Reeve and Riza kept running away. As for where they were headed, only Riza seemed to know. Besides the fact that it was dark, they were not following a straight path, causing Reeve to stumble along as they ran. Behind them were sounds of barking dogs, noise from commotion caused by people and lights from torches which illuminated the dark path.
"Where are we going?" asked Reeve, as he ran.
"We're supposed to be taking a shortcut to Sky City. Once we get there, we can get a carriage to the capital!" answered Rizaneth.
"Oh, right! How did you manage to escape?"
"Can we just focus on escaping? I'll answer that question when we finally evade our pursuers!"
So, just like that, they kept running, while the noise behind them appeared to get closer and closer. Finally, they arrived at a cliff. Underneath the cliff, there was a river. However, the distance between the edge of the cliff and the river was quite large. And that wasn't the only problem. There were also rocks which were scattered around the area, and there were some in the river. One bad fall could end up with someone dead!
"Uh oh!" exclaimed Riza, as she realized she had led them to a dead end.
"What do you mean uh oh! I thought you knew where you were going!"
"Are you sure this is the time to be arguing with each other?" asked another voice behind them.
Reeve and Riza turned to see who had spoken. In the pale light of the moon, Reeve could barely make out an immature face.
"You! You followed us?" he asked in shock.
"Of course. You wanted to leave me behind, didn't you?" replied Soren, who had followed them.
While they were having the conversation, their pursuers kept getting closer and closer.
"We have to jump!" spoke Rizaneth.
"Umm, that's not a good idea!" Soren tried to protest.
"You're welcome to go back!" said Riza, as she ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped into the river.
There was a small splashing sound, followed by complete silence. Reeve seemed to be hesitating, before he remembered he was undead. Convenient wasn't it? He seemed to remember he was undead only when it suited him. Well, life had done a number on him, and he wasn't used to it. So, without wasting time, he jumped!
Now, only Soren was left and unlike the other two, he was definitely afraid. It didn't help that the sounds of dogs barking, and growling echoed in his ears from behind him. After some minutes of hesitating, he finally gritted his teeth and jumped!
Moments after Soren had jumped, the pursuers arrived on the cliff.
"Boss, do you think they jumped?" asked one of the bandits.
"According to the dogs, their trail ends here. They definitely jumped!" replied the bandit leader, who had the fierce looking scar.
"So, do we jump as well?"
"Why don't you jump?" asked the bandit leader.
The bandit who was asking questions immediately turned silent.
"Let's follow the river! We'll run into them if we keep going downwards. There's a waterfall a distance from here. We need to check for them when we get there! Remember, capture the girl and the Skycrawler kid alive. As for the other one, bring me his head!"
"Yes boss", replied the other bandits in unison. After the reply, they began to scramble with their dogs, going down the river. They had to find a way to get down from the cliff without jumping into the river, and this slowed them down significantly.
Meanwhile, Reeve was lying on the riverbank, unconscious. He had jumped into the river and the current had proved too strong. This time, karate didn't help, well, it couldn't. He was washed down the river, until he arrived at a waterfall. Unfortunately, he couldn't swim up, or even go sideways. The current carried him down the waterfall, where he washed up on the riverbank.
Time moved very fast, and the sun rose. A very sharp pain in the chest caused Reeve to wake up. After waking up, he began to cough while throwing up the water that had accumulated in his lungs.
"You're finally awake. We need to get moving", sounded Rizaneth's voice in his ears.
"It's morning? Damn it! How long was I out?" Reeve couldn't help but curse.
"A few hours. As she said, we need to get moving. I'm sure those bandits are still after us!" sounded Soren's voice.
"After us? You mean after you?"
"What? You think they'll let you go when they capture me? Keep dreaming!"
"Boys! Play nice! We have more pressing issues to deal with. If you want to quarrel like newlyweds, you can do it when we are out of danger!" said Riza.
"Newlyweds?" Reeve and Soren couldn't help but look at each other after hearing that statement.
Rizaneth stood up and began surveying her surroundings.
"Which direction is Sky City?" asked Reeve.
"That way!" answered Riza and Soren, both pointing in different directions.
"Oh boy, we're very lost, aren't we?"
"No, I live in Sky City! I know the direction of my home. I can't say the same for her", replied Soren, pointing towards Rizaneth.
"I grew up in Sky City! I'm experienced in tracking and path finding. Where I pointed is where Sky City is located!" said Riza, trying to defend herself.
Reeve sighed as he stood up. "The important thing is we need to get moving. I'm sure our pursuers will catch up very soon. We'll take any direction and go along with it until we get to the main road. That way, we can then ask for directions and hitch a ride. For now, we need to leave our pursuers a present! Rizaneth, do you have anything in mind?"
Rizaneth seemed to be thinking, and her lips curled up into a sort-of-evil smile. Reeve couldn't help but shudder when he saw the smile. It was really creepy. Totally creepy.
"What do you mean a present? We don't have time for that!" reprimanded Soren, as he stood up and started moving in the direction he had pointed.
"Don't worry, I just thought of something", said Riza with a smile.