AN:
Yeo, sorry about posting no chapter last month but the last few weeks of class took a lot of my time. I started writing this chapter once my final exam was over (thank god) so I could get it out before my next semester starts so don't hold your hopes for another one till like April. Thank you all for reading my fic and happy holidays and new year!
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Chapter 10: The Weeks
As the elevator reaches the top of the wall the last of the sun's rays shine over the remaining travelers.
"Wow, didn't think it would be that bad." The captain of the squad greets them, a cigarette still smoking in his mouth as he scans the weary people with a raised eyebrow.
"Well no matter, let's get you all down and outta here." He gestures them over to the elevator that's going to take them down.
Grumbling, people start dragging their feet across the wall to the next elevator. Grunting, Eirlet gets to his feet and follows behind them, Isla shuffling beside him as they pass by the stationed squad, their gear packed on their horses and ready to move out.
Settling onto the elevator, the captain gives a salute and the elevator starts to lower. Looking over the edge, he can see various people and carriages waiting for them down below. Soon enough they reach the bottom and everyone trickles off to their own groups or heading out by themselves, Eirlet himself noticing Gavec waiting for him with a horse.
Giving a nod of goodbye to Isla, herself starting to walk down a path, he approaches Gavec who greets him with a grin.
"Well, it seems that the trip wasn't so bad given that you've been making 'friends'." He says with a waggle of his eyebrows.
Snorting, Eirlet tosses the ring he had found on the corpse to him, climbing on the horse as Gavec brings the gem to his eye.
"Nice find, if you've got more stuff like this then it seems you've got yourself a pretty decent haul." Gavec comments as he pockets the ring and climbs onto the saddle in front of Eirlet who nods.
With a flick of his wrist, the two start their trek to the nearby town for the night, Eirlet's eye's nearly drooping shut by the time they reach the inn where Gavec rented a room for them.
Sighing as he flops onto the bed, it takes less than a minute before he's dead to the world.
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The Next Day:
Sun shines on Eirlet's face, pulling him from his slumber with a grumble. Slowly cracking his eyes open, he takes in the bare room of the inn he and Gavec rested in, the bed for the other man used but empty.
Rolling himself on his back he slowly pushes himself up and stretches his arms, joints popping in satisfaction. Bringing them down, he yawns as he looks around the room and doesn't see Gavec anywhere, the only thing in the room is his bag, quiver and bow which he tossed to the side of his bed before sleeping.
Shuffling himself out, he pulls a new change of clothes from his bag and strips out of the crusty clothes he was wearing outside the Walls for the past two days.
He winces once he takes his shirt off, bruises gained from the night before colouring his torso but less than they would have been without the ointment he used.
Grabbing more of that cream, he spreads it across his torso before changing fully, grime still covering him from his travels but looking less like a beggar than before. Strapping his things on himself, he shuffles out the door of the room, heading down the wooden hall of the inn to where he hears the most noise.
He catches a whiff of food drifting ahead and his stomach makes itself known with a gurgle, making him pick up his pace as he reaches a staircase that goes down to the ground floor.
Looking over the railing he can see some of the tables across the floor occupied by travellers, some looking like small-time merchants or suppliers with others being familiar to him, recognizing them from the expedition the day before.
Looking around as he steps down the stairs, he catches sight of Gavec sitting on a table by the wall eating a plate of food and guzzling down some sort of drink. Reaching the bottom he weaves through the tables towards the man who catches sight of him and swallows his food.
"Head out to the back door and get yourself washed up, I'll get your food ordered by the time you get back." He nods towards the door by the bar where a man is getting an early start on his drinking.
Diverting his path, Eirlet heads out the door and out into a small courtyard, the area roughly surrounded by trees and other, smaller buildings with a well in the middle of it.
Cleaning with a bucket and rag was disappointing but not unexpected to him, very few towns had running showers, most being built in the districts or for those wealthy enough to afford a crew to come out and build wherever they were.
