Jake and Nepthys hurried back up the stairs, Moby hopping along behind them to find the other three in a pitched fight with another two masked classers.
Jake had learned his lesson from the previous two fights about judging the strength of the enemy and swiftly channelled Wyrd to his eyes, revealing that the enemy were both only at the peak of the first tier.
The main issue that his friends were having was that both of the masked fighters used melee weapons, and Karl was trying to keep both of them from closing with Alan or Rhew.
Moby rasped out a quack and took to the air, diving down to distract one of the masked classers and stop them from dodging Alan’s next arrow.
At the same time, Jake and Nepthys focused on the other attacker, working in synchrony to rip through their defence and let Jake slit their throat with a dagger he’d claimed from the previous fight.
Karl and Rhew were quick to take down the second enemy, leaving them to eye Moby suspiciously.
“Is that a duck? What’s it doing here?” Rhew asked suspiciously, her wand not quite lowering.
Nepthys looked a little confused by the question, so Jake stepped in. “That’s Moby; I got him from the duck Dungeon. Not important now, though. We need to get out of here before someone else comes.”
“Agreed,” Rhew said, giving Moby one last look before turning to Nepthys. “Are you alright? Do you need a potion?”
Nepthys shook her head before gesturing to the fallen classers. “Who are these people? The one downstairs didn’t say much.”
“No idea, but the first one we fought must have been at least in the third tier. It took all of us and a good bit of luck to bring him down.” Rhew spread her hands in frustration.
Karl had moved over to the door while they spoke and peered outside. “There’s still a battle out there, but the guards are losing fast. If we’re going, it needs to be now.”
The Wyrd bubble must have failed with the second classer Jake had fought, as he could hear the muted sounds of battle outside. Some even sounded like they were just outside, which wasn’t ideal. They didn’t exactly have many options, though.
“Let’s do it,” Jake said, putting his dagger in his belt and grabbing a sword and shield from one of the fallen classers. “Back over the wall and retrace our steps.”
They took a moment to ready themselves, and Moby waddled over to stand by Jake. Glancing around to ensure no one else was listening, Jake crouched down and looked the creature in the eye. “If you’re coming with us, you need to be silent and do your best to look after Rhew and Alan, okay?”
Moby gave a deep, almost sub-audible quack before moving over to Rhew, who seemed just as impressed by his colourful feathers as Nepthys had been.
Jake would have preferred to simply dismiss Moby, but his instincts told him that if he did, that was the end of this Manifestation. It wasn’t like the Hidden Fang, where he could call it back at will.
The sounds outside were drawing closer by the moment, so Jake wasted no more time and opened the door, moving out with his shield at the ready.
The dim light and tense atmosphere from earlier were long gone as Jake moved out into the night, replaced by flickering lights from several fires and the clamour of battle.
A small group of guards was fighting a trio of masked classers not far from them, but the clash was intense enough that no one noticed as Jake and his companions left the building and moved quickly to the rear wall.
“Up and over, go quickly,” Jake said, interlocking his fingers to form a support and boosting Karl up onto the wall, who then helped get everyone else over.
Moby flew over at the same time as Rhew, and Jake’s eyes narrowed as he noted that the duck’s wings made no sound as they flapped. He distinctly remembered hearing him fly around while fighting that classer just a few minutes ago.
Shaking off the questions bubbling up in his head, Jake grabbed Karl’s hand and swung himself up over the wall, dropping down into a crouch on the far side.
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As soon as Jake landed, they began to hurry across the open expanse between the wall and the woods, walking a fine line between stealth and speed.
Jake felt an itching on the back of his neck the entire time, but thankfully, there was no sign of anyone watching them when he looked back.
Once in the trees, they made their way back to their temporary camp, a tense silence holding among them as they waited for masked attackers to come jumping out of the darkness.
They had set their camp a good distance from the outpost, but even so, it felt like an eternity before Jake saw some familiar landmarks and knew they were close.
Some of the tension left Jake’s posture as their temporary camp came into view. Everything was how they’d left it, but there was no sign of Felix or Ari.
“Okay, let’s take a break,” Jake said as he all but collapsed down next to his pack. “Hopefully, Ari and Felix will be here soon.”
The others followed suit, but Jake saw the worry in their eyes. The presence of unknown but powerful classers had turned this situation completely around. Did their initial plans even matter anymore?
