Cairee whispered back, "Let's move carefully to the left. When we get close to the edge of the cloud I can cast it again, surprising them and giving us more cover. Then we run."
Grunting his agreement, Tymythy followed the others in taking a bundle - at least the presence of his spear made it easy to choose one - and waste no further time in following Cairee and the others away from the wagon and the imprisonment it signified.
As they moved out from under the wagon, Dounia stood upright and cried out in a louder, panicked voice, "The fog! It's poison! I can't breathe!" she coughed and gasped loudly, hoping to scare the crowd a bit further away.
After Dounia yelled the escapees could hear the crowd gasp and move backward and then a scream called out from the back of the wagon, "Poison! Cascha, I'm dying! I'm Dying!" Horith's voice got smaller as he coughed and sputtered and ran to the south.
" You are a fool of the world! Guards, thank the Sun Emperor you've arrived! The voice came from near the horses!" The clanking of armour drew close.
Round 26
The guards were closing in - there was no time to lose.
"Come on." She made sure Zahra, Tymythy and Dounia were following, and crept as close to the border of her spell as she dared - trying to aim a little north from where she could see the guards.
"Ts-im Gni Ruc Sbo" Cairee raised her palms to the heavens and then made fists as she drew her hands down, as if pulling something from the air.
The thinning mist in front of them thickened.
"Run straight ahead until we're out of the cloud. Then follow Zahra."
Round 26
Seeing that there were bundles left, Dounia made a rapid assessment, trying to figure out which one was the little traitor's. Grabbing it, she stayed low and followed Cairee out of the fog.
Round 26:
Zahra kept close to the others. Even though she knew the fog was because of Cairee, Dounia's claim it was poisonous still gave her pause. A part of her felt compelled to believe it and could feel her pulse begin to race. She had to remind herself that they were all breathing the fog and that they were fine but just in case, the sooner they got out of the fog the better.
As they moved, she remembered the mark on Dounia's face. If they got caught with her marked, it would be difficult for them to convince the guards that they weren't the slaves they were looking for.
She became obsessed with wanting Dounia clean and almost without realizing it, she began muttering strangely under her breath and moving her hands in specific patterns albeit somewhat subconsciously.
"Run straight ahead until we're out of the cloud. Then follow Zahra."
Tymythy gestured at the women to lead the way, then followed them closely, squeezing the familiar weight of his spear in one hand.
Cairee came to the edge of the mist and saw, not ten feet away, Cascha hurriedly showing a guard some folded papers. Two other guards were not far behind. Cascha looked and the captor and former captive met eyes. As Cairee drew her fists downward she could see the woman's upper teeth bite down on her lower lip as if about to bake a loud F sound. The guards looked to you. Everything became mist.
As Dounia yelled out 'poison' the back two horses became very silent. Both Cairee and Tymythy thought it unsettling but were too distracted to give it more attention.
Dounia looked over the bundles and one appeared heavy, too heavy to run with. She could hear Cyra's voice in her head, 'Probably the Dwarf's'. The other two seemed sleight and the voice, as if Cyra was over her right shoulder, returned, 'Take them both'
As Dounia made a break for Cairee's direction she noticed the horse on her right shift its' weight. Its' anxiety broke and it swiftly kicked back at the young woman's head. Dounia shifted her weight so that she slid under the harness shaft. An inch behind her and a half a second sooner and Dounia would have been out cold.
Zahra disappeared from all view for a few seconds.
Dounia's head was suddenly grappled by an invisible wet towel as it surrounded her face and skull. It was a bit disorienting and it tugged away abruptly. Though she couldn't see it, her mark was gone ... also, her teeth were brushed and hair coiffed just the way she liked it.
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Balancing the three small bundles, Dounia nearly then dropped them when the horse made a mad kick for her. Ducking gracefully, she got out of range and recovered her balance, when she was suddnely invisibly grappled from behind. Gasping, she could feel a rough creature grapple her head, though she couldn't see anything impeding her view. Biting back a cry, stay quiet!! she shook her head wildly, trying not to drop her bundles. It seemed to work, however, as the creature vanished. As quickly as it started, it was over. And not a hair out of place.
