Rane fought back the urge to laugh. He didn’t want to give in to superstition, but the circumstances he kept facing made it difficult. Was he truly cursed, or had he done something to these people that demanded punishment? Something so deeply damnable that meant they'd never relent. Leylin had come looking for him in the capital while Caelus reached all the way to the northern mountains. Just where could he go to be safe and live in peace? He decided not to care anymore. All he could do was try to survive.

“Wear your hood and follow me,” Rane said as his bird took flight. He turned around and went down the alley, but he didn’t run. Nobody should know what he looked like.

“You can’t escape,” Linde hissed through torn lips. “If you let me talk to Caelus, I can help get you out of this.”

“Your father is out to kill me and you tried to hide it from me. I’m done trusting you.” Rane took longer strides. They had to get as far away from the Nost family's building as possible. His vision overlapped with the bird’s view, and he used it to pick the least crowded roads to follow. The previously sprawling streets and alleys became a simple map with him at its center.

“I wanted to help you. You have to understand. I’m the best chance you’ve got.” Linde pleaded from behind him, but he was having none of it. It was obvious at this point, that her desires didn’t align with those of her family, or her father.

“Be quiet,” he said. He was about to turn a corner when he spotted a figure around it… waiting. The bird was too high for him to make out details other than the person's cloak. Were they after him? Could they already track his movements? He felt for his sword and signalled for Linde to stop.

Consider everyone an enemy.

The hilt felt rough under his grip. He kept walking and pretended to look forward. His heart beat wildly as he set foot on the intersection. A dagger came slashing faster than his eyes could follow it. A clean and ruthless attack, aiming for the kill. He leaned back and under the blow, slashing out with his sword at the same time.

The cloaked woman took a step back to dodge. Her eyes went wide, and they both stood still. Drops of clear liquid dripped from the tip of her blade and onto the stone below. The two of them spent a few moments like that, observing each other from a distance. Then she turned around and ran without a word, figure vanishing between stonework.

Rane rubbed his neck. He had expected an attack, and yet barely dodged out of the way. “I thought the birds had to be within a certain range of their user. How do they know where I am?”

“It’s because of me,” Linde said, almost apologetically. “We’ve created artifacts to track each other’s magic. As long as I’m with you, you’ll never escape.”

Rane leaned against the side of a building and let his head hang back. He could already see, through the bird’s eyes, hooded figures heading towards him. There were seven… No, more than a dozen. He could abandon Linde and try to make it out on his own, but she knew what he looked like. A treacherous thought crossed his mind. He could kill her. Then he could use the birds to escape capture. Rane’s insides twisted again. He had vouched to change the world, and instead he was succumbing to its ways.

He righted himself as a hooded figure rounded the corner, dagger in hand. No attempts to hide or ambush this time. “Protect me.” Rane pulled his own hood a little tighter over his head and unsheathed his sword.

Linde’s head tilted in anger. “As you wish.” She turned to the assassin, white mist rising from her palms.

Rane turned around to face the man who was about to enter the alley. He held his sword levelled with his nose and counted breaths. His fingers felt for the moisture in the air. On the third he lunged, catching the man by surprise. A wide swing, to dictate the man’s movement. Then a sharper, shorter one to get him to step back. Rane brought the chunk of ice crushing down. He slammed his foot down on the hand that was holding the dagger and hit the man’s head with the hilt.

On the other end of the alley, Linde had already buried the threat under a pile of rubble. Rane just hoped she hadn’t killed the man. “Come,” he said. “We can’t stay still for too long or they’ll surround us.”

They left the alley and changed course. Rane followed crowded roads this time around. If he couldn’t hide, he could at least give those after him a rough time. They drew some eyes on them, but not enough to rouse suspicion. “What would you do in my place?” Rane leaned close to Linde and whispered.

“I’d kill you.” Dark mist leaked from Linde’s lips. “Dispose of the one thing that can lead to me.”

“Not an option.” Rane hastened his footsteps. There were people in the crowd that seemed to be following them, and they were getting dangerously close. “There are guards in the city, I’ve seen them. What if I turn to them for protection?”

“Then you’d die in a prison instead of a street. The reach of a Pureblooded family is too great.” She paused. “You could take part in the Flames.”

Through the bird’s eyes, Rane saw a handful of men waiting ahead, blending with the crowd. They were trying to surround him. He took a sharp turn into a narrow alley. “What good would that do?”

“To ensure the safety of all apprentices who will participate, the King has appointed two archmages. There's a lot of incentive for mages to try to… soften up the competition in favour of their apprentices. But with Veradin and Atinas acting as protectors this year, there is no chance anyone will make a move. Not to mention that if by some miracle you win, you’ll have the entire capital’s attention. It will be impossible to harm you."

Rane jumped over a crack on the street and went back to running. He considered the idea. The competition could buy him some valuable time to formulate a plan. "What do I need to do to participate?"

"It's a master's job to handle the registration. You just have to give consent."

"It seems you're in luck." Rane smiled. "You get to have me as an apprentice after all."

“Grand.” Linde faked excitement.

