Triple Strength

248. Hunted: Wiremu

My initial plan was to head out into the desert. Even though we were on foot and would be hunted by mounted troops and desert trackers, the desert was a big place, and I was good at hiding a trail, and it was all rock, which suited me. With my Mapping Skill, I would never be lost. A broken ankle and ribs weren’t that serious. I used Molten Rock and Granite Manipulation to fix the Granite Bones. It was the damaged lung, muscles and tendons in my chest and foot that were the problem.

Umreti was also wounded and starved, so he didn’t have a lot of energy either. We would have to hide in the city for at least a few days. It will be almost several days before I am running again. I can’t wait that long. Tabitha and the others are getting further away every day. I focussed my Regeneration on my lung.

A lot of my secrets have also been exposed. They know at least I am a rock and/or fire affinity user with a snake bond and something else. They may think the fire comes from another bond, which is partially true. The next time they come, they will be ready to combat fire and rock.

Tāoke slithered up beside me, and I rolled onto his back as he was still in his big form. An arrow skittered off his scales as he headed away from the wall. Umreti was jogging beside us. The road cleared ahead of us as people scattered. There was only a road width before the city buildings started, so we were outside of the view of the archers quickly, but the mounted troops and trackers wouldn’t be far behind. Both Umreti and I left enough blood behind to give the trackers a good scent.

The buildings beside the palace were expensive mansions. I steered Tāoke toward the industrial area, because we needed to hide somewhere. First, we needed to get out of sight and change our scent. Rich people have all sorts of things. I picked a mansion that looked empty and steered Tāoke toward it. Tāoke crashed through the gate, leaving twisted wrought iron where decorative gates used to stand. I created a stone cast for my ankle.

I turned to Umreti, “You get two horses ready. I will check out the house.” I figured horses would be a task he is familiar with, whereas the mansion will have a lot of variables that could confuse him. Tāoke shrunk down but stayed outside. I smashed open the door with my hammer and strode in, my Thermal Sensing telling me there were two servants hurriedly exiting out the back. We wouldn’t have long.

I was looking for clothing to hide us, preferably something with a hood for Umreti, as orcs were rare around here. I also wanted something to change our smell, as well as any food, water containers and first aid supplies. I headed straight toward the back, to where the kitchen and laundry were.

I grabbed a couple of cloth bags from the kitchen and started throwing in items. Salt and Pepper, fruit, a small bag of dates, some cooked meat etc. I then moved to the laundry. Head and face coverings were common due to the desert winds and sand, and I grabbed several. I found a couple of shirts and a pair of trousers that might be big enough. It was time to leave, but before that, I created two stone bottles and filled them from a barrel of water in the kitchen. I missed dwarven plumbing. On the way out, I triggered Sense Treasure, smashed a wall unit and grabbed the coins. I lit a fire while I was there as it would mask what we took, and smoke would confuse the scent. At least Kelda wouldn’t yell at me for putting innocents in danger seeing as the house was empty. Then it hit me again that Kelda was not here.

When I came out, one horse had a saddle, but Umreti was just leading out the other and carrying a saddle. I noticed his hands were shaking. I am not sure what that is about but we didn’t have time right now.

“We don’t have time for the saddle. I will ride bareback,” I said as Tāoke joined me again. My hearing aid was picking up noise that was not normal city noise. I grabbed Umrati and tightly bound his shoulder with cloth strips. I then jumped on the horse and passed Umreti a piece of fruit, a bottle and a head covering after he mounted. I glanced in the direction of the palace. More smoke was rising than I expected. I don’t think they put out the fire yet. “Let's go.”

We galloped out the wrecked gate and took the first turn we came to. We kept it up for several blocks, taking random turns. We came to a nice townhouse with a wall, and we were out of sight, so we dismounted, and I grabbed the bags. I then heated my stone finger and lightly burned the horses' flanks so they galloped off in a panic. Horses can also be tracked by smell if they know where we got them.

Dusk was falling, which was good. We went over the wall straight into a cactus garden. What the goblin shit, is up with these people and cactuses? I spread some pepper in case we were scratched, but that would also smell out of place. We went over two more walls before stopping for emergency first aid and a bite to eat.

My chest was throbbing, and I was very short of breath with major movements. I had my ankle supported with stone and kept Regeneration on my lung rather than my foot. Umreti’s shoulder was worse.

“Do you have any self heal skills?” I asked. He shook his head. I had grabbed some ointment in the kitchen I raided that was obviously there to treat minor cuts and burns. I applied that and did a better job on the bandage rags. It would help. He will have a strong constitution, being a fighter.

