the tunnel with a satisfied expression, "They may consider this an initiation into my team, if it helps their egos any." He pulled Antonio to his feet with seemingly no effort, the small man still snickering a little. Kaitlyn personally wondered what was so funny. Sounds were coming out of the tunnel, coarse scrapings and soft swearing. Maybe Ravendor was wrong, perhaps it was tighter than he had said.
They walked a little bit further around the mountain-side, scarcely any longer than thirty seconds, before Ravendor lead them around a sharp bend and into the mouth of a cave. It was huge and gaping, as if it's innermost desire was to swallow them whole. It was wide enough for about eight people to walk abreast, and easily two or three times higher than an average man's height. This was the real cave entrance, the other had just been a decoy, or maybe an alternate route. In any case, it still looked pretty scary.
The bandit leader felt Kaitlyn grip his hand a little more tightly as he knelt down to gently touch her on the shoulder, trying to be kind. "You needn't fear what lies beyond, Kaitlyn." He reassured her, "There may be monsters, true, but I promise that you shall be protected." He did not lie about this, he honestly would protect her. The little girl looked uncertainly into the cave, then back at her kidnappers, focussing on Antonio because he was shorter and much easier to see.
"I wanna be a drifter," She told them, "So I can't be scared." Kaitlyn let go of Ravendor's hand, content to stand by herself. She had to be brave. "I'm not scared." The girl declared, and made it a point that she was the very first one who stepped into the cave. Closely, Ravendor followed, a hand on the holster of his gun, just in case. Antonio immediately became the rear guard, claws sliding out of his leather gloves. This did make her feel brave, even if they were her kidnappers, at the same time, they were her guardians, and also… her teammates.
The cave did not smell stuffy, as she would have expected, but it was actually pretty well ventilated, a cool breeze rushing from one long corridor to the other. Rocks and debris crumbled all around their shoes, and if one used a little bit of imagination, one could think that this dismal cave had used to be a temple of some kind. The quiet echo of a hidden water source tinkled off the harsh stone walls, distant yet ambient. The area they were now standing in was large, just enough room to be considered as a giant antechamber. But it was heavily damaged, like somebody not too long ago had tried to bring the roof down and destroy the place. It was a very ancient temple.
Gravel crunched underneath his feet as Ravendor walked slowly to the center of the room, turning around languidly as if checking to see if everything was exactly as he had left it. He did not look dissatisfied, and he took his hand off his gun, dropping his guard for the moment. "I do believe the coast is clear." He called out to the other two people with reassurance, taking a quick stroll over to a wall on the far right hand side. Antonio followed, pulling Kaitlyn along with him. There was a hole in it, and it could easily be guessed what it's purpose was for.
Grunting and wheezing, Dario squirmed out of the narrow hole first, cut up a bit from the sharp rocks, and dirtied with dust and cobwebs. A few spiders and other insects crawled off him and he shakily got to his feet after flopping out, shuddering from where he had just been. The gunner just hated small spaces. This place was better, though, it was cooler and larger, if still underground. Dario breathed in the air of freedom, pulling cobwebs out of his hair. Romero soon followed, nowhere near as dirty as his brother, but decidedly bruised more, his paler skin fragile against the sharp rocks that had passed under his hands and knees. It stung. The bandit sat down next to Dario, taking a breather. Then, they looked up.
Ravendor had his arms folded, the smirk he wore infuriatingly smug. "Was that a pleasant journey?" He asked smoothly, eyes glinting with mischief, "I am sorry, I seem to have gone ahead of you. Still, it is good to know that you grace my presence, despite all difficulties. Bleeding, are you? There is a water reservoir in the other chamber, you can clean yourself off there."
"That's impossible!" Romero exclaimed with astonishment, "How'd you get here, when we were… I mean, you know…" He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. He shot an imploring look at Antonio for answers, loathe to get them out of his boss, but the small ninja just shrugged, pointing to him and making a crazy motion with one finger. Romero began to silently fume. Dario, not wanting to cause any trouble, had already skulked off to find that water source, a set of footprints in the dirt showing the exact direction he had taken.
The dark-haired man's expression did not flicker. "Please excuse me," He began, "There is a perfectly good explanation, but I shall leave it up to you to figure out what that is. Why should I be inclined to explain my ways to a minion anyway, Romero? Oh, but I do not enjoy talking about myself, friend, I would prefer to tell you about this place, if you want to listen." The younger ninja looked dully at the floor, then nodded slightly, defeated.
Ravendor raised a hand, indicating the room around them. "This was once a place of worship, a shrine to the Guardians. I do not know which one, precisely, but archaeological evidence seems to indicate that it's influence must have been a powerful one, if it was deserving of a once-beautiful sanctuary like this. Eleven years ago, it was nothing less than a marvel, even in it's ruins, but since then, all it is can be amounted to a big pile of rocks." He shook his head bitterly, the destruction of such an aesthetic place was saddening. "This is my hideout, no-one will ever find you here. For a religious temple, it is very acceptable once you get used to it."
A religious temple? Puh. This is your tomb, a mausoleum, a crypt…
Kaitlyn picked up a rock. It bore a slight carving from a smashed piece of art on the wall, some barely visible text written all over the slab of stone. The little girl could not decipher it. "Once upon a time there used to be temples all over the world!" She recited, a passage from one of her favorite storybooks, "And when you prayed in them, the Guardians would make all your wishes come true!" She set the stone back on the floor, just gently enough so she would not break it, or disturb the other pieces lying there. Maybe, if she took the time to slot them all together, what kind of story would unfold? It didn't really matter, seeing she couldn't read it, anyway.
"I doubt anybody would answer your prayers anymore…" Ravendor said quietly to himself. "If they did, then I would be-" He caught himself in time and dismissed the thoughts from his mind, absently desiring a cigarette. He changed the subject, one of his hands twitching slightly as he experienced a small jolt of pain. "No, forget that. It is not important. We will he waiting out the rest of the plan," He explained, "Right here, so make yourselves comfortable. It will not be long until this job will be over. With luck, it may be even sooner. Come with me, I will show you all around."
"Uncle Ravendor…" Kaitlyn said softly, pulling on his white jacket, "What will happen to me when the plan is over? What is your plan? I wanna know. Why did you kid-nap me?" She had been meaning to ask this for a very long time, but had only just now worked up the courage. Her uncle's eyes went blank for the briefest few moments, formulating an answer, or a lie. No, he couldn't just lie to her, not to Kaitlyn... He remembered way back when he was a kid, Kaitlyn had been the only one who could see straight through his lies…
Adhering to that memory, Ravendor said nothing.