Ascending Legends

[BookWyrm]

Dayn had to admit that he was happy to see her smile. "I will find some kind of armor that is light and easy to move in one of these days."

 

[Dragongal]

"I may still say no just because I don't want to look too intimidating as a healer. Y'know how that is."

 

[BookWyrm]

Can't win for losing. "I guess I'll just end up taking a lot of arrows for you then." Dayn looked up from his work and smiled at Arryn. The statement had been a poke for fun, but in a way he really meant it.

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn looked at him for a few moments, then back to her greaves. He'd won this little battle. "Fine, you can find me armor, I can always make minor changes to the armor anyway."

 

[BookWyrm]

Brows furrowed, Dayn's mouth hung open for a moment before he finally mulled over what Arryn had said. "Oookay. I can do that."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn glanced over at him and chuckled at his expression before leaning in to kiss his cheek. "You're not going to be taking arrows for me if I can help it."

 

[BookWyrm]

"I would, gladly even if it came down to it. But I appreciate the sentiment."

 

[Dragongal]

"You'd take an arrow for me, and I'd wear armor for you. It works." Arryn laughed as she returned to blacking out her greaves.

 

[BookWyrm]

Once the preparation was completed and the time had passed, and after the tedious process of armoring up, Dayn pulled his cloak tight around him to help hide his facade before turning to Arryn. "Are you ready for this?"

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn nodded and pulled the hood of her cloak up. After a few moments, she pulled Dayn into a tight hug. "Yep." Soon after, they were trekking up the mountainside with Theodas, Kalie, and Matthias. Theodas had informed them when they were at the foot of the trail, that there were indeed mountain lions in the area of the caves, and that he believed most of the men to be asleep and/or drunk. There was to be no speaking until after the raid had begun. Now they stood outside of the cave, listening closely. There was a slight glow from flickering torches on the inside of the cave, which was dulled by some dark camouflaged cloth that hung from the top of the entrance. Arryn squeezed Dayn's hand, then let him go. Theodas looked over the expectant group, took a deep breath, and nodded. The raid had begun.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn dropped his cloak, letting the ash and coal staining on his armor do it's job as he eased forward towards the entrance. He felt his body adjusting to the darkness, both his wolfen senses and his new shadow magic playing to his advantage. As he closed the distance he slid his dagger from it's sheath before pausing long enough to await the go before plunging into the breach.


As Theodas predicted even the guards that were supposed to be keeping watch were asleep. They wouldn't be waking up again in this life. Dayn kept to the front like they had planned, surprisingly quiet despite being the only fully armored member of the team. Dayn came around a corner just as a staggering, drunken slaver. The man had to squint to make out Dayn, who stood right before him. The slaver's eyes widened and he opened his mouth, but an elbow to the face stopped the noise. Dayn quickly wrapped his arm across the man's throat and pulled him down, exposing his chest for the dagger's work.


Dayn looked around, making sure the area was cleared, before joining up with Arryn as they split off to find the slaves.

 

[Dragongal]

As they moved forward, a man in one of the rooms off the hall happened to walk out. Before anyone could do anything, an arrow streaked through the air and cut his yell - and his life - short. As Arryn and Dayn separated from the group, they encountered less people from the others, but instead winding hallways with numerous off-shooting rooms. Not long after they had separated, a shout was sounded in the distance behind them. Now the fight was on. The sounds of battle could be heard behind them, attracting the attention of any slumbering or lazy slavers to the others' position. Dayn and Arryn quickly encountered some groggy brutes. Arryn put her sword through one's heart, and let Dayn take care of the other before continuing on, the sound of clashing blades and cries of death ringing out behind them.


Finally, after a few more simple fights, they came to the end of the hallway. A large, roughly-made wooden door was set into the entrance to another cavern. Since the entrance wasn't cloth, it was clear that this was a place of importance. The guard that had sat near the door (now dead) was an indicator too.Arryn stood next to the door with her hand on the handle. "There may be guards inside. Are you re - "


There was a child's scream from inside, and Arryn's eyes widened and took on an animal edge as she immediately tried to open the door, which turned out to be locked. She was in full-on raid mode now. She handed Dayn her blade and regretted not having her shield for only a second before casting a shield around the edges of the door, separating it from the wall as much as possible before she kicked the door in.


