I sprinted after the walking slab of muscle and tears as he continued screamin' for whatever poor broad had passed that giant through her hips. His foot steps hit the stone like drum beats, shakin' dust from the ceiling and causing the magelights to rattle in their sconces. Not once did he look back or even seem to notice he was being followed.

  As he burst into the prison he slid to a halt, and his face went slack, eyes wide, lips partin'.

  His breaths came like the workin' of a bellows as his eye flecked from one scene of horror to the next.

  The survivors were nowhere to be seen. Smart enough to hide in advance of the madman's entry, I guessed.

  "Ma!" He roared, the sound echoin' through the room, "ma!?"

  "She ain't here," I said, tryin' to be a little kinder than I might otherwise. A little kinder than the ache in my busted legs and chest allowed.

  "Who said that!?" the giant bellowed, his beady eyes roving across the dark room, his hands clenchin' and unclenchin' at his side.

  "Me." I said slowly, slippin' my knife behind my back as I stepped into the light from the hall just beyond, "listen big man, you need to calm down. You're gonna draw things to us with all that hollerin', now if just-"

  He turned on his heel and stared at me with all the hate and rage his twisted, mutated, and likely addled mind could muster.

  "Where. Is. Ma!"

  My ears popped and I dropped my knife to spare them the worst of his fury. As the blade clattered to the floor from behind my pack whatever restraint the giant had fell away. I saw him coming through bleary eyes and a an icepick head ache.

  Only a killer's insticts and far too much practice allowed me to dodge a crashin' blow made with my own danm gun.

  I dove to the side as he swung, hittin' only air. I meant to come up in a roll but my body betrayed me. The wound the blood banshee had dealt me and the broken bones, the dislocated shoulder, the torn muscle and bruised flesh, the mana burns, they all came home to roost at once.

  Crash!

  I slid along the mossy stone floor and into one of the slabs.

  Pain.

  Dark.

  Fear.

  I felt the weight of a boot on my back, heard the sound of a man in agony, the sound of a loss so profound it figuratively broke my heart as the giant literally tried to do the same.

  "Where is she!" he screamed, "tell me! Tell me and I'll kill you quic-"

  I swung up and my arm extended out like it had during my run through the rooftops. It's reach was incredible, and I fired a sucker punch into the big man's belly.

  The force of it knocked the wind out of the giant. He staggered back, but didn't fall. Instead he, fuckin' somehow, just got angrier and angrier. Definitely got some uruk blood if that's how he dealt with pain...

  I kipped up and regretted the motion immediately. My ribs ached, my arm screamed in protest, and my leg threatened to go out from under me.

  "Just listen you big, dumb son-"

  "Dumb!? Dumb?! I'm not dumb!" He howled, charging again, arms wide and ready to crush me in a hug, "you're dumb! You're dumb!"

  And you know what? As I stared down death for what must've been the hundredth time all said, I could seem to form an argument to that. So, instead, I just tried to do what worked the last time a massive giant of a man bull rushed me in a narrow space.

  As the half-uruk sprinted to batter me to past I dropped drown and moved to grab him low like Northman wrestler had showed me as a boy.

  Now normally, this is a foolproof move, especially if you're a man who's built more broad than tall. You just wrap your arms around their knees and lift and down they go.

  Simple.

  Except, ain't nothin' about that moment had been normal from the start, and instead of me tippin' him on his ass with the power of leverage and know how, I just kneed in the fucking face.

  Hard.

  Stars. I saw stars in the void and heard water rushin' through my ears. He knocked the sense so far out of me it took what must've been minutes to realize I was being strangled to death.

  Well, shit, I thought as my life began flashin' before my eyes. The image of an incensed moron fadin' before a rapid fire recollection of all my greatest mistakes. The giant had me pinned to the wall with one hand, screamin' nonsense as my eyes bugged and I got further and further to my just desserts.

  I'd probably go the Void, or Hell or whatever it was that the gods made for murders and liars and fools. I'd go and be judged for the blood on my hands, the pain I caused.

  "Roche!"

  My name, shouted, the voice was familiar. But, I couldn't quite place it. Come back later, I'm busy dyin'.

  "Temjun! Stop!" Screamed a tiny, shriveled woman as she beat her fists against the back of my soon-to-be killer.

  Oh. It's Captain Margarette. Don't do that, Ma'am. This son-of-a-bitch will kill you.

  Run.

  Run!

  "Run!" I managed, as, suddenly, the monster grip loosen and he turned his mad eyes to the woman behind.

  "Raa- uh... Mama?" He asked dimly as I gasped for air and blood and life.

  "Gods damnit it Temjun! Get a hold of yourself!" The old sailor said as she leaned up and slapped the giant on his cheek.

  "But, Mama..." he muttered, "but, you were gone..."

