Obeying Orders

[Cirion Derufin]

Sir Cirion Derufin had brought ten men with him from the barracks and marched thought the city to the sewer entrance. He had five men stationed outside; these men were to guard the entrance and keep an eye on the iron chain that had been brought along. The iron chain was vital for the success of the mission; it was to be their failsafe if they where to get lost. Two of the soldiers that would be accompanying the knight carried hammers and stakes; to hold the chain in place. If they were to get lost, they simply followed the chain back to the surface. And no one could possible unearth the stakes without the proper equipment.

With their fall-back plan ready, Sir Derufin lead the other five men into the sewers. Of the five men who came with Cirion, two carried the stakes and the hammers while the other three were armed with crossbows. As they walked in the sewer, their armor dripped with bilge water and the air around them was rank with all sorts of dead things. Who ever hide here must have gotten over the smell, for the smell alone probably would kill any intruders. Despite the fact that he had not been invited, Sir Derufin didn't have any intentions of harming the person that he searched for; the Queen of thieves; unless she had other plans. If she cooperated, all would be well, but she decided to fight, one of the crossbowmen had a whistle around his neck, to signal the others waiting at the entrance to return to the barracks and go for help. Sir Derufin had taken every necessary precaution; now, to find his quarry.

[Marie]

Marie, expecting this invasion for some time thanks to a friend of hers waited stealthily in a large oak tree not too far away from the entrance of sewers. So, they had come at last for her, well she wouldn't give up with out a fight. There were five outside and more went inside including what appeared to be a veteran knight. So Rit had actually gotten someone of value on his side at long last? No matter.

They seemed to be ready for Marie's extensive knowledge of the sewer net work however she still saw flaws in there plan. The first was the weight of the chain. This would make the soldiers even the slightest bit tired and less of a match for Marie. Secondly the chain was long but it didn't go on for ever. It, like everything, had an end. The sewers were vast enough to out last the length of the chain.

So, with all that in mind, she set out to end this invasion quickly. The first step was to get rid of the five soldiers waiting outside. Reinforcements for the enemy could mean a big problem for her. So she waited for a long while until she was dead sure that the knight had traveled deep enough into the sewers and then leaped down from the tree.

She was wearing both of her fighting gloves this day (see picture) of course. To go into battle with out a weapon was like rowing without a boat. She was good at sneaking around, it was her job anyways being a thief and all. The five soldiers were facing the tunnel, not expecting a flank attack but still she moved with out a sound.

At last she found herself behind the soldier furthest back. She would take them out one at a time, with out a sound. And so she brought her hand with the iron fingernails up by the man's neck ready to kill. She stood still for a moment and then quickly jabbed all the nails in at once.

And then something happened that Marie should have expected. The man gasped, catching the attention of the other soldiers stationed outside who immediately rushed towards Marie. "Damn it." In other motion she flung the corpse of the man at three of the soldiers and landed a powerful kick right into the face of the other.

So, she already had to fight. At least she had the attention of the four other men. She would not let a single one of them go for help.

[Cirion Derufin]

As Sir Derufin and the five soldiers who accompanied him trudged through the vast sewer network, a large sound vibrated down the sewers. The sound was amplified and traveled fast, but this sound didn't need to be loud to tell Cirion what had happened; the guard party was in danger.

Dropping the chain and gesturing that his men do the same, Sir Derufin made for the Entrance with all haste; his men following him at his heels. The aging knight's sword was drawn and his shield at the ready as he ran through the sewers to the sewer entrance.

Bursting into the brightness of the outside world, Sir Derufin studied the scene as the five soldiers who were with him clustered about their leader. Four of the guards were advancing on a young woman in peculiar battle armor and had several odd weapons. Sir Derufin signaled for the three crossbowmen to target the girl, and shouted for the other four men advancing on her to halt.

Stepping toward the woman, Sir Derufin spoke in a calm yet commanding voice, "Hold your weapons, lady. We have not come for battle. We have come to merely bring you to an audience before Rit Megliaf. He wants to talk with you; that's all. You have slain one of my men, but we shall over look that if you come with us and cooperate. If not..." Sir Derufin gestured over his shoulder to the crossbows aimed at her. "These are some of the finest shots in the city and they could kill you before you could kill any more of my men."

"So what shall it be, madam?" inquired Sir Derufin, "Do you accept our most gracious invitation? Or do you wish to perish fighting; for now you are in my domain."

[Marie]

She could hear the sound of metal splashing through the sewer back towards her but she kept fighting anyways. Finally the knight was outside the sewer but Marie had enough time to slam the spike on one of her gloves into the face of one of the soldiers ending his life.

