Chapter 17: Hard Revenge

By now, twenty minutes had passed. Saireks' toes were far too tired much longer to hold him up off the ground by themselves. He had been delaying as much as he could, waiting for the effects of the poison to wear off. It was not much but he even during the time of their torture, he had been able to, gradually at least, been able to move his muscles. He braved to remove his feet from the floor, summoning inner strength inside of him to even be able to do so. He planted them on the door of the closet. Sairek slowly worked his feet up higher and higher against the door, His form soon sideways as he held his breath. His arms slowly slid up to the wall now 'above' him. As he began slowly climbing himself up towards the ceiling of the closet. Sairek hugged his head as close as he could to the wall to position his hood to be unhooked from the hanger. To test this, he squirmed his head around as much as he could; and was relieved he felt no tension on his throat anymore. He let out a big breath, thankful to be able to breathe normally once again.

 

He pushed himself sideways as much as he could in this position, and let go of his grip with his feet, dropping down to the floor. He yelled out in pain from the landing as his head knocked behind the wall and he had landed hard on his back. But to his relief, he had hit the floor. There, he lay for a few minutes, trying to recover with gasps of air, which hurt to breathe in due to his aching body, and the fact he had been suffocating constantly for what had may have been half an hour or even forty minutes. Eventually, he found strength to push himself up to his own feet with the assistance of him leaning against the wall.

 

He tried to turn the knob of the closet door, but let out a growl of frustration when it barely budged. It was locked from the outside. Fruitlessly, Sairek struggled with both hands to pull or push the door open.

"I will... not remain... contained like this...!"

 

He slowly reared his right hand back. The space was small, and he drew every ounce of Ethereal he could find in the small closet room.

 

"Vulk...en...hei...!"

 

Sairek soon threw his fist at the door knob, punching it as hard as he could just as his fist erupted in that deep yellow-orange. There was no explosion, but the entire doorknob along with part of the door burst away, leaving a hole in the door. Sairek soon pushed his back against the door and planted his feet up against the wall. He shoved against the door as much as his damaged body would allow. He managed to pry it open a little bit. He turned back around and now used his hands against it. With a bit more effort, the door popped open with a loud snap, leaving Sairek stumbling out of the room, gasping as he collapsed on his hands and knees onto the floor yet again. He took another few minutes to rest before looking around the room. He somehow managed to find himself to grin weakly when he spotted his staff had still been laying on the floor. He immediately began crawling towards it.

 

When his gloved hand touched the staff, he felt a surge of Ethereal energy like he had felt when he had soaked himself in the Ethereal water. Sairek realized that a large amount of Ethereal was still drawn into the staff from the Vulkenhei he wanted to use before-hand. Had his staff been a normal staff, the energy would have been released without him maintaining. However, Yggdrasil acting like a sponge kept the energy around and relatively, and fortunately for Sairek, easy to gather. He would not need much energy to complete the spell. He glanced over towards the door. It was a good thing he had prepared the spell; he didn't have enough strength to draw in such a large amount now to bust one more door down.

 

Using the staff to rise to his feet, and using it to help him slowly limp over to the door. He sucked in air as he lifted the staff off the ground, standing on his own two feet temporarily, he swung the staff rather sluggishly.

 

"Vulken...hei...!" He chanted as the staff head lit up just a second before it made contact with the door. Sairek was thrown back off of his feet with a breathless grunt from the explosion that occurred and sparks that went flying. He grunted again as he collapsed on his back to the floor. With a groan, he managed to lift his head to look outside seeing it was now late evening.

 

Sairek pushed himself one more time to his feet, limping his way out the door. He moved as fast as he could back towards the Monastery. He would be safe there. He prayed none of those three would have heard the explosion and would be coming this way. They would be able to catch up to Sairek even if they were crawling.

 

Thankfully for Sairek, they didn't come back. He felt relieved as he limped his way towards the Monastery doors and slowly pushed them open. He walked inside, looking up.

