"What about porting out?" Nix frowned when Chiba immediately shook her head.

"Brahmi has a safeguard against thieves, you can't port out from anywhere on the grounds."

Pon pulled some of the silk coverings off the walls, the walls behind it were made from stone. "This place is just a pretty prison Nix."

Chiba nodded in agreement. "Normally they aren't confined to this room. Even though the army has been dismantled, he still has a few hundred of his Palace Guards."

/Inferno: Nix: Pull all that silk off the wall. Let's make sure we aren't missing something.

The four of them began pulling the silk off the walls while Chiba talked quietly with Mari.

"Over here Nix." Chael called from the far side of the room.

Nix stowed the huge pile of silks into his inventory, no use letting them go to waste. "What did you find?"

Chael slid a wall panel open. "Dumbwaiter."

"That leads to the kitchen, its way to small for a person." Mari had followed him, her voice sounded right behind his ear.

Nix didn't answer, he slammed both fists into the wood paneling and started tearing large pieces out. In a few moments, he had opened it up from the floor to the ceiling. He had broke the platform also, the only part left were the two ropes that made up the pulley system. "Should be large enough now. One of us at the top, the other at the bottom."

"Me! I have the most experience with this sort of thing." The old mage was sliding down the rope before anyone could react.

/Inferno: Chael: Did Pon volunteer?

/Inferno: Wind: He did.

Nix pulled his scout off to one side. "Go down first, find us a way out that doesn't include the palace guard."

Wind nodded and leaped into the hole.

After he was gone Nix faced the nervous beauties. "Just slide down the rope, I'll help you get in and Pon will be there at the bottom." Nix helped them through one at a time, while Pon caught them at the bottom. Within a few minutes, they were all crowded into the kitchen.

Nix and Chiba were the last two out.

"Gonna torch the place apprentice?"

Nix nodded, "I'll be down in a bit." He had taken all the silk from the walls, but the cus.h.i.+ons and chairs were all flammable, better yet, they would make more smoke than fire.

[Flame Throw]

A thick fountain of flames shot out of Nix's raised hand, he turned in a slow circle, bathing the room in flames. When satisfied it was enough, he walked casually through the flames and slid down the rope to the kitchen below.

/Inferno: Wind: No guards on this level yet. Head west from the kitchen, left at the first hall. There's a small chapel.

Nix nodded at Pon to take the lead.

Chiba waited with him. "Going to burn your way out of here?"

Nix nodded, "seems like the safest way. Ideally, these girls can all disappear and go back to their lives."

Chiba shook her head. "These are rare beauties Nix, if any of these girls are seen somewhere, Brahmi will immediately know."

"In that case... Just leave it to me." Nix motioned for her to leave. The serving dishes on the shelf caught his eye, "each one of these plates is probably 100k credits. What a waste."

Nix caught up with the group at the Chapel. Wind was waiting for them. He motioned to a dark stone staircase leading down.

"Don't tell me those are crypts?" Nix raised a hand, instantly it burst into flames. "Let's go. There's no sense in wasting tim..."

An explosion rocked the chapel, the mortared bricks that lined the outside wall burst inward showering them with stone shrapnel. Nix slammed into the far stone wall, catching Mari before she suffered the same fate. He collapsed to his knees, ears ringing.

It felt like minutes, the smell of smoke and the scent of charred flesh. A hand pulled him to his feet. Chiba's face was next to his a moment later. Her lips were moving but Nix couldn't hear anything.

"plan this. We have..." Nix squinted at her, trying to understand what she was saying. The blurred swordsman shook her head and then dragged him down the staircase. The heavy metal door closed behind them with a loud metallic clunk.

Several minutes later, the group stopped long enough to tend to the wounded. Nix had recovered his hearing and was using his hud to plan a route through the catacombs.

The sound of crying seemed eerily familiar, Nix's yellow eyes watched them in the dim room. "Who did we lose?"

Mari limped forward, her leg and arm on the right side were bandaged. "A Jhabi girl named Malisa. She was new, everyone called her Lisa."

Nix stared at the corpse. "This is my fault. I should have bought Tess."

Chael watched from one side, there was no trace of the easy-going marksman from a few minutes earlier. He watched as Nix wrapped her body in a long sheet of white silk. Not moving when he bathed her corpse in green flames until there was nothing but ashes.

[Summons: Rock Golem]

A huge golem appeared in their midst, its stone head nearly touching the ceiling.

The pointed ear blonde equipped his rifle. "No more deaths..."

[Scorched Earth Coating]

Chael's rifle throbbed with the combined power of Fire and Earth.

Nix walked toward the only visible pa.s.sageway. "I'll take the lead, Chiba bring up the rear."

Chiba nodded. "Okay, Nix."

*************

Several hours later the large group exited near the rocky eastern sh.o.r.e. The catacombs had connected with natural caves that eventually led them to the ocean. No one in the exhausted group felt like celebrating.

/Inferno: Pon: What now Nix?

/Inferno: Nix: You three head back. I'll catch up after I stash these women.

Chiba waited with Nix while his guildmates left. "What's your plan for my niece and her friends?"

"Better that you don't know." He lay a hand on her shoulder. "I never said thank you for dragging me out of there. Thank you, Master."

*******************

It was nearly dawn by the time the master swordsman found him. The ex-King had confiscated one of the better inns in town. She snuck in quietly, weaving pa.s.sed the guards until she opened the door with the softest of clicks.

Chiba drew her sword silently and like a ghost appeared at the side of the King's bed. She stopped and stared in mild surprise. King Brahmi had already been relieved of his miserable existence. A thin cut had nearly removed his head. There was no blood, the wound had been instantly cauterized by intense heat. She smiled in the darkness. "A worthy apprentice."