247. Exit Strategy: Wiremu

“Can you leave with us?” I asked in orcish.

He was surprised to hear his native tongue. I figured it would help put him at ease. The response I got was a low, rumbling growl that only orcs can produce and a brief shake of the head.

At least he wasn’t commanded to attack. I didn’t think it was likely, but it was possible. He had obviously been commanded to stay in the cell. There was only one way I could think of to get us all out of here safely.

“I can break your current bond, but I will have to take over as the master till we can get the slave class removed.”

I got a frustrated growl at that.

“Yeah, I am not happy about it either, but we are working on how to get the class removed.”

I got a grunt and growl at that. Fortunately, I am reasonably fluent in the Grunt language by now. I didn’t see a choice unless he wanted me to kill him.

“We will work on it. You have my word,” I said, still speaking orcish, and I finished with a low rumble that emphasised a firm commitment in orcish. “We can also transfer you to Modrica’s care when we catch up with her,” When I said Modrica’s name, I added the prefix indicating the senior Matriarch of the clan.

That got a different growl in response, and I turned my attention to the bond. It was a weak new bond, indicating Barbra had not been the owner long but also that the orc had not been a slave long. I applied pressure to it, and it snapped easily. I was watching the orc carefully, as from his perspective, it would be like his master was killed, and there could be death commands inserted.

I didn’t leave him long as I engaged Bond Care and reached out mentally to him. Breaking the bond was not going to be that easy as it flowed from the Slave Taskmaster. This Taskmaster was not that high levelled, so I could probably manage it. I grabbed the bond and squeezed and then stabbed to a mental spike. The bond constricted and flexed but did not break. In fact, there seemed to be a strengthening flow. I changed my squeezing pressure to lava, and that burned through the bond despite the supporting flow. It wasn’t quick. I had to keep up the pressure, and I created small lava spikes to disrupt the bond. I was sweating and chewing through my mental energy. The bond was thinning and weakening. I needed something more.

I mentally created a Granite cleaver and slammed it into the weak point, finally severing the bond. A higher levelled taskmaster and I wouldn’t have been able to do this. One who could fight back and make the slave fight back would be worse. This is their area of expertise, and I am an amateur interloper without even the right class or skills. Going head-to-head with a Slave Taskmaster was not a good plan. It was best with just an owner or a low-level one that was far away.

Picking up the bond for myself was too easy. There was no resistance. I was used to bonding with animals with a will. Whether it was the to and fro with Taoke or the negotiations with Puia, or guiding others, there was always something from the other end of the bond. Not in this case. There was nothing, and suddenly I was bonded with a slave.

It was a singular bond. Tāoke and Puia were not part of it. It made me feel unclean, diseased. I was used to two-way bonds, and nothing was coming back through this bond, and it felt wrong to me. I could sense the bond, and if I concentrated on it, I felt his well-being and mental state. That was depressing. He was starved and dehydrated, and his mental state was poor. I didn’t have time to explore it further as the sound of a steel door being slammed open and heavy footsteps coming in our direction.

“Consider all previous instructions null and void. First and primary command, You will only respond to instructions given in Orcish.” That should hamper any new owner as they can’t counter it unless they speak orcish, and there were few orcs in this area. “What is your name?”

“Umreti.”

That wasn’t a normal name. It was more of a death wish. However, if that is what he wants to be called, we don’t have time to argue.

“You can call me Quinn. This is my bond Tāoke.” I introduced them. “Can you use any of those weapons? Grap what you need, and you will defend yourself to the best of your ability. You have permission to kill anyone attacking you or attacking me and my bonds.” He grabbed a sword and a shield.

My Thermal Sensing told me there were soldiers at the top of the hole I had made, so we weren’t going back that way, and it told them roughly where I was on this level. “Follow me, and we will make a way out.” All the exits will be guarded and trapped, so we would have to make our own way out.

I headed down the opposite direction to the advancing guards. I turned a corner and halted. “Defend this area for a minute,” I said.

Granite Sense indicated the small protrusion in the wall was in fact a supporting pillar of the palace. I placed a hand on it, and a small Granite Quake removed the plaster, exposing one side of a large stone pillar. The pillar would take too long to crack and only bring the building down on our heads. However, out from the pillar were supporting beams holding up each floor. Bringing down part of a floor will give us access and crush those below. I created a step in the pillar to enable me to reach a beam, and this time I gave Granite Quake everything I had. My total of 50 Spiritual Strenght wasn’t enough. The whole building shook, and plaster fell from the walls and ceiling, creating a dust cloud. The beam cracked but didn’t break.

I heard the clash of weapons below me as Umreti engaged the guards. He was amazing. Lightning fast and stronger than I was, and he knew some sword and shield skills. I was very impressed. Then I realised what I had forgotten. The Slave Class restricts your mental attributes by 90%, but in exchange, it boosts your Physical and Spiritual Attributes. No wonder he was stronger and faster than those below as he cut through the first layer of guards. This was the power of an army of slave warriors.

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I brought up my hammer and swung at the cracks in the beam, enlarging them as I readied another Quake. I had a number of free attributes, so I pumped ten into Spiritual Strength. When you need a boost, that is one of the reasons to have them spare.

“Move back,” I yelled as I let loose with Granite Quake and a full 60 in Spiritual Strength, at the same time as slamming my hammer into it.

The beam came loose from the pillar, and the near end crashed down into the corridor. The far end stayed attached to the next pillar, and there was a cross beam halfway that partially held. The result was a whole portion of the floor above sagged down into the dungeon area. I could head scrambling as the guards retreated to a safer area. Umreti emerged from a cloud of dust, coughing. He had some minor wounds. Tāoke, in his small form, slithered out from two cracks in the rubble.

