26 Free running

The chase continued as Finn raced across the rooftops. There were three skinny thugs behind him. The other four, including their larger leader, tried to keep up while down on the ground.

In order to lose the ones below, Finn leaped across narrow alleyways and kept out of sight. He soon realized that his three pursuers were yelling out directions to the ones below. It seemed he would need to lose them first.

Seeing a loose roof tile up ahead, Finn grabbed it mid run. After leaping over another alley, he crouched down behind a chimney and waited for the three thugs.

The three thugs didn't hesitate in jumping over the alleyway, they had already leaped over four others during this chase. When Finn heard the first one jump, he stood up and threw the tile at the second pursuer.

The second thug had just arrived at the edge with a running start. He was already committed to the jump and couldn't dodge the incoming tile. It hit him in the hip while he was in midair, knocking him off course and reducing his momentum. He crashed into the edge, failed to get a good grip on anything and fell down one story into the alley below.

The other two thugs were shocked. The first jumper had seen something wizz past and dodged on reflex. When he turned around, he saw his partner fail the jump and fall. Looking down to see if the guy was alright, he wasn't ready for the shove that suddenly came from behind.

Finn had taken advantage of the first thug's distraction to send him flying off the edge to join his buddy.

The third thug had seen all this happen but was helpless to stop it. The whole sequence of events happened in under three seconds. Seeing Finn smiling while pulling out a dagger and beckoning to him encouragingly caused him to lose all desire to continue.

Finn was glad when he saw the last thug give up and climb down to help his friends, now there was nobody to see where he went.

Finn quickly left, running rooftop to rooftop all the way back to the inn. He had to climb onto someone's balcony in order to reach the roof of the first two story building. Leaping over alleyways at that height was a little scary at first, but soon Finn enjoyed the freedom of moving about unhindered and unnoticed. Well, maybe some people had woken up due to the sound of footsteps coming from above.

Arriving at the roof outside his room's window he realized his mistake. The window was closed and he didn't know how to get down without going a long way back the way he had come. He couldn't go back because the thugs might be searching the area for revenge.

After a few minutes of racking his brains he ruled out smashing the window and other violent solutions. Suddenly it came to him and he couldn't help but blurt it out.

'Mage Hand!'

Although he hadn't finished learning it, Finn could at least create a blob of magic energy and manipulate it a little.

Focusing for a while before speaking the incantation, Finn directed the mana in his body to flow out and gather on the other side of the window.

The first two tries failed and Finn noticed his mana was running low again. The third attempt succeeded, and a small blob of magic energy formed inside the room.

Using both hands to attempt to move it closer to the window, Finn managed to reach the latch. Then he tried to control it to grab the latch and open the window.

It took a while to succeed, the blob didn't have well defined fingers so it had a hard time acting like a hand. Luckily most of the energy mage hand required was during the spell's formation, after that it would absorb the required magic energy from the surroundings to continue operating for as long as the caster was focused.

With the window finally unlocked, Finn released the spell and climbed in. Seeing the hint of the coming sunrise, Finn quickly got out of his armor and hopped into bed. He had completely forgotten about his previous nightmare and fell asleep really quickly.

It was midday by the time Finn woke up. Disappointed at missing his complementary breakfast, he packed up his stuff and handed in his key before leaving.

Then it was back to the mercenaries guild. Finn paid 7 silvers for two week's lodging before locking up his random stuff in the provided chest. Topping up his credit at the guild bar with another silver, Finn ate a hearty lunch.

Today's meal was special, they served steaks and Finn ordered it rare. He hadn't eaten steak much before, and it had always been charred, so eating it rare was a first for him. The sound of a thick piece of red meat dripping with juiciness made his stomach rumble in excitement.

The meal was probably the most satisfying he had ever eaten, and Finn decided to earn enough money to make this a regular part of his diet.

The bartender laughed when Finn licked the plate clean. Although it wasn't the best of manners, he enjoyed when people appreciated his food.

Feeling invigorated Finn put on his leather armor and went to the training room for his appointment with Pete.

The elf joined him soon after Finn had finished warming up.

'Let's start with throwing knife practice since we are inside. Here, use these throwing knives for now, they fly better than normal daggers due to their shape.'

Finn watched Petrosilinus demonstrate how to throw a knife and tried to do the same. Half an hour later, the practice target had been stabbed countless times by the flying blades. There were also a few marks in the floor, evidence of Finn's first few attempts.

'Ok that should do.' Pete said, obviously bored. 'You've learned how to throw, now all you need to do is practice hitting the target. You can do that later, now we've got something fun to practice.'

Finn handed back the throwing knives and followed the elf out of the building. They eventually arrived near some old warehouses by the docks.

'This place used to be an important storage area for imported food that came by sea. Now, with the portal systems in place, most of these warehouses are abandoned.'

Finn noticed that one warehouse had the mercenaries guild logo painted on its door. Pete went over and opened it, proudly displaying its interior.

The huge warehouse was full of wooden stuff. Finn didn't know what all of it was. At first it looked like beams placed at different heights, stacks of crates, and random rubbish, then he started to notice there was a logic to it. There was a path weaving through it all, sometimes passing under beams, other times leading upwards and onto platforms and boxes. There were some places that looked a little like rooftops, complete with tiles and chimneys. Other areas looked like part of a ship, with several large masts that functioned as columns to support the warehouse roof. Attached to them were ropes and bundled up sails, looking carefully Finn saw that the rigging was fairly complete. He was amazed by the detail and diversity of the space, and smiled when he noticed a 'tavern scene' complete with bar stools, tables, a few empty kegs and a chandelier.

'This is our obstacle course, we got it cheap since nobody else was interested. The obstacles were a little trickier, we've been collecting second hand rejections and remains of ruined houses and ships. Mürstein has never been too excited about it though, it's not really suited for heavily armored dwarves. We occasionally rent it out to other branches of the guild.'

Pete explained the teaching method quickly before running in.

'Try to keep up as best as you can. It's hard to teach escaping and running through complex terrain in a theoretical way. I think you'll learn better by watching me and figuring it out on your own. Oh and close the door behind you.'

Finn grinned as he closed the door behind him. He'd done something similar last night, but this would be way more fun.