[Ridge]
Running blindly through the halls won't work, that becomes apparent pretty fast. Although most of the Manor is stone, if the fire gets close enough it will easily consume the rest of the structure. So I need a plan, or a destination.
I want to help people get out safely, and gage the dangerousness of the situation. So I should try to find the Captain. If there's any kind of human threat involved, he'll be heading the retaliation. The Squire I found earlier wasn't any help, but I have a few guesses as to where the Captain might be during a crisis.
If I think about the scale of the issue, which envelopes the entire estate, I can narrow down the possible locations even more. He'll either be outside already, barking orders to put out the flames, or he could be in the Ravenous building at the edge of the estate.
Ravenous affairs are conducted separate from the Riddotha Manor, per Duke Riddotha's orders. It's important to him to keep security tight and under wraps. All of our ledgers, plans, schedules and information not directly in use by the family are kept in the Ravenous building.
Anytime I've seen Captain Ashley during work hours has been in that building. Of course, there's no guarantee that will hold true during an emergency. There's still the possibility that he's somewhere else around the estate, leading the efforts to subdue the fire. To check either option though, I have to go outside. So that's the first step, getting out of here.
I return to the stairs I sent the Squire down, only to find them so thick with smoke that I can barely see three steps in front of me. If I try to go down there I'll die of suffocation before I reach the bottom. I hope the Squire made it out while they weren't consumed by fumes.
My shirt is doing nothing to filter out the contaminated air at this point. If I don't get to another exit soon, finding Kadeeth and the Captain will be the least of my concerns.
My nose and eyes are running, and it's getting increasingly harder to see. I won't even talk about how painful it is to breathe. I sprint down corridors, sliding around corners as fast as I can without slamming into walls or losing my balance. Another staircase comes into view.
It's much clearer over here, easier to think, to function. I take the steps two at a time, winding down the curving flight until I reach the ground floor of the Manor. The night of our fight, Kadeeth took Martina home. When I asked him about it during our reconciliation he told me Martina lives on the first floor. I could check on him. Or I could focus on my goal and escape before things potentially get worse down here too.
A small detour won't hurt.
~*~
The first floor is much more eventful than the second one was. More people are still hanging about, mostly servants either unable or too scared to leave. I finally spotted the first Ravenous Knight I've seen this entire time. I don't recognize him, but I waste no time in my approach.
"Newbie? What are you still doing here?" He barely spares me a glance while bending down to check the pulse of an unconscious woman leaning against the wall. It looks like someone tried to drag her but panicked midway and gave up. She probably took in too much smoke, since I can't identify any external injuries.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. What's the situation, and our response?" His focus remains on the woman in front of us. He tries to gently shake her awake, but there's no response. The only motion is the lull of her head, smudging grime off the wall onto her delicate features, as he moves her.
"A fire broke out in the maze, ugh, and it's spread to most of the other gardens." He wraps one of the woman's limp arms around his neck, "How about giving me a hand?"
"Uh, yeah!" I snap out of my daze and put the interrogation on hold. I crouch at the woman's other side and help lift her so that we're both supporting her weight.
"I haven't been outside yet, but Captain Ashley's around here somewhere, and he seems to be a little too uneasy about all this if you ask me." He explains through labored grunts, "I think something else might be going on too."
We set a steady stride and make our way towards a known servant's exit. It's often used by gardeners and guards returning from the gate, so it leads directly outside. Probably to the heart of the garden disaster, but we can deal with that once we're in the fresh air.
The woman we're carrying is heavier set, but the only reason we're both struggling to support her is because with all the smoke in our lungs and discarded clutter on the floor, we're first struggling to support ourselves. At our peak conditions, either one of us would've already carried her to safety, even on our own.
The Knight continues his speculations, "Otherwise he wouldn't have sent a group of Knights to secure the perimeter." My head shoots up, focus entirely rerouted onto his words.
"The Captain sent Knights to check the perimeter?"
"Yeah. When the fire was reported most people filed their rooms and gathered on this floor, including the Captain. He ordered some of us to evacuate the Riddotha family and staff, sent others to contain the fire until help arrives to extinguish it, and then called our best fighters to lock down the gate and secure the estate." He finishes, choking on a cloud of smoke trailing out of an open door.
"Why would he waste manpower on the gate when the Manor and gardens are where the danger is?" I think out loud.
We enter the final stretch to the servants exit. The passage is narrow and low, with scorched wooden beams supporting the ceiling. The structure of it looks like this must be a passage that's been recently added on. Unfortunately, it's full of foggy gray smog.
"He wouldn't. The Captain has an excellent sense of priority." The Knight starts down the hall at a quicker pace. Flames lick at our heels, slithering out of open rooms and climbing up the flammable supports.
"Then-"
My revelation is cut off by a loud boom reverberating through the hallway. A hot cloud of smoke, ash, and flame bursts out of a doorway about five feet ahead of us. A crack follows the initial explosion, and suddenly the beams meant to keep the passage intact are on top of us.