-**-
“Gather your things. We need to go,” Jake said, breaking the silence that had been stretching over them.
It had been almost an hour since they got back to the meeting point, with no sign of either Felix or Ari. Considering what else had gone wrong, Jake wasn’t willing to wait any further.
"Shouldn’t we wait a few more minutes?” Alan asked, glancing in the direction of the outpost.
“No, we’ve waited too long as it is,” Jake said with a shake of his head. This close to the outpost, they ran a real risk of being found by whoever won between the Triarchy and the mysterious attackers. “We need to go.”
Unsurprisingly, none of the others were particularly enthused with the idea, but they understood what Jake was saying and the very real threat of discovery.
Hiking his pack onto his back, Jake turned to see where Moby was before sighing as he saw the duck perched on Nepthys’s shoulder with what Jake could have sworn was a smug expression.
Moby was big for a duck, but he wasn’t especially heavy, and Nepthys was at the peak of the first tier, so a little extra weight wouldn’t bother her.
Smothering his frown, Jake started off in the opposite direction from the outpost. He’d head south for now before cutting to the east, away from anywhere else they’d been.
Jake wasn’t quite sure what to do from there, but it was better than sitting still and waiting to be found.
-**-
“Jake, wake up,” Alan whispered, shaking Jake awake and putting a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. “I hear something coming this way.”
Alan’s words hit Jake like a bucket of ice water, and he sat up as Alan removed his hand. Taking a breath to centre himself, Jake replied in a matching whisper. “Where?”
“From the north,” Alan murmured grimly. “I’ll wake the others.”
Jake nodded and carefully grabbed his sword before moving to the edge of their camp and peering out into the woods.
They’d kept moving for almost the entire night before finding a suitable camping spot in a large ditch that would conceal them from casual observation. If someone was walking this way, though, then all bets were off.
Thankfully, Alan had been on watch, and they had some notice to get ready.
After a few moments, Jake caught sight of the approaching people that Alan had spotted and sighed in relief, his shoulders slumping as he sagged momentarily down to the ground.
Turning back to the others, Jake motioned for them to relax with a growing smile despite how tired he was. “It’s Felix and Ari.”
Chuckling at the relief on their faces, Jake pushed up from the ditch and raised a hand to catch the attention of the other two. They hadn’t quite been heading for them, but they were close enough to spot Jake.
Jake’s smile faded as Felix and Ari came closer, and he could see them more clearly. Both of the other classers looked exhausted, and Ari’s clothes were in a bad way.
Jake could see fresh, pinkish skin under the holes in Ari’s tunic, a clear giveaway of recent healing.
“Jake, good to see you’re in one piece. Is everyone else with you?” Felix called out as they approached. While not as bad as Ari, Felix looked somewhat ragged as well, which was a frightening prospect.
“They are. We got Nepthys out as well,” Jake said with a motion down into the ditch.
“Good, that makes all of this worthwhile,” Felix said, nodding a greeting to the others before easing himself down to sit on the lip of the ditch. “Smart move on setting off, whichever one of you decided it was time. The whole area will be buzzing with Triarchy patrols in no time at all.”
“It was Jake’s idea,” Karl said, giving Jake an encouraging look.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Jake said, shifting uncomfortably at the praise. “More importantly, though, who were those masked classers?”
Felix’s expression tightened, and he shared a look with Ari before shaking his head. “We don’t know. Neither of us has met someone with one of those masks before. Their Abilities varied but seemed focused around those an assassin would prize.”
“Were they there for me?” Nepthys asked hesitantly, but Felix could only shake his head.
“We don’t know, but there was nothing else of note at the outpost that I’m aware of. Either they were coming for you, or we were incredibly unlucky with our timing.”
“Could it be linked?” Alan muttered with a frown before looking up at them with a concerned expression. “We never knew why Nepthys was there, could it be linked somehow to these masked classers?”
“That is something Ari and I have considered,” Felix said with a slight nod of approval to Alan. “We need more information before we act any further. That much is clear.”
“Alright, so what do we do now?” Jake asked, thinking back to their original plans.
“We head east, away from Casthorpe and away from anywhere you’ve been spotted. I know a place where we can lay low for a time while we see what the response is to all this.” Felix paused for a moment before looking between Alan, Rhew and Karl. “Nepthys is safe. If the three of you want to leave, now is the time.”