Completed Alpine Getaway

[Nathaira]

Berodo, who had been sitting quite contentedly before, moved to the door with shocking speed. The prospect of freedom was an excellent motivator. “I’m banking on saviors,” he said in a more hurried tone. “It’s a suppression collar, keeps me from using magic. Don’t reckon you’ve the key for this as well? Get it off and I can fight with you.”

Nathaira‘s eyes dilated wide in the growing darkness, and while she could see the metal hulk clearly, her own body was wreathed in blackness. Thankfully the cold had not accompanied it this time. She pushed back the dwarf’s wiry hair and beard to see the collar more closely and found that it had a small keyhole in the back. ”Too ssmall for a knife. Your shadowss are getting their use today,” she hissed to Kasimir. She caught of glint of light from Berodo’s ankle, and pulled up his pantleg to see the metal restraining bracelet. The runes on it were glowing a faint yellow.

She looked back at the approaching golem. It didn’t appear to see them, but it wasn’t slowing down. On the contrary, it appeared to be speeding up. Its eyes, which had been a pleasant blue before, had shifted to match the bracelet. ”Get those things off him, I’ll deal with thiss.”

She fumbled in her pockets for the short metal rod their contact had given them. Would the control rod work on such a thing? The runes were dull and lifeless as she held it in her hand.

“Oohoohoo! Let me see it!” she snapped the device away from Berodo’s grasping hands, and he looked like a child denied a toy.

”How does it work?” She pointed the rod at the encroaching golem, but nothing happened.

The dwarf clicked his tongue. “Well it won’t from that far away.”

“How close?”

The dwarf shrugged.

Nathaira cursed under her breath. The automaton was just a stone’s throw away at this point, and she shook the rod at it. Come on.

 

[Kasimir]

The shadows were indeed getting quite the workout today. Once more, Kasimir took Morph out and held the little shadow up to the strange locks on the dwarfs collar and anklet. The shadow took a few moments to shift and change into the right key but eventually both locks popped open with a smooth scchuck!

Before the chains could drop to the floor and make more of a noise, Kasimir's hand snatched them from the air and set them down carefully on the little rocky slab they had given him for a bed. The Forsaken couldn't help but think that it looked an awful lot like what they were given to sleep in day to day. His lips thinned for a brief moment before turning his attentions back to the task at hand.

"I am going to slip around the back of it, you two try and keep it distracted," he murmured and then vanished into the shadows.

 

[Nathaira]

”What? N-“ Nathaira whispered a protest but Kasimir was gone. She had considered flanking the golem herself, but she had the control rod and had thought maybe she could get near enough to shut it down... or something. She had no idea what Kasimir was planning to do. Could shadows pierce that metal shell?

On to the next task. The situation was what it was, and so that assassin’s mind flipped to the next logical step. It was times like these, with her back against the wall, that Nathaira’s facade dropped. She shielded herself with levity, learned to enjoy the horrors she committed to keep from going (completely) mad, but beneath was the girl who had been beaten and tortured until all that remained was a machine even colder than the bronze guard that stalked them.

Distract the golem. She could do that. ”Keep it busy,” she said to Berodo, and stepped from the shadows.

As expected, the automaton spotted her at once. The cautious yellow eyes switched to alarming red, and it lifted a heavy arm. She could see the crackled of blue lighting arcing between its fingers, but before it could strike a small explosion knocked its hand aside, sending the attack into the floor. Nathaira looked back to see Berodo with his hands out, sparks dripping from his fingertips as a series of flaming runes faded from the air in front of him. “Roger and I got unfinished business, lass!”

The golem steadied itself just in time to be knocked back another step by a subsequent blast, and it bellowed an electric roar of anger.

”Pin it down but don’t destroy it!” she called over the sound. Berodo looked disappointed, and opened his mouth to protest, but Nathaira had vanished from sight.

She moved steadily forwards, drawing on her magical reserves to keep herself hidden from sight. The golem continued to reel against Berodo’s relentless attacks, but thankfully the dwarf kept the blasts just big enough to stun. She skirted the hall to its side and felt its footsteps in her bones as she squinted into the hall behind it. She was searching, scanning for... there.

