Arsonist

Arsonist

                The rush to get to the Followers' campsite was odd for Tadyel. It was the first time since coming to Green Creek that she had to hurry; and seeing Vanna rushing as well added to the feeling. Normally Vanna - and the missions she planned - were calm affairs punctuated by spurts of violence. Running through town with a handful of 'necessities' for the event was new.

                As they went they were joined by some other townspeople, roused by friends and family to come 'bring justice' to the Followers. Many of those awoken had been looking for an excuse to force the followers out for weeks; the rest were close to Numin or her son. None came to try and calm the crowd. The few who objected stayed home.

                There seemed to be an odd energy in the air - a collective feeling of anger and excitement amongst the townspeople. Even Dot seemed to be affected by it; yet Tadyel and Vanna were not. Vanna was keeping herself calm, which was necessary if she wanted to steer events. Tadyel was feeling something entirely different: concern about what they were about to do, and tired from the running. She felt like stopping so she'd have a chance to get her thoughts straight.

                They kept running, though, right out of town and along the road to the farm property the Followers called home. It lay only a short distance away - a thirty minute walk or much less at a run.

                Moving through the town they had amassed quite a crowd of others running alongside them, yet when the Followers' camp came into view those already there were far more numerous. Tadyel hadn't realised there were so many people living in the town - even the guard, standing in front of the mob of townspeople, numbered more than she had thought.

                The camp was impressive. The handful of buildings that were obviously once part of the farm stood in the centre, surrounded by a mixture of new buildings in various stages of completion. Surrounding them - for quite a distance - was a field of tents, the innermost large and complicated and the outermost useful for little besides shelter and storage. It had to be enough for several hundred people to live.

                Many of those people were standing at the edge of camp closest to the road, a solid mass challenging the townspeople. Many of them were unarmed, and those that were could barely be called so. Quite a few children were mixed into the crowd, along with the elderly and even a pregnant woman. At the far side of the camp Tadyel could see a few people sneaking off - from the look of it, the rest of the children and elderly.

                As for the townspeople, most were carrying torches and weapons. A handful had even lashed torches to the end of poles to give them more reach. At least four hundred had arrived already, fanned out behind the guard who stood at the forefront of the crowd. The guard seemed to number almost a hundred themselves, a solid line blocking the townspeople and reaching almost entirely along the camp. Many of the guards carried torches as well.

                Snippets of angry yells reached Tadyel as she reached the back of the mob with Vanna and Dot. "Leave our lands!" and "Murderers!" were popular. Tadyel caught a more official sounding voice - likely the leader of the guard - saying, "Clear out now! You are no longer welcome!"

                A massive "Shh!" started coming from up ahead. The guards were trying to quiet the mob down, and were luckily successful. "Now that you can hear me," came the guard leader's voice, "Please leave the area!"

                "This is our home!" came a distant reply. The rest of what they were saying was drowned out by an angry murmur from the crowd.

                A second "Shh!" calmed the townspeople again. "This is Green Creek land and you are no longer welcome!" said the guard leader. "Vacate this area immediately!"

                "We're not going to leave! You can't just force us out!" replied a different distant voice.

                "Guard, advance!" ordered the guard leader. The mob started pushing forwards, keeping pace with the guard. There were at least six hundred townspeople present now.

                "This isn't going to be pretty," muttered someone nearby. Tadyel looked to Vanna and Dot - both were busy trying to peer through the crowd as it advanced with only faint angry whispers.

                "You're doing the Magi's dirty work!" yelled one of the Followers. They sounded as distant as ever - Tadyel figured they were pulling back as the guard advanced.

                "Piss off!" yelled one of the townswomen, loudly. From another, "We don't care about your spat with the Magi! You killed Numin and Minnow!"

                The faint whispers quickly became yells once more; angry cries of "Murderers!" resounding throughout. The feeling in the air was getting stronger and stronger. It scared Tadyel - this was a crowd quickly getting out of control. It felt like they could do anything, terrible things, based on the impulses of the group. As if no-one could control the angry beast the town had become.

                A scream split the air. She caught a glimpse through the crowd of the Followers - one had just been struck down by a guard. Tadyel paused at the sound and so did a few others, but the advance did not stop. Then sounds of fighting began to come from up ahead, grunts and the sound of wood on wood.

