Turn 47

    The half-elf races back down the corridor once more and scrambles up onto the little ship. "Master Zeremin, I will raise the wings as soon as we are outside!" he calls. "Let us try to reach the _Cat_ as quickly as we may!"
    Alais takes off. When they swing around the "bow" of the citadel they see the _Cat_ drifting within hailing distance, two robed dwarves on the landing area near the _Distraction_. There is activity around some of the citadel's weapons as well.
    From his place on the smaller ship's deck, Ibn Fadil calls down to Alais, "Get as close as you can. Without getting in their way." The half-elf peers at the _Lazy Cat_, looking for Captain Theo but not waiting to see him before shouting out his warning. "Treachery, Captain! Back off! Move! Evade!" Running out of synonyms, he gestures urgently for the ship to get away from the citadel.
    There are shouts from the other ship as they recognize him, and the tradesman's pilot draws the ship off a little distance.
    "What's the situation?" Theo demands sharply, striding up to the rail.
    "It may be over already," ibn Fadil answers. "Captain Delmar and the rest are trying to get back to the ship, but we cannot be too careful. These dwarves have become little better than pirates." He peers anxiously toward the citadel, trying to see if anything new is happening there. The dwarves appear to have scattered for cover as soon as they saw the mosquito.
    Seeing nothing going on immediately, he begins explaining, interrupting himself at each full stop to look at the citadel again. "Sir, some time ago these dwarves took aboard a mage, a xixchil, who somehow convinced them that his, er, physical modification skills could benefit them. And then it seems he played them like a musical instrument, turning them against each other - I have no details but I understand that most of them are dead now, and the living ones gruesomely modified. This xixchil enjoyed experimenting on any creatures, and the dwarves had taken to turning over any visitors to him. But I am glad to report, sir, that trying this on *us* was a mistake, and we have killed the mage, though not before he set loose a dangerous creature called a yitsan, according to Captain Delmar. Master Zeremin and I came to warn you and the rest of us intended to get away from the yitsan and out of the citadel. I cannot guess how the dwarves will react to their liberation, but the worst I can think of is that they will try to cover up their crimes."
    Theo, impressively, looks like he's actually absorbed most if not all of that rapid information stream. A few more quick questions suffice to paint the full picture for the captain. "We'll give them a few more moments," he decides, keeping his scope trained on the citadel's formidable weaponry. "Battle stations, all."

* * *

    Val takes in the scene before him and calls out to his shipmates, "We're through! There's a way out!"
    Turning to face Gorn and their escort, Val steps aside to allow a clear view. "The xixchil is dead; you're free again," he says matter of factly. "Now *you* can take care of *that*," he says, jerking his thumb at the yitsan.
    The dwarf with Val pushes back his hood in order to see--his revealed skin is covered with pebble-like scales and his eyes are an unnatural orange--and stares down at the carnage as if stunned. The yitsan, sensing new arrivals and perhaps realizing that it is doomed, abandons the immediate battle in favor of looking for a way out. It pauses near the cages, sniffing at whatever lies within, and tries the bars, but moves on defeated toward the tunnel where Alais and ibn Fadil disappeared. The others retreat in an orderly fashion up the ramp.
    "Uh, yes. I see. We'll see to it." The dwarf looks worriedly at the xixchil's mangled body as if expecting it to move. "You will--"
    "We will return to our ship," Delmar informs him bluntly. "Any unfinished business between us can be discussed there. I'm sure Gorn can show us the way while you deal with your late master's pet."
    Fortunately, the dwarf doesn't have time to stand there and argue with a half-dozen larger, armed and understandably annoyed former prisoners, and with a hard look at Gorn he runs back the way they came.

* * *

    Gerik's world is rapidly unraveling, and given the years-long nightmare it has been he doesn't mind in the least. No sooner had one come running with the news that nuisance Gorn is alive and claiming the wizard dead--sort of bizarre test?--than another came from the other end of the citadel saying that the Unpronounceable, as they called it, has taken off and is approaching the strangers' tradesman, suggesting that the wizard is quite lively. But then another said that the half-elf prisoner was freely manning the ship and had warned off the other, and another that he had seen the xixchil dead.
    "Quiet, all of you," he snaps after a moment, calming the pandemonium. "All right. Marten, gather up everyone who can use a crossbow and get them down the forge to take care of that thing. Ragnvard, take Tora with you, find that little sniveller and get those keys you said he was carrying. Gods know what else is locked up in the lower levels that we'd like to keep that way. You two, get forward and disarm those catapults." He glares an objector into silence. "I'll be joining you shortly. Time to see if there is any way out of this."
    A few minutes later, Theo and Co., who have been keenly observing the work around the catapults, are surprised to see a robed dwarf limp out onto the landing area holding a white flag.
    

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