Dragon (S)Layers Ch. 14: City of Flames

She mewled weakly as she tried to crawl from under the person who'd landed on her. That's when Sarah noticed that the armor the figure was wearing was bulkier than standard leathers and even though ambient light was absorbed by the leather, it was backed by something rigid.

"Wait--" Sarah stepped over Tessarie and grabbed the leather clad figure, rolling it off of the elf. It was a woman-- it had to have been. What she could make of the figure's outline hinted at hips much too wide to be a man's and an overall size too small to be manly.

After checking over Tessarie to make sure she was all right, Sarah felt around the figure's body. She found a bloody hole in the stomach, packed with sugar but still bleeding even now. "Keiter--"

She didn't even have to open her mouth beyond that. He was on her in seconds, chanting softly to Irsira. They didn't have time to heal her properly, each passing moment was becoming a question of survival. If they were captured. . .

"Just stop the bleeding if you can. Tessarie, dear, come with me."

"Nngh. . .? Owwwww."

Sarah offered a hand. "Quickly now, dear."

Eventually the girl managed to pull herself up and they made their way to the staging area surrounding the gate. A couple of quick exchanges-- and fifty coins-- later, she had her travel pass in hand and the carriage. At that point she could have left. She should have.

Yet, that woman, the woman who'd likely want to kill her once she got better kept coming back to her. There was Keiter to think of, too. What would happen to him if. . .

She sighed and instructed the coach driver to meet her at the alley. By the time they got there the Paladin and Keiter were both exchanging quiet words while the woman laid atop Keiter's balled up robe. Someone had pulled her mask off and, to Sarah's surprise, the girl who she'd met at the ball was the one she saw. Young, attractive with those slightly rear cant ears and vaguely elven features.

Well, now, that made things more interesting, didn't it? Sarah grabbed her dress and, with a little help, turned it into a splint. They had her loaded into the carriage in no time and, despite some apprehension from the driver, managed to get on the road before she could bleed out any more. Keiter continued his chanting now in the confines of the carriage while Sarah climbed up and gave the paladin her travel pass and papers.

When he gave her a confused look, she pointed towards the slowly approaching gate. "Give these to the guards, they'll give them back. From now on you work for me."

"I am a servant of--"

"Yes, yes, but for the time being, you're my retainer. Make yourself useful, would you?"

That threw him for a loop. He furrowed his brow. "Retain-- Oh."

Sarah pat his arm and crawled back into the carriage, drawing the curtains. She eyed the girl, he would be killer and wondered just how long she could keep this ruse up. If the dragon was going to go this far, what hope did she really have?

Tessarie looked to her as though she would have the answers to the questions warring in her beautiful eyes. Sarah tried to force a smile she didn't feel any longer. There was a saying in the far west, one seldom heard by easterners and yet wholly appropriate in almost every respect; 'lie well or run fast.'

The time for lying was at an end. . .