Not remembering the mark on her face, the girl had no idea what had happened. Her heart hammering, she whispered, "Be careful! There's something invisible in the mist! A mist monster!"
The whispered breath that came from her mouth seemed...minty? Had the monster gone in her mouth? "A minty mist monster," she whimpered, tears in her eyes, trying her best to follow Zahra, who had vanished. "Zahra? Did it get you too?"
The hunter flinched as he saw a huge form in the mists move suddenly, wincing as he realized what had happened and how close Dounia had come to getting her final audience with the spirits. A spooked horse was a dangerous beast, but if they were already so nervous - and why wouldn't they be, surrounded as they were from all sides by shouting people they couldn't properly see though the conjured mists...
Last in the line of the escaping prisoners to move away from the wagon, the hunter did his best to estimate when he was out of harm's way before suddenly yelling at the top of his voice.
A quick, sudden burst of voice so close to the nearest horse, he hoped, would spook the poor beast into running, creating more immediate concerns for the guards gathering to the site.
There were types of unsteady animals and Tymythy could tell the difference between a skirmish trained beast and pack animal bread selfishly and for one purpose only. He also knew that it was the lead animals he needed to reach. Trying to spook the other horses in their secondary positions would only give them nowhere to go and force them to kick again.
The lines in the harnesses buckled and the entire wagon started to move, fast.
As Tymythy watched the wagon disappear in thick mist he could see Horith, the male driver, clinging to the back of the cage. The slaver's driver seemed to have overcome his fear of the fog and come looking for his cargo again to find, just in time, the wagon rumbling off!
The driver, unable to let go and being dragged roughly across the dirt street, saw the young warrior. Horith's eyes blazed with fury and pain.
In a flash two guards were beside Cairee. They seemed to appear out of the mist. One grabbed her tightly around the shoulders. The other tried to grapple with the young Dounia, lunged at the much smaller target, but Dounia was much too quick.
She crumpled into a ball and the guard tripped over her and landed on his face in the fog.
There was no sign of Cascha.
Following the others, the mists parted just enough for Tymythy to see a guard seizing Cairee by the shoulders, while his partner's attempt to similarly catch Dounia ended up in an embarrassing failure. He had to admire the guards' dedication to their duty, charging in despite the limited visibility, panicking horses and claims of poison in the air. But they stood in the way of their escape, and there was no way Tymythy would be leaving anyone behind, no matter how recent their meeting.
Closing the distance with a few quick steps, Tymythy shifted his grip on the spear's shaft close to the bottom, to add more momentum to its head as he swung at the guard, the flat of the spear's blade slamming into the top of the guard's head.
Round 27
Dounia had just gotten away from the minty mist monster when the guard tried to grab her, then tripped over her. Not wanting to get grabbed, she tumbled backwards, away from the guard, then sprang to her feet, trying to find Zahra in the fog, so she could follow her.
As the mist thickened in front of her, Cairee got ready to run. The others were close behind. This was going to work!
"Be careful! There's something invisible in the mist! A mist monster!...A minty mist monster..."
Huh? Cairee instinctively turned towards where the voice had come, of course seeing nothing but her own dense cloud. An invisible minty mist monster seemed...unlikely. But Cairee knew nothing of this strange city or what lurked within its walls. Perhaps her own spell had somehow unleashed this pleasant-smelling terror? "Be careful, follow my-OOPHH!"
Round 27
A guard appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Cairee around the shoulders. He smelled of sweat and old onions. Definitely not Dounia's creature.
After weeks being locked in a cage, Cairee doubted she had the strength to fight a guard, or even to wriggle out of his grasp. Instead she turned her eyes to the invisible sky, calling down a burst of power.
A loud THUNK pulled Cairee's attention away from the heavens - Tymythy's spear had just cracked the top of her guard's head. She felt the little jolt of power fizzle away. She held her breath, hoping to feel the guard's grip loosen after such a blow.