 

"He should have come back by now, d****t!" It was Nayleen's voice. He then heard Cyial gasp before calling out to the Prince..

 

"Nay...leen... Cy...ial..." Sairek moaned out, before he felt his legs buckle. He tried to catch himself with his staff, but it was no use. He had no strength left. He collapsed against the rugged floor in the middle of the Monastery hallways. He heard Nayleen shriek out as the two of them rushed over to him and bent down to him.

 

"Sairek?!" Nayleen called out to him. "You're bleeding... W-What happened?!"

 

"We have no time to ask questions," Cyial said in a stern but calm voice. "He needs help right now. Go and find Father Abbot, Nayleen. Tell him to give you an Elixir I had made last night, and rush back over here with it. I need him to come here as well. but take the Elixir; you will get back faster than the Abbot can move. Sairek may not be conscious for much longer to take it... Hurry, go now!"

 

Sairek heard Nayleen get up with no protest. Her feet sprinted down the halls. Sairek then felt Cyial hold him, slowly turning him over onto his back. Sairek let out a groan of pain, but clenched his teeth together to silence himself. His right side was in agony. He felt his upper body lifted up some, and soon his head was against Cyial's lower chest as the boy set Sairek to be sitting upright. The Acolyte held onto him tightly and reassuringly.

 

"It will be alright soon," Cyial spoke softly, although the calmness of his voice had broken and the boy was nearly crying. "The Elixir will fix you up, I promise."

 

"Cyial..." Sairek began slowly. "The b******s... tortured me..." he finished with strain in his voice from the pain.

 

"Stay quiet." Cyial ordered. "Talking will only make it worse for yourself. You can tell me soon enough. Just stay conscious." He said the last bit with extreme sternness in his voice.

 

Sairek didn't argue. The two were silent for a few minutes, although it seemed like an eternity to Sairek. He would had fallen unconscious laying down, but Cyial keeping him upright reminded him he should stay awake. That, and the fact the demon child was nagging him every few seconds to keep awake. Sairek honestly appreciated it. It was helping him focus. Not before too long, pacing footsteps were echoing back to them and Sairek felt Cyial shift some as he turned his head around.

 

"I have it!" He heard Nayleen call out. "The Abbot is on his way too!"

 

Sairek soon felt cold glass touch his lips. "Drink this. It is very bitter, but whatever you do, do not spit it out Sairek." Cyial warned him with the stern tone back in his voice. "You need to drink all of it. I will go slowly so it's bearable for you."

 

He felt the glass tip down and Cyial move his head back to c**k it upwards so the tonic would go down. A warm liquid began pouring into Sairek's mouth...

Bitter was not even remotely descriptively accurate enough.

Sairek struggled to not choke or vomit from the taste; he had to squeeze his eyes completely shut as his stomach churned in repulse. Cyial tipped the glass back after a little bit had poured in, and Sairek reluctantly slowly swallowed.

 

"Ughh..." Sairek let out in disgust at the taste. Could such a disgusting tonic really help him? He questioned the logic of it. Nonetheless, Cyial once again tipped the bottle upwards and the liquid began pouring into his mouth again. Cyial added a little bit more than last time. It wasn't as much as a shock to Sairek as the first encounter, and he managed to swallow it completely once again.

 

Cyial took less breaks in between each swallow until eventually he took none at all, and Sairek continued to down the tonic until at last Cyial pulled the glass away.

 

"You took it all, good job Sairek." The demon boy complimented. "Most people take at least three or more tries to drink an Ethereal Elixir for their first time; but we only had the one left that I just made last night... we couldn't afford to let you spit it out..."

"Thank goodness you did..." Nayleen sighed.

 

Cyial looked towards Nayleen once more. "I'm going to need you to grab one more thing for me quickly. You know the book we talked about yesterday?"

 

There was silence, but Cyial continued. Sairek assumed Nayleen nodded wordlessly.

 

"I need you to bring that to me. It should be in my room where I showed you where I tend to hide it... Please, make haste, Nayleen. I can do the next step but I'll need the guidance of the book."

