Chapter 28, in which the Adventurers find a carpet and fight hunters and guards

Vodok
"Are flyin' carpets comfor'ble? 'Cause all 'is walkin's makin' me tired..." Vodok asked and forced himself to continue walking. "Yes. They are very comfortable. Keep on walking." Vodivir said clearly while concentrating on cleaning his already clean hammer.

Fire Aclay
Fire Aclay was imagining things. He needed a cool drink.

Red Un
Red Un ducked as an arrow passed inches from his head.

"Hey, stop that!"

Then he realised that (for once) it wasn't his group that was fighting among themselves. He saw something green move rapidly between the trees.

"Great, hunters..."

Tetazuno
Rik followed Red Un through the forest. The arrow that had narrowly missed Red Un hit Rik in the arm.

"Argh!" Rik shouted as he pulled the arrow out and quickly healed himself.

"Nobody gets to put an arrow in my arm and then get away with it..." Rik said, as he loaded his crossbow and readied his axe in an easy grabbing spot, then ran into the deeper forest.

Braldril
Braldril picked up the arrow that had hit Rik after he had pulled it out. He looked at it closely.

"Well I’m not so sure these are hunters that we are dealing with. These arrows are not familiar to me..."

Braldril looked up and saw Rik running off into the forest. He rolled his eyes and took off after him, axe and shield in hand.

Vitata
Vitata stayed apart from the group, holding a large bundle of clothes he had robbed from the archers and Melrod's as well. With these clothes, I know Melrod won't go back on the deal... He smiled and didn't notice the rest of the team being attacked by hunters. He took some of the armour he had stolen from passing outlaws and put them on under his black thief's robe and cloak. Suddenly, an arrow was released and it struck the place where Vitata's head had been while putting on the armour... his shoulder. Pulling the arrow out, a long line of blood gushed from the wound and anger bubbled within him. I'm one of them and they still attack me... He pulled out his brightsword and his belt of throwing knives. Sword in his left hand and knives in his right, he rushed at the bushes, throwing knives in every direction.

Tranquillity
Ahead of her Tranquillity saw an arrow shoot by Red Un and bury itself in Rik's arm, seconds later another arrow shot by a foot behind her and lodged itself in Vitata's shoulder. She saw both men rush into the bushes in search of the culprits. Suddenly Tranquillity heard a whizzing sound behind her and dived for the ground, drawing her sword from the sheath on her back before she landed, the steel glinted a dull silver. One had come so close that it had clipped off a lock of her hair and was now quivering in the tree in front of her with her hair pinned in front of it. She felt her hair. Suddenly her eyes changed from their former green colour, narrowed and became an icy blue colour, the same colour that her huge sword was now glowing. She leaped up onto her feet. "That's it, now you band of murderer's are gonna PAY!" she screamed. She charged into the trees and bushes behind her, seconds later shouts and screams could be heard from the area which Tranquillity had just entered, none of them her own.

Tujex
Tujex aimed his crossbow carefully. He aimed, and aimed until he found the exact moment to shoot. He shot his crossbow, and heard it make contact with something. He rushed to the tree that his bolt had embedded itself in, and found a piece of cloth hanging from it. “Darn it, I almost had him.” Tujex growled, as he turned to go back to the others. As soon as he took his first step he was snatched into a tree, and was hanging upside down by a rope. Then three arrows found their way into his shoulder, he managed to swing out of the way of the other five which would have gotten his head, heart, and lungs. “Damnit!” he swore as he snatched the arrows from his shoulder, and cut himself down with his knife.

Vodok
Vodivir was holding his war hammer over his head ready to swing. Vodok was already holding a sudden death rune in one hand and a shield in the other. A twig cracked. Vodivir made a large (large for a dwarf, that is) horizontal swing, narrowly missing Vodoks helmet. He slowly walked towards the broken twig and found a large stone between two bits of a twig. There was a sound of an arrow being fired. No hunter could miss such a clear target... Vodivir had fallen for the hunter’s trick and another shot Vodivir in the back. Vodok looked at the arrow. Only a few drops of blood were running out. Vodivirs armour had saved him. He was not slow to react. Ignoring the pain he quickly jumped behind a tree to be outside the line of fire. Ain't a fatal wound, once the arrows out and the bleeding is stopped, I'm gonna be OK... Vodivir thought trying to calm himself. But the bleeding was increasing. Vodivir suddenly felt a strange feeling. The arrow that had been shot had been poisoned. "SOMEONE GET THIS ARROW OUT!!"

