With the Hounds at their Heels

A JP by Tahjerius, LSP, and Rosmary

((The Industrial District of Indrasel, Karavoss))

The clatter of wooden wheels and the hammer of hooves split the night as the large and unwieldy carriage raced down the road at full gallop, falcon crested riders tearing after it in hot pursuit. Prespa was doing her best to steer the powerful Ardennasis horses as they sped like mad even as V and Kalena held on for dear life outside of the vehicle.

“This is what I live for! ” V laughed in exhilaration as the ground shot by under his flailing feet.

“Oh yes, me too,” Kalena said, sounding far less enthused. Her arms strained as she clutched for purchase, not having got a good grip.

“Do you guys need a hand?” a voice from above asked hesitantly, aware the question was absurd.

“Gods, Solandriel!” Kalena remonstrated. “We would have had them completely nobbled if not for you!”

“I know… I know,” Solandriel said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to show myself, and when I saw who it was I couldn’t hide in time…”

“Well, who was it, then?” V wanted to know. “One of those men caught your eye, I take it?”

The other elf nodded. “Yeah, it was one of the thugs who kidnapped Gerda and me...”
“And he's now impersonating an army captain?” Kalena asked incredulously.

“I guess so.” Solandriel shrugged. “He wasn't wearing that uniform yesterday.”

“It couldn't have been easy for him to cozy himself up with the local brigade in, what, a day? Especially to that extent...” V remarked.

The carriage hit a rock and bumped up and down into the air. Kalena let out a pained cry and struggled to maintain her tenuous grip.

“This is no simple murder plot,” she bit out, gritting her teeth. “We're obviously dealing with a very large-scale operation here...”

“And now we're not just up against a small band of hired killers but the Karvossian army too,” V said, shaking his head and chuckling with grim humor. “This keeps getting better and better!”

He looked back and the smile faded when he saw five soldiers had gained on them and were firing a hail of crossbow bolts.

“They're firing at us!” Solandriel shouted unnecessarily.

A bolt punched through a glass window at the rear of the carriage and another shot over the elf and struck the opposite wall near the driver's seat a few inches from Prespa's head, nearly taking off one of the woman's bovine-like horns.

“Take cover!” Shel growled at Solandriel as she reached down and quickly hauled Kalena in through the window.

“Don't forget me!" V called to the half-orc.

Shel moved to pull him in too, having trouble maneuvering around all the objects that had fallen inside the carriage. Kalena moved in a crouch toward the front where she had left her bow and arrows. Still hanging onto the carriage, V risked another look behind them and saw a soldier riding up and aiming a crossbow directly at him. Letting himself hang by one arm, V reached back over his shoulder for his own crossbow, the one that had once belonged to his father. Despite its damage, the mending spell had returned it to at least a functioning state, it was only that the incantation would require far more than a simple charge if he allowed the weapon to break fully.

It mattered not now. The soldier, seeing him hanging so defenselessly, prepared to shoot, only for V to swing his leg at the man and throw his aim off. But now his grip was loose, and the soldier was lining up his shot once more. Gritting his teeth as he gripped the ledge of the carriage with all he had, he raised his crossbow, bracing himself against the side of it with his legs. He needed to be quicker, much quicker. He channeled the strength his father had once shown, squinted, and fired. The bolt flew free, and crashed into the opposing man’s crossbow, shattering it and sending wooden shrapnel flying. The soldier let out a yell as his face was pierced by the pieces, and he fell over, slamming into the ground, turning and tumbling in the dust of hot pursuit.

V looked wildly to his hands now, at this rate, he was going to fall. He looked up, the strain showing in his face as he tried desperately to hold on. For a moment, he thought he actually might not make it, that things would go as bad as they could go, which was very bad right now. Alas, relief washed over him as a duo of arms, one green and burly, the other radiantly semi-olive and daintier by comparison, reached out from over the ledge and grabbed onto his own arm. His weight was lifted as they hoisted him up, just in time to avoid a bolt whizzing by, sure to hit its mark had he not moved. He tossed his crossbow over the edge and gripped with his other hand, adding his strength to the others’ to pull himself all the way up and over.

Falling onto his back against the rattling carriage floor, V grabbed his father’s crossbow and haggardly pulled himself back to his feet.

“Thanks for the *huff* assist, ladies.”

"Did you think we'd leave you hanging?" Kalena quipped, unable to help trying to bring a little light to the dark and perilous setting.

