Arrento/Amanita = Fin
Diamantus = Mwn
"Ah, here we are," Arrento said. He was an enlil of fine clothing with a refined, perhaps pompous, look.
He stepped out of the carriage to a small house. It was a shoddy thing with a small yard. The grass was kept trim, but it was plain, without any beauty. The home had fallen shingles and patched up windows. It was old but holding together. The steps up to the front porch had been fixed a while ago, but the repairs were still holding. One thing about it was it looked clean, and that took a lot of years off the appearance.
"To tell the truth, I don't live here anymore. I still own it, but it's sort of a nostalgia thing. I moved out of here to a better place a while ago. But since this is within the district, I think it makes a fine place to speak."
He fumbled around with the keys for a bit. "Huh. This door didn't jam before." He shrugged and forced it a bit harder. There was a loud click. He opened the door to a homey interior. "Here we are, ladies. Please, proceed down the hall to the dining room. I will go get some things."
In spite of herself, Diamantus set her hand on the hilt of her cutlass. She began to wonder if this was as good an idea as it had seemed at first. What if Arrento was working for TorBru or the Conexus and this was a trap? They made their way to the dining room, but Diamantus didn’t sit once they’d reached it. She stood, watching the door and scanning everything with a sharp eye.
She looked over at Amanita and spoke in quiet tones. “Does anything feel...I don’t know...off to you about any of this?”
"Hmm, not particularly, but I would rely on your instincts more than mine when it comes to this kind of thing," Amanita said.
The decoration of the house was from simpler times. The walls and shelves were bare, but there were lighter spots on them, places that had not been so sun-damaged. The pictures must have been moved to the the new house. What was left behind were some more generic things meant to bring some color and life to the space.
The dining room had a simple set of wooden furniture in the center and a mostly-empty cabinet to the side. Amanita took a seat to rest her feet. It had been a long day.
Arrento first returned with three glasses and a bottle of wine. "I did promise a drink, didn't I?" He pulled the cork out and then poured three glasses. "Please, enjoy while I go get the proposal from Branton."
Diamantus sniffed at the wine and sipped it cautiously, but she reasoned that poison didn’t seem to be TorBru’s style and perhaps she was being too paranoid. In fact, it was quite a delicious vintage and she said as much to Amanita before adding. “I still don’t trust him, but maybe I’ll get a good tip on wine out of this meeting.”
The rebel leader let her gaze wander around the room and she asked a question of her companion in low tones. “Does it seem as if he’s fallen on hard times to you? I find that rather interesting.”
"He did mention that this isn't his primary residence anymore," Amanita said. "I would guess he lives outside of the district, but he certainly can't use that as a place of business if he wants to be seen as helping the people here. They'll identify with him much more if he lives here." She took a drink of the wine, a small sip.
The house was old and creaked in the night. It was dark outside, and most people were already home, leaving things quiet.
Until a loud crash happened upstairs that shook the walls. A muffled voice cried out, "Help! Help!"
In one easy, smooth motion Diamantus was on her feet with her cutlass in her hand. The heavily-muscled velen was moving quickly now, showing just how elusive her seemingly heavy build was as she charged out of the room and up the stairs rapidly. Once she was in the upstairs hallway, she slowed and stalked more carefully down the hall, her eyes scanning each room as she moved forward. The cutlass was held ready to explode into a blur of cutting death if necessary. As she moved, she wondered exactly whose voice it was that she was hearing.
Amanita followed, but she stayed behind. Unlike Diamantus, she was not one to bring weapons to a social gathering. That left her with nothing but a silk glove and a purse for defense. Upstairs, there was only one light on towards the middle of the hall. That was where all of the noises were coming from.
Loud noises boomed out from inside. A rough voice said, "There's nowhere to go, Arrento."
Another man was standing by the door, facing into the room. He was armed with a sword, and he was ready to prevent anyone from getting out.
Arrento's voice filled the hall, "Take what you want, but I have nothing here!"
"It's alright. We don't want anything other than your life," the rough voice snarled.
Amanita's eyes widened. "I think you should do something to save our host," she whispered to Diamantus.
