Brisa was shaken, literally, from her fear induced trance when Argurios grabbed her. She recognized the spell effect...though it was not one she was familiar with she knew the feel of magic now that she was free of it. That it hit them without any visible source worried her. She prayed to [url=http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Mystra]Mystra[/url] that the caster was merely hiding because the range of the spell directly correlated to the strength of the caster. The farther away they were the stronger they were, and Brisa worried that they were far stronger than even Autry had been. She didn't realize the difference between divine and arcane magicks; she had not reached that point in her studies; and thus didn't realize some of the things she thought she knew about magic did not hold true for priests. She often had little focus for non-magical things...but magic...she could focus on magic. So her thoughts whirled about trying to place what had happened to them, and what it meant, among other things. She was concentrating on the “magic of the thing” despite the fact that she was being manhandled as if she weight little more than a doll. 

All this she thought through while Argurios bodily lifted her. She managed to squeak out “come on” to the others, in a rather startled voice, before she was hoisted into the air and plunked on Argurios' shoulder. She was surprised when she realized Argurios was carrying her on his shoulder. She was also thankful, last time he had grabbed her and ran she had lost him. It was luck, Mystra's guidance, or something like that helped her find him again. It would be foolish to rely on such a positive fate again. 

Brisa hung on tightly as they ran, fearing to get tumbled, separated, and alone. They were in far greater danger now than they were earlier with the midnight bandit attack. This attack had magic behind it. Brisa was terrified but didn't want to let it show. Instead she hung on tight to her friend with one hand, and her precious satchel with her other. She was no great runner, but they had found themselves needing to run on more than one occasion. She would just have to learn to keep up with Argurios, he couldn't be expected to carry her all the time and she was terrified of loosing him. 

\She saw Aiden running beside them, but she couldn't see if Jatan was on the far side., behind, or what. She hoped he was...she still had things to ask him and now there was no way she could ask anyone else. On the other hand if they ran they were leaving town, and not looking back. This was Jatan's home, he may have chosen to hide and wait out the trouble rather than throw his lot in with three strangers. 

Suddenly the air was filled with very loud, very solid sounding “thump” noises; four in quick succession. As Brisa looked around for the source she saw black clouds of smoke billowing into the sky. Thick and greasy looking they came from four different corners of the town. Whatever had caused it it was a blessing for the harried children. This would give them a few precious moments to escape, moments when everyone would be distracted by the fires...or whatever they were. 

The Gray Man's chances of getting away from the trouble he had caused were not good. He had known that going in. But the chances of the children getting away had just increased ten fold and he was one of the few people in this world who realized the importance of the small travelers. There was not much hope to be had as the evil god spread his shadow over this corner of Faerun but what there was was largerly resting of the shoulders of the children. Hope was a thing worth sacrificing one's self for.

The fires served their purpose, townsfolk and enforcers alike raced to the four points. Fires in a town where the buildings were so close together were a serious threat. A fire could wipe out half the town before it got under control. The town practiced bucket brigades and fire drills just to help combat this and arson was punished on the same level as murder. The town burning down was good for no one, including the dark god. The enforcers and the priests would help protect it...they needed it as much as the non-affected townsfolk. Fortunately the river ran through town and water was plentiful.