The floor above was the service area of the first basement level. The sagging floor was mainly two storage rooms and part of a corridor. The wall between the two storage rooms had broken off from the floor and was hanging in mid-air. One of the rooms contained linen, and there were shelves and baskets of linen cascading toward us. I swung my hammer and broke through the shelving coming at me.

The other room was less affected, but it was a bath and toilet room, and I had broken the pipes in the floor, and water and shit were spreading. Time to go. Tāoke launched himself at me and took up his usual position on my shoulder. I reached a hand down to help Umreti, but he nimbly jumped up without assistance. We headed for the corridor. The guards that had trapped the entry hole I had made were coming.

Umreti paused at a broken water pipe to drink. That’s right, he was dehydrated, so we paused. He will fight better to be refreshed as much as possible. I was under no illusions we would be safe for a long while. Rich people get angry when you demolish parts of their expensive palaces, and we weren’t done yet. I tossed Umreti some jerky I had on me for him to chew. While Umreti ate, I found the same support pillar and gave the building another really good shake. Then we were off.

We broke into the corridor, and the walls had cracks all through them, and there was broken plaster and window glass lying everywhere. The main reason for the quake though was to make the guards pause, and they had. They were advancing again, but slower and with caution. My Hearing Aid is a great skill. We took off running in the opposite direction to the guards as I searched for the fastest way to get to the ground level and out of here.

We were approaching a set of stairs, but a troop of guards were busy barricading them and preparing a defence. Plan E was always going to require maximum effort.

“Best to stand back for this,” I told Umreti. “Watch our backs.”

I flicked a drop of lava onto the floor before me, and Puia created a battering ram. Actually, it was more like a boar than a ram. A solid body that came up to my chest and a round thick body. He had a short thick neck with two horns on the head. The legs were short but efficient. The heat from Puia scalded the stone around us. The stairs were stone which was fortunate because wooden stairs would have just collapsed. It is easy to forget Puia is solid stone. Just because it is molten does not lessen the weight.

“Follow me,” I said to Umreti as I followed Puia. Puia moved around the corner, and a couple of arrows bounced off him. He started picking up momentum as he thundered down the hall. The hastily erected barrier didn’t stand a chance. Puia wasn’t even slowed, and the wooden furniture they had used just burst into flames. Puia pounded up the stairs, brushing aside the guards as well. Umreti and I followed, killing or maiming so they would not be able to chase us.

At the top of the stairs, a corridor ran at right angles in both directions. There were guards both ways with shields up. Puia didn’t turn but crashed into the wall, weakening the thin stone wall and creating a shower of lava that sprayed everywhere and over everyone. This corridor was fancier than the servant area’s, and the stone was overlaid with wooden flooring, which started to burn.

“Go left,” I said to Umreti as I turned right and slammed my hammer into a shield, breaking it and the arm of the Lizardkin holding it. Tāoke spat poison from my shoulder into the eyes of the other shield bearer. The squad leader was behind the shields and was only smoking in a few places, but he sliced my midriff with his sword. It was partially blunted by my Snakeskin, but I should have recreated the stone vests. It wouldn’t bleed for long. I bashed him with my shield, and he rolled backwards and then kept retreating.

I didn’t want to waste time chasing him. Umreti had killed the two on his side, and I hammered the rest of the wall down, entering a sitting room. There was lush carpet on the floor and soft chairs, and wide-open doors to a sunny courtyard. The carpet was already smouldering from the lava that splashed in when I brought the wall down. It burst into flame when Puia rejoined me through my boot.

The room was empty, but there were well-dressed people in the courtyard. A couple of them had swords, but they were there for a social outing, not fighting. I think I had annoyed them when my Quate knocked over their chess board as they were resetting things up. They backed away from us as we ran through the courtyard, and my hammer opened the door on the far side. I think the hinges were supposed to open the other way. Nevermind.

I put my shield up and dove through a glass window into a short garden. Damn them and their bloody cactus plants. The external wall of the palace was right there. For all our speed, we were not fast enough, and there were two archers on the wall visible to us. They yelled our position out and shot at us. I saw a triple shot fired at Umreti, who deflected one with his shield and took one to the shoulder, the other missing. I put my shield up, and the arrow cracked the stone, and the shield fell apart. It must have been a power shot or equivalent.

I dived to the base of the wall, and I tossed Tāoke to the top. As he crested the top, he Grew and crashed into one archer, sending them over the outside edge and spat venom at the other archer. I created handholds and climbed up, Umreti following slowly. The arrow in his shoulder was obviously hampering him.

I grabbed the bow and quiver from the downed archer and fired at the next archer simultaneously as I had to dodge incoming arrows. Tāoke had gone over the outside wall already, I created two protrusions on the outside wall.

“Jump down onto those,” I said to Umreti, and he went over without hesitation. The second reason the slave army is so useful is there is no hesitation to obey orders. I took an arrow to the chest, which cracked through my Granite ribs and nicked my lung. These are skilled archers with their Powershots. That is going to slow me down. I fired a triple shot back with two Venom arrows and saw one hit. The ruined muscles in my chest caused massive pain when using the bow. I was finding it harder to breathe. I jumped over the wall.

My feet caught the first protrusion, but it was at an awkward angle, so I could only grab the second with my arm to slow my fall, but my smashed ribs and ruined muscles weakened it, so I ended up crashing to the ground in an awkward angle and my ankle twisted and broke making me collapse in a heap.

That is a disaster and will slow me down. The easy part where we had the surprise is over. Now we will be hunted.