Let Us Flee

[Kender Bard]

On the given day, after the sun had set as instructed, Alexandria set down the laundry she was folding and reached up to rub her face softly, as though caressing a headache.

It had taken her a full week to get the nerve to disobey her Mistress. Even now, at this critical moment, she felt the overwhelming urge to put her hand down and go back to her routine.

But she couldn't. The angel of Taed himself had come to her. After toiling her cursed existence at the behest of the Forces, she was being offered redemption, one way or an other. If she didn't take it, she would be condemned to an eternity in her living hell.

With a tremble, she forced the effort to teleport to the rendezvous point.

[tuo]

Shima was waiting behind the barn, the designated meeting place and was looking around nervously while idly touching his mind signs, fighting the urge to leave right now or to search for Verity. Upon Alexandria's appearance he jumped slightly before calming down. "Good, you're here." He spoke softly, not wanting to be heard or spotted by anybody else. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't know how much time we have to put this place behind us." He offers her his hand gently while prepping himself to teleport themselves as far away as he can without passing out towards Acoia.

(Note, he hasn't teleported yet, just prepping himself mentally)

[Kender Bard]

Alexandria took Shima's hand. She hardly heard what he was saying; she was in a trance, felt as though she was in a dream or somewhere weightless and hazy. She gazed at Shima with awe as she stood there, awkwardly holding his hand in her own.

Then an arrow almost caught her in the neck; it missed her by a finger's width and struck the wood of the barn. Suddenly there were four men with crossbows pointed at them and two women with their hands on their signs.

One of the women spoke. "Don't move, don't even speak a word. If you so much as twitch, we'll kill you both. Lower your hands slowly."

[tuo]

Shima's eyes widened and held very still for a moment before slowly lowering his arm while still holding her hand, allowing his arm to brush against one of his mind signs through a hole in the cloth briefly before desperately attempting to teleport the both of them away from this group and nearly to the inner walls of Ekaitz, hoping to end up someplace where they would not be seen too quickly.

[Kender Bard]

Alexandria pressed closer to Shima after they had teleported, trembling with fright.

She could hear the men and women cursing, so they hadn't gotten terribly far.

"They'll be chasing us now," she whispered.

"I think I heard something!"

She gasped as a bolt of lightning struck nearby.

[tuo]

Shima held Alexandria closely before touching one of his mind sign's more directly and uttered a quick, low chant in order to reach out to the attacker's mind and make him hear a sound coming from the other direction. Hopefully that will buy enough time to try to focus on teleporting even further away. "Help me get us out of here.." He pleads with Alexandria in a low voice.

[Kender Bard]

The attacker veered off, chasing the false lead that Shima had implanted in his mind.

"I don't... I can't..."

Alexandria shook her head. She could hardly move; she was too afraid to do anything. "I should go back to Mistress," she murmured, panicked, desperate. "Beg for forgiveness."

[tuo]

"No, you can't do that." He held her close to try to comfort her. "I don't believe that you want to do that at all..we just have to get out of this vile place and to Acoia. We will be able to rest and be safe there, free from our pursuers." He spoke, hoping to reason with her but was on alert for any sign of said pursuers and was prepared to teleport as far as he could with her regardless if she helped or not.

[Kender Bard]

Shima's words soothed her, in as much as she stopped considering turning herself in and instead just stood still and waited for him to take charge of the situation. She glanced around, frowning; then abruptly pulled Shima tight against herself as a crossbow bolt shot by, barely missing him.

"There you are," one of the men growled and took sight of them, preparing a second shot.

"No!" Alexandria cried. Something in her snapped and she threw herself at the man with the crossbow even as she screamed as loud as she could on a mental level; unfortunately it wasn't just a direct assault on his mind, it was years of pent up torment letting loose in a wild psychic burst. There was a 'twang' as the two hit the ground, but the bolt did not hit her.

[tuo]

Shima almost fell over himself from the intensity of Alexandria's mental scream but managed to maintain concentration and hurried to her side, giving the man a swift kick in the side to make sure he won't stop them. "We need to leave before more come!" He reaches to try and help her up and teleport out beyond the walls.

[Kender Bard]

The distraction had the unpleasant side effect of raising the alarm in Ekaitz, but they did get outside of the walls.

Alexandria blinked owlishly at Shima, her mental 'shriek' cut off abruptly. She looked around, then at the walls of Ekaitz, and a look of wonder came over her face. "We're gone," she whispered.

The barking of dogs began somewhere within Ekaitz and men's shouting could be heard in the distance.

[tuo]

"Now we have to run. Are you able to help put distance between us and them?" Shima asks as he touches his mind signs while trying to keep a hold of her.

[Kender Bard]

Alexandria touched her sign and murmured, "I don't know." But she was willing to try now. She rubbed her sign again and focused on teleporting them away - managing a few yards before she had to stop, exhausted. It was pitiful.

"No," she whispered.

[tuo]

Shima nods and takes a deep breath before taking her hand and begins to teleport them as far as he was able to safely manage before he got too tired to continue.

[Kender Bard]

The jump took them to the middle of nowhere. There was no more sight or sound from Ekaitz, but neither was there indication that they were anywhere near Acoia.

Alexandria laughed in a wheezy, breathless manner. She let go of Shima and knelt down on the ground, laughed more, and then lay down and rolled a bit. "Free," she gasped. "Free, free, free, free." She repeated the mantra as she writhed in luxury on the cold ground. Then she abruptly rolled onto her belly and reached a hand towards Shima, as though to grasp his ankle. "You saved me, my Angel of Taed."