I did another cut along the outside all the way down ensuring enough space for me to get in, the carpet turns out, was a tactical failure as it muffled my steps… I was able to sneak easily until I was next to the bed.
                I took one of the sleeping drugs in me and rubbed it on the lamp until it started to smoke, then I enveloped it in my aura. With that I burnished the whole pill separating the properties into a ball of gas I could use… Provided I didn’t overdo it, he was just going to be fully knocked out for an hour or so.
                As I approached him with it he started to react, I’m not sure it was the burnt smell or my smell that set him off but once his eyes opened I had to move quickly.

                I covered his mouth and nostrils with the smoke and that was a wise call, his first impulse was to scream but I wasn’t letting the sound out.
                Noticing something was up he grabbed me by the arm, but I noticed his eyes started to go hazy, his hand lost its grip and went numb… I wasn’t about to take any chances so I held it in there for a while and watched as he went completely limp.
                He was out almost as quickly as he woke up.

                I on the other hand was puffed up like an scared little kitten, my body was shivering from the sudden scare and I had A LOT rushing in my mind, I thought maybe I didn’t give him enough gas, or maybe he was dead I was just too dumb and scared to know… I felt this crazy rush of self-doubt as I questioned my ability, and a part of me just wanted to run away after that.
                But this time, unlike the others, I silenced those thoughts, I needed to find the key and I needed to free Azreth.
                I dimmed the light so that I could feel a bit safer, I’m a manned wolf we got a good vision even in the dark so it wasn’t hard for me to navigate around.
                I went trough all of his stuff, his armor, the stand, the vat and was thinking maybe I made a mistake when I finally thought about the most obvious place of all… He was just the type of person who wouldn’t leave this key laying around so the inside of the pillow was an easy guess.

                There it was… His freedom, in my hands…
                Frankly it never occurred to me how this looked, I was risking my life for a man I barely knew just because I felt  in some part of me that it was right the right thing to do, I was scared and trembling yet I did anyway… I didn’t even think it was a big deal, as if it were the other way around I’m sure he would have done the same.
                But now with that key in my hands it felt… Right… It felt like this was the only acceptable outcome and that I would be able to pull it off without much of a hassle.

                And then I heard it.
                The blade unsheathing behind me as the entrance to the tent closed off…
                I turned around in shock, I was so careful, how could anyone have noticed?

                And like earlier today he was there, as much surprised as I was, but his eyes denounced it, he wasn’t ready to let me go this time… Me and him traded a long and silent look that felt cold and harsh.

                “Alex…” I greeted him.

                “Vernon…” He greeted me back and grit his teeth. “… The captain, you murdered him?”

                I shook my head.  “No… He is fine.”

                “Good… Then you’re going back in your cell…” His eyes sharpened as to measure my moves… He was getting ready to fight.

                I grit my teeth as well and clenched my fist, not in anger but as a defense... I wanted him to know I wasn’t backing out of this.  “You can just step aside if you want… It doesn’t have to be like this!”

                “I can’t… Vernon… You’re…” He was still bothered he closed his eyes for a brief second and shook his head. “… You’re too valuable!”

                “I know…” I was distant, in a way I knew this would be how it went. “… But If you wanted to kill me, you do have a pistol in your holster.”

                “Don’t make this harder than it already is Vernon, you know I don’t want to hurt you…” He relented, his voice trembling.

                “I know… But if you do this, I’m going to die anyway so what is the difference?”

                He snarled briefly to himself, then added. “I won’t kill you Vernon… I can’t.”

                “You won’t have blood on your hands, but you will kill me if you go through with this!” I said readying my stance.

                “SILENCE!!” He snarled in anger. “I hate this enough as is… I won’t have you mock me for it!”

                “Just step aside Alex, you don’t want to fight me and I don’t want to fight you, it’s that simple… You just need to make the choice!” I tried.

                “I can’t…” He whispered to himself, his mind raced to all these different places, I could see his eyes shifting trough the memories before he finally composed himself and brandished his blade towards me once again. “I WON’T!”  I knew there was no more reasoning to be had.

                There were no more words to be said between us, no more pleasantries, as he adjusted the grip his weapon glistened in the lamp’s light bathed in a bright flaming color.

                The battle began quick and intense, he lunged forward grasping his blade with both hands and determined to strike but I managed to lower my body before he got to me, with my hands on the carpet I weaved my influence on it causing the threads to separate in a million distinct cords that flung themselves trying to bind him.
                He was a skilled fighter as with just a single step back he was already out of my reach and in a defensive stance again… He was smart enough to react to my magic even though he had never seen it before.
                He considered his next move, as I did mine, going back out through the hole I made would leave me farther from Azreth, and he could cut me short in the middle of camp… Going out trough the entrance would involve passing through him.
                I couldn’t defend, I needed to make the next move and both of us knew it.
                I reached for the stand where a pile of documents laid, I grabbed the first sheet of paper I saw and once again covered it in aura tossing it in the air, the tent was filled with flying sheets of paper that danced in the wind obscuring our vision.
                He sliced and diced away from the wave of paper positioning himself closer to the entrance and cutting off my escape… He knew what I wanted and caught me halfway.