She flipped the control rod to her right hand, and then tossed it into the darkest part of the shadows behind the titan.

 

[Kasimir]

Nat was getting far too good at piercing the veil between the Shadow world and this one. As she threw the rod into the darkness - a stupid move to anyone who didn't know - Kasimir appeared and caught it in one swift movement. He had moved surprisingly quick to get behind the mental golem, practically at the creatures back. At least Nat now knew how he managed it, or rather, how the shadows allowed him to enhance his speed.

Much like he had planned the golem had been entirely focused on the escapee and intruder in front of it and not what could be coming up from behind - an area it had just scanned and left behind so much, theoretically, be safe. It meant that by the time Nat had thrown the baton it was too late for it to do anything else but turn awkwardly in alarm.

The Forsaken slammed the rod home in the corresponding hole in the back of the creatures note. As soon as it entered the thing powered down. The lights in its eyes went out and its metal jaw opened to reveal the magic scroll which gave it life and purpose. Whilst it was immobilised Kas stepped around and plucked the scroll out of its mouth. Much like he had expected its commands were simple; kill intruders and stop prisoners from escaping. The Teifling smirked to himself and scratched that all out and replaced it with his own commands.

Content with his word he put the scroll back in the creatures mouth and removed the rod.

Slowly it powered back up again; lights once more coming on, limbs clicking and clacking as cogs turned. It took the group in calmly then turned and started its way back down the hall.

"It's orders are to imprison the guards should it come across them and destroy other golems. It should cause enough chaos for us to get out of here."

 

[Nathaira]

The control rod was only in the air for a moment, but Nathaira was certain her heart didn't beat as she watched it spin. She was pretty sure she'd found the darkest shadow, and she was pretty sure that's where Kasimir would be, but if she was wrong she'd just flung their best weapon aside. Her entire body sighed with relief as he appeared and caught it, and the golem shuddered to a stop.

She came back into sight and leaned against the stone wall as Kasimir fiddled with a strange scroll. "How did you know how to do that?" she asked with no effort to hide the admiration in her voice. The feeling had come back to her fingers and toes now, and she took advantage by laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Aye, lovebirds, some o' us have an expiration date approachin'!" The dwarf called, but he didn't really sound upset. On the contrary, he sounded elated, and Nathaira guessed he was quite glad to be able to use his magic again. The smell of cinder that surrounded him made much more sense now... and his giddiness towards destruction painted a better picture of why the dwarves had imprisoned one of their own.

"Do you think we could get him out through the miness?"

 

[Kasimir]

"I read about it, once," Kasimir placed a large hand over her slender one and squeezed gently. There was a lot of time spent simply waiting as an assassin in the shadows. Kas tended to spend most of it listening, watching, but occasionally if there was a book to hand he would also read. He had once been sent to kill an artificer whose walls were stacked with scrolls on all sorts of things - he had just happened to pick one up on the golems. In truth he had found it rather fascinating and in a twisted sense somewhat familiar. A magic bit of writing controlling their actions, turning them into the slave of whomsoever was able to control that.

At least the golem did not feel. At its heart was simply clay.

His eyes flickered to the dwarf when he spoke and for a moment his eyes narrowed. It was a dangerous thing for him to be saying, especially if the Dreadlord who had been at the rooms overheard.

"I believe so," Kasimir said slowly and looked back down at Nat. Reluctantly he released her hand and put his hands back into his trenchcoat. "With the golem causing a distraction we should be able to make our way there in the confusion. This way," he inclined his head and set them back along the hallway.

 

[Nathaira]

Nathaira followed, knowing better than to ask where in the hell Kasimir had managed to read about how to control a dwarven prison golem. True to his word, the golem continued down the hall, its heavy footfalls descending into the cold halls.

Berodo moved with surprising vigor for a being of his stature. Nathaira noticed that while he did not cast as they ran, his fingers continued to twitch, drawing half runes in the air as more sparks fell from them. She knew that the dwarves would not have imprisoned one of their own lightly, and wondered for what purpose they were extricating this man.

