Chapter 30

Mand struggled to catch her breath.

Following the incident with the fence, she had dashed as fast as she could through lanes and alleyways, doing her best to shake her pursuers.

It had seemed like it had worked. It had been some time since she had seen anyone following her, and the shouts of pursuit had faded into the distance.

She slowed, ducked into an alleyway, and and started to look for a place to hide.

It looked like she had inadvertently made it to the outskirts of town. The end of the alley opened onto a dirt road that ran around the edge of the community. The road curved into the distance in both directions, and Mand assumed that eventually it met up with each "arm of the crab" on either side. Following the curve of the road, she could see a shallow ditch, and in the distance, a low stone fence marked the perimeter of a farmer's field.

Mand crept to the end of the alley and watched the road for a moment. The road appeared to be deserted. She hurried across the road and jumped over the ditch to the other side. She then hustled across the open ground and jumped the stone fence, ducking out of sight when she landed.

The freshly tilled field appeared to be empty. The smell of the ploughed earth brought her back to.... how long ago was it? It seemed like every moment since crashing the metallic dragon had been one misadventure after another. The long boring days crammed into a small room aboard the ship hadn't helped matters. She supposed it had only been about a week since she had been kidnapped from Cain's Point.

In the distance, she could see a two story farmhouse with smoke lazily coming out of the chimney. From the position of the sun, she guessed it was about noon, which she hoped meant that the farmers were inside enjoying a mid-day meal, and would be a while until they returned to the fields.

At the thought of a meal, her stomach growled. They had made their escape after the daily tray of food had been brought to them, so she as well as the other escapees had a few hunks of bread that they had each taken with them. Before even thinking about stopping to eat, she first needed to find a place to get out of sight.

Not too far from her current position, she spotted a barn as well as a small cluster of outbuildings. While the barn was probably used frequently and therefor was no-go, she hoped that the other structures were not often visited by the farmers. She made her way to the smallest, most dilapidated shed that she could see.

She pushed open the door to the shed, and saw that it appeared to be used mostly as a dumping ground for various odds and ends. On one of the shelves that lined a wall, she spotted a small glass bottle that had been filled when a number of bent nails, nuts and bolts, and various other small pieces of metal. Grabbing a handful of items out of the jar, she reformed the mass into a wedge and stuffed it under the door. If anyone tried to push the door from outside, the wedge would jam and prevent the door from swinging inwards. It was by no means perfect security, but it would buy her time if she needed it.

That last bit of metalmancy was the straw that broke the camel's back. The last hour had felt like a lifetime and every ounce of energy she had was depleted. In the very limited space of the shed, she slumped down on the floor to rest.

Inside the shed was mostly dark, aside from a tiny, grime covered window on one wall. She wanted to close her eyes, and a small part of her wanted to outright take a nap. In fact, she felt her eyelids start to droop.

NO! She shook her in an attempt to rouse herself. No matter what, she knew her best bet for now would be to try and stay awake. If she could, she wanted to stay in the shed until it became dark, and then try to make her way further up the mountain.

Her stomach rumbled again, and this time she gave in. She pulled out a bundled cloth and unwrapped it, revealing a sizeable hunk of dry bread. Using her finger tips, she began pinching off small bits of the bread and popping them into her mouth. She looked at the size of the hunk and frowned, she would have to find a supply of food somewhere, this would not last very long.

She was just about to stand up to start looking at the various bits and pieces which made up the shed's inventory, when she heard voices. The farmers had finished their meal and were returning to the fields. She slunk back down and tried to curl herself into the darkest corner of the small structure as she could.

She listened as the voices grew louder as they approached. There were two at least, one was as older gruff male's voice, while the other voice sounded like it belonged to a woman.

As much as she tried, Mand couldn't make out any of the conversation. The voices continued until she heard the sound of a heavy door swing open, followed by the sound of hoofbeats and the whinny of a horse clopping.

Shortly thereafter, the sound of the horse faded into the distance. Mand decided to take a chance and creep up to the grime covered window. Slowly, she rose until her eyes just peaked over the ledge of he window. Through a small gap in the grime, should she make out the barn, which now had its doors wide open.

She blinked, she couldn't believe her eyes. Her heart raced for a moment thinking of the possibilities. If she could get her hands on what was inside the barn, perhaps her escape was possible after all.