Dyle had made it himself somewhat comfortable in that cave of his. There were a few busted crates with some remaining dried up meat inside of them, a barrel filled with halfway melted snow (probably acting as his drinking water), a makeshift bed, which was nothing more than a straw pile and a fireplace. The room Dyle had made his home must have been the biggest in the entire cave. Half of it consisted of nothing more than a sea of tar. Disturbingly enough, a dead man in exorcist gear was floating inside it. Minato did his best to ignore it.
"Welp, it ain't much, but it's something," the lizard in sailor clothing commented, walking ahead of the group. "We can wait here, till nightfall. The other daemons know better than to come in here."
The lizard man walked over the broken pile of boxes and carelessly threw a couple of empty ones towards the fireplace. After gathering a couple, he walked over there and smashed the boxes into bits and pieces with his foot alone.
"Not like I'll need them anymore…" the lizard muttered, as he prepped the fireplace for one last time. The others in the meantime scattered around the cave, everyone doing their own thing. Velvet actually joined Dyle at the fireplace and asked him about the supplies he had stored. Seres positioned herself a little behind Velvet. Rokurou went into an empty corner, which there were plenty in this cave and decided to fight an imaginary opponent.
As for Minato, the boy decided to go ahead and collect all of the katz-spirits floating around Dyle's home. Why Dyle himself did not remove them, Minato didn't know. Maybe the lizard just got used to them. Those things had also appeared in Hellawes, mostly in small allays and such. He had yet to find another pink chest containing the cat-like creatures. Maybe he should look harder in the future.
After having completed his task, the blue-haired boy found himself with precious little to do. Sure he still had his MP3 and miraculously the batteries had still some charge left in them. But they were fairly low at this point. Given the lack of industrialization in whatever place the Wild Card had found himself in, there was no way for him to recharge the batteries. The thought of using Zio-Spells did cross his mind. This however bore the risk of frying the delicate electronics.
As a result the human leaned against a wall and watched the others doing their own thing. Curiously enough, Velvet walked over to Dyle's food supply and eyed everything with a critical eye. Eventually the daemon gathered a couple of things, went over to the fireplace and started preparing them to be cooked. Minato raised an eyebrow at this. He wasn't expecting Velvet to be a cook. Then again, Shinjiro had not looked like it as well.
Minato shook his head, before these kinds of thoughts could enter his mind. Knowing that he would regret it later, the boy put on his headphones and wasted the rest of his batteries lives in order to listen to his music library. His MP3 didn't last very long. Around an hour and a half later the only sounds filling the cave came from Velvet and her cooking.
Rokurou finished his training and was now meditating. Dyle had left Velvet to her devices and was nursing a bottle probably containing rum or another alcoholic drink. If Minato was honest with himself, Dyle did not look all that dangerous. Although given the stuff he had seen in the past, a lot of things did no longer appear dangerous to him. Given that he housed the incarnation of Death inside of his body for ten years, one might expect the boy to fear nothing at all.
The human boy noticed a little late that he had been staring at the sailor for a little long and said lizard noticed as a result. The sailor took one more swing out of his flask, before corking it. Slightly sluggish, the former human got up on his feet (or was it claws now?) and casually approached Minato.
"Hey, small fry." Minato raised an eyebrow at the nickname.
"You kinda stick out here and I don't mean the clothes. Though, they're pretty weird, too."
The blue-haired human shrugged in response. He had a feeling he would get a lot more comments like this.
"You don' look like the kinda guy that hangs out with a bunch of daemons. What's the story?"
Minato looked to the side, contemplating the question. He didn't like thinking back to the incident that led to his arrest. A lot of stuff happened that day in a very short time span. But he guessed it couldn't hurt giving the lizard the short version.
"I saw an exorcist trying to kill a child that turned into a daemon," Minato explained. "I stopped him. But I got caught. I don't know what happened to the child."
