Evasion

"Excuse me, sorry, move please!"

Emyri couldn't help but chuckle as this man leading their little getaway was being polite to these strangers, these people watching them in the daylight. She could hear them sharing thoughts and descriptions ranging from "Look at those tails!" to a younger voice screaming "nice view!" from behind her. That one brought a smile to her amidst the rush they were in, it pays to know you still have the looks on your side.

Being bare naked helps of course, people are missing out with all those awful clothes they wear. They should know better, she thought to herself. "Do you remember where to?"

"Somewhat, I'm kinda hoping it becomes clearer any second now!" Felix felt his heart racing and the adrenaline coursing through his veins surrounding him. His hand kept a somewhat cradle hold of his mate in cat form. Luckily she didn't look to be in bad shape, he couldn’t get a detailed look from how fast things are going but he didn't see any blood anywhere which was enough to keep his thoughts positive. Na'Vi mirrored her condition, just two Nekomatas exhausted after a surprisingly spontaneously orchestrated fight. That they won. Against a hunter of all things! He'd be sure they would celebrate that victory once things calmed down a bit.

With the crowd watching them disappear, the saleswoman began to poke around in the remains of the fruit stand. Pulling a wooden plank away revealed a bruised hunter's face with white dust-filled hair and wooden shrapnel and splinters all around. He spat out a mouthful of dirt and wiggled left and right before pulling his right arm free, revealing the dagger he kept at his waist.

The saleswoman, Shira grabbed his hand tight and helped pull him up and out of the mess, the rope wrapped around him now slashed around the waist. She blushed at the sight of him, his underarmor had teared away when he was kicked into the shop, leaving only a full sleeve on her right arm and the remains of a left sleeve covering his forearm. His chest though handsome and muscular had quite the mark left on his stomach and was littered with tiny slivers of claw marks from front to back and sides.

"You look like shit."

He wiped away a bead of blood dripping from the end of his lip and dug around, finding his sword.

"I thought hunters were trained for these things, what happened?" She called him out, hands on her hip.

Leone sighed and winced as he leaned back. "Go get my things would you? Should be on the bed."

"You seem none the wiser, aren't ye going after em? Don't you need a horse er something?"

The hunter sighed and tilted hard to crack his back. "My things, please."

Shira three her hands in the air in puzzled frustration and retreated to her shop before coming back with his chest armor, cloak and belt with its many glass bottles inside. "If this is how all hunters work, no wonder nothing has come of ye yet."

"Relax." He replied, putting his belt on. "Let them have a head start, I'd say they earned it. Besides I've already contacted my employer, so now I need to check and see if he's still alive. If he's not then there is no pay which renders my task meaningless."

"Always with money for everyone, ain't it? So be it, least ye didn't make a mess of my house." She muttered before handing him the rest of his things, sliding a hand down his chest briefly. "If ye ever come back, you know where I will be."

He nods and smiles before fitting his chest plate on and flinching at how cold the metal felt to his skin. Retrieving one of his many pouches stuck to his belt, he handed it to her without counting. "Here, get yourself a better heap of junk to rest in."

"Will do, on my own accord mind you." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, receiving a slap on the ass as she walked away with some of the bystanders chuckling. As he ran his hand through his hair and tried to think of what to do, another man approached him, seemingly irritated.

"Hey, ye got the coins to pay her but what about my shop!"

Leone rolled his eyes.

Reta growled and whipped at the reins, doing her best to shake off the five horsemen behind them but to no avail. They were slowly but efficiently drawing closer no matter what turns they made. Janette was beginning to worry.

"If we had something to throw, it could help!"

"You can throw yourself if you want to volunteer!" Reta snapped back, "I can only do so fucking much here, you know."

"Damn it." She muttered under her breath, her hair waving fast with the wind as they continued speeding up. Those five soldiers looked rather intimidating with their helmets on, concealing their face. Like metal men chasing them down. Janette came to a realization, their visors helped cover their eyes from the wind but Reta had none to protect hers. Which made sense as to why she kept the angry scowl, it wasn't attitude it was increased difficulty of sight.

"Slow down, you can't see where you're going if you move any faster!"

