Rove

Clasp's Spring, The Grey Crown, The Grasping Isle

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“Run.” That one word was enough for him to know what was going on. Adrenaline began rushing through his veins, prompting his legs to take action. The question of how they were found could wait, escape was their only concern now. And for once, he had as much personal stake in this as his client. As the three of them ran further into cover, the voices behind them began to shout at them. Rove’s mind didn’t pay attention to what they were saying. It didn’t matter to him. Only one thought echoed in his mind. Escape. They all had to escape. His boots thumped heavily onto the leaf-littered rock. The sound of his heart beating rang deafening in his ears. Branches snapped from the trees as they hurriedly made their way deeper into the forest. Before long, commands were shouted through the evening air, the voices distancing themselves from one another. Fuck, they were splitting up. This pathetic little patch of forest wouldn’t be able to keep them hidden for long. By the blazes, within ten minutes, they probably would’ve combed the entire thing.

Within two minutes of running, they hit the other side of the forest, putting them face to face with a cliff face. In front of him, Ayuen's pace slowed down as the woman frantically looked left and right, muttering the word “Hide” over and over. Rove’s pace didn’t slow, however, tapping her on the shoulder as he ran past. Standing still here wouldn’t magically get them a hiding place. They had to buy some time, so they could maybe escape in the coming darkness. Without looking back, he ran parallel to the mountainside, veering off slightly before coming to a halt and raising his fist. Thirty meters to his left, a soldier approached, lit up by a small yet bright oil lamp in one hand, a shortsword in the other. They had to be quiet. The two women behind him slid to a halt, but it was too late. The sound of a big branch snapping echoed through the forest like the crack of a whip. Trïeste had messed up, failing to spot a branch in the twilight. Their faces went pale like a sheet. The soldier whipped to them and called out to his allies. Seeing the man rushing them, Rove gritted his teeth. It was now or never. He had the advantage of being able to see his opponent clearly due to the lantern, and he still had a dagger. With one smooth motion, he knocked Ayuen and Trïeste to the ground with his shoulder, hiding behind a tree after. The heavy footfalls of his opponent made it easy to guess their location. Three, two, one, NOW!

The soldier rushed past, missing the dark figure that lurked in the tree’s shadow. The Herhor seized the man’s neck with his left arm, cupping his mouth and plunging the dagger into the man’s armpit with all his might, where his armour was weakest. With a soft snap, the thin bronze chain gave way to his dagger’s sharp point and the weapon found the soft flesh underneath. Without skipping a beat, Rove pulled out the weapon. While the man was still trying to fathom what had just happened, he plunged his dagger into the chin of the man, upwards into his skull. No sound made it out of the soldier’s throat as they died in Rove’s arms. The soldier’s hands went limp, losing grip on the oil lamp. Rove had to let go of the dagger to catch the damn thing, putting it and the soldier’s corpse on the ground gently. Taking the lantern, he hung it to a tree at about the same height as the soldier had held it, so their colleagues would be under the assumption that everything was alright. At least, for a couple of seconds more. Maybe a minute if they were lucky.

He turned around, looking at the two women that stared at him with big doe eyes. With a soft ‘tsk’, he yanked them up on their feet and pushed them forward. This was no bloody time to be sentimental, impressed or a mix of both.

Right at that time, the deep sound of a horn ripped through the nightly silence from further down the mountain. The Arals be damned, they had reinforcements. And they were caught with their backs against a mountainous wall. They had to haul up and hide somewhere. Somewhere where they could turn the advantage of numbers around in their favour. Up ahead, he saw a big pile of rubble, the aftermath of a small avalanche from an age long past, the once big boulders reduced to small rubble by the roots of the trees growing here. Uneven footing might help. Something else caught his attention there too, something on the mountain wall.

“Over there, by that pile.” He whispered, as he reached down and took the soldier’s shortsword. They quickly made their way towards relative safety. It provided some protection, and their attackers, clad in heavier armour, probably would have trouble getting to them as the rocks rolled underneath them. Rove sighed in frustration. This all only bought time and would help against archers. But for the moment, they had nothing else. Ayuen pulled his sleeve at that point. He looked back, seeing her look at the mountain wall. He took a quick look and his eyes grew wide. A bloody cog was engraved in the rock, a perfect replica of the one depicted on Ayuen’s amulet. An engraving of a pair of feet or boots was visible next to it, set in a walking or running motion. Hope flared inside of him as the three of them started to scour the wall for any more clues.

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He tapped on the rock below the cog and opened his mouth to say something when he heard a shout coming from behind him. Shit. They’d found the body. It would only be two minutes at best before enemies would be upon them. His eyes shifted between Trïeste and Ayuen, and he gritted his teeth. The cog had to wait for later. But how would they get a ‘later’? Then something occurred to him. Something that could perhaps get them out of this bloody mess.

