Broken Shackles
The team wasn’t exactly certain how much time had passed. Passing in and out of consciousness due to thirst and exhaustion, even a day or two would have felt like weeks.
Lwyn awoke for yet another time, still finding herself in that same sun-bleached cell. The whole area had a carefully positioned sunroof to gather as much sunlight as possible and fill the room with a dry heat. The room was designed to contain heat, and the roof was closed overnight, to prevent the heat from escaping. There wasn’t even a drop of water to be found, it was torture. Her companions she knew were nearby, but chained to the wall, she couldn’t see them at all, and none of them had energy left to talk. At this time, the sunroof was still closed, so she expected it was night time outside.
Not long after, Hammer-face showed up. It wasn’t exactly his name, but Lwyn had decided it fit well enough. She just sorta wished someone would take his own maul to his own face. “Ah, so yer awake again, and at this hour. Seems is only yerself who isn’t off dreamin, less the others are just thinkin’ with eyes shut. I hope ye been liken the ‘modations, it really suits a Hyenzaelni who din lisen to wurds oh wisem. Puttin’ yerself in with the ‘bellion, wasn’t so smurt was it?” Lwyn felt like her ears were bleeding trying to listen to him. His utterly atrocious Izhaethyx was… well, utterly atrocious. However, she wasn’t in any position to offer complaints.
Not getting any answers, he promptly bashed her head into the back wall behind her. “Ye better not be ignorin’ me. When I talk, is alway’ good ta listen. I can bring ya some of the best advice ye ever seen. Ah, I get it, maybe yer too tired and this ear muff’r is makin it hard’r ta listen good. Don’t worry, I got it fer ya.” Hammer-face tore her hairband off, exposing her ears. “Oh wow, look what we got ‘ere. Hmm, ye seem ‘alf the pointy folk.. ah, maybe ye are.” He begun chuckling, his stupid laugh.
“So, more than just a Hyenzaelni, yer more like a Hyxzaelni then.” His chuckling continued while she managed to shoot him a glare. She had never heard a worse way to call someone a half-elf. The title basically translated to someone ‘of blood created beyond natural order’. Hammer-face noticed her reaction. “Ah, seems ye finally got some ‘earin’ back. Glad I could help. Now, just no growin’ too attached to dis, I got word from Khaexyn that we’ll be movin’ ya te ‘is fort. Gonna be such an ‘onor fer ya.” Still finding himself the comedic expert, his laughter rung through the halls.
A bandit rushed in, quickly making his way to Hammer-face. “Sir, we have a problem. It seems our own camp has fallen under attack in your absence. We really need your guidance.” Hammer-face still felt proud of himself. “Ah, yes, yes, what would y’all do without me. No idea who’d be so fool ta attack us, let’s go find out. Our prisoners might need ta make more friends. Round up all da others, we’re leavin’. Just leave things ‘ere ta da locals, be easy ’nuff.” Hammer-face finally rushed away with the other bandit, the area going dead silent.
A while after, a faint sound could be heard from the entrance. It sounded like one of the bandits were having a problem getting the door to work. After a few more moments, the door had finally opened. Mhyl was actually awake, but having the least stamina, she didn’t have the energy to do anything as hard as look around. However, the sound from before also came up to her, and started messing with the lock on her cell. Soon after, someone was working on her restraints. Mhyl expended the energy to look, and found Chyurae picking the lock. When the restraints were gone, he helped her get seated safely, and handed her some water. She knew to drink carefully. Chyurae then went to the next cell.
Lywn heard what was going on, and put a bit of effort to have her hair fall over her ears. It wouldn’t do to have someone else find out. The process was exhausting, without her hands. Thanrie came over, noticed her situation, and managed to get in the way in just the right manner as to not have Chyurae look carefully at her ears. As he was an elf, Thanrie knew she had to be extra cautious. Once the door was open, she hurried to get her hairband back on, roughly in good enough spot, before adding some quiet English “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.”
Once free, Lwyn noticed she was also last. Mhyl, Qheria, Zyuixqs, Thanrie, Lwyn. Qheria had been taking care of Mhyl in her extra exhausted state, with Zyuixqs looking for a way to be useful. Thanrie had gone with Chyurae possibly in order to not have to deal with Zyuixqs, but Lwyn was thankful for the help anyway. After having freed Lwyn, Chyurae had gone back to help Mhyl again. “Mhyl, are.. are you okay.” Mhyl nodded softly and silently at Chyurae’s question while Lwyn took some water offered from Thanrie. “I’m… I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner, there were too many guards around. They… they had all suddenly left though, so I…” Chyurae trailed off, not sure how he would defend himself from people who didn’t even have the energy to reply. It was a bit awkward. “Oh, also, I made sure to look after this for you.” Chyurae held out the atlas. “I know you really like this book, and I figured they would take it away from you, so I tried to look after it for you.”
