For a moment, I just stood there, staring after the Pioneer and letting the adrenaline fade. I never wanted to do that again. It was more than nerve-wracking.

Then I turned and glanced around quickly before I started walking.

“Nari, that was …” Tenira shook her head.

“We need to go,” I interrupted her. “Come on. Hurry.”

Suiting actions to words, I took off at a quick pace down the street. We were still in the middle of the Zarian capital city, and while the people around us had obviously not noticed anything amiss, that protection was gone now. I could already hear them whispering.

We’d attracted far too much attention. And that was without considering the fact that Isuro’s visit would have been sensed, too. He’d been pretty discreet, all things considered, but the temple had to know what had happened. At least the basics. And they wouldn’t just let us go.

“We can expect templars to chase us soon,” I said. “Any thoughts?”

“Don’t get caught?” Elis suggested. He shivered slightly. “I don’t suppose you’ve learned how to teleport?”

“They’ll probably use multiple teams,” Ceion said. His voice was even, but I could hear some of the tension behind it. Still, he seemed focused on the situation at hand. “Some will be after us directly, some might try to guard key locations.”

I took a deep breath, then quickly pulled some light and darkness qi from my core, which was emptying alarmingly quickly, and wove it into a message. I sent it off, then crossed into a back alley, where we would hopefully be less visible.

“There’s no point going for stealth now, and we need to leave as quickly as we can,” I explained in a low voice. “That means rejoining the others. I’ve informed them, and we need to meet up and get out of the city fast.”

“That might be a bit of a problem,” Kajare said. “If they’re looking for us, won’t they guard the gates? Or, for that matter, go after the rest of our group?”

I pulled a face and nodded, while I led us across an intersection into another alley, this one heading to the district below the upper one where Vana had hosted us. “They’ll probably try.”

I continued leading us through the city at a fast pace, though not so fast as to draw too much attention. I didn’t have to pause and consider where I was going. This time, my father’s guidance actually helped. Or maybe just part of my own powerset. It could be hard to tell whether Rijoko was actively involved or not. Regardless, I managed to lead my companions through a good chunk of the city without being stopped or encountering any overt resistance.

“Nari.” Tenira quickened her step to fall in beside me. “I think I sense something up ahead.”

I paused, glancing around and questioning my own qi senses. “Let’s go around.” I hesitated, then looked at my other companions. “Keep an eye out. We need to avoid any templars we might find, and as many of the other armed thugs patrolling the city as possible.” A city in the middle of what might well be the beginning of a civil war was not the best place for this kind of adventure, I reflected.

We detoured around the suspicious qi presences and managed to avoid coming close to any temple knights after that, too. However, we couldn’t avoid everyone who might be employed by the High Temple. There were simply too many of them, and I didn’t want to waste too much time finding my way around everyone.

I paused, glancing in the direction where I knew the temple was, though I couldn’t see it from here. I’d sensed a pulse of qi, not a large disturbance, but probably more than just someone using a strong technique. I guess the hunt is on, now.

“I think I’m feeling someone familiar,” Elis said.

I smiled. Now that he’d mentioned it, I noticed the same. But I stayed cautious and kept leading the others on as surreptitious a path as possible instead of charging ahead.

A minute later, we ducked into the shadow of yet another alley, this one leading beneath an overhang of the neighboring buildings. And there we finally came upon the people we’d been heading for.

Elia rushed towards Elis like a speeding truck, and swept him into a bear hug. He looked like he wasn’t quite sure if he was under attack for a moment, before he regained his mental (and maybe physical) equilibrium and returned her embrace.

Yarani was a little more restrained, but since we were apparently taking the time anyway, she and I exchanged a short hug, too.

“What happened?” she asked. “I see you found Elis, but what was that with the qi? And where did he come from?” She tilted her head at Ceion.

“I’ll tell you all on the way,” I answered. “We really need to go.”

They followed as I started walking again. “Go where?” Lei asked, still looking at Elia and Elis.

“I don’t really know. Yet.”

“Then I assume you also don’t know how we’ll get out of the gates that are certain to be guarded?” Yarani said.

I hesitated for a moment. “Uh, we’ll need to think of something. I’m sure something will jump out at me.”

