It was deathly silent in the dream. Nothing could be discerned in the black mass that enveloped her form... except for a pair of burning red eyes that were hovering steadily and attached to nothing.
She felt uncomfortably cold.
The eyes narrowed into small slits and a vile laugh permeated the stillness of the dream...then both the sound and the fantasy ended abruptly.
SPLASH!
Lucia shrieked as a bucketful of icy river water crashed into her form. She rose quickly to her knees with her arms crossed and crawled away from the direction that the liquid had flown.
Shivering both at the cold floor that her knees lay open and the biting cold of the water, the watcher of the Blue Star barely could discern several humanoid shapes guffawing on the other side of vertical metal poles.
Her eyes had trouble focusing on the grim-faced individuals. This was probably due to the wounds she had endured the previous night. Many of these injuries reminded her of their existence by causing pain as she crept away.
Lucia shuddered as she noticed the lack of her wrap around her wet shoulders. She explored the rest of her body with her hands and found that her boots, pendant and hair-band were also missing. Bruises and cuts covered her flesh in many places. She winced as her fingers probed one deep laceration at her side.
"WAKE UP! Wow... she's going to be a pleasant one...I'll bet we get a lot of silver for a gal built like that," a raspy voice spoke from the far end.
An unpleasantly toned voice responded, "Definitely...I'd say we've got quite a haul from this group."
Lucia's eyes began to regain their focus. As the blurring subsided, she heard more speaking as the forms moved away from the bars.
A downright vile utterance was heard.
"Perhaps we'll 'partake' a few of the spoils before we do any selling..."
Slowly rising to her feet, Lucia glanced around. She was currently in what appeared to be some sort of cavernous holding area. A wall of steel bars extended from floor to ceiling halfway across the room. It appeared there were two cave openings on the other side of the metal shafts. There was a tiny opening in the ceiling, blocked by a grate, which let in a few rays of the early morning sun.
"That was certainly NOT refreshing," a familiar voice coughed.
The blue-haired girl's head turned (somewhat painfully) to one side to see the lithe form of Kuyo, also covered with injuries, crouched atop a makeshift wooden bench. Her legs were sprawled out in front of her as she leaned forward slightly, her arms dangling between her knees. The warrior woman's was also lacking equipment, namely her sword and armor except for her metal top and dark skirt. It appeared she was dripping wet as well with a small puddle of water below her feet.
"Wh... where's Hiro? And the others?" Lucia uttered, her voice very soft.
Groaning a little, Kuyo shook her head.
"I don't know... I was just splashed awake about five minutes before you...looks like we've been captured by bandits of some sort."
Still shivering, Lucia lowered herself onto the bench beside Kuyo and stared at the cell.
"I have a bad feeling that 'partake a few of the spoils'," Kuyo continued, "may mean a very unpleasant experience..."
Lucia painfully tried to raise her hands.
She thought to herself, "Escape probably should not be too difficult a task."
Expecting to cast a beam of burning energy at the gate, the guardian was surprised when she felt no magic coursing through her palms.
"I tried that already... it appears that out magic has been sealed off or some other type of curse is upon us... otherwise those jokers would all be dead on the ground over there," the green-haired woman sighed, leaning back against the wall.
Lucia's eyes opened wide, then narrowed and closed as she stared down at the floor.
Through one of the two doorways stood another prison chamber, this one inhabited by an irate Hiro ramming repeatedly into the gate of his cell with a bruised shoulder. Gwyn calmly sat on a bench at one side of the confined area. The hands of both were tied behind their backs and they were missing most of their equipment.
A group of the dark-clothed bandits were walking out of the room, mostly muttering. A few were rubbing their legs while one short individual was examining his bleeding hand.
"Damn, that boy is fiery! He almost severed my finger," the latter uttered, casting a bad glance at the dark-haired young man.
"I hear ya," a big, hulking oaf replied, "That one's quite a troublemaker... we'd better beat him into submission later."
The bandit leading the bunch turned back and yelled at Hiro, "You'd better quiet down... you're going to be rotting in there for quite awhile, kid!"
Hiro's only response was a growl beneath clenched teeth and another unsuccessful charge at the gate.
The men laughed at the futile escape attempts and left the chamber.
Panting slightly, Hiro backed up to the furthest rocky wall from the locked portal and readied himself to dash. He barely started when a voice interrupted.
"Hiro my boy... if you keep that up then they'll only respond with more beating. Plus all you're doing is tiring yourself out."
Gwyn shrugged as Hiro dug his heels in and stopped his run. Sighing loudly and glancing about, he consented and thumped down beside his grandfather.
"I know Gramps... this is just so frustrating though! We can't use magic... we don't know where Lucia, Kuyo or Nall are and the events from last night are only confusing me more," Hiro responded.
