Shadow Claw
By Blue Dragon-sy

Chapter 5:
Escape!

Camus fought hard when he was dragged back all the way to Hugo’s mansion, but his attempts were futile. He was thrown back into his cell that he was locked in just a few days ago, and he could only yell and throw himself against the bars when they chained his brother to a wall just cross his cell.

He paid no attention when Hugo stormed furiously into the dungeons, and he paid no attention to the jailer saluting as a greeting to his master.

“Fool!” Hugo shouted and threw a punch at Rapheon’s stomach. “How could you even lose?! You’re a Sora-Ryuken fighter!”

“…” The prisoner said nothing at all – he showed no signs of hearing what was just said. His shoulders heaved with his heavy breathing, and it was hard to tell whether or not he was awake.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you!!” The pig-like man gave another blow to his stomach.

“No! Stop it!!” the green-haired man yelled from his cell, anger and frustration clearly shown in his voice.

“Shut up!” Hugo snapped and then turned to his guard. “You! Beat him!”

“Yes, Lord Hugo!” the green-armoured jailer replied and saluted, grinning – he obviously liked the job of torturing people.

“Don’t!!” Camus exclaimed as the guard started beating Rapheon with a steel rod. “Isn't it enough that Raph’s already suffering from the poison?!! If you hit him anymore, he'll die!!”

Hugo, looking satisfied as he saw his prisoner being beaten, simply answered, “That’s exactly what I want.”

He clutched his fists tightly, feeling unable to contain his anger that just kept building up inside him. How could a man be so evil?!!

 “But since you begged for him, I'll just throw him into your cell to die from the poison.” The rich man waved a hand at his subordinate. “Stop.”

“Yes, Lord Hugo!” The armoured man saluted.

“Throw him into the same cell with him.” Hugo turned back to Camus. “As for you… well, I might just turn you into a slave, but for now, I’ll just let you witness your brother’s death!” He laughed loudly as he left the prison area, his ridiculous laugh echoing in all the dungeon rooms.

The jailer tossed the steel rod aside and unchained Rapheon from the wall, grunting as he did so. The young boy was roughly thrown into the cell, and then the door slammed shut.

“Raph!” Camus knelt to his brother and shook him gently. “Raph! Wake up! Are you okay?!”

Only silence replied him.

He shook his head as he slowly wiped the blood away from the young boy’s face, taking a vial filled with healing potion that he had kept hidden from the guards’ watchful eyes. After he got his younger brother to drink it, he took his shirt off and covered Rapheon’s torso with it, hoping that it could at least provide him some warmth from this damp and cold cell.

“Please be all right, Raph...” he muttered.

 

The moon was shining through the high window, indicating that it was already quite late, perhaps around midnight. Camus shook his head and rubbed his tired eyes, trying to focus.

I must have fallen asleep…

When he heard a soft cough, he sat up immediately and turned towards his youngest sibling. Rapheon was half-awake, looking rather pale, and blood was sliding down from corner of his mouth. He coughed again, the red substance formed in great amount.

Camus knew then that the poison was beginning to sap the life out of him.

Suddenly he sprung to his feet and ran to the cell door, yelling, “Hey, let us out! My brother’s going to die!!”

The jailer, who was resting at a chair not too far away, waved a hand nonchalantly as thought he was chasing a persistent fly away unenthusiastically. “Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m serious! Let us out!!”

“…”

Camus shook his head in despair when his cries were ignored. “It’s no use… what can I do now…?”

He sighed and was about to turn around, but stopped when he heard footsteps. Someone was entering the dungeons.

“Hey, Master Hugo’s looking for you,” the person spoke as he approached the guard outside the prisoners’ cells.

From his voice, Camus recognised him – it was Falkoner.

The jailer looked up, looking rather doubtful. “Really?”

Falkoner nodded. “Yeah. C’mon, I’ll take over for you. You might as well take a rest while you’re at it.”

“Alright, I’ll go right away. Thanks for the tip.” And very quickly, he disappeared behind a door leading upstairs, out of the dark and gloomy place.

The remaining green-armoured man paused for a few seconds, looking as though listening for something, and then went to the cell door.

“Camus, are you there?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

The older of the two nodded. “I’m fine, but Raph’s in a very bad shape! We have to get the antidote immediately!”

Falkoner sighed. “I tried looking for it in Hugo’s room, but I couldn’t find it… hold on, I’ll get you out.”

He took a key from the jailer’s table and unlocked the door, then kneeling beside Rapheon to examine him quickly.

He shook his head. “He doesn’t look good at all. I daren’t give him the poison-repelling potion because it might make him worse…”

Camus was almost on the verge of panic. “We should get out of here first!”

Just then, a familiar calm voice filled the dungeons, “Did you free them, Falkoner?”

