Inanimate Love

Into Darkness

Shouting and hollering are heard throughout the main street as the town guards dash after me, their swords held high and motivation running rampant. Zigzagging through the crowd lining the open road of the city, I find myself jumping over wheelbarrows, swooping through between the legs of people, and dodging arrows soaring towards me. I almost even tripped on a head of cabbage rolling discreetly amidst the masses.

"Catch her at all costs, men! That bounty will send you sky-high if you ever dream of being promoted!"

A loud warcry bursts from the shiny troop rumbling behind me, like a bellowing war drum on a longship. They've got their eyes on the prize.

"Bounty, huh?" I think, "Guess I'm building a reputation around here. Might be time to ditch town for a bit."

As much as I like rummaging around the dark corners of the second lupellian capital, my brash activities seem to have caught up to me. "How careless... I can't believe I have to leave Tarthkar. Where do I even head next? Maelys?"

I tug at my hair as I try to force an idea out of it before mustering some proper focus.

"No, I need to get out of here first!"

The density of the crowd loosens as the naked street is revealed up ahead. Like a wave bursting from around a corner up the street, a company of knights comes crashing out with a cannon wagon. A burly armored man with slicked-back hair and mutton chops for a beard is standing atop the wagon with a torch lit and ready.

"This time we'll get you Se'curieu! We won't repeat the mistakes of that lousy order over in Kizey!" he shouts as he lowers the torch to the base of the cannon.

My eyes widen as I realize he's actually going to fire down a crowded street. "You crazy bastard! The people will be caught in the crossfire!" I shout at him as I veer off to the side and burst through the window of a nearby building.

Like an inflated leather ball being kicked into someone's home, shards of quartz glass go flying all around as I punch through and roll out over the floor. Standing up, I hear the muffled shouting of men before a hefty explosion goes off, and the people outside start screaming and running in all kinds of directions. 

A knight bursts through a reinforced door, knocking it off its hinges, and sends a piercing glance over at me. "Stay where you are, scum!" he shouts as I dart deeper into the building.

Making an effort to slither through the snaky corridors of the building, I'm surprised by the sheer amount of people lining these halls. Women and men, adventurers and commoners, not a dress code in sight. Where have I ended up?

Zipping out of the corridor, I end up in a large dimly lit room divided into sections with curtains. The smell... was interesting. A culmination of fragrances and perfumes intermingling with a musty scent of sweat. There were several people here looking at me, clearly confused.

The shouting and hollering of the knights grew louder as they made their way through the hallway behind me, commoners and adventurers shouting back as they were shoved to the sides. Without a second thought, I sprinted down the room as the knights came thundering out after me.

Passing between the curtains, I find myself almost dazed by its labyrinthian nature. The knights were always heard close behind but the deeper I delved, the more I heard them around me.

One of the hunting figures came pouncing around a corner and just as he was about to chomp down with his grasp around me, I slid under him and veered off into one of the curtain booths. Revealing to myself what was inside, I'm caught off-guard by the two naked figures grappling and grabbing at each other at the silky smooth bed. The elven woman, looked up at me with a puzzled expression, not making an effort to shield her private parts, whilst the man, obviously distracted by his partner, looked at me with a lusty smirk.

"This is a fucking brothel!?" I thought to myself before flying out to the other end of the booth. An embarrassed "sorry" squeaked out of me as I left them to their devices.

Reaching the end of the erotic labyrinth, I see another window which I, once again, punch through, sparing no extra thought. Rolling out on the pavement of the alley outside, my roll is stopped as my lower back is rolled into the wall adjacent to the brothel, my feet hanging down over my head. At least the air was refreshing.

"That bitch! She jumped through another window!" a voice yells from inside the building, shortly followed by a scrawny and distraught, "My windows!"

I roll to my side and make my way down the alley towards the main street again. Knights start pouring out behind me, filling up the width of the alley like a wave crashing after me. Looking back, I grab onto a gutter pipe and climb up to the roof above. Clawing at the straw canopies, I run across the tops of the city, hopping from roof to roof.

In the distance, I hear someone clamoring demandingly. "Fire!" the voice bellows, and with it, a black-dotted cloud pierces the sky as a barrage of arrows is fired my way. Quickly I throw myself over the edge of the roof just fast enough to dodge the worst of it. But just when I think I'm safe, I see one arrow cutting through the obstacles, flying towards me!

I shield myself with my arms and bite down in anticipation of the arrowhead's sting. But before any pain can surge through me, I hear the faint chime of a bell. The arrow is reflected to the side out of harm's way. Perplexed by the happening, I look down at my body as I'm sliding down the side of the building, only to be met with the gleaming green light of the small stone in my bracelet going out.

"Haha! No dust for you! Told you, old man!" I shout gleefully at the sight of the bracelet's hidden power.

Landing in a wheelbarrow full of hay, I quickly make haste into the open street again. An angry farmer shrieks in my direction as I'm ejected from his packaged commodity, but is suddenly overshadowed by the roaring wheels of the cannon wagon behind him. The same knight stands upon it, his shiny armor now very much covered in ash.

"Spare her no mercy, gents! Tally-ho!" he calls out before lighting the cannon fuse again.

My eyes lock on to the end of the street. "I can see the gate!"

Running my gaze along the sides of the large opening in the city walls, I see a group of peasants being corralled by a knight into turning the crank to the gate. They're trying to close it!

Before any solutions spring up inside my head, I turn and look back as the echoing explosion of the cannon goes off.

As if everything slowed down, my body relied on solely instinct as I closed the distance with the gate, yet the cannonball hurled towards me faster than I could ever run. Before I knew it, I slid down to my knees, bending backward as the charging projectile zoomed over me. 

"I dodged it!"

The peasants cranking up the gate and the knight corralling them threw themselves to the side as the cannonball obliterated the gate, producing a large opening in the massive wicket. Letting go of the crank it's sent spinning, the weight of the gate booming into the ground as the tremors surge throughout the whole city.

As the smoke of the cannon dissipates, the chasing knights look on in disbelief as I scurry my merry way out of their grasp one more time. I smile and wave gleefully to them as I disappear into the darkness of the forests outside the city.

A peasant off to the side looks up over the counter of the market tent he had been hiding in, his partner closely following his lead. He nervously yet with curiosity turns to her and asks, "Do you think she'll survive in the cursed forest?"