A POUNDING AT her door stole Eve away from the sweet embrace of sleep. "Oy! Open up!"
Eve groaned, rubbing her heavy eyelids as she trudged across the sparse room. She undid the latch. Four men stood outside, each a head taller and a hundred pounds heavier than she. A quick ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ identified them as two Blacksmiths, a Farmer, and a Tanner, all in their mid teens.
"What do you want?"
"Your boyfriend," the Farmer said. "Where is he?"
Now, Eve would've liked to snap back with a dry 'excuse me?' or a taunting 'I have a boyfriend? Why didn't he tell me?' but in her grogginess, the best she could manage was a slurred "What?"
"That weasel Randy said he saw you come in with one of those adventurer types. Trouble is, that sword he had don't belong to him."
The man must've taken Eve's exhausted silence as lack of comprehension, because he explained further. "Sword was pilfered from my da ages ago. Hells if I know why your boy painted them green, but I'd know those sigils anywhere."
"He's not myโlook, he's not here. And I'm sure if you asked nicely Wes'd be happy to give you your sword back."
The man placed a meaty hand on the wooden door, forcing it to swing farther open.
Eve stepped back to avoid being struck.
The Farmer scanned the room, confirming the truth in her words.
"We'll see about that. Don't take kindly to thieves 'round here."
Eve opened her mouth to defend her fellow adventurer, to tell the man he couldn't have known the weapon's history, anything in the hope they'd leave Wes be. She never got a chance.
The thugs slammed the door shut.
It took the girl more than a few moments both to finish waking up and calm her racing heart as the encounter sank in. The realization that she, a helpless Messenger Girl who couldn't exactly run away in a confined room, had unlocked her door for four strange men in the middle of the night hit hard.
"Ma would kill me," she muttered to herself.
At least they were only looking for Wes. Eve's eyes shot open.
Wes! "Ayla's tits," she swore in yet another display of behavior that would earn a lecture from her mother. She dashed across the room, rushing to re-don her boots. Magic class or not, Eve didn't favor Wes's odds against four opponents, especially without warning.
Shoes tied, Eve made it halfway back to the room's exit when a hurried tapping rang out behind her. She turned.
"Wes? What the hells are you doing?"
The man, of course, couldn't hear her on the other side of the glass window, but the look on her face was clear enough. He waved her over.
It wasn't until Eve swung the window open to find him desperately clinging to the eave that she remembered they'd slept on the second floor.
"We need to leave," Wes said in the loudest whisper she'd ever heard.
"Why are you here?"
"They tried my room first. Luckily, I was smart enough not to open the door when they started knocking. Just made it out the window before they kicked the door in."
๐ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ-๐ช๐ฏ? ๐๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.
"Did you know?"
"That Mr. Potts gave me a stolen sword? Of bloody course not. I didn't even want a non-stolen sword!"
"Right, right. Move over. I'm coming out."
Wes shuffled along the sill, his feet barely reaching the wooden crossbeam that extended an inch from the sheer wall beneath them.
Eve's didn't.
"Shit shit shit," she whispered furiously as she dangled from the open window.
"Okayโumโcan you make it over there?" Wes pointed at the vertical beam running down the building's corner, over eight feet away.
"Do I look like I can bloody make it over there?"
"Right. Yes. Umโฆ okay, here's what we're gonna doโฆ" Wes inched away, expertly descending the wooden structure until he reached the dirt below. He held out his arms. "Jump!"
"You're kidding me."
"Eve, we don't have time for this! Those thugs are already searching."
"Alright, alright, justโฆ give me a moment."
She gulped. Come on, Eve. You can do this. If you can turn back to fight off gods-damned wolves you can face a ten-foot drop. I just need to letโfuck.
Her hand slipped.
Eve plummeted. Her outstretched toes collided with the crossbeam they'd so failed to reach, sending waves of pain up her leg as she peeled away from the vertical wall.
Her heart raced, somehow convinced this was the moment of her death in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
She fell for but a second before Wes caught her. That is, using the word 'caught' rather loosely. Only one of his extended arms actually intercepted her drop, striking her directly in the upper back.
The impact hurt.
Fortunately for Eve, the man's failed attempt happened to impact at just the right point to raise her torso above her lower half, spinning her such that her feet hit the ground directly beneath her.
Heart pounding, Eve stood. "Nice catch."
"Nice jump," Wes countered.
"Nice sword."
The companions spun to find the four goons standing on the other end of the alley. Two of them held pitchforks. The third had a rope.
"Hand over the sword, and maybe I'll let your girl go unharmed. Mostly."
