A/N: Special thanks to SilentMech and refferee for being the only ones to comment last chapter...it kind of was depressing. And the reason it took so long to write this chapter. A part of me was just thinking "maybe if I wait another day, someone will comment!" but that never came true...I've been going through a lot personally, but I could have found the time to write if people would just let me know that they care.
I hope you all enjoy, and please, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. I miss hearing from you all.
The waft of fresh, warm bread was what woke Trixie up. Her head was in a low level of pain as she tried to pull up and look around to find the source of the overpowering smell.
By the time her sight was clear and she could see, a girl no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, possibly younger, was by the door to some unknown room Trixie was in. Trixie tried to think of who the girl was, but nothing was coming to mind as the girl began to open a wooden door to leave.
“Who…are you?”
The teenager seemed surprised to hear Trixie speak, and she turned to the Elven woman in response. The girl’s face was covered by red cloth below the nose, and her raven hair was a stark contrast to the silver locks falling down the front of Trixie’s face.
Trixie’s mind went back to what had happened to her: someone said something, then a sudden pain wracked her body, and then nothing. The red cloth told Trixie that this was not a friendly place though, and the dark room gave her a dark foreboding about her situation.
The young girl didn’t say anything back at first, instead pausing to stare at Trixie with light blue eyes. A range of emotions passed over her features faster than the groggy Trixie could study, and when they ended with the girl sighing she looked down to the floor next to her and spoke up in a soft voice.
“Come on Cookie.”
Trixie looked to the same place and saw an odd creature of about a foot and a half height standing beside the young girl. It was unlike anything Trixie had seen before, as it had a blue body, yellow curved spines coming off its back that didn’t appear dangerous, and humanoid limbs. She couldn’t see its face because it had a stereotypical pirate’s hat on, concealing its upper body from sight given Trixie’s position behind it.
They left without another word, and Trixie was left to think.
Where was she? Who were they? Why had they taken her? Was this the so called Defias brotherhood?
And, most importantly to Trixie’s rumbling stomach, was that bread on the floor over there?
It had taken time for Kael to decide what to do after Vanessa’s reveal. They had left no tracks he could follow, and he had no real clue where they could be off to. It would be foolish for them to be at their original residence in the Deadmines, since that would be too obvious, but then again such a move would be ingenious.
Still, they could most certainly have a new base…Whatever the case, Kael could not just rush in and hope to accomplish anything. He knew he had limits at his current skill level, but he would also not just sit back and let these thieves take his partner away to do who knows what.
To regroup and think things over, as well as search for one thing in particular, Kael went back to the house of the Saldeans.
He did not expect it to be burned to the ground. Completely brought down to the ground, smoldering, smoke leading into the sky. He had seen the smoke from a distance given the flat landscape, but a part of Kael had been hoping it was just the chimney acting up.
No. The farm was burnt to the ground, and standing nearby it was a man in dark green chainmail looking at it all with a bored expression. Not knowing the Human man’s allegiance, but not trusting just about anybody after what had happened, Kael approached the Human with his new sword drawn and prepared for fighting. It was heavier than his previous sword, but it didn’t feel too off in Kael’s palms. He felt stronger holding it, as if the sword itself was giving him power.
The Human saw Kael coming from a mile away, and he pulled out a sword of his own and a shorter blade of a make Kael did not know.
Kael paused and let the man speak, “Easy there. I didn’t burn down the place, some other bloke did that.”
That did not make Kael lower his blade. The speed at which the man drew his weapons showed that he was dangerously agile, and while Kael had stopped fifteen feet away from him he still felt like it was too little for comfort, “Then what are you doing here?”
The man had been leaning back against a fence post when Kael approached, and while he did not go back to slouching against it he did relax some as he gave a nonchalant shrug, “I could be asking you the same question, my blonde friend.”
Kael did not trust this man. He was just coincidentally sitting by the burning house when Kael went to it? No. He had heard that the Hunter had been hiring people to find him, and Kael had a good feeling this was one of them. He had the distant eyes of a killer, and he most certainly had an agenda.
Still, Kael needed to feel this man out a bit more. If the mercenary man was truly serving as a bounty hunter, Kael knew he would be in trouble. Just as he felt power radiating off his own weapon, he could feel it coming from the man before him. It was a subtle feeling, one that was understated unless paid attention to specifically, but it was most definitely there.
