09 / I Think It's Time To Go

I TURNED AROUND only to find that there was no one behind me. I looked around but still, the only people in this room were me, Azelae, and the transporter. And I was positive he had not said a word. I stared at Azelae, but she was focused on Fiora.

 "Azelae, did you hear that voice?" I whispered to her.

 She got an odd look on her face and shook her head.

Did she not hear it? It sounded like it came from right behind us, how could she not hear it?

 I had no idea who had said that, or why I was the only person who heard it, but I was sure of what it said. I needed to save Fiora.

 The voice wasn't threatening, it had a sort of gentleness to it. I felt like I could trust whoever it was. But the problem now was, how could I save her? There was no way I could just rush out and snatch her off the stage. I could see at least ten guards standing behind the audience, and who knew how many more were here that I couldn't see. I was going to need to wait for the right moment to make my move.

"Bidding will start at six-thousand credits," the announcer started the auction.

Chime after chime signified the bids were rising for the girl. Every once in a while, the announcer would again announce the current bid, counting down to lure in more bidders.

"The current bid is twelve-thousand-five hundred credits, going once, going twice–," suddenly another chime went off.

The announcer hesitated for a moment before announcing the current bid rate.

"The bid is now at thirty-thousand credits, going once, going twice. Sold!" he shouted, ending the auction.

Fiora sold for thirty-thousand credits, which meant that she was most likely purchased by some noble. I've heard stories of the average prices of slaves, but that was almost three times that price.

"Thank you for your patronage, please be patient as we prepare our next product."

As the announcement ended, Fiora walked into the backstage area and the curtain fell behind her.

The man in the red suit escorted Fiora down another corridor that led off somewhere deeper in the mansion.

"We're going to follow them. Stay close by and try to be as quiet as possible."

Azelae nodded in agreement, and we followed them down the corridor.

It let out into a wide hallway that had a few doors on each wall. The hallway was beautifully decorated with large plants filling the empty spaces between the doors. Each doorway had carved arches surrounding them. The man placed Fiora into one of the rooms, locking the door behind him as he walked down and left through the other end of the hallway. He was most likely going to get the client who had purchased Fiora. If I was going to save her, this was my only chance.

"We're going to break her free," I said as I snuck over to Fiora's door.

"But what if they catch us?" I could see some concern on Azelae's face.

"Don't worry, just keep an eye out while I pick the lock."

Plus, you're a guardian, I thought to myself. 

I knew I'd get a serious beating, probably killed, if we got caught. But Azelae would probably get off with a mild scolding and a free trip back to district six. 

Azelae stood by in case anyone came into the hallway. I pulled out a set of picks and started trying to break the lock. It wasn't a digital lock, so that made it much easier. One by one I unlocked the tumblers, just as I was on the last Azelae elbowed me.

"He's coming back," Azelae said with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

I looked down the hallway and saw a large door slowly opening into the hallway. I tried to work a little faster. As I got the last tumbler me and Azelae flew into the room shutting the door behind us.

Fiora stood in front of a mirror in shock at our entrance.

"Fiora, we're here to get you out, and we have to do it fast," I said as I walked towards her.

With each step, she slowly inched away. I could tell she was afraid because of our sudden appearance, but we didn't have time to properly introduce ourselves. 

"Don't worry, I am a guardian of the High Council. You don't need to be afraid," Azelae said proudly as she stood like a proper knight. 

I couldn't deny that I even felt like I was in the presence of royalty around her, she knew how to carry herself. But Fiora didn't feel the same. A look of fear crossed her face. I wasn't sure what made her so afraid of Azelae, but right now it was only making the situation harder.

I pulled out my ether blade so I could cut off her collar, but I could tell she thought I was going to kill her. She fell to her knees trembling and closed her eyes as if she was preparing herself for a gruesome death. With one slice I broke the collar off her neck.

"Okay, come with me," I said as I reached out my hand.

She opened her eyes as a wave of surprise and relief covered her face. "Who are you?" She said as she grabbed my hand.

"Faux, now let's get out of here."