Sure enough, there was a low rumbling from far away as the golem undoubtedly encountered another of its kind. The hallway was much longer than she remembered. It must have been Kasimir’s shadow magic shortening the distance before, and she kept her eyes peeled for threats. ”Thiss way,“ she encouraged their passenger, as they neared the door to the elevator.

She had an uneasy feeling in her chest. Surely it could not be this simple.

 

[Kasimir]

As they made their way hurriedly down the corridor, it wasn't just other guards attention that the noise of the two golems attracted. Filthy faces of other prisoners crammed up against the tiny slits of windows or shouting and banging could be heard from behind the thick metal doors. It was like a frenzy fever had gripped all of the inhabitants of the prison. All it needed was for one thing to push it over that fine razor edge and there would be a riot on their hands. The key with this line of work was using distractions, but sometimes the distraction could be too big. One needed to be able to manage them and control them - tailor them to suit your own purpose. A riot would not be conducive to their escape.

They passed another corridor where the guards hadn't left to go and confront the two large stone men who were clobbering one another like their comrades. Instead they were trying to wrestle one of the inmates back into his prison but the burly dwarf was putting up enough of a fight to require four of his fellows to try and hold him back. He was shouting in what Kasimir could only assume was dwarfish and the inmates in the tunnel either side were screaming their own string of goads.

"Come on, I don't like how this is beginning to -" before Kasimir could utter the last word of his sentence the dwarf managed to get himself free with a good smack to one guard which sent him flying into the others. Free, the dwarf leaped to a lever and yanked it down opening every holding cell along the corridor.

 

[Nathaira]

The shouting drew Nathaira's attention, and luckily it held the guards' attention as well. Had they been walking this inmate and he took advantage of the golem's distraction? Or had he somehow been let out of his cell accidentally? She didn't have time to figure it out, and she felt the resounding KRRSHHNNK of the cells unlatching simultaneously in her bones.

There was a moment of absolute silence, a half second stretched into infinity where neither guard nor prisoner nor jailbreaker moved. Then, as if set off by a single footstep, the hall exploded into chaos.

"To the door!" Nathaira grabbed the neck of Berodo's prison garb and roughly pulled him forwards. She did her best to weave in between the swirling bodies but had to shove through more than a few with her shoulder.

"BERODO!!!" Nathaira felt a great tug as a large and wild-haired dwarf grabbed hold of Berodo's wrist. There was fury in his dark eyes. "You'll die toda--" His words slipped into a frenzied shriek as Nathaira spit a thick gob of saliva and venom into his face, and he fell back clutching at his sizzling eyes.

What the hell had Berodo done to make enemies in here?

 

[Kasimir]

For Kasimir it was like wading through a river of bodies, bodies which only came up to his hip. It was a very strange sensation as he pushed his way through the commotion forcing people to have to go around his great bulk or bounce off of it when they tried. For the most part though the dwarves even in their frenzy to take advantage of their chance to escape tried to give the devil that walked among them a wide berth. He heard a few of them mutter under their breaths and make various signs he thought might be religious in some way.

It was a shame they wouldn't be able to do the church tour on their trip now.

The tide of dwarfs had created a sea between him and Nat who had somehow managed to keep a hold of their dwarf. He pushed on through the bodies to get to her just as she spat in the face of a dwarf. Another lunged for her but Kas' tail snapped out and caught the wretch by the throat, hoisting him off the ground with a dark look. He let out a startled cut of croak and clawed desperately at the red appendage around his throat to no avail. Kasimir's tail grew tighter and tighter until the bones in his neck made an unpleasant snapping noise.

The demon discarded the corpse as soon as his eyes took on the glassy sheen of death as though he were suddenly bored.

"What have you done to these people?" he demanded of the dwarf as he set off again to try and reach the door they had come up through. The escapees had spread to other tunnels and now the guards were battling an increasingly out of hand prisoner jail break.

 

[Nathaira]

Nathaira readied a knife for the lunging dwarf’s throat but found him wrenched away by a red tendril. Her face softened a little bit and she grit her teeth less fiercely for a second. Even those who didn’t need protection enjoyed the sentiment.

