Deatt started to recognize the villages they passed through, even though it had been a few long years since he had traversed through Kitva and even longer since he visited the surrounding villages.

  They might as well have been the same as the others. Empty. But this emptiness struck something far deeper in Deatt.

  When he had passed through the lifeless settlements before, he had to imagine what the everyday life looked like before the wave of turned brought a grim end to the villagers, but here, all he had to do was remember. He knew no one, nor did he ever care about the villages, but he knew what they looked like before, albeit roughly.

  The average humble way of living. Farmers hard at work on their fields, or drinking with their buddies once enough coin strayed to their pocket. Women cleaning, children playing, people busy with living their lives, trying to make ends meet.

  Now only ghost towns remained.

  The 'special' turned never showed themselves again, though Deatt doubted that they would be so lucky to meet the one instance where these things acted so differently. Instead, he believed that people here may not have been particularly skilled, at least in ways that would help the turned in a meaningful way. According to his theory, that would make them the common undead.

  Still, the chill of their experience remained.

  As the city of Kitva rose from under the hill on the horizon, Deatt was filled with mixed emotions. He had longed to return to the city for so long, or maybe just return to his life he had lived there. But such an option would be impossible.

  Based on Vael's information, the city was half-way destroyed. The commoner areas along with most of the outer district should be overrun with the turned. Only the inner walls maintaining a bastion for the people that still lived. But they probably were not many left.

  As opposed to Zenwall, Kitva did not share the same focus on defenses, instead it was a merchant city. Situated right in the crossroads of important and busy trading routes. As the numerous goods and carts with wagons took a lot of space, Kitva was riddled with small storehouses and tangled narrow streets. That kind of environment was made for skulking and thieving, as Deatt often abused it for. Simply, the governors of the city decided to upsize the chaos of the city to house the merchants, instead of trying to establish order to the trading. A decision that spelled disaster now, because that environment was also prime hunting grounds for the turned.

  That was also one of the reasons Deatt was hired for the job. Thinking about it now, he was the perfect person for it. He knew how to traverse the streets of Kitva even blinded, had safehouses scattered around the city, which he hoped remained secret.

  Surprisingly enough, Raf came out to apologize to Evelynn, blaming his error on the chaos of the fight, which Deatt did not trust for a second. He could not help feeling it was deliberate, but it would not help to press him further.

  Even this far out, Deatt could see a lot of movement in the streets of the city. The amount of turned running along their length already a stark reminder of the danger that would await them inside. Thankfully, they did not plan to pass through the main roads.

  Vael had told them, that there was a breach in the wall. When Deatt asked him how he knew such information, Vael answered with "A man has to have his ways.". That phrase irritated Deatt every time he had heard it, but it did not reveal any answers that Deatt desperately wanted to have.

  That still left them having to traverse through a number of streets before they would reach the outer wall.

  They slowly approached the house closest to them, stopping at its walls.

  "This is it men, this is where the real work begins." Morek looked over his shoulder. "Raf, how long can you keep us protected?"

  "Ten minutes at most, and someone will have to carry me after."

  Morek nodded and turned to Deatt.

  "How quick till we reach the walls?"

  "Depends on the turned on the way. Without them? Five minutes."

  "Good odds. Prepare yourselves. Once Raf is done casting, we run full speed."

  As Raf finished chanting in his rough voice, Deatt took a glance at Nido. The half-orc nodded, signaling Deatt that he felt the touch of magic on Evelynn.

  Then, they moved.

  Deatt had to run slower than he would normally find comfortable, so he would not lose the group. He ran through a space between houses narrow enough to scrape his shoulders, in an old tunnel under a tavern, through a couple houses when there was no space between them.

  For about a minute, no problems arose.

  Then he made a turn and froze.

  A group of turned appeared before him. As he stopped, he signaled with his hand for the others to do the same.

  The turned seemed to be the lifeless kind, or at least in that state. Emptily looking at walls of the houses, not moving.

  Deatt and the others only had to cross the street to the other side, but that would reveal them to the turned, if only for a moment. But they had to, if they were to move around the turned, they would never make it to the wall in time.

  Moving slowly out of the corner, Deatt moved through the open space. The street they wanted to move further in had a staircase leading down, effectively obscuring them from the turned once they reached it.

  Deatt managed to reach the other end without provoking the turned, but he felt no relief as of yet. There were many others to go.

  Nido and Evelynn made quick progress, crossing almost as quickly and stealthily as Deatt.

