Chapter 9: Of Slaves and Soldiers
Many apologies for the delay in the release of this new chapter. It would seem that school and life decided to happen simultaneously, including a surgery earlier this week. I still hurt—I can't really do much with my abdomen—but I am well enough to release the chapter. So, enjoy!
The fog showed no signs of letting up as they fled through the woods, the trees as dark splotches of shadows. The sun was only a thin sickly disk above them, but with no way of telling which direction the sun was heading in. The trio were as lost as ever, and the sounds of the Tao soldiers close behind. The woods were silent that day, with not even a bird chirp in the cold dead forest. The silence was a small blessing though, for Kephra could hear the soldiers crash clumsily through the trees every now and then. He had no way of telling where they were or where the Taos were headed, a fact that Kephra disliked strongly.
Micah who had been hobbling as fast as he could, to not slow his friends, stumbled over a thick gnarly root that had been jutting from the earth. He fell to his stomach, his walking stick flying out of his grasp. Kephra stopped and doubled back, helping the jeweler back up, handing the cane back. He spotted it, blood oozing from the wound. In his fall, some of Micah's stitches had popped, the wound reopening in a few places.
"That hurt," Micah grumbled, eying his wound.
Absalom jogged back to Kephra and Micah. "How bad?"
"Some of the stitches popped," Kephra answered, helping Micah upright. "And we don't have enough time to sew his leg again."
Absalom shook his head. "Not now, at least. Maybe tonight." Absalom knelt, allowing Micah to climb on his back, piggy-back style. "This will have to do for now." Micah clung to Absalom's shoulders firmly. Kephra led the way once more.
The day wore on, the Tao soldiers seeming to be ever closer and closer. Kephra knew that a confrontation would come soon and he wondered if they would be able to fend them off, two slaves and a soldier, all half starved and one possibly gravely wounded. He wanted to believe that they could, but deep down, he knew it was unlikely.
If that were to be the case though, Kephra would take as many of the Tao soldiers down with him.
The flat lands of the woods were beginning to give way to rolling hills, covered in trees. They were beginning to near the low lying mountains that surrounded the Taso Basin, a massive plain that took up a large portion of the Sky Kingdom and was known as the breadbasket of the nation, providing almost the country's entire supply of grains and cattle. That was both a good sign and a bad one. The closer to the Taso Basin they were, the more likely chance they would encounter a village and possibly sympathetic villagers willing to assist them. The bad part was that there was a high chance of encountering Tao soldiers or worse, possibly the entire army of the Tao Empire. Deep in his thoughts, the blaziken nearly crashed into a tree, Absalom and Micah behind him.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a voice called out from the treetops, mainly, the tree that Kephra had nearly ran into. "A trio of miscreants, perhaps?" Kephra wildly looked around, searching for the source of the voice. "Up here." Kephra looked up, to find a sableye sitting on one of the branches just above Kephra's head, legs dangling over the side, its body mostly obscured in the shadows, the eyes that appeared like diamonds and the gems that studded its body, glinting like pinpricks of light in the darkness. The sableye was a slight figure, a tad larger than most sableyes, Kephra guessed, which was not saying much. The pokemon wore a pair of plain black boots with silver buckles that were dusted with ash. A black leather belt was belted around his waist with a bluish silver buckle, encrusted with small rubies, sapphires and emeralds. The sableye was fiddling with a silver dagger, the hilt encrusted with the same gems that decorated his belt buckle. The sableye was picking something out of his teeth using the dagger. He flicked something out from between his teeth, which landed at Kephra's feet. Curious, the blaziken knelt, only to find the item the sableye had picked out was a shard of malachite. Kephra wasn't too surprised; sableye were known for consuming precious stones as a normal pokemon would devour meat or plants.
"We aren't miscreants," Absalom growled.
"Then why are you running? And in my part of the woods as well." the sableye inquired. It was clearly a male sableye, judging by the timbre and tone of his voice.
When Absalom tried to answer the question, Kephra interceded. "We're slaves and we escaped from the Black Pit Mines. Tao soldiers are chasing us and our friend here is injured." Kephra gestured to Micah who was moaning softly, the reopened wound still bleeding sluggishly. "We need help. Please help us."
The sableye mulled it over. "Hmmm. I'm not very happy that you brought the soldier to my neck of the woods, especially when I'm on important business," the sableye added quietly, too quiet for the trio down below to hear. "Very well, I'll help, but for a price."