"Very funny," V said, chuckling almost unironically, before peaking out of the doorway to try and make heads or tails of their situation. He saw Kalena turn and move towards the front of the carriage out of the corner of his eye and vaguely recalled spotting the ornate recurve now that sat near where she was headed. V pressed himself against the wall of the carriage, he felt a small tingle wash over him. He found himself somewhat stunned, as the tingle turned into a strong pulse. Seconds and it was gone, V shook himself out of whatever stupor he had just found himself in, all the while unaware of the fact that he had just sensed what little he could of a great and powerful disturbance in the Weave.

Right, they were in a life or death situation. Gazing out, V scanned the scene with urgency, four armored men on horses, all of them bearing ranged weapons and angered expressions.

"Four left! Still shooting, of course!"

Just as he said that, a bolt passed his face and nearly took his eye out. V dipped his head back into the carriage just in time to see Kalena return with her bow in hand, quiver at her side and at the ready.

"They'll go for the wheels or the horses, we have to either lose or dispose of them before then." The ex-assassin stated analytically, allowing herself a small peak as well.

V turned to the bovine-esque woman at the front of the carriage, "Do you think you can lose them?"

"And just what do you think I am doing?" Prespa asked coldly.

"Not losing them."

She let out a pressed sigh, "We are heavy and slow, they are lighter and faster, it does not take much thought nor reason to understand that." The woman said, her tone only growing colder as it seemed stress started to kick in, "We don't have long before they stop us, think of something else."

"I'm a good shot," Kalena chimed in, "But there's no way I'm going to be able to hit anything in these conditions, what we need is some sort of diversion."

V looked to her, and his eyes went wide as something clicked, "That's it! Of course!"

The Kalena and the nearly helpless Soalndriel looked on as V leaned out of the carriage and eyed their pursuers.

"When I say so, Prespa, change direction. I'm going to give you that diversion."

"Alright," Prespa called back, eyes still ahead.

He focused, even as a bolt embedded itself into the wood ahead of him, and his mind reached out to touch the Weave, and once his concentration was strong enough, he tugged.

"Fulgo, "

And so, the threads of the Weave pulled. A small glimmer the size of a speck appeared, floating behind the carriage like dust in the wind. And without warning, the speck expanded, filling space with utter abandon. The light shone brilliantly, blindingly, and allowed no quarter for those who looked into its rays.

"Now!" V shouted through gritted teeth, squinted eyes taking on the wrath of the spell, as the fledgling caster knew that the moment he took his eyes off of the light and mind off of the Weave, their advantage would fade. V gripped the side of the carriage, his sense of touch the only indicator that he was within any realm of safety as he dangled out of the vehicle. He felt it swerve and shift with force, and it wasn't until the swaying evened out that he allowed his burning retinas to be shielded once more, and proceeded to fall back, narrowly landing into a seat as he clutched his eyes.

"GRRHH! Godsdamnit! Did we lose them?" V said, the pain seemingly growing more intense after his eyes had been shut.

"I think… yes, actually, that worked!"

V heard the smile on her face, but he didn't dare open his eyes until the burning pain ceased, lest it burn with even more intensity.

"V, did you just stare into that?" The swarthy elf heard from Solandriel.

He shook his head and let out a pained chuckle.

"Well, I may have… arrgh… not thought that entirely through, "

There was a silence for a moment, as the others looked over the pained elf.

"If you have done serious damage to yourself, " He heard a cold voice chime in, "The only way to treat it would be through very expensive surgery or magical means, which would be just as expensive. And that is assuming your vision has not already faded."

Hearing this, V rubbed his eyes one last time, and they shot open. They were red, bloodshot, and he frowned and winced, staring straight ahead as he held them open wide.

"Gods..." V mumbled despairingly, closing his eyes and covering them once more.

"How are they?" He heard a warm voice, belonging to Kalena, and it notably carried with it the slightest hint of concern.

"Stings to all hell, " V said, gritting his teeth afterward, the usual jovial tone his voice at an absolute minimum, "but, I haven't gone blind, if that's what you were asking, so you can all lose those sorry looks. I'll be fine, I just need a minute."

"Well, you will get a few, but not much more than that. We were almost there. And remember, I will not go a step farther than the front gate once we have arrived. If all of you are so adamant about flailing yourselves off to your own deaths, I will surely not follow you over the edge. Especially considering that despite your imperviousness Ms. Valade, your condition still has yet to considerably improve."

