Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

All the progress I’d made was washed away and I was left terrified of my impending death. Through instinct I had leaned on the temporal ring, which meant watching as the discs hurtled towards me at a snail’s pace — fast enough that I knew that I couldn't dodge it, yet so slow an eternity would pass before it reached me.

Run. The thought was a scream that rattled me. My heart hammered and I wanted to move, to escape, to run, but I knew that it would be futile.

In that unending moment I was surprised that I managed to make myself stop.

Freeze, but there was futility attached to the thought, enough rationale that the instinct didn’t have much weight. If I froze then it was certain death, and I’d come too far to die today — I’d fallen from a hundred stories and fought a fucking bear.

So fight?

Fight led to gun which was at my hip. I let go of my mental acuity as I reached for the pistol. Behind me I felt a massive burst of motion as Surya’s wings opened — I’d forgotten about him, but that didn’t matter. The discs — wreathed in pink-purple light — were so much closer, electricity starting to run over them. I prepared to shoot just as Surya flapped his wings; he wrenched me back as the gun went off, the bloom of fire smacking into the ground as I was hauled off my feet.

Dust fluttered up as we caught the air and rode back. Surya’s wings were powerful, but bearing my weight meant he couldn’t dodge as quickly as he otherwise would. I could see another flap coming and I used the circlet, decreasing my weight; another burst of motion followed, so severe that it flipped my stomach. Surya hadn’t been expecting me to be so light so quickly and had overcompensated, but it meant we successfully dodged the discs.

Jaslynn threw the other two around her while pulling those she’d thrown to orbit around her.

I pulled back the hammer and levelled the gun, the bang rocking me as fire hurtled towards the disc. Jaslynn only needed the slightest of shifts and her projectile jumped, spinning over the ball of fire and not losing an ounce of moment as it came towards. Surya flapped once more, but he wasn’t faster than the disc. It was catching up and I could only imagine what would happen if he was shocked and couldn’t control our flight.

Panic started to find purchase and I leaned on the ring, giving myself time to work through the feelings and think of a plan. I had only known Surya for three days but I already liked the guy and didn’t want to see him hurt or killed.

Why does it feel like you want to jump? a scared part of me whispered, and it was with a yawning dread that I realised that that might have to be the case. My armour protected me against electricity. I didn’t know the upper limits, but it wouldn’t get Surya killed.

This isn’t smart. Remember. You can’t let yourself die. You have to get home. It was the main reason you took the risk to run in the first place, because you didn’t want to die in this unfamiliar world.

True, but that hadn’t been all of it. I sure as fuck didn’t want to die and I wasn’t planning to, but now that I was here — fuelled by the adrenaline of another near-death experience — I couldn’t help but reflect on how awful it had felt knowing that people were being harmed by my mere existence, all of the ways that I had tried to look past some of the shitty aspects of this world, telling myself they weren’t my problem and convincing myself to play along.

Caring came with the crushing weight of responsibility, and some part of me had known that that would be my undoing; but with only instinct as a driver…is this the true me? Am I the self-sacrificing type? How can I be self-sacrificing when I’m so terrified? When I don’t want to make the sacrifice on a rational level?

I had to focus. It took a bit of juggling, letting go of my mental acuity and shoving my hand into the satchel. There was a lot of stuff I had to dig through, all while watching as the disc got too close before I found it. I slipped the lizard-leather mitt over my already gloved hand.

“Let me go!” I said and Surya did without a hint of hesitation. He let me go and flapped his wings, darting away. Jaslynn didn’t care about the Falconer and her discs didn’t waver, hurtling towards me. My left hand went out in a sweep just as the disc hit, crackling loudly and letting out a current that made me seize; but my ploy had worked, my hand had clapped against the disc and closed.

Jaslynn’s weapons were dark, almost black, on the thinner side but bolstered by three types of celestial gems — gravitational, electricity, and earth. I wasn’t sure about geology, but the lizards hadn’t cared about whether they were moving through celestial gems or rock, only making paths with their magic. My hand spasmed, clenching and unclenching, sliding into the disc — I was surprised to see that it too was stone — and through the delicate network of diagrams and gems.

