Chapter 15: Leona, a City of Rivers

Two days had past as the group made haste to Leona, choosing to have light meals and leaving at the crack of dawn, riding as fast as possible, and are now reaching the gate as the suns rise.

The rising suns shines through Leona, casting a great shadow behind it, as Kurgren gapes in awe.

Leona, by the many tales of merchants and seasoned mercenaries, is a city built upon an island in an extinct volcano, Ardent saying it's called a caldera, where the north river was magically split and surround it like a moat connected by the east and west rivers, and the city having four levels and three walls each thirty foot high, one around the the second floor, another separating it from the third and the last walling off the fourth which laid the six-storied castle. With many caravans laying by outpost near the mountain wall to resupply before moving.

The group then dismounted, letting their mounts take a deserved rest from the past days, and begin the make the last leg of their journey on foot.

"We need a bath. And the three of you need a shave." Louise said as they walked.

Kurgren looks to her in confusion, then stroke his chin, feeling the stubbles of a growing beard, then looks to Ardent and Erhardt.

Ardent hair was dishevelled while his previously clean-shaven jaw had a few stubbles. And Erhardt's trimmed beard became a tangled mess.

They then reached the first drawbridge, built into the volcano wall, where the city guards halt them.

"Name," he said to Ardent.

"Ardent Penn."

About a minute past when the guard had finished their profiling and signal the wall crew to lower the bridges, holstering their musket and pulling back their cannons. Before giving a bored greeting likely said many times as they tied, and marked, their horses at the stable.

And upon reaching the bridge that connects from the wall to city wall he looks over and saw the dark side of the city.

Down below lays the first level of the city. A large lake, colored in a mixture sickly brown and green from the sewage on the second to fourth level flowing downhill, dominates most of the ground gathered from the overflowing water road to the city, Erhardt saying it's called an aqueduct, and drained away by the sewer system below. With wooden stilt platforms expanding from the base with cramped, ramshackle wooden huts lining the area. Throngs of people walking around or doing jobs using long-handled nets and small boats to filter or find valuables in the lake and other works, with a few specks of bright red, color of the city guards, patrolling around.

And upon entering the city they were barraged by the noises of trading and haggling, from a woman arguing with a weaver about the quality of a scarf to a man bellowing at a blacksmith for a supposed scam, and a burly woman throwing out a drunken man, who wasn't wearing pants, from a pub. To a few guards going to the rooftop bazaar to stop an escalating brawl.

"WELCOME TO LEONA. ALSO KNOWN AS MERCHANTS PARADISE!" Ardent shouts to them over the din as they pass through the market district to the inns and taverns.

But as they make their way there Kurgren notice something strange. Most of the traders are Human with almost no Halflings, Elves or the other races anywhere. Followed by some of them staring at him, Erhardt, Solaina and Louise with a mixture of confusion, curiosity and disgust, and some whispering which Solaina told them was about how weird they look, why they are walking so openly or slurs of stonefoot, knife-ears, imp, half-breed and others.

When he asked Ardent about this he replies.

"That's the sad part of Leona. Six years ago, after the death of their king and his family, his advisor had ascended and began to gradually strip the right of non-Human equality and pushing them to living in the first level while propagating a hatred to them. And the main reason why Byzalem or the Volksgard not attacking them for this is because he manages to hide it from the governments pretty well. And supposedly bribed or blackmailed those who saw to look the other way. And anyone who tells the truth are called crazy and disappear." his last sentence holding a tone of bitter frustration.

It was then where, in one of the more quieter and less crowded areas, a wobbling maiden, in a hooded cape trying to carry a stack of blankets, collided with Ardent, who wasn't looking, and dropped the blankets onto them.

Kurgren grumbles in anger as he untangled from the mess when the maiden helped him with a flurry of apologies.

"Can you watch where you're going!" He yelled as she helps him up.

Two other bystanders then went to the other three and quickly help them before leaving in a hurry.

It was then where Kurgren, by instinct, tap the side where he keeps his silvers.

And realized they were gone.

He then turned around and run as he bellows.

"STOP! YOU DAMN THIEVES!"

The caped thief then ran, throwing the blankets towards Kurgren, ripping off the bottom of her dress revealing a shorter skirt and legs clad in stockings and thigh-high boots, as she and the other two split up.

Kurgren knocks the blankets away with a swing of his staff. The crowd screeched and ran away, and quickly gives chase. Ardent and Solaina behind him while Erhardt and Louise split up to catch the other two.

The thief then began knocking down items to slow Kurgren and the group down. From baskets of spices to barrels of fishes or grains, another which is a rack holding bottles of fish oil, and while Kurgren and Solaina had managed to see it and jumped, Ardent wasn't so lucky, as both of them heard a loud clang.

But soon Kurgren caught up, Solaina still far behind, and grabbed her cape and pull.

But as he yanks upon the cape it suddenly ripped, the seam easy to tear, causing him to stumble briefly as the hood falls way, revealing the thief's scarlet hair.

A rare color.

Kurgren quickly recovers and resume chase, but yet the thief reflex and speed was similar to Solaina.

