Holy Opposites 67

	Axio was still unlocking children.  He had only found the one key, so he had to retrieve each child in turn.  He was growing numb to their visible pain and suffering as he moved from one to the next, but he still felt the sense of helplessness in his stomach.  It was starting to dawn on him, as he looked at the sheer number of bolts, how many children must have died already.

	The children were huddling together in the corners of the dim room, where he had lit torches and given them to his sister to place in the wall sconces.  They wanted to stay out of the darkness, of course, even given their filthy states.  The Baneites had known they were going to kill the children, of course, so none had been provided latrines, none had been given food for days.  Some were on the verge of death.

	As he opened the last of the shackles, he stood and surveyed the room.  A trail of children, especially the small ones, had followed him around on the filthy floor.  They were quiet except for their tears, and each one was caked in blood from the prongs in their foreheads.

	Axio was at a loss.  He could lead them all out of the place, he was sure of it, but were there even enough healers in the city to tend to them all?  He looked around once more, and drew in a ragged, exhausted breath.  “Little ones, I’m going to lead you out of here, all right?  I know you’re hurt, I know you’re hungry, but I know the way out.”

	One little waif of a girl, her cheeks pinched with starvation, clung to his leg.  She looked like a Summer Eladrin, though she was so filthy that it was hard to tell.  He knelt by the girl’s side and gently lifted her up into his arms.  He cradled her like a baby and walked towards the stairs.  “This way, my friends.”

	He walked slowly, leading the herd of children away from their imprisonment.  Triera walked beside him, shaking from the cold and shock.  “Axio?” she asked.  Her voice was weak and slow, as if she wasn’t sure she was allowed to talk.  “Where are we?”

	“A temple to Bane,” Axio said.  “I’m getting us out of here.”

	“I know.”  She shuddered.  “They hurt me.  They hurt all of us.”

	Axio felt his bile rise.  “Did they…”

	“No.  Some of the others.”  Triera wiped her eyes.  “Did you… come alone?  I heard your voice before, but…”

	“I brought three of the people from Eilistraee’s temple, remember them?” Axio asked.  His mind was holding back the horror of what they were seeing with an effort.  Talking to his little sister was helping.  The girl in his arms may as well have been a feather.  “And two others.  Cavria and… a mercenary.”

	Triera sniffled.  “Axio, they can’t keep up.”

	Axio paused and looked back.  Some of the children had sat down on the steps, crying.  They couldn’t climb higher.  The armored Paladin looked back and forth between the antechamber ahead and the children behind, torn.  “Can you stay here for a minute and keep an eye on them?  I have to open the portal.”

	“I… I can try,” Triera said.  She peeled off and walked back against the flow of the children climbing the stairs behind them.


	Above, Doshellas finished setting his leg and hobbled over to the door.  “Gonna find Axio,” he said.  “Cavria gonna be okay?”

	“I can’t tell, Doshellas,” Luanea said.  She rested her hands over Cavria’s face and felt her eyes twitching furiously behind the lids.  “She’s feverish,” the priestess murmured.  “We need to move her, quickly.”

	Doshellas stuck his head back in the office.  “Axio’s leading the kids out of the dungeon,” he said.  “They’ll lose it if they see Cavria.”

	Luanea sighed.  “We leave her here, then, and go get help from the city.  We spent every healing spell we had between us!”

	Doshellas pulled his hood up and hobbled down the hallway.  He made sure to call Axio’s name before seeing his friend.  These children may have had poor experiences with drow.  Kyria was already there, opening the portal again, since it had closed behind Suivi.  “This way, kids,” Kyria said, waving the first ones through it.

	“Axio!” Doshellas called.  Most of the children shied away from the new voice, but Axio looked over and nodded, just to show the others he trusted the ranger.

	“Axio, Cavria’s got a fever or something,” Doshellas said.  “Do you have any healing left?”

	“No.”  Axio returned a hug from one girl who nearly ran through the portal the moment he released her.  “Doshellas, do you think there’s a hell deep enough for the people who do this sort of thing to children?”

	“There can’t be,” Doshellas said heavily, “because a God told them to do it.”

	“Mmm.”  Axio rose to his feet and slowly walked back to the end of the bedraggled row of children.  “Can you help lift the ones who can’t walk?”

	“Not with my leg all broken up,” Doshellas said.  “Where’s the Watch?”

	“I sent Suivi to get them.  He’s probably on his way back now,” Axio replied.  “I have to help the wounded.  Look after them, will you?” he asked, gesturing at the children.  Why they hadn’t broken into a sprint yet, he couldn’t imagine.  Maybe the prongs in their heads kept them from sleeping?  He clenched his fists at the thought of that indignity heaped on all the others.  Mind control and torture.  There was no depth to which the Baneites wouldn’t sink.


	Triera was watching over the last few children still alive in the dungeon when Axio reached her.  She immediately hugged him, and he stooped down to return it.  “Hello, little sister,” he said.  He felt another round of tears stain his eyes when he looked at her.  She was so filthy that it was hard to see her under all the blood.  He took out his canteen and poured some water on a clean corner of his scorched tabard, then wiped the blood off her face.  She fidgeted, but didn’t fight.  When he was done, he pulled his helm off and clipped it too his belt.  “We’re getting you home,” he said.  He reached down to lift one unconscious child into his arms.  “All of you.”