While the velen may have distrusted Arrento, she didn’t believe that anyone should be killed without justification. She nodded resolutely and surged forward, all muscle and power. Her voice was hard as she presented herself in front of the man guarding the door, cutlass ready. “If you don’t step away from that door and let Arrento out, the only people losing their lives here today will be you!”
Diamantus knew that her mere presence was unlikely to dissuade these rough men from action, but she wasn’t about to let them intimidate her either. If it was a fight that they wanted, she was quite prepared to give them that fight.
The man by the door turned around. His eyes were wide with shock. "What the? Who goes there?" he snarled. His sword was out and ready. "Hey, hurry up in there, we have company."
"Well, take care of them," a voice from inside said. "No witnesses."
"You just handle your part," the man at the door called back. He sneered and moved towards the two guests. He was a burly laicar with a nose that had been flattened from a previous fight. His hand tightened around a shortsword and he lurched forwards.
As the man surged forward, he brought his short sword around in a vicious swing aimed at Diamantus’ head. He telegraphed the move too clearly and the velen easily brought her cutlass in to intercept it. His sword skittered uselessly off of her blade and the man now found himself the victim of a fierce chopping counterattack aimed at his face. He barely stopped himself from yelping in shock at the strength behind the blow, but he got his sword up to block it. As it turned out, his block was weak and while it deflected most of Diamantus’ attack, she still sliced along the block and cut into his shoulder.
Now he reeled away from his attacker, fear written plainly on his features. He shouted to his companion. “You really need to hurry the hell up in there! This bitch is strong!”
The sharp-toothed velen grinned coldly at him. “That’s right, keep calling me a bitch, let’s see how that goes for you!”
Once again, she closed in on him, a disturbingly predatory expression on her scaled features.
The rough voice inside the room called out, "Consider it done."
Amanita didn't like the sound of that. She leaned as close to Diamantus as she dared. Her eyes lingered on the cutlass. She had her arms up, not that it would do much for defense if she got caught in the way between the blades.
"Try to push him away from the door. I'll go in and see what's happening to Arrento," she whispered.
Another razor-toothed grin split Diamantus’ features. “It shall be done, milady!”
The ease with which the velen had made the man back down under her assault told her that she could do exactly what Amanita had instructed her to do. It was time to move this guy out of their way. Diamantus pressed her attack, using the weight and heft of the cutlass to propel her as she surged forward, bringing the blade around in an arc that started above her right shoulder and came chopping down.
She almost felt sorry for her opponent as the blade sang through the air and bit deeply into his shoulder and drove in, cleaving through muscle and bone. As she yanked the blade free, the man fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. Whatever happened, he wasn’t going to give them any more trouble.
Turning on her heel, she surged in behind Amanita, unsure of what she’d find on the other side of the door.
Amanita rounded through the doorway. She had a brief time to take in the room. Her eyes were wide as they fell upon danger. She stumbled back and ducked behind the wall just as a loud bang shook the air. A bullet crashed into the wall opposite of the door, where she had been previously.
"Help!" Arrento called out again.
The person with the rough voice said, "You're messing everything up! Enough of this garbage!"
Amanita said to Diamantus, "There's one spurii in there with a pistol. Arrento is bleeding and hiding behind a desk, but I think the man is done trying to do it the low-key way. We'll need to get in there, fast."
“Right. Leave it to me! I’ve got a plan.”
At least I hope it’s a plan Diamantus thought as she gathered her energies for what she was about to do. It had been quite a while since she’d actually used a spell in the heat of battle and she hoped that she could still make it work.
Her training in the arts of Serpens was not something about which she ever spoke, but it was about to come in handy. She was risking taking a shot from the armed spurii, but Diamantus figured that she had the reflexes to avoid it. Gathering her mental and magical energies, she leaped into action.
With one hand swirling from above and the other from below, the velen made circles in the air and called on the magic now surging within her. Two horseshoe shaped rings of energy formed in her hands and Diamantus surged out and threw them at the pistol-wielding spurii.
He was a quick shot and in spite of her speed, as she ducked out of the way, one of his bullets lodged itself with a blooming fire of pain in her right shoulder. Diamantus swore in agony and rage even as her magical rings encased the shooter and flung him backwards into the wall, holding him firmly in place. He struggled, enraged, but was unable to do anything.
