With the fight over, the man they fought was down and out for the count. The venom in his body would wear off after a while as it did with Sir Roderick, but both of them should be out of the town before that happened. They hoped he would be back on his feet before the family returned, but in case he wasn't and woke when they did get back, they decided to move him out of the house and down a side alley. The man attacking a random family was not something either of them wanted on their conscious. It was bad enough that they had wrecked their house.
Moving on, they travelled down the side streets, where there was nary a soul as they pushed through the darkness along the path. Sylvia with her almost night vision eyes, led the charge, being able to spot anyone around them, as well as obstacles and the like. It is not as if Octavia was blind, her eyes adjusting to the lack of light as it were, but Sylvia knew this town. So, who better to help get them out of it.
Corner after corner they turned down, heading in the direction of the nearest gate out of the town as best they could. But with every step, it felt like they were getting further and further away from their escape.
It was an odd feeling Octavia was getting as they moved. It felt akin to a dream where you end up in a hallway that goes on forever, stretching and stretching, the door at the end getting further and further away the more you move towards it.
Heavy breathing soon became the soundtrack to their daring escape, as they struggled to keep moving at a fast pace, their stamina taking a hit. Even Octavia with the improvements from her new body felt like she had hit a wall.
Metaphorically speaking of course.
Although, the metaphor felt very close to physically with the last corner they turned.
It had all seemed the same as usual, dark and quiet, but as soon as they turned the corner, they came face to face with the worse possible scenario.
"Well, look who it is?"
"…"
"…"
Both were speechless as they saw the leader of the men standing partway down the street they had turned into. Around him stood two other men, all of whom looked to have been searching the area. The terrible situation just got worse though, as on either side of them, men strode out of a couple of the houses, likely having been searching them as well. This left a scene where the leader stood at the centre of the group of four men. All of which were heavily armed and staring at them.
Octavia only had one thought as she saw this.
"It's over."
There would be no way she could face them. She had barely faced off against one of these guys and that was through using a confined space to hamper his progress. Even then he almost killed her, had he not messed up and lodged his sword in the structural beams of the house.
Even without the four men, there was still the leader, who was highly skilled and would make short work of her. There was no way she could have a fight with these guys and come out on top. It would only end with her capture and very possibly Sylvia's death.
Looking over at Sylvia, she could see the same thoughts plaguing her mind. A look of despair was present on her face at the prospect of what might happen. As far as Octavia could see, there were several options that they could take, but none had a good outlook.
They could try to flee, hoping to lose them in the town, but that hardly seemed like it would work. The man she fought was fast, so she had no reason to suspect that wasn't the case here.
They could fight. Go out in a glorious battle, as warriors preferred were one to do. But, if they did, it was likely she would just end up hurt and captured, and Sylvia again would possibly end up dead. Sure, she could send her away, but she didn't think Sylvia would listen to that.
Lastly was just to surrender. No muss no fuss. Hopefully, that would mean no one would get hurt, assuming Sylvia agreed with her and didn't try to fight back to save her.
None of these options were appealing, but surrendering was the only one that had a chance of keeping Sylvia alive.
So that is what she would do.
Sliding forward, she opened her mouth and went to shout out to the men that she would give up herself. But as she did something stopped her.
It was an odd sensation as if something was nudging the back of her head. Or more specifically, the back of her mind.
The sensation of which was followed by a very clear instruction in her mind, which felt like a sixth sense or instinct, which told her to…
"Run!"
...
It felt foolish. There was no way she could outrun these men. But whatever this feeling was, she decided to follow it. Turning around, she grabbed hold of Sylvia's arm and took off.
As she sped away, she could hear quick footsteps as the men pursued her. She could also hear the leader of the group shouting, but she blocked that out in favour of concentrating their escape.
Heading down the street the same feeling from before rose through her brain as she neared the end of the street, where it seemed to tell her the direction to go.
What this feeling was she didn't know. At first she thought it was just instinct or maybe even the fight or flight response, but it felt more than that. How could she just instinctively know which direction to take as they moved down these streets.
They kept moving, Octavia following the odd feeling, twisting and turning through the town. The footsteps behind them however, only got louder and louder as they moved, clearly showing that they were gaining on them. It would not be long before they were caught and it would all be over.
However, they eventually came out into a large area, similar to the market square they shopped in before. With the size of the town, it only made sense there were a few dotted around for people to shop at without having to travel a great distance.
The nudging feeling at the back of her mind sent her forward, telling her to head towards one of the buildings across the square. It felt stronger and stronger as she dashed across the marketplace and got nearer to it, but so too did the sounds of the footsteps behind them.
"You're not getting away from me this time!" The leader shouted, the sound almost deafening as if he was right behind her.
What was worse though, was finding out that was actually the case. As she moved, she felt terrified as she felt a slight gust of wind hit her back, almost like he had swiped at her and just missed, hitting air instead.
Her heart was pounding as she neared the door to the building. It was at this point though that she pushed away the sensible thoughts of taking hold of the knob to open it and just slammed into it instead, smashing into it with the full force of her body. She had no clue if it was locked or how sturdy the door was, but it just felt like the only thing she could do. Her body hit solid wood, but thankfully, pushed the door open as well. Sylvia's hand in hers, she ended up pulling her with her into the door, and subsequently, pulling her to the ground as it gave way snapping off of its hinges from the shear force it had received.
Confusion clouded her mind as she hit the ground, her head slamming into the door rattling her brain around. Both laid there trying to muddle through what was possibly going to be a concussion where all they could see was darkness around them.
Octavia managed to push herself up off the floor, but as she did her vision spun as she looked around. She was stuck like that for a good few dozen seconds, but after a while, it receded and she could once again think straight and see properly. Vision unimpaired, she looked at where they had come from, only to see an empty market square.
"Huh, whats-whats going on?"
Hearing a groan from below, she reached down to help Sylvia stand, looking over her in case she had gotten hurt.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Well, I'm probably a bit bruised and my head is all over the place. But other than that I'm fine. What happened?"
"I don't know. They were right behind us and now they're just gone."
Sylvia not really believing it, even though they were alive and well, rather than either dead or captured, she turned to look through the door, seeing the same thing Octavia did.
"What?"
"Exactly."
They both slowly poked their heads out, and looked around the square, in case the men were still around for some reason. But the place was just completely empty.
"I don't, I don't-"
"Well, this is a surprise. I didn't expect to see you two back in my shop this late in the day. You do know that I'm closed for the day. What are you doing-… what happened to my door!?"
Hearing another voice behind them, one that also sounded very familiar, they turned around to see who it was, coming face to face with someone they had not expected.
The apothecary shopkeeper.