Chapter 79: Another attempt.

Chapter 79 - Another attempt.'Damn! I'm hungry!' Lee thought, and resisted the impulse to return to the barracks and pretend he had been there all along.

Last night he emptied the waterskin bag even though he knew he had to be frugal, but decided to blame the stress for that.

Unfortunately he couldn't go and refill it – not only he had to make the use of the fact everyone thought he was dead, if he suddenly reappeared, it would raise too many questions, especially considering the squad member Potato killed who in everyone's eyes was now Lee.

After meditating through the night, Lee thought of an escape plan.

It involved him getting lucky and the fortress's guards being sloppy, but there was no other way, at least he couldn't think of any. The problem was – contrary to the trainees, the guards prayed only once a day, thus he had to stay in the crate for another day.

The first part of the plan was the same, in fact, Lee decided to make use of Potato's effort and utilize the tampered rope. He only needed one weak spot on it, therefore quickly inspected it, ignored the first damaged part and made a bunch of knots, securing all other places it could snap.

Then he quickly inspected the contents of the crate, reorganized it so it was more comfortable to lay there, stretched a bit, and got back in.

He meditated for the whole day and through the following night and, when the guards left for the next prayer, quickly got out again. He would've loved to begin stretching exercises, like a lazy dog in the afternoon, but there was no time. Fortunately, he didn't have to run as far as he could, at least not yet.

He threw the loop he made on the one end of the rope on a protrusion on the top of the wall, grabbed the empty waterskin and a couple more things from the crate, and climbed over the wall.



The fifty yard climb looked terrifying, but so was the prospect of getting caught, thus he half slid, half climbed the whole distance, on the way getting ugly rope burns on his palms.

When he was on the ground, ignoring the pain, he pulled the rope a couple times until it snapped at the very top, at the unsecured spot Potato tampered with.

The first phase of the escape was almost done. But it didn't involve getting away, at least not from the fortress.

Instinctively verifying no one was around, Lee gathered the rope and rushed along the wall towards the east – the side of the fortress gate was located at.

Half way there he stopped, took one of the items he borrowed from the crate – a spearhead that was bigger than two palms of an adult put together. Using it as a spade, with several wide motions he quickly dug a hole next to the wall, a bit over a foot deep.

'Thank god the ground is so soft!' Lee said to himself.

Normally he would've complained about the barren soil that was hard to walk on, but in this case it worked in his favor.

The next part wasn't going to be particularly pleasant, though. He threw the rope in the little grave and lie on top of it. Then covered himself with the dirt he just dug up, trying to make it as flat as possible, in the end covering most of his face as well.

According to Lee's understanding, this was the best possible way of staying hidden in the vicinity of the fortress. The guards on top of the wall never looked down directly and, even if they did, from the fifty yard distance his dirty, partially covered face might be easily missed. He did consider to use such repeated tactics and run away bit by bit, getting out and burying himself again each morning, but it would take him over a month to get in a reasonable distance, thus the idea was scratched.

Now he was waiting for an opportunity.

Unfortunately, before any arrived, he was forced to realize why normally any break-in involved a detailed research and planning no matter what the target was.

Turns out that the south-eastern corner of the fortress was the spot where the gate guards came to relieve themselves. The lucky part was that he didn't run that far and the ground he was now buried in was relatively clean, but the sounds and smells soon began to drift over even in the wind-less environment.

On the bright side, in half a day Lee learned more about the anatomy of different races than he had during the past few months. Sadly discovering where everyone's intimate parts were located was not a subject he was interested in.

Patience is a virtue, and when trainees in the fortress finished their daily practice and went to barracks, Lee's was rewarded.

The regular shipment from the blob farm arrived with two full wagons, and while the guards organized the delivery, several guys rushed around the south-east corner to do their business. As it turns out, the spot wasn't the toilet only for locals and it was the chance Lee was waiting for.

He let everyone finish, walk away, and when the procession with empty wagons departed, he got up, superficially covered the hole he hid in, and cleaned up himself the best he could. Then he dashed to the corner of the fortress and glanced over to verify the situation.

There was nothing out of norm – the guards were hanging out at the gate as always, and the farmers were leaving along the only road.

'Alright, Lunax! Guide my way out of this shithole!' Lee crippled one of the prayers designed to seek favor from the local deity, and openly rushed after the farmers.

"Wait for me!" He loudly shouted, "Why are you always leaving me behind?"

While the departing group didn't notice him at first, the guards at the gate did.

Lee's complaining was met with loud teasing that quickly transformed into ridicule when he tripped and fell face first on the ground. He already looked miserable enough, but his desperate attempt to catch up to his group after taking a shit, brought some enjoyment to the bored guards.

The first part went surprisingly well. The guards laughed at Lee and stopped paying attention to him when he was far enough to not hear them, but now he kind of had to join the farmers who finally noticed him shouting half way.

"Sorry!" Lee said the moment he caught up with as straight expression as he could, "I was ordered to tag along your group for the time being!"



There were seven people – two pairs pulling and pushing each wagon and another one, a shorty, running alongside them. They moved at surprisingly quick pace and it took Lee some effort to catch up. Similar to him, they weren't wearing any armor or weights, obviously to make the transportation process easier.

While all seven glanced at Lee, no one said or asked anything. The group continued to run at fast pace, and even though Lee was already dead tired before joining them, he was not going to complain.

Obviously the exhaustion was only partially physical – after all he did nothing but lied flat the whole day. On the other hand to start sprinting all of the sudden was also taxing.

Be as it may, the group arrived at the warehouse district ten times faster compared to the army of fortress's newbies marching in full armor. It was obvious they were stopping for a meal and Lee already knew where he was supposed to go.

Theoretically he could've split from the group, but traveling with others seemed safer. It was also less likely anyone would ask unnecessary questions.

The farmers parked their wagons between a couple warehouse buildings, and the group of eight went towards the entrance to in the cliff.

The line of slaves moved at the same pace as it did the first time Lee was here with Butalax, and their expressions were similarly miserable and void of any hope. While the rest ignored them, Lee did his best to not look in their direction.

He wasn't certain how he would react or what he would feel if he saw another human between the myriad of races slaving their lives away. Of course, it didn't actually matter – all these were humanoid people, but with the wide diversity Lee sometimes forgot that.

At the tunnel entrance Lee found out that sticking with the farmers was the correct choice.

"We're here for a meal. Sobanax's farm. Eight." The leader of the group said to the clerk and the man pointed towards the tunnel similar to how Butalax was directed back then.