King's Court

There was nothing but silence from the aged arcanist as his silent steps carried him down the stairs beneath the road. But finally...

"I hide my face, young one, because I must. It is too dangerous to let it be seen." Erk offered more as he climbed. Soon, however, the light began to grow dim. The air became more stale, and foul as they descended, and the torch began to shrink and sputter in the still air.

Talia had gotten out the back and saw the bees swarming over head at the front. The smoke in her lungs made her cough harder and her head feel light. "Uggh," She groaned staggering over to the front of the building dazed. She saw everyone fighting and her eyes widdened as she watched. A bee flew over to her and she gave a small gagging noise at how nasty it looked. She pulled out her sword and sliced it into two and staggered oer to the alley where shouts were coming from a trap door. "Where's this lead?" She wondered aloud but leaned to far in and went tumbling down the stairs landing on her butt on the flat terrain at the bottom. "Ouch!" She grumbled rubbing her soar head.

she looked over at erk

even though the air smelled she didnt let it show on her face even though her throat was itching to cough

as she got deeper it became harder for her to control and the smile began to fade

she looked nerviously at erk and then straight ahead

she didnt dare say anything that would make her sound weaker that she already was

she started to hold her breath not able to help a small 'ahem' but that was a big mistake

as soon as she took a large gulp of that air she started choaking on it and she nearly fell over

"sorry..i.." she coughed and then covered her mouth "im..sorry" she repeated

'i feel so weak and he looks so normal! i must be the weakest girl on the planet not to be able to breath in some nasty air!' she thought and felt warm

"im fine...lets keep going" she said cough less and less

she she finally caught her breath she looked over at him

"im sorry that im weak...im really trying to prove myself... its proving harder than i thought... i dont think anyone thinks i will make it... but i know i can... i have to" she said and looked back at erk with his hood up

"the way you wear your cape is in a way like how i wear my smile... its to dangerous for me not to..." she smiled slightly then looked at the ground as she walked

'...its to dangerous to my heart...' she thought not able to finish the sentence out loud

Ialdo slashed at a few more of the bees with his daggers, now stained with blood.
"Well, it's kinda hard with all these bees around!" Ialdo said to the man and started to retreat down to the trapdoor. The second he stepped inside, the bees stopped attacking him and started to go for the civillians. Ialdo sighed with relief and then gagged - the air down here was dirty and it would be unwise to breath it in. Ialdo pulled his hood over his head and used some of the material at the side of the hood to cover his mouth.
"So, where does this lead to?" He asked the man.

*Yumiiko started panting due to the stale air, then she twitched as if something slapped her in the face, she stood motionless, not breathing, not blinking, surprisingly not talking*

*she then started walking the stairs again, but slowly she took steps as if she were no worried of the danger that trailed behind them, she walked at the back of the line, falling behind, but not screaming or pleaing, simply walking slowly as if she had turned zombie*

Talaia got up dusting herself off then took a small breath instantly covering her mouth. "Yick! What died down here?!" She hissed moving quickly to catch up with everyone. She saw the blank look on Yumiiko's face and decided she shouldn't ask because it wasn't any of her buisness. "This really is an odd place...." She whispered to herself then fell silent as she fallowed.

"We're entering the city's catacombs. In the 7th century, 300 years past, this town was the center of a large empire. Their technology and skill with engineering was highly advanced, and you can see that skill in some of the remaining structures, such as the churches and the older wings of the palace. And of course, in this sewer."

"The inhabitants of the capital, Valinor, had developed a sophisticated system of transporting waste out of the city by routing a river through the catacombs under the city and using it to carry the waste into the surrounding flatlands."

"However, eventually, due to over-irrigation and too much diversion of the river, combined with drought caused the river to dry up, and the sewer system fell into disuse, eventually forgotten and built over. And when the Numenorians conquered the empire, Arda, all knowledge of it disappeared."

"But it's lack of acknowledgment serves our purposes well enough, since the chances are slim that any will know of it's existence."

"And to answer your question: we are taking the catacombs to the outskirts of the city, where I have horse ready to convey us from here. Although we'll be making a detour."

The had reached the bottom of the stairwell. Their surroundings were pitch black, and shrouded in darkness outside of the narrow circle of their torchlight. But from vague silhouettes of the walls around them, some of them were able to discern that they were standing in a large rotunda.

The rotunda was approximately one hundred feet in diameter, and large channels led from what seemed to be a shallow pit in the center of the chamber, no deeper than five or six feet. The pit sat in a slightly raised platform, and the channels ran on a decline from it to several openings at regular intervals within the walls of the rotunda.

