Fate - First Reply Captured

[Edric]

There was a clattering of steel as Edric broke the lock, the sound echoing through the cell just as he turned back and faced Henk.

An eyebrow almost immediately perked up as the other Initiate offered his thoughts.

It wasn't often, no, it was almost never that any of his peers asked for them to touch him with his magic. It was an unpleasant feeling, like having your own soul twisted and slowly pulled away. An experience that most would rather not endure. "Alright."

Who was he to try and dissuade Henk?

He could make his own choices, and if he thought this would work there was no point in arguing about it. So without a second thought he stepped towards the other Initiate, a hand extending to grab his shoulder.

Touch wasn't needed, but it helped, and this way he would take Henk right to the edge. "Take a breath."

He told the other boy as he began to take and take.

 

[Henk]

Henk wasn't under any impression that this was going to be anything but absolutely miserable, but unfortunately, he really couldn't think of any better ideas under the pressure of time that pressed down upon them at the moment. If they lingered for too long trying to think of something else they'd be discovered, and the chances of the already weak initiates being harmed increased dramatically.

He felt Edric's touch upon his shoulder, and bracing for the worst closed his eyes tightly.

It was slow at first, a gentle, but uncomfortable tug as though somebody was pulling hair from his head. The longer he allowed Edric to touch him though, the worse it got. A sharp gasp broke his stoic facade as he felt much more than any subtle pull. It was as though his insides were being sucked through his flesh by a cyclone, every ounce his being screaming out for him to flee, to save himself.

If this was Edric pacing himself and holding back so as not to seriously harm him, he couldn't fathom what it would feel like were he to give it all of his effort.

There was no time for him to think about how much agony coursed through his body. Henk needed to work, and he did just that, grabbing the first set of chains and unlinking them, the sharp drop in energy enough to satisfy the strange wards put in place on the bindings. One by one he freed the initiates, with each one his movements becoming slower and shakier.

By the time the last chain was undone, Henk had fallen to his hands and knees, gasping for air.

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric stood behind Henk as he tore off chain after chain.

His expression remained blank, but he watched the other Initiate as closely as he could. Eyes flickered over the boy, and traced the life which still ebbed through him. Every step he took seemed to shed more of his vitality, every wrench against the chain was another drop gone.

It was like nothing Edric had ever seen before.

Henk stood, quite literally on deaths door.

A single strike, a blade anywhere at all, and it would have meant the end of him. Edric had been in the same places dozens of times before, but that was different. He had never seen it before, and a part of him couldn't help the grim fascination within him.

Then the other Initiate collapsed.

"Henk!"​

A voice called out within the cold of the dungeon, snapping Edric out of his trance. Almost immediately he stepped forward, pushing aside one of the prisoners and grabbing his companion's shoulder. Fingers settled on flesh, and in an instant the other Initiate would feel a flood of energy.

It was a spike of life, a shot of every good thing in the world. All flooding into Henk at the same time.

 

[Henk]

If Henk were to have died there on that cold dungeon floor, would he have even known it? By the time the final prisoner was freed, it felt as though he were a shell, moving solely on the little remaining whispers of thought that petered out through the funnel of lifelessness Edric had created within him.

Would it have been such a bad way to go? Certainly far less violent than what usually became of Initiates who never returned. The sensation that washed over his withering body as he curled up on the ground and embraced what his entire self knew what was coming was not panic or fear, but peace. Peace like he'd never felt before.

A jolt, like lightning coursing through his veins.

And the momentary reprieve from existence was over, his skin screaming back to life, his heart pounding like the beat of a mighty drum in his chest. His mouth opened wide, a desperate gasp of air sucking into his lungs as he stretched, eyes shooting open and body sitting up.

For a moment, it was too overwhelming. Too much at once. When the sparks of light faded from his vision, however, he saw Edric, the prisoners now freed from confinement, and the door they sought escape through. Clutching his chest, trying to will his throbbing heart to calm, he nodded up at his partner, a meek smile on his scarred face.

"I'd like to not do that again, if at all possible. Remind me not to get on your bad side, Edric. I'd lose."

With a small laugh, he reaches up with one hand.