Grunting in pain, Diamantus called out. “I just took a Vis-damned bullet for you, Arrento, so you better get the fuck out here now. Come on, he’s not gonna be able to shoot clamped to the bloody wall like that.”
Arrento scrambled out from the the room. He was panting heavily, and his feathers were ruffled heavily. His clothes were disheveled. There were drops of blood on his face and over his white shirt.
"What happened?" Amanita asked.
"I don't know!" the enlil said. He glanced at the man on the ground and shuddered. "When I came into this room, they were waiting to attack me! It's an assassination, I tell you!"
"They certainly aren't thieves," Amanita said. She peered back into the room.
The spurii man was locked against the wall, bound at his chest and waist. His arms were locked to his side but the gun was still in hand. He had limited aim with it, but she didn't want to chance going in there without protection.
The man glared at her. He let out two sharp whistles.
"I don't like the sound of that. We should move," Amanita said.
Diamantus nodded her agreement. “I’ll bring up the front, you watch our backs. Let’s keep Arrento between us until we’re out of here.”
Proceeding cautiously, the velen kept wincing at the pain shooting through her arm, but she wasn’t going to quit moving. While she wasn’t fully ambidextrous, she could certainly fight with her left arm and she would if it was necessary.
Amanita would be much more keen on that idea if she had any of her usual armaments. What was she supposed to do? Get hit in the body to protect Arrento? Unlikely.
As they shuffled onwards, Diamantus could hear rustling and banging from below. She stage-whispered back to Amanita as they moved. “Shit! I think someone’s down there. This whole thing certainly has turned into a mess, hasn’t it?”
Amanita turned to Arrento. "Is there another way out of here?"
"From the second floor?" Arrento gulped. "I could glide down, but that hardly leaves anything for you two. Oh, wait! At the end of the hall, that window leads to the first floor roof. It's better than jumping off, I assume?"
"Much." Amanita waved towards the end of the hall, where a lone window stood. "Come, let's see if we can't avoid whatever unpleasantness is happening below." She glanced back down the hallway. One man was on the ground, unconscious and bleeding out from a severe wound. There was light in the doorway where the spurii was held.
He was yelling, "Up here! Arrento is up here!"
Amanita was certain of Diamantus's fortitude, so she focused on keeping an eye behind them.
Arrento’s tip about the window was one that Diamantus was going to heed. There was no point in getting into an unnecessary brawl with these unknown assailants when there was a solution that didn’t involve fighting their way out. She set her jaw and charged towards the window. Using her cutlass, she bashed out the glass and cleared it away in one easy sweep of her powerful arm.
She barked orders back over her shoulder, taking on the role of leader that seemed to fall naturally on her. “Let’s move! Amanita help Arrento across the roof. We need to get to the ground and get the hell out of here!”
Now they were charging along the roof towards the edge. Diamantus shouted back at Arrento. “Is there a way down from this roof to the ground?”
"Well." Arrento hopped off the roof, his arms spread wide. Even in the suit, he was able to slow his fall enough not to get injured, but he did stumble to the ground. "It's about eight feet to the ground. I think you can drop it." He pointed to the edge of the roof. "Hurry! I can see them going upstairs," he said in a light hiss.
Diamantus sighed, sheathed her cutlass and pivoted to lower herself, mostly using her left arm to hang until she could drop. Her boots and the powerful legs around which they were wrapped cushioned the drop, but her right arm screamed in protest after this action.
Amanita sighed and shook her head. She was not in the right clothes for this. The woman lowered herself gently until she was hanging by her fingertips, feet dangling in the air. She let go. A jolt of pain shook up her ankle as she rolled forwards. "Ow. Ow. Ow," she mumbled. High heels were not ideal for dropping from the roof.
While checking her feet for sprains, she said, "We should find somewhere to hide, fast."
There was a large pile of scrap material up against the side of one of a derelict building’s walls. Diamantus pointed at it and began making her way towards it rapidly. “This should work in a pinch! Let’s get in there before that gang shows up!”
She began pulling herself into the mess, moving towards a large sheet of corrugated iron that would cover all of them fairly readily. It wasn’t ideal but it was better than remaining exposed and in the open. This hadn’t been exactly what she’d envisioned for the day when she’d agreed to go with Amanita to meet Arrento.
