Screams reverberate around us. They’re coming from the inn’s staff, the other patrons in the mess hall, and from the girls’ table due to the raw, abrupt violence. The first to react are Roderic’s group as they shoot up from their seats unsheathing their swords, the wooden chair legs screeching across the wooden floorboards on their way back. The second to react is Bertrand as he leaps from his seat and beheads one of Roderic’s companions when they try to take off Torban’s head. His blade instantly tore through the linens wrapped around it, the blue writing on the flat of the blade that’s usually dark and dim is now bright and coursing with power. Bertrand personally showcases why mithril blades are restricted in this kingdom by cutting through another of Roderic’s companions and his sword like they were butter.

Seeing the rest of us still paralyzed in our seats, Derriv leaps from his seat and grabs the intact blade dropped by the man Bertrand beheaded while barking his orders, “Get your weapons and grab your things, we’re leaving with or without you in five minutes!”

Immediately after giving his orders, he helps Bertrand finish off Roderic’s last two remaining companions before running towards Ilya’s table to get the girls. He didn’t even spare a glance at Torban or say a thing to him, focusing solely on what our next step will be. Once Roderic’s entire group is dead, Bertrand rushes to the next room over where the armory is and I, along with many other Candle members, follow right behind him. As I’m running towards the armory, I can see the other patrons already fleeing through the front door, screaming at the top of their lungs. I have no doubt with how organized this city’s guards are, they’ll be here momentarily and if we’re still here by then, this ocean paradise will become our watery grave. Although this isn’t the worst place to be buried, I still have a couple of things I’d like to do.

When we reach the armory, we catch the inn’s staff trying to shut the wooden doors on us but they instantly stop and surrender when they see Bertrand barreling towards them. Without stopping for a moment, he runs into them and knocks them to the ground, growling, “Stay down! If I see you standing back up, I’ll rip you in half myself.”

Azureview Manor’s armory is inside a small, enclosed room protected by iron bars with a small opening in the center where a wooden counter is. The counter is usually manned by one of the inn’s employees and you can drop off or pick up your weapons at any time. Instead of speaking with the frightened employee cowering behind the iron bars, Betrand swings his shining sword against the bars and cuts through them before planting his boot on them and knocking them over. Rushing through the opening he made, I spot my shield hanging on the wall and hurry to take it down. All the weapons and armor in the armory are organized nice and neatly which makes it easier on us during this frenzied scramble. Once I have my sword and axes secure on my sword belt, I grab Wraine’s longsword too since I didn’t see him coming with us.

When we get back to the mess hall, I can see Wraine standing next to Olin holding two leather packs. When he sees me, he tosses me my pack and I toss him his sword. It looks like the five minutes Derriv gave us is up as he quickly gets us organized and explains how we’ll be getting out of the city as we’re heading out the front door. This is going to be a race against time as we see whether we can leave the city before the guards catch up to us. They already have a five minute lead on us as thanks to the other patrons’ screams for help but hopefully they won’t be able to identify Torban, Bertrand, or Derriv with their hoods partially covering their faces.

Bafal is leading Torban by his arm at the back of our group and judging by the vacant expression on his face, he’s still not fully with us even after what he did. I have a million questions I want to ask him but we don’t have the time for it and I doubt he’ll say anything in his current state. Right now we’re headed towards the city’s most southern gate because that should be the shortest path to the stable and our horses and wagons. We’re only running along the city’s pathways and its overarching bridges because Derriv thought the boats would attract too much attention and most of them are slow as fuck anyways, opting for leisure and comfort rather than speed. But even then our group of 30 odd people all shrouded up with leather hoods and cloaks carrying three little girls is pretty conspicuous no matter how many alleyways we take.

When we reach the southern gate, we’re dismayed to find the gate fully shut with dozens of guards surrounding it looking around warily. But we’re not giving up just yet. With how unique Ocean’s Rest’s topography is, it’s far from the most secure city in the kingdom which is a blessing for our specific situation. With the southern gate closed, we veer ourselves towards the southeast where there’s a waterway checkpoint that leads out of the city. The checkpoint has a gate as well but it’s much more difficult to close due to it being a waterway and that’s where we found our opportunity.

When we arrived at the checkpoint, the guards were occupied with trying to clear away a boat wreck right where the gate was. Judging by the shouting and arguing occurring between a group of guards and a group of merchants, the accident happened because the guards didn’t give the merchants enough time to stop their boats before raising the watergate. In their panic to seal up the city, they’ve created an opening for us. Seeing the rest of the merchants’ boats still intact behind the wreck, this opening might as well be a giant hole in the city’s walls. Bertrand doesn’t waste any time and rushes at the group of guards with half of our group trailing right behind him.

