They were running again. Arthur had done more running during his time in Finepoint than he'd ever done in the numerous wars he'd fought in. Arthur was suddenly glad he'd left his armour at the inn; it made running somewhat easier. As they set off toward the river, the fire was still slowly creeping behind Els and Arthur.

"Why are you taking us to the river," shouted Arthur to Els.

"We have to put out that fire," she shouted back.

She vaulted over a small fence with the grace of an acrobat while Arthur ran through the open gate next to it.

Showing off at a time like this she must be insane thought Arthur.

He had no idea what she was planning to do to combat the rapidly approaching flames, then he saw what she was running towards. Finepoint had been built on top of a large sloping hill and they had dammed all the rivers flowing through the hills to provide clean water to the city. Els was running directly toward one such dam. Arthur couldn't quite believe she meant to destroy the dam to put out the flames, she'd been so against using fire in the first place in case they burned down the city. Els led him up a twisting stone staircase to the top of the dam.

"We need to collapse this dam," said Els staring at a wheel-powered crane which stood alongside the dam.

"How are we going to do that?", his voice was thick with disbelief, setting a fire was easy but collapsing a massive structure was no small feat.

"This dam was under construction before the city fell, so there will be some blasting powder they used to dig the canals."

Blasting powder? What were they doing with blasting powder at a dam?

Els had run off to look through the work sheds which dotted the dam, "What is it in" shouted Arthur as he joined her frantic search.

"It comes in small barrels," she replied, "We only need one for my plan."

Arthur thought he misheard her. One barrel! The dam they stood on was an impressive feat of engineering, it was constructed out of large stone blocks and concrete, and though parts of it remained under construction the main body was finished and seemed implacable as a mountain.

Arthur peered over the edge of the dam; the drop felt enormous to Arthur, but he knew they were only thirty feet above the fire below. There was no wood for the fire to burn so it had not been able to climb the dam with them, but Arthur saw that the burning possessed had begun to climb the stairs which led to the top of the dam. Arthur ran to the top of the stairs. The fire had made the possessed slower than they were before, it gave Arthur time to prepare. He found a bucket and filled it with water, Arthur also gathered a collection of small bricks and other projectiles. With his left arm still injured his sword would be useless here. The first possessed rounded the corner on the staircase, the fire had burned away most of the flesh on its face exposing parts of the man's skull beneath. Arthur launched a brick at the possessed, it slammed into his chest sending him plummeting into the river below. More possessed followed behind him.

"I've got it!" Shouted Els from above him. Arthur threw the rest of his bricks at the possessed and kicked the bucket down the stairs.

After scrambling back up to the top of the dam Arthur asked "What do we do with it?"

"We place it at the dam's weakest point igniting it then run," she explained lifting the barrel in two hands.

She's gone mad thought Arthur as he chased after her.

She led him to a gap in the dams where construction work was still occurring, she pulled the stopper out of the barrel and poured some dark black powder into her hands. A line of the powder formed a trail following Els out of the room as she walked backwards toward the street off to the side of the dam.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Give me your tinderbox."

Arthur tried to find the voice of reason inside him which refused to give her the tool, but a more primitive part of him wanted to watch the dam explode. Els flicked the flint and steel onto the powder causing it to catch light. The small flame shot down the black powder line into the work alcove.

BOOM.

The ground shook as the alcove shot out a thick grey smoke. Arthur covered his ears momentarily stunned by the explosion, when he looked up the dam shook again as the shaking from the blast collapsed some temporary supports that held the dam in place. The bottom level cracked and gave way sliding the entire dam down onto the small river below. The falling dam pulled the upper banks, where Arthur and Els stood, down with it.

Els pulled Arthur to his feet "RUN," she shouted taking off down an alleyway which led back into the city.

Arthur's feet pounded on the stone street as he raced to keep ahead of the sinking ground that chased him. As the sinking slowed so did Arthur, coming to a stop in a narrow street.

"That should stop the fire," said Els from behind him as she brushed the dust off of her clothes.

"You are mad, setting a small fire is too much for you but bringing down a dam, Dove above! you could have killed us both."

"We survived didn't we, and now the fires have been put out," she gave Arthur a patronizing look.

"How did that fire follow us" she quickly added before Arthur could say anything.

"The witch," replied Arthur pouring his frustration into those two words.

"Yes, but how did she do it? Was it magic?" More questions thought Arthur, he had many questions himself. How did Els know about the blasting powder? Why did the witch want him dead so badly? And why was she trying to find Pyp?

None of the questions had answers so they were of no value to Arthur. He was more concerned with what happened in front of him, not what could be happening leagues away. Els continued her pondering as Arthur checked his arm, it was sore from the running, but he had not torn any of the stitches.

"How can we be sure the fire was chasing us; the wind may have just been against us," said Els.

"Believe what you want, but there's a witch out there and she has power, powers that I've only heard of in the great epics" growled Arthur losing his patience. "Everything that's happened to the city is her doing, I don't care why she has done it, I don't care what her plans are, all I want is to rescue my charge and get out of this damn city!"

Els cringed away from his raised voice, Arthur realised he had half shouted at her and turned away embarrassed. "So, take me to this dungeon, and we can both get what we want."

They walked through the city in silence; Arthur felt awkward, he hadn't been that frustrated in a long time and to take it out on a young woman and an aristocrat at that! Arthur had never fared well around the nobility. Act a certain way, talk a certain way. It went against everything he'd learned as a soldier; around other soldiers, formalities were never observed. They talked like they were old friends even if they had just met, on a campaign you could die at any moment, so you lived as if each day was your last. So, when they had to march in parades and salute the Princes and the Lords, it chafed Arthur. Men who could never sit with their soldiers and share in their loss after battle, and even worse their wives and children who demand the same respect having never seen the carnage of war. Arthur remembered the end of the Spymaster War two years ago. He'd been sworn to the service of High Prince Szelther, only for the duration of the war of course. A fully armoured man at arms charges a high price for his service. They had all stood in the dominion square and watched as the newly appointed Lord Justice, the king's previous lord of spies, sentenced the High King to die. Arthur recalled the crowds of soldiers were subdued as the headsmen took the King's head, two years of war and they'd only seen a paltry amount of battle and spent most of the war sieging one castle after another, moving on when the High Prince’s bribed them to join the war against the King. It wasn't a real war, just a political game between the High Princes and the Lord of Spies; it further added to Arthur's resentment of the nobility.

Els kept glancing back to Arthur, she was wary of him now and he was not surprised they had not known each other long. She had been overly trusting by Arthur's standard, the noble-born saw things differently; people like Arthur served, she was born into that mindset, and it was likely the reason she sought him out. Arthur had hoped she only wanted protection from the possessed but she tried to get him to go on some fool's quest to the Baron's keep. He needed to look for Pyp, all these distractions meant that Pyp could have been delivered into the witch's clutches hours ago. Arthur would find him and take him to his father in the capital, there was no safety in Finepoint and Arthur would let the High Prince decide where his son was to go.