Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Medieval Yugioh ❯ The Marauder ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: The Marauder

Disclaimer: I do not own YGO at all, but Shade is my OC, so I at least own Shade!

Flames: MUST DIE.

Shade the Marauder scanned the horizon. The crisp, misty morning of a new summer's day greeted her. She smiled and took a chug from her flagon of October Ale, her horse, Pinethorn, grazed at the soft plain grass. Shade was a marauder with no memory of her past, roving wherever she pleased. It is said that she was a child of the shadows, for she has the ability of camouflage on her side, and can disappear into the undergrowth swifter than a snake can hiss.

Shade mounted her horse, and said,

"Giddup Pine! Time for thee to be a-trekkin'!"

Both horse and girl took off, across the misty land of Greece.

Bones spotted mountains in the distance, not far from where they were roving. He scowled. If they had to go across mountains, which would mean Bakura could punish them, by throwing them off the cliffs. He looked into the foothills of the mountain, and almost cried.

Swamps. Dreadful sinking swamps with toads and quicksand and bad rotting smells. Whichever way Bakura chose was trouble. Deep, deep troubles, which would cause death. This was unimaginable. He knew he was a coward, and these consequences could scare even the bravest warriors. He didn't want to die! He was young still! He wanted to live! But could the determination of him overcome his cowardice?

Bakura knew he couldn't risk his slaves falling off a cliff, and he knew a path through the swamps. But what worried him was that if anybody following them that carried a millennium item sunk in the swamps, his plan would be ruined.

On they trekked, through the plains, until it was nightfall, and they were at the edge of the bog. Bakura ordered half of his rare hunters to stay and another half to scout. It wouldn't be long until he got to his acropolis palace.

Shade the Marauder had set up camp in the fields, as peaceful as could be. She munched on a biscuit with ham in the middle, as her fire crackled joyously.

She cocked the side of her head, as she heard the grasses rustle. Shade hadn't felt any wind, so she knew someone, or something was stalking her.

"Show yourself, intruder!" she commanded.

A rare hunter appeared in the firelight.

"Oh ho-ho, what do we have here?" said the rare hunter in a sweet angelic voice. "You wouldn't mind sharing some of your vittles with a hungry traveler, would you?"

Shade smiled.

"Of course you can. I have plenty. Sorry to have mistaken you for a foe, for I am also a traveler." She said, and gestured towards her haversack.

The rare hunter helped himself to some food, and waited for the girl to finish.

"It wouldn't be proper for a goodbeast such as meself to offer you something for your generosity." Said he, as he pulled out a bag of candied fruits.

Shade excepted, and daintily scoffed the candysweets. A few minutes later, she was fast asleep, for the candies had been drugged! The rare hunter blew a leaf whistle, a sign for the other scouts to come out of hiding. Swiftly, the rare hunters captured Shade. She had been fooled!

That night, the rescue team was at the small acropolis. Rex, Joey, Yugi, and Espa entered into it. Inside the small acropolis, torches were burning brightly. Espa immediately went over to a bloodstained column, and scanned it. Joey was curious and went over to Espa.

"If you seek the acropolis true,

That reins up in the sky blue,

Southeast of mountains which link,

Seek the Bluepath or thou shall sink,

When thy has reached the cliff's face,

East is the tunnel of the mace,

Up the winding path until you see day,

To the acropolis, you now know the way. "Joey read. "What's that supposed to mean, Roba?"

Espa smiled.

"It's a map, Jou Shmoe. Just written in a poem. It means Bakura is taking us to an acropolis. Whoever wrote this is quite fancy at poetry. The map really only starts at the third line. It means we need to seek a blue path southeast of the mountain range, and continue traveling east at the clifface. Now do you understand?" Espa explained.

But Joey did not have time to reply. They were being attacked!

They, a small, impish type of creature, were all carrying pikes as arms, and they were ferocious! Even though there were hordes and hordes of the creatures, everyone had a different strategy for them.

Joey stayed at the back, along with Rex. The two were back to back; making sure the imps couldn't sneak up on them. They shot arrows madly at the foe.

Mokuba flailed his axe, dealing heavy damage to his attackers, soon after to become disgusted with the black gore of the imps that bled out of the creatures.

Espa, swung his sword like a natural, and seemed to be having fun killing the demons. Sometimes, when he outwitted them, he would have his share of laughter, before prowling off to find more victims.

Yugi's rapier was like a longsword compared to him and the imps, so he had no problem dealing with them, but couldn't help feeling guilty after he had killed the first one.

"Wah! I-I killed a living creature! I can't live with myself!" He wailed piteously.

