Chereads / The Ethereal Cascade / Chapter 15 - No simple human can save us

Chapter 15 - No simple human can save us

Marianne and Zuge were walking down a passage in the training field of the orderhouse. When Marianne got struck down. Kneeling on one knee she hold her head. Zuge took her upperarm and helped her. "Whats wrong?" Marianne coughed. "It is here. It is revealed. By the seven what a dark force! But there is more. We need to be extremly cautios and perspective. It is close to the central place." She walked and soon started running. To every keeper she passed she yelled:"Get your weapons! The evil is at the center place." Zuge went after her. It almost always worked like that. She stormed forward and he organised behind her. He called the commanders and ordered groups of 6 with a priest to roam the city. Marianne were now able to detect the the dark force and also determine the direction. Therefore it was most important to fortify the gates, so that it can not leave. Thus Zuge ordered another 4 guardians to each city gate and 10 soldiers. If it can not flee Marianne and he would find and defeat it in the end. He took also 6 keepers with himself and followed Marianne.

Torentor went to the counter and dropped 2 silver coins. "The balance is for you sweety." Marta took the money into her pouch and replied: "Thank you very much. Please come again and visit us." Torentor turned around and left to the door. This blonde woman who caught the attention of everyone was focussing him with her eyes. Once he arrived at the door she jumped up from her chair, pointed at him and yelled: "This is a spy from the plague bay. I am an imperial agent. Get him! Don´t let him get loose!" For a moment the men around her looked irritateted at her, then turned to Torentor who also was stunned for a second. Then he pushed the door open and rushed out on the street. The men yelled:" Hold him, hold him. Scum from the plague bay!" They ran after him. At the Alley Torentor turned right, and ran down the narrow street. He nervously thinks about his options. He had planned to leave in the early morning when all the workers, farmers and traders pass the city gate. His preparations concerned all about leaving the city unsuspicious. He had no idea why this woman knowed his identity. After a short sprint he came at a crossway. Leaving the city was impossible now that he was chased. He had to hide somewhere and wait until they stopped searching him. At least he had to wait until the night. Then he might be able to use his powers to flee from the city. Any use of magic transportation was very likely to be discovered. The strong aura of the keepers of Mahjagoth would negate teleportation spells for sure. He turned left at the crossway and tried to recall what he knows about the city. Hed needed to escape to the manufactories and storehouse area. There are less people during this time. It would also be much easier to hide somewhere. He heared the riot behind him and the crowd that followed him was swelling.

Lenesti walked out the Inn with a content grin. She followed the noise and the yelling crowd. Let´s see if an angry pack could catch a magician from the plague bay. Most certainly this man would know some weird magic stuff, but these powers were also demanding. How many citicens of Uhlheim would he kill to get the stone? Lenesti had felt the stone instantly once this boy gave it to the plaguebearer. There was something strange about this child. He does not seem to be impressed by her nor could Lenesti read the mind of him. The man on the other hand, even though he was some kind of black mage, was easy to read. She knows that he wanted to leave to Plague Bay and that all his efforts would focus around reaching the Plague Bay or at least leaving the empire. Lenesti just followed the crowd who rushed after them. More people were joining the hunt.

Torentor came to another crossweay and turned right. The yelling pack was just about 20 meters behind him. He ran into the narrow street and stopped abrubtly. Five meters in front of him stand another woman. She had a sword in hear hand, which faced to the ground. She walked into his direction saying: "Give me the heart!" Torentor panicked. He stomped his walking stick to the ground and turned into a swirling swarm of wasps. He rushes toward the woman, who surprised crouched down. He flow over her as fast as he could and onwards the alley. At the end of the alley was a storehouse. The Wasps flew just in time through a window. Then he turned back to human, crouched down and scan rapidly his surrounding. He heard marching steps of a small military group. He rushed to the large door and closed the bars. Just in time because he could see through a crack, that the woman with the sword came up the door. She shook the the handle, but the door was shut. He exhaled in relief for just a moment, but he knowed that he was not yet save.

