46 Flames And Smoke

Terrel and Amarok guided the party on a wide looping path back towards the prisoner camp. Their pursuers, who had to hunt for the now hidden trail, were soon left far behind the speed enhanced party.

The party circled around the camp, looking for the obvious trail the former prisoners would have made as they fled into the forest.They passed an eerily empty and half destroyed camp as they circled around.

"You know, it would be a shame if something happened to the rest of the camp while it was defenseless," Callum waved his hand towards the deserted camp.

Vicious smiles appeared on everyone's faces as they rapidly cut across the open field and scaled the short palisade wall into the camp. Smoke and steam reflected the soft red glare from the alarm spell that was still active.

The camp was a disorganized mess; it was clear that the attacks on the camp had caused many to abruptly abandon whatever they were doing. The running battle inside the camp didn't help matters, although some time had been taken to line the dead up, off to one side, and cover them with sheets.

"Five minutes everyone. You have that long to gather whatever you can before we set fire to the camp. Grab some of those sleds and we'll take whatever we can with us," Captain Xinyi shouted as the party quickly spread throughout the camp.

They found many miscellaneous items that any large force in the field would need including: weapons, armor, potions, scrolls, and food supplies. They also found a large chest full of various coins, a small bag of precious stones, and several Beast Cores.

Callum was tempted to ask for more time in light of everything they were finding. However, he knew that one of the enemy patrols could return to the camp at any minute and it was likely that the camp guards were chasing the former prisoners.

They needed to catch up to their main force as soon as possible; they might need help in fending off the camp guards. It was better to leave sooner with some goods than to arrive too late or be forced to abandon their loot if another enemy group arrived.

Soon, they had six sleds piled high with their ill-gotten goods; even Amarok would be pulling a sled, at least to start with. They planned to try and hide several sleds in likely spots off of the trail.

"Ma'am, we've grabbed as much as we could. The camp is ready to be set aflame, and the bodies should be safe where they are," reported Garrett as the last of the items were being secured onto the sleds.

"Callum, it was your idea. Care to do the honors and start the first fire?" Captain Xinyi handed him a flaming torch.

Callum took the torch with a grateful nod and quickly set the first tent on fire. The rest of the party soon spread throughout the tents with their own torches; it almost became a contest to see who could start the most fires as they raced around the camp.

With the camp brightly burning behind them, they exited through the same wall Cadiwynn's party had burst open earlier. A thick black column of smoke rose into the sky behind them.

The party was much slower with all the heavy sleds that they were pulling through the snow.

Within ten minutes, they took a short break to allow the physically weaker members or those with smaller Stamina pools to recharge their Stamina. They were sufficiently far enough from the burning camp that Captain Xinyi directed Esteban, their Aeromancer, to hide the first sled.

He chanted in a language Callum didn't understand and he made various Arcane gestures. A rush of wind lifted the designated sled 6ft (1.8m) into the air; air currents carried the sled a stone's throw distance away to a snowbank.

The snow bank had had a sled-sized chunk of snow carefully lifted out of it. Esteban guided the sled into the now open section before he packed the lifted snow back in place; several minutes were spent as the disturbed snow was blended back into the rest of the snowbank.

During this time, several other party members, who had already witnessed similar sights, were at work organizing the sleds so that the next sled they hid would only contain extraneous supplies they didn't urgently need.

While shuffling the loads around, Terrel found several Stamina potions that were handed to those who needed them most. With the short rest and the potions' help, the party was ready to press onwards.

They repeated the process two more times and their pace started to pick back up, now that only the strongest party members were pulling sleds. Thanks to the help of the Aeromancer's buffs, they were able to maintain a swift pace. Especially now that they only had three sleds to manage.

Callum glanced back at the trail behind them. The markings left by their passage were so clear that a blind person could easily follow them. The column of smoke from the camp was no longer there, either it had gone out on its own or someone had put it out.

They wanted an easy to follow trail for their inevitable pursuers. One that would, hopefully, take their enemies right past the hidden sleds without giving them a reason to wander around and accidentally stumble over the sleds.

_____

An hour later.

"I hear fighting ahead, I think the camp guards caught up to the Baron's force!" Terrel shouted as he quickly ran back to the group.

"Leave the sleds!" Captain Xinyi shouted as she led her small party up the trail.