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Jinn looked upwards and could see the faint red orb from Dougal's flare as it ascended into the sky before disappearing. He came to a halt, his paw pads fighting for purchase on the wet, slick ground. It had been the retreat signal, but it also meant that they needed to meet up at their secondary safe house.

The gnoll scanned the area to make sure there was no one nearby. No Blades had managed to catch up to him, though he still heard the clanking of armor from somewhere nearby.

With no options presented to him, Jinn had to go ahead and make his way to the safehouse. He only hoped that the two youths, as annoying as they were, had managed to get away with their hides intact. They were bothersome, but he'd never wish for death on either of them. He huffed a laugh, wondering when he had become so soft with furless beings.

Regrouping with Dougal would require more finesse rather than sheer speed. It would involve going back past all the guards he had just finished out running. He hoped that they would be too exhausted to resume the chase. The gnoll ducked in between buildings and alleyways, contemplating whether to use his human illusion to be able to walk out in the open. The only issue he could see would be if they recognized his clothing. If he hoped to make use of his illusion, he would need a disguise to blend in, but how would he acquire one without making a racket and drawing every guard in the city down upon him? He wasn't a thief like Dougal or his proteges. He was the muscle, someone they could rely on to bail them out of a tight situation.

As he cut through the Meadows towards the safehouse, he came upon a park that was teaming with groups of patrols marching through it. He could pick out words here and there from where he stood as his powerful sense of hearing worked its magic.

"Any sign of the gnoll?" one woman asked amid the clank and screech of her armor as she moved.

"Nay. The kids seem to have disappeared too," the other guard responded as he marched alongside her. "Think they're connected?"

"Probably not," she said. "Just to be safe, we should expand the search and look for them as well. If they're anywhere in the Meadows, we'll find them."

"And if they've already escaped?"

The woman shrugged in response. Jinn tried to listen a bit longer, but when the patrol moved away, others took their place as they combed the park. It was impossible to make out what anyone was saying due to the sounds of marching guardsmen walking around.

The wooded area before him was one of the quickest ways for them to get to the safe house. Unfortunately, the open area stretched almost entirely along the defensive walls, making it difficult to sneak around out in the open. If Petrus and Albert had fled as soon as the guards started chasing Jinn, they would've made it to safety without a problem. Chances were good that Dougal would make it out alright as well, if the Blades that had chased him away from the manor hadn't regrouped quickly enough. It was also easier for the dwarf, short as he was, to sneak through the bushes and shadows to reach the safehouse.

"Hey, who's there?" a voice shouted, accompanied by the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

Jinn whirled around to see a pair of Blades advancing towards him, stumbling about in the darkness to try and get closer. They had to be humans, since they had yet to realize that he was a gnoll. Acting as quickly as he could, Jinn grabbed his bow and swung it off his shoulders with one hand while the other grabbed an arrow. His magic would be a no good, since anyone with the slightest ability would sense it. He only had seconds to eliminate the two Blades, before the rest would be upon him.

He nocked the arrow and let it fly. Even in the darkness, he was able to see clearly. The arrow found its home within the guard's neck, preventing him from crying out. A second arrow struck him in the skull and sent him to the ground.

Turning on the other Blade, Jinn managed to land a clear shot between the eyes, cutting her off before she could scream for back up. He quickly shouldered his bow as a plan began to formulate in his head.

If I can cast my illusion quick enough and wear their equipment, maybe I can sneak out of here right in plain sight.

Recalling the spell that he'd memorized from his book, Jinn began to recite the words of power necessary to make the magic work. He wanted to be quick, but he needed to pronounce each syllable properly or else the magic would fizzle out and do nothing. If he took too long, someone was bound to sense the magic and come to investigate it.

As he finished speaking, he could feel the changes taking place and focused his mind on the appearance he wanted. He had the image in his mind, of a young man he'd seen during the first few days that he'd been studying this particular spell. Though an illusion was not a true transformation of his natural form like certain spiritists were capable of, there was none-the-less still some sensation made in association with the changes. His skin tingled, like his fur had decided to sprout from their roots and run off. He could no longer feel his tail, despite the fact that it was, in reality, still there. His sense of hearing and smell remained as acute as ever, but it felt weird to be able to look out and not see his large muzzle between his eyes. He couldn't feel his claws either, making it all but impossible to expose or retract them as necessary.

