Zyn grew angry, but not the angry she often times felt with a solid object of its heat. Rather, in this moment, she felt angry at the condition of life and mortality itself. She saw the hulking figure reach down between its legs and ready itself. How can this be allowed to happen? She began to beat upon the bars of her cage. She heard from within a silent yet fully connected disgust of the world and its entire evil bred hatred. Manifest as a primal yell for justice, but not a justice rooted in actions and behavior, a justice to cleanse this evil from the world, she howled in a rage she had never felt before, the rage of unholy injustice.
But in spite of her howling, Zyn saw the huge figure reach for Liani's hair and yank her upright! This cannot be allowed to happen! There MUST be something to intercede! Blood dripped from where her hands had battered her cage until the skin was torn. There must be some shred of mercy shown us in moments like these. As the heat of a determined justice boiled to a fury of white hot intensity, she screamed to whatever power existed, and if none did, then she would be that power, locked in the cage as she was. She yelled, from a place beyond her mortality and doubt. She screamed only two words to the gods or universe or powers that caused all of this awful life to become. She screamed from fury and authority, "Save her! Save her!"
Through blurry eyes made so by tears of all emotions she could have felt, she saw the hulking figure fall sideways. A stunned heartbeat later, and before any reaction from the Goblins could be mustered, the two holding the knives dropped to the ground as well. What was this? What was happening? How was this happening? Had she reached something in the universe? Had something heard her pleas, issued through a now hoarse voice, and agreed to intercede? She blinked and saw the two Goblins charged with holding their captive down, stand up and draw their weapons only to fall to the ground as well. Within moments, the hideous scene, hopeless and utterly evil, had been inexplicably changed.
Unsure of what had just happened and not knowing how much time they had before more Goblins came rushing in to examine the cause of the delay, Zyn hurriedly shouted, in an attempt to gain Liani’s attention, "Liani! Liani! Try to figure out how to engage the mechanism to move my row of cages to the ledge. There should be a lever just to the right of the entrance."
But Liani did not move. She was lying face down, and in her prone position, even with Zyn’s enhanced vision, it was impossible to see if she was breathing or not. Was the force the Goblins used to hold her down enough to cross the weakened threshold of her broken body and will rendering her unconscious or worse yet, dead? And if it was, there would be no doubt that her own end would quite possibly mimic that of Liani's.
She elevated the sound of her voice, hoping that the broken woman was unconscious, in an attempt to rouse her from her fatigue induced, involuntary slumber, "Liani! Liani! Please wake up! You must help me get out of here!"
"Zyn, be quiet!" came a very familiar voice exhibiting an equaled return of her urgency.
"What?" she said into the void.
"Shut up! Your screaming will surely rouse the other Goblins!" came the forceful command from beyond the opened entrance way. Rounding the door with a knocked arrow was her brother, Ronialdin. Before she could process that he was here, he asked, "Are you ok?"
Before she was able to answer, in part because she was stunned that he was both alive and apparently well in spite of the awful poison coursing through his body, two small four-legged and extremely excited wolf pups came bounding through the entrance to the cavern still holding her. Dancing with an exuberance and excitement she welcomed and needed as a muse she could draw energy from, the pups ran back and forth, leaping and twirling with joy. She felt it flood her spirit and lift her hopeless countenance. Almost lost in the exaltation of the wolf pups, she was pulled back to reality as she saw Ronialdin kneel before the motionless woman. After he inspected her breathing, he said, "She is not dead. We cannot leave her here. She is coming with us."
"Rony, there is a small lever situated on the wall to the right of the entrance. It is the mechanism used to move the different rows of cages to the edge of the cavern." Rony, heard his sister and conveyed as much through raising his head and nodding it once, but he did not stand right away to search for the lever. Instead he gently rolled the fallen woman onto her back and placed his cloak under her head. He paused for a moment, long enough for Zyn to see a tender and compassionate side to her brother she had never seen before. After this pause, he stood up and began his search.
The exuberance of the pups suddenly grew silent and turned to a formidably low, warning growl as they both turned in unison toward the entrance now identified as their only way of escape. Rony, being too absorbed in figuring out how to engage the correct row of cages by manipulating the small lever, did not hear the pups until Zyn issued her own warning. Following his sister's instruction, he crouched low against the wall. Why did they not think to throw the dead Goblins over the side or the cavern? Now, because they were left to lay where Rony's arrows rendered their passage to the immortal realms swift and complete, as soon as any other Goblin came to check on the condition of their captives, their treachery would be discovered and the alarm would be raised.
To draw their attention, as soon as Zyn saw the Goblins sentries, she started cursing and screaming. With their focus on Zyn, Rony was able to fire the first arrow undetected at the lead Goblin, but he missed by chance as it bent forward to see further down the chasm. There were three of them in total, and they all turned toward Rony. Throwing his bow to the ground, he drew his two hunting daggers as the Goblins maliciously drew their short swords. Being made of a darker metal than his blades, the hooked ends presented with an evil demeanor reflected in their eyes. But before either the Goblins or Rony could attempt an attack, the two wolf pups slammed into the legs of the Goblin closest to the chasm causing it to fall to its death.
