Exodus

Vixen had her next plan sorted out. According to Cirjo's intel the mine was located in the on the opposite side of Runeford in the Cerealum kingdom. 

She was going to travel there to scope out the city and inspect the mine and maybe even talk to the dragon. With some luck she would be able to kind the location of the hidden underground forge and destroy that business too. 

'Black market weapons and artifacts, demons...I hope he's not supplying them with weapons.' 

Panic threatened to take hold as she thought of the implications. 

'Everyone, I'm going to go do some investigating, once I have a foothold in in the city I'll call for Ferde'La and Loralei so be prepared. It's in the Cerealum kingdom so it'll take a week or two for me to arrive,' she instructed telepathically. 

After recieving mental affirmations from those she appointed as leaders, she left the mansion through the tunnels. Even though the mansion had been renovated and everything was new, she still insisted that the place remained to look uninhabited under the guise of being haunted to prevent anyone from snooping.

Some of the vampires that were original from other factions had been promoted due to their sincerity and were tasked with watching the streets at night. They culled anyone committing violent crime, and since they didn't have protection from the sun this was only enforced at night.

The captial was slowly returning to the pristine, beautiful, and safe place to live before Cadel's disappearance. Vixen had opted for her covenant leathers and mask instead of her (more?) protective armor and a travelers cloak or anonymity. She left in the dead of night not meeting a soul as she left the capital. 

'I really got to get myself a horse or something. Riding on one of the panthers or flying as a swarm of bats gets awfully conspicuous.'

Vixen had traveled for several hours, she wasn't rushed and she knew that even on horse it'd take her at least a couple days to reach the border. 

'I supposed I can fly some during the late hours and then walk during the day.'

She transformed into her bat swarm and flew until the sun could be seen over the horizon. 

It was pleasantly warm on her back as she walked on the trail towards the border, she downed a vial of blood to regain some of her stamina. She flew further than she was intending to, but made up for not having a horse. She would reach the border by mid day the following day. 

In the early afternoon she came across a caravan of people heading towards the border; oxen pulled large wagons filled with goods and families, dogs corralled some goats and sheep, while soldiers rode horses among the train of people at even intervals. Their formation around the train of people was not too bad it adequately guarded the group and they were positioned in a way that they could back each other up if a conflict of some kind erupted.

"What is going on here," Vixen asked one of the guards. 

Vixen could almost see drool coming out of the man's mouth as his eyes gave an up and down to her form fitting leathers. His eyes lingering particularly long on her nipples. She forced herself to not roll her eyes, she knew military men were particularly 'starved' so to speak but she couldn't understand why. 

The guard, no matter how lustful, still did his duty. He snapped out of his momentary daze and responded harshly, "who are you? Why do you wanna know? And why is your face covered?" 

The man's voice was deep and raspy and came from his belly as opposed to a nasaly speaker. 

Vixen tried her best to ease the man's worry, "I'm traveling to Cerealum. I asked simply because I was surprised to see so many people on the road when I've seen no soul for days. For your last question, I have an unsightly scar I wish to not show people."

The soldier betrayed her good intentions, "Someone branded you a slave and now you're a runaway huh. Unfortunately that's against the law, with a body like that I can see why you'd want to run away. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to return to your master."

Vixen moved far quickly then the soldier did as she took outnher dual blades, "I am no slave to anyone and you will not touch me."

The bystanders that were part of the caravan started to get anxious at the drawing of weapons, but someone was quick with the intervention. 

"Ed what in the blazes is going on," a man screamed riding his horse full gallop. 

The man who intervened had dismounted and pulled the man Ed by the arm away from her. Vixen didn't dare put away her blades quite yet.

The two men talked for a few minutes before the apparent boss approached her. 

"I apologize for my subordinate miss but can you remove your mask to prove you're not branded a slave."

"What makes you think I'm a slave? Why do I need to prove that is there some report of one missing?"

"Well..."

"Well nothing. Go ask one of those villagers to strip and make sure they aren't branded with a slave mark!"

"I can see why you're upset. However that man is a noble and he's sure you belong to someone so I cannot just dismiss his words. "

"What happens when you find out he's lying?"

"There isn't much I can do to him, maybe reduce his rank."

Vixen's blood was boiling.

"How bout I get to kill him and then I get his horse."

"I-I don't...can't authorize that." 

Vixen pointed to another mounted soldier, "Give me your glove."

The man startled at the sudden attention blanched but obliged and handed her his glove. 

Vixen quickly walked up to the nobleman Ed and smacked him as hard as she could across the face with the glove. 

"I challenge you to a duel. If I win I get your horse and be free to go without a bullshit inspection. You'll never use your little title to con people ever again."

There was stunned silence. No one knew where this hot headed woman came from but to the travelers challenging a guard like that was suicide. 

Ed's face was red as a tomato, and it took every bit of poise he possessed to not scream at the woman who dare hit him. 

"I accept. If I win not only will I look for a slave mark, I'll have you service me to test your abilities as a whore before bringing you back to your master."

The two stood twenty paces from each other each waiting for the other to make a move. 

'All I'm gonna do is use my swordsmanship. I definitely can't use my blood control or familiar here.'

When the captain dropped his hand the duel started and Vixen rushed forward with both her blades in hand. The other soldier opted for the spear thinking the reach would be to his advantage since she didn't possess a shield. Usually his thinking would not have been too bad? But he didn't account for how much faster she was than him. 

Ed thrust forward, but she side stepped and swung one of her swords nearly knocking the spear out of his hands. Before he could recover she tripped him with a leg as she ran behind him. As soon as Ed tried to sit up he had found a blade pointed at his neck. 

It had been too easy, no sweat and not winded. The soldier refereeing the duel declared Vixen the winner. 

Without saying a word she sheathed her swords, climbed up on his horse after discarding any affiliate insignias and rode off at a gallop. 

She rode into the night, thankfully, due to the horse's speed she was now only an hour from the border. Ten figures watched her from the tops of the trees.