Author note: Thank you to the responses I got from the last chapter. My thanks to: OG, Star, and GerrysJackie. You guys are the best as are all who review. Muah, beast to you!

Enjoy the chapter. Nadir get's a bit more sceptic of Christine and Erik is in a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the forest, the roles of the cat and the mouse always switching.

TheDragonEye

Attack in the Dark

Part III

"No, over here Phantom."

Erik swiftly turned on his heel, behind him were two other men, the one standing closest to him had a giant grin on his face, which revealed the gaping holes of two missing teeth. A scar ran down the side of his face from just bellow his left eye to his jaw line. He was big, but in the dark Erik found it hard to tell if he was fat or muscular.

"Funny, I would have thought the Count De Changy would have been a bit . . better looking." Erik mused out loud, raising an eyebrow from underneath his mask even at the fact of five men to one.

The man in front of him scowled and looked past the masked man to the others, "Let the other go, we can at least keep our word now that the Phantom has made the exchange. And no, I am not Philippe, he wouldn't bother with you. Yet."

"Exchange? No, I have come here to take Darius back and send you bloodied and back to Philippe as a warning, that coward." Erik replied calmly, his eyes scanning between both the groups of men. Three to one side, not including Darius, and two on the other. Well the two would be a better chance at over running, or at least in his opinion. But even if he did attack then the other three would go to their aid.

There was a noise behind him and his gaze quickly looked back to see the three, Darius on his knees. "Darius." Erik murmured and gazed around at the men, taking a few steps to the left. "Go back to the manor." he finished when the men edged a bit closer to himself. "Now." he added when he saw Darius' hesitance. Five men side to side against one Phantom. Not bad, interesting to say the least.

"Tsk. Let him go." the man called Gard spoke as one of the men started after the scrambling Darius who headed through the darkness towards the manor. "He's not the prize, remember?" The scarred man turned back to Erik who had retreated a few more feet, looking past them as he hoped to see Nadir come out of the house. So far nothing though.

"Now, if you may, Monsieur Phantom. We can do this easy, or we could do it the hard way. Take your choice." he spoke as his back hand pulled a rope out from his side.

Erik's eyes flashed, looking at the piece of rope, "I suppose you have already chosen." he spoke before he turned and took off running towards the woods. He had no weapon, but the cover of trees could provide many advantages. Number one, the tree branches. Number two, hiding and taking the goons by surprise. He could very much melt into the darkness. Tactical thinking after all. The trees were slowly coming closer and he could hear the other men pounding the ground as they ran after their retreating prey. Once in a while he'd feel the slap of rope just skimming his feet as if they had meant to trip him up. Finally, Erik crashed into the growth, slinking away and calming his breath as he slid over a three foot indent in the ground, a tree's roots hanging down over it.

'Perfect' Erik thought to himself as he wedged himself in between the over growth a tree branches. The man held his breath and watched with sharp eyes as two pairs of feet slid down in front of him before taking off. They had split back up into groups, which once more could prove useful.

"Darius, you are certain that it was Philippe?" Nadir asked again.

"Yes, he was there, and everything he said sounded as gruesome as we imagined." Darius replied sadly, slinking down a bit further in the arm chair and blanket where he sat.

"But there's no sign of Erik. Nadir had sent servants out and at most they said they saw a man with a piece of rope before they fled back here." Christine spoke quietly. "So he couldn't have been found out, but that means he is somewhere-"

"In the woods. . " Darius finished sadly, "Where Philippe is."

Nadir opened his mouth to speak but Christine put her hand on his shoulder. "You can't go look for him, he's a strong man even if he is a bit vulnerable now. But if you leave then you are leaving the rest of us un-protected if they decide to come back here and take another hostage to lure Erik out into the open."

Nadir looked down at Christine. "That makes you sound like you do want Erik taken by Philippe." he commented coldly, he knew Christine was right, but. . there was just something about her he could not trust. Why after four weeks did Christine seek Erik out again? Perhaps she knew he would be weaker. Or perhaps someone else had figured that and Christine was acting on someone else's words.

Christine drew her hand away and shook her head, "You don't mean that. . after all I did for Erik." she whispered, almost brokenly.

