Kagerou's Journal 5

Read part 4 here.

Through the nearest window, I saw two pregnant girls cowering in the corner. I couldn’t blame them. One, the house was on fire and two, the huge bear from earlier was smashing through the door right next to them. I could see the halfling through the smoke as well as the Varision though the Shoanti was nowhere in sight.

Carefully, I edged along the awning until I could wedge my feet to brace myself. Heaving, I lifted the sash of the window. The two girls were right beneath it inside.

“Girls, come here,” I shouted over the crackling of the fire and the bear’s roars. They looked in my direction but didn’t move. Their eyes were wide with fear.

“Come here now! You need to climb onto the roof with me to get out. I’ll help you. Come!”

However, they only pressed themselves further against the wall. The bear was frightening them too much. I was about to reach through the window to grab one of them, but at that moment there came a huge crash that shook the building.

I clutched at the window sill to steady myself. I vaguely remembered seeing the Varisian struggle to help a third girl up. However, my focus was to get the two girls out. Before I could speak, the bear lumbered over and roared right in their faces. I thought I heard the words “climb out the window” in Silvan, but their meaning was lost in the volume of the roar. Understandably, the two girls fainted right where they sat.

The bear, once he shut his mouth, looked around behind him, his nose twitching. Another crash and I saw a small, dark shape drop out of sight through the floor. The bear followed the noise with his head, but was too late to do anything.

It was of the utmost importance to get the girls out if the floor had started collapsing. I reached through and grabbed one of the girls. Her dead weight pulled at my shoulder but I managed to balance her on the window sill. I stopped to rest and massage my shoulder. The strain was almost too much. Grabbing onto the girl, I was about to pull again when the Shoanti appeared on the other side. She was stronger than me, apparently, because she heaved the girls one after the other through the window easily. I caught them and lowered them onto the sloped awning.

I quickly stepped out of the way as the Varisian climbed out of the window and joined me on the small roof.

“Behind you!” I called out and she turned around in time to see the bear start pushing a third girl out the window. He wasn’t very adept at it so she came to rest partially out.

I left the bear and the girl to the Varisian and grabbed the nearest unconscious girl. Eyeing the drop, I carefully jumped to the ground. Now that I was further away from the building I could see that it was in dire condition.

“Hurry up and pass me the other girl,” I yelled to the Varisian.

Inside the first floor, I thought I saw a dark shape, possibly the Shoanti, crawl off the counter, which was mostly ablaze, and disappear further into the house. I thought her crazy, personally, but there was no chance to yell after whoever it was. The Varisian had slid the second girl down the roof. I barely caught her in time as she tumbled off the edge. I lowered her to the ground beside the first.

Looking around I saw the madam still working on organizing the bucket brigade. I opened my mouth to shout at her, but a roar and a crash distracted me.