“Ris be blessed for giving this day,” said Surya, his voice momentarily sucked up by a huff of wind as he landed.

I swallowed, my hand fidgeting over the grip of my gun; the circlet sat on my head and the temporal ring meant I could think through strategies in case things went south. I wouldn’t be able to take them if we fought, but after everything I wouldn’t take it lying down — though I prayed to my ancestors I hadn’t made the wrong decision trusting Surya.

Four pairs of eyes were set upon me as I closed the distance, three hard and clouded with mistrust, while the last shook nervously.

“And who have you brought us today?” asked a long-haired and bushy-bearded man. It was still morning and the group was still at ease. The man was widely built, with a big belly covered in tattoos; he was tall and had a muscular frame, with thick arms, calloused hands and nails that had been chewed instead of clipped.

Beside him sat a hammer, built large in the way gravitational gems allowed: with a head as large as a boulder, diagrams anchored by earth and gravitational gems sprawling out through its blunt surface.

“As have you, I see,” said Surya, his eyes going to the man who looked a little out of place. He smiled, big and warm, communicating calm with his eyes. “The loud bangs we heard last evening, our friend Khaya, was the cause. He is a former pirate from Ishaka.”

Ishaka was one of the further off continents from the Commonality. It hadn’t been a part of my research because there was so little information about the continent in. It also hadn't been part of my lies to Surya.

He had named me Champion when we’d first met and I’d lied without missing a beat, but I doubted he’d believed me.

We’re all running from something, he’d said and I had to hope that was enough for this to not be a thing.

“Why are you wearing a mask?” the sole woman of the group asked. She had a narrow frame, though it was hard to see beneath the dull red robes layered over her. The woman had jet black hair, cut so it was short at the back and longer at the sides; her dark brown eyes shone with sympathy as she took me in. “Have you been disfigured by fire? How old is it? If the injury is less than a year I might have salves that will reverse parts of the damage.”

“Perhaps introductions are in order first,” said Surya. “Companions, I would like to introduce Khaya the Bear Slayer and his riding goat, Rollo.”

“Well met, travellers,” I said with an incline of the head.

“Another nobleman,” said the last of who felt like the main group. He was brown skinned with wavy hair tied in a bun, his beard was full but not as long as the large guy. “The gods have surely blessed us,” he muttered sardonically.

“Khaya,” said Surya. “You are in the company of Marcus,” at this he pointed at the brown-haired man with the tattoos, “Ji-ho of the Sisters of Solemn Serenity,” he gestured at the woman, “and Hatim, Keeper of the Blighted Horse.”

Hatim hummed, his expression becoming disapproval. “I’m many things, friend,” he said, “I do not like being known only for the horse.”

“Yes, you are many things,” said Surya, “but when they are all in your heart, not known to us, what else should I call you?” Hatim shrugged. “By Ris, I apologise, young man, but I don’t know who you are.”

The guy, thin and gawky, with a sharp face and wide eyes, swallowed, his eyes not finding anyone in particular. He cleared his throat. “I…uh, I’m Luther,” he said. “A…traveller.”

“Our dear Luther is a spatial mage on the run,” said Marcus. “He escaped from the train we’ve seen sign of for the last month.”

“Another one?” Surya said. “It seems that tales of the mass exodus were no exaggeration. Have you eaten breakfast yet? Khaya and I left early so we would not have to track you.”

“I was preparing broth,” said Hatim. “It will be a while before it’s done. Come and sit, new friend.”

“Perhaps I can look over that injury of yours, Khaya,” said Ji-ho. “The others have made peace with my experiments. If you are to stay with us for any amount of time, unfortunately the same will have to be true for you too.”

I cleared my throat, feeling awkward. “It’s not an injury.” My attention turned to Surya. “Just…a precautionary measure so I don’t get mistaken for someone else.”

“The people of Ishaka have dark skin,” said Marcus, “and you have a dire goat from Susserton. It has been a while since we were in Fleetwood, but even here stories of the Champion have reached us.”

