How long did it take for Nic to regret doing it? Not all that long, in all honesty.
Originally he had bought a ticket to a ship, as it had been cheaper than he had expected and had been looking forward to a quiet time travelling to Kou'alSol. And even if it had been cheaper than he had been expecting, it was still a notable sum, as he would not have had to do anything, except get himself on board. But alas...
"Grab'on, gonna be wild!"
Instead of this he was desperately clinging to the mast of the small dinghy Gertie had stolen – "Borrowed, dammit, I tell'ya!" – and besides him the small panting ball of fur, four big bags full of stolen goods, his own stuff and a hooting Kwez on his head. Two hastily called upon Windmakers doing just what their name implied, making for a rather speedy getaway, while he was fearing either falling out or the boat giving in as he was rather sure it wasn't built for such high speed.
The windmakers themselves
looked a little like overinflated bellows, made up entirely out of clouds. One blowing wind into their own sail and giving them incredible speed, while the other did the opposite to the people chasing them. Still, he was a bit surprised about the size of things, in his imagination he had been a bit doubtful they would be of any use at all. There was some mentioning of alchemy or something, he wasn't that sure, but when he did call on them Kwez did something and well. Nic was regardless rather sure that what happened was way out of what should have happened.
"Hehe, with'im blowin' like'at we'll be in Kou inna breeze," Gertie hollered laughing wildly. Her voice still was a point of deep irritation to Nic, he couldn't help but think of a rough guy.
Still holding on for dear life he started moaning breathlessly, "Why, oh why did it come to this?!"
Why indeed? It might be that Nic had managed to upset any kind of god or goddess at some point and was now paying the penalty for that. Or someone wished him interesting times. Mayhap he just was a walking disaster area, who knew?
In any case they had to flee head over heels as Gertie's operations pertaining robbery had become known and his association with her as well. So, they had to get out of Aquatica asap and keep away from the city for a good long while. How had that even happened in the first place? Well, let's just say that an invisible dog wasn't noticeable as long as it didn't go and peed or took a dump somewhere. Seeing as it was but a puppy that was not house trained yet, well. One might imagine how that exactly went.
People might get frightened of unusual sounds but were less terrified when stepping into a puddle of canine pee or poop. No, they were rather angry, as that usually happened being bare-footed – totally normal in your own house and home, mind – and without warning. The accompanying smell did about the rest. Still, that had not been the thing that had been the problem.
Yeah, nice and well to go and steal from people well off, but trying to sell the stuff on the black market in the same city was a bit of a no-no. Especially if the black market dealers were not exactly inclined to try selling the stolen goods to their former owners, as there were too little differing aristocratical families with severe enough feuds going on to pull such stunts, even it trying to sell to the rivaling family.
Meaning Gertie had mainly been caught as she had been trying to sell the stolen goods in the city itself. The criminal underworld was on rather good and working terms with the local aristocrats, so well, the result was rather predestined in that case.
Normally, if you were a thief, you'd not try to sell what you took from others in the same city. That much was something that Nic knew, even with him being regarded as a country bumpkin, even it a well-read one. That was logical, even with being not, that much Nic was sure about.
Worried he looked back and couldn't help but goggle. He rubbed his eyes with one hand he painstakingly took of the mast and still, speechlessly his mouth opened and closed on his own accord.
"Where's the city?" he asked after a while, not quite believing what he was seeing.
"See'at sma'point? That's'e city," Gertie shouted, still keeping direction. The boat was flying over the waves. Foaming the water flew about where they were crossing it, wetness spraying them time and again.
Had they really gotten that far away in such a short time? Nic was astounded, Aquatica was just barely visible in the distance. Remarkable, really.
"Gonna leave'ehind da Sweet Ocean soon'nough. From'ere we're jus'following da river. Is like a boarder or somethin'," Gertie announced while they were still speeding in.
"Master, the windmakers are going to vanish soon," Kwez casually remarked.
Frowning Nic nodded, trying to recall what he had been able to piece together about the creatures. You could evoke the windmakers every two days and for a couple of hours they would do as their name already explained. Though there was something else, he just couldn't quite remember what that exactly was.
Right, could be called upon every two days, a few hours of wind and then they'd either... Oh. Oh.
That was the exact moment Nic started letting lose a string of all the expletives known to him, and then some –he was fluid at least in cursing in quite a number of languages. It was hardly visible, but even the usually crass Gertie was red like a tomato underneath all that hair.
After the fiasco that had been them leaving Aquatica Nic was glad when the two-day mark had finally passed. Wonderful helpers windmakers might be, but after vanishing there there would be no wind whatsoever until the moment they could be called upon again had passed. Meaning it had been absolutely windless within the area they had been doing his bidding. There was nothing, no slight breeze, no movement in the air at all. As they had been called upon in Aquatica herself, well...
He had an inkling that the air wasn't moving much there either, so at least if someone was after them they'd be faced with the same problem of sails being absolutely of no use. Though they at least slowly passed some distance, thankfully they had reached the river the other day before the creatures had just vanished.
As he didn't know what about the goods was how important to whom he didn't want to unnecessarily jinx it though. If there were important enough pieces within there then Nic was reasonably sure that there were nobles wanting to get them back and paying a pretty enough penny would attract adventurers or bounty hunters easily enough. But for making an accurate guess he was missing too much information about Aquatica and its infrastructure in general20. So, a lot of his ideas and fears were just assumptions and guesswork.
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20He really had no concept of the distance they had crossed by that point. Even the most ardent and powerful rowers would have trouble to get to them in a timely manner. In theory and with enough manpower one might come to their point by doing so in three to four days, yes. But for that there had to be non-stop action and the rowers would have to apply equal strength and full power for that. As they were people and not machines and ships not all that large, well. It wasn't exactly all that feasible to begin with.