She was too close to dodge, and even on the ground, I could still toss my staff into her legs. The staff connected and she tumbled over it, flying over me, right into my drawn fusion blade. My awkward position, coupled with the fact I was using my left hand, in addition to her unpredictable flight path, made it so the hit didn’t slice her down the middle like I’d wanted. When she slid to a stop, though, I could see I’d lopped off a leg and most of her tail.
Of the two of us I think I got the better of the exchange. After we both lay there for several moments, I reminded myself that I still hadn’t won. As much as I’d have liked to forego movement for the foreseeable future, I heaved myself to my one, cooperating foot. Using the staff as a crutch, I looked around. I shouldn’t have turned my back on throw-it-all.
Reminding me why I’d christened her thus, I felt a dull impact in my upper back. Pain soon blossomed in the same area. Stumbling, I wheeled around as fast as my dumpy leg allowed. My opponent, not as incapacitated as I had originally assumed, had flipped over to her other side, using the movement to throw a single dart.
She must have been losing too much blood – she was losing it faster than me and she had less overall – because when she came back into view she was unconscious. I, on the other hand, was still very much awake and now had a trickle of something wet down my back to worry about. I’m sure it was just sweat. Just sweat.
I didn’t have the time to worry about it, because the moment throw-it-all collapsed, a flurry of action erupted from Vancil’s dais. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I got the idea that a flurry of orders were being dispersed. For the moment I was alone in the ring, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t last long.
Glancing frantically about me, I found Eallva’s window. Hoping it was the right one, I hobbled to the door closest to that window. I arrived just in time to hear a bar sliding into place on the other side. As if on cue, two lines of guards burst from both challenger entrances at either side of the ring. The recently locked door that I was on the wrong side of placed me against a wall equidistant from both readily approaching lines.
A quick push confirming exactly what my ears had told me, my panic started rising. I glanced down at my twin-blade. Praying this would work, I drew my fusion blades from their back-sheaths. Placing them on either side of the door where it met the wall, I activated them. Small flames licked up either side of the door as I cut – floor to ceiling – up either side. A push with a still glowing blade and the door fell inward, bar and hinges sliced. A single, shaking guard stood, staring in horror at what had once been a protective barrier.
“Out,” I rasped, “Now.” He didn’t argue. Diving in – well, hobbling in – I glanced behind me. A javelin glanced off the wall beside me as I turned, just in time to see several more ranged guards leap into the air, javelins in tail. Their melee brethren would be in striking distance in seconds.
Adrenaline – my hero – lending me strength, I placed the door back in its frame. The bar was ruined, but the brackets to hold it were still intact, being placed on the wall on either side. Sliding my twin-blade into the arms and melting the remnants of the hinges together with a quick spurt from a fusion blade I recoiled as the door shook with a dozen impacts. Several larger impacts quickly followed one after the other, but the makeshift patch-job held. For now. I looked at the room for the first time.
It was long, slightly curved hallway lined with bodies. Even without counting, I could tell there were far fewer fighters than those who had poured through the hole in my wall so long ago. Beggars, choosers, I’d take it. Eallva was the closest in line, silently watching me. Everyone was watching me, and not many of the eyes were friendly. Eallva just looked confused. She didn’t speak until I sliced the chains securing her legs.
“So it wasn’t you?”
“Wasn’t me what?” I paused.
“Wasn’t you who betrayed us?”
“Oh – right – I can see how that’d be a thing you might think. Sorry, I honestly didn’t know you were alive until a few minutes ago and then I was too busy dodging a swarm of pointy things that I didn’t think about how things might have looked. But for what it’s worth, no, it wasn’t me.”
“Who else could it be but you?” a prisoner several spaces down spat.
I finished Eallva’s bonds, handed her a fusion blade, and moved on to the next in line. “Does it really matter at this point? I’m all cool for pointing fingers, but unless you want to stay here I think we should focus on getting outside the city alive, at least for the next few minutes.”
“So that’s it? We’re just giving up?” The squeaker I was cutting lose spoke up.
“Fratep,” Eallva snapped, “It’s done, we failed. The most we can do now is escape with our lives.”
I finished up with – Fratep’s – chains and gave him my other blade. Gathering up the cut chains I moved to the door, shaking alarmingly but still holding. Looping the chains around the brackets, I reclaimed my twin-blade and set to work. Honestly, what took the longest wasn’t the actual freeing, but the limping from one prisoner to the next.
“Do you know why Vancil had you all chained up here in the first place?” I asked the room in general.
“We figured we were up after you.” Eallva replied, “Public executions are done in the Ring as well.”
Ah. Neat. The remainder of the freeing process passed in relative silence, punctuated only by the pounding on the door. There were no other exits. Yet.
“Anyone know if there’s something behind this wall?” I patted the wall opposite the one shared by the Ring.