"Yeah, just make sure he keeps awake." Sairek heard her say before he heard her footsteps sprint off yet again as Cyial put the bottle down. There was silence between the two before Sairek heard more footsteps approaching only moments later.

 

"F-Father Abbot..." he heard Cyial let out with a large tinge of worry in his voice.

 

"How is he?"

 

"...Not good.... He is incapable of sitting up on his own. I had to feed him the elixir... I don't think he will die... but if the elixir doesn't work, he may be hospitalized for a very long time..."

 

"If...?" Sairek managed to repeat out.

 

"Yes, Sairek... 'if'. You already consumed a large amount of Ethereal by bathing in it in less than 48 hours ago." Cyial explained. "Depending on how fast Ethereal has evaporated out of your body depends on how much this elixir will work. It may heal you fully, or it may do very little. The body can only consume so much before it begins becoming ineffective from overdose and then making you extremely ill. Remember when I said that drinking Ethereal is only good in certain situations? This is one of those situations. My book is a spell book. I will be trying to control the Ethereal flow to work on all the wounds and thread them together to repair the damage manually. You will need to tell me what hurts and where. I can only fix as much as the elixir will work though. The Ethereal may seep out of your body at an alarming rate because your body can't take the strain."

 

"...I'll...catch it with my staff... then." Sairek began before Cyial cut him off.

 

"No! Absolutely not!" Cyial said with a voice that Sairek would have shrank back from if he could even move. "Not only would pulling the Ethereal away make it difficult to aim where I need to put it to heal the wounds, but you need to lay down and simply rest but do your best to stay awake!. If you go unconscious during this, then there's nothing I can do. I don't know where you are hurt; the elixir will be wasted and you will have to be hospitalized for a very long time with possibly long-term damage... or... or worse...!"

 

Sairek let out a groan of discomfort. He soon heard Nayleen's footsteps returning not too much later though.

 

"I got it!" She called down from a distance as she soon slowed to a stop and handed the book to Cyial.

 

"What are you going to use it for?" Sairek soon heard her ask after a pause.

 

"Just watch. And please don't do anything to break my concentration. The concentrated Ethereal in his stomach should begin to burst soon."

 

"Burst...?" Sairek weakly thought out. As if on cue, he felt an intense shock in his body. His entire muscles seized up. He arched his back as he yelled out in pain, or as much of a yell his weakened state could offer. He could feel as if his energy was being sapped out of his body. His consciousness had begun to slip in and out.

 

"Stay awake, Sairek!" He heard Cyial call out to him, but he sounded extremely distant. "Where does it hurt? Tell me!"

 

"Ev...Every...where..." Sairek moaned out. As if the answer would be suitable. His head was pressed against Cyial's chest as the shock was becoming stronger and more unbearable. He could feel somewhere distant that his entire body was shivering in pain.

 

"No Sairek, I need to know specifically! Is it your ribs, is it your head? Your left shoulder? I need to know all the specific areas."

 

"Ri...Right... side..." Sairek grunted out. He slowly lifted his left arm up, which was shaking violently from the pressure he was under. He managed to touch his right side specifically where he felt the central ache aside from the Ether doing... whatever it was doing to him. Cyial opened his book and moved his gloved hand to the side, brushing Sairek's hand away to rest it on his stomach. Cyial planted his right hand on the location and his face tensed somewhat a second later. Sairek could feel the shock in his entire body move, as if most of it was being brushed aside to one area and leaving only a little on the side Cyial's hand was on. Cyial's left hand reached into his pocket, and he shuffled around a little, but frowned. He glanced up to the Abbot.

 

"Father Abbot, do you have a small plank of wood for Sairek to bite into?" he heard Cyial ask. He still felt distant. And what a ridiculous question to ask. How would biting on a wooden plank help him?

