Chapter 8:
A Lifes Journey
Ideally, waiting until night would be preferable for my Seal, but it's better to leave before they find the body. This small bush is only hiding me from the front, and the dorm building to my right is providing decent cover on that side but somebody is bound to run into me from behind and I'll get caught for sure.
As I see it, there is only 1 option for me right now, this big lever moves the gears of the cyan gate and makes it rise and fall. 1 medium sized stone should be able to break it with the help of a bit of Sy.
After breaking the gear I have to get a bow from one of the guards. They have a recurved composite bow with stiffened ends made out of some kind of horn. That's good enough.
I'll just swipe it while the one closest to me is distracted.
This fucking prince playing with my brain like that is making everything a bit too simple, I can't tell for sure if he's lying or not about the rumors but just in case he is, I'll wear my Slayer mask.
Taking a deep breath made my throat burn a bit from the cold air as everything slowed down for a second.
I felt extremely calm.
I picked up a stone that was on the ground to my left. My hand trembled a bit. I channeled my Sy to coat the stone. While aiming at the metal gears, I used the Slayer's secret Sy technique to throw the stone with some help from Sy energy gathered around my muscles to make it go just a bit faster.
As the stone hit the mechanism with a loud metallic thud and the gears broke, the gate started falling down incredibly fast.
I quickly closed the gap between me and the guard and took his bow with my right hand and whatever arrows I managed to slip out of his belt in my left.
Before he could even react I already dove into his shadow while aiming at the shadow of the city's wall on the other side of the gate right as it was about to reach the ground.
The familiar mud blanket felt warm and comforting, being stripped of my senses gave me some relief.
It didn't last long however as things outside were still tense.
They didn't stop me in time, I should be able to make it out now.
As my Seal's word faded, I found myself outside of the city.
"Where did my bow go?!" A distant voice exclaimed
The carriage driver that just left the city looked back at the gate he had just exited, surprise plastered on his face, luckily for me he missed me in my black outfit under the big shadow of the wall as he turned his attention back to the road ahead to keep riding to his destination.
"Something broke the gate's mechanism, everyone keep your guards up, the murderer might be trying to use the confusion to escape!"
Those idiots don't even realize I'm already out, as my body was trembling from the excitement I started heading south towards the Hermesh border-crossing that leads to the Hadohian Wilderness.
I guess they found the body already. Perfect prince guy doesn't really owe me anything though, so it makes sense…
After reaching my destination, I'll have to walk west and stick to the riverbank while hiding. I can't go into the Hadohian area even though it is a great hiding place, it's not gonna help me reach Home.
The journey toward Silka, the port city, should take about a week or so and from there I need to somehow get into a trader's caravan or something and make my way to Silvermoon, the capital city of Rintiya. Where Home is.
Simple enough, all in all it should take about a month, unless there's unforeseen troubles.
I only managed to get 3 arrows. It should be enough to survive with, I'll just recycle while hunting.
As I constructed the plan in my head, a bunch of soldiers appeared in front of me in the distance, it was already night but I'm sure of it, they are the guards of Hermesh so the river should be close by.
Reaching the riverbanks, the sound of flowing water reminded me of certain poisons making their way to the heart when it flows through the bloodstream.
While avoiding the soldiers in the border-crossing of Hermesh I walked west for at least 2 kilometers before finally finding a good hiding spot for the night.
Without thinking too much about it, I started preparing for sleep. I definitely need to leave first thing in the morning. Sleeping in harsh conditions is something I've learned over the years training under master Kiyoko in random, wild, uninhibited areas.
Laying down and closing my eyes, the thought of actually falling asleep haunted me, in a bad way.
Dreading the idea of having to dream of my black-skinned friend that had a radiant smile that I can't seem to get out of my head even this long after his death, made sleeping a really tall task.
For some reason I've been dreaming about him more often lately. As if to serve as a warning to another accident that will happen intentionally in the near future.
As much as I hate to admit it, I think the real reason is this charismatic prince.
Please log in to leave a comment.