“Another hallway that runs around the entire ring,” a voice – I think it was Fratep – called from within the crowd, “It lets out into the city or the temple depending which exit corridor you take.”
Perfect. Leaning against the wall to free up my twin-blade, I started cutting. Eallva and Fratep quickly followed my lead with their blades. With three of us working the hole was finished in a minute flat. Reclaiming my weapons and retracting the twin-blade back into an improvised crutch, our group of newly minted escapees flooded through the opening. The single window, coupled with the room’s curvature, meant the hoard battering at the door couldn’t see our alternative exit.
We had until my patch job gave out to get a head start.
Speed and time were of the essence, and here I was lacking majorly in the speed department. “Eallva, take your friends and –”
“You think you can avoid judgement as easily as that?”
“What?”
“You still haven’t gotten your due for the lies.”
I gaped at her as we shuffled around a corner into an exit hallway, “You still care about that? Now!? If they catch you you’re dead, everyone’s dead. Who’s gonna – well I mean I guess I’ll be dead too so in a way –” Eallva was smiling grimly up at me as I continued to stutter, “– but still, there’s no need for you to – you really don’t care if you – well at least send the rest of these people ahead. You can die if you want but you shouldn’t make that decision for them as well.”
She thought about my words for a moment before turning to Fratep, “Take them up ahead.”
“No.”
“He’s right, I’m not letting him out of my sight but there’s no reason to place everyone else at risk.
“I’m not leaving you.”
An exasperated sigh escaped her, “Fratep, I appreciate it but everyone from our group who was a Custos here in the temple died when we were captured. Everyone who knew the temple well is gone, except for you and me. I’m staying with him, but someone who knows the way needs to lead them out. That means you.”
“Why can’t someone else watch him?” He was starting to sound petulant.
“Because I got us into this mess, now go!”
He looked like he would continue arguing, but after only a moment motioned those behind him to follow as he bounded ahead, herd in tow.
Vancil
The Excellsum was livid, but she only let it show through the ice in her voice. The new commander of the Chamber guards continued his report. It wasn’t good.
“We found a hole in the wall at the end of the room – we couldn’t see it from the window. We think they’re moving towards the temple.”
“Oh really? What gave you that idea?” she snapped, “Was it the bloody footprints or the lack of results from your crews blocking the exits to the city?” maybe she wasn’t as in control as she thought.
“It was the bloody footprints that did it for me.”
“It was rhetorical you –” calming thoughts, Vancil, calming . . . “Have you alerted the temple Custos yet?”
“I sent a runner the same time I came to report to you.”
She sighed, “And I was beginning to think you were completely incompetent. How surprising. Sweep the temple, find them. I’m going to my office. When I get there I want Crubec waiting for me.”
“The temple’s not yet safe, Excellsum, I would advise waiting until –”
“He’s in no fighting state, and the escapees are unarmed and underfed. Send some of your men with me and get me Crubec like I asked.”
“It may take some time to find him.”
“I hop slowly.”
I was hopping slowly. I was also starting to feel a little dizzy, although I was still cognizant enough to notice Eallva glancing at me with a mixture of worry and nervous impatience. Still, we’d made it this far into the temple without any signs of pursuit.
No, I was not going to think anything remotely hopeful. Not this time. No siree, we were still gonna die horrible, painful, gruesome deaths.
Hear that, Universe? We’ve abandoned all hope!
It was at least worth a shot.
Shouts of alarm sounded from behind and to the side of us.
Universe apparently didn’t care. Universe just does what it wants, and what it wants is for me to go fuck myself.
I tried to squeeze more speed out my aching body. Dried blood cracked and flacked off my side, arm, and back. I didn’t mind that, I was worried about the lack of dried blood on my leg. Worrying about my injuries, I didn’t notice Eallva had stopped until I was a few meters ahead.
“What’s wrong?”
“Our exit,” she said, voice edged with panic, “If they’ve reached the low chamber – she motioned to the side passageway where rough voices bounced from the walls – then we’ll never get out before they can block it off.”
“So we take another exit.”
“There are no other exits! Not ones that lead directly out of the city.”
“Then we go through the city.”
“Like that’ll end any differently?”
Even dizzy I was starting to grow frustrated. “Well then let’s just sit here telling stories to each other as we wait for them to kill us!” I was shouting. Taking a deep breath I tried again, “I don’t know the area well enough, so I need you to think. We need a way out. I don’t care how crazy it sounds – I can work with crazy – if you think it’ll work then I don’t care if we have to dig our own exit.”
She snorted, “Even Jablo couldn’t dig fast enough to –”
“I’m hoping you stopped because you realized this Jablo can in fact dig –”
She spoke over me, “Tunnels. Jablo said the Temple had its own network of tunnels below the city.”
“Then let’s move.”
“I don’t know where the entrance is, he never told me.”
Oh come on. “You don’t even have a guess?”
