Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: aaron@atlantis.uucp (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: [SQ] Jailbreak
Message-ID: <1993Mar22.230811.1638@atlantis.uucp>
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 23:08:11 GMT

Characters involved: The Kelsie, Remi, Vanshar
Characters introduced and then killed: Taeper, Cyrel, Renni, Veik
Characters introduced and not killed: Ezimeti, Ghuone, Cinodras, Thag, Veik



Getting into the Gaps was easy.  Getting into the sewers was all it took, and
that was easy for the Kelsie's slightly less than corporeal form.  From there,
with the map in her head, it took only a few minutes to find the route down to
where the real path started.

Still, the sewers were not the most pleasant of places.  The odour was bad
enough, for one used to the perfumes of Fairyland or, more recently, those of
Pashar.  In her semisolid form, some of the odours were almost material
barriers, which she threaded carefully, not wanting her essence polluted.

There were the trails of unwholesome spirits as well.  She caught the distant
whiff of a great evil, long-slumbering and recently awakened.  Probably that
creature Maleiu had told them about.  She shuddered.  Still, it wasn't going
to be an active threat to her.  It was the Bain Sidhe, or their local
equivalents, that she was worried about.  After all, the presence of those
Fairy words had to have attracted some others of her kind.  She just hoped
they were of the bothersome rather than the dangerous variety.

She felt more than a few shades in the sewers--many had met gruesome and
violent ends here.  But they didn't bother her, barely reacting to her
presence.  It was flesh they sought.

Once she was down in the Gaps proper, the shades became fewer, since this
place was less-frequented.  Only those who knew of it came here, and they
guarded their territory jealously.  There were live humans down here as well,
and she tried to steer as clear of them as she did the traces of the Bain
Sidhe she found occasionally.  She noted, as she wafted through the tunnels,
that there were differences from the maps she had seen.  Some tunnels were
new- and roughly-hewn; others were clearly older than the maps, but had
nonetheless not been marked.  But then, the maps had been from the original
plans for the sewer system and maintenance tunnels, and perhaps deviations
from the plan had not been recorded.  Still, as long as the tunnels that
formed her chosen path were there, she didn't need to pay much heed to
anything else.

As she progressed further, the traces of Bain Sidhe grew stronger, and she
found herself more and more taking side routes to avoid it.  But soon she was
surrounded by the stench of evil, and all the paths onward seemed to lead into
it.  She hovered for a time, considering.  She had a choice.  She could
backtrack and take one of the paths through the humans' territory--but
returning with the man she sought would be more problematic that way, since
they could ignore her but not him.  So she would have to try one of the
unmarked tunnels and hope it led her the right way.  She could feel the moon's
passage far above her, and knew that her time was limited.

Saying a swift, matter-of-fact prayer for luck, she went back and took the
first unmarked passage she encountered, one of the older ones.

At first it took her far from her course, but soon it turned back towards her
path.  There were no traces of either the Bain Sidhe or the humans, and soon
she flew onward with confidence.

Until the ground opened up beneath her, and she stared aghast at the huge
fissure.  It was far too wide for a human to cross unaided, and she couldn't
carry one across it on her own, either.  She had too little Fairy Dust left
for anything useful.  She sighed.  The human couldn't return this way.  They
would have to face the humans on their return.  Better that than the Bain
Sidhe, though.

Soon the tunnel merged back into those on the map, and she progressed with
more confidence.  The smells of danger were behind her, and she was almost at
the dungeons.

***

Taeper noticed that he was drifting off slightly at his station, and pulled
himself back awake.  This post was pretty easy, usually.  The last escape from
these dungeons had been...well, at least before that Kloote guy had come in,
and that one didn't count, really.  The oldest Guardsmen Taeper had met just
barely remembered it.  Something to do with an earthquake, anyway.

These guys weren't too bad.  Pirates, he'd heard.  The officers, some frog and
a rag-head from Rameshan, were kept separately from the rest of their men, who
were upstairs somewhere.  They kept mostly quiet, muttering to each other, and
the like, although the rag-head had given him a few nasty looks.  Screw 'em,
anyway.

The worst part about it was the Seaguard.  Few of the Guard liked the
Seaguard, who mostly acted so stuck-up, like their job was more important. 
Bunch of arrogant assholes, really.  And they came down here and ordered him
around like they were in charge of the place.  He'd like to see one of them
try surviving in the Gaps, or the Low City.  Not that he'd like to go there
himself...