The shooter had to be behind the arrow. So Vodok decided to walk that way. "One o' 'em ought'a be ova' there!" Vodok yelled pointing at a bush with a sudden death, ignoring Vodivirs yelling.

Red Un
There was a rustling ahead of Red Un, so he charged...slightly to the right of it. He thrust his sword and was rewarded by a pain-filled scream. The camouflaged hunter stumbled out, holding his leg. Red Un put his sword against the hunter's throat.

"I suggest ya tell your friends to leave us alone..."

The hunter muttered and then took out something from his pocket. It was an ultimate explosion rune...

Vodok
Vodok was standing just two steps from Red Un and the hunter that was threatening to blow the place to pieces. Vodok threw away his ultimate explosion, held his dragon shield with two hands at the top. Then he took a quick step forward and swung his shield horizontally and hit the hunter right on the arm. He dropped the rune in shock. Vodok took his chance and dropped his shield and kicked the hunter. The hunter punched Vodok in the face. Vodok dropped to the ground with a heavily bleeding nose. "KILL 'IM!" Vodok yelled followed by a few curses.

Red Un
"Well, fine then..."

Red Un cut of the hunter’s head. But still more arrows were coming at them. Then he heard something else. It was the grunting of minotaurs!

Suddenly, a big minotaur ran towards Red Un and... passed him and struck down a hunter that had sneaked up behind the half-dwarf.

"What's going on?!"

It seemed like the minotaurs were fighting against the hunters and helping Red Un and his gang!

Vodok
Vodok quickly jumped onto the ultimate explosion rune and put it in his backpack. After another yell for help Vodok decided it was time to help Vodivir. So Vodok walked up to Vodivir and simply tugged the arrow out. "AAAGH!" Vodivir yelled. Then suddenly the place around Vodivir was soaked in blood. "WE NEED TA STOP 'E BLEEDIN'!" Vodok yelled not certain what to do.

Tujex
Tujex, fell to the ground, and found a female minotaur archer standing beside him. She launched an arrow that struck a hunter directly in his neck. Tujex slowly staggered over to her, and a minotaur mage walked over to him and healed his wounds. Tujex cracked his bones and smiled at the mage, “Thanks. . . I guess.” The mino nodded, Tujex guessed he understood what he said. Then Tujex turned to female archer, who looked pretty good. “Well… I’ve never been with a minotaur before.” The minotaur turned to him, and slapped him with her bow. “And I don’t plan to be with an elf.” Tujex smiled, and rubbed his cheek. “I love it when they play hard to get.”

Red Un
The hunters were now fleeing in panic as minotaur archers picked them off and minotaur guards butchered those who were too slow. Meanwhile, a number of minotaur mages walked on each side of a large, ornately-clad minotaur with a long, carved staff, golden enlongnments on his horns and a long brown robe that dragged behind him. He first stopped in front of Vodok and Vodivir, smiled and made a small gesture with his hand. Suddenly, Vodivir stopped bleeding.

Then he continued without a word to Red Un. The half-dwarf was very confused indeed.

"Ahoi there, Mr. minotaur-big-mage thingy! How come you're helpin' us?"

The minotaur looked down at Red Un and spoke with a voice which was quite clear compared to the usual "Learrrn tha secrrret uf death"-stuff that was usually heard from minotaurs.

"First, I shall tell thee that I dost not do it because I in any way like thou and thine companions. I and my brave council has seen it fit merely to aid thou because that would damage ye Brotherhood of ye Dark Star, our greatest enemy. Now, will thou call together thine companions so that they may all hear what the Great Mage of Minotaurs has to say?"

"Uh...sure. HEY EVERYBODY! THE BIG GUY WANTS TO SAY SOMETHIN'!"

Tranquillity
Tranquillity jugged back into the clearing breathing heavily with red blood splattered across her robes, her eyes green once again. As she was entering she caught sight of all the minotaurs and reached towards her blade, but desisted as several minotaur archers pointed their crossbows in her general direction. She drew her hand away from her sheathe and slowly casually reached her hand near her pocket. She looked towards Red Un for a sign as what to do.

Vodok
Vodivir who was in perfect shape now walked over to the large minotaur as if nothing had happened. Vodok followed after he had stood wide-eyed for a few seconds.

Red Un
Red Un tried to do a general "don't kill them"-gesture with his hand towards Tranquillity. He hoped it got through.

"Uhm...so, what've ya got to say, Mr. Big Mage-foozle?"