"Can one of you help me up? Still a bit shaky."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric didn't move to help Henk, though not out of any animosity. He knew that they still had to fight their way out, and carrying the other Initiate would hamper his own fighting ability. With a slight wave one of the other prisoners stepped forward.

His hand wrapped around Henk's wrist, and then with a quiet grunt he pulled him up and off the floor. "Well done."

It was probably one of the only complements that would ever be heard from Edric. His featured shifted ever so slightly, and it was easy to tell there was no grudge held to the words. A smile briefly touched his lips, and then disappeared as he motioned towards the prisoners.

"Stay behind me." He told them all. "Make sure Henk doesn't fall down, and when I say run, run."

Simple rules, but they still had more than a few guards to make it past if they were going to escape this castle.

It would be easiest if he could just slaughter them all, but Edric knew Henk would prefer to be a bit more quiet. Either way though, the prisoners would have to stay quiet. Most of them nodded in understanding, and quickly the party began to make their way out of the dungeons.

 

[Henk]

Henk braced himself on the prisoner who helped him up, his legs wobbly and his feet still somewhat numb. That certainly wasn't an experience he wanted to have a second time, and hopefully, no such situation would present itself again. Edric offered a quick bit of congratulation, and Henk couldn't help but smirk a little as he nodded towards the Warrior.

"What can I say? All those beatings gave me some thick skin."

It was strange, but for some reason, Henk felt that in that moment the two of them understood eachother more than they ever had before.

Edric took the lead as they made their way out of the holding room. The Initiates were far too exhausted and frightened to make any argument against anything the Warrior Initiate ordered, and they did their best to support Henk as they left the room. As soon as they were clear of the door though, he wriggled free.

"No, behind me as well. This is my mission and I won't see you killed for me."

Again, they weren't going to argue.

Wobbly though he was, Henk managed to step forward and limp to the position behind Edric, sending the last of his light into a little ball ahead of them. "How much you figure we have to cut through to get out of here...?"

Edric

 

[Edric]

As they began to move Edric once again reached out with his senses. Those odd pinpricks of life danced all around the castle, some of them moving together, others slowly wandering down the halls on their own. He tried to focus and find a path, lips thin.

When Henk stepped up besides him no answer was immediately forthcoming. Instead he seemed to loom quietly, and then slowly spoke as they came to the end of a hallway.

Two paths branched ahead of them, each one would lead to an exit. Slowly Edric glanced towards Henk. "Well, that depends."

He said softly, remembering Henk's aversion to being...less subtle about things.

"We can go right, and I think that will take us out sooner." He said with a slight frown. "But we'll have to go through the Guard Quarters."

From Edric's tone and expression it was clear he did not seem at all phased by the idea. "Or we can go left. It'll take longer, but I think we can dodge most of the patrols."

The words came from his lips, giving nothing away to what he would rather do. Though near a lifetime of experience with one another would lead Henk to knowing exactly what Edric likely wanted to do.

 

[Henk]

It was true that Henk was far more passive-minded when it came to avoiding conflict wherever possible. Unlike many of his peers, he found no enjoyment in ending the lives of others. On the contrary, he disliked such violence when it could be avoided. Edric knew this all perfectly well.

Henk's current priorities were a bit skewed, however.

"I assume you're confident in your abilities to disable the guards in our way regardless of our route..." That went without saying, though it was more or less an indirect way of telling Edric he wasn't going to be much help in a fight without a little more rest. "...I do not wish for these Initiates to remain here any longer than they have to. Let's push through the quarters and get out as soon as we're able."

As soon as the words had left his mouth a small swath of worried murmurs sounded from behind him, the wounded and weary underclassmen none too eager to face more of the men who had imprisoned them and bled them for a vampire. Henk smiled, his head tilting back towards the nervous captives they led.

"I wouldn't worry. I trust Initiate Edric with my life, and if I can do that, then so too should you. Just follow close, and be ready to act on our word."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric's smile slowly drew over his lips. There was an almost vicious satisfaction to the expression.