They then reached one of the roads that circles around the city where a squad of mounted guards rides through.

The thief quickly stops giving Kurgren the opportunity to catch her.

He quickly closes the distance and grab her in a bear hug, pinning her arms, and lifts her, briefly surprised by how light she is.

He then looks down and sees his and Ardent coin pouch tucked under the side of her belt and reaches for it the thief bites on the tassel on the remains of her dress and pull it off.

Purple powder then exploded from the puffy sleeve causing an irritation to suddenly flares from his throat as he breathed and let's go in a coughing fit, his throat and eyes burned.

The thief then slammed her heel on his toes and knocks him down with an elbow to his face, causing drops of blood to fly. And runs.

Kurgren slowly got up, slightly wobbling, when he hears the familiar cocking sounds behind him.

"You are under arrest for disruption of the peace and unlawful use of weapon half-breed!" He heard a guard bellow.

It was then where he mentally cursed Anna; the golden-eyed Human goddess of luck, fate, and gambling, as he sees Solaina chase after the thief, while running away from two other guards. Vaulting and weaving through the crowd and objects in her way.

The thief then goes to a pulley lift and grabs the anchored rope and cuts it. Causing the wooden platform and its cargo to fall and launching her to the rooftop bazaar as it crashes onto the 'stay away' area.

Solaina then leaps into the air, and tapping into her innate wind magic, followed by jumping ten feet from the air.

She then follows it up by two more sky jumps, while dodging the two bullets fired by the guards, and reach the roof. And begins to resume chasing the thief, who had leapt to another rooftop bazaar.

They then ran from rooftop to rooftop. Leaping, ducking, and vaulting through anything in their way. Where Solaina was glad that she had parkour training when she joined the Salkoy army.

The thief then jumps to an adjacent roof and Solaina catches up, taking a detour with her skywalk, and pulls out her pistol.

The thief then slowed down as they near the wall to the third level before stopping at the second last building, still far from the effective range where a bullet could reliably pierce an enchanted gambeson.

Solaina then catches up where she takes aim, at effective range, when a sudden explosion of bright lights and sound erupts before she could fire.

Solaina falls in a cry of pain, her sight and hearing overloaded, and fired her shot to the sky. Then clutches her ears, streams of tears flowing from her closed eyes.

Countless minutes then past when she then slowly opens her eyes, barely able to hear and vision blurry, and see five guards approaching towards her.

She then tries to get up when one of them suddenly hoisted her up on his shoulder followed by one of them yelling, which she barely heard.

"You are under arrest! For unlawful discharge of firearm, disturbance of peace, and property damage long-ears!"

The soft crunch of grass sang out as Louise chase the thief through the park

"Magia igneel."

She then saw the thief pull out a wand and drew the shield symbol.

"Odagio."

And her missile was nullified before both of them soon ran into an alley and she readies to cast, only to be struck by a future of the next seconds, he struck her with a flashbang missile.

"Fleur pitus igneel." Shooting a beam of light.

And she drew the quickest counter spell.

"Denor." Summoning a small disc in front of the beam and closed her eyes.

The beam then passed through the disc before striking Louise, ringing her ears for a second, before waving her wand when she saw something small flying towards her.

It was made of clay, shaped like a Human biplane, with something purple underneath. But on the "cockpit" she saw gnomish lettering and and recognize it.

It's a golem, a familiar only Gnomes can make.

The golem then dropped the purple glow, a bomb, which then exploded into a burst of light. Her spell fizzled as she staggers back then saw the thief turned and butterfly wings sprout out from his back and flew away. He is a Gnome.

Then, once the effects ended, she saw another revelation, five guards are coming. And backed to a wall and cast.

"Cavtis celac."

And in a flash her entire body and clothes changed to match the wall she touched. And after a moment of the guards looking in confusion before leaving. And she sighed in relief.

"I'll have to meet up with the rest. Hopefully they fared better."

Then a group of guards then walked past her, dragging Kurgren in handcuffs.

"Crap."

Heavy thuds clatters as Erhardt chase one of the thieves to the low houses district.

And while the thief was faster than Erhardt he began to slow, loudly panting, after a minute while Erhardt barely broke a sweat and smiled.

For Dwarves are the greatest endurance runners, deadly over long distances.

The thief then turned to an alley and Erhardt follows and corners him.

Only for the thief to extend his arm three feet with something in his hand.

Erhardt braced as the object hits, as a loud bang and blinding light briefly stuns him, before opening his eyes and realized the thief was gone. And quickly activates his tremor sense.

And nothing, not even detecting him behind the dead end. But then felt three footsteps heavier than the rest holding guns, the guards.

Erhardt quickly looked around a place to hide but only found a large pile of trash and grimace.

"Please let this shit works." Then, taking a deep breath, dives in as the guards looked around. Thankful that his sense of smell is weaker than a Human.

And after a few minutes they left and he emerge, trying to rub off much of the trash off him, before seeing the Elf being carried by another group of guards and facepalmed.

"Oh great. We've been in the city for just a few minutes and the knife-ear fucked something up!"