  Morek was surprisingly sneaky as well, considering his size. He reached the other end without difficulty.

  Dancer crossed the street quickly and soundlessly.

  Raf and the others almost made it as well.

  Almost.

  When the last man was crossing the street, one of the turned slowly looked to his direction. The man froze in his steps, watching the turned. After a moment that felt like an eternity, the man continued walking, his gaze firmly set on the turned. As he was stressfully making sure that they had not spotted him, the man did not notice the stairs.

  He tumbled down, the sound of his blade clattering against the stone stairs echoing all around.

  Followed by the yells of the turned.

  Then, Deatt started running, the group following suit. He quickly glanced back to see whether the turned were already making their way to them, but they were not. Instead, he noticed that nobody had helped the fallen man up and he did not stand up by himself in time. Impervious from the spell he might have been, the weight of the turned that jumped on him made it impossible to move.

  Before they rounded the corner, he could hear the pained screams of the man. Raf had stopped fueling his spell on him, to save his stamina.

  At least in death, the man had bought them some time.

  Deatt sped up, quickly running from the impending doom behind them. Now that they had been discovered, he took riskier roads, running through open spaces and small squares.

  The turned were running at them from all sides.

  He dodged around their wild strikes, silently thanking whoever that none of the hunters or similar turned made their way to them.

  Nido and Evelynn followed suit, separated from Deatt only by the distance that they lost when Nido shook off turned that aimed for Evelynn. She might have been under the enchantment, but she was not strong enough to contest in a matter of strength with the crazed turned.

  Morek and surprisingly Raf, managed to keep up the speed with the trio, but the rest of the man got further and further with every turn and street the group had passed.

  Suddenly, a loud sound of bells resounded all around. Deatt's first instinct was to damn anyone who tried to attract even more attention to the running group, but then he realized that it was the opposite. The church's bells were loud, but the sound was coming from far away. Someone was intentionally bringing the attention of the turned there.

  The ones that already followed the group paid the sound no mind, their bloodlust aimed at the live humans before them. But Deatt could see the turned in the distance, the ones that tried to locate where the clattering from before was, running to the direction of the bells.

  Quickly jumping over a fence, Deatt found himself in a rather large square and widened his eyes in horror.

  A group of about thirty or so turned were just running in from the side, led by the bells resounding ringing.

  But these turned noticed them before they had passed. Deatt's timing could not have been worse.

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  He had frozen in the spot, unable to make a solid decision.

  They could not turn back, nor could they run against them. Enchanted they might have been, the weight and numbers of the turned would pin them in place, and once the spell wore off, they would kill them all.

  As the group before him was approaching, Evelynn suddenly shouted from behind him.

  "Deatt, duck!"

  Without thinking, he did as he was told. Just as a giant ball of fire flew from over him, flying right into the midst of the turned. Burning them out of existence.

  The wave of the impact shook Deatt, making him almost falter.

  But his mind was not as weak as to miss such a chance. Fighting through the heat he continued.

  With renewed focus, he ran through the dying flames of the spell, ignoring the burned smell, quickly crossing the square.

  Some of the charred turned tried to grab his legs even while they were dying, but the spell did not only make them immune to their attacks, it also made them somewhat slippery.

  Deatt finally noticed the wall, where the breach was supposed to be, at the far end of the street they were moving through. He did not manage to count the time they had left, but he was sure that it was not long before Raf would be out of juice.

  As he reached it, he quickly located the breach. There was a crack between the stones, just wide enough for them to enter. But it had been patched. A heavy boulder laid before it.

  Nido made it there only a few moments after Deatt and gently put Evelynn on the ground. Her spell leaving her exhausted. He quickly ran to the boulder and tried to push it aside, only for the rock to stay stubbornly unmoving.

  Morek joined his efforts immediately as he arrived, the man panting and groaning, they put all their weight into the push.

  The boulder started lazily moving.

  But the turned were quicker.

  Passing Raf, who seemed to be about ready to pass out, Deatt faced the incoming horde, with the few men that remained.

  He slashed one turned across its throat, sending it to the ground, received a few swipes on his face and torso as he struggled with another, then stabbed it in the eye socket.

  Dancer's sword next to him flashed around the turned, quickly cutting the incoming horde.

  The line held strong only for a few moments, waiting for the half-orcs to clear their way towards safety.

  "Run!" he heard Nido behind him.

  Ducking beneath swings from the turned, Deatt pushed himself off the ground and sprinted towards the crack in the wall.