If Kael were to come out ahead, he would need time, “I was a guest in this home…” he paused as he continued to hold his heavy blade ready for battle, “The people who took me in were murdered by someone last night. Now I return to find their home burnt to the ground.”
The supposed mercenary nodded but said nothing, instead looking Kael’s body over a bit as the Elf stood nervously before him. Kael could not wait to be powerful enough to not be threatened by some cutthroat hired for a few silver or gold.
The man not speaking but rather studying him caused Kael further discomfort. The mercenary had probably come up with a plethora of ways to rush him and strike him down already, only not doing so because of something in the man’s head that Kael couldn’t ascertain.
“Now you,” Kael prodded, hoping to revitalize the conversation.
The response was less than satisfying for him.
“Work,” another bored shrug.
Kael gestured to him in his confusion, “Work?”
The man nodded back, “Work.”
Given little to go off of, Kael decided to reveal his hypothesis. He had an idea of how to handle this if he was correct, “You were sent by another Elf to come and interrogate them for answers concerning something.”
The mercenary’s eyebrows raised as he nodded his head slowly, “Perceptive, uh…Sunbather,” he moved his hand a little as he purposefully misstated Kael’s last name.
Still relaxed, the mercenary nodded over at the former home of the Saldeans, then turned back to fully face Kael with a more interested expression, “You see, I came here to ask the poor folks if they’ve seen any Elves around. Heard from someone nearby they like taking in wanderers now and again.”
Kael tensed underneath his leather armor. The mercenary was quite astute to have tracked him down like this, but why had he done so alone if he was going to fight two people originally? Was he that confident he could best them, or was something else going on in the man’s mind?
“I see.”
The mercenary smirked darkly at Kael, “Funny thing is, I think I remember one of them being a blonde guy who wears red. Happen to know him?”
There it was. Kael straightened himself out and took a step back, leveling his blade at the mercenary man who still had yet to take a step forward.
The mercenary saw the aggression and prepared his own blades for battle, though he kept his distance, “Listen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I only need your head after all, but I hear they’re paying more for you alive.”
Kael decided to bring out his first line of defense, “Did they tell you who I am?”
“Aye. Some dumb cunt who thinks he’s Kael’thas Sunstrider,” the mercenary gave the smallest nod to Kael and then smirked again, “Have to say, you do look the part.”
A sellsword ought to be weak to an appeal to greed, so Kael thought to continue this line of defense while hoping the man was as smart as he thought he was, “And if I said I am the man in question?”
Unfortunately, the mercenary was smarter than even the expected level of intelligence.
“If you were the man they say you’re pretending to be, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You see, I see that sword you’re carrying. I see your nicks and bruises. The real prince of the prissy men wouldn’t have those when confronting no more than street thugs.”
Kael could see that he was not going to get anywhere on his looks alone, and he did not have much else to confirm his identity. The man was too smart to just bribe on words alone, he needed something more concrete…
Still, Kael did not have the time to think of a better way to prove his identity just yet. He kept his blade raised, refusing to just let this sellsword stop him before he could save Trixie.
Seeing the weapon still leveled at him, the mercenary sighed and prepared to move forward, “Hard way it is.”
Kael began to say the words to one of his spells, but the sound died in his throat when he was suddenly forced to block the mercenary’s longer blade with his own. This was made worse when the mercenary’s smaller blade lunged for Kael’s throat, the speed the warrior was displaying being far beyond anything Kael could remember seeing. There truly were powerful people…and he was not one of them.
Currently.
“Wait!”
It was a rushed cry, and while it caused the mercenary to not skewer Kael through the neck but rather the shoulder, Kael was quickly knocked over and pushed flat on his back. His sword was kicked away and the mercenary impaled a part of Kael’s armor to pin it to the ground without harming him.
“You have ten seconds to make me reconsider letting you live. You can cast magic, I heard your spell, and I’m not going to let you do anything stupid. I’ll take you in dead if it means I don’t have to deal with a tricky spell user.”
With little time available, Kael tried reaching into one of the bags he had with him only for the mercenary to stomp on his arm and grip his neck to keep him from speaking.
Kael had figured out how he was going to secure his hook on this skilled sellsword.