Jinn worked fast once the changes were complete, and shoved the bodies off to the side, against the wall. He took care to ensure that none of their blood touched him or his clothing. He grabbed the man's chainmail tunic and worked to slide it off. It proved difficult as the corpse was growing stiff quickly, but after a few minutes of cursing quietly to himself and pulling, he managed to remove it.

He could still smell blood tainting the metal, and hoped that the few specks that had landed on it weren't obvious. He donned the slightly too tight piece of armor, then examined the cloaks. The woman's was less dirtied than the other guard's, so he took that one and slipped it over his head.

Lights shone from down the alleyway as someone waved a torch around. "Is everything alright?" spoke a Blade from down the street.

Clearing his throat and doing his best to alter his voice, Jinn called back, "Everything is fine." And began to walk over towards him.

The guard looked at him curiously. "Are you sure everything is alright, sir? You sound a little funny."

_Sir?_Jinn looked down at the crossed blade sigil on his cloak, and saw the addition of a star between them, the sign of an officer.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm merely feeling a little under the weather. Sore throat and all that," Jinn said, and was relieved when the Blade seemed to buy his lie.

"How come you're all alone?" he asked, sounding more wary by the moment. Jinn feared that his charade was being exposed before it had even began. "Aren't you afraid of the gnoll?"

"Not afraid enough to pop off to take a piss when I need to. There's no reason to fear a dog." Jinn mentally winced when he said that. If Dougal ever found out he'd called himself a simple mutt, he'd never let him live it down.

The Blade laughed at his remark, "Aye, I agree with you there, sir. I hope you'll forgive me if I'm not feeling as... lively as you with regards to our job."

"There's no glory in a witch hunt such as this," Jinn replied. He needed to get rid of the man quickly so he could make his way out of the Meadows. "Now, I think we've wasted enough time talking. Back to your patrol, soldier."

The Blade snapped to attention and saluted him. "Certainly, sir! I'll return to work at once!"

As they parted, Jinn called out to him, "Be careful out there. You never know where these scum might be waiting to pop out."

Once again alone and in the dark, Jinn took a moment to breath a sigh of relief. He'd managed to keep it together long enough to get out of the Meadows. He couldn't afford to let his nerves set in, though, otherwise he knew he might lose his hold of his illusion. He wasn't normally one to feel so panicked so easily, but the circumstances had turned against them. He was outnumbered by such astronomical odds. He was capable of holding his own against even two or three opponents at a time, but it looked like getting into a fight here would result in thirty or forty Mithril Blade soldiers running him through.

The odds weren't likely that skewed against him, but Jinn knew better than to be optimistic in a situation such as this. Growing up, there were two things he learned from his cousins in the Darkpaw tribe: never assume that the enemies you can see are the only one's around, and there is no honor in a fight. Perhaps that's why such a small clan had grown so powerful, Jinn thought.

He looked down the street and out across the park. He couldn't see anyone in the immediate vicinity that might pose a problem to his escape. Jinn began to walk at a hurried pace down the street and felt his bare paw pads touch the grass, feeling their cool wetness against his skin. It was unusual to appear to be wearing boots due to an illusion, yet feel every bit of the ground as he walked.

Pressing on through the park, Jinn made quite a bit of progress towards the gates before he ran into another patrol. Again he was questioned about what he was doing and why he was alone, yet once again he managed to evade any outward suspicion. He was grateful that he was managing to do so well at deceiving them, and he wondered if all the Mithril Blades were so gullible.

He was feeling rather confident and even a bit lucky. That is, until he reached the Meadow's gates and saw that the place was guarded by a huge number of soldiers. He stayed back in the shadows of a tree, away from the light of the torches they held, and took a quick head count. There were about twelve of them, not counting any he couldn't see that might be on the other side of the wall or nearby in the park.

"What are you doing?"

