The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 30 City Jail

Alice sat there in the hay patiently waiting for Miles’ return. The door was set ajar and didn’t show that it was in place in anyway. A guard walked past and noticed this as well, tapping the door as it fell inwards with a mighty clang as Alice beamed at the guard. He barked at her to move, escorting Alice to a new cell. As he unlocked the cell, Alice obdiently followed his instruction and went inside. After he locked the door Alice grabbed the iron grate. With her hands tightening she broke the door off, startling the guard and making him jump back a few paces. She dropped the cell door and sat down in her new pile of hay, still smiling at the man. Hesitating the man ran off into the corridor shouting at the top of his lungs. Alice was already getting bored with waiting, but she was intensely curious about the limits of her own strength. Twisting her hand and observing the changing colours and shine that the middle of her hand now was set. The guard had brought back another man much larger than him, he looked around at the damaged of the cell door and relaxed, sighing at the cell dor.

“I assume you’re willing to cooperate?” the larger man asked. Alice nodded at him, beaming an innocent smile at him.

“Follow me, I assume no cell will contain you so it’ll be best I watch you myself” the larger man gestured to her, Alice jumped up and followed the large man out of her cell. The guard stared as his prisoner walked away with his superior.

“Brave’s like you are often the bane of my work here. It’s hard to keep order when people cause chaos are at such powers as yourself. I wouldn’t advise running now that I’m here, the higher ranked guards are ex-Braves themselves and as such it would be very difficult to break through them” the man explained. Alice nodded as she continued to follow him.

“My friend is supposed to come see me soon” said Alice, causing the large man to cock an eyebrow.

“I see, does your friend have a name?” he asked.

“Miles” Alice said. The large man burst out into laughter.

“I can see he’s had an impression on you. I have had more than enough of my share of run ins with that rogue. You know what they call your friend here?” The man asked. Alice shook her head and listened.

“Miles the Trickster, he’s well known around these parts as being a troublemaker” the man laughed. They suddenly entered into a stone stairway and passed through it to enter the entrance of the building but also was the one covered in the most guards. A number of chairs and tables dotted the floor and the large man pulled a chair to sit down on. Alice followed suit and sat down with the man.

“While we wait for Miles, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us passing the time”

“What do you mean?” Alice asked.

“How about an arm wrestle, I saw the moves you pulled on the door and happy to test it out” the man said, showing off a muscled bicep. Alice smiled in response and held her hand out as they both clasped hands.

“3,2,1, go” the man said as both of them pulled their arms and gripped the table. Alice didn’t feel much effort but it was more of a struggle than anything she had faced recently. The man’s muscles bulged as veins began to expand with the effort.

“Shame it’s only a temporary victory for you” the man smiled and Alice noticed his skin change to a dull metal sheen. Suddenly Alice felt increased strength and brought it back to a stalemate again. Alice let a breath of air as she began to put her full weight behind it, causing the man to struggle against her.

“You two look like you’re having fun” a voice said from behind. The man turned away for a moment and Alice pounced, driving her arm with her full strength and cracking the table in two with the force. The man’s body briefly flipped and he landed on the ground hard. Despite the hard knock the man got off the ground with no injuries showing.

“Miles, its good to see you” said the large man.

“Back at you Zen” Miles laughed and brought the man into a rough hug. Alice watched the two as they reminisced.

“You’re daughter is certainly a handful” Zen said laughing.

“She would be if that was my daughter” Miles laughed with him “She’s my apprentice” he said patting her on the shoulder. Alice beamed up at her as Zen watched the two.

“There’s only one problem you have now, the legionnaires of Altoc are after you two. Even if I did let you go they’ll go after you” Zen warned them, quietening the light mood.

“I hear you, we’re planning on making an escape and head up north, there’s a few things that we’re going to need to deal with up there” Miles said.

for visiting.

“Oh, guess its another one of your troubles you’ve gotten yourself into” Zen remarked.

“This time I brought some backup as well” Miles said with a wink. Zen cocked an eyebrow at the suggestion.

“Well as a one time favour, I’m letting you go Miles. But good luck getting back into the city again without being hounded around” Zen remarked crossing his arms as he shot a stern look at the both of them.

“Which is our cue to escape, looks like I owe you a favour this time huh Zen” Miles said with a smile.