Dounia's mention of a mist monster, even if it was minty, caused a shiver of fear to go up Zahra's spine. She inched closer to the girl while keeping Tymythy in view out of the corner of her eye. Her voice betrayed her fear, "Mist monster? I didn't see anything. What if it comes back?" She hadn't realized how unsafe the world truly was. She couldn't wait to get home to her parents.
All thoughts of the elusive mist monster fled from Zahra's mind when Cairee was grabbed by the guard. She gasped and then was frozen by indecision. She couldn't possibly do anything physical to help free the servant of Saiph. She could plead their case to the guards but their heads were already full of Cascha's lies. Would it do any good?
She was just about to say something when Tymythy moved past her to go to Cairee's rescue while Dounia somehow caused the other guard to fall flat on his face. Zahra didn't know much but she was pretty certain that they wouldn't be willing to listen to anything she'd have to say.
Even though she was thankful for the mist, it did make it difficult to see which way to go. She watched her surroundings and looked for the opening they needed to escape. As soon as Cairee was free, Zahra would grab them all and they had to run.
Cairee barely saw it. Out from nowhere a spear swung in a wide arc that finished just an inch over her head. The flat of the spear head caught the city guard directly in the face.
The guard, ringing in his ears, tried hard to hold onto his catch and squeezed tighter. Tymythy could see the guard could barely standing and one more hit would knock him out cold.
That and the sudden appearance of the near spearhead was just too much. Cairee lost focus and couldn't call out to Saiph.
Dounia, having dodged horses and guards and escaped the attack of some invisible thing, was all on edge. She looked for Zahra only to find her by her side.
All could hear the wagon continuing to rumble off in the distance to the north.
The guard tried to drag Cairee out of the mist towards the east.
The other guard, frustrated and embarassed, stood up and went to punch Dounia in the face, but she was much too fast for him and he swung at air.
Dounia could hear soft footsteps coming from the south - maybe more than ten paces off.
Tymythy cursed as he heard the telltale sound of footsteps coming their way - heavy steps, close together, approaching the center of the chaos instead of running away. Thus, guards or soldiers, more likely than not. Meaning they were running out of time. As the guard he had smacked on the head tried valiantly to drag Cairee away into the mists Tymythy whirled around, reversing his grip and thrusting the butt of the spear's haft into the man's temple.
The solid wood thumbed into the man's skull just above one ear, and the man fell down, losing his hold on the female mystic.
"Company," Tymythy said as he moved to help Cairee back on her feet. "We need to move. Now."
Cairee could feel the powerful hands of the guard that grappled her loosen as he fell to the ground and nearly disappeared in the depth of the mist.
The only other guard visible yelled,
As the guard tried to stand and go after Dounia again, Zahra reacted by trying to push him back down having forgotten about the claws at the end of her fingers.
The guard watched the two women but his mind seemed like it was someplace else. He seemed off balance ... no, his foot was feeling around the ground ... he was searching for his spear in the mist.
Dounia looked him in the eyes and made to reach in her bundle for a weapon - then suddenly turned around and ran.
The guard tried to grab her but only touched a bit of her scarf.
Cairee felt the guard's grip loosen as he slid to the ground. Not seconds later Tymythy urged her to move as Dounia ran right past them, Zahra on her heels. Before her mind could command it, Cairee's feet followed. She reached out for Tymythy's arm as she past, praying they could all somehow manage to stay together.
Dounia burst out of the mist. Tendrils of fog followed her as she ran. She could hear Zahra's footsteps just behind her.
Cairee ran out of the mist about ten feet to the left with Tymythy just behind her, his attention was on whatever was still in the fog. Both of the strangers to Zhayalahmar squinted as the powerful sun beat down on them. In Divolgatia, where they were both from, the sun seemed a beautiful yellow-orange but here it was a demanding yellow.
