First thing first, releasing the other prisoners, Thol had meanwhile finished his treatment of Lalin. She still looked as battered at before, but her skin was a bit more flushed than before. He opened a few other cells, to his surprise everyone in the cells was someone he did remember. In one way or another, the pretty clerk that had taken his application into the legion. She was Vorn, apparently she was one of his troops.

The girl was still in good shape, a bit battered but she still stood strong. She smiled upon seeing him, giving him a hug, a stronger hug than she should have been able to.

“Glad to have you back boss,” She said edge of her mouth turning up into a half smile.

Another prisoner was the large man he had gone through training with, the only one who had been able to keep up with him and Vor on arm strength alone. He opened another cell, the innkeeper of The Waddling Boar was imprisoned in this one, as were both the Tolu and Mori. The innkeeps name was apparently Urf, Tolu and Mori were his daughters. Both girls hugged him, saying the exact same line as the other troops.

“Glad to have you back, boss!” Urf clasped his arm powerfully after, pulling him into a shoulder hug. Again the same words were repeated. Perhaps they all knew him simply as 'Boss' or they had given him that nickname. He had to admit he felt a lot better being surrounded by the troops. It was a strange sensation of belonging. He might not remember, but his soul felt at home with these people.

Eventually he had released all the prisoners, 14 of them had survived. However battered they may seem, their gazes were strong, hands were steady. He looked them in the eyes then nodded to himself, he walked up to Lalin. She had still not woken up, He gently picked her up than swept his gaze over his soldiers.

“Lets go, we still have a few people to find.”

“More than one boss? The only one we are missing is Shiela.” The pretty girl said, her name was Lilin.

“There are a few people who I am sure would want to know what is going on here. Thol here for instance was unaware of what had been happening here. If we can gain more Allies on the inside then it will be easier for us to fight our way out.”

“First order of business however is recovering Shiela, who knows what these bastards have done to her.” Dorian tightened his grip. “Thol if you would please lead the way, you can find Shiela can you not?”

“I most certainly can, Try to keep up young-lings.” Speeding up the old man lead the way. Dorian picked gently picked up Lalin and they followed the old man. The old man was obviously slowing down his pace so people could keep up. Even so after a few minutes most of them were panting, after being locked up so long, not getting enough food. Who could really blame them?

The old man noticed this, of course he did. With that absurd perception of his, he made sure they rested often enough to catch their breath. Soon enough they were drawing close to their destination.

“She is inside this room.” Thol said stopping in front of a wooden door. Dorian gave Lalin to Urf, who gently cradled her in his arms. For a father to see a girl about his daughters age like this, Dorian was sure it did a lot of mental damage to Urf.

Right now he had to focus, He had to get his own daughter back first. He prepared himself for whatever was going to happen once he went through that door. He carefully opened it, peeking inside. It seemed to be a regular living area, much like the one he remembered sharing with Shun. To his surprise it was Shiela sitting there, calmly eating dinner. Across from her was her longquan sword instructor.

Dorian looked at the two in surprise, but he didn't know which side the instructor was on. He took a deep breath then shifted next to Shiela, pulling her away from the instructor. The others burst in, surrounding the instructor. The woman calmly drank her tea looking at them. She sipped her tea slowly then put the cup carefully back down.

“Took you long enough to get here, did you get your memories back?” She said calmly.

“Uuuhm, not really, but I know whats going on.” He said stumbling over his words a bit, he had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that the woman had known, yet was still on his side. He glanced over to Shiela, she saw his gaze then grinned. She hugged him tightly.

“Glad you're not insane any more.” She said in a silvery sweet voice.

Dorian was taken aback by actually hearing her voice, but then he grinned rubbing her head.

“Me too kid, me too” He hugged her to himself holding her close for a few moments. His heart finally unclenched a bit, he had been extremely worried. Even more would have liked to admit.

He looked at the instructor, “Why are you on our side?”

She stood up slowly, straightening out the wrinkles in her dress. She had a strange elegance in every move she made. It was smooth, practiced. She carried herself like a noble, perhaps she was a noble.

“My name is Lin Shifa sa Todohime, I am the princess of the Lotus empire. Much like yourself I have been imprisoned here. They made this young lady my student, in order to give me something to do. It was done in the hope that I would become more.... cooperative.”

So he encountered a princess, of an empire he had never even heard of. If she was truly a captive then she would wish to escape as well. Dorian glanced over at Thol, who nodded. Dorian had come to trust the old mans instinct quite a bit. He looked back at the lady.

“You are welcome to join us in our escape, should you wish to do so.” Dorian stated.

She straightened herself and grabbed here longquan sword, a sword that matched her red dress perfectly. She checked the blade, unsheathing it slightly then re-sheathing it.

“I would follow you, father of my student.” Dorian nodded, Shiela clasped his hand. She looked really happy that they were taking her instructor along.

“You like her?”

Shiela tilted her head, then nodded. “She speaks weird, but she hates the mean soldiers. Likes me! She treated me nice. I'm happy she won't die.”

Dorian rubbed her head once more, “More than enough reason for me to bring her. Thol I think we should head to the exit, we will no doubt run into more soldiers before we reach it. First we have to get ourselves some weapons. Let us head to the armory. If we meet anyone, We may be able to turn them, we may not be able to. We will escape or fight whichever is necessary”

He then swept his gaze over his new troops, “Lets move out!”

The group follow Thol once more as they were led through the underground labyrinth, he kept his men moving closely, the only ones that had weapons were himself, Shiela and Lin. Old man Thol's whole body was a weapon so he should be counted as one of those that was armed. Arin moved forward with the old man letting him know here and there that there were people in some of the halls.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She used her stone sense to 'hear' the footsteps of the soldiers on the floor. This time they made their way carefully, after another minute or two they reached the armory.