They were all relatively alike in size and shape but for one, which was substantially larger than the rest of the the openings, and the channel was much deeper and wider. This channel was on an incline from the pit, and the water that would have run in it was going downhill into the well in the center.

Erk gestured at it. "This channel is where the river would have come in to carry the waste dropped into the well into the center from above, and carried it downhill through the rest of the city, and eventually out into the countryside, into artificial wetlands."

"This channel will lead us out of the catacombs and into the area where I had transportation and supplies prepared, as I had suspected that an attack might happen in the city from Baaj, pre-emptively. I now see that my caution was warranted."

"But I waste time with words. We must go, and quickly before the Hunters catch onto their scent. The smoke from the Candle will only thwart their noses so long."

Erk said no more, and began to treck up the incline, and along the larger channel. Through all this, Erk had kept his back to all of them, and the light from the torch held far out from his body threw his entire face into impenetrable shadow. Never before had he looked so aloof... and almost menacing. His aged, white hands seemed to gleam as they gripped the shaft of the torch.

Lins got back to the Candle, and wasn't surprised that everyone had already gone down that trapdoor. He followed suit as he no longer wanted to be seen by those blasted bees, and steeped down the trap door into a foul smelling tunnel area. Smells like the dead down here. It was lucky for lins to still have hishelmet on as he pulled down his visor to help him rid of the smell. He walked down the tunnel hurriedly as he attempted to catch up with the group. The only thing he had going for him was a faint glow coming from some of the other tunnels and the faint tip taps of what he hoped to be there foot steps.

He made sure he made as little noise as possible since he did not want any to be pursuers finding him. As the tunnels light began to fade away he reached into on of his leather pouchs to grab a touch with a pieces of flint and some paper. He soon had a light to help him guide his way around the tunnels ahead of him. Didn't know that we had escape tunnels liek these under the city. Lins kept moving faster and faster as he thought he saw a faint light ahead of him. The group must be not far ahead he thought as he kept up his pace. All he hoped that one of them would see his touch behind them

((Wow, I have seem some great posts in this thread since I've been gone. I'm extremely impressed right now, good job every one. When I get back to my own laptop, I'll try to keep up lol))

As Shinu and his new ally climbed into the chamber one after another, no words were spoken anymore about what just happened. Shinu wasn't going to thank him with words for his help, and expected no praise either. They did what they must do to survive, and it was time to move on. Shinu was a professional, and knew this now about the man he'd just met as well. Erk's insistence that they must move quickly was enough for the two men to know that they could meet and shake hands later. As they continued through the catacombs, and then received a quite extensive and intriguing history lesson, Shinu became a bit worried. He was paying full attention, but he felt that perhaps there was a body missing from his last count. Erk was intent on continuing, but Shinu needed to back track for a moment.

Asuma gave him a curious look as he motioned that he was going to go back for a second, but Shinu just waved him forward so that he could just continue on. Asuma nodded, and pressed forward with the group.

Shinu slowly inched down back the way he came, and then finally made out a figure. He hoped it wasn't an enemy, and that it was the man that provided the cover fire for he and the man he was back to back with. He decided that if he did let an enemy catch up, he would pretend he didn't know and execute them from behind.

Hey, grab my hand, the others are close.

He reached out and almost in sling shot form catapulted the man ahead of him before quickly hiking back up as the two pushed forward to the rest of the group again.

When they caught back up, Shinu looked over at Kai, who did seem to have a suspect immune system. He never fully knew why she was so fatigued out there on the battlefield, but this air wasn't doing her much good. She did however have his cloth still on her back, and he knew that would be able to help her greatly once again.

Kairi, come here for a moment.

As the other scooted past them, Shinu took the cloth off of her back and lightly placed it over her nose and mouth, draping over the front of her.

Now, just hang on to my breast plate, you can save that strength you have left. I came out of that battle relatively unharmed. We're going to need to treat Asuma's wounds when we come out of this.

Soon he picked her up on to his back, and made sure she had a good grip on his breast plate. He began to climb in a bear crawl as opposed to his crouched walk that he had been using. The incline was unfriendly, but he had more than enough strength at this point to carry an extra hundred pounds. On all fours, Shinu quickly caught up to the rest of the group before slowing his pace enough to just remain at the back.

