Part CVII: Narrow Encounters
Date: Kapton 12th, 114 A.U.
Reynyagn moved quickly through the tunnels, leading the group as he listened hard, but still found himself unable to hear them. They were nearly there to the passage that they needed to get to—the passage between them and the elves. They just had to hope that they’d get there first—or at least quickly enough so that they could quickly defeat the elves in their way before moving in.
Rounding the corner, Reynyagn skidded to a stop before backing up before peeking back around to see the squadron of elves and orcs marching toward them. They had made their tracks too obvious when coming here, making it easy for them to be tracked. There were too many elves and orcs—and too many of them in unison. Reynyagn thought hard.
“We need a distraction,” Monty said. “They’re continuing to march on us—we have to stop them!”
“Precious few of them have corsha weapons,” Reynyagn said, unslinging the Arglem. “I’ll blend in the shadows. Stay back until I make an adequate enough distraction. And then charge.”
“So now what?” Sereth asked as she pushed the door closed to the outside. “We have your old vehicle. We’re basically trapped in here thanks to all the guards out there as well. What’s your plan?”
“To save the rest of the Xavier Team,” Zarien muttered as he tapped at the computer. “How big are these caverns?”
“The caves of Dragla?” Sereth asked. “They’re huge! One of the seven natural wonders of Arquenia! They say that-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Zarien said with a wave of his hand. “We don’t need to get into the whole science of it. “Are there any tight passages?”
“Well, it is a cave,” Sereth said, a bit scornfully. “There are tight passages, but-“
“Here’s the map,” Zarien said, pointing to a photocopy of the map of the Caves of Dragla. How many narrow passages are there?”
"Not many…” Sereth said as she peered over it. “I mean, there are some, but-”
“We can take that chance,” Zarien said as he quickly began pushing buttons to turn the vehicle on.
“What are you doing?” Sereth cried out in shock as Hazael just watched, a growing smile on his face.
“I’m turning this thing on of course,” Zarien said, a wry smile playing across his lips. “And we’re going to go save the Xavier Team.”
He emerged out of the shadows, blinding light whipping around them. Troops fell back in confusion as the shadowy figure emerged, rippling light pouring out of him as it took the form of a whip, weaving around them and slicing through them as soldiers screamed out in pain, falling all around them.
"Take him out!” Unyihi Garum yelled as he shot a bolt of lightning at the Sla’ad. But like the stories went, the lightning did nothing. The only thing that could hurt a Sla’ad was intense heat. But the Garum had intense heat to offer.
Fire poured out of his gauntlets as he stepped forward, shooting lines of flame at the Sla’ad who quickly dodged them while moving to the side beyond the field of battle, taking out some of the fleeing outskirts as he moved around them.
“Don’t let him get away!” Unyihi Garum yelled, charging toward the Sla’ad. “Fire-orcs come with me! You three with the corsha weapons! Everyone else charge down the tunnel! His friends can’t be far behind!”
“Move. Now. While we still have the chance.” Monty gave the command and they moved, Jroldin and Flek in front with their corsha weapons. Flek didn’t really think he would be able to deflect the bullets with his weapons given his loss of power, but he was going to try. If someone had to die among them, it was going to be him.
Shots rang out as the others began taking out the battalion in front of them, but Flek could already see that it wouldn’t be enough. Not enough of the troops had been killed or distracted. There were still too many of them to handle—and they were nearly covering the passage they had to get to now.
Bullets sped his way. He ducked, barely managing to block one as another sliced a line across his knuckles, pain blossoming as he rolled, biting back his emotions. He was lost. He was completely lost. He was in the middle of a war situation and it was just as he feared. All his power was thanks to the Watcher. Everything else in him was worthless.
The head orc was good. Unyihi Garum—assuming it was him, as the golden skin seemed to indicate—knew exactly what it took to kill a Sla’ad, picking the only people out of the group that could kill him while leaving the rest to chase down the rest of his party. And Reynyagn hadn’t been counting on that.
Dodging a ball of fire, Reynyagn spun, moving down to the ground as the Arglem flung itself out, crackling around a helpless orc as his flames did nothing to keep the Arglem from ripping into him as Reynyagn jerked back, ending the orc’s life as he moved to the side quickly. He couldn’t do this forever. He had to get back to the others—fast. Reynyagn was just beginning to make his plans when there was a noise in the distance, and Reynyagn looked up to see it coming right at them.
Few would have had the insight to drive a ship into the Caves of Dragla, Zarien thought with a wry smile. Yet he had. Quickly driving it into the enlarged hole that the elves had made before they had figured out what was happening, Zarien had merely followed the squadron of elves to here, where they were fighting back a desperate Xavier Team. Too late they saw him coming as Hazael moved the machine gun, shooting them down.
