Kassadi and Madrona collapsed into the dirt, the nature of magical teleportation being both simultaneously precise and imprecise. They had planned to teleport themselves 80 feet from the shop if anything went wrong, directly west of the front of the store. They needed this coordination as they were somewhat unwilling to test if they could extend past the tether with teleportation magic. The problem was that there were a series of about five steps leading up into Gilbert’s shop, playing the women at a level above the ground, when they willed themselves 80 feet west they appeared nearly three feet above the road and promptly began to fall.
But they
were alive, so there was that. The two women pushed themselves up from the
ground and began sprinting down the road away from… whatever that all was. They
didn’t even have time to consider how in the Three Hells Gilbert knew about the
Hellhound, let alone being able to signal to it! Scrambling forward Kassadi eventually
grabbed Madrona by the shoulder and pulled her into an alley, shuffling the two
of them behind a crate that rested beside the building. Madrona was about to
speak but Kassadi clapped her hand over the woman’s mouth. It didn’t take long for
Madrona to figure out why.
Shrieking
and hollers came as men and women sprinted past the alley way, the Hellhound
appeared a few moments later. The beast had padded out of Gilbet’s shop to resume
the hunt. It didn’t know where the women were but they couldn’t have gone far.
Kassadi let out a curse in her mind that the beast hadn’t picked one of the
three other paths from the corner store, no it had to be the one they went down!
There wasn’t entirely enough room behind the crate for both of them and Madrona
was slightly pressed into the wall of the building, fairly uncomfortable in her
current position. The two of them dared a glance, the Hellhound had stopped,
they could see the fangs beared with drool pooling at the edge of it’s maw before
falling to the dirt toad, sizzling as it hit. The creature lifted it’s head
into the air and sniffed. It’s nostrils flared and it drew in deep breaths
searching for a scent. It snorted suddenly, shaking it’s head with a snarl. It
drove it’s face into the dirt and started grinding it’s nose against the packed
dusty road, batting at it’s snout with it’s forepaws and letting out a growling
whine. Madrona looked down at the pouch that Dulav had given her. The beast eventually
drew it’s face from the dirt with a snarl and bared fangs before it took off
running down the road. In the distance Kassadi and Madrona could hear the
panicked cries of people seeing the beast on the move again…
“Oh that was… That was unexpected.” Kassadi said, slumping
down against the box.
“I’ll say.” Madrona let out a breath she didn’t realize she
was holding. “How did Gilbert call the Hellhound? I thought Travlona summoned
it?”
“I did too!” The Wizard shrugged her shoulder. “Add that to
the list of stuff that makes no sense. We have the wands, though, so that’s
good.”
“Yeah but now we need to get back to Maryl with the
Hellhound here, it will certainly start stalking the road again expecting us to
flee the town.”
“Yeah…” The blond woman frowned and started thinking. “It’d
be another full day on the road too. I don’t know about you but I don’t like
being exposed for that long.”
“I think we can come to an agreement on that.” Madrona said
sarcastically.
“We could take the river?” Kassadi suggested.
The Newcastle
Canal received it’s name some six hundred years ago when a castle was
constructed near it’s shores some six hundred years ago. The castle was raised
to King Dresden the Valorous who sought to unify the farmlands villages, towns,
and cities that branched from the rive
under one banner. His reign was accepted and soon the peoples unified, and the
land became the Kingdom of Riverdawn. Life was joyously under Dresden’s rule,
his Crest a mighty riverboat crashing through the rapids of the river. Four
hundred years later King Dresden the 17th was murdered by Valel Hex
and the Kingdom of Riverdawn collapsed into a collection of loose city states. The
name of the river was kept, however, perhaps in hopes that it’s people could be
unified again, or because people were too lazy to learn a new name.
The
river was less than a mile east from the town, a small footpath leading right
to it’s shores. Still careful on their travels and ever observant for signs of
black fur Kassadi and Madrona made their way. Once Madrona saw the river she
nodded, this could work. The current was fast and strong and it’s path would
take them directly to the Goblin village. Kassadi said the distance from here
to the village was about 12 miles, the same as on foot, and that the current of
the river would cur their travel time in
half! They would reach the village before sunset. Now all they needed
was a boat, Kassadi assured Madrona it wasn’t a problem.
Walking
up to a tree Kassadi reached into her satchel and drew a wood carving knife and
began to cut into a tree she felt was an appropriate size. Madrona stood back
and let her work, watching as Kassadi drew glyphs into the wood as she carved
into it. When Kassadi was finished she stood back, nodded at her work, and
called out a command word. There was the sound of rending wood, hunks of
splinters exploded from the tree and both woman shielded their face from the
flying shrapnel. When Madrona uncovered her face she saw where the tree had
been… an intricately carved canoe rested instead. The wood was smooth and polished
and all along it’s side were carved seals and glyphs of Arcane import.
Kassadi grinned and started pushing
the boat towards the water, Madrona joined her. Together they heaved and the
boat slid into the river, turning with the current and becoming buoyant. The
women both hopped in and they began to drift in the water. Kassadi made a swipe
with her hand and the boat pushed forward as if dragged by an invisible ore.
Madrona glanced back at the Wizard and a thought suddenly came.
“You do know how to pilot a boat, right?” Madrona asked.
“Uh…” Kassadi glanced at Madrona. “Not really? But how hard
could it be?” She grinned and Madrona gripped the sides of the boat tightly.
