The Imperatrix Hyn is the most beautiful of all the women, let her reign be prosperous and long. In honour of Her, the uppercase will always be used to describe Her, an no other word shall be allowed the uppercase in a sentence containing Her name or title, with the sole exception for the first letter of the first word of a sentence.

Rules of grammar, Book of the common tongue, Vol 1. Chapter 2

Nay scratched her head as she sighed.

Since she was on the road leading to Leïn, her meeting other people had become a common affair. Most did not really care or pay much attention to her, whether they be soldiers on the move, guards patrolling the numerous villages, peasants bringing their grain or meat to the marketplace, even bandits had become recurrent. Luckily for Nay, none of those highwaymen were even close to the level of the Carradinoris envoys she had met at the beginning of her exile.

Those lesser bandits were the cause of Nay’s exasperation, though. It appeared as if rumours were travelling faster than she walked, and here she had found an article about a wandering knight on the road linking Gîte to Leïn. If someone made the link between this knight and the young women…No, it was too late already. Hiding her eyes and putting on her hood was useless when most people first looked at her breasts then her sword. Hiding the former was impossible, and putting away the latter, on such a busy road, was akin to suicide.

Nay couldn’t do a thing, and this is what explained her annoyance. She was ready to be called out by a guard or a soldier any day now, and she had no idea what she would do at that moment. Avoiding the roads was impossible, she didn’t know the region at all.

She missed Carle.

Nay sighed again.

She did not dare sing anymore, she could not hunt as the busy road had scared away all the game, and she was forced to stop at a tavern to buy food of lesser quality with what little was left of her gold. Really, everything was going wrong.

Nay corrected her thought, not everything. One thing was better, her Rreico. Just like during her encounter with the Carradin mercenaries, fighting the unfortunate bandits that had gotten in her way had gotten her rhythm of life back to normal.

This was the reason why Nay managed to perceive the three flying Hiveres going over her head. There were few reasons why the animal would have followed the sinuous road if it were just transmitting mail.

She had deduced those flying Hiveres were the ones used for tracking.

Nay felt that, whatever she tried, she would not reach Leïn before meeting Virnyl guards. She wasn’t delighted by the idea, and she knew perfectly well the ones that were sent her way would be comminios, the elites, the ones with the most stars, under the direct orders of the Imperatrix. Nonetheless, she preferred five Comminios to Quar Birrebus himself. He was in charge of Gîte right now so she didn’t see him pursuing her himself, but when had she been that lucky?

Nay took a bite out of the hard piece of bread. She chewed slowly. Her Rreico may have been back to normal, but she would need much more to face the guards.

Nay recalled Sage Jormun’s technique. The ones that had countered her sword and broken her dagger. She would probably never be able to reach his level of Rreico, at least not this decade, but his martial arts… The young Legio had studied the art of fighting since always, she only needed to see a technique once to remember it perfectly. She could analyse every movement, every breath.

Making it her own was another level of difficulty altogether.

But Nay had time. Maybe not much, but enough. The road was long, and a Lesardo, the only animal fast enough to catch up to her quickly, would not survive in the autumnal weather. Nay walked faster than a Yae, it would take the Virnyl guard weeks of forced march to reach her. If she forced her pace, they would never catch up, but it meant she would be unable to train, and in bad shape. If bandits attacked, or guards were sent from Leïn… No, that option was not wise.

Becoming strong enough to face an Angel was impossible in such a short amount of time. But to give the slip to Virnyl guards? This was feasible.

Nay’s plan was simple.

Train. Ambush her pursuers to slow them down. Reach Leïn and disappear into the vastness of the city.

And, in general, try to be inconspicuous.

“Little lamb, have you heard about the wandering knight travelling on this very road?”

“The one that puts bandits half-naked and all tied up on the sidewalk?”

“One and the same! And this one and the same, my fair lady, is none other than myself!”

The barmaid started laughing.

“Well, traveller, know that you are far from having her physique.”

“I’m sorry?”

“This wandering knight passed through here, a week ago, and she was much more polite than you were. Now, get your dirty paws off my buttocks, you Firante tongue.”

“What? She? A woman? You are delusional my poor lady, I assure you…”

“And I assure you that if your hand do not leave my butt now, my husband, captain of the guards of this little village, will very happily forget you inside one of his holding cells.”

The adventurer quickly removed his hands.

The tavern regulars all laughed, clearly used to such a scene.

Only one group of men wearing long dark coats, sitting down at the back of the pub, were staying silent.

“I’m telling you; it was a divine apparition!”

“Uh, uh.”