The mercenary removed the bag from Kael and carefully placed its contents on the ground nearby, still restraining Kael all the while to keep him from doing anything. However, while looking through the healing potions and the like the man’s eye caught sight of something shining amongst the mess of the bag.
“Do you know what that is?” Kael choked out, barely able to speak with the hand carefully gripping his neck.
In the man’s palm was the ring belonging to…the name struck Kael like a memory rushing back to him: Sylvanas Windrunner, first ranger or something like that, of Silvermoon…and current leader of…of…
The mercenary looked over the ring carefully, though it was apparent that he couldn’t pick up its Elven heritage given his own background, “A pretty damn fine ring,” he pocketed the jewelry and flashed a smug grin at Kael before resuming his complete domination of Kael, “Thanks, I can sell it when we’re done here. Now, if that’s all—”
Seeing the man go for his blade again, Kael spoke up despite the hand around his neck, “It belonged to Sylvanas Windrunner!” that got the mercenary to give some pause, though it was only really enough to keep Kael’s head on and for the neck squeezing to lighten, “Why would I have that if I am not who I say I am?”
The gears turned in the Human’s mind, but he did not release Kael. He possessed a level of savvy that actually unnerved Kael.
“See, funny thing is, I can’t confirm that you’re telling the truth or not unless I bring this to someone to get it appraised. You think I’d just leave you alone to go do that? Or bring you to a place in the city you might be able to slip away?”
This might bite him in the ass later on, but if it meant not dying right now…
“If I am who I say I am, I can reward you one day with far greater riches than a ring. If I am lying, you’ll have a priceless ring that can earn you a reward from a powerful woman, and you can easily track me down again I presume. After all, that Hunter came across the entire continent to come give me grief,” Kael rationalized.
The man pressing him into the ground looked Kael in the eyes carefully, then after analyzing him and seeing that he was telling the truth, he stood up and ripped his blade from Kael’s armor.
He sheathed the weapon behind him but kept the other out to still threaten Kael, “We didn’t have this conversation,” he began to walk away from the farm as Kael began to get up and catch up on the breathe he had been short of, “And you had better hope there’s some truth to what you’re saying.”
Once he was about ten steps away the mercenary paused and nodded over to another part of the farm just as Kael finished getting back up.
“Oh, by the way, there’s a box over there you might want to go through. There’s even a little lizard tied next to it.”
Once the mercenary was completely gone, Kael put his stuff back together and rushed to where the mercenary had indicated. Surely enough, the Mana Wyrm Trixie had taken in (stolen) was tied to a chest that was locked. Kael used his flames to burn the chains holding the animal there and also used them to burn off the chest’s lock.
The Mana Wyrm rushed to his side and began to quickly fly around him in an excited manner. It likely had been tied there ever since the person set the house on fire…but the manner in which the person took the effort to do so made Kael believe Vanessa had done it. The girl wasn’t evil despite having killed her adoptive parents, she was simply a hurt child who was angry at the world for having taken her real family from her and scared that they would come back and kill her too.
Kael seized the Mana Wyrm and embraced it to get it to stop, and once it settled into his arms he began to stroke it softly, “Nana…”
He looked inside the chest, and inside were the possessions he and Trixie had left inside the house still. Vanessa truly was thoughtful…but she had taken Trixie, and that was unforgivable.
Looking into the Wyrm’s glowing eyes, Kael revealed his true reason for coming back to the farm.
“I need you to find Trixie.”
The room Trixie was in was not too cramped, but because of it she quickly ascertained that she was on a ship by the slow rocking back and forth of the floor, which would explain the odd room size. The ship wasn’t ever shaking all that much though, and it really felt like it was going nowhere. So she was on a ship that was docked…but why?
After eating the bread provided for her, Trixie quickly found out how stupid that idea was as she fell asleep again moments later. She managed to get back to the bed provided for her, but she was passed out face down on the bed when she came to the realization that the bread had been dosed in some sleep inducing substance.
Whomever had knocked her out in the first place had come once again rendered her helpless. The back to back humiliation irritated Trixie on a personal level she had not felt yet since she arrived in this unknown land. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie, she would not just be reduced to some fool!
The room was bare, with nothing left inside of it that she could use to assist her escape outside of possibly using the bed as a battering ram. Trixie didn’t think she would be able to do much to the door, since there was a magical glow of sorts around it, in addition to the more mundane fact of also being reinforced on the other side.
