The tension hanging between the groups was so thick, it could have stopped a swinging blade in its tracks.
Alice readied herself, forcing her aching body to bring her fists up to her face and shifting her stance. Blanche pointed the tip of his sword at Baron’s heart, while the man in question raised his double cudgels. Two rows of warriors were garbed in tattered leather and held an assortment of various weapons, ranging from polearms to swords.
Any outsider encountering this battle would see this as a lost cause. But Alice wasn’t willing to accept defeat; she’d done too much to believe she’d receive peaceful fate if she was captured.
“Let me take the lead,” Blanche ordered. “You stay back and try to regain your Manergy.”
Alice bobbed her head, but indecision warred within her. Was this really going to happen? They were all the same after all. She had no qualms of fighting against the nobility, but to take up arms against the very people she was trying to protect?
Looks like they weren’t giving her an option. Pushing her conflicting feelings into a box, she prepared her mind. Don’t go for the kill. Just immobilize.
The tension was at its peak. All that mattered now was who was going to initiate the fight first? Alice doubted Baron truly wanted a duel against Blanche. Whoever shattered the stalemate would be responsible for breaking something that could never be repaired.
Something snapped in Baron’s eyes and his face became steel. Straightening his back, he opened his mouth. “ARCH—“
“ENOUGH!”
It took a second to realize the source of the scream was Lily; it took another to comprehend the reality of the frail girl shouting loud enough for her cries to echo against the mines.
Like they were connected through a hive mind, everybody stopped and swiveled to face Lily. The elf blushed at the attention but held her head high, glowering at…Baron, of all people!?
Alice’s jaw slackened and she wasn’t the only one shocked by the turn of events. The warriors were beginning to murmur and shoot furtive glances at Baron, while he remained as stone faced as ever.
“You…all of you! You’re all fools! Why are you fighting each other when we need to be preparing!? A noble died in our village! It doesn’t matter who did the killing, it’s the fact that it happened that’s important!” Lily yelled.
Silence descended after her outburst, only broken by Lily’s heavy panting. Alice mulled over what Lily said. She was right, in every sense of the word. But would everyone else share her beliefs?
Alice half-expected them to bash the idea right out of the gate but it looked like the majority of them were actually contemplating Lily’s words. Was it because they sensed the truth in them…? Alice followed the gazes of many of them and found they all centered on Lily. Or maybe it was because of whatever weird connection Lily had with the rest of her tribe.
Baron stepped forward. “And what would you have us do with her?” He motioned towards Alice. “Regardless of her intent, she broke a sacred rule and killed someone in our village. It’s her fault the nobles have an excuse to get rid of us. That cannot go unpunished.”
A part of Alice rankled at that. If she hadn’t intervened, Lily could be dead right now. If Baron was so intent on protecting his tribe, he should be more grateful she stepped in.
“So what!?” Lily snapped. “Do you really think your deal was getting anywhere? The nobles are just going to keep stripping us dry, making us mine until we don’t have anybody left. You just exchanged a quick death for a drawn out one, and you call yourself our leader!”
“Lily.” A middle aged woman stepped forward, stretching a hand out. “Don’t do this. We can still talk this—“
“You don’t have a say in it!” Lily snapped and the woman recoiled. With a start, Alice realized Lily was sobbing. Thick globs of tears rolled down her face even and she furiously rubbed them away to no avail.
The woman clutched her hand to her chest and staggered back, quickly supported by several people with stricken expressions plastered on. A flicker of regret flashed over Lily’s face.
“I didn’t mean—“ she began.
“Enough. You have chosen your side.” Baron stated. Dropping one of his cudgels to the ground, he reached up to his neck. Alice tensed. To her surprise though, he stretched his hand inside his shirt and pulled out a golden chain with a bespectacled pendant on the end. The valuable substances it was constructed out of made for a sharp contrast against the drab clothes Baron had.
He lifted to his face until his lips were nearly touching it and without breaking eye contact from Lily, he said, “We shall detain the aggressors and wait for the nobility to arrive. We will abide by their rules, and follow their judgment. Amara, Tyler, take them away!”
With a bit of hesitance, two people broke away and approached them. Alice bent down and picked up a rock, tossing it lightly to judge its weight. How hard would she have to hurl it in order to knock adults out?
Blanche clamped his hand on her shoulder and squeezed; it was subtle, but the message was clear. Don’t attack. She shot him a frustrated look but he didn’t give, shaking his head ever so slightly. Alice fingered the rock, wondering if it was worth it to go against Blanche’s orders. She was sick and tired of people being ungrateful for what she did. Just for once, she’d like for someone to appreciate what she did.