“How are we going to land?!” Sereth yelled. “We need to keep this intact for the return journey!”
“I don’t know!” Zarien snapped. “We need to shoot all of them down so that they have enough time to board!” Zarien maneuvered the machine to the side as he prepared to give another sweep of the chamber. Too late he saw the gold-skinned orc pause from shooting fire balls at Reynyagn to fix his stare on them, lifting up his gauntlets. Lightning flung out of his fingers. And powerless to stop, Zarien could only try to vainly move the machine out of the way in time before lightning hit.
Electricity coursed through the machine as Zarien was flung from the driver’s seat. Everything spun as Zarien struggled to keep his balance.
“Get out!” he heard a roar, and then he was swooped up by strong arms as Zarien barely managed to think straight enough to see Hazael holding him and Cortna as they crashed through a window. Glass broke through his arm as they broke out of the ship and into the cavern. He twisted his head just in time to see the ship crash into the battalion of elves.
“Get in there!” Reynyagn yelled as he dodged the last fireball before hurdling over the crashed ship, killing several elves with his crackling Arglem. “This is our chance!” Get in there. Moving quickly, Flek ran toward the passage as he gestured to the others. He didn’t know how Zarien had gotten their ship down here, or who the two other elves with Zarien were, but he didn’t need to ask. The crashed ship had killed enough of the elves and had scattered enough of the rest that the passage was wide open. Flek ran into the passage just behind Reynyagn.
“Get in here!” Reynyagn yelled toward the winged elf holding both Zarien and the female elf. “We can escape here!” The winged elf swooped down as the others came in, shots ringing out all around.
“This passage is narrow enough—you need to collapse it!” Monty roared as he pointed to Reynyagn’s Arglem as Brother Tomas, the last of their group, came in. Reynyagn swung the Arglem upwards.
No. They couldn’t. Unyihi Garum was furious. Jaigran had let these elven rebels take a whole ship into the tunnels—completely ruining his scheme! They were all but escaped now as Unyihi blindly charged forwards as he saw them collapsing the tunnel with the Arglem. With one last desperate attempt, Unyihi leapt on top of the fallen machine, lightning crackling from his fingertips as it shot forward. Rocks came down as the tunnel collapsed. But the lightning hit first. And Unyihi felt a tinge of accomplishment as he watched the brown-cloaked figure collapse to the ground. And then the entrance to the passage caved in.
Date: Kapton 12th, 114 A.U.
Reynyagn moved quickly through the tunnels, leading the group as he listened hard, but still found himself unable to hear them. They were nearly there to the passage that they needed to get to—the passage between them and the elves. They just had to hope that they’d get there first—or at least quickly enough so that they could quickly defeat the elves in their way before moving in.
Rounding the corner, Reynyagn skidded to a stop before backing up before peeking back around to see the squadron of elves and orcs marching toward them. They had made their tracks too obvious when coming here, making it easy for them to be tracked. There were too many elves and orcs—and too many of them in unison. Reynyagn thought hard.
“We need a distraction,” Monty said. “They’re continuing to march on us—we have to stop them!”
“Precious few of them have corsha weapons,” Reynyagn said, unslinging the Arglem. “I’ll blend in the shadows. Stay back until I make an adequate enough distraction. And then charge.”
“So now what?” Sereth asked as she pushed the door closed to the outside. “We have your old vehicle. We’re basically trapped in here thanks to all the guards out there as well. What’s your plan?”
“To save the rest of the Xavier Team,” Zarien muttered as he tapped at the computer. “How big are these caverns?”
“The caves of Dragla?” Sereth asked. “They’re huge! One of the seven natural wonders of Arquenia! They say that-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Zarien said with a wave of his hand. “We don’t need to get into the whole science of it. “Are there any tight passages?”
“Well, it is a cave,” Sereth said, a bit scornfully. “There are tight passages, but-“
“Here’s the map,” Zarien said, pointing to a photocopy of the map of the Caves of Dragla. How many narrow passages are there?”
"Not many…” Sereth said as she peered over it. “I mean, there are some, but-”
“We can take that chance,” Zarien said as he quickly began pushing buttons to turn the vehicle on.
“What are you doing?” Sereth cried out in shock as Hazael just watched, a growing smile on his face.
“I’m turning this thing on of course,” Zarien said, a wry smile playing across his lips. “And we’re going to go save the Xavier Team.”
He emerged out of the shadows, blinding light whipping around them. Troops fell back in confusion as the shadowy figure emerged, rippling light pouring out of him as it took the form of a whip, weaving around them and slicing through them as soldiers screamed out in pain, falling all around them.
"Take him out!” Unyihi Garum yelled as he shot a bolt of lightning at the Sla’ad. But like the stories went, the lightning did nothing. The only thing that could hurt a Sla’ad was intense heat. But the Garum had intense heat to offer.
