The Great Escape

The three found their way downstairs, where the other mages were recovering slightly from the Dimeritium.

"Come in, we have no time, the hunters are coming." said Mikael, walking to the edge of the room, to the sewers.

"The sewers?" questioned a mage.

"Are you complaining?" Mikael frowned.

"N-No…"

"Then come on."

Mikael then helped all of them jump to the sewers, some wanted to throw up, but they held it in. Mikael was the last one to jump, along with Sile on his back.

"Go left." Mikael said, pointing to the left corridor. The others then followed him, traversing through the nasty sewers.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Margarita asked softly as all of them walked as quickly as possible with their weak bodies.

"I'll try to make it work once we get out," said Mikael. "In the meantime, just hold on, the river is near."

Mikael and the others then could hear the sounds of footsteps coming towards them, which made Mikael frowned.

"Anybody can use magic now?" questioned Mikael as the others were panicking, trying to catch up with Mikael.

"They're novices…" said Margarita. "They could hardly use magic…"

Mikael clicked his tongue. "Very well, can you carry her for a moment, the exit is not far, there should be boats there, use it to cross it, after that, wait for me."

"If you didn't come?" questioned Margarita in worry.

Mikael sighed. "Run to the left, follow the river, there should be a cave, that's a safe place, understood?"

"Very well. Thank you…"

"Mikael," he said. "Name's Mikael."

Margarita nodded weakly "Thank you, Mikael."

Margarita and the other mages then helped carry Sile's frail body, and ran straight towards the exit. Meanwhile, Mikael unsheathed his sword, and the hunters flooded to him.

Mikael took a deep breath, and scarlet mist started to spread around him. The walls started to grow some strange fungus, the mushy ground changed color to red, like it was mixed with blood, and anything that touches the mist rotted.

Some of the unlucky ones couldn't stop running, and entered the mist. Their lungs and skin rotted instantly, giving them a painful death.

"Magic!" shouted a hunter. "Throw the bomb!"

The hunters then suddenly threw a bunch of bombs, that once exploded, it made the air filled with dimeritium dust, electricity generated from the dusts, but it didn't effect Mikael whatsoever.

"Pity…" Mikael murmured. "But you're facing me."

—

Margarita was running through the sewers with Sile's dying body in her hands, she spotted the exit, and told her students to go first.

"Come on!" she shouted, opening the door for her students. The mages started to flood outside the sewers, and to the boats that have been provided. Rita looked at the sewers one last time, before getting outside. She got onto the boat, and started to row it across the river.

"We're almost there Sile, stay strong!" shouted Rita. The boat then rammed to the otherside of the river, and all of them quickly got out of the boats.

"Where to now, rectoress?" questioned a student in worry.

"Go left, follow the river." Rita said, still staring at the sewer entrance once in a while. She then could hear sounds of shouts from the wall, which made her frowned. "Quickly! Just run! Don't look back! Here, bring her!"

Rita gave Sile to the students, and all of them ran to the left

The students then quickly ran following the river, but Rita stayed. She then saw a cavalry squad running towards her, and she steeled herself.

She tried to conjure a spell, but it wasn't working, only sparks of magic came out of her hands, which made her desperate.

The cavalry squad then arrived at Rita, where they quickly surrounded her. She wasn't attacked however, they were just pointing their swords at Rita.

"Where are the others, sorceress?" spat the leader of the cavalry.

"Over my dead body." Rita said sternly.

The leader looked pissed. He was about to decapitate Rita, but then, a sword suddenly impaled him from the side, killing him instantly.

The others then soon turned towards the direction of the sword, and saw Mikael, his clothes were bloodied, and he was breathing heavily. The horses panicked as they saw the leader killed instantly, and started to go haywire.

Meanwhile, Rita swiftly sneaked away from the cavalry, away from the cavalry as they were trying to calm their horses.

Mikael took the last boat quickly, and rowed it as hard as possible, meanwhile avoiding bolts from the hunters. As soon as he landed on the other side, he took his sword, and rushed towards the cavalry.

"Run!" Mikael shouted to Rita. Mikael quickly ran towards a hunter, he jumped, and stabbed the hunter while he was still on horseback, making the other horses panic again.

As soon as he saw Rita gone, Mikael released his scarlet mist again, covering Rita's whereabouts and the others' traces.

The horses that were panicking started to decay while still alive, which scared the shit out of the hunters.

"It's the horseman!" shouted a hunter in panic.

"I just got a horse… so… I guess it counts now…"

It was a bloody morning. Mikael managed to distract the search party of the witch hunters, but more and more came, so Mikael decided to run the other way, before vanishing from the witch hunters too.

—

A couple hours later, when the Witch Hunters were searching the other way, Mikael quietly traveled to the cave. He had hoped that nobody would die when they were running, but thankfully, as soon as he came, it looked like no one died.

When he came there, he saw that the mages were crying, he didn't know if those tears were tears of despair or happiness, but I guess it's natural, while they are mages, they are still students, young and naive…

"Anybody died?" Mikael questioned in front of the entrance, which made the mages turn to him.

"N-No…" a student stuttered, wiping her tears. "Some of us were injured pretty badly… but a medic was here when we arrived… thank you…"

"Wait, a medic?" Mikael frowned. "What do you mean a medic?"

"Is she not with you?" the student questioned. "She has red hair, she's tending the rectoress right now."

"What?" Mikael dropped his bloodied sword and rushed inside. He walked through the crying and tired students, towards the end of the cave, where he saw Sile laying on a fur, Margarita beside her, and… Shani… tending to Sile.

"Shani? What are you doing here?!" Mikael rushed to her, questioning her sternly.

"I knew you were trying to do something." she said calmly, cleaning Sile's wound, so it would not get infected. "You think I wouldn't be suspicious when you suddenly ask for a hideout?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I came here to help you, of course." Shani spoke casually. "Although, I didn't expect that you were trying to free the sorceresses… Do you have a thing for them?"

"Shani." Mikael grabbed her hand, sternly pulling her away from Sile. "This isn't a joke, Oxenfurt is probably in Martial law right now, you can't get in anymore, and you might be wanted if anybody sees you."

"Relax." Shani rolled her eyes, breaking away from Mikael's grasp. "Not the first time I've done this, besides, these girls are hurting Mikael… I can't just watch them die… you saved them from torture, let me take care of them."

"He's right Mikael…" Rita suddenly said, standing up from her fur bed. "She took care of my students as soon as she saw our condition, and without her, Sile would probably die…"

"You should rest." Shani rushed towards her, trying to lay her down again.

"I'm fine… Shani…" Rita murmured. "My students need help, I could probably use simple magic right now, so I'll help them all I can."

"What about Sile, will she be okay?" Mikael questioned, examining the sleeping sorceress.

"She's… still critical…" Shani said sadly. "I don't know if she will survive for the next week… unless you could do magic right now…"

Mikael clicked his tongue, but then Rita spoke again.

"Merigold…" she murmured.

"Pardon?"

"Contact Merigold…" Rita repeated. "If anyone could heal Sile, it's her. You're her friend, right?"

"Wait, Merigold?" Shani frowned. "As in Triss Merigold? You know her Mikael?"

"Well, yes… she's a friend of mine…" Mikael murmured. "Okay, I'll ride to Novigrad, I'll sneak in and find her, in the meantime, try to rest Margarita, need to recover your magic, set up a barrier or something…"

"Will do…" Margarita nodded.

Mikael then turned to Shani. "And you."

Shani then turned to Mikael, a bit scared at his sharp gaze.

"We will talk later." Mikael sternly said, before rushing towards the entrance of the cave, riding towards Novigrad.