 

The Abbot who had been silent for a while now reached into his own robes. He soon gave a small nod as his hand pulled out a couple seconds later holding the item Cyial had requested. He handed it to the acolyte whom took it and slowly held it near Sairek's mouth. The Prince only opened his eyes partway to see the item, but his vision wavered and he could only just make it out. He slowly opened his mouth as Cyial inserted it inside. Once in, realization hit him on why he may need this wooden plank.

The pain was going to get even worse. He didn't think he could handle anymore. He was already beginning to waver in and out of conscious thought as it was.

 

Cyial soon placed both hands on the aching point and there was a 'spark' of some kind inside that he felt. From there on, he felt as if he had been melting; submerged into lava and left to die. A putrid kind of heat that made him bite down hard on the piece of wood Cyial gave him and cry out so hard that tears soon began running down his cheeks. Even though he could only make her out with blurry dizzying images, he saw Nayleen had covered her mouth and soon turned away. The heat was stronger on the side where most of the Ethereal had been on one side of his body. To Sairek's relief, this melting pain only lasted about eight seconds, albeit feeling like an eternity. The shocking feeling even itself out again, although the wound Cyial had just healed only tingled slightly. Sairek wondered if experiencing such pain was hardly worth it; he nearly felt like vomiting from the pain even after it had already gone. He may very well vomit if he had to experience that again...

 

Cyial's right hand-index finger and thumb came to Sairek's mouth, grabbing the sides of the wooden plank to slowly pull it out of Sairek's mouth. He had to struggle a bit; Sairek couldn't stop clenching down on it. Deep teeth marks were imbedded into the wood.

 

"Where else does it hurt?" Cyial asked.

 

Sairek didn't answer at first, inhaling and exhaling deeply and rapidly as sweat poured down his face and faint tears streamed from his eyes. Cyial waited patiently for the answer until Sairek finally spoke.

 

"Stomach.... in the... abs..." he managed to groan out finally. His right hand was already resting on his stomach in the area, and he slowly patted it with a shaky hand. Cyial gave Sairek the piece of wood back to bite down on, as the Acolyte brushed Sairek's hand away once more where it rested at his side. This side the energy was pushed away more on the outsides of Sairek's body, rather then just being pushed to one side. It was very soon that Sairek cried out, biting down into the wooden piece yet again as that terrible melting feeling returned. Sairek's conscious wavered again as the boy's head began to slide off of Cyial's chest, and the wood piece began slipping out of his mouth. It stopped abruptly as Cyial's hand shot up, pushing Sairek's head back up again.

 

"Come on Sairek, you need to stay with me..." Cyial spoke to him. The prince only responded with a weak grunt in confirmation. How could he when it felt like he had just ingested a pot of lava? He couldn't even breathe. As Cyial's hands returned back into position on his stomach. He seemed to go slower, or something, because the heat he felt wasn't nearly as intense, but maybe that was because Cyial had nearly been done. Either way it went away again a couple seconds later before Sairek had much of a chance to bite down on the piece of wood.

 

This healing process lasted over fifteen minutes, of Cyial asking where it was, and Sairek having endure the intense heat whenever Cyial was shifting the energy around. The head eventually was the last thing on the list, which Cyial skipped last since it had the highest chance of knocking Sairek unconscious.

 

"Are you sure this is the only area left?' Cyial asked the Prince, who was having to be asked multiple times to respond. So close to being knocked out in fact, that Cyial had abandoned the piece of wood since it was at risk of slipping inside of Sairek's mouth and the Prince swallowing it by accident. Sairek let out a small groan of confirmation.

 

"Then you won't have to endure this one... we will see each other soon Sairek." He answered in a manner of statement.

 

Sairek didn't have much say in the matter. He only experienced a brief second of pain, but didn't even have much chance to cry out. There wasn't even a split second of black before he suddenly felt completely normal. The Prince blinked and rose his head up in a jolt and let out a couple of sudden gasps, as he suddenly found himself being carried on Cyial's back. The Acolyte soon stopped, looking at Sairek.