Sometimes, I wasn’t so sure what this intuition ability did to my planning skills.

For lack of anything better to do, though, we kept walking, heading vaguely towards the eastern gates. I noticed with some amusement that everyone followed my lead without much sign of reluctance or doubt. At least I wasn’t the only one to rely on it. Now if only Rijoko had warned me before this whole incident… or did he want me to talk to Isuro? I shook my head, chiding myself to focus on the situation. And I couldn’t second-guess everything, that way lay madness.

The closer we got to the gates, the narrower and less straight the streets got. Luckily, there weren’t that many people around compared to before, though it was a real challenge to avoid all the fighters or guards posted by the great families or especially the High Temple. We had to slow down more than I’d like. And all the while, I was conscious of the temple and its knights starting the search behind us.

We really needed to come up with some kind of plan or at least a basic direction. They were almost certain to watch all of the gates, with strong forces standing by to intercept or chase us, and probably likely to have the gates actively guarded, too. It might be better to go west and then slip around to our army in the northeast, but I didn’t think that basic tactic was worth it. They might actually guard the western or southern gate more closely, for all I knew.

I glanced at the group following me, considering my companions. Aston and a few other guards. Tenira, Kajare, and now Yarani. Lei, Elia, Elis, and Ceion. And me, of course. Probably too many to just slip by somewhere unnoticed. At least all of them seemed serious and intent, not exactly free of nervousness, but not about to panic. I knew this was a bad situation. Perhaps not quite the same as when I’d been trapped in a Zarian-occupied city alone behind enemy lines, but they hadn’t been closing in on me like this back then, either. Still, this group represented enough firepower that we could possibly fight our way through some obstacles, and certainly give most opponents pause.

That might work to our advantage indirectly, too, I realized. The temple wasn’t going to send out small teams unless they just wanted to scout or to slow us down. They needed concentrated striking power of their own.

“We’re almost at the northwestern gate,” Elis said. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, shaking his head. I was starting to get concerned about his energy levels. “Any closer, and we’re going to encounter watchers.”

I sighed. “Alright. I think we need to get the lay of the land. Li, go scout ahead. Tenira, do you think you can get some info, too?”

“I’ll do my best.” Tenira kissed me on the cheek, then headed off. She walked slowly, not going too far.

She’d be using her techniques more than actually trying to sneak around. I would have asked Lei to do the same, but he wasn’t as good at the stealthy stuff. It made me want to join in, but I exercised my patience and contented myself with waiting. At least we’d found a pretty secluded spot, in a dead-end corner between some high tenement buildings. It was dim and stank faintly of rotten vegetables, but that probably worked to our advantage.

It didn’t take long for Li to return, and a few seconds later, Tenira came back as well. “Not good news,” she said, grimacing slightly. “There are definitely temple fighters watching the gate. I think at least two distinct groups. And there might be others that are better hidden.”

“I counted the same, my lady,” the guard agreed. “They also have a complicated array of wards on the gate itself and the surrounding stretches of the wall.”

I ran a hand through my hair. Why couldn’t this be one of the cities where the walls had stopped being used and fallen into disrepair while the city expanded outside them? Instead, Saria had only built new walls when it expanded. Well, they did have a lot of historical incentive to guard against monster attacks here. No matter, we’d have to work with this. We’d gotten past the disused inner gates earlier today, but that wouldn’t help now.

“Could we get past it?” I asked.

They hesitated, and the others exchanged glances. “I don’t know,” Tenira answered. “Honestly, I don’t think so.” She looked questioningly at Li, who nodded. “Even if we could blast our way past the defenses, it would just slow us down enough for them to get us. And if anything can get the disunited factions of the Zarian high-tiers out to fight someone besides each other, Imperials starting a fight in their city probably could.”

“Alright.” I shook my head, frowning in the direction of the gate. “Let’s walk around a bit, get a different look at it.”

In reality, I felt a little uneasy, though I tried not to let it show. I didn’t feel any kind of impulse to do something improbable, or even stupid. I didn’t get any sign of Rijoko giving me a tip. That just left an unpalatable situation with an unknown but steadily ticking time limit.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like my idea to go around helped. I didn’t get any sudden bursts of inspiration, and the gate didn’t look any less formidable from a different perspective, when I occasionally managed to catch a glimpse of it as we wound our way through narrow alleyways and back passages.

