“Arduin!”

Thane was shaking his friend’s shoulders to wake him, and after a moment, Arduin’s eyes flew open and he jumped to his feet before seeing where he was. Thane only looked surprised, and called again to his friend.

“Nightmare?”

“Something like that…” Arduin trailed off, looking at his fingers. Thane decided to let it slide for the time being, opting instead to get down to the matter at hand.

“I think it’s time you told me what happened last night.”

Arduin went silent for a second as he pondered whether he would tell his friend about what happened. He wanted to, but everything was so strange right now, so new, he wanted to keep it to himself. He already felt guilty whenever he tried magic with Thane around. He decided to go with a simple explanation. Not a lie, but not the whole truth.

“Keeper caught me, and dragged me to a cell, but I managed to sneak out. I saw the keepers were heading this way when I was coming back.” Arduin reported, being careful how he chose his words.

“You ‘snuck away’ from a keeper cell!? Alone!? You had to have used magic! Arduin, you know how dangerous that is!” Thane began shouting, but Arduin quickly hushed him.

“Yes, I know, but there isn’t anything we can do about it now.” Arduin sat back down, and Thane threw up his hands in defeat.

“Shit! How many saw your face? Actually, it doesn’t matter, we have to go right now. We both know how the empire treats rogue magicians. We can hide in one of the villages outside the city for a while. Lay low. Then head to another city. Figure out how…” As Thane ranted, Arduin stayed silent, eyeing the silent mass of dark smoke forming behind him until it fell apart to reveal Shade, looking utterly annoyed.

“Shade, don’t do anything…” Before he could finish, Shade slapped her fist down on Thane’s head, and the ranting stopped as Thane fell like a brick, Arduin just barely grabbing him before he hit the floor.

“Much better.” Shade chirped, before she saw Arduin’s expression. “Oh, don’t worry, he’s just unconscious. I do have some practice with this you know.”

Arduin looked back at his familiar. “What the fuck Shade! He’s right! We’ll probably have to leave the capital if we plan on living for much longer. I know those two mages are gone, but others probably knew I was there and are looking for me! Getting caught is almost definitely a death sentence, even with your help! Fuck!” Arduin dropped his friend onto the ground, and started pacing the room.

“Even more reason to get stronger. You’re a god’s champion now. You can’t run forever!” Shade exclaimed.

Just as Arduin was going to retort, he heard the rustling of fabric, and then Milo’s body came through the divider to the shop.

“What’s with the noise!” He grumbled angrily, but his eyes got wider as he saw Thane on the ground and a young girl standing next to Arduin. “And who the hell are you?”

Shade’s eyes narrowed at the larger man, and she stomped the three steps between them. Milo instinctively took a step back.

“GO. AWAY.” Shade yelled, and threw her small fists into the man’s stomach with enough force to make him hit the wall shortly behind him and an earsplitting crack filled the small room, his broken body falling to the floor. Shade turned back around to face her summoner. “What were we talking about? Oh right, no running!”

Arduin just glared in shock at the large body laying still. The small room was crowded now with the two bodies on the floor, but a new silence filled the air.

“Did you just kill him?”

“I may have put a little too much power into that… Don’t change the subject!”

“You could have just knocked him unconscious too!”

“It’s not that big a… Ohhh, I get it. You wanted someone else to practice on. I guess that would have been better…” Shade put her hand to her mouth, deep in thought.

“Shit, why is everything so insane!” Arduin pushed past Shade, and moved into the front of the store while he tried to calm down. “Thane was right, we need to go. Find a fresh start.”

“You still aren’t listening. You have a demon on your side, and yet you still think you need to run from this mess. You could overpower every damn person in this city if you just decided to put some effort into it.” Shade moved through this divider, her voice taking a harsher tone from her usual chirp. She was effortlessly pulling the unconscious Thane with her into the front room. “What you need is experience, so shut up, get your shit together, and let’s get started before it IS too late.” Shade let go, and Arduin just stared blankly before he could understand what she wanted.

“You want me to practice on Thane! Fuck no! What if I mess him up, no, this isn’t going to work.” Arduin ranted.

“UGHHH, why do I have to deal with humans! Look, if not this kid, then go get somebody from outside. I’ll knock them out, and you practice without the guilt trip.”

Arduin thought it over, and steeled himself. Shade was right. He couldn’t afford to freak out, and learning to control his mind magic was going to be the best way to something better than this. He gave a final look to his friend on the floor and moved toward the door without another word. Silently, Shade sat down on Thane’s back.

“I’ll keep crazy over here company until you get back.”

***

[size]

Arduin moved swiftly through the busy streets, the memory of the peacekeeper during the festival resurfacing, making him grimace. He focused himself as he saw who he was looking for. Just at the end of the street, there was a single sword keeper walking by. Arduin put his plan into motion as he began to run toward him.

“Peacekeeper! Sir!” Arduin yelled, getting a lot of attention from the passerby, but got the desired affect when the keeper quickly turned to face him.

“A man with a knife is trying to rob my uncle’s jewelry shop! Please sir, please follow me!”

Tried to sound as desperate as he could, and his previous bout of worry was helping. Hoping the keeper wouldn’t notice how conspicuous he looked, he quickly turned around and fled back to the shop. He was measured to hear the clueless keeper keeping pace behind him.

Arduin ran until he was just in front on the store and waited for the keeper to catch up. The unsuspecting keeper hesitated before going in, but then slammed the door open before charging in sword raised.

Arduin simply watched as the keeper ran right up to Shade, now standing in the middle of the dim store.

“Girl, are you…” Shade didn’t waste any time, and simply kicked the keepers shins, making him fall enough for her to deliver the final blow to his skull, sending him the rest of the way down. Arduin only had enough time to close the door behind him before the poor fool was already incapacitated.

“This one will probably work fine, but won’t one of his friends notice if he goes missing?” Shade inquired, nonchalantly stepping over the new rag doll.

“Let’s just say I have a bit of a grudge going against these guys, so it was worth it. Besides, we’ll have to move soon anyway.” Arduin replied, seeming somewhat satisfied with this outcome.

“Well then,” Shade looked down at the keeper at her feet, “let’s get started.”

~~~Author's Corner~~~~

Like the story? Find a few mistakes here and there, with the need to see them fixed? Well then become an editor today. No strings attached, and be the first one to see the new chapters! Apply within. [/size]