Gedra

It was a lucky thing that Gedra remembered the wording to the spell she kept by her bedside, to open a doorway to her room in Ayave's apartments and escape with Anedi. Lucky, and close. She'd nearly doomed them both stumbling for her words in the heat of the moment. In the end, she dropped two of the four swords so she could carry the injured man, but she'd gotten away.

Unfortunately, the invading forces were already searching the house when she arrived. The soldiers were startled to say the least when the pair appeared out of the gateway she openned behind them, but they recovered quickly, and Gedra barely had time to block their first attacks. There was no time to be delicate. She dropped the wounded man and pressed her attack.

She'd trained with swords for hours each day since she was very young. She was better than either of these soldiers. She was also fresh from a heated battle, and tired, not to mention it was two against one. At least neither of them was spellforged as she was. For a time they seemed evenly matched.

She circled around them as she fought, trying to get them one at a time, and when she finally did, she took full advantage, blocking an overhead strike with one sword and impaling her opponent with the other. She told herself it was necessary to survive, and it was, but the sight still made her sick.

Without her partner, the other soldier did not last long. When it was done, Gedra sheathed her swords and went to Anedi's side. The man had worked his way to his knees and was slowly getting to his feet. It was good to see he could still walk, despite what must have been blinding pain. His wound looked exactly like you would expect the wound from a giant flaming greatsword to look, terrible. His shoulder was a mound of ruined, burned flesh, and Gedra doubted he would use the arm again without spell forging.

“There is a secret store of books not far from here. Most are on geology. Could be useful.” His voice was strained with pain. “They could be useful. Come with me, before more soldiers come.”

She did as he said. Once back on his feet, Anedi moved more quickly than she would have thought. His arm was useless now, but his legs worked fine. They left through a back window in Gedra's room, walking as quickly as they could. Anedi needed a boost getting through the window, but after that they moved quickly.

It wasn't far at all. Anedi led them down a back alley to what looked like a large waste bin behind a local bakery. Inside it was clean, and lined with shelves, all full of books. It was just as the wounded man said, many books of geology, but others as well. Books on physics, fantasy adventures. Gedra stood in awe, marveling at the thought of all the good that could be done with a collection like this.

Gedra had left the books she'd taken from Madge's room safe in a tucked away corner of the sewers. With both of these collections, and people to read them, they could make Spellforged equipment for everyone, they could shake the very earth, and bury commander Adrius in the fury heart of a volcano, or cause they very earth to swallow him whole. Avenge Masona, and all the others.

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Anedi rifled through the collected volumes with his good hand and picked up an adventure novel that he recalled had the most useful passage for carrying things. He read aloud, 'the sorcerer had in his pocket a pocket dimension, 1,500 square feet, and could easily take out or put in even large objects. The way the spell worked, none but they could take anything out of this pocket.'

He began once done to quickly pick up books and shove them into his pocket. Gedra shot him a dirty look and muttered what sounded like a disgruntled 'Of course,' under his breath. Anedi could not help a small, mischievous smile.

Now they were better armed, but that would mean nothing if they or the others were captured. There was another similar stash hidden in the sewers, and they had to get it before it or they were found by those soldiers. They would need to be careful. The whole city would be crawling with patrols searching for them. It was slow going through progressively seedier avenues and streets.

They found the entrance to the sewer closest to where they were going in no time at all. Gedra closed one pair of eyes, opened the other, and darkness was clear as day. Anedi used one of his books to create pockets of molten metal in the walls in front of and around them, to glow and light his way.

They moved as quietly as they could, and as a consequence, very slowly. This suited Anedi fine but it made Gedra anxious. She stopped dead and stood stone still when she thought she heard footsteps just a few moments after Anedi said they were getting close. Both of them froze in their tracks as they saw a faint light in the darkness moving toward them from deeper inside.

Gedra followed Anedi and He lead them to a place where there was a false wall with books hidden inside. There were books on many subjects, but bestiaries and taxidermy manuals predominated. They were preparing to depart when the sound of footsteps in the dark distance froze the blood in their veins.

Anedi gripped his book a little tighter, and Gedra rested a hand on each sword. Anedi read a passage referring to the melting temperature for iron and drew an imaginary line with his finger, which his spell followed. Sometimes something as simple as intention, concentration, and motion can completely change a spell. A skilled writer or reader can use to great effect, and Anedi was certainly that.

As the other group and their light grew closer, Gedra was so taken by what she saw she gave a celebratory shout. It was not enemies, but friends. Not soldiers but Daedalus, Gerald, Zahria, Rinoa, and the creatures. They were nearly regrouped, and Gedra was sure they would all be together again soon.

It was this thought that cheered them. Even so, they could not just wait to be found in the meantime. Anedi reached into his pocket and pulled out a book titled 'Predators of western Aldreth', and read from a paragraph extolling the hearing of a particular type of wildcat.

'Their hearing is truly extraordinary. They can hear even the smallest sounds at a great distance, helping them avoid predators and locate prey.' It was a short, highly effective spell. Suddenly she could hear the movement of water through the channel, could hear the rats scurrying about unseen, and could hear the sound of footsteps coming from several directions. The search had already begun.

Anedi turned the page and read again from the book. 'They move silent as shadows in the night, silently stalking their prey.' With the spell amplifying her hearing, Gedra tried to locate where the footsteps were coming from. They had some questions they wanted to ask any of the soldiers they could get their hands on.

Finding a group of them without being spotted or heard was easy. Getting one alone undetected was trickier, but she managed to subdue one from behind with a chokehold and hoised them with two of her arms over a shoulder and carried them back to where Anedi was waiting.

Gedra left the man alive, bound hand and foot, and went to fetch their friends. Anedi and his unfairly large pockets followed. They had questions to ask this one.