“Get going you two, I already have enough trouble already to manage in this city” Zen said with a grin.

“Gladly” Miles winked and both he and Alice left the prison. The fresh air was welcoming to Alice as she breathed it in, although they were still within the walls of the city and danger was looming all around. The horse and cart were waiting outside for them, the horse giving a nicker to see a familiar face. They both got on and Miles turned to Alice as the horse started to roll the cart.

“It’s going to be a lot of trouble when we head out there, and I expect a lot of resistance along the way” Miles said with a serious expression. “So let me tell you what we’re going to do” Miles leaned into Alice’s ear and started explaining his plan.

The guards were going about their day, the added interest of a rogue bounty and the amount certainly put them on high alert considering they were only paid a copper a day, compared to the potential bags of gold on offer here. They checked people’s papers and examined the occasional face to make sure no one was the rogue attacker. In the distance they noticed there was a slight dispersal of the crowd further down the city gates, a large amount of dust was kicked up and the guards started to get on edge. They could now start to here the noises of crowds of people parting the way for this oncoming object, as they dived to the sides as to what now came into view. A cart was running wild with a man, a horse and a girl riding ontop of it. Several of the guards sent the alarm, it was the bounty they had been searching for over the last couple of days. The cart had picked up a huge amount of speed thanks to the sloping hill towards the gate, the guards were hurridly closing it in as the escapees got closer. Suddenly the girl stood up and launched herself ahead of the cart at a blinding speed throwing back the guards for a moment from her passing. She grabbed a hold of one of the gates and the wood bearings began to groan and creak as wood splintering began to form along the the sides of the wooden gate. The girl broke the gate door off with a resounding snap that sent splinters flying, the guards covered their faces from the oncoming debris. The girl swung the door into the other gate with a great and smashed it fully open as well, throwing the broken door down. The cart rushed through the now open gate and the girl caught herself on the back of the cart, throwing herself back in the moving vehicle and giving a wave goodbye as the guards stared in awe. The bells and alarms were sounding but too late as they had already made their way past the last of the fortifications of the city. Alice and Miles laughed as they managed to get somehow through the mess, the horse however was looking quite pale from the incident and couldn’t move its head from staring in a straight line.

“That was certainly something huh Alice?” Miles remarked, the cart was still rolling away at a good speed but he could definitely feel it starting to slow down.

“I know right, its crazy what I’m able to do at the moment” Alice beamed, still breathless from the laughter and exhilaration of breaking through the city’s gates.

“Though we do have someone we’re supposed to meet on the way out of here, we’re going to need the extra help”

“Help?”Alice asked looking at Miles with confusion. As the cart gradually slowed to a stop they were quite far away from the gates now but the guards would certainly catch up soon. Alice carried the horse off the cart and it was still in quite a bewildered state as it was placed back on the ground. Miles started hooking the horse up to the cart and hopped on giving a quick crack of the rein and the horse got back into a familiar rhythm as they road down the road. Miles took a sudden turn into the woods getting off the cart to hide their tracks and waited for the chasing guards to pass by. The thundering of hooves signalled them passing, 6 riders in burnished breastplate armour and lethal looking weapons were off at a lightning pace to catch up to them. Miles came back to where he hid the cart along with Alice.

“We’ll wait here in the meantime, there’s a certain visitor I’m expecting on the way here” Miles noted, grabbing some bread from the cart along with cheese and dried meat and passed it between the two of them as the horse grazed while he waited. They munched on the dry bread and waited for night to fall, none wanting to start a fire to warm themselves in case the patrols were still out there. Alice could see of in the far distance there were some lights, most likely torches that were searching for the two of them. Alice drifted off to sleep slowly as they laid against the cart, Alice was dreamless as her sleep consumed her. A sudden snap of a branch brought Alice out of her short sleep, on full alert now. Standing up immediately she ran to the source of the sound. She could see the outline of a person hiding behind one of the trees and she dive kicked straight for it. Shattering the base of the tree the shadowy person leapt out of the way of the crashing tree. As Alice got a better look at the man she noticed he looked incredibly familiar.

“Nice you finally made it Tane” Miles said appearing behind Alice. The man pulled back the hood on his cloak, showing the same silly grin that Alice had remembered back in Rift.