Elmo's Not-So-Great Escape

Elmo wished he hadn't watched so many movies. At the moment, he had the theme from Mission Impossible playing in his head where before it was music he remembered from the move 'The Great Escape.' It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was rather distracting.

He hadn't come across an orc for a while, but he also had the distinct feeling that he was getting farther and farther away from the surface. Not that he had any idea where he was.

Some passages went up, some went down. He'd stopped trying to figure out how far each went and so couldn't say if he was deeper underground or closer to the surface at the moment.

While he hadn't seen any orcs for a while, he knew they were close because every so often one would get close enough that he could hear them.

He wanted to rest, and was in fact fighting to stay awake at the moment, but didn't dare in the event an orc came up on him while he was sleeping soundly. With how tired he felt right then, he doubted that he'd wake up enough to avoid getting taken back to the orc elders.

Elmo was so exhausted that he nearly walked into a cave that had several orcs guarding it. If they hadn't been paying attention to the other direction, Elmo knew that he'd have been caught right away. Though, on the other hand, being startled in that manner was enough to wake him up fully from seeing that. Or at least for a short period, that is. He was confident that his stamina had to be nearly depleted at the moment.

While they were paying most of their attention in the way that Elmo wanted to go, he couldn't rule out the possibility that one wouldn't look his way if he just stayed standing in the opening.

Elmo counted six orcs and hoped he still had enough MP to put them all to sleep. He hadn't dared used his absorb spell because he didn't want to risk jeopardizing his status among them in the even he did get recaptured. He wasn't sure what the elders could detect with his magic, but he had a feeling that if he directly attacked any of the orcs, that he might find himself on the wrong end of any of their weapons.

Still, he had a good feeling about this cave. It might not have sunlight shining through it, which would indicate it led to an exit, but it was at least a place that the orcs were more concerned about what would come from that direction rather than someone like Elmo wanting to go in that direction.

Elmo systematically worked his way through the orcs in that cavern. Making sure that the orcs wouldn't likely see one of their companions falling asleep. While some somehow found a way to remain upright when Elmo put the to sleep, most would either fall to the floor, slump in whatever seating position they were in, or some other sign that they'd fallen asleep.

He couldn't do anything about the possibility that one of the orcs would look behind them, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. He just had to hope that they wouldn't do that before it was their turn to fall asleep.

Fortunately, none of the orcs did that before he was done. He'd managed to get them all asleep before any of his fears came into being. While part of him felt like this was going to smoothly, even as he tried reminding himself how long it'd taken him to get this far, he stepped forward towards where he hoped would be an exit.

Yet, as soon as he entered that cave, a roar from behind him sounded out an alarm.

Startled, Elmo spun around, confused as to what was making the sound. There shouldn't be anything awake in that passage.

However, he saw another orc, this one apparently had been out of sight of the cave that Elmo had been in, and so hadn't put this one to sleep. Which he quickly rectified.

While that was dealt with, he could hear pounding footsteps as other orcs ran to see what the cry had been about. So, Elmo raced along the passage, hoping to find something. Anything that would either let him hide from the orcs now likely following him or to escape them altogether.

Which, unless he found the exit, he doubted he'd be able to do.

Still, he wasn't going to let things just slip by for him. Not when he was this close. Especially since he felt like he was almost to the exit right then. An exit that would be a mere fantasy if he didn't press on right then.

Besides, he hoped that the alarm would make the orcs think that something had entered rather than escaped. It made sense, but he couldn't convince himself. Not when it was his life that was at stake here.

Elmo felt like the passage went on and on, much like the caves that he'd travelled through to get to that point. He wasn't sure how far it went on, but his legs were starting to hurt and complain about the exertion and his lungs were starting to burn and were starting to lodge protests about the continued exercise.

Not that it really took much for any of that to occur, which told him it probably hadn't even been a tenth of a mile since he'd started running.

Up ahead, he thought he saw a light appear, but he wasn't sure and as he tried to make sure, he tripped over some loose rocks and tumbled, coming up with a gash along his left arm from a sharp rock he'd landed by and a bit of road rash on his right shoulder from loose gravel.

As soon as he'd come to a stop, Elmo unsteadily stood up, wanting to keep up the push to reach the end, but as he heard running footsteps from behind him, he felt his heart sinking as he could tell that he wasn't quite at the exit yet and was afraid of how many orcs had come down this passage. Orcs that would likely stop him if he ran out of MP to put them to sleep.

Elmo started to run again, slipping only a little on the loose gravel, but managed to avoid falling again.

He wasn't sure how far behind him the other orcs were, but he focused solely on the exit that kept getting larger with each step he took. He wasn't sure what would happen, only that he needed to reach that light if he was to escape.

Yet, a weight fell down from behind him when he was about fifty feet away from the light, which seemed like it was in the process of growing stronger as time went one. Making Elmo wonder if it was the morning right then. Though, he wasn't sure which morning it was since he'd been captured, but it hardly mattered with the weight holding him down and other orcs appearing as well.

One even putting a gag around his mouth, which would keep him from using his sleep spell, or any of them for that matter, easily.

Elmo wasn't sure how many orcs there were, but with how tired he was, he couldn't summon the energy to even offer a token resistance. Not when he'd been so close and he was confident that another chance to make an escape wasn't going to appear so easily again.

Yet, as soon as he'd been picked up to be carried back, the orcs stopped. He didn't bother looking to see what the reason was, but when he fell to the ground like they'd decided to just drop him, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

What he saw was a massive orc, with a sword that almost looked like a cleaver to him, standing over the bodies of the orcs who had been carrying him. Then the orc moved passed them, clearly not interested in Elmo, although he was still tied up and unable to do anything other than wiggle around on the ground.

Not that he did that. He really didn't want to attract the attention of that big orc. Especially when he couldn't do anything, even as a token resistance, in response to what that big orc might do.

However, while he was considering his cause hopeless and lost, a dark figure appeared. He couldn't make out who it was, but it was at least not an orc. He wasn't sure if this was a good sign for him or not, but his heart leapt at the possibility that he'd be able to get free now.

Yet, when he saw a dagger flash in the light, a sense to panic immediately overtook him. He tried wriggling away, terrified that this was about to be his end when he held something hold him down from behind. It felt like he'd met the end of his life and couldn't stop the tears from flowing as he recalled all the things he still had wanted to do. With his family, with Jonas, with the others in his group, and things he had wanted to do in general that he was certain wasn't going to happen now.

Elmo felt the cold metal of the blade touch the back of his neck and he knew that was it. It ended right there.

Then the gag covering his mouth fell away, cut cleanly, and the blade left the back of his neck and Elmo couldn't help but black out.