After taking care of his less than stellar hygiene, he heads back to the inn and to Gavec's table, a plate of hot food already waiting for him which he starts devouring as soon as he sits down.
Setting the mug he was drinking from down, Gavec speaks to him as he swallows a bite, "Alright you know the plan, head up to Karanes and get the job done, it shouldn't take you longer than a week but you've got two just in case. Once you're done we'll meet back here in two weeks and we'll see what'll happen then." He gulps down the rest of his drink as Eirlet nods.
"Aah, that's some good shit. I'm gonna head out now, hand over your loot and I'll take care of it and get you some coin, I won't take a cut this time cause it's your first haul but I will next time." He warns as he holds a hand out where Eirlet hands him a clinking bag.
Gavec grins as he hefts the bag, "Well it seems I was right about having a good haul." Eirlet shrugs in response.
Putting the bag away in his own pack, Gavec gets up and ruffles Eirlet's hair, laughing away as he pulls his hand back before it could be impaled by a fork.
'Dick.' Eirlet lightly glares as the man exits the inn before resuming eating.
'Well he was right about the job at least, it's similar to what I've done before so it shouldn't be that difficult.'
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One Week Later:
"He's over there!"
Bang Bang
Two gunshots ring out, breaking the silence of the district as they pierce into the corner of a house which a shadow ducked behind, one which moves deeper into the shadows of the buildings around without pause.
'Oh, it should be easy Eirlet. It shouldn't be anything surprising, he said. Go screw yourself Gavec!' Eirlet rapidly screams in his head as he tries and lose his pursuers in the unfamiliar, town.
The dark figure trying to escape the sights of nearly half a dozen armed Military Policemen is indeed Eirlet.
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One Hour Ago:
After trekking the distance to Karanes Eirlet had spent the next few days staking out his target, one Captain Andres Facime of the Military Police, in charge of Karanes's tax collection every year.
With him collecting taxes from everyone within the district including the merchant's tax, there's bound to be some… misplacement of the king's funds. And so Sherbolt sent Eirlet to audit the dear district's collector and his squad, and his investigation revealed some very interesting things.
Confident in knowing the man's and his squad's schedule, Eirlet was easily able to slip into the rather large building they operated out of, right across the street from the district's military HQ.
It was rather easy to dodge the Garrison patrols as many weren't as dedicated to the job as some think, and luckily for him they didn't patrol the district with ODM gear regularly so it was easy to weave through the back alley's and flip a window latch to get in.
Dodging the few MP's that were goofing off and drinking, he was able to slip into the Captain's bare-boned office on the third floor within a few minutes and started searching for anything out of place. Shifting through the documents within the desk revealed nothing of interest except that the actual coins received from the tax aren't held by the MP's, but reside in the secure basement of the military HQ until it's time to move the king's portion into the central district.
Disappointed but not surprised he starts for the last drawer, this one locked and taking a minute to pick open. He had to stop for a moment when he heard footsteps passing in the hallway just in case but he was able to finish and pull open the drawer.
This one seems much more interesting for him as it's filled with some of the Captain's personal objects. Ignoring the bottle of alcohol he flips through the few more important papers held within which finally held one of his objectives.
A document listing the -fairly well hidden- routes that the Military Police take to transfer funds and taxes around humanity's nation. Having found what he needed for Sherbolt, he safely folds it away within his jacket before putting everything back into its place and exiting the office.
Knowing he had quite a bit of time before anyone from the squad trickled back into the building, he took his time to carefully pick his way across the building and down to the second floor with everyone's living quarters, not wanting to alert the few in the building, no matter how wasted they are.
Passing by a room with questionable sounds stemming from it, he reaches the end of the hall where the Captain's quarter is. Pressing an ear to the door and not hearing any sounds he keeps an eye down the hall and takes a few moments to jimmy the lock open and slip into the room.
