Chapter 11: Down in the Pits

x x x

The group breaks into Ragou's mansion eventually, but I doubted I'd find research notes being kept in the basement with the monsters. We'd also be a bit busy so I wouldn't feel right asking the group to take a detour just on Alastor's word. So I decided to go in by myself a bit early. It might actually be even easier for me without being part of a large, noticeable group.

I found a place by the wall where the guards couldn't see me and tried to brainstorm some options. Distracting the guards...I didn't think I could do that by myself, and didn't know who to ask for help. Other than Nevi, and he'd probably get all huffy at me and leave without helping. Climb over the wall? How? I'd done a bit of rock climbing before, but climbing a wall with plastic hand holds and a relatively easy mountain path were entirely different matters from climbing a sheer wall.

...I wonder if... I pulled one of my daggers from its belt and tested the point against the wall. Other than scraping away a few grains, it didn't do much. Taking a deep breath, I focused on the dagger in my hand and thrust it forward while trying to force my energy through the blade again. Green light lined the edge and it bit more deeply into the stone, leaving about an inch left before the hilt. Huh...I figure that's how strike arts work. Using the stuff you keep hearing about for ki or chi or Aikido breathing techniques works for channeling aer...

Pulling the dagger free from the stone again, I considered the wall as a whole. Even if these can support my weight, I don't think I have the upper body strength to make it all the way up. If I had a crap load of daggers, I could make a trail of hand and foot holds, but... I looked around again, and noticed the lamp posts were awfully close to the wall.

I sighed. Might as well try.

x x x

I bought some rope from a nearby store (and was pretty broke after that, I'd have to find a way to earn more money) and tossed it over the point where the light fixtures made an L curve. With one end tied around the front of my belt, I kept tightening the other end around the handles of my daggers as I climbed. I also kept my back pressed against the lamp's pole, bracing my legs against the wall to give my arms a rest at times.

I still fell down several times, but I eventually made it to the top of the wall. Tying the rope to the lamp post, I rappelled down the other side. Hooray~ Letha has achieved the title of "Apprentice Thief!" Or would it be "Bumbling Thief?"

Feeling dizzy and weak afterward, I sat down for a breather. Shit, can't breathe again... Eventually the small episode passed and it occurred to me to eat an orange gel. They look a bit like cough drops, but eating them reminds me of gummie bears and starbursts...with a liquidy center. Though it didn't do much for the slight ache in my chest, I didn't feel as tired anymore.

Circling around to the back of the mansion I found the elevators Raven and the group use to get inside. "Umm, Raven used-will use- this one to go up..." I climbed into the one on the left and pulled a lever to start it up. Inside Ragou's mansion was pretty depressing. The rooms were full of fancy art and furniture that was well kept, but whenever a servant went by (I hid, lots of hiding places with all the stuff around) he or she always looked underfed and would jump at shadows. Understandable, given the monsters in the basement. They probably lived in terror of something escaping into the upper floors, or of angering Ragou and being thrown down there.

The rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon was spent looking through the rooms. I'd thought a study would be a good place to start, but even after flipping through shelves of books and files I couldn't find it. Was Alastor lying after all? But then what would the point of sending me in here be? Deciding not to give up quite yet, I tried looking in other rooms full of what looked like collected antiques and artifacts that Ragou probably never even thought about.

It was starting to get dark when I'd nearly given up. The late hour worried me, but there hadn't been any big ruckus or knights running around. So I figured the others hadn't tried to break into the house yet to give Flynn an excuse to investigate. Maybe they were still hunting the Ryhbgaro? Or planned to tackle Ragou's mansion in the morning?

While thinking, I was trying to push an armful of curios back into a cupboard, and getting frustrated when they wouldn't go all the way back in. Leaving the stuff to the side, I stuck my arm in and felt around for whatever was getting in the way. Feeling something flat and smooth, I pulled it out. In my hands was a white wooden case stenciled with flowers. On the lid was engraved Sophia V.