"Oh brother…" Dyle put a hand on his face and shook his head. "If I wasn't sure before that the world is going to hell, I'd be sure now. A child getting infected with daemonblight? And all the abbey things about is getting rid of them…"
Minato nodded solemnly. It had shocked him how coldhearted the exorcist had been, when he tried to kill the child that was still crying for its mother. It had been one of those rare occasions where the boy had seen red. It was also one of those rare occasions where he could say he had killed and wasn't feeling any remorse. At that specific point in time, the exorcist had more resemblance to a daemon than the actual daemon. Too bad Minato had miscalculated the situation slightly, resorting to his arrest and eventual transfer to the prison island.
"Well, the child's probably dead by now. The exorcists ain't known for showing mercy. Trust me, I know." With his head, the lizard motioned over to the still floating body of the dead exorcist swimming in the tar. Minato didn't look.
"So that's how you got to us," Rokurou commented from the other end. "Huh, wondered how you ended up with us. You didn't look like a cold blooded killer. Guess that explains it."
Velvet opted to remain silent and instead focused on her cooking. She felt no sympathy for her unwilling accomplice. She did however felt her rage boiling up upon hearing what the exorcist had done. It almost brought up flashbacks to what Artorius had done to her brother. Luckily the task of cooking was a great distraction.
The daemon woman wasn't cooking anything spectacular. Dyle had already eaten most of the good food, without considering preserving some to get through the winter. Apparently the lizard thought he could rely on stealing from the locals in order to assure his survival. Bad planning on the lizard's part. He was lucky Velvet and her ragtag group of escapees needed his help.
Back to the matter of food, Velvet had decided to make a soup for everyone. Even though she didn't need to eat anymore and couldn't taste anything but blood at this point in time, food, especially well made food could help her restore her strength. Given that their operation would take place during the night, the group needed all the energy they could get.
Eventually food was done and everyone gathered around the fireplace to receive their meal. The group was pleasantly surprised about how well it tasted and Velvet received praise from everyone for her cooking skills. The group was especially impressed after they learned that Velvet was unable to taste anything but blood, yet still managed to make something so tasty.
"You were always a great cook," Seres commented.
"How do you know?" the daemon woman asked. "I don't remember Artorius ever allowing you to sit with us at the dining table."
"That might be the case, but I can still remember the smell of the food from back then. I'm happy to be finally able to taste your cooking for myself, even if it is something as simple as soup."
"I didn't know Malaks ate in general," the black haired woman shrugged.
"Technically speaking we don't need to. But we recover quicker from injuries and fatigue if we eat something. Generally speaking, an exorcist will only give his or her tethered Malak food, when it is absolutely necessary, for example when they're deployed in a longer mission. But otherwise, it is seen as a waste of resources by the abbey."
"Man, that's cold. Food can be such a great motivator," Rokurou said, putting his bowl down.
"The Abbey still thinks us Malakhim are nothing more than mindless puppets," Seres pointed out. "Unsurprising. Most exorcists aren't even aware they're suppressing our will, when tethering us to them."
"Huh, so that's how it is? Them exorcists are nothing more than a bunch of slavedrivers," Dyle spoke thoughtfully. "Explains why you're here." The daemon pointed at the redhead. The Malak acknowledged the statement and went back to eating.
XXX
Nighttime came early in the day. The group of escapees exited the cave at sundown, as they still wanted to be able to navigate their way back to the city without using torches. Once they arrived near the city gates, the sun had almost disappeared from the horizon. The guards had set up torches at the entrance proper. But that wasn't the only thing they set up. Ten exorcists had been deployed along with the regular guards and were watching the area.
"This is not good," Seres hissed out, the group hiding behind a small rock formation. "Oscar must have arrived and informed Theresa about our escape."
"There's a good chance they captured Magilou," Minato pointed out. "There's a good chance they interrogated her about our plans."
"So, what do we do now? Go back and think up a new plan?" Rokurou asked.
"No," Seres shook her head. "We're not considered small criminals like Dyle. The exorcists will triple their efforts to capture us. We have no choice but try to break through."