Then the moment passed and shame sunk in. She didn’t come here to gather glory for her actions. What made her different from those fame-seeking bastards she strove to fight? The rock fell through her numb fingers, and she didn’t resist as Tyler grabbed her by her arms and pulled her away.
Next to her, Amara cautiously approached Blanche, clearly unsure of how to apprehend him. She hovered over his stationary body for a couple of seconds, shifting her hand position and coming close to touching him before retracting; all while the dwarf in question stared at her coolly with an eyebrow raised. Eventually, she settled for pulling his arms together against his back, clearly exerting significant effort to move his limbs. It probably would have been comical, if Alice wasn’t feeling so pissed.
“What do we do about Lily, Baron?” Tyler asked.
Baron didn’t speak for a while, prompting everybody to look at him expectantly. Finally, he turned his back on her and began storming away. “Detain her as well.”
That sparked another batch of murmurs among the crowd but it was Lily’s face Alice focused on most. The light that had formed in her eyes was extinguished in a second and a shadow fell across her face. She didn’t react even as Tyler moved to apprehend her as well.
They made for an unlikely group: Alice, Blanche, and Lily were all marched across the village, bearing witness to several dozens of curious and terrified gazes. Lily kept her head lowered the entire time, while Blanche appeared as nonchalant as ever. Meanwhile, Alice tried to lock eyes with everyone, perhaps to show she wasn’t ashamed of her actions, or maybe it was misguided bravado. Regardless, it was an awkward trip.
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Their final destination was located on the outskirts of the makeshift town. As they neared it, Alice was able to catch a better glimpse of it. Essentially, their ‘prison’ boiled down to an overgrown ditch in the ground, with a bunch of thick wooden logs stacked on top in a criss-cross pattern.
Alice, Blanche, and Lily waited awkwardly to the side as Amara and Tyler got to work lifting and setting the logs aside. Honestly, it sounded kind of strenuous and she couldn’t help the vindictive surge that pulsed through her. Finally they heaved the last log off together and motioned for the trio to enter.
Alice approached the pit’s edge, glancing down inside warily. It was around the height of an average man—around six feet—which made sense if this was supposed to be a prison. However, that led to the side effect of it being a tall leap to make, especially without any ladders.
“You want me to break my legs?” Alice murmured.
“Don’t be a wuss, jump.” Blanche ordered.
“Not everyone has a super strong body like yours,” Alice snapped back. Blanche shot her a glance that promised pain if she stalled any longer. Alice contorted her face. If he hadn’t given up, they wouldn’t be in this situation right now! Lowering to the ground, she slung one leg over the pit and slowly began to slide down the pit. She ensured she was keeping her feet embedded into the side of the hole at all times to keep her stable.
“Screw this,” she heard Blanche whisper some feet above her. Footsteps crunched against the ground and Alice snapped her head up, nervously glancing at the edge.
Blanche appeared in her line of sight, standing on the edge of the pit. He casually reached down and pried her stiff fingers away from the level ground. She cursed, the fear of falling overtaking her.
“Don’t do this! I swear to the gods, Blanche, don’t do—!”
With a muffled curse, Alice fell the rest of the way. She landed hard on her feet but still managed to catch herself. She was just about to congratulate herself on her surprisingly impressive display of athleticism before she lost her balance and gravity dropped her to her bum.
A thud nearby alerted her that Blanche had leaped down but when she turned, she discovered Lily cradled in his arms as well. Indignation boiled up inside of her. “Hey, what about me!?”
“You’ll be fine, you’re strong enough.” Blanche said, lowering Lily to her feet. Alice didn’t miss how gentle the dwarf was with handling the elf compared to her.
Blanche glanced up and sighed when he saw her pouting. “We’re going to be stuck down here for a while, so air your grievances once we’re outside. It won’t do to start fighting in this cramped space.”
Alice crossed her arms but eventually conceded his point. The three of them could barely take a step before bumping into each other, and if Alice even flapped her arms, she would jostle into Lily. A fight between Blanche and her would no doubt end with Lily’s death.
She leaned against the wall and slumped down, taking a seat on the damp ground. Lily followed her example while Blanche resolutely stood still. Alice grimaced when wet dirt stained her pants and spread across her bottom.
This sucks.
----------------------------------------
They passed time like this until night arrived and darkness spilled across the lands. The pit soon became entirely submerged in darkness, plunging the trio into blindness. The pit had probably been engineered to be located in a position away from the moon, where the moonlight could not reach them. Alice couldn’t help but be impressed by their ingenuity. Of course, she would be more impressed if she didn’t feel like she was trapped in a hellhole. It didn’t help that neither Blanche nor Lily felt like talking. For all she knew, they could be dead and she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference until morning.
