We're slowly winding down now; I currently would guess that the final part count for this story will be at 20. If all goes well, I should get all or most of it done tomorrow. Then to edit. Happy times! ______________________ While the possibility of immediate escape was ruined by Lois revealing his hands were free, it did have several effects that he had been hoping to produce. First, his captors took care to retie his hands before they moved out. He faked a few tricks, like trying to get his claws caught between the cords as they were tied, just to keep up appearances. Of course, he had no intention of showing them the hand he intended to play against them, but keeping them focused on the obvious helped distract them from the subtle adjustments he made as they tied. His escape from his bonds also had the result of making the leader of the poaching gang reconsider his idea of letting Lois guide the cart himself. While it was, perhaps, to some advantage to be in charge of Gerard’s transportation, having one of the trappers right behind him meant that he could immediately incapacitate one of them when an opportunity to escape arose. While the deal he had struck with the poachers would serve his purpose if he allowed it to continue to its logical conclusion, he didn’t trust any of the men to stick to their word. He wanted to be the first to break the deal if it was going to be broken, and that meant being ready for whatever opportunity might present itself. The cart that the poachers were using ended up being hardly large enough to fit the stag into. That suited the poachers just fine; it allowed them to use the ropes that they had used to secure the stag onto the cart. Just to pour salt on the wound, almost literally, they also took the precaution of tying his broken leg to the side of the cart, so if he even tried to shift his weight he would be in pain. Lois was not given the opportunity to speak to Gerard personally, but he did try to make eye contact to assure him wordlessly that he had things under control. The fact was, the way his captors worked gave him reason to feel confident, but he was always a little nervous any time he had to pull of some sort of escape. Wanting to get away with Gerard in tow just made things even more complicated. He was going to have to find a perfect distraction to allow a getaway, there was simply no way around it. So he allowed himself to be guided along by the trappers, keeping a weather eye on the trees to make sure that there were no friendly patrols in the area. Yelling for help was not going to help him here, but if they heard a struggle, they might decide to help him. He would have to know they were close to chance it however, and all the way throughout their march through the trees he saw no one. All the patrols were doubtless making safe the border in anticipation of the Duke’s wedding. The event itself couldn’t be too far away. As well as Lois knew, it might even be tonight. And so they kept on moving. It turned out that Lois’ initial guess as to the time it would take them to make the journey had been perhaps a bit too optimistic. With a hand-driven cart to guide through the trees they had to deal with getting it over stubborn roots, avoiding places where it could get stuck in the soft dirt, and generally going much more slowly than Lois would have preferred. They were still doing far better than when it had been left up to Gerard to hobble along on his own, but it was, nonetheless tedious, especially for one who wished to escape from his captors as soon as possible. While he did not see any sign of patrol, he found that he caught glimpses of an open area a little beyond the trees. After a few glimpses of it, he concluded that it was the beaten path. This seemed to be a good guess, as the poachers seemed to be moving parallel to it as much as possible, so as to avoid crossing it at all. That would give Lois some safety if he managed to get out. No doubt Metamor would have patrols watching the roads at this point. While it was unlikely that anyone seeking to harm the Duke would take the roads, it was nonetheless the path of least resistance. As night fell, the poachers showed no signs of stopping. They seemed almost as anxious to get to the southern borders of Metamor’s territory as Gerard seemed to get to Metamor. As the night wore on there was not even as much as the mention of stopping anywhere. One of the poachers handed out some dried meat as they walked. He skipped Lois and Gerard, not that Lois cared at this point. He wouldn’t have been able to easily eat it as it was, and even though he was hungry, he was certain that he would be able to get some food once they had escaped. The men had long since finished their food when the leader of the group lit off his pipe. Lois looked at him curiously, but realized that the man was trying to relieve some stress, and presumably had come up with no better ideas than the plan that they were currently executing. After all, according to their plan, if they were discovered by someone that just meant that they could come out of hiding and go to the border in exchange for their prisoners. There was simply no reason to avoid any of Metamor’s patrols, and the likelihood of running into anyone else was hardly enough to merit extra caution. Ironically, Lois noted, that was essentially what he had told Gerard a few hours