"We don't have money," Kephra said.
"I don't take money. Gold and silver is too bitter." The sableye shook his head. His diamond like eyes caught a glimpse of Kephra's necklace, the firehart. "The necklace though, is quite nice."
Kephra's free hand went to the necklace instinctively. "I can't give you this."
"Then I'm afraid I can't help you. I am very sorry and I hope you find help for your friend." The sableye began to climb up into the tree when Kephra held out a hand.
"Wait!" Kephra called out. "The murkrow flies in the forest!" the blaziken blurted out.
"What?" Absalom asked, clearly confused.
The sableye froze mid-step and he sat back down on the branch, looking equal parts shocked, surprised and amused. "Where did you hear that?" he asked suddenly.
"An innkeeper told me that. Five days ago," Kephra said in a rush.
The sableye cocked his head to one side, studying them intensely, the diamond like eyes seeming to glow with an intense light. "How interesting," he mused. "Very well, I will help." He stood up from his position and turned his back to them, waving his hand over one shoulder in a "come" gesture. "Follow me and I will lead you to safety." the figure seemed to vanish in the thick maze of branches. The trio chased after him, using only the rustling noises of the sableye to guide them.
A piercing screech rang through the forest and Kephra swore he saw shadows pursuing them, ghastly figures in the fog. "We better hurry. They're gaining on us!" Kephra said in between pants. Just then, an arrow zipped through the forest, buzzing by on Kephra's left, narrowly missing his back. The shaft thudded itself into a tree trunk, quivering with the force of the blow. Two more flew by and Kephra had an impetus of energy as he strove to catch up with the mysterious sableye. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a Tao soldier through the ragged edges of the fog, riding a scolipede, the massive insect bounding over fallen logs and branches with ease. The rider carried a large crossbow tipped with metal caps. From what he could tell, the monstrous centipede pokemon was encased in armor, with metallic horns extending the creature's natural weaponry and amplifying the strength and power of the horns. He could not see what species was riding on the scolipede's back. The archer riding on the scolipede fired another arrow at Kephra and the blaziken ducked underneath the arrow. In retaliation, Absalom stopped suddenly and pirouetting on his right foot, made a ninety degree turn and spat a gout of flame at the archer and its scolipede. Micah clung on to Absalom's back for dear life as Absalom made the sudden move. The scolipede and rider veered away, trying to avoid Absalom's flame, but the fires managed to lick at the scolipedes' side, blackening its metal barding. The fire though, managed to light up some of the dry kindling, forcing some of the Tao soldiers to slow down and try to put out the flame before it got worse and consumed them.
"Nice job!" Kephra shouted.
"Thank you. I was only trying to force the scolipede away," Absalom admitted sheepishly. "I had forgotten that the woods were so dry this time of year."
"It worked anyway."
About two miles away from the first confrontation, the woods gave way to a clearing at the base of a cliff face, the first true sign they were in the low lying mountains known as the Scarlet Range, the name originating from the reddish sandstone stones that made up most of the range. Kephra's heart sank. The cliff face seemed sheer and unconquerable to cross. The fog was beginning to slowly clear up though, revealing a drab and cloudy day, the clearing covered in patchy areas of fog. They would have to travel alongside the cliff face to find a safer passage. "This way." He pointed with his spear, down the left hand side of the cliff. The jogged alongside the cliff, looking for any sign of the sableye, but the sableye seemed to have retreated.
Eventually, they came across a steep and tall hill, covered liberally in pieces of broken shale the hue of the clouds above, the top of the hill some fifty yards above them. It was an opening in the cliff, wide at the bottom of the hill and narrowing to a fifteen foot gap at the top, revealing what appeared to be a glade on the other side. There was hope yet. The climb would be arduous and taxing, but it was the only way. Kephra began to make his way up the hill, the pieces of shale slipping and crumbling under his feet. Absalom and Micah followed behind him, taking the same route as their friend.
The pieces of shale were sharp and thin, breaking underfoot. Some of the pieces ripped his clothing, others cut into his feet in numerous tiny cuts. He stumbled once or twice, his knee hammering into a large piece. He yelped and tried to stand back up, his knee crying out in pain. He had to keep going, he was ever closer to his goal of regaining the family homestead.
