Aand here is the second entry! This was way too many words for my brain to squeeze out in one day. Quality might have dropped…

Relief

“Jump!” Jillian shouted at the slimmer Athrani in front of him that thudded into the wall short of momentum and slid to the ground. He remained slumped with his face pressed against the monstrosity of a building that stood in his way and wailed. This was a bad idea. Jillian slowed his pace to a trot and patted his friend on the shoulder with a wide grin on his lips.

“C’mon now, we haven’t even started yet.” He took a few steps back and dashed forward. One step on the wall and a flexible jump was all it took to get a grip on the brim of the first roof. He pulled himself up and and extended a hand to his friend. “It’s going to be fun, I promise.”

Quan was hesitant.

“I don’t doubt that, but I could do well without all that running to get here in the first place. Are you sure we… I, will get through this alive?” He set his hands to his sides and nodded to the citadel tower in the distance.

He barely got to finish his sentence before he could see a devious gleam take shape in the elf’s eyes. He tilted his head slightly to the side ready to receive the terrible joke about to be birthed.

“I promise you… it is worth dying for…” Jillian articulated the “dying” part with a wink.

“Yes, terrible idea indeed.” Quan laughed and accepted the offered hand.

They scaled a few of the houses and ducked behind some scattered lookout towers before Jillian came to a stop again. He pointed to the other side of a courtyard.

“We only need to get over there and the way should be a straight climb up to the tower.”

“And the catch?” Quan huddled next to him. “There must be one. You wouldn’t do this if it was easy.”

Sure enough the elf shrugged somewhat embarrassed.

“Might be an archer or two squatting somewhere. He’ll probably shoot you if you are not fast enough.”

Quan snorted.

“Of course there are…”

“Don’t worry, just run along this wall here and you’ll be fine. I’ll check for guards just in case.”

“Thank you, I feel safer already.”

With a wave of his hand Jillian signalled for Quan to start running. He himself casually stayed behind and eyed the shadows a little more intently. When the Athrani reached the most open spot he shouted with as much distress he could in his voice.

“Oi archer to your left!” It was meant as a cruel joke to startle his friend but it was way more effective than he had hoped. Not wearing any kind of armour, Quan took the cry as a sure warning and quickly spun around to run back the way he came. But the tiles were slippery and his boots smooth. With a yelp the lost his footing and fell helplessly off the wall.

Jillian’s jaw dropped to his feet. That had not been in his plan. With his heart pounding in his chest he slowly walked towards the edge. There were no cries of pain, no screams for help. When thinking of it there had not even been the crunch and splatter of bones and flesh hitting hard rock. He still expected some kind of gruesome death to be laid out before him.

He didn’t quite believe what he saw…

The foolish boy was unharmed.

“You Fuck -!” Jillian began roaring from the rooftop in frustration but soon wheezed with laughter. Quan was a white bundle of robes in a pile of freshly stacked hay for the citadel stables and could not for the life up him get up from the embarrassing position he had landed in. “I’m gonna kill you when I get down there. You scared me half to death!” Jillian sighed with relief.

“Oh yeah? I’m right here!” Quan flailed his arms in Jillian’s general direction, his head covered with straw. “Why don’t you jump down too?”

It didn’t sound as a bad idea. A controlled fall must surely be safer then simply falling. Jillian was much heavier though, and the thought did not occur to him until mid air.

The haystack was thick but a portion of it detached as he landed and sent him crashing to the ground from a small hight. It was a harmless fall but a sharp snap broke the curious silence.

Quan howled with delight as the elf toppled over spitting curses and trying to keep a straight face. His ankle had been twisted.

Other participants: Anastasia V. Pergakis, S Frankie Blooding, and Veronica R. Calisto.

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