I swallowed and nodded. “That’s who I don’t want to be mistaken as. It’s a lot of responsibility,” I said with a chuckle, keeping to the lie I’d told Surya.

Ji-ho sighed. “I really would have liked it if you had been burned,” she said. “But thank the gods that Goddess Mara’s gift was not used to harm you.”

“We should sit,” said Surya, “telling tales of our adventures to pass the time until we eat, and Hatim, Khaya has been so generous that he carved some meat from his hunt so we might feed your horse. How long has it been since last it ate?”

“Three weeks,” said Hatim. “Thank you for your gift.”

“Can I see it?” I asked. “I’ve only heard snippets about the Blighted Lands, but I don’t know what a blight is. It’d be cool to see.”

“Cool?” Hatim asked.

“I’m very interested in your travels, Khaya that you would know that term,” said Ji-ho. “It was a fad that passed through the monastery at one point, heard spoken by a nobleman who had come to us to heal his nephew.”

Grouping up with people might have been a very bad idea, I thought, because all the things I’d learned were working against me.

So I decided to say, “A noble couple took me in as their lover. In honesty, that’s half of why I hide my identity. I don’t want their friends to find me and send me back, we didn’t part on the best terms.”

Another lie I wasn’t sure about, but I was starting to get the sense these guys would roll with whatever. I wondered if that would also mean it would be okay if they ever found out I was the Champion.

“Let us eat first and then I’ll let you see the horse fed,” said Hatim. “Blights are said to be tainted beings, their presence hard to wash, and they should not be visited before one eats.”

“Which is superstition and mysticism,” Ji-ho put in. “Whatever disease destroyed the lands beyond the Great Barrier Ridge was more limited than people seem to think. It is the beasts which were blighted that became a problem – ravenous and powerful things, near deathless from all we have seen with that horse of yours.”

“It would be a thrill to walk those lands,” said Marcus, smiling unabashedly. “I hear the greatest of dire beasts still roam those lands, some blighted and thus twice the challenge in battle.”

My stomach twisted at Marcus’ words. For a moment he reminded me so much like the princes – the curly brown hair and brown eyes, the way he seemed to slouch in a way reminiscent of Odysseus and the shine in his eyes so similar to what I’d seen in Allyceus’ eyes before the hunt in the mines of Malnor.

The box was in my satchel, but its weight was heaviest in the pit of my stomach.

“Let us sit and eat,” said Surya. “Enjoy each other’s company before we travel.”

“Don’t go too far,” I told Rollo after freeing him of his saddle. “I’ll call you back when you’re needed.”

Rollo walked off. The others had already gone to sit around a pot that hovered in the air, fire gems set in four positions around it and meaty broth bubbling within.

“That’s a very big hammer,” I said, trying to start a conversation.

“Don’t say it,” Hatim muttered.

“Some might even say he’s overcompensating,” Ji-ho joked.

Hatim groaned while Surya and Marcus laughed. “I once thought that joke would never get old,” he said. “How wrong I was.”

“It is an old artefact,” said Marcus, “before diagrams could be written small. Large weapons were needed for all the intricacies.”

“It’s beautiful work,” said Luther. “I don’t understand all of it, but the bits I see paint a fine picture. There are some redundancies and false trails, but not so many that it becomes overcomplicated.”

“Spoken like a true mage,” said Surya.

“Only a technician,” Luther said looking down. “And not a skilled one at even that.”

“You were good enough to pass through the schools when you’re common born,” said Marcus. “That speaks to you having some intellect, does it not?”

I snorted a little bitterly. Everyone had turned to look at me. “I can see it,” I said. “What Ji-ho meant when she said you come from the nobility.”

Marcus laughed and I held my breath, hoping he wouldn’t take offence. “Oh? Please tell me. It is frustrating knowing you have a tell but knowing its dimensions.”

“It’s…” I stopped as there ran through my mind the impulse to pause, factoring in hierarchies and where I fit in, and what it would mean to say the wrong thing. It took work to push the words out of me. “The backhanded compliments, calling someone out without calling them out. That was the first thing I was taught.”