She stood there looking like a young child in school as the man spoke. Once he was done a large smirk crossed over her face as she took a few steps towards the man. "First of all I killed two of your men, get that right." Her smirk grew even wider after this and she relaxed her body. "Secondly, is that what the mighty Lord told you? That he just wants to talk to me? Ha! Thanks for the laugh." She moved even closer to the man, glancing up at the crossbowmen in the tree quickly. "Lastly, do you really believe that I will give myself up? Ha!"

And with that she sprang off the ground, over the knights head, and into the sewer. Like the man had said, the crossbow me were good. They manage to stick a few in her wooden shoulder pad and one right into her arm. She took a deep breathe in and then tore the arrow from its wound. She was still running though, she would not dare stop for everything.

The chain seemed to be going in a straight line and pegged into the ground. It would be hard to move it. So, using this as an advantage, she took a quick turn off of the trail of the chain. Every turn she made she changed her direction slightly. She was determined on getting these men lost in the sewers.

[Cirion Derufin]

Cursing under his breath, Sir Derufin whirled about to see the woman fleeing down the sewer entrance. As she left the surface world, one of the crossbowmen blow into the whistle that was about his neck. After a few minutes, another whistle sounded from the barracks; they were on there way. 50 more men; a mix of guards and militia were heading to the sewer entrance to help apprehend this pest.

When they arrived, they too carried chains with them. Their job was to attach their chains to the main one and go down the side passages. Each of the new men had a whistle around his neck to sound the alarm and warn the others if he found the prey. These new men were armed mostly with rusty, short swords and maces; and covered in chain mail. As the five ten men teams went into the sewer, they attached their chains to the main one and cautiously went down their assigned passage. Sir Derufin and the surviving eight of the original men descended into the depths of the sewers and waited by the main chain. They were tense and alert, so any sneak attack would be ineffective. Thus Sir Derufin waited with his men and breathed in time with the dripping of the water from a leak in the roof. He expected the hunter teams to quickly find the pest; for she left a fine trail behind her; blood drops never lie.

When the fox goes down its hole, send in the hounds.

[Marie]

The faint sound of a whistle reached Marie's ears between splashes. So, they were calling in reinforcements. It seemed sad, ten man couldn't stop a single woman and even if they called in more they would still not be able to stop her. She laughed a little at the thought. But this truly wasn't the time to laugh. She still had to keep her concentration on staying one step ahead of the knight.

If he was bringing in reinforcements then there would surely be more chains. So, her second plan wasn't going to work but her first one still would. There were still enough tunnels in the sewer system to waste all of the chain. If she had to, should would even go into the Drow tunnel system to get these men lost.

Then came the third plan. She didn't want to just run all day, she also wanted to have some fun. She would take out some of the reinforcements. The less there was the less she would have to worry where she was going.

She reached a large opening in the tunnels. It was here that many tunnels came together. Turning she ran down a different tunnel but one going back towards the way she came. Halfway through the tunnel she turned and stepped into a side tunnel that most people would miss. The shadows hid her and she waited. Sure, when she attacked this next group they would call in the rest of the group but that would just group them together and make it so that she could get them all at once.

[Cirion Derufin]

Sir Derufin patiently waited for his men to locate the pest of a woman. She really was starting to annoy him; he did know what Rit wanted with her, but he had offered her a kinder choice, but she refused him and took off. Why do fugitives always run?, pondered the knight, For once why can't they come to me in irons and beg for mercy? That would be so much easier that way; and would save many man from their fates.

Turning to watch each of the side passage ways; Sir Derufin wished that he had brought in dogs; they could have tracked the woman down faster than any man could possibly hope. But he didn't have any trained hounds at his disposal and so he waited for either screams of agony or the sharp blast of a whistle. One way or another; Sir Derufin would fulfill his lord's wishes and bring to him this woman. All in good time, and he had plenty of it.

[Marie]

Finally one of groups of ten made their way down the tunnel Marie was waiting by. They were all wearing whistles now. Marie had originally planned on using this group to lure all of the soldiers together but know she was thinking against that. She would have to act quickly in order to make it as quiet as possible but it would work.

She watched as they nail another stake into the ground right in front of Marie's hiding spot. They moved on and Marie still waited. A short distance ahead she heard the first sound of metal hitting stone and she snuck make into the main tunnel. The group was basically in two rows. Five in back, all looking the opposite way of Marie and five in front nail the stake into the ground. They most likely hadn't even noticed the side tunnel and had no worries of a flank attack.

