Lieze could celebrate her new levels later. The small army chasing her through the castle gardens was her main concern at that moment. As she passed through the stone archway leading towards the hillside descent, she cursed every fibre of her own being for getting caught up in such an obvious trap.
"Alistair wanted the throne all along… of course he did! How could I have been so foolish!?" Her heart pounded, "Tonberg's citizens are hoping for Ricta's abdication… they'll adore the idea of the Church stepping up to replace him! That wrinkled old man has probably been searching for an opportunity like this for years!"
Thankfully, the order to capture her hadn't quite funnelled down the chain of command. As she stole through the gatehouses leading down from the castle, yet more guards were caught up in the rattling stampede hot on her trail. All-too-late crossbowmen took pot-shots from their arrow slits, bouncing bolts from the stone fortifications while Lieze vanished around the descent's many corners.
New Quest Received!
'Escape!' - Lose your pursuers
Reward - 1,000xp
"Oh, for the love of-" Lieze dismissed the notification with a wave of her arm, "Don't blind me while I'm trying to do exactly that!"
The mob was still present beyond the final - or, rather, the first - gatehouse. The encirclement of guards preventing anyone from storming the castle was the final obstacle between Lieze and freedom. She would have been quite confident in her chances, if a familiar man wasn't standing directly in the way, staring her down like a statue.
"...Helmach!" Lieze was more out of breath than she would have cared to admit, "Quite frankly, I don't have time to spar with you today! If you would be so kind, do you think you could move-"
An instant later, her neck was craning back to avoid the gargantuan sword swinging around from Helmach's side. She recoiled at the decisive moment when the hunk of iron passed above her face - still alive, but ever-so-slightly convinced that she was completely out of her league.
Technique Observed (+12%)
The familiar sound of light coalescing into solid matter was audible from her rear. Helmach was about to impale her, but just as Ricta had been betrayed by Alistair, a knight from the Order of Green Dragons stepped forward to grab the Acolyte's wrist just as he was about to loose a javelin towards Lieze.
"Sir Helmach! Are you mad!?" He screamed, "There is a crowd of innocent civilians in that direction! Do you mean to sacrifice innocent lives for the chance at killing one woman - a woman we haven't even had the time to question!?"
"Hmph!" With a demonstration of incontestable strength, Helmach shook off the knight's grasp with the ease of pushing a child aside before taking aim with his javelin, "...Hah!"
Sparkles of golden light followed in the spear's wake as it tore through the air. Lieze had already half-vanished into the crowd, which parted in a chorus of terrified screams as Helmach released his spell. The death throes of innocent civilians, at the very least, told Lieze that his aim hadn't exactly been on the mark.
She was given a decisive few seconds to decide on her next move as she faded into the crowd. Returning to the hideout was incredibly risky. If Helmach or any of the royalists discovered where her thralls were located, it wouldn't be long before she and the others would be fending off waves of attacks from the city. But where else could she go?
Before anything else, she needed to escape from the city. The fleeing hordes of terrified civilians made for excellent cover on the way back to the southern gate - though she didn't need to cast a glance behind her to know that Helmach was probably still hot on her heels. Frankly, the only factor keeping them at a distance was the man's cumbersome armour and sword. And even then, he was keeping pace with her quite comfortably.
Technique Observed (+12%)
Technique Observed (+12%)
Glimmering javelins of pure light careened past her head. Helmach wasn't concerned in the slightest by any of the innocent citizens between him and his target. He wanted Lieze dead. She couldn't exactly blame him - he had abandoned the chance to do so many times before.
Technique Observed (+12%)
Technique Learned!
Type: [Spell] Name: [Golden Javelin]
Description - Use 75MP to create a spear of light which must be aimed manually and thrown, dealing approximately [100] HP damage on a hit. If this attack does not connect with a valid target, its mana cost is reduced by half, rounded down.
"A holy spell!?" Lieze thought, "I'm offended! In what world would I ever lower myself to relying on such a pitiful school!?"
Her protests could come later. There was crucial information she could gather from the spell's description - namely, that Helmach most likely didn't have the MP to be throwing them out with such reckless abandon. That realisation must have come as a surprise to him, considering he no longer had the means to attack from a distance once the crowd had thinned out and Lieze was squarely in his sights.
"This isn't good… even if it's just Helmach, I'm not sure we're organised enough to deal with him." Her thoughts raced, "Is Marché back from collecting thralls? Has Drayya concluded her business at the farmsteads? The last thing I want is to contend with Helmach myself…"
For the first time since she had awoken in the clinic, the throughway leading towards Tonberg's southern entrance was completely deserted. The guards normally stationed at the gatehouse had been relocated to deal with the ongoing dissidence in the streets, leaving Lieze with a convenient escape route.
"Wha-" As her eyes focused on the archway leading out to the countryside, her eyes widened, "Drayya!?"
Sauntering with a confused expression towards the gate, the young lady was brought to attention by Lieze's cry, "...Lieze?"
"Go back!" She screamed, "Go back to the hideout!"
"What are you-" Leaning to the side, Drayya's bemusement melted away as realisation dawned, "...Oh, shit."