 

"You awoke faster than I thought you would. I haven't even had time to put you in bed to rest." The silver-haired boy responded as he kept up a slow walk. It seemed he was struggling a little with Saireks' weight but he was enduring it.

 

"Wh...What happened...? First I was... on the floor... you were about to heal my head and now..."

 

"Absence of functional memory." Cyial explained. "Even when one is unconscious, you can still subconsciously remember it. When I knocked you out, your brain wasn't capable of recording even that. In fact, when you woke up a few seconds later, you was like a vegetable, although you was breathing just fine. Your memory functions most likely got turned back on just now as you woke up. Maybe that is what startled you to wake up."

 

"....That's... a scary thought..." Sairek muttered.

 

"You tell me..." Sairek soon heard Nayleen speak out, as the Prince in Cyial's arms turned his head to look around to see her holding his staff in one hand and Cyial's book in another. "I was completely freaking out when you wasn't responding." Nayleen told him. "...Oddly enough, that happening is a good sign."

 

"Do you remember before you went unconscious?" Cyial asked. Sairek turned his head back to look at Cyial and nodded.

 

"That pain was absolutely unbearable... I don't know how I even stayed awake through all of that... That was worse then the tort.... oh... s**t...!"

 

Both Nayleen and Cyial blinked in surprise at the Prince cursing suddenly. Sairek spun his head around, looking around, trying to find a source of lighting to see how much time had passed. "How long have I been out for?" Sairek asked impatiently.

 

"Not even three minutes..." Cyial mumbled quietly.

 

"Good, then with luck, they might not know I'm gone yet..." Sairek said with urgency. "Set me down, quickly."

 

"No." Cyial responded in a stern tone.

 

"What do you mean no!?" Sairek snapped.

"You can't even walk yet. Don't get thinking of any ideas. Please..."

"I feel just fine... is something else the matter with me?" Sairek asked a bit more calmly.

 

"Demons like I do not need Ethereal to survive. We can consume it, but we don't store it in our bodies like humans do. It has to be forced into us, like drinking an elixir like you just did. After all, demons come from a place born without Ethereal... humans however, rely on Ethereal to live. A body without Ethereal energy inside of it for a while can function, but not at full capacity. You can only provide the basic functions. You can stay awake, you can breathe, you can eat. You will not have enough strength however to even stand. You may as well call it that your body right now is on an emergency back up supply. In the case you could not get Ethereal into your body before that emergency supply ran out, then the body will shut down and the person will die. You may experience some problems... you may feel fine, but you may not even have the strength to stand on your two legs. Right now your body is suffering from Ethereal sickness. It's like when you take too much medicine at once. I've expelled all of the Ethereal in your body so that way the shocks would stop, but your body needs time to realize that it's no longer overflowed with Ethereal before it will begin to intake instead of constantly trying to excel it out of your body from having too much. If I kept the Ethereal in, you would still be having the pain that you had before you went unconscious."

 

"Well, I know I don't have it inside of me now, so why am I unable to intake it?" Sairek questioned.

 

"Can you eat a lot when you are full? Can you eat a lot when you feel full even if you know you are empty?" Cyial tried to explain. "You can't just become energized when you are fatigued just because you want to be, Sairek. You need rest."

 

"Dang Cyial, you sure know a lot..." Nayleen complimented. Sairek couldn't help but lightly laugh out at her words. "Yeah, that is a good example to use I suppose." The Prince said. 'But, I don't know if I can stand up or not until I try." He reasoned.

 

Cyial shrugged slightly. "I'll be ready to catch you if you begin to fall over. I suppose..."

 

Cyial slowly lowered himself as he straightened Sairek up onto his legs until his feet touched the ground. Holding the Acolyte for balance, Cyial slowly stood up again. Sairek soon released most of his weight off of Cyial and suddenly knew what he had meant. His legs felt extremely heavy, as if he hadn't walked on them for months. He nearly stumbled from just standing. He took a few moments to 're-memorize' how to walk. And he slowly put his first step forward. And then his next. Gradually increasing speed, but his fast were slow, clumsy steps, and the only reason he was able to walk was because he felt Cyial's hands still lightly holding him in balance. He would topple over sideways otherwise.

