Zilo falls back and winces as the cart began to speed off along the trail. Once the cart has gotten a fair distance down the road, May looks to her side and curses that she forgot her book on poisons. Zilo makes his way to the front and says, "May, I need you to give me a look really quick. I have a hunch."
May side glances the bard and casts another instance of Detect Poison and she smiles saying, "You're cured, you must have worked it out of your body." Zilo presses his hand to his chest And says, "I thought I felt better, the damage is still there, but it hasn't worsened."
"Good we need to do something before that guy catches up with us, can you fix up Jin?" Zilo nods and climbs into the back of the cart. Jin was shaking, trying to sit up, but struggling.
"He looks paralyzed, The assassin's strike must have rattled his system terribly, he should be good after a minute or so." Zilo turned in the back of the cart and spoke again, "Hey May, can you check Zatrain for poison? His color looks like it's returning."
May hands the reigns over to Zilo and casts the spell again a few times to test everyone and says, "Zatrian looks fine, but Tess and Jin are still dealing with it."
"What's the point in giving us poison that we can over come with a bit of luck and bed rest?"
"It isn't about killing with the poison, its about setting up a kill to ensure no resistance. If I had eaten that deer too then we'd have lost that fight back there." May sits back in the front and Jin finally regains his ability to move.
"Well dat sucked" Said Jin, reclined in the back finally speaking. The vanarra followed up with, "Tell me you two got a plan for how to stop dis guy."
Zilo motions to his side and says, "Ask May, you got any idea how we shake this guy?"
"You both could let me think for a minute, and I'll get back to you." The cleric assassin quietly thought through a lot of scenarios before finally speaking up.
"Okay, without knowing what he has I can't guarantee much, but I've got some ideas. The most ideal is that Presto and Vivace can keep this pace for a week straight so he never has the chance to catch us."
Zilo looks at May like she is crazy and she cuts him off saying, "I said ideal, I know that no horses can do something like that. Next option is that we stand and fight, as long as Zatrian is free of the poison then getting there fast isn't as much of a priority, but that risks Jin and Tess's chances."
Jin grimaces, "Do you think we could take him?" May shakes her head and says, "No idea he knows we can't keep this pace, so he might expect us to fight. Meaning he's likely ready for that showdown and will have the edge."
Zilo looks at May, waiting for a third, best option, but she remains silent and the bard asks her, "Is that it!? Only two?"
"Gimme a break, I'm not Maldrek. I only know how I would react if my targets did something. Option one would be the most annoying if you could pull it off, I would expect option two knowing how good your horses are."
The three of them silently accept the dark reality of this decision they need to make with Jin breaking the silence saying, "Well we better get ready to fight him soon." He motions to the horses and continues "Pulling all five of us and the cart isn't doing these two any favors."
Zilo's eyes burst open wide and he looks over to May and asks, "May, how would you react to something like this?" May looks up at the bard, her own somber mood fading for a moment.
The assassin was not making enough of a pace to over come the cart. He came across an odd sight the cart he chased had stopped and the bard who had shot him stood outside, arrow drawn. Luckily for the assassin the bard couldn't spot the broad side of a barn and he could easily stealth around him and arrive in the cart.
Once he was in the cart he saw that there were only two figures in bedrolls and the two horses were gone.
The assassin spoke, "Cut the loose ends to finish the mission? Cold, I like your style." Zilo spun around toward the voice aiming his bow saying,
"Huh!? When-! Get away from Zatrian!?"
The assassin chuckles and says, "Cute. I have no time to play with you, I have an elf to kill." In a flash the assassin dodged the arrow pointblank and returned to the treeline to chase after the two horses running from the abandoned cart.
May rode astride Vivace with a slumped figure wrapped around her and with Presto following behind her. With less weight distributed Vivace was well able to carry the two of them much easier. As the day began to dawn and Vivace was running out of steam, Presto had rested enough to have the two of them transfer to the fresh horse.
The pace was astronomically better with less people and a cart along with swapping horses every few hours to let each rest. But it still was not ideal and after a few days like this the four of them had no alternative other than resting for a while. Unfortunately I' Sereg'wethrin was more than just an assassin, his profession before hired killer was that of a ranger who favored terrain in forests.
Within hours of May picking a spot to rest The assassin descended on them. He stalked over to the hooded figure on the ground and saw May breathing tired after days without rest he grinned then waltzed over to the figure a few meters from her, he knelt down and whispered.
"You were a troublesome target Zatrian, but your time has reached it's end." He took out a small dagger and pulled back the hood. He knelt there, shocked beyond movement, for the being he knelt over was not Zatrian, It was one Jin-Shi Wukong.
Following his shock he immediately coughed up blood from a Death Attack by May, who had pretended to be sleeping. The attack had not his vitals and he managed to shrug off the fatality of the attack. The assassin spun and slashed with his dagger at May throwing her to the ground.
She was exhausted and only had enough in her for that last attack, she was not getting up. The assassin's eyes flared.
"You little wench! You tricked me!"
"To be fair, not my idea," said May smiling from the ground. The assassin took out his blade as he clenched his teeth in rage. He walked over and lifted his blade above the woman's chest, ready to plunge his blade deep.
Jin sprung to action leaping in and spinning in the air, landing a solid powerful Drunken Strike cleanly onto the assassin's jaw. The assassin had now taken two devastating injuries. He found standing to be a trial, as Jin lifted May off the ground, saying,
"Dis guy interrupted me nap, Poison or not, he don't get tah live now." The assassin stood straight as he looked at them. May had gone days without rest and Jin looked to still be fighting the King Sleep in his system.
I' Sereg'wethrin stood straight and breathed calmly, "I have a job to finish, you two don't concern me." He faded into the tree line as May touched a small mark left on her chest and with a smile said, "Seemed pretty concerned til now."
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