All about them were buildings stacked one upon the other like some hive. The sandstone structures were in turns newly build, freshly repaired, and a thousand years old and there was no sense to which were on top or bottom.
The air was permeated by the smells of sweat, horse, and oil, and the sounds of wheels and machines.
In the distance down the road they could all see where Cascha and one of the guards had finally stopped the wagon. Halfway to the wagon Horith was on all fours in the gutter. He seemed stunned but was fighting to stand up.
With the way north blocked, the only other path to take was the next left about thirty feet ahead. The four looked at each other, nodded and ran for it.
As they got to the corner two guards burst out of the mist. One, the one who dropped his spear, yelled back into the fog.
As you run down this new path you can see, directly west, a construction sight where a complex set of wooden scaffolding is erected. It's swarming with local workers as what appears to be a shift change occurs. Ahead and then to the right is a great factory. Its' loading doors are open and a small wagon filled with metal pipes is being drawn in by a mule and driver. Further down and to the left is a narrow alley.
Tymythy jogged along the four women effortlessly... or he'd like to think so, but in truth, he was still ways from being fully recovered from his recent ordeals, and he had been too weak to try and limber up his muscles during their ride in the cage. Thus, he felt he was running with fumes, even though long marches were something he was, under better circumstances, well suited to.
Every now and then he cast a quick look over a shoulder to gauge the progress of their pursuers. And pursued they were indeed - clearly, the guards in this barbarian town took their job seriously enough. Which was unfortunate - he had half hoped at least a few of them would have taken the opportunity to stay behind to see to their fallen friend.
'Or perhaps that one was just not widely loved,' Tymythy thought.
In any case, they needed to slow down their pursuers some, to widen their lead - no way to lose a pursuer that had one in their sights, after all. But a town this large should provide plenty of opportunities... the hunter scanned their surroundings, not giving himself time to properly appreciate the sight of what to a clansman like him were massively tall buildings on both sides, and up the street as far as the eye could see. His attention focused on a wagon heavily laden with metal pipes. Were the mules drawing the wagon to be spooked, or the bindings fastening the load be loosened, those pipes would create quite an obstacle...
"That way!" he shouted, gesturing with his spear at the wagon and the wide doors leading to the building behind it.
Dounia ran.
She ran as though her life depended on it, which of course, it did. At least, her freedom did. And if there was one thing Dounia could do, it was run. She was small, she was skinny, she wasn't very strong, but she was fast. Cyra and she had run in the desert, for practice and for fun, and this city, while more crowded, at least had firmer footing than loose desert sand.
She was unarmed, and though she'd never raised her dagger against another person, she suddenly wanted it in her hand. Fumbling to pull it from her bundle as she ran, she nearly dropped the lot. Her shayla flopped down off her head as she ran; it was interfering with her vision. Skidding to a stop at the the construction scene, she tore the veil from her head and hastily wrapped it around the three bundles, turning them into one. Dagger now in hand, she was only too happy to follow Tymythy's direction, and ran for the factory.
Seeing the potential for chaos that the wagon of pipes presented Rule #3, distraction!, Dounia fumbled to pull her dagger out of her bundle as she ran. Glancing quickly at the straps, she saw which one she needed to cut for maximum damage. Waiting until the other three were past the end of the cart, the girl sliced through the woven rope, which began to unravel. She then stepped forward and whacked the donkey's flank as hard as she could, screaming as she did so, hoping it would kick and run.
Pipes spilled out on the ground and the frightened mule bolted into the factory loading doors. The driver rushed after the beast and several workers rushed from what they were doing to calm it before it went into someplace dangerous.
The factory looked like a repurposed building, like it was once a grand cathedral. All of the windows were twenty feet or more up the walls and were filled with ancient coloured glass.
Now there were wood and steel cogs and pipes that were laced with gantries and catwalks. Everything kachunked with a broken rhythm. In the middle of the room were two great wheels that reached thirty feet in the air, their bottoms disappeared somewhere underground. They must have been fifty feet in diameter. There was no sign of what they actually did.
