Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Jasmin Orage: Rescue Mission

Jasmin, Charles and Pourri linked up, ready to be taken into the bowels of Mevolent's castle. Before they left, they double-checked their facts. They double-checked that Pourri knew where she was teleporting everyone, double-checked she had the keys to the cells, double-checked she knew where to take them now...and they were off, not entirely sure what they were doing or how sound this plan was. Jasmin took the keys and they teleported to the cell hallway...

-----

Blaze cried out as one of Vehemence's knives slashed across his arm. He backed up some more, trying to give himself as much room as possible. There was nothing to use as a weapon nearby. Behind him led off to the cells, so if he wanted to get away he had to pass Jerry. He pushed at the air, Jerry turned into it but stumbled. As he went to right himself, Gale threw a fire ball. As Jerry dodged, he lost his footing and fell back, hitting his head on a pipe. Gale bolted, trying to run past, but the other man grabbed his ankle. Part of him was paranoid about his elbow after it took the brunt of the fall. There was an unhealthy crunch followed by a shot of agony. He yelped and felt Jerry straddle his hips. The blade would drop between his shoulder blades and he knew it, he had to stop him. Gale did not want to die today. He brought his legs up, wrapped them around the assassin's waist and slammed his legs back down as he tried to roll. There was an uncomfortable wrench in one of his legs, but Jerry ended up losing his balance and sprawling, so all in all it was a success. He tried to scramble up before Jerry could recover, but the assassin's foot swung round and hit him in the jaw. Grunting, he fell back and kicked out wildly and his feet made contact with his opponent's chest, causing him to fall back with a grunt similar to Gale's. At the same time, something clattered to the ground, spinning to land dangerously close to the redhead's ear. He turned his head to look.

It was one of Jerry's knives.

-----

Cadence moaned and distangled herself from a sorcerer who had been coming the other way. She looked back. Her shoe had not knocked out the Grand Mage. He had seen it and moved away. It had hit him on the shoulder and ear instead. He was readying himself as Lilia stepped forward. He hadn't seen what she could do. She hesitated. "This is more trouble than it's worth..." the stuck-up Adept muttered. "Ugh...Grand Mage, I can do this without seriously injuring you, or we can take you somewhere but promise to make it as safe as possible." He shook his head and clicked his fingers.
"You're working for Mevolent. I'm not coming quietly."
Lilia blanked. "Cay left that bit out...but I am a good friend of her brother's...now I'm the one having an attack of conscience..." She backed off a little, but Ravel had learnt his lesson and did not relax. Lilia sighed exasperatedly and rolled her eyes. "Don't say I didn't warn you, sir." She finally straightened up, ready to use her magic again. The clawed hand of her Gist reached out of her chest once more...

-----

Repine raised his head slightly as the French trio appeared in the hallway. It was dark, but Jasmin had soon made a light to see by. Other prisoners were looking up or over curiously. Repine couldn't see much. He could see a shape in his cell that he believed to be Twist leaning against the far wall. The git was probably suffering now. He was a rich little snob used to being spoilt, Kelpsie was sure of it. The sickly necromancer got to his feet as Pourri's brother came over to unlock his cell. The teleporter herself was already teleporting the first set of prisoners out. She came back with wide eyes. "There was an hotel waiting in that clearing!"
"Luna Starr." Charles mused, nodding.
"A hotel?" asked another voice, "The Midnight Hotel?"
The teleporter nodded. "That's what the sign said." She took the hand of one of the next batch, ready to teleport back out. "I'll ask if Luna told him to expect us." She was gone again in the blink of an eye. There was a rustle of fabric behind Repine as Twist began to move. The skinny Necromancer looked down at himself and realised he was still wearing Pourri's clothes. He took a deep breath and exited the cell. Across the hall, Jasmin was opening Baritone and Vex's cell. The two men shakily made their way out. Baritone gave a cruel smirk in his direction. "Kelpsie Repine. Things sure have gone downhill for you, huh?"
"And you, I see." he hissed back maliciously. That was when he realised Jasmin and Charles were glaring at him. The white-haired mage socked him across the jaw.
"That is for attacking my sister and killing my friends." He growled in his throaty voice.
"I deserved that." Repine croaked, hoping that Jasmin would not follow his friend's example. Twist, of all the people, helped him to his feet and even supported him when he grew dizzy and staggered. Most of the prisoners were taken out now and Pourri teleported back in, opened her mouth to say something...