 

"Maybe, but you are right... I'm having a hard time walking... I should be alright if I have my staff though... I'll have to use it as a walking stick for now. Maybe I will get more used to this the more I do it..."

 

Nayleen passed Sairek his staff, which he gladly took, and leaned on it a little bit as he steadied himself, holding the weapon with both hands leaned towards his right side. He slowly turned around to face the two.

 

"Now since that is out of the way..." he began. "...We are going to have justice served on the four who did this to me..." He said with clenched teeth. "When I was out going to look for information, before I left the Monastery, an Acolyte stabbed me with something in my side. I don't know what it was, but it was a poison that paralyzed me a few hours later almost instantly. Out on the streets I was walking, when these two Succubus suddenly jumped me..." Sairek's eyes narrowed at the fresh memory. "...and then the poison took effect. I was completely paralyzed..."

 

"Succubus?!" Cyial gasped. Sairek slowly nodded.

 

"They got robes of this here Monastery somehow, maybe they harmed someone, maybe they didn't. Either way they are after me for as far as I can tell, nothing more than ransom. However, they know where we plan to go, and it is unsafe for us to leave town now at night. However, it is unsafe for us to be in it as well considering they seem to have the ability to blend in here. After they had a bit of 'fun' with me," Sairek said 'fun' with disgust. "they hung me on a hanger and locked me in a closet. They said they would be back in an hour or... maybe. If I've only been knocked out for 3 minutes, I believe that leaves us with around ten , maybe fifteen minutes left before they return.

 "I say we go back there, and give them a bit of a surprise... I managed to burst two doors down, so I can't say it won't be suspicious... but their first thought would be thinking I've somehow escaped... Three of us, and four of them. One of them is an Ogre, two are a Succubus, I don't know who the third is. The one who injected me with the poison is a male though. It may be an Incubus. He may, or may not show up. He could still be in this monastery still."

 

"But Sairek, I don't even know if Cyial knows how to fight..." Nayleen began. "Actually forget even that. This is a stupid idea, you can't even fight right now! Sairek frowned at that answer and looked at Cyial questionably. The boy looked down in response towards his feet.

 

"Well... I can do some healing and protection spells... but none of them are really for combat except one..." Cyial answered shyly. "I'm a healer and an Acolyte... not a warrior... The only thing I really got to fight with is..." The back of his robes ruffled a bit, as his tail slowly slithered out, waving a bit here and there in the air to show the two what he was talking about. Sairek looked at the iron spiked tip.

 

"Do you know how to use it fine? Even while wearing those robes?"

 

"I cannot say I am an expert at using my tail in combat but I am no novice either." Cyial sighed and closed his eyes some. "...Then again, if it is an Incubus and two Succubus, they would know how to use their tails much better than I... and their tails would most likely have more length since I am only but a child incubus... The only other thing I would have is that protective spell."

 

Sairek looked at Cyial over before speaking. "You don't have anything else...?"

 

Cyial shook his head. "Other than my book as a back up if I really needed to, no."

 

"It's not like we can go and get you to get the guards to secure the area either... That would rise suspicion for one and the guards had already let them slip that Ogre in the city because they charmed the soldiers apparently... I don't even know why that thing is allowed to wander the streets!"

 

Nayleen spoke up finally to answer Sairek. "Most Ogre's are kind of... dumb... You can literally keep one as a pet, Sairek, some are just that stupid."

 

Sairek shook his head rapidly as he felt they were going off topic. He looked back to Cyial who moved his head to look at the feet, as if he was being lectured he had been doing something wrong.

 

"Well, I won't force you to come with us if you don't want to--"

 

"I don't remember agreeing to anything?" Nayleen interrupted him as she crossed her arms and stared Sairek down.

