Jayla's heart pounded in her chest as hard as her booted feet pounded against the slick cobblestone. Thick black slush splashed up on her legs as she ran through the snow covered streets. Her heavy breathing created white plumes in front of her face and disappeared just as quickly as they were produced. She turned her head to look behind her and as she quickened her pace, her hair whipped in her face and eyes. Her boot found an especially slippery stone and as she tripped she flew headfirst, arms outstretched, and landed on her stomach skidding several feet before she came to a halt. What little breath she had was forced from her lungs and she rolled over in the dirty piles of snow clutching her ribs and hips. Her head swiveled back and forth as her eyes scanned the street for her assailant. He must have given up on the chase for he was nowhere to be seen. She choked on the thick winter air as she tried to catch her breath. Cold wetness soaked through her thick green cloak and into her smallclothes, but she was not worried about keeping her clothes nice; they were already ruined. She hoisted herself onto her feet and stood for a while with her hands on her knees, hunched over, as she finally began to breath normally again. She shook her head to dislodge the extra bits of gravel and snow that were lodged in her hair. After some time, she straightened and held her hands in front of her face. Her thin leather riding gloves had been torn from the fall and icy water had seeped into them ruining the reason she wore them. Since they were not keeping her hands warm any longer, she removed them and tossed them into a puddle near the side of the road. The rest of her clothes hung, bloody and torn, from her skinny frame. Like her clothes, her dark hair was wet and clung to her body. She grimaced as she wiped a bit of blood from a deep cut on her forearm. She hoisted up her skirts and treaded through a small snow bank and onto a nearby walkway as she quietly mourned the loss of her horse and her supplies.
Jayla tucked her hands under her arms and started back down the street, a small limp in her step from a newly bruised hip. She continually peered down intersecting streets and alleyways, looking for any sign of life. There was no one in sight, but the moonlight did play tricks on your eyes this late at night. The smallest shadow could make you jump right out of your skin. Jayla was glad she had been extra cautious tonight.
Jayla lay across her horse's neck trying to soothe the mare's nerves. Amethyst was impatiently stamping her hooves on the cobblestone and breathing heavily. Jayla knew Amethyst was worn out from what she had had to do to get this far into the city. Amethyst was a war-horse by no means and Jayla was beginning to think that bringing her was a bad idea. Then again she had no desire to tread through all this snow with her own feet. The snow lined the sides of the roads where it had been piled when the street was cleared. It took on a blackish hue from the dirt and dung that had covered the road before it fell. The street was lined with various shops and stalls. From where Jayla sat atop Amethyst, she could see a tailor's shop. Brightly colored fabrics stood in giant rolls just inside the door and wooden statues of men and women with featureless faces modeled some of the tailor's best work in the windows. Across the street was a large stone building that Jayla guessed was a bank. Think steel bars covered the windows and doors, and unlike the tailor's shop, you couldn't even catch the smallest glimpse of what lay inside. These were only a few of the shops that lay inside the Foregate. She had already passed a blacksmith's shop and a distillery on the way in. What she was looking for now was the Inner Gate and the entrance to the King's Palace. Unless it had moved, she should be able to see it one or two streets over.
Jayla reined Amethyst forward and turned her into an alley off a main street. The alley was littered with crates and barrels filled with accumulated snow. Various other trash littered the alley on either side. The snow had turned the ground into a muddy slush that squelched at Amethyst's hooves as Jayla led her deeper into the alleyway.
Halfway into the alley, Jayla heard voices. The deep guttural sounds seem to be coming from the opposite mouth of the alley. Jayla quickly hopped off Amethyst and hurriedly looped her reins through an abandoned wagon wheel. She reached into her belt pouch and pulled out a hardened piece of bread to quiet the horse. Amethyst took it from her hand and Jayla slunk down the rest of the alley to where the voices emanated.
She peered from between the buildings and surveyed the road. She quickly located the source of the voices. Standing in the middle of the road were five goblins. The stood huddled around each other, chatting and admiring something that they passed between the five of them. They all talked quite loudly seemingly not to care if they were overheard. Jayla knew little of goblin speak, but enough to understand that they talked of nothing in particular, just useless gossip. Four of the goblins wore swords at their hips and the other bore a large spear twice as big as his body. The moonlight glinted off their unusually large eyes set deep within their small skulls. None of them wore anything on their heads and much of their large protruding ears and bald heads showed off the grayish-green skin that named them goblins. All five of the goblins wore something unique to their person. One wore a mink skin around his neck while another wore a thick studded gauntlet on one of his hands. But all wore a black cloak that hung down their backs. Embroidered upon it was a blood-red fist clasping two lightning bolts. From the last time she had been here, Jayla knew this marked them as King's guards. As she lifted her eyes from the goblins she saw the tall black walls of the Palace on the dark horizon. Flags with the lightning bolts and fist flapped wildly along its length. This was the second time she had made far enough to be in view of her destination.
She slid her belt knife from its sheath opposite her belt pouch. She was glad she had wiped the blood off from her previous encounters this evening. The knife slid out without sticking and Jayla passed it from hand to hand as she eyed her targets. If she got this right, she could hit all of them with one throw. She had killed two at once just earlier, but this was five! As she drew her arm back to launch the knife, Amethyst whinnied loudly from the other end of the alley. Jayla frantically turned around ready to curse her horse.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw two goblins standing with her horse, Amethyst's reins in their hands. She turned back to check on the goblins that stood in the road. Four of them were now running toward the alley. They had obviously heard her horse, and were running over to investigate. The fifth goblin headed down the road in the opposite direction, probably headed to gather backup. Jayla knew she had failed the task she was assigned, but she still had to stay alive. She figured her chance were better against two goblins than against one, so she turned back into the alley and ran toward Amethyst.