Because of this Trixie was left to dawdle in the bare room, and soon after her anger simmered it gave way to worry. Where was Kael? What happened to everyone at Sentinel Hill if she could be knocked out and kidnapped in front of so many others. She hadn’t even managed to find Hope Saldean by the time it happened, even though the guard outside had said Hope had gone inside earlier. What, could the girl just vanish?
Still, Trixie had no idea what was going to happen from here on out, and as much as she wanted to remain optimistic that everyone was okay, she had worry burrowing through her gut as thoughts came to her mind about the possibilities of their fates.
The glowing door eventually stopped glowing and Trixie heard the entire barricade of locking tools and whatever gadgets lay outside. Soon after it opened and in came blinding light. Since they hadn’t given Trixie much of anything there was no candle or lamp to light the room up, but there was some light creeping in through the door to make the room just barely visible in all of its bareness.
Standing in the way of the light and suddenly casting a large shadow was a girl in red clothing with a red bandana signifying that she was a part of the Defias brotherhood. Trixie quickly prepared to sling a spell at her when she recognized her as the one from before…who was still just a child.
Trixie cursed her morality as she sat still on the bed and watched as the girl gave her a short look before placing bread on the floor in the same place it had been before. Beside the girl was the blue thing again, though now Trixie could see its face. The fish with legs and arms had black irises in the center of large yellow orbs. It had a white belly and chin, and the front of its skinny arms and hands was green.
It was holding the girl’s hand and watching as she placed the plate of food down. Trixie felt sick to her stomach at the sight of the bread because of the previous plate.
Trixie rolled over onto her side and gave a disapproving look, part of her wondering if she could just teleport outside the door…and only not doing so because the view outside was one of a dark cavern and the edge of a boat. She wouldn’t be going anywhere most likely, especially since she could hear the voices of countless others outside.
“More tainted food?”
The girl looked up to Trixie and narrowed her eyes as if she were scrutinizing the prisoner, “This won’t put you to sleep, and it won’t kill you, so just be quiet. You’ll only be here a couple more days.”
A couple days, huh? So they really had captured Trixie with some purpose in mind…but what for? Kael was the important person, not her, right?
“Who are you, and what do you want? I know you work for the Defias, but what do you need me for?”
The girl’s eyes relaxed as she turned around and slowly approached the still open door. Part of Trixie was unsure whether the girl was comfortable with Trixie not being bound and gagged because she was a child, or whether it was fine because she believed herself capable of handling Trixie all on her own…or at least with the aid of the fish thing.
The lack of verbal response irritated Trixie, though she hid the feeling from her voice, “No? Nothing at all?”
The fish looked up at the Human girl, but its giant, unblinking eyes did not reveal any particular emotion as it spoke in nonsense words.
“Mrglemrglemrgle?”
That got a response out of the girl, who lowered herself to the ground and picked up the blue thing and hugged him for a moment. This done, she placed it back down and the fish stood beside her a moment before looking over at Trixie.
It took a couple steps toward Trixie, its pirate hat partially askew because of the embrace it just participated in, and in turn Trixie brought a hand out towards it. It was an animal pet, right? So would it want to be pet?
“So, who is this little fellow?”
“Don’t touch him!”
The teenager lunged forward and scooped up the fish and brought it back away from Trixie in a step so quick it was practically invisible to Trixie’s eyes. The teenager appeared back by the door with the little being in its arm before Trixie could even finish reaching her arm out and brush against the fish.
After pausing and making sure the fish thing was okay, the girl sighed and pulled him in tighter. Trixie could feel stress radiating off of the teenager, and something in the back of her head was telling her that she didn’t have a great set of teenage years herself.
In fact, Trixie distinctly remembered starving. Living alone and starving day to day. Trixie was shocked enough by the sudden surge of thought, of remembering something, that she didn’t verbally respond to the sudden grab a moment ago.
Instead, to Trixie’s surprise, the girl spoke again in a rough voice that both sounded its age while also feeling like it could pass for older if one wasn’t paying attention.
“His name is Cookie. He’s my…friend.”
The emphasis of the last word gave Trixie the feeling that this girl didn’t have many of those. Or any, outside of Cookie. Was that what living with the Defias was like, or was it something else? They were a brotherhood after all, so Trixie doubted they were all distant from one another. So why was she different?
