Alchemists and Cultivators IV

The boy landed noisily with his knees, and immediately turned to Ren, to defend himself, but the latter had already pulled out a small bottle from one of the pockets of his trousers and with a soft gesture he blew the contents against the boy who found himself covered from a dark powder and an almost impalpable consistency. He started to wave a hand to wipe the dust away from his eyes, only to realize, with great horror, that his arm, like the rest of his body, was as though pinned under something incredibly heavy.

A look of pure anger and betrayal appeared on his face.

"Lead powder." Ren revealed to him. "I'm so sorry, no hard feelings, okay?" He added, then grabbed Fiamma by the arm and they threw themselves from the trap door, while the boy remained there, immobilized and unable to escape. Just as they landed on the ground, the guards burst into the warehouse.

Ren heard only a chorus of angry voices and the boy answering them. Perhaps at that very moment he was denouncing them, warning the guards that there were two fugitives just below warehouse: it was better to run away as soon as possible, that trick had provided them only a handful of seconds.

Ren squeezed his friend's wrist tightly and threw himself breathlessly on the perfectly manicured lawn of the garden, then they turned the way they had come and threw themselves on the roof of one of the turrets, where they hide themselves. From the warehouses came the loud voices of the guards, shortly after they saw a small group of men appear around the red-robed boy, who was walking with his head down, his wrists tied like those of a prisoner. Fiamma and Ren realized that no guard was looking for them: the boy hadn't said anything about them, even after Ren had used him as a diversion to be able to escape. Ren watched the stranger's back being escorted away, forcing himself to ignore the guilty feeling that was starting to build inside him.

Fiamma motioned for him to continue and then they silently moved away towards the residential area, jumping between the roofs, they proceeded towards the surrounding walls, their hearts were beating fast and their foreheads were beaded with sweat.

Finally, they reached the perimeter wall, without stopping for a moment they threw themselves on the road, landing badly one on top of the other.

Realizing that they had really made it, the two kids exchanged a look and then burst out laughing, they really had been a breath away from being discovered! But now they were out of the villa, safe from the sticks of any furious master.

They helped each other to get up, then shaking off their clothes from the dust of the street. They had not been discovered, but their mission was failure nonetheless. They hadn't taken nor saw a single firework and, which was way worse, Ren had lost his Pitch!

"I'll have to go back to find her." He murmured worriedly. He feared they might throw her away, mistaking her for any lump of coal as soon as she resumed her solid form.

The two friends walked side by side along the streets of the Chinese quarter, moving with ease like any pair of wanderers who were browsing through those exotic-flavored alleys.

"Look, iced syrup!" Fiamma exclaimed pointing to a nearby stall, Ren smiled and they both headed in that direction.

"Two cherry baobings, please." Fiamma ordered, handing a coin to the lady at the stall, who slightly bowed her head politely and dug into the ice in front of her and then filled two bowls for the kids.

Having obtained their bowls of ice cream, Fiamma and Ren left, walking again through the alleys of the Chinese district, which at that time were still teeming with life. They soon became invisible in the crowd: no one could have guessed what they had just done.

"Do you think they will punish him harshly?" Ren asked at some point running the silk ribbon he had torn from the stranger's robe through his fingers. As much as he tried to ignore it, he felt guilt working its way deep into his stomach.

"That kid, you mean?" Fiamma asked, and then shrugged. "It could be. But how did you know it wasn't from that villa? "

Ren squinted and snorted. "Ahi, I really feel guilty, I'll have to find a way to fix things up." He replied, ignoring his friend's question.

"But you don't even know his name, how are you going to find him?" Fiamma asked.

Ren shrugged. "I have not thought about that yet."

"Listen to me, we'd better stay away from this place for a while." Fiamma warned him.

But Ren shook his head and, with a determined expression on his face, stuffed the last teaspoon of ice cream in his mouth.