“In my time as a Custos they never even mentioned them.”
“So it wouldn’t be somewhere public Custos would be regularly posted.”
“Huh?”
We had been standing still far too long for my liking, “We’re figuring out where the entrance is. If no one ever told you then it’s supposed to be a secret.”
“But Custos are stationed everywhere, except during a Challenge or in the Excellsum’s chambers,” She smiled, “This way.”
Even if my mind hadn’t, my body had certainly appreciated the break from movement. Now, forced to move again, it resumed its protesting with renewed vigor. The angry voices had grown dangerously close, and my adrenal glands decided they could lend me another burst of their heavenly strength. My mind cleared and my leg faded to a dull throb. I even tried putting weight on it, but quickly learned adrenaline doesn’t fix all things. Still, I managed a pace almost as quick as a brisk walk.
“You realize there’s a good chance we’re wrong.” She remarked as I powered forward as best I could.
“Well, then at least we’ll be able to trash her office before we go.”
“You know what, that sounds nice,” she smiled, “I’d like that.”
“Yeah, destruction of property always makes me smile.”
“Why do you do that?”
I quirked an eyebrow, “Do what?”
“You almost only ever joke around when you’re in immediate danger or talking about something that would put you in immediate danger.”
“Is this really the best time to be asking personal questions,” I was starting to pant. Curse you adrenaline and your fleeting blessings.
“You walk faster when you’re distracted.”
“Oh. We almost there?”
“Yeah, but I’m still curious.”
I’d have sighed if I hadn’t been concentrating so hard on keeping my balance, “I think you’ve just only ever seen me in moments of immediate danger or when talking about it.”
“Fair enough. Through here. It’s locked but I think you can deal with that.”
A slash of a fusion blade later and the double doors swung in on oiled hinges. Using a desk as an improvised lock we moved further into what looked like a study. “Any ideas how the entrance might be hidden?”
“Probably under an extremely well hidden trapdoor or panel in the floor,” she admitted ruefully.
I shrugged, “Shouldn’t take too long to find it if that’s the case.” I extended the blade on the side of the my twin-blade that I had against the ground. Judging what I thought was a reasonable space, I hobbled around the room, stabbing the now-lit blade into the ground as I went. I stopped when the blade cut through the stone floor with barely a whisper of resistance.
“Here, there’s empty space under this.” Passing Eallva a blade, we made quick work of the concealing tile. In seconds we’d cut a hole that opened up on a staircase. The drop down to the first step was abnormally high.
“Oh, right, you guys move by jumping.” Eallva, who’d hopped down before me, looked up questioningly. I dropped down, tried to roll, and was only partially successful. Recovering from the pain some time later, I looked down the passageway – more specifically the stairway. I hate stairs.
Vancil
Trailed by her entourage, Vancil came in view of her office to find Crubec kicking her doors, behind which something seemed to be stopping them. Burn marks ran between the doors. Burn marks like the ones left by Selvim’s weapons. The Excellsum cursed.
“I came to the same conclusion,” Crubec muttered, “Help me open this,” he addressed her guards. With the added force the door finally budged open, the desk that had been blocking it pushed aside. Guards spilled into the room Vancil and Crubec following closely behind. She already feared what would be found. Her fears, as had happened often today, were well founded.
“Excellsum, no one was in any of the rooms, but there’s a hole in the study floor that looks like it leads to a staircase.”
How had they known? She kept the thought to herself, but still, it was something to ask when they were caught. The temple network was far less chaotic than the city above, but it was still extensive. Getting lost was well within the realm of possibility, and every exit led to some point in the city. Points she knew well and could set guards to watch. The only outlet that led directly to the outside was hidden. Now that she thought about it again, though, it was less hidden than she would have liked.
She looked up. The guard still stood before her, waiting patiently. She felt a flash of annoyance at herself, and turned it promptly on the guard. “What are you waiting for? Into the hole and after them! Crubec, you too,” He looked up questioningly, “It was your apprentice’s failure to kill Selvim that’s made all this possible.” With a glare, the aging trainer followed the guard. Vancil turned, hopping out to find the nearest captain. She had some exits to block.
I woke up to Eallva shouting at me from a distance. That distance steadily grew closer until she was shouting in my face.
“Get up! They’ve reached the stairs!”
My head felt stuffed, and my leg felt on fire. “Huh – what?”
“You blacked out and fell down the last ten or so steps,” she explained breathlessly, “It was your fastest time by far, but we need to keep moving, I’ve heard people on the steps.”
I managed to feel some panic at that, but it was an effort. I felt exhausted. And dizzy. Any time you want to throw another ball my way, adrenal glands, feel free. The sounds on the stairs came within my earshot, and they did exactly that. Once more adrenaline gave me the kick I needed to stay alive. We moved once again at something near a brisk walk, and we took the first turn we came too. The walls closed in, or maybe they just seemed to. I know I didn’t imagine it twisting, the stone walls and sharp corners echoing and reechoing the sound of pursuers behind us.