...And Twist's fist crunched into her jaw. She collapsed and there was a tense and awkward air remaining. There were about five prisoners left, not including Twist. Charles turned on Twist and went to punch him, but the shorter man dodged so that it was simply a glancing blow on the ear. Austin let out a low moan. "We're trapped! We're doomed!"
"Shut up." Hissed Jasmin, swiping at the other man. He paused for a moment, thinking how alike Cadence this man looked. He then turned to Vex and sighed. "We'll have to find our own way out now, huh?"
Charles shook his head and turned back to Mr Twist. "He'll show us out." He stated cheerily. "If he doesn't, he'll have to see how easy it is to hit and dodge my Gist."
"I can walk on the ceiling. Avoiding your inner beastie will be quite easy for me." Twist growled back. No-one there had ever heard him speak before and simply stared. His voice was remarkably ordinary. Not very deep, not very light, just a normal man's voice.
"You're mute!" Repine blurted. Twist nodded.
"By choice. Now I choose to speak." He strolled towards the doors. "I'll show you to a certain point, but then you'll have to make your way. I'm in enough trouble already...I might leave myself..."
"Or we might kill you." Charles replied, still in his cheerful tone.
"I'd like to see you try. And then you can be the one to tell my wife and kids how you pointlessly slaughtered me." He walked through the doors and the others went to follow, but Vex hesitated. Jasmin looked back to him. They had met before.
"Dexter?"
"I'm not sure whether I should come with or not..."
"What? Why would you stay?"
"They have plans for me here...at least one of them does..." He began walking, not meeting Jasmin's eyes. "Serpine's son. He wants me to help him take down some of the people on Mevolent's side. He doesn't want the Faceless Ones to return..."
Jasmin nodded. "And we could use this to our advantage too...for now, come with us, pretend you want this freedom as much as the others."

-----

Gale was not used to short blades. They were shorter than his old cutlass and he wasn't sure how close he could get or even if they could clash swords properly. For now he was blocking Vehemence's attacks with the blade clutched in the hand of his good arm. Unfortunately that was his right and he was left-handed, making this twice as awkward. All his left arm was willing to do right now was bleed. He tried to block another move, but Jerry got past and sliced his cheek. This time the redhead didn't cry out, he just hissed between his teeth and let out a low moan as his opponent continued to advance. Why had he done away with his cutlass? Oh yeah...because some girl, Death Rose or something, had once accused him of looking like a pirate.

Just his luck, he backed one foot into the other, causing him to trip and land on his back. He groaned, having smacked his head quite hard on the ground when he fell. He opened his eyes and saw doubles and his vision swam. It made him feel rather nauseous. Vehemence kneeled on his stomach, earning another hopeless groan from the redhead, and raised his knife for the final strike. Gale closed his eyes and waited for the blow.

But it never came. Instead he heard Jerry's scream. Something warm and wet dripped onto Gale's forehead. He opened his eyes and saw Vehemence's empty hand. It was bleeding heavily as the shadow retracted, bringing the knife with it. The assassin slowly turned, and Gale raised his head as best he could to try and see what was going on. He didn't recognise the dark-skinned man, but he recognised the two blondes beside him. Austin Baritone, wearing his jacket once more, and Dexter Vex, holding a fire ball. Jerry stood up, slowly and shakily, and croaked out something that sounded like 'guards'. The then began to run, opening his mouth to call for the guards when another shadow stabbed through his throat. Austin was covering his eyes with his free hand, not wanting to see the blood. Gales vision cleared and he could see a very pale Advantageous Twist and a few others. Twist looked like he was going to be sick. Vehemence was one of his best friends, after all. Jasmin smiled. Vehemence was the second man to have been part of the trio who killed his friends. The third worked for the Irish Sanctuary...this was the odd bit. The third was a vampire.

3 comments:

  1. A vampire? Cool! This is going to be REALLY interesting!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. *Grins*
    It sounds like me, calling people a pirate when they have cutlasses... Oh, you shoulda seen the first time I met the Baron...
    *Dies of laughter*

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is such an awesome chapter!!! I would have reviewed sooner- I've been even more scatterbrained than usual because of my exam week... Anyway, this was incredibly well written, you balanced out the different scenes flawlessly, and put in a ridiculous amount of action that wasn't overwhelming! This is a really great piece- keep it up, please!! *throws flowers*

    ReplyDelete