"I shall say what I shall say, impertinent halfbreed, when all of thine adventurers have gathered."

Red Un almost reached for his sword at the words "impertinent halfbreed", but realised that it would be foolish under the circumstances.

Tetazuno
After retracting his axe from the neck of a hunter, Rik casually jogged over to the Minotaur Mage that was talking to the rest of the group. He was wondering why a Minotaur would want to speak, or even help a group of human beings...

Tujex
Tujex walked over to the minotaur, warlock, mage, leader thingy. The female minotaur was behind him, shoving him forward with her crossbow. "Be gentle," Tujex muttered with a smile. The mino slapped him across the back of his head. Tujex fell on his face, and found himself at the feet of the big minotaur guy.

Braldril
Braldril saw a hunter in the distance and pulled a throwing axe out. Just as he was about to throw the hunter fled down a hill.

"You are lucky, for now that is."

Braldril walked back towards the group and saw a large number of various minotaurs. He rolled his eyes and continued forward.

Darkness Fall-ll
Finally, Whisky came back.
Master, there's a gang of sharpshooters, a hunter of a higher rank than hunters, located just south and also a big group of minotaurs. They seemed to be already prepared for our arrival. And, and Red Un and the rest, they seem to be walking straight into their trap....

Katherine's jaw dropped at the report of Whisky. She was not sure if it was too late to warn the others about the dangers waiting for them. She couldn't wait anymore, she had to warn the others. She gripped her staff ever tighter and Whisky transformed into a white shield, as she dashed towards the others who were already fighting the sharpshooters and minotaurs.

I hope I'm not too late.... Katherine crossed her fingers...

Tranquillity
Tranquillity saw Red Un motioning to her, it looked like he was trying to tell her to cut the minotaurs heads off. She took a deep breath and was about to dig her hand into her pocket where she kept a stealth ring when she heard Red Un ask the minotaur leader why he was helping them. She decided that perhaps Red Un was just very bad at sign language and cautiously approached the group, her hand still in her pocket in case trouble arose.

Red Un
Red Un wondered what Katherine was running for. Then the Great Mage started to speak again.

"I shall now tell thee about when, recently, ye shameful Brotherhood of the Dark Star came here, thinking that they would not be spotted by our most wonderful scouts, carrying an ornate Mat of strange powers. They hid ye Mat and disappeared, but our brave scouts soon took it and brought it back to our outpost. As none of our mages residing here could find out what was so special about ye Mat, they called upon ye most powerful of Minotaur Mages..."

"That would be you, I presume" interrupted Red Un.

"...YE MOST POWERFUL OF MINOTAUR MAGES, who indeed saw that it was a Mat of Flying, so common in ye desert Lands of the South. With great magical deducing, ye Great Mage saw what the plan of ye evil Brotherhood was, and thus..."

He motioned to one of the lesser mages, who carried forth a red mat with yellow borders.

"...we here bringeth thou ye Mat, so that thou may go forth and be a nuisance for ye Brotherhood."

Tetazuno
Finaly, Rik got a glimpse of the carpet, but it looked like an ordinary plain old carpet to him. He was a tad upset about this but didn’t show it, he was expecting something a bit more un-original.

"So, are we going now or are we going to have to take of at H.L's roof?" Rik asked.

Darkness Fall-ll
Panting from the run, Katherine finally reached the rest of the group but they seem to have stopped fighting. A few of them were injured, and there were few lifeless bodies on the ground, sharpshooters Katherine presumed. But what more strange was, the minotaurs were not attacking them. Instead they were fighting along side with them against the Sharpshooters, which was puzzling to Katherine.

Katherine, still exhausted, bent down with both her hands on her knee, as large drops of sweat trickled down her forehead.

Just in front of her, Red Un seemed to be negotiating with a Minotaur Mage.

Perhaps, Katherine had worried too much about the "ambush" whisky spook of. Now, regained with a bit of energy, Katherine slowly walked towards Tranquillity to find out what was going on, especially between Red Un and the Minotaur mage.

Vitata
Vitata was still deep in a line of bushes, both hands grasping at the collar of a hunter's cloak. His eyes wide with anger, he shouted in the hunter's face "I told you idiots to stay clear of this group! Haven't I told you that I'm supposed to be one of them? If they suspected me because I didn't hurt any of you then what would happen eh? You beat it and not return. I'll handle this group myself, idiot." He pushed the hunter away and watched him scramble away towards the camp. Vitata strode over to the trees where he saw all the knives he threw in a neat little square on the side. He had deliberately missed all the hunters and his brightsword had only sliced through branches, not bodies. Pulling the knives out of the trunk, he placed them into his belt container and walked out into the open. He strode over to Red Un's group and crossed his arms. "What did I miss?" Vitata asked, as if nothing had happened.