Surya laughed. “He speaks the truth, friend,” he said. “Though you are better than when we first met.”

“I shall endeavour to be better,” said Marcus, standing and going to his stuff to put on some clothes. “The Fates mark my words.”

“Why aren’t you a mage anymore?” I asked Luther. “If that’s something you feel up to answering. Being a mage seems like a cushy gig.”

“Certainly not as ‘cushy’ as being a concubine,” said Hatim jokingly.

“It takes more work than you’d guess,” I muttered, thinking about all the mental and emotional labour of my time in Althor — it seemed more tiring in retrospect.

“You should not overlook the work it takes to please others,” said Ji-ho, her expression turning to chagrin. “Look at every pleasure house we pass through, the marks men of wealth leave behind when they are displeased. Their service is a hard one, that you often do not notice is testament to that.”

“Forgive me for misspeaking,” said Hatim. The words felt sarcastic, but everything else about Hatim seemed earnest.

Ji-ho took a deep breath and said, “Forgive my passion.”

“Passion when fighting injustice is a good thing,” I said, shrugging. “Whatever that means coming from a stranger. There’s a lot of stuff we overlook as menial when they’re actually the backbone of how the world works, people that should be protected that we don’t because we look down on what they do. Speaking up means something.”

“You might have found a good one,” said Ji-ho. “Unlike Patrick.”

“Patrick,” Hatim muttered and he spat off to the side.

“May the Fates craft a dull and boring existence for him,” Marcus muttered.

“Who’s Patrick?” I asked. Even Surya looked offended by the name.

“Let me tell you the tale of Patrick,” Surya spat and with rapt attention Luther and I listened.

***

“This is the first time I’ve seen a blight of any kind,” said Luther.

The animal stood deathly still, not even breathing. It was skeletal, with only enough corded muscle that it didn’t fall apart; the meatiest bits were around the head, chest and stomach, everything else bare.

“Is it dead?” I asked, because that was the feel I had looking upon the blackened muscle. The horse didn’t smell, expecting the stench of death and rot. Its stillness was unsettling to watch for extended periods of time.

“Asleep,” said Hatim. He had a bug of meat and he walked close, pulling out a pound and eating and nearing it to the horse’s mouth.

“Horses eat grass,” said Luther. “How does this one eat meat?”

“It feeds on celestial waters,” said Hatim. “Wherever it might get it. Beasts that eat meat seem to hold more celestial waters than others.”

The horse began to eat, chewing meat with teeth meant for grass. There was enough flesh around its throat that its food slid down, only visible as a lump that made its stomach jitter as it settled. Hatim continued to feed the horse and even as its stomach bulged he continued to feed it.

“Isn’t it going to burst or something?” I said, wincing as the stomach skin stretched.

“Rather he uses the energy to heal some of the wear and tear,” said Hatim. He continued to feed his horse, its stomach-skin continued to stretch until a wisp of white energy started to seep out of its bones, concentrating around joints and starting to add more muscle.

“Healing magic,” I said.

Hatim nodded. “The stories say it was Healers who brought the Blight – seeking immortality. There are rumours they succeeded, but cursed themselves in the process.”

“There are people like this?” I said.

“So the stories say, but no one’s seen them,” said Hatim. “I’m done, we should prepare for our departure.” He pulled the horse back towards the camp site.

“Why do you stow it so far away from the others?” I asked as we walked back.

“It spooks untrained horses,” he returned.

“My horse,” said Luther. “It’s an old thing that isn’t meant for war. I was lucky she was sold to me, though she took most of the incomes I’d saved up.”

“I’m noticing that we never got to why you left the spatial order,” I said. “Sort of got distracted by Patrick.”

Hatim spat off to the side.

“Opportunity,” he said sadly. “I thought that becoming a mage would mean wealth and a rise in social status. This would have been true, but months back I got into an argument with a noble student. The atmosphere changed and my mentors began to ignore me, but there was still some hope. Then things got worse. A grand mage who had taken a liking to me committed treason and was executed, some mages in high positions disappeared and those places that opened up went to those of noble birth.”