"Are you hearing yourself right now?"

"Just where are we supposed to meet the others?"

"Up ahead, I think."

"You think?"

"Like I said, I hope the girl is right!"

"Agh!" Janette screamed in fright as one of the soldiers smacked his sword against the rear cart wheel. He grunted and struck it again, causing the woman to panic and think fast. Removing her shoe, she threw it to the soldiers head clanking against the visor and spinning his helmet sideways. With a loss of vision, he failed to reach for his grip and fell off, rolling onto the ground below.

"Hey not bad!"

"Son of a bitch, that's my shoe!"

"Just buy another one!"

"It was my mother's shoe-Aah!" She fell back still aboard the cart as an arrow shot through the air missing her barely. She drew her breath and felt something wet trickle down her chin, looking over she realized one of the remaining four had drawn a crossbow and was busy readying his next shot.

"Arrows! Arrows!"

"Hold tight!" Reta pulled the horses to direct them into a sharp left turn once the road opened up for it, allowing them to evade a second arrow as the men turned to follow them. Janette grunted and leaned hard against the cart, holding on to her grip as well as the unconscious Syri below. Looking back at them she saw the crossbow aimed at the center of the cart directed at either the Nekomata or the driver. Without any time to think, Janette spun around and hugged Syri before feeling something sting her rear.

"OW! He bit me!" She cried out, keeping her grip on Syri whilst blocking Reta as well.

Reta looked up ahead and felt her spirits lift. "There they are!"

Further up the road was a bridge-like structure meant for passengers to walk from one side of the main road to the other. Atop the bridge she could see several figures waving at them, the closer the got the better she could make them out to being Felix, Emyri and Dimyri. "They got her! Now let's hope they make it!"

Up at the bridge, Felix was beaming with joy until his smile began to fade. "Are they being chased?"

"Afraid so dear, by some of those metal men." Emyri clarified.

Dimyri's ears shot up with an idea. "Oh wait, we can throw stuff on them! We did that whenever creatures came to our trees!"

"Throw stuff." Felix repeated as he looked around. "But what?" He asked before his eyes settled on the numerous potted plants decorating the rails of the bridge.

"What are they doing?" Reta asked before rushing under the bridge. "Crap, how do we pick them up if we're bei-"

"LOOK!" Reta spun back to see what Janette was pointing at. Behind them the soldiers were suddenly under fire by several potted plants flung at them from above. Two of the objects hit their target directly on the head, causing them to tumble down. That left two soldiers still after them.

"Damn it, I missed." Dimyri breathed before Felix suddenly shouted, "UP FRONT!"

Reta raised her eye before hearing her horses screech and turn sharply before they struck against the side of another shop, this time a blacksmith. The cart broke one of the wooden beams but otherwise had no visible damage aside from a plethora of scratches and splinters. Janette had pinned Syri down with her body on top during impact and breathed a nervous sigh when she felt no pain but saw a rip of blood on Syri's face. She reached up and wiped some blood from her cheek in disgust before cleaning up the spill on her friend before noticing the two soldiers drop from their horses and approach them, swords drawn.

"Oh fuck." She whispered, pulling Syri to her side before nervously scooting in front to block her from them. She had no clue what to do this time, a shoe wouldn't magically work a second time, she thought. From her left she heard a loud scream as Reta swung a kanabo to strike one of them on the head, knocking him hopefully unconscious. The other pulled his visor up and kept his stance as Reta struggled to lift her weapon once more. He smiled and smacked her hands away forcing her to drop the weapon before pointing the tip of his blade to her chest, with Janette flinging her other shoe at his head. Nothing this time, except him looking at her and flinging his helmet at her, with Janette ducking within the cart in time.

"Hey! With me, asshole." Reta snarled, her back pressed against the front wheel. Her hands were growing cold as she fidgeted and thought of a million miracles to get out of this one while disarmed. Suddenly a Nekomata pounced on him, knocking his head to the ground with his sword sliding away before Felix picked it up. Looking up from her spot, Janette saw Dimyri licking her paw and smiling back at them with the sleeping soldier beneath her paws.

"Hai!" She chirped with a silly grin.