COMPASS OF TRUE LOVE - CHAPTER 14

Chapter 14: Everything always goes wrong, whyyy? And there’s demons, why do there have to be DEMONS?!

-Stephanie-

I threw myself against the wall and took off after Nydia who had taken the tight corner a lot more gracefully. Cassie was still clinging tightly to my hand and stumbled after me.

“STOP! IN THE NAME OF THE KING!” a guard screamed after us. I could hear the clattering of steel of the soldiers on our tails.

Luckily Nydia seemed to have some kind of idea of where to go, which I thought was impressive considering she was only here a day or two before me and Cassie. Right now I didn’t question it, though. I was just glad we had her with us.

We came upon a slightly larger alley between two blocks. Instead of hurrying into the next alley Nydia ran towards a thick fence and jumped up and over. I let go of Cassies hand and we ran after our guide. Cassie easily scaled the fence, but I didn’t manage to get up on my first try.

I doubled back to get a bit of momentum again. The shouts of the soldiers became increasingly louder. I heard the crashing of steel against stone as one of the guards thundered into the same wall me and Cassie ran into. I pulled out a frog leg from my pouch and ran towards the fence again. Right before the fence I breathed out an arcane word and soared over the fence.

I expected to get a bit more momentum, instead I shot some ten metres into the air and crashed into the canopy of a tall birch that sat in the garden behind the fence.

Nydia and Cassie were down on the ground and pressed against the house wall. Their eyes were fixed on me for a moment until the clattering of the guards stole away their attention. The fence wasn’t see-through and it was obvious why Nydia chose this garden. From above I could watch as the guards shot out of the small alley into the larger road. They were frantically looking around for us, glancing down the various alleys that spread out from here and checking a few obvious hiding spots along the road.

I pulled myself back into the canopy as best I could, in case they decided to glance up at me. The guards searched around the area for a few minutes before gathering back on the road.

One of the gate guards spoke up. “Gendra damn it. They escaped. What were you chasing them for?”

“We think they are carrying a stolen artefact. We will continue to search for them. You best get back to your post, we can’t risk the undervolk slipping through,” the Dawneite answered.

The gate guards nodded along and exchanged a few more words before moving out. Part of me wanted to release a sigh of relief, but the other two guards were still standing only a couple of metres below me.

“They aren’t far Naga, I can still smell them,” the white cloak muttered. There was a bite in her voice that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Do not worry, Lissa, we shall find them soon enough. Soon enough they will not be able to flee the city. The assault is but a few moments away,” the Dawneite, Naga I assumed, replied gravelly.

“We’re still chasing a chosen and we don’t know what her companions are capable of. Better be careful and wait for the aspect. If we fumble this, he won’t forgive us easily!” Lissa snarled.

Naga looked up and my heart stood still when his gaze brushed over my little hiding spot. I released a shaky breath when his eyes rose further past me into the sky.

“We shall better take our position for now. The plan relies on us. As for the chosen one, her will is weak. She smelt of fear and despair, the air is still pungent with it. I do not believe her to be a great challenge for us,” Naga stated regally.

Lissa let out another furious snarl before turning and striding down the road. I could hear Naga sniff at the air again, before he turned as well and followed his companion.

Once both of them were out of sight, I breathed out heavily. Then I carefully climbed down the birch to meet back up with my friends.

“What the fuck is happening?” Cassie whispered. “Will one of you please explain what is going on?”

I frowned and looked over to Nydia for help. I wasn’t sure we had the time to explain at least our side of the situation and I was even less sure Nydia would want me to tell Cassie. But Nydia only shrugged at me, so I guess I had to take this one by myself.

“Okay Cassie, remember the compass I have? Apparently, it is a super rare and powerful divine artefact and Nydia told me there are people looking and even killing for these things. I thought the king might be after it, because the guards were following us, but after what those two said I’m pretty sure something else is going on. They were talking about an assault happening soon and the gate guards were on the watch for undervolk or something.”

The brunette was looking like she was barely working through the first sentence, but before she could ask any questions Nydia spoke up.

