Camping Escapade
A man wearing a travel cloak and using a walking stick was approaching the town gates to leave. Before he could get too close, two soldiers drew their swords at him and blocked his path.
"Back off! The doors are going to be closed and no one is allowed to leave!", shouted the soldier to which the man immediately complied.
This scene had been witnessed by Adam who was lurking in the shadows of a small alley.
The realization that he was cornered made him break into cold sweat, but he didn't despair yet as he felt something that gave him an idea.
Looking back in the direction where he had come from, a smile creeped on his face. He felt a connection being created!
The one at the other side of the connection was the old innkeeper, and he felt a very strong link between him and his new thrall.
He willed the old man to come to him, and felt him starting to head his way. Adam focused again and willed him to wear a cloak and avoid being seen.
A few minutes passed and now Adam felt the old man approaching, but there was something he hadn't wished for was happening. He could hear people shouting and a commotion taking place from the same direction the old man was coming from...
Guessing that his new aide had attracted the soldiers' attention, Adam willed for his thrall to forgo everything and run with all his strength. He also gave him a set of instructions and waited.
Soon enough, he saw a cloaked figure running extremely fast in his direction, and a crowd of soldiers with their swords drawn chasing said person. They all ran towards him, and then past him.
The cloaked figure approached the exit gate and stopped just a few meters away from it. It then ran away in another direction without looking back and jumped into the darkness of a dark alley.
Most of the guards seeing what was happening left their position and trailed behind the cloaked person as well, while leaving only two people to keep an eye on the gate.
It was now quite late; the sky was cloudy and anywhere there wasn't a torch or a fire was really dark. As the guards approached that alley, they realized they couldn't see anything. They motioned to the two people at the gate and one of them ran over with a torch in each hand.
Looking at how everything went, Adam raised an eyebrow.
'Hook, line, and sinker!', he thought as he slowly approached the gates.
Nobody had seen him earlier when the soldiers went past him, or even now in the open, because he had been using the spell [Lesser Shadow Stealth]!
Getting as close as the shadows allowed him, Adam looked carefully around before dashing at the only guard stationed there.
The others being too far away and the only guard there not paying attention allowed him to get very close before being noticed.
The guard had been looking at his friend running with a torch in each hand when he noticed something move in his peripheral vision. He turned his head to the side only to see a lump of shadows almost ramming into him, and something moving fast towards his face.
Surprised and shocked, he stumbled backwards only to be slightly grazed by what seemed to be an axe?
Adam was disappointed at missing his surprise attack, but knowing that he had no fighting training and that the person he was facing was a trained guard, he had kind of expected something like this to happen.
For reasons unknown to him though, he didn't feel afraid. He felt excited!
Swinging the axe again, Adam heard the sound of metal crashing against metal and felt his arm taking a rebound. The soldier had parried with his sword!
The soldier had regained his composure and was ready to fight, but he felt his arm go numb after parrying that axe hit. It had been very powerful!
He was preparing to fight back when he saw the shadows disappear to reveal a young man. He then felt his head go blank for a moment. The next thing he knew, he felt his throat burning and a dizziness as well as weakness take over him.
He reached for his neck only to be met with a wet sensation and something intensely pouring out.
Looking at the ground, and his lower body...he saw blood, lots of blood...and it was his!
Falling down to the ground...he was dead!
Not wanting to prolong this any longer, Adam had discarded the shadows covering him and used [Lesser Charm] on the soldier. He was surprised at how short the effect lasted, but it had been enough.
Not wasting any time, Adam rushed out of the gates and into the darkness.
As he was running on the road, he saw torch lights coming in the direction of the town further ahead. In order to avoid them, he jumped to the side and left the road for the cover of the trees.
Sneaking around and laying low, he saw the lights get closer and what seemed to be ten men escorting a person riding a horse.
The person riding the horse was wearing a hooded white priest robe, and as the group went past Adam's hiding spot, the priest suddenly made a strange expression and started looking around.
His quick search not showing any results, he looked ahead again. All of this had happened without them stopping their advance towards the town.
Adam had felt his heart stop beating for a moment when the horse mounted man started looking around. His instincts screamed at him telling him that he was dangerous. So without any hesitation, he used [Lesser Shadow Stealth]!
Seeing the group walk away, Adam let a sigh of relief escape his mouth. He still had a feeling of crisis, however.
The shadows quickly subsided and he was now completely drained. He was out of energy and now wasn't the best time to dawdle around. The doors must've been left open in wait of that priest and he sure didn't want to meet him again.
He ignored the slight feeling of weakness and ran as fast as he could in the forest and towards the south. He decided against traveling on the road as it wouldn't be safe.
About four hours later, Adam had crossed quite the distance and was now feeling safer. He was also feeling better than earlier as he felt his energy replenishing. This comforted him in the knowledge that he could replenish his used bloodline energy while moving, and God knows he would need to do a lot of moving!
He stopped abruptly and then started running towards the east. He would avoid the Black Lilly town by a large berth and then head back north.
The reason being that he had been too obvious in the way he moved before! He had escaped from the mountain village towards the south, only to be found in the town and seen leave by the southern gate!
This was already enough to induce a pattern and guess he was basically heading south, which would allow anyone with half a brain to intercept him in the next village or town. Not wanting to fall for such a stupid mistake, he decided to head in the opposite direction!
His big goal at the moment was to leave the Rosenwuld Kingdom, and head anywhere else. His immediate goal, however was to secure a place to spend the day!
He would really hate to become ashes. So, he did his best to find anywhere that could hide him.
Two hours went by and he hadn't found anything. Only a sea of trees and bushes faced him from all directions.
If he couldn't find it, he would make it! Full of resolution and vigor, Adam moved to a place that had dense bushes and put his bag down under their cover. He took a rope, his axe and ran for a few minutes before stopping and chopping at a tree that was as thick as an adult male's arm.
Surprised at his strength, Adam's eyes popped as he saw the tree getting cut straight through and start falling.
With a slight smile on his face, he cut down another three trees and cut them all into 2-meters-long pieces before tying them in a bundle and carrying them over his shoulder.
Back to where he had left his backpack, Adam set a piece of the wooden tree horizontally at his chest level and tied it to two trees on each side. He then leaned all the other wood pieces against said horizontal piece, thus building an effective lean to shelter!
He then used the thin top most ends of the trees he had cut to set up his tent inside the space he had made and covered the whole thing with moss and leaves. Wanting a bit of comfort, he set down some moss on the ground and went inside before closing his temporary shelter up.
From the outside, anyone would see a big bush with leaves and moss inside it. Inside, however, was Adam using his bag as a pillow while laying on a moss bed, and chewing on a piece of jerky.
It tasted salty and he didn't know which kind of meat it was, but he didn't care.
His improved vision allowed him to see well enough that he wasn't affected by darkness, and looking around himself showed him that there was no leak in the thick tent cloth. He still covered himself with a thick cover and laid under it to make sure he wouldn't be touched by any sunlight once the sun rose.
Feeling quite comfortable, he finished eating and fell asleep.