It was held shut with a small lock. Using my daggers to try and break the lock or pry it open was useless, the wood must have warped over the years so it was stuck. For a case of research notes on exploring a lost city, it seemed rather...thin. Eh, well, if this isn't her notes then I won't find them. I'll bring it back with me and figure out how to get it open later.

I tucked the thin case under my coat at my back (the way my dad likes to carry paper back books tucked into his belt) and picked up my own bag again. Why didn't I put the case in my bag? Paranoia. If I was caught then Ragou's people would check my bag. Other than the things from Earth in the hidden pocket, it didn't have anything but supplies any traveler would carry. The case would stand out too much.

Carefully I left the same way I'd come in, and looked along the wall for the rope I'd left in place. Halfway through climbing up again a hand grabbed at my leg, surprising a yelp out of me. I looked back down and saw one of the hired Blood Alliance thugs gripping my boot. "Ah, shit..." He wasn't alone either, and his friend already had his sword out.

I kicked at him, trying to break his grip so I might still escape over the wall. The thug laughed, "Don't bother, we've got more men on the other side of the wall waiting for you. Just come along quietly if you don't want to get hurt, little rat!" Next time, take the rope down instead of assuming you can use it to get back out...

x x x

They took my bag and weapons but didn't find Sophia's case. Though that was a small measure of satisfaction when I was thrown into Ragou's basement without any means of defending myself. Well, could be worse...they could have decided to "play" with me first. Maybe they'd been ordered to leave women alone in that respect? ...Don't question a stroke of luck too much.

It was dark, and it was rank, and it was frightening. There were lights on the walls, but they were probably there because Ragou wanted his victims to see their death coming for them. Victims...right isn't that boy-Pauly, right?-down here somewhere? Maybe I should try to look for him. Walking slowly to make less noise, I began searching for the boy.

The bones and partially eaten bodies were horrifying to see, but after the initial shock (during which I jumped, collapsed into a heap, then spent maybe ten minutes with my face buried in my arms til I didn't feel like I'd throw up) I could stand them. As long as they didn't stand up and chase me. Hate zombie movies...

I'm not sure how long I'd been down there when I heard the growling of monsters in a nearby room. I swallowed, what could I do if I was attacked? Looking around, I couldn't find any weapons lying around. Ragou wasn't one for giving people a sporting chance... All I could see were dead bodies.

...

"Daaamn, I don't wanna!" I whined as I picked around in a pile of bones. In a moment I had selected two fairly long and straight ones with sharp points where they'd been broken. I did not linger on their shapes long enough to identify what parts of the body they went to.

Looking around the doorway carefully, I checked to see if any of the monsters were waiting right on the other side for me. Wolf like monsters were prowling around, but they didn't seem too interested in finding new prey. Actually it looked like they had some old prey they were still working on... Pleeease don't be Pauly.

They looked up at me, and some growled softly, but didn't make any move towards me as I edged along the side of the room to the next door. When I'd left that room behind, I finally let out my breath and sighed in relief. A long night ahead for me.

Maybe for an hour or so I wandered around. When I heard sniffling, I perked up. "Hey! Is someone there? Is that Pauly?" I called softly. The sniffling stopped. "Come on, don't be afraid. I'm here to help!" There was the sound of shuffling footsteps, then a little head with a top knot of reddish hair poked around a corner. Oh, thank God. "Hey, see? I'm not one of those scary men or a monster, am I?" I knelt down to put myself on his level and look less threatening.

He sniffed again, "Where's Mama and Papa?"

I held out my arms to him (I'd left the bones to the side for the moment, but within easy reach). He hesitantly came over and let me wrap my arms around him. "They'll come get you soon. I'll stay with you until then, 'kay?" He nodded, burying his tear streaked face in my shoulder. The feeling made me think of my younger cousins back home, and how some of them used to always hug me when they visited. Dammit, Ragou, this kid is even younger than they are! I am soo gonna pummel you before Yuri even gets a chance to play vigilante!

