Azaldi suddenly was being dragged away towards the gate, but he didn't protest. Why would he protest at being carried closer to leave this dreaded city? Before the event, he had not minded, if not liked, Arca, but this point he had an intense dislike of the city. He would most likely never return to it once he had escaped. The castle at the far part of the city had once looked beautiful, but now its turrets and high walls made him think of nothing but the gallows he had just escaped from.
While Tiraris was blind to the familiarity of their surroundings, Azaldi realized where they were. They were near his home. It was interesting that they were passing by the settlement right outside of Arca. He figured it was the last time he would see it with his own eyes and bid it farewell in his mind, wishing he could have had the opportunity to at least say a simple goodbye to some of his friends there. He had lived there for so long, many years, with his wife. They had raised a child there, who was now off on his own. It was where he had taught Windsor the things he knew about healing. It had been a very memorable place to live and he would miss it.
Too caught up in his nostalgic thoughts, he failed to notice that Windsor had spotted them running past.
---
Windsor had been walking back to the house to talk with Zahira when he spotted two figures; undoubtedly the woman and Azaldi, running into the forest, and heard guards nearby in pursuit. He quickly joined in on the run, not thinking about the gargantuan idiocy of this decision before taking off into the forest right behind them. The guards, fortunately, split up into two groups to go in different directions; one on a path leading away from the city and another into the forest.
Azaldi heard someone behind him and turned, extremely displeased to see that Windsor was right behind them, but quite relieved to see that it wasn't a guard following. Though, on the subject of guards, there was a group following them right at the moment.
Assessing the situation as they ran, he knew that it was at least fortunate that they were looking for one or two people, not three, as only Tiraris threw the rock at the guard and started the chase. Also, they seemed to assume that Tiraris was male and either him or some other man, judging by the fact that they had shouted much farther away, 'After him!'. These could be used to their advantage. It was excellent that the guards had been delayed and not yet saw Windsor either.
Azaldi tapped Tiraris on the arm, gesturing in a direction he wanted to go, and roughly lead Windsor along the same way. It was fortunate that Windsor hadn't brought his very obvious white coat he wore often but rather a dark cloak with a hood.
Azaldi knew the guards were coming quickly and knew they had to act fast. It was an outlandish and rather theatrical idea, but it was an idea nonetheless. He crouched to the ground and quickly gave Windsor his cloak, taking Windsor's and donning it with the hood up. He gestured for Windsor to sit beside him and Azaldi gestured to Tiraris frantically. What he conveyed was 'act worried and sad. You'll see what I mean.'
Azaldi lay on his side, pretending to be hurt and doing a nice job of it, while Windsor caught on and began to pretend to heal him. His hood was down; it was best for him to appear like he wasn't trying to hide. He quietly said something to Azaldi who didn't reply. He had absolutely no idea if this would work. At least the cloaks were very common in colour and style...
