Adventure of Rage 2

For the first time, the King opens his halls to a feast. Silver platters sag beneath spiced ham, while mead runs freely and courtiers gorge themselves.

Rage reaches for a heavy cup and the largest slice of ham when the music falters. At the far doors, several figures in plain dark clothes move together.

Their leader is a broad-shouldered middle-aged woman with a scarred cheek, iron-gray hair, and a patched brown cloak. She signals sharply toward Scarlett.

Two abductors seize Scarlett and pull her from the royal table. Napkins, goblets, and a silver platter tumble as guests recoil, more offended by the disruption than alarmed.

The scarred woman drags Scarlett through a side archway toward the servants' passages. Rage still stands beside the feast, mead in hand, with the ham untouched before her.

Rage launches through the side archway, boots striking the servants’ stones hard enough to scatter rushes and startle kitchen boys, young boys in flour-dusted brown aprons with flushed faces from their work.

The passage twists behind the feast hall, thick with steam, onion smoke, and the fading thunder of startled courtiers. Rage’s long stride devours it.

Rage bursts through a hanging curtain and reaches the abductors at the bend. Scarlett is still in their grasp, but the distance between them is gone.

The scarred woman wheels beneath a dripping torch, iron-gray hair stark against her patched cloak. Her hard gaze fixes on Rage as the abductors halt around Scarlett.

Rage’s blade lands with decisive force. The scarred woman collapses against the passage stones, critically wounded and bleeding, her patched cloak spread beneath her.

The feast abductors recoil around Scarlett, their formation breaking. One stares at their fallen leader while another tightens a grip on the girl’s arm.

Her warning lacks its former command. Steam rolls through the torchlight, and the servants’ passage offers the feast abductors two directions: deeper below, or back toward the feast.

Rage wrenches Scarlett backward with brutal strength. The abductor’s fingers slip from her arm, and he crashes unconscious onto the rush-strewn stones.

Scarlett stumbles behind Rage, clutching her sleeve. Around them, the remaining abductors hesitate, their leader fallen and their escape suddenly uncertain.

One abductor retreats toward the dark stairwell, while another keeps watch over the wounded scarred woman. Torchlight shivers across steel, blood, and terrified faces.

Escape the feast abductors