DF213 - Blow Wind Blow (Patreon)

“Oops,” Kelsey said. “More trouble inbound.”

She pointed out to sea. It took a moment for Anton to work it out, but two of the lights floating out there were moving more purposefully. Getting closer.

“They must have spotted… our ship moving out here and decided to investigate,” Kelsey mused. “What do you want to do?”

Anton thought about it. If he had Whiskerwind move away, the fleet would still know that there was something interesting here. They wouldn’t find much in the darkness, but if they stuck around until daybreak they might well find the cave. A passage right past his defenses and into his town.

If Calis was working for the Tiatians then they already knew about it, but if she wasn’t, he couldn’t afford to let them find out about it. Not until he’d managed to patch that gaping vulnerability.

He opened his mouth to ask Kelsey for the radio, only to see that she was holding the speaking bit out to him. He gave it a dubious look. He did know how to work it, it was just… unnatural.

He took the device and pushed the button.

“Cheia,” he said, and released it.

“You’re supposed to say, Breaker Breaker, Big Daddy,” his sister-in-law replied. “Over.”

Anton took a single breath, held and released it.

“Cheia,” he repeated.

“Yes, sir. Over.”

“I need you to keep the Tiatians away from this spot. Warn them off first, but if they don’t respond… sink them. Over.”

The rustling noise that passed for silence on this thing lasted a bit longer than usual before Cheia responded.

“Understood. Is Tyla coming back? Over.”

“No, I need her for tracking. Over.”

Tyla would be of use on the Whiskerwind, he had no doubt, but he would be mad to try to track someone through the forest on his own when there was an elf available.

“Without her, we can’t hide the fire from the Decksweeper,” Cheia warned. “They’ll know what we did, and what we can do. Over.”

“Understood. They would have found out eventually. Head back to the docks if you think you’re going to be overwhelmed. This spot is important, but your lives are more important. Over.”

“Don’t worry about us! There aren’t enough ships out there to overwhelm us!”

Aris grabbed the device out of Anton’s hand. “Don’t you take any risks, girl! You’d better come back to Mum and Dad in one piece, or I’ll tan your hide!”

“Yikes! Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. Over and out.”

Shouldn’t I be the one who decides when the conversation is over? Anton thought, but he let Kelsey put the radio away.

“Alright, Tyla, can you find the tracks we’re looking for?” he asked.

“You mean those ones?” Tyla replied, pointing.

Kelsey flicked her torch that way, to illuminate a patch of low-lying boulders.

“Are you—can you track over rocks?” Anton asked incredulously.

Tyla rolled her eyes. “That was an elf joke,” she said. “The tracks are over here.”

She walked over to a patch of ground that seemed unremarkable until Kelsey’s torchlight picked out some discarded rope.

“One set of tracks up to here,” Tyla said. “Elara was carried, then dropped here.”

She pointed at a spot that looked just like the rest of the ground to Anton.

“Calis cut her legs free,” Tyla continued, “Then they walked together, but not side to side. One in front of the other. Either Calis made her go first, or Elara is being dragged on a leash.”

“That’s amazing, Tyla,” Anton said honestly. He’d never had much use for tracking before, in the dungeon, and he was amazed at what she could read from so few clues.

Tyla clicked her tongue and scowled. “Elara is barefoot,” she said. “Her pretty princess feet will be cut up once she gets into the forest.”

“Elara isn’t that pampered,” Aris said. “She had some points to put into Toughness.”

“If you say so,” Tyla said doubtfully. “I think we will be needing to give her a healing potion.”

“Bags not one of mine!” Kelsey interjected.

“Don’t worry, Kelsey, I still have some from the capital,” Anton said. “We shouldn’t waste any more time, then. Let’s start following them.”

Tyla nodded. “Should we put out the light?” she asked. “If they know we are coming, they will move faster.”

Anton looked ahead of them, further inland. He could barely make out where the deeper darkness of the nearest forest loomed. He was fairly certain that was where the trail would lead.

“Let’s do that,” he said slowly. “Tyla, you lead and follow the trail. Kelsey, you follow her and keep us out of trouble.” While high Perception helped in the darkness, it wasn’t the dark vision that Zaphar or Tyla had.

“Can do,” Kelsey chirped. “You want we should follow a ways back, so they don’t hear you stumbling around in the dark?”

“We’re not going to stumble,” Anton said with a trace of indignation. His Agility was over thirty, and Aris’s was higher. They might have to feel their way past trees, they might get turned around, but the idea that either of them could trip over something was ridiculous.

“Yeah, yeah, didn’t mean to step on your acrobat pride there,” Kelsey said dismissively. “Tyla’s headed in this direction.”

The darkness did slow them down, especially once they reached the treeline. Tyla could flit ahead and scout the path without issue, but Aris and Anton did have to find their way over roots and other obstacles without the aid of sight. Kelsey was slowed by the need to stay with them, but she was also hampered by her disdain for Tyla’s “acrobatics”.

According to her, she was used to moving her point-of-view around, “like flying”, and jumping and climbing were pale imitations of that. She preferred to walk “like a normal person” and clamber only when absolutely necessary.

Even so, they made good time. Better than the ones they were chasing. Tyla reported her conclusion that Elara still had her hands tied, based on the route the pair took. Calis must be helping her over obstacles, but it still slowed them down.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Tyla came back and told them there were voices ahead.

“Lead the way,” Anton said quietly. Tyla nodded and led them through the darkness.