Knowing that she should be careful around the girl, whose pair of daggers shined in the room’s only light as they hung off a belt, Trixie slowly spoke as Cookie was stroked on the forehead just above his big eyes, “I’ve never seen anything like him before.”
The Defias member seemed to calm down as she brought her head down into the pirate hat she had most likely given Cookie.
“He’s a Murloc. He’s a smart Murloc,” she glanced over to the bread in the side of the room, “He’s our cook.”
“I see where he gets his name from then.”
In a surprising revelation of her age and lack of maturity, the girl held Cookie out and began to glare and snarl at him as he quietly let himself hang from her hands, “No, he got his name because he was trying to steal my cookies when I was a little girl.”
“Aren’t you young still?” Trixie remarked, though she was hardly one to talk. She couldn’t nail down a date specifically, but she didn’t feel like she was over two decades old herself. Still, she was an adult at the very least, unlike the girl before her.
The girl snorted and let Cookie down, at which point he began to leave and she followed, “Whatever, granny.”
That actually rose Trixie’s temper back to where it had been earlier, for once again her ego was trampled upon when she was already feeling insecure, “Just because my hair is silver does not mean I am old!”
On the way out the girl only paused to talk Trixie down again, “Stop talking and eat. I was told to make sure you were healthy.”
Trixie quashed another temptation to bolt out behind the other girl, believing it to be a fool’s errand: they said she’d be there a few more days, and in the meantime she could try and find some way to get out while she had the freedom of being unchained. If she tried to run they might not be so kind, though the lack of chains did make her wonder…if they were not even chaining her, am were providing her with a bed, why would they want to just lock her away?
As the door shut Trixie got in the last word, hoping to help cheer up the girl who she was beginning to empathize with.
“This bread smells nice. Thank you for it.”
After all, who would like to be born into poverty or have a family so poor that joining a group of outlaws seemed like it was the best option?
Trixie waited and began thinking of things she could do to escape. She could try and force herself to sneeze and bust down the door. She could use her own magic to try and wreck the door. Or the wall. The wall was made of some kind of wood, and Trixie doubted they would reinforce it as well as the door. A rookie mistake.
Still, if Trixie broke down the wall, then what? She knew she was on a ship that wasn’t going anywhere yet, but they were inside some cave. A pirate’s cavern or something like that most likely. They had people all around, and while Trixie was confident she could beat a few up it just would not be realistic to beat more than a few of them. They wouldn’t kill her, she could tell that much by how they were keeping her locked up and fed, but they might not be so kind to her the second time around.
As Trixie sat contemplating her way out of the mess she was in the door opened up again. This time she noticed the giant wolf-being walk by for a moment as the girl walked inside with more food. Cookie did not accompany her this time, and Trixie couldn’t help but think it was because of the way things went down last time.
Trixie was bored for the most part, having been waiting around for more time than she could keep track of in the dark, and so she started their conversation off with a random subject.
“My friend has a scarf like that.”
Kael did have one nearly identical to it. Not the same make as the common ones encountered in Moonbrook, rather a well crafted sort that likely was quite expensive. However had a spare of it ended up with the Elves up north Trixie would take a good deal more time to learn.
The girl looked down at the red cloth on her face and then turned to face Trixie with an obviously sour expression on despite half her face being covered.
“It’s not a scarf, it’s a bandana!” the Defias girl growled, though she soon began to mumble something about how she “should have taken” something or another.
Trixie held her hands up defensively, realizing that she had pressed a button unintentionally, “I apologize. I didn’t mean to make you angry…”
“It was my father’s…” the girl quieted down as she placed the food down once again, opting once more to do so away from Trixie to keep some distance between them, “I lost his other one…”
The soft voice hit Trixie in the gut. This girl had lost her father, and quite possibly her mother. The Defias had an orphan in their ranks, something that brought back a feeling of familiarity as well in Trixie.
“I’m sorry...”
What could she do but offer her condolences? She wasn’t the one in power here, even if it was the orphan girl who was hurting before her.
Their hands tightened up into balled fists, pale skin growing paler as the girl clenched them in quiet fury, “You didn’t kill him. Those damn men from Stormwind took my father’s head. Them and their Elven ally, that two colored bastard.”