"Are you engaging in whimsy?" Amanita asked as she knelt down behind the wall. "I am seriously considering facing our aggressors rather than be in here."
The velen looked at Amanita askance. “No, I assure you, there’s no whimsy here! Now get down!”
Arrento was looking alarmed. "Shh! What if they hear you."
Amanita glared at him. "Oh, might I have this, Arrento?" She pulled off his ascot before he answered. She handed it to Diamantus. "Here. Use this to try and stem the bleeding. I'll keep watch while you do so."
Amanita was clutching her purse tight. She didn't exactly peer out from behind the sheet of metal, but she kept an ear out.
Diamantus set to work with the ascot, efficiently and expertly bandaging her wound. She’d had a lot of experience with treating injuries in the field and in no time had everything under control. It wasn’t perfect but it would stop the worst of the bleeding until she could get it seen to by someone more competent.
The sounds of the men on the roof had moved downwards to the ground. Diamantus crept up to Amanita and whispered. “If they move far enough away, we’re going to need to run like hell. I don’t wanna get stuck anywhere near these guys.”
Angry and hushed voices filled the air.
"Where did they go?"
"I didn't see," a second voice said.
"Well, spread out and find them!"
A third person said, "Are you sure? Arrento has some tough bodyguards with him."
The first person growled, "Get loud if you have to, just finish the job."
It sounded like there were three people in total, probably not including the one lying in the house. Amanita grumbled and folded her arms. She slipped off her boots. The ground was not pleasant. It was dirt and filled with pebbles, iron parts and other sharp objects. Amanita was going to need some foot therapy after that night.
She stopped moving at the sound of footsteps getting closer. One of the hunters was heading their way.
The hunter clearly wasn’t a stupid man because he narrowed his eyes and started stalking towards the pile of discarded material, realizing that it would be the ideal place for people to hide. Amanita looked at Diamantus who looked right back at her. The elegant woman appeared to be gesturing that she’d make the first move, so the velen nodded in the affirmative. She’d seen Amanita fight and knew that the woman was quite competent. It would be interesting to see how she fared without a weapon.
As their pursuer began searching through the pile, Amanita launched herself at him and tried to put some fancy grappling moves on him. Unfortunately he was skilled in that area and managed to throw her off. However, Lady Agaricales’ attack had bought Diamantus time to ready a proper response to the seeker and she threw herself forward with all the power in her heavily muscled frame.
He turned, yelping in surprise at her ferocious charge, trying to get the nail-studded cudgel he held up in time to block her attack. Diamantus was using the flat of her cutlass, not wanting to kill him and her blow was good. The man staggered backwards, half-stunned, but shook his head to clear it and moved in again.
This time he was ready for her attack and parried it away. The velen grunted in pain as some of the cudgel’s nails sliced across her forearm, but she closed with him and again dealt a stunning blow with her cutlass’ flat side. The hunter crumpled to his knees and then to his side, still breathing but seemingly incapacitated. Something flew past Diamantus’ face as Amanita tossed a hunk of iron, but her aim was off and the metal skittered away past its target. It was time to move.
“Let’s go!” the velen rebel hissed as they came out from under cover and began to sprint out and away from the area.
"This way!" Arrento said. While he didn't want to take the lead, he did point the way.
They were in his home district, so it made sense to follow him. They traveled quickly and mostly quietly through the dark streets, away from streetlights and large roads. The loudest noise was Arrento's wheezing.
The feeling of being chased fell away, and the night calmed. They had managed to lose the others within the district. For the time being, at least.
"What now?" Arrento asked. He was doubled over, one hand on the wall.
Diamantus smiled knowingly. “I’ve got a place that we can go where nobody’s likely to find us. Once we clear this district, I’ll be able to get us there without much trouble.”
She was, of course, referring to the hidden part of Terminus’ sewers in which she’d situated her base of operations. They could hide there without much chance of being detected. Besides, it was guarded and her guards wouldn’t let anyone pass without a fight. Anyone who’d made it that far didn’t ever make it any further.
The rebel velen let Arrento lead them the rest of the way out of the district before finding her direction and motioning for the others to follow. It might not have been perfect, but under the circumstances, it was the best option they had.
