Jenever's Archives

Archives

Home

Credits

The Fight in the Cage

Simon said nothing for a moment, his whispered conversation with Lazarus seeming to have come to a pregnant pause. Instead, he simply looked hard into the other man's eyes, his own expression blank, and he twisted his head curiously, as if searching for something therein.

Abruptly, he moved, as if galvanised into action. Awkwardly, Simon struggled to his feet, shaking like a dog might, his cloak rearranging itself around his bound arms and bits of straw spraying around his immediate vicinity. With a purposeful stride, he stepped out towards the door of the Cage, eyes fixed forward, but the prison was a crowded place, and he stumbled over a bale of hay and another of his fellow prisoners on the way. Without his arms to balance himself, he landed heavily, but made no sound, wriggling violently to bring his legs under him and pushing off the person he had fallen on - Jenever, it was - to bring himself back to a standing position.

Forcefully, he reached the door of the Cage, kicking once against it with his boot, the loud clang bringing the attention of all around. "Sergeant," he called, his voice forthright, "the plan has borne fruit. The prisoners have revealed the presence of their allies to me, and we must inform the Lords of Karadon at once."

"Quickly now," Simon continued triumphantly, ignoring the rest of the prisoners behind him. "They have allies outside the castle as we speak, and there is no time to waste. Let me out now, or I fear that they will have killed me before I can inform my Lady and the Hunter."

Tobias jumped up...

Dot felt the last tumbler moving into place as Tobias leapt. .

The guards looked up. Not a few felt (a little dozily - it was late in their shift by now) for weapons. Three of those on the roof of the cage trained their crossbows on Simon; the fourth (a bright lad) watched the other occupants of the Cage warily. The Sergeant made a swift gesture, and one younger guard left the Cavern at a run. In the shadows where she crouched, Lynx rose to her feet.

"Fardles!" shouted Lazarus.

Tobias quirked an eyebrow, settling back down, chuckling mildly. When he settled back in Dot resumed. Practice had made her more efficient, and the same soft click that she had experienced with Morgan was forthcoming.

"Oh, please do hurry!" said Tobias, ignoring what was happening at his own back. "Our rescuers are on their way! We'd hate for you to miss our faithful knights as they swoop in and save us like the maidens fair we are! Jenever, dear, can you be a dear Rapunzel and let your hair down for us? Oh, and Morgan, butt a few of the bars in with the hard head of yours! I'll arrange for the martinis after."

Lazarus gave a quick glance back to see where everyone was. "Seth," he called, "change of plan, this may be it! Don't let him get out."

Seth's eyes popped open, and looked up at the scene. He gave a single, long, bleary-eyed, despairing look at Lazarus; then, straining his arms uselessly against his steel manacles, he pushed himself up along the bars near the door and launched himself at the figure of Simon. The few minutes of sleep had made him groggy, however, and his aim was not true; rather than knock the man to the side and away, he hit Simon squarely in the back, bouncing him off the bars. Seth fell to the side, rolled, and came up ready to charge again. There was a half-sob, half growl of despair coming from him now...

Tobias caught the eye of the guard. "My... how angry the Lord and Lady will be if this is a ruse to get their forsaken servant out... But I'm certain it isn't. Hurry along now!"

"Damn Tobias, stop him" urged Lazarus, as he moved as quick as he could, to get to Simon, but he was so exhausted he stumbled and slid on the loose straw on the floor. He barely managed to position himself behind Simon, inadvertently blocking Seth's next attack ...

Morgan stayed where he knelt, watching but knowing how dangerous it could be to step into a melee like that. Instead, he watched the guards, ready to kick hay or such in their way, if possible.

The guards were staring now - some rather bug eyed, as Simon bounced off the bars under Seth's lunge. The guards with cross bows on the roof of the cage seemed unsure whether to aim them at Simon - or his attackers.

"Why shouldn't I just let them finish you off?" growled the Sergeant.

Lynx ran forward and caught at his arm. "Because he knows their plans!" she said desperately. "Please - let him out before they kill him!"