"Stop! In the name of the Tao Empire, you are wanted in the questioning of the slave revolt of Black Pit Mines!" The Tao soldiers had found them. Kephra glanced over his shoulder. There looked to be about a dozen of them, which included a houndoom and manectric heavily armored and a mightyena that appeared to be the leader of the dog pokemon. The speaker was a machoke, clad in the bronze muscle cuirass and high crested helmet that was the symbol of Tao officers.
The trio kept quiet and continued climbing. Absalom caught up to Kephra, who had slowed due to his throbbing knee. "They won't just arrest us," Absalom told him silently.
"I know that," Kephra nodded. "We'll have to fight them. Thankfully, we're pretty high up and it's pretty narrow. They all can't swarm us at once."
"What about Micah?"
"I'm right here," Micah snorted at them. "I can climb, if you two can hold them off."
Kephra sighed. "Alright then." Micah slid off Absalom's back, and with his walking stick in hand, began to make his way up the hill. It was slow going, but at the very least, it freed up Absalom and Kephra to fight. Absalom unsheathed his sword.
"Ready?"
Kephra nodded. "Ready." Kephra readied his spear in both hands.
"In the name of the Tao Empire, put down your weapons and surrender!" The machoke shouted.
"I'd like to see you try and take it from me!" Kephra sneered.
"Kephra, maybe that was a bad idea to taunt the soldiers." Absalom said, swallowing nervously.
"If I'm going to die anyway, then I'll die pissing them off," Kephra laughed, just as the soldiers charged up the hill. Like Kephra and Absalom, they had difficulty making their way up the hill, their trek even more so due to their heavy armor; however, the slick shale mattered little to the mightyena and houndoom, who bounded up the hill with ease.
Absalom spewed another blast of flame, forcing the mightyena to bounce away, but the houndoom, who was a fire type, was resistant to the fire and pounced on Kephra. The houndoom tried to bite at Kephra's throat, but the blaziken managed to deflect the pokemon away with his forearm. Unfortunately though, the houndoom sunk her fangs into Kephra's right arm. The blaziken screamed in agony and attempted to pull the houndoom off, but she wouldn't release her grip. Kephra beat at the pokemon with his free fist, pounding her helm in, until there was an audible crack as the last blow caved her skull in. She released her grip as she sunk to the ground, lifeless. Kephra clutched his bleeding arm, wishing he had something, anything to wrap his arm with, but he had not worn a shirt since his enslavement.
Meanwhile, Absalom was fending off the manectric and mightyena, alternatively swinging his sword and breathing fire at them. Both hound pokemon were bleeding from wounds and burns. The manectric was about to pounce on Absalom's left hand side, where he wielded no weapon, until a piece of shale the size of a dinner plate came flying by and struck the manectric on the side of the head, jerking his head at an unnatural angle. The manectric tumbled away from the scene. The mightyena paused, stunned at the sudden turn of events and Absalom seized the opportunity, sending his sword into the Mightyena's side. It was Micah who had thrown the shale, panting and leaning on his walking stick. The raichu jeweler's leg was bleeding worse now, his lifeblood like bloody red pearls on the pieces of drab shale. He picked up another piece and flung it at an incoming nuzleaf soldier holding a sickle shaped sword called a kopis. The nuzleaf, who had been charging Kephra, stumbled backwards as he avoided Micah's missile, falling back down the hill and colliding with another of his companions, a grovyle.
Kephra shifted his spear from his right hand to his left hand, the grip feeling awkward and unwieldy. He fended off the grovyle soldier, who had just recovered from his comrade's stumble. The spear tip caught the top edge of the grovyle's scale armor, sliding in between two plates to pierce the Tao's shoulder, and hitting the artery there.. Kephra yanked the weapon out and deflected a ax blow from a dusclops, sending the weapon away at a wide angle. Kephra sunk the weapon into the dusclops's belly. The dusclops fell back and down the hill.
A harsh screech rose over the din and Kephra was confronted by the scolipede and its rider. The rider, now revealed to be a nidorina, fired an arrow from her crossbow as the scolipede attempted to climb the hill. The bolt whizzed through the air and the stout tip sunk itself into Kephra's right shoulder, and went out the other side. Kephra moaned in agony and sunk to his knees, his right arm now completely useless, rather than just being somewhat useless. The scolipede gave Kephra a nasty grin and began to accelerate its climb, a Rock Climb attack, Kephra noticed, watching the scolipede's legs glow with a white light. The scolipede now began to easily bound over the shale slabs, its head tilted downwards, the helm it wore enhancing its horns. It intended on impaling Kephra. An idea springing to mind. Using his left hand, Kephra braced the butt of the spear against a fairly sturdy pile of rock. He was going to turn the scolipede's momentum against it.
