The company looked at the door to the stairs upward, the sounds of movement filtering down to the basement clinic. Listening closely, Finchley could make out at least four voices, one of them certainly being Ane, Nethrida’s sister, now Mans’ latest host.
The sound of rumbling voices and furniture being moved grew louder from upstairs, punctuated by a sudden crash as glass broke, followed by a curse.
A voice they all recognised gave a command in tones imperial. "The door is on this wall, I saw her come through it once...there must be a switch or mechanism of some kind....find it, you fools!'
Ordan, the former Mayor of Linhir glanced up, seemingly unconcerned by the racket. "I knew she had a reason to want to search this place...but we have the seaside key....so she is stuck.”
Addiela heard the glass crash and shakes her head. "They're certainly not here to pick out dinnerware for their wedding... We could take cover in this room and wait for them to find entrance, then, surprise them..."
Xandilif the Banshee spat, looked around and shook her head. "I can’t say I like this space for a fight...and once they come down, we got nowhere to go and no way to maneuver. The way we came in is crowded with rubble, skeletons and worse. The old man is right, Annedyl is stuck..but so are we. We need to get out of here.”
Eduwiges cracked her knuckles and whispered in a husky voice, 'I am tired of this. I will just go up and get them myself. Door or no door.”
Ordan shushed Eduwiges, listening closely, then shook his head. “Quiet honey, I can’t make out words....but they are definitely speaking Thieve’s Cant, with bits of the tongue of Angmar mixed in.”
Finchley glanced upwards. "Thieve’s what? Who would Ane-- I mean Mans as Ane take with her..him...whatever? Roric maybe but who else?"
Addiela frowned at Ordan's words. She carefully stepped up the stairs and looked for any button or lever what would open the wall from that side. Xandilif followed Addie silently half up the stairs. She glanced back at Finch, whispering. "It’s a patois dialect used by thieves and such like…mostly old Westron slang with a good helping of Haradrim talk tossed in. I doubt most local fishermen speak in Thieve’s Cant except to discuss each other’s mothers, so I am betting Ane has some Blood Eye muscle to fetch and carry."
Eduwiges glared at the old man, whispering under her breath, “Honey???” but let it go for now. She pulled her daggers out of their sheaths, and followed the others up.
Ordan hissed up the stairs to Lif as he searched around the desk. "Certainly Blood Eye...if we believe Yula's confession Ane was thick with the new leadership, curse em, butch of Angmar freaks. Hold up there, the switch to the door must be down here somewhere, makes no sense to be up there. Just wait.”
Finchley nodded and watched Ordan. "I feel a little sorry for her," she whispered. "Yula, I mean. All that disappointment and loss... Well, she doesn't have to feel it anymore now. But she's left a fine mess."
Addiela stayed quiet for now, readying the staff in her hand, and mentally prepared herself for action when Ordan found that switch. Xandilif for her part left SilverWand across her back, just clenching her fists as the voices come closer to the wall.
Eduwiges looked back and whispered as best she could. 'I for one Finch, am ready to shake the dust off my feet of this nasty little burg. Let's end this bastard Mans, and get out of this place.' She tensed and leans forward on the balls of her feet, ready to charge the rest of the way up the stairs.
Ordan felt around the edges of the desk, seeming to know what he is looking for. "Don't spare the old bat much pity, boy....Yula sold herself and this whole town to Angmar it seems, even before that slip of a girl went mad. I was a fool not to notice it...'
Finchley didn’t even have the heart to laugh at being called a boy. She shook her head. "Ane didn't go mad. And I'll decide how much pity to spare someone myself thanks." She moved a couple stairs closer to Lif and pulled one dagger out while resting her free hand atop one of Lif's clenched fists.
Xandilif glanced at Finchley."You stay close to me until we see daylight, then you get the hell out and find Lil' Sauron. This ain’t gonna be no fit fight for you, Babygirl.”