He was not sadistic or cruel. No, he'd suffered enough through his own tortures for that. Yet his way of thinking had been shaped by the Academy. Everyone in this castle deserved to die, they were the enemy. Whether they had families, whether some were more innocent than others did not matter in any way at all. They were here, if they had wanted to live their decisions should have been different.

Slowly Edric rolled his shoulders, standing just a bit taller. "Stay behind me."

He reminded Henk and the Initiates.

Without another word he moved forward. Cutting in the direction of the Pinpricks of the Guards. There was a righteousness to the way he walked, more upright than before. Edric had never liked sneaking around, slipping in unannounced or unseen.

He was a battering ram, and as he ventured down the hall entirely unleashed he was more than pleased to display that fact.

As soon as he neared the door his magic began to lash out. He drew from those still sleeping in their beds, tugging at threads of life and drawing them into himself. Henk and the others would see Edric shifted, and then burst forward with a blur of speed. He crashed through the heavy doorway in front of them, a yell echoing out a second later as one of the Guards called for alarm.

Before he could finish his first word Edric was upon him.

A knife from the Guards own belt flickered up into the Initiate's palm, snapped up in the flicker of a second and stabbed into his throat. Another man falling a second later as a sword planted within his chest.

Edric became a whirlwind of brutality. Never slowing even as one of the Guardsmen ran him through with a blade.

 

[Henk]

The display was absolutely macabre, as it usually was. Were it not for the extra lives that were currently in his hands, Henk would indeed have preferred to take whatever route didn't involve having to see this scene before him. As he stood at the entryway to the guard quarters, Henk winced as none of the guards could stand to the might of Edric's power, not even when they landed their blows with what should have been fatal injuries.

The younger initiates murmured uncomfortably, and some of them attempted to avert their eyes. Henk scolded them. "You need to watch this. You will see so much worse in this world, and you must be prepared for that." Though Edric's strength could be horrifying, it was nothing compared to the terrors that reality, the world outside of their Academy could hold.

As Edric charged ahead, Henk led their rescues past the bodies left in his wake. For Henk, this was something he'd done dozens of times; looking through the dead for a certain object, traveling through the death that he made with his team on a mission, or coming across the grisly scene of a raided and tattered village a minute too late.

But these youths... many of them hadn't even gone on official missions yet. This was that first real taste of death. It was always bitter.

"Remember their faces. They died for what they believed in, as you someday will too. But they aren't truly dead as long as we carry them."

Some understood and some didn't. Remembering the dead who held you captive? It seemed rather pointless.

"On any day, it could just as easily be you. Remember that, and make the most of the escape we're giving you."

Edric

 

[Edric]

The butchery did not take long. As Henk offered his tutelage to the young, Edric did what he did best.

In his wake he left the guards, some dead, some dismembered, and others hiding as best as they could. Edric did not care if they all died. To him they represented an obstacle, nothing more. Something that had to be moved, and now they had been.

It was that simple.

He was not bandying lives, not trading one for another. These men had chosen to stand against Vel Anir, against him. Those that didn't? What did he care.

His chest slowly rose and fell, hand covered in blood and gripping the hilt of a sword tightly. Splatters of crimson covered him, but he paid no mind as he stalked towards a door on the other end of the room and caught up with Henk and the others. "Let's keep going."

Edric said, either not caring, or not aware of the gruesome visage he now kept.

"The gate will be just up ahead." As he stalked forward he caught the eyes of the young girl who Henk had spoken to first, the Initiate. She stared at him with fear, terror in her eyes.

It never occurred to Edric that she might see him the same way she did that vampire.

 

[Henk]

These young Initiaites. These children... They hadn't yet been broken and molded into the weapons that Henk and Edric were. There remained a level of naivete, of innocence within a large portion of them that the reforms of the revolution had offered solace to. It was the entire reason that Henk held hope for the future of the Academy. The cultivation of that innocence into warriors who fought to protect, not merely weapons to be aimed and loosed at any who stood in the path of the city.

So when they emerged a stone's throw away from the gate, the ordeal of traveling through Edric's devastating wake, while not physically damaging to them, had exhausted all of them mentally. Was this what they were meant to be? To some, the thought was something they would relish. To others, it was an eventuality they dreaded.

