Part CVIII: Escape
Date: Kapton 12th, 114 A.U.
The cave crumbled around them as they dashed through the passage into the other half of the Caves of Dragla, rocks breaking around them as they moved out of the passage into a new network of caves. Jroldin tried to stop to catch his breath.
“We can’t stop now!” Augger said. “If we stop, we’ll be holed in too easily! They’ll be swarming the place soon!”
“How are we supposed to escape then?” Astrid yelled. “Our ship’s crashed!”
“Our ship is large enough!” Zarien said. “We brought a big enough ship here so that we could take all of you, if needed!”
“About time someone started to pay attention to important details,” Hagion muttered.
“We can control it remotely as well!” Zarien said. “It’s the latest of it’s kind and whatever. So I can call it to move directly to where we will emerge!”
“Well if that isn’t the newest thing,” Monty said. “You’re a life saver, Zarien.”
“Just make sure that you don’t call it until we’re near the exit!” Reynyagn said. “If they see the ship leaving and chase after it, we won’t have much time to escape!”
“What do you mean you’ve lost them?” Veins bulged in the Emperor’s face.
“Well, I’m not the one who let a whole freaking airship go down into the caves,” Unyihi Garum snapped, letting himself fire back a shot at the Emperor for once. “The machine wrecked havoc on our forces and decimated most of them when it crash-landed!”
“We. Were not. Expecting others out here,” the Watcher said, slowly forcing the words out. “And we certainly didn’t expect any other team members out here to decide to drive an airship into the caves. They caught us by surprise. It won’t happen again.”
“So where are they now?” Emperor Jaigran demanded. “What happened to them?”
“They dashed into a passage and then collapsed it behind them,” Unyihi Garum snapped. “I managed to electrocute one of them before it closed, so one of their pitiful lot is dead, but we couldn’t follow them. I checked the map and apparently they knew what they were doing. We were in one half of the cave complex and they just escaped to another—one that’s only connected by one passage.”
“The passage they collapsed,” Jaigran snapped, cursing.
“It matters not,” the Watcher said in a low voice. “Why does it matter to us if they are in the other passage? There are no other exits. They’ll be trapped.”
“At least one would hope,” Unyihi Garum replied. “I watched them down there. Their strategy rested on getting into that passage and they looked willing to put everything on the line to do so. They had the full opportunity to flee from us, and once the airship crash-landed, they could have tried to beat us, though it would have been hard for them to do so. But they didn’t.”
“What are you suggesting?” The Watcher stood up, eyes narrowing.
“I’m suggesting that the Xavier Team isn’t stupid,” Unyihi Garum snapped. “They fought like they had an escape plan. And I’m betting they did. We assume too quickly that there is no other exit from the other half. I’m suggesting that that assumption may not be completely accurate.”
“I don’t think I’m wondering anymore why this exit tunnel was kept a secret for so long,” Astrid muttered, brushing away cobwebs.
“From my brief calculations, I suspect that we’ve travelled far enough away from the actual caves that we’d be under the city by this point,” Jroldin remarked. “The tunnel looks manmade.”
“I suspect depending on where we show up that we may very well emerge in the palace,” Reynyagn replied. “Given that this tunnel wasn’t used while the Caves of Dragla was a tourist attraction, and given its secrecy, I suspect that it may very well have been intended to be used as an emergency exit.”
“One which the Sla’ad king didn’t use?” Monty questioned.
“The King of the Sla’ad evacuated the city before it was fully taken over before he was finally beaten and killed in a battle outside in these mountains,” Reynyagn replied. “He wasn’t forced into using this emergency exit, and so he didn’t.”
“And here’s the exit,” Augger said, as they rounded the corner to see a spiraling stair case. Quickly moving up the metal stairs, Augger opened the last door and they emerged out of a secret door in the wall into a room which looked familiar to Jroldin.
“The throne room!” Jroldin said.
“Aye,” Reynyagn replied. “The throne room of the Sla’ad. A well-placed back exit for the king. We’re out, so you can go ahead and signal your ship to pick us up, Zarien.”
Jroldin finally sat down, catching his breath, as he did a quick head count of those in the room. His first count was two over the number that they had, and he briefly wondered why there were suddenly eleven of them, before he remembered that Zarien had returned with two companions. But then there should have been twelve of them… Who-
“Brother Tomas!” Jroldin suddenly blurted out, leaping to his feet. “Where is he? Why-” He stopped as he was met with a couple of averted gazes.
“What happened to him?” Flek asked, obviously in the dark as well.
“Not all of you saw it,” Reynyagn said softly. “It happened just as we collapsed the tunnel. One of the orcs hit him with his lightning bolt.”
“But, but-“ Jroldin stammered, trying to come to grips with what had happened. “Why did we-”
“We couldn’t stop to wait with the tunnel collapsing all around us and so I gave the order to go,” Reynyagn replied in a grief-stricken tone. “I didn’t have enough time to pick up his body before he was buried. I… I’m so sorry, Jroldin.”
“First it was Kaln, then Rider, and now Brother Tomas,” Zarien said softly as they rode in their airship, having successfully completed their escape from the elves.
“We knew coming into this that there would be risks involved,” Augger said. “I only wish that the risks would not have already come to such a great head-count already, when we still are far from our goal.”
“We must press on,” Reynyagn said. “We have two of the Golden Weapons already. We can’t give up now.”
“We must go forward,” Flek said. “Move forward to claim our destiny as the Xavier Team. And may the blessing of the Great One be upon us.”