There was no way past but through.
Zahra had never been one for thinking and she'd definitely never had to flee for her life before. Even though she was the one familiar with the city, she just followed Dounia like a startled rabbit.
Tymythy danced past the tumbling pipes, caught one shorter length of iron with the tip of his boot and flicked it into the air, catching it in his free hand. The young hunter scanned the bizarre sights around them as they ran, realizing he had absolutely no idea what arcane purpose all these things served - the way the gears and wheels and pulleys moved, groaning, creaking, he half felt like he had stepped into the bowels of some mad warlock's nightmare.
But he didn't need to understand the purpose of these things realize things were in delicate balance... balance that might be disrupted by a well placed cog in the arcane sculpture of moving wood and iron. Like, say, a handy length of iron he had picked up to bar a door they might pass through, but now he wondered...
Acting on instinct alone, Tymythy thrust the pipe in his hand at a small wooden wheel that moved a flat leather belt, the other end of which disappeared somewhere in the shadows above them. The wheel seemed to have clever little flanges that kept the belt from slipping, but if one were to trap the pipe between the wheel and the belt, then give it a quick kick as one passed, as the wheel's own rotation stretched the leather belt...
Cairee rushed through the machine works coming close to dangerous wheels and pump shafts. She leapt through them without confidence nor error. Behind her Zahra followed suit and her panic gave her movements power. Dounia matched Zahra's steps but with determination and some calm. Tymythy? Tymythy moved with excellent grace, pipe in hand, through the machines. He didn't require understanding to avoid the danger and everything was reduced to a simple series of movements.
They could all see Cascha and the guards reach the entryway. Two guards started hurriedly moving pipe. Cascha and the others decided to take the long way around the building, meaning they would be even further behind.
It was hard for the escapees to avoid a little smile. Even Zahra's panic was a little relieved ... until they saw Tymythy stop in the middle of the works. He was looking at the machinery thoughtfully, like a cat about to knock a glass bottle off a table top, then he stuck the pipe in the works.
The pipe was caught up in the drive belt instantly and torn from Tymythy's hand. The steel pipe crimped as it hit the drive belt idler pulley and began to fold but didn't get far before the leather belt split.
A woman nearby yelled in a panick,
The belt flew through the machine like a wild snake. Part of it got stuck in the cog and the other end cracked like a whip against a gantry. The pipe fell into a larger cog, crimped again in the opposite direction, then snapped in two. One half fell into unseen machinery under the factory floor ... and started doing something.
The other half shot into the air spinning at incredible speed. It flew across the factory floor and embedded itself in the sandstone wall only barely missing three workers.
A whiff of something retched snuck in over the smell of oil and sweat but by the time the four runaways reached the other side of the factory it was gone.
As they exited the other side of the factory works Tymythy looked down at a floor grate as thick brown liquid seeped up. The smell came instantly back but was worse by a factor of five.
Many workers rushed at repairs. Others tried to turn off machinery.
As the four rushed away a burly man in his forties burst out of the back of the factory. He had a scimitar in his hand and wore a banded leather cuirass. A beat went by and six factory workers burst out after him. Some had crowbars in their hands. Some hammers or pieces of wood. The burly man pointed his scimitar at Tymythy and yelled.
The back alley behind the factory, which appeared to actually have been some kind of sewage works, broke into two paths: the first went down a set of steps into some sort of warehouse basement, even from here the basement appeared labyrinthian; the second went up a staircase to a doorway but beside the doorway was a series of ledges and balconies that would give anyone access to the rooftop of a local series of two story buildings.
It was hard for the escapees to avoid a little smile. Even Zahra's panic was a little relieved ... until they saw Tymythy stop in the middle of the works. He was looking at the machinery thoughtfully, like a cat about to knock a glass bottle off a table top, then he stuck the pipe in the works.
Cairee watched Tymythy jam the pipe into the gear as if in slow motion, her mind screaming NNNOOOOOOOO! No good can come of this.