 

"You I am forcing to come." Sairek answered flatly.

 

"What!?" She shrieked out. "You cannot possibly think that you can--"

 

"We are going to have to confront them whether we like it or not. I'd prefer to have at least some form of advantage. You're going to have to do it whether you like it or not. Best to make it easier on both of us."

"How and why." Nayleen asked in a challenging tone.

"If we don't come to them Nayleen, then they are going to come to me again..." Sairek said in a bit of a tense tone that expressed he was running out of patience. "I know what they look like, and if I sent the whole city on alert then they're just going to run away, and potential get another sneak attack on me again. Sorry, but I am not risked being poisoned like that again. Even now it still takes effort to move my muscles around."

 

"I -- but -- fine... I can't argue with that..." Nayleen admitted. "They would probably mess around in the monastery again..."

 

"Then let's go. We don't have a lot of time left before they come back to the house." Sairek urged.

 

Sairek motioned for Nayleen to follow him, as the boy took a step, and nearly fell over. He managed to catch himself with his staff though and slowly stood up straight again.

 

"Crap... I forgot about that..." The Prince muttered in a dull tone of annoyance.

 

"Are you sure you're up for this...?" Cyial asked Sairek worriedly.

 

"Yes.
"...

"...well.....
"...No... not really. But I don't need to move around much to cast spells. It will be in an enclosed space though so I don't really know. I still think it's the best chance we have."

"Can you even cast spells?" Nayleen said crossing her arms. "From what I get what Cyial did to heal you, which in my opinion isn't even technically healing; all he did was fix the body damage done to you, that your body can't even absorb Ethereal right now."

"I can if I cast the energy into my staff. I tend to do that most of the time anyways. I will just not be able to project the spells anywhere else other than it.

 

"...I'll come." Cyial spoke out suddenly, as he walked up to Sairek and smiled softly. Nayleen handed out the book for Cyial which she had brought him earlier. He held it near his chest as he looked back to Sairek. "If you're going in with such a disadvantage to yourself, then I have no excuse."

 

"Are you sure, Cyial...?" Sairek asked him slowly.

 

"I need to make sure you don't get yourself hurt -- again." He answered back in a confidential tone.

 

Sairek smirked slightly at the response. "I will manage this time."

"When you can't even walk properly?" Cyial asked sternly.

"I rather risk this, than risk these four being free when I am to sleep bed ridden, Cyial."

 

The three of them walked out of the Monastery as Sairek lead the way. He followed the path back to the house. As they turned the corner, Nayleen rose an eyebrow at seeing the door Sairek had burst off its hinges laying in the middle of the dark street as by now the sun had departed and the moon was rising.

 

"Wow. You really did a number on that door." She noted.

 

"Yes... I think 'Vulkenhei' is rather quickly becoming my favorite spell... I just wish it would not throw me back as well half the time, but I can't really control that. At least not yet."

 

Sairek looked back and forth on the streets as he soon walked inside the house. He looked at the broken closet door. The hole wasn't big, and he moved closer to the door, shutting it, as he examined through the hole he left.

 

"I can't see in the closet through this... Hmm..."

He thought for a moment longer before opening the door again and turning back to the other two. "Well, the closet is too dark to see inside. So I will walk back in here and hide in it. They will probably expect me to be gone but move to it anyways to check. And if not, well it works either way. Close the door behind me when I get inside.

 

Sairek walked himself willingly back into the closet. And Nayleen went and closed it behind him.

 

"What about Cyial and I?" She asked through the door.

 

"Find anywhere that is very inconspicuous and hard to see you, but where you can launch out from quickly to ambush them on my signal. Thick covers, or anything of the sorts. I do not think they will pay that much careful of their surroundings. An ambush by me will probably be the last thing on their mind when they see that door blown off." Sairek said through the door. He himself was beginning to charge up a spell, and hold it in the staff so he could get the first strike if needed. He was gathering it slowly, just in case. He was in no rush either way. They had a few minutes left before the targets came.

