Laurent groaned and rolled onto his ride side. There was a searing pain in his left shoulder and, as he blinked to focus his eyes, he wondered how long he had been unconscious. He looked up to the ceiling, remembering where he was, and then listened to the sound of splashing coming from his left.
He glanced that way and spotted Scott, lying completely still, surrounded by his own blood, and his heart sank. Scott was dead and the thought made his stomach lurch with a wave of nausea. He wondered now how on earth he would tell his sister.
The next thing he saw was swarms of people enter the room, being led by Philippe De Chagny. They had stopped chanting and were looking around them, at the carnage in the room. He thought it must be a strange sight... there was a body in the water, Scott's body covered in blood, Laurent lying on his side and another body near to the door.
Philippe De Chagny ran over quickly and knelt by his side as one of the other men carrying a torch checked on Scott. Laurent could have told him that this was pointless, that he had not moved in a couple of hours at least. There was no sign of life, no sound coming from him, he was dead.
'Are you alright?' Philippe asked, placing his hand on Laurent's good shoulder.
Laurent winced. 'Yes, I'm fine,'
'You've been shot,'
'I know that,' Laurent said, a little too sharply. 'Sorry... it's just a little sore,'
'We need to get you some help, a doctor,'
Laurent glanced at Scott again. 'No, we need to get the men who killed my doctor,'
'Did the Phantom do this?' Philippe asked.
Laurent frowned and then shook his head. 'The Phantom has been kidnapped, along with your brother and Christine Daae,'
Philippe's mouth pursed into a grimace, all of the colour drained quickly from his face. 'By who?'
Laurent shook his head again. 'Just help me up,'
Philippe did not move. 'Who has my brother?' He demanded.
Laurent shrugged his shoulders and pulled himself to his feet, wobbling slightly as he straightened up. His head was spinning as he moved towards Scott's body. When he looked down his heart sank again, his whole body began to quiver. He was not sure if it was the shock or the pain, but whatever it was, it was making him feel very unstable.
'Cover him up,' Laurent said, quietly.
The man who was kneeling by his brother in laws side just looked up at him blankly.
'I said,' Laurent tried to cool his temper but it was no use. 'Cover him up, find a cloth, a sheet, anything but cover him up... he's... this is too undignified and, if I know Meg, she has followed you down here,' he shook his head. 'She doesn't need to see her father like this,'
The man nodded as another came closer with a sheet of linen and laid it over Scott's body.
Philippe walked over. 'Please,' He said, 'Where is my brother?'
'I honestly don't know,' Laurent managed to say, though his head was spinning furiously. 'But I'm going to find him,'
'Not in that condition you're not,' Philippe stated.
Laurent shrugged again. 'Fine,' He turned and walked towards the table. 'Find him yourself,'
Philippe was quiet for a long moment. There were the sounds of people turning the cellars upside down, a smashing sound came, along with the sound of shattered glass, then a young man walked through from the back holding a mask in the air. Philippe shook his head and turned to Laurent.
'How will I find him?' He asked.
Laurent thought. 'I know these people,' He said. 'I realise I need medical attention but they just killed... they've killed my sister's husband, my nieces father...'
Philippe nodded. 'Enough said,'
'Thank you,' Laurent took as deep a breath as he could manage. 'There is a condition to this,'
'To what?'
'To my helping you find them and your brother,'
Philippe nodded earnestly, 'Name it,'
'You leave the Phantom, you don't hurt him, and you need to understand that he really isn't one of them,'
'He's a murderer,'
Laurent smiled. 'He's a murderer, certainly, and currently, the only reason that Raoul and Christine are probably still alive,'
She was blindfolded again but not nearly as tightly as before, and in the gap at the top she caught a glimpse of Raoul in the other corner of their new cart. He was awake, semi conscious, but she could see cuts and some blood. She wondered if they had beaten him as badly as they had Erik.
Her hands were tied up again and her ankles were loosely bound, though she was not sure what her captors thought she might do. How could she run when she had no idea where she was and how she would escape? Still, she had no intentions of making it easy for them.
When they had dragged her away from Erik she had kicked Gerry, hence her ankles being tied, and swung her elbow at Benjamin. Unfortunately, she missed and flung herself off balance.
Erik.
Christine had felt nothing but despair when they had put her in that room, cold and alone, worried for Raoul, thinking that Erik was dead... but the sound of his voice. Somehow the sound of his voice, the tone of his reassurances, everything about his presence had soothed her. It felt so normal to her, to be in his arms, safe and warm and yet it was all so wrong.
When he had pulled her close, when he had kissed her hair, when he had told her he would save them... she had been comforted, she had believed him and she had wanted to tell him, so badly, how sorry she was.
In that moment, when she kissed his stubbled chin, Raoul had not even been in her mind, and that worried her. It had not lasted long, barely a fleeting moment when she was prepared to let everything go, to tell Erik so many things, Raoul was gone.
And how awful she felt now, locked in a carriage across from her injured fiancé. The good and brave man who had fought for her, even though he did not need to. The kind and sweet boy she had known all those years ago.
'Raoul,' She whispered. 'Are you awake? Can you hear me?'
