Seis : the Ruins of the Wind

Chapter 4: The Demon of the mines (Part 2)

As usual, Seis woke up with a pain in his neck and a terrible taste in his mouth. Damn nightmare. Babeth, Lou, and 3407 looked tired and haggard; they probably hadn't slept much. Seis got up and banged on the bars of the cage, causing the other prisoners around him to start yelling and complaining about the noise. A guard quickly arrived to stop the commotion and came over to Seis, asking:

- "What do you want, 6666?"

- "I want the meal the Baron promised me."

The guard burst out laughing:

- "Yeah, you want me to give you flowers too. Have you gone mad or what?"

- "Go see your chief and tell him the mine demon wants his breakfast."

The guard hesitated for a moment but knew the reputation of the mine demon, and he grumbled before leaving down the corridor. Seis knew he would confirm with his superior. As part of his plan, a day after helping the Baron identify a traitor, Seis had asked Jonas for a favor:

- "Just once, allow me to have breakfast in the abandoned guard post."

Jonas, in an excellent mood that day, had agreed and informed the brigade chiefs. Almost a year later, Seis asked for his favor. While the prisoners were being led into the tunnels to start working, Seis was escorted to the abandoned post. He sat at the table, and the guards stepped back to stand around the door. A little later, the beautiful maid arrived with a wicker basket under her arm. She placed bacon, eggs, and a glass of milk on the table. Seis thanked her and began to eat, staring at her. She met his gaze with anticipation and began to murmur, articulating clearly so Seis could read her lips:

- "Is it over?"

He replied in the same manner:

- "Yes, meet me at the rendezvous point with the ring."

He then turned his attention back to his breakfast. After he finished, the two guards took him to the tunnel where he rejoined his friends, who were pretending to chisel away at the rock in search of bloodstones.

- "You could have brought something for us to eat; we'll be hungry on the road, Little Brother."

- "Very funny, Babeth," Seis stuck his tongue out at her.

The beautiful maid, named Elmira, had a map showing the way between the abandoned post and the tunnel where they were. Seis had spent months drawing this map and had given it to her. After the guards left, instead of returning to the castle, she was supposed to join them. But the walk only took about twenty minutes, and Seis and his companions had already been waiting for several hours. Seis imagined a thousand possibilities to explain the delay. Finally, Lou said:

- "We can't wait any longer, we have to go, Seis."

Seis wanted to oppose it, but he didn't want to endanger his friends. He nodded. 3407, who had the SCM on her, approached the huge rock that hid their tunnel. Suddenly, footsteps were heard in the tunnel. The group turned in unison, ready to leap. The silhouette of a young woman in a black and white maid's uniform appeared, and she said:

- "It's me, it's Elmira."

Seis let out a deep sigh of relief and exclaimed:

- "You took forever; we thought you'd been captured."

- "I didn't have the ring on me, I had to go get it from my room, and wait until there were no guards to come back down. I was so scared, I moved very slowly, every noise nearly gave me a heart attack. I almost wanted to give up, but luckily, your map was accurate."