Pain!
Flashing like lightning across a black sky. In the huge dark emptiness behind his eyes there was only pain. He could feel a sense of urgency, but it was a distant feeling. When he tried to focus on it the feeling slid away like water through his fingers. The pain was making it so hard to focus. But wait, “what was that?” he thought. On the edge of his senses, a smell. Cinnamon, he could smell cinnamon. The smell was the first sensation other than pain, and with that smell it all came flooding back in. The man, the botched robbery, the fight.. Silk! He had to stop the man from hurting her, he had to protect her!
Forcing his eyes open, the sudden influx of light triggered a sharp jolt of pain through his head. Closing his eyes again he took a deep breath and slowly opened them back up. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the outline of a figure in front of him. He could hear scuffling sounds and low grunts. Slowly he got one shaking arm under himself, then the other. Then even slower he pushed himself up to his hands and knees. Blinking profusely to clear his vision, he looked up and started crawling towards the figure in front of him.
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Pushing away To-talls hands yet again Silk tried a punch towards his face, but the angle was all wrong and he easily blocked it. Her moves were getting sluggish, she could feel the dart in her leg burning, and a numbness was spreading up through her leg from it. Hissing in frustration she tried to move her hips so she could get a leg free to kick the blasted void spawn while she still could. He was heavy, by the moons he was heavy! Sitting with all his weight across her knees he had her pinned. He got a hold of the front of her dress. She tried to twist and push his hand away, it worked after a fashion ripping her dress away alongside his hand, exposing her breast.
“There’s them goodies doll” To-tall slurred, his face had a mix of lust and glee on it, a bit of spittle running from the corner of his mouth. “Now it’s time for A’kanh to get a taste of you sweetness!” Then he slapped her hard.
Her ears were ringing, suddenly being exposed like that had shocked her and she had lost focus. The bastard had taken the opportunity to get through her defenses. She could feel one of his hands pawing at her, the other one holding her arms over her head. She was disgusted! Disgusted with the pig pawing at her flesh and ripping at her clothes, but just as much disgusted with herself for allowing him to put her in such a predicament. She did the only thing logical in a situation like this, she bit him as hard as she could. He roared in pain, it was a magnificent sound. Then he yanked his arm out of her mouth with skull jarring force. She would not be surprised if a couple of her teeth sat looser than before. Nevertheless it had accomplished her goal of freeing her arms. She spat out a piece of skin and some blood, the taste of metal was strong in her mouth.
Silk could not help but let a cry of pain escape as the first blow landed. She had managed to deflect it somewhat, but it was hard with only one hand against an opponent this much stronger. She had known that she would probably take a few blows to pull off what she had in mind, but it was a small price to pay considering the alternative. The numbness had spread all the way up her torso, she knew she was running out of time. When he hit her again, this time splitting her lip, her other hand finally found the special seam on the side of her skirt. Ripping the seam open and putting her hand through the hole she found what she was searching for. As her hand closed around the hilt of the stiletto strapped to her thigh she smiled. The smile must have looked very strange on her bloodied face, because To-tall stopped with his fist in the air poised for another blow. “Black stagnation, what are you smiling about girl?!” Too late did he look down, eyes widening, then bulging as the blade slid in under his ribs. At that same moment, as the blade struck home, the world exploded in a flash of bright blue light. To-talls body flew off her and crashed into the side of the alley.
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Cai crawled towards the man sitting on top of Silk. His head was throbbing so bad he wanted to lay down again. He could not, he had to fight on, he had to help Silk. His nose was blocked, maybe broken, he had to breathe through his mouth. The nose was dripping blood down on the ground and on his hands. The grime on the ground made it slippery. His hand slipped and he fell forward into the muck. Fighting his way back up, arm shaking, he started crawling again. He could hear the sound of Silk and the man struggling, but it sounded so far away.
He was faltering and he knew it. His head was hanging down as he no longer possessed the strength to keep it up. Sounds were all muffled, vision blurry, his mouth tasted of metal. He was failing. Failing Silk, failing in protecting her, failing his oath. It was with these thoughts going through his mind that he slumped to the ground knowing that he would not get up again in time to save Silk from a horrible fate. Then he heard a sound that changed everything. He heard Silk cry out. She was in pain. He snapped.