The room carries more personal effects than his office did but not by much as this is more of a temporary residence for him. Knowing that the Captain keeps his own share of misplaced taxes somewhere within his room he gets to work searching for it.
He starts with the obvious and looks through his small desk and underneath his bed, finding nothing except empty bottles under the latter. Heading to the bookcase he shoves his hand around the shelves, finding the books just to be that until he knocks a hand into a larger tome that rings out a clink of metal.
Pulling it out and hearing more clinking, he moves to open the cover but notices a small lock latching the book together with a leather strap. He moves to open the lock but pauses as he hears loud voices and laughter coming from the window pointing to the street.
Peering over, he sees the Military Police squad arriving at the building, many looking wasted, held up by their more sober coworkers.
'Why are they back so fast!?'
Swearing in his mind, Eirlet pulls out his knife and quickly gets to cutting the leather binding, not all of it but enough to slip the binding open without wasting time picking the lock. He cuts faster as he hears the conversation below get louder, cutting the binding in less than a minute and getting a quick look at the neatly stacked gold coins within before pocketing as much as he could, careful to keep them separate less that they make a sound.
Also nabbing the letter within, he leaves the rest of which he can't safely carry and shoves the book back in place. Hearing footsteps stomp up the stairs Eirlet dismisses his previous escape plan and heads to the sole window within the room.
Peering out, he doesn't see anyone out on the street from the light cast by the spread-out street lamps and thankfully no one by the HQ entrance. Praying for some luck, he pushes the window up and open and clambers out, setting his feet on the small roof that provides shade for the guards on duty in the day. Lightly touching down he turns back and shuts the window as the handle to the room starts twisting.
He slams his back into the wall beside the window just as the door swings open.
"C'mon, I'm not that drunk." He hears a voice slur from the room.
"Yes you are sir, now come on, let's get you to bed and sleep it off." Another voice speaks out as he hears more shuffling coming from the room.
Not wanting to stay around for longer, Eirlet peeks his head around the corner of the building, seeing no one below in the alleyway he prepares himself to jump around the corner and sprint away.
"What the f- Oi! What do you think you're doing up there!" A voice calls across the street.
Quickly turning to look at who noticed him, Eirlet blanches as he catches sight of three uniformed Garrison soldiers, who'd just come out of the HQ, confused by a figure on the roof but knowing their up to no good.
Hastily jumping off the ledge and landing with a roll, Eirlet starts his sprint down the alley as he hears the trio picking up their pace and yelling some more.
'Shit, they're gonna alert the ones inside before I get far enough.' He swears in his mind as he shifts to turn the upcoming corner.
But fate seems to have different plans as an MP with a smoke in his hand turns the corner from the building he just infiltrated, looking confused as hell as he takes in the disguised thief and his fellow soldiers pursuing him.
"Catch him!" One of the pursuing soldiers yells out. Dropping his cigarette, the man widens his stance to block off the exit and catch the oncoming Eirlet.
Undaunted, he goes even faster and runs straight at the man. Swinging his arms, the man goes to grab Eirlet who drops to the ground, sliding beneath the man's legs and getting behind him.
Using his momentum he pushes himself up and turns the corner, leaving behind the confused soldier and his pursuers for a moment as he dashes down the long stretch of the alley. Even with being shorter than his pursuers, Eirlet could hear the footsteps a ways behind him and slowly getting farther away.
Eirlet sighs in relief in his head, knowing he'd be able to escape in the next few minutes if it's only these four pursuing him. And just as he exits the alley his breath hitches, a patrol of armed Garrison soldiers heading towards him, seemingly to investigate the yells from his pursuers.
'Goddamnit.'
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Present Time:
Knocking over a stack of crates to buy himself some time Eirlet scurries away.
'Why the fuck are they shooting!?' He desperately yells in his head.
Turning another few corners and having to hide behind a crate as a duo of soldiers bound down the street, he eventually reaches the canal that runs through the district. Staying within the shadow of a building he peeks his head out into the open walkway that lines both sides of the waterway.