"Our only hope is that they haven't discovered the secret entrance," Velvet pointed out. "But they have most likely increased their patrols inside the city. We should go in now, as long as we have the cover of the night to our advantage."
Quickly and silently, the group made their way towards the secret entrance. Just like Velvet had hoped, there were no guards stationed at the entrance or inside the warehouse. However, it was a completely different story for the streets. Minato tentatively took a look out into the streets, by opening the creaking door very slowly. He scowled, when he saw the amount of guards patrolling the streets. Slowly he closed the door again and turned towards his comrades.
"Too many guards. It will impossible to sneak on any ship, without alerting the entire town."
The others frowned at the revelation.
"We need a distraction," Seres decided. "Someone needs to go to the front gates and distract the guards."
"They'll never make it through them," Minato immediately pointed out. "Even if we succeed in getting a ship ready, the distracters will never make it to the docks."
"That's where a never distraction will take place," the Malak replied with a smile that sent shivers down Minato's spine. "This warehouse is filled with flamestone, sulfur and other easily burnable materials. What do you think will happen if I cast a single fire art in this place?"
Everyone's eyes widened at the implications.
"We'll risk burning down the entire city," the human argued.
"Works for me," Velvet shrugged.
"And the people living here?" Minato snapped his head towards the daemon. "They will die. And if they don't, their livelihoods are going to be destroyed."
"Like I said, works for me," Velvet said in a calmness that threatened to aggravate the usually stoic boy.
"Kid, in case you haven't noticed, you're dealing with daemons here," Dyle pointed at the entire group. "There ain't a place for us with humans. They'll hunt us down like the little kid you tried to protect. Sure them people here haven't done anything to us, but neither did that kid. And yet, they killed him. And they will do the same to any of us, including you."
Minato gritted his teeth, causing some of the others to raise an eyebrow at the rare sign of emotion coming from the boy. "Isn't there another way?" he asked mostly himself and looked around. He even took out his evoker and considered the current Personas he could use.
"If there is, I am open to suggestions," Seres offered. "But if you can't come up with anything the following minute, I'm afraid we're out of options." The Malakhim sounded almost smug. Almost.
The wild card increased the grip on his evoker. He brainstormed any that entered his brain, but came up with nothing. He almost gave up hope, when suddenly his eyes landed on a barrel filled with black powder.
"Wait a minute," he spoke all of a sudden, hope entering his voice. Seres found herself slightly surprised. Judging from the tone in the teenager's voice he actually had an idea. The only question was, whether it was feasible.
"The ship's storage cargos," he began and turned to Dyle. "They have a supply of black powder inside of them, correct?"
"Well, yeah. Seas are infested with pirates and monsters. Only a fool sails without some canons strapped on deck," the lizard replied, causing Minato to grin.
"Ah, I get it!" Rokurou nodded grinning. "You want to blow up the ships, instead of the entire warehouse."
"We planned on dismantling them anyway," Minato concurred. "I can still use my persona from a safe distance to do so in quick succession. Might need a couple of shots, though."
"I think we should leave this to me. I can easily teleport in and out of the ships, before they explode," Seres explained.
"Good. It will still be a high blow to the economy. But at least the people won't be caught up in the flames." Minato let out a sigh of relief.
"Whatever. If you care so much about the people here, be my guest," Velvet shrugged. "As long as we get the same results. Now we have to decide who distracts the guards."
"Obviously Dyle can't," Seres was quick to point out. "We need him here to prepare the ship."
"If they play their hands right, they might leave some guards behind here," Minato pointed out. "In that case, someone needs to protect Dyle. The distraction team can't also be too big. They need to be fast, but also strong enough to hold off the exorcists until we're done."
There was a silence among the group, as they contemplated the situation. However, Velvet was quick to volunteer for distraction duty. Rokurou immediately followed up, due to his debt to the daemon woman.
"The two of us should be enough. I know I can hold my own easily against any of those guys. And Velvet is a beast when fighting."