                Everyone around her suddenly started surging forwards as they rushed to join the brawl. Vanna held Dot back and put out one hand to keep Tadyel back as well although it was unnecessary. "Don't," said Vanna. She looked at Tadyel and finally noticed Tadyel's reluctance and fear. Pulled out of the mood herself, she understood.

                Rather than run they jogged forwards. Dozens of townspeople rushed past them, eager to give the followers a beating. All the movement cleared up the crowd, finally allowing Tadyel to see what was going on.

                A large number of Followers and townspeople - including most of the guards - were brawling on the camp's edge, but not all. Quite a few Followers had retreated into the camp only to be followed by the townspeople. As the Followers tried to grab what they could the townspeople roped them into smaller fights or started lighting things on fire. Only a few dozen people - including Vanna, Dot and Tadyel - weren't rioting.

                "Aw shit," said Dot. "They'll trap some of themselves if they keep lighting fires like that."

                "It's up to the guard to sort that out," said Vanna. "Into the brawl. We need to end this."

                "Won't that, um," said Tadyel. She was worried that they'd be revealed if they fought properly.

                "It'll be fine!" said Dot. "I used to box!"

                Vanna flashed a quick glare at Tadyel and added, "It won't be that dangerous. It's worth the risk." Tadyel nodded and ran alongside Vanna and Dot as they headed straight for the brawl.

                A brawl of this scale was new to Tadyel. She had to wonder if anyone could ever keep track of it all. Not only had she never seen so many combatants - each seemingly engaged with several opponents at once - none of them were fighting to the death. Swords remained sheathed; fists and truncheons were the weapon of choice and the few bodies on the ground were probably alive.

                Entering the brawl was weird as well. No-one seemed to notice the addition of a few new people to the fight, even though several people stumbled or flew past them. They penetrated quite deeply before an enthusiastic Follower took a swing at Dot, only for the blow to be expertly blocked and countered with a knock-out punch. Tadyel spent a moment feeling glad Dot hadn't done that to her - then she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

                "Gotcha!" yelled the Follower, pleased that he'd managed to execute a grab. Tadyel elbowed him in the stomach and pulled him forwards over her leg, sending him tumbling to the ground.

                He started to get up, lifting his face from the dirt, but Dot kicked him in the back of the head. "Eat some dirt," she said with a chuckle.

                Looking around for Vanna, Tadyel found her up ahead. She was very close to the leader of the guard; and had also somehow managed to get into a fight against two opponents. Dot and Tadyel ran to her, dodging around various fights, and arrived just in time to see Vanna slam one Follower into the other with a throw.

                The Follower she hit was still conscious, but unable to get the much larger - and unconscious - thrown Follower off. Vanna smiled as Tadyel and dot reached her. "Keep an eye out while I grab Frennet," she said, then joined the messy fight surrounding the leader of the guard.

                Unlike most of the fights in the brawl the guard leader and her two cohorts were outnumbered, directly taking on seven Followers at once. Despite this they seemed to have the upper hand - and certainly would after Vanna joined the fray. It was also slightly apart from the rest of the fights, having almost reached the edge of the tents.

                Tadyel and Dot stood between the fight and the rest of the brawl, keeping an eye out for any Followers trying to join in. Dot spotted one almost immediately, and they both ran at her; she ducked past Tadyel only for Dot to hammer her jaw hard enough for it to crack. She screamed, then collapsed to the ground holding her jaw.

                "Hah," said Dot. "If you're wondering, they're trying to nab Frennet. Surprisingly coordinated given-" Whatever Dot had to say was lost as another pair of Followers appeared on the far side of the fight. "I'll take 'em." Dot ran past the main fight towards the new arrivals.

                Tadyel caught a quick glance of the fight as she turned back around. It had already dropped down to a three versus three. One guard and four Followers were out for the count. The guard leader - presumably Frennet - was fighting like a madwoman, swinging one of the unconscious Followers around as a weapon.

                Tadyel turned back to the rest of the huge brawl. No Followers seemed to be edging towards them - in fact, the distance between the main brawl and the fight had widened as the brawl died down. Some Followers must have retreated, and a few of the guards and townspeople were helping injured people - including the Followers - out of the fight. Some of the townspeople were missing as well; which led Tadyel to suddenly realise that she could smell a lot of smoke in the air.

                "Tadyel!" called out Vanna. Tadyel turned around and saw that the fight had ended. Vanna, Frennet and another guard stood victorious over a pile of Followers, and Dot had joined them already.