I was left quivering and panting as the discs’ magic faded, but a further off part of my mind remembered there was another disc still coming at me. A spasm moved up my arm, fingers opening and closing while my legs shuddered. I couldn’t reel and couldn’t think about my next move before the second disc slammed into my chest and sent another shock of electricity through my body.

No scream could leave me as I was pushed back and then down, the disc grazing my armour in its spin as it sent me plunging to the ground.

Shoot the gun, a whispered thought came, but I couldn’t. The electricity had stopped but there were still remnants of shock, my body not moving under my conscious control.

Under the moon’s light I saw a bird — too big — it couldn’t be Superman because he didn’t have wings, so Hawkman? The thought felt too ridiculous and a giggle slipped past.

Hawkman solidified into Surya, wings tucked and flying at speed. The disc leapt to cut him off but he spun, moving so he was under before his wings opened and I was wrenched away.

Before I could get any good sense of what was going on, Surya heaved and then shot up, flying strangely with his wings opened, coasting instead of flapping for height and speed. I met the ground and hit moist grass, sliding back until it clicked that I should increase my weight to increase friction. Above me Jaslynn’s glowing disc flew up after the Falconer — between the distance and manoeuvre she must have thought I was still in his grasp.

Smart bird-person, I thought, which was probably offensive. My mind seemed unmoored, connecting everything in a free association mess, but it managed to put some things together. Surya had said that he’d stolen his own life, what fucked up history did he have?

The thought disappeared and the moon took its place, large and silver, with three craters that I hadn’t noticed before today, very close to each other, spots of darkness against the glow of the moon.

You’re still being attacked, a distant part of me thought. You should be more panicked.

I tried to move but didn’t have the energy, so I settled back, only breathing deeply. For a moment I was distracted by the roar that passed through the night, not an animal, but a rumble of earth much like the man Jaslynn had fought. Had that guy lost and been killed? His weapons given to Latimer or Anthony? Was I responsible for his death in a way?

“I don’t want to think about that.”

I wanted to think about the good. Grandma when she told stories of her growing up; Daniel who got interested in the weirdest of things and then just lost interest as quickly as they had formed; Anda who would be going to Cape Town to try his hand at becoming a rugby player; and Rollo who had silently kept me company in an unfamiliar world better than some people.

My mind touched on the nights of travel, spent using the goat as a warm pillow.

“Rollo, come,” I said, because I felt so tired and sleepy. He appeared while sitting, coming to a rise and then sniffing at my hair. Rollo started to chew on it, adding a throb of pain that seemed to narrow my focus.

“Smart idea to run, isn't it?” I thought, then, “Head down.”

It surprised me that Rollo read my mind. I rolled with it, grabbing his horns so he could pull me up. A snort left me.

“Do you know,” I said, “stuff like this, me being transported into another world, it would be the things of stories.” I found my feet. “And if this were a story, then this would be the climax. I made my daring escape, the consequences are here but if I get through then I’m done, y’know?”

Another bout of laughter left me as I stumbled back, hand opening when I’d meant it to close and leg seizing as it tried to catch my balance. I couldn’t keep myself up and sat heavily against the ground.

“I just remembered another Usher song,” I said before muttering, “Going nowhere fast, we’ve reached the climax. We’re together, now we’re undone; won’t commit so we choose to run——”

I stopped as something slapped into my face, wet with spit. A frown marred my expression as I grabbed at the spot. Looking at Rollo I could see that he was chewing. I focused on the thing in my hand, a piece of rolled up paper surrounded by twine.

“Guess that’s that,” I muttered, shoving it in a pocket. Rollo closed the distance again and helped me up. It took a bit of doing before I sat high up, looking down onto the world. The others, I thought for a moment, before I leaned on my spatial sense — I knew where the densest number of people were, but they were spread apart more than I’d been expecting.

“Smart idea to run, isn’t it?” I said again and my flight instinct chimed loudly at the back of my mind. It took me back to the mines, when they had been so strong that they had pushed all thought aside and compelled me to move. I’d certainly come far, hadn’t I and why did that keep surprising me?

“This isn’t the time to run,” I said and kicked Rollo into a gallop, heading towards Surya whose flight made him a presence I could detect.

