Quiet as a mouse, Kira closed the door behind her and began to creep along the passageway. Almost immediately, she came upon a familiar form in one of the cells, slumped against a wall with her face buried in her arms. "Safara!" she excimed, barely remembering to keep her voice low.

  Safara jerked up at the mention of her name, revealing reddened eyes and tear-streaked cheeks in the torchlight. "Kira? What are you doing here?"

  "I came to see if the boss is okay, and to help him if he needs it. What happened?"

  Safara's lips trembled. "Oh, Kira, he's gone!" Despite her best efforts, fresh tears overflowed her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. "The Saintess was here all along. When he came for me, she tried to banish him to Apollyon. He took her with him, but he's gone."

  Kira blinked. The bottom seemed to have dropped out of her stomach. "Gone?" she whispered. It couldn't be. He had never cimed to be a match for any of the great powers of the world, but somehow she had come to think of him as equal to any challenge, no matter how rge. It didn't seem possible that he could have fallen.

  With a great effort, she dragged herself back to the present, locking the shock and horror away in a corner of her mind for the time being. "Listen, we need to get you out of here," she whispered urgently. "The boss isn't- he'll be okay. He's tough, he'll find some way. But we have to get you out of here before they kill you or something."

  "No," Safara replied. "They have my things. You should focus on those first. No, listen!" she cried as Kira began to protest. "Right now, they're in a panic over what happened to the Saintess. If you use the secret passages, you should be able to recover my books without much issue. They can't get their hands on them, or they'll learn about the S.E.P. cloaks and the magical telegraph. You can't open this door without the key and I have no idea where it is, but you can help keep everyone else safe. They'll probably take a while to remember about me, so I'll be fine for a while, and besides, only the Saintess really knew what I've done, so they'll probably be hesitant to do anything to me once they do remember I'm down here. I am still a noble of a foreign nation, after all."

  "Fine, but as soon as I've done that I'm getting you out of here. I'd be surprised if your status kept you safe for very long." Squeezing Safara's hand, Kira turned up the corridor in the direction of the stairs.

  In a quarter of an hour she was back with Safara's cloak and her satchel, full of all the books she had had with her, save two. Her diary, and the spellbook which Safara now produced from under her robes and passed to her through the bars. "Take this, too," Safara told her. "I was able to hide it so far, but that won't st, and if they get this... Well, I don't want to ruin Fenrir's pns any more than I already have."

  Producing a lockpick from her pocket, Kira knelt in front of the door and began working at the lock. "So, what happened exactly? You mentioned he took her with him, but how?"

  "It'll take some time to tell."

  "I figured. This isn't coming open in a hurry, so go ahead. We've got time." Kira grimaced as her pick slipped, pinching one of her fingers.

  "Well, when I accidentally overheard the Archbishop ordering my arrest, I knew my cover was blown, so..." Safara began, sinking back to the floor and frowning fiercely at her knees as she told her story.

  "...And then the bishop and the commander went back upstairs to talk it all over, and I was left here alone until you came. I think they completely forgot about me," Safara finished.

  Not far into the retelling, Kira had completely forgotten about the door and had merely sat with bated breath, listening avidly to every word that left Safara's mouth. Now realizing her inaction, she attacked the lock again with renewed determination, as much to mask the confusion of emotions that swirled within her as anything else. The earlier shock and grief was still present, but added to it were several other emotions, among them a keen regret that she had not asked to go with Fenrir so that she could have helped even a little against the Saintess, a renewed hatred for the Light for taking her master from her, anger with herself that she had not kept Safara safe on their first reconnaissance mission, and even a little nugget of pride for her master and the way he had so coolly faced one of the most powerful people in the world, a woman who was practically a demigod.

  They fell into silence, both wrapped in their own thoughts while Kira struggled with the old lock. Its age, rather than making it easier to pick actually made it more difficult, the stiffness and rust working against her. After nearly half an hour of fruitless effort, Kira finally desisted. "I give up, this lock is just too tough for me. A real Rogue might be able to pick it, but I'm just not that good. We're going to need the key."

  Safara looked up. "In that case, get those books out of here and come back for me ter. They cannot get their hands on them, understand?"

  "Alright, alright, I get it. Hang in there, okay? We're going to get you out of here, I promise." Kira gave her a reassuring smile.

  Safara broke into an answering if slightly watery smile. "Thank you. I know I don't deserve your help."

  Kira shook her head. "What are you talking about? It's not about whether or not you deserve it. The boss would want us to help you, and that's enough for me. Besides, you're not so bad. Not like most Light-races. Even if the boss didn't care, I'd still want to help you."

  Safara murmured a half-hearted denial, but Kira could just make out the ghost of a happy little smile which the elf could not quite suppress.

  "I'll be back, but in the meantime, take this." She proffered the slip of paper onto which she had earlier copied the telegraph circle. "It's easier to hide or get rid of than your book, but you can contact us if you need to."

  "No use." Safara pushed it back through the bars. "This cell is lined with null runes. I can't muster enough magic to send a message two feet, let alone as much as I'd need to communicate with you. I'm not sure any message could reach me in here, either. Just go, get all of that out of their reach, okay?"

