On the run
Our hearts were rushing, and me and Renomus could both feel the adrenaline rush through our veins. Our feet was starting to ache really bad, but we had no time to sit down and rest. I estimated that we had two alliances of quadavs pursuing us, so getting away would be rought at best. We tried desperately to put on a brave face, but we both realized the predicament we were in. This could turn out to be a bloody mess, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
We had been running for about one and a half hour by now, and the pace was pretty consistent. It was still next to pitch black, but Renomus followed me closely as I rushed through the meadows. There were a few large rocks here and there, but we were able to evade them somehow. But, we realized that Renomus’ small tarutaru body would eventually slow us down considerably. Running and climbing had always been something I was very good at, although I’m going to be honest and say I’m not too comfortable with heights — especially getting down from them.
I stopped and waited for Renomus to catch up. We were both huffing and puffing by now, but Renomus seemed to want to continue running. I got down on my knees and asked the taru to get on my back. Renomus blushed and looked away from me, «Like a taru would ever let himself be piggybacked by a mithra» he said. I just snickered and told him to get on so we could get out of here. I think Renomus could hear just as well as I could how near the quadavs were by now. He climbed up on my back and held his arms around me. «Don’t get any funny idea now,» I snickered to him and started running. Although it was a little heavy, it was still not as bad as my Paladin armor. Renomus just sighed dejectedly and pretended that he didn’t hear what I said.
With Renomus now on my back, I couldn’t jump as much or as freely as I could before, but I was still able to run as fast as the wind. The jungles back home had a lot of places to perform various forms training, so it wasn’t the first time I had carried something heavy on my back while navigating my way through the dark. My step mother, Zirah, used to send me off on the most ridiculous farming trips to get whatever she craved for that day. But I digress.
Suddenly I could smell the faint scent of gun powder. I remember reading about how the allied forces used cannons in some of the books in the Windurstian library. Gun powder being a vital part of the cannons inner working, I decided it was worth further investigation. We were now running uphill and it was getting harder and harder to run. «Over there,» Renomus suddenly whispered to me. «Is that a.. tower,» he asked me. «Beats me,», I answered, «but it looks like it’s been used recently.»
Renomus let go of me and rushed over to see if there were anyone inside the tower, but it seemed that there hadn’t been any activity there for the past few days. I tried to catch my breath again, and poured a bottle of water on my head to cool off.
I looked around, examining the area. I looked to see if there was any good places to hide, but there were no places that would provide us with enough shelter to not be detected by the quadav forces behind us. I tried to listen for a few seconds and heard a familiar sound, but yet again I couldn’t find anything remotely familiar. Everything about this place was so different from what I had ever experienced before.
Renomus patted me on the shoulder, telling me to let him get back on. We continued running south, while trying to stay away from unfamiliar monsters that could get us into any more trouble than we were already in. It was hard, but it was the only way. After about half an hour of running, we found what seemed like a path. There didn’t seem to be any hideous monsters lurking around it, so we made a joint decision to follow it. After awhile it curved and took us west.
We prayed that this path would take us out of here, but we had no idea where it would take us. For all we knew it could lead us to a monster stronghold of some sort, but with no reference or map there we didn’t have much of a choice. Or maybe we did have a reference. We had been traveling south thus far, while being just east of the Konschat Highlands we know so well from the present. The logical place to start looking would be in the western parts of the area, in hopes of finding an entrance into Bastok or Gustaberg.
We had been running for six hours now, and we it finally seemed as if we had lost the alliances that were following us. We couldn’t take any chances though, so we decided to keep going. The sun was about to rise on the horizon, so it was a lot easier to navigate now. Animals and monsters had started to wake up so we had to be a bit more careful now so we wouldn’t walk right into a pack of hounds or an armada of lizards for all we knew.
«Water! I smell water,» I told Renomus. I wasn’t sure if it was an inlet or a river, but I picked up the scent of water not too far up ahead. And surely, there it was. Sparkling water, flowing graciously through the meadows. A bridge had been built to make it easier to cross it, but the river was in no way violent or very fast. It was just so… relaxing. With all the running, we took a few moments to stop and wash our faces, fill up on water and get see if we could find something to eat. There wasn’t any fish in the river, but there were some bunnies running around nearby. I felt really bad about turning them into dinner, but we were tired and needed something to eat.
We packed our things and made sure we didn’t leave anything behind. Since we were traveling along a path now without much elevation, Renomus wanted to run using his own two feet. I didn’t mind, since my shoulders were as tired as my feet. The brief rest did wonders though.
As we continued walking west, we stumbled upon a sign. It pointed in the direction we were headed and clearly stated that we were getting close to Gustaberg. We both cheered in joy of finally having found something familiar after the mess we had just been through. We picked up our pace, and after a good 20 minutes of walking we came to an outpost leading us into the good old Gustaberg.
(too be continued…)