The closer of the remaining two Goblins kicked at the closer of the two pups connecting with a solid thump. The pup was sent reeling into the wall and stunned. Rony saw his sister flinch at the strike. Zyn was impressed with her bother who waited for all of the Goblins to enter the room before revealing himself so he was able to position himself between them and the entrance. He had effectively barred any chance they had of alerting others to sound the alarm. Yet the battle was not over. Her brother's skill with a bow was unmatched, and he demonstrated just how lethal he was by silently killing the four other Goblins and the hulking beast. But in a melee combat situation, against two hardened opponents, she was less sure of her brother's prowess and feared for his life.
The Goblins sought to draw him away from the entrance by moving to his sides taking a position opposite each other. Trying to force him to engage either one of his foes, they took turns feinting attacks. Yet he remained a stoic statue in front of the doorway. Zyn knew that if either of the Goblins reached the doorway and was subsequently able to raise the alarm, they would be faced with the full force of the Goblin lair; a force that regardless of either of their skills, they would not be able to thwart. Yet he exhibited a steadfast patience and solidified adherence to protect their only way of escape. He knew an alarm would inevitably be raised, but the longer he could delay, the greater their chance of escape, which admittedly was very small.
Observing everything without being able to help was building upon her as gravity built upon a hanging thread trying to hold a weight beyond its threshold. The longer it held, the closer it was to breaking. After having to watch the scene unfold with Liani, she was not certain her mind would tolerate yet another hopeless vision. However great her anxiety was growing, she could do nothing else but watch and wait for the terrible fate to unfold. But just as time was their only ally, so too was it another of their opponents. For with each passing grain of sand through the hourglass, the likelihood of yet another small sentry of Goblins sent to investigate would increase. And she knew the Goblins understood this as they were seemingly content to wait out their foe without pressing their melee advantage.
Their time was quickly dissipating, and Rony knew it. As he remained in the door way blocking the exit of the Goblins, now steadily and slowly stepping toward him in a coordinated effort, he saw but two outcomes should they progress within striking distance. Firstly, if one engaged as a diversion allowing the other to flee and call reinforcements, he would be at their mercy within minutes, even if he was able to kill the attacker. Secondly, and more to his disliking, if they attacked simultaneously, or even if one attacked first as a diversion for the second to find an opening, he would likely not be able to fight them both, and he would be dead. That left him with one conclusion. He needed to attack first. Still, in doing so, he feared this would provide one of them with a clear and direct opening. His fate had been sealed, unless he could create his own diversion.
As Zyn hung helpless to assist her brother in her cage, she could do nothing more than watch and wait. But what was Rony waiting for? Had he not reached the same conclusion as she? He clearly needed to attack first and quickly because the Goblins were now within striking distance. Their steps slowed to a halt and they coiled in on themselves in preparation to strike. She saw Rony do the same. As he crouched exceedingly low, he allowed one of his daggers to hang just inches away from the ground while he held his second one extended from his body. Breath. Pause.
Motion. With a singularity of placing all hope in the next heartbeat of time, Rony flicked the dagger closest to the ground just as the first goblin launched its attack. As the attacking Goblin was stunned by the successfully aimed dirt, Rony wasted no time. He stepped toward the Goblin behind him, twisted, and delivered a backhanded slash aimed at severing the goblins neck arteries. But instead of slicing through the dark green flesh as he had hoped, he contacted the Goblin's metal blade. However, he had achieved his goal. He had closed the distance and placed himself inside the defenses of one of the smaller Goblins. With two hands, and all of the gathered momentum of his superior strength and body weight, he shoved the goblin backward.
Zyn witnessed as the goblin was thrown backward at least five to six feet in the air colliding against the cavern wall unconscious. She saw Rony spin ferociously fast lashing out at the first goblin finding only air. Taking the opening, it delivered a particularly devious strike aimed at the tendons of Rony's ankle. The effort of pulling his front leg backward while the majority of his weight was resting on it caused her brother to momentarily lose his balance. The Goblin took advantage of this and attacked again. Goblins were not strong creatures, but they were quick and knew well how to use their smaller size to their advantage. Still off balance, Rony knew he was running out of time. It would be only moments when the goblin he threw against the wall would return to his senses and either flee to enlist reinforcements, or join the fight.
His attacker was growing bolder with its strikes. Now! Rony dodged sideways, momentarily leaving himself open. Using the momentum of his blocking dagger, he ferociously twisted to strike the goblin's sword with enough force to unbalance the smaller and weaker foe. Having created an opening, Rony struck with three swift and quick slashes between alternating daggers rendering the Goblin's further advances impossible.
"Rony!" yelled Zyn from her cage. He looked and saw she was pointing toward the door, but he was too far away now to stop the Goblin from reaching the entrance and racing toward the inner reaches of the caverns. Just as he was about to give up hope, he saw two small shadows dart from behind him. The pups had joined the fight. Reaching the fleeing goblin and biting him at the ankles, one on the left leg and one on the right, they successfully stopped its attempted escape. As the goblin fell face first and hit the ground, Rony sprung to action and was upon it in an instant. He wasted no time as he drove his two blades hilt deep into the goblin’s back.
