I wake up in the back of a wagon, shackled to the floor. I look around for my captor and find her in front of me, driving the wagon. I don’t see her bird, but that doesn't mean it’s gone. I lean in, holding my breath, and glance at her neck. There! Peering out of her collar is the head of her phoenix-mark. Fully colored, good. Her Phoenix is infused within her, not keeping an eye out from above then. Maybe there’s some hope for escape yet. It’s a creaky wooden cage, permeated by smells of pine and prisoners long gone. Based on the buildings, we’re still somewhere in the slums, likely the south side. The biggest problem is the metal shackles.
Maybe I could-
“I know you’re awake back there.”
… Well shit
“I just woke up” Maybe I can still talk her out of this. Or at least get some information. “What charges exactly am I getting brought in on?”
Even without seeing her face I can practically feel her roll her eyes from the disdain in her voice.
“Like you don’t know. The deaths of the Corvus family, being an enemy of the divine council, and illegal habitation of soulbound lands as an unregistered street rat, if you must know.”
“For the last time, I didn’t kill the Corvus family! I was 5 years old, how could I have?” Honestly, I would try to put together a better argument for my innocence, I really would, but it had been 14 years, how would I remember details? The most I have is a flash of light, and being chased into the slums by men with spears, and honestly, that might have just been a dream.
“Please, a 5 year old blessed could kill an mortal archmage, you expect us to believe you couldn’t manage a pair of unsuspecting low-borne? Sure they’re a bit tougher than a mortal, but they were in their own home with their son, they surely weren’t prepared to defend themselves.”
“Ok, maybe a blessed could, but what about me? You saw yourself that I don’t have a soulborne, how could I have done that?” That seems to give her some pause. “You really didn’t do much thinking, did you?”
“I… shut up prisoner.” I hear the slap of leather on horseflesh as she flicks the reins, and we pick up pace. My stomach gurgles.
“Can I have my pork buns at least? They were in my satchel. I saved up all week to get them.” She glares at me, then pulls a bun from the satchel and tosses it at me.
“Here, have your food. Now no more talking, or I’ll fry you.” She twists her hand in a series of complex motions, and a small fireball appears between her fingers. “Capisce?”
I make a zipping motion across my lips and nibble on my pork bun. Even cold and several hours old, it’s still delicious, to John's Credit.
With my belly taken care of, it’s on to the next order of business: Escaping this wagon. Lets see, they took my satchel and burned all my old stuff, so all I have are my clothes, a half eaten pork bun, and some loose splinters in the cart.
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Potential allies? I know a few people, but they’re few and nowhere near strong enough to fight a Soul-Knight, even if it’s “just” a trainee. So odds are, I’m on my own.
The cage is old and wooden, maybe I could break the wood the shackles are in. Or burn it. I don’t have a way to start a fire, but she does. And she did threaten to fireball me if I spoke again.
Of course, there is the obvious issue is that being hit with a fireball would likely kill me, and being dead tends to negate the benefits of having a way out of the cart. And there are the shackles to deal with. If she used hot enough fire, it might burn through the metal.
Ok, so; yank the shackles free so I can dodge, talk, dodge the fireball, use the chains to block follow up shots, escape out of the burning cart, run for my life. Great plan Niko, get shot with fire and hope you can escape, brilliant. Well, I don’t have anything better, so here we go.
“Hey lady-” The glare she gives me almost makes me reconsider. Do I really want to get myself crisped? Maybe I should just give up and go to trial. Just as I’m about to apologize, I hear something crack on the roof, followed by a hissing, sizzling sound.
“What did you do?!” She demands as a fireball crackles to life in her fingers. She leaps to her feet, whirling to face me as I cower.
“Me? I’m in here, how would I have gotten something onto the roof?” I hate how screechy my voice sounds. Tyrane above, I really am a coward.
The wood gives another hiss, and the roof collapses, a strange green creature falling into the cage with me, wood decaying where the creature touches it. It lurches towards the shackles embedded in the floor, eating through the weak wood the shackles are bound to, before continuing to the side of the cage.
“Get out of there” Calls a hoarse voice. It sounds like it comes from the nearby rooftops. I heed the voice, kicking the weakened bars out and leaping from the cart as flames engulf it.
“Get back here!” calls the girl angrily. “I will not have my first mission ruined by some futile escape attempt.”
I, of course, don’t listen, sprinting to the alleyway towards the voice I heard.
“Up here, ‘fore she roasts us!” He calls. “I can’t deploy my horrors until yer safely out of the way.”
I climb up the cobbled walls of the building. Thankfully the rough stones make plenty of handholds, and when I get close to the top, a rough hand grabs my collar and pulls me up.
“Good, you’ll be safe now lad. Stay down out of her sight.” With that, he pulls a trio of vials from the bandolier on his chest and smashes them onto the street below. Horrifying purple creatures sprout from the puddles, looking like malformed children with knives for fingers, ebony white claws and teeth emerging from bruise-purple skin as they gnash their teeth, throwing themselves at the soul-knight apprentice with a horrible, gurgling scream.
“What are those things?” I shudder as one of them draws blood, an ugly gash across the girl’s thigh.
“You’ve never seen a fetal horror? Oh, right, soulbound.” He slaps his forehead in frustration. “Forgot you guys never get out unless you’re in the army. It’s a basic alchemist unit, same as the concentrated green ooze I used to free you. Now c'mon, we’ve got places to go, before she finishes them off and catches up.” He pulls me to my feet and starts dashing across the rooftops.
“They won’t beat her? They had her three to one.” I wheeze as I dash after him. I haven’t done this much running in months.
“They best not. I only threw them to buy us some time. If she don’t kill ‘em within a few minutes, they’ll either explode or stabilize into a monster I can’t control anymore, both would be bad. Thankfully they’re pretty weak. Once she gets past the shock, they should die pretty fast.”
I hear a blast and see flames lick the sky. “Looks like she got past the shock. Where are we running to? Why did you save me? Who are you?”
“I’m taking you to my camp, and the other questions can wait. Drink this.” He gives a flask a quick shake and shoves it into my hand, pale blue juice swirling around the sharp angles of the crystalline plumbob.
Some might call me reckless, or downright insane, but I had little choice but to trust this man. I downed the blue liquid and felt a jittery fizzing sensation shoot through my body. My legs start kicking faster, and the world seems a little slower. I sprint ahead, before the alchemist downs his own potion and catches up. After about a minute and a half, I feel the energy leave me, and I fall to my knees.
“Good, we got about a kilometer on ‘er, that should buy us some time. Also, you’re probably ‘bout to vomit, speed potions don’t agree with your insides the first few times.”
He was right. I promptly curled over and retched, expelling my beloved pork buns onto the pavement.
The alchemist pulled me to my feet and offered a handkerchief. “Name’s Griffith, traveling alchemist and infiltrator of the soulbound lands. Pleasure to meet’cha, glad I could save you from whatever they were takin’ you in for, and I’m hoping you can set me up with some information on things here. Maybe in exchange, I could set you up with some potions and a way out of this place when I leave. Deal?” He sticks his hand out.