'Two, three, shit. They've got nearly everyone in the area looking for me.' Counting the number of lights moving across the canal looking for him, he swears as he pulls his head back.
'Alright, they're combing the streets behind me so that's no good, can't escape underwater cause the papers will be ruined.' Rapidly thinking of a way out, he pauses as he looks at the wall next to him and the footholds he can get with it.
'They would be looking through the rooftops with ODM gear, right? But I haven't heard any and there's been enough time for them to grab some.' Chewing his lip, he contemplates his options but his ears pick up faint voices.
'Gotta take the risk then.' Reluctantly, he swiftly climbs the two-storey building, the window stills and support beams giving him more than enough handholds to reach the slanted roof.
From his new vantage point, he can see that there are more spots of light lighting up streets and alleys than he thought, showing the position of the patrols. Further away and where he just escaped from he can see the HQ, now with more lit-up windows than there were when he arrived.
Keeping his eyes and ears open for any wandering patrol or the telltale sound of ODM gear he lightly treads across the path made of roofs, stopping once a patrol passes below before he moves again.
He gets a ways away from the current search area before he's forced to drop from his vantage point as the block of buildings split due to a road in between. Fortunately, the soldiers were focusing in the immediate area around the HQ and so Eirlet's able to go through the streets unmolested, needing to only dodge the, currently, sparse patrols and the typical group of drunks.
Nearly twenty minutes later Eirlet relaxes slightly, knowing he ditched any followers long before and now that he's near his current lodging. As he's done before he commandeered a portion of an unaware couple's store's attic, unfortunately not developed as his previous ones but enough to last him the week.
He sighs as he sits on his sleeping bag, stripping off the heavier articles of clothing and his boots, 'They'll be alert for the next few days now, and since they saw my size I won't be able to pass by the gate as easily as before.'
Flopping down on his bed he tiredly closes his eyes, having spent well past midnight stealing the documents and the escape shortly after, 'Whatever, it'll be better in a couple of days, if not I'll just bribe a ride or something.'
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Five Days Later:
Yawning, Eirlet walks down the familiar hall of the inn as he follows the smell of breakfast.
He had just arrived at the inn the night before, the security in Karanes not slacking as he hoped and so he was forced to go another way around it. Finding a dirty, small-time merchant was easy for him, having recognized their type due to the number that pass through Aurum selling their wares.
Hitching a ride with his illegal-looking cargo made him lose a silver, but given that the soldier's eyes easily slid off the boxes and didn't go for a deeper look shows that it was worth it.
He was able to cut off most of the distance to the inn before he had to ditch the carriage later that day but it still took him till sundown the next day to reach the inn.
Stepping down the steps, his eyes drift over the current patrons of the inn. The inn looks fuller than what would be the norm given that the time for the 'expedition' is in a few days but less than there was for the first one.
His eyes land on his usual table where he sees a ruffled Gavec sitting, once again eating breakfast, with another warm plate on the other side of the table, 'He probably just got here.'
Walking the distance he slides into the seat in front of the food, digging in as Gavec grunts in acknowledgment. The two silently eat for a bit, Gavec getting a refill of whatever he's drinking and looking less irritated the more he drinks from his mug.
"So," He starts off, "heard some stuff coming out of Karanes, something about a manhunt in the middle of the night?"
Eirlet scowls in return, jabbing his fork harder into his food and chewing a bit more ferociously.
Gavec snorts at his reaction, "Did you at least get the papers? The MP's have been keeping their mouths shut about what happened, only saying that there was a thief."
Nodding, Eirlet pulls a folded parchment from his jacket and hands it to Gavec who sets his mug down and opens to scan through it. Grinning, he stuffs it into his own pocket, "Good shit kid, this is gonna help out a lot."
Finishing his food, Eirlet gets out his notebook and writes a question he's had on his mind, 'Why would you want those routes? Wouldn't they change them now?'
