The simplest way to make the bookstore route unnecessary is to get the cart to take a route the pursuers can’t follow. Say, by having it fly through the air.
However, the cart has several unconscious people in it, not to mention five people trying to keep up with it. So making it fly isn’t very viable because you’d have to lift all the people as well. Making the cart lighter would run into similar problems – if you didn’t lighten all the people, the cart wouldn’t be able to support their weight.
So the next best method is to make the pursuers think the cart is flying off beyond their reach.
Give Norle cloak. Make ramp. Freeze it.
Those are your last instructions.
“I think that bookstore’s too risky,” Minnie says. “Norle, I’ve got an idea, but it’ll probably take the rest of my mana root and I’ll need your help. First, we’re going to pull the gate off its hinges, then I’m going to freeze it so it gives us more of a running start…”
“I think I can figure out the rest,” Norle replies. She immediately contacts you. By which I mean, I assume you have a plan, because there’s no way you and I working together can lift that thing with a flight spell.
Invisible cloak, you send back. Hide whole cart. Ramp just for show.
Think I get it, she replies. I’ll soften the landing, you make a lot of smoke to cover the details, and I’ll use that to hide us.
By the time you finish explaining, the ramp has been set up. Chald and Lef are helping Lee to push, Minnie and Norle are sitting on the cart. Norle is making a show of chanting, but you know what’s actually about to happen.
The cart gets pushed onto the ramp just as the pursuers catch sight of it. This, of course, is because the group waited for them. The cart gets pushed up the ramp, and you create a lot of smoke and noise, giving the impression of using an explosion to move the cart faster. This will give the boss a chance to give orders, but if the plan works out, that won’t matter.
You very quickly create an illusionary silhouette of the cart flying through the air. The pursuers shouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Meanwhile, Norle enchants the cloak with invisibility and puts it at the back of the cart. It should be good enough to keep the pursuers from seeing anything from their angle.
“Did they just fly off?” one of them exclaims. “What are we supposed to do now? They wouldn’t let us bring a wizard along!”
“We go back and report this. They’ll have to land sooner or later, and someone’s sure to notice,” says another. “Besides, we’ve got other work to do.”
They leave. It’s now as safe as it’s going to be here, and there’s probably going to be some confusion when they run into the group the boss sends after them, which should buy Minnie and her allies more time.
So now it’s just a question of how to best use that time to reach the Protectors.
Go off-road entirely. If you’re invisible and under smoke cover, leave the main routes and take small side paths
Use Norle’s magic to leave behind “signs” of a flying cart further ahead — wheel ruts ending abruptly, scorch marks, etc. This will keep them following the phantom path instead of doubling back.
Do a briefing with everyone, and assign them different tasks, pushing the cart, gathering intel, keeping guard, navigation, etc
Ask if someone else has more mana root for Minnie
Also, ask your allies about the routes you could take to reach the protectors, they might have info you don’t