Vodok
"Right. What are we waiting for? Someone carry the carpet and we'll go!" Vodivir said, ignoring Vitata hoping he would be offended.

Red Un
"Yeah, let's get back to Melrod, 'cause he's the only one who can steer this thing..."

The Great Mage snorted loudly.

"Oh yeah, thanks a lot, Mr. big-mage-thingy."

The Great Mage snorted again.

"Be warned, halfbreed, for if we shall ever meet again, it shall be as enemies, just as thine dwarven kin has always been."

"Huh. Don't worry, I'll stay away from ya. You smell even worse than me..."

The Great Mage had some trouble with keeping all of his followers from shooting, stabbing and cutting Red Un into a pile of half-dwarf meat-sauce. There was a lot of angry grunting and cursing as the minotaurs left.

"Right" said Red Un. "Let's get movin'!"

Darkness Fall-ll
Tranquillity whispered to Katherine what had happened. And Katherine's eyes grew wide open, as she found out that it was the minotaurs that had taken the carpet.

Katherine saw Vitata coming towards them and said, "Well I think you missed out as much as I do..."

Katherine let out a sigh of relief that they did not have to battle against these big minotaurs. Regaining her strength she started to move on with the rest...

Katherine looked back and thought she saw some rustling among the bushes...

Braldril
Braldril climbed through the bushes and saw everyone staring at him.

"What? Do I have something on my face? Maybe a bit of blood...."

He took a rag out of his pack and wiped his face off. He looked at the minotaurs and rolled his eyes and sneered when he walked past. One of the minotaur archers stuck his foot out and tripped Braldril.

"What the hell you think you are doing you ugly bull?"

The archer growled and stepped back.

"Yeah that’s what I thought," Braldril said with a glare in his eyes. He turned back around and followed Red Un back to the outlaw camp.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity looked and saw about half of the group already moving out back to the Outlaw Camp. She looked around at the rest of the people remaining with her and sighed. She reached down and with a grunt lifted the heavy carpet onto her shoulders and started moving, trying to catch up to the group under the weight of the heavy carpet.

Darkness Fall-ll
Katherine turned around to look at Tranquillity having a hard time carry that red, dirty and heavy carpet. So she went over and gave her a helping hand. Signalling to Trans to allow her to help, Katherine support the front of the carpet, while Trans supported the back and Whisky picked up the middle portion.

Katherine never thought that the carpet would be this heavy, and grumbled, "Fancy having so many guys in the group but none of them even bothered to help the ladies..." Katherine groaned again as she shifted the weight of the carpet across her right shoulder to prevent it from falling off...

Vodok
"There ain't nothin' wrong with dwarfs! Bu' yeh minotaurs..." Vodok started. Then he was dragged back and silenced by Vodivir who started walking, still holding Vodok.

Tetazuno
Rik looked around to see the two ladies carrying the carpet. He laughed and walked up to them.

"You’re both doing it the pauper way." He said to them. He stood underneath it and used a simple Levitate charm. The carpet simply floated in the air and followed behind him.

"See...simple!"

Evero Sash
As the group walked on, something lurked in the shadows. It was an archer. He watched the group, and being an archer he easily covered himself from the group and watched them along their path. He watched the one called "Rik" show the two women carrying the carpet with the levitate charm, he realized he was falling behind the group. He quickly cast the invisibility spell and closely followed the group.

Fire Aclay
Fire Aclay stuck close to Red Un and held his hammer tight. He saw the movement and running wildly tried to catch up with it. "Who are you?"

Evero Sash
“I… I am Evero. I am an Ankrahmiun archer. I have been closely following your pack since you assemble in Frodo's hut in Thais. I'm sorry if I have startled you and I would like to continue along with you.”

He glanced at Red Un and his shirtsleeve moved ever so slightly to reveal the Mark of the Dark Star...

Darkness Fall-ll
"Why thanks... unlike the others..." Katherine smiled at Rik and snorted at the other guys. With the carpet now lifted in mid air, Katherine dust her hands off happily and began humming a tune.

Katherine was very sure that she had detected some rustling among the bushes. Then, Fire Aclay revealed the stalker, an archer, Evero. Katherine called out, "What are you doing sneaking around, foul archer?" by now Katherine was already getting aggressive at the stalker. "Join us? Why didn't you just present yourself instead of always sneaking among the bushes?" Katherine continued.