I settled down with my back against a wall and Pauly curled up in my lap, and waited.

x x x

I jolted awake and looked around in a panic. Damn, how long was I out? Pauly shifted in my arms, where I had wrapped him in my sleeveless coat. The boy sniffled a bit in his sleep, I rubbed his back to try and reassure him. He settled, and I sat still and quiet while I tried to figure out what had woken me up.

Outside the room I could hear the clicking sound of claws on the stone floor. Apparently the wolves had gotten hungry again, and wanted fresh meat. How did the game designers expect us to believe Pauly had been safe in a dungeon full of monsters wandering around? The only reason he's still alive now is there was probably someone else they caught first! I gently lifted Pauly from my lap and set him against the wall before standing up with my makeshift bone weapons in hand.

"Miss?"* Ah, he'd woken up a bit anyway.

"It's okay, Pauly, I'm not going anywhere. Just stay quiet, and don't watch."

The monsters came in. Three were stalking towards me, though two of them stopped part way to watch the third. Toying with me, maybe hoping I'll try to run. I settled into a fighting stance. The one charged, and I didn't dodge for fear that I'd leave Pauly open. Instead I slashed at the wolf monster and forced it to jump back.

Growling at me, it circled just outside my reach before lunging at me again. I slashed again, and also tried to stab it with the other bone as it jumped to the side. The bone grazed it but no more.

When the second attacked I wasn't expecting it, it tried to get past me to the weaker prey. Since it knew I had been caught by surprise it let it's guard down. With a surge of terror and anger, I struck out with the bone in my right hand and buried it in the monster's eye. It howled in pain, and the other two began snarling angrily at me.

"How'd ya like that! Buzz off or I'll get the rest of you mutts too!" The three actually did back off a bit, but they didn't leave. Instead the lot of them sat and waited just beyond my reach, watching me. "Damn, gonna wait for me to get tired and leave an opening? Well, we'll see who can wait longer..."

I was in for a long night indeed.

x x x

Over the night I'd managed to kill one and heavily wound another. The one with a blinded eye was especially cautious of me and hadn't gotten close enough for me to do more than whack its nose once or twice. But more wolves showed up to replace the one I'd killed, so now there were five total. Occasionally they snapped at each other, and I imagined they were arguing over which one would have the privilege of killing the pesky female.

One of the new ones brashly charged me, and I unthinkingly threw up an arm to guard. It sank it's teeth into my right forearm, and tried to crush the bone in its jaws. SHIIIT, I screamed wordlessly and slashed at its neck like I had done to one of the dog monsters on Ehmead Hill, and fortunately it died before breaking my arm.

I pulled away from the body, hissing in pain and trying to hold my mangled right arm in close to my body. The sight of my bloody arm had Pauly crying again, and the wolves milled around excitedly. They're all gonna rush me at once now. I'm tired and I'm hurt.

"Pauly," I hissed through clenched teeth. "When I tell you to go, run. I'll keep them busy, and maybe they won't follow you."

"But-"

"Just trust me, 'kay?" The wolves all leaped towards me. "Run!"

I can't say exactly what happened in the few minutes, or maybe it was just seconds. I managed to stab them a few times with the sharp bones, maybe I even got lucky and killed one. But I do know the bones both broke at some point and I was buried under the onslaught of fur and bad breath.

"Fireball!" Hmm? Was Pauly secretly a black mage?

The wolves were blasted off of me in a burst of light, and I saw Yuri and Estelle rushing towards them while they were still stunned, Karol not exactly close behind but following while lugging his huge ax.

I sighed, and dropped my head back down on the stone floor. "Ahh, love the cavalry..." Small hands grabbed at my shoulder and started shaking me. Opening my eyes just a crack, I turned my head and saw Pauly's frightened face a few inches from mine. "I'm alright. And hey! It looks like your Mom and Dad sent someone to pick you up." He smiled.