Then a bolt of lightning materialized from the heavens, crashing down just in front of the scolipede, interrupting its charge. The bolt sent shale and dirt flying everywhere in a plume of earth, clouding everyone's vision. The scolipede stumbled backwards, the nidorina yanking and jerking the reins every which way to calm the monster down and to regain control. Micah who had summoned the bolt of lightning from his own person, sunk to the earth, unconscious.
"Micah!" Kephra screamed, scrambling up the hill to be at his side. "Micah!"
"Kephra, there are more coming!" Absalom shouted, climbing up backwards, making sure that his back wasn't turned."And I don't have enough energy to use shoot any more flames. I'll have to fight with my fangs if I want to use my fire."
Kephra hurriedly checked Micah's pulse at his throat and was relieved when he heard a very faint pulse. "He's still alive," he said in a rush. Absalom was right, unfortunately, for the soldiers that managed to survive the first assault began to climb the hill once again, including the scolipede. Its armor was scorched and small tendrils of electricity raced up and down the monstrous beast's barding.
"You're bleeding!" Absalom shouted, pointing to Kephra's bloody shoulder and forearm.
"Yeah. I can't even use the blasted arm." Kephra growled in frustration. "I think that they managed to hit some nerves of muscles or something. The blood lose was making him woozy and his vision was beginning to darken and grow fuzzy at the edges. "We won't be able to make it," Kephra thought with a heavy heart. "I'm sorry father," he thought silently. "I failed you, and our family home. I'm sorry." His vision was now beginning to fade to black and he collapsed to his knees when he swore he saw something fly overhead, something slender and straight, sinking into one of the soldiers. It was black and thin.
"Arrows?" Kephra wondered groggily, seeing more black shadows fly and sink themselves into the flesh of the Tao soldiers. One arrow had struck home in the nidorina's chest and she fell off to one side, releasing the reins of her charger. More arrows found homes in the scolipede's chest, in between the plates of armor it wore. Like a mighty tree falling, the scolipede sank to its knees and tumbled over to one side, head at a weird angle.
Kephra fell backwards, sliding in unconscious when he saw a familiar face, the sableye he had met from earlier.
"Decided to get some help," the sableye said, the very last thing Kephra heard when he sank into the blackness.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Kephra found himself in a world of pale tan. He hadn't had the faintest idea where he was, nor could he recall how he got there, wherever "there" was. He slowly sat upright, wincing as a flash of pain went down his entire right arm. He looked down, to find his entire forearm wrapped in crisp white linen bandages, with small spots of dried, reddish-brown blood. He attempted to rotate his shoulder but found that he had limited mobility. He looked over and realized that his shoulder was bandaged snugly. He remembered now. He had gotten into a fight with some Tao soldiers and he had gotten stabbed and bitten.
"Ow." he groaned, his left hand investigating the wounds. He started to unwrap the bandages on his forearm, revealing multiple puncture wounds, each and every one tidily stitched up and cleansed of any fester that might be lingering. He wrapped the bandage back up and went to the one on his shoulder but found it was too tender to properly inspect. So, he decided to look around his surroundings, in hopes of figuring out where exactly he was. He was lying on a cot, with blankets and a pillow. He took a peek under the sheets and realized that whoever was attending him had given him a fresh set of clothes. Kephra prayed that whoever had been taken care of him had also decided to burn the ragged pieces of fabric that had passed for clothes. A small fold up table was next to him, with a wooden bowl of pale, cool, watery broth inside. A roll of fresh bandages sat next to it, along with a bottle of the mysterious "anti-septic" the inn keeper had used on Micah's injury.
"Micah!" he suddenly shouted, remembering his friend. "Micah!"
"Calm down," an audino entered the tent, carrying a tray of fresh, steaming broth and a small loaf of wheat bread. She looked to be a nurse of some kind. "Your friend is quite alright."
"Is he okay? What about his leg?"
"We managed to find him in time, for the poor thing was close to exhaustion, possibly death. If Rain's soldier's had found him just a minute later, your friend would have bled out."
"How. . How long have I been here?"
"Almost two days."
"And what about my other friend? He's a charmeleon with dark red scales."