Every once in a while one of the soldiers in front would glance make towards Marie but she kept low to the water and used the five knights in back to hide herself. Right as she was certain that they had near finished nailing the stake in she popped up right behind the five in rear and in one fluid motion she sliced right through their spinal columns using her steal nails. She quickly guided the dead five to the ground without letting them even touch the chain.

The last five immediately took notice of what had happened but before a single one of them could do anything she popped right back up and snatched the whistles from their necks, using the nails again.

Using the quick time of confusing she had made, Marie slammed both fists into two separate soldiers faces. Turning and ducking to avoid the swing of one of the hammers she allowed the whistles to fall into the shallow water. Coming back up she did the same to the next two. The last soldier, dumb founded at what had happened was easy to dispose of.

She dragged the bodies into the side passage and then went back out to where she dropped the whistles. She picked them up out of the water and slung them around her neck. She hadn't made a single noise that whole fight but perhaps she could use noise to her advantage. She hurried back into the side passage, took the rest of the whistles, and then headed off into the sewers. She knew routes around the main tunnels and made sure to stick to them. And if one of the groups had decided to use a side trails there were enough to stay hidden still.

[Cirion Derufin]

Sir Derufin couldn't stand waiting any longer. He took the master whistle from around his neck and blew sharply into it. 4 teams poured out of their assigned sewers, but the fifth didn't return. Sir Derufin signaled for all the surviving men to follow him into the tunnel where the fifth team had disappeared.

It wasn't long before Sir Derufin and the other men found the corpses of the fifth team. It seemed that five of them had been slashed in the back, and the other five had been dispatched with punches to the face; blood oozing from the puncture wounds that the iron claws had left.

The knight looked his way and that; trying to see if the pest was still there, but there was no sign of her. He motioned for the other men to remain on the lookout. So, Sir Derufin and his surviving 48 men plodded deeper into the sewers; alert and ready for a fight. This time, that woman wasn't going to get the jump on them. This time; they would have her.

[Marie]

Marie heard the ringing of a whistle blow echoing throughout the sewer but kept on running. This meant one of two things. Either she had been spotted, which she doubted, or they were regrouping. She was already a good distance away from where she left the bodies and if the knight wanted to catch up he would either have to grow wings or sprint for longer than is humanly possible.

She sidestepped through an opening and back onto a main tunnel. She kept running and came to another junction of tunnels. Pivoting slightly she went down a different tunnel. Toward the beginning of tunnel she stopped suddenly and turned toward the wall. "Yup, this is the place." She took off her gloves and latched them onto her waist before sticking her fingers into cracks in the wall and climbing the short way up it. Once her head was pressed up against the ceiling she looked around. "I know its here somewhere." She took one hand out of its notch in the wall and pressed it up against a part near her head, sure enough a part of the wall pushed in revealing a path just big enough to crawl through. She pushed the wall a little further and then pulled herself up into the crawl way.

She crawled for a short time pushing the wall forward the whole time until it finally fell out of sight. She smiled and crawl out of the passage and into a dimly light but large room filled with people. This was a safe haven for people fleeing from the surface, many of these people were criminals and religious leaders. There were only two entrances into this room, the one she just came from and a trap door in the middle of the room that lead to a lower ancient level of the sewers. This lower level was filled with more places such as this. (Bottom line, there's no way that Cirion was going to find this place.)

A few people had drawn weapons but upon seeing who it was they sheathed them. An old man stepped forward. He wore a large cross around his neck. He was once the Priest of the church in the city.

"What is wrong my child?"

So Marie told her story, well at least a summarized version of this.

"You are of course welcome to stay here as long as you need to." The Priest said and walked Marie over to a small fire.

"Actually, I was thinking about fighting back. I can't let these people stay in the sewers!"

At these words she caught the attention of many of the people. To these people she was a savior. She had helped everyone of them in one way or another and kept them safe. They would do anything for her.

"What is your plan?"

[Cirion Derufin]

"Burn the pest out", said Sir Derufin, "There is enough dry material in the sewers to either smoke her out or burn her out. Once the fire is started; we make all haste to the main sewer where the water is. As long as we stay in the water, we should be quite safe." With that, Sir Derufin took a piece of flint from a nearby guard and struck it against his bastard sword repeatedly.

After awhile; sparks appeared; then smoke. Sir Derufin continued to do this until a flame was kindled. Quickly, it caught onto garbage and refuse; burning all the brighter. With a roar, the fire began to grow stronger and spread faster; heading down different passages and catching onto the dry materials that were there. And one thing was for certain; no human could out a moving fire.