Lins reached out for his hand and thanked him for waiting up. This dam tunnels are deadly. Anyone could get lost in here without a map. Lins soon caught up with the man whos name was Shinu he found out. The girl who had healed him was a bit exhausted from the battle. Shinu soon had her on his back and crawled along after the group. Shinu i think its best i take the back. You can not fight with Kai on your back. I can block the passage incase any enemies come down here after us. With this He steeped behind Shinu and smiled towards Kai as he pulled down hisvisor and took out his bow. There is not enough room for his spears in such a cramped space.

Lins kept up with the group hoping that the exit would be coming along soon. He wanted to get out of these blasted tunnels before someone found out how they had escaped. He was certian that there was more then one entrance to this place so it could be an ideal place for an ambush.

You're right, I won't be able to do much more than kick from this position. Your long range weapons are of no use though. Take my sword, and please don't lose her, she's my prized possession. Her name is Nuraki.

Shinu passed over his sword while maintaining his balance on arm, supporting all the weight and a pretty impressive show of strength. He was slightly nervous about letting Nuraki rest in another man's hands, but should something attack them from behind, that would be the only hope of their survival. The blade didn't shine in this darkness, but the embedded jewel did, and faint glints of the the blades covering of blood could be seen if looked at closely. With that, Shinu had to continue his painful and exhausting trip through the underground puzzle.

Lins put away his bow and took up the blade Nuraki. This is a nice blade. Looks like it can inflict some dangerous damage. Never was a ace at swordsmenship. Not exactly a loser at it either. Lins kept a look at behind him as he kept moving behind Shinu. Hey, when you think the hooded bloke will get us out of here? He didn't want to stay down there any longer. The possibity of ambush always had Lins on wits end.

kai smiled

"im ok.. just a little tired" she said and smiled holding on

"your very kind" she said and rested her head on him

'at lest one person is here to protect me... but i shouldnt be thinking like that. i should be protecting myself for a change... i will learn to and i will get strong.. i have too.' she thought and smiled slightly

'the start of a thousand mile journey begins with a single step...' a familiar voice said in her head

they were that of her grandfathers last words.

"were you hurt?" she asked him in an almost whisper since she was right by him

As their extended track wound on, the part found themselves higher and higher, and as they climbed, the air began to clear, and the smell of ancient, raw sewage abated. Eventually, the incline began to level off, until finally they walked on level stone.

They had not been walking long when they found themselves confronted with a large stone portal, and what looked like the pinpricks of distant torches through it. Erk paused abruptly as the entrance to this new chamber a moment. The party saw his hooded head swing slowly back and forth, as if to survey the scene. Apparently satisfied, the magus continued on.

Suddenly, as they left the tunnel, the light from Erk's aloft torch began to shine brighter, as the air became more wholesome.

They found themselves in a large stone corridor. It was large, that much they could be sure of, but with their limited light, they couldn't even see the walls of this chamber. In all directions but behind, there was nothing but pitch blackness, all the darker for the light of their torch.

Running adjacent to them were two rows of pillars, stretching high up out of site to the unseen ceiling, out of the reach of their light. The rows ran parallel to each other, about 100 feet apart. The portal they had come through sat between them, and the large river channel they had followed ran through the center of the aisle made by the columns.

Erk turned to them, and raised a single finger to where they guesed his lips to be. Their pace slower now, they continued on, Erk periodically stopping to survey the impenetrable darkness.

As the incline stopped, crawling became a bit monogynous and much less efficient. He heard Kairi quietly talking to him about her need to step up and take care of herself and get stronger. Shinu could understand why she felt that way, it was obvious that he went out of his way to make sure that he was taking of her. It's not exactly the fact that he thought she needed a baby sitter, or the fact that she seemed like she needed help from someone of Shinu's capabilities, but he understood her importance to the group more than even she did he thought. In a group with such serious and professional assassins and the like, she would be of utmost importance should they be faced with a grim situation, her lighthearted playfulness would be what they needed to want to continue, at least in Shinu's case it would be.

Don't worry, you will get stronger in time, we all will I hope. I am fine, the battle was a smooth one for me, I'm just a little tired, but I can last through the rest of these tunnels and then some. I've trained a long time for this journey without even knowing it. You make sure you're resting back there, I have to pick you up now.

With that said, Shinu grabbed her under her legs behind her knees and carried her in front of him, pressed against his chest and held her under her arms with his left hand. It was definitely easier to do, and being able to use his normal walk was also very beneficial. He was putting a lot of strain on his arms carrying his body and hers, but now just a mere hundred pounds was no test to his upper body strength. He watched as Erk's light got brighter, and hopefully this was a sign that they were near the end.