And even as she spoke, Haakon lumbered to his feet and, with an inarticulate snarl, launched himself across the cage at Simon's back. The force of his lunge made him pin Simon against the bars of the cage, his face jammed against the bars, and Haakon brought his knee up for a vicious kick in the kidneys. Simon tried to kick back, catching him a painful blow on the knee which slowed Haakon a little.

Lynx screamed. "They're killing him!"

This seemed to decide the Sergeant. He swore, then signalled four of his men.

"You on the roof," he instructed. "Prepare to fire! Third order!"

The guards on the roof tensed as the Sergeant moved forward, signalling another guard to ready his keys. Lynx ran forward to where Simon was pressed against the bar, as Haakon managed another kick - although Lazarus, in an effort to get out of Seth's way, it appeared, stumbled against him. An arrow shot down from the roof and clattered usefully onto the floor, barely a hand's breadth from Seth.

"Sorry Sarge!" yelled the closer guard, beginning to reload.

By now, a young guard was fumbling with the lock. The Sergeant muttered hasty instructions to the four guards with him, while the rest were tense, readying their crossbows around the room. A yell from the Sergeant had four of those running forward, and beginning to climb to the vantage point of the roof. That still left six guards around the perimeters of the cavern.

"Get back and stay back!" the Sergeant shouted to the other prisoners. The young guard swung the door open, and the four guards advanced, their short swords drawn, two at a time, into the Cage, while the three still armed on the roof now trained their crossbows on the struggling group around Simon - and the four on the ladders now reached the top. The guards inside the Cage advanced, and began to haul Seth, Lazarus and Haakon away - until there was clear space around the somewhat battered Simon, who now seemed to be propped against the bars, as they were the only thing keeping him upright..

"Get him out!" screamed Lynx. The Sergeant signalled two more guards from the perimeter, who set down their crossbows and ran forward, into the Cage to haul Simon out - while the four already there kept back Seth, Lazarus and Haakon.

Tobias winced as they began to drag the limp Simon out of the cage. He leaned back, far enough to talk to Jenever and Dot.

"Take my advice, ladies... Don't get involved in this one." He cursed softly. "I knew he was a plant..."

He turned his attention back to the fray, observing calmly, with, perhaps, only the slightest touch of amusement.

"Lynx, dear, have fun with your boyfriend... I do hope the boys weren't too enthusiastic with him! And give him our love when he wakes up!"

Jenever wasn't heeding Tobias's words. Backed against a haybale, her hands were working furiously, busily, using the cover of the commotion. Suddenly she rose to her feet and moved forward again .. leaving a set of discarded keys behind her.

Lazarus' face flushed with hidden exertion, he had turned his gaze to the Sergeant. "It's now or never, I'm afraid" he said flatly, but loud enough for those in the cage to hear.

The Sergeant's face began to grow red - and he turned to stare at Lazarus, appalled.

Simon was dragged bodily from the Cage, his battered form only barely assisting with a few feeble kicks as they hauled him to the chamber's rocky floor. "He's out," one of the guards called to his compatriots within, the relief audible in his voice. They turned to assist in keeping the prisoners at bay while their fellows retreated out, allowing Simon to slump to the floor. Lynx ran towards him.

Morgan looked over the situation, and decided that - as Lazarus said - that it might indeed be time to act. It might also be too early, and he might end up scotching everything, but those are the risks in combat.

Where he kneeled, he pulled his arms out of the manacles, keeping them behind him until he was completely free, then charged up to his feet, bulling into the four guards holding the other three at bay.

And then all hell exploded.

Seth strained against his bonds, doing his best to break the weakened links. "Luck," he murmured to the others.

And then, his hands free, he grabbed the guard who - caught off balance by Morgan's charge, was staggering in front of him. The guard tried a pass with his short sword, but he was hopelessly off-balance and Seth dodged it easily, then dived forward, seized the guard by the wrist and twisted until the bones shattered with a sickening cracking sound. The guard screamed, and dropped to the ground, his sword clattering uselessly away.

Jenever leapt forward and snatched it, then turned her attention to the third guard, taking him on in combat. Morgan, meanwhile, had grabbed the sword from the first guard he had struck, and finished him off with it rapidly, and was now tackling the second guard.

