Gonn is still low even at its highest in the sky, and provides little light despite its size. Soon it will go down below the horizon and leave the night in darkness. Silence reigns in Mekair. All the shops are closed. The children are asleep. No caravan runs in the street.
No caravan. But a shadow does.
Running silently through the city.
Turning without hesitation.
Looking both in front and behind.
The shape crosses a street, and the moonlight shines on her hair, letting off a glimpse of purple in this grey and black city. After a few minutes, she arrives north of the Central Plaza, and keeps going a few more blocks. In front of the large empty place, she stays near a wall, hidden in its shade.
A few lone tables. Empty stalls. Open crates. Silence.
Her breath starts getting heavy. Almost pushing herself off the wall, she rushes to the cover of the closest stall.
No magic, or they'll see me.
After checking the alleys and the rooftops, she quickly slides under a table. There lies a tiny reinforced wooden coffer, with a metal lock. Sitting comfortably, with the chest on her lap, she gets a leather bundle from her right side and unrolls it, revealing pouches with neatly organised tools. Lockpicking tools.
In silence, she gets to work.
She stops at every scratch of the metal and every cling of the lock to check no one is there to listen. Eventually, the lock gives, and she sighs of relief. As she opens the coffer, the yellow contents reflect in her eyes and distract her as the hinges creak. She takes out a coin from the chest, and replaces it with a smaller one taken from her personal pouch.
It's always been a half.
Pocketing the bigger coin, she closes the chest and hastily puts the lock back on. As she steps up to leave the underside of the table, the chest glides and the lock, not having been properly closed, falls off towards the paved ground.
Fuck !
As a reflex, she takes control of the air around the lock and holds it still to absorb the sound. The lock hits the ground. The silence is not broken. However...
Oh no...
As quick as she can, she takes the lock, puts it back on the coffer, locks it correctly and shuffles the coffer back to where it was. Just as she is about to stand up, she hears a masculine voice.
Voice- I know you're in there. Come out nicely and we can talk things through.
Her heart rate spikes. Guards are nothing. Guards are even fun to mess with. But Watchers ? Now she's in trouble. Looking around, all the other covers are way too far to make a safe escape.
No, no no no.
She starts to panic, her breath becomes irregular and her heart rate increases even more.
No, there has to be another way.
A way out.
She sits, hidden, leaning back on the table and closes her eyes, wishing she was out of the marketplace and into one of her usual streets, hiding from guards after a prank. It was so much simpler before. What has she gotten herself into ?
Suddenly, she loses her balance and falls backwards.
Where did the table go ? Is she getting arrested ?
She opens her eyes and looks around in confusion. She recognises a street near the Central Plaza.
What.
Where is...
From what feels so far away now, she hears a very confused "What !?" and recognises the voice from earlier. After a second of extreme brain work, she almost jumps back up and starts running the opposite way.
What just happened.
---
Out of breath, Kaen stops running.
She arrived in front of the outer south gate. How ? She's unsure. She panicked, and just started running. Running and thinking, not paying attention to her surroundings. What happened and how ? She was trapped, then suddenly she was out. How did this happen ? Did she just teleport ? She had never teleported before. Even runes can't do that. And runes can basically do anything.
She approaches a communal fountain to drink from it. The cold water feels good, especially after all the adrenaline. She splashes her face as well, when she hears small footsteps from behind.
Oh no, he caught up to me.
She rushes to hide behind a corner wall. The silhouette approaching however, is female, and doesn't seem to notice Kaen. The robe looks almost... familiar. Red and fancy, open to the sides. But Kaen needs to wait until her face is under the moon to recognise her. She's the water mage from yesterday. The wood elf firewater mage. The one who fled like a coward.
What is she doing here at this hour ?
She looks suspicious, better follow her.
The wood elf approaches the city gate, and as she reaches it, she turns around to look behind her. Kaen suddenly hides and holds her breath, hoping not to be seen.
She waits, then hears the squeak of the gate's door. She holds her position for a few seconds afterwards, then takes a peak. The door is closing, and the wood elf is nowhere in sight. She's actually leaving the city in the middle of the night ?
Kaen does not have much time, she runs to the door and catches it before the clench locks the door back closed. She already knows the door creaks, so she freezes and waits for the elf to be far enough away before opening the door and going through herself.
The door then closes behind her.
YOU ARE READING
Tales of Six
ФэнтезиIn a world where elemental magic is as common as steel, a young woman discovers she can push the limits of what is possible with shadows. But how ? And why her ? Fire, air, light, nature, water, and shadow are the six pure elements that make up ele...
