The captain of the Bloodhounds fell to the ground, cursing furiously. Fortunately, the shard had grazed his face, but both agents were unharmed. He could see the naked lunatic was lying, but the code of Bloodhounds said: 'If you want an order, don't stir the water.' So the captain couldn't arrest the pervert before he committed an actual crime.

If the captain had known that the naked lunatic was teaming up with an alchemist, he wouldn't have given a damn about the code. However, the captain preferred to catch villains red-handed, so he waited until there was a commotion outside the hangar. Then he heard a second man scream and ran out to see two men dragging the corpse.

Chasing pervert and his partner in crime, the captain was perplexed. How stupid does a thief have to be to hide in the streetlight? The answer came with the first phial that blinded the novice. The second phial made the captain spit sand as the big fish swam away from under his hands.

Obviously, they had encountered alchemy. The captain had already met alchemists during the war, so he knew immediately who he was dealing with. After the king's ban on alchemy, the real hunt began. Many colleagues caught and hanged at least one alchemist each, for which they immediately received a promotion.

So far, the captain had been unlucky, but that might change today. They were almost upon them, and the captain licked his lips hungrily. A second before the explosion, he heard a question.

"How can you see in the dark?"

And then the stone came.

"If you bring the mechanic back to life, I'll tell you." Cyril said, but the captain didn't hear him. "Are they lost?"

"I think so."

If Cyril liked the light grenade, the explosion that had scared away all the dogs in the area filled him with delight. If a musket ball had left Cyril with a bruise, what could the explosion have done?

Dogs were barking, and lights were flickering in several houses. Still running, Cyril looked back. A cloud of dust hung behind them, and Kalim ran after him, trying to catch the corpse as he ran.

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Cyril was about to praise Kalim when a pop came from a cloud of dust.

"Muskets!" Kalim screamed. "They are shooting!"

The captain of the Bloodhounds rose from the ground and fired at random. The young Bloodhound wanted to follow his example, but again he remembered the code. Shooting at random in the middle of the city was against the rules.

Cyril knew that the muskets could do him no great harm, so he remained calm and dragged the fly-entwined corpse. A second shot rang out, and a bullet whizzed by.

'If the herbalist gets shot, all is lost.'

"We need to get off the main street and hide back into the shadows." He ordered.

Cyril didn't see Kalim nod and finally grab the corpse by the arms. He looked for high fences along the road and looked for places to hide.

Satisfied with his game, he naively assumed that the agents were still in the hangar, so that he could walk down the lighted street in time. Now the price of Cyril's complacency could be the alchemist's life.

'I think I saw some trees behind the shed.'

"We're going into the woods." He said over his shoulder.

"But it's dangerous!" Kalim was immediately startled.

"Don't worry, I'll cover."

He wanted to run to the end of the fence, where he noticed a turn. They were about thirty paces away when another shot rang out from behind. Kalim screamed.

"Cover me here!" Kalim screamed, and let go of the dead body to grab his shoulder.

'We have no time.'

"Get down!" Cyril ordered, and dropped the corpse.

Kalim took out another phial and fell to the ground. He could not understand why they had stopped here, where the lantern was shining. Why stop at all when they're shooting from behind?

Kalim didn't have time to tell Cyril when the naked man ran into a high fence.

The thick planks of the fence could have withstood an axe, and the height of two and a half meters protected the owner of the house from prying eyes. However, Cyril left a hole in the fence and jumped back out to get the body.

Kalim grimaced in pain. If naked Cyril can break down fences as thick as a hand, why should he suffer and hide? After all, he has pride, too.

"I'll show you how to underestimate alchemy, you freaks!" Kalim shouted.

He sprang to his feet, saw the captain of the Bloodhounds' predatory smile in the lamplight, and dropped the phial. The predatory smile disappeared in a cloud of dust, and Kalim barely had time to turn away. Several rocks hit him on the back, but he ignored them.

"Wow." Cyril said, peering out of the hole in the fence. "You're a beast."

Kalim's breathing was ragged and he didn't answer. The wound in his shoulder throbbed, and blood trickled through his fingers.

Cyril picked up the corpse and slung it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

'Or shit.' He thought. 'Stinking, dead shit.'

A young Bloodhound's voice came from somewhere behind them.

"Captain, wake up! What should I do?"

'I need this shit, no matter how it stinks.'

"Come on." Cyril said, and went into the hole he had left.

Kalim was just in time to follow when the Bloodhound rose from the ground, said in a firm voice "in the name of Fate," and fired his musket. The bullet hit the fence.

The courtyard was dark. The light did not penetrate the fence, and the height of the fence blocked the lights. Kalim reached into one of his folds and pulled out a match. He struck a match on a special patch on his sleeve and started a fire.

The sky was beginning to turn gray, and they had to hurry. Kalim realized that if they went through the forest, they would have to make a detour, and it would take longer to get to his house than directly through the city. Cyril knew it, too, so he risked dragging the corpse down the street.

What Cyril didn't understand was why people were dying all around him over and over again.

Lighting his way and clutching the wound on his left shoulder, Kalim caught up with the silent Cyril.