Lazarus moved close to the bars, his face intent as he focused on the Sergeant, who was choking now and unable to give orders.

Dot was watching the action with wide eyes - but Tobias, seeing where Jenever had dropped the keys, moved forward with almost silken speed, grabbed them, and began to unlock her manacles.

Haakon shot a glance up to where the archers stood, panicked, awaiting orders - that weren't going to come from the choking Sergeant, helpless under Lazarus' stare. But they wouldn't be confounded for long - so they would start to act and - unlike the three still outside the cage, they had a clear view of the prisoners. He turned, raced to the centre of the cage, and hefted a hay bale above his head.

"We have to go now!" he yelled.

Using it as a shield above his head, he moved to the door of the Cage, where the two guards who had abandoned Simon were forcing their way back in, leaving Simon to slump on the ground.

But he did not slump.

Instead, he stood, surely and swiftly, his face terribly devoid of expression, and his arms swung to his sides from behind his back. Almost mockingly, the open and unlocked manacles swung from one hand.

He raked them across the face of the young man holding the door, the crack of bone shattering audible throughout the echo chamber they were in. The guard screamed, raising a hand to his blinded face, even as Simon leapt back to where the second of his 'rescuers' was re-entering the Cage, only to be halted by Simon's hand closing around his neck, crushing the man's vertebrae preparing to snuff out his life without even a grimace of effort. The man turned with a strange, high keening - and Simon swung the manacles again, striking him in the throat, so that the man immediately began to gasp for air that would never come, his face purpling from a crushed windpipe. As if following a script, Simon let the chain drop, grabbing the dying man firmly with one hand and Lynx's shoulder with the other, pulling her to the ground. Quickly, he crouched and hunched over her, shielding her body with his own, and using the man in his other hand to shield them both, jerking him around like a rag doll despite his size.

Haakon, meanwhile, had reached the door, and now tilted the hay bale like a ram descending on the head and shoulders of the first guard. His neck broke with an audible snap, and Haakon, diving in, grabbed his sword, then rose, still using the hay bale to protect himself from the arrows.

For now the archers on the roof had realised the peril, and were starting to fire - three towards Simon ... the other four aimed at the inhabitants of the cage. Seth looked up, his face suddeny intent - and those arrows aimed at Jenever, Morgan and Lazarus (no-one being foolish enough to aim at the well-protected Haakon) suddenly wavered in their flight , and fell uselessly to the ground. Seth staggered slightly, as though relaxing from a great effort.

As the first volley of bolts came in, the guard in Simon's hand bucked with the impact, his death throes mercifully cut short. No sooner had the first volley impacted than Simon was up again, leaving his human shield and Lynx behind, darting with preternatural swiftness for the ladder and the walkways, a glint of red pulsing in his coal-black eyes.

Inside the Cage, Tobias pulled himself to his knees, seeing the melee, sighing inwardly. He tried not to look at the blood pooling as he tossed the keys to Dot.

Struggling to rise, Tobias fumbled with the manacles pinning his arms back, cursing that, while unlocked, they weren't quite unlatched.

They fell with a clatter, and Tobias pitched forward, eyes scanning for any blade convenient. "Master Pith would be so proud."

Then Jenever killed her man, grabbed his sword and threw it towards Tobias, who took it up a little gingerly, then settled into a stance that spoke more of the textbook than the battlefield. Jenever grinned at him and ran towards the entrance. Tobias followed, more cautiously, with a glance to the guards on the roof. It seemed, though, that they were still reloading - and the one who had fired first was struggling still to get his reload complete. Then suddenly he shrieked - a long wail, suddenly cut off. Simon had reached him.

When Tobias lowered his face, it was covered with a fine mist of red.

As Lazarus kept his firm gaze upon the Sergeant, he called through gritted teeth: "Can someone get these chains off me?!"