Fire poured out of his gauntlets as he stepped forward, shooting lines of flame at the Sla’ad who quickly dodged them while moving to the side beyond the field of battle, taking out some of the fleeing outskirts as he moved around them.
“Don’t let him get away!” Unyihi Garum yelled, charging toward the Sla’ad. “Fire-orcs come with me! You three with the corsha weapons! Everyone else charge down the tunnel! His friends can’t be far behind!”
“Move. Now. While we still have the chance.” Monty gave the command and they moved, Jroldin and Flek in front with their corsha weapons. Flek didn’t really think he would be able to deflect the bullets with his weapons given his loss of power, but he was going to try. If someone had to die among them, it was going to be him.
Shots rang out as the others began taking out the battalion in front of them, but Flek could already see that it wouldn’t be enough. Not enough of the troops had been killed or distracted. There were still too many of them to handle—and they were nearly covering the passage they had to get to now.
Bullets sped his way. He ducked, barely managing to block one as another sliced a line across his knuckles, pain blossoming as he rolled, biting back his emotions. He was lost. He was completely lost. He was in the middle of a war situation and it was just as he feared. All his power was thanks to the Watcher. Everything else in him was worthless.
The head orc was good. Unyihi Garum—assuming it was him, as the golden skin seemed to indicate—knew exactly what it took to kill a Sla’ad, picking the only people out of the group that could kill him while leaving the rest to chase down the rest of his party. And Reynyagn hadn’t been counting on that.
Dodging a ball of fire, Reynyagn spun, moving down to the ground as the Arglem flung itself out, crackling around a helpless orc as his flames did nothing to keep the Arglem from ripping into him as Reynyagn jerked back, ending the orc’s life as he moved to the side quickly. He couldn’t do this forever. He had to get back to the others—fast. Reynyagn was just beginning to make his plans when there was a noise in the distance, and Reynyagn looked up to see it coming right at them.
Few would have had the insight to drive a ship into the Caves of Dragla, Zarien thought with a wry smile. Yet he had. Quickly driving it into the enlarged hole that the elves had made before they had figured out what was happening, Zarien had merely followed the squadron of elves to here, where they were fighting back a desperate Xavier Team. Too late they saw him coming as Hazael moved the machine gun, shooting them down.
“How are we going to land?!” Sereth yelled. “We need to keep this intact for the return journey!”
“I don’t know!” Zarien snapped. “We need to shoot all of them down so that they have enough time to board!” Zarien maneuvered the machine to the side as he prepared to give another sweep of the chamber. Too late he saw the gold-skinned orc pause from shooting fire balls at Reynyagn to fix his stare on them, lifting up his gauntlets. Lightning flung out of his fingers. And powerless to stop, Zarien could only try to vainly move the machine out of the way in time before lightning hit.
Electricity coursed through the machine as Zarien was flung from the driver’s seat. Everything spun as Zarien struggled to keep his balance.
“Get out!” he heard a roar, and then he was swooped up by strong arms as Zarien barely managed to think straight enough to see Hazael holding him and Cortna as they crashed through a window. Glass broke through his arm as they broke out of the ship and into the cavern. He twisted his head just in time to see the ship crash into the battalion of elves.
“Get in there!” Reynyagn yelled as he dodged the last fireball before hurdling over the crashed ship, killing several elves with his crackling Arglem. “This is our chance!” Get in there. Moving quickly, Flek ran toward the passage as he gestured to the others. He didn’t know how Zarien had gotten their ship down here, or who the two other elves with Zarien were, but he didn’t need to ask. The crashed ship had killed enough of the elves and had scattered enough of the rest that the passage was wide open. Flek ran into the passage just behind Reynyagn.
“Get in here!” Reynyagn yelled toward the winged elf holding both Zarien and the female elf. “We can escape here!” The winged elf swooped down as the others came in, shots ringing out all around.
“This passage is narrow enough—you need to collapse it!” Monty roared as he pointed to Reynyagn’s Arglem as Brother Tomas, the last of their group, came in. Reynyagn swung the Arglem upwards.
No. They couldn’t. Unyihi Garum was furious. Jaigran had let these elven rebels take a whole ship into the tunnels—completely ruining his scheme! They were all but escaped now as Unyihi blindly charged forwards as he saw them collapsing the tunnel with the Arglem. With one last desperate attempt, Unyihi leapt on top of the fallen machine, lightning crackling from his fingertips as it shot forward. Rocks came down as the tunnel collapsed. But the lightning hit first. And Unyihi felt a tinge of accomplishment as he watched the brown-cloaked figure collapse to the ground. And then the entrance to the passage caved in.
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