"He is being treated for his injuries as well." the audino chirped cheerfully. "His weren't as bad as your though. A few scrapes and bruises, plus we cleaned up the injury on his abdomen."
"He is also currently being questioned by my soldiers." A lucario entered the tent, roughyl shoving the flap aside, wearing a pale green tunic and a darker green cloak with cowl. A unusual shaped sword rested on her left hip, along with a long dagger on her right. She had a shapely feminine figure and Kephra had to avert his gaze, lest she think he was eying her in that way. "Since he was wearing the clothes of a Tao soldiers, naturally we had to question him, just as I'm about to do to you," she said rather abruptly. "Who exactly are you and how did you know the code of the rebels?"
Kephra scowled at her curt behavior. His nails clicked against his uninjured arm. "You should answer my questions first." he growled. "Now."
The lucario stared him down with steely red eyes and Kephra returned the favor, staring back. The audino slowly placed the tray down next to Kephra's cot, taking the cool broth with her and she slowly backed out of the tent. Eventually, the lucario gave Kephra an upturned smirk at the corner of her mouth.
"You have guts, don't you?" she smirked, admiring his tenacity. "Very well then, I'll tell you. You were rescued by the rebels of the Sky Kingdom. You're currently sitting in one of our tents, being tended to for your injuries." She took a seat in a small stool on the other side of the tent and she crossed her arms. "Now, you can answer mine."
Kephra kept quiet, wondering if he should believe this lucario, who had the audacity to barge into the tent and question him like he were some sort of criminal. He could not blame her frankly, considering everything the citizens of the Sky had gone through. It had been too long since the blaziken had been a part of the "real" world. He decided to humor her then. If she was not who she said she was, then Kephra would have given nothing new away by telling her his story.
"My name is Kephra Vulkanus. I used to live on Vulkanus Estates with my family until the Tao army came in and forcibly evicted my family from our ancestral home. My father fought this and as a result, he and my older brother were captured and burned alive at a stake. They did unspeakable things to my mother and they looted my home, taking me as a prisoner. Then, I was a slave working in the Black Pit Mines for over two years." He paused to glance down at his wrists, imagining those heavy dull bronze shackles on his ankles and feet once more. "A few weeks ago, myself, Micah and Absalom, the former soldier, made a plan for a slave revolt and escape the Mines. It worked and we have been running since." He locked eyes with the lucario. "My goal is to get my family homes from the grip of the Black and Whites, so don't stand in my way."
The lucario was quiet for a moment, absorbing all the information Kephra had told her. "So, the rumors are true. The Black Pit Mines have collapsed." she mused to herself. "Well done. You just destroyed the Tao Empire's largest source of iron and copper on this side of the mountains." Kephra said nothing. "So, Absalom is his name then, the charmeleon dressed like a Tao. He wouldn't give us his name."
"He was forced into joining the Tao army." Kephra leapt to his defense. "And he helped us escape, saving our lives and those of countless others. The Tao army considers him a deserter and a traitor now for his actions. If you send him back, they'll court martial him or worse, execute him."
"What made you think that we were going to send him back?"
Kephra's face paled at the realization. "You can't kill him. I won't let you. Micah and I, won't let you." he pointed one claw at her. "He's never even killed a Sky citizen! By The All-Father's hooves, he's only killed his fellow Tao, if you even believe that!"
"You would defend an Tao's honor?" she sneered.
"He's no Tao to me. He's my friend."
The lucario looked murderous for a split second and Kephra wondered if she was going to boldly throw him across the room, for that remark. Suddenly, she tossed her head back, chuckling loudly."Like I said, you have tenacity for a half dead slave!" she fixed him with a steely gaze. "Very well, I will have my men spare your friend; however, in order for him to stay here, he, and you and your friend, must plead his case in front of my father General Tamar Imasu. He would be very intrigued and please to hear of your little incident at the Black Pit Mines."
Kephra's mouth dropped open. "General Tamar Imasu? He's your father?" he gawked at the thought of meeting the General of the Sky Armies.
"Adoptive father." The lucario got up gracefully from her seat. "If you would come with me, we will confer with him now."
"Now?"
"Did I stutter? Come," she barked impatiently halfway out of the tent. "We can't have you lost in the camp."
Kephra slowly got up from his position, his arm aching in protest. He decided to not put any weight on it. He held it close to his chest as he followed her out.
"Am I not allowed to have your name as well?" Kephra asked at her back.
She stopped. "You may call me Rain. Rain Imasu."