Qheria saw the book being offered, and took inventory of their remaining supplies. The bandits hadn’t bothered to strip them of their clothes, not even the armored parts, but that was possibly simply to try and keep the heat up. They did, however, leave none of their other possessions, including their weapons. That means, at this point, the only one with a weapon was their support, and it was a book. They would be in trouble if they were discovered, with no capacity to defend themselves.
Qheria, Thanrie, and Zyuixqs recovered the fastest, waiting only until they had the minimum energy they needed to get work done. They could recover further when it was safe again. Qheria started making her way to the exit, but was stopped by Chyurae, who was also shaking his head. They had a language barrier, but Chyurae’s meaning was clear enough, that way wasn’t going to work. It possibly wasn’t safe for a crowd their size. But then, what else was there? Thanrie came up with another idea. “What about up? That infernal sun came through from that way, and I don’t recall it being bared.” It probably had a daytime watch, but was sealed so that the watch could sleep. That would be perfect. The only problem was, how was it opened?
Chyurae noticed the others looking for something, but didn’t know how to help. Lwyn gathered what energy she could muster for a simple Elaethyx word. “Roof.” Coughing after the effort, Lwyn went back to her water. Chyurae however did catch the comment, and went to help. By this point, Thanrie had found what she believed was the right mechanism. “Yeah, this won’t work, it’s locked.. pretty nicely too. Shovel-sticks.” Thanrie had also made another attempt at a swear word, both attempts leaving her unsatisfied. Chyurae however went to check it out. Thanrie looked around, searching for a third option. “Unless there is a secret panel here, I’m not sure what…” Click, the panel Chyurae was working with moved, unlocking the sunroof. Chyurae then opened it up.
“Have confidence, milady, Chyurae has… AHH! Please, I’m serious, Chyurae has always been skilled at finding his way into places otherwise sealed. Please don’t hurt me.” Zyuixqs started off with his usual style, only to finish with a bit more fear as Thanrie reacted. She left him alone though, nothing here was his fault. Chyurae however, the elf did seem to have quiet the talent of a thief. Lwyn herself was wondering if his skills included disarming traps, just in coincidence. There was however still another problem.
“So, I know it was my idea, and I’m sorry for being so stupid, but how exactly do we get up there?” Thanrie was criticizing her naivety crawling back once again, as there was no possible way they could reach the sunroof. Qheria found a long chain and threw it through the opening… only to watch it come right back. They were at a loss again.
Lwyn got up, feeling at least recovered enough to lend a hand. She had an idea. She picked up the chain with a firm grip in one hand and turned to Qheria. “Can you throw me up there?” Clearly, the lack of hydration was getting to her sanity, maybe when her head was bashed into the wall recently. When no one reacted, she shock her head and tried again. “No, I’m serious, hoist me up there. I’ve done worse before.” Qheria decided to give it a try, it was better than nothing. She provided Lwyn with a footstool and flung Lwyn as high as she could. Lwyn grabed the edge of the sunroof with her free hand, set the chain down on the roof to affect her momentum, and flipped onto the roof. She then disappeared for a moment, dragging the chain in a search for a place to tie it down.
Thanrie turned to Qheria with some quiet English. “See? Cat.” Qheria shrugged, switching the conversation back to Izhaethyx. “She’s just Lwyn, that’s just how she is.” Zyuixqs looked up after her, having missed the start of the conversation. “Quite impressive.” Thanrie retorted after him. “Maybe, but stop gawking. We still need to figure out how to get Mhyl out of here, she’s still not recovered.” Thanrie dragged Zyuixqs off towards Mhyl, as if to expect him to suddenly be useful.
Soon after, all six of them were up on the roof. The roof was attached to a nearby hill, providing a suitable way down. Qheria set Mhyl down, while Thanrie scolded Zyuixqs for being useless. Lwyn detached the chain and brought it with them, but it was too bulky and heavy to carry very far. She set it down nearby on the hill, not wanting to make further noise.
“Well, we’re lucky that wasn’t the Fortress, escaping from that would have been effectively impossible.” Zyuixqs’ statement proved a ‘it could have been worse’ perspective. After all that struggle just to escape a simple bandit camp, they were lucky it wasn’t that worse. Lwyn reflected upon that statement. “Hammer-face was actually saying that’s were we would be sent there soon. If we waited much longer to leave, we would have had to escape from the Fortress. Lucky us, huh?” Truthfully, maybe they did still have a bit of luck remaining.
“Wait, Hammer-face?” “Of course! With a face like that, I’m certain he’s made a few mistakes swinging around that big maul of his. Probably explains why he talks like a moron, too.” Thanrie hadn’t considered the alias herself, but after hearing it, it really did fit. Lwyn could sometimes be an expert at tension relief. Thanrie was especially fond of how skilled Lwyn was with insult dropping in Izhaethyx, a talent Thanrie felt she herself had to acquire eventually. Maybe when Lwyn got that far in lessons with Mhyl.