"Letha! Are you hurt?" Estelle had left the fight when she saw me still lying on the floor.

"Oh just peachy, I think I'll try wrestling a bear next." I said sarcastically. "Though at least the only broken bones weren't mine. There's plenty of spares lying around, did you notice?" Ignoring my rambling, she began casting First Aid. I sighed, "Thanks...I really wish I knew something like that. Ragou's bastards took away my weapons and my bag, so I don't even have any gels."

Estelle patted me on my newly healed arm. "Don't worry, we'll try to find yours again." Nodding in appreciation, I let her help me sit up again. The others were talking to Pauly, trying to find out who his parents were. Of course they soon realized he was the child of the couple they'd run into at the gate.

Seeing I was doing better, the group all turned to me. "Just what the hell were you thinking?" Rita yelled. "You were already gone when Estellise and I woke up yesterday, and we were worried sick when you never came back last night!"

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming here? What the hell did you think you could do on your own?" Yuri's voice was lower and steadier than Rita's but the anger was unmistakable.

I winced, "I wasn't planning on coming here when I left...yesterday?" That felt so long ago, and at the same time like it wasn't nearly long enough. "When we got here I met someone who apparently knew my aunt. Yesterday morning I was supposed to meet him, and he told me he had a clue about...something I've been looking into. One thing led to another, and I eventually got thrown in here."

"That's so reckless! Couldn't you have at least told us you were going out or-" Karol was cut off by Pauly running in front of me.

"Stop being mean! The scary lady was nice to me, and made those monsters leave me alone!" ...Scary lady? Geez, that's sooo sweet... Though I guess I probably had seemed kind of frightening, standing over the bodies of dead wolves and screaming insults in the faces of monsters all night.

"...Alright, we'll leave it at that for now," Yuri conceded, though he sounded like he wouldn't be forgetting the issue anytime soon.

"Uh huh, so moving on, what are you guys doing down in this hell hole?"

"Flynn and his Knights need to search Ragou's mansion for proof that he's using blastia to control the weather."

"We're here to find some evidence and then kick up a fuss so the knights have an excuse to come in." I nodded at Karol and Yuri's explanations.

"Hmm, well I've already looked through the most of the house and didn't see anything like that, so the blastia must be somewhere down here in the lower levels..."

"Why were you-" Karol tried to question but was cut off again, by Yuri this time.

"Never mind that for now, let's just keep moving."

x x x

Name Calling

Letha: Soo tired...wanna sleep...

Karol: Hey, are you okay?

Letha: Huh? A giant brown rooster is talking to me...

Karol: What? I'm not a rooster!

Letha: Oh, it's Carol...funny, why does Carol have a girl's name?

Karol: What's wrong with my name!

Letha: Heheheh, course his name isn't as funny as Yuri's...

Karol: Huh?

Letha: Yuri is actually a Russian farmer!

Karol: What? Why is he a "rushing farmer?"

Letha: Yuri comes from GEORGE! It means FARMER!

Karol: Wake up already!

x x x

Pauly and was kept in the middle of the group where it was easiest to protect him from attacking monsters. Everyone took a look at my bloodied clothes and how I was struggling to even stay awake, and pushed me in the center with him. I didn't protest. Not like I had a weapon, and I wasn't keen on hunting up anymore bones to stab things with. They wouldn't have been much use against those gigantic armored boar things anyway. Or would it be more accurate to describe them as rhinos...or armadillos? So glad one of those things didn't attack during the night.

Estelle hovered near Pauly and me, occasionally casting First Aid on me and comforting the boy. I was too tired to deal with anything, and as much as I like kids I prefer to have limited contact with them. Moving with the group like a sleepwalker, it took me a while to notice when we stopped, and then only because I idly noticed the lack of forward momentum.

Hmm, a room divided by bars...hey isn't this where Ragou makes his first appearance in the game? That woke me up again.

He was waiting for us, and took a few steps forward to see us better while he gloated. "Well, well, what do we have here? More delicious snacks for my pet, it seems."