  "Well I'm back now. And it looks like you've gone and beat the ever-loving shit out of the one person who could have gotten us out of this hell hole." the old woman scolded, and the giant, his name was Temjun? Uruk for sure.

  Margarette continued to berate the man, and slowly his eyes, those beady blue eyes, focused on her and then turned, almost sheepish, toward me. Tears. Thick beads of wet and salty sorrow leaked from the corners of his eyes as his 'mama' informed him of just how bad he'd fucked up this time.

  Damn, almost felt bad for him. Old gal wielded motherhood like a mace. Though I was almost certain Temjun wasn't no blood to her at all.

  I let out a weak cough as my breath finally caught.

  "Ma'am," I choked, "if it's all the same, let's save the family drama for when we're on the open road."

  Margarette looked to me, her sharp gray eyes piercing straight through me. She drew in a short breath and then nodded as I barely managed to stand.

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  "Right, yes. It's safe!" She called over her shoulder to the door that led down into the waterway tunnels, "it's Roche and one of my crewmen." She clarified.

  As she said that, the five other adult survivors, along with the boy Vin emerged. They each looked just a stricken as they had right after I let them out, whatever grit I had inspired with my words before momentarily lost when they saw me gettin' my ass beat.

  "You okay, mister Roche?" asked the kid as he moved gingerly past the cyin' giant. For his part Temjun looked absolutely mortified by his actions, and his tears had quickly shifted from grief to shame.

  "I'm sorry mama, I didn't know, I just the fancy clothes and I-"

  "You made godsdamned assumptions! Think boy! Use your brains, not your fists, not this..." She trailed off, her face goin' white as she noticed the blood leaking from the gash on his scalp.

  "Oh, Temjun..." she muttered, the fight going out of her, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I was-"

  "It's okay mama, just some scratches. That lady up stairs was hurtin' me, but I beat her real good with this," he slapped my fuckin' scattergun in his hand like it was a toy and not a weapon of war.

  "I didn't know," said Margarette as she reached up and put a hand to his cheek, "I didn't know. If I had. If I had... Gods damn the bastards. How did you get out Tem? Are the rest of the boys, are they-"

  The room went silent as the question went unasked. Vin leaned in to look at me, and the boy and old man gave a look to one another.

  Temjun spoke after a moment, carefully touching his scalp wound as his faced twitsted in some new, bitter emotion, "Some are okay mama. But they made Marty and Kyle go out into the city to look for, uh..." He shook his head slow and steady, and I could see the thoughts, the memories, play out across his face.

  "For a way out. It's real bad up there" he muttered, pointing to the town above. Yeah that was a fuckin' understatement and-

  Wait. Did he say he beat the blood banshee down with gun?

  "Gimmie that!" I spat finally summoning some wits. I snatched the gun from his hands and gave him a nasty look.

  "Hey, hey," he said, backing away and holding his hands up, "I didn't break it. Just borrowed it a bit. It's a little sticky on the inside though, sorry about that."

  I frowned and looked the barrel over. The stock was cracked, the dark wood splintering in a dozen places and there was a shallow dent on the receiver but...

  I snapped the breach open and drew a pair of shells from the belt I still wore around my chest. With a little prayer to whatever god would listen I dry fired it first, and heard a healthy click. When I slotted the shells in and snapped the breach, well I started to fell a little better once again.

  "Well," I muttered, "at least it ain't broken. Now you," I accused jammin' a gloved finger into the giants chest, "how'd you get down here, and where'd the banshee go?"

  The giant, his eyes fixed on his adopted mother and the small woman gave a nod.

  "Mister Roche is a Hunter Tem. Remember I said you could trust Hunters and Crusaders? He is a good, man, as far as I can tell, and here to help. So tell him as best you can."

  He looked at me, eyes full of fear, and I could feel the tension in the room build.

  "I-I'm sorry. About what I did," he muttered, his voice dropping as his face burned red.

  "Yeah, no, that's not what I mean. How did you get here, and where did that monster go? Is she dead?"

  The others gave me looks. The boy Vin looked afraid, and Margarette just stared, her brow wrinkling with confusion.

  "Uh, no. Hurt real bad. But then cut my head and I ran here so..."

  Ah fuck.

  She probably followed. And, as if some distant, wicked god had heard the whole exchange a new sound overpowered the ringing in my ears.

  A scream.

  Faint, but coming closer, and closer. Lords above and below, when does it fuckin' end?

  "All you, hide!" I hissed pointing to the dark tunnel, "and you, find some heavy and metal and follow me!"

  "What!? But-"

  "No!" I snapped as the giant made to protest. "I ain't got time to argue. Shut up and come on!"

  He shut up.

  The survivors retreated.

  We moved toward the sounds of sorrow and death.

  Once in the lab and I wracked my air starved brain for a plan, but all I could come up with was-

  "Barricade the door," I grit my teeth as Temjun stared at space where a door had been, "the door way!" I growled as I ran for the intact barrier on the right.