Evero Sash
“I am surely not a FOUL ARCHER. My blood is as pure as the sands of the land which I come from. The reason I did not announce myself in the beginning was because... I was untrustworthy at the time. I was a specimen for a wild sorcerer testing potions and spells on me. I’m sorry if I have caused you fear and I am more than willing to aid you on your quest for the Sword.”


Tujex
Tujex shrugged once he saw Rik use the levitation charm on the carpet. "I was gonna carry it, but I like your way much better." Tujex said as he walked passed Rik to catch up with Red Un. He walked beside the half-dwarf, almost wanting to laugh at the obvious difference in their heights. "I didn't know dwarves and minotaurs hated each other so," Tujex said looking down to Red Un, not really expecting the half-dwarf to comment on it.

Vitata
Vitata followed behind the group and yawned. He took his backpack off and threw it onto the carpet. "I'll just let you people levitate my bag then..."

Red Un
Red Un looked at the strange archer.

"Hum...you said you've followed us ever since we were in Thais? That's pretty impressive considering that we've been trough storms, armies and more dangers that I could ever have imagined. I guess ya can join us. By the way, we're not questing for a sword, but for a library."

Vodok
Vodok released himself from Vodivirs grip. "Yeah! Wha' sword were you goin' on 'bout?" Vodok asked aggressively, wanting to take out his anger on someone. Vodivir sighed and grabbed Vodok again.

Evero Sash
They do not know of the sword I seek inside the library.... excellent.

”Err, sorry. You’re right, it must be the effects of the spells and incantations the sorcerer performed on me.
And yes I have been following, it wasn’t that hard for me to follow because I stayed far enough to stay out of battle but close enough for me to pass through after battle. As for the storms, they are nothing to me, I come from Ankrahmun and I withstand the vicious sandstorms...
Wha.. What’s that?! Look over there!”

Tetazuno
Rik looked in the way that Evero was looking. He could see smoke and it was coming from the outlaw camp. Forgetting that he had everyone’s belongings on the carpet he ran towards the camp and took the carpet and everyone’s possessions with him, without realizing that he was running towards a fire with bags and a carpet, perfectly flammable items...

Red Un
"Aw nuts, it must be Thais doin' another one of those 'kill all outlaws'-raids. When are they gonna give up?!"

Meanwhile, Melrod had quite some trouble explaining that he wasn't an outlaw to the angry Thaisan soldiers.

"How, I say, how can you even think that I, Melrod the Legendary Carpet-Flyer, is a simple cowardly thief?"

The sergeant spit out his chewed tobacco.

"You've got a lot of gold for someone else than a thief. Or are you perhaps a Thaisan noble out for a little walk in the woods?"

"Listen, I got this money fair and square. Legally, that is."

"Tell that to the judge in Thais. Just be glad we aren't killing you on the spot. The king is going to need some trophies from this Banor-forsaken scum-hole..."

Thus, Melrod was dragged away by two strong soldiers.

"Wait, I say, wait a minute! I've got powerful friends! Really!"

Tetazuno
"Oi!" Rik said as he walked over to where Melrod was being dragged away.

"That’s our carpet flier! You want your own you wait in line!"

"Oh yea, says the low life outlaw!" the guard replied. "Listen, do us a favour and get outta my sight..."

"Ok, Firstly, I'm a proud Ankraman. And secondly, I ain’t going nowhere unless that carpet flier is under our guard."

The guards raised their lances and let go of Melrod. Rik took his chance, caught Melrods eye and moved his head a bit. Melrod got his hint and moved away slowly. Rik wielded his knight axe and walked towards the guard duo.

"Which of you guards want to be beaten first." The first guard moved towards Rik, but the second guard moved towards Vitata. Rik blocked him and said.

"Your little scrap is with me... If they want to join me they can."

Rik turned around to face the gang. He said in a low whisper so only the gang to hear.

"Melrod’s escaped, and know it’s your turn, follow him, you should be able to find a take off point, try not to leave without me but if I take too long then just go. I'll hold off these loons for a while. Go! I don’t know much about this quest you guys are on anyway, so go do what you can. But I will catch up later."

Rik turned back to the guards and swiped at the first one.

"Let’s get it on!" He shouted as the guards retaliated.

Evero Sash
Evero waved off the others and stayed behind with Rik.
He said to himself, "Remember what you've been taught Evero." He pulled out his bow, went to a nearby tree and took aim...