Trixie’s pity took a back seat to fear as she saw the sheer determined look on the younger’s girl’s face as she continued to speak with anger dripping from her quiet voice.
“I’m going to make them pay. Now that I have the power to do so, I will take my revenge. I’ll make them all suffer the way I have, for what they’ve all made me do…”
Trixie might not be a great people person on the personal level, but she knew enough, and a part of her was feeling a kindred spirit in this girl. They had felt the same pain, even if Trixie could not fully remember her own just yet.
“Come here.”
The orphan looked over to Trixie in surprise, not expecting outstretched arms and a comforting but not smiling face. Trixie wasn’t going to say everything would be all right, but she wanted to at least offer some form of comfort.
The girl drew a dagger and pointed it at Trixie, though her voice was revealing of her shock in the face of sympathy, “As if I would trust someone in my jail.”
“I’m not going to hurt a child,” Trixie teleported straight past the dagger and quickly embraced the girl in a hug before she could say or do anything about it. Trixie might be self-absorbed at times, but empathy was not lost on her, “And I’m sorry you had to go through that. No-one should feel that pain…”
The dagger made a loud clank as it fell to the floor and bounced off the wooden structure. Trixie had expected partially to get nicked by it either through retaliation or by accident, so the sound was a welcome one.
She had surprised the girl enough to shock her into accidently disarming. A more sinister person would take advantage of this, but Trixie refused to. She would escape this place of her own skill, not through taking advantage of a child’s naiveté.
Trixie felt the girl struggle at first, but she calmed down over the course of a few seconds. Once this was done, she moved to return the hug just before violently shaking her head and pushing Trixie away with strength far greater than one of her age and slight build ought to muster.
Once Trixie was no longer touching her the girl shot her a death glare.
“I killed the last person who did that. You’re lucky I need you alive.”
This said, she turned on her heel and walked out. Once again, Trixie wouldn’t let her have the last word, all the while smiling to herself at how she nearly got through.
“Tell Cookie thank you for the bread!”
Perhaps with some time she could manage to accomplish that. While they were opposed in terms of allegiance, Trixie held no ill will for this particular captor. She was a scared girl who had lost her father, likely to the same people Trixie had been working with and for. Trixie could understand the angst.
“Vanessa.”
The girl had suddenly stopped, though she hadn’t turned around to face Trixie.
Trixie raised an eyebrow. Stating what she assumed was a name did not mean much to her, as it could mean anything without context, “What?”
“My name’s Vanessa. When you speak to me, use it.”
And with that, Vanessa VanCleef left Trixie wordless in their third true meeting.
The next time Trixie’s attention was roused was when she suddenly had an idea of how to apply and abuse her powers to this situation. Pushing her bed aside with such ease that she actually began to grasp her own equine strength, Trixie froze the floor beneath it. With a punch she managed to break through the frozen surface, and she looked beneath to find that it was a dark storage room beneath her. Not even a finished storage room by the looks of it, but rather one under construction.
She was in a shipyard. The boat wasn’t going anywhere because it couldn’t yet.
With the bed moved aside, Trixie froze gradually more and more while slowly breaking it bit by bit. She managed to carve out in this way a rectangle that was smaller than the bed, and with enough luck she could sneak out through it and then return and cover it with the bed like she had never been gone.
Breaking out the way they expected was stupid, but if they didn’t know she was gone then she would still be fine. By sneaking around she could find out more and possibly devise an escape route.
Trixie slipped through the newly made entrance, quickly considering the many stackable crates in the room as a way of covering up the hole from beneath. This done, she snuck to the other side of the room and found the door.
It had no window, so in order to see anything Trixie was forced to slowly creak it open when she heard no voices on the other side.
This was noticed immediately by the long eared being with fur all over his body standing outside, Ripsnarl. He turned to face Trixie and she froze in panic at the sight of him. Knowing that she was already in trouble, she didn’t try to run. Where could she run to after all?
“Prisoner, what are you doing here? How did you get out of your room?”
Trixie thought of a quick lie so that they might not look for her escape route, “I accidently teleported out of it when muttering some spells I’ve been trying to memorize and learn. Didn’t know what they did and I was curious,” she noticed that he was helping some others with the boat’s construction, and so she jokingly asked him, “Do you need a hand?”