Turns
out the answer was quite hard, especially when the river picked up speeds and
the hite sprays of rapids made themselves apparent. Kassadi shrieked and waved
her hands back and forth, desperately attempting to steer the boat with invisible
ores. Madrona called out directions from the front, jostling and nearly being
thrown free every time Kassadi didn’t listen and they crashed into stone or a
muddy bank. The wood of the boat was holding, but Madrona was noting there was
a significant amount of water beginning to pool at their feet.
“Kassadi we’re going to die!” Madrona shouted, it wasn’t an
admonishment or anything, just a statement of fact.
“That’s not helping!” The Wizard snapped back, struggling to
move her hands to adjust the boat.
“You won’t listen to my help!” Madrona called out before
shouting. “Left! Kassadi left!”
The boat
did shift left, but not in time. There was a terrible jolt as they careened
into a rock, the bodies of both of them lurching to one side as the sound of
stone against wood rang in their ears. Madrona was hanging half out of the boat
now and she scrambled to right herself before another collision tossed her into
the river. Madrona was not about to be dragged through the water by the tether!
Another, sharper rock was coming up. Madrona saw it, it would split the boat
and they would both be dashed against the jagged rocks that surrounded it. They
needed to avoid it!
“Right Kassadi! Gods above go right!” Madrona cried.
“I’m trying!” Kassadi said with some difficulty. “It’s
fighting me!”
Madrona
threw her hand out, hand on her dagger, it was their only chance. The inferni
had never attempted this spell in this way but in theory it should work? Look
at her, theory, she was even starting to sound like a wizard. As her hand
lashed forward there was suddenly a lack of noise in the area. It wasn’t gone,
but muted. Kassadi looked up, noting the strange silence that seemed to
surround them. It was as if all of the noise in a seventy foot radius was
sucked away and condensed into a single spot… right above the rocks. All of
that energy, all of that noise exploded at once. A cacophonous thundering boom
ripped the world. The stone that was ahead of them rumbled and shook. Madrona’s
breath was snatched from her chest, fear filling her as she prayed to whoever
was listening it was enough. The stone began to crask and eventually shattered,
exploding into a thousand tiny pebbled. A
moment later the boat rolled over where it was and Madrona let out a deep sigh
as all she could sense was a gestle scrape beneath them.
“Nice job!” Kassadi called out.
“Yeah well I can’t do that forever!” Madrona countered.
“Yeah I guess not. Um. Okay… Here, hold the reigns!” Kassadi
called out, shifting froward.
“What?” Madrona turned and Kassadu grabbed the Inferni by
the wrist, Madrona felt an energy fill her and suddenly she was the one
controlling the invisible ores.
Kassadi
struggled to push past Madrona and switch places with her in the boat. They
both nearly ended up falling out with the maneuver but eventually Kassadi was in
front and Madrona behind. The Wizard, now Navigator, called out to Madrona the
direction to avoid the next stone. Like it was with Kassadi at the helm the
power of the rapids was just too much and they were not going to make it. The
Wizard thew her hands to the side and suddenly there was a gust of wind that
struck the side of the boat, very similar to the one Gilbert had thrown at them
earlier that day. Madrona drew in as the wind buffeted her but it turned out to
be enough and they cleared the next rock! Kassadi called out another direction
and did it again, the boat now swinging the opposite direction with the new
wind.
“You can’t do that forever either!” Madrona called out over
the whipping winds.
“Less magic than your spell!” Kassadi cried, screaming over
the gale. “I can do it longer at least! Let’s just hope it’s enough!”
Neither
of them, focused too much on not dying, knew how much longer they needed to go.
It couldn’t be much further, right? It felt as though they had been on the
river for hours now. Kassadi continued to rock the boat from one side of the
river to the other with her Gale spell as they needed. They weaved to and fro
between every hazard now and were making great speed… But as time dragged on
Kassadi began to flag. It was getting clear that the magic inside of her was
starting to dimmish and was now taking with it the woman’s own energies. She
panted and wheezed with each new casting of the spell, sweat trickling down her
face and mixing with the river water. They were close, though, Madrona could
see it! The village up ahead, less then a mile now, they could roll the boat
onto the bank and walk from here!
“Kassadi we can stop!” Madrona called out, the human woman
was pressed against the side of the boat looking ready to pass out.
“No.” She said weakly, it was hard for Madrona to even hear.
“One more, right ahead. I can-… I can’t get it.” Kassadi groaned, swatting her
hand but the magic wasn’t there.
Madrona
pushed herself from the boat, balancing herself to a stand, her heart sank.
There was a massive rock structure ahead of them and they were going too fast
to avoid it. They would hit it and be flung into the river. Kassadi was too
weak to swim, there was no way she would make it to the shore. Normally Madrona
would have been worried about herself, the dead weight of Kassadi and the
tether dragging Madrona down with her, but that was the farthest thing from the
Warlocks mind. She was worried about Kassadi. She lurched forward in a desperate
move, throwing her body on top of Kassadi’s and wrapping her arms around the
woman’s waist. She clenched her eyes and concentrated for just a second. ‘Sixty
feet south west.’ She wasn’t sure she could do it, that she had enough magic to
make it happen for two people. It didn’t matter she had to try, she grit her
teeth and attempted to cast a two person Short Hop spell.
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