It wasn’t long before Anton could hear the voices. A few moments later, he could make them out.

“It doesn’t matter how fast you are, my knife is a lot closer!” That sounded like Calis, and Anton didn’t like what she was saying.

“If you kill her, then what will you do? You can’t sell a corpse!”

That was… Zaphar? Anton moved forward more urgently, but all that meant was that no one was surprised when he burst out into the clearing.

Zaphar and the men Anton had sent with him were engaged in a standoff with Calis, who was holding Elara hostage, a knife at her throat.

“Lord Nos!” Calis exclaimed. “Tell your men to back off, or the princess dies!”

Anton took in the situation. Princess Elara was alive, looking scared, but not panicking. Her arms were tied, and she was wearing just a night shift. Her feet, as Tyla had guessed, were bare and bleeding.

Calis was holding a sharp knife to the princess’s throat. Her back was to a large tree, thick enough to shield her from any attack from behind.

Tyla materialised beside him. “I can kill her before she can use the knife,” she said, half drawing her bow. It was one she had purchased in town, made by a local. Not one of Kelsey’s efforts.

“Bullets are faster than arrows,” Aris said coldly from his other side. “Trick Shot can take her out, or I can just shoot her hand. Whatever you decide.”

“You heard them,” Anton said. “If you surrender now, I can let you go unharmed.”

Elara might complain about her captor being freed, but Anton was no magistrate. If it got Calis to let her go, then he didn’t care about retribution.

“That’s a very generous offer, my Lord,” Caris said. “However, what you’ve failed to consider is—”

Light bloomed from her free hand. Bright light. Anton heard Elara scream, and he wanted to rush foward but… he couldn’t look. It was too bright.

Then it went away, and Anton was lost in darkness.

“I can’t see!” The cry came from all around the clearing, from Tyla and Zaphar and his men.

“Don’t panic!” Kelsey yelled. “It will get better in a bit.”

She swore. “Should have worn protection, but who wears sunglasses at night? This’ll fade; your eyes will adjust back in a few moments.”

She flicked her torch on, and Anton realised she was right. The bright light had made the darkness worse, but his vision was coming back.

“Where’s Calis?” he asked.

“Gone,” Kelsey answered. “My eyes can see more stuff, but they work the same way as yours. She took off while we were all blinded. Must have closed her eyes at the last minute.”

Anton felt his heart grow cold. “We have to get after her,” he said.

“She won’t have gotten far. Once Tyla can see again, we’ll catch her pretty quick.”

“It’s not just us out here,” Anton reminded her. “Whoever it is that she’s meeting, they’ll have seen that light. They’ll be headed our way.”

“Right.” Kelsey flicked her torch off. “The light might be reassuring, but it’s not getting your night vision back faster.”

“It’s fine,” Tyla said. “I can see again. Turn on the light, they know we’re coming.”

She stepped over to the tree where Calis had stood. “Some kind of powder?” she asked, looking down at the ground.

“Alchemical,” Anton said with a grimace. “She must have broken a vial of flash powder.”

Glow powder had its uses in dungeons, but Anton knew that alchemists could vary the brightness at the cost of how long the glow lasted. Taken to the extreme, you ended up with flash powder.

“This way,” Tyla said. She started to move, then paused. “Do you think she has any more of that powder?”

“These should help,” Kelsey said. “Good thing I’ve got a spare.”

She held out a small visor made of a black shiny substance. Anton didn’t recognise it, but she was wearing a similar one on her face. Tyla took the item cautiously and put it on.

“Can I get one of those?” Aris asked.

“Well, yes, but no,” Kelsey said. She took off hers and handed it to Aris.

“I can’t see anything!” Aris said when she put it on.

Tyla was looking around curiously.

“Yeah, see, Tyla can see in wavelengths you can’t, which is why she can see in the dark,” Kelsey explained. “The glasses block the light you can see, so it just makes everything darker for you.”

“It is strange,” Tyla said. “But I think I can track in these.”

Aris pouted and gave the glasses back to Kelsey.

“If it’s any consolation,” Kelsey said. “This is terribly uncool.”

They moved faster this time. There was light to see by, and they didn’t have to care about stealth. They didn’t have anywhere near as far to go, either.

This time, there was no convenient clearing to bring their quarry to bay. Thick brush and trees were all around, but a gap opened up in the foliage at just the right moment. Kelsey’s torch slipped through it, illuminating their target.

Calis snarled and whirled around, dragging a crying Princess Elara behind her. Elara didn’t seem to have recovered from the close-range flash powder.

Then a shout came through the trees.

“Who goes there!”

“About time you got here!” Calis yelled. “I’ve got your princess!”

Anton charged through the bushes, but Calis dragged the princess closer to the oncoming shouts. Five men emerged from the forest before Anton could reach her. Five men, with more coming behind.

All of them were wearing the tabards of the Glimmering Lancers.

“I thought I saw you all off,” Anton growled, coming to a halt at the sight of their drawn swords. His friends were behind him, and for the moment, he had the advantage.

The man in front paled when he recognised Anton, but he stood his ground.

“You’re outnumbered, Lord Nos,” he stated. “The rest of my unit is right behind me.”

“Ha! Do you want to tell him, or should I?” Kelsey said smugly from behind.

“I’ll tell him,” said a different voice—from a different direction.

Samira bint Kareth walked out from behind a tree.

“I’ll tell you all,” she said. “The princess stays here. Everyone else, can run or die.”