Chapter 20
Springing the Trap
"We don't have much time. Hurry!"
"...What?"
Before Priam was a man engulfed in blazing blue fire.
"The fortress is clear for you. Pierce through the veil!"
"What if it is a trap?"
"Have faith in me, please. The only safe passage is through the fort. Anywhere else is death! Hurry! And do not stop to fight, or you will be lost!"
"Wait...who are you? How can I trust you?"
"You will soon see-"
He woke up.
Priam was covered in sweat, more sweat than he'd ever had when he'd work out.
What the hell? He thought to himself. He questioned whether it was indigestion which gave him this specter in a dream, or some form of odd positioning on his bedroll which sent him into a psychedelic dream. Whether this was true or not, clearly something had to be done soon. If someone was truly trying to contact him and assist him, he would take him up on the offer.
He got up. It was still dark out, but he had to hurry and wake the camp.
He ran out of his tent and ran to every tent and yelled, "WAKE UP. We move now!"
Many of the small troop were so confused that they immediately got up and started to put away things without really thinking about what they were doing.
Say'ri emerged from her tent, awoken by the chaos caused by Priam.
"Priam? The sun has not risen and will not for a few hours." She said, somewhat sleepily, "Why are we leaving?"
"If we don't move now, we lose time and our chance through." He replied.
To Say'ri, he sounded like a madman. The night watch had not reported any movement around the camp or any movement for that matter.
Yet to Priam, danger was in the air. He had not felt it that night, but now that he could think clearly, he felt the clang of metal coming from a few miles away. They were not in the fortress, and as his dream had told him, it seemed like the safest way through.
The camp was in an uproar. Helen was carrying a large crate of concoctions when she stumbled over a small pile of tomes in front of Aramis's tent. She fell and broke half of the concoctions in the box. As she rose, Aramis yelled at her.
"Watch what you're doing, you imbecile!"
"IMBECILE?!" She was infuriated, "WHAT KIND OF MAGE LEAVES ALL OF THEIR IMPORTANT TOMES IN THE MIDDLE OF A WALKWAY?!" She was starting to get intimidating to Aramis, but he continued to stand his ground. "Do YOU know what kind of mage YOU ARE?" She got up right in his face, "Incompetent. Ignorant. Idiotic. Unintelligent. Those are four things OF A LONG LIST that make up just. who. you. are."
She turned away quickly to continue her work as he simply shook his fist behind her as he wiped her saliva from his face.
Tensions were tight between some of them. Aaron had been of almost no help that morning and it drove Lucina and Gerome insane. Everyone but him seemed to have something to do or a task to complete. Aaron simply leaned against a tree, watching the camp busy themselves. Gerome, who was carrying two crates of supplies on each shoulder, tossed one to Aaron, who quickly caught it.
"Are you actually going to do anything?" Gerome asked.
"I packed up what I had, so why are you all not done yet?" He said with a chuckle.
Gerome huffed, "We'd be finished sooner if we had all hands working. Take that crate to the supply wagon."
"I think you know very well that this is just a ploy to get me to help." Aaron said with a smirk, "If you needed my help, you should've just asked nicely...or with gold...?"
"You joined this troop voluntarily," Gerome reminded, "no one is paying you to help us. If you want your gold from the Plegian treasury faster, though, you'll help us."
Gerome picked up another crate that had been packed and shouldered it on his empty hand and carried the two crates to the wagon. Aaron looked down at the crate and sighed.
"I hate it when he uses logic like that..." he said, shaking his head. He lifted the crate and walked to the wagon.
"How have you been able to stay so perfectly still?" Esbern asked.
Raphael gave no reply. He had been meditating for three days and had remained unmoved by anything, even when meals were thrown into the cell, he wouldn't budge.
He had a plan, but he had to be careful. He was going to escape. He, Esbern, and all of the remaining Feroxi were going to escape the hell that waited for them a couple of floors above them. He simply had to wait for...
"Hey...maggot! Get up!" He heard one guard say.
"See, sir? He ain't moved in 'bout three nights." Said another guard, "should we try to get him up?"
