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Last of the Shadow Foxes: 9 Anarchy

Emerson stirred softly from his sleep and rubbed his eyes. The light danced across the assassin’s face and he instinctively shielded his eyes. There was poor lighting and his eyes struggled to compensate. There was another figure directly opposite him. It was the chief bandit he had helped earlier. She was staring back at him, her Dark Canal hood partly obscuring her tanned face. She pushed her hood back and sat up.
“So, you’re awake at last.”
“Yes, wait, where are we?”
“…”
“Oh don’t tell me we’ve been knocked unconscious and held prisoner in their convoy?” Emerson stated darkly, searching the woman’s eyes.
“Well, now that you mention it…”
”You’re joking.” He interrupted with disbelief. A smile played across the chief bandit’s lips.
“Yes, I am. You should have seen the look on your face!” She laughed.
“That’s not funny, we have no time for games.” The assassin retorted, folding his arms. Sensing that she had crossed the line, she went over and placed an arm on his shoulder.
“Chill, sorry alright? We’re a few kilometres from Eos Tower. The convoy’s passing by in a few hours.”
“We overtook the convoy?” The assassin murmured, surprised.
“Yes, Kargo have to traverse roads, we traversed the forests.” Then her mood grew serious.
“Listen, while you’ve been resting, I scouted around. The Dark Apostles have take prisoners. Three batches in three carts.”
“What!” Emerson exclaimed.

Gavrilla strained her eyes in the dawn light. The path the Kargo had taken was clear; the problem was actually locating the Kargo convoy itself. The hermit brushed stray hairs from her face and rubbed her eyes. Ophelia rested a hand on Gavrilla’s shoulder.
”Gavrilla…”
“We have to find the convoy as soon as possible.” The hermit stated resolutely, turned around and walked away. Ophelia sighed and followed her back to the camp. Rune and his retinue were waiting for them, spread over a battered map. Jiro looked up at them and motioned for them to inspect the map. Though yellowing with age, the map showed an accurate depiction of Eos Tower and it’s surroundings. Rune scratched his chin and pointed at the map.
“Okay, we’re here and the convoy should be around here, given normal operation practices.” He told them, gesturing around the map. One of Rune’s attendants raised their hand.
“Yes Kinsleigh?”
“Sir, do we know the convoy’s composition? If we don’t, I don’t think it’s wise to rush in, we could end up in more trouble then we started.” Kinsleigh asked, adjusting his glasses.
“Well, we’re sure they have about twenty hunters and around thirty swordsmen. The force that attacked us earlier was just an escort, they’ve returned back to their original base.” Rune explained. Gavrilla raised her hand.
“Excuse me, but when are we going to rescue them? Every second wasted means that those prisoners are going to be stuck in hell.”
“Calm down Gavrilla, we have to prepare for the extraction carefully, we don’t want to be rash.”
Gavrilla’s cheeks burned with shame, she had gone and acted irrationally. The guild leader turned away and promptly left the circle. Rune, concerned, tried to follow but Ophelia held him back.
“She just needs some down time.”

Emerson huddled close to his partner as they advanced stealthily through the woods. The assassin could smell her perfume and tried hard not to get distracted by it. They made their way through the dense undergrowth until they reached the side of the road. The chief bandit stopped Emerson at the edge of the forest.
“Now we wait.” She whispered and nestled in on a tree buttress. Emerson just crouched and gazed at the road. The sunlight pounded on Emerson after a while and his legs started to cramp. The uncomfortable assassin shuffled over next to the chief bandit and stretched out his legs.
“So…what brings you here?” The chief bandit asked, fiddling around with a stick.
“Well, I’m looking for someone actually.”
“Really? Who? Girlfriend?” She whispered, slyly, nudging Emerson in the ribs.
“Haha, No. It’s a sibling.”

Ophelia heard a sound and turned to see Gavrilla. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying. The guild leaders faced each other in silence. The trees rustled gently. The noise of bugs became noticeable.
“Well…” Ophelia ventured.
“I’m fine now. So when are we leaving to attack?” Gavrilla told her.
“In a few hours, Rune has assembled some crusaders to help us.”
“You mean he won’t be coming?”
“No, he is coming. Come on, get ready.”

The Kargo snuffled quietly as the night set in. Emerson stifled a yawn and shook the sleeping figure beside him. The chief bandit rose and was suddenly alert. The convoy was stretched out in front of them, spanning across the road.
“The white canvassed carts hold the prisoners.” Emerson whispered, eyeing the three white carts.
“They’ve probably separated the prisoners into the groups. Skilled and unskilled.” The chief bandit added, staring at the row of white carts. In the convoy of twelve, the three middle carts bore white canvassing whilst the other carts had black, except for the two at the back, which were red.
“How did you know?” She murmured, standing up, obscured by the foliage.
“There are guards positioned on the sides of those carts, plus I saw them yelling inside.” Emerson replied, sliding his hand into his Avarice. The woman drew her Dragon Caesar and close up, Emerson noticed its difference. The weapon was a rippling black colour with swirls of purple and lined with gold.
“We can only free one cart.” She told him.
“What? Why?”
“No time, one cart before the guards are on us. We need to pick the cart with the skilled fighters, otherwise we get slaughtered. It’s a fact, those peasants can’t hold out to the Dark Apostles. They are only surviving because us skilled ones are holding them together.”
Emerson nodded. He scanned the three covered carts.
“How about the last one?” The assassin whispered. The chief bandit shrugged.
“It’s a one in three chance.”
Just as they were about to spring out, the guards of the first one opened the flap to the cart to subdue the rowdy prisoners. They both glimpsed peasant garments inside.
“Well, It’s not the first one.” Emerson stated.
“So now it’s a one in two chance. Better odds?” His partner voiced.
“Hmm, should we stick with the end one or the middle one?”
“Hurry up, we don’t have much time!” The chief bandit exclaimed, waving her dagger about.
“Okay, Let’s go with…”

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Interactive: Which cart should Emerson go for to save the prisoners and why?
Your answer will decide the fate of some characters and the storyline.