"Seth!" called Haakon, still under the hay-bale. He dropped the sword and kicked it, spinning across the floor of the Cage to Seth who, tired as he was, grabbed it. Then Haakon, still using the hay bale as a shield, was through the door of the cage, and charging towards the closet of the three crossbowmen outside. Seth, taking advantage of Haakon's bulk and protection, slipped out after him and, as Haakon commenced his run, took sight of the furthest bowman. A quick shift of his hand, and suddenly the short sword was flying through the air like an impromptu spear. The bowman saw it coming and tried to dodge - but Seth had allowed for that, and the bowman fell forward gurgling blood, the sword buried in his vitals.

Meanwhile, Dot had run forward, still holding the keys, and was working feverishly on Lazarus' manacles. He gave no sign of having sensed her; his attention was all on the Sergeant, now driven to his knees, his hands tearing at his throat in a vain quest for air, his face purple and his eyes starting from his head.

Morgan chose to keep his current opponent relatively unharmed, simply intent on disarming him, then holding him as a human shield as he rushed through the Cage door. He was close behind Jenever who, without hesitation, began to scale the ladders to the roof of the Cage.

Haakon had reached the first of the bowmen now. The man tried firing - but the hay bale was an insuperable barrier. He threw away his crossbow and drew his sword, but Haakon threw the hay-bale and he went down, pole-axed.

Morgan headed towards the second bowman, who was aiming straight for Haakon. But fear, or maybe something else, was making his fingers clumsy on the bow - and at a shout from Morgan he turned, dropped it, and advanced on the approaching prisoner with his sword drawn. Their encounter was brief and brutal - and then Morgan was running across the cavern floor to where Opal was imprisoned.

Haakon grabbed one of the bows that had been discarded earlier by the two guards who had gone to drag Simon from the Cage; Seth had reached the other. Both of them turned and took aim at those on the roof of the Cage. It was not a pretty sight. Jenever had killed the first she had encountered at the end of her climb and was fighting a second with the sword she had grabbed. Simon, without a sword, had killed two, and was well on the way to killing a third, his hands and mouth dripping gore. Some of it, possibly, was his own.

Dot ran from the Cage now, having freed Lazarus, and, after a swift calculating look, started collecting crossbows from the fallen, and bringing them to Seth and Haakon. Haakon nodded a brief acknowledgement, but all he said was, "Reload," as he thrust the bow at her that had just sent a bowman falling from the roof.

Dot swallowed, and took it gingerly, as though it might explode in her hands.

The Sergeant was lying on the floor now, gasping weakly as his hands clawed bare rock. Lazarus never took his eyes from him, even as he moved alongside the cage and finally out. A crossbow bolt landed a bare pace to his right ... then there was a groan from overhead, and the guard who had fired slumped down, taken out by Seth.

One of the guards on the roof, faced with the well-aimed fire from below and the bloody depredations of Jenever and Simon above, jumped the twenty feet from the roof - only to suffer a broken ankle and come face to face with Tobias ... the combination was lethal.

And on the roof now, all was still, except where Simon raised his head from his final kill and stared at Jenever, the only figure still standing on the roof, his eyes lit by a dull red gleam.

Morgan noted that the guards had been entirely neutralised, and so focused on opening the tomb that held Opal. Whether assuming that it was securely locked, or for some other reason, he simply grabbed it and pulled steadily in hopes of ripping it out of its frame.

Jenever smiled at Simon, although her eyes were slightly troubled. "Thank you for the keys," she said simply and began to climb down the ladders to the ground floor.

He moved his lips in reply, but there was no sound save a slightly strangled garble. As she descended, Simon watched her, his head tilting and twisting like that of a bird of prey, those strangely reddened eyes watching every intricacy of her descent. Spasmodically, his blood-covered hands twitched and cramped, twisting into claws, and then he looked down again at the stark, staring face of the crumpled young man he crouched over. "R-roses are red," he whispered softly to himself, with some difficulty, as if trying to sing some deranged nursery rhyme to which he had forgotten the words. Absently, he licked his lips.

"All right, my friends," she said clearly, "I hope the plan is to get Opal and get out, because I don't want that Hunter showing up uninvited again... Not 'til I have my q'dayeh anyway. A sword is all very well, but it is sort of prosaic, isn't it?"