 

Nayleen took Sairek's advice, finding a load of covers and sheets in corner, which she soon submerged herself in by lifting them up and crawling under. She faced the room before submerging herself under them. Cyial moved over to closed curtains, peeking through. There was a boarded up window behind them. He quickly moved himself to sit on the windowsill while bringing his knees up. He closed the curtains completely masking him as his hands held the rim of the window. It was an uncomfortable position but there was nowhere else he could really hide. But aside from being uncomfortable, it hid him rather well.

 

It wasn't even two minutes later where the three of them heard rushing footsteps echoing down the streets, and barging into the house one by one. Sairek was sure the Ogre wasn't with them. The beast would have been slow and heavy. He peeked through the hole he had left, and smirked slightly seeing that he had been right. There were the two from before, and then that 'Acolyte' Sairek had bumped into earlier.

 

"We've been had... You two should have watched him better then that... now our cover is blown!" He heard the male speak.

 

"He wasn't even capable of crawling! Someone had to come and rescue him! The closet door knob is ripped right off!"

 

Sairek braced himself as Natalia was walking towards the door. She was about to push it open, when Sairek shoved it in her direction. She shrieked in surprise as Sairek threw the staff down, shouting "Vulkenhei!" The explosion occurred and she shrieked in pain as she was thrown on her back hard against the floor. Cyial and Nayleen took that as the signal, as Nayleen pushed herself up, shouting as she went and tackled into Triss, bringing her to the floor. Completely caught by surprise, she couldn't react in time. Nayleen had unsheathed her daggers while under the covers, and as she pinned Triss down, she brought one of her knives right next to her throat.

 

Cyial leaped from the window, tackling the man down himself despite his small size since he was caught by surprise as well. He still held the book in one hand as the two went down on the floor, Cyial chanted out "Paleir" As the man's wrists moved up together, before being slammed down above his head against the floor. Cyial then brought his tail up to the man's throat, the tip of it nearly touching the skin, poised, ready to strike if given the word to do so.

 

Sairek threw himself on top of Natalia, and although he didn't have a lethal weapon, he held the staff with both hands, one on each end, and put the middle of it against Natalia's throat with the middle of his staff, while the other end of his staff pinned both of her wrists against the floor as well. He put a fair bit of pressure down onto it, showing that if she tried anything, he would push down on it to crush her neck if he had to.

 

"...Well, this is a surprise..." Triss spat out angrily.

 

"You should be crippled... How are you even awake right now?!" Natalia growled. Sairek smirked at her frustration. "More than happy to explain..." Sairek said through clenched teeth, motion his head towards his crimson-eyed partner. "Cyial happens to be a very good healer... And for the record, nobody rescued me. I did get out on my own..." Sairek's emerald eyes lit up in anger as his face neared Natalia's. His teeth clenched in anger. "I warned you that I was not a helpless child... It took three of you with a pet Ogre to bring me down and I still managed to escape... You picked the wrong target to try and gather some petty ransom, b***h. I've had to deal with enough frustrations and stupidity in this town... I no longer hold the patience to help mend broken machines such as you lot."

 

Sairek soon grinned with that look in his eyes. A look that made Natalia shiver uncomfortably because she knew Sairek was not lying with what he said. "Much worse... What I am going to do to you is going to be much worse than what you've done to me... You are going to pay dearly for torturing me! Your suffering will be indescribable I will have you begging me for your own deaths!"

Author's Note

Chapter last updated on: January 28th, 2013

Changelog:

- Not much change, just refurbished text all around and fixed a few typos.

- Some minor dialogue changes

Changelog [Febuary 17th, 2012]:

- My Spell Checker decided to go on a bit of a tea break, so as much as I -tried- to fix typos, there may be a lot in there still. Please tell me of any you spot.

- Changed the descriptions of Sairek's Escape to make more sense

- Slightly changed dialogue of after Sairek wakes up

- Omitted the soldier being the blame for the ogre entirely being able to enter the city entirely.