"Yes. Curse the other cellmate and we'll try to get this dastard up."
The cell opened and Esbern started to clutch his head in pain as he stumbled into a corner of the cell.
The first guard tried to do a dead-lift, but failed to even budge Raphael. The second tried the same thing, but with the same result.
Just a bit more... Raphael thought to himself.
The two guards both grabbed one of his elbows and tried to lift him again, but this time, he had stopped channeling the chi of the rock and they found him to be 5000 lbs. lighter. They launched him a bit into the air and his eyes opened. He spun his body and brought his feet to make contact with both guards. They both groaned in pain then hit the ground like bears that had been on their feet, but then shot down by archers. They both fell unconscious. Esbern, who was no longer under the effects of a curse, stood up and scrambled for the guards' weapons and keys. He tossed Raphael a bronze sword and the cell keys. He then started to put on the armor of the two guards.
Raphael was somewhat confused. "What are you doing? We have to make a break for it."
"I want my team out of here, Raph." Esbern said as he put a chestplate on, "I'll act as a distraction and you get my army out of here. You will be their commanding officer."
"We can all get out of here, Esbern. Don't throw your life away for nothing!"
Esbern looked Raphael in the eye, "Look Raph, as much as I'd like to believe that, I've seen enough of this place to realize that without a distraction, no one will escape. They're after you, not me. You need to get to a safe place, and soon!"
Raphael opened his mouth to try to refute the claims, but he couldn't. He knew Esbern would give anything to see his men safe and out of this hell. He put a hand on Esbern's shoulder, "Fine, but if you kill more Grimleal than I do, you're going to be sorry." he said with a lighthearted chuckle.
Esbern picked up the bronze axe from the other guard. "I guess neither of us will know..."
They heard the sound of footsteps coming down the spiral stairs toward the cells. Esbern rushed out to meet the sound, but shouted over his shoulder in his rough voice, "Get my men out of here!"
Raphael heard the sound of the dull bronze axe meeting flesh followed by a shout. He knew that he didn't have much time. They had to act fast for their freedom.
The army marched toward the fortress in silence. Half of the troop was half-asleep while the other watched nervously their perimeter for any signs of a threat.
The fort stood as more of a gate. The road led straight through it and once offered protection for Plegian merchants who were hounded by bandits. It, in that case, was known as a safe-haven for several years until the Grimleal came to power and utilized the fort for their own endeavors.
They reached the gate. Just as Clarisa and Nathaniel had reported, the entire fort was abandon. The abandonment was fresh, from what Priam could tell. The embers of the fires that were once lit had shown evidence of only being put out for a few days. Footsteps were still fresh on the dirt path cutting through the fort.
They were halfway through. They looked at the plates of food left on tables and the mead left unopened. How long ago had they abandoned this place? Priam asked himself.
Still, no one spoke. Every person felt like they were being watched, but no one wanted to say anything about it. The whole place felt haunted.
As they drew closer to the other gate, they started to hear unearthly sounds, but pressed on nonetheless. Priam knew that if they made it through, they would be safe.
When they reached the gate, they finally saw it; a Risen. It was just one fighter and it was all the way at the other side of the fort. It saw them and let out a shrill screech. Several other Risen ran to him. He let out another burst of screams and more and more Risen appeared. They simply stood there looking at the Defenders and the New Shepherds for a long time.
Say'ri whispered to Priam, "What are we to do? Run?"
"...keep moving." Priam replied in an undertone. He'd never fled a fight, but he heeded the words of the dream he had earlier that morning. He knew that they wouldn't be able to beat them all and save Raphael with whoever was left after the fight.
"MOVE OUT." Priam yelled. At that, the Risen charged through the fort, steaming toward them.
"Uh...Commander...?" Lucina said somewhat nervously.
"We'll be fine. KEEP MOVING." Priam commanded.
The Risen were gaining and not all of the army had even made it under the gate.
"Priam...?" Lucina grabbed Falchion at the hilt.
"KEEP. MOVING."
The Risen were right on top of them when finally the last of them had made it through.
