Rounding several corners, the group found several dead bodies. All horribly beaten and lacerated. Some with their innards hanging out as the blood pooled underneath them. “Gods,” Silvius said, covering his mouth.

Maeryn took point, stopping to peer around corners and if a sound touched her ears. Jeanne looked around, half expecting a rioter to come out and alert the others to their presence. Reaching the stables, the group found two people standing before the main opening, both of them not dressed as if they worked there.

“Well, that’s not a surprise,” Jeanne said as she spotted the two. “You got this Maer?”

Maeryn had already notched one arrow, the other in her mouth and clamped between her teeth. Without uttering a word Maeryn loosed an arrow and struck the one man in the head. As the other noticed their companion fall, Maeryn landed the second arrow into his torso, killing him instantly.

The group darted across the open way towards the stables, Jeanne pulling on the door and with a wave of her hand, signaled everyone inside. Jeanne looked around before closing the stable doors behind them and turned to the others. “All right, let’s find the horses.”

“They’re not here!” Silvius said as color left his face.

“What?” Jeanne replied, looking around the stables.

“There’s nothing here,” said Gabriel. “Not a horse, donkey, mule, or hinny to this place.”

“Where did they take them?” Hypatia asked.

Maeryn and Gabriel turned to a direction behind the stables, their noses in the air and sniffing slowly. Both flinched back as they caught a scent and turned back to the rest of the group. Jeanne looked at where they were facing and saw blood seeping in through the bottom of the wooden walls from the other side. “Oh no,” Jeanne said as the others recoiled in horror.

“What do we do now?” Hypatia asked.

“Double back to the others, keep our heads down, and take care of anything that gets in our way,” Jeanne replied. “Doc, can you get the pup over here?”

“I can call for Puppý and Bob, but since they’re already summoned it’ll take a while to find me.”

“Can they follow if you’re on the move?”

Leonidas nodded. “It’ll take longer, but they can, yes.”

“Do it, everyone else, get your weapons out, and be ready to use them,” Jeanne said, taking her hammer out and loosening her wrist with a twirl.

Moving swiftly from the stables, the group journeyed through several back alleys before a scream came from an opening into a street. The way illuminated by the sharp flicker of orange, red, and gold. Jeanne peered her head out and saw several men surrounding someone on the ground.

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Jeanne looked up and noticed the building was familiar, as were the building nearby. She tried to think of where she was before. As the person on the ground cried out, Jeanne’s widened and she summon her stone scales over her whole body as she rushed forward. She let out a war cry towards the men, who turned, confused, at the sudden intrusion.

Jeanne sunk the head of her hammer deep into the skull of one man, and as she violently pulled her weapon out of the man’s skull struck another nearby. One man tried to move to Jeanne but was taken down with an arrow to his heart, and the others shrunk as Hypatia played a fearful song with her blades. Jeanne struck them down before the rest caught up with her, and saw Weuve on the ground, bloodied and breathing heavy.

“What happened?” Jeanne said, helping Weuve to her feet.

Standing up, Weuve wobbling with Jeanne having to steady her stance. “They came out of no where. Broke into my house and dragged me out here,” Weuve started tremble and tears ran down her face as she continued to speak. “If you hadn’t been here, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

“Do you have any family you go to before this all blows over,” Gabriel asked.

Weuve shook her head. “No,” she said, “the nearest relative is days away.”

“Then I’d get out of the city and get to them as fast as you can,” Jeanne said.

“It’s the damned flagellants,” Weuve said. “They took my boy and now they want the city to burn.”

“Worry about surviving the night,” Jeanne said. “Retribution can come later.”

“I want to see that Stefan cur to burn for this!” Weuve hissed.

“That may happen sooner than you’d think if things go well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jeanne,” Silvius said, “I think we should get going.”

“Right,” Jeanne replied. “Just look to yourself, that’s the priority.”

Weuve nodded and made her way to one of the darkened alleyways and disappeared into the night. Jeanne turned to the others. “The madness keeps piling up.”

They made into the alleyway they came from as Silvius said, “You don’t think that was divulging too much information?”

“She didn’t say specifics on what we’re doing,” said Leonidas.

“And I made sure not to tell her specifics.”

“Still,” said Maeryn, “I don’t think we should have said anything to her.”

As the group turned a corner Hypatia said, “Wasn’t as if she was given a lot of details.”

“If we’re lucky we’ll be out of here before anyone can put it together.”

Arriving to the inn, the group found the rest and Stefan waiting for them near the entrance. Cid spotted them first and waved them over. “Where are the horses?” he asked.

“Dead,” Jeanne said, shaking her head.

“What!” Kveldulf exclaimed.

“And the rioters seem to be burning half the city down,” said Maeryn sniffing the air.

“All right,” Cid said. “We need to move, we’ll probably need to use the sewers to leave this place without being seen.”

“Gods,” said Silvius, “I wish there was a sally port nearby.”

“Wait a minute,” Hypatia said, pulling a folded parchment from a pocket. “I think there might be one not too far from here.”

“What do you have?” Cid asked.

“I remember going through the maps of the city when we first arrived here and found a few points of exit in case something like this happened,” she said examining a map.

“Good thinking,” said Benkin.

“And I think there is a yes, yes! Here we are,” she said pointing to one section of the map, “this, I believe is a sally port right here.”

“How far is it?” Gabriel asked.

“Two, three miles at most.”

“Good, let’s grab Stefan and move out.”

“I’ve got it,” said Jeanne, moving to grab the Kolville.

Cid grabbed her shoulder as she moved. “Jeanne?”

“I’ve got it,” she said to him calmly.

As she came out, Stefan was in front of her. His hands were bound by a rope, and she had her hand on his shoulder. “We’re good to go,” she said to Cid.

“Then let’s move out,” Cid said to the rest of The Wolves. “I want to out of this place as soon as we can.”

And as swiftly they moved into the first darkened alley and into the night.