"One, two, pull!"
"One, two, pull!"
"One, two, pull!"
On the cramped landing pad, two Cabal guards in dark cloaks each gripped one of Grom's arms. Bracing their feet against the edges of the aircraft's hatch, they pulled with all their might, trying to yank the dwarf wedged in the doorway out like a stubborn turnip.
Grom's face flushed crimson, his beard shaking violently with every tug as a string of muffled sounds somewhere between curses and groans escaped his mouth.
"Nibelung! Where did you find this idiot?" one of the Cabal guards shouted, turning toward Nibelung, who stood off to the side with his arms folded, leisurely enjoying the show.
"Is he a fucking dwarf or a rock? Why is he so heavy?"
"Oh, keep at it." Nibelung leaned against a nearby pillar, one hand resting over his stomach while the other idly toyed with the ruby atop his cane. His face bore an undisguised grin of schadenfreude.
"You youngsters need more exercise instead of spending all day holed up in the base studying all that nonsense. Isn't this the perfect chance for a workout?"
Meanwhile, while everyone's attention was focused on the stuck dwarf, Anna silently turned part of her body into gray mist.
The edges of her body blurred and thinned like smoke scattered by the wind. Wisps of gray mist drifted from beneath the hem of her robe, silently merging with the dim air over the landing pad.
As though possessed of its own will, the gray mist slowly spread outward, sweeping over walls, slipping into vents, and seeping through gaps in the floor as it quietly began exploring the base's layout.
Her main body remained where it was, apparently unchanged, but her senses had already reached farther afield through the scattered mist.
Finally, after nearly