Jinn tried not to leap out of his skin when he heard the voice coming from somewhere right next to him. He followed the sound of whoever was speaking and looked up.

There, in the boughs of the tree, was perked an elf holding a crossbow and overlooking the park. His metallic colored eyes, silver as the point of a sword, penetrated Jinn's skull, suggesting that perhaps he saw through his illusion. The gnoll's mind began to race as he tried to figure out how he was going to explain his way out of this one. Standing in the shadows for upwards of several minutes counting soldiers was going to be hard to explain.

The fact they were within spitting distance of the gates did little to help him calm his nerves. It wouldn't take long for the forces there to overrun him at the elf's command.

"I prefer to be on my own," Jinn said. "I'm just making sure everyone is where they need to be."

The elf smirked at him. "A low ranking officer like you has no business ensuring we're following procedure. Who are you?"

The point of an arrow was trained on Jinn. He began to wonder how many more Blades there might be hiding in the trees, waiting for him to make a move. There were so many bodies that had been through recently that he couldn't rely on his sense of smell to pinpoint anyone, and his hearing was equally useless with all the troops marching about.

What am I afraid of? Jinn wondered as he considered his options as quickly as possible. The seconds were ticking down, and he knew his inaction and lack of response was making him look more and more suspicious. I fought in the war. I've faced worse odds than this! What are a dozen humans and elves compared to Olaraa's military?

"I'll ask you one final time, and I expect an answer lest the next thing you want to hear is the sound of my arrow puncturing your skull: Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the elf demanded, already moving his legs to brace himself against the tree branches should he need to move.

Looks like I'm going to have to break one of Dougal's rules. A pity, he thought dryly.

"Take one guess," Jinn said as his form wavered and shifted back into a gnoll. His hand lashed out, and lightning crackled from his fingertips. The tree branches ignited and split and the elf was thrown to the ground from the force of the blast. He landed hard on his head, and wasn't likely to be getting up anytime soon, if ever again.

In the distance, the sound of bow strings loosing arrows sounded, and Jinn's ears twitched as he picked them up. His brain processed where they had come from instantly, and he knew where the rest of the archers were. Moving with a speed and grace granted to him by years of experience on the battlefield, Jinn ducked, rolled, and sprinted around a shower of arrows that turned the ground into a tailor's pincushion. The guardsmen from the gates were rushing towards him with their swords drawn, and he could sense the telltale shift in mana that told him spells were being prepared.

Drawing his sword, Jinn called out, "Come then! Let me remind you why you people feared the Darkpaw gnolls so much!"

He could hear leaves rustling and footsteps on grass, telling him that the archers were beginning to reposition themselves. Jinn cut off their path with a well-placed fireball, blasting several trees to cinders and slowing their advance. Erecting a magical ward around himself, he charged forward and met the swordsman head on.

Though the Mithril Blades had at first appeared confident, they quickly realized how misplaced that had been. Within seconds, two of their men lay on the ground dead as the agile and ambidextrous gnoll wove between him with deadly grace.

Jinn managed to get ahold of another sword, and became a whirlwind of destruction as his swords became focuses for his magic. Every swing and strike left trails of fire in his wake as he worked his way through the soldiers like a scythe threshing wheat.

Arcane energy exploded around him as the Blade's sorcerers tried to bring him down, but the wards that Jinn had prepared were more than enough to fend off against such weak magic-users. In turn, he would unleash his own magic upon them, felling them with fireballs, lightning, and indescribable horrors that they had never seen before. The gnoll licked his lips and loosed a howling cackle, a trademark of the Darkpaw whenever they fought.

Jinn was not going to make it out of the park unscathed, as he'd already suffered more cuts, bruises, and burns to his flesh than he'd had in years. He could feel himself weakening as his blood left his body. Though the Mithril Blades had begun the battle with only twelve soldiers and a few archers, their numbers had been steadily crawling upwards even as Jinn killed them. He was being overrun, and he needed to make his escape quickly before either he or his magic ran dry.