                Tadyel quickly ran over. Vanna started talking to Frennet as she came, although the general din was enough to prevent Tadyel from hearing anything until she was quite close.

                "-burn the entire camp down, which is fine, but they'll be trapped in it!" said Vanna.

                Frennet looked at the camp intently, and made a strange hand gesture to her fellow guard. He cupped his hands and Frennet stood on them, boosting herself up so she could see further into the camp. "Shit," she said. "Lonnel, get everybody out of that brawl right now. Tell them to get everyone out of the damn camp before they burn to death. No - get them to help get everyone out of the brawl first, you can't do it alone. Tell them we'll burn the camp from the outside."

                "How bad is it?" asked Vanna.

                "They've got themselves about half-trapped already," said Frennet. "Thank you for pushing through the brawl to warn me."

                "No problem," said Vanna. "It was mostly Dot."

                "Sure it was," said Frennet. "If you wanted me to believe that you should have sent Dot in to the fight." Vanna winced. In a quieter voice Frennet added, "Yeah, if I wasn't predisposed towards liking the Magi I'd have the three of you locked up. As it stands, go help the wounded."

                Tadyel almost froze at Frennet's words. Dot put a hand on Tadyel's shoulder and said, "Come on then." Looking around Tadyel couldn't see anyone conscious nearby who could have overheard, but still...

                Frennet smiled, then headed off at a jog to get her troops out of the brawl. "I think she knew anyway," said Vanna, lifting up one of the injured guardsmen. "Carry them like this; Dot, grab two."

                Tadyel and Dot struggled to copy the lift Vanna had done, forcing her to carefully demonstrate it a couple of times. Once they'd gotten the hang of it - and picked up two guards and two Followers between them - Tadyel felt a change in the wind.

                It was followed by a massive cloud of smoke as the wind's new direction sent it billowing over them and into the brawl. Tadyel coughed and covered her mouth with her free hand. Up ahead, the few still fighting seemed to suddenly lose interest - the Followers rushing away to save their stuff and the townspeople wondering where all the smoke had come from.

                The trio jogged through the quickly emptying space that had been a brawl minutes before, stepping over discarded weapons and junk. Turning back after they reached the place the injured were being cared for (and in the case of the Followers, sneaking off from when they woke up) Tadyel could see most of the camp again through a haze of smoke.

                Almost all of the camp seemed to be on fire; bright patches and plumes of smoke coiling up from everywhere. Even the far side that she could barely see was ablaze. Looking closer, it seemed like only half the camp was actually alight; the bright patches were far more visible than the dark ones. Still - half of the camp was a lot. The buildings near the centre had already become an inferno.

                Vanna, Tadyel and Dot continued helping the injured away from the camp. Most of those knocked out were waking up, so for the most part they supported those with injuries instead of carrying them.

                Clearing the battlefield didn't take very long - there were many injured, but also many willing to help out. Additional help in the form of chastised townspeople also arrived, trickling out of the camp from amongst the flames as the guards found and ordered them out.

                By the time they had finished helping the injured the camp was truly entirely on fire. A scattered ring of townspeople could be seen at the edges, putting out spot fires and otherwise making sure that only the Follower camp burnt.

                As for the Followers, apart from a few who were injured quite badly (and were receiving many angry looks from less kind townspeople) they had retreated. The townspeople didn't care where they had gone - so long as it was further away, it was good. If they went somewhere closer, well, the process would be repeated tomorrow.

                As there was finally nothing else to be done, Vanna, Tadyel and Dot sat on a nearby hill they could see the entire camp from. It saddened Tadyel a bit to think of how much stuff - how much of people's lives - was burning down there.

                "This puts us ahead of schedule a bit," said Vanna. "Although we might have to do something about Frennet."

                "If this one," said Dot, pointing at Tadyel, "hadn't frozen when Frennet mentioned the Magi we'd have dodged that."

                "Maybe," said Vanna. Tadyel felt like squirming.

                "Did we have to do this?" asked Tadyel. "The Followers are just puppets of the Thrath. It's exactly what Mavnen was gloating about."

                "They're a threat, and this is the quickest way to force a proper conflict," said Vanna. "Or, if we're very lucky, an end. But I think the Followers will attack after this. Either directly at us, or at the town." Vanna leaned back on her arms.

                "Mm," said Dot. "You could say we did this so things really heated up."

                Vanna sighed deeply. Tadyel just stared at Dot in shock.