A few minutes later, I slowed down, then stopped. It felt like there were too many people around, and people that were too strong. I couldn’t get a good read on which of them might be following our enemies’ orders, and it was getting impossible to avoid all of them. I tried my best, winding my way back roughly perpendicular to the direction we’d come from, but that only took us closer to the streets funneling the stream of traffic through the gates to the surrounding town and villages in the countryside.

Suddenly, one of the guards, who’d been keeping watch a little farther out, popped up closer. “There’s a group of temple knights coming,” he reported. “I think they’ve sensed us.”

I cursed and turned to go the other way, then hesitated. There was a stronger group of probably templars there, too. Instead, I turned again, hurrying down the street and into a side alley.

The next few minutes where what you might call a game of cat and mouse, if the cat had gotten cultivator’s herbs and the mice were running around high on drugs, and they were playing in the middle of a dog school or something. I tried my best, but there were several close calls, and we were definitely attracting more attention than I wanted.

“Look out!” Elia called, pulling on my sleeve.

I veered to the side, glancing back just in time to catch a spray of icicles splashing against the stone wall of a building behind me. I cursed, then jumped up onto the roof, ran over it, jumped onto another, and dropped into a narrow passageway that led out into another back alley.

“I closed off that route and made it inadvisable to fly above it,” Aston reported, just as we turned onto another covered walkway.

“Great,” I said. I didn’t have the attention to spare for anything longer, and instead plotted the next two or three turns. We were steadily getting farther away from the gate, not that we realistically had any chance of sneaking through it now.

The next time we managed to catch a break, I headed straight westward. We were in what I might call a primitive shopping mall, winding our way through customers and shelves of wares in a large, sprawling building. Our group didn’t all take the same exit, but we emerged into a plaza that led into another passage crossing southwest.

“I think we shook them off for now,” I said. The sensation of our pursuers was fainter, and they appeared to have lost our scent among the bustle.

“Good,” Tenira said. “But what now? We don’t have much time until someone finds us again.”

I exhaled heavily and kept walking, though we were now setting a more moderate pace. She was right. I had no idea how to get through any gate like this, and going in without a plan clearly wasn’t working. Why didn’t Rijoko help? It was his enemies who were threatening me, and he’d already shown he didn’t want me falling into their hands. Well, maybe he’s busy with something else. There were enough changes happening in the mortal world that I knew had to be impacting the spirits’ affairs.

Then it hit me. I groaned and pressed the balls of my hands against my eyes for a moment. Of course. He didn’t help me get out through a gate because I didn’t need to go out through one of the city gates.

I stopped and turned to the others, beckoning them closer towards me. “I’ve never done this before,” I told them. “But the situation is definitely providing a tribulation that needs a new ability.” I glanced at the guards. “Li, can you lead the others to get lost in the city and lay low here for a while? The fewer people I have to take with me, the better.”

“Of course, my lady,” the guard responded, bowing. “They won’t care as much about us if they’re trying to hunt you down elsewhere, anyway.”

I nodded and watched for a moment as the guards, except for Aston, blended into the crowd quickly. Then I closed my eyes and focused.

Spatial qi was tricky, but I did have the ability to use it, like any other kind. And it was tricky for everyone. So I calmed my mind, trying to forget we were in an exposed location in an enemy city, and only focused on the task, and on the qi around me.

For a few minutes, it seemed like I would never manage it, and fear tried to creep in to disturb my efforts even further. But I gritted my teeth and sank farther into my meditative state, grabbing onto the feeling of my connection with Rijoko mentally, anchoring myself in the knowledge that I could do this.

For an endless second, I wrestled with qi and the world around me. Then the world twisted, space around me and my companions bunched and shivered and layered itself, and the destination burning brightly in my mind’s eye advanced through it and into reality.

I staggered, clutching my head, a part of me laughing at the Zarian for not warding against teleportation out of their city. My head pounded like an old drum and I felt the contents of my stomach coming up. But when I opened my eyes, the buildings of the city around us were gone, replaced only by my companions staggering around and the occasional tree.