“Aye, I may’uh ruffled some rock hoppers!” Berodo answered in a tone that sounded neither concerned nor remorseful, and with a face that indicated he quite enjoyed the chaos. Nathaira’s scowl returned and she tugged harder at the singed man. She had no idea what he meant, but right now she didn’t care. It was odd that she’d even given it a second thought, to be frank. Get in. Do the job. Get out. That was all a Forsaken needed to know.

It turned out that hauling a person was much harder than killing one. Berodo’s stubby legs struggled to keep up to the forsakens’ strides, and his stout frame seemed to catch every stray elbow and knee in their path.

After the slog of a lifetime, Nathaira put her hand on the bronze door to the storeroom. She pushed, but it did not move. She pushed again, and beat on the door. ”It’s stuck!” she called to Kasimir over the din.

“They’ve locked the place down,” Berodo informed them. Sure enough, Nathaira could see that the small light which had been shining above the door before was now black.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir believed her but he had to try anyway. Despite the agitation he could feel welling inside of him he was calm and collected as he slid past both dwarf and his lover to press his hand against the door. Morph, the ever excited shadow, scuttled to the lock and reformed into the key they had used earlier and turned. And turned. There was a frustrated little noise from the shadow before it reappeared in the form of the odd little spider. It gave a few little clacks and hisses that sounded like the essence of nightmares, before flowing back into his skin.

"They've blocked the locks with magic too," there must be spellcasters amongst the inmates. "If there is no door to exit through then we must make one," he said calmly and gazed around the hallway as though it weren't crammed with fighting guards and inmates. Given he was almost double the size of most of them it was easy enough to look over their heads and formulate a plan. The maps he had been studying were fresh in his mind and they overlaid themselves into the corridor he studied. Now they knew what the tunnels were and led to he could understand the other markings which had been odd.

"There is one place they will not be able to lock off," he mused and started off again through the throng of people, heading towards the large shared bathroom.

 

[Nathaira]

Berodo’s eyes got a little too joyous when Kasimir mentioned “making their own exit,” and Nathaira pulled him sharply by the collar after Kasimir. She walked in the tiefling’s wake through the raucous crowd, and although the guards had almost certainly seen them, they were too preoccupied with the riot to notice.

The bathroom remained unlocked. In fact, it didn’t even have a proper doorway. She supposed this was so that the prisoners could be monitored more easily. She could not help but marvel at all of the metal tubes and pipes that ran around the walls giving off a pleasant warmth. There were drains in the sloping, damp floors, and odd spouts near the ceiling. She hadn’t any idea what those were for.

The room was empty, though, and Berodo seemed to have a better idea of what was going on. “Oho, yes. Just say the word and I’ll get us through.” His fingers were twitchy and had begun leaking sparks again.

”Eassy,” Nat hissed at him before turning back to Kasimir. ”Surely we aren’t going to blasst through to the caverns, we’d fall a hundred feet.” She wanted to go to him, to be near him. It was making her normally tactical mind feel fuzzy.

 

[Kasimir]

"That is exactly what I intend for us to do," Kasimir allowed himself a little smile as his eyes roamed around the bathroom. If he remembered correctly, Nat was right, and beneath their feet was a tunnel that led all the way down to the sewer system. If their fiery companion could blast a hole through the right point then they would have their own - albeit disgusting - water flume down to the cave systems beneath where they could make a more elegant escape. His orange eyes landed on what he was searching for finally; a door. In two quick strides he was over by the only stool in the room. His hands grasped the wood and with a grunt he heaved the whole thing off its hinges with a shattering of hinges.

"Blast us a hole right... there," Kasimir motioned to the largest drain in the room. Berodo didn't need to be told twice, and before Nat could stop him he did as he was requested. The tremor rocked through the room and no doubt beyond. It was almost like a quiet fell over the chaos outside before resuming in vigour. Suddenly the sprinklers over head went off and drenched the motley crew below. The blast had created enough of a hole for the three to get down it. Or more importantly, the door he now had in his hands. He set it carefully on the edge and then sat down at the front, legs bracing against the other side of the hole. W

"Sit behind me, keep your arms and legs as close as you can - and hold your nose!" Once they were seated, Kasimir stopped bracing his legs against the hole and let them drop into the darkness below on the makeshift raft.