And as the young girl met Edric's gaze, she clung tightly to Henk's jacket, as though she could be next.

"The faster the better. None of the children are in danger of death, but they still need medical attention as soon as possible." Henk actually looked the worst of all of them, his skin pallor and eyes heavy with bags beneath, but they'd all been trained to feign strength in their weakest moments.

The outside gates ahead as the sunlight touched their skin again were, unsurprisingly, closed off. They would have been the moment anybody caught wind of their presence in an attempt to stop their escape. Several more guards, armed with bows, lined the wall on either side of the gate and took careful aim down at them.

Even weak as he was, it wasn't hard for Henk to flicker some light towards the archers to throw off their aim.

"Take them. I'll go work on the door."

Edric

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced up at the walls, arrows sailing down around and between them as Henk's light flickered in the eyes of the guardsmen above.

For a brief moment he was about to object, but one look at Henk was enough to tell that he couldn't do much at all. The other Initiate was half a heartbeat away from stumbling onto his face, another blast of light or...almost anything it seemed would have him been the last knockout blow. "Get them through the door as soon as possible."

He told his companion.

"Don't wait for me." The words left his lips, and Edric took off in a sprint out from under the cover of Henk's light.

Quickly he darted through the courtyard, and almost immediately the archers began to call out. Arrows began to pull away from Henk and the Children, launching directly at Edric. They lanced through the air, piercing into the ground and stabbing just shy of him as he launched himself up and off the ground.

Edric threw himself against the wall, fingers grasping onto outcroppings and broken rocks as he began to scale his way upward. The first arrow finding purchase in his flesh just seconds later.

 

[Henk]

Don't wait for him. As if Edric would have let him hear the end of it if he had. Henk knew the other Initiate was more than capable of covering their escape; it would take more than arrows and swords to put Edric out of commission permanently.

Still, it seemed the last little flickers of light he could manage made for decent enough cover, as the initial volley of arrows from the guardsmen atop the ramparts all shot just wide of their target. It wouldn't take them long to correct themselves, however, and Henk needed to move. Ushering the frightened Initiates behind him to follow, they used Edric's distraction to slip through to the gates, massive metal doors that stood out against the otherwise cobbled stone castle they'd just escaped from.

Henk bit down on his tongue as he gave the gates a once over. They seemed to be opened and closed by a wheel mechanism, probably operated from the same place the archers were perched, if he had to venture a guess. For any normal escapees, this would have been damning, but Henk had a cavalcade of super-powered children behind him, tired and exhausted, but eager to be freed.

They went to work quickly on Henk's orders. Javier began taking chunks from the earth underneath the gates, trying to loosen them enough to budge without the use of the wheel winch. Another Initiate, Maha, summoned blades formed out of magic, hurling them up at the archers in an attempt to deter them from harming Edric or themselves. Henk slid his jacket and shirt off, exposing his back to the sun and using its light in an attempt to drum up enough heat to soften or melt the gates entirely, and Casca had cloaked himself, using his small frame and dextrous hands to being scaling the wall towards the wheel mechanism.

Eventually, all of them would succeed.

Henk's heat softened the metal doors enough for Javier's terrain manipulation to dislodge one of them from its place. Casca reached the top of the ramparts and began to turn the wheel soon after. One of the archers noticed and took aim at him, but was quickly deterred by a magic blade through the skull courtesy of Maha.

The already dislodged door swung open easily, and Henk and the initiates funneled through, save for Casca, who climbed down the wall.

The younger initiates broke into a sprint, putting as much distance between them and the castle as was possible as Henk motioned towards the hill he and Edric had set camp on. Turning, he called back to the imposing structure behind them.

"We're all clear! Get the hell out of there!"

 

[Edric]

Edric moved like an animal. His fingers bit into the wall, his voice booming with a bestial roar, muscles flexing as he clawed his way up towards those above.

Arrows rained down upon him. The archers calling in a frantic panic as more and more struck into the Initiate's flesh. Shouts echoed out, calling for tar, for more arrows, for anything that might stop the creature making it's way towards the top of the fortifications.