Rane decided on a new route, a populated one that led to the central district. Caelus’ assassins had already changed their course and were headed in his direction. The number of people after him only kept growing as they poured in from every part of the city. Meanwhile, Rane’s mind raced for ways to get out of this situation. Avrid was his only contact in the capital, but he’d need time to find him. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to, as it’d endanger the man greatly. “Wait…” Rane mumbled under his breath. He stopped and turned to Linde. “You said they can track your magic?”

“Yes. Caelus has created devices that–”

“Release your nora,” Rane ordered. Caelus’ men were gaining on them. Just two streets away now. They didn’t have enough time. “All of it, quickly! Use spells!”

Linde resisted at first, attracting the dark mists of her Oath on her body, but quickly succumbed. She spread her hands and the formless energy lashed out above, whipping the stone of the buildings around them until it cracked. Rane pressured fire in his palm. An assassin rounded the corner and was met with a wave of flame that filled the street.

“How much– longer?” Linde groaned through the chaos.

“I said all of it!” Rane grabbed her by the arm and ran back, towards the crowded street they had walked before. Linde’s violent magic started weakening.

“I’m gonna… faint…” Linde mumbled and dragged her feet.

“Damnations.” Rane hauled her up by the waist and kept running. He could feel a few drops of her blood soaking the clothes on his back. If he had to get her soulburned to escape, he’d do it. “Just do it! We can get you–”

Rane responded to the sword slashing at him a beat too late, tilting his upper body to the side. The blade cut through Linde’s arm and part of his thigh with a cold sting. As the man guarding the crowded street behind him readied another swing Rane threw Linde at him. The leftover magic crackling in her fingers made him bleed and Rane stepped out onto the street among the shocked passerby.

“They’re chasing us!” Rane palmed his own wound and screamed at them. “Please help us!” He grabbed Linde from the ground and hauled her over his shoulders while the man scoured on the ground for the sword he’d dropped. Involving innocent citizens stung his heart a little, but he weathered it. Even though he asked for help, he didn’t expect it. If the eyes of the crowd could be drawn to his pursuers, that’d be enough. To his surprise, a couple did try to intercept the man chasing after them.

“You… Little shit…” Linde’s magic vanished and she fainted on top of him.

“I’m sorry.” Rane whispered to himself as he pushed past people’s backs and shoulders. His mind raced as he checked waists for hidden weapons. Hopefully getting rid of Linde’s magic would make her untraceable. But where could they go? Avrid would be endangered and might even alert the authorities. No, they had to vanish entirely.

Rane had the birds fly high and scouted ahead. Amid the ocean of white and gray stone he spotted a patch of lonely green. A park could work. They wouldn’t endanger anyone… but it was out in the open. They’d be easy to spot by the Nost’s network of hornets. He turned the mechanism’s gaze elsewhere, toward a part of the city where the walls were sunwashed and the buildings crumbled. Linde stirred on his back, mumbling under her breath. Despite his training, it was hard to carry her while running through the crowd and his arm muscles had already numbed.

“Hang in there,” Rane said, both to her and to himself. He left for a narrower road and out of the crowd, aiming for the seemingly abandoned buildings. To his right, scantily dressed men and women looked on in shock as he ran past, probably much more used to customers and passersby taking their sweet time. On the left, a drunkard stopped moments before they collided. Rane almost tripped over another on the ground as he took another sharp turn. Someone gripped his arm and stopped him from falling. Rane turned to look over his shoulder, gathering fire in his palms.

“You got coin?” The burly man stood under a wooden, knocked out sign. Behind him was a short building that had seen better days.

“Yes,” Rane panted. Linde had plenty on her still.

“Twenty a night.” The man let go of his arm. “You got it?”

“Yes, yes!” Rane nodded hurriedly and scanned the road with his hornet. There were no signs they’d been followed, but that could change at any moment. He reached into Linde’s pocket and fumbled for the gold, handing a good chunk to the man. Probably more than twenty, but being ripped off was the last of his concerns.

The man shoved the coins into his pouch with a smile that showed two golden teeth. “Go in. Second floor, fourth room.”

“Thank you,” Rane whispered back and carried Linde inside and up the small flight of stairs as fast as his wound would let him. With the adrenaline of the chase fading, he could feel the fresh blood staining his clothes and the sharp pain on his leg. He just hoped the weapon wasn’t laced in poison.

The inside of the building matched the outside. It was crumbling and in disrepair, with webs, dust and cracks spreading on the walls. Rane struggled to make out the number over each door with what little light made it up the stairs. He pushed theirs open with a shoulder and almost cried from joy after seeing a mattress on the ground. Linde groaned when he let her body flop down onto it. After closing the door and locking it with the key already on the keyhole, he collapsed with his back against it. He let his head hang back and panted away some of the exhaustion.

“What happened?” Linde brought a hand to her face and rubbed her temple. “Where are we?”

“I found us shelter.” Rane pulled up one of his pant legs with a pained hiss and inspected the wound. Under the orange glow of the room’s oil lamp he saw the blood clotting and the bleeding lessen. He’d lived through much worse, but the stinging pain was starting to get to him. “Pass me that bedsheet.”