Finchley gripped her dagger tighter and looked at Lif, her hand still on her closed fist. "You want me to run... By the time I get to Mister Kraddock you could all be-- Lif, I told you I wouldn't run away from things." She steeled herself for what was to come but visibly hesitated over the idea of running away from this fight even if Lif told her to.
Before Xandilif could answer, Ordan called from below, his hand under the desk. "This must be it...you ready up there?'
Addiela was calm and collected, her resolve firm as she waited for the door to open; however, that changed in an instance. Something washed over her and her right hand immediately clutched at her chest as she leaned sideways into the wall of the stairway. A wave of shadow, as if hundreds of souls clawed out at her from beyond the grave, seemed to surround her, oppressive, cutting of her air. At the heart of the sensation was a sense of Mans, malignant and mocking, close at hand. "No... I... have to... be strong..." Whatever was bedeviling her continued and Addie's other hand went to her left temple as her eyes winced shut in pain- her staff was no longer being held and fell to the ground.
The staff clattered loudly to the stone steps. Ane's voice rose beyond the secret door. "THERE, hear that?...that's the wall...find the switch or break it down!'
Xandilif spat. "No more time. Pop it old man, before they do....
Eduwiges swore bitterly and spun her daggers around, ready to charge after Lif as Orden pressed a button and there was a soft click, a grating of gears and the wall pivoted, revealing one very surprised looking thug facing the now open wall. having been caught in the act of searching for a hidden latch, his dagger was between his teeth, hands raised like a mime pretending there was an imaginary wall before him.
Finchley moved to a defensive stance, now holding both of her daggers in front of herself, making barely a noise, taking a breath before the storm right before her eyes hit.
Beyond the no-longer-secret door was Annedyl, looking up from a desk she was searching...beside her was Roric, the heavy chain of office looking almost comical around his neck now that he was mayor. One other thug was coming up behind the surprised first, already picking up his mace from the floor where he had placed it while searching.
Addiela tried to push herself up from the wall with her shoulder, but it was almost as though some invisible pressure or weight seemed to be keeping her there, the very air making her body feel heavy.
The thug frozen in the surprise in the now open doorway was just too easy a target to miss as Xandilif brought one armored knee up into his groin with a wet snapping sound. The man exclaimed "Mistah Mayor, I found emMMMMMMMAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG" as he doubled over and fell to one side.
Eduwiges charged close behind Lif, dropping her daggers into their sheaths upon seeing there was plenty of room to fight. With a snarl of satisfaction, she whipped out her sword Badu druit, gems blazing on the hilt and went straight for Ane at the desk, swinging for her neck in a perfect killing blow, the woman unable to react quickly enough. However in the flurry of movement Roric shouting “NO” and stepping forward to protect what he thought was his loving and hard won fiancé, taking the blade deep in the shoulder and down through his collar bone, slicing neatly through his chain of office. As he slid off Edu’s blade and down to the floor, the golden links scattered across the clinic floor, slick with fountaining blood.
Stunned for an instant by Roric’s sacrifice, Eduwiges froze. Rising on her other side, the second thug growled out something in a language she didn’t know but suspected was the tongue of Angmar and took the advantage to swing his evil-looking mace at her head. Meanwhile the first thug clutched at Finchley as she moved past him, one hand still holding his wounded pride.
Finchley leaned backwards, pushing the thug off and kicked upwards into his groin again for good measure. However he caught Finch's leg with his defending hand, muttering something in the tongue of Angmar as Finch felt her brand pulse painfully, now off balance.
---
Meanwhile in the camp, Caine had spent the time as the two women slept gathering horses that had followed them from Nethrida’s farm after they made their escape.
Neth groaned a little under the crude covers for the night. Far from fully rested, but no longer ill she sat up to take stock of her surroundings, only to notice the thick, billowing smoke rising from where her home was... "Linhir!" She cried out and sprung to her feet, staring at the black smoke in the distance and then looked to the others. "We have to go, the town is burning!" she cried out and reached for her sword. "And fast. Something's gone wrong, the others may need our aid!"
Caine prodded Ynna gently. "The old woman is still out cold and dead weight.”
