A Debt To Be Paid Part 3

[Sparrow]

The force from the explosion knocked everyone off their feet. They all tried their best to get back on their feet but were all disoriented. Sloan was the first to stand, but instead of continuing the fight, he rushed out of the room to assess the damage. The other guards, unsure what to do, kept their eyes on the group but slowly left the room to follow their captain. Marcus went to help his friends get to their feet. As he grabbed his sword and followed the guards. He could smell the smoke before he crossed the threshold of the door, and once he stepped into the archive proper, all he could see was the fire.

The whole building was burning. Sloan was maybe ten feet ahead of him, looking around in horror. He turned to face Marcus, and his face filled with rage. Sloan gritted his teeth and spat on the floor before yelling. “I don’t care if they want you alive anymore. You’re a dead man. I’m going to enjoy gutting you.” He raised his sword and told his men to attack. Marcus raised his sword in kind before replying. “Come take your pound of flesh then. Let’s go, Captain Sload.” Marcus’s friends had made their way out of the room and charged the guards in response.

Sloan swung his sword down at Marcus, who moved to block it, but the force of the Captain’s blade caused him to slide a few feet back. Stupid magic sword. Okay, time to play this smart. Let’s get him mad. “So, Captain Slow, how does it feel to fail your job?” Sloan yelled in rage before knocking Marcus’s blade to the side and stabbing him in his right armpit. Marcus grunted in pain. “Why do I even bother making plans.” he thought as he moved back to get out of range of Sloan’s follow-up attack. He cradled his arm close to his body and switched his sword to his offhand. It’ll have to do. Sloan pressed him, and Marcus struggled to block the Captain’s blows with only one arm. He was losing ground and couldn’t find an opportunity to get any counter-attacks in, and before long, Sloan disarmed him a knocked him to the ground.
The man stood over Marcus with a smug look on his face. “Any last words before I end your pitiful life, boy?” Sloan asked as he raised his sword. Marcus gritted his teeth before he glanced behind the sizeable armored man, and his grimace turned into a grin. “Actually, yeah, Captain Stupid. You should pay attention to your surroundings.” Sloan looked at him, confused for a moment, and tried to turn to see what Marcus was looking at. He only got halfway there as Bruzog tackled the man and slammed him into a nearby bookshelf, causing him to drop his sword. The man looked as if he had gotten run over by a cart.

Bruzog walked over to Marcus and offered his hand. “Meat, I can not fight all your battles for you.” Marcus took his hand and was pulled to his feet. He chuckled before grimacing from the pain in his arm. “You’re so good at it, though. I can fight recklessly if you’re there to back me up.” Bruzog just shook his head before collecting his axe. Marcus looked over to his friends and saw the guards they had been fighting on the ground. Dead or unconscious, he didn’t know. He bent down to pick up the Captain’s sword before putting it into one of his empty scabbards. Marcus could hear armored footsteps approaching as more guards made their way inside. They were beginning to outnumber Marcus and his friends. Sloan slowly rose from his feet and grabbed the sword Marcus had been disarmed of earlier. “This changes nothing, boy. Be there, two or eight of you. I’ll kill you all. Do you think I will let you leave here after what you’ve done?” Marcus looked around the archive momentarily and turned back to Sloan with a smile. “As I see it, Captain Scum, you have two choices. You can keep fighting us. With your men, you’d overwhelm us before too long. Or you can try to save what’s left of this building. I know you’re eager about my bounty, but let me ask you this. What do you think is the more likely outcome at the end of the day? That you get rewarded for killing me, or you get punished for letting the archives burn? Because if there’s one thing I know that House Jernigan loves more than anything else, it’s their secrets. So yes, I think you’ll let us leave here. Because if you try and stop us, we’ll ensure there’s left worth saving. I win, either way, you fool. So go ahead, Captain, make my day.”

Sloan looked back between Marcus and the fire around them. He gritted his teeth and turned to his men. “We need water and any mages you can find. We need this fire out now.” He turned to face Marcus once more. “Marcus. This isn’t over. I will find you and make you pay for this.” Marcus winked at him before replying. “Sure thing Captain Stove.” He looked at his friends. “It’s time for us to go.” They all nodded, and Marcus made a beeline for the secret entrance. It was harder to find now that the room was filled with smoke, but eventually, they found the right bookshelf and threw the door open. They rushed down the passage and opened the door leading outside. They threw their hooks over the wall and ran once they touched the ground on the other side. They ran for miles until they were sure no one was following them.

They stopped once they reached the top of a cliffside with a good view of the archive. Sloan’s efforts to save the archive were insufficient to control the fire. Marcus sighed in relief that they had made it out alive. He turned to his friends, who were all catching their breath, and smiled at each of them. “Thank you. Thank you all so much. You have no idea what this meant to me. The Jernigans will not soon forget this day. We should probably all go our separate ways, though. They will be looking for the group of us, and we will be much harder to spot on our own. Keep your head down. They will be looking.” His friends nodded and, one by one, left in separate directions.

Before Drandor could go, Marcus handed him Sloan’s sword explaining how he didn’t want to use a Jernigan blade in combat. Drandor nodded, took the blade, and left. Soon the only two left were Marcus himself and Alyssaria, who lingered. Marcus had pulled out the letter from the archive and began to read it. As he read each word, a frown formed on his face, and when he finished, he carefully folded the letter and put it in his pouch. Alyssaria watched him quietly, and they stood in silence for some time. Eventually, she found her voice and asked her questions, her tone frustrated and upset. “So Marcus, are you satisfied? Were you able to get everything you wanted? Was all this bloodshed worth it? All that information burned to ash? Was all this violence necessary? She huffed and waited for his reply. He looked at her and watched her with an unreadable expression. He then turned and watched as the archive burned in the distance. He held up his hands as if to feel the heat from the flames even from this distance. A smile slowly spread across his face as he gave his answer.

“It’s a start.”

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