Linde looked down at the fabric in disgust even as her hands moved. “There’s quicker ways to get it infected.”

After seeing the grime and stains up close, Rane agreed. It must have been years since that thing was given a good clean. Then again, by the looks of this place, hygiene wasn’t the selling point. “How’s your arm?”

“Fine,” Linde twisted it to check. “Shallow cut.”

“Good. Keep your nora nearly spent,” Rane ordered again, and a faint glow appeared on her hands. “Don’t want you attracting unwanted attention.”

“This isn’t going to mislead my father for long.” Linde coughed a little. Despite having wasted almost all of her magic, she was in a much better state than Rane had been when he was soulburned. The rate at which mages regenerated their nora really was different.

“Well, what is?”

There was a weird pause in the conversation. He could almost read Linde’s thoughts on her trembling lips, feel her trepidation in the air.

“Thank you,” she said, “for choosing not to kill me.”

“I didn’t do it for you,” Rane replied, getting up. “I just don’t want another death weighing heavy on my conscience.” He looked around the barren room, opening the sole door inside that led to the bathroom to peek inside. No windows anywhere. Made sense. The view from the birds circling the shabby building were also clear.

“Also, you’re useful to me. I need a mage to vouch for me so I can participate in the Flames.”

“Right.” Linde stared at the floor and fiddled with the hems of her clothes. They’d seen wear after weeks of travel, and the brilliant colors had dulled from it. “I thought I could help you. I just don’t understand anymore. I don’t understand anything.” Tears swelled in her eyes and she bit her lower lip. “My father may be fierce and harsh, but he is not a murderer.”

“But you are.” Rane offered no sympathy. Only a person who’d claimed a life before could act like Linde had when faced with Loric. She was ruthless and cold, but he could be too. “You deserve worse than what I’ve done to you, so stop crying.”

“I was trained this way.” Linde sniffled as darkness gathered around her. The Oath knew neither rest nor pity, and soon Linde simply trembled and stifled her sobbing. “Just who are you?” she asked and looked up at him with swollen eyes. “To have so many people after you...”

“What happened to the man who came looking for me?” Rane responded with a question of his own. The way he understood it, Caelus and Leylin were enemies.

“I don’t know.” Linde coughed again, and the nora on her hands grew thin. “But if he did fight against the first archmage, I doubt he survived.”

“Veradin, right?” Rane sighed as he sat onto the mattress as well. He leaned back and the softness swallowed him, bringing with it a weight to his eyelids. No matter how hard he wished for it, he couldn’t believe that Leylin died. It’d be too fortunate an outcome. “Tell me about the powers in Silyra.” If he was going to survive in this city, he’d have to learn who pulled the strings.

“Three major forces govern the kingdom and are mostly equal in terms of status and influence. The king and the royal family deal with trade, the military and taxes. A body of several archmages is in charge of meeting the capital’s energy needs, as well as agricultural development and several fields of research. Generally, each archmage and the organisations they support have a wide range of activity. Lastly, the Lawforge acts independently from the other powers, with both a legislative and enforcing role.”

“Organising the Flames is part of those activities, I imagine.”

“That’s right.” Linde shifted a bit on the mattress, then laid down as well.

If Rane hadn’t known her exhaustion first hand, he’d question the move. There was just something different about resting a tired back on a bed, no matter how crude. “Could I seek patronage from one of the archmages?”

“Normally, mages of that stature don’t take apprentices.” Linde blinked forcefully a couple of times. It was clear that expelling her nora was draining her. “But weirder things have happened. You could–”

“Stop talking.” Rane pressed a finger to his lips and closed his eyes. Using one of the birds hidden on a ledge, he saw two men stopping next to their building and conversing with the burly attendant there. “You should make the damned things able to hear too.” Rane tried reading their lips, but they were too far away for it. He did understand what the attendant meant when he raised an arm to point to a nearby alley. The men went down that path and Rane exhaled softly. Seemed like the extra gold hadn’t gone to waste. “We can’t stay here for long. Is there a range out of which you can’t be tracked?”

“The artifacts do have a certain range, but it depends on the user’s sensitivity. If Caelus himself were to use them…”

“Damn it all.” Rane huffed. The birds of the Nost family alone would be difficult to evade. If they were paired with a compass, it’d be near impossible. “We’ll lay low for a while, then head to the arena you mentioned.”

Linde simply nodded, rubbing some of the tiredness from her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Stay awake and keep an eye out,” Rane said as he laid to his side, wincing a little as the cut pressed onto the sheets through his clothes. “If you notice something amiss, wake me up.” Despite the exhaustion, sleep eluded him for hours as the shadows cast on the walls by the lamp took on many different forms. Today had been a grim reminder of how it felt to live in fear and on the run. Leylin tormented him just by existing, and whatever twisted circumstance had made Caelus pursue him with such frenzy also made it so he couldn’t feel safe in this little room. Two of the most dangerous mages alive were looking for him.

The only difference being that the one planning to kill him loomed close.