  I needed to get in there, and I needed to hope Vin and the others were right about there being elixirs inside. I was too brutalized to fight otherwise and as much as the big guy was obviously a force to be recommended with, he hadn't exactly won against the blood banshee either.

  As I stared at the complex symbols with my Arcane Eye the ache in my head reached a new high. I had been punishin' more than just my body to it's limits and the proof was in how hard and long I had to stare before Skullduggery finally told me which symbol to sabotage. I as I took my knife to the symbol nearest the handle, behind me Temjun strained as he tried to tear one of the bolted down slabs right out of the floor.

  Poor, guy that would never-

  Clunk.

  I looked back to see the man holding a table over his head like it was a bag of flour. Bits of stone tile and twisted steel fell away as the big man grunted and tossed the slab of metal and oak through the empty doorway.

  Then he reached for the next one.

  Well shit. He wasn't just strong, that boy must have had an Ability for physical prowess, a good too. I tired to ignore the cacophony of him turning all the furniture in the room into a barricade as I went back to work.

  With the rune sabotaged I worked the tendrils of one finger and focused on the idea of opening the lock. It was a little more stubborn than any other I had attempted lately, nearly on the same level as the jewelry box Raph had used to test my prowess but-

  Click.

  "Hell yeah!" I blurted as I slammed the door open.

  I blinked, and for a second, just stared.

  The room beyond was filled with cabinets, and tables, and glass. Glass jars and tubes and bottles. Pipes and pumps and all manner of strange tools.

  And blood.

  A lot of blood.

  It filled glass cylinders as tall as I was, and stained the stone floors and the walls and all flowin' into the pit at the rooms center.

  I made of the mistake of moving to look at what it held. Gods how I wish I hadn't.

  This was a butcher shop. A slaughter house. A torture chamber. And that cursed hole was it's ossuary. There were people, parts of people, floating down in the dark water. Arms, legs, a few faces. All pale, all dead. Drown in a slurry of dark mana and their own blood. Some much Entropy wafted from the place that I had squeeze shut my right eye and beat back the urge to vomit, screamed, and tug my hear out in clumps, anything just to stop the feelin' of horror and disgust.

  But I didn't have time for any of that. Instead, I turned and ran for the nearest cabinet. I threw it open as the distant sound of the blood banshee echoed closer and the racket of Temjun's work died down.

  "Where is it! Come on, please, please, please..."

  The glass and ceramic jars and vials were organized by type, and none of them were marked by any name I knew. But, eventually, after the third cabinent and two more calls of the monster on it's way, I found them.

  Six vials of rich red liquid, labelled as 'Divine Elixir - Fortified'. I didn't know what 'Fortified' mean in the context of an elixir and judging by everything else I had seen down here I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Probably the madman responsible for all this had fucked with the Divinity contained in the Apothecary's Gift. Perverted or corrupted one of the only good things any god had ever done for mankind. It'd probably mutate me, drive me mad, or worse.

  And even knowing that, I still popped the top and drank one down without hesitation.

  I gagged at the taste. Not like a medicine or tonic. No, it was just raw blood, thick, and fresh, and laced with the taste exactly some foulness as I had imagined.

  But it worked.

  As a horrible chill ran through me and the fat and muscle on my bones evaporated, my wounds began to close. Pops of agony wracked my body as the bone knit and the blood flowed anew.

  "Oh yeah, that's the stuff," I groaned, as the healin' stopped, but that strange coldness lingered.

  I took the rest and sprinted out into the laboratory. I'd deal with the consequences later, if there were any. For now the results spoke for themselves.

  I was feelin' good.

  Great.

  Fan-fuckin'-tastic.

  "How ya doin' big man?" I asked, my voice a little higher, a little more excited than usual.

  Temjun was standin' there, the lab completely clear of anything except the holes where the slabs had been moments before.

  "Take this and drink," I said before he could respond offerin' one of the glowing red vials. My eyes was twitchin' and my tendrils wrigglin' as the cold sensation in my guts grew, and a manic, almost violent, energy overtook me.

  "It's... not bad?"

  "It's good!" I snarled, "drink it godsdamnit!" He blanched like a struck child and I clenched my eyes, "on second thought, I'll take that back."

  I shook my head trying to fight off the strange sense of glee and rage the elixir had inspired.

  "Just, just hit the bitch when she comes through!" I snarled one last time as the screamed drew very near indeed, "we finish this now, or all them folks, your mama included, they'll die!"

  The half-uruk's face shifted from confused hurt to righteous fury.

  "Okay, Hunter." He growled and moved to the wall, to one empty cells in the lab.

  Then I watched that big son-of-a-bitch tear steel from the wall like he was plucking flowers.

  "For mama!" he roared, just before the world exploded in acoustic agony once again.

  Thanks!