As she sprinted toward her horse, one of the two goblins started toward her while the other held the reins. He must have been holding the reins too tightly because Amethyst spun loose and, leaning forward on her front legs, kicked the goblin in the head. He flew against the wall of the small alley and the loud crack of his head on the bricks resounded down the alley. He slumped down into a lifeless heap. Maybe she was a war-horse after all.
The four other goblins had reached the mouth of the alley and were starting down it in pairs. Jayla still ran toward the lone goblin, a white-knuckled grip on her knife. As soon as the goblin drew his sword and drew back to swing at Jayla, the ground erupted under Jayla's feet. Dirt and rocks pelted her face and arms as she was flung across the alley floor. She landed hard on her back and she groggily rolled to her side, the debris still settling around her. She thought she saw her own blood in the mud. The goblin she was just about to clash steel with lay not three paces from her. Well what was left of him at least; both of his legs had been torn off in the explosion. He lay motionless, his sword still in his hand. She quickly looked down at her own legs to reassure herself that they were still there. She then noticed that she had been tossed almost to where her horse stood. Well she wasn't standing anymore; Amethyst lay in the mud, twitching as blood ran from the goblin's spear protruded from her side. Jayla brought herself to her feet and scurried out of the alley and into the street. She began to run as fast as she could. She had no choice now but to live.
So one of these goblins was an alchemist; only an alchemist could have caused such an explosion. She heard the goblins exit the alley behind her and continue to pursue her. Well now she knew their secret, but they had yet to find out hers.
As she ran, a waist high wall, as long as the road was wide, suddenly appeared in front of her. She had a second to lift her leg and place it upon the top of the wall. She leapt off the top of the wall, using her speed to lift her even higher. At the top of her jump, she spun herself around and loosed her belt pouch from her waist. In the same motion, she flung the belt pouch toward the goblins. A few words, and the pouch exploded before it hit the ground. One of the goblins took the brunt of the explosion as he was flung through the window of the nearest building, his flesh and clothing torn from the front of his body. Another goblin now pulled himself across the cobble stones, half his face and one of his arms completely torn from his body. He moaned with what was left of his mouth and then finally lay still. She hoped one of the two dead goblins was the alchemist. The two goblins that remained picked themselves up and scanned the scene around them. One of the goblins wore bright red breaches that hid the amount of blood he was losing well, and the other was the one with the gauntlet on his right hand; he looked unharmed. They seemed just as surprised as Jayla had been when she learned that one of them was an alchemist. Now they knew that she was an alchemist as well. She really hoped only one of the goblins was an alchemist. She would never survive against two alchemists.
While still in mild forms of shock, Jayla continued her attack on the goblins. Still standing on the other side of the small wall that the alchemist goblin had created to slow her down, she grasped her belt knife in her two outstretched hands. She muttered a few words and the knife flew from her hands. It separated into two separate pieces that flattened and became two identical flying discs. One disc struck home, and flying clean through its unfortunate victim and separating the goblins legs and red breaches from his torso. The disc quivered as it struck a wooden hitching post in front of a tavern several spans down the road. The goblin went down silently in a bloody heap. The other disc halted inches from the remaining goblins outstretched hand. He stared straight at her as the disc floated in mid-air in front of his gauntleted hand still spining. He flicked his fingers and the disc flew back at Jayla just as fast as it had at him. Jayla dropped to one knee and placed both hands on the ground. The small wall in front of her rose three paces into the air, and she heard the sound of the disc bouncing harmlessly of the other side of the heightened wall. Jayla turned and continued running. She didn't have a plan for dealing with an alchemist, and quite frankly, she was terrified that his power equaled hers. Maybe, because there was only one, she could outrun him. She just had to make it to where Aulthin was waiting for her.
A light flashed behind her as her shadow flickered in front of her. She knew he had broken through the wall and was still in pursuit. She began to run even harder.
After a few blocks of walking, Jayla came upon an old man. He sat on an upturned barrel at the end of a long street. He had the hood of his thick brown cloak pulled up over his head, hiding his long white hair. He sat with his legs crossed and was sharpening a large knife with a small whetstone. He heard Jayla approach and put his instruments down. He threw back his hood and grinned at Jayla as she approached. His white teeth contrasted sharply with the tan leathery skin that hung loosely from his face. He spoke to her; his voice sounded scratchy and old.
"I didn't expect you back so soon. The goblins giving you trouble again?" He looped his arm around her shoulder as she drew closer. The warmth of his body was welcome.
"That horse you gave me ruined my whole plan, next time I'm going without one even if I have to walk in the snow the whole way," she let out a long sigh and began to scrub at the cut on her arm, "and one of them was an alchemist!" The cut itched more than it hurt.
"You must be more careful when you use my simulations. Remember, wounds you sustain here are real." He produced a small cloth for Jayla to wrap her arm in. "I'm just glad the horses you use are just part of the simulation as well, or I would be out three horses by now!" He chuckled as he waved his hand in front of him as if washing an imaginary window.
The colors of the buildings and street around them seemed to invert their colors somehow. They melted away in flashes of color and were gone within a few seconds. Where once a grand city had stood, was now only a hilltop scattered with a few evergreens and a few small bushes. Jayla shuffled her feet in the long grass and looked up at Aulthin, one of the greatest alchemists of all time. He was able to create an entire tangible city with just a single incantation! With his help she would master alchemy and help overthrow the corrupt government that held her people in a world of terror and destruction. They walked together down the side of the hill back to a small cabin on the edge of the wood. The only thing Jayla had on her mind now was a hot bath and some new clothes.