He smirks in response, "Nope. At least, the ones we want to hit."
He continues at Eirlet's raised eyebrow, "These are essentially funds for the military and nobles up top right? Obviously, the military's a no-go otherwise we'll be hunted down for being traitors, but no ones gonna miss the ones that they don't wanna give an explanation for, such as those that take quite a roundabout way to getting to their destination. From what we've found, those get a couple pounds lighter than what they left with."
Eirlet nods slowly, remembering the number of upper-class people he's seen attending The Pit's larger fights and guessing why they had enough money to bet as much as they did on fights.
Digging into his pockets he discreetly hands over two gold coins, keeping them out of view, along with the letter he found in the Captain's hidden stash, 'Here's my payment for your ODM training and something else that I found back there that has some weird writing on it.'
He had tried to read the letter he had acquired but found out that it's written with weird characters, he had dismissed it then and planned to give it to Gavec to see if he recognizes it.
Smirking, Gavec pockets the two coins, "Well then, I guess I better prep for a new student aye? Remember, I ain't gonna hold back on you so you better do your damn best." He reminds as he opens the letter.
He frowns once he sees the characters, his lips pulling downwards the longer he reads it which makes Eirlet nervous. With a stoney face, Gavec folds the letter away and hands Eirlet back a coin who accepts hesitantly.
"Forget about the letter brat." Gavec says, frowning as he looks off in the distance in contemplation, "You never saw it and you won't ask questions about it. Understand?" He pointedly looks at Eirlet who nods resolutely.
'If it's got him this messed up, I do not want the attention of whoever's behind that pen.'
Draining his mug with a sigh Gavec stands to his feet, pulling his rucksack onto his back, "I'll meet you in four days after you come back in at Woodley village, you know where it is."
Eirlet nods, having gone to the village a short distance away from Stohess a couple of times when he's out hunting or for small jobs.
"Oh, by the way, your haul got you six gold. I'll hold onto it until you want it or when you can come back, no sense having that much on you when you go out."
Eirlet thinks about it briefly before nodding, knowing that there's nothing worth that much outside of Aurum to buy, 'Could you bring five silver with you next time? Rather have something on hand just in case.'
"Sure kid, I'll see you in a bit." He waves goodbye as he walks away.
Eirlet chews on his food as Gavec leaves the building, 'Well then, that wasn't worrying at all.'
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Two Days Later:
The elevator shakes slightly as it lands on the ground, the murmuring in the crowd dying down as clumps of people walk off.
Eirlet follows behind them, Isla walking beside him as they give themselves some distance from the other groups.
"Well, how do you wanna do it this time?" She says lowly, eyeing the people around them.
He does so as well, noticing a few people from last time had come again but not as many that lived the last time around. There were slightly more newer people too, being a mixed bag of those confident and others looking quite nervous, fidgeting and tightly holding onto what weapons they brought along.
He shrugs at the question, "Well I think it would be better for us to go by ourselves and head to a nearby village, most of the ones that died last time were in big groups so it's probably for the best."
Eirlet nods in agreement, having noticed that they were able to dodge any titans they noticed -mainly due to him- better than other groups, many of whom lost people to the monsters from the rumours he heard from the inn.
"The one I think would be best is a road a bit down south, heard there's quite a few convoys that never made it to Karanes and it's the main path for a couple of towns. A lot of these guys are still heading for the town east so we shouldn't have any problems with them."
Thinking over her plan he nods, not wanting to head back to the town so soon after a bloodbath and not wanting another confrontation with the others. They were fortunate enough that everyone that apparently held a grudge against them for running died in that town, themselves having a hand in it as well.
With a plan set, the two wait a moment for others to start moving, wanting to see where they went.
As Isla said, many of the newer groups headed off towards the town, down the same path their own group took two weeks before, smaller groups also went off by themselves, most likely to a village or road they heard there was loot.
