“Let’s have breakfast as we walk. We can have a real dinner, later. I hope you still have at least some of the ration bars, do you?” Scarlet asked, after they passed the gates of Albertina, passing a curious looking guard.

“Yes, I have.” Keera answered, taking her bag off as she walked, pulling a bar out, like Scarlet did. Eating such a bar only took a few bites and the taste didn’t invite one to savour them, so before they even managed to get to the forest, the bars were gone. Scarlet kept going towards the river, slowly increasing their speed. She had a couple of ideas to get away from possible pursuit, just in case Telram or the Doctor had nefarious plans for them. She dropped Cyca’s crystal and, as soon as they reached the river, started to increase her pace, until she had a comfortable speed, almost moving at a jog. She wouldn’t be able to keep it up the whole day but at least for some time she would manage. It was a little reckless but she trusted herself to deal with the monsters that appeared in the green areas. She remembered that there had been a small brook coming from the west, somewhere further north. It would take most of the morning to reach it, even with the speed she was pushing, but she thought it was their best bet to make their tracks vanish.

Keera ran after Scarlet, the pace punishing, her longer legs forcing her into an uncomfortable gait, wondering why the other was in such a hurry. After an hour of jogging, Keera felt herself flagging, but forced herself to push on. She had a feeling that Scarlet was testing her, pushing, maybe punishing, her. Her sleep during the night had been strange. There had been nightmares, some of them more disturbing than others. She had started to dread sleeping, due to nightmares over the last few days, ever since going into the wild with Telram. In town, he had been friendly and even charming, but once he had her in the wild, he had changed. An involuntary shudder passed over her when she remembered what he had done to her.

But there were also the nightmares featuring Scarlet and her bloody knife, those confused her to her core. She just couldn’t understand why she was having them, Scarlet had never acted against her. Sure, the smaller woman was abrasive and curt, but compared to the things Telram had done to her, she was a regular teddy bear, sweet and cuddly. And there was something else, something that had made Keera listen up. When Scarlet had talked about her past, there had been sincerity in her voice, sincere compassion, as if the other truly knew what Keera was feeling. As if she knew the feelings of helplessness and disgust, not only with her situation, but also with herself, for being too weak to defend herself.

Keera’s thoughts faded, as her body started faltering, her mind solely occupied with the arduous task of setting one foot before the other. Part of her wanted to call out, but there was the fear that Scarlet would simply leave her behind, too useless to be taken along, too weak to survive.

Scarlet focused on her own running, at one point, there was a crystal monster homing in on them and she made Cyca dispatch it, with haste. It was another of the rat-types that seemed to populate the forest in huge numbers, and for once, Cyca got direct orders how to fight. There was to be no mercy, no care for her own wounds. If necessary, Scarlet would use the solution from the Doctor to heal her, but speed was key.

Cyca jumped the rat, claws out and started attacking without holding back, not even trying to dodge the feeble attacks the smaller being tried, pressing her advantage to the extreme. The rat got a few bites and scratches in, before it flickered out of existence and Cyca devoured the energy that remained before picking up the crystal and catching up to Scarlet who had never even slowed down. Speed was of the essence.

Some time later, Scarlet heard a crashing noise behind herself, turning to find Keera splayed out on the trail behind her. Frowning, she turned and walked back, her breath going in deep gulps, to get enough oxygen into her body. She got to Keera’s prone body and after a few moments, her breath was controlled enough to talk.

“Are you still alive?” she asked, while carefully kneeling, so she wouldn’t stress her trembling legs overmuch. Keera’s breathing was even more laboured and a quick check told her that her pulse was racing and next, she heard a groan coming from the other. Scarlet stood back up, her world trembling for a moment, while Keera started to move, pushing herself to her knees, and forcing herself to her feet. Scarlet quickly grabbed her when she started to sway.

“Why didn’t you say something?!” Scarlet asked, her voice scolding.

At the same time, she stretched her mind, guessing that Keera’s mind was still confused and disturbed, possibly allowing her to get a glimpse at her thoughts. She doubted that the collapse had been played, as some sort of distraction, but she couldn’t know.

Keera was blinking owlishly, her mind too out of it to think about the question asked, so she answered without thinking. “Didn’t want to slow us down, didn’t want to get left behind.” she mumbled, her mind still not quite booted up.

Scarlet found Keera’s shields tattered, not fully anchored, allowing her to get a glimpse into the others mind and what she saw calmed her. There were a few strange thoughts and mental images, some of them featuring her with bloody hands, some of them featuring her without clothes, some of them featuring her with both, making her wonder just what Keera was thinking about. But everything she could see told her that Keera’s submission had been genuine and that fear was driving her. She knew that, if she wanted to survive as anything other than a sextoy, she needed Scarlet.

Scarlet quickly retracted her mental probe, before Keera could realise that it had been there and spoke. “You slowed us down more by collapsing. I will not leave you behind, not without a good reason. Now, slowly, but move.” Scarlet ordered, watching as Keera placed one foot before the other, not yet fully stable but it seemed she wouldn’t instantly collapse. But it was fine, they had managed to move for almost two hours, covering almost as much distance as they had covered during a day of sneaking through the forest. It might have been reckless and risky, but it had paid off, the small brook Scarlet was aiming for was only a kilometer or so away.

That kilometer took some time, even as Keera’s legs stopped shaking. Scarlet passed the brook at first, continuing their path for some more time, changing their direction into the forest, going deeper into the forest for some ten minutes, deliberately breaking twigs, ripping off leaves and leaving a few more tracks. Then, on a small clearing, she stopped Keera in her tracks, telling the other to carefully move back, mostly on their tiptoes, to avoid leaving more tracks.

Keera looked confused, but obliged. Walking back those ten minutes, meticulously caring not to disturb the tracks they had left on the way in and making sure not to leave more, they got to the river. Scarlet backtracked some more, until they found a fallen tree, hanging into the water.

“Strip.” Scarlet ordered Keera, while taking off her own clothes, packing them into her backpack while ordering Cyca into her crystal and letting Crysna out. When in water, she wanted to have her snake at the ready.

It took Keera a split-second to obey, but obeying she did. Only a few moments after Scarlet was ready, Keera was, too. With Crysna leading the way, Scarlet slipped into the water, using the fallen log almost like a ladder, to prevent leaving tracks going into the water. Crysna looked for a good point to cross, while they moved further downstream, wading in the hip-deep, for Scarlet, water. Before they got to the brook Scarlet was aiming for, Crysna found a decent crossing, so Scarlet moved to the other side, continuing her path there, still holding her pack on her head.

Once they got to the brook, Scarlet continued her path in it, staying in the water and moving against the flow, away from the Alb for almost twenty minutes before leaving the brook, still careful not to leave tracks.

“Good, that should have taken care of tracks. I doubt that it would be easy to follow our trail. Even if followers guess that we used the river to shake them, that leaves a lot of places to search.”

Keera only nodded, her mind understanding Scarlet’s action in hindsight, realising that they were designed to shake pursuit from Telram. She felt a weight lift from her shoulders, a weight she hadn’t even realised had been there, taking a deep breath, before thanking Scarlet.