Exhaling the depth of hopelessness and then inhaling a new focus for their continued life, brother and sister felt a momentary reprieve in the bleakness of their predicament. Standing up over the dead Goblin, Rony gazed around the room and quickly collected his arrows from the dead bodies.
"Rony, there is a lever on the side of the entrance. It is used to control the rows of cages. If you can figure out how it works, you will be able to get me out of here," Zyn instructed.
As he pulled the last of his arrows from the dead goblins, without acknowledging the instructions from his sister, he walked over to the fallen woman, bent down, and gently laid a hand on her chest to assess if she was still breathing. She was. Bracing her head against his chest, he lifted her from the ground. As he did, he felt her slightly nuzzle closer to him. Still too weak to raise her arms, she simply adopted a tighter curled up position and allowed him to support the entirety of her small and fragile body.
"Rony, please hurry. We have not the time!" Again, he appeared not to hear her sister as he walked the few short paces to the wall and set her down carefully. When he had removed his arms from her and was satisfied she was securely propped against the wall and would not fall over, he wiped an errant blonde lock of hair from her face, paused and then stood up. "Now, where is this lever?" He said as he still gazed down upon the woman.
"It is over there against the wall near the entrance. It must have different settings to engage the different rows of cages," she said as she pointed toward the entrance.
Rony turned slowly, and when he was finally unable to maintain visual contact upon the woman he saved only because he was no longer physically oriented toward her, he walked quite rapidly to where his sister was pointing. He found the lever without much effort. Figuring out how it worked, however, was an altogether different matter. Presented as an octangular web of interconnecting channels, all of which had an additional two or three channels protruding from them and connecting to the channels situated next to them, Rony stood facing the complex formation. "I thought Goblins were supposed to be simple minded? This," pausing to look for the correct word, "maze could take me hours to figure out. Can you remember any sort of pattern they used."
"What? Is it not a simple pulley system?" Zyn responded.
"No, Zyn, it is not just a simple pulley system. Oh I am certain if I was the goblin who created this mess, I would find it simple, but I am not. Do you remember any sort of pattern they used?" he said still intently studying the lever system.
"I am sorry, but I was not able to observe that from here," stated Zyn.
"We may need to find another way," he suggested as he started pushing and pulling the lever in various directions, all without any movement of any of the rows of cages. "I am not certain this will work."
"It has to work. There is no other way to move the cages."
After several moments of working on the web like maze of channels, and trying all the positions he could think of, Rony stood back and turned toward his younger sister still hanging suspended in her cage. "Zyn, I cannot figure this out. There are too many possibilities and positions," he said as he glanced to the young woman, still propped against the wall. He noticed that the two wolf pups had each taken a position next to her and were snuggled against her. "Tell me about the rows of cages. How are they fixed in place?"
"I do not know that. It has to be with the lever mechanism on the wall. There is a counter weight at the ends of each row of cages,"
"A counter weight at the end of the row of cages?" Rony asked as he interrupted her.
"Yes. It is on the same rope line as the cages and probably serves to pull the cages back over the cavern somehow."
"Ok, let me see if this works." He said as he moved the lever around a couple more times. But this time, when he was done, he pulled the lever out. As soon as the lever was pulled and set in the "out" position, the row of cages next to Zyn began moving backwards at an alarming rate until the last one crashed against the pulley system that was used to suspend the counterweight. As it crashed, it dislodged the first cage allowing the whole line of cages to repeat the action.
"Rony! Push the lever back in!" shouted Zyn.
"Well, that did
not work like I thought it would. Let me try this," he said as he moved the lever in a few more directions in between his glances toward the ceiling and his sister's cage. "Hold on."
As he pulled the lever to the out position, his sister's cage began to rapidly move toward the pulley holding the counterweight just like the row of cages next to her. Instinctively her hands grabbed the bars on either side of her and she let out a high pitched, bursting scream. Immediately, Rony pushed the lever to the “in” position and the row of cages stopped abruptly.
"Rony, are you crazy!" exclaimed Zyn, "Did you not see what happened to the first row of cages?"
"I did, which is why I had to find out which pattern moved your row of cages. Now, if I can somehow cut the rope between the last cage on your row and the counter weight," he let his voice trail off as his thoughts attempted to find a solution.
After taking a few more moments to examine the pulley system above her row of cages, he turned toward his sister's cage and said, "Zyn, we may have a problem."
"You mean besides the fact that I'm still in this cage and there are still who knows how many goblins between here and the way out, wherever that is?"
"Yes, besides all of that. Do you see that secondary rope extending from the end of your cage all the way to wall above the lever?"
"Yes, but it does not look connected to anything."
"That is because it is not. At least not until it enters the wall."
"I do not understand."
"Remember at home how our mother had a system set up to pull her laundry in through the window? Do you remember how she had two ropes set up as well?"
Convergence (The Dragon Within Saga Book 1) Page 44