His first arrow pierced the guard's leather boot and he fell to the ground. He watched Rik swing around to see who had done this. Evero simply nodded his head and yelled "GET ON THE FLOOR" as he pulled out his burst arrow with an explosive tip and for a second time took aim.

"Asef Tem Kulak" he said to himself and shot the arrow.

Tetazuno
Rik ducked as the fire-arrow flew over his head. It hit the floor in between the two guards. It exploded, and once the fire and smoke had cleared, the guards were still standing there, and round their necks, Rik spotted a dragon necklace for each of them. Fire was useless. He looked at Evero who looked a bit shocked that his arrow hadn’t worked.

"Go!" Rik shouted to him as the guard called for a third, arrows and burst arrows weren’t any use here, he need a sorcerer for mass damage. He reached into his pocket for some runes but all he retrieved were a few Great Fireballs (useless) and a bunch of Ultimate Heal (not needed right now).

I should really stock up on runes Rik thought to himself. After seeing that Evero still hadn’t moved, Rik shouted at him again.

"Go with the others! Get the carpet ready!"

Rik turned and held up his knight axe, as the guard was about to plunge into Rik's armour with his lance. He held up his dragon shield and fended him off and then blocked the second one, but not fast enough for the third and felt the lance sink into his arm. As it was taken out he saw his shoulder bleeding. He couldn’t move his arm and his other hand held his axe, which he didn’t want to drop, so he couldn’t reach his Ultimate Healing runes. He watched the 3 guards approach him.

I wish the group an easy and safe flight, may swift wings take them upon their journey he thought and closed his eyes...

Evero Sash
As Evero stood stunned that his arrows didn’t work he watched the guard sink his lance into Rik's arm and then close his eyes... He said to himself, "If Rik stays and gets slain by the guards then the guards will surely attempt to attack the group.” Evero said a prayer for Rik, assembled his crossbow, then held a single bolt in his hand and said "Exevo Con Vis". The bolt transformed and had ocean blue lines across… a Power Bolt. He shot 3 bolts towards the guards disabling then momentarily then loaded the Power Bolt and fired. A direct hit on the middle guard, being hit he swung his arms in his fall and decapitated one guard and stuck his lance into the other. Evero glanced at Rik lying there motionless and smiled… He quickly regained his form and ran towards the group.

Darkness Fall-ll
"Oh no Rik, I'm not gonna let a nice guy like you get bullied by 3 guards..." Katherine walked hastily towards Rik. She raised her staff up and flung her shield towards the three guards.

The shield spun towards the third guard, striking his temple and sent him unconscious.

"HA! That was an easy one..." Katherine remarked.

As Katherine approached Rik, she cast a protective shield around him. "Stop sitting there like you're waiting for something. Get back up on your feet..." Katherine commented. She reached out her hand and pulled Rik back to his feet. She gave him a smile and hurried him to join the rest.

Before leaving, she cast a sleep spell on the remaining guard who laid unconscious on the ground.
"Count yourself lucky that I didn't take your life..." Katherine whispered before turning around and join the rest.

"HEY! Don't you guys dare leave without me!!!"

Braldril
Two more guards had come after the final one had fallen to the ground. Braldril had never shown much hostility or much of his ability when it came to combat. He walked up to the first guard who had raised his sword. Braldril reached back into his backpack and pulled out the blue orb he had been carrying. He grasped the blue orb in his right hand and raised his arm to the blade. Just as the blade of the guard was about to slice off Braldril's arm, a long, dark blade appeared from his right gauntlet, deflecting the blade.

The guard stumbled and Braldril brought the dark blade into the man's chest. As the man dropped his sword, Braldril picked it up and spun around, and stabbed the other guard in his stomach, then kicked him off the blade.

Braldril dropped the blade to the ground, turned around, and nodded at the others.

"Let’s get moving."

Evero Sash
As he was running to catch the group Evero noticed Katherine and Rik behind him... He stopped thinking he’d seen a ghost.

"Rik, I thought you were…"
He glanced at Katherine and smiled. He thought what a noble women to turn back and save him from three more guards... I had not seen. And Rik he was still alive… If not for Katherine those three following guards would have finished him off.

"Katherine, Rik I’m sorry you cant believe how I feel by not seeing those three extra guards, maybe I am not to follow your group…"

Tranquillity
"Cut it. We can discuss this later" exclaimed Tranquillity with a look over her shoulder. There were several more guards approaching them and catching up quickly due to the fact that Rik couldn't move as quickly as they would have liked due to his wounds.