"PRIAM!?" Lucina drew Falchion and prepared herself.
The gate fell. The stakes used to keep the gate from being rammed open speared several Risen as they tried to pass under it. The rest were trapped in the fort, unable to break the bars of the gate. They simply slammed their weapons against the metal gate to find that it would not bend. Some tried to run back and chase them around, but the other gate had closed too.
The Defenders and New Shepherds stood in awe and curiosity, watching the numerous Risen violently attack the gate.
"Let's go. We don't have much time." Priam said as he started walking.
They were shocked. How could Priam know that it would end up like that? Lucina asked herself as she sheathed her sword, I wonder what would've happened had he lived long enough in my time. Would he have protected father...?
It was no use pondering whether the past future could have been changed because it was in the past. The new future they forged had held and her father had survived. Now if she could simply secure Raphael's future, she would finally be at peace...
They continued on the path toward the second fortress, hoping that it would be a similar situation. Aaron was curious on how it had all happened and hoped to replicate the process as a con later down the line. He walked up to Priam with his cheery merchant's disposition and shook his hand.
"Hey, that was one fancy stunt you pulled there, Priam. Can I call you Priam?" Aaron asked.
"I believe you can. Everyone is entitled to their own decisions." Priam replied. "Just be sure that you understand the consequences."
"Yeah that's great, but let's talk about what happened at the fort." Aaron said, almost as if he hadn't heard what he wanted to hear.
Priam sighed, "Alright, what do you want to know?"
"Well, how you did it, to begin with." Aaron said.
"I didn't do it, Aaron." Priam replied, "I don't know what happened."
"Alright, Alright, I know information isn't cheap so tell you what," Aaron reached into his suitcase and pulled out a small bag of gold, "if you tell me how you did it, it'll turn a good profit for you, and I'll be able to use that information to turn a profit as well. It's a gain-gain situation, wouldn't you agree?"
Priam stopped and turned to face Aaron. He stared at him for a few seconds, then continued walking.
Aaron was confused, "So...do we have a deal?"
"You're from the future, right? I know your mother, but who is your father?"
Astonishment passed across Aaron's face, "How do you know my mother?"
"You have her hair and her merchant's drive, except in a more...extreme case. I'm simply hoping that she found a good husband because of how enamored she was with Robin."
Aaron didn't reply. He hated thinking about his father... The cold, backstabbing, heartless, greedy...
"Aaron?" Priam tried to snap Aaron out of his thoughts.
"Sir, information isn't cheap, but that information is priceless to me. I hate thinking about my father. Let's leave it at that."
Aaron slowed his pace and fell behind the caravan to think.
"Poor Anna..." Priam said to himself, "Whoever the dastard was that hurt her had better be dead...or worse."
HEY!...how is life? Is it good? Bad? Eh? I hope it's good for you.
The story of Raph's escape will make the story have a completely different ending than I was originally planning for, but it should still be good, if not better.
*SPOILERSSSS *
So I just remembered why I invented Aramis and Athos... Two years ago, I was planning on writing an Emmeryn x Walhart fanfiction and the twins were supposed to be their children from the Outrealms, NOT the future (They were given to Porthos and his wife to be raised when...well, I can't say). While Aramis has Walhart's pride, he also has Emmeryn's sense of duty (which won't be evident 'til close to the end) and Athos has Emmeryn's calm demeanor while he has Walhart's drive for victory. So if you were curious on why they even exist AT ALL, that's why. I MAY go back to it and make it a 3-5 chapter fanfic, but most likely not.
Now, about this story...
I'm super excited with how this is turning out, honestly. I haven't been this excited for this story since the 8th chapter! I've been bored for 12 chapters...wow. The escape is by far the best part. The story will start to follow Raphael's escape and his attempt to free the prisoners more than Priam and the team going to save him.
*Alright, those weren't really spoilerssss... *
ANYWAY, please leave a review! I love hearing what you liked, disliked, and everything inbetween! If you have suggestions for this story, or you want to see a small story of Emmeryn and Walhart, let me know!
Thanks again for reading!
~TheSearcherer