BXBX NOVEL Chapter 680 - 680 Girl From Petaluma
After fighting off an \'attacking\' tree, the journey was much less hectic. They managed to outrun the fires in large part due to the wind forcing the fire back a good deal. Green remained completely unconscious and hadn\'t woken up, and Kat was still carrying the Thymes she\'d picked up before. They weren\'t all that heavy and while it was awkward, it was also something shockingly easy to get used to in the end.
The Thymes didn\'t seem to tire. Oh sure some times like Gray would play it up as if they were breathing hard and about to collapse, but Kat watched them all closely and not one actually slowed down any further. They also didn\'t stop for a break. Kat knew, mostly from teenagers who thought she didn\'t know how to run properly, that keeping up a decent pace was hard, and that once you really started to struggle, you were pretty screwed. The fact Gray could huff and puff and stumble over their cane for at least five minutes at this point was clearly abnormal.
When they finally made it out of the forest, the once empty street was now filled with Nixilei with a team of volunteers behind her. Nixilei was looking around and spotted Green and Kat rather quickly. Seeing that Green was out of it, and Kat wasn\'t panicking about Green\'s state she turned to Kat and asked, "Kat, what\'s the situation?"
"Um… I might not actually be the best one for that," said Kat as she slowed to a stop and allowed the Thymes to final put their feat on the ground again. They didn\'t even bother to say anything as they got off and started to group up off to the sides without any issues, "I managed to run into the group after they left… wherever it was they were. I think it was a little town? Hard to tell with all the fire honestly. I didn\'t see it, just met up partway. Green\'s out of it… um… maybe that Tophat Thyme might know more? Actually I\'m not certain why those four are sticking around"
Nixilei glanced over and realised Kat was speaking the truth. While Nixilei didn\'t yet know their names, it was Buff, Tophat, Gray and sort of Gloves who were still nearby. Tophat had dismounted from Buff\'s shoulder at some point and the Hobbled Thyme had vanished off into the crowd. Buff now just had two passengers but the group was sticking around. Nixilei turned slowly to face the group and tilted her head slightly. She was projecting a look of \'well say something\'.
"Um… yes well…" said Tophat awkwardly under Nixilei\'s penetrating stare, "I\'m Tophat and I guess I was somehow put in charge of things? Green didn\'t want to be and just sort of… forced the job onto me? I mean I\'m used to dealing with people I suppose but things were quite hectic at the time. Then again… I was the first one snapped out of the fear spell. So I guess… I mean I can tell you the story if you\'d like?"
Nixilei pursed her lips and glanced at the forest. The fire wasn\'t visible but the smoke was, and the sound of crackling could still be heard. Standing here was realistically wasting time. The thing is, how realistic was this at the moment? Nixilei had seen a few strange things and expected this story to contain a few more. *Hmm… is there any order I can give my minions while I\'m hearing this story? Gareth is already heading over to Kress… so I suppose I could send them over for support there… but do I still need them to finish dealing with… whatever this is?*
Nixilei turned to the assembled helpers and then back to the group of three useful Thymes. "First off, are you all willing to lend a hand for the rest of the crisis?" asked Nixilei.
The three nodded at the question. "Ok great," said Nixilei. "I think… um… I don\'t know your names?" the three replied rapid fire with the answers, "right ok. Gray, I think I\'ll leave you in charge of getting the group somewhere safe for the night. I presume you know the town well enough for that. Additionally… and I mean no offence… but you looked tired when you were running and with your age and the cane slowing you down, that\'s probably the best place. Unless you know a lot about the industrial district?"
Gray shook her head, "It\'s fine lass, just good planning. Seems you got a better head on you then the fool Buff is carrying around. Actually, I\'ll grab a couple of the stronger lads from my group and take him off your hands as well. He\'s worse than useless."
*Oh god. I bet there\'s a story behind that. I really hope Green wasn\'t the one to knock him out. I have no idea how that would count in regards to our point total, but it\'s just unprofessional.* Of course, Nixilei doesn\'t actually know what Gloves had done. Then again, if she was in Green\'s place there would likely have been a corpse left back in the burning remains of the town instead of an unconscious Thyme on Buff\'s shoulder. Still more professional though. "Sounds good. Now, with that sorted, Tophat give me the important version. Leave out what you can, but spare no important details."
"Well… it went something like this…" Tophat started to explain what had happened based on Green\'s words as well as the events Tophat was actually around for. Gray called over two other Thymes and took Gloves off Buff who just handed him off with a slightly smug smile. When Nixilei got to the part where Gloves shattered the crystal, she whipped her head around to the now empty street where the other Thyme group was, feeling a strong urge to slit someone\'s throat. Luckily for the groups point total, they were already long gone at this point.
Eventually the story had finally wrapped up. Kat and the others were getting a little antsy by the end of it. They\'d had to sit around and listen to a fairly extensive report of what had just happened rather then actively fighting any fires. Nixilei was unconcerned though. The industrial sector was something they\'d get to when they got to it. The forest contained only one small town and the instructor Thyme had said \'Buildings left standing and civilians\' and last time Nixilei checked trees weren\'t buildings.
*By the sounds of things, the town is a complete write off. There isn\'t anything we can do to save it at this point. The fire might spread more with the trees… but if that\'s really the case it\'s probably too late to contain it anywhere other than at the edge. The wind means the fire is REALLY spreading on the other side, but that just leads out of town and frankly that isn\'t my problem. Not sure what counts as \'dealt with\' but if we can sort out the industrial area we can come back for to this later. With the wind I doubt any houses are truly at risk for this section of the city.*
"Start heading over to industrial district. Walking pace. I want nobody left behind and I still need to think," shouted Nixilei to make sure everyone nearby heard her as she started off down the street. *I think the plan for the district has to be getting the mages to cast a rain spell using the water from the river. It\'s not as close as I\'d like it to be but that\'s the best option by far if they can manage it. If they CAN\'T then I\'m going to need a lot of buckets for this operation. Alternatively I could get the Earth mages to start smothering things but I suspect the size of the fire will be too large for that to be anything other than a countermeasure.*?
Nixilei glanced over at Kat who was currently running circles around the group. Literally. The demon girl mut be bored or something because she was intentionally circling around everyone. *Hmm… maybe I should send her off first? Yeah…* "Kat, you\'re by far the fastest here, especially with Green unconscious. Run ahead as fast as you can before meeting back up with us and reporting the situation. Get a birds eye view if you can. There\'s no rush, but time is of the essence."
"On it!" shouted Kat with a salute before dashing off down the street. *She has far too much energy after all this. What I need is a good nap like Green. At least I haven\'t needed to burn mana for anything really. The Thymes that \'die\' turn into blocks of wood and the healthy ones can\'t really be healed properly because they\'re all technically Thyme and I have no fucking idea how that crazy thing biology works at the best of times. Hmm… ignore that. That way lies madness.. Focus on alternative plans if the rain won\'t work.*?