"I'm fine, the symptoms are hardly noticeable at this point and I’ve certainly been through much worse," Kalena called back to her.

"Ah, so we're sick and damn near blind, how can they hope to stop us?" V chuckling grimly and speaking with brutal honesty.

"And you, Mr. V, are utterly foolish. It baffles me how one can display such reckless disregard for their well-being to such an idiotic degree-"

"Ughhh, are we there yet?" The swarthy elf cut in with a groan, not at all fond of Prespa's nigh motherly scolding.

"Nearly." The driver responded, and with that, there was a momentary silence. V's spell had proven effective, and they all had been incredibly lucky to get away mostly unscathed, but the soldiers would likely be on their tail now. With Lafayette alone within the warehouse though, they wouldn't have time to wait it out, they were here, and they'd have to do this now.

With a short grunt, V opened his eyes once more, blinking the stars away.

"I see you've returned to the world of color." Kalena spoke, noting the elf had seemingly regained his sight.

"Funny, it's a bit darker than I remember…" He grinned, but it wasn't clear to what extent his statement was jest.

"Alright." Prespa spoke loudly, her cold voice like a tolling bell in the cool and crisp night air.

Instinctively, V's gaze snapped in front of the carriage. Beyond, he saw where the beaten dirt path met, a dusty cobblestone road. They had passed into the boundaries of Indrasel some time ago, and now they prepared to ride into the industrial district. It was a maze of stone and metal, boxes were ready to be shipped to and fro, however the buildings and courtyards were all but quiet now.

"Solandriel?" Kalena spoke, turning to the elf.

"Right," he said, moving up through the carriage to direct Prespa, as only he knew where his wife was being kept.

"Just go left here, and if I were you I'd stop just a bit ahead. They have guards about, if they see you they might get suspicious."

The carriage moved on, before the reins were pulled and it came to a stop. Just ahead stood an ominous warehouse, lights could be seen from the windows, and V could see the silhouettes of men patrolling the perimeter of the building. He could see relatively well in the dark, but it was funny, was it always so hard to see from this far back? Then a grim thought passed into his mind, about how he always had impeccable sight over long distances, it was inherited from his father, and now he may have just ruined his gift. But, no, he pushed those thoughts away, being the first to leap from the carriage and hit the ground. Kalena came next, and Shel followed. Finally, V looked to Solandriel, who was making his way to the door.

"Solandriel." V spoke, his face once again serious.

"Yes?" Solandriel said, still on his way out.

"Solandriel, I think you should just… stay in the carriage. You hired us to take care of this, so just… let us handle it."

Solandriel's expression was frozen as he sat there, crouched and halfway out of the cart.

"Oh. No, that's… that's fine. You're right, I'd only… hold you back. You are professionals after all, "

"In so many words, yes…" V said with a nod.

"Fine then. I'll just stay here, just be safe, and please bring my Gerda back to me."

V nodded, "We'll do that or die trying."

Solandriel reluctantly returned to his seat, the very soul of anxiety as he looked on to the rest.

As the fighters disembarked, Prespa left her ‘home on wheels’ with a small clear glass vial with a very very narrow top, making one wonder how what was inside got in there in the first place. “Take these, I realize they will not be of much use during a fight, but if during your search for Mr. Fox your eyes begin to bother you, apply these drops two per eye. This might hurt a fair deal the first time, but it will soothe the pain. It is not likely to heal whatever damage you caused yourself, but I can not in good faith not afford to assist you, for making sure those rapscallions did not destroy my home.” She said holding out the vial by its stemmed top.

Despite being remotely spooked by the woman's physique and appearance, before and now, he found he was significantly calmer this time. He supposed he had grown somewhat fond of the strange woman. And he knew now that she was serious about her medical practices, no matter how abrasive she seemed to be while in the midst of them, and that was something the elf couldn't help but respect and admire.

"Thank you, Prespa, and I apologize for earlier," V said, taking the vial and putting it away for later use.

Prespa then turned to Kalena, “And Ms. Valade, please give my regards to Mr. Fox, and make sure he is alive and well. That man cares a great deal about you, to have gone off to do something this dangerous on his lonesome.”

"I know, and he had surely better be." Kalena said with a smirk. The Elf, the Assassin, and the Half-Orc turned and made their way towards the menacing warehouse, its shadow being cast over them by the moonlight.

"Let's get this over with, " Kalena spoke, enough confidence for the three of them, and they approached, knowing full well that had to move with haste, for now they moved with the hounds at their heels.