Age of Cataclysm: Book 1-Chapter 4
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Chapter length: 1,391 words (Another shorty. I may merge some of the chapters together when I go through them in the future.)
Current novel length: 9,153 words.
Kaera and Sylfinas creep over to a pile of objects that lay close to the door they just came from; they conclude the coast is clear in the room after assaying it with their eyes, and they have a door straight ahead and a door to the left to choose from. "Let's try the door on the left," Kaera suggested.
Not wanting to have Kaera naked all the way during their escape, Sylfinas proposes a different idea, "Shouldn't we search this room a bit first?"
"What for?" Kaera asked.
"Mainly a suitable set of clothes for you to wear," Sylfinas answered.
Not understanding the urgency, or caring, of Sylfinas wanting her to wear habiliments, Kaera dismisses the idea. "I can remove the clothing from one of the guards we kill."
Frowning slightly at her response, Sylfinas says, "Personally I'm opposed to violence unless it's under extreme circumstances and even then I believe that killing shouldn't be the way to go. Plus, if we dispatch the guards, it'll increase the chances of alerting the rest, and it'll mainly be you doing the fighting."
Annoyed by him opposing combat, Kaera asks Sylfinas, "You have zero experience in combat?"
"If you count getting the shit beaten out of you from groups of people as you stand there and take it, I possess numerous amounts of experience. If not, then there's a paucity of it," Sylfinas replied.
"No training with melee or ranged weapons?"
Shaking his head, Sylfinas says, "Nope."
"Magic?"
Again, Sylfinas shakes his head 'no.' " Born without the natural ability and never learned it."
With one hand on her forehead, Kaera rubs it and capitulates, "Fine, we'll search here for any clothes; then I'll babysit you as we make our escape, and after that, we'll go our separate ways, and I'll head back to my homeland."
"I have some uses, you know," Sylfinas raised his voice.
"Like what?"
"You saw what I did to acquire the keys. Without my assistance, you'll still be rotting in that cage if nothing worse happens."
"True, you did something I've tried multiple times and failed each and every one. You have my gratitude, but I hate looking after someone that can't handle itself in a fight."
"Then I'll demonstrate further that combat skills and having physical strength aren't everything. Now let's rummage through these objects and find you some clothes."
Kaera and Sylfinas manage to open a box and commence searching its contents for a couple of minutes; they find a set of ordinary clothes that look appropriate for Kaera to wear. "These won't conform to my figure at all," Kaera complained after placing them against her bare fur.
"How tall are you?" Sylfinas asked.
"7'4"" Kaera answered, causing Sylfinas to whistle in astonishment.
Just then, they hear one of the two doors start to open, and they hide behind the pile of objects they are looking through. Two members of the organization responsible for kidnapping Kaera and Sylfinas, a male human and female High Elf, ambulate in, and they are having a conversation as they walk to the door of the room with cages.
"So what is this about moving our captives again?" the human asked.
"Word is going around that two people infiltrated the base and wreaking havoc. The boss wants us to relocate the prisoners to a more secure location."
"I heard that she's planning on executing that female wolf. Says that the bitch is costing her too much money to afford to keep her around and sell her." Growling at the mention of her execution, Kaera creeps closer to them.
"What was that?" the human asked.
"Perhaps that's your stomach. It would've been mealtime by now, but that'll wait for a while while we deal with the intruders."
"Whatever." After opening the door, he realizes that it is vacant. "What?" Turning around to warn the elf and give her an order, he sees a figure of a naked, bipedal wolf standing between him and her, growling; Kaera lunges at him, and they are now in a struggle. The High Elf starts to run to alert the others, but Sylfinas tackles her. With fresh blood on her claws, Kaera grabs and slams the female against the stone wall after she breaks free and tries to flee; her grip switches to her throat.
"What do you want?" she asked, summoning every ounce of effort to force those words out.
"Who are you, and what is the group you are in called? Also, tell us the escape route," Kaera demanded.
"I'm Adastra, a member of the Phantom Brotherhood," she answered the question with the same amount of effort; it also takes her all her strength and energy to give Kaera and Sylfinas directions on how to escape. Releasing Adastra from her grip, Kaera turns her attention on the dead human and starts to loot him while she collapses on the floor, gasping for air and choking; Sylfinas notices the High Elf regain her breath, loading a bolt in her crossbow, and take aim at Kaera.
"Watch out!" he warned her as he placed himself in the way of the projectile's trajectory. With a sickening thud on his right shoulder, the bolt causes Sylfinas to cry out in pain as Kaera turns around and immediately throws a dagger; it directly impacts Adastra's head right between the eyes, killing her instantly.
Worried about the injury, Kaera sprints over to Sylfinas. "You ok, Sylfinas?"
"Agh! I'm fine," Sylfinas answered, regretting the minimal movement he made on his wounded shoulder. "No fast-acting poison on the bolt so, I'm grateful."
With her hand on the protruding bolt, Kaera says, "I'm going to remove that bolt."
Needing a brief time to brace himself, Sylfinas says to Kaera before extracting the bolt, "Do it on three. One... two... three. Now!" Being as gentle as possible, Kaera removes the bolt from Sylfinas's shoulder, compelling a painful "agh" sound from him during the process. Blood gushes from the open wound, soddening into his shirt; using his left hand, he inspects the projectile. "Don't see any residue of poison, praise the gods; Adastra was probably a recent recruit to this Phantom Brotherhood organization. She omitted the poison, or she didn't have any, to begin with. Either way, I won't kvetch about this fortuitous situation."
Observing the blood pouring out, Kaera asks, "What should I use to stop the bleeding?"
Pointing at one of the deceased Phantom Brotherhood members, Sylfinas instructs Kaera, "Use that man's uniform. Tear a sizable piece from it and wrap it around the wound. When you tie it, apply enough pressure so the bleeding can stop or minimize it."
After Kaera follows Sylfinas's instructions, he now has a makeshift bandage on the wound, and she lends him a hand in getting him up from the floor. Knowing that there are two more uniforms to try on, she inspects Adastra's set and moues. "This is small for me as well. Does this Phantom Brotherhood group have no female members my size? At least Adastra's uniform is bigger than the previous set of clothes, so it'll fit me better." Putting on the bloody livery, leaving Adastra's corpse wearing underwear, Kaera and Sylfinas inspect the two fresh corpses for loot; they find twenty-three silver pieces, two short swords, four daggers, and a light crossbow with nineteen bolts. Dividing the spoil, Kaera picks up a shortsword, two daggers, and eleven silver pieces while Sylfinas pockets the remaining twelve.
Kaera offers her gratitude to Sylfinas, "Thank you for risking your life in taking that hit for me."
"No problem," he responded. Looking at the corpora, he adds, "Shame that our only course of action resulted in their expiry."
"I know, but it was either them or us, and I chose them. Now let's leave." On their way out, following Adastra's instructions, they hear fighting going on with swords clashing and lightning going off in the distance.
"Sounds like the fighting will be on or very near the path we need to take according to the directions Adastra gave us. Want to aid the intruders, Kaera?"
Kaera's canine teeth appear as she smiles and readies her short sword. "Let's do it! My appetite for payback still burns." Invigorated by revenge or knowing who may be behind the fight, Kaera and Sylfinas charge towards a skirmish's sounds.
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