"OK, we need to get out of here. Agreed." Kelton said, thinking as quickly as he could. "Go get a cart - probably Sten's, but it doesn't matter from where at this point - and get it out to the edge of the forest. I'll head back towards the inn and try to get our stuff. If that doesn't work, I'll just follow you out there as quickly as I can."

Jeremy nodded, clearly relieved that Kelton wasn't immediately abandoning him, interrogating him as to obvious murders he had just confessed to, or forcing him back to the inn where...well, Jeremy was certain that he could never set foot in that place again. "Let's meet out by the storehouse then," he suggested. "I'll take the cart over there and grab a few barrels of the silver."

Kelton turned his head and looked back at the pan he had over the fire, and saw that the metal had melted completely into a shallow pool. "No need," he replied with a grimace. "It's fake. Lead, maybe - but definitely not silver. Sten was wrong."

At this news, Jeremy lost it again, grabbing the handle of the pan, despite the searing heat burning his fingers, and threw it across the room with a scream of rage. Kelton grabbed the volatile man by the shoulders and forced him to look directly into his face.

"We need to move, now. Hurry, and don't make any stops. I'm not abandoning you for what you did, but if you stop me from getting away, I'll leave you behind." Kelton shook the man one more time and turned him toward the door, while he looked across the room. The hot metal had flown out of the pan during Jeremy's fit, and had lit a huge section of the floor on fire. It wouldn't take long before it spread to the rest of the building. Well, Kelton thought, hopefully the fire will make a decent distraction.

The men split up as suggested, and Kelton made a beeline for the inn. Not eager to find out what he would be faced with at the main entrance, he ran up the back stairs that went straight to the guest rooms. He grabbed his small bag of belongings and stash of cash, and then ran down to the end of the hall, to the room Jeremy had shared with Millie.

Luckily, the din downstairs was so loud that nobody was going to hear him, he assumed, and Kelton kicked the door open; it only took a few tries, as the locks were there for privacy more than security, and weren't very tough. Jeremy didn't own much more than Kelton did - a traveling bag full of clothes and some small supplies (most of which Kelton dumped on to the ground), and a bulging bag of money. Kelton threw his supplies into Jeremy's larger bag so that he could fit everything over his shoulder, and then headed back down the stairs. He would have liked to raid the till down in the main area, or in the back office, but he suspected that somebody probably already had - and even if the crowd wasn't at full riot stage yet, there were still too many people for his comfort.

Kelton weaved his way through the darkened streets and alleys, making only one more stop. Busting the lock and running into the nearest artisan's workshop, Kelton rolled two of the double-barreled caches of powdered lithium onto a small hand cart, and pushed it out, awkwardly transferring the large travel bag to his shoulders. He didn't exactly have an immediate plan for this, but it seemed too useful to let go. Frankly, if he had more time, he would have taken more. Maybe he'd sell it in Mansoora while he figured out his next move. Jeremy had been helpful, but having a deranged murderer as his publicity man seemed like a poor decision at this point.

Kelton knew he'd have time to reflect on that particular revelation soon enough, but it would have to wait until they were out of town. He made his way (reasonably unnoticed) to the edge of the forest, and sure enough Jeremy was there with Sten's cart. They loaded up in quiet, then immediately started driving out of town.

Looking Jeremy over, Kelton fished a set of clothes out of the bag by lantern light and told him "You need to change, now, and ditch the clothes. It's not going to do us any favors to have you covered in blood." Kelton glanced over at the man as the light illuminated him and noticed something - "And unless I miss my guess, there's some blood on you now that wasn't there a few minutes ago, and it doesn't seem to be yours. I'm not going to ask about it, but seriously, stop it. This is going to be hard enough as it is without you going nuts and killing people left and right."

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That was a dangerous thing to say, but Kelton knew he had the upper hand, and could get away from (or kill) Jeremy if the situation became dire enough. Jeremy turned away and changed in silence, and Kelton couldn't tell if he was ashamed or angry, but he didn't particularly care. Jeremy threw his old clothes off the side of the cart, while they continued down the road.

Time passed in awkward silence for a few minutes, until Jeremy quietly said "It was Sten. He came out while I was getting the cart. All I could think of was that if he had just kept his mouth shut...if he hadn't gone around telling everyone you had dug up silver, which wasn't even true, none of this would have happened. I just couldn't stop myself." He took a deep breath as the gravity and reality of the situation fell on him, and Jeremy started trembling uncontrollably.

"Kelton, I can't do this. I can't continue in Lezseka. I've never been anywhere else, but...I've never killed anyone either, and tonight I murdered three people." Kelton didn't answer, and eventually Jeremy let out a small sob. "You've started a path here, a path that could make you rich, even though I've never been sure you actually care about that. At least not the way I do."

Jeremy continued, but refused to make eye contact, staring out the side of the cart into the darkness. "I don't know what you care about, honestly. People? Improving lives? You didn't seem to hesitate to steal from those potters on your way out. And the way you threatened to leave me...what you did to Jasper...You're just, I don't know, Kelton. You're impressive, but you're also terrifying. It's like there is something under your surface that..." his voice dropped off. "I'm rambling. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I need a change of scenery."

Kelton coughed slightly, and stared fiery daggers at Jeremy, his voice raising as he found himself more and more incensed by the entire stupid situation. "You don't think I need one too now? What kind of reputation am I going to have, come tomorrow?" He swung his head in disgust.

"Can't you just picture it, Jeremy? 'Oh yeah, send for Kelton, he'll fix all of your problems and then make you destroy each other out of greed and jealousy.'" He laughed a little, in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Not exactly a glowing review, is it? No, the whole play here hinged on Odellia being successful, and it's all ruined now. We've got a little bit of money, but other than that, we're back at square one."

"I know, I know." Jeremy said. "I want to get on a boat, and just go. Anywhere. You ever been anywhere outside of Lezseka?"

"Once." Kelton replied without details. "OK, I have an idea. We can make this work. Let's head for the docks."

They had to divert, taking a slower path through rougher terrain that was certainly no good for the cart - not that either of the men had much concern about that at this point. They finally reached what was frankly a poor excuse for a cart path, but more-or-less managed to follow the coast, although it was difficult to tell in the dark. Eventually, they were able to see the lights of the dock, and followed them to the entrance, where they were met by the harbormaster.

"What do you want, this time of night?" The harbormaster gruffly asked the two men, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Passage." Kelton simply replied, staring the man directly into the face, until the sea-worn face of the man turned away.

"Uh huh. Sure. Showing up at midnight, not knowing where you want to go - it'll cost you a fair bit extra to get me to forget your faces when someone inevitably shows up. I don't like trouble, and you both reek of it."

Jeremy took a step out of the cart, and his large frame dwarfed the harbormaster intimidatingly. "Good to know. We don't like trouble either."

The man backed up uncomfortably; he was used to being the man in charge, and to following a routine, and this whole situation made him very ill at ease. "All right, all right. Calm yourself, and listen up. There's only one ship leaving that'll take passengers without raising a fuss - the Scalded Sun. It's down over at the nd of the dock. Should leave around first light when the tide goes out, but I'll bet if you talk to the captain you could load up tonight."

Kelton handed the harbormaster a small handful of coins and said "Thank you, good sir. Where, in fact, is the Scalded Sun headed?"

The man looked down at his list to confirm, then said "Kyris. Don't know much about it...it's a small port town over in Juldania."

Kelton cursed to himself quietly. Of course it was. Out of the fire, and into the frying pan.