before they were captured. It was, by now, the dead of night. There was an unnatural lack of sound around them. All that they could hear was the muffled plod of the men’s boots, the rattling of the fur cart’s wheels, and the grunts of the men who took turns guarding it. Usually that would make them more cautious because it meant that someone could be lying in wait, but at the moment they hoped that they would run into someone anyway. Lois had come to this conclusion a few hours ago, and since had ignored the poachers’ lack of attention to their surroundings. Instead, he noticed when the leader suddenly stopped, staring off into the distance with a look of extreme consternation. Lois followed his eyes, readying himself in case it provided the distraction he needed. Instead, he found his own eyes widening as he saw a gleaming wall surging through the forest towards them, moving at an amazing speed. The unnatural glow that surrounded the wall grew brighter as it grew closer, until, just after Lois braced or impact, it rolled over them like a wave… Lois blinked. He had expected something to happen when the magical wall hit him, but nothing was apparent. That is, nothing was apparent until he saw his captors. Where the leader had stood, a woman stumbled back against a tree, dropping the pipe that she had held between her fingers. In front of the cart a child had fallen forward after losing the strength needed to pull it. All of the others were similarly changed. Well, they were certainly distracted… Lois twisted sideways, easily escaping from the surprised tiger behind him, loosing his hands from his bonds in the same motion. He threw an elbow below the changed poacher’s belt, and scrambled to the cart in a rush. He caught the handles as solidly as he could on the run and threw his back into it. He didn’t expect to outrun his enemies for long like this, but the hope was that he would get enough separation from them that he could turn and defend himself. He pulled, intending to turn when he heard them following, but several moments after first taking control of the cart he still heard no signs of pursuit. He made for the road, then, intent on making sure that any attack would end up costing them far more than it did him. He was almost certain now that he heard the sounds of pursuit behind him. The wheels of the carts bounced roughly over the edge of the beaten pathway, and Lois turned and jumped into the cart’s bed, jumping across the surprised stag and recovering his weapons from where he had seem them hidden while he was being tied, under a pile of furs in the back. He breathed heavily from the effort, but stayed calm for several minutes, waiting… Nothing ever came.Lois finally calmed down. He looked at Gerard and gave a small smile before looking back to the south to try to find the source of the strange magical wave. There was nothing visible to the south but the horizon. Even the Keep was still hidden from this far north, even if they had reached the beaten path. Looking north was similarly futile. The wave had gone as quickly as it came. Lois voiced the thought that was on both of their minds. “What in all he hells was that?” No answer was forthcoming from the stag for several reasons, and Lois himself did not have enough of an idea to even venture a guess. After a few more moments making sure that the poachers didn’t show themselves anymore, Lois hopped down out of the cart. He braced himself, gripping the handles for a few moments, and then threw his back into it, taking a few short steps before he was able to maintain a reasonable pace. Having missed any sort of meals for the past few days, and whatever untold amount of time he had been unconscious, Lois was beginning to feel fatigued. They couldn’t be far now, though. If he kept his legs moving, he would be able to finally rest and take some refreshment when they ran into the patrol cordon. And keeping his legs moving was perhaps the only thing he was able to think of by the time the sun started to rise in the east. He groaned as he continued to pull his friend’s weight, but he wasn’t about to let himself fail now. He almost ran headlong into the Keepers who stood blocking the path as he approached, as he had been pulling with his head down, and Gerard was simply trying to rest. As soon as he saw their strange, changed faces, he collapsed, laughing weakly as he managed to come to his knees. He barely heard the patrolmen calling for someone to come take a look at them in the background, and only slightly more clearly heard the Keeper in front of him ask if he was all right. “Need to get to the Keep,” Lois managed. Actually, he was beginning to feel a little bit better, but he felt no need to say why they needed to get to the Keep. With some good fortune the men would simply take them back inside the walls without asking what was so urgent. They had likely been told not to break the cordon except in emergencies, and getting Gerard home to see his family hardly seemed to qualify. As he had hoped, no one inquired further, and he was able to rest up against the side of the fur cart, breathing freely without some sense of urgency for the first time in what felt like months. His first patrol for the Keep had doubtless been one worthy of remembrance. He certainly hoped that very few more of them would be quite so interesting. !DSPAM:4ea77dde192681780998236!