What now! Aarav thought, this day, that he thought couldn’t get any more unlucky had just proved him wrong, again! Without attempting to mask the exasperation in his voice, he said. “What do you lot want?”

Only after he said that did he note to whom he spoke. Two men, a tall, skinny one and a shorter, more muscular one, had spoken. Just listening to their voices made it hard to take them seriously. Could they be any more stereotypical of goons?

“Is that any way to talk to people you meet on the street? This is Darf, after all! I was told that this was the nicest capital in the world! Kind people with good manners and pleasant countenances.” The nasal man spoke up, shaking his head.

“Right you are, sir! We pride ourselves on being welcoming and friendly to everyone we meet!” Boren spoke up as if by rote. “Please forgive my friend here. We should start again on the right foot!” Boren made as if to walk towards the man, arm outstretched. In a moment of complete shock, Aarav froze, is the prince really that clueless about how the city’s underworld worked? Yes, yes, he is. Aarav quickly grabbed Boren by the back of his clothes and pulled him back.

“Boren, they mean us harm. Maybe they heard you were the Prince and wanted to take you for a ransom. It isn’t unheard of.” Aarav whispered to the boy who had turned his head to stare at Aarav.

“What? But this is Darf. It is perfectly safe, and there is no criminal activity here!” Boren replied, trying to shrug off Aarav’s attempts to stop him.

“No, there is hardly any that is not the same. We have run into the only criminals in the city. If what your saying is right, how lucky can you get!” Boren’s annoyed expression changed to sadness before morphing into anxiety and, finally, fear. He looked again at the two men approaching and tensed. “Boren, time to get out of here. Now!”

He yelled the last word and whirled to make a mad dash for the other end of the alley with Boren in tow.

They hadn’t made it ten steps when that end of the alley darkened as well, and a man more considerable than the other two shadowed it. “Oh, crap!” Aarav whispered hopelessness began to creep in.

The Way Forward is…Forward was not going to help him now. “Aarav, what do we do now? Can we talk to them?”

“No point, we are going to have to fight. What can you do?” In hindsight, they should have had this discussion beforehand but then who in their right mind would think they would get ambushed in the safest place in Darf!?

“Umm, I haven’t fought before…” Boren said slowly. The dire nature of the situation started to dawn on him now. “But they are so big. They’re adults, and we’re just children!” Yeah, trust me, kid, it does not matter to anyone involved in these situations.

“You think they care? Boren, the faster you understand this, the better. None of them will go easy on us just because we are children. Do you understand?” Boren just stared dumbly at Aarav and then the men approaching from either side. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND!” Aarav screamed in Boren’s face to get him to snap out of it. This was not the time to be shell-shocked. Boren nodded dumbly, but Aarav could see the light coming back into his eyes, the far-off, muted look receding.

It was time to act.

Better to be the aggressor. The men would not expect it; they would expect both to cower in the alley. “When I tell you, we both run at the big guy and yell at the tops of our lungs. They won’t expect it since he is the biggest. Also, we might both be able to slip past him on either side if we confuse him enough.” I will not let another child in my care be hurt. He might have been a weak, useless child then, but now he knew better. He would create the diversion Boren needed to get far away.

Aarav also had another reason for being so selfless in this situation; if he survived Boren, the Queen would not allow him to live long. So there was that too. Hey, Aarav knew he wasn’t martyr material; neither was he a selfless idiot like some heroes' stories. If he could make it out of this alive, he would do it. He would crush anyone he could on the way.

But he would also not let children die or be captured if he could help it.

For Ami…

The men on either side had made it halfway to them, with Aarav and Boren centred on the middle of the alleyway. Aarav could now see the fat nose on the big one, thick lips pulled down into a menacing sneer. The skinny leader sauntered forward on the other side, clearly in no hurry. After all, what could two children do in this situation?

Boren’s breathing had increased almost two-fold. He sounded like a winded rhinoceros. “Boren, I need you to calm down and get ready. I will not let anything bad happen to you. Do you understand me?” Aarav waited for the boy’s nod, not letting the three men out of his sight. This was one of those situations where three eyes really came in handy. The third was hidden in his head fur. It took a few precious seconds to get accustomed to the three eyes again, but it was worth it. He silently admonished himself for not keeping all three manifested at all times. It seemed this was a dangerous world, and he would use every tool available to him. He could always camouflage the third if necessary.

Oh! That’s it! It hit Aarav like a thunderbolt. He hated to try this part of skill out for the first time in such a dire situation, but this would be an excellent way to throw them off. Why hadn’t he thought of this? “Boren, take a deep breath!” Aarav whispered to Boren. “Don’t ask me anything, just do it. Now!”

Aarav just hoped he had enough volume to do this. Getting rid of Loamy Soil, Aarav absorbed the wall’s Brick fascia, which changed his already stored Brick from the village building in Flue. God, that was a lifetime ago, wasn’t it? Next, he took in the cobblestones of the alley beneath them and then coaxed Boren closer. “Don’t breath until I tell you, and definitely don’t move!” Boren again opened his mouth to say something. “No time!” The men had come even closer. Only a few feet separated them from the two boys. The self-satisfied grins on their faces said it all. They knew the game was at an end.

Aarav's body spread out like a tsunami of slime in one swift movement, completely engulfing the unsuspecting Boren. Once completely covered, thank god I gained all that mass recently. More would not have gone amiss. Aarav covered Boren’s entire body; nothing was spared. If this was going to work, he had to go all out. The skill extended out several centimetres from his body. It was the new dimension of Strong Camouflage that needed testing. He just wished it wasn’t under such dire circumstances.

Within a couple of seconds, she had wrapped Boren completely. With Strong Camouflage taking on the texture of the cobblestones underfoot and the brick of the wall, they were effectively hidden from view.

Unless they moved, they could not be seen. “Where’d they go! Find them!” The men had been slowly stalking toward them until now. Taking their time and allowing their quarry to feel the hopelessness of their situation. They suddenly dashed forward to where they had last seen the boys.

“I dunno, boss! They were here a moment ago.” The giant man said dumbly.

“Idiot! I know that you don’t tell me things I already know. They might still be here! No one can move like that.” The skinny man said.

They had to stay silent, Strong Camouflage was terrific, but it had limitations. It would do nothing for the sounds they made. Perhaps Aarav could try to get it to do that with the next plateau, as Haemish had mentioned, but for now, this was it. Aarav got Boren to slowly crouch and then lay down on the alley floor with a gentle nudge. Slowly, so that there was no sudden movement or noise. The alley was not entirely silent, with the echo of noises from the rest of the city around them. But any sounds would carry.

Thankfully Boren understood the implication and started to move even as the three men crept cautiously closer. Aarav hoped they were wary of the two; it might buy them precious seconds. Aarav felt Boren trying to breathe through his nose and quickly parted his Slime to all air in. It was slow and deep. The boy’s body trembled under Aarav. Not doing that great myself.

There was no way to reassure Boren without alerting their assailants. Their options dropped by the second, and they needed a way out.