There’s about two dozen people guarding this checkpoint with most of them on boats trying to clear the wreckage and none of them even spare us a glance until we’re five yards away from them. When we reach the eight guards standing on a stone walkway adjacent to the waterway, our blades pierce through their backs, shocking the merchants and splattering them with blood. The guards in the waterway start panicking when they see us murdering their friends and try to get themselves to the other shore but they don’t get far before they’re shot through the back with arrows. Candle only has three or four people, Quinn included, who can use a bow but most of the time they’re forced into melee roles due to our outfit’s low numbers. However, none of that matters when they shine the brightest right this moment and eviscerate the water-bound guards. Once the guards are dead, we check the gatehouse and see that it’s empty before we turn our attention to the merchants.

The merchants tried to run away in the havoc but they were quickly overpowered and taken hostage. When the merchants’ employees on the waterway see what’s happening on land, they’re bewildered but before they can do anything, Bertrand shouts his demands, “Now, if you don’t want to see your bosses here split in half and lose your source of income, I advise you to bring those boats toward our shore. The moment we’re out of the city, you’ll all be free to go.”

With the merchants’ enthusiastic encouragement, their employees bring their five boats close enough to our walkway where we can hop onto them. The rest of our group who stayed behind quickly get over to us and we’re barely able to get everyone onboard the vessels along with the merchants and their employees. Although terrified, the employees do a fine job of navigating their boats around the boats filled with dead guards and the initial wreckage with their oars in hand. My boat’s the last in line to get to the gate and I can already hear reinforcements making their way over here. We weren’t the most subtle about this and there were bound to be witnesses but this time we were prioritizing speed over everything else.

Seeing torchlight quickly approaching us both from the waterway and the stone walkways from where the southern gate is, an idea pops into my head. Grabbing the torch from the merchant hostage on our boat, I carefully light the dead guards’ boats we pass on fire. Once we’re past the wreckage that’s right in the mouth of the gate, I light that on fire as well. When we get past the gate, we only keep going on the boats for a short distance before dismounting and abandoning them. With how slow they are, Derriv thinks they’re a death trap and we’ll be more inconspicuous on foot. Before we head toward the stable, we force the merchants and their employees to scuttle their boats despite their cries of dismay.

After 20 minutes of running, we get to the stable south of the city but there’s guards already there holding lit torches. Going by the number of torches we can see in the distance, there has to be dozens of them. Derriv instantly makes the decision to abandon the wagons and only get the best horses who can move quickly, leaving behind the packhorses. It’s a hard decision to make but no one voices a word of dissent because we trust his judgment. Once the decision has been made, he quickly splits us into two groups: fighters and riders. The fighters will engage with the guards and distract them while the riders, which I’m assigned as, will sneak into the stable and get the horses.

By the time I hear iron clashing outside, I’m already inside the stable, searching for a horse. There were a few guards inside here but Angelene and I took care of them without any problems. Derriv made her a rider because she had to get Sunshine while at the same time she had the best eye out of everyone for horses. Before long, she helped everyone pick out the best horses in the stable and we’re just about ready to leave. Ilya is seated in front of Riane who is going to stay in the middle of our formation, Mary is riding with Wraine and he’s going to be our left flank, Paige is riding with Olin and they’re going to be on our right flank, and I’m riding at the front with Angelene. Once we’re all ready, we open the stable’s front entrance and burst through the opening.

It looks like reinforcements from the city made their way here pretty quickly since there’s nearly a hundred guards here now disregarding the dead ones. Seeing us riding towards them, Derriv orders his group to disengage and get ready for pick up. When we reach them, we don’t miss a beat and reach out our hands to grab them up to keep our speed. I can’t believe Angelene’s practice actually paid off. I grab ahold of Uriah’s hand and pull him up onto the back of my horse as our whole group speeds off toward the treeline.

Arrows and crossbow bolts fly over our heads as we ride away from the city guards. At this point, all we can do is close our eyes and pray. But when I hear a horse screaming behind me, I can’t help but look back. One of the horses at the rear took an arrow through its leg and collapsed forward, taking its two riders with it. With how fast the horse was going, its body crushed both of its riders underneath it during its fall and all three, the horse and its two riders, remained motionless on the ground as the dust settled around them. Fuck.

All I can think of at the moment is how glad I am that it wasn't any of the girls. We’re nearly at the treeline when I lean my body down as close to my horse as I can get to minimize how much of my body is exposed to missile fire. A moment later I can feel Uriah slumping over on my back. Is he trying to protect me with his own body? When I turn my head back to tell him he doesn’t need to do that, I see a bloodied arrowhead sticking out of his right eye and my heart stops.