Marie rushed after the wasp swarm. She saw them flying into the storehouse. When she tried to push the door open she felt it was shut. Footsteps were approaching and she had to be quick. She spit on the iron lock and in an instant the acid began to dissolve the material. While she watched the lock to weaken a group of soldiers turned around the corner. Silver armors and white capes with the golden cross of Torqua covered these men. They looked at her then came over: The leader said: "What are you doing here ?" Then he looked at the door and again at her with suspicion. He drew his sword and Marie turned 3 steps back, also drawing her sword. The Leader went on talking while he walked into her direction: "What have you done with the lock? Who are you? Soldiers, arrest this woman we bring her to the questionairy at the castle." Marie darted forward with unnatural speed and thrust her sword into his neck. The guardian did not even had the time to raise his sword. With red eyes she looked at the other soldiers, kicking against the door to open it and said hissing: "Clear off or share his destiny." The keepers were not impressed at all. One shouted: "Vampire !", and all of them drew their swords. One of them in the back had no sword but wear a robe, and he grabbed the holy symbol at his neck and started to pray. The keepers advanced to Marie protecting them selves with their towering shields. A white gleam started to reach out from the praying priest in the back of the warriors. Marie kicked the lock again and it broke out of its bracket. She rushed inside the storehouse with vampiric speed, checked the inside. No one here. There was a stair leading upstairs. She rushed towards it. The guardians behind her were entering the storehouse. One guardian yelled: "She moves like lightning. Stay close together!" They took the priest into their center and followed her.

Marianne was standing at the center place. Her mind was filled with perceptions. Evil seemed to be everywhere around her. She could not clearly determine which one was the desired item. One was quite close to her, but she could not see anything. Then her view went up to the sky and she saw a woman, on top of the bell tower. She was holding herself with one hand on the iron spine which formed the peak of the roof. Her feet stood on the roof of the tower. She wore a dark robe and her long hair was waving in the wind. Whatever she was and how she came there, she was not the immediate targe of Marianne. The other were quite close togethe and also not to far away. She ran into their direction.

Torentor was very reliefed for a few moments to breath and bring his mind in order. He was crouching on the flat roof of the storehouse. Since it was the last house in a row of this alley, he decided to run slowly and hopefully undiscovered back on this street but on the roofs. All roofs were conected. He saw the crowd running down the alley: He heard a loud crank. The door had been broken. He stood up and began to run He jumped over to the next roof, landed stumbling and ran on.

Lenesti was coming up the alley where Torentor had hidden in the storehouse. Her crowd stop puzzled at a crossway then they spread out in different directions. She called out: "Where is he?" A woman who has joined the pack answered: "We lost him here, we spread out to find him." Lenesti answered: "Good, hurry up, he may not escape." Then she turned away with a big smile. She always had so much fun commanding crowds when they believe she were some important authority. Then she heared voices from inside the storehouse and gleaned through the door. There were five men climbing a stair. Keepers ! She slowly retreats and went the alley back. She was dedicated no doubt, but she would not let herself get killed by these fanatics.

Marie had reached the roof, looked around and saw the Plague Bay agent jumping to another roof. Behind her the guardians came up the stairs. She started running and hit Torentor from behind with her body,. He stumbled and fell over. He slid the slipery roof down and got a hold at its edge. Marie walked up to him and looked down. She presented him his hand: "It is over, come up and give me the heart." Torentor looked up at her and then down. Below him was a small roof over an entrance. He answered: "Never." Then he let fell himself, crashed upon the roof , slid over it and then fell down to the floor. He coughed in pain. His leg hurt, but he forced himself to stand up. It was getting darker and there was so much turmoil. He had to find a quiet place to summon. He stumbled around the corner onto the large road to the central place. He heard that the woman behind him jumped down from the roof. Then a deep voice called out: "Hey woman, stay where you are!"

Torentor stumbled on, grabbing a gem in his bag. He mumbled silent words. The gem became warm and he felt like his leg healt and he could walk normally. No one was following him at the moment. He drag the hood of his cape deeper into his face, pulled it over his noble vest and imitated an old, bent down man who could barely walk. He needed to find a quiet place immediately. The strange woman would be soon again chasing him. He saw a single woman standing on the large central place. She wore a bright plate armor with a white cape and a richly decorated helm. She was also focussing him, and he knew that it was a high keeper. He had a plan to escape the keepers. Even though they were powerful he knows what a confrontation with them was mainly about. And as long as he was in the vicinity of the keepers these other ladies would just watch but not interfere.