Escape From Fort Lao (Part 2)

"Did you think you were the only one with a logging enchantment?" Kesde said as he closed in for another attack.

'Get some distance, he has no reason to be cautious.' Spirit advised.

I started drawing the runes for Flying Flare behind my back.

'Which is exactly why I'm gonna get in his face.'

I released my spell, sending blinding light into Kesde's eyes. My artificial arm morphed into a blade.

'He's reacting perfectly. Orin, you're up.'

Kesde blocked the light with his hands and Orin appeared from my elongated shadow, behind Kesde.

I charged forward and slashed down with my arm, cutting a deep wound on his chest. Flying Flare ended and Kesde retaliated.

Ting!

I heard behind me as Kesde cut into my artificial arm. My real arm started to bleed as I cast Fire Arrow with the Mercy glyph. The spell resonated with the glyph because Kesde was in unimaginable pain, Orin had just bit him in the shoulder from behind, and when I slashed him, I left splinters in his chest.

'Orin is slow, but it was two on one when he got out, now that it's two on two, he won't be able to keep up.'

Orin got my message and disappeared into my shadow.

'I really need to learn how to make these bombs.' I thought as I lit the fuses and dropped two bombs. One was an icebomb, the other was a firebomb. 'Kesde is a lightning mage, he can't stop the firebomb or dodge it. I'll have to hope the other assailant isn't a fire mage.'

The firebomb went off and Kesde was thrown to the other side of the hall.

'This would be the perfect time to warp out, if this building weren't metal. Wait, this building is metal!'

The icebomb went off, but I couldn't see what happened to my other assailant. I started to use flow manipulation to tear the walls apart and make myself a path out.

'Proof will have to wait, for now, I'm out of here.'

I surfed on the metal I bent with flow manipulation on my way out and made sure to make a path for the other prisoners. I passed the cafeteria again and grabbed a bag of food.

'Best of luck to you, I just hope I was fast enough.' I prayed for their escape.

Once I got out of the complex, I turned on my Telespeak, now that I wasn't encased on all sides by metal, I could call reinforcements. As I initiated the mind-link with my dad, I turned around and looked at Fort Lao.

'It really is unassuming.'

The fort was clearly stone from the outside and gave off the impression of a fort that wasn't even worth conquering. It was well defended but run-down, and, as I would find out later, in a useless strategic position.

My Telespeak got a connection as I dodged archer fire from the walls.

'Ingen? What is with you and randomly disappearing?! Then the king said you died!' Dad sounded worried.

'You really believed the king? After all that?'

'Well, it's hard to not believe him when he had your head on a pike. He also pinned a bunch of crimes on you.'

'Hmm, in that case, let him convince the people that I'm dead, let's see how far it gets him.'

'What does this mean? Are you coming back?'

'I have a better plan. I'm going to make that flying machine that I said I would and fly to a nearby country, I'll figure something out from there.' I shut off the Telespeak.

By now I was far into the woods and could safely deploy my shed. I pulled the rest of my equipment out and put my glider on.

"Ah, much better."

My wings sat against my back comfortably, and I scanned one last time for tracking spells, and when I was satisfied that there was none, I took off in a random direction. After about an hour of flight, I set down and got to work setting up.

'Plien, Fultz, come, and raid my workshop tonight.' I told my golems, who were undoubtedly standing by as told, they were at the workshop when I left, but that doesn't stop them from executing my emergency hide protocol when they didn't hear from me for a while.

"They will be here in a few days." I deployed my shed and got to work making the things I would need that the golems couldn't carry. I used flow manipulation to create an anvil, intuitive manipulation to make several tables, tools, and a small gantry where my very first airship would go.

"It's a good thing I brought the contents of my safe in my shed instead this time," I said as I bent a tree for the gantry.

From the air, my area would look almost normal, because I stretched some trees over the gantry and my work areas.

'This is going to be cold work, I can't go to a hot zone because they are too populated. But for now, I need to rest.'

I slumped up against my lean-to workshop and fell into sleep.

--------

Constable Kesde leaned up against the wall while a healer tended to his wounds.

"Get her out of here, if I die she will go rouge." He said as he pointed to an area that looked empty.

A girl appeared from that space and followed the guards back to her cell.

Kesde got up and walked to the cafeteria once his wounds healed, but paused once he got there.

"He really took my lunch too? It's just disrespect at this point."