Hiro stared up at the pale light shining down from the ceiling hole far above.
"These guys just seem to be bandits... but that THING last night was anything but natural... and I can't understand why those winged soldiers would be toting around bags of living explosives with them," he continued.
The aged half-beast thought to himself for awhile and then replied.
"That metal bee seems to be yet another oddity in the endless procession of strange things we've seen these past few days. As for the bomb-carrying bad guys... well, I don't know... perhaps they were going to drop them on a city. It could've been the start of another of the city attacks that are augmenting recently... the damage would be incredible.."
"So while we're wasting away in this cell, the other group of that convoy could be blasting the hell out of another village?"
Gwyn sadly nodded.
Hiro rose to his feet and moved toward the bars.
"All the more reason to find a way out of here... and FAST," Hiro announced and then muttered to himself, "I hope Lucia is still okay..."
Activity stirred in many of the twisting hallways and caverns under Bandit Butte. Bandit sentries patrolled here and there but most of the thieves were stationed within one large chamber... a room glittering with piles of stolen valuables.
One towering individual with a midnight black cloak sat at a sort of desk on one side of the room. Light from the considerable number of torches glinted off of his suit of Onyx mail and a cruel battle-axe hanging from his belt. A purple-robed man, nearly the same height, stood at his side and watched motionlessly as the former placed a heavy collar around the neck of the strange winged cat.
More bandits were in the chamber, mostly speaking amongst themselves or examining the horde of loot.
Nall was still out cold, his white fur matted with blood from slash marks.
"I may be mistaken, but that could be the form of a young dragon," the robed shape spoke to his colleague.
"If what are scouts say is accurate, you could be correct, my friend," the armored man responded. "If not, then a flying cat is at least a rarity worth something."
The prison groups entered the chamber and walked up to the towering duo.
"They're all awake and stripped of all valuable belongings, Galdor," spoke the robber who was apparently the leader of their group.
The tall man nodded.
"Good. Let them sit for awhile. We'll figure out a 'use' later."
The jail captain turned to the wizard and continued.
"And your spells worked... we noticed them trying to use magic and nothing happened."
The purple-colored mage smiled and nodded.
A bandit stepped forward and placed three swords and a golden pendant atop the desk. He also dumped Hiro's boomerang on the floor near the treasure pile.
"The regular stuff is in the usual temporary place. These were confiscated from the prisoners... they all look like they're in good shape."
"Good? These look fantastic..." Galdor answered, holding up Althena's Sword and turning it around.
Some of the prison group dispersed...a few headed back toward the cells.
Elsewhere in the labyrinth of caves, a tremendously large creature thrashed about within a makeshift stone pit of some sort. The floor of the depression was circular in shape and lay roughly twenty feet below a rugged ring of rocky floor. One steel grate with long, dagger-like points on each bar was raised above the only opening to the lower section. An uneasy wind blew from that portal. Shadows covered most of the hulk's frame as it moved.
A pair of docile Banshee Fowls sat on the edge of the pit and observed the wild creature as several miscreant thieves conversed nearby. They barely shifted their perch as the monster settled down and began to gnaw on scattered bones littered throughout the hollow.
Their skull-heads turned abruptly at the sound of laughter from the shadowy men.
"Har, har, har! All these monster attacks are only making the towns easier to sneak in and rip off," one chortled loudly.
A particularly fat bandit responded with a hearty laugh.
"But of course. It almost seems like us Dusk Blades are responsible for the whole thing with the amount of booty we can filch secretly after every attack!"
The birds shifted again and returned their glances back to the beast.
A younger robber quested, "It almost seems that way... you don't suppose the bosses are the ones behind it all? I mean, if they are, why don't we take down one of the larger cities?"
The plump man answered haughtily, "Bah. Just because the wizard helped us enchant these bird-creatures it doesn't mean he's THAT powerful. We should just be glad that we'll be feared throughout the land in relation to these strikes. It's merely luck that these torrents of random strikes are occurring... good luck for us, bad for the common folk."
The less experienced one shrugged in response and consented as the group began to move toward one of the upper exits. They called the Fowls to follow as the laughing broke out again.
"The men of the Dusk Blades are on the way to becoming history! Heh, heh."
One of the three heads of the creature within the lowered burrow raised at the sound of the boast and glanced back at the strange birds as they fluttered out of sight above. It then returned to the act of champing on the bones of the past unfortunate travelers who had gotten lost and 'vanished' within the woods and hills of Bandit Butte.
It soon nestled down to nap, its claws and tentacles motionless around it.
A voice within the opening behind the sleeping mammoth softly muttered.
"Bandits? Bah, they're barely men at all."
A short pause occurred in the speech.
"Eh? Um... shall I... uh... we wait here?"