Once many left, the pair started their trek as well, aiming for the forest in the distance, "The road should be a kilometre or two inside the forest, we can skirt around the road till we eventually find something."
And so they spent their time travelling once again, keeping an eye out for anything big and humanoid but noticeably less tense than they were the first time, enough for Isla to start a conversation with Eirlet, mainly one-sided but still a conversation.
"...and the Church has gotten a bunch of followers recently. I don't even know why people buy into half the bullshit they spout, 'The Walls are a sacred gift from god and none shall defile it.' Like really? Tell that to the colossal titan." She scoffs.
Eirlet quirks his lip at her rant about the Church of the Walls, 'She really hates them huh.'
By then the two of them had reached the forest and were searching for the road they would be following along, fortunately having no encounters as of yet. A few minutes pass by with the two walking in comfortable silence, the various woodland creatures providing a peaceful ambiance until they reach a cut in the forest, stretching for a long distance.
"Well, I guess this is the place." Isla speaks up, squinting her eyes down the road, "It's been a while since anyone's come through here so the forest probably had enough time to reclaim its land." She explains, looking at the mostly grass-covered road.
Humming in agreement, Eirlet looks around the area, not seeing much of an indication of a convoy or titan. Isla comes to stand beside him, looking down the road leading away from the wall, "Let's head further out for today, we have enough time to get a decent way down the road before nightfall."
Letting her take the lead, the two follow along the road in the shadow of the trees, taking a small break once well into the day before they come across the first sign of what they're looking for.
The two see it at the same time, a carriage crushed into pieces in the middle of the road. Approaching the remains, Eirlet notices pieces of bone near the front of the carriage, too many to be human, 'Seems like the horse died while it was attached to the carriage.'
Looking past the carriage reveals three more remains, some turned over to their sides or just in as many pieces as the first, "I feel bad for whoever died here, just a bit more and they would've reached Rose."
'And sent out a few weeks later to go die.' He sardonically thinks with a frown.
Poking around the wreckage doesn't reveal anything about the unfortunate victims beyond the obvious of a titan attack, but does net them eleven silver with about two dozen copper which they split between themselves.
Taking a glance at the setting sun, Eirlet gets out his notebook to write, 'We should start heading back now, this is enough for now and we might be able to go down the other end of the road tomorrow.
"There's a village an hour more away, we could see if we can get something and stay there for the night." She suggests, wanting to get a bit more out of the run.
'Maybe next time, we spent a bit too long rummaging that we might cut it close heading back. We can head straight there next time so we can have enough time to search and travel back.'
She bites her lip in thought before ultimately shrugging in acceptance.
They head out after a few minutes, wanting to backtrack as much as they can so they'd have more time exploring the next day. Once the sky starts to dim the two agree to stop for the night, not wanting to push their luck with titan encounters.
Looking around for a bit, Eirlet was able to find a decently hidden spot in the forest, enough to hide them from view reliably for the night.
'I can take the first watch.' He volunteers as they start to settle in for the night.
"I made you do it last time, I should be the one having the first shift." She complains indignantly.
'I can see better in the dark than you can so it'd be better for me to take the midnight shift.' He replies.
Isla stays quiet for a moment, "I'm older than you?" She says half-heartedly.
She huffs at the deadpan look she gets for that point, "Fine whatever, just wake me up when it's my time alright?"
At his nod she flops down onto the grass, snuggling in for the night, "G'night then."
A little while later he hears her breath even out as she goes to sleep.
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Dawn:
The night, fortunately, passed without incident, Eirlet being able to grab the sleep he needed unlike the first time around and so the pair were able to wake up early to head out.
Eating some of the dried jerky he brought along, he munches on his food as he listens to Isla talking his ear off about random things happening in the walls. It's rather informative for him as he's heard the most random things being spouted from the mouths of various drunks so it's rather good he found someone that doesn't mind sharing what she knows.