"So you're Ragou?" The swordsman eyed the unimpressive old man in robes with a ridiculous high collar in front of us. "You've got some pretty disgusting hobbies."

"Hobbies? Oh, you must mean my basement," the magistrate said with a patronizing tone. I bristled, and felt a rising wave of So fucking pissed off. "Only someone with my refined sensibilities could understand the pleasure I derive from such things. You're just like those senile old fools on the council." Looked in a mirror lately old man! "They bored me to death and never let me enjoy myself.

"It's the privilege of my exalted station to dispel such boredom with the...help of the common people," he concluded, his words dripping with his sense of self-importance.

"'Pleasure'?" I hissed, pushing past Yuri and grabbing the bars. "'Enjoy yourself?' Oh yes, sooo much pleasure. I had the time of my life!" I was perfectly aware of how I looked: bloody (mine and the monsters), hair tangled in medusa like locks, and both eyes and mouth wide with a freakish smile. "Why don't you come in here and see how much fun it is?" I topped it off with a slightly manic laugh. Not as good as Zagi's but creepy enough.

Yuri put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back a bit. "Don't let him get to you, it's what he wants."

Ragou had recoiled from me and my filthy appearance, but then he sneered at me, "Pathetic worm." Oh, more pissed off waves! Would Yuri hurry up and break the bars already?

"You can't mean that's your only reason to do those things." Estelle naively tried to reason with him.

But he ignored her. "Well, I suppose I should go and fetch Rhybgaro. So many new toys... He ought to put on quite a show. Though you may not live long enough to see it..."

"There's no point in searching for Rhybgaro," Yuri informed him confidently. "We've already taken care of him."

"...What did you say?" Ragou pushed his spectacles back into place as he stared at Yuri intently.

"Are you deaf? I said we've already taken care of him."

"You... What have you done to my pet?" Ragou fisted his hands, and to me looked for all the world like a little boy about to throw a tantrum over a broken toy.

"If you'd put a bell on it or something, maybe you wouldn't have lost track of it." Ouch...

Apparently realizing Yuri was poking fun at him, Ragou tried to recover his position. "Ah well, with a bit more money I'll soon be able to replace him."

This time Estelle cut in front of Yuri to admonish the corrupt magistrate. "Ragou! How can you say such things and still call yourself a servant of the empire?"

He drew back, looking as if she'd just slapped him in the face. Wish I could slap him once. "What? ...You... But that's impossible!" Sorry, Ragou, your princess isn't in the castle you thought she was in.

Before he could recover his poise a second time, Yuri flipped his sword in his hand and struck the bars with an Azure Edge attack. The wave of energy also threw Ragou across the room. "S-stay back! W-what do you intend to do?" He shrilled at us, pointing an imperious finger. "Someone! Arrest these intruders!" He scrambled to his feet and ran out the door.

"We'll have enemies all over the place if we-hey, wait, Letha!" I interrupted Yuri's speech about hurrying up by running past him (he'd let go of me earlier to use his sword, and no one else had thought to hold me back) to chase after Ragou. I didn't care that I had no weapons, I'd strangle the old bastard to death with my braid if I had to!

x x x

Thinkbabynames. com

The boy's name Yuri \yu-ri\ is pronounced YER-ee. It is of Russian origin. Variant of George (latin) "farmer."

...I couldn't resist. After all, everybody expects a joke about Yuri's name being about girlxgirl themes.

Letha: *reading from a paper* "I meant no offense to any nationalities and/or ethnicities mentioned in the above joke. Or farmers." Was that necessary?

Sylph: Just covering our bases.

Letha: Then why don't you do disclaimers?

Sylph: ...snap, I forgot. But this is a fan fiction site, so people should automatically know it's not mine.

* Urgh, it feels weird to have Pauly saying "Miss." Wish I could use the Japanese "nee-san" here instead, but that wouldn't work since I haven't been using any other Japanese honorifics.