He snorted in recognition of the humor she was making of her situation, though by then she had everyone’s attention. A small green man not much taller than Cookie, a two-headed behemoth with yellow skin and one eye on each head, a giant robot carrying entire stacks of timber, and of course Ripsnarl himself.
“We are fine. Go back to your cell. Glubtok, make sure she stays put this time.”
Ripsnarl had gestured to the giant being with sickly yellow skin when he said Glubtok, and the large being lumbered towards Trixie at his command.
Before Glubtok could lead her back to her room, Trixie stepped out with her hands up while speaking hurriedly, “Wait, who are you all?”
The more she could get them to reveal, the better off she’d be, right?
Ripsnarl bowed to Trixie, “We are the lieutenants of the Defias Brotherhood. We are what remains after our downfall some years back.”
The green being smirked and pointed a finger at himself as he spoke in a higher pitched voice than even the Saldean kids had, “I’m Helix Gearbreaker. This is Foe Reaper 5000,” he pointed at the giant mechanical being that was really just an oversized Harvest golem, “You saw the dumbass, Glubtok already, and of course there is our Admiral, Ripsnarl.”
Trixie nodded in thanks to him for saying everyone’s names. Now, stalling part two, “Okay, now that you so nicely introduced everyone, why are you hurting innocent people?”
Ripsnarl stood up fully only to then lower his head in sadness, his face still capable of displaying it despite his werewolf appearance, “We have no other way of life. We started as a group of mechanics, architects, and other kinds of engineers who worked in Stormwind. However, the nobles who hired us to build there refused to pay us after we finished the job.”
That got Helix to lose his smug look, and Glubtok’s shoulders sank as Ripsnarl continued to talk. Trixie too was losing any last traces of animosity she had towards them as he finished the tale.
“Unable to feed ourselves, and unable to work under such conditions, we fled from the capital and formed our Brotherhood. Edwin VanCleef was our leader, but the ignoble men of Stormwind had mercenaries come to take his head. We fought, and we lost many of our brothers and sisters, but in the end we could not save him.”
“We would have all perished if not for the aid of our current leader. They took us from the brink of death and helped us rebuild these past years.”
Helix looked uncomfortable as he stood beside his Admiral, “Ripsnarl, why are you telling her this? Like she needs our sob story.”
The Admiral and apparent leader of this bunch brought a hand out towards Trixie while looking to Helix, “We are not the villains. We must resort to ill deeds, but I want others to understand that we have no choice. If those in Stormwind had not ruined our lives we would have never come to this, and now we have no choice but to continue or else starve or be executed.”
Trixie laughed as a memory came to mind of her first moments in Westfall, “I was talking with my friend the other day about invading Stormwind and taking it over,” her words surprised the others gathered, amusing her greatly, “I’m glad I wasn’t wrong in thinking they need new management.”
Ripsnarl nodded in agreement, though his face remained forlorn, “It is unfortunate that you are our current meal ticket. We’ve been given seemingly endless amounts of supplies to capture you and turn you over to our benefactor. With a mind like that you would make a good Defias member.”
Stalling part three, though Trixie found she was actually enjoying getting a look inside the minds of those who would capture her. She was their “meal ticket”, so it meant they were getting paid to do this. But by whom and for what reason?
“There is a girl who brings me food. Why do you take children into your ranks?”
“We have people of all ages and all races working in our Brotherhood. We take those who no-one else will. The poor from Stormwind and Westfall come to us in the hope that we will overthrow those who oppressed them and bring them to glory in the process,” Ripsnarl explained once again, his voice sounding like that of a gentleman rather than the savage beast he appeared to be.
“I see…” Trixie muttered, “That would explain the cook…”
Helix scoffed, obviously figuring out who Trixie was speaking of, “Can’t believe our dear leader made him a freakin’ Captain…can that thing even steer a boat?”
Foe Reaper 9000 spoke up after him with surprising sass for a robot, “Subject: Helix. Measurement: Marginally larger.”
“Yeah, yeah, but at least I got a brain to counter my vertical issues!”
Ripsnarl looked to Trixie again with a frown, for he obviously did not enjoy what he had to do, “Ms. Lulamoon, I hope you bear no grudge against us for this matter. It is not personal, it’s business, and if we had the opportunity to we would be more than just thieves and kidnappers.”