"Live with it Yugi, these are our foes, so we must fight if we are to live." Sighed Mako, as he smashed the skull of another demon.

Weevil nearby had stabbed through three of the terrible imps at once, and was suffering from attack as he tried to tear the three he had speared off of his spear.

The battle went on for at least an hour before it ended, and the group was tending their wounds. The floor was smeared with black gore, and the demon bodies were scattered everywhere. The most severe damage had been dealt to Weevil.

He had long, thin, shallow gashes dotting his body from the claws of the creatures, plus the occasional bite mark and horn mark. A few of the creatures held daggers, which they used to make the deeper cuts. Weevil lay on the ground moaning in pain.

"You're lucky they were just little things, if they had been true, full-fledged warriors you could have lost your memory from the attacks. I would hate to see you against even Yugi, who is only training! If you couldn't ward off those, you would have died against a trainee." Espa snorted.

Rex, who was tending Weevil's wounds spoke up.

"What do you have to say about it, Roba-thing, you weren't surrounded by those liddle demons!"

"I've felt pains many times more than his. Pains you could never imagine. Ones that go deep into the gut and the soul."

"Well just show me one!"

At that point, Espa lifted up part of his hair to reveal a deep scar in the side of his neck. Rex scanned Espa's body and saw many, many scars and cuts striping his body.

"Can you object now, choppy-snout?"

Bakura was pleased. Now he had both a new slave, and a horse! So far, even if his enemies brought the items, he would still have two slaves, and many rare hunters! They were at the edge of the swamp, where the grass cut off and the pools of sinking mud began at the very edge of the grass. Every once and a while, the mud would belch an odd bubble adding to the mystery of the bog.

Bakura tore a chunk out of the roasted bird he was eating. After the swamp, there was only the matter of finding the Mace-Cave: An ancient cave which had stairs leading upward to the top of the plateau, which was the place of his acropolis-palace. There were signs in the acropolis that it had once been an abbey, but the dwellers had long since left. Bakura grinned an evil grin. Once at the palace, the true slavery would begin!

***

Shade awoke the next morning, in pain. Before opening her eyes, she groped for her haversack. She found it hard to lift her arm, as if something was weighing it down. She opened her groggy eyes and saw something she would never expect to see on her. Chains! The traveler had tricked her and taken her as a slave!

Anger boiled inside of the young Marauder as she sat up. There were others, staring at her. They looked as if they had been in a famine all summer! Shade decided to speak first.

"Why spifferwotsit greetins' to you all! I'm Shade the Marauder- Ouch! Blasted chains! - an' I want `t know wot yore all doin' here bein' bally chained and all. Jolly unfriendly `t be sittin' around doin' nothin' at all, not even greeting a bally newcomer, wot wot! Thou can call me anythin' `cept late fur dinner! "

A look of humor descended across the slaves and they all shouted greetings.

" Well, jolly welcome to you Shade! They call me Maelstrom the sea dog!"

"Salutations and all, ma'am, I'm Lobo the howler, this is Zealot the master of disasters, next is Nomad the wanderer!"

"I'm Seto Kaiba of Kaibacorp."

"Greetins' Marm, We're Bones, Sid, and Zygore!"

"Hullo, I'm Mai, and this is Serenity!"

"You can call me Noa!"

Shade began to look confused.

"Hark me scythe, that's a lot `o people `t remember, but I'll keeps the names in mind, don't think I won't, wot wot!

Bakura began to bark out orders to the slaves and slave drivers.

"Stick to the blue grasses when crossing the swamp!" He shouted.

"Or else what?" Said a cheeky rare hunter.

"Or else this!" Bakura sneered as he pushed the rare hunter into the swamp mud.

"Wha! I'm sinkin' somebeast helk be! Gluck, It's gettin' in me motch gluck gluck!" were the rare hunter's final words as it sank into the fathomless depths of the sinking swamp.

The slaves shuddered in fright, and began to look for blue grass. They soon found aqua-blue carnation grass, and Bakura began to lead the way. The dangers of the journey increased with every step they took.

The rescue team had made a campsite of the small acropolis, but their spirits were down, with all the bloodshed. Even though the wounds had been dressed, it wasn't done properly. A space on the floor had been cleared for a fire to be lit.

"Do any of you know any ditties?" asked Yugi, who was doing his best to stay positive.

"I know an old sea-faring one." Said Mako.

"Great! Why don't you start it!"