The older brother turned immediately to see who it was, and growled – it was Skye entering the cell. His worried feelings turned into boiling anger immediately.

“YOU!!” he shouted and charged towards the Steel Stallion, blindly attempting to attack him even though he had not his broad sword with him, but Skye could evade his charge easily.

“No, Camus!” Falkoner exclaimed, grabbing hold of him by his shoulders. “Calm down! He’s with us!”

“He hurt Raph in the tournament!!” Camus yelled. “How could I calm down?!!”

Skye’s answer, however, made him stop at once

“No, I did not hit him at all. He blocked my attacks quite skilfully.”

“Wha–” He quickly recomposed himself and glared at the white-haired man suspiciously. “Then why… are you helping us?”

“I would save the talking for later.”

“…” He slowly nodded. “Okay.”

“I'll stay behind to divert the pursuing men,” Falkoner stated and then turned to the Steel Stallion. “Skye, you remember the shortcut, right?”

Skye nodded. “Quite well.”

“Be careful, Falkoner,” Camus said as he put on his shirt again.

He smiled. “Hey, don’t worry about me, you should worry about getting your brother out first. Here.” The brown-haired man handed him three sheathed swords. “These are yours.”

“Thanks.” Camus smiled. Now there was no reason not to trust him – all he did was to help him.

He strapped his sword around his waist followed by Rapheon’s Ryuken swords, wiped the blood off his brother’s face and then hoisted the young boy onto his back.

“This way.” Skye led him through a well-hidden door to the sewers as Falkoner stayed behind.

It was inevitable that more of Hugo’s men would come, and when they did, he laid down on the floor of the now empty cell, closing his eyes to pretend that he was knocked out.

“W-what?!” When they realised he was on the ground, they went to him immediately.

“Falkoner! Are you okay!?” one of them exclaimed.

“Unh…” He looked up slowly, trying to look as dazed as he could, and muttered, “Wh… what happened…?”

“There were prisoners here before, right in this cell, weren’t there?” another guard cried. “The prisoners escaped!!”

As the guards talked loudly among themselves, Falkoner sat up slowly and put a hand to his eyes, pretending to be resting.

Be careful, Camus… Skye…

 

Luckily for them, the run through the sewers so far was uneventful, but due to a long period of neglect, black slime monsters inhabited every corner of the sewers. Camus kept his sword out in one hand just in case he needed to protect his brother when Skye was occupied, and found that they were terribly hard to fight.

The white-haired man, however, needed only one slash of his sword to kill one or more of them, and he did it easily.

At that point, Camus felt glad that they had Skye’s help, and followed behind him as fast as he could while they rushed towards the exit.

Don’t worry, Raph, we’ll get you out, you’ll be fine…

All of a sudden, he felt a powerful jolt of electricity within him, with a voltage so high that it weakened his limbs and caused him to collapse to the ground. Half-blinded by the shock, the young boy beside him, he realised that he had forgotten about the steel tiara around his head and Rapheon’s.

For a while he laid there, unable to do anything but bear with the electricity, and he felt despaired that he couldn’t help his younger sibling once again…

After a short period, though, he felt something at the back of his head, where the steel tiara was, and the electricity suddenly stopped as the head ornament was removed from his head. Sighing with relief, he pulled himself to a sitting position despite still feeling weak, and looked up just in type to see the Steel Stallion throwing the steel tiara into the murky waters of the sewers. He had already gotten rid of Rapheon’s tiara.

“Whew… thanks, Skye,” Camus said, feeling gladder that Skye was with them.

The white-haired man nodded. “Let us go, we are wasting precious time. Are you able to stand?”

He nodded as well. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Noticing that Skye was moving towards his brother, he shook his head. “No… I’ll carry him.”

“All right then.”

Camus got up and hoisted his brother onto his back once more before they continued to walk. After a long series of dusty hallways, they reached a large room area with a set of staircase leading upwards.

“The exit, finally…” the elder brother muttered and took a step towards the stairs, but Skye stopped him. “Huh? What?”

“Something’s coming.”

“What–”

A loud moan-like roar interrupted him, and a huge slime monster moved slowly towards them from another hallway, its clear liquid body towering over them. A round red core with the size of a ball hovered in its middle.

The Steel Stallion pulled out his second sword and held both his weapons before him. “A Gigaslime… it must be the leader of these slimes.” He glanced over a shoulder. “I will try to divert it while you escape with Rapheon.”

Camus shook his head. “But–”

The Gigaslime gave another loud moan-like roar.

“Hurry, time is what we do not have,” Skye explained. “Do not touch the slime, even the ones on the ground – it will burn your skin like acid.

He nodded. “Be careful.”