***

The terrain had changed. Where once it had been flat and grassy, now the earth rose to form a maze. People went through the landscape, mostly in groups. I didn’t have the sense that they were trying to escape because only a few of them walked the high walls.

Surya flew in a wide loop, so high he was a figure cast in shadow. It had to mean that the others had been caught in the maze and he was trying to free them. There were a few people who had escaped the arena, almost all of them on foot.

I kept my distance, moving around but getting closer.

A figure riding a horse galloped in my direction. I wanted to think that it was the others but I didn’t trust my luck. Rollo and I turned, taking a wider arc. The figure changed direction, coming towards me.

Fuck.

I kept track of Surya, running parallel to his flight path. Rollo and I broke cover as Surya swooped, I glanced up, hoping he’d see me. He didn’t, instead he changed direction in a spin, flying up and becoming shadow once more.

My tracker was catching up. I glanced back and saw them, bow pulled back and arrow ready to fly. It wasn’t with any real aim but I turned back and shot wildly; the archer’s arrow was loosed and it went low. Rollo stumbled and slowed, doing his best to keep to a gallop and failing.

Double fuck.

I fired wildly, more shots as Rollo slowed to a walk. The archer was forced to duck low, trying to regain control of his horse. Above, Surya dove in my direction and was forced out of the manoeuvre as a pink disc shot towards him; within the maze I felt another figure drifted smoothly to a higher elevation — that would be Jaslynn.

Both of them would have heard the shots and were now coming for me.

“Rollo,” I said. “Keep running. Go to the blighted horse.”

That’s where you should have gone in the first place, I thought, irritated at myself. Wait for the others there instead of coming here to be one more liability they have to look after.

As seductive as it was to give the thought more weight, I pushed it aside.

I used the circlet to boost my jump, landing in a roll and coming up to see that the archer had readied another arrow; time slowed but the arrow had already been loosed, hurtling through the air in my direction. Distance saved me, I leaned to one side and landed in a roll. I came up again to feel an impact on my shoulder that made me stumble back, almost falling.

The earth shook beneath me and whatever balance I was starting to regain disappeared. My shoulder twinged as my arms went out to guard against a fall. The arrow had hurt but hadn’t punctured my armour — lucky.

The archer, Latimer I realised, hadn’t stopped. As spooked as his horse was, he’d kept it running forward. He pulled back the reins and the horse reared back before stopping.

Latimer smirked. “I honestly thought you would have run, Champion,” he said. “I heard you were not much of a warrior.”

I swallowed, trying to think of a way to get out of this. Surya was in the air but I didn’t think he’d be able to save me without getting shot. If there was a way out of this then it would have to be through my own power.

He snorted. “Though I would not blame you if you ran. Lady Jaslynn has been out of sorts since you left her. She might have taken it personally. It would get me in her good graces if I ended you here and now.”

“That’d be a bad idea,” I said. “You’d get Jaslynn’s favour but Allyceus and Odysseus would hate you.”

“More than they loathe you?” he said. “I found that doubtful.”

“I’m a Champion,” I said. “They have no choice but to swallow whatever resentment they have because they need me.” I swallowed. “But that isn’t true for you.”

“Careful, Champion,” he said, a sly danger in his voice. He was ahorse but he held his bow as if he was ready for any hint of movement. “It sounds as though you are attempting to threaten me.”

“Not attempting,” I said, feeling as Jaslynn’s path changed as she was assaulted. Latimer was supposed to have a sensory ability, but I hoped it wasn’t so refined that he could tell it wasn’t his ally who was coming. “Outright telling. If you take me back I’ll use whatever power I have to make your life hell.”

His expression flickered, so quickly I might have missed it if I weren’t using the temporal ring. Latimer covered it up with a sly grin, his eyes like daggers as they looked down at me. “You had very little power in the first place,” he said. “You’ll have less when the night is done.”

“Maybe not direct power,” I said. “But indirectly that’s something else. Trust me, I’ll blame a lot of people for being back in the castle, but you’ll be the only one I’ll be able to hurt.”

“If the positions were reversed then,” he said, “would you let me go?”

“If I were you, with the little I know about you? I don’t think I’d have it in me, but maybe I could get something out of the entire deal.” I saw the flicker of interest. “Swiftwind. You were interested in it when I showed it to Anthony. You’re more of an archer, but artefacts are an honour not many families have.”

