Chapter 103: Escape

Vies glanced at his arm bandaged in thick gauze, his expression shifting from grief and indignation to self-blame.
"Until that moment, I realized this meeting was a trap laid by Basson and Kota, the uncle-nephew pair. The earth spirit diplomat McKinney was probably also involved in the conspiracy, and I had been so naive, only awakening after the tragedy struck, realizing I had been entangled in a bloody coup."
"Fortunately, many of my father's supporters remained in the venue. Under their desperate protection, I finally escaped the clutches of Basson and Kota, leaving the Blood Tribe overnight, shaking off the pursuers Basson and Kota had sent in the swamp, fleeing alone..."
"I ran aimlessly through the swamp, unknowingly reaching its edge. The clear Drin River water flowed beneath my feet, and I saw a quiet, peaceful settlement on the opposite bank, guessing the smoke rising from the chimneys marked the human town of Drin."
"At that time I was already at my wit's end, gravely wounded, with pursuers behind me. Knowing humans did not welcome me, I had no choice but to steel myself and head toward Drin Town."
"I saw guards at the town entrance and turned back to the riverbank, diving upstream quietly to pass the patrol unseen. Near the waterwheel I climbed ashore, spotted the vast empty stretch by the river piled high with logs, guessed it was a sawmill, and quietly hid in the woodpile."
"I lay in the woodpile, the wound bleeding nonstop, body trembling, consciousness fading, the footsteps of death seeming to echo beside my ear..."
Vies's gaze turned to Dick and Roger, eyes full of gratitude. "On that night when death was approaching, at the moment when I was most in pain and despair, blessed by our Lord Samuelia, the kind-hearted Dindal gentlemen appeared before me like angels, pulling me back from the brink of death."
"Actually this is merely a coincidence." Roger took over from Vies to recount what followed. "Vies's hiding place happened to be my family's logging yard. Yesterday morning Dick and I went fishing by the river and accidentally saw bloodstains on the grass by the riverbank. Following the trail, we tracked to the depths of the logging yard and found an injured lizardman collapsed in the woodpile. We brought this nearly deceased stranger home, applied medicine to stop the bleeding, bandaged the wound. He woke just before noon, told us his name and origin, and that is how we met Vies."
"When we learned of the coup in the swamp, we all realized Vies's situation was perilous. On one hand we needed to notify the militia to strengthen patrols, guarding against spies or assassins from Basson and Kota's rebel faction infiltrating Drin Town in search of him. At the same time we had to arrange a safe haven for Vies to heal in peace."
"Initially Dick and I both thought we should ask Father to shelter Vies, but our town mayor proved heartless as iron. When he learned of the changes in the Blood Tribe, he coldly told Vies, 'Drin Town has neither obligation nor capacity to offer political asylum to a deposed lizardman prince.' To avoid provoking the Kota faction that had seized power, my father even ordered Vies to leave Drin Town before dark, fearing Kota's party would use this poor fugitive as an excuse to declare war on our town." Roger shrugged and spread his hands, unconcerned by his father's decision.
"Although this is Dad's order, we truly could not bear to drive Vies out of Drin Town, that would be pushing him into a fire pit?" Dick's words carried pure sense of justice and sympathy, "Dick and I discussed it and both agreed we could not follow Dad's wishes, yet we did not dare openly defy the mayor's command. So we pretended to obey and escorted Vies out of town. In fact, not far from the gate we circled back and entered the rear mountain forest. Joan, you probably guessed it too. Including my father and most town councilors, none supported sheltering Vies. Thus Vies could not appear openly in town, and we could only hide him in a place that was both safe and secret."
"For example, in my family's forest?" Joan asked.
"Everyone in town knows the strange old man Tael has a bad temper. Even those who do not fear him worry the old man might turn them into mice with spells or something. Usually no one enters the forest seeking trouble, so Dick and Roger decided to send Vies to your forest to hide for a few days." Dick said half-jokingly.
"We three arrived at the forest cabin around dusk. With no one home, we let Vies wait inside while Dick and Roger went down the mountain to find you and explain. Before we left the forest we heard Jamie calling nonstop, and even louder, terrifying, unprecedented beast roars..." Dick could not help glancing at the tame gray bag beast sitting by the fireplace opposite, "We sensed danger and rushed back the way we came. Luckily we saw you confronting Vies, ran out to clarify the misunderstanding. Fortunately we arrived in time to avoid unnecessary conflict."
Roger's thoughts were more meticulous than Dick's. Seeing Joan remain silent, he guessed she was reluctant to involve herself in this affair, so he set aside his smile and spoke seriously. "Joan, you may think Dick and I are merely asking for trouble by helping Vies. In fact we did this not only out of sympathy for his plight but also for deeper considerations."
"Deeper considerations?" Joan looked at Roger half-doubtfully, expecting him to continue.
"Vies just described the coup in the Blood Tribe. In my view the tragedy was no accident. The root lay in the irreconcilable conflict between the 'conservatives' led by Elder Mirick and Vies and the 'radicals' led by Elder Basson." Roger spoke at length, "The Basson faction advocated uniting with the earth spirits for external expansion and plundering human towns' wealth. Elder Mirick opposed such aggressive policies, upholding the lizardmen's neutrality tradition. The disputes ultimately sparked a bloody coup. As a result Elder Mirick was assassinated by Kota, Vies was wounded and fled, Kota and Basson's faction seized power in the Blood Tribe. From then on they would surely purge those who had supported Elder Mirick, abolish the neutrality of the Mirick era, and adopt a more radical policy. One can imagine that the traitorous Blood Tribe, allied with the equally radical, combative, ambitious earth spirits, would form a military alliance and jointly launch wars against surrounding towns! Our Drin Town lies near the swamp. Whether we shelter Vies or not, we will inevitably become the Blood Tribe's conquest target. In the end we will still be unable to escape this war!"