"Ok, its name is "the pirate's matey":

O, there once was a pirate,

Living on the sea,

Wasn't scared o' anything,

Except his best matey,

Yoho, the sea,

Yoho, his matey,

O, the pirate knew,

That his matey loved to please,

But the pirate,

Never liked cheese,

Yoho, to please,

Yoho, liked cheese,

O, one day when the pirate sailed,

His matey was swabbing' the deck,

But soon he slipped and the,

Bucket broke the pirate's neck,

Yoho, the deck,

Yoho, the pirate's neck,

O, now you know,

What the pirate had to fear,

But did his matey,

Shed any tears?

Yoho, to fear,

Yoho, any tears!"

When Mako finished the song, he found that the others were clapping along to the beat of the song, and seemed to be willing to sing their own.

"Ooh! I knows one about a forge smith!"

"Methinks that there's one about an infirmary keeper!"

"I've heard one of an abbey champion!"

"Now, now, shouldn't we be singing lullabies to help us sleep, instead o' ditties that make us hyper?"

"Ok, I know one!

Lost in night,

Full of fright,

I can shelter thee,

For I do hold the key,

Softly padding,

Swiftly walking,

To your dormitory,

I can guide thee,

Tucked in bed,

Rest your head,

I will protect your dreams."

Joey finished singing softly, and found that he had lulled Yugi, Rex, Mokuba, and Weevil to sleep. Mako's eyes were half-closed, and Espa's eyes were beady as ever, but that was just normal for Espa. Joey yawned and lay his head down. "Roba, you best get your rest, matey, for if you stay ups to late, you won't be able to track down Bakura for us." Joey said.

Espa grinned heroically.

"I'm just going to do that right now!" He said boldly.

Joey watched, in awe, as Espa stuck the end of his sword into the fire's last embers, putting it out.

"Talk about omnipresent." He scoffed.

Dreams troubled Rex that night. First, he saw Serenity and another girl singing softly. Then they disappeared, and were replaced by his parents screaming, and a strange man laughing. Gunshots fired. Rex broke into tears as this happened, but then that image disappeared, and a tan warrior carrying HIS crossbow appeared. The warrior looked just like him! He spoke:

"Young Rex, you are beginning your journey through life, but your destiny draws closer with every step you take. Soon enough, you shall become a hero, and find what you were meant to do. Ruyomi!"

Rex awoke in a cold sweat. That-that warrior! Named Ruyomi! What was happening? Destinies? This was some cruel talk he would hear from-Shadi! He turned and went back to sleep. Cruel world.

The next morning, before the slaves awoke, Bakura checked ahead. Yes! By midday they would reach the cave! He took a gulp from a fresh flagon of October Ale, which he had rummaged from Shade's pack, and strode up to Pinethorn.

"Up, Pine!" He barked.

The horse slept on.

"I said up, fool!"

No reply.

"Don't make me…"

Snores.

Bakura grabbed his barbed whip.

"Only stupid horses ignore me, bastard!"

The whip came down on Pinethorn, and the horse bucked and whinnied, and then galloped away, in the direction of the cliffs. Bakura was in awe. How did the horse know the way?

Eventually, Bakura ran ahead and found Pinethorn, and then rode back, upon the horse. The rest made it to the very edge of the swamp, at the clifface. The slaves looked up, in awe of how high the cliffs were. Even higher than the last cliffs! Plus, the cliff side came outward near the top, disabling them from climbing up.

Fortunately, for them, Bakura had them sidle along the side of the cliff, until they reached a cave. There was something above the roof of the cave, but Bakura had them move so fast, that none of them had a chance to recognize it.

Up a spiral staircase that seemed to have no end they went, Bakura never slowing down a pace, rare hunters and slaves panting behind him. This was some determination! Up, up, up, they went, until finally, they saw light up ahead! Everybody poured out of the cave, until they saw a sight that made them gape. A real acropolis was in front of them!

The time was about 3:00 when the rescue team sighted the swamps. Nobody had seen Espa all day, and water was short. Many were forced to suck upon pebbles, until the swamp. At that time, nobody knew it was a swamp, though!

Weevil and Mokuba ran forward in dehydration, hoping to get a long, long drink, and a retreat from the hot summer sun. Weevil leaped into the "water" with a splash. As Mokuba came with Yugi hot on his tail, he noticed that the splash had been more of a plop, and instead of water splashing everywhere, mud was everywhere.

"Help! I'm sinking! Call help!" Weevil screamed, flailing his limbs.

"Fool! He's making it worse!" shouted Mokuba.

"We have to help him!" howled Yugi, and by this time, you must know that he has a fear of not helping people.

Rex ran up.

