Ogen walked silently beside Animus, trying to hide his excitement of finally getting off this world, for which he felt he had been trapped on for seven years, rather than days. As they turned the corner into one of the sidestreets, following their white-haired guide the best they could, Ogen's eyes sat on Louie's frame standing among the shadows and the trash and he couldn't hide the smile now bursting forth from his face. Finally, ever since this hellish nightmare began one week ago, he had something to look forward to.
As they began into the dark sidestreet, Ogen turned his gaze from the orangutan and up to Animus, looking for a look of relief or happiness. He saw neither. Instead, what the boy saw was a man with a wary eye; a man who saw the rattlesnake curled up in the bed of flowers, poised and ready to strike the children reaching for the flowers. He saw this face and a flood of unease washed over him, his excitement replaced with anxiety; he saw it and he became afraid. He turned back to Louie and caught what had acquired Animus's attention: behind Louie stood a man dressed in shadows.
The white-haired monkey continued on pass Louie, his pace quickening into a near dash as he hastened out of sight. Their group, on the other hand, stopped before Louie, Ogen hanging back slightly with his anxiety clearly visible. He didn't care about escaping anymore. He just wanted to get out of there--quickly!
"Hey, cuz!" Louie cried out, waving his hand to Ogen and the others (but Ogen felt he was addressing him and none of the others). "Bout time you guys swung our way. Thought you all got yourselves lost in this concrete jungle here!
"Alright, cuz, listen up. There's a ship settin' out in an hour bound for the Eclipse King's crib. Cept it ain't! Nothin' but a cover and ruse to trick them marshals into quickenin' their search. They don't want to be makin' any of his deliveries late, that's for sure. Don't want to be makin' him angry. Naw, that ship actually be headin' toward Traverse Town and you guys gonna be in it!" With that, the orangutan let out a holler and clapped his hands against the ground. "Now come on, cuz, let's get you guys to safety!"
"Who is that with you?" Ogen asked apprehensively, finally addressing the elephant in the room. "The man behind you. Who is he?"
The smile ran from Louie's lips and the orangutan looked away, slight saddened. It was obvious to the boy that he had touched a subject that settled as well as five month old spoiled milk. As if on cue (though rather because Ogen had addressed him), the man stepped forward from the shadows and Ogen's uneasiness tripled faster than he could blink.
The man from the
Swingin' Vine--his disturbingly warm smile lighting up the sidestreet like an unholy ethereal flame in a dark bog--stood before them, the steel tray held against his stomach with one hand. He walked pass Louie, who seemed to shy away in shame, and stopped before the group, his warm smile twisting into a grotesque grin. "It's alright, Louie, I'll handle them."
"I-I'm sorry, man-cub," Louie said, as he began to turn away. His face was pained, his eyes drawn to the cold ground bellow him. "I never wanted this. Truly. But an ape's gotta look out for himself and when them marshals came a-knocken with their Reavers, I had no choice. I'm really sorry."
Ogen felt his stomach tie into a knot and his fear and anxiety reached their boiling point, causing the boy to bend over and let loose the gates of his stomach. Nothing came out. Of course nothing came out. He hadn't eaten in days and certainly did not have the appetite to do so if he could.
Something closed around Ogen's leg and pulled it out from under him, causing the boy to fall to the ground. The thing that had his leg pulled it upward, and as the boy's view shifted toward the ground, he twisted back to see a Cage Reaver with a firm grasp of his leg, followed by a small force of Scuttler Reavers. Ogen's face twisted into horror as realization washed over him. The boy turned and clawed at the ground, trying to rip himself from the Reaver's grasp. He let loose a shout that broke into a shrill cry. "Animus! Quel'loyen! Help me!!!"
---
"Yeah!" Vanessa snapped bitterly. "Why don't you start by helping our friend here carry in this sack of meat?"
With some difficulty, Sir Kay, who, upon closer inspection, was in fairly bad shape as well, and the group finally got Arthur onto Merlin's table, which the old wizard had made way for. He was in a bad way, a large wound across his torso--a sword wound, from the look of it--that was bleeding profusely. If they didn't act quickly, the man would surely bleed to death.
