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As she legged it down from Storm, to the south, as Pilot had instructed, the smoke grew worse and the flames drew nearer and Nocht began to doubt the veracity of his instructions. She was coming nearer the flames now, not further away as he'd instructed, but as she travelled down the incline that would take her to Moaning Woods she began to hear the calls and barks of others and her anxiety lessened a little. Even still, the smoke tore at her eyes and cinders began to alight on her coat, burning tiny patches of fur, adding its own stench to the potent cocktail of smells and sometimes she drew so near the flames she imagined she could feel the heat billowing off them. In her mouth the bow was bulky and unwieldy, but she daren't leave it behind. It took her long enough to find it, even with help from the black coated wolf with eyes the colour of gold, and she had been so pleased with it once she had finally gotten to fire it. She'd never gotten the other items on her list, the one that she had reeled off to Valentine that day, her book and the clothes, but she'd managed to re-string the bow and fishing rod and then had had to leave the rod behind anyway, with the map of Bleeding Souls she had picked up on a whim as well. She suspected the map would do her no good now anyway.
As she reached the border of Storm, finally, she veered away to the west, following the voices she heard in the distance, feet pelting the ground. She was slowed by her injury, but even so three legs were faster than two and she skidded to a halt as she ran right by two figures in the darkness of the shadows and the smoke. She knew she should keep moving, but some guilty part of her, the part that had ran from Storm with nary a second thought for Phoenix or anyone else who might have been stuck kept her there for as long as she might dare. "You a'right?" She shouted out, muffled by the bow held between her jaws, but otherwise comprehensible. She stood poised and keen to keep running for the hills, but waiting for a response.