Word Count: 3649
Diamantus = Mwn
"Ah, here we are," Arrento said. He was an enlil of fine clothing with a refined, perhaps pompous, look.
He stepped out of the carriage to a small house. It was a shoddy thing with a small yard. The grass was kept trim, but it was plain, without any beauty. The home had fallen shingles and patched up windows. It was old but holding together. The steps up to the front porch had been fixed a while ago, but the repairs were still holding. One thing about it was it looked clean, and that took a lot of years off the appearance.
"To tell the truth, I don't live here anymore. I still own it, but it's sort of a nostalgia thing. I moved out of here to a better place a while ago. But since this is within the district, I think it makes a fine place to speak."
He fumbled around with the keys for a bit. "Huh. This door didn't jam before." He shrugged and forced it a bit harder. There was a loud click. He opened the door to a homey interior. "Here we are, ladies. Please, proceed down the hall to the dining room. I will go get some things."
In spite of herself, Diamantus set her hand on the hilt of her cutlass. She began to wonder if this was as good an idea as it had seemed at first. What if Arrento was working for TorBru or the Conexus and this was a trap? They made their way to the dining room, but Diamantus didn’t sit once they’d reached it. She stood, watching the door and scanning everything with a sharp eye.
She looked over at Amanita and spoke in quiet tones. “Does anything feel...I don’t know...off to you about any of this?”
"Hmm, not particularly, but I would rely on your instincts more than mine when it comes to this kind of thing," Amanita said.
The decoration of the house was from simpler times. The walls and shelves were bare, but there were lighter spots on them, places that had not been so sun-damaged. The pictures must have been moved to the the new house. What was left behind were some more generic things meant to bring some color and life to the space.
The dining room had a simple set of wooden furniture in the center and a mostly-empty cabinet to the side. Amanita took a seat to rest her feet. It had been a long day.
Arrento first returned with three glasses and a bottle of wine. "I did promise a drink, didn't I?" He pulled the cork out and then poured three glasses. "Please, enjoy while I go get the proposal from Branton."
Diamantus sniffed at the wine and sipped it cautiously, but she reasoned that poison didn’t seem to be TorBru’s style and perhaps she was being too paranoid. In fact, it was quite a delicious vintage and she said as much to Amanita before adding. “I still don’t trust him, but maybe I’ll get a good tip on wine out of this meeting.”
The rebel leader let her gaze wander around the room and she asked a question of her companion in low tones. “Does it seem as if he’s fallen on hard times to you? I find that rather interesting.”
"He did mention that this isn't his primary residence anymore," Amanita said. "I would guess he lives outside of the district, but he certainly can't use that as a place of business if he wants to be seen as helping the people here. They'll identify with him much more if he lives here." She took a drink of the wine, a small sip.
The house was old and creaked in the night. It was dark outside, and most people were already home, leaving things quiet.
Until a loud crash happened upstairs that shook the walls. A muffled voice cried out, "Help! Help!"
In one easy, smooth motion Diamantus was on her feet with her cutlass in her hand. The heavily-muscled velen was moving quickly now, showing just how elusive her seemingly heavy build was as she charged out of the room and up the stairs rapidly. Once she was in the upstairs hallway, she slowed and stalked more carefully down the hall, her eyes scanning each room as she moved forward. The cutlass was held ready to explode into a blur of cutting death if necessary. As she moved, she wondered exactly whose voice it was that she was hearing.
Amanita followed, but she stayed behind. Unlike Diamantus, she was not one to bring weapons to a social gathering. That left her with nothing but a silk glove and a purse for defense. Upstairs, there was only one light on towards the middle of the hall. That was where all of the noises were coming from.
Loud noises boomed out from inside. A rough voice said, "There's nowhere to go, Arrento."
Another man was standing by the door, facing into the room. He was armed with a sword, and he was ready to prevent anyone from getting out.
Arrento's voice filled the hall, "Take what you want, but I have nothing here!"
"It's alright. We don't want anything other than your life," the rough voice snarled.
Amanita's eyes widened. "I think you should do something to save our host," she whispered to Diamantus.
