Floor 9 - Chapter 6 - A Daring Rescue

As Jet and Phillia headed back through the corridors of the castle, an uncomfortable silence filled the air surrounding the two for different reasons. Jet, living with seven sisters, knew that if at any time they considered prying into his love life, it was never a good sign, and therefore it spelt danger for someone. Maybe he was being a bit presumptuous, and Phillia just happened to be nosy, but he'd rather not take any chances.

Phillia, on the other hand, was struggling to piece together what Jet had said earlier, even if he was being deliberately ridiculous. She just hoped it wouldn't eat away at him too much.

''Sooo...'' Phillia started.

''So...'' Jet responded.

A pair of hands grasped onto Jet's shoulders, and pulled him away. ''We need to talk.''

Phillia looked on blankly, and tried to think of an excuse for how she'd just lost a person...

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Jet looked around the bedroom, and wondered exactly why he'd been pulled into the room with no warning. More surprisingly, Mito was stood there, looking as if she didn't hate him. Had he banged his head whilst slashing earlier?

''You really don't like me, do you?'' Jet asked, cutting right through the uncomfortable air around them.

''Not really, no. Remind me a little too much of myself, if I'd made the right choices.'' Mito admitted, a a slight look of shame on her face, as she looked away.

''How do you mean?''

''Koharu was telling me all about you guys, and how you were the reason she ever got the courage to go out there. I guess I can see Asuna in her, if I'd not been such a coward. I was terrified that she'd be hurt because of me, and I made bad decisions because of it. I guess I thought that if I couldn't do it, then no one else could. I sound absolutely pathetic saying that out loud, I know.''

''Huh, I just thought that I was being a bit of a dick again.'' Jet shrugged, as Mito nodded slightly.

''Well, that too. You do kind of have an abrasive personality...''

''Oh yeah, I know.'' Jet nodded, as it were the most obvious thing ever. ''But I'm not so sure that you should feel as guilty about Asuna as you do. I won't say she's safe, because... well, you know, but she's done a damn good job of adapting to this world. She found someone to work with, and if I'm honest, I think the guy she found needed someone to work with too.''

''You and Koharu, how do you do it?''

''Uhh, do what?'' Jet's eyebrows raised almost into his hairline at the question. She wasn't asking about that, was she? Even by his standards, that was a bit rude!

''How aren't you two scared for each other? I've watched both of you throw yourselves into the jaw of danger, for no reward whatsoever, and yet...''

''Yet I've never shown that I'm scared, right? If I'm honest, I'm terrified, not just for Koharu, but for everyone. The rational part of me says they're all on the same level as me, so stop worrying, but the rest of me? Nah. Thing is though, Mito, I know that Koharu's scared of it, but being scared isn't a bad thing. In here especially, being scared is a good way to survive, in my eyes.''

''Koharu really wasn't kidding about the speeches, was she?'' Mito joked.

''They work! Some of the time, anyway...'' He begrudgingly admitted.

''If you two are done... we've been summoned.'' Phillia leant against the door frame, as Rain and Koharu poked their heads around her, whilst Mito held hers in her hands. Jet just slow clapped them, knowing that they'd had at least some part in this...

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The group had been summoned by the Queen, and the current circumstances explained in detail. The potion would be ready in the morning, and that they had a little over a week before the combined army of Kales'Oh came knocking.

They'd also been given a seal, which made them Her Majesty's messengers, meaning that they could come and go as was deemed necessary by them. All this felt a little too close to being back at school, for Jet's liking.

The rest of the evening had been relatively uneventful though, as the group spent time discussing anything and everything, before they'd settled down for the night. Koharu had to admit, it made a nice change to have even just a minor sense of normality again, even if it was only sitting and talking with friends. Having settled in for the night, her mind soon wandered to the situation outside the castle, and her rest was intermittent at best.

It didn't help that every time she started to drift to sleep, she pictured that moment in her head, and just how little care had been given by the boy's murderer. One moment, he was alive and fighting back, next, he was dead. Was that really how anyone deserved to go out? Cornered by a treacherous snake?

After a few hours, she'd decided she wasn't going to get any sleep like this, and got out of bed, to go for a walk around the castle. Normally, she'd be the first to admit just how much of a fairytale this was for her - she was wandering around an honest to goodness castle, with elves around her, after all. Today though, she just wanted to find somewhere quiet to sit and reflect, without anyone around.

After a while searching corridors, and looking for somewhere that fit the bill, she'd gotten slightly sidetracked, as she could hear singing coming from a balcony, just a little down the corridor from their rooms. As she walked slowly down the corridor, she began to recognise the bright red hair of the singer - Rain, who was giving a very good rendition of a pop song she'd had on repeat when she was younger.

