(Lmao, it's nice to have you back toooooooo!)
Tanrial headed back to the hut, very quickly settling down and falling asleep. All the magic use has clearly drained her energy.
She slept for a good while, well into the late evening. Nothing could have woken her if they'd tried, well, apart from maybe being hit over the head with a hammer but that's besides the point. Eventually, she woke, mind already focused on going to find Mike.
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The person now guarding her shelter was a boulder of a woman, lazily nibbling away at an edible root of some kind as she stood watch. At least, she had been doing that until a second ago, but something had caused her to pause and stare around at the darkness suspiciously. Her vigilance wasn't enough, however–a moment later, there was a loud thunk and she toppled to the side, out cold.
Shiv popped her head around the corner and peered inside. "Tanrial? You ready?"
There was a shuffle and another face appeared: Ango's. "Hi, medic lady. Did you see? I knocked out the sentry with one hit! Were you watching? Are you impressed?"
Tanrial couldn't hold in her chuckled and she nodded, "Yeah, I saw. Just but I did." She climbed out of the hut, brushing herself off and stretching her limbs, "I'm ready."
"Okay." Shiv glanced around quickly, seeming on edge but determined. Gesturing for Ango and Tanrial to follow, she slunk along the edge of the clearing, giving the other shelters a wide berth. Eventually she got to the wicker cage where Mike was being held and signalled the man standing guard there. He returned the signal and started wandering casually away as if he hadn't noticed them.
"Let's go," Shiv whispered. "You can talk to him for a while, the guard and Ango will watch for trouble. Just stay quiet, aright?"
Tanrial gave Shiv a two fingered salute, "Yes Ma'am." She whispered back, offering a small smile before creeping over to Mike.
(I gotta go, my sis needs her computer back, but this was fun! I hope you manage to get some sleep, fam! ^^)
Mike was up and wide awake, watching the goings on with wary curiosity. When he recognized Tanrial, some of the tension left his shoulders and he moved closer to the bars. "Oh, it's you," he whispered. "I was wondering if these bandits were planning to assassinate me or something. How are you doing?"
(Aww aight! Talk to you soon!)
Tanrial snorted quietly at the assassination comment but didn't say anything about it, "I'm fine. Tired, but fine," She replied quietly, crouching down, "You?"
"Better than I was. Still kinda keeping up the injured act just in case it comes in handy." Mike nodded his head at the shadows where Shiv was hiding. "Looks like you're doing a better job of making friends than I am. Who's the girl? She seems to have connections around here."
Tanrial looked over to Shiv then back to Mike, the tiniest hint of a smirk playing on her lips, "Shiv. She was supposed to be guarding me when we arrived but… didn't work out that way. She was helping e heal all those bandits earlier today."
"Huh. That's cool, I didn't expect any of these bandits to be medically inclined." Mike shifted, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "So, I was watching the camp today. The leader and more than half of the bandits left for a raid, and while they were gone, things were pretty quiet. I'm thinking that if we can seize our opportunity next time most of them are gone like that, we can make an escape and be well on our way by the time they get back. I'm willing to bet that raids are fairly regular, so we shouldn't have to wait long. Thoughts?"
Tanrial chewed her bottom lip, "Well… I mean it's a good plan, leaving in the raids is a good idea. But, there's this kid who came back form the raid today. He just didn't seem… right. I ant to figure out what's going on with him before we leave."
Mike frowned for a minute, then nodded. "Okay. What do you mean, he doesn't seem right? Do you mean like he's acting weird?"
“Kinda. Boar-back said jt was his first raid and he was justness in shock. But he had this look in his eye… I dunno, I just want to make sure he’s okay.”
"Well, all right. I'm sure you'll get a chance to do that in the morning." Mike paused for a minute, staring into the darkness, then glanced back at her and lowered his voice a little more. "I don't suppose…you've heard anything from Bernon? No mental communications or anything?"
Tanrial bit her lip and shook her head, "No, I haven't… I hope he's okay. Hopefully he went back to the village and told someone what happened…"
"Hopefully. If we get back there and don't find him, well…." Mike shook himself, clearly trying not to worry too much. "We'll just have to go looking for him. I don't want to go out to the West Coast without all three of us. Besides, he has the map and the data drive and all the good supplies. There's no point going anywhere if he can't come too."
Tanrial nodded her agreement, sighing and looking over her shoulder before back to Mike, “Yeah. He should be okay… he has to be…”
All at once there was the sound of whispered conversation from the bushes where Shiv was hiding, and a moment later a different bandit stepped through. He held up his hands to show he wasn't a threat, walking forward.
"Hey," he hissed. "Um….Tanrial, right? It's Rezzi. Remember me? I wanted to remind you that you owe me a favor–just in case you were thinking of leaving or something."
Her eyes widened a little, "Yes! Yes I remember," She sighed, shoulders sagging a little, "Yeah, we might need your help soon."
"Sure–just as long as you take a look at my brother before you leave. Anything I can do for you right now?"
She nodded before looking to Mike for a moment, "Um… no, I don't think so… unless you have an ideas, Mike?"
Mike looked Rezzi up and down. "Nothing at the moment. Can you predict who's usually guarding the camp during raids?"
"Sure. A lot of times I'm part of that group."
"Great. At some point, we're going to ask for the weak link in the circle of sentries. If it isn't you, you'll need to be able to tell us who it is–or maybe even weaken the link yourself. When we leave, by the way, we plan on heading straight west, so that's also where we'd like to break out of here."
Rezzi nodded. "Got it. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks so much," Tanrial offered a smile, "We really appreciate it."
Rezzi nodded and backed away into the darkness.
"I guess we should both get some sleep," Mike said once the bandit was gone. "We don't want to get caught out here and ruin our chances of escape. Unless there was anything else you wanted to talk about while we can?"
Tanrial shook her head, "I can't think of anything. Just.. say safe, please. I know we don't have long left here hopefully but still."