The guards poured through the doors, armed with crude weapons, battered shields, and clothed in armour that looked to not have been polished in a long time. John chuckled and jumped down to the floor, drawing his dagger.
“Ah! There you guys are! I was wondering!” He said with a laugh. The guards didn’t respond, but the scrawny, chuckling rouge didn’t need one. He turned the dagger in his hand, and with a quick flick of his wrist, sent it flying towards the group. The leading guard got seven inches of steel stuck in his neck, and sank to the floor. His companions, who had most likely never seen one of thier own die in such a way, stared at the corpse on the floor. This brief pause gave the four just the moment they needed to rush forward. Drevon, who had never much used a sword before, let Jason and Ellestria lead the way, and stabbed erratically at whoever got too close to his gleaming silver blade. Jason waded into the fray, swoard leading, with Ellestria behind. A shower of flying sparks and blood fell in his wake, and Ellestria cleaned up the unfortunate few who were left behind. John, in turn, came in from the flank, after quickly retrieveing his dagger. He moved quickly, almost inhumanly so, and picked off the few guards that stood on the sides. After a few moments of battle, Drevon found his footing, and rushed forward, with a cry of rage at his captors. The terrified guards, who were utterly unsure of what they were doing, looked to be in a terror and drug induced stupor, and didn’t put up much of a fight.
“Let’s go! Before more arrive!” Jason said. The immortal led the other three up the muddy hallway and out into the hot sunlight. The courtyard, unlike what the four expected, was entirely empty, save for a few broken barrels, and a rather disinterested chicken, who barely eyed thier little group.
“Well, where’s the welcome comittee?” John asked, giving his dagger an artistic little spin.
“Quiet, it could be an ambush,” Jason said, looking around, his sword pointed out in front of him. They all noticed that the bright sun glinted spectacularly off of his armour. Had they been in a different situation, Drevon might have found this humorous, as the immortal wanted to be secretive, but stood out like a fire beacon on a bald hill.
“Well, why don’t we just leave?” Ellestria asked impatiently, pointing to the door. She began walking toward it casually, the scales of her light blue tail giving off a sparkling reflection. John grinned as she walked away.
“You know, if she was a human, I’d be quite happy to experience her in…other ways,” He said with a chuckle. Ellestria heard this and whipped around quickly, a glare emblazoned onto her face.
“I’ll have you know, you rouge, that If I was a woman, I could still beat you in a fight, even if I couldn’t burn your grinning face off, so watch it!” She said.
“Ooh, have we a fiesty one here?” John said, laughing aloud. Elestria snorted in frusteration, and began walking towards the gate. She had almost reached it, when a long, grey-shafted arrow landed directly in front of her, causing her to jump in fright. The three turned to see a short, blad, and rather ugly man with a scepter standing on a stone balcony above the courtyard. He shouted something incomprehensable to the archer beside him, and gave the bowman a hard hit to his head. The bald man then turned back to the four.
“You know, you four suprised me with your little getaway there. I am impressed. But this is exactly why people like you need to be locked up. Folks like you are much to smart for these common peasant rabble. If the weak minded are to be held in check, we can’t have people like you putting thoughts of more to life in thier weak heads. Therefore, as much as I may be impressed with your little display of wits, I must wish you farewell,” he said. The man gave a quick hand signal, and an entire regimant of archers appeared around the courtyard, coming out of doors, and aiming over the ramparts of the surrounding walls. The bald man laughed. “You didn’t really think I’d let you walk out of those doors did you?” He asked, chuckling.
“Well, yes, to be honest,” Drevon said. “At least, I wanted you to,” he added.
“Well, I can’t, so now you, frankly, are going to die,” The man said, without a hint of emotion in his suprisingly loud voice. The archers around bent thier bows, and before Drevon knew what was happening, fired. Suddenly, something happened that Drevon did not expect at all. A bright flash ensued, followed by a rush of heat from overhead. Then, as soon as it was there, it was gone, and the few archers caught in the blast were screaming as thier burned bodies smoldered.
“Come on! Let’s get out of here!” Ellestria shouted. As he ran, Drevon realized that it must have been her that had unleashed the blast. He made a mental note to thank her about that, but for now, they had to run. And run they did, all through the town and out into the rocky woods outside. Though tired they were, they did not stop until they could no longer hear the shouts of the guards behind them. Finally, after what had seemed a great distance, they stopped to catch thier breath.
“Alright, note to self, do not get captured by men who have idealistic thoughts agian, no matter what they give me,” John panted.
“Hey, thank you for that rescue,” Drevon said, putting a hand on Ellestria’s shoulder. She grinned and nodded.
“You’re welcome, I just hope I don’t hae to do that agian. It always gives me such terrrible heartburn,” She said. She suddenly grimaced, and then belched, which caused a small plume of flame to puff from her mouth. The group laughed, relieved to be safe, and to see some light hearted comfort after thier near death escape.
“Well, I say we head a few more miles today and make camp. John, what do you want to do? Are you going to journey with us, or seek your own path?” Drevon said.
“Travel with you of course, the pretty angel man there said that I’d get booze, drugs and women if I helped you, and I expect every one of those things,” John said with a nod of surety. Jason silently rolled his eyes at the man, but John did not see this. Drevon secretly hoped that nothing sinister would come of thier new-foun d companion, for, even though he didn’t want to admit it, John’s strange, erratic and rather immature nature was beginning to grow on him, and he did like the way that John’s spirits remanied high, even in the face of death. It was as if the rouge feared niether man, beast, or force of nature.
The group went on for a few more miles, as Drevon suggested, before the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. They made camp under the shade of a weeping willow tree, and had a small meal. Then, as the pale-faced moon began to crest and show herself, they all drifted off to peaceful and reliveing sleep.
Fairy Tales