Walking up to her slowly, Koharu sat down nearby, and enjoyed what might, at any other time, have felt like a private show, but today, it only served to make her feel a little more down. The song in question spoke about a man who wised he could see into a lost love's eyes, and opined about how life had broken them apart, and Rain was doing a fantastic job of bringing the emotions to life. Perhaps too slightly too good of a job, as Koharu was beginning to cry a little, and her sniffle only now caught Rain's attention...

''Oh, hi Koharu, I uhh, didn't know you were here! Umm, are you okay, you're crying?''

''Oh, I'm... I don't even know.'' Koharu sat down, and looked through tear filled eyes out into the snowy forest, their scenery looking more beautiful than ever as the moonlight shone onto the snow, and the purple stones that made up the defensive walls of the castle. ''I can't sleep, every time I try, I just think how we could've saved that boy earlier.''

''Koharu, I nearly died earlier, because I messed up. Today's been rough on all of us, and-'' A loud whistle pierced everyone's ears, and unlike last time, they didn't need Rain's tracking skill to hear it, as it came from the hills to the north west of the castle. As they scanned the snow covered grounds in that direction from up high, both Jet and Mito, still dressed in night clothes sprinted to the balcony, in a panic.

''The hell was that?''

''Sounds like someone's getting attacked out there.''

''You think we should help?''

''You think we should? We aren't exactly in a state to fight...''

''If someone's out there...''

''I'm with Koharu on this, but there's no way we're getting over there quickly...''

''I think there is...'' Mito looked over the sides. It wasn't that far down between floors, probably less than ten feet between them. As long as they were careful, they'd survive it. Everyone else, having begun to understand exactly what she was implying immediately decided the stairs were a far safer bet. Less likely to result in having to clean one of them up with a mop and bucket.

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Less than twenty minutes later, and after the group had made it to the front gates, going the sensible way... down the stairs, before been let through by the guards, the group headed out into the snow. It was a cold and frigid night, and the winds made sure they knew it, as any sweat drop almost immediately felt like icicles as they searched the snow for the source of the whistle. The thought between all of them was just how bad of an idea this was, especially as they had no idea what they were even looking for. It had been long enough that there was every chance that the source was now dead, and they'd have done this for nothing, but at the same time, there was a chance that they were still alive, and if nothing else, their consciences would be clear.

''There's blood in the snow.'' Phillia called out, as the group looked into a clearing, following the trail of blood. It carried on for a short distance, before going into the treeline. Another short distance, and it soon became clear as two Forest Elves were hunting someone in the trees, without much luck.

''Reckon we can knock them out?''

''Why, they're clearly not good guys...''

''We're supposed to be stopping a war, not causing one!'' Jet muttered through gritted teeth, as Mito pulled three picks out of her inventory.

''Then I'll try these.'' She looked oddly pleased with herself, as she threw the first one, hitting the left Forest Elf in the arm, before he slumped to the ground, the second immediately looking towards his fallen comrade in confusion, as her second pick hit the remaining soldier in the leg, and he dropped into the snow, on top of his comrade, both of them fast asleep... mainly as both were now snoring.

''What are those!?'' Jet called out, as he looked over the two soldiers.

''Sleep picks. Thought they'd come in handy if I ever need a non-lethal weapon.''

''No kidding, can I borrow one? My insomnia would be gone in-'' Koharu gave Jet a look of 'We are kind of busy here!', and Jet snapped back into mission mode, ''-Right, shutting up.''

''Over there!'' Rain called out, as the group ran over to the wounded Forest Elf. As they did, a realisation set in as to the identity of the wounded elf - it was Cal, the Forest Elf who'd helped them infiltrate the castle a few days ago, and had sent them to get the antidote, and now, he was lying against a tree, bleeding profusely. As the group gathered round, Jet pulled an old part of his starter equipment from his inventory, and quickly began wrapping it around Cal's waist, to try and stem the flow of blood.

''Never would I have thought a human would be- cough, splutter -trying to save me...'' He rasped out, trying to maintain an uncaring look, even as he was clearly in pain.

''Yeah, well, we're full of surprises.'' Jet muttered, as he maintained pressure on the wound. Other than giving him bloody trousers, it didn't seem to be doing much. ''Healing potion, anyone!''

''Don't- splutter -bother. I'm too far gone now, but please, I ask of all of you... Wendelin. He's being transported through this forest, they've got a caravan escorting him- cough, cough- back to the chancellor in the morning, and to his execution... He... is our last- cough, wheeze -hope for stopping the chancellor...''

''Not leaving you to die out here. Even if you are an adversary to us.'' Jet muttered again, this time with a sense of anger building up around him.

''Nobility, and in a human of all places... you aren't so bad, after all-'' The Forest Elf's head fell to one side, as Jet checked for a pulse. Nothing, no signs of life, and soon, the sadly too familiar sight of death came, as Cal burst into blue pixels, and disappeared against the white, uncaring snow, and the bloody red smear on it, that had once been where a life was lost.