Qheria however brought things back to all seriousness. “Zyuixqs, we need an escape route. Got any ideas?” “Actually, I’m still trying to figure out where we are. Maybe try asking Chyurae?” Zyuixqs was still being useless, but did kinda have a decent idea. Lwyn turned to Chyurae to inquire in Elaethyx. “Chyurae, how do we get out of here?” “Oh, we don’t have to go far. Just follow me.” Chyurae took the lead and showed the others to yet another hidden underground entrance. However, on the way they were spotted by a guard. The alarm was raised, but they were close enough that they slipped away. The bandit that found them had no idea where they had gone, but made certain to report upon the escape.
Once safe, the six of them stopped to get a proper break. They were all getting hungry too, and could use some more water, although they were out of both. Rest would have to do for now, more would come later. They all chatted while waiting, Lwyn sharing her opinion of Hammer-face in Elaethyx with the elves, who had missed out, while the others had their own conversation. “I’m sorry, it was a foolish decision to put the six of us against that many Bandits. I should have known better.” Qheria was attempting to take the blame for everything, probably in memory of how things always worked out in the past.
“Really, don’t be so hard on yourself. I don’t see how anyone is more to be blamed than anyone else. I mean, we were all there, right?” Thanrie was seeming slightly uncharacteristic of herself, when in truth she just wanted in on some of the blame. She felt like a true idiot, missing so many different things. She had thought her other memories had fixed her naivety, but maybe she was even naive to think that. “Ladies, do not look down upon yourselves so much, for your greatness and beauty…” “Okay, correction, we can blame Zyuixqs more than anyone else. He’s supposed to have been familiar with all of this.” “I … I …” Zyuixqs’ comment at least brought Thanrie back from her self-deprecation. As usual, Zyuixqs had no idea how he should defend himself against her.
“So, Chyurae said something about an underground smithy.. or was it market? ‘Stock’ I guess is the best translation for it, a weapon stock. Zyuixqs, do you know anything about it?” “Oh, yeah, there are a few bigger underground outposts, as different headquarters for different groups. The closest one to here would be the Marauder’s command. We could try it, but it might be better to find something closer. I’m sure you fine ladies… I’m sure everyone is hungry.” Lwyn turned to the humans and brought up something the elves were talking about. No one had weapons anymore, and the only place they knew that had a real assortment of weapons was way back at the Citadel. They would need weapons much sooner than that. However, Zyuixqs did have a point, that would have to wait until their more pressing needs were addressed.
Once they felt rested and hungry enough, they set off once again. Eventually, they found themselves back in the same area that had sported a bed for each of them before. Mhyl went straight to her bed and flopped upon it. “Mhyl, you should really have something to eat too, to get your energy back. And water, water would help too.” Lwyn was almost providing the reversal to how Mhyl had tried to help Lwyn before. Ah yes, the first time she had collapsed due to thirst and exhaustion when they had arrived here. Being an elf really sucked sometimes.
Mhyl still got back up and joined the others. Technically, she was honestly more hungry than she was tired, she was even more thirsty than hungry. The food Lwyn had set to preparing right away was making all of their mouths water. Each of them quickly replaced that water with ample amounts of drinkable water while waiting for food to be ready. “So, how does this place get restocked anyway, actually?” Lwyn had a really good question, as she searched though the available stock. She was certain there were more things here than there were last time.
“There are a large number of people working for the Rebellion, everyone has their own roles. Some do the fighting, yes, but some just work hard to make sure that the fighters can keep fighting. Like the place we’ll be going later for some weapons, people do that, or repairs, or even just run supplies around so that we can take care of ourselves. There are people who even sweep the floors.” Zyuixqs covered some of the responsibilities of other members in the Rebellion, and it reminded Lwyn about her time at the Citadel Inn. It was a lot of work running around cleaning up that Inn, she couldn’t even imagine how much work it would take to keep everything clean in the many multitudes of underground tunnels and rest stops that were placed everywhere. Out of respect, she made sure to put in extra effort when cleaning up after her cooking, and took careful account in little ways to make the place easier to manage later.
After food was eaten, which probably counted as breakfast, considering the time of day, and a bit of extra sleep was had, the six of them prepared to set off again. Thanrie noticed Zyuixqs working in one of the offices. “So, what are you doing?” “Ah!! Um, I’m just writing up another one of my regular reports. These have to be sent off regularly so that the rest of the Rebellion can work as a unit.” Thanrie startled Zyuixqs, who was more worried about who had came to visit him than anything else. Thanrie let it go, making reports makes sense. She hadn’t seen many reports in this world, but she did recall all the paperwork needed in her father’s business. She never personally liked such paperwork, but thankfully she wasn’t being asked to do any. Zyuixqs was welcome to such bothers, as long as she didn’t have to worry about it.
With that, the six of them departed for the Marauder’s underground base. After all the enemies they had been faced with, they felt that meeting new friendly faces would be a nice, calming change of pace.
Luminaeris 