Eallva looked at the ground behind us. Had she not been covered in fur, I thought I would have seen her blanch. “Your leg! It’s dripping again!”
I looked, and sure enough, I was leaving a red trail for any and all to follow. My tiny spurt of chemical energy had ran out with a feeling of finality, and I had difficulty summoning the energy to care. “We just keep moving,” I mumbled. That’s how I meant for it to sound, but it wasn’t quite what came out.
“We’re dead,” Eallva murmured hopelessly beside me.
“We just,” I was panting, “need,” I looked up.
“Oh come on!” Our hall ended in a wall.
“And we can’t even backtrack to go trash her office,” Eallva lamented.
No. It couldn’t end like this, this wasn’t how it went. The Universe didn’t make it straight up impossible for me to win, it just liked to make it impossibly hard. I pushed against the wall as though it was fake. I didn’t move.
“We tried,” Eallva continued, “Hopfully we bought Fratep and the others time.”
“No,” I whispered, “this is wrong.”
“How could buying time for the others be –”
“No,” I repeated, louder, “This is wrong. Vancil wouldn’t have a place like this. She never leaves something unfinished. Never a useless plot. This, this isn’t her.” Sounds behind us were close. They’d definitely entered the passageway.
I gave us 20 seconds.
“Maybe this was built by another Excellsum,”
“Vancil would have done something with it, she hates loose ends.” I looked around. The hall turned sharply just before ending. Sharp corners surrounded us on three sides. The one on my right looked the most likely. “Help me push.” I think she did all the pushing, but I showed her where to push. With obvious effort, Eallva heaved at the wall I was forcefully leaning against. It shifted.
10 seconds.
Eallva’s eyes bulged with the effort. I even managed to lean a little harder. The wall moved further, revealing darkness beyond.
5 seconds.
Enough space existed that Eallva and I slipped through. She started to push it back but I grabbed her and pulled her deeper into the . . . something. It was a room, but large. There were no torches, and my eyes, adjusted to the usual dim light common throughout the city, were only able to see lumps, one several orders of magnitudes larger than the others. I moved to try to put that lump between us and the entrance.
0 seconds.
“Search the room. Kill anyone with him but capture Selvim.” Crubec’s voice echoed around the chamber. I hobbled behind the large lump, marveling that I hadn’t been seen. Even if I was having difficulty with the light levels, I didn’t have any illusions that my nocturnal friends would be similarly impaired.
Eallva pulled at my hand, silently urging me to keep low and keep moving.
I couldn’t. My head was spinning, and there was nowhere left to hide. I leaned back against the lump, exhausted.
My back touched cool, polished metal. My eyes snapped open. Spreading my arms, I felt around myself – everything my hand touched was the same cold hardness.
*But they’ve never built anything this large purely out of metal. Or at least this highly polished. That means – *
The escape pod. I looked frantically around me, the lumps around me taking on different shapes: debris, the stasis pod, EV suit, Orbital pod – there. A lump that was far too perfectly rectangular in shape led me to hobble over to it. I could hear the paw-falls of the guards as they approached. They were moving slowly, mercifully, and had nearly reached the other side of what I now understood was my escape pod.
Figures Vancil would have dug it up the thought crossed my mind, but I was busy. I had been right, and the rectangular lump had been a table. My eyes were now adjusting, and I could make out smaller objects arranged in a mess. Kinetic pistols, a heavy, syringes, some wires, a portable med kit –
Not now, not enough time
Breathing mask, – bingo.
Nerve Jam.
Eallva
“Eallva,” Selvim’s voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough.
Shouts of, “Over here!” sounded nearby, but he kept talking.
“I can get us out of this, but I need you to do exactly what I say. When I say go, I need you to run, never mind them, run away from me as fast as you can.” The guards had reached the strange metal boulder, coming around it. All of them in one, big, close, group.
“What about you?” She hissed.
“I’ll be fine, just run.” There was something in his voice. He sounded too optimistic.
“You’re lying, what are you doing?”
“Run.”
“I won’t –”
“Run!”
Fire burst from either side of his spear, bathing him in a sulfurous light. He loomed above her, face contorted in anger as he shouted.
She ran. She started running and kept running, ignoring the sounds of alarm and shouts that chased her. A javelin flashed past.
She looked back in time to see Selvim hobbling faster than she’d seen him move since he’d injured his leg. He seemed to be running from something – not the guards – because once he reached one of the smaller metal boulders he stopped, and waited, watching her. The guards surrounded him.
A small cylinder dropped from his hand, flashing with light. She lost sight of him behind a boulder.
“Yippee ki-yay Mother-respecting fuckers!”
Eallva’s vision went red, then black.