Caravan - Open Fantasy RP - Jump right in!

[ChickieBooBoo]

Terrick nodded, quickly trying Linden's suggestion. "Girl..." in his hurry, it took Terrick a moment to recall the girl's name. "Maple," he said once he remembered, "stand back a little from the bars."

The door of the cell raised up slightly as Terrick used the cot tube as a lever, but he could see the tube starting to bend already.

--

It wasn't long before Pike heard the sounds he'd been listening for. "Through here," came Col's voice along with the noise of multiple sets of footfalls.

Linden could feel his heartbeat begin to accelerate as the tube began to bend under Terrick's pressure. He knew what the bandits were capable of more than any of them, and he was so close to freedom... he could almost taste the fresh air. "Stay here..." His voice was hushed, but tense as he steadied Mavis one more time and dashed over to the cage. While Terrick was trying to raise the door, he reached down with his hands and pulled up as hard as he could. He knew that he didn't have as much leverage as Terrick did, but maybe it would be just enough to move the door.

--

Pike took a couple of steps back into the cave until the shadows completely enveloped him. As soon as the bandits reached the clearing they would have one of two tunnels to take. The first was the narrow hole they had crawled through, and the second was the one which led to the cage. He figured that his odds of them picking the wrong one were pretty slim, but he didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to himself or the others. Praying that the they would be quite while breaking the girl out, Pike held his breath and waited. What else could he do?

 

[StarrNico]

Raven moved over to the bars and added her strength to the effort.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

The moment Linden released his hold on his shoulder, Mavis slowly felt his head and knees begin struggling to coordinate and keep him upright. It wasn't that he was naturally unbalanced or tipsy, but his mind was so foggy and distant from being hit so many times in the last 24 hours that it was having difficulty functioning normally. And not only that, but it hurt something terrible. So much so that even though the cave was reasonably quiet, he could still hear a rather loud ringing in his ears, and had a lot of trouble focusing his eyes on a particular object or person.

He stumbled sideways towards the cave wall, and tried to reach out to catch himself with his hands before he collided with it. His eyes didn't want to cooperate though, because his depth perception ended up being quite a bit off and caused him to crash ungracefully into the hard stone. Not stopping there, he sank back down to a half sitting position and squeezed his eyes shut... his head hurt so badly.

--

Linden hesitated for a second while pulling up on the cage, wanting to reach out to Mavis when he seen the boy stumbling. He knew they needed to get the girl out though, otherwise she would most certainly meet a horrible fate. So, despite his concern for Mavis, he let his friend catch the wall and sit down. Please come loose... he prayed silently, trying to pull even harder.

 

[TinyBeaks]

Maple heard a click and she yelped, was that what she thought it was?

 

[StarrNico]

Raven smiled as the door came loose from the bars. She moved back and grabbed her bag, dropping down beside Mavis again. She thought through the options they had, then reached into her bag and pulled out leaf-wrapped bread "Lembas, eat it" She said and broke off a corner, handing it to Mavis. She glanced to Linden and Terrick and broke off a corner for each of them. She glanced to the girl and broke off three pieces, quickly eating hers and putting what was left of the bread away and putting her pack on. She held the two other pieces out to Terrick "One for the girl, and one for Pike." She said and waited for him to take them before picking up her bow and notching an arrow.

 

[TinyBeaks]

Raven smiled as the door came loose from the bars. She moved back and grabbed her bag, dropping down beside Mavis again. She thought through the options they had, then reached into her bag and pulled out leaf-wrapped bread "Lembas, eat it" She said and broke off a corner, handing it to Mavis. She glanced to Linden and Terrick and broke off a corner for each of them. She glanced to the girl and broke off three pieces, quickly eating hers and putting what was left of the bread away and putting her pack on. She held the two other pieces out to Terrick "One for the girl, and one for Pike." She said and waited for him to take them before picking up her bow and notching an arrow.

Maple tried to find her way out of the cell, she wasn't sure yet, but she thought she had become blind.

 

[Frundette]

Terrick breathed a sigh of relief as the combined efforts of all three were enough to lift the heavy iron gate from it's hinges. But the un-oiled hinges made a loud screeching noise of metal against metal as it lifted up.

--

The bandits had paused for only a few moments where the tunnel split and seemed to be about to head down the one that led toward where the snake had bit Pike. But the loud noise left no doubt about the location of the caravan guards. "No where left to hide now," Pike called down the tunnel. However, he let the other bandits go first and they charged ahead quickly...

 

[StarrNico]

"Time's up" Raven said and moved away from the light-stones, turning hers off and putting it away. She found a nitch that would hide her and prepared to fire at the approaching bandits.

 

[TinyBeaks]

Maple hurried to a hiding place, at least she THOUGHT it was a hiding place, it was see through.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Terrick breathed a sigh of relief as the combined efforts of all three were enough to lift the heavy iron gate from it's hinges. But the un-oiled hinges made a loud screeching noise of metal against metal as it lifted up.

--

The bandits had paused for only a few moments where the tunnel split and seemed to be about to head down the one that led toward where the snake had bit Pike. But the loud noise left no doubt about the location of the caravan guards. "No where left to hide now," Pike called down the tunnel. However, he let the other bandits go first and they charged ahead quickly...

Pike cursed under his breath when the bandits abandoned the narrow tunnel in favour of the one which the noise had come from. If only they had kept quiet for a moment longer! Knowing he had no time to think, he made the split second decision to try and avoid the bandits in the tunnel. Already weakened because of the previous fights, and his arm, he knew he wouldn't stand much of a chance if they found him here.

He pressed himself as hard as he could against the cave wall and sucked in his belly until he started to feel light headed. If only they would rush right past him... then he could either have the advantage of surprise attacking from behind, or make an escape himself. His chances were slim, given that they had torches which dimly lit the tunnel... but it was worth a shot.

---

Mavis' eyes grew large until they were nearly the size of full moons. His heart began to beat frantically, where would he hide? The cave was so dark now that Raven had extinguished the light stone, he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face! He tried to scramble to his feet, using the wall for support, and stumbled forward blindly into another body. Thinking it was one of the bandits, he tried to scream but a firm hand wrapped itself around his face to muffle it.

"Mavis!" He heard Linden hiss in his ear. "It's me, be quiet! Follow me!"

Without the need for silence any more now that they had been discovered, Linden felt no obligation to make the trek from one end of the cave to the other in a silent matter. He tripped loudly over debris and pits in the floor, lurching awkwardly through the dark until he reached the wall on the other side. Since the cave was not perfectly round, there was a small crevice which he had seen earlier that he hoped would provide a hiding place for someone as small as Mavis. Trying at the same time to be gentle and quick, he shoved the boy into the crack in the wall and stuffed his jacket and a burlap sac from the floor in front. It wasn't ideal, but in the end it looked more like storage place for various clothing types then a hiding place for the hostage. Running out of time, he barely managed to duck into a dark corner before the bandits entered the room.