Jet stood up, and almost immediately lashed out at a nearby tree, triggering a small purple window, to tell him that it was a futile exercise to attack the foliage. He didn't care much about that right now though. He knew how ridiculous he probably looked, getting angry over the death of an NPC that probably didn't particularly care for them, other than as a useful means to an end.

Truth be told, that wasn't why Jet was angry. He was less angry about the fact that someone had died, and more so that there was nearly nothing that could be done to help them. Even if they'd gotten there sooner, he reckoned this was scripted, and so, Cal would've died anyway. Just one more death to add to the list. An ever growing list at that, and one that would grow exponentially if they didn't find Wendelin. Maybe the two sides were just NPCs, but they'd come so far now... there was no way they were giving up!

''Jet?'' Koharu asked, concerned at the knight's silence over what had just happened.

''I'll be fine. We need to find that caravan, and we need to free him. Big question though... how the hell do we take down an entire caravan?''

''I think we should head back to the castle for the night though. No point freezing out here if we don't have to.'' Mito stated, trying to keep a stoic face after that. Loathed as she was to admit it, she actually felt something at watching Cal pass. She couldn't pin it down exactly, but maybe the pair's philosophy about the NPCs had some merit to it, after all.

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Jet looked out into the snowy wasteland again. Any other time, he'd have called it beautiful, today though? It just reminded him of death. Nothing beautiful about that. Natural, perhaps, but beautiful, no. Despite the scenery, he was racking his brain, trying to think of any plan that didn't just get them all killed, taking on a caravan of troops.

He'd been here two hours, and still hadn't thought of one single idea. Every time he tried, his mind went back to every one that they'd lost, and every time they'd narrowly avoided catastrophe, and eventually, his mind went back further, back to his days of living in Britain, and the day that nearly took his life, five years ago. He'd made things worse then too, and had stumbled out of it by dumb luck.

As his mind continued to relive the horrors he'd seen, he'd failed to notice Koharu sat beside him, leaning against him. ''You don't have to be alone out here, you know?'' Koharu spoke softly, and in a few seconds, the monkeys in his mind reacted... with surprise.

''How long have you been here!?''

''A few minutes. Long enough to know that you're blaming yourself for something in that head of yours.''

Jet decided that now was the right moment to get something off his chest. It wasn't the ideal moment, but he figured that it was now or never... ''Koharu, if I told you about-''

''No, no more self pity tonight. We've got a mission in the morning, so I think sleep trumps that. Even if it is only a few hours of sleep.''.. Whilst Koharu had decided for him, that it would be never instead.

''You're right, I suppose.''

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Unsurprisingly, the rest of the night passed by with very little in the way of rest. For most of the night, Jet had kept his eyes closed, but really was as far from asleep as was humanly possible, and more just counting by the hours until they needed to be up. After they'd returned, Kizmel had reassured them all that the castle's guards would be watching out for this caravan, and they'd give them as much warning as possible. Given the terrain, and the 'optical instruments' that the lookouts possessed, it wasn't a bad guess to say they'd see them at around five miles out.

''The caravan has been sighted. Are you ready?''

''As we'll ever be. How big is it?''

''Small, only two vehicles. I take it they want to maintain a low profile, else this is certainly a change in tactics for them.''

''Probably don't want to risk being spotted by you guys, and getting pounced on.''

Before too long, the group had split into two - the attack force, or Jet, Mito and Rain, who'd keep the Forest Elves distracted, whilst the rescue force, or Koharu and Phillia snuck in, and using Phillia's lockpicking skill, freed Wendelin. The attack group had found a reasonable spot to hide in amongst the snow, and were reasonably well disguised against the snow, using the flurries to keep a lower profile. As for the rescue group, Koharu and Phillia had been given two of the Midnight Mantles that they'd encountered on Floor 7 to allow them to infiltrate the caravan reasonably close to undetected.

''Okay, I can see them... what the hell is that at the front?'' Mito asked, looking very confused at the upturned boat leading the vehicles. Even Jet, who's father had once taught him a history of armoured fighting vehicles (not that he'd paid attention. It was kind of boring, in his defence...), had very little of an idea, other than that it appeared to have cannons of some form, jutting out of the wooden armour.

''Whatever it is, we can't take it on in a straight fight, but all we have to do is keep their attention on us, long enough for Koharu and Phillia to sneak in and free Wendelin...'' Jet checked his messages, and a message from Koharu gave them the go ahead... ''and on that note, let's go!''