While the velen may have distrusted Arrento, she didn’t believe that anyone should be killed without justification. She nodded resolutely and surged forward, all muscle and power. Her voice was hard as she presented herself in front of the man guarding the door, cutlass ready. “If you don’t step away from that door and let Arrento out, the only people losing their lives here today will be you!”
Diamantus knew that her mere presence was unlikely to dissuade these rough men from action, but she wasn’t about to let them intimidate her either. If it was a fight that they wanted, she was quite prepared to give them that fight.
The man by the door turned around. His eyes were wide with shock. "What the? Who goes there?" he snarled. His sword was out and ready. "Hey, hurry up in there, we have company."
"Well, take care of them," a voice from inside said. "No witnesses."
"You just handle your part," the man at the door called back. He sneered and moved towards the two guests. He was a burly laicar with a nose that had been flattened from a previous fight. His hand tightened around a shortsword and he lurched forwards.
As the man surged forward, he brought his short sword around in a vicious swing aimed at Diamantus’ head. He telegraphed the move too clearly and the velen easily brought her cutlass in to intercept it. His sword skittered uselessly off of her blade and the man now found himself the victim of a fierce chopping counterattack aimed at his face. He barely stopped himself from yelping in shock at the strength behind the blow, but he got his sword up to block it. As it turned out, his block was weak and while it deflected most of Diamantus’ attack, she still sliced along the block and cut into his shoulder.
Now he reeled away from his attacker, fear written plainly on his features. He shouted to his companion. “You really need to hurry the hell up in there! This bitch is strong!”
The sharp-toothed velen grinned coldly at him. “That’s right, keep calling me a bitch, let’s see how that goes for you!”
Once again, she closed in on him, a disturbingly predatory expression on her scaled features.
The rough voice inside the room called out, "Consider it done."
Amanita didn't like the sound of that. She leaned as close to Diamantus as she dared. Her eyes lingered on the cutlass. She had her arms up, not that it would do much for defense if she got caught in the way between the blades.
"Try to push him away from the door. I'll go in and see what's happening to Arrento," she whispered.
Another razor-toothed grin split Diamantus’ features. “It shall be done, milady!”
The ease with which the velen had made the man back down under her assault told her that she could do exactly what Amanita had instructed her to do. It was time to move this guy out of their way. Diamantus pressed her attack, using the weight and heft of the cutlass to propel her as she surged forward, bringing the blade around in an arc that started above her right shoulder and came chopping down.
She almost felt sorry for her opponent as the blade sang through the air and bit deeply into his shoulder and drove in, cleaving through muscle and bone. As she yanked the blade free, the man fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. Whatever happened, he wasn’t going to give them any more trouble.
Turning on her heel, she surged in behind Amanita, unsure of what she’d find on the other side of the door.
Amanita rounded through the doorway. She had a brief time to take in the room. Her eyes were wide as they fell upon danger. She stumbled back and ducked behind the wall just as a loud bang shook the air. A bullet crashed into the wall opposite of the door, where she had been previously.
"Help!" Arrento called out again.
The person with the rough voice said, "You're messing everything up! Enough of this garbage!"
Amanita said to Diamantus, "There's one spurii in there with a pistol. Arrento is bleeding and hiding behind a desk, but I think the man is done trying to do it the low-key way. We'll need to get in there, fast."
“Right. Leave it to me! I’ve got a plan.”
At least I hope it’s a plan Diamantus thought as she gathered her energies for what she was about to do. It had been quite a while since she’d actually used a spell in the heat of battle and she hoped that she could still make it work.
Her training in the arts of Serpens was not something about which she ever spoke, but it was about to come in handy. She was risking taking a shot from the armed spurii, but Diamantus figured that she had the reflexes to avoid it. Gathering her mental and magical energies, she leaped into action.
With one hand swirling from above and the other from below, the velen made circles in the air and called on the magic now surging within her. Two horseshoe shaped rings of energy formed in her hands and Diamantus surged out and threw them at the pistol-wielding spurii.
He was a quick shot and in spite of her speed, as she ducked out of the way, one of his bullets lodged itself with a blooming fire of pain in her right shoulder. Diamantus swore in agony and rage even as her magical rings encased the shooter and flung him backwards into the wall, holding him firmly in place. He struggled, enraged, but was unable to do anything.