Wes's face curled into a snarl. He raised a hand, setting it alight with strands of flame.
"Is that a no?" The Farmer smirked. "C'mon boys, looks like we're in for some good old-fashioned justice."
Eve looked sideways at Wes. "Run?"
He nodded. "Run."
They ran.
Eve kept back with the initiate, purposefully slowing herself to keep her class's passive ability from outpacing her companion. The thugs gave chase.
Her feet slammed against the hard earth with every hurried step as buildings and alleyways flew by. Her heart raced. Adrenaline pumped. The cool night air blew past. Their pursuers grew closer.
Eve refused to activate her skill, unwilling to leave Wes in the dust. "We need to lose them!" she panted out through gasps for breath.
"And how," Wes managed, "are we supposed to do that?"
He had a point. The moons above lit the whole village in their silver beams, leaving few shadows in which to take shelter. The late hour meant no passersby to ask for aid, and even were she willing to stop and check, Eve knew well enough each door they passed would be locked.
So on they fled.
The pair made it three more blocks before Eve developed an idea. Without warning, she grabbed Wes's wrist, yanking him down a nearby side street. She led him down to the next crossroad before pointing out a direction. "Double back and sneak your way out. I'll meet you on the road east."
"What're you goiโ"
Eve shoved him. "Go!"
He went.
Eve lingered for a moment in the narrow intersection, doing her best to look completely lost. She whipped her head from side to side, miming the action of picking a direction until the sound of footfalls reached the alley behind her. Turning opposite the way she'd pointed Wes, Eve took off.
"That way!"
The thugs followed.
A grin stretched across Eve's face as she led the men along. She dared not look back to gauge their distance, but the echos of their steps and the panting of their breaths confirmed all four had taken the bait.
She regulated her pace, keeping care to always dart down a new path or alleyway just as the men turned the prior corner. They'd only continue if she could maintain the illusion that Wes was just ahead of her, just out of sight instead of across town slinking off into the night.
If all her class could do was run away, Eve was determined to at least be bloody good at it.
She let out a quiet laugh as she rounded yet another corner. She could do this for hours. Barely twenty minutes into her goose chase, her pursuers had already slowed from an outright sprint to a quick jog. On she ran.
It was some time around two in the morning when the four villagers gave up. One by one they bowed out, doubled over as they caught their breath. It would be the only thing they caught that night.
As the last of themโthe Farmer himselfโgave in to his exhaustion, Eve made a point of traveling west. It was better the men thought they'd run home to Nowherested.
Eve grinned as she checked her Stamina to find it still half full. At least all the Endurance her class granted wasn't totally useless, even if she'd have preferred pretty much any other stat.
She kept to the outskirts as she turned back toward the eastern road, unwilling to risk running into one of the thugs on his way home.
As she followed the moonlit path to her large companion, Eve's thoughts turned again towards her quest.
Was it worth staying in Fidsworth to buy the loaf of bread?
A part of her screamed yes. She'd had an easy enough time escaping the thugs once; surely she could do it again in the morning.
That said, the bakery sat in the center of town. A few cries of 'thief!' could turn four pursuers into fifty.
In the end, it was Wes that settled her mind. She'd saved the Flame Initiate's ass twice in less than a day, and his own quest would only get harder. Besides, she rather enjoyed his company so far.
"There you are!" Wes's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "What happened?"
"I led them in circles until they ran out of Stamina. It was easy, really."
"Oh, thank Ayla. I was scared they'd chase you all the way back home."
"Never," she scoffed. "Remember, I've mastered the art of running away. Besides, I couldn't just leave you. You'd die in half a week without my help."
Wes smacked her shoulder.
"Seriously, though, we should keep moving. The further we are from Fidsworth when morning comes, the better."
Wes nodded, accepting her direction. He gestured down the road with an open palm. "Shall we?"
Eve snorted. "Of course, noble sir. We shall."
Twenty paces down the eastern road, a series of messages flashed in Eve's vision. She dismissed them. It's too bloody late for this, she thought. Maybe once we find someplace to sleep and settle in I canโ
"Gods below," Wes swore, his eyes shining blue as they reflected the azure light of his own status screen. "I just leveled up."
"You what?"
"Apparently escaping Fidsworth was an important milestone in my quest. I got a hundred exp."
"You got aโ" Her eyes shot open. With a thought, Eve pulled up the message she'd ignored.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐: ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฌ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก!
+1000 ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ!
"Whatโnoโthat can't beโฆ" Eve fell silent as a dozen more messages popped into view.
Wes perked up. "What's wrong?"
"That," Eve sighed, "is an excellent question."