Another brief hesitation was followed by the barely discernible sound of soft footsteps moving toward the larger chamber.
"That's a nasty cut... you apparently didn't take that crash too well..."
An hour had passed since the prison guards had left the room. Somewhat bored with watching Lucia stare at the ground, the dark armored woman had began to study the wounds covering both of them.
Lucia's head barely rose when Kuyo had spoken. She gingerly touched the deep slash and winced in pain. She tried again to summon some sort of healing magic and was foiled by whatever curse was still on them.
"Futility... we need to find another way out of here," Kuyo spoke, stretching her weary limbs and standing up.
She glanced at the grate placed high in the cavern ceiling and shook her head. The green-haired girl paced around as she examined the walls and bars. There was no way out other than the gate.
Lucia slowly climbed to her feet and trotted toward the metal portal. The stone floor was deathly cold beneath her strides.
"Hiro..." she muttered, suddenly stumbling as another shot of pain surged through her form. Kuyo barely turned and caught her in time before Lucia fell.
"We need to find an exit fast. You need healing as soon as possible, Luc-"
She stopped in mid-sentence as one of the two doorways flew open. A party of six of the black uniformed thieves entered. Two men led a quartet of large goons into the chamber and towards the gate. All four of the larger robbers carried malicious-looking clubs. The 'smaller' duo had a set of throwing daggers in their belts.
Lucia and Kuyo backed away as the six thieves lined the bars.
The smaller of the two regular-sized men sneered and smirked, displaying a row of hideous yellow teeth. A lengthy scar was on one cheek, extending from the chin to almost his left ear.
"I see our new spoils from last night are wide awake now," he spoke with a chuckle. "Now is as good a time as any to 'examine' them before the boss uses them as fodder."
Lucia shuddered at the voice. It was the same vile one from before.
"Perhaps he'll even decide to keep you for 'other uses' instead of just monster meal... if you're a good enough quality that is."
The other prison captain interrupted.
"Okay, that's enough. We'll be back for you after we tenderize your boyfriends next door. You two wait here."
With the cell's key twirling on his finger, the captain opened the other doorway as Lucia stopped retreating.
"Hiro? Gwyn?"
"They're in the next room?"
The key carrier paused momentarily and looked back at the girls when they spoke.
"Ah ah. We'll have plenty of time to 'chat' when we bet back."
The ugly little man currently possessed an infectious glance, first directed at Kuyo and then centered on Lucia.
"Chat and perhaps some more..." he uttered, slowly following the others while licking his chops.
One of the bigger oafs quested, "Uh, boss? Which one of them has an old guy for a boyfriend?"
"Fool... it was a joke... though I suppose either of them could with..." the conversation trailed off and became inaudible as they left the room.
The two young women returned to the bench.
"They're going to beat Hiro and Gwyn... we must do something," Lucia spoke.
Kuyo was only vaguely listening.
"Quite a lascivious and lustful little guy... I think we're DEFINITELY about to have an unpleasant experience," she uttered to no one.
To herself, she thought, "He's certainly not going to come close to ALMOST being with that hero before."
She continued aloud, "...it's a good thing that I know just how to twist it to help us..."
Lucia looked at her with an inquisitive look.
"What are they planning to do with us? Beat us as well?"
Kuyo responded with a truly puzzled expression.
"Are you serious? You really don't know? Look at us and then remember the faces of those miscreants... especially the sick little one."
Lucia looked over at the two remaining giants, then Kuyo, and finally her own form.
"So? I don't understand."
The warrior woman sighed loudly and moved closer to Lucia. She whispered in the other female's ear momentarily as voices began to emanate from the open doorway.
Lucia's eyes widened and she tightly wrapped her knees with her arms as she pulled them up onto the seat.
"No... that's horrible..."
Kuyo slightly smirked as Lucia got the idea.
"I do have a plan... I don't think you're going to be very open to it, but it may our only way out..."
Thick laughter in the other chamber covered up their speech.
In the adjacent cavern cell, the four prison guards had just finished ordering Hiro to back away from the bars. The gleaming, poison-coated blades of the captain convinced him to retreat.
A high-pitched squeak resounded loudly off the echoing walls as the gate swung open. The two large men wielded their huge clubs menacingly as Hiro and his grandfather backed into a corner.
"Ha, ha. Not so ready to charge the 'barricade' now, eh boy?" the captain gloated.
Hiro positioned the old half-beast behind him and raised his fists.
"Careful, my boy," Gwyn started as the leader of this brute squad laughed at the gesture.
The dark-haired young man gritted his teeth and prepared for the worst as the two titans advanced.
"Gramps, just keep away from them... let me take all the punishment and try to wear them down."
On the other side of the bars, the scarred bandit was shifting his weight and fidgeting wildly, often glancing back at the opening to the other cell room.