"I've heard a lot about the colossal titan you know. Some say that only its head peaked over Wall Maria and others say it was tall enough to step over it, though I'm pretty sure that's wrong cause I overheard it from some drunk guy on the street."
Eirlet nods in agreement, 'I hope that drunk wasn't right or else we won't last much longer.'
He's finished the last of his meal when his eyes catch something a ways down the road, holding an arm out for Isla to stop who tenses as she flits her eyes around. Waving for them to get low, Eirlet crouches as he approaches the road and what he saw, Isla following behind him nervously.
Reaching the edge of the forest, he kneels beside a large imprint in the ground, deep enough to leave a shape that Eirlet could distinguish, a footprint.
"Ah, shit." Isla curses once she peaks over his shoulder.
Following the direction the feet were pointed to with his eyes, he can see the path the titan left in its wake, branches broken off from trees and the broken canopy of the forest enough of an indication of where it went, towards the wall.
"This wasn't here yesterday was it?" Isla questions, peering down the destructive path, fortunately not seeing the being that created it.
Grunting in agreement, he looks back to the footprint, 'It's probably one of the bigger titans given the size of the print, but it could be a bit smaller given that they have weird limbs.'
Nervous but less tense when he doesn't see any more sign of the titan he gestures for them to keep moving, a quiet Isla following behind him as they traverse the road.
'I think it would be best if we just head back.' He suggests once they put some distance between them and the tracks.
"Yeah, I'd rather not push our luck just yet." She agrees.
With that said, the two ditch the road once they come across the mark they left from where they found it, backtracking through and out the forest by the time it was a bit past noon. Seeing the massive wall let the two give a massive breath of relief.
"Let's take a break and then we can -Gurk- '' She cuts herself off with a choking sound as Eirlet pulls her by the back of her shirt back into the forest, shoving them both under a bush.
"-Cough- What the hell man!" She seethes at the younger boy up until she follows the finger he points towards the direction they were supposed to head towards and blanches.
Roughly three kilometres away from their position in the clearing present around the whole length of the Wall are titans, roughly half a dozen by Eirlet's count, all of them crowded around the area where the elevator to take them up is to be.
Looking up the wall he can see the blobby forms of some of the soldiers moving around the top of the wall, the elevator itself seems to have been raised up half the length of the wall.
"Just our damn luck." Looking at the roaming titans, he can see that none of them seem to be in the mood to move away any time soon which he conveys to Isla.
"Of fucking course we're stuck out here in titan territory with our only way out being guarded by them." She cusses, glaring a hole in the distant titans.
'We might have to stick around for the long haul, the soldiers can't ditch most if not all of us out here because they would get sacked by those waiting for their friends so we just have to wait for the titans to leave.' He reasons to the pissed woman beside him.
Grumbling, but knowing there's nothing she can do she turns back to the titans in the distance, annoyance plastered across her face, "Yeah I know. Are we far enough from the titans though?"
He takes a moment to take in their position, 'If they track humans like animals then yes we should be, the bushes are thick enough that we're hidden and we've been through the forest long enough that our scents are covered.'
"That's good." She says with a sigh, sitting down and leaning against a tree as she continues to watch the titans, Eirlet doing so as well in front of her.
"What do you think brought them here?" She questions with some interest.
'Dunno, maybe someone got chased and brought them here?' Eirlet thinks back to the titan encounters he's had so far, noticing how most of them are when he's part of a larger group.
'I've been thinking titans hunt humans just like predators do, but is it just them relying on their senses? Or is it something else that attracts them to humans and they just don't notice one or two?' He absently thinks over his questions, trying to analyze what he's seen of titans and what they could mean.
The two pass the next few hours like that, idly conversing with one another and watching the titans. By the time the sun nearly dipped below the horizon, not much had changed on the ground with only a single titan wandering off an hour before.
Eirlet was in the middle of eating another strip of jerky and reading over the notes he made in boredom, covering what little he learned from the journal he stole a few years ago and some of the questions he has on titans when there was a change.