Lazarus rubbed his wrists as he walked towards the downed Sergeant. As he passed Morgan he said, "Good thinking, I'll give you a hand as soon as I finish something."

Once he stood at the gasping man's head Lazarus squatted down, balancing on his toes, and looked down at him. "Just wasn't your day, was it?" he asked rhetorically. With a sigh, Lazarus reached down and with a quick clockwise jerk... snapped the Sergeant's neck.

"Listen everyone," Lazarus said in a voice loud enough for them all to hear. "We need to hurry and get outside to the exercise yard. If we're quick, and nothing has happened to them, we've got a rescue team close by to get us out of here." He then stood and went to help Morgan.

Seth's head jerked up at that. "Not the yard," he said. "That wasn't the way in my dream. It was the other end of the barracks that led to freedom. We may trap ourselves, getting to the yard." Seeing that two people were already heading towards Opal, he began to pick up another sword and as many bolts and throwable weapons, like daggers, that he could. "I can't fly over the walls, not here. Not now."

"Have you had prophetic dreams before?" Haakon called back from the doorway. "And how often have they been right? No offense, but if you're not absolutely certain, I'd rather take my chances in the courtyard."

With some effort Dot reloaded the crossbow and handed it carefully to Haakon. The others had gathered by the tomb, and someone had gripped the entrance in an effort to move it and free Opal. Dot's view was obscured a bit, but the word "lever" was foremost on her mind. She was certain she could put something together... she looked at the available tools.

"Nicely done," Haakon said with a nod as he stood up from his crouched position. "Now we need to get Opal out of there, and fast. Everyone else, gather whatever weapons and armor you can use, but be quick about it. As soon as she's out, we need to move."

Stuffing a bundle of bolts under one arm and taking a crossbow in each hand, he moved to the cave entrance, peering warily around the corner as he reloaded both crossbows.

Tobias shuddered as he cleaned off his sword on the hay, even though it wasn't nearly as dirty as his companion's weapons. A glance at Simon turned him even paler than he had been before.

"I think 'out' is our best chance... Who are these mysterious benefactors, and how in the world did you contact them?"

Lazarus spoke up, "No time to explain, and... you wouldn't like it if I said." After a pause, he added: "And that's not a threat, I'm just saying you wouldn't... oh, forget it."

Tobias moved to where Jenever stood, lowering his voice and glancing up at Simon. "And are we taking our rattled friend with us?"

Lazarus chimed in, "They're aware of our numbers. He's one of 'us' now."

"Alright, the exercise yard is out" Lazarus continued as he rubbed at the sides of his head. "The mutt said something about a market along the northern wall... there's two gates from the servants' quarters and three drains." He continued to rub at his head, as if trying to rid himself of a headache, "Two of the drains are okay, he said, but he doesn't like the third one," laughed Lazarus. "And I can't stress enough that time is not on our side. We need to get Opal out and move, now."

Dot grabbed two swords, and began hunting for the crowbar. She had not been paying attention to the soldiers discarding it after placing Opal into the Tomb. Fortunately, probability limited it to only a few locations, and she was able to find it with little difficulty. She waved the crowbar at Morgan.

There was a moaning noise and ... horribly ... the corpse of the guard by the bars of the Cage suddenly shifted and stirred, despite the two mortal bolts that had pierced him. For a second it looked as though he was animated with a terrible force ...

And then it became clear that Lynx, the dark--haired girl who had accompanied Simon, was struggling to escape from under the corpse that had protected her during the fight - by Simon's design.

But her strength was scarcely equal to the effort.

Seth being close by, he reached down and grabbed the guard's body with one hand, grunting as he maneuvered the body off of Lynx. He extended his hand. "Come on," he said. He looked back up, sweeping the room and entrances for the arrival of more guards.

"I'll cover you," he said to the rest. "I can't offer anything for that stone block except my strength."

Copyrights & Credits

Designed by Aethereality.net
Images © Index Stock
Textures © The Blooming Effect and Hybrid Genesis
Brushes © Relished.net and Cirratus.org and Roshiweb.com