Helix looked over Glubtok and then chuckled to himself, “Well, most of us.”
Trixie sighed and let her own shoulders sink this time. She was captured by misfits who needed to do this to eat and continue on with their semi-noble crusade against ignoble nobles. Depending on who was paying, Trixie was half-heartedly tempted to let them sell her. She could escape from the next group who was less sympathetic.
Still, she wanted out. She wanted to find Kael and get out of Westfall with their new pet and all.
“I can’t exactly say I blame you, but it would be very nice if you let me go. If I told you I know a prince who would be willing to pay you back at a later date you wouldn’t believe me, would you?”
“I apologize, but it appears as if we are already being funded by royalty.”
Ripsnarl looked to the two-headed being again and sighed.
“Glubtok. Make sure she stays put.”
“Okay,” each head responded, though the lack of synchronization keyed Trixie in that they weren’t linked by anything more than a body.
It had taken quite some time, but Kael had finally managed to find where he needed to go: the Deadmines. Nana had brought him to the cave after he gave her something of Trixie’s to smell, and he was quite sure that he was at the right place. The sound of pickaxes was coming from down inside the mine, and he could faintly hear voices.
This was it. He could very well die in there trying to save Trixie, but he did not know how much time he had to save her. He was just thankful he had gone right to finding Nana and not waste time with finding Stormwind help, as her scent may have faded otherwise. Nana had only barely managed to track her after all, since Mana Wyrms weren’t exactly bred for their noses.
Kael told the animal to stay by the entrance where he took the incense before, but it began to follow him inside.
“You don’t need to come in with me.”
Despite his statement, Nana continued after him.
“Well, if you insist…let’s hope you can fight.”
Things were about to get…difficult.
Screams and yells came echoing through the cavern as Trixie began to be led back to her room by Glubtok. She looked off the boat to where a series of docks led to a shore that in turn led in to an upper part of the cave through a mouth in the wall.
“What’s that noise?” Helix groaned.
Extremely pained cries could be heard, including those from one person whose cries came out in words, “GUST…OF WIND—”
The speaker didn’t finish as their voice collapsed into an audible wheeze that echoed still. Everyone nearby Trixie seemed to recognize it, and Helix slammed his hand down on a piece of timber he was standing by.
“Damnit, that damned Captain got free again!”
Ripsnarl growled as he looked to where he could hear the noise all coming from, “When is that damned fool going to give up?”
Helix piped back up, “Can we kill him this time? He’s the worst hostage ever! We can’t even use him to barter since Stormwind doesn’t know we’re here just yet!”
His boss didn’t respond, his eyes narrowing on the opening to the rest of the cave where his sensitive ears were picking up everything.
Helix continued on, quite thoroughly fed up with the constant attempts this soldier made at getting free, “We can’t afford for him to ruin anything at this point. At least he’s trying to break out, not in. We put the new guys up front, so we’re not really losing anything.”
Ripsnarl sighed and then nodded, acquiescing to the request with a heavy heart.
“Glub’tok, go deal with it. He’s been starved for weeks, some fire should put him down. I’ll escort the prisoner to her room.”
Just as Trixie got a few steps forward to accommodate her new guard, a voice to the side made her long ears stand up straight.
“Helix, you too. Just to be sure.”
Trixie gaped as she watched Helix bow before Vanessa, whose confidence suddenly made sense in retrospect. This was V. Vanessa…VanCleef.
Her father was Edwin VanCleef, the man Trixie was told was murdered years back.
“Vanessa…”
Ripsnarl approached Vanessa as Helix and Glubtok left them as commanded. His face displayed concern for Vanessa, though he seemed hesitant to say or do anything with it.
“Will you…be okay?”
Vanessa watched as her two lieutenants left them and went to quell the minor riot, “I only killed two people I loved dearly. I’ll be fine with you killing their nephew.”
Trixie was distracted partially by her words, but a bigger part of her was screaming that this was her chance. If anything, this would be her opportunity to slip away while attention was directed elsewhere. Once she was back in her room she could slip out the way she came and make a break for it…wherever it would take her.
“HARPOON!”
Everyone turned back to face the loud shout from the jailbreaker, whose fervor was quite admirable to all but those fighting to keep him chained.
“Damn knight, just give up already!”
The second, and last, battle for the Deadmines was just beginning.