Nethrida gritted her teeth. "Then leave her. Cover her in what blankets remain... This place is not well known..." She frowned, torn, looking at her mother and then at Ryn and held her hand out. "Come on."
Ryn looked between Caine, Neth and Ynna, rising. "What if the bastard hops to the old bat again? We can't just leave her alone but we can't bring her."
Nethrida reached for the reins of her horse. "Then stay behind and watch over her. My hometown is burning and we do not have the time for this right now! Caine, do you prefer staying here and watching over Mother, or to come with us?"
Caine shrugged. “Your girlfriend is right, the old woman would just slow you down. Go, I will keep an eye on her and come when she wakes. Tell Kraddock I am here when you find him. If the town is burning, he will be there.”
Ryn nodded a little to Caine "It'll have to do." she said, grabbing her sword and looking to Neth, swinging up on a horse. "Let's go!"
Neth drew her sword in one hand, and took Ryn's in the other. She nodded at Caine. "Thank you...." And then she took off towards Linhir as fast as she could.
Behind Septimal Caine, as he watched the two riders depart, Ynna opened her eyes.
---
Back in the clinic, Addiela calls out to Ane, "You're too late Mans... Word of your treachery will reach the White City soon enough and they shall send aid to liberate this place. Your mistake was not accounting for the knights being here. You were late finding the evidence, but shall I quote some of Yula's words?" Addie began to recite from the manifesto from memory, "She was going to overthrow stupid Mayor Ordan... place a suitable puppet in power, and rule this town from the shadows. She had dreams…and so what if some fools had to be harmed to realize them."
Addie's eyes glanced to Roric for a moment to see if he was hearing the words since they were mostly meant for him, then frowned. Roric’s eyes were wide open and staring, blood still weakly flowing from his open wound. He had realized his dreams of being Mayor and engaged to Annedyl for a few hours at least.
The thug attacking Edu took advantage of the blood soaked floor and swung hard at her as she secured her footing. The mace connected hard with Edu's helmet, the good Rohirric steel ringing like a bell. The mace glanced off, denting the steel and perhaps Eduwige’s skull. Blood ran down into Edu's eyes and all she could hear was the echoing impact, but she stayed on her feet.
Eduwiges muttered 'Am I still here?' She checked herself, 'Ok, good!' she pirouetted bringing her greatsword back around. arching for the mace wielder’s neck where it met the shoulders...but he parried her off balance blow and set his feet to face her, knowing he had the advantage as her vision grew fuzzy from the previous attack.
At the secret doorway, Xandilif drew SilverWand, catching the thug who was grabbing at Finch with the flat of the blade upside the head. However he stayed up, and pulled Finchley closer to him and raised his dagger to stab the girl, apparently tired of people attacking his testicles.
As the battle raged, Ane neatly leapt over Roric’s body without a second thought and was out the open door, running into the town square. One more burst of movement, and Ordan was out the door, following Ane.
Finchley had frozen for the briefest of moments at first when she felt a pain in her left hip from the brand. But all too quickly, like a reaction to a stinging insect, she sprang into action, struggling against the thug's grasp and stabbing one dagger into his arm. She sank the blade deep into the thug's bicep, and he screamed and dropped his own knife. He cursed her in a guttural language and Finchley’s brand flared again.
Addiela had the evidence and Yula's confession in her satchel and she knew that she should keep these things far away from Ane as long as she was possessed by Mans; however, her hatred for Mans and her rage for all the mental and physical stress he had put them through was stronger than her reasoning and she quickly bent down to grab her staff and sprinted off after Ane, unable to consider that she, or the monster inside her, would not face justice.
Just as Addiela emerged into the square, Neth and Ryn burst into town to find the courtyard strangely deserted save for a massive bonfire, the source of the smoke that had attracted them....they watched Ane sprint across the courtyard from the clinic to the Rusty Barge, followed by old Ordan and then by Addie who stopped and stared at the new arrivals. “No time to explain…” she shouted. “Ane is getting away!!!”