Thump Thump Thump
Both of their heads snap up, fearfully looking in the direction of the loud footsteps and concurrent vibrations. The titans had started a stampede. Heading east where the two notice is the path that most of the newer members of their little expedition had gone to head to the town.
Dropping his food, Eirlet scrambles to his feet as the titans start getting farther from their resting grounds, stuffing his book in his bag as he sprints towards the elevator three kilometres away he can hear Isla squawking as she does the same.
By the time they had covered a kilometre, the stampede reached the much further forest in the distance, the sound of their stomps long faded.
Bang Bang Bang
They hear the -faded- cracks of muskets ring out in the distance, more following for less than half a minute before none more ring out. Crossing another kilometre Eirlet can hear Isla huffing behind him but taking a glance back he can see that she's not tapering off her speed, 'Guess stampeding titans are enough of a motivation.'
The soldiers on the wall, probably having seen the two booking it towards them, start lowering the elevator quickly.
It had been nearly ten minutes since they started their sprint with even Eirlet starting to feel the burn for running so long and fast but they were nearing the elevator. Taking a glance to where the titans went, he could see them in the distance, loitering around where they most likely massacred quite a few people but Eirlet wasn't taking the chance of slowing down.
Nearing the twelfth minute, the pair reached the elevator, Eirlet bending over to catch his breath whilst cherry-faced Isla flops unceremoniously to the ground and gasps for breath. Looking around the area, Eirlet startles at the sight of a few other people booking it to them, slower but looking as though they'd reach them within the minute.
They all reach the elevator in a similar state to Isla, leaning on whatever part of the elevator they could grab for support or just dropping to the ground.
Looking around, Eirlet notices that nearly all of those that reached the elevator were those that were with them last time, 'Guess they learned how to avoid titans better after the first fuck up.' He muses.
Altogether, the survival rate this time looks better than the last given that the 'veterans' were able to keep the new ones in their group alive, bringing the total survivors to twenty strong.
After another minute where everyone catches their breath, cussing up a storm about the titans, with no one else trying to book it to them the elevator starts to raise itself up.
Hearing a groan, Eirlet glances down at Isla who had enough energy to bring herself to sit and lean against the railing, "That sucked like hell. My legs are gonna be burning all week." She complains, stretching those limbs.
Eirlet winces, his thigh spasming in apparent agreement as he tries to knead the sore muscle.
With the higher vantage point, he could see now that the titans were apparently starting a trek back to the elevator, thankfully at a much slower pace than before, giving them enough time to get out of their reach and to the top of the wall.
Greeting their tired faces is the annoyed scowl of the Captain, his cigarette nearly burned a stub, "C'mon and get out. We've already delayed long enough." He says curtly, gesturing to the elevator that would take them down.
"Why were there so many titans waiting down there?" One of the expeditionaries questions as the rest pick up their tired bodies to the next elevator.
"Some dumbasses thought they could use us as a quick escape from titans after taking a risk." He responds with a snort of dark amusement, "Seems they forget we can choose when to lower the lift."
They scowl at that, cursing the people that brought the titans to them and nearly getting them killed.
"Now, none of you try that shit again, it's gonna be annoying explaining to my superior why we took so long so I might just leave you all as titan fodder if this happens again, you hear me?" He warns, a couple of people letting out nervous nods.
"Good." He waves out a hand to his squad, letting the horses they're using lower the lift back to the ground.
Isla leans against the railing beside him, still a little out of breath, and nudges him with her elbow, "Well we didn't get as much as last time but I'd rather take near misses with titans rather than face to face eh?"
He makes a so-so gesture in return, 'The last run was a pretty nice haul though.'
She snorts, "Yeah, but was it worth it running for most of that time and having no sleep?"
Eirlet gave her that one, 'Waking up the next day was annoying as hell. At least this time I'll get to eat before I pass out.'