Just as Alice began drifting off into an uneasy slumber, sounds above alerted her of somebody’s presence. Snapping awake, she squinted her eyes, trying to make out who it was to no avail. Whoever they were, they sounded like they were under great duress, letting out grunts and groans sporadically.
Finally, the noise faded away and they were cast into silence once more. Alice cocked her head to the side. Just what could have been the source of that noise?
“It’s time to leave,” Blanche whispered all of a sudden.
Alice jumped upon hearing his voice for the first time in hours. Spinning to where she thought she’d heard it from, she hissed, “What the hell do you mean? What’s going on?”
“No time to explain,” was Blanche’s abrupt response.
“Bullshit. You spent 5 hours in silence, you had plenty of time—gurk!” The rest of what Alice was trying to say was cut off when Blanche grabbed her by the collar. A similar squeak to the left alerted her that the same fate has befallen Lily. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re going to jump up there!? The rods will—!”
Blanche leaped and Alice held back a scream, nearly gagging on her tongue in the process. Lily wasn’t quite as fortunate and a small shriek slipped through her lips. Alice closed her eyes, awaiting the impact against the rods.
Instead of a bloody crash against the rods, the only thing that she experienced was a slight shake as Blanche landed. Now that they were on level ground again, the moonlight illuminated much of the village. Alice spotted the rods, shoved into a pile only a couple of meters away. So that was what the noise was. But whom?
“Let’s go,” Blanche said brusquely. He withdrew his sword as he passed and slashed through the rods, cutting a clean line through them all. Alice threw the rods a curious glance but didn’t bother wasting them with questions. It was clear now that Blanche had a plan, and it was the only one they had right now.
Rather than racing away from the village, Blanche led them back to the outskirts of the tents. A grin appeared on her face as she realized his target: a carriage, parked just a little distance away from a particularly big tent. It must have been what the noble arrived in.
Blanche reached it first and flung the door open, snapping the lock easily. Alice dove in and landed on the seats, taking a second to revel in the fact she was inside one of her dreams. Turning around, she held out her hand for Lily to grab, only to find her staring at something obscured by the carriage.
Alice popped her head out and choked upon seeing Baron standing in front of Lily. He was fully decked out in his garb, like he’d been expecting their escape. He wasn’t wielding his cudgels at the moment but she didn’t miss the sheathed sword on his belt. Not to mention, all it would take is a scream and they would have the entire tribe after them.
She crept closer, hoping Baron wouldn’t notice her. If she struck him fast and hard with a Skill, she may just be able to knock him out before he could alert anybody. She was about to try it out before Blanche clamped a hand around her wrist. When she looked at him, he held up a finger to his lips and shook his head.
What the hell is going on!? Alice wanted to scream. Instead, she sullenly ripped her arm out of Blanche’s grasp and slunk back into the carriage, watching Lily and Baron’s interactions with bated breath.
Baron slowly approached Lily until he was only a couple of feet away from her. Alice clenched the side of the carriage. If he wanted to do something to the elf, she wouldn’t be able to react in time.
It was hard to tell from this distance and the dark, but Alice thought she saw him reaching for something within his cloak. Flashes of worst case scenarios ran through her mind. What if he stabbed her? Or maybe he had a tonic that would poison Lily with toxic fumes? Sure, some of these things were unlikely for a commoner to own but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility!
Alice was so sure that he was going to whip out something terrible that she was completely taken out of the left field when he wrapped a cloak around the elf. He reached up and lifted the hood over Lily’s face, making sure she was covered. Then he leaned in close and whispered something into her ear.
Finally, he stood back up straight and looked directly at Alice. She tensed, a Skill boiling and ready for use. However, he simply nodded and marched right past all of them. Alice followed his path into the large tent until the flaps closed behind him.
She felt like smacking herself. Of course the largest tent would be that of the leader! Wait, but did that mean Baron was in on this plan? So what was his act earlier? Did he have a change of heart at the thought of sentencing one of his own to death?
She glanced to Blanche for answers but he merely shook his head. Alice furrowed her forehead but nodded, reclining back in her seat. She still wasn’t exactly certain of what was going on, but there was a tangible sense of tension lingering in the air.
A couple of minutes later, Lily entered the carriage and shut the door behind her. Alice nearly asked her if she knew anything but halted at the last second. Lily…was crying. Tiny sobs wracked her body, like she was trying to hide her pain but couldn’t quite manage to keep it all in.
Alice focused her attention out the window to give her some semblance of privacy. Eventually, the carriage began moving and the three of them rolled out of town.