Jinn rammed the stolen sword into the face of one soldier as he began to run away, leaving the blade stuck there. He sheathed his own sword and dropped to all fours and took off. He yelped and stumbled as one of his hind legs was punctured by an arrow. His stride lost, Jinn fell forward and skidded along for a moment.

The gnoll fumbled to reach behind him and yank the arrow out, but it had cost him time. He could see the guards advancing on him and hear the creak of wood as more arrows were being readied for him. He sat up and contemplated his next move. The gate was so close, yet he was almost completely surrounded.

"Alright beast, come quietly so we can present you to Lord Cormac," one man said as he advanced towards Jinn.

"Burn in the abyss!" Jinn spat as he unleashed a fireball from his outstretched hand, blasting the man's head off his shoulders.

The Mithril Blades responded by shooting an arrow through the gnoll's hand, and the force of the blow knocked him back down. Jinn bit back the pain, trying not to show that it bothered him and let the Blades see that he was hurt. He was grateful that his hand wasn't pinned by the arrow. It didn't take much work to remove it from his hand, though it hurt like hell as the arrow was pulled back through.

"Is that the best you've got?" Jinn snarled. He was panting, and no doubt the Blades could see that. His eyes swept the crowd, and he suddenly felt like a rabbit cornered by a pack of starving wolves. There had to have been about eighteen of them by now, and with his magic no longer being an option as his body had taken in too much mana, he didn't have many options before him.

"Maybe we should just kill it before it kills anyone else?" one of the Blades suggested, his high voice giving away his young age. Jinn snarled at him, causing him to back away and giving the gnoll no small amount of satisfaction to watch.

"I'm not worth anything to your masters dead, now am I?" Jinn pointed out, giving the Blades pause. He needed to stall them a bit longer until he could figure out what to do, and if talking would slow them down, then he'd oblige them.

There was a murmur of agreement between them. They'd all seen the wanted posters, and they knew that Dougal and him were wanted alive for questioning. No one wanted to cross Lord Cormac by disobeying his explicit orders.

"Cooperate with us then," another soldier suggested.

Jinn just laughed at his idea, his hyena-like guffawing carrying out through the park and echoing off the stone walls behind him. "That's the glorious thing about this situation though! You can't kill me, because your masters forbid it." He removed his bow and drew an arrow. "Yet I can kill you!"

Jinn was only able to get two shots off and fell another soldier before magical chains restrained his arm and dragged him down to the ground. In the back of his mind, he realized he'd been vaguely aware of the chanting of the sorcerers yet had failed to act. The cold, wet ground soaked through his clothing and dampened his fur. He focused his mind, trying to dispel the chains but they held fast. They grew tighter by the second and he cursed.

That's not good. Jinn watched the gathered soldiers advance towards him, and he flattened his ears against his head as he bared his fangs in a snarl.

One of the Mithril Blades came up behind him, holding a cudgel in his hand. "I hope you have a good sleep, beast. When you wake up in Lord Cormac's cells, you'll be missing a piece of you. Think of it as your down payment towards paying us back for the lives you've taken today."

"Effervan tojitiscah yeharn!"

Jinn's ears perked up when he heard those words, and they swiveled around trying to find the source. He knew that voice, and as bolts of arcane energy showered the area, he grinned. Blue-white bolts of energy, sharp and pointed like arrows, pelted the ground and struck the Blades gathered before Jinn. The magical bolts couldn't penetrate their armor, but it did force them to retreat back a distance, seeking shelter beneath the trees.

Another bolt, this time aimed at the lanterns, struck the torches and cast the area into darkness. One of the nearby sorcerers tried to act fast to conjure some light to help them see, but the man was hit in the side of the head by a stone thrown by a dwarf.

"Why can't you save your own damn self?" Dougal said as he cast another spell to remove the bindings on his friend's hands.

"Why can't you make a non-flashy entrance?" the gnoll shot back, his smile betraying his anger at his showiness. He flexed his hands and tried to get up, though it caused him a lot of pain to stand on his left leg where he'd been shot.

"We need to get out of here, quickly," Dougal said. "It won't take them long to get lights back up, and those elves are sure to spot us as soon as they get out of their trees."

"Couldn't agree more."

