B3? Chapter 263: Escape, pt. 4

It was strange, how a simple wooden door could loom so large. Now that they had been pointed out to him, Kaius could hear the hastened movements of people behind it.

In the drenching red of the wardlights, the door seemed to almost whisper a promise of coming violence. He knew, of course, that they could hide in one of the empty rooms to their sides—with the current emergency, he doubted that the guards would stop to check behind them.

And yet…they needed information.

“They’re almost ready to leave.” Porkchop pushed along their bond, urgency flavouring his words.

Kaius nodded, his mind racing as he came up with a plan. Just before the room, across the hall, there was another door that lay open.

“Tell Ianmus to get in that room” he replied, nodding to the cover. “we’ve no way of knowing if they’ll be able to sense him preparing a spell, so it’ll be safer to keep him out of the way—if we end up needing him it’ll be a decent enough defensible angle for him to work from.”

Porkchop let out a puff of air from his nose, signalling his acceptance. They moved shortly after, steps furtive and soft as they approached.

They would need to hit them hard, and hit them fast. Considering they were under geared, he wanted to give their targets as little opportunity to rally as possible. Only the gods knew what sort of trouble an extended scuffle could bring down on their head.

Far better that they save that excitement for when they had their gear.

“You take the far side of the door.” Kaius sent to his brother, jutting his chin forwards. “The second one of them opens that door, I want you to pull them out and end the threat. I’ll deal with the second one—tell Kenva to jump in if it looks like I need help.”

Another wave of acknowledgement flooded his bond, coloured by an aggressive thrill and a sense of vindication at finally channelling some frustration.

Kaius pushed the feelings out of his mind. Reaching the doorway, he pushed himself flat against the stone wall, Kenva right behind him. When it opened, the door himself would shield him.

He’d just need to move fast when Porkchop engaged.

This close to their room, he could hear the guards inside with crystal clarity. They rushed through their room with haste—every muffled curse and dull thud causing his heart to thump in his chest.

He hated this part of battle. The trickle of sand in the hour glass, each grain weighing like a boulder on his taught nerves. He’d rather take a sword through the chest than have to just sit and wait.

Ignoring the pulsing heat in his veins, he turned his attention to Kenva.

The aen was staring at the wall with intense focus—muscles in her jaw standing out like cables through the sallow and gaunt divots in her cheeks. Captivity had not been kind to her.

Yet, it was clear she hadn’t broken. Her eyes burned hot. Hateful. They traced crisp lines over the stone as Kenva followed the movements of her prey beyond it like the ambush predator she was.

Waiting for the moment when she would give her signal, Kaius’s ears sharpened as the two men in the room started to talk.

“I think we should just stay here—I don’t want to risk it. What if it’s a full blown invasion? An Army? We’ll be slaughtered!” a low voice hissed, almost pleading.

A muffled scoff carried through the door. “Now I know you’re fucking stupid, but that’s impressive even for you. What, do you think, we’ll be able to tell Hons to stop him mashing our brains out our ears when we’re discovered abandoning our posts?”

“Please, Ethric!” the first voice continued—an obvious panic starting to bleed through. “It’s the middle of the night! We still have some of that dust left, we could just pretend we were so wasted we slept through it all?”

Ethric grunted. “I’m not all that keen on getting flogged either.”

“Look, you can stay here and cower if you want, but I fancy keeping my fate in my own hands. We’re already going to be in deep shit for being so late—if we leave now, we might be able to get away with a tongue-lashing.” he continued, The familiar clack of hardened leather reaching Kaius’s ears as the guard dropped what must have been his boots on the stone.

He heard the man start to lace them a moment later. It wouldn’t be long now.

The first man sighed—creaking wood following a moment later. “Well, a flogging is better than going up there to get shanked by someone who’s mad enough to attack Old Yon, isn’t it? You’ve heard the whispers—he has ties to the Onyx!”

Kaius’s stomach lurched. Onyx. The Temple, it had to be. Even if he’d known it was likely that they were responsible for his capture, the confirmation still sent a chill down his spine. The bloody bastards just couldn’t leave him be.

Why did it seem like they were at the root of everything that had gone wrong in his life?

His knuckles whitened as his grip tightened around his knife. It wasn’t enough to cause his father’s death and take his inheritance of steel? They had to spirit him away to a den of torture too?

It incensed him. All of it. The lack of honour. The dark dealings. The simple bloody evil of it.

Kaius’s blood ran hot, heart thumping loud enough he only just barely caught the next words of the conversation.

“Fiorn already told us you idiot—we know it’s not an army. It’s some sort of feral wave of beasts.” Ethric said with a frustrated sigh. “Now quit your dawdling and let’s go. We’re already going to be deep enough in the shit as it is for how slow we’ve been.”

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Kaius tensed. Looking back, a quick nod from Kenva confirmed what he already knew. They were coming.

Hard leather soles clacked on the stone floor, approaching the door step by step.

Poorly oiled hinges creaked.

Porkchop exploded into motion.

Claws sharper than a razor dug into the wood of the door, ripping it open as what sounded like the guard Ethric yelped in surprise.

Floating jaws manifested as his brother used Warden’s Maw, Porkchop’s mouth yawning open in turn to reveal the needle tip points of his green teeth.

Stepping to the side, Kaius moved out from behind the door just in time to witness blood spray as Porkchop bit deep into the guard’s chest and shoulder—punching straight through the simple mail he wore as armour.

The guard gasped—still struggling to process his fate as shattered bones ruptured his flesh. Muscles rippled along Porkchop’s back, his neck snapping to the side as he yanked the man off his feet—sending him flying across the hall.

A hoarse gurgle left the guard’s throat as he tumbled through the air. The sound stopped when he hit the wall with a sickening crack, falling to the ground in a tumble of limbs.

Porkchop was on him a moment later.

With the doorway free and open, Kaius kicked off the ground—feeling the new heights of his strength as he ran through the now empty doorway.