Something cracked inside him then, it was like a dam had burst and energy flooded into him. His eyes flew open as his body was jerked up, back arched arms out to the side. Spiderwebs of blue sparks shot around all over his body. His jaw clenched so hard he could hear it creak. The power was immense.
Lifting his arm, he looked at his hand, blue sparks crackling up his finger. The sparks coalesced into a ball of sharp blue-white energy in his palm. When he closed his hand into a fist the ball of blue energy encompassed it. Looking up, vision sharp and clear, he saw the man sitting on top of Silk. His arm up in the air, fist clenched ready to smash down on her. At the sight Cai felt a surge of rage. He bolted forward. Kicking off the ground and launching himself into the air. Arm pulled back ready to hit that filthy void spawn with all he got. He swung and the world exploded in a flash of bright blue light.
He was standing over Silk looking down at her. “Are you alright?” he asked. “What kind of a stupid question was that!” he thought to himself. Lying on the ground in a shallow pool of water and grime. Her left arm holding the remnants of her ripped dress up over her chest. Lip split and bleeding, staining her teeth red with blood. Her other arm fiddling with the side of her skirt, hand through a tear down the side. She said something, but it was too low for him to hear. He leaned down, turning his ear towards her mouth. In a low croaky voice she said “what… ...happened...?”
He wanted to explain, but it was all a blur. He started “He was... I mean, you were... I was..” his speech faltered. Cai realized he did not know what had happened. He remembered being on the ground, desperately trying to reach her. Looking at the damage to her face and clothing obviously he had not reached her in time. Guilt came washing over him. “How had he let this happen?” he thought.
She spoke again, pulling him out of his guilt-stricken musings. He strained to hear her words. “Where is To-tall?” she whispered. “What was she talking about!” he thought before he realized she must be referring to that bastard of a mark they had fought. Looking over to the side of the alley Cai saw the man lying in a jumbled mess of limbs, smashed crates, refuse and filth. Half buried in it, his right arm sticking out from the pile in an awkward angle.
“Don’t worry about him” Cai said “He can't hurt you anymore.” There were shouts from the mouth of the alley. Whipping his head around Cai could make out a small crowd gathering in the mouth of the alley. He knew none of the onlookers would enter the alley. One did not get involved in other peoples affairs in the Ring city, especially the nefarious ongoings in back alleys. But a commotion like that would undoubtedly catch the attention of the Red Ravens. And almost before he could finish that thought he heard the shrill shriek of the ravens’ call, the piercing sound made by the blowers the guards used to clear the way.
Looking down again he saw Silk had heard it too. She was trying to push herself up, while holding her ripped dress closed, not having much luck with either task. Her eyes were rolling around, lids half-closing before snapping up again. “What is wrong with her!” he thought, before it struck him “the dart!” Looking down to her legs he saw the small gold enameled dart jutting out of her right thigh. He snatched it out, producing a sharp intake of breath from Silk. He did not think it would do much good. Whatever the dart had been coated with, it had had plenty of time to take effect. Judging by Silks reaction it had been some kind of tranquilizer.
Bending down to put an arm around her waist, he started lifting her. Laying her arm around his shoulder, he got them up into a standing position. Silk swaying in the grip of his arm. Turning them towards the entrance to the alley, he saw that even more people had gathered and stood glancing towards them. Even at a hundred yards distance he could see that there was little chance of them slipping away out into the street through that crowd before the ravens arrived. Looking around desperately for an escape, the only thing he could see was a drain pipe down the side of one building. Maybe they could have climbed that under normal circumstances, but with Silk in her present shape there was no chance. “Stagnation!” he swore as he turned them back towards the entrance to the alley, thinking a slim chance is better than none. Before he could even take one step towards the entrance, he grunted in surprise as Silks elbow thumped into his ribs. Looking down at her he saw she had her face turned towards the back of the alley, one arm half-raised pointing shakily towards the furthest corner. “There!” she said. “Where?” he asked. Pointing more insistently at the corner “There!” she said again “escape.”
Easing Silk down to the ground leaning her against the alley's back wall Cai started to inspect it. “What am I looking for?” he asked her. “Three, three circles. Push beneath them” she said. Searching the wall, it took him a few ticks before he found what he was looking for. Three concentric circles carved into the wood in such a way that he would never have noticed them if it had not been for Silk. Placing his hand below the circles he pushed against the wall, he had to use some force, but then he heard a spring clicking and a hidden hatch swung open. “How did you know about this” he was about to ask when he heard the ravens shriek, much closer this time. He realized this was neither the time nor the place for questions.
Kneeling down he helped Silk through the opening first. As he started crawling through she grabbed his arm and squeezed it with more force than he would have thought she had in her now. “The stone!” she said “get the stone!” “Black stagnation!” he cursed, but he turned around and went to where the man was lying in a heap of debris. The first thing he saw was the two-finger ring on the man's right hand, he snatched it off and put it in his pocket. Artificing work like that was probably valuable. Or he could take it apart to figure out how it worked. Focus! He grabbed the man's annulus pouch from his belt. He had to push against the man to make his head loll over and give Cai access to the stone in his ear. Grabbing the large stone, he yanked hard and with little regard for the damage he might do. Lastly he started taking off the man’s boots, you can always use a pair of quality boots he thought to himself. Then he heard a loud shout from the entrance to the alley, looking behind him he saw a squad of red ravens entering. “Blackest ring of complete stagnation!” he swore as he cast a longing look at the boots before he sprinted towards the corner and the hidden hatch.
“Stop, you miscreant spawn!” yelled one of the Red ravens. A thunking sound, quickly followed by two more had Cai throwing himself to the ground. Looking up he saw three short shafts vibrating in the wooden wall above him, just a few fingers breadth from where his head and shoulders had been. Scrambling forward on his hands and knees, he dared a quick backward glance. There were six of the ravens in total, three of them were working to fit new bolts to their hand loaders, while the other three were rushing forward towards Cai, weapons in hand. The image of the three guards closing in on him fast gave Cai a burst of speed. He dove down towards the trapdoor and just as he was about to slide through the opening something slammed into the back of his calf. Cai cried out in pain. Looking down he saw a bolt from one of the ravens hand loaders sticking out from the fleshy part of his calf. It hurt so bad, he could feel blood running down his leg, and when he grabbed the shaft it gritted against bone. The action resulted in a gasp of pain. He knew they did not have much time, he had to get the bolt out fast so they could move. Luckily the bolt was tipped with a simple metal tip and not a broadhead, so the damage would not be too bad if he could only get the bolt out. He gritted his teeth and yanked the bolt out with one quick tug. Hissing in pain he knelt down to get an arm around Silk who lay slumped against the wall.
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Just before taking hold of her, he felt a stab of panic as he realized the trap door was still open. Cai half-turned to see one of the ravens, a rather heavyset man, leaning down on all fours and on his way to crawl through the small opening. Thinking fast Cai kicked the small door with all the force his beaten body could muster. The door slammed into the guards’ face with a crunch. The guard howled. Cai could still see the man's face through the opening, his broken nose now a fountain of blood. He kicked the trap door again and as it slammed into place he heard loud clicks. For the first time he noticed some clever artificing work on the back of the trapdoor. The gears and cogs spinning to push metal bars out from the center and into clamps mounted on the sides around the door. He saw a metal arm extending up to the pressure plate above the door. “So that’s how it worked when I pushed the symbol of the rings” he thought to himself. “Clever!” Who had put this here, it was quality work and far from cheap. He leaned forward to get a closer look, utterly fascinated by the mecha-engineering involved, his finger brushed over the gears in near reverence. When a loud thump, that shook the whole wall snapped him back to the reality of his situation.
Looking around for the first time he saw they were in a tight passage between two long buildings. There were no windows, only wooden walls around them. The roofs of the buildings overlapped creating the illusion of being inside a narrow corridor with a high ceiling. The whole place had an ominous look to it, and Cai got the distinct feeling he was not supposed to be here.
He felt like he had a little breathing room now, although the heavy thumps against the trap door were continuing to sound out in an almost rhythmic fashion. Luckily, it looked to be holding for the moment. “Marvelous mecha-tec!” he thought. He had to push down an urge to study the contraption more closely. Instead he checked on Silk. Kneeling down by her side, he did a quick examination. She was breathing slow and steady. He lifted her eyelids and saw that the black of her eyes were large and round. Finally he placed his hand on the side of her neck to feel her heartbeat. It was slow, but strong.
Cai knew a little bit about the different poisons used on the streets of the Ring city. He remembered well the first time he had come upon a body lying in a back alley. He had been just a little street urchin at the time scavenging for something to eat. At first he had thought the man lying slumped against the alley side was dead. It had scared him and he wanted to run away. But, a gnawing hunger from a belly that had been empty for far too long had pushed him to move closer to the body. When he had gotten close enough he had realized that the man was still breathing. Hesitantly he had prodded the man's side, standing tense as a ‘loader’s string ready to bolt, but the man did not react. Next he had opened the man's eyelids. The black of his eyes were large, so large there was almost no color around them, just a faint ring of light grey. “Strange” he had thought to himself. Satisfied it was safe, he had rummaged through the man's pockets and his cloak. His annulus poach had been cut off from its loop on the man's belt. Cai had found a folded piece of paper with a seal of black wax stamped with something that looked like a horned goat. The paper was smudged and it did not look valuable so he had thrown it away. No money, no jewelry, no chronograph, no valuables at all. He had sat down beside the man and almost started crying. Then through the finger covering his face he noticed the man's boots. They were magnificent! In comparison, he had looked down at the dirty ragged remnants of boots covering his own small feet. The man's boots were made of deep dark brown leather. The collar of the boots was turned down, held by a strap with an engraved silver clasp, two more straps with clasps went over the crown of the boots. Of course he had not known anything about the finer details of boots at the time. To a hungry boy the boots had just looked like a meal. Something that fancy had to be worth a few copper annulus, maybe even a silver one, more than enough to feed a starving boy. When someone else had come down that alley he had hidden behind some stacked crates. The men coming turned out to be two of the city guards, the red ravens. He had heard one of them complain to the other “ ‘tis the third robbery victim knocked out with serpent vine in as many days!” he said “We need to find the black spawn of an apothecary peddling the stuff!” the other one answered. They continued grumbling as they hoisted the man up between the two of them and started half carrying half dragging the poor bootless fellow out of the alley. The boots had given him three full silver annulus when he sold them. A small fortune for a street urchin. Alas the money had only fed him for a day before gaining him a beating and a large scar, but that was a whole other story.
Confident that the poison affecting Silk was indeed serpent vine, he focused his attention on his bleeding leg. Ripping the leg of his pants up the side, the course material was already soaked in blood, he proceeded to tie the two halves of the pants leg around the wound in an improvised tourniquet. To secure it all he fished around in one of his belt pouches for a piece of leather cord he had saved, which he then wound around the messy tourniquet to secure it. He looked at his work, although messy, it would probably hold up until he could get them back to their hawks' nest and do it properly.
Crack! The loud sound seemed to reverberate down the corridor making him jump. He flung his head around and saw that the wall by one of the clamps had a huge crack in it. The crack was getting bigger with each hit from whatever the guards were using to break through the trapdoor.
“Time to get the sard out of here!” Cai said to himself as he leaned down and picked up Silk slumped form.
Rushing down the corridor, he was half carrying, half dragging Silk. She was like a sack of flour in his arms. Only sporadically would her feet touch the ground and bear some of her own weight. Fear gave him strength though, and he hobbled them along as fast as he could manage. He got to the end of the corridor. There it split, left and right, which to choose. Cai decided to try to the left. The path reached down between the buildings about fifty yards, before another left turn took them to a dead end. He looked around frantically for a way out or somewhere to hide. He could feel his heartbeat rising, sweat started trickling down his back, and the weight of Silk on his arm was really starting to take its toll.
Backtracking to where the corridor had split, he tried the right path. The buildings were taller here, he could see windows up high on what must be the third floor. The walls were smooth however, and he could not see a single drainpipe or anything else that he could use to climb. It was a desperate thought anyways, he knew he would not be able to climb while carrying Silk.