He groaned. 'Christine?'
She tried to reach out but the binds were too much and she was afraid of falling over.
'Thank God you're alive, Christine,' He said softly. 'Thank God,'
'Do you know where they are taking us?' She asked.
She saw a vague movement, as he answered, 'No,'
'Are you alright?'
'Yes,' He sounded breathless. 'Did they hurt you?'
'No,' She said, softly. 'Erik...'
'The Phantom...'
'Erik is alive, he was there,'
Raoul fell silent.
'Do you know what that means?' She prompted.
'No,' He replied.
'It means that we'll be fine, he will save us,'
Raoul coughed gently and then she heard him gasp in pain, she wanted to reach out and hold him and to care for his wounds. 'He will save you,'
Christine shook her head. 'He will save us both, Raoul,'
'Why?' Raoul snapped. 'Why will he save me?'
'Because he loves me,' Christine said. 'Even now, he loves me. He will save you, he will do it for me,'
Raoul let out a cynical chuckle. 'I don't think so,'
'I know he will, I trust him, I believe him,'
'You love him,'
Christine sighed. 'This is not the time for that, Raoul, not the time to be divided. We need to stand together, we need to believe in each other and you need to trust what I am telling you. We need to have some faith,'
There was despair in his voice. 'He killed so many people,'
'Yes,' She nodded. 'But he didn't kill you,'
Erik felt a little fuzzy, completely fuzzy, in fact. He did not seem to be able to get his eyes, or his mind for that matter, to focus on anything at all. There was a nausea taking him over and he pushed himself to his side, in case he was actually sick.
He could not remember the last time he had vomited, very little made Erik feel sick.
His lungs managed to take in a large gasp of breath and he looked along the floor at a rat scurrying by. There were voices outside the door to the cell and he was sure they had not moved since the others had taken Christine away.
He could only assume that they had been left there to guard him. The room was dark but there was a light coming in now from their lanterns outside. Erik did not need the light under normal circumstances; his vision was just as good in the dark as it was in the light. Currently, though, the light was most welcome. The drug, or whatever it was that they had injected him with, was causing his eyes to blur.
Regaining some composure he knew that if he did not get up or do something then Christine and Raoul would undoubtedly be hurt... Raoul probably killed.
Generally, this wouldn't bother him but Christine loved him, he understood that now and he knew that she would die if she lost him. Erik could not allow that to happen. He knew that Gabriele saw Christine as his bargaining chip and so she was safe from being killed herself but Raoul was a different story.
He began to cough loudly.
After a few minutes the door creaked open and the two guards stepped inside, he recognised both of them from previous meetings with the company, but they did not know him well.
Mistake number one, they came in together.
One moved close and bent down slightly. 'Are you alright?' He asked.
Erik continued to cough and shake his head. 'Can't breath...' He gasped.
'Christ,' The guard said, glancing over his shoulder at the older man behind him.
'Let me see,' The older guard huffed and moved in.
Mistake two, they were both too close.
'Look, Erik, we don't want anything to happen to you... just... calm down...'
Erik thrashed around on the floor, clutching at his throat, coughing and spluttering like he was about to die. The young guard knelt down by his side and put his hands on his shoulders, trying to stop him from moving around so much.
'I'm not strong enough, what if he hits his head and dies?' The young guard said to the older guard.
The other man placed his gun on the floor and knelt down the other side of Erik, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Mistake three, putting his pistol down.
Erik coughed some more until they were both panicking that he might die, that the one thing their boss had left them with would go horribly wrong. They couldn't even be trusted to guard an incapacitated prisoner.
Erik coughed.
Then he shot forward, caught the young man in the nose with his forehead and watched him fall backwards, blood everywhere. He spun on the floor and used the heel of his boot the kick the older guard in the jaw.
He heard the bone snap as the guard fell down, unconscious.
Still a little hazy, Erik managed to clamber to his feet. He stumbled back slightly but regained his balance and took a few long deep breaths. Their fourth mistake was leaving the door wide open, giving him a perfectly unguarded escape route.
He felt sick but he knew what he had to do. He had let her down, he had hurt her again, it was his fault that they were in this situation and he would rectify it, if it was the last thing he ever did. Glancing over his shoulder he assured himself that both guards were out cold and then he walked out of the door, closing it behind him, locking them in.
He followed the corridor alone, feeling short of air, and burst out of the front door feeling the cold night hit him hard. It was raining and the wind had picked up since he was put in there. There were no horses in sight and so he was pretty sure that they had left none there at all. He also had a good idea of where they had taken Christine and Raoul.
Mistake number five was leaving the outside lit by two lamps.
Just to be sure, he began to quickly pile hay into the corridor of the building. It took him longer than he would have hoped, his chest hurt and he felt desperately sick, but he persevered anyway. When the corridor was full of hay he picked up the two lanterns from the sides of the door and threw them inside, smashing them into the hay.
It took mere seconds for the hay to catch alight.
This was good for two reasons, the first, that the two guards inside had no chances of escape, the second, that he would know which direction he had come from.
Mistakes.
Their biggest mistake, though, was underestimating him.
That would be their undoing.