“If I were to let you go I would be committing treason.”

“Only two people would know about the treason,” I said, “and you stand to benefit a lot more. What do you get while working for the royal family? You’re already set to become a knight but what else do you have to look forward to? This is something tangible you can bring to your family.”

Another shudder ran through the ground. Latimer’s horse reacted and he shifted to get it under control. I seized the moment, bringing up my gun. Latimer was faster, nocking an arrow and letting it slide off before I could bring the hammer back; my shot still went off but a scream ripped out of my throat as an arrow slid through my armour and into my arm.

The neigh of a horse cut through the air as it reared. Latimer had to abandon his attack, trying to regain control of a hurt and panicked animal. It didn’t seem like he was winning. After a nasty rear he toppled off the horse, hitting the ground but already rolling so he wouldn’t be trampled.

My gun pointed at Latimer — Are you really prepared to kill him?

An eternity passed before the gun pointed left of the horse. A ball of fire rolled out and the horse went to the right. Latimer screamed as horse hooves met his arm, bending it at an odd angle. The horse bolted while Latimer gritted his teeth, trying to get to his feet.

Pained shot through me, starting from my arm, but I had to push through it. The circlet decreased my weight and the armour helped me move. I got to my feet, sensing a group of people who were moving on higher elevations, likely using the tops of the maze to get out; Surya was above everyone else and he carried a passenger — Luther, hanging on for dear life.

Surya kicked as the pair neared the ground, bowling Latimer over and earning a scream through gritted teeth. Luther let go of Surya’s arm and kissed the ground as he landed, muttering a prayer to the Fates.

“You’re hurt,” said Surya. I tried to speak and no words came out, my head felt light. The ground shook and I almost fell. “That will be Marcus. A young man in the service of his Majesty, the King of Althor, has placed a price on your head. Marcus could not be happier because it was an excuse for battle.”

I swallowed. “Sorry,” I said, the words tight. “I—”

“Go to the horse and goat,” Surya interrupted. “That is where we’ll meet. Fight anyone who nears unless it’s me coming from the sky, mage you will be able to detect me, yes?”

“Yes,” Luther said.

“I’ll be back with Ji-ho to tend to your injuries,” he said before he took a step back, grabbing one of Latimer’s arms and then taking off before the squire could back.

“Do you need help?” Luther asked, his voice hollow. I nodded and leaned on him. “Light.”

“Circlet,” I told him, my voice pinched and my brow lined with pain. “What…what happened in there?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he said. “I was…well…Hatim came to find me moments before the entire inn was destroyed by an earthquake. Marcus’ hammer…it’s a very powerful artefact, reminiscent of the Sonorous Hammer.”

“The Son—” I stopped as I sensed someone in our path.

Luther stopped and changed direction.

“You have a spatial gem?” I asked.

He nodded. “I have a piercing on my person,” he said. “Secreted away so that I can perform rudimentary magic. Every mage does something like that, even the grand mages. Though I cannot replicate what they can do.”

“Why not?” I asked, because his talking helped keep my mind away from the pain that started in my arm and shot through my entire body.

“I have to be able to build diagrams in my body,” he said. “Move the celestial energies to direct the magic. But there is a difference between written diagrams and those in the body, they have to be simplified, which means being taught how to shuck away all the excess information that forms a part of diagram writing.”

“Rollo,” I said as I sensed the goat. He was still alive but there were people closing in around him. “Come.”

The air rippled and the goat appeared, breathing hard. Rollo walked alongside us, making sure not to put too much weight on his hind leg which still had an arrow sticking out of it.

“You sensed that,” said Luther. “Those people around the goat. I didn’t even realise that it might be him.”

“I have a spatial stone,” I said. “A marble really, but it works.”

“Who are you?” Luther asked. “Why do all these people want you?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” I muttered.

“But…you can’t be. The Champion is on Malnor island,” he said.

“I ran,” I said. “The guy with the broken arm is one of Sir Norbert’s squires.”

“The king’s huntmaster?” Luther said, surprised. “If they’re hunting us, it’s only a matter of time before they find us again.”

