Escaping

Salazar hurried through the tunnels towards the little alcove he had spent the last two weeks sleeping in. He moved to pack rations and other gear for the journey away from the mountain into his backpack, when was interrupted.

*HALT! I HAVE DECIDED TO BESTOW ANOTHER BLESSING UPON YOU, SALAZAR.*

Power rushed through him, much less painful this time and joined by the knowledge of how to use it. *Thank you Urien, that will be very useful.*, he replied. This gift had little to no application for combat, but it was still extremely useful. He formed white string into a sling-bag and opened it. At his command ropes shot out, grabbing rations, waterskins, a tent and various other travelling gear and pulling them into the bag. He knew that he could only store inanimate objects in the little dimension contained inside the bag, but his food wouldn’t spoil, and it weighed next to nothing. It was like his own tiny white garden.

He threw the bag over his shoulder and ran the rest of the way to the exit of the cave system. He felt the freezing wind even through his black robe as he stepped on the ledge. The view was magnificent, he overlooked the Misty Forest at the foot of the mountain with green plains beyond that held the city Ingard. Salazar presumed, that one of the powerful mages stationed in Ingard must have felt the aura of the ritual. Their forces were surely already inbound, a team of inquisitors most likely.

Usually, the way down the mountain would have taken at least an hour, but he decided to test his new skill once more. Four ropes emerged from his tailbone area and lifted him up, then they started carrying him down the mountainside. The ropes securely grabbed onto the rock and moved quickly. Salazar, after dangling initially, summoned a fifth rope to keep himself upright on the way down. He made the whole trip in just a few minutes.

He had been moving through the forest in a similar manner, the ropes carrying him by grabbing onto trees and branches. Only half an hour into his journey, he sensed a group of people approaching. He hid in the crown of a large tree and soon they came into view. Three heavily armoured knights of the inquisition, a robed mage and an assassin clad in leather armour. All of them were either hooded, masked or wore a helmet to conceal their faces, but at least the mage and assassin were clearly female.

“I will move ahead! You’re slowing me down, let’s meet at the mountain.”, the assassin exclaimed and hastened her steps. “Be careful, the sage warned us about the intensity of the ritual.”, the mage was breathing heavily trying to keep up with the more physically focused warriors. “I’m always careful.”, the assassin yelled before disappearing through the underbrush in front of the group. *Always careful, huh?*, Salazar thought. Urien was chuckling again.