***

The Kelsie peeked into the Dungeons.  One guard, although probably more within
calling distance.  A few dweomers, most of them weakened with time and by some
past stress.  That fellow in there looked like the one Bronwen had described,
and his scent matched.  Now it was just a question of getting past the guard.

He was drifting a bit into dreamland, and a few of his thoughts leaked
through.  She perused them curiously.  Hmmm.  One of these "Seaguard" people
would have the authority to take the captain away.  Perhaps if she pretended
to be one of those, the imposture wouldn't be noticed right away.

***

"Guardsman!" said an imperious voice behind Taeper, causing him to jerk fully
awake again.  He stood up to attention, and turned to see a Seaguard officer
standing behind him.  How the hell did he get in?  He couldn't have come down
the stairs...nothing back there but a few disused cells.  Probably some sort
of surprise inspection, in which case Taeper had probably just failed...

"Yes, sir!" he yelled.

"What's your name, Guardsman?"

"Taeper, sir!"

"Right.  Now, Taeper, if you'd be so good as to get out that Captain in that
cell there.  I have to take him away, Seaguard authorization."

Taeper relaxed slightly.  Not an inspection after all.  This was highly
irregular, but then these Seaguard idiots didn't pay much attention to the
rules if they didn't feel like it.  He'd let the Seaguard take responsibility
for this one.  "Yes, sir," he said, going over the unlock the door.

***

Remi had also been dozing in the cell, when he heard the Seaguard's sharp
voice.  So they're coming for me, then, he thought.  Then his brain cleared a
little.  He had thought they would be trying him and Vanshar at the same time,
as per Seaguard custom.  Was this something else, then?

"On your feet, scum," the Guard said as he unlocked the door.  "You're to go
with this Seaguard, and don't make any trouble or it'll go worse for you. 
It's not like you can escape anyway."

"That's enough, Guardsman," the Seaguard said in a sharp voice.  "You are
Etienne-Remi de Revimer, former Captain of the pirate ship Cote d'Azur?"

"I am," Remi said.

"Then come with me.  Thank you, Guardsman, that will be all."

***

"Sir?"  The Seaguard turned at the Taeper's question.  "I need a name, in case
they want to know on whose authorization this was done."

"Kelsie," the Seaguard replied.  "Colonel Kelsie."  With that he turned and
marched Remi down the disused hallway.

"Sir?" Taeper said again.

The Seaguard turned in exasperation.  "What is it, Guardsman?" he asked in a
dangerously low voice.

"The exit is that way, sir," Taeper said.

The Seaguard looked nonplussed for a moment, then snorted.  "You haven't heard
about the trouble upstairs, then.  The normal exit is temporarily considered
unsafe.  There's a secondary route through here, which you're probably not
important enough to know about.  Now, Guardsman, are you quite finished
impeding me in my duty?"  Not waiting for an answer, he turned and marched
Remi down the hallway and out of Taeper's sight.

***

Remi tried to judge his chances of escaping.  If there was trouble upstairs,
and he could get past Colonel Kelsie and the Guardsman, he might be able to
get out.  If he had time, he could even take Vanshar with him.  The grip on
his arm didn't seem especially strong...

"Remi," a voice whispered in his ear.  A feminine voice, one that he hadn't
heard before.  He jumped slightly, and turned to look at Colonel Kelsie.

"Yes, it's me."  Colonel Kelsie's lips moved, and the words appeared in Remi's
ear without seeming to cross the air between.  "Bronwen sent me here to rescue
you.  She needs you to help her.  She said to tell you it involved captaining
a ship."

Remi froze.  He was being rescued?  Bronwen was rescuing him?  But how?  "What
sort of creature are you?" he whispered, his arms prickling.

"A Kelsie," she(he?) said.  "Everyone just calls me that, because most of them
don't know my true name.  You can call me that, too.  Now, c'mon!  There's an
exit to the Gaps here.  We should get gone before that Guardsman gets
suspicious."

"No," he said.

"What?"

"No.  If I'm being rescued, I'm going to take Vanshar with me.  He's my First
Mate, and he got into this because of me."  A nagging voice said, if it wasn't
for him, you wouldn't be a pirate in the first place, but he ignored it.  "If
you got me out, you can get him out too."

The Kelsie shook his head.  "Nothing doing.  Bronwen only told me to get you."

"Then I'll get Vanshar.  You wait here.  I'll be right back."  He wrenched
free of the Kelsie's surprised grip and ran back down the corridor.

"Lugh save me," the Kelsie muttered.  Then she turned and ran after Remi.