She hated being right.
The smell was disgusting, and this was coming from a woman who'd been sitting in her own filthy clothing in the corner of a cage for weeks upon weeks.
She didn't know what the angry man with the scimitar screamed, but she could guess.
The back alley behind the factory, which appeared to actually have been some kind of sewage works, broke into two paths: the first went down a set of steps into some sort of warehouse basement, even from here the basement appeared labyrinthian; the second went up a staircase to a doorway but beside the doorway was a series of ledges and balconies that would give anyone access to the rooftop of a local series of two story buildings.
She weighed their options for a moment. After all the time in the cage, she couldn't bring herself to head for the basement. This sun was overbearing but still! Sun! Going underground felt like retreating to the covered cage.
The doorway was probably smartest. But Cascha and the guards might intercept them there.
The ledges and balconies leading to the rooftop were...interesting. Cairee was no climber, though she didn't think it would be a problem for her nimble companions. And there was something about going up that appealed to her heart. Climbing for the sun. To Saiph.
If only she could distract the workers, now also in pursuit.
Cairee looked around the alley. To her side was an old rickety barrel. An idea came to her, and she held the small wing-shaped stone at her throat for a moment, muttering a few words of prayer. Then she touched the barrel.
It glowed with light, as if it had suddenly become a torch. Cairee tipped the barrel on one side and kicked it towards their pursuers.
It was harmless, just a glowing barrel. But they didn't know that. Hopefully it would frighten them, giving them a window to escape.
"Let's go to the roof! We may be able to evade Casha and I don't see these ones following us up there."
As soon as she heard what the woman yelled about excrement soon to be everywhere as the result of Tymythy's actions, Zahra found another gear to run even faster. There was no way that she wanted crap all over her clothes.
Her concern about her clothes quickly evaporated as another group of angry workers joined in the chase. As if they didn't have enough to worry about being chased by the slavers!
If she had been by herself, Zahra would have taken the door because in her mind it was best to get to where the people were, to find a crowd. In her experience, people were usually willing to help her if she asked with a smile. However, she just assumed that Cairee must know something she didn't. After all, she'd never been in a situation like this before and the others seemed to have more experience.
Hoping to turn the factory workers' attention to the slavers rather than them, Zahra cried out in Limaninite,
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Cairee watched Tymythy jam the pipe into the gear as if in slow motion, her mind screaming NNNOOOOOOOO! No good can come of this.
This city was wrong...
It was late in the day. The four left Kibiri in that retched wagon early this morning and they traveled all day. But when they entered the city it was high noon.
Now that they've been in the city for nearly an hour it was still high noon, but the alley offered enough shade to make the barrel glow. It wasn't bright. It looked more like it was contained by some sort of faerie fire.
Cairee tipped it over and kicked it as hard as she could towards the workers. It rolled with fury as it embodied this ghostly light. It rolled with purpose and the employees of the factory looked confused and anxious at the sight of it! Indeed, they looked about to break and turn to run!!! About half-way to the mob the barrel stopped and started rolling back toward the priestess. The ground wasn't level and, in fact, had a slight slope towards her. She and her team had to leap out of its' way!
Zahra had to rush through her words to get them out before leaping herself. Those words had some effect however. The workers looked amongst each other then three ran back towards the factory - presumably to look for this woman in red.
At that the four escapees rushed to the handholds and started to climb to the roof.
If Zahra had had the time to think about her surroundings, she may have noticed that there was something off about her home city. But as it was, thinking wasn't her strong suit and she was a little preoccupied by being chased by some very angry people. Surely they either needed a snack or a nap. In her experience, those two things cured most ills.
She looked upwards with uncertainty. Climbing around like a monkey wasn't really very dignified so it wasn't something she had much experience with. Even now, she could almost feel her mother's disapproval and voice telling her that this was not proper behaviour. But surviving this day took precedence over anything she may be feeling and she was always willing to try most anything once. Swallowing her doubt, she reached up and searched for purchase to pull herself up.