The new corridor split again. His breathing was getting ragged. His arm was on fire, he had to put Silk down. Gently, he eased her down, before propping her up against the wall for support. Her head lolled to one side, but it looked like she would remain upright at least. Cai had to find a way out, leaving her here while he found the correct path had to be quicker than dragging her along. He sprinted down the left path. It was another dead end. He backtracked to where he had left Silk. Sparing a few moments to check that she was breathing fine before taking the right path. It was longer than he expected. There, on one wall he saw a square shape. It looked like the outline of a door, but with no door in it. Looking closer at the rough planks, it looked more like someone might have boarded up a doorway. He pushed against it. It did not move. He hammered his hands against it in frustration, he heard a hollow sound. It sounded like there was a large room behind the planks. He took a couple of steps back and flung himself towards the doorway. The planks rattled some, but did not give way. He did it again. And again. He threw himself against the doorway a fourth time, giving it all he had. It did not budge. Fists clenched, he leaned his head back and screamed in frustration.
Cai ran down the last few yards of the pathway, around a corner, it was another dead end. In pure frustration he jumped up and kicked the wall. “Black stagnation and the ever-spinning void!” he cursed as he landed. They were trapped. There was no way out. They were out of options. He ran back to where Silk was.
He found her sitting in the same position he had left her. She was leaning against the wall, head slumped to the side, chest moving slowly in shallow breaths. “I am sorry.” he said to her sitting form “I am so sorry.” He had tried his best, there was nowhere to go. He had thought about what to do, but his mind had shied away from the option that presented itself. However, he would do what had to be done if it came to that.
First he would fight. There were six of them, heavily armed with hand loaders, cudgels, and he was pretty sure he had seen a polearm as well. Cai was so severely outmatched that he almost laughed at the futility of it. He would still fight with all he had to protect them.
He could hear voices coming down the corridor, in the direction of where the trapdoor was. The guards must have gotten through finally. He frantically started rummaging through the pouches on his belt for anything that he could use to defend them. Two pieces of spring steel, a roll of string, a black stone, an assortment of small gears and cogs, and a blue feather from a lapis bird. All useless to him now. He finally found his folding knife in the pouch strapped to his thigh. The blade was no longer than his index finger, but it was something at least. Checking the inside pockets of his tarqa, he found the blueglass vial containing two black ‘pebbles’ wrapped in wax paper. He always kept the vial on him when they were out making plays. It was insurance. It could save them from a fate worse than death. The two black pebbles were Voidshade seeds. When ingested they would lead to a quick and relatively painless death. In Cai’s mind that was far better than the option. The city dungeons for him, and in Silks' case, being sold as a slave to one of the Flesh pits by the dungeon guards.
He squared up facing where the Ravens would come from, knife in one hand vial in the other. The sound of voices could be heard more clearly coming down the corridor now. “You men check to the left” one of the Ravens said. It would not be long now. Cai’s breath came quicker, and his legs started shaking. He tried to force his legs to be steady, but that only made the shaking worse. Gripping the knife’s handle harder, he tightened his jaw. He could hear the sound of boots hitting the cobblestone. Any second now the guards would be here. He was ready to fight. Then he got kicked in the buttocks.
Turning around, his face a mask of astonishment.
Seeing Silk there, she was still slumped over against the wall. On her face she had a small crooked smile, but in her hand slightly raised towards him, she held a piece of blueglass and a piece of redglass. “Look” - she said, and pointed in the direction of the doorless doorway. Cai knelt down and took the two pieces of glass from her hand. “What do you mean?” - he said. Confusion on his face. “Look through” - she said. Her voice barely but a whisper. He lifted the pieces of glass up to his face, looking first through the red and then through the blue, nothing. Another kick to the rump had him spinning around. Silk had a slight frown on her face, “together” - she said, pointing to the pieces of glass in his hand.
Overlaying the two pieces of glass Cai looked at the doorless doorway yet again. To his surprise, in the purplish hue of his vision, he could now see distinct symbols painted along the frame. He did not know the significance of the symbols, but two markings were clear to him. Two glowing handprints on the right side of the doorway. He pushed against them and could hear a distinct click, before a section of the wall slid in and to the side. Fast as could be, he gathered up Silk and rushed them through the doorway. He could hear one of the Red Ravens calling out just around the bend from them. “I hear something,” the guard said. Looking around for a way to close the door before the guards arrived, he noticed the clever contraption of weights and counterweights operating the hidden door. On the wall to the left was a leaver, he pulled it and the secret door slid shut with a soft woosh, just as the first guard came around the corner at the other end of the alleyway.