***

Since when did they have Colonels in the Seaguard, anyway?  Taeper thought. 
And this whole "trouble upstairs/alternative exit" thing sounded more and more
fishy the more he thought about it.  He went to ring the bell to bring the
Corporal down--he'd be pissed, but he'd be even more pissed if Taeper just let
a bogus Seaguard walk away with a prisoner--when suddenly he heard running
footsteps behind him.  Turning, he put his hand on his sword hilt and started
to draw it.

Remi barreled into him, driving his shoulder in Taeper's chest.  The Guard
went down.  His leather armour had absorbed some of the impact, but he was
still stunned for a moment.  Long enough for Remi to pull the Guard's dagger
from its sheath and hold it to his neck.  "Make a noise, and you're dead."

Aw, hell, Taeper thought.  They're not going to leave me alive anyway.  A
sudden streak of heroism surfaced, and he filled his lungs to scream.  No
sound came out.  And then the dagger bit into his neck, there was a fluttering
of black wings, and then no more.

***

Remi dug the ring of keys from Taeper's pocket, and started stripping the
Guardsman.  "You get Vanshar out," he said, tossing the keys to the Kelsie.
"I'm not leaving without him, so you can explain that to Bronwen if she asks. 
Or I will."  He started pulling on the Guard's clothing, shrugging a bit at
the fresh bloodstain on the collar of the tunic.  He belted on his sword-belt,
testing the balance of the weapon.  Good reliable Guard issue, if nothing
special.

He heard the click of the lock, and then Vanshar was at his side.  "Good work,
Captain," he said admiringly.  Remi handed him the bloody dagger, and the
Rameshander wiped it off on Taeper's still-warm flesh.  "Too bad he didn't
bring a change of clothes with him."

"Bronwen can get you something when we get out.  Yeah, this is apparently her
idea."

Vanshar laughed.  "Still got a way with the women, my Captain, eh?  C'mon,
let's get out of here.  I presume we have a nice escape route?"

"Follow me," the Kelsie said, somewhat resigned.  She didn't like this Vanshar
guy any.  She wondered if, the tables turned, Vanshar would have gone back for
his Captain.

***

Back in the Gaps, she abandoned the Seaguard form and said, "We have three
choices of route back from here.  One of them, there's a deep chasm.  I don't
think you could get over that.  Another, there's a Bain Sidhe--an evil spirit
of some kind.  Its traces indicate that it's evil and rather deadly, but
limited in how far it can go.  The third has the traces of several humans."

Remi and Vanshar exchanged glances.  "I'd take the humans anyday.  You can at
least try to reason with humans," Remi said.

"Or kill them," Vanshar added.

The Kelsie shuddered again.  "Okay, that way it is, then," she said.  "I'll
scout ahead, and leave a trail for you."  She shimmered into her incorporeal
form, and floated ahead.

"Some kind of djinni, I guess," Vanshar said.  "Always good to have on your
side, but they can be a bit fickle.  I remember what happened when some marid
had it in for the captain of my first ship."

Remi nodded.  "Let's get moving, before they change the Guard and find that
guy's body.  It may take them a while to figure out which way we went, but
that time is best spent getting as far away as we can."  They started
following the Kelsie's trail, a softly glowing track in the air.

***

"There seems to be five of them," the Kelsie said, returning from her
reconnaissance.  "All male, all human.  They seem to be cooking some dwarflike
creature on a spit."  She shuddered.

"How are they armed?" Remi asked.

"Their weapons don't seem to be in that great condition--some rusty knives,
and some spears made with knives strapped to sticks.  One of them has a sling,
I think."

"Primitive...but they do have the advantage of numbers.  I think the direct
approach might be best, if we can take out one or two before they have a
chance to react."  Vanshar caressed his knife.

Remi said, "On the other hand, we could be a bit more subtle.  Kelsie, what
kinds of things can you do?"

"Well, I'm an air spirit.  I can change my form, and do things with air.  What
did you have in mind?"

***

Ezimeti had been living in the Gaps for three years now, ever since he joined
Six Feet Under.  Pickings were a bit slim right now, but Ghuone kept saying
things would get better.  Still, it was a better life than growing up in a
poor Etarus'ian family in the Low City.  Less competition.  Here you only had
the occasional T-croc, and Cinodras' spells kept those out pretty well.

The gully dwarf on the spit was pretty well done.  Ezimeti was currently in
pretty high standing, because he'd been the one to find the gully dwarf
tunnels, and so far they'd been able to nab four without any trouble.  His
mouth was watering.  If the others didn't get back soon, then they'd have to
go get their own...