 

[Nathaira]

The force of the explosion ripped the hood from her head and blew back her thick dreadlocks. Nathaira barely had time to raise her arm to shield her face before the sprinklers started and Kasimir beckoned her forewards. Her ears were ringing, but she moved towards the faint sound of his voice after the dwarf, whose beard looked a little more singed than before.

Nathaira darted forwards and shoved Berodo out of the way. He would sit behind her, but she would be behind Kasimir. If they were to plunge to their deaths, she was going to hold on to the one good thing that happened in this life.

The feeling was awful. Her stomach lifted into her chest as they fell down and down into darkness. She didn’t even notice the smell over her own adrenaline, and she clung to to Kasimir’s jacket for dear life. Eyes screwed shut, teeth grit behind tight lips, she waited for the horrible descent to end in what she assumed would be a crash.

 

[Kasimir]

Whilst Nat might have been feeling fear Kasimir couldn't help but feel anything but exhilaration as they went shooting down the waterfall. His missions were most often about stealth and shadows. Slitting throats in shadowy corridors never called for explosions, chaotic jail breaks or impromptu water slides. Now he had experienced it however he understood a little better about why some of his fellow Forsaken took a certain amount of joy in their work.

The door, now raft, bounced off of different rocks sending them whizzing round in circles before dropping them suddenly. Kas gave a short laugh every time he found his heart in his mouth and he could hear the dwarf give his own hoots and hollars. He could see the lisp of one more fall approaching an shouted back a warning before they went over the edge.

For a moment there was darkness and then suddenly light as they were shot out of the cave system altogether and into the sunlight. Kasimir's eyes widened as the pool of water loomed towards them and then they hit the surface with a sudden splash, disappearing beneath the surface for a second before the door pushed them back up to the surface. They broke the waves and Kas drew in a sudden gasping breath at the shock of cold.

"Paddle to the edge," he nodded to the bank in the distance.

 

[Nathaira]

Each jarring crash against a corner made her hold tighter to Kasimir’s jacket until her knuckles were white. Berodo, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying himself and often kept hold of her with a single hand, and sometimes no hands at all.

There was a flash of light that dazzled her even behind closed lids and a descent longer than any before. She felt herself lift from the doorframe just before they plunged into the icy water, and for a moment she though Kasimir had pulled them back into his shadow world.

She broke the surface with a shuddering gasp, blinking away the light as her pupils shrunk to razor slits. She had had quite enough of the north for today, she decided.

She did her best to paddle to the shore before her muscles started to seize up. It was some mercy that they had landed in direct sunlight, but her jacket now weighed her down more than warmed her.

When they reached the bank she heaved herself onto the dry stones and rolled onto her back. She coughed, and the cough continued into a chuckle, and then morphed into a full laugh. She lay there, feeling heavy as a stone, laughing hard enough that tears made their way down her face.

 

[Kasimir]

The red devil stumbled up to the shore, dragging the spluttering dwarf behind him. The daft thing had reluctantly admitted - or rather anxiously exclaimed as they went down the shoot - that he wasn't the best swimmer. He practically tossed the dwarf up the bank and onto dry land before collapsing next to Nat himself. His chest rose and fell with the large gulps of air he drew into his lung and for a moment he simply shut his eyes and savoured the feeling of being alive.

Forsaken died all the time. They were expendable. Nobody would cry nor miss them when they went, in truth he was surprised they even had names and not just numbers tattooed upon their skin. But Kasimir was beginning to value himself and his life. He wanted to live to walk in the sun with Nat again, out at markets and alone at night. He wanted it all and he challenged the world itself to take it from him.

When he heard Nat's laughter he opened one orange eye to peer at her, his own smile growing from the infectious noise until he too was laughing. He wiped a hand down his face and took another breath.

"This is definitely the oddest mission I have had."

 

[Nathaira]

She tried to stop from laughing, and over time she was able to quiet the hysteria that bubbled through her. All of the adrenaline from almost certain death was still flowing through her, and she felt almost tingly in her fingers and toes. Of course, that could also be from lack of circulation, as the icy water continued to leech at her.

