They slumped down and made camp. They had done it several times since their escape and it had taken them longer than Jano had thought it would before Dariea proclaimed that they were probably safe from the Emperor’s pursuits. The further away she was, the weaker the bond between the two proved. Jano took off his shoes and wafted his aching feet in the cool air. He was almost overwhelmed by the amount of different landscapes they had passed over and he simply couldn’t believe that he’d been staring at grey stone walls his entire life. Not when there were all sorts of wonderful landscapes outside of the Empire.

The forests had been a balm for the early section of their journey. It had made it very difficult for anyone to follow them, as they were entirely hidden by the thick blanket of trees which had covered the entire landscape. He was hopelessly and entirely lost the entire time, but once Dariea had recovered she had been able to Jump them to a section she knew well.

After the exhaustion of their getaway, she had suggested they walk as much of the journey as possible. After all, she needed to do the job of protecting them both and she had drained her ability to channel essence by expending such an effort. She had explained that the spirit was the powerhouse of the body’s ability to use essence. When a Mage used large amounts of essence in one go, it would push the spirit closer to its limit. If one pushed past that limit, then it could be easily damaged. If pushed too far, it could be deadly or drive someone mad. Even to someone as strong as her. Plus, she had suggested, it would provide ample opportunity for him to begin to train.

He hadn’t been expecting the amount of beasts outside of the city walls. They had passed creatures which slithered and snaked, those which scuttled and crawled and those which stalked and prowled. He felt extremely vulnerable out in the wilds. He had heard the tales, but he assumed that they were just stories. In his weakened state, he had no appetite to fight them and they had steered clear of all but the most essential fights.

After the forest came a gigantic lake. It was beautiful. It was surrounded by more dark trees with delicate pine cones littered around their base. There was no sound. Just the crunching of their footsteps and wildlife. Dariea had told Jano to be on his guard, there were deadly creatures in the lake woods. More so than those which they had already come across. Apparently, they would only attack if provoked but Jano didn’t want to take that chance. In the end, the only beasts that Jano had encountered down near the water were the swarms of flying insects which haunted the trees by the water.

They had camped on the shoreline of the lake at his request. Though he had been immediately terrified when, as the sun was beginning to set, a giant creature breached the water and let out a wailing cry. It had scales of every shade of blue and it had spikes the size of buildings sticking out of its spine. He had scrambled back up the shore after seeing it and wondered how deep the lake must go for something such as that to survive. He shuddered at the thought.

Dariea laughed hysterically at his reaction. Apparently the creature looked particularly fearsome, but ate tiny little creatures within the lake. The only danger it posed to them were if they were to accidentally fall in its mouth and it somehow didn’t realise. Or if they decided to attack it.

That was where the mountains began. Jano had begged Daria to Jump them and after a ridiculous amount of time whingeing, she finally relented. She refused to do anymore than take them over the peaks, but that was enough for Jano. The rest of the way was down the mountain after all.

Jano’s spirit was remarkably heavy and he still struggled with the spiritual heaviness for days after his contract with the Emperor had been broken. It had taken almost half a day for Dariea to work out how to do it safely. It had taken at least twice as long to recover from the immediate damage. At one point, Jano had thought that he wouldn’t pull through, such was the damage to his spirit. Though Dariea insisted he would.

He hoped it would be a simpler matter if they were to destroy the Ledger and release all of Qursa from their obligations to Eradin; he didn’t want anyone else to suffer as he had. The damage to his spirit had delayed the start of the journey by almost a week. Dariea had explained that he needed to start his training right away. At least he still had her strength to draw from.

He put his shoes back on and walked to a small clearing away from the camp. He lay flat on the packed dirt and gathered the stone essence in his spirit before beginning to process it.

At the start, it was painful to accept any essence into his spirit. It felt entirely alien to him. Something he had used all of his life, albeit in a limited way, felt so foreign that his spirit seemed to reject it. Apparently it was not unsurprising, given that when an apprentice breaks the contract with their master such temporary effects can occur. And that was with someone who has a fully developed spiritual base. Something he apparently did not have. However, the nature of the Emperor’s contract meant that a subject retained so little power, as so much was taken directly from their spirit that it caused much more damage.

Only through force of will and Dariea’s repeated encouragement enabled him to get through it. It strained every sinew and every cell in his body to force it. But he had. Eventually, he had grown used to its presence once more. After a small time, he gained enough skill to use the simple runes. Stone essence still felt familiar to him; Dariea hadn’t been sure whether that was likely to happen or not but he was glad that it did. Slowly but surely, he was gaining some of his old mastery back.

He stood up and started to attempt the stone spear technique he had grown to like back in the city. A small thin shape started to take form, but nothing you could consider a spear. He cursed himself and fired what little he had managed to gather at a nearby rock face.

“Not like that!” Dariea said. “If you’re going to practice as my apprentice. You’re going to do it properly.”

He walked over to the rock face and pushed against the stone and felt the rough surface scratch his palm. Remnants of the earthy coloured stone were drifting in the air from his repeated strikes to the wall.

“It was a damn sight easier before!” Jano shouted.