“Those two are death demons. Practically unkillable, but also notoriously unbothered by mortal affairs. They were also working with someone they called ‘the aspect’ and seemed to be afraid of him. Who or whatever he is, I’m sure we don’t want to meet him. This city is about to blow, I can feel it and they said as much. We need to leave. I believe the river is our best chance, with the guards at the gates.”

We all exchanged a look and Cassie seemed to have caught up. “Okay,” she said with a quivering voice. “What is the best way to the river from here?”

“We’re near the Grand Market. We won’t be spotted there easily. Parzival’s is just next to it and has its own docks. It will cost us a bit, but I’m sure we can get passage out of the city with them,” Nydia stated confidently.

I pulled on my hood then we climbed back out to the road and slipped through the alleys towards the Grand Market.

The market crawling with guards, but just as Nydia claimed, we were almost invisible in the large crowds pushing through the stalls. We slowly crept forward to the other side of the market as sudden screams ruptured through the air.

The guards immediately left their posts and rushed over to the source of the screams and the crowd was pushing even harder than before.

Then there was a loud, thunderous boom echoing from the other side of the river and within seconds a mass panic set in. People were shoving and running and pushing and screaming. I reflexively grabbed Cassie’s hand again and found Nydia’s soon after.

Our guide slowly pushed us through against the panicking crowd towards the river. My grip on Cassie’s hand became tighter and tighter and we were almost separated multiple times. We had almost reached the other side of the market, when another boom sounded through the air.

This one was on our side of the river, somewhere south of us. Loud screams quickly followed, but we had already escaped most of the crowd. Nydia found another small alleyway opening up in front of us, so she pulled us around the last few people that were still scrambling around this part of the market and we dashed into it.

We quickly found the familiar façade of Parzival’s and ran further down to the docks at the back. They quickly came into view, but we stopped in our tracks when we saw the backyard in front of it. Or rather, the furred creature that was stalking out of the manhole and stared at us with malicious hunger.

It was like a halfling-sized rat with simple cloth armour that was slightly town and sullied. It held a jagged shortsword in one hand and a rusty dagger in the other. It’s red glowing eyes were fixed on us and for a moment everyone stood still.

Then it let out an ear-ringing screech and charged us head-on. It was a lot of quicker than I expected and I was still a little shocked at the sight. Nydia stepped in front of me protectively and I felt Cassie let go of my hand.

The rat was only a metre from me and Nydia when the screeching was suddenly silenced and there was a gurgling sound instead. Cassie stood in front of Nydia and had her longsword implanted in the chest of the creature. She was still trembling like a leaf and softly croaked out, “We need to leave. We need to fucking go.”

I couldn’t agree more. Whatever that creature was, it was terrifying. There was no fear in its eyes, no consideration for anything, just hunger and malice. I was about to turn towards the door, when I saw the next one climbing out of the manhole. On the other side of the backyard another manhole opened up while the chain of the small well suddenly went taut. They were pouring out from everywhere.

Nydia reacted faster than me, she grabbed mine and Cassie’s hands and pulled us towards the nearest rowboat.

I’d never been on a boat before and nearly fell into the water when the thing shook wildly as I tried to step onto it, but luckily, I made it just fine. Nydia helped Cassie inside as well and was about to follow when another boom sounded through the air.

This one was closer though and different from the other ones. There was a cloud of smoke forming in the backyard and at the backdoor of Parzival’s stood Dex, the stylish troll. In his hand was a massive gun that was still smoking from the bulled he’d just planted into the nearest ratling.

The moment of shock passed and Nydia climbed in with us. The rats rushed at the troll, who had come out completely into the open now. Nydia grabbed the oars and pushed them against the wooden pier.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” she exclaimed. “I forgot the damned rope.” She jumped back out of the boat and ran over to the small mooring post it was tied to.

Another boom thundered over the backyard and another rat was torn apart, but it was obvious that Dex was overwhelmed. There were already a few small cuts on his arms and legs and his once-pristine outfit was torn and splattered with blood.

Then a silver flash shot through two of the rats wailing at him and they promptly fell to the floor. A young, blonde half elf practically danced across the cobblestones, slashing and stabbing at any rat that dared to creep out of the darkness below with a look like he was somewhat slightly displeased.