Grunting in pain, Diamantus called out. “I just took a Vis-damned bullet for you, Arrento, so you better get the fuck out here now. Come on, he’s not gonna be able to shoot clamped to the bloody wall like that.”
Arrento scrambled out from the the room. He was panting heavily, and his feathers were ruffled heavily. His clothes were disheveled. There were drops of blood on his face and over his white shirt.
"What happened?" Amanita asked.
"I don't know!" the enlil said. He glanced at the man on the ground and shuddered. "When I came into this room, they were waiting to attack me! It's an assassination, I tell you!"
"They certainly aren't thieves," Amanita said. She peered back into the room.
The spurii man was locked against the wall, bound at his chest and waist. His arms were locked to his side but the gun was still in hand. He had limited aim with it, but she didn't want to chance going in there without protection.
The man glared at her. He let out two sharp whistles.
"I don't like the sound of that. We should move," Amanita said.
Diamantus nodded her agreement. “I’ll bring up the front, you watch our backs. Let’s keep Arrento between us until we’re out of here.”
Proceeding cautiously, the velen kept wincing at the pain shooting through her arm, but she wasn’t going to quit moving. While she wasn’t fully ambidextrous, she could certainly fight with her left arm and she would if it was necessary.
Amanita would be much more keen on that idea if she had any of her usual armaments. What was she supposed to do? Get hit in the body to protect Arrento? Unlikely.
As they shuffled onwards, Diamantus could hear rustling and banging from below. She stage-whispered back to Amanita as they moved. “Shit! I think someone’s down there. This whole thing certainly has turned into a mess, hasn’t it?”
Amanita turned to Arrento. "Is there another way out of here?"
"From the second floor?" Arrento gulped. "I could glide down, but that hardly leaves anything for you two. Oh, wait! At the end of the hall, that window leads to the first floor roof. It's better than jumping off, I assume?"
"Much." Amanita waved towards the end of the hall, where a lone window stood. "Come, let's see if we can't avoid whatever unpleasantness is happening below." She glanced back down the hallway. One man was on the ground, unconscious and bleeding out from a severe wound. There was light in the doorway where the spurii was held.
He was yelling, "Up here! Arrento is up here!"
Amanita was certain of Diamantus's fortitude, so she focused on keeping an eye behind them.
Arrento’s tip about the window was one that Diamantus was going to heed. There was no point in getting into an unnecessary brawl with these unknown assailants when there was a solution that didn’t involve fighting their way out. She set her jaw and charged towards the window. Using her cutlass, she bashed out the glass and cleared it away in one easy sweep of her powerful arm.
She barked orders back over her shoulder, taking on the role of leader that seemed to fall naturally on her. “Let’s move! Amanita help Arrento across the roof. We need to get to the ground and get the hell out of here!”
Now they were charging along the roof towards the edge. Diamantus shouted back at Arrento. “Is there a way down from this roof to the ground?”
"Well." Arrento hopped off the roof, his arms spread wide. Even in the suit, he was able to slow his fall enough not to get injured, but he did stumble to the ground. "It's about eight feet to the ground. I think you can drop it." He pointed to the edge of the roof. "Hurry! I can see them going upstairs," he said in a light hiss.
Diamantus sighed, sheathed her cutlass and pivoted to lower herself, mostly using her left arm to hang until she could drop. Her boots and the powerful legs around which they were wrapped cushioned the drop, but her right arm screamed in protest after this action.
Amanita sighed and shook her head. She was not in the right clothes for this. The woman lowered herself gently until she was hanging by her fingertips, feet dangling in the air. She let go. A jolt of pain shook up her ankle as she rolled forwards. "Ow. Ow. Ow," she mumbled. High heels were not ideal for dropping from the roof.
While checking her feet for sprains, she said, "We should find somewhere to hide, fast."
There was a large pile of scrap material up against the side of one of a derelict building’s walls. Diamantus pointed at it and began making her way towards it rapidly. “This should work in a pinch! Let’s get in there before that gang shows up!”
She began pulling herself into the mess, moving towards a large sheet of corrugated iron that would cover all of them fairly readily. It wasn’t ideal but it was better than remaining exposed and in the open. This hadn’t been exactly what she’d envisioned for the day when she’d agreed to go with Amanita to meet Arrento.