I pulled Fiora to her feet and searched the room for an exit. A large, frosted window covered in decorative iron bars sat at the end of the room. It was so beautiful I didn't want to cut it, but that window was our best shot of escaping. I used my ether blade to cut a section of the iron and glass out, then one by one we made our way out the window.

"Are we going back the way we came?" Azelae asked as she pointed towards the little shack that connected to the sewers.

"That's our best chance."

So started running towards the shack. The inner sanctum was massive, and the little shack that had the sewer drain was a way off from us. Just as we made it out of the courtyard of the Mansion, I saw a group of guards emerge from the building and start after us. They could run faster than Fiora, so it was only a matter of time before they caught up to us.

"Azelae, take care of Fiora. I'm going to hold back the guards,"

"Faux, wai–" Azelae tried to call out to me, but I had already turned back and was running towards the guards.

As the guards got closer, I was able to gauge them better. There was a total of six of them, with one wearing a scarlet sash. I assumed he was their leader. The other five seemed to be your average run-of-the-mill hired guards. Even if they were hired, I knew they would still put their lives down for their work. This meant that it was likely going to be a battle to the death. 

Once we met, they spread out and surrounded me in a circle. Each one unsheathed a long ether-tipped blade. These blades had the sharp edge coated in ether to give it more slicing power, but the rest of the blade was made of steel. On the other hand, mine was made entirely of ether.

One of the guards lunged toward me with an overhead strike. I parried his blade to the side, then used my foot to break his left knee.

One down, five to go.

Two of the guards attacked at the same time, I used the man on the ground as an obstacle and kicked him into one of them. As he tripped, I spun around and performed an uppercut using the dull side of my blade against the other one's chin. He fell unconscious from the blow. The man with the sash made a low growl noise and signed towards the other two. I assumed this meant that all three were going to attack simultaneously, but the two sheathed their blades. The leader then stepped forward to face me one-on-one. He looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him before.

"You're the one they call Faux, yeah?" The man said, his voice as smooth as velvet.

"What if I am?" I said as I prepared to fight the man.

"You have some fine blades there. I think I'll take them for myself.

I knew that my blades were rare to see around these parts, but I wasn't about to let some loser have them.

"Come and try," no sooner than the words left my mouth the man lunged forward at an impressive speed. I blocked his attack using both my blades.

"You're faster than you look," I said as I held him back with all I had. Not only was he fast, but he was very strong.

I managed to push him back and break free. This time I dashed at him, aiming for his stomach. He threw up his knee, knocking my blades away. At the same time, he thrust down the hilt of his sword into my back. I fell into a roll, jumping back to my feet. I could tell he was a seasoned fighter from his movements.

"I used to be a hunter you know," he said as he readied his sword. 

"But this job just pays so much better, plus they give you a bonus for every slave you pull in." He said as he lunged toward me.

It seemed that with each moment he was actually getting faster. I tried to dodge the best I could, but he managed to land a shallow slice to my side.

"You're pretty good. What's your name?" I asked him.

"Mikal Jode."

Ah, I remember now. He was one of the bounties for the red-light zone.

This gave me a whole new sense of ambition. Gripping my blades as tight as I could, I lunged forward at him. Using his sword, he blocked one of my blades. I tried to swing my other blade toward him, but his fist was already headed straight for my stomach. As he landed his hit, I slammed my mask into his face.

We both stammered backwards and readied ourselves for another round. We traded blow after blow, each time I ended up with a new wound. He seemed to have the advantage, but I wasn't done yet. I learned how he moves, which made it easier for me to predict his strikes. He lunged forward again, but this time I used one of my blades to parry, sliding his blade to my side, my second blade cut his hand clean off.

"Argh!" He shrieked in pain as he dropped to his knees grabbing his fresh wound.

At this point, the other two guards came at me with their weapons drawn, but they were nothing compared to Mikal. I evaded their attacks and used a clean punch to their jaws, knocking each one unconscious.

"Did you kidnap Fiora?" I asked Mikal as I walked towards him.

A large grin spread across his face, "I've kidnapped so many women, it's hard to keep track," he burst into a hysterical laugh.

With one clean stroke, I sliced his neck letting his head drop to the ground. Maybe all the people who have fallen victim to him can find this as some retribution. I retrieved his core and made my way to the shack.