Raising his swords, Skye lunged towards the monster and slashed once at its slimy body before running into the large hallway that they came through, with the monster pursuing him. Camus drew back when the monster went past as not to draw attention to himself, and immediately seized the opportunity to move stealthily behind it, towards the exit.

However, another loud moan sounded in the room, and it surprised Camus so much that he stopped and jumped back, his sword raised in one hand before him.

Yet another Gigaslime stood before him, this time a bright red one with a dark core in the middle, and it looked much more vicious than the one Skye led away. It gave another loud moan, as if crying that it was ready to devour them.

The older brother quickly set Rapheon against a wall in a corner and readied his sword – he had to fight this time.

“You’re not getting Raph!!” he yelled as he charged, even if he didn’t know which part of this huge monster to strike.

The Gigaslime gathered some of its blood red slime on its right to form a large sword with it and swung it at him. He skidded to a stop and raised a sword to block it, but its force was so great that it threw him into the ground several feet behind him, his broadsword spinning away from him. Once its opponent was down, the monster changed the slime sword into a cannon and aimed it at him, letting a low moan as it fired several balls of slime at him.

Frantically, Camus scrambled to his feet and somehow managed to evade every projectile thrown at him, except for the last one. He yelled in pain as the slime hit his right arm and immediately started burning his skin, causing him to be distracted enough to stop in his tracks. When the Gigalime gave another moan, drawing his attention once again, it had fired another series of slime balls at him, and by the time he realised it, it was too late.

He shut his eyes tightly, preparing himself for the utmost pain that he expected to receive, but however, none came. Instead, everything seemed to be enveloped in a bright white light that he noticed even through his shut eyes, and when he opened them slightly to see, he saw a familiar blue form before him, a white barrier around it.

The Dragon spirit… just like that day…!

He quickly glanced towards his brother, and sure enough it was Rapheon’s doing. The young boy was leaning against a wall with his glowing left hand raised and aimed at Camus, the palm facing outwards. He was breathing heavily as he focused hard, a frown formed on his face.

The moment the balls of slime stopped coming, all of them disappeared, including the one around Camus’s right arm. He felt despaired – the slime had burned his skin right down to the flesh, making the whole arm a bright red colour, and even the armband he wore had dissolved completely.

He moved quickly towards his sword and picked it up hurriedly with his right hand, but then gave a cry when the pain intensified and made him drop the weapon. The pain in his arm was so great that it was shaking.

Damn… how on earth am I going to defeat it if I can’t even hold my sword…?

As if answering his question, the white barrier shattered like glass as the Dragon spirit charged towards the Gigaslime. As soon as the blue form touched the huge monster, there was a blinding flash of light and a loud moan, and when it dimmed, the monster was nowhere to be seen.

All that was left was a thin cloud of smoke.

The light around Rapheon’s hand faded away as his left hand dropped limply to his side and his head lowered slightly, indicating that he was unconscious once more.

Raph…

The green-haired man started moving towards him, but stopped when he saw the Dragon spirit flying gracefully past him. He stared at it as it hovered in front of the boy before disappearing into sparkles of light that faded away.

“We do not have much time,” Skye’s voice suddenly came from behind, and Camus spun around in surprise. “His chance of surviving is slowly slipping away even as we speak.” He walked towards Rapheon. “Come, I will carry him.”

Camus just nodded dumbly as the Steel Stallion carried his brother easily in his arms as though he was as light as feather, wondering for a split-second whether or not Skye saw everything.

He tried to ignore the pain in his right arm as he sheathed his sword and followed Skye up the staircase.

The moment they were outside, he recognised the place immediately despite it being dark with only the moon to show the way – it was the remote area where Falkoner’s house was situated.

Skye seemed to know where he was going, as he kept walking towards one direction without asking Camus where to go. When they arrived at Falkoner’s house, his parents, who were sitting on the carpet with some food between them, got up in alarm when they say them.

“Skye? What’s–” Mrs. Lawrence started to say, but when she noticed the unconscious boy in his arms, she gasped. “Rapheon!”

“Madam,” the Steel Stallion started. “The poison has already started to act on him.”

She quickly recomposed herself. “A-all right. Bring him to the guest room, we have to treat him immediately…” Then she disappeared into a nearby room.

Mr. Lawrence quickly brought them to the guest’s bedroom and gestured towards the bed, where Skye placed Rapheon on. Then, the white-haired man took something green from a hidden pouch behind one of his sheathed swords and gave it to the father – it was a plant.

“T-this is…!” Mr. Lawrence exclaimed.

Skye nodded. “It is the Grayland poison antidote. You know what to do with it, do you not?”

“Yes, I’ll make haste!” The red-haired man then hurried out of the room.

