28 27. Running Thoughts
Three figures could be seen running through the forest, huffing and puffing as they ran. Hot on their tail were a few guards that had been following the transported goods and upon noticing a huge hole in one of the massive, magically reinforced cages alarm bells sounded and every able body started following the trail left behind by the escaped slaves.
"Why! *Huff* aren't you flying us again?" The stout dwarf wheezed out looking at the winged girl while she was also seemingly out of breath. "Because you heavy overgrown hobgoblin! I can't carry more than one of you and my wings are still recovering" this wasn't the first time the two were butting heads over the escape. Tony wouldn't be half as angry as he was if Marlet had just told them before hand they were going to escape the second she got those weights out her wings, truly a foolish girl. After making his declaration the girl only seemed more determined to accomplish what he and Mizu had already deemed impossible.
"Stop it, both of you. We still have people coming up behind us." The only voice of reason between the three of them, as always tried to have the 2 focus on the bigger picture. To say that Mizu was happy would be an understatement, the adrenaline pumping through her right now would be enough to give any normal person a heart attack. Just the mere thought of escaping the fate she already resigned herself too really got her blood flowing and knowing what would awaits them if they returned only spurred her further on.
They were currently running in a south easterly direction, they wanted to avoid being seen by whoever was around and being a renard closer to the east would make it more believable that they were travelling as a group the closer to the Far East they were.
"You impulsive feather brain! If you told us to prepare and have a proper discussion with us about and not show off your abilities, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Tony lamented again after hearing only silence from his two companions. Thinking back to the moment of their escape was quiet ridiculous in and of itself. The girl had space magic which was already rare enough but to have 3 elements as well. Rakia lost out big time on only wanting her as an ornamental piece.
Back in the cell as Marlet had removed all the constraints and wanted to remove the 'jewellery' from Mizu's tail, only to realise that it was cast onto her tip made the dwarf heart ache as he still remembered the day he had to remove the tip from the forge and clamp it on the girl's tail, making her scream and cry like a new born babe. She forgave him after she learned of his situation but he could never really look her in the eyes after that and she could somehow pick up on that. It hurt him deeply.
Once Marlet was 'free' to move around in their cage covered by a tarp type material to obviously keep rain and prying eyes out, Marlet wanted to super heat the bars with one hand and then freeze it again like she had attempted with her shackles before if they didn't just melt away from the beginning. When she found that the cage conducted magic she sulked for a few minutes lamenting about her recent rotten luck. Tony only laughed at that, he didn't believe in luck. Life was all round shitty with happy moments sprinkled between to distract you from the workable things going on around you.
This line of thinking had saved his life on numerous occasions, true he was a slave. He was alive though and doing better than the bottom feeders due to his smithing skills. The winged harpy that had flipped all his common sense on its head and almost always had problems with his way of doing things really was just a walking…. flying migraine. He planned what he could and revealed enough not to be seen as worthless.
This girl following be hind him decided that it would be a good idea to escape the very moment she could. She had given him the biggest middle finger he had ever received in his life and straight up spat out some Dragonfyre that melted a hole in side. Tony could tell Mizu knew what she had done was remarkable but didn't quite grasp the situation as much as him.
Dragonfyre!!!
Any forge master's dream was to work with it. He could make such high quality materials that his god would have to take him back. The problem was that the girl already seemed weary of everyone, less so of Mizu but it was still there.
'Good' he thought to himself, 'blind trust is foolish but a little weariness and I can really swing things in my favour' were the thoughts running through his head. 'First I need to escape though.'
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Mizu was very excited at the moment. To rebel to this extent was unheard of for the child slaves such as her, she always wondered why she was treated so differently and always got the same answer: "we are better than you, so accept it." For a long time she had accepted her lot in life and the mere thought of rebelling didn't even cross her mind. She was lucky enough to be on the more attractive and exotic side of her species with her red hair she already stood out but her mature beauty aura she gave off and the fact that she had grown quiet fast compared to other girls almost ensured where she would end up and she had dreaded her final destination. The prospect of being a pet for a goddess living in a closed off area for her enjoyment was possible the best outcome she could have hoped for.
Her preconceptions of being the most 'exotic pet' the new goddess would own flew out the window as there came a girl horns and wings. The goddess had asked Tony if he could remove the wings so that she might hang them up as though they were a trophy on a hunting trip. The girl with horns would still be exotic enough as is.
To say Tony was horrified with what they wanted to have done to the girl would be an understatement, Mizu still knew he could barely be in the same room as her and only tolerated it because he had to. She could see the pain and struggle in his eyes when the instruction was given but at the end of the day he still complied, fortunately the girl had been asleep for the process.
It pained her to see the goddess who bought them hurt and mutilate their bodies in the name of beauty, but what could she do? Any protests were met with discipline or the promise of more beauty enhancing products.
Mizu wasn't a strong person. She knew that herself, it was Tony's company that had brought her out of her shell a little and taught her that she deserved so much more than what was being done to her here. When she first understood her situation was quiet abnormal she was angry to say the least. She grew resentful and hated everything around her. She even cursed and swore at the goddess and her familia but they didn't even bat an eye. All her bravado came crashing down when they grew tired of her voice and got a mouth clamp that forced her to remain silent, if she spoke while she got her food or drink the clamp would remain longer.
A year of this and she finally accepted that this was the hand care had dealt her, it was a horrible hand but she would make the most out of it. Mizu was aware that the other slaves around her were disciplined with whips or beatings but not her. Her voice was taken for a long time, she received the most basic of foods that would keep her healthy but all flavour was taken out of it. One time she had been completely neglected that she started craving for any interaction whatsoever.
Mizu shook her head to clear away these horrible thoughts, she was free now! As free as a runaway slave could be but free still. She couldn't help but look over her shoulder at the little girl with wings running behind her in awe. She was so strong and beautiful that Mizu understood why the goddess had taken her in. When the girl woke up she was surprise after surprise as she already had the falna of another god on her back.
When she shouted a strange word and melted the side of their cage Tony had almost passed out from shock making Mizu giggle a little, it was nice seeing the stoic dwarf show such an expression. She was happy they had a chance to get away now and she would take it, even if it only lasted momentarily.
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Was it impulsive of Marlet to shout a "YOL" as soon as possible, yes. Did she regret it, yes. Would she do it again though? Yes again. Running behind Mizu Marlet focused on her breathing and hearing trying to find out how far ahead of their perusers they are and if possible, how many.
Marlet couldn't help but start giggling to herself at the situation they found themselves in. What started as a soft giggling slowly got louder and louder as Mizu also started laughing under her breath spurred on by Marlet. It turned into full blown laughter from the two as an angry dwarf at the front was cursing the two loudly, "you damn birdbrain and fox! Shut up!"
"Over there! I heard something." A far off person shouted which made the 2 girls laugh from the bottom of their bellies at the dwarf and him to continue cursing the 2 of them.