Date: Kapton 12th, 114 A.U.
The cave crumbled around them as they dashed through the passage into the other half of the Caves of Dragla, rocks breaking around them as they moved out of the passage into a new network of caves. Jroldin tried to stop to catch his breath.
“We can’t stop now!” Augger said. “If we stop, we’ll be holed in too easily! They’ll be swarming the place soon!”
“How are we supposed to escape then?” Astrid yelled. “Our ship’s crashed!”
“Our ship is large enough!” Zarien said. “We brought a big enough ship here so that we could take all of you, if needed!”
“About time someone started to pay attention to important details,” Hagion muttered.
“We can control it remotely as well!” Zarien said. “It’s the latest of it’s kind and whatever. So I can call it to move directly to where we will emerge!”
“Well if that isn’t the newest thing,” Monty said. “You’re a life saver, Zarien.”
“Just make sure that you don’t call it until we’re near the exit!” Reynyagn said. “If they see the ship leaving and chase after it, we won’t have much time to escape!”
“What do you mean you’ve lost them?” Veins bulged in the Emperor’s face.
“Well, I’m not the one who let a whole freaking airship go down into the caves,” Unyihi Garum snapped, letting himself fire back a shot at the Emperor for once. “The machine wrecked havoc on our forces and decimated most of them when it crash-landed!”
“We. Were not. Expecting others out here,” the Watcher said, slowly forcing the words out. “And we certainly didn’t expect any other team members out here to decide to drive an airship into the caves. They caught us by surprise. It won’t happen again.”
“So where are they now?” Emperor Jaigran demanded. “What happened to them?”
“They dashed into a passage and then collapsed it behind them,” Unyihi Garum snapped. “I managed to electrocute one of them before it closed, so one of their pitiful lot is dead, but we couldn’t follow them. I checked the map and apparently they knew what they were doing. We were in one half of the cave complex and they just escaped to another—one that’s only connected by one passage.”
“The passage they collapsed,” Jaigran snapped, cursing.
“It matters not,” the Watcher said in a low voice. “Why does it matter to us if they are in the other passage? There are no other exits. They’ll be trapped.”
“At least one would hope,” Unyihi Garum replied. “I watched them down there. Their strategy rested on getting into that passage and they looked willing to put everything on the line to do so. They had the full opportunity to flee from us, and once the airship crash-landed, they could have tried to beat us, though it would have been hard for them to do so. But they didn’t.”
“What are you suggesting?” The Watcher stood up, eyes narrowing.
“I’m suggesting that the Xavier Team isn’t stupid,” Unyihi Garum snapped. “They fought like they had an escape plan. And I’m betting they did. We assume too quickly that there is no other exit from the other half. I’m suggesting that that assumption may not be completely accurate.”
“I don’t think I’m wondering anymore why this exit tunnel was kept a secret for so long,” Astrid muttered, brushing away cobwebs.
“From my brief calculations, I suspect that we’ve travelled far enough away from the actual caves that we’d be under the city by this point,” Jroldin remarked. “The tunnel looks manmade.”
“I suspect depending on where we show up that we may very well emerge in the palace,” Reynyagn replied. “Given that this tunnel wasn’t used while the Caves of Dragla was a tourist attraction, and given its secrecy, I suspect that it may very well have been intended to be used as an emergency exit.”
“One which the Sla’ad king didn’t use?” Monty questioned.
“The King of the Sla’ad evacuated the city before it was fully taken over before he was finally beaten and killed in a battle outside in these mountains,” Reynyagn replied. “He wasn’t forced into using this emergency exit, and so he didn’t.”
“And here’s the exit,” Augger said, as they rounded the corner to see a spiraling stair case. Quickly moving up the metal stairs, Augger opened the last door and they emerged out of a secret door in the wall into a room which looked familiar to Jroldin.
“The throne room!” Jroldin said.
“Aye,” Reynyagn replied. “The throne room of the Sla’ad. A well-placed back exit for the king. We’re out, so you can go ahead and signal your ship to pick us up, Zarien.”
Jroldin finally sat down, catching his breath, as he did a quick head count of those in the room. His first count was two over the number that they had, and he briefly wondered why there were suddenly eleven of them, before he remembered that Zarien had returned with two companions. But then there should have been twelve of them… Who-
“Brother Tomas!” Jroldin suddenly blurted out, leaping to his feet. “Where is he? Why-” He stopped as he was met with a couple of averted gazes.
“What happened to him?” Flek asked, obviously in the dark as well.
“Not all of you saw it,” Reynyagn said softly. “It happened just as we collapsed the tunnel. One of the orcs hit him with his lightning bolt.”
“But, but-“ Jroldin stammered, trying to come to grips with what had happened. “Why did we-”
“We couldn’t stop to wait with the tunnel collapsing all around us and so I gave the order to go,” Reynyagn replied in a grief-stricken tone. “I didn’t have enough time to pick up his body before he was buried. I… I’m so sorry, Jroldin.”
“First it was Kaln, then Rider, and now Brother Tomas,” Zarien said softly as they rode in their airship, having successfully completed their escape from the elves.
“We knew coming into this that there would be risks involved,” Augger said. “I only wish that the risks would not have already come to such a great head-count already, when we still are far from our goal.”
“We must press on,” Reynyagn said. “We have two of the Golden Weapons already. We can’t give up now.”
“We must go forward,” Flek said. “Move forward to claim our destiny as the Xavier Team. And may the blessing of the Great One be upon us.”
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