Camus hadn’t been paying too much attention to what was happening between the two men. He just stared at his brother’s frail form on the bed, consumed by worry.

Raph… Please stay alive…

 

Later that night about two hours later, it was raining heavily, thunder roaring loudly outside.

When the antidote was given to Rapheon, his breathing returned to normal, but the fever remained and he stayed unconscious. Camus could only watch him worriedly, one hand absently placed at his bandaged right arm as he stared at the wet cloth placed on his brother’s head.

Skye said nothing as he sat on the floor at a corner, polishing his swords, while the husband and wife sat near the bed, looking worried as well.

When the storm finally calmed down a little, Camus heard the front door being opened, and a moment later Falkoner came into the room.

“Whew, I’m glad you made it here safely,” he said, and then looked around at all of them. “How’s Rapheon?”

“Better, but still sleeping,” his father answered. “What happened outside?”

He shook his head. “Hugo’s men are all over the place looking for them. I decided to come and check on Rapheon, but I have to go soon. I have to direct them away from here.”

His mother was about to say something when someone banged on the front door.

“Open up!” a rough voice yelled. “We’re Lord Hugo’s men, looking for two escaped prisoners!”

“Oh no, they’re here already?” Falkoner groaned. “Mom, Dad, please stay here and don’t come downstairs.” Without waiting for an answer, he quickly went out of the room.

As he sat there, refusing to move away from his brother’s side, Camus could hear the conversation between the green-armoured men even from there.

“I’ve already checked this area, Dan, they’re not here.”

“Really? Damn it, these prisoners must be somewhere around here.” There was a slight pause. “All right, men! Let’s go!”

“I’ll check the other area. If I see them, I’ll let you know.”

“All right.”

Then there was the sound of a door slamming.

Mrs. Lawrence sighed. “I hope he’d be okay…”

Her husband put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be fine. After all, he’s our boy.”

 

The elder brother was still next to Rapheon’s bed, nodding off constantly as he hadn’t slept the whole night, even if it was already morning. Just in case something happened to the young boy when he fell asleep, and in case something did happen, he wanted to be awake to deal with it…

“You should rest,” a voice startled him out of his thoughts – it was Skye, who sat down on another chair next to him. “You have been keeping watch the whole night.”

Camus shook his head. “No, I’m fine, I’ll stay here…”

“You should try not to over-exert yourself.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.”

Both of them remained silent for a short while, wondering what to say, but then Camus spoke.

“Hey, Skye…” he started.

“Hm?”

“I… um…” Camus paused for a while, feeling rather awkward. “Thanks for your help back there. Without your help, I don’t think we’d be able to get this far…”

“You are welcome. It was a good thing Falkoner came to me when I did.”

He looked up. “Huh? Are you two friends or something?”

The Steel Stallion nodded. “We have known each other for a while, and I was surprised when he came to me secretly.”

“And I thought you were the bad guy in that arena.” Camus laughed a little. “How ironic.”

He chuckled as well. “I do not think that I look that intimidating… did your parents not teach you not to judge a book by its cover?”

The older brother’s eyes grew forlorn as he slowly shook his head. “No… Mom died of a strange illness when I was eight, and Dad went to look for a medicine to heal her but didn’t return.”

Skye paused for a moment. “I… apologise. I should not have asked.”

“Nah, it’s in the past now, I’m not bothered by it.”

An awkward silence filled the room once again.

“…both you and Rapheon look similar to my companions a long time ago,” Skye started.

Camus looked at him. “Your companions?”

“Yes. They used to travel with me over two decades ago.”

“What happened to them?”

“Some died of old age, while I lost contact with the others. It will soon be my turn.”

Camus felt surprised. “You don’t seem that old to me. If you didn’t mention, I thought you’re only thirty. Thirty-five at most.”

Skye laughed. “People do joke with me that way.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“Even so, I appreciate it.” The Steel Stallion slowly got up from the chair. “By the way, you should rest.”

Camus shook his head. “Like I’ve said, I’ll stay here. I… don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“If you do not want to rest, it is fine.” He started to turn away. “Oh, yes, one more thing.”

“Eh?”

Skye looked at him for a moment, and then asked, “You are Camus and your brother is Rapheon, is it not?”

“Yeah, but I just call him Raph.”

“All right then. If I may ask, what is your family name?”

The green-haired man thought it was a little strange, but he asked nothing about it. “It’s Sarphoenix. It’s a strange name, I know.”

He shook his head. “It is not as strange as some that I have heard.” He turned around once again. “Thank you.”

Camus nodded and resumed watching over his brother as Skye went out of the room. However, he did not hear what the man with white hair muttered to himself after that.

“So it is true… his sons…”

 

Nope, no pronunciation guide this time. o_o