“And then the guy you’d had a disagreement with became your boss?” I asked.

Luther nodded. “My field was changed without my knowing. The mage classes I was set to take were full and I would now become a technician. It was a though for a moment I could see the future and knew what lay before me — a life doing boring work while trying to pay off the debts I had accumulated through my study.”

“Would it have been so hard to be a technician instead of a mage?”

“It is as you said to Lady Ji-ho,” he said. “Work that is menial is looked down on, the same is true for technicians. They hold the travel network together, but because there are so many of us, we can be easily discarded.” He laughed bitterly. “My friends and I have often joked that that is why the spatial order has so many commoners in its number.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true,” I said.

We reached the camp where the others were saddling their horses.

“Rollo, come,” I said and the goat appeared with a ripple and a sigh.

“Oh, so that’s what that does,” said Luther. He stepped forward towards Rollo and the goat brought down its head. Luther stopped, his eyes wide. “Oh. Oh no.”

“It’s okay, Rollo,” I said, getting close and brushing his neck. “Just don’t mess with it.”

“That’s quite the artefact,” said Marcus. “Especially something so large and alive.”

“My patrons were generous,” I said.

“Whoever crafted this did not want it to be deciphered easily,” said Luther, his eyes on the band around Rollo’s neck. “Lines leading away only to come together in ways that are surprising.” He squinted. “And there’s something more, fine additions I might need an eyepiece to see clearly. May I see your arm?” I showed him the bangle that allowed me to call Rollo and caught Ji-ho staring at my temporal ring, “and this is what draws the goat to you, but it’s activated by words?”

I nodded. “Is that strange?” I asked. “I’ve seen mages who say spells.”

“There are different types of spells,” he said, “those which serve as mnemonic devices. Do you know the term?”

I wasn’t the only one who nodded.

“It seems I am the least studied of my companions,” said Hatim. “I don’t know this word.”

“A word or phrase used to aid in remembering information,” he said. Luther stepped back. “Ah-lahs,” he said, his hands apart. The air rippled and a loud sigh reverberated as a sceptre appeared, made of gold and silver, topped with a spatial gem. “The phrase helps me remember how to shape energy within me so that I might make the call.”

“What are the others?” I asked.

“Only one other,” Luther said with a manic sort of energy. “An oddity as they often exist in magic. There are certain phrases that are considered words of power, something you say that can call a magical effect into being.” The energy left his eyes and darkness took its place. “High Magic was something I wanted to unravel on my path to become a grand mage, but that is unlikely to happen now, unless…”

He stopped, looking at us. Luther swallowed, his wide eyes going to the sceptre which was no doubt stolen.

“Shal-ha,” he said and it disappeared.

“Most of us are thieves of one kind or another,” said Surya. “My very life was stolen as I left my service. You will not be judged.”

Marcus nodded. “This hammer was stolen,” he said, slapping it and jostling his horse. The animal was big and muscular, but not enough that it should have been able to carry both Marcus and the hammer; there must have been gravitational magic at work. “And the tale is thrilling. I might regale you as we travel.”

“We haven’t decided where we’re going,” said Ji-ho. She had a lot of bags on her horse, as well as a bo-staff made of a yellow wood. “We have to think of our new companions.”

“Where were you going before we met?” Surya asked.

“Susserton,” I said.

“Me too,” said Luther.

“Quite fortuitous, that is our heading too,” said Surya.

“Susserton is a big place,” said Marcus. “Perhaps we’re heading in the same direction.”

“That’s…complicated,” I said and a similar sentiment ran off Luther in waves.

“We’re heading in the same direction at the very least,” said Ji-ho. “We’ll go our separate ways when we have come to that crossing.”

Marcus and Surya told stories to fill the silence of the journey; the former telling tales of his past adventures while the latter told stories of fighting pirates in the Sky Courts.

It would be hard and politically complicated, but I was free now and I could travel there if I wanted to. The thought almost made me burst out a chuckle. I restrained it, but I felt myself wearing a dopey smile until it disturbed by a sigh from my satchel.