                I felt the violent tug in my necks fur as he grabbed me and shoved me back inside at his feet. “You’re not getting away that easily!” He cried out.
                I was stuck again, the papers had no effect and now I was a few centimeters away from his blade, my first plan had failed and I was in the worst possible place. “Yield and I won’t hurt you!” He claimed.

                I kept myself lower onto the ground, I needed to further distract him, I needed everything I had. “You know I can’t do that! You’re asking me to kill myself for you and I won’t!”

                He started to talk and negotiate. “It’s not like that, we can still plead, there are lots of Redmanes like you, they lead good lives-”

                “AS SERVANTS!” I cried out.“They don’t have a choice! The second they left their masters they be dead or hunted like me!” The very thought of living as someone’s personal pet sickened me.
                “You’re not doing me a favor by pleading for me… By keeping me alive like that, you’re turning me into a slave! I’D RATHER DIE!!” I cried out and fueled by my own rage, I attacked.

                I used the carpet again launching the threads forward, this time he refused to give me ground slicing at them before they could reach him.
                Once I was out of carpet however, that is when I knew I could strike… My influence spread again leaking onto the ground causing it to flow under the surface.
                I know a tiny change can make a big impact so as the ground beneath us exploded into sand, a wave rippled out as the ground collapsed in on itself… He was a skilled fighter, but remove a person’s balance and they are just as easy to take down as anyone.
                I was laying on the ground already so this was not a problem to me, but he got startled, flailing wildly while trying to regain his footing.
                When he began to fall I lunged forward tackling him, I wasn’t heavy but he didn’t have any ground to support him so he went down beneath me. The impact knocked his sword away landing softly on the dirt.
                Once on top of him my victory was assured, his clothes were reinforced and hard to break, they made the perfect bindings with which to restrain him. He struggled and was easily able to overpower me, but with his own garments bending and tying themselves around him it didn’t mattered that he shoved me to the side, or that he was stronger, faster and smarter.
                The battle was over… I stood up after he could no longer move, restricted in his own armor.
               
                I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily from all the effort that I put into it… My body burned and the muscles were pounding with adrenaline denouncing to me I had overexerted myself… Not just that my arms felt like they were contracting in on themselves, I clearly overused my powers.
                My heart felt like it was about to jump out of my mouth.
                “I can’t… *Arf…* Be a slave! *Arf…* I’m not a trophy some nosy ruler is going to parade around like and object!” I stood on top waiting for an answer but all he did was lay there, his will was broken I could see from his eyes that even if he wasn’t bound, he would not fight anymore.

                I rushed out, I need to get to Azreth as fast as possible, I instinctively knew that once he was free he could get us out… I just needed to unbind him and we both would be free… I was overwhelmed by the idea that I had won, filled with excitement, blind to reality.

                I ran back, darted right trough the middle of the camp as fast as I could, falling then propelling myself back up running like my life depended on it… I reached the wagon I looked up and I saw Azreth peeking down.
                However his look was not one of relief, despite how close I was, instead he seemed desperate… “MOVE!!” He screamed!

                *BAAANNG!!*

                I heard a single shot… And it was clear it didn’t miss.
                I made a mistake, I failed to account that the captain was a half-bred I should have given him double the dose, maybe triple.
                Standing next to the bound Alex was the racoon pointing a smoking gun at me. “THE PRISONER IS ESCAPING!” He shouted.

                At first, I felt nothing, but when I tried to move, I felt a stinging pain in my leg which caused me to lose balance and fall… Luckily, I might add as the second shot hit the cart’s wall right where my head was supposed to be… But I didn’t feel lucky at all, I shivered in pain!
                I dragged myself on the floor trying to reach for cover as the shots kept ricocheting of the wagon again and again, three, then four…
                I touched the ground beneath and made a wall as to offer me cover then I heard five, and six bouncing of it… I was terrified, so terrified I couldn’t begin to describe it. I had gotten so close but only because Alex had a soft and gentle heart, my cockiness had it’s price and hurt unlike anything else.
                I tried to move but my leg felt numb and hard to control, I was losing a lot of blood and the more aware of how serious it was the more it hurt, I had to fight to keep myself awake, my body wanted me to pass out, but I needed to stay awake!
                I kept dragging myself, I needed to get to him, I needed to get inside the wagon… As I got closer and closer to the door the shots halted for a second as he reloaded, but I knew that wouldn’t last, the other soldiers were standing up and arming themselves.
                I pushed as hard as I could screaming in pain I was just an arm’s length away from the entrance, I had to it… I couldn’t fail after all this…
                I used all my strength to open the door, slamming it to the side and looking at Azreth’s desperate face one last time… I drew in every fiber of my being to push through my muscles burning pain.
                I noticed a stream of red glossy petals begin to fall at the corner of my eye, I knew what that was… But I knew I shouldn’t look at it… Instead, I focused on Azreth and used his cries to make me push further.
                I put one hand in, then another and started to lift myself inside…

                Then I heard a seventh shot…