Our Escape
The Black Void - Episode 6846
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We move slowly down the corridor, as quietly as possible. Thankfully, Munaf's sleeping powder seems to have done the trick - we encounter nobody, eerie silence hanging thick in the corridor. We soon get to the west courtyard, where Munaf waves his arm at the west wall of the palace to reveal a door. Aisha shivers. Evidently, she's never seen Munaf use his magic before. "I didn't know he could do that!" she whispers to Daniyah, the fourth concubine. "Hush," she replies. "There's more to most people than you know, sister. Remember?" The door leads into a tunnel, passing under the foundations of the palace. We walk for what seems like hours, but is probably no more than twenty minutes. We soon emerge in an alley, outside the western wall of the palace, where Teran is already waiting.He's a giant of a man, well over six feet tall - closer to seven feet, in fact. He is dressed in the same kind of drab, practical clothes that we're all wearing at the moment, but I can just make out the glint of metal under his shirt. A sword is slung over his back - a two-handed greatsword, big enough to make Usman's longsword look like a dagger. He's obviously an experienced fighter, his muscular arms covered in scars and an eyepatch draped over one eye. Exactly the kind of man we need. With a hearty roar of pleasure, Teran crushes Usman in his embrace. "Usman, you old goat!" he bellows. "Good to see you again! Cushy job at the palace treating you well?" "Cushy job nothing," Usman replies, mock-insulted. "You should take up with me. That scar on your face wasn't there the last time I saw you!" "Ah, that was from when I fought off a troll with my bare hands. Didn't I tell you?" "Troll!" Usman snorts. "There's about as many trolls in Artazia as there are walking mountains..." "If you two could put your members away for one second," Munaf interrupts smoothly, "we have matters of importance to discuss. Namely, our travel plans. We were planning to go to the Vale of Sarin to shelter Hari..." Teran waves him off. "Yeah, yeah. Usman told me all about yer plans. Mission of mercy, eh? Well, far be it from me to leave pretty ladies in trouble." He laughs, and produces a map of Artazia and Laralia from his enormous pack. From the map, I can see that the Vale is to the north, like Munaf said. We'll have to cross the River Arta outside the city, because there are no bridges within an easy walking distance, but from there the path looks clear enough. The only hurdle is that, with the mountains to the west and east of us, we can only really travel in one direction. I just hope the soldiers won't find us...The pack makes a strange metallic clattering as Teran hoists it onto his shoulder. "What's this?" I ask. "Swords," Teran replies. "For all of you. You think I was going to let you out into the wilderness defenseless, with Gods-know-who after you?""Teran," Munaf sighs, "that's exactly the kind of thinking that lost us the Battle of Garazed in the war. Don't you know these girls know nothing about fighting? Hell, they barely ever leave the harem!" "Some of us had lives on the outside, Munaf," Daniyah says. "You'd do well to remember that. We'll take up the swords if we want to. Don't worry about us."Munaf shrugs. "Well, on your own head be it. Come on. It's a long walk to the river."
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Nutas McGrootas
3/7/2012 5:23:41 PM
1656321 episodes viewed since 11/21/2004 7:16:57 PM.