The inconsolable behemoth chasing after Lieze was more than enough to get her legs moving. The sight was almost comical from a distance - Lieze chasing Drayya, and Helmach chasing Lieze. From downwind, the choking scent of smoke brought the latter's attention to Drayya's handiwork. In the distance, mills, farmhouses, and fields of grain were alight. If nothing else, Lieze's diversion had accomplished exactly what it set out to do.
"-Care to tell me how you've managed to persuade Helmach to chase you through the streets in broad daylight?" Slowing her sprint to match pace with Lieze, Drayya's tone was laced with desperate humour, "I'd only just finished dropping my thralls off at the hideout, and now I'm heading all the way back!"
"Alistair has staged a coup." Lieze summarised.
"A coup? Alistair?" She repeated, "...Alistair, the old man? The fossil always standing by Ricta's side? Wait - no, how do you even know this? Were you at the castle?"
"Hah.. I was at the castle, yes… Drayya - let's just focus on Helmach for now, shall we?" Lieze pleaded, "I'm… not entirely sure I can hold a conversation and outrun him at the same time…"
"Are we taking him all the way back to the hideout!?" Drayya asked, "Why don't we just hand ourselves over the Church while we're at it!? Or better yet - I'll just tell them where to find our home in the Deadlands!?"
"Don't underestimate our capabilities…" Lieze warned, "The hideout is our stronghold. We have everything we need there to put Helmach out of his misery…"
"For the sake of keeping our heads attached to our necks, I hope you're right…"
"Is Marché there?"
"Oh, yes. He was enjoying a lie-in when I popped by earlier." Drayya explained, "Let me tell you - that man spends more time sleeping than a bear in winter. I'm almost glad we're bringing Helmach along. Perhaps it'll finally get him up."
This was it, Lieze realised. Her final confrontation with Helmach was fast approaching. If she couldn't find a way to kill a single man at her most powerful, then how was she ever going to conquer Tonberg? Thankfully, Helmach's shameless murdering of innocent civilians combined with the density of the crowd had stalled the royalists long enough to lose sight of Lieze.
As they sprinted south from the city perimeter, the enormous weight shouldered by Helmach eventually got the better of him. No matter the difference between his and Lieze's athleticism, lugging around a sword larger than oneself would place quite the strain on one's stamina. The growing distance between them, however, wasn't quite enough for Helmach to lose sight of the duo.
"Remember the safe route!" Drayya warned, "One wrong step, and you'll be strung up in a tree or at the bottom of a pit!"
"I remember, Drayya. I'm not a child." Lieze puffed her cheeks out.
"I'm just checking!" She replied, "We ought to move the thralls outside while we're afforded a few minutes to prepare for Helmach's arrival. Once he inevitably gets caught up in a trap, finishing him off shouldn't be a problem."
"Wouldn't you rather use the entrance as a choke point?" Lieze suggested.
"A choke point!? The last thing we want is to declare ourselves the defenders! If Helmach was so inclined, he could retreat and return with an army from the city!" She argued, "No - the time for skulduggery and anonymity is long past. Helmach humiliated us last time. But now he's wandered on his lonesome straight into the lion's den. We will never have another opportunity like this."
As much as Lieze didn't want to admit it, Drayya was correct. Her last encounter with Helmach had left her apprehensive to consider meeting him on equal ground, but attempting to fight defensively would only give him the opportunity to retreat if necessary. With the odds stacked against her cult, it was imperative that Lieze exploited every one of her enemies' mistakes.
"Right. Of course." She agreed, "Let's not hold back. We need as many thralls as we can control participating in this battle. You mentioned that Marché is still here, didn't you?"
"I did. Why?"
"We gave him permission to use the Briarknight for his mission in Saptra. If he's still there, that means the Briarknight is, too. Combined with the Rot Behemoth, we'll stand a much better chance of facing off against Helmach."
"Remember your father's way, Lieze." Drayya reminded, "-Weaker thralls are nothing more than a means to an end. Don't hesitate to place them on the line if it means protecting yourself."
"Goodness. Are you concerning yourself with my wellbeing, Drayya?"
"You- don't act so smug about it! You know I hate these sorts of conversations!" Frowning, she returned her gaze to the path, "If you haven't noticed, we currently have a mad dog on our tail! I would appreciate it if you could take this seriously!"
"I'm not trying to embarrass you." Lieze replied, "Just try to take your own advice, will you? There's no need to do anything rash. If we play our cards right, victory should come effortlessly."
"Naturally, my strategies are always perfect, so there's no need to worry."
"'Always perfect', are they? What about that time we were plotting against the royalist ambush in the eastern forest during the siege? If I remember rightly, Graeme ended up choosing my stratagem over yours."
"I thought you said you weren't trying to embarrass me!?"
"Oh… there's no winning against you, is there?"
No matter the circumstances, the two of them would always be arguing back-and-forth like children. Truthfully, in some far-flung corner of her mind, Lieze was thankful for the brief reprieve - though she would never admit to that. Her nerves were calmed, and with that peace, the confidence to begin plotting against Helmach's suicidal charge reared its head.
"The time has finally arrived…" Realising the culmination of that day's events, Lieze steeled herself for the coming war, "I'm not useless anymore. I'll prove that to everyone."