  "Okay. Be careful. I'll see you tomorrow." Picking up the cloak and satchel, Kira turned towards the secret door, then paused as a thought occurred to her. "Do you have any enchanted items in this satchel?"

  Safara looked confused. "I don't think so, unless you count the rune circles in my spellbooks. Why?"

  "Well, the way in and out of the city leads over a rune circle that detects magic. I'm probably going to have to hide the cloak before I cross it, but I'd rather not hide the whole satchel just in case someone were to stumble onto it."

  "Oh." Safara thought for a moment. "I think you should be okay, but test it first just in case, okay? If you hold the satchel close to the rune circle and the circle starts to glow, then you'd better not try to take it over, but if it stays inert, then you're safe."

  "Will do."

  It was almost morning by the time Kira made it back to camp, satchel in tow, though Safara's cloak remained well hidden near the sewer entrance. Despite sending a single pulse over the magical telegraph and receiving the same back, Chellise and Katari were anxious to hear what she had found. Sitting down around the glowing coals of the fire in the gray light of dawn, she wasted no time in retelling to them the events Safara had in turn told her.

  "Gone?" Chellise whispered, looking thunderstruck.

  "His st action was a worthy one," Katari said solemnly. "I am gd to have served such a mighty lord." Her hands shook as she began removing her chest armor.

  "He's not dead," Kira objected. "He's only in Apollyon."

  Katari shook her head, pulling off the sleeves of her kimono. "He is dead to us. None who are banished to Apollyon ever return."

  "Maybe, but-" Kira paused. "What are you doing?"

  "My lord died in an honorable fashion, attempting to save one which he cared for. He even ensured the destruction of the one who killed him, one much more powerful than he. I would not disgrace his memory by living as Dishonored." The small oni, now bare from the waist up, carefully unsheathed her sword. "I regret that I could not spend more time with you, Kira. I have been gd to call you friend."

  "Nononono wait!" Kira grabbed Katari's hands, preventing her from raising the sword to her chest. "Let's just talk about this, okay? The boss wouldn't want you to kill yourself, I know it. Will you just wait until we know for sure whether he's dead?" she pleaded.

  Katari sighed and lowered her sword. "But he has been banished. What chance does he have?"

  "If anyone could survive and find a way back, it'd be Daddy," Chellise murmured quietly. She was very white and her voice trembled, but her tone left no doubt of her conviction.

  "The boss isn't just any old schmuck," Kira said, speaking very quickly, as though afraid Katari would continue if given half a chance. "He's done plenty of impossible things. The first time we saw him, he killed an entire ptoon of the Cult's soldiers in under five minutes, and without taking a scratch. He killed two yeti by himself, took some serious wounds doing it, and by the end of the next day he fought you and won, and I bet you couldn't even tell he'd been wounded the night before. He got me pregnant, and I'm a succubus for fuck's sakes. I didn't even think it was possible for me to get pregnant. And just in the past couple days he's discovered an ancient secret passage system that leads right into the cathedral, roamed all over the capital without ever being spotted aside from the first night, developed a brand new rune circle with Safara's help on his first try, after only about a week of studying runes at all, and as if all that wasn't enough, now he's neutralized the fucking Archbishop of the Light. So don't you dare try to act as if he's dead just because he got banished to Apollyon!"

  Her voice had risen steadily as she spoke, and now Kira stopped to wipe away the tears which were brimming in her eyes. "And even if he doesn't survive Apollyon or can't find a way back to us, what does it matter? He wouldn't think you're dishonoring him by continuing to live after he died. You know what he would say? He'd say to take care of the rest of us, and that we should all look out for each other. I guarantee it."

  A ringing silence followed this impassioned speech. Breast heaving, Kira gred at Katari, who stared back in shock. At length, she sighed again and sheathed her sword in defeat. "You are right. My lord has achieved enough in the short time we have known him that I should at least give him time to return to us. Whether or not he is capable of returning from Apollyon, he has earned at least that much faith on my part." She began redressing, and Kira nearly colpsed in relief. Behind her and across from Katari, Chellise finally rexed as well. She had watched their exchange in tense silence.

  "Okay-" Kira's voice cracked and she cleared her throat, then tried again. "Okay, so what can we do about Safara? I did my best, but the lock on her cell is a tough one. It's not going to come open in a hurry. Unless either of you are better at picking locks than I am." She looked between the other two, but both shook their heads.

  "I have little skill in such things," Katari admitted.

  "Okay, so we need the key. The problem is we don't even know who has it. The Saintess probably had one, but I'd be surprised if there weren't at least a few copies for a dungeon like that."

  "Sound reasoning," Katari agreed. "The next most likely to hold a key is the commander of the Cult, unless Safara is or was not considered important enough for him to deal with himself, in which case it would likely be in the hands of a lesser officer under his command." She frowned thoughtfully at the coals of the fire.

  "Well, we can't very well go around checking everyone's pockets. We'll need a way to find it that's unobtrusive, too, because if they find out that anyone, not just Dark-races, but anyone is trying to free Safara they'll make it impossible in short order after what happened to the Saintess." The red-headed succubus flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder and leaned back, trying to come up with an idea.