  Nido was first, hauling Evelynn on his back, Raf clumsily running after him. Morek stood outside, holding the boulder, sweating and groaning under its weight.

  The two men around Deatt ran inside before him, but he followed right after them.

  Morek let go of the boulder, quickly jumping into the crack.

  The heavy stone rolled back into its previous place, crushing the turned that tried to follow the men.

  Right that moment, Raf fell to the ground. Deatt could feel the protective spell dissipate from him. They had made it, even if they lost some men in the process.

  Knowing where they were and that a safe house was nearby, Deatt cautiously led the group through the calm streets. They were empty, void of humans or turned both.

  Opening the hidden hatch in the bushes next to the house with a small tower Deatt knew so well, he entered through it into the dark and damp cellar. Once everyone was inside, he had closed it behind them.

  The room was dirty and filled with cobwebs, the wooden table and chairs moldy. But at least it seemed undisturbed from the last time Deatt and Nido were here.

  Now, that Deatt decided to relax a little, he deeply exhaled as he counted the men.

  Aside from Morek and Raf, only four other men made it here. The rest were lost somewhere along the way.

  As he sat next to the exhausted Evelynn, Deatt noticed that the circlet had changed again. Now three of the stones turned clear. He took out some water from Nido's pack and handed it to her.

  Nido was looking over the rest of the men, his expression unreadable for most. But Deatt knew what he was thinking about.

  They lost a lot of men on the way inside. Men that Deatt nor Nido might have particularly cared about, but men that would also be missing once the group was supposed to leave.

  "We sleep here today. I will go fetch Gnenmo tomorrow." Deatt said into the silence.

  "Agreed."Morek nodded.

  Both Evelynn and Raf awakened from their state only a short while after the group made its way into the cellar. Both looked pale and lifeless. Their eyes drifting around the room.

  "I might have hidden something here." Nido said, while knocking on the stones on the floor. As he moved around the room, he suddenly stopped and smiled. Then he took the stone out and revealed a big bottle hidden inside. Alcohol for sure.

  "You never told me about that spot."

  "You would have drank this for sure." Nido smiled. "But I wanted it for a special occasion. I was actually meaning to drink this when we would make our way here with the gems, you know? The problem was, we never did." he said as he sat down next to Deatt.

  Even when covered in dust and brown moss, Deatt recognized the bottle immediately. It was one of the prime wines that they stole for a job a long time ago. Deatt never knew that Nido pocketed one of them.

  "As a sign of my repentance, you are allowed the first taste." he handed Deatt the bottle.

  Deatt inhaled the scent of the expensive wine and took a shallow gulp. The taste was...disappointing to say the least, but he pretended as if it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Then, he handed it to Evelynn.

  "Hey! What?" Nido looked flabbergasted at Deatt, eyeing the wine as if it would grow legs and run away from him.

  "You repent no?" Deatt smiled.

  Nido opened his mouth to retort, but decided against it, watching the wine with intensity.

  First Evelynn seemed unable to even heft the bottle to her lips, but then she quickly moved her hand and took a swig herself. She recoiled from the taste of alcohol again, her face contorting in disgust. She reached her hand and offered the bottle to Raf.

  He accepted it and drank his fill.

  Nido watched as Morek drank about third of what was left inside with a very unsuccessfully hidden fear. When Morek handed the bottle to the other men, Deatt could see Nido's face turn threatening.

  "I don't need to drink"

  "Yeah, me neither."

  "Here you go"

  Dancer and the other two men decided to value their life over the taste of wine and quickly handed the bottle to Nido.

  "Oh, you shouldn't have. Are you sure you don't want a taste?" Nido said, his face clearly in disagreement with his tone.

  "No, no, it's alright."

  "If you say so." Nido smiled, his eyes full of joy, and took a swig. His expression quickly soured as he tasted the awful wine. "Exquisite." he said in irony.

  "Even worse than the wine-piss." Evelynn added, letting her head rest on Deatt's shoulder.

  It did not take long for him to notice her breathing has calmed. Glancing at her, she had her eyes closed. With her long blonde hair and her long lashes...she was beautiful in her sleep.

  Deatt averted his eyes, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.

  If this was all it took to put him out of sorts, his time in prison really must have branded him.

  As he lamented about his awkwardness, he noticed Nido staring at him with a sly smile. He just scoffed and closed his eyes.

  "He can think whatever he wants." Deatt decided. He was too tired to care anyway.