A large, dark cabin was revealed before them. A single torch in the back lit the scene of many dirty, terrified children and a few young adults huddled around the walls of the cavern. The older ones tried to shield the younger ones, but to little avail. The whole cavern smellt of dirt, old blood, fresh blood, and innumerable other disgusting things, but the blood most prominently. There were two slaver men - one with a whip and one with a sword. They were trying to usher the slaves out and into the hallway where Dayn and Arryn were standing, in the hopes of overwhelming their enemies and giving the raiders no way to attack without hurting the slaves. The slaves were too scared to move. There were at least thirty slaves, likely more. The oddest part was likely the slaver woman, who had a sword and whip on her belt. Very few women were slavers, but this one in particular incensed Arryn. Clearly a lady of nobility in some form based off her silk and leather fighting outfit, with plenty enough money and other things to attend to, whipping slaves as a pastime.


The slavers turned to look at Dayn and Arryn. Arryn didn't look back at Dayn as she said, "Bitch is mine."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn sheathed his dagger before bringing his fists into the palm of his empty. It was dark enough that the slaves wouldn't see it, but the shadows moved around the slavers, wrapping around them and holding them in place. Slowly Dayn pressed his thumb against his palm and pulled it as the shadows disarmed the slavers and dragged them to the floor. Hard.


Dayn reached over and grabbed Arryn's shoulder, spinning her around to look at him. "Not in here. Not with the children in sight." With just a flick of his wrist Dayn drug both of the slavers out of the room. The one slaver was almost completely consumed in shadows before there was a loud snap. Just moments later the shadows departed, leaving a mangled and twisted body in a heap on the floor. "Take care of her in whatever way you want, just do it out of sight."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn nodded solemnly. She'd slipped up a bit there. She cast a shield around the survivng slavers and threw them down the hall with considerable force. Seconds later a vague cracking sound could be heard.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn looked down the hall for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking back at Arryn. "Check them over. I'll make sure nothing gets in here."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn nodded and walked further into the cavern. "An bhfuil gach duine anseo labhairt Northern nó Common ?" A young girl of about twelve stood up and slowly, meekly approached. "I speak Common and Northern. I'm better at Common though, ma'am. Some of us don't speak either language, just bits of each. We all know a number of the same words, though, so I could tell them what you say if they can't understand." Arryn moved she she could kneel on one knee and get a better look at the girl. As she reached out the girl pulled back. "No, it's okay, just come here. I promise I won't hurt you. I'm a healer." She stopped pulling away and Arryn gently took her chin in her hand and turned her head, revealing a dirty, half-healed cut from her collarbone to her ear. "Do you have a name?" "Mazy." "Alright Mazy. Can you tell them that I'm a healer, and he's here to protect us? He's my husband, you can trust him." Mazy looked Dayn over slowly. "He a knight?" That would mean Dayn was nobility. Was a white lie better in this case? She didn't want to lose the girl's trust if she found out. "He's a knight errant. But it's okay, I promise. He's not going to hurt anyone either." Mazy nodded slowly, though she kept a wary eye on Dayn, then on the weaponry scattered on the ground, before turning to the others and speaking in a number of broken languages. Arryn looked up to Dayn and smiled grimly.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn shrugged before turning his attention back out into the hall. It wouldn't do to worry any of the slaves or bother Mazy by doing anything. The last thing they needed was for one of them to freak out because there was a strong looking man in blacked out armor in the room with them.

 

[Dragongal]

Most of the slaves stayed huddled against the walls, but a few slowly approached. Arryn took off her pack and pulled out her medical kit to set to work on Mazy first. The wound was old and uncared for. She cleaned the wound carefully to keep from hurting Mazy and/or startling her. A small boy moved near Arryn and quietly asked, "Are we going home now?" Arryn looked down at him and smiled a bit. "Once I heal those who need it." An older girl slowly approached. Arryn managed to see her grab a sword off the ground and throw up a shield as the girl threw herself at Arryn. "DAYN!" Arryn pulled Mazy close in case the girl broke her shield. The girl was screaming about how Arryn and Dayn were murderers and evil monster. A young boy of around twelve picked up a dagger and joined in her attack, but for different reasons. Something about being new masters and treating the slaves worse than the last people? The slaves who had crawled closer immediately scattered away from the crazed youth. "Get their weapons and get them out of here!" She didn't want the girl hurt, but she didn't want the girl around the others.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn moved with surprising speed to stand beside Arryn as he called out to the shadows. They responded by wrapping around the two slaves and disarming them before completely enveloping both of them. Dayn unsheathed his sword and looked at the others in the room. He slowly moved the two trouble makers to the other side of the room before depositing them into the corner, one on top of the other. They were both unconscious but alive. "Let's not make another stupid decision. We're not here to hurt you."