“Trïeste. Need more explosions, now.”

“Ehm, I’m-…”

“NOW!” He hissed with all the intimidating presence he could muster. With a soft whimper, the girl started digging in her bag, muttering that they’d better keep their eyes shut. Meanwhile, Ayuen recoiled at the tone of his voice. Rove took a deep breath. Thinking back on all their discussion, one thing was clear: Intimidating his client wasn’t going to solve it.

“Ayuen. I need you to do something for me.” He kept the tone in his voice soft and delicate, a far cry from the voice he used before. Ayuen blinked at him but nodded, although she still looked scared.

“Of course. What do you need?” This had to work. On that night in Herhor’s End, he’d noticed more than his client believed he did. Suffice it to say that he had a good hunch what Ayuen had been hiding underneath her façade.

“I need you to blast those people to oblivion if they come here. That magic that you used with those mercenaries back at the start. The big exploding kind.”

“How do you-…”

“Not important now.” He shook his head and laid a finger on the woman’s lips. They didn’t have time for this. “Can you do it?” He asked, removing the finger again.

“I… I don’t know. This magic… it’s for injuring and killing people… I…” Ayuen averted her eyes from his gaze.

“Ayuen, listen to me. If you do not do this, if you do not use your magic to get out of this bind, you can’t help your people. Our journey will end here. With a whimper. Is that what you want? Sometimes we don’t have a choice, and we must choose between two evils. It’s time to choose between your two evils now. It’s time to go out with a bang.” The effort that it cost to keep his voice level strained him, but somehow, he managed. Must be the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He just hoped his words would get through to Ayuen.

And after a moment, it did. Ayuen’s gaze snapped back to lock with his, and a grim look of determination took hold of her sweet features. Great, they were in business. He turned around, peering into the darkness towards the encroaching lights and shouts.

“Alright then. You two, when I give the signal, blast them with everything you can pull out of those toolkits of yours. Trïeste first so that Ayuen can fire off that big boom of hers. Ready?”

“Ready!” Two voices sounded. He heard a small crackle as a flame sprung to life in Ayuen palm. The voices approached, and Rove could see bronze helms gleaming in the light of their torches.

“Steady…” He mumbled, trying to take everything in and calculate when they should unleash their barrage. One mistake would cost them everything. There! A group of three warriors approached, their race and gender obscured by armour and helmet. Those people had to die for them to survive. Standing between them and freedom.

“FIRE!” He shouted, just as one of the warriors laid eyes upon them. A ball of blue flame flew over his shoulder and crashed into the enemy’s chest, simultaneously igniting them and knocking them off their feet with a loud ‘thump’. Trïeste lit up the fuse of a little burlap ball and threw it as well. She immediately covered her eyes, an example that he and Ayuen were happy to follow. A bang sounded, and a bright light flashed through the forest. Even holding his hands in front of his eyes couldn’t block it out completely. Going by the screams of pain, the enemy had gotten the full brunt of the device. That had to sting. Lowering his hands again, he saw the warrior that Ayuen had ignited laying still on the ground, flames still licking away at his clothes, while his comrades helplessly writhed on the ground, clutching their faces. Excellent, that’s one group down. But as they wanted to move, another group approached, consisting of four more bronze-clad foes. Rove looked back over his shoulder towards Ayuen, and his eyes grew wide. She was mumbling to herself, a ball of icy shards growing bigger and bigger in her hand. That looked painful. This was the first time he’d seen the spell from this angle, and he could feel the artic aura flowing off it in waves. With a final crescendo of words, Ayuen finished her conjuring just as their foes sprinted towards them. She bent back her arms and… hesitated for a moment.

“Ayuen!?” He exclaimed, seeing the enemy get close now. A few moments and they were done for. Finally, his client threw her damned magic with a shout and the area exploded with icy shards. Immediately, it was followed by the sound of bodies getting ripped apart and cold air rushing all around them. But her hesitation had cost them. Even though they weren’t hit directly, the force of the blast threw him back towards the gear-clad wall. Trïeste suffered the same face, being flung like a ragdoll with a yelp. Ayuen’s mouth opened with a scream, but the sound was drowned out by all the mayhem. The three of them got blasted back, Rove bracing himself for impact. Except the impact occurred later than he had expected. And not with a wall. Instead, he collided with a smooth floor while being thrown back much farther than should’ve been possible.

Then, as the sounds of battle died away, Rove heard something else, his eyes still closed from Ayuen’s blast. A soft ticking. Opening his eyes slowly, he found himself in total darkness where there was twilight a moment before. The shouts from soldiers were faint now, Rove barely able to hear men and women screaming in pain and commanders barking orders.

“Oh, you got to be shitting me. What in the blazes is all this?” He mumbled, feeling and testing his body to see if he was injured. Except for a few bruises, he seemed to be fine. Now to see if his client and the girl were alright.

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