The group raced into action, Jet having swapped out his shield and Hope for his twin handed blade, to focus on offence. As they charged, Mito managed to down two of the guards with her throwing picks, before bulldozing through another with her scythe, whilst Rain was busy focusing on clearing a path to the prisoner cart for Koharu and Phillia. Jet fluttered around the battlefield, dragging the slightly distracted Elves into a smaller skirmish away from the main battle.

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Whilst the chaotic melee was going on, the two girls had made it to the prisoner cart, and Phillia set about working on the lock to try and pick it. Whatever lock they used, it certainly seemed to be much harder to pick than anything she'd practiced on. No matter what she did, it refused to budge... until, in a fit of annoyance, she pulled on the cart's door, and it opened without so much as a creak. ''Of course.'' she muttered to herself, as the cart shuddered violently, throwing them all away, with Wendelin, already in a bad state, smacking into the bars, and being rendered unconscious from the impact.

''Wendelin!'' Koharu threw off the Midnight Mantle, and attempted to pull the now unconscious Forest Elf from the mangled cart.

Jet peeled himself off of the cart's bars, to see exactly what had flung him a few feet back. He looked back to see a Fallen Elf, clad in a much more regimental looking garb, with strange, jagged looking shoulder pads, on rusted armour that looked like you'd catch Hepatitis just from touching it, and wielding a very well worn looking machete. ''I'll give you your dues, you certainly know how to make an entrance, humans. Kysala, handle the prisoners. I shall deal with those three...''

The Fallen's first strike was far stronger than was expected, and Jet only barely dodged it, the slash skimming his coat. Almost immediately, Rain and Mito had set up on the Fallen, but they soon found themselves on the defensive, whilst Jet, now recovered from his dodge, attempted to counterattack. With an almost ungodly speed, the Fallen countered Jet's strike, their blades clashing as he did so.

The struggle to keep the blades from inching closer was soon broken, as Rain managed to get the first hits, slashing the Fallen across the back, and breaking his attention enough for Jet to be able to kick him back slightly. As he did so, he caught a momentary glimpse of the other fight going on, and it wasn't reassuring.

Both Koharu and Phillia had fighting styles that focused on being able to outmaneuver their foes, which put them at a severe disadvantage against Kysala, who was keeping track of them, and whittling away at their HP with ease. For the first time since the Third Floor, Jet felt a wave of fear rush over him. If they couldn't break this stalemate, there was no way that Koharu and Phillia would last for too much longer...

All of this mess, it had been his fault, and now people were going to die. Again. The girl who'd saved his life, and stood by his side... his girlfriend, and as cliched as it sounded, the girl he loved, and Phillia, for all her minor faults, mainly the teasing, if he was honest, was someone he considered a friend, and both were nearly out of the fight...

Until, out of nowhere, a fog began to surround everyone... ''What the...'' Rain called out, confused at the sudden onset of the fog.

''That smoke bottle!'' Mito called out, as she spotted what appeared to be a small army of Dark Elves approaching them, with Kizmel leading them.

Kysala halted her assault, having spotted the exact same thing as the group had, and yelled out... ''Lord N'itzaah! We... we are surrounded!''

''Dammit! Retreat! You, humans, you are barely worth slaying!'' The Fallen they'd fought, now identified as N'itzaah, began to retreat hastily, as the small army of Lyusulans descended on them. The closer they all came, Jet noticed one strange thing...

They all looked exactly like Kizmel. Not similar, absolutely identical, almost as if someone had taken her, and copied and pasted her into the surroundings numerous times over.

''Kizmels?'' Jet wondered momentarily if he'd banged his head really hard during the fight...

''Just one of me, I assure you.'' She commented, as she approached the downed Wendelin, along with the others. None had come out of that fight unscathed, and they took advantage of the quiet earned from the retreat, to heal up and regain a little energy. Koharu and Jet were hugging each other as tight as was physically possible without HP loss, whilst everyone else had sat down in exhaustion.

''What was that smoke, and what happened to the army you had with you?''

''A simple illusion trick. Projects what it's user wants to see into the smoke.'' Kizmel answered, as the couple broke up their hug.

''Could have done with that in my exams.'' Jet joked halfheartedly, as he looked over Wendelin, checking for a pulse, which wasn't there. ''He's not dead, thankfully. Out cold though. We're gonna have to take him back to the castle, I think.''

Between them, Jet and Mito picked up Wendelin, and began the walk back to the castle. After a few minutes of walking through the snow, Rain was the first to break the silence amongst them, with a question that no one had thought to ask...

''How are we going to explain this one to the guards?''

{Author's Comments}

I'm alive still! Luckily, COVID didn't get me. However, it has thrown my already hectic schedule so far off kilter that there won't be a chapter next week, due to college stuff. Fight scenes are still hard to write too.

As per usual, if you enjoyed this, or have anything to say, any feedback is always welcome.

Signing off,

Midland 2541