 

[Dragongal]

Arryn lowered her shield and let go of Mazy. As she walked around and gathered the weapons, she quietly asked, "Those two normally troublemakers?" Mazy nodded a bit. "Twon started being scared of everything about a month back. Arlet was... closer to the slavers. She thought that if she behaved and did what they said... even helped them... that she would be rewarded. She was the slavers' favorite. She got nice food and eventually they even took her chains off. They... took her out of the cavern a lot...." Mazy looked down at her hands, where there were scars on her wrists from thick metal cuffs. "They only chained the ones who fought or were stronger. Mages just got these cuffs." Arryn nodded solemnly and returned her attention to the cut on Mazy's neck. "Well, you made the right choice, not listening to them. Where are you from." "A little ways south, past the mountains." "Who are your parents?" "I dunno. I lived on the streets. I didn't like the orphanage." Arryn nodded again and brushed Mazy's blonde hair back as she went about bandaging the wound. "What are you doing?" "Bandaging your cut." "You never said your name." "Arryn. He's Dayn, if you couldn't tell from my yelling." Arryn let Mazy go, since the wound was as healed as she could get it at the moment. Mazy smiled a bit, then looked to her wrists. "What about the cuffs?" "We'll have to find the key." True, Arryn could true to bring the temperature of the cuffs down until they were brittle, but she dind't want to risk giving Mazy frostbite. As she started tending to a young boy with wrists cut by his chains, Mazy walked over to Dayn and reached up to gently take his hand in hers. "Thank you for helping save us."

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn looked down at Mazy. Her hand was so small compared to his own. As a whole she seemed much smaller because of him being armored, but she was brave for walking up to someone she didn't know. Dayn slowly closed his hand around Mazy's and squeezed it gently. Beneath his visor he was smiling as he knelt down and gently mussed the girl's hair. "You're welcome."

 

[Dragongal]

Mazy smiled widely up at Dayn. Arryn quietly said, "Mazy, can you tell them to bring any wounded or injured to me, and Dayn, could you please get more torches? This cavern is too dark." Mazy walked back toward the huddled group and started speaking in her broken languages again. A few more of the slaves approached Arryn with varying injuries. She was having trouble with one specific little lad who shied away when he felt pain, but the infected cut on his arm made it impossible to help him without causing some discomfort.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn sheathed his sword and carefully went about searching for more torches, returning with four a few minutes later that he lit and spread about the room. To aid what little light they had he dispelled what darkness he could even at the cost of furthering his mana drain.

 

[Dragongal]

"Thank you." Arryn continued in helping the other slaves who were hurt, and soon they were joined by the others. Theodas had a cut along one arm, Matthias had a split lip and black eye, and Kalie seemed fine except for the splatters of blood on her clothing - though the splatters were clearly not her own blood. Theodas had already bandaged his arm. Once the three had checked on Dayn and Arryn, they made another sweep back toward the front to make sure they hadn't missed anyone. Once Arryn had most of the kids as healed as she could, she handed out pieces of sweet bread to the kids. She had brought it specifically so the kids wouldn't pass out or fall asleep on the way back. She had to admit, though, that Mazy's wound worried her. The child had confessed that the wound hadn't been cared for before Arryn, and it had happened quite a few weeks ago, but she had continued to pick at it. The wound was showing early signs of infection, but Arryn couldn't do much at the moment. The youngest children were five, the oldest was a girl of twenty, though there were many more youths than adults.


Once the time came to head out, Arryn carried one of the youngest boys out, as his ankle was badly injured. When they started walking out, Mazy took Dayn's hand. Halfway out, though, Mazy, unable to keep moving, fell.

 

[BookWyrm]

Dayn had looked down at Mazy and smiled behind his visor as they started out. When the girl fell Dayn reacted as quickly as he could, catching her before she struck the ground. "Come on Mazy, I've got you.", he said as he lifted her into his arms. She needed medical attention, more so than what they could give her. Dayn prayed they would be able to get her somewhere before something happened.