  "Well," Chellise spoke into the silence, "wouldn't there usually be someone who's in charge of all the keys? Because if they're going to clean regurly, then someone like a custodian or administrator would need to be able to open everywhere up, or else they'd always have to bother the people in charge about it. So most pces have like a senior servant that has a copy of all the keys, right?"

  Kira straightened so fast she almost overbanced into the fire. "That's it, Chell, you're a genius! I mean," she paused, reining in her enthusiasm, "it's a good pce to start, at least. I got the impression that they haven't used that dungeon in ages, but even if the administrator or whatever doesn't have the key, I bet they'd know who does, and we might be able to overhear or find something that could clue us in, too."

  Katari nodded. "We should wait until this evening for that, however. I will take watch; Kira, eat some food and then rest. You know the way best, so I believe you should be the one to hunt for this key, and you should not do so exhausted."

  But to Kira's horror, Safara was gone by the time she once again reached her cell shortly after midnight. The succubus ran up and down the corridor checking the other cells just in case, but Safara was nowhere to be found. She was on the point of leaving to see if Safara might be elsewhere in the cathedral when she noticed a scrap of paper lying on the ground just inside the cell. It looked as though it had been stepped on, but when she opened it, she instantly recognized the neat penmanship of Safara, a little sloppy with haste.

  I am about to be kidnapped and sold by the smuggling ring. Where they intend to take me, I do not know. Please, help.

  That was all.

  Kira stood for a long moment clutching the small scrap of paper, thinking hard. Where should she go, and what should she do? 'The smugglers, or I guess traffickers, can't have gotten far, but I have no idea how to find them.' Minutely she examined the cell in which Safara had been imprisoned. Several drops of blood were scattered on the stone floor, still wet, but as to the identity of their owner Kira had no way of knowing.

  Resolving to take the news of this new development back to the rest of her companions and figure out what to do with them, Kira hurried back through the secret passage, eyes and ears alert for any clue which might have been left behind, but she found nothing.

  An hour ter she hurried into camp, panting, and expined what had happened. "But didn't she say they'd forgotten about her?" Chellise asked. All the color had instantly fled her face, and her eyes searched Kira's for any form of reassurance.

  Katari shook her head. "It is likely that most have, but those in the cathedral that are part of this trafficking ring saw a perfect opportunity to make her 'disappear' while all else were preoccupied with the fate of the Archbishop." She looked across at Kira and Chellise. "This ring has been operating for a long time, under the very noses of the authorities of this city. I do not believe we three alone can find or rescue her."

  Kira sprang to her feet in protest. "You don't mean to suggest that we just give up on her!" she excimed.

  "No, I do not suggest that. She is one of my lord's followers, and one for whom he was willing to brave great danger and possibly death. Honor demands that I do no less. What I mean is that we must find aid to have any hope of success."

  Kira sank back down onto her bedroll. "Okay, but who? Who'd help us, two succubi and an oni, find an elf and rescue her from illegal traffickers? Anyone who'd be interested in helping an elf would try to kill us, and anyone who wouldn't would be more likely to cheer the traffickers on than help stop them."

  Katari shifted in her seat and said slowly, "We do know of one party who wishes to find the traffickers and stop them, and who would be willing to rescue an elf."

  "Who- Oh no. They'd kill us as soon as look at us. I mean, the princess only got a quick gnce at the boss and she hunted him across half the city. They'd never believe anything we have to say, and that's assuming they don't attack us on sight."

  "I admit, it is a risk, but we do have that coded message, and I believe I could also find the dead drop based on my lord's descriptions. If I were the one to approach them, they may give me a chance. Oni are less hated among humans than some Dark-races."

  "And if you're wrong? If they won't give you a chance?"

  "Then I expect I will die. But I do not see a better alternative. I will not leave Safara to whatever fate the traffickers have pnned for her without doing my utmost to save her, whatever the danger to myself."

  "I agree," Chellise piped up. "Don't we owe it to Daddy to do whatever it takes to save her? He would, if he were here. And..." she hesitated, then plowed on, "she's a good person, even if she is a Light-race."

  "But..." Kira gnced helplessly between them. "If they kill us there'll be no one to help Safara."

  "That is why I suggest that I go alone. Not only am I the least likely to be attacked on sight, but I would have more trouble blending into human society than either of you, thus my death would least damage our chances if we do end up needing to pursue them alone."

  "Do you want to die?" Kira asked suddenly, staring at Katari with an unidentifiable mix of emotions in her eyes.

  The small oni opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. "I would rather die than fail my lord, but I would like to live if I can do so with honor," she finally said, in a soft voice.

  Kira looked at her steadily for several long seconds, then nodded. "Okay. I guess we do things your way then. But come back alive, you hear?" she added severely.

  "I will do my best," Katari promised, smiling ever so slightly. "Now, there is no time to lose. This is how I believe we should approach the princess..."

  And putting their heads together, the three began debating the methods most likely to see their new endeavor to success.

  TheBestofSome