“What Basic classes do you have? Highest to low.”

“Brawler, Warrior, First Aid.”

“Specialisations for Brawler?” He shook his head. “Warrior?”

“Jungle Warrior, Weapons Mastery.”

“First Aid?”

“Survivalist.”

“First aid is keeping people alive, right?” he nodded. “What specialist skill did Survivalist give you?”

“Survival Senses.”

“Is that like a danger sense?”

He shook his head, “It leads me to things I need to survive.”

“So you could find water in the desert?” He nodded. “Where is the nearest food?” He pointed to the bag I was carrying. Fair enough, I broke out the bag of dates, and we started eating. When he reached for the bag I noticed his hand was steady. No sign of the shaking previously. “What Master Skills do you have?”

“Nightsight, Olfactory, Sword, Spear.”

“And with Weapon Mastery, you can basically use any weapon?”

“Weapon Proficiency Skill from the class speeds up learning weapons.”

“Ok, we need to keep moving. We need somewhere to hide for a few days, but first, I must get my gear from where I stashed it. What is your stealth like?”

“Journeyman Level.”

“Do you have any appearance-changing skills?” He shook his head. “I am not going to be very stealthy with this,” I indicated my stone cast, “but we will do our best. It is not far, then we hide. Wait a minute, you need contingency instructions. If we are separated, keep from getting caught with all you can. This is a survival issue.” I framed it that way, hoping his Survival Sense would then help him. It was a guess, but worth a try. “To get help, to survive, go west, and find Modrica, an orc with a Dire Bear bond. You can trust Modrica and her Krvne Sestre, Black. Black has a big black horse as a bond. You can also trust Ruku, who is with them. He has a yellow and black salamander bond. From now on, you only communicate in Orcish. Those three all speak orcish. If I die, your bond will break. If that happens, you must run west to Modrica, Black or Ruku. You will only respond when spoken to in orcish. You will not respond to anything else.”

This should stop him from being recaptured as the only one who could re-enslave him would be someone who speaks orcish or the Slave Taskmaster who can forcibly pick up a bond. There should be no Slave Taskmasters left in this city. I racked my brain for other instructions he might need if we are separated.

“If you are attacked, the person who attacks you is an enemy. You may kill all enemies. The organisation that person belongs to is also an enemy, so anyone belonging to that organisation may be killed so you can escape and find Modrica. The aim is to escape and find Modrica.”

The organisation bit might be a bit too complicated, but I didn’t want him to wait to be attacked before defending himself every time. That is the worst-case scenario for him. If he is captured and I am not, then I can judge what to do.

“If you get captured, your captors are your enemy. You are to keep trying to escape and head west. This is for your survival.” I hope that is enough. It is all I could think of right now. “Time to go. Change your head covering, then follow me.”

I changed my hair colour and added a beard as we left. Two gardens over was a road. The guards were out in force, and we waited for a pair of mounted guards to pass before crossing the road. I felt slow and clumsy as I limped across. We ducked into an alley and then worked our way toward the wall where I stashed my gear.

It was slow and painstaking work, and as we got closer to the wall, the patrols got more frequent. It makes sense, as they were trying to stop us from leaving, and that would be where a sensible person would go. The night wore on, and dawn was getting closer. I decided to give up on the gear for now and find a place to hide. We had topped up our supplies during the night and had a good feed. I noticed the Umreti suddenly paused and then developed shaking for a few seconds. It was like a seizure or something. I asked him about it, but he had no idea what caused it. I had marked a couple of hiding spots as we had travelled, so we headed toward one of them.

Umreti was sprinting across a street, and I was limping behind him, puffing like a blacksmith's bellows. I needed rest, and that will get the lung fixed. Suddenly four riders appeared at the end of the street. One of them must have Farsight and some sort of recognition Skill. I guess it doesn’t take much to identify two people acting suspiciously at 4 am in the morning. They galloped toward us, yelling and blowing alert whistles.

We rushed into the ally. I was the one holding them all up. I wheezed to Umreti, “You run, get out of the city and head west. Tāoke, go with him, please. See him safe with the others and bring back help.” The thing that is different with my bond with Tāoke is if he doesn't agree, he won't do it. Umreti will just obey, but Tāoke will decide for himself what he thinks is best. It was a close call, but Tāoke did jump to Umreti’s shoulder, and they took off much faster than I could without my injuries. His boosed Physical Attributes are amazing. Now I need to lead the pursuers away.