Panic struck them as Edric launched himself upward.

His magic lashed out, death falling on those closest to the edge as their life was ripped and torn away in an instant. Fingers lashed at withered bones, ripping and tearing away what little vitality was left to be found. Chaos broke out upon the wall. Panic rushing through the defenders as the realization of what they faced fell upon them.

The kids below were forgotten.

Men drew swords, others simply cried in panic and made for the stairs.

Edric did not care which was closest. Cutting into the enemy with nothing more than his own hands. The shattering sounds of broken bones and cries of pain nearly drown out Henk's shout. The other Initiate's voice calling through the din of violence.

A snarl escaped his throat as he turned his head, snake-like eyes peering down at the fleeing children. Fingers unfurled from around the throat of a dead guard, and with quick snap he launched himself over the side of the battlements.

Dust plumed as he landed, his muscles screaming as magic coursed through them to support the weight of the landing.

Half a dozen strides caught Edric up with Henk, blood splattered over the younger Initiate's features. Behind him upon the wall shouts echoed out, some calling for reinforcements, others simply screaming in pain. "Come on! Before they regroup."

Edric said, knowing the chaos he had sown would last for only so long.

 

[Henk]

Edric had a tendency to go overboard when he began to find his rhythm in slaughtering his enemies, and Henk had tasked him with clearing the ramparts knowing there was a chance he would get carried away and come separated from the group. Thankfully, he pulled away as soon as he had a large enough opening, a bloody warrior fresh out of a gruesome battle leaving a place that posed no further threat to him.

Henk wouldn't call it heroic, but it was a sight to behold.

The soldiers that they did leave behind were doing their utmost to regroup and pursue, but Edric had sliced such a gash in their numbers that gathering enough souls to mount an offense was a fruitless effort. Ultimately, Henk looked behind them as they fled to see only a small cabal of armored individuals traveling ar behind them, eventually stopping entirely.

Somehow, against all odds, they'd actually pulled that stunt off.

Henk kept the young ones moving, not letting them rest until they reached the camp atop the tall hill once more. As soon as the snuffed out fire that Edric had built was visible, Henk clapped his hands together to gather attention. "Alright, take a moment now! Sit down and catch your breath, we still have a long way to go."

The children didn't need to be told twice, and once Henk gave the fire a quick flash to get it burning again, they huddled around it like moths to a lantern. Even if it wasn't terribly brisk outside, the warmth of flame after being confined to the darkness of a dungeon was comforting, Henk knew from experience.

"Ed. Hell of a job back there. Thank you, for covering me. We seem to keep saving each other's asses today, don't we?" Henk smirked over at him, keeping his distance from their rescuees so that he could speak with the other Initiate discreetly, still watching them with one eye.

 

[Edric]

Edric slowed to a stop, standing by the clearing and allowing Henk to speak to the rescued Initiates.

He did not move any closer to them, remaining just outside of view even as the flames cast a modicum of light into the clearing. Edric knew what he looked like, half covered in blood, features almost as grim as the vampire he had Henk had slain.

Eyes cast towards his companion as Henk approached, a small smile touching his lips.

"Seems so." Edric agreed, attention turning back towards the Initiate.

Despite it all, his callousness, the way the day had begun...they had undoubtedly done good work here. Their mandate had been to learn, understand what was going on, but instead they had gone above and beyond. They had saved nearly a dozen of their own.

Today had been a good day. "We can call it even, yeah?"

 

[Henk]

Even.

After all the two of them had been through together, the trials, the sparring and the weight of a city's ego resting on their shoulders, the notion that Edric had ever owed Henk anything almost seemed laughable. There'd been a time when Henk disliked this man, but with clear eyes, and an ending so near in sight, to be so petty as to begrudge him for old wounds would do everything that they'd accomplished a disservice.

Edric wasn't his enemy. and he never had been. Though the word would never likely be used by either of them, Henk knew now, looking at the scene of a dozen rescued children around blazing embers, that Edric was a friend. A friend in a world that offered them very little in terms of companionship. So, The Warrior's words were met with a smirk from the boy whom he'd once thought a weakling, and who'd once thought him a monster.

"Even."