Will you say nothing? Will you not explain why you have chosen to abandon and betray us? Do you know what this means?

I looked at the others, my stomach turning and my good mood gone.

We stopped at noon so Hatim could pray. He unrolled an intricate looking blanket, took off his shoes, shirt and made sure he didn’t have any weapons, then gave thanks to Matron Sky for raising the Youthful Sun into manhood.

I used the time to think and finally decided on what to say.

The promise when I arrived in this world was that there was a chance of me getting back home. I never trusted that it would be held up — not if I was being honest with myself – but Odysseus all but confirmed that’s never going to happen. This world was never my own, but I think that if things had started off on the right track — if I had been treated like a person, listened to instead of overlooked and foisted into a box — then I could have been eased into seeing it as my own.

Ancestors know that even with how bad things were, it still hurt so much to leave you guys behind.

I know it won’t mean anything, that I’m leaving you in a shitty situation, but I really am sorry for leaving you behind.

But it felt like the right thing to do.

I put the letter in the box and watched as it disappeared.

The response was almost instant and by text alone I could see that it had been written in anger, the ink not given time to dry.

No Champion has ever returned home. We are your only option.

A deep emptiness yawned in my stomach, my eyes started to burn as my lips trembled. It hit hard hearing it from someone else, knowing that my hopes were very likely non-existent.

Fuck you, I thought, the emptiness becoming anger.

Then, because I felt fury I wrote: Rowan’s quite knowledgeable in spatial magic.

They were lessons they’d taught me, words meant to hurt them as deeply as they had me. It wouldn’t make our relationship any better but it felt good — right.

And then it didn’t as I thought of the consequences. Allyceus would have to marry some guy and probably go back to presenting in a way that wasn’t right for him; Cybill wouldn’t have free access to who she loved; and Odysseus would have to marry even though that would make him less.

“Fuck,” I muttered. I hated that I cared. But this was the right move, for me and for the commoners in Althor.

***

Hatim prayed three times every day. In the morning he prayed to Mother Ocean who birthed the Youthful Sun into Matron Sky’s embrace; in the afternoon to the Matron Sky for raising the Sun well; and in the evening wishing the Old Man Sun a good death and reunion with Mother Ocean. Surya prayed to a wooden statue that looked like a peacock but only on windy days, this down with his wings open so the air moved through them. Ji-ho didn’t pray, but had a necklace with a lizard on it, its tail wrapping around so it formed a circle.

Marcus was an outlier.

“I prayed enough when I was younger,” he said. It was three days after I had met the group and though I was a little uncomfortable being in public, we were at an inn. Marcus brought up his mead, spilling a bit on the table. “This is my prayer now. The Fates made all — the ingredients that would become my mead and finally the intellect that would put them together. This is as much a prayer as anything the priests say. The Fates gave us one life and it should be enjoyed in its entirety. Speaking of which, I see someone who has long been eyeing me. I think I should gift her with my presence.”

I snorted, by expression turning. It was nice to share that expression with Ji-ho.

Music and high conversations filled the air, giving me a heady feeling even though I hadn’t drunk all that much. More than one set of eyes turned our way but it was because of Surya’s wings rather than because of me. It felt good to be invisible, but I’d still taken precautions, having Rollo spend the night in the woods with the blighted horse instead of being in the stables – both people and animals didn’t like blighted beasts, and I hoped that would be an extra layer of protection from predators or scavengers.

“I hope he doesn’t turn this into a fight,” said Ji-ho. “Do you care for a dance, Hatim?”

Hatim took one last drink from his mead before he accepted the offered hand and the two were off.

“Go,” said Surya to Luther. “She obviously has an interest in you.”

“Her interest is work,” said Luther, red staining his cheeks.

“Then give her work,” said Surya. “Is it coin you don’t have?”

Luther stammered. I reached into my purse and pulled out a half-Tahl, giving it over. “I couldn’t,” he said.

“Teach me about spatial magic,” I said. “Service for coin.”