Tranquillity stopped and turned around, drawing her sword as she faced the oncoming guards. "Get Rik to the carpet," she said, looking back at Katherine, "I'll hold these guys off for now, and catch up with you in a minute." She turned back around took a defensive stance facing the oncoming guards.

Tetazuno
Rik turned to Katherine and returned the smile she had given him earlier.

"Thanks for the help, I’ll thank you properly later" he said, turned round and thrust his backpack of Ultimate Healing Runes into Tranquillity’s backpack.

"You’ll need them more then me..." he whispered into her ear and then ran back to the rest of the group with Evero and Katherine. Well, they ran, Rik hobbled. For some reason, no amount of Exura Vitas was healing the hole in his upper arm. He thought he'd talk to Red Un about it or another member of the group, because there might be some dwarf remedy to it... Well, that’s what he hoped anyway.

Red Un
Meanwhile, Red Un had found Melrod and had gotten the carpet to him.

"Melrod! We need to get outta here quickly!"

"But, I say, but..."

"No buts! Just get the carpet flying!"

Melrod rolled out the carpet and sat down on it. He moved his hands in the traditional carpet-flying ways, and made some extra moves just for show. The carpet lifted from the ground.

"Now, where to?"

"First we've gotta get the others. Fly low through the city."

Vodok
The two dwarfs had followed the mat trying to look as innocent as possible while passing the guards. When the mat lifted Vodok was quick to act.

"OH NO YEH DON'!!" Vodok yelled throwing his backpacks that he had in his hands onto the mat, narrowly missing Melrod. Vodivir threw up his war hammer and climbed up. Vodok tried to climb up but couldn't. Vodivir grabbed Vodoks arm and started pulling. After about half a minute of struggling they were both on the mat. "What are you waiting for??" Vodok asked very impatiently.

Tetazuno
Rik saw Red Un and the two dwarfs clamber onto the carpet as it took off. He stopped running forward and waited as the carpet started to gather speed. He aimed his timing well, and just at the right second he jumped, and landed on the carpet. It buckled a bit but then got started again.

"Tranquillity is fighting off more guards. She's down there." Rik pointed to her fending off a few guards. He banged up his arm and felt his manoeuvrability come back into it. He leant over the side as they sped through the camp and held his axe out, hitting random guards.

"Woohoo! This is great fun!"

Braldril
Braldril loosened his grip on the blue orb and ran over to Tranquillity.

"Let's get moving. We could hold ‘em off for a bit, but eventually we would be overwhelmed."

Darkness Fall-ll
With Rik safely gotten onto the carpet, Katherine made a jump as well. Luckily she managed to get onto it, as a few guards barely missed her.

Phew! Luckily I got onto this carpet, if not I'm dinner for them...

Looking down, she saw Braldril and Tranquillity beginning to have difficulties fending off the guards.

"Red Un, we gotta get Braldril and Tranquillity onto the carpet, they can't hold on much longer!" Katherine alerted Red Un.

Katherine rapidly cast multiple magic missiles to push back the oncoming guards and simultaneously cast fireballs to cut off the backups, in order to give them sufficient space and time to pull Tranquillity and Braldril up. She couldn’t hold on much longer, continuous casting of spells was slowly wearing Katherine down...

Tranquillity
Tranquillity looked behind her at Katherine and the others for a bit, but then turned to face the oncoming guards. She reached down as if stretching and from her boot she pulled out a dagger, which she hid in her hand. As a group of guards approached she quickly tossed it underhand into one guards arm, and he immediately fell down unconscious, she spun, around and under the other guards lance, pulled the dagger out, stabbed another guard in his arm, withdrew the dagger and placed it in a sheath under her arm.

She didn't have any time to rejoice in that victory however because she was quickly approached by several other guards. She soon found herself, spinning and jumping back, trying to both avoid the attacks of her enemies and slam them on the head with the side of her blade.

Suddenly a guard lunged out as cut a deep gash along her right arm and another leaped out and slashed her along the stomach. She stared down at the wounds in disbelief for a second. When she looked up again her eyes were once again glowing icy blue, and her sword was beginning to as well. Her wounds began healing at an incredible pace, but nobody who was fighting her would have a chance to notice that at the moment. She quickly reached into a side pocket and pulled out an explosion rune, which she slapped to the side of her blade and lunged into the group, and quickly it appeared she was overcome. Then suddenly as she was swinging she fired off the rune into a group of guards which fended them off for a moment, but she was quickly overcome again in a moment, despite her frenzied swinging, lunging, ducking, and spinning.