The prison master glanced over at the shaking man as the oafs began to swing their clubs at the prisoners.
"Geez," he thought to himself. "How much of a horndog can a guy be?"
Sighing briefly, he passed the ring of keys over to the obviously lecherous robber.
"Go ahead. The three of us can take these two easily... but don't do what you did last time... you'll be cleaning the cells if that happens again!"
Without a word, the marked criminal snatched the offered keys and dashed into the other chamber. The captain shook his head and turned back to the beating.
With Gwyn safely crouched in another corner, Hiro was trying to tire the brutes out by avoiding as many of their blows as possible. He was lucky not to have received a direct hit just yet, but his physical counterattacks were becoming less and less effective as the young hero was also tiring himself.
"Foolish traveler... right now your fine female companions are experiencing some wonderful sensations from my compatriots... hope they weren't completely 'new' still. Ha, ha, hah, hah!"
Hiro paused his evasion at this biting remark... enabling one of the thugs to crack him square in the back with his weapon. Hiro was pummeled by strong club swings as he collapsed to the floor...
...but a tiny flame was burning now within his mind. It was augmenting at a frightening rate as he thought of Lucia and what was being done to her...
Meanwhile, the gate of the other cell flung open.
Lucia shuddered quietly to herself as the nasty Dusk Blade and the two tougher men briskly entered the holding area. She took one step back towards the wall till Kuyo glared at her. The guardian sighed, consented and moved back to her side.
The three black-suited men paused after they entered the room. Each was glancing at the two female captives with lustful expressions. All three carried the same clubs and daggers of the trio currently beating on Hiro.
"I hope you are ready for a little pleasure," the shorter thief murmured, panting a little heavily.
A brief humorous thought crossed Kuyo's mind.
"I'll refrain from two obvious remarks there."
The warrior woman nodded to Lucia and smiled at the men. She winked at the larger, moronic duo and began to smoothly glide over to the wall on the left. Her arms flowingly moved back and forth as she walked.
With a brief sigh, she propped up one arm and leaned with her elbow against the rocky barrier.
"Oh, please don't hurt us... we're completely defenseless..." she crooned in a soft tone, her eyes locked onto the orbs in the nasty man's head.
Almost in a daze, all three bandits seemed to relax a little more. The leader of the group started lustfully at Kuyo, then abruptly at Lucia as he watched the guardian gracefully stride to the opposite wall. Her feet gently touched the ground with each step and made no noise. When Lucia reached the wall, she mimicked Kuyo's stance and spoke.
"Yes... we're so afraid... so cold..."
She serenely gripped the edges of her shirt and pulled it out from under her belt. Inwardly, she was already shivering in anticipation... and fear...
The bandit, whose libido was just about ready to undergo meltdown, looked back and forth at the two women, unable to select which to 'enjoy' first. It looked like his two companions were already prepared to 'chat' with the neon green-haired female but it didn't matter what they thought.
He glanced at the skimpy mail worn by one, the loose shirt of the other and then noticed the purity of both of their visages. The placid nature of their voices, which almost seemed identical, was entrancing.
Simultaneously, Kuyo and Lucia yawned and alluringly stretched their limbs.
The former temptingly (and quite flexibly) raised her right leg almost straight up in a vertical 'split'. Her dark skirt now spread open, Kuyo gripped her limb above the knee with her hands, paused and smiled, pointed her toes toward the ceiling and let her grasp slide back up to her thigh as she slowly lowered her leg.
Lucia, on the other hand, had simply stretched upwards with both arms twisted in each other. Her smooth stomach was revealed as the motion lifted the unrestricted cloth shirt. She contorted to the side slightly and let her arms drop to her bare shoulders. She bent her left knee deeply and placed the sole of her foot on the wall behind her. As she leaned, Lucia tugged slightly down on her white garment to display more of the pale skin of her upper body.
The trio was clearly entrapped by the charms.
Stunned and completely captivated, the foul-minded knave somehow made the decision to approach the pale, blue-haired woman first. She appeared slightly more 'inexperienced'... and didn't seem to display the possibility of getting him tied up (as the more limber creature had demonstrated).
All of them were too enthralled to even hear the rest of the lures.
As the two large scoundrels neared her, Kuyo's hands moved behind her back toward the clasp that held her chest protector on her body. Four pairs of arms reached toward her frame.
Chuckling evilly and well aware of the effectiveness of their seductiveness, she said, "I'm sure a little pleasure WILL make us more comfortable in this situation..."
She opened her mouth slightly as they moved in...
Lucia, meanwhile, had narrowed her eyes to almost slits as she feigned a grin.
"You'll remove our fears...and warm us as well..."
She closed her eyes as a dirty hand groped her waist and stomach...