Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

But Karna didn’t want to apologize. His pride would not let him. He felt his face grow hotter by the second, before he heard Sena mumble something.

"...potion."

"Hm?" Melas raised an eyebrow. "Did you say something?"

"Healing potion. I saw a glowing one"— he pointed at the chest— "in there. And it was very bright."

Melas blinked. "Why didn’t you say so earlier?!" she exclaimed.

The girl threw herself at the destroyed safe. She rummaged through its remains, before finally pulling out a bottle with a shining red liquid.

"It’s here! This is actually it! My savior! My freedom!"

Melas held the healing potion up and waved it in the air. She hugged it and sighed wistfully. "Things are finally starting to get better—"

"Hey, guys!"

A voice interrupted the girl’s cheers. Everyone turned to stare at the third Goblin. At the fourth member of their party.

At their lookout.

"We need to get out of here. City guards are going to be swarming in any minute."

Chapter 32: Sneaky Escape

The sounds of footsteps echoed through the empty street; a patrol of guards marched past, carrying torches and weapons as they went.

"Sacred piss, why is everyone so up in arms over a robbery? It’s not even morning, and they’ve gathered just about every damned guard available for this!"

"Didn’t you hear? It’s not just some petty thief stealing from any random shop. They stole potions from Alair!"

"The Alchemist? Are you sure?"

"Yep. Heard it from the captain myself. Apparently what they took was worth hundreds of gold. And the damage they caused when breaking in was worth even more."

"They’re really going to make whoever did this pay, huh?"

"If we catch them."

"We better hope we do. Alair’s one of the best alchemists in the Free Lands. If we don't find and bring him these thieves' heads, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ups and leaves for another city."

"Then let’s find them. The captain will chew our asses out if we don’t."

The voices slowly went away, and only then did I breathe a sigh of relief. "They’re gone, right?" I whispered to Karna.

The Goblin nodded in confirmation. "Stay behind me," he said.

He ran out of the alleyway, and I followed him across the street into another side passage. Sena and the other Goblin stalked behind me, presumably covering our backs; we snuck our way down the back street, turning around corners as we made our way towards the city walls.

It was almost sunrise. The orange glow of daybreak has not yet peeked over the horizon, so we still had the shadow of the night to give us cover. I felt my heart wanting to burst out of my chest, fearing that day would come and we would be caught.

I clutched at the potion on my belt. Still there, I thought. It was reassuring to know I had it. We left the other potions behind, as it would have made it more difficult to escape. But this potion? It was the healing potion that would get rid of the stupid mark on my face.

I wanted to use it right this instant, but we were not safe. Not until we got out of the city. So I had to wait. Just a bit more, I told myself, trying to remain calm.

We rounded a corner, and finally we finally reached the city walls. A dozen guards with swords and spears were gathered around the closed gates while archers lined the walls, all of them keeping an eye out for anyone they could find.

"What do we do now?" I asked softly, my hands balled to a fist to stop it from shaking. "There’s no way we’re sneaking past that."

Karna paused, his eyes scanning the area and his night vision seeing things I could not. Then he sighed. "You’re right. There’s too many of them keeping watch, and they’re all on alert. We have no other choice."

"No choice?" I raised an eyebrow, but I already knew what he was going to say.

"We fight."

"Wait!" I put a hand out. "They outnumber us ten to one. We’ll be slaughtered!" I said in a hushed voice.

"Yes." Karna nodded, not disagreeing. "Which is why we don’t fight all of them. We just have to force our way through. Kill anyone who gets in our way, and make a break for it. Maybe they’ll stop pursuing us after a while. That’s our only chance of getting out of here."

"I—" There was no time to argue. I stared at the dozens of armed guards, all blocking our escape route. "I don’t have a weapon," I sputtered out quickly.

Karna unlatched something from his belt. He handed me a leather case with a dagger sheathed inside of it. "Here, take mine. I don’t need it. It’s permanently enchanted to be sharper than a regular blade. Just don’t lose it."

I blinked.

"But— uh, thank you."

I accepted the weapon, and drew it as Karna turned to the other two Goblins.

"You two will target the guards on the ground. Sena lost his bow, so make sure you watch his back, Ihsan," he ordered as he nocked his own bow and arrow. "I saw a few guards with rifles on the walls. I will take care of them. But we have to make a break for it— straight for the walls."

The two Goblins uttered a quiet reply, and readied their weapons; Karna turned around, and I piped up.

"What do I do?"

"You?" He looked me in the eye. "Just stay alive."

It was a simple job; something most people did quite well. But at this moment, it definitely was not going to be easy.

I nodded anyways. "Got it," I said.

"On my mark."

We all waited with bated breath for what came next. The guards by the gates stood restlessly amongst themselves, while the ones