"That smells good," Veik said from the corner where he was dicing with Ceryl. 
"You sure we can't have any yet?"

"Not till the others get back," Ezimeti said.  He wasn't going to admit he'd
been thinking the same thing.  He had a new standing to uphold.

"Hell," Renni muttered.  "What's takin' 'em so long, anyhow?  Ghuone said
they'd be back by now."

"Cinodras had something to do in the Mage Guild," Ezimeti said.  "I think he
may be trying to apply for membership again."  They all guffawed, except for
Thag.  He just grunted.  He'd never figured out how to talk, but he was good
to have on your side in a fight.

"What the hell'd you say that for?" Ceryl said unexpectedly.

"Say what?" Veik said, nonplussed.

"Well, you're a scum-sucking ratbag!"  Ceryl leapt at Veik and the two of them
tussled on the floor.

"Thag, get Ceryl," Ezimeti said.  "Renni, help me with Veik."  When the two of
them were separated, he said, "Now, Ceryl, what the hell'd you do that for?"

"Veik said he caught me screwing the dead gully dwarf, and asked if I got it
from my mother."

"I said no such thing!  You were the one who said I was a scum-sucking
ratbag."

"I didn't hear anything, Ceryl."  "Me neither."

"None of us heard that, Ceryl."

"You're saying I'm crazy?" Ceryl snarled.

"Mebbe you are," Renni said.  "Hell, Cinodras gets like this sometimes.  Mebbe
yer a wizard too."  They all laughed at that one, except Thag, and Ceryl who
muttered and subsided.

"I meant it, Ceryl," Veik said.  "Your pa got you on a dead T-croc baby,
because that was the only thing his dick'd fit into."

This time Ceryl pulled out his knife and leapt onto Veik, who protested, "I
didn't say nothin'!  I didn't say nothin'!  I--urrg."  Ceryl's knife went into
Veik's throat several times.

Then he subsided again.  "You--you did hear that, didn't you?"  He looked a
little scared.

"Yeah, we heard it," Ezimeti said.  "Mebbe Ceryl was the wizard, eh?  He just
forgot to make us all not hear it that time."

"All right, you killed me," Veik's voice said.  They all turned to the corpse,
which didn't look like it could do much more than gurgle.  "Yeah, I'm a
wizard.  But ain't you ever heard what wizards can do after they're dead?"  A
misty form rose from Veik's body and started to keen.

There was general panic at that.  The gang members started fleeing in all
directions, depending on what exit they were closest to.  Ezimeti tried to get
them in order, but his voice didn't carry, and eventually he broke and ran as
well.  Thag looked a bit confused, but followed Ezimeti as he left, at a
lumbering run.

***

Renni and Ceryl ran almost right into Remi and Vanshar.  Renni impaled himself
on Remi's sword as he rounded a corner, and Ceryl took Vanshar's dagger in the
eye.  "So far, so good," Remi muttered.  "I don't think you want their
clothes, though."

Vanshar wiped off his blade with distaste.  "I think I like what I've got
better."  He was still dressed in the dungeon loincloth.

"Okay, guys, let's go," the Kelsie's voice said in their ears.  "That was very
unpleasant.  Maybe a few more dead spirits don't bother you guys, but they
make me very uncomfortable."

"Can we get past them now?"

"Yeah, the other two ran off down the same tunnel, but we can get out from the
other one.  Follow me."  The three of them set off down the tunnel, to the
chamber where the gully dwarf's corpse on the spit was starting to get a
little burnt.

"Even I'm not hungry enough to eat that," Vanshar muttered as they passed by
it and into the tunnel.

***

Ezimeti and Thag almost ran into Ghuone and Cinodras, returning from above
with a sack.  "Whoa!" Ghuone thundered.  "Where's the fire, guys?"

Eventually Ghuone managed to get Ezimeti coherent enough to describe the fight
and Veik's death.  He turned to Cinodras.  "What do you think?"

Cinodras snorted.  "Utter rubbish.  There's no way that Veik was a wizard. 
And even if he was, he was by no means powerful enough to leave behind that
kind of spirit when he went.  I wouldn't, and I could've told if Veik was
better than me."

They returned to the chamber, where the gully dwarf was definitely getting
burnt.  Thag took it off the spit, and the others investigated Veik's body. 
"No sign of a spirit about.  Where did the others go?"

They found Cyrel and Renni's bodies a few hours later.  After much argument,
they finally roasted Cyrel and threw Veik and Renni to the T-crocs.  They fed
well for several days thereafter.

-- 
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