"Whoa! That's quicksand?" He said.

"WE MUST HELP NOW!" roared Yugi.

Everyone at the site looked at Yugi, shocked. How could such a little guy have such a big scream???

Rex leaped to a log nearby, and grabbed Weevil's hand as he was about to go under, as Mokuba and Yugi supported him and prevented him from toppling. Then the two short guys and Mokuba pulled as hard as they could, and with a sickening plop! Weevil was pulled out.

Weevil wiped his glasses clean and looked at his rescuers as they tried to prevent themselves from giggling. Weevil looked like he was wearing a mud suit!

The foursome crawled to the edge of the swamp. Espa stuck his head up not ten feet away with splotches of mud on his body.

"I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who took a bath in that quagmire!" He said.

"So apparently this is a quicksand swamp, with no solid way across in sight… And neither is Bakura…" Said Joey.

Espa was in a foul mood.

"Great… We went all this way, and a swamp is in the way! A frekkin' swamp! And guess what, no sign of anybody for leagues! They're all probably gone by now-Dead! So now we're miles from home, the world is changed, and all the people we care about are dead!" He growled.

Yugi could never help being optimistic.

"Well… Erm… I could make muffins!"

"Hey wait, Yugi, doesn't running our loved ones into a swamp along with him seem a little… um… Un-Bakuraish to you?" Said Joey.

"You're right; it does seem a little fishy." Said Mako.

"Hey, Bakura even in his evil side was always afraid of his own death!" Said Yugi.

"Where did they go, Yugi?" Asked Mokuba.

"Well, if they're out of sight, then they must have found a way across, or went to those mountains over there." Said Yugi.

"They'd be in sight if they went for the mountains, because there's a flatland before the mountains." Said Espa, finally being positive. (No one knew how Espa's mood could change so suddenly!)

"So, that means there must be a way across the swamp!" Rex suddenly cut in. "And we should be able to find it!"

Shade the Marauder had found herself in a dungeon room with Noa Kaiba. She had done an effective job with becoming great friends with Noa, but being cooped up and chained up was no fun for someone who has traveled all her life.

This fact made her more than determined to escape.

On clawed hands and feet, she crouched by the doorway, thinking of a plan. She had already noticed that the door was rotten and no longer solid, and the bolts were rusted and creaky, so it would be possible, if not easy to knock it down, but how to without alarming the rare hunters?

Even if they could topple it without their enemies detecting them, how would they escape through the rest of the acropolis?

And what about my horse… Shade thought.

Then she paused for a moment, then her face lit up, and she snapped her fingers.

She moved to the side of the room, where there was a small hole between it and the room with the Roba brothers.

"Hey, can you make loud noises?" She whispered.

Shade was more then answered with the Roba's reply: A long, full howl, cutting through the silence of the dungeons like a knife through warm butter.

Owwroorrowwww!

The howl had annoyed Bakura for about half an hour, the repetitive howling of something inhuman.

Nothing special.

Bakura growled to a few rare hunters, "Get those slaves to shut up!"

A couple of bulky, dumb, rare hunters silently saluted, and went down to the dungeons.

Problem solved. Thought Bakura.

The two rare hunters didn't have long to live, though. Almost as soon as they reached the dungeons, one of the doors came crashing down upon them and the key-keeper of the dungeons.

"Why couldn't we have done that before?" Noa said in his squeaky voice.

"Because, Bakura sends in rounds every five minutes or so to see how we're doing, and if we did this earlier, they would have discovered our escape, but since Bakura sent these guys down, Bakura won't be expecting us to try anything fishy for a while. Now, since these are the guys who were holding my horse, we can grab Pinethorn and since that's near the edge, we should be able to jump to the blue path from there." She explained.

"Jump? Isn't that a long ways down?"

"You'll just have to trust me on this."

And with that, the two were off, as quick as possible, only sidling and slowing when they needed two when they reached Pinethorn.

The horse had been chained to a pole, but that was no problem for Shade, who tore off the leather collar which was attached to the chains. Then, mounting onto the horse, she snatched Noa off the ground, and kicked Pinethorn to go.

There was only a few seconds for Noa to mount, before Shade drove the horse over the cliff-face.

The drop was sickening and scary until Shade began to whistle sharply.

At that point in time, a pair of semi-transparent feathered wings jutted out of the saddle slowing the drop to a mere glide.

"Wha-what was THAT????" Noa stuttered.

"Enchanted wing-saddle. Not useful at all, except for gliding. Don't give me credit for it, though; it was a gift." Said Shade calmly. "And don't be worried, we're aimed for the blue path."