Dareia sighed. “Yes, I know. But we had to break his connection regardless of the damage to your spirit. If you want to become a truly powerful Mage, you have to work hard. It’s no different, you just have to concentrate. Look at it this way, you still have my power to help. And believe me, I am not being modest when I say that people all over the land would jump at that chance.”

“I know, I know.” Jano pushed his hand against the stone and fought to recall the runes he’d been taught.

“Now picture the runes we practiced.” Dariea said.

The runes were like their own language. There weren't that many of them individually but it was the combinations which allowed the user to channel essence into a specific spell. Something Dariea had mentioned earlier, but not fully explained.

Channeling essence into his spirit was a separate skill. Doing it while under the contract of the Emperor was easy. But now it was slightly different. He was strengthening his own spirit while drawing essence under the contract with Dariea and the going was slow. It was like watching syrup being poured onto fruit. It was terribly slow at first but if it wasn’t controlled, it could spill over and quickly become too much.

He felt the slow trickle of power flowing into his body, beginning with a weird sensation at his fingertips. Using his own spirit, rather than relying on the pool of power that was the Emperor still felt alien to him. Now he was much more like those outside of the Empire who were trained to use essence. Dariea’s power helped him develop his own spirit and fortify it. Until the day he grew too powerful and the contract could be voided without harm.

It continued to trickle into him. He had grown used to his reduced power of the last couple of weeks as they had journeyed through the vast terrain outside of Qursa. “It’s just so slow.” He said through gritted teeth, the effort required for even such a minimal task was large.

“But it is already taking you less time than yesterday Jano. That’s what we’re aiming for, slow and steady progress. As long as you’re moving forward, it doesn’t matter how slowly.” Dariea replied. She had shifted her attitude expertly since they had escaped the danger of the Emperor. She was every bit what Jano expected a teacher of the University to be, which she had apparently been long ago.

He thought that since his wife was now effectively the prisoner of the Emperor and that they were on the run, that time and speed were probably important in the grand scheme of things, but he didn’t say so. He gritted his teeth once more and tried to eke out a little more essence from the stone. Though Dariea said he could learn to channel whatever essence he liked, learning to channel more than two or three was uncommon. She had explained that he would probably take to stone a little easier, since he had learned it in some capacity beforehand.

It didn’t feel like it to Jano at that moment.

Finally, he felt as though he had enough essence in reserve to use. He turned to the trees in the distance about fifty paces ahead. He pictured the simple sequence of runes in his mind, the rune to gather the stone first, then for flight.

He peeked with his left eye and saw the stone floating in front of him. He shut it and pictured the rune for movement. He focussed his will on the nearest tree and opened his eyes. The fully formed spear crashed at the tree and took off a thick branch.

“Excellent! See, we’re making progress every day.” Dariea clapped her hands together. “And we have some firewood now.”

Jano looked dejected. “It’s just taking longer than I thought.”

“Yes, but you’re making consistent progress. Consistency Jano. I’d rather you learn to do something repeatedly than one flash of brilliance. Remember you are imposing your will on the essence which flows all around us. The Runes only help you do that.”

Jano nodded and pressed his hands together as a mark of respect.

“Come on, I’ve set up camp. Let’s get that branch into a fire and get some food.” She suggested.

They arranged the campfire and soon enough heat was coming from it that they could get comfortable. Nights were getting warmer as the season changed from winter to spring. In the city, they would be getting ready to celebrate Springsday. Or at least they might be, Jano couldn’t help but wonder what was happening there and he couldn’t get the image of the dank green monsters which the Emperor had called forth on the day of their escape.

“We’re getting close now. Should only be another couple of day’s walk. Gods I can’t wait to get a warm bed, fresh food and hopefully even a horse for the next stage of our journey.” She said.

They had been walking for weeks now and Jano’s feet were battered. He dared not dream of a horse or any assistance of any kind. He’d been poor enough in the city to know that it’s the hope which kills you.

“Where are we going?” Jano had asked only once, but he had gotten the impression that she hadn’t made up her mind. So he had let it drop.

“We’re going to the Molinia Alliance. I have some friends there who should be able to provide some shelter.”

“The Molinia Alliance?” That meant nothing to Jano, as he wasn’t allowed to leave the city and it wasn’t too important to know anything of geography when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. As a result, he didn’t know anywhere outside of it.

“It’s a small kingdom— well truly it’s a collection of hill towns all grouped together. Hence the Alliance bit. Some of those towns are, how do I put this, more powerful than others, but on the whole it’s a paradise compared to where you’ve been living.”

They tore at scraps of dried meat and a few wild green things which Dariea had gathered. It didn’t quite fill the hole which was built up by weeks of walking and training, but it did something.

“By the way, when we’re in new places, they’re going to be able to tell how unskilled you are. You will learn to develop that skill yourself, but it will take some time as it is one thing that the Emperor only granted to those of a higher class. So, stick close to me.”

“Fantastic. Some familiarity once more…” Jano said.

Dariea started to chuckle, small at first and then building slowly. Soon, it was a full on belly laugh.