Dokeshi March: Chapter 26 (Patreon)

Chapter 26

The sound of Grant’s sneeze seemed to echo down the alley, making both him and Suki wince.  They held their breath, huddled together, waiting for someone to turn and look for the source of the explosive sneeze.  It didn’t happen.  The stomping sound of all the soldiers marching in step was loud enough to drown out the sound of Grant’s ill-timed mistake.

“Whew, that was close.”  Suki eyed Grant as he spoke.  “What?  It wasn’t like I did it on purpose!”

“Just… control yourself, would you?”  Suki stepped away from him and started looking around for a way to climb up on the roof of the building they had been leaning against.  “We need to get higher, to see what these people are up to.”

“I’m pretty sure they are looking for us.”  Grant started piling up a bunch of loose crates laying around.  “Why else would they be here?”

“The better question is if they are just checking with the guards, or headed inside.”  Suki decided to help pile the boxes and crates, since she didn’t see any easier way to the roof.  “If they are going into the casino, it means we need to find a different entrance.  There is no way we can sneak around with all those people looking for us.”

Realizing she was right, Grant started piling boxes even faster.  The thought of having to walk dozens of miles just to get inside a stupid casino was very unwelcome.  He managed to get a precarious stack that should be tall enough for them to reach the roof.  The whole process had only taken a few minutes.

“You go first.”  Grant motioned for Suki to start climbing.  “I’m heavier, and at least one of us needs to make it to the roof.  I might bring the whole thing down.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure.”  Suki’s eyes ran up and down his body, obviously weighing him with her mind.  “Your armor probably weighs as much as I do by itself.”

Grant wasn’t sure if she was calling him fat, or strong.  He looked down at himself, still slightly amazed to see his muscular form instead of the corpulent mass he had been less than three months ago.  Before he could ask for clarification, she was already disappearing onto the roof.

“Hey, quit looking at your abs and get up here!”  Suki whispered sharply down at Grant, her head peeking over the edge of the rusting gutters for a quick second.  “You need to see this!”

<Ha!  She caught you!>  Grant blushed furiously at Sarge’s words.  <Looking at yourself is just weird.  Now, get up there and see what the big deal is.>

“It isn’t that weird.”  Grant mumbled under his breath as he started climbing.  The short trip wasn’t easy, and more than one box crumbled under his boots.  As the precarious pile started to lean dangerously away from the wall, Grant jumped for the edge of the roof.  The gutter groaned loudly, and the boxes and crates made a terrible crash as they fell over, sending debris clattering up and down the alley.  Before the rusted metal could completely tear away from the edge of the building, he managed to pull himself up onto the rooftop in a straight-arm pull-up.

“Could you possibly make any more noise?”  Suki finally reached over to help him get all the way up.  “I mean, seriously, that was way worse than the sneeze.”

“Oops.”  Grant shrugged, not sure what else he was supposed to say.  “It wasn’t on purpose.”

“Just… be more careful, would you?”  Pointing out a few weak spots in the roof tiles, Suki moved up to the peak of the building.  “And watch your footing.  This place is more rot than wood.”

Moving carefully, Grant crouched next to her.  After making sure he wasn’t about to fall through, he looked up to see the Dokeshi’s Vassal and the House Saturday assassin talking to the gate guards.  A large clock was hung over the doorway, and it showed there was less than thirty minutes until the barrier opened and the entrance would open.  The rest of the troops were moving up and down the line of people waiting to get into the casino, forcing them to doff hoods and hats alike so they could get a better look at who was trying to gain entry.

“It looks like they are just looking for us, not actually going inside.”  Grant tried to squint to get a better look at the Vassal and assassin, but they were too far away for him to see much of anything.  “We should be okay once we get inside.”

“Yeah, but how do we make it past all those guards checking everyone?”  Suki scooted to the right a little farther to get a better look.  “There are too many for us to just slip by.”

“How many are there?”  From his angle, Grant could only see a few guards searching everyone.  Since he made a larger silhouette, he was forced to crouch lower than Suki.  “Can you get a good count?”

“Give me a second.”  Suki’s voice sounded strained, so Grant looked over to see her foot was stuck between a couple of loose shingles.  “This part of the roof is really unstable.”

“Yeah, I see that.”  Grant was fighting a smile.  “Do you need some help over there?”

“No, you’re too heavy.  You might bring the house down around us.”  Suki finally got free, and carefully worked her way higher for a better look.  “I see at least fifty, not counting the Vassal and Wielder.  There are probably triple that number of people waiting to make it inside when the door opens.”  She crouched back down and turned to look at Grant.  “What we need is a distraction.  Something that will make them abandon the search so we can blend in with the crowd.”

“Where are we going to find a distraction big enough to pull all those guards away?”  Grant motioned to the barren rooftop they were crouched on.  “It isn’t like we can just throw roof tiles at them until they charge us.”

Suki eyed him for a second, before her eyes drifted to the crumbling chimney at the center of the roof.  Not saying anything, she carefully picked her way over to the stack of red brick and mortar.  It took a moment, but she was able to pry loose a few bricks where the chimney met the roofline.

“Be careful.  If you pull out too many of those bricks, that chimney is going to collapse onto the roof, and bring this whole building down.”  Grant started working his way over to her, making sure to spread his weight out as best as possible.  “I don’t want to still be up here if that happens.”

“I know this may sound crazy, but I think that’s exactly what we are going to do.”  Suki hefted a brick, testing its weight.  “If we can get a bunch of them inside, then drop the top half of the chimney onto the roof, I think the whole building will collapse with them inside.”  She peeked over the edge to make sure the situation hadn’t changed.  “Any of them not trapped inside will rush to try and save the ones we manage to take down.”

“How are we supposed to drop the chimney on them, without ending up in the collapse too?”  Grant was testing the sturdiness by roughly poking the rotting wood where it touched brick.  “This will come down too fast for us to try and jump over to the next building.”  Suki bit her lower lip in thought.  It was definitely a problem.

<What about your lightning spell?>  Sarge’s interruption was sudden enough that Grant almost jumped in surprise.  <Doesn’t the training version provide a speed boost?>  He pulled up the information to check.

Elemental Spell: Thundering Step

Prerequisites: 65 Mind. Two feet. Metal weapon.

Active Mode: Create a static field in a five foot radius around you that damages others when they move through the area. Does not move from the point it was set. Lasts five seconds.

Mana cost: 10 per use.

Damage(Self): 0% Mental cultivation.

Damage(Other): 100% Mental cultivation per second.

Training Mode: Increase movement speed by 50% while out of combat. Combat is defined as not dealing or taking damage from an opponent for five seconds.

Mana cost: 10% per second. Mana regen halted while active.

“I think I have an idea.”  Grant’s hand unconsciously drifted to rest on the hilt of his sword.  “There may be a shocking way to pull this off.”