She sat up to the sound of Kasimir's laugh, and she thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. "I think I had one with a goat that was stranger... but thiss is close." Clumsily she tried to get her heavy coat off, but her sluggish fingers kept slipping of the buttons. "Can you help me with thiss?" she huffed to her red companion. The weight of cold almost felt normal now, but she remembered eagerly that this might mean Kasimir would warm her again.

Berodo had rolled over and gotten up, and he held his arms open to the sky in an expression of freedom. "Aye, yer both mad. Mad as ol' Berodo I reckon. I take it my rescue doesn't stop here, eh?"

Nathaira didn't answer Berodo directly, but she hissed quietly to Kasimir, "The portal sstone, we should hurry."

 

[Kasimir]

The echoes of Kasimir's laughter died when Nat asked for help. Once more his face was a picture of worry and concern for her, his mind going back to how she had been after the shadows when she had got too cold. With deft fingers he undid the buttons and eased her out of the sodden garment. He would have offered her his own but it was likewise drenched, though his body temperature was heating it up nicely. Instead after helping her to her feet he tucked her against his side and carried her coat over his bent arm.

He almost looked surprised to even hear Berodo speak as though he had forgotten the dwarf entirely but he quickly recovered, his face taking on that blank and bored expression that was his norm.

"As you wish," he dipped his head at Nat's words, a little smile toying with the corners of his lips, before he started them off in the right direction. He had no doubt that they would be pursued but the riot would keep them busy for now. Perhaps other prisoners would also escape and hold them up even longer. As they walked he couldn't help glancing to their charge and in the end, despite the burning of the rune, he had to ask.

"Why do our masters want you so badly?"

 

[Nathaira]

The cool air could penetrate deeper without the coat, but it also dried her. So wouldn’t die from it, not for a while, but she would remain slowed. She appreciated (to some degree) being chosen for this mission given its difficulty, but why Vel Anir thought a simple coat would be sufficient? Why not a warming enchantment, or perhaps something sturdier from the north? The answer was, obviously, that she was expendable. They probably had discussed at length whether or not she even merited the sad jacket.

Kasimir’s help was welcome, and she kept her feet moving and carried as much of her own weight as she could. She perked up when Kasimir spoke as she was keen to hear Berodo’s answer.

“The same reason Belgrath condemns me, I reckon,” he walked beside them with only a minor reduction in his mad joviality, but he still extended his hand to the sky with his next words, “Because I do not fear progress! Because I can make sacrifices.”

Nathaira knew what that meant coming from men like Berodo. Who had he killed in the name of “progress,” she wondered? It must have been someone very important to get a death sentence, and more important still to merit a jailbreak.

“Do your masters already have the crystal?” he asked abruptly.

“Crystal?” she asked before she could stop herself.

“To power the device. I assume that is why you freed me, for my creation.”

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir gave Nat a sideways glance. He had not heard of any device and he doubted she had too but he wanted to make sure by the expression on her face. When she looked as blank as he he frowned and rubbed the back of his neck over the rune as it heated up. He was so tired of listening to it, of being controlled by it. He wanted to know the answers to these questions and for once he intended on getting them.

"I believe they do have the crystal, though I have to admit I do not quite understand what your machine does," he hoped that the little man was like every great inventor and loved to talk about his masterpiece. Hopefully if it just came up in conversation it wouldn't create too much pain for him but if it did... then he would swallow it to know. Perhaps the information would come in handy one day soon.

 

[Nathaira]

“A great many things!” Kasimir would not be disappointed. “At it’s core it merely harvests the energy within the Crystal and directs it. You could melt stone like butter, or vaporize enemy soldiers in an instant if that’s more your speed.”

Nathaira felt a pit open up in her stomach. Of course it was a weapon, Vel Anir would have no other reason for recruiting a sub-human into their ranks. Berodo spoke of his creation with adoration and didn’t seem to give any thought to whom it may be turned against.

Still the question remained of why he had been imprisoned. ”Does Belgrath not want your weapon?” she asked.

