A Hard Place

Garrett charged at the nearest Birdian guard that he could find and slashed its arms, causing it to screech out in pain and drop its spear. The other guard at the door, after realizing what was happening, began to charge at Garrett, lifting its spear in the air. However, it never succeeded as Plex threw a knife, pinning the Birdian's arms to the wall. It screeched and struggled to free itself.

It was only a few moments as everyone else in the quarry began to realize what unfolded before the entire place turned into mass chaos. The prisoners began to turn on the guards, wielding pickaxes and shovels and shouting at the top of their lungs. To put the whole scene lightly, it was mass chaos.

"Get the guards! Restrain them!" Garrett shouted as he slashed the legs of the Birdian he was at, severely crippling it. "Don't kill any of them though!"

"Understood, Boss!" Plex said as he rushed into the fray. Behind him was bolts of purple energy as Iadre cast from her orb. She fluttered around the battlefield, listening closely to the voices of the prisoners.

Garrett shook the axe to get the blood off it and looked at the Birdian guard that was lying on the ground. He hadn't killed it, thankfully, but something inside gnawed at him. He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts before turning to survey the fight. Prisoners and guards were scattered around the quarry. Most of the guards were on the ground, as well as a couple of prisoners. Some of the guards were taking out multiple prisoners, but they quickly found themselves losing to Plex. Most of the prisoners who were still up and fighting were using the weapons they either had or had stolen off the guards.

However, there was one prisoner who stuck out. Unlike the others, who were wearing tattered rags and using weapons, this prisoner had very flashy and gaudy clothing. He appeared to be a large lizard of sorts, but not quite the same as the lizards that Garrett had encountered before. Instead of using weapons, this lizard was shouting. It was faint, but Garrett could see that when the lizard opened his mouth, there was a small, but focused shockwave emanating from it. He was fighting off multiple guards, though he was quickly beginning to get overwhelmed.

Before he could think, Garrett lost the grip on his axe and charged in, blocking a spear thrust from one of the guards with his shield. "Careful! Keep an eye out."

"Ah, you! You're the Illima I saw," the lizard said, turning his back to Garrett's back. The lizard shouted and Garrett could hear some guards shouting as they were blown backward.

"You were the one who sent the message?" Garrett asked, deflecting more spear attacks away. He grasped at the air as he realized that he had let go of his axe and there wasn't any time to grab his sword.

"I'm glad it reached you and that you listened," the lizard said, knocking away more guards. "Truly, you have a kind heart."

Garrett grunted as he bashed his shield into the beak of one of the Birdian guards. "Thank me after we get out of this situation." The Birdians screeched and more of the guards came to surround Garrett and the lizard. "Crap, I can't cut us a path out of here."

"I haven't had water in days. My throat is too dry to keep up my attacks much longer," the lizard said in a more hoarse voice.

"CHARGE!"

Garrett and the lizard both turned in the direction of the voice to see Plex shoving aside the Birdians, along with a small army of prisoners behind him. The guards surrounding Garrett turned their focus on the metal brute that was taking out their forces, which allowed Garrett the opportunity to grab the lizard and jumped with him out of the way.

The two of them landed outside of the combat, skidding softly on the ground. "You alright?" Garrett asked, checking himself and the lizard for any wounds.

"No, I'm fine," the lizard responded before standing back up and helping Garrett up. The two of them looked at the quarry at the situation. Most of everyone was on the ground, unconscious or barely able to move. The remaining few guards who were still up were being taken down by Plex. The prisoners were being tended to by Iadre and a few other prisoners in a different section of the quarry. "Looks like we've won."

Garrett took a big sigh of relief before going over and reclaiming his axe. "Now then," Garrett said as he approached the lizard, "who are you?"

"Ah, allow me to properly introduce myself," the lizard said with a bow. "I am known across the world by many names, but there is but one to which this illustrious draconian face belongs to, and that is the one and only, Lyman Ochao!" The draconian struck a dramatic pose, reminding Garrett much of Vanessa.

"Draconian? Lyman Ochao?"

"Please, just Lyman is fine, Illma. And yes, I know that most Draconians do not have as great of style as myself, but I am purely a Draconian. And, what is your name, Illima?"

"My name is Garrett Bates. Call me Garrett." Garrett stuck his hand out as an offering to the Draconian.

The draconian shook his hand back. "I cannot thank you enough for saving me, as well as my other captives here." Before Garrett could respond, Lyman's eyes lit up. "Ah, but perhaps there is a way that I can. Garrett, I shall bestow the honor to you allowing yourself to travel with me!"

Garrett stood there in a bit of stunned silence before realizing what the draconian said. "Wait, you said I have the honor of traveling with you? Not you coming along with me?" He grimaced a bit as he began to process the kind of person Lyman was.

"Yes, that is correct," Lyman said. "It is a great honor to not only have saved the great Lyman Ochao, but now, to accompany him as he goes about, traveling the world to- Hey! Where are you going?" Lyman shouted out to Garrett, who had walked off to reconvene with Iadre and Plex. "Come back!" Lyman hustled along to catch up to Garrett.

"How are they?" Garrett asked Iadre, ignoring the draconian behind him.

She fluttered around to Garrett's shoulder. "They'll be fine, but they need some rest. We definitely need to get them out of this place before they get any worse though." As Garrett looked over the newly freed prisoners, he noticed that they were from all sorts of different races. Some of them appeared to be Illimas, others were elves like Cerezie, a few demons who looked similar to Vanessa, and other races that Garrett didn't recognize.

"All the guards have been subdued, Boss," Plex said, approaching the group. Being dragged behind Plex was a tied up group of Birdians, most of which were groaning in pain.

"Great, now we can question them about what they were doing here." As Garrett began to turn to the guards, a loud and powerful voice from above everyone stopped them in their tracks.

"Now then, just what happened to my lovely mining operation?"