"I'll take it as a compliment."
Seres nodded. "Very well. Be careful, nevertheless. Teresa is a Praetor like her brother. She is no slouch in battle and has more experience than Oscar. We will work as quickly as we can on our end."
Wordlessly, the two human looking daemons left the storehouse through the secret entrance and made their way towards the front gates. In silence the rest of the gang waited for the proverbial fireworks to start. Although, come to think of it, it would be them who were going to start the fireworks, not the other way around.
Minato leaned against the barrel that gave him the idea of blowing up the ships. The teenager was disturbed as to how easily it had seemed to the others to simply burn down the entire city. Luckily he had a last minute flash of insight, before the others could continue on. But it was scary to think that he was forced to work with people who could kill another human without giving it a second thought. Yes, he had fought the exorcists too, but that had been a necessity in his opinion. He would not thoughtlessly throw away human lives, even if it appears to be the only way he would survive. He just hoped once they got off this island, they wouldn't be thrown into a similar situation. Killing humans who were intent on killing you or innocents was one thing, but it still stung. But sacrificing innocents?
The wild card found himself brought out of his musings, when he heard screaming outside. Slowly he opened the door once again and saw a number of guards running down the street into the city proper. In approximately two minutes the streets went silent. Only the waves hitting the shore could be heard through the night. Carefully, the teenager opened the door fully. To his relief, there were virtually no guards left at the docks.
"They must think we're all attacking from the front," Seres commented. "Let's move. Dyle, chose a ship. Quickly."
"That one!" Dyle immediately pointed at the ship docked in the middle. "Small enough for a crew of our size to handle it. Follow me."
Dyle ran ahead and the other two followed. The docks were well illuminated with torches, except for the ships themselves. The lizard was smart enough to grab one torch and climbed with it on the designated ship, the human and the Malak following behind. Once on the ship, Dyle was quick to lit up the lanterns with said torch, before giving instructions to his two crewmates on how to prepare the ship.
It was a tedious task for just three people to handle, but Dyle knew what he was doing. Under his command the ship got ready to set sail fairly quickly, even with the lack of illumination. Seres and Minato pulled their weights to the best of their abilities, but more often than not, Dyle had to intercept, least they made a fatal mistake.
The trio couldn't hear any noise coming from the distance. Whether that was a good or bad sign had yet to be seen. Once Dyle deemed the ship ready to set sail, it was Seres turn to play her part. Vanishing just like she did back at the prison island, the Malak teleported from ship to ship, locating the powder storage, and setting it on fire. There was no immediate explosion or anything, but Minato had the foresight to tell everyone to get to cover. No need to die because of flying ship fragments.
But no explosion happened, at all. Instead the ships lit up like an old newspaper inside a chimney.
Seres returned once the last ship had been set on fire, startling the two males with her sudden appearance. "So far, so good. I hope they can see the smoke even in the dark."
"They will, don't worry," Dyle assured. "The fire here brightens up the place pretty good. I just they come here before we get roasted."
"Or choke to death from the smoke," Minato added, covering his mouth with his sleeve. The smoke was becoming a problem quickly, as it started to engulf the ship that was not in flames. The three passengers laid low, hoping to avoid the worst of it.
Suddenly, shouts could be heard in the distance. Looking over the railing, the three could see Velvet, Rokurou and Magilou running towards the docks. They were pursued by a whole group of exorcists.
"Looks like Magilou did get captured," Minato concluded.
"Either that or she hid and waited for an opportunity," Seres added. "Get ready. Once the others are onboard, we set sail immediately. Minato, do you think you can block incoming fire artes?"
"Pyro Jack can absorb fire." Taking out his evoker, Minato summoned the pumpkin persona, who flew to the rear of the ship, ready to eat any fire attack that came at him and/or the ship.
"Excellent. It looks like our plan is working out." The Malak allowed herself to smile.
"Let's hope it stays that way. I can see Theresa coming. And she doesn't look too happy."