He wore a tight white crop top that showed off his toned abs and low hanging black leather pants with a dueller’s sash strapped to his belt. Next to the sash hung a shiny black and gold sheath. On top of all that he wore a long fancy purple coat with a gold trim, that neatly flowed behind him as he gracefully cut through our foes.

When the last of the rats fell, Dex quickly moved over to the alleyway we had come from. “There’s a bunch of those ratlings pouring out of the sewers, boss,” he grumbled.

The half elf ran a hair through his perfectly styled hair and let out an annoyed sigh. “Seriously, can’t this city take care of itself by now? I’ve been telling Lord Imperael for years we’ve got a rat problem and now they’ve become people sized.”

He was about to say something else, when another boom thundered through the air. Dex grimaced and moved away from the alley to reload his gun.

“Now, Nydia, you have about ten seconds to give me a good reason for why you’re trying to steal my least favourite boat,” the half elf tutted. He glanced down to me and Cassie for a moment before fixing his glare back to Nydia.

Nydia stammered a little and had trouble finding her words so I blurted out, “There’s evil rats in the streets and two demons are trying to kill us.”

Our fancy rescuer frowned at me, but luckily Nydia found her words before he could reply. “Parzival, we need your help to get out of the city. There are two death demons after us. They’re trying to get us trapped in the battle!”

Parzival looked back down to me and his eyes were blatantly resting on my chest. I crossed my arms protectively and he tore his gaze away. “You know that is going to cost you, Nydia,” he replied with a pointed sass.

“Sure, I’ll give you an I-owe-you, now help us please,” she pleaded. A simple favour didn’t sound like it was worth all that much, but then I remembered that Nydia was nobility of some kind, so it was actually worth quite a lot.

Parzival pondered for a moment before he was interrupted by another thump against the door. He rolled his eyes as overdramatically as he could. “Fine, okay. We’ll get you out. You owe me a big favour though!”

I really didn’t like this guy. But right now he was our best chance out of this mess. I just hoped Nydia knew what she was doing.

Dex moved back out into the alleyway again to cover for us, while Parzival took care of the mooring. Nydia carefully climbed back into the boat with us and our eyes met for a moment. She was obviously not happy with this outcome, whatever her plan was, owing a favour to this guy was not part of it.

I couldn’t really see any alternatives though, aside from maybe finding another boat and trying to steal that. Although from the look of it we weren’t the only ones that took to the river. There were already a dozen other boats and small ships parting from several backyard docks and escaping downriver.

Parzival finally managed to untie the boat and threw us the rope. “Pleasure doing business, Nydia!” she exclaimed smugly. “You know my price, I’m sure, till then, I’m going to go save this sorry city again.”With that he twirled around and dashed into the alleyway Dex had been covering.

“Okay,” I began. “We should follow the other ships downriver, we’re faster that way and Moorest lake has plenty of natural beaches to land at.” My companions seemed to agree and Nydia quickly moved us away from the docks and into the larger river.

We were making good progress. We only had to pass the South Bridge, which was the massive bridge that had houses on top of it, and then the bridge at Port Lys, before we would be out of the city proper. We were just passing below South Bridge when another boom grabbed our attention. Only this time did I see what it was.

The bridge at Port Lys was shattered apart by a furious explosion. Rocks flew through the air and crashed into a few boats that were nearby and a large shockwave tore through the river. I saw the next closest boats struggle against the waves and the smaller ones were quickly turned over and crushed beneath the wave.

We turned as quickly as we could and Nydia rowed back upriver. We were cut off from the escape south, now we could only go north. The words of that one death demon were resurfacing in my mind. ‘They will not be able to flee the city.’

If they blow up the northern bridge as well, we were as good as dead. If they found us on the river, struggling our way upstream, we were as good as dead. If anything at all went wrong at this point, we were as good as dead.

We just passed below the South Bridge again when I noticed a shadowy figure clinging to one of the foundation pillars of the archway. Two red eyes focussed glared from out of the darkness and I held by breath when we stared into each other’s eyes.

The furred menace screeched out an ear ringing battle cry and jumped towards us.