I hummed. We reached the blighted horse and I felt the unease of seeing something that felt like it should be dead. Rollo and I sat heavily while Luther paced.

Time became a twisted mess, drifting in and out of it in a welcome reprieve from the pain my mind just couldn’t get used to. It felt like Luther kept teleporting, but I had to remind myself it was because he was pacing. I smiled as I remembered that I had been like that when I’d first come into this world.

“You did good,” I muttered.

“What?” Luther said but I had already drifted away.

I was disturbed from the darkness by an unyielding voice, almost sweet. My eyes opened and I saw her, Jaslynn, three glowing discs around her with Anthony behind her, dressed in dust covered armour.

“Stand aside and you will not be harmed,” said Jaslynn. Luther stood in front of me with his arms held out ahead of him, shaking as he held the sceptre.

“Shimsha!” Luther said, the air shimmered above Jaslynn and Anthony; a pink light covered the distance in the blink of an eye, striking Luther in the chest and throwing him back. His spell, though, continued, darkness becoming swords that fell at an angle. Jaslynn grabbed too of her disc and darted away. Anthony was not as lucky. He started to run and wasn’t fast enough, his armour protected him but there were a lot of swords and knives — some of them broken — and they slipped past his guard to get at skin.

He fell and the sound of metal against metal reverberated for a few seconds before silence followed.

“Are you alive?” Jaslynn asked.

“Yes,” Anthony whispered, the words laced with pain.

Jaslynn swore. “The Fates damn you, Champion,” she spat, coming to stand over me. My gun, I thought but my arm felt too heavy. Jaslynn stood in front of me, favouring one leg and moving her left arm strangely. She’d been hurt by the guy. “How many have been hurt because of your idiocy?”

“Fuck you,” I whispered and Jaslynn’s eyes opened wide. “This isn’t my fault.”

“Is it not?” she said. “Would this have happened if you hadn’t left, if you had followed the plan?”

I snorted. “You suddenly care about people now?” I muttered, delirious. “Fuck off with that, Jaslynn. You don’t care about anyone except you and your friends — and maybe you don’t even care about them.”

As quick as a flash, Jaslynn closed the distance, grabbed me by the neck and lifted me with ease. My eyes scrunched shut and the pain in my arm burned with new energy. I did my best not to scream and didn’t succeed. In the aftermath I was a heaving mess.

“We treated you as one of our own,” she seethed.

“You fucking tried to kill me, Jaslynn,” I said, shouting. “You shoved me in front of a spider that could have seen me dead.”

She laughed. “That,” she said. “You hold that against me when it was my very act that grew the balls you use now to speak to me with such disrespect.”

Anger joined the pain. “Fuck you,” I spat. “Fuck you and all the stories you tell yourself to make you feel better. You didn’t make me strong. I fucking did that. What you did fucking messed me up, it’s something I had to work past to get to this point.”

My breathing came in pants but a bitter laugh left me.

“I think I see it now,” I said. “What you are. Your master probably hurt you and you told yourself it was training, that it was to make you strong. No, Jaslynn, that’s not what was happening. He hurt you and now you’re just like him.”

Shot in the dark when I didn’t know Jaslynn that well. Jaslynn screamed and threw. I was sent flying and another scream ripped through me as I rolled and stopped on hitting a tree. Half my face was against the ground but I could still see Jaslynn, moving one of her discs and making it spark.

“Disobedience deserves punishment,” said Jaslynn. Slowly, she started to move the disc towards Rollo who tried to get up but was in too much pain.

“Rollo, come,” I whispered. He appeared at my side.

“Your meagre resistance is futile,” she said, stalking towards me.

“You like to bring pain to others, don’t you?” said Ji-ho. Jaslynn stopped, turning towards the woman carrying a bo staff. “Do you accept the same fate?”

“The monk with the yellow staff,” said Jaslynn. “Do you know that you are something of a legend?”

Ji-ho shrugged. “It comes with the territory,” she said. “Excising the rot to root out the blight onto this world. I do not know you, but I fear you might be part of the sickness.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” said Jaslynn.

“Neither do I,” Ji-ho returned. “But if I’m forced to, I will.”