And because of that reason, Sir Derufin and his men retreated to the main sewer and threw themselves into the safety of the water. Throughout the sewers, the crackling of the moving fire was growing stronger.

[Marie]

"Wait," Marie said, interrupting her own speech and holding out a hand. She had just been going over her plan with the Priest and anyone else who claimed to have an intellect. It was going good, she was certain that she could trap the man like a rat in a cage. But something else had just come up, a smell and a very recognizable smell at that. "They are trying to smoke me out." She said, her voice almost shaking and at these words she had caught the attention of everyone in the immediate area. She wasn't afraid for herself though, she was afraid for all of the travelers that would be killed in the fire.

The fear turned into anger, her fists clenched tight, and her teeth the same. Her eyes, now filled with furry, traveled to the ground. She would tare him apart with her own two hands. He would pay for this day.

"Cover the hole," the Priest said between concerned glances at Marie, "and send someone down to seal of all the entrances below..."

"Wait," This word uttered again but now as a ray of hope. Her voice had calmed and the rage in her eyes had decreased. Her eyes rose to meet the Priests who had a warm smile on his face and nodded for Marie to continue. So she stood and looked around the room for a moment. "Seal all of the entrances except for the Northern one." Nobody actually asked why and a young boy went off to do the errand but she knew that was what they were thinking. "The Northern entrance will lead me around the fire and to the flood gates. I'll use water against fire." And with this she turned to follow the boy down to the lower levels.

"May god watch over you." The Priest said and watch Marie until she disappeared out of sight.

The tunnels below were full of confusion and noise but it was noticeable that the boy had got his job done. Where she past, people looked at her and smiled. They knew, or at least hoped, that nothing bad could happen with her around. She had saved them so many times before that they worshiped the ground she walked on. "Today you will be the ones saving me." She mumbled almost sadly under her breath.

She moved quickly to the opened Northern entrance and then turned to face the crowd behind her."I need two men of strong will." Two walked forward and she thanked them their bravery. "Round up all the other men you can find and position yourself at the south pass. When the sound of water can no longer be heard open the pass and charge forward until you reach day light." Everyone nodded and she turned with the two men and exited.

The journey to the flood gates usually took some time but they moved at double pace and got there in a matter of moments. The smoke was no where near this place which made Marie's hopes raise a little.

"Ready?" She said then the three of them turned the wheel and the flood gates opened. They would take the main tunnel and then spill out into the small ones. They would stop the fires and flood the knight out of the tunnels. "There goes a good swimming spot." She said to herself as she watched the water flow. It seemed as though the ocean itself was spilling into the sewer. She would have him out of here for sure, there was no doubt about that.

[Cirion Derufin]

As the knight waited in the murky sewer water with the rest of his men; a faint roaring sound began to vibrate down the main sewer passage. Slowly turning about, Sir Derufin beheld the oncoming torrents of water. Whirling about, Sir Derufin shouted to his men, "Get out of the water; hurry!" But the torrents were too fast and strong. Sir Derufin and his men were swept away to another end of the sewers.

But Sir Derufin wasn't defeated. He had washed up on what appeared to be the Drow end of the sewers. As he looked about; he could find no other survivors. As he released the water that had gotten into his helmet, and re-strapped his shield on his arm, Sir Derufin stiffly walked in the direction of the Human Sewer entrance. He would find this queen of the sewers; she couldn't have any more tricks that could catch him off guard. He would have his revenge.

As he limped close to the sewer entrance, the light of day shone through and inspired new hope in him. Now, to heal and plot a new way to get this girl. He would return to these sewers and purge the city of this pest; after he looked to his wounds. Slowly climbing the ladder, Sir Derufin made his way up to the surface world and limped through the streets of Rhyfaugh to report to his lord.

[Marie]

"That should do it," Marie said and the three of them closed the flood gates back up. The sound of rushing water stopped and she heard the yells of the men below as they charged out into the sewer to look for any survivors.

Marie and the two men made their way slowly down the damp paths back to the lower sewer. She couldn't stop thanking the two men the whole way there. By the time she got back the people were cheering. The men and come back reporting that not a single one of the soldiers were alive or in the sewers. Marie smiled and stood up on the closest thing to a platform she could find.

"Thank you all for helping me in my time of need. However I feel that these men will try once again to invade our realm. We will be ready though. We have to be if we want to survive." She paused, looked around the crowded area, and then thrusted one of her arms into the air. "And we will!"

A mighty roar of cheers filled the sewers and traveled up to the land above.