The pair took off as fast as they could manage. Jinn could do little more than hobble, and couldn't even drop to all fours to run with his hand still hurting from the arrow wound.

"I'm just going to come out and say it: that was the most fun I've had since this whole mess began," Jinn said when they crossed through the gate and made their way past the humans that were fumbling around in the dark.

Dougal and Jinn arrived at the safe house shortly after, just as the lanterns were relit and soldiers began sweeping the area. It was a simple little out of the way home that they'd found when they were scoping the Meadows out and trying to find suitable locations to use. It was a boarded up store front that had yet to be repurchased for use. Dougal was grateful for the find, though, as the few times they'd needed to use the cellar beneath the shop had been infinitely useful.

"Hey, are you two alright?" Petrus said and ran over to greet them as they entered the cool, dank cellar.

"Do I look alright, pup?" Jinn snapped. He brushed the half-elf off with a bloodied paw. "I'm not some pet you can fawn over. Give me space."

Petrus looked dejected and nodded his head before walking away in silence.

"Do you have any bandages in your pack, Dougal?" Jinn asked as he sat down against the wall. His leg was burning from their flight from the Meadows. He was grateful that the arrow hadn't hit his bone when it struck.

The dwarf dug out some strips of cloth and unrolled them. He helped to bandage the gnoll's wounds, pulling the cloth taut to stem the flow of blood. The blood soaked through the fabric, but eventually it was stopped. Dougal looked up at Jinn and their eyes met. They both shared their worries. Though their job had been successful and they had mostly gotten away unscathed, there was the issue of having numerous dead Mithril Blades on their conscience. There was no doubt in either person's mind that this would cause their bounty to go up and increase Cormac's efforts to find them.

"A few dead soldiers is a small price to pay for our treasure," Isaac said. Dougal snapped his eyes shut and worked to close his father out from saying anything further.

Shaking his head, Dougal said, "I don't like that we had to fight our way out, but I understand it was necessary. I'm glad we're all still in one piece, even if we might have to lay low for a while."

"What do we do now?" Albert asked worriedly. The young dwarf was smart enough to know that their plans would have to change.

"We're going to get out of this city," he replied as he knotted the final bandage on Jinn's arrow wound. "We have four of the fragments we need. We can take those with us and retreat for a couple years before we return. What's a few years to us? The humans will forget about us soon enough, and then we can get the last Sylvan artifact."

Dougal rose and strolled across the room, stretching a bit. He was surprised that he could still stand, much less move around as fluidly as he could. The chase had taken everything out of him, and the sight of the undead inside Roygan's manor still bothered him.

As he thought about the undead, his mind was filled with visions of the skeletons and zombies he had seen in Roygan's manor, all of them controlled by a single sorcerer. He needed to talk to Jinn about it.

"Petrus, Albert, could you leave mommy and daddy alone for a bit? We've gotta talk about big people problems," Dougal said. He thumbed them over to the corner.

"Which one of you is the mommy then?" Petrus asked, sounding mildly confused.

"Just get over there," Dougal said with frustration.

Once the two boys were out of earshot, Jinn said in a low voice, "What did you want?"

"I saw undead in Roygan's manor," Dougal explained. He recounted the experience he had in the main bedroom. He told him of Cormac and how he'd destroyed the door and marched in with undead troops at his beck and call. There was also the matter of how he killed Roygan and drove a glowing knife into his body.

"That sounds like a necromancer." Jinn tucked his tail against his leg and sat down on his behind. "I don't know what that knife is, but I can guess that's where he draws his strength." He shook his head and sighed. "I don't like this Dougal. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. We have no idea what else this Cormac is up to, and we don't even know what he wants from us."

"He wants the Sylvan fragments. For what, who knows. It can't be good though," Dougal said.

"There's too many unknowns to be able to deal with him right now. We should our valuables and flee as soon as possible."

Slowly, the dwarf nodded his head. "Aye, we'll get out of here. Don't you worry about that."

Feeling dejected, Dougal barely noticed the paw that landed on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Despite their differences, Jinn was as much in this as he was, and he wasn't going to abandon his friend at this point.