She would soon be brought down, through sheer weight of numbers.

Tetazuno
As they flew over the heads of Tranquillity, Bradril and the guards, Rik steadied himself and walked to the edge of the carpet. He jumped at the right time to land on one of the guards’ shoulders. His arm was fine now and he had to return the favour to Tranquillity. He grabbed his knight axe and slammed it down on the guards head. It was instant death. As he jumped off the guards shoulders, whilst he was falling to the floor, Rik managed to extend a leg and kick the second guard in the face. He was knocked unconscious. The third guard was smirking.

"What’s so funny?" Rik asked.

"I'll have to damage the other arm as well then!" The guard said.

"You’re the one who did this?" Rik pointed at his bandage.

"Sure did!"

"Then I’ve got a score to settle with you!" Rik shouted at him. The guard lunged his lance at Rik, but there only being one it was much easier to deflect. Rik kicked the lance away and slashed with his axe which the guard dodged. The guard spun round and brought his lance spinning around with him, which knocked Riks axe out of his hand. It flew out and fell beneath a bush.

"Ahhh, what a SHAME!!" Said the guard. He plunged at Rik one more time, But Rik deflected it with his shield, spun round and drew out his crossbow. He loaded it with one bolt and prayed it would work. Once he had reached normal position he aimed very carefully, very quickly at the spot between the guards eyes, and fired. It was a direct hit and the guard fell to the floor. Rik put away his crossbow and ran to the bush and picked up his knight axe. He ran and jumped back onto the carpet, hovering slightly away, then leaned over the edge and held out hands for Bradril and Tranquillity.

"Well, stop standing there like you're waiting for something. Get up here!" Rik mimicked Katherine and turned to smile at her. He then waited for Bradril and Tranquillity to be hauled up on the carpet.

Tranquillity
Tranquillity leaped up into the air and landed on the carpet, grabbed Bradrils arm, and pulled him up onto the carpet. She slowly looked around her at her companions and with a slightly confused look on her face said, "Ready?" then collapsed on the carpet, unconscious due to the massive amounts of energy the fighting and constant healing had taken from her body.

Evero Sash
Evero watched as the others hopped onto the carpet. He was still in awe of what he could have caused. He simply sat in the corner of the carpet and watched…
Vodok
Vodok just sat and looked at the knocked out body. Vodok drew a fire bomb and shot it in the middle of the guards successfully causing some confusion. "We need to hurry..." Vodivir said trying to stay calm.

Red Un
"Okay Melrod, get us high up!"

"But..."

"Just do it!"

Melrod shrugged and flew the carpet high into the air, beyond the reach of the soldiers.

The Sergeant grunted. He had lost many good men, and even if those people up there weren't outlaws, he sure as hell wasn't going to let them go.

"Get the crossbowmen ready!"

The few surviving soldiers took up their crossbows.

"Fire!"

The air was filled with crossbow bolts.

"This, I say, this is terrible!"

"Get the carpet flying", said Red Un. "To Vega!"

And the carpet flew...

Tetazuno
Rik walked over to the end of the carpet to Evero and sat down next to him.

"Listen, there’s nothing that you did wrong..." Rik told him. "You thought that I was a goner so you did your best, at the time I thought I was a goner too... I told you to run didn’t I? Which makes it my fault. So brighten up." Rik stood up and looked into the horizon. "This is a once in a lifetime experience... I don’t think I'd be paying for another one of these anyway..."

Rik stood for a while and let the wind blow his longish hair around. It wasn’t that long, but longer than usual. He felt himself lighten considerably and held his arms out. This was great. After a little while his eyes met Tranquillity who was still unconscious. He walked over to her and reached into her backpack, took out his Ultimate Healing runes and used one on Tranq and waited for its magic to work...

Red Un
Red Un looked down. Something was wrong.

"Melrod, I told ya to fly to Vega. That's north, not south."

"I've been trying to tell you! This carpet isn't mine! I'm glad that I even got it moving. It seems to be going somewhere by itself!"

"Uh oh..."

"What, I say, what should we do?"

"I guess all we can do is sit and wait..."

Meanwhile, the two robed men were talking. Somewhere.

"But still, I don't understand this. Where are they going? Won't they just save themselves of the carpet trough their enormous luck?"

"Well, they may get off the carpet, but they won't get away from the place we're sending them to. Begin the ritual..."

Meanwhile, Red Un felt a bit drowsy…