“Belgrath is run by old fools who wouldn’t see greatness beneath their beards!”

It did not answer her question, but she did not press the matter. As they continued to walk she warmed and was able to return to a normal gait under her one stength. She still held on to Kasimir’s arm, feigning a need to do so as an excuse to remain near to him. It was still cold, after all.

There was a short tunnel in the jagged stones ahead, and through it they could see a small opening into the city. They emerged into a small alley.

The chaos of the prison had not gone unnoticed. Guard presence had increased. Nathaira listened, and heard them address the public.

“Keep your eyes open for escaped prisoners. Berodo, murderer of your children, may be at large.”

The words honestly didn’t phase Nathaira as much as they should. She’d killed children... then again she hadn’t been given a choice.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir listened without saying a word to the dwarf as he rambled on about his beloved machine. Internally he was going over all the ways in which this machine would cause people harm. Of course he supported Vel'Anir - it was his home and whilst his upbringing had been horrific the indoctrination had worked. He was loyal to the city. He wanted it to succeed and take a centre place in the world. He just... didn't agree with the methodology of how it got there and those it crushed beneath its boot on its way. With this creation they could do untold damages to the world. He thought of their mission to the Empire and the war brewing there and grimaced.

The sounds of the city was a welcome distraction and he turned his attention from Berodo to the commotion ahead. His hand shot out to stop the dwarf in his tracks before he left the safety of the shadows in the tunnel. His orange eyes flickered around the gathered crowd but most of the attention was on the person speaking and not on the tourists they had seen in the market earlier that day.

"I will have to take him into the shadows," Kas declared after a while and looked down to Nat with a worried frown. "You can come too or.."

Or she would be on her own.

 

[Nathaira]

Nathaira mirrored Kasimir's frown. "No," she said with remorse, "You go, I will meet you at the portal stone, and make sure it is clear." She could not go back into the shadows, not so soon. She had wanted to be a part of Kasimir's secret world so badly, and she was grateful to him for his trust... but her body could not withstand it. She knew now why his blood ran so hot, why he detested the fire and the warmth she craved. They could scarcely be more different, and she adored him all the more for it.

"Go," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder with a gentle nudge, before slipping off on her own.

Her hood was drawn, her green hair tucked back within it, and her scarf covered her face. The cold winds were drying her well, but she felt her heartbeat struggling and her lids growing heavy. The quicker they finished this the quicker she could recover somewhere indoors.

She kept to the sides of buildings and moved as swiftly as she could without arising suspicion. Luckily there were still enough tourists about that she was not completely conspicuous, but she still stood head and shoulders above the crowd. She saw that small automatons were also patrolling. These looked like dogs, albeit without tails or heads, just a glowing crystal where the neck should have been.

She heard whispers as she moved. Berodo's name, and the words murderer, tragedy, and other sounds of fear. Many people were heading into shops and homes, thinning out her cover. As she approached the portal stone's courtyard, her heart dipped even lower.

A ring of guards had blockaded all roads leading into the clearing, and a thick metal cage was being prepared nearby. Nathaira swore and ducked behind a jeweler's shop. If the guards got that cage around the portal stone they were done. Berodo would need to be taken back to Vel Anir on foot or by boat. It would take months at the least, and they would be hunted by both Belgrath and Vel Anir the entire time.

Focusing, she called upon the magic that Vel Anir had granted her, and flickered out of sight. Moving doubled in difficulty, and she plodded painstakingly slowly towards the stone. The light snowfall did her no favors as she left footprints, and she hoped the guards would not think to look.

She searched for any areas of shadow near the courtyard, but the midday sun was brilliant. It took her only a few minutes to cross into the courtyard, narrowly slipping past a guard's shoulder and standing near a building that rimmed the wide clearing. Kasimir would not be able to see her, and unless he had some other way of telling where she was, he would just need to trust that she could help him.

One of the small metal dogs stopped about thirty feet from her and turned the glowing crystal in her direction. It seemed to be staring at her, and it cocked its body in a mimic of a curious animal. Could... could it see her?

Hurry, Kasimir.