“There are 6 people inside, they are sitting I think. “ Arin said pressing her ear to the stone.

“Does it help to press your ear to the stone?” Dorian asked

“Not really, its mostly a habit, it helps me concentrate. Sometimes I think I can hear things clearer when I do. So I see no reason not to!”

He nodded, “Me and old man Thol will enter first, we will rush to whoever is around the table. Lin if you would please follow behind us.” The woman nodded slightly, acknowledging the order. “The rest of you follow behind us as fast as you can, Urf, Mori, Tolu and Lilin Will help us surround those inside. The rest of you grab weapons as fast as you can, once you have done so replace the rest so they can equip weapons.”

“Yes Boss.” They said softly.

Dorian looked around once more, checking if everyone was ready. Deep breath in, then slipping open the door and rushing in. He shifted behind the group, Thol was nearly as fast as him closing of one side of the table. Lin shut off the exit to the door, hand held on her sword. The rest quickly rushed in behind them, surrounding those sitting around the table.

The six men sitting around the table were Cern and the legionnaires, and the twin dwarfs. The looked up surprised, unsure what to make of the people surrounding them. Dorian, Thol and Lin were familiar faces after all. Shiela popped up next to Dorian, the six men looked from Dorian to Shiela and then to the others.

Cern stood up “Cap'n? Whats all this hassle?”

The other soldiers had taken their weapons, replacing the first group so they could gather theirs. Dorian looked at the soldiers, he remembered the conversation between Cern and his friends, he was sure that they had no idea what had been going on. The dwarves he doubted would know anything about it. They enjoyed their drinks to much, they had once told him that killing women-folk always made their drinks go bad.

So Dorian gave them the quick explanation of what had happened. The faces of the six turned pale, their mouths turned in distaste. The dwarves especially seemed angry about the treachery, the two enjoyed facing their trouble head on. Dwarves according to them were not made for sneakery, if you had a problem with something fix it with either a mug of ale, or your ax.

“I need me a solid drink” Snax said grabbing the cask he always had with him,

“Pour me a solid one, I need to drown out my thoughts aswell.” Cern said extending his hand for a mug of the ale. Axe filled him one and slid it over to him, he then filled one for himself and drank it all in one go.

“This be cruel, how could one betray his own brother?!” Snax said filling himself another cup.

Axe smashed his cup back on the table filling himself another mug, “I have no idea dear brother, me would never betray you. Would make the ale taste bad for the rest of my life.”

“Indeed dear brother, Cheers” He said clashing his cups with his brother.

Cern also seemed troubled by what had happened, Dorian noticed that the other 3 legionnaires, although looking a bit troubled were not as shocked as him and the twins.

“So I have to ask you, will you come with us. Or stay here, those that stay here we won't kill you.”

Urf stepped forward, grabbing Dorians shoulder he whispered. “Boss we should kill them, they will otherwise be our enemies in the future. We can't just let them go.”

“We can't just kill people for choices they may or may not make. Even if they stay they may notice the things the Table does is beyond what they can do as soldiers.” Dorian whispered back, then turned to the men in front of him.

“Those that stay, we will have to knock you out. But you will only receive a days headache. You will be free to continue life while making your own choices. Just be aware of the kind of group you are working for.”

“We comin' of course, me ale already tastes bad with what you told me, if I stay here any longer I may start hatin' me own ale!” Snax growled.

“Seconded.” Axe added.

“Of course we will come, I will not work for an organization that is this morally twisted.” Cern said spitting on the floor. “It leaves a taste in my mouth I will never be able to get rid of.”

“Cern, we disagree.” One of the other 3 said, his name was Wales? Dorian thought it was Wales. “Their methods may be unmoral, but we are soldiers. We do what the commander says. That is all we need to think about. If they start telling us to kill women and children then perhaps we will quit. This however is not enough for me to quit. I have a family back home, I can't afford to lose such a steady pay.” Wales said rubbing his head, looking at the ground.

Cern stood up like he wanted to argue, scream some sense in them. Then he saw Wales and the other two with downcast gazes. He realized that he would not be able to convince the others, they had made their choices. Indeed being a fugitive while you had a family was not a choice easily made. Cern was the only one of the four which did not have a family of his own to take care of. He understood their choice, no matter how wrong it may seem to him.

Cern sighed deeply, he then stuck out his hand to Wales. “Take care of yourself my friend.”

Wales clasped his hand, then smiled sadly. “You too my friend” Then he collapsed onto the table, the other two passed out soon after. Thol stood behind them, hands still clasped behind his back as always.

Dorian swept his gaze over his new allies, then he looked at his old troops. “It's time for us to get out of here.” He turned and walked to the exit, followed by a determined looking group.

Snax quickly ran back before they got far, he rushed to the armory and came back with a cask of ale. “Can't leave me ale!”

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Boom 2 chapters today, Praise me for my hard work! [th_0v.gif]

I would like to ask those who have not already done so, If you like this story please make a review! Advanced review would be the best. It helps me get more viewers and also gives me a sense if what i am doing is right or not! Give me that critisism! :sparkle:

As always Thanks for reading!

For those that want to know where the story is headed, i will give you a rough idea below.

BEWARE SPOILER

I SAID BEWARE

Sure you want to read this?!

OK THEN, Dorian will join the legion to become a full fledged soldier on the other side of the continent. He plans to rise through the ranks to reach a level were he can fight back against those who Founded the Table, For that he needs a lot of influence in the Empire. Which means high ranks! Titles of nobility if necesarry!

Thanks For reading! :bye: