Qit listened as Mack spoke, as this was the most words she'd ever spoken to her. Their friendship, as such, was not exactly based on strong communication. Qit was never one for words, but Mack had already proven to her that she didn't need to speak. Qit already trusted the woman, having seen more than enough to make such a decision. Mack was hunting her own quarry, and had made the mistake of letting a fool get in the way.
Qit knew that well.
At the comment of the Mantis hunting her, she smiled. "That my plan. They come to me. They leave their safe, they in open. Easy target." As for specifics, no, Qit had no such plan. She shrugged, "Keep hunting til no left hunt." As for Mack's own quarry, Qit had simply one statement. "Make him remember you."
And so, the conversation began to lull off. Evening began to fall, and Qit had put a sizable dent in the bottle, as well as the food stores. She rested, leaning in the chair, pulling javelins from her magic bag, checking them, sharpening where needed, tossing away busted shafts. She watched Mack from time to time, seeing that the woman looked quite... different from her memory. Her eyes were colder, yet more savage and wild. If Qit ever bothered to look at her own reflection, she'd see similar there.
Qit came to terms with one fact in their relationship. She owed Mack a mild debt. Qit had rained hell down upon Mack's own hunt. She would not wish for anyone else to do the same to her. Qit's mind worked. She'd have to bait the Mantis again, and lure them far away. Kill most of them, but leave enough alive to spread the word. To take the heat off Mack. Easy enough, she assumed.
Crash.
Qit's eyes snapped forward as the flaming arrow smashed through the window, embedding in the floor boards, splattering the oil from the rag across the floor. Qit tumbled backward in her chair, rolling backwards over her shoulders, landing in a low crouch against the back wall. Another arrow crashed through the window just over Qit's head, oil splattering against her shins. She hissed in pain as tamped out the flames. More and more arrows of flame rained through the windows, and she heard more thudding against the roof and walls.
They'd been found.
Qit's mind didn't think, simply reacted. She saw the fireplace in the far corner of the room, with a fire still lit in it. She ran in a low crouch toward it, drawing a spear. She quickly used it to kick out the largest of the logs there. She then stepped deep into the burning ash, feeling it ignite her foot. She kept her other free, and leapt upward into the chimney. She kicked out the leg, pressing against one side, her back against the other. She snarled through the pain as began to climb the chimney, holding her breath all the while.
She reached the top, but held her position just below the lip. She peeked up just a bit, using the side of her head and one eye, to minimize her visibility. There were no people on the roof, just flaming arrows ignite the thatchwork. But every roof around them was occupied by at least two soldiers with bows. They were all watching, waiting. Qit saw that the bows were not drawn, rather held slack.
They'd assumed their plan had already worked.
Qit gave a hard push off with both feet, gritting through the pain of the burnt one. She was already running as she landed upon the roof. She sprinted for the roof's edge, as she watched the two men begin raising their bows. She leapt as they started to knock their arrows. While she was in the air, sailing toward them, the arrows were drawn. She Unleashed into her Gasping Skitterer form just as the first arrow was loosed, sailing through the space beneath her, what would've been a heart shot. Another arrow glanced off of one of her spikes, as she tucked her limbs and head into her shell.
The spiked shell collided into the face of one of the soldiers, embedding deep, killing him instantly. As he was falling down, Qit was unleashing again, back into her self form. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed a javelin, and loosed it into the other man before he could fire another arrow. One roof was cleared.
Twang. Twang.
One of the arrows, from a nearby roof, smashed into Qit's calf, the other missing. She scowled, snarling loud, before reaching down, snapping the arrow in half and pulling it out. More arrows were being fired, but Qit was already moving, albeit slowly. She ran off the far end of the roof, and jumped. She sailed down into alley below, crashing through a window, landing in an office of some sorts. It was after hours, so it was dark and empty. She saw a window opposite her in this room, and ran toward it. She grabbed a chair as she went, smashing it against the window, shattering it, sending the glass into the street below.
She summoned forth the leafy vines from her wrist, and they worked down toward her leg, temporarily staunching the bleeding. But it was a mild stop gap. Qit back tracked across the room, and walked softly, carefully for the extreme far end of the office, hearing the door downstairs open up. Boots were coming. She gently slid open one of the windows, and climbed out. She propped herself above it, hidden in the tarp that hung over it, and gently shut the window once more. She peered inside, watching, waiting, unsure of what had happened to Mack. A couple of soldiers ran by beneath her in the street, but never even looked up.
She had to think.
They were being tracked. They'd been tracked the entire time. Mack was in the house when it was attacked, so clearly she wasn't a traitor. But something had given them away. They'd been tracked through those sewers. That wouldn't have been easy for the most experienced of hunters. Something would've had to leave a different sort of trail.
Her magic.
That had to be it. If the Mantis were mage killers, perhaps they had means of tracking them too. If she was being tracked, she could use that to her advantage. She adapted her body, turning her skin into the thick hide of the Ithecal, putting spiked shells over her head and knees and knuckles. She felt the extreme drain on her ether. She'd pushed herself really hard this day. But as the transformation took hold, she heard it. A light chiming in the darkness of the office she'd just left. An unnatural sound. And she heard it coming closer, before the chiming stopped, just when her transformation finished.
It could only detect her active use of magic.
That would be an important tool to have. And she'd only heard one chiming. She waited, peering in through the corner, covered by the darkness of the world, seeing a few men inside, searching. One of them had it. She would wait to strike, and take it.