"Are you engaging in whimsy?" Amanita asked as she knelt down behind the wall. "I am seriously considering facing our aggressors rather than be in here."
The velen looked at Amanita askance. “No, I assure you, there’s no whimsy here! Now get down!”
Arrento was looking alarmed. "Shh! What if they hear you."
Amanita glared at him. "Oh, might I have this, Arrento?" She pulled off his ascot before he answered. She handed it to Diamantus. "Here. Use this to try and stem the bleeding. I'll keep watch while you do so."
Amanita was clutching her purse tight. She didn't exactly peer out from behind the sheet of metal, but she kept an ear out.
Diamantus set to work with the ascot, efficiently and expertly bandaging her wound. She’d had a lot of experience with treating injuries in the field and in no time had everything under control. It wasn’t perfect but it would stop the worst of the bleeding until she could get it seen to by someone more competent.
The sounds of the men on the roof had moved downwards to the ground. Diamantus crept up to Amanita and whispered. “If they move far enough away, we’re going to need to run like hell. I don’t wanna get stuck anywhere near these guys.”
Angry and hushed voices filled the air.
"Where did they go?"
"I didn't see," a second voice said.
"Well, spread out and find them!"
A third person said, "Are you sure? Arrento has some tough bodyguards with him."
The first person growled, "Get loud if you have to, just finish the job."
It sounded like there were three people in total, probably not including the one lying in the house. Amanita grumbled and folded her arms. She slipped off her boots. The ground was not pleasant. It was dirt and filled with pebbles, iron parts and other sharp objects. Amanita was going to need some foot therapy after that night.
She stopped moving at the sound of footsteps getting closer. One of the hunters was heading their way.
The hunter clearly wasn’t a stupid man because he narrowed his eyes and started stalking towards the pile of discarded material, realizing that it would be the ideal place for people to hide. Amanita looked at Diamantus who looked right back at her. The elegant woman appeared to be gesturing that she’d make the first move, so the velen nodded in the affirmative. She’d seen Amanita fight and knew that the woman was quite competent. It would be interesting to see how she fared without a weapon.
As their pursuer began searching through the pile, Amanita launched herself at him and tried to put some fancy grappling moves on him. Unfortunately he was skilled in that area and managed to throw her off. However, Lady Agaricales’ attack had bought Diamantus time to ready a proper response to the seeker and she threw herself forward with all the power in her heavily muscled frame.
He turned, yelping in surprise at her ferocious charge, trying to get the nail-studded cudgel he held up in time to block her attack. Diamantus was using the flat of her cutlass, not wanting to kill him and her blow was good. The man staggered backwards, half-stunned, but shook his head to clear it and moved in again.
This time he was ready for her attack and parried it away. The velen grunted in pain as some of the cudgel’s nails sliced across her forearm, but she closed with him and again dealt a stunning blow with her cutlass’ flat side. The hunter crumpled to his knees and then to his side, still breathing but seemingly incapacitated. Something flew past Diamantus’ face as Amanita tossed a hunk of iron, but her aim was off and the metal skittered away past its target. It was time to move.
“Let’s go!” the velen rebel hissed as they came out from under cover and began to sprint out and away from the area.
"This way!" Arrento said. While he didn't want to take the lead, he did point the way.
They were in his home district, so it made sense to follow him. They traveled quickly and mostly quietly through the dark streets, away from streetlights and large roads. The loudest noise was Arrento's wheezing.
The feeling of being chased fell away, and the night calmed. They had managed to lose the others within the district. For the time being, at least.
"What now?" Arrento asked. He was doubled over, one hand on the wall.
Diamantus smiled knowingly. “I’ve got a place that we can go where nobody’s likely to find us. Once we clear this district, I’ll be able to get us there without much trouble.”
She was, of course, referring to the hidden part of Terminus’ sewers in which she’d situated her base of operations. They could hide there without much chance of being detected. Besides, it was guarded and her guards wouldn’t let anyone pass without a fight. Anyone who’d made it that far didn’t ever make it any further.
The rebel velen let Arrento lead them the rest of the way out of the district before finding her direction and motioning for the others to follow. It might not have been perfect, but under the circumstances, it was the best option they had.
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