Luther thought about it then nodded. “But it will do you no good without a spatial stone,” he said.

“I’ll figure it out.”

It still took a bit before he gathered his courage and walked over to one of the women at the bar. They smiled as he neared. He said something and then he was led away.

“This is great,” I said after another drink of my mead.

“Are you unused to it?” Surya asked. “Were your patrons not the type to visit inns and taverns.”

I shook my head. “They preferred me secreted away,” I muttered, still with resentment from the last letter I’d shared with the others. “This is the first time I’ve been able to breathe in a while.”

“Then breathe it in,” he said. “Perhaps a dance?”

“I don’t think I could dance like that,” I said. “But…I don’t know maybe this doesn’t mean anything for you since you fly, but I’d really like to go stand on the roof of this place.”

Surya laughed. “Why?”

“Not too long ago I fell from a great height and survived,” I said. “I don’t exactly love heights, but…I don’t know, I feel better when I’m up high.”

“I think I understand,” he said. “Let us go.”

The night was warm, with the moon drifting towards the centre of the sky. The inn wasn’t too tall, but it was enough. I eased gravity and scaled up, making better time than I would have been earlier in the month.

It took Surya one flap of his wings before he landed and joined me.

We settled into silence, the sounds from downstairs dulled as it drifted up.

“Do they come off?” I asked. “The wings?”

“No,” he said. “Not mine. Do you know that your armour heals? The first time I saw it, it had been scratched by the bear’s claws, but the mark is now gone.”

“I know,” I said.

“My wings were made with magic similar to that,” he said. “They were grafted onto me when I was young and they have grown with me.” He opened them wide and closed them again so they settled on the downward slant on the other side.

“Does that mean you moult?”

His expression turned but he nodded. “It’s a very uncomfortable feeling,” he said. “But the new feathers that appear are more vivid in colour and better able to sense the shifts in air currents. I sometimes wish my entire body could experience a similar process, reset the dulled impulses we have to suffer through.”

I snorted, turning forward so I could see in the distance. Three horsed figures rode through the darkness towards the inn. “Maybe it’s because I’ve never experienced it before, but I think I’d give that a miss.”

Surya chuckled and spread his wings, they quivered with the breeze. “A storm’s coming,” he said.

“Yeah?” I said, watching the trio as they got closer. Two guys and a woman, and as they reached the light I recognised all three of them.

Jaslynn with Anthony and Latimer — Norbert’s squires.

I hit the slider and rolled back, bumping into Surya’s wing as I hid on the other side of the roof. There was no telling if they’d seen me, but whatever the case I needed to get the fuck out of here before things turned to trouble.

Pink lit the night and my heart almost stopped — I knew what was coming.

I reached out and grabbed Surya’s arm, letting gravity take full effect as we fell back. Thankfully the man didn’t fight me; he tucked in his wings, turned and let us fall. Two of Jaslynn’s disks appeared not soon after we’d gotten down and sparked, missing.

Surya opened his wings and slowed our fall. I helped him by decreasing my weight. We landed on the ground behind the building with a stumble.

How had they found me so quickly?

I leaned on the temporal ring to slow things down, think things through.

We’d known that we were being chased but we hadn’t known who-by or how many were in their numbers. When we’d split up we’d thought it would force them to choose to go after the princes, leaving room for me and Jaslynn to disappear, but they must have told the squires to go after the third group — probably with their own messenger box to keep in contact with the others.

Anthony and Latimer must have been on our tail, they must have found Jaslynn after her fight with Hammer Guy, and together they would have given chase instead of waiting for the others to finally arrive.

The letter taking so long must have been intentional too, giving me a false sense of security so I would think I had more time, and I’d fallen for it.

“I have to go,” I said. At least I had my satchel and the most important of my stuff. “Thank you for the last few days, but—”

I stopped and looked up as I felt someone fly to the rooftop, then saw the pink light. Surya followed my gaze, seeing Jaslynn as she settled delicately on the rooftop, and her eyes meeting mine — eyes that promised exquisite pain.

With a heave she sent all four of her discs spinning towards me.