We made for the city, a little fear and necessity lending our legs speed and helping us with our fatigue. Elwin looked the worse for wear, no doubt by having a lower Constitution than Kidu and I, but he continued gamely on, matching his pace to ours. In time, we arrived on the poorly-maintained ‘road’ that led back into the city, inserting ourselves between the carts laden with lumber and other goods from the Sainba Forest.
Under Elwin’s skillful direction, we nonchalantly positioned ourselves just behind a group of rugged-looking hunters, their cart laden with pelts and a large carcass of some sort of exotic beast. They looked quizzically at us, before pointedly ignoring us. To a casual observer, we might have looked like we were part of the same group. Our eclectic mix of arms and armor, and Kidu’s large bow, would give credit to that facade.
The group in front of us, in due time, reached the guards checking the incoming traffic. With a motion born of rote, one of the hunters with a lazy eye flashed a gruff guard a bronze badge that glinted for a moment as it caught the light of the afternoon sun. An Adventurer’s Guild badge, I noticed, and I thought things might be finally going our way. It was good to see that the badge had some weight behind it.
“Alright, lads. The recent pickle we were just in may make things a little harder. Just act all calm as if nothing has happened. Don’t need to draw any attention to us. An’ let me do all the talking,” Elwin huffed as we made our way to the post.
In the manner of the group before us, the Rogue simply flashed his badge and waved for us to move on. However, my optimism soon faded when a guard gave me a menacing look, and barred my way with the haft of a polearm.
I could hear Kidu’s menacing growl behind me to my left and, before he could react in his predictably-violent manner, I fished my badge from my pouch, mentally urging Kidu to do the same. Doing my best impression of a placating smile, I was met with a sullen glare as the guards waved us both through.
“What was that!? I told you not to draw attention to us,” Elwin hissed, as we moved out of earshot and made our way down the main thoroughfare. So surprised was I at his outburst, I barely dodged an incoming cart, the owner of which was cursing me for a fool as he continued on his way.
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Not wanting to create a scene, I simply held up my hands in surrender, looking around warily to see if anyone was looking at us.
“Keep on walking. Not now,” I hissed back, frustration and fear lacing my voice.
The Rogue promptly fell silent and muttered a small curse under his breath as we veered off the main street. I followed my instincts, but they led me astray, and I soon found myself completely lost in the labyrinthine city of tents. Determined not to appear foolish, I tried to salvage something from the situation.
“With luck, we should be free of any tails by now,” I stated with false confidence.
“Tail?” asked Kidu of me, his eyes furrowed almost comically.
“Yes, people who would have been following us after you lot’s little performance at the gate,” muttered Elwin.
A spike of frustration flared up within me, but I quickly pushed it down. This was not the time to let our group fracture over a small slight at such a delicate juncture.
"Elwin, could you take us to the Alchemist's shop?" I asked the Rogue in my most-neutral voice.
"Sure, just follow me. We sure wasted one of our potions on that lump of lard, didn't we?" he said with a grin, his jibe lacking the sharpness of his earlier words. I smiled in a reconciliatory manner, accepting the olive branch for what it was.
The Rogue led our small group, no doubt using the great ark in the distance as a landmark of sorts, through the busy city. We wove our way through the massive throngs that made up the daytime traffic, and even as worried as I was, I had to stop myself from gawking at some of the fantastical and exotic scenes that I saw.
The most-fascinating of these was a man who walked along the streets, clad in robes of almost pure white, without a speck of dirt, despite the mud and general effluvia in abundance all around us. Around his neck, and draping down his back, a slender winged serpent, painted in the colors of the rainbow, was curled around him like a living piece of art. The man, noticing our gazes, nodded to us pleasantly before feeding his pet a small fruit from his pouch.
Eventually, the smell of the city was pushed aside by something much stronger and more acrid. A familiar purple-colored yurt was before us, a plume of greenish smoke billowing up from the smoke hole at its top. We had returned to Hamsa's Wondrous Apothecary.