Vanessa grabbed one of the old wizard's pieces of cloth--one which the wizard's old owl had decided to rest on--and applied it Arthur's wound, making sure to knock loose any dust first. The cloth absorbed the blood, turning it to an ugly brown color.
"Wolfscraps!" she called to Galom, motioning the man toward her. "Get your useless ass over here and apply pressure to his wound! I think even
you can handle that!"
As everyone worked together to stop the bleeding, Vanessa fumbled through her pack and pulled out a roll of soft cloth and, with some assistance from Merlin, she was able to fully wrap Arthur's torso. Merlin finished it off by placing his hands against the bandage, green magical energies bleeding off his fingertips and settling onto the man's wounds.
"There," the wizard sighed, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I-It is done. The wound should clot now--hopefully. Now all we can really do is wait."
"Might not be the best of ideas," Kay interjected, tending to his own wounds the best he could. "We were being chased by these armored beasts with whirling blades. A whole pack of 'em. In all my years, I've seen nothing like 'em."
"Reavers..." Merlin groaned, stroking his beard in heavy thought. "
This is not good. I-In fact, I would venture it wise for us to, uh, a-acquire a new base of operations. Lad, would it be wise in assuming castle Pendragon is still as 'well-built' as ever?"
Kay had to think for a moment before answering. "Yeah, it's still standing."
"Excellent! Then to Pendragon we go!"
___________________________
Merlin had gathered his things in his Bag of Holding and they had set out for castle Pendragon. Their trip had been a quiet one, walking across the large grassland with fair haste. They stopped only once, but for a moment, when Vanessa spotted something reflect in the distance during a momentary relief in the rain. When it passed, they pushed onward. When they finally reach the castle, the sun had set and the bits of sky that peeked through was a dull purple.
As they approached, guards burst forth, drawing swords and spears, while archers drew their bows atop the walls. Vanessa reached for her belt and pulled out a group of throwing knives. If she were to die, she would take as many of them as she could with her.
"Stop!" Kay cried, shouting over the heavying rain. "Stop! It's Kay! Let me through! It's Kay! I have Arthur, king of the Britians! Let me through! He needs medical attention!"
Upon hearing his pleas, the guards threw down their weapons and rushed to Kay's side, relieving him of Arthur and carefully taking him inside. One guard stayed behind and helped Kay, whose sudden relief of Arthur caused his legs to give out, slowly limp into the castle. The others weren't too far behind him, when, suddenly--
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCHHHHH!!!!!!!
Through the pouring rain, Vanessa managed to see a black form dropping from the sky toward them. She pushed Merlin into the castle, who stumbled forward before tripping over the stone and landing in a tangled mess, and quickly jumped back, just as large, metallic claws tore through the wooden drawbridge floor where the wizard had just stood. The wood began to give way and the group was forced to retreat to outside the moat as half of the drawbridge fell into the moat.
The large metallic creature regrouped and settled before the group, flapping two great wings as it did. Vanessa was able to make out the creature--no, the machine--perfectly now. It was a Reaver, the largest Vanessa, in all her travels, had ever laid eyes on. It had two incredible wings, which looked much like knives, which were able to keep the construct afloat. Below them hung the two claws that Vanessa had seen clutching for the old wizard but just a moment ago. Between the claws hung a long tail, equipped with a large ax blade, stained red with blood. The Reaver threw its long neck back, letting loose another screech through a massive, tooth-filled mouth. It dropped its head down and eyed them through a single, red eye, which seemed to rotate as Vanessa stared at it.
"Give us the old wizard!" a voice cried out from behind the Dragon Reaver's neck. Vanessa scanned the construct and found the outline of a person--a marshal, no doubt--hunched behind the Reaver's form. "Hand over the wizard and you will be spared!"
"Ha!" Vanessa spat, readying her throwing knives. "Not a chance!"