Ji-ho had only finished the words when two discs hurtled towards her; her staff spun and beat them aside, but the things changed direction, coming for her again. Ji-ho was fast, staff batting and striking, augmenting her movement to get distance; within one set of motion I saw a vial appear from within her sleeves. She drank it without missing a beat.

A disc slammed into Ji-ho, sparking with electricity. The woman screamed but it wasn’t from the pain. She moved with new speed, her staff forgotten as she closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Ji-ho struck and Jaslynn failed as she tried to parry the attack — Ji-ho packed too much of a punch. One motion into the other, mixing strength and speed. Jaslynn called forth a disc to spark with electricity but it only added to Ji-ho’s berserker energy.

Every hit seemed to make Jaslynn reel, making her slower to react and her expression warping in pain every time she tried to defend herself or pull back her discs. Ji-ho was a healer and a fighter, she probably knew how to hurt just as well as she could heal them.

A sickly crack rang through the air as a leg broke, Jaslynn screamed. She started to fall but Ji-ho stopped her by grabbing her neck and lifted her up, squeezing.

“Ji-ho!” a voice said. “Stop.”

Ji-ho stopped, breathing hard.

Surya, Hatim and Marcus stepped into our little clearing, carrying weapons and our bags, the horses following behind them.

Marcus had been the one who spoke. “You have done enough. Spare her.”

Ji-ho let out a breath and let Jaslynn drop. She reached into her sleeves and pulled out a vial, downing it in one go; her expression twisted and she worked her shoulders and hands.

“I’m going to be working off that potion for a while,” she muttered. Ji-ho winced as her eyes moved from Luther to me. She went to the spatial mage first, checking his pulse. “Thank the gods he’s still alive.”

Hatim helped me up and again there was a lot of pain. “Should I give him the relief elixir?” Hatim asked, his face caked with dust. “It’s only an arrow from the looks of it.”

“He was hit by electricity earlier on,” said Surya, coming to stand over me.

“It should be fine,” said Ji-ho. “Do it.”

“Rollo,” I muttered.

“The goats of Susserton are hardy,” said Hatim. “Don’t worry about him.” He reached into one of the bags, pulling out a vial with a growing green liquid. “Down it.”

The thing was the bitterest thing I’d ever tasted, threatening to rise back up, but after I’d swallowed it the heat of the pain started to dull and my thoughts came faster.

“Should I pull out the arrow?” Hatim asked.

“Do you trust your healing skills?” Ji-ho asked. Hatim nodded. “Then go ahead.”

Hatim looked at me. “Even with the elixir there’ll still be pressure,” he said.

I looked away because there was pain from just seeing him cut the arrow. My eyes moved to Marcus who was carrying his own potions, moving them not towards Luther but to Anthony. The squire seemed frozen as he looked at the much bigger man.

The wet sound as the arrow was pulled out made my stomach turn so I focused on distant conversations.

“Drink,” Marcus ordered. I expected resistance and there wasn’t any. He moved over to Jaslynn who was on the ground, frozen in fear and anger and loathing. Marcus’s shoulders were heavy as he stood before her.

“We’ll have to take off your armour,” said Hatim, which meant I missed what followed. When I was free of my armour I saw that Jaslynn didn’t look in as much pain, and there were potions beside her.

“We’re going to have to move,” said Surya. “Between the damage and one of the princesses—”

“Prince,” I corrected.

Marcus stopped and turned to me. “Prince?” he said. Right. I wasn’t sure if Allyceus was out to everyone yet. I shrugged. Marcus nodded, his expression hard to read.

“Well,” said Surya. “There’s going to be a lot of trouble behind us. The farther we are from civilisation the better.”

“A few minutes and then we can be off,” said Ji-ho. She came to stand on me, smiling as she looked at the wound. “This is a very good injury, Khaya,” she said. “Clean and the healing should be simpler. I’ve had a new variant of a salve I’ve wanted to try out, it should cut healing time in half if there aren’t any complications. I’ll need your permission before I can apply it.”

“Go ahead,” I said, the words a drawl. My body had suffered too much and I felt tired. I blinked and it took a lot of effort to open my eyes again. “But take care of Rollo.”

“Your goat will be well taken care of, Champion,” said Marcus, the last thing I heard before I let myself drift.