“A pack of plains Byrns, seeking blood and food, stopped by a single stare! She even petted one!”

“Of course, and you are a poppy merchant that tasted his own merchandise.”

“I swear by Ja that…”

But already, the men around the table had lost interest in him.

The merchant, annoyed, began swearing in his beard when a deep voice spoke behind them.

“I’d like to hear more.”

The group turned around, suddenly profoundly serious.

The merchant examined the stars on the stranger’s multi-coloured armour, then gulped audibly.

“Erm…I was only exaggerating, we were around a fire, so the animals certainly…”

“No. Speak.” It was an order. Giving no leeway to talk back.

“An adventurer, woman, alone, going to Leïn. I made some business with here, sold her some bread and meat. I offered her to stay the night around my fire, you know? Basic courtesy for people on the road. I admit I don’t always do this but…she wasn’t beautiful, too fit, too tall, but she had something…special. I wasn't considering anything mind you, just wanting to have a talk with someone like that to…”

“Cut it short.”

“Yes, sorry. We were talking around the fire. Well, she was asking about Gîte and I answered her. Wasn’t much of a talker that one bit like y…”

The merchant shut up, cold sweat flowing on his neck.

“Anyway, I heard Byrn howls, and quickly put more wood in the fire, you know. She asked what I was doing, and when I explained the way to prevent a Byrn attack, she just started laughing.”

“Describe her.”

“Tall, as I told you, muscular, big breasts…”

“Her face.” Ordered the man.

“She was hiding it but, at that moment…her eyes…like the clouds in the sky of spring, when the rain melts the last snows.”

“Where and when?”

“Last week, she walked fast, twice as fast as my old Yaes, going to Leïn.”

“Good. Thank you. Take this.”

A purse landed on the table, sowing a notable amount of gold coins.

The merchant looked at the reward with large, unbelieving eyes.

His comrades around the table had the same expression.

“But… don’t you want to know what happened next?”

“Not important.”

The merchant stood up.

“She laughed! When the Bryn arrived, she looked at them, moved towards one of them, told him something I couldn’t understand, stroke his head, and then they left! I asked how she did it, and she just answered that dogs were obedient creatures! You mean to tell me this is not important?”

“No. But if I was you, I would forget what happened.” It was a threat, that the merchant could not understand fully. He did not need to, as the travelling man simply knew it meant either his life or his death.

The Virnyl guard, his interest in the group seated around the table gone, left, his steps heavy, ready to break the wooden tiles of the tavern, but uncannily silent.

He strapped his long coat back on his shoulders and left the pub.

“Biach. We lost three teams in two weeks. What is this house of Lebe!?” Said the scarred man furiously.

“Chief, the wandering knight…”

“Yes, I heard the stories! You believe them?”

“It seems to fit. Our first team disappeared there, one hundred and fifty miles away from Gîte, then there, thirty miles further, then there, a hundred miles more to the east.”

“Biach.” Repeated the chief of the bandits.

“Good news is, if we look at how fast he moves, he passed us one or two days ago, so we avoided the…”

The scout screamed in agony as his chief planted his dagger in his palm, sticking it in the table next to the map.

“You are happy we avoided him!? You think what? We should be happy because we were lucky? Lucky to be cowards? My reputation is smeared, and you are relieved!?”

“Chief, please, I apologize.”

“Shut up. Boris! Boris! Come here and put this filth inside a hole for a week or two, it’ll teach him respect.”

The scout squirmed as he tried to pull out his hand from the table, but the aforementioned Boris did not enter the tent.

“Boris! Biach! Not surprising one so-called Firante knight is enough to humiliate me, if every single one of my men…BORIS!”

The tent’s door rose, but it wasn’t Boris that entered.

“Who…?” Began the chief, his hand on the pommel of his sword. He stopped when he recognized the virnyle armour.

“Lebe’s whore…”

“Do not use a goddess’ name this way.”

The bandit chief looked to the right then to the left, trying to find a way out he knew did not exist.

“Your men are under arrest, at least those that are alive. You have the same choice. Either you give us the information I want, and you shall be delivered to the local guards, or you die.”

“As if I…” The bandit chief began. He was cut off by his underling still stuck on the table.

“I can tell you everything! I’m the one in charge of intel, not him!”

The bandit chief turned around; pure anger written on his face. He moved his hand towards his scabbard.

“You traitor, you believe I’ll let you l…” His sentence ended in a disgusting gurgle, as a blade appeared out of his throat.

He fell loudly.

The Virnyl guard’s sword, already swiped clean of all blood, returned to its sheath.

“I’m listening.” Said Quar Birrebus.