Neil gave a rich laugh, his mood brightening considerably at the reveal. He pointed behind him with his thumb, though it made little sense since they both knew the Graf was not back there, exactly. "You're scamming fat Otto?" He asked, clearly pleased and a bit impressed. "Good job! Even with all of the red flags, you had me fooled until that pebble glowed in the cave." 

"Red flags?" She scoffed, pouting and crossing her arms. "I'd have had you fooled until I fled back to Altdorf."  

"Sorry, backhanded compliment," He realized and freely admitted, palms out to show deference. "Let me start over..." 

The young man cleared his throat, brush some debris out of his mop of hair and presented his hand to her to shake. "Neil Edwards. Apprentice and criminal." 

She glanced at the hand for a moment, and then took it in ginger shake. "Emmaline, apprentice and criminal." 
[hr]
As night fell, the city came into view. A bastion of stone and steel rising above the wissenland wilderness, a far more intimidating sight than it had been in the early morning. Silhouettes of guardsmen were posted, halberds pointing up, cutting through the fading light of the setting sun as they strode down the road. Up ahead, the gate was shut and barred, and like as not any travelers that came there would either be turned away until morning or shot, confused for bandits or beastmen. Like as not the graf made a big to-do about the orc attack, telling everyone with influence how awful it was and how bravely he fought to flee with his life. 

"So, where do we...?" Emmaline whispered. 

Neil took her hand and winked. "This way," he said, and guided her through a small copse of trees, the branches grabbing at them with what almost seemed like gnarled fingers before they stepped out onto another, smaller path. It looked hardly trodden at all, made by a goat or something small and infrequent. It wasn't long until the trees around them dispersed and the gleaming River Riek flowed before them, the moon filling its surface beautifully. There were no docks in sight, though doubtless were it day time one could plainly see them from where the two stood. As it were, Neil let go of her hand and padded down the 'beach' towards a lonely, flat boulder amid the soft earth. He knelt down as if to pick it up with some herculean strength, but instead he lifted what was actually a tarp off what was revealed to be a rowboat fit for three. 

"Where are we going?" She asked, clearly not comfortable with getting in a small boat, but realizing she was out of options. Carefully she stepped into it and sat down, holding on for Neil to push it into the water. "Won't the docks be guarded?"

"We are going to Aver Island." He said, his feet now sloshing in the surf until the water lapped at his knees. Neil carefully hopped in and his new partner handed him the oars. "Just half a mile away. No one lives there, and there's an abandoned tower we can use for now." He waited a few minutes to put his back into his strokes before adding: "The only things there are guns no one will use for months, a tavern for the gunners and guards, and the tower no one needs anymore. It's all owned by the Gunnery School. There's some traffic from people who don't want to use the main bridge to cross the river, but that's no big deal."

Neil did not tell her the best part, but he wanted that to be a surprise. What's more, there were crates and barrels of food and ale stored there. Save for the occasional visitor or worker that won't look at either of them twice. As they made good time toward the coming shore, Neil stopped rowing for a second and reached for his lower back to grab his pistol. He flipped it from hilt to barrel and handed it to Emmaline. 

"You know how to shoot one of these?" He asked. 

"Probably not like you, but I get the gist," She said, raising an eyebrow and taking it from him, slightly confused. 

"It's loaded, so just pull the trigger if you need to use it." He said, glancing over his shoulder as the ship began to slide up the sand just before a craggy area of rocks. If one looked closely, there were roughly hewed stone steps carved on the face of the stones. Apparently this wasn't Neil's first time doing this, as they landed in the perfect spot just beside the stairway. "We can't really have someone seeing you can cast spells, so I'm giving you that to use if you need it. Try not to steal it from me, but I guess I can't blame you if you do." He chuckled, and groaned as he stepped off the boat, clearly tired from the day's trials. If memory served, there were a few soft hay mattresses on the bottom level of the tower. 

As he held his hand out again to help her out, he asked. "Hey, this might be a weird time to ask, but wanna go out some time? Like to dinner?"