Nadir shook his head and looked towards the ceiling, "At the moment I don't know what to think, Christine Daae."

"What of Erik, Nadir?" Darius asked quietly, "You saw him run when you let me inside."

"We'll give him some time. If we don't see or hear from him then I suppose we are taking a field trip to the de Changy manor." the Persian replied grimly, his face set that no one could protest to his words.

"What do you mean you don't know where the hell he is?!!"

"Well. . .we know he is somewhere in the woods, just . .err. .not an exact pin point of where he is currently at."

Philippe scowled at the men in front of him, "Spread out in the forest but head for home, if we don't find him then we'll have to lure him out in some other manner another day," as much as he hated it, those fools could have called for a gendarme by now. The nobleman mounted his horse and looked down at his men. "He'll be mine to torture soon." he added as he kicked his horse off and southward in the woods. Leaving the other men to obey his command.

One by one they mounted up their horses and spread out an equal number or yards before heading off in the same southward direction as their boss before them, unaware of the man who crouched in the shadows just above their head.

Erik slowly edged his way down and off the tree branches where he had painstakingly been still for the past half an hour as the men were out of sight and there was little noise to be heard of them. He could not go back to Christine and Nadir yet. No, he had made a promise in return for his life debt. To get Raoul out of the manor and back here. Should be simple enough, or so he figured as he climbed down from the tree and started off into the forest, following the unnatural trails of broken branches and mis matched undergrowth from the horse's travels.

He had no real plan and all he knew was his goal. God dammit! Who would have thought that he would be saving Raoul from anything let alone the influence of his older brother? Christine's good side was worth it he supposed, after finding out all that he did behind Christine's reasoning. Nadir didn't trust her though, and well he himself couldn't say he did fully either.

Erik heaved a sigh of relief when he came to a wider dirt path. He wondered how much of a lead de Changy and his men could have picked up, so he quickened his pace a bit more. He strained in the darkness for any sound of a horse. Then he sighed and pulled his cloak tighter to his body was the wind picked up. It was going to be a long walk, he just had a feeling it would be.

Unfortunately his feeling was wrong, for in the darkness now he was being watched, watched by a pair of cold grey eyes. Philippe smirked as he watched the Phantom perk his head up after hearing his horse in the distance, he had tethered it to a tree some ways up a head.

'The fool' a dastardly smirk crossed the man's features as he saw Erik quicken his pace.

Erik stopped when he saw the horse in the distance, though he didn't see a rider. He edged a few paces closer when their came a sharp crack of a branch from his right and he bolted for the horse, at least with the horse he could have some speed. Then a rider burst from no where and he was forced to slide in another direction, heading back into the forest.

Ever second there was held the risk of hurting an ankle or something in his desperate flee. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to come out here without Nadir. He continued running, for who knows how long, until there was no sound of chasing horse hoofs. He nearly doubled over on himself when he stopped. His lungs on fire and his muscles screaming in weariness.

He needed to get back to the house, to get some morphine before a seizure could hit. Before he could even take three more steps something hard came smashing at the back of his skull, sending a flash of light spinning before his eyes before everything went dark and he collapsed face down and unconscious.

Philippe lazily tossed the large limb aside and bent down to check for a pulse. When he found one he whispered to himself, "Good, I have not killed you yet." then he bound the unconscious being on the ground hand and foot and left him there when he went to retrieve his horse.

His men quickly assembled after hearing Philippe's call, and not much long after that was Erik fastened tightly to the saddle of a horse as if he was nothing more than cargo.

Philippe watched him under cold eyes and turned to his men. "He was tracking us. Next time be a bit more diligent in your work." then he nudged his horse forward and all the dark clad men started for the de Changy manor. Not a sense of remorse for the man they now had captive.

Ending note:

Sorry it took so long, and I am sorry to say that this month is National Novel Writing Month which I am signed up for. All my free writing time will go towards the 50,000 word story. But, I will be working on this story at school in study hall. I have 2 in a 6 day cycle so that gives me about 120 minutes alone for that. Plus after school if I have the time. Which of course means that A Change In Accustics will be held off as well.

If you want to inspire me to update sooner or before November first then. . Review, review, REVIEW!

TheDragonEye