Dagger had never gotten rid of the prickly feeling that someone was watching them. Despite his shadow sense not picking up anything, he felt on edge. Dismissing it as his restlessness from the assassins, he had pushed it to the back of his mind. But now, he couldn't deny it anymore.

There was definitely someone following them.

Just one person; and they weren't trying to hide this time.

There seemed to be no care taken to try and mask their presence or to travel discreetly; they were trailing them, as the crow flies, a half mile behind in the forest. As soon as they had entered Dagger's field of shadow sense, he could feel them.

Stopping in his tracks, Dagger took a moment to focus. He saw As'rya start to open her mouth and put his hand up, closing his eyes.

There was a floating sensation before his point of view changed to those of the shadows, looking up at himself from his feet. Travelling at breakneck speed, his mind zipped from shadow to shadow, feeling like he was flying. At some points he would be looking down from the shadows under tree branches; at other times, his vision was from below as he moved in the shadows beneath boulders. In a few moments he had found the man, who unhurriedly followed them from a distance.

His steps were even and leisurely, despite the rugged terrain, and he looked undisturbed, almost bored, as he stalked through the forest. A sword hung from its sheath on his hip and he wore a light golden armor that glimmered in the moonlight. An ornate athame was holstered on the other side. The same jeweled weapon that had killed him last time.

As Dagger made his assessments, the man turned and looked directly at the shadow Dagger was watching from.

Taken aback, the vigilante retreated from the shadows.

Letting go of the connection and snapping back to his body, Dagger felt a new sense of urgency. Opening his eyes, he looked at As'rya and told her, "There's someone following us."

The princess's face paled.

"How far away are they?" she asked.

"A half a mile," Dagger replied, glancing behind. "It's just one man. But..." He remembered the way the man seemed to see him through the shadows, as though he knew he was watching, and his skin crawled. "We need to be careful. He's not to be taken lightly."

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Dagger really hated using his powers more than necessary, but this mission was pushing him to use them more and more. The Beast had been mostly quiet, since he'd just come back from death, but this next stunt would surely begin to wake it.

"We're going to have to shadow jump to the mountains," the man sighed, running his hand through his beard roughly. "We need to get out of Raizakar as fast as possible." Hopefully, they would be safer out of the Kingdom and out of reach of the Queen. "We will make several jumps, but I need time to recover between each."

As'rya nodded, hands gripped tight on the straps of her pack. Dagger pulled the shadows up and around them, chilly and dry, before everything disappeared in a swirl of black. They reappeared a moment later, nearly a mile away from where he had felt the assassin's presence. Once the shadows dissipated, Dagger began forward, As'rya following quickly behind. Each jump would have to be careful, to make sure they weren't seen, but the closer they got to the mountains, the fewer villages there would be.

The two walked on in tense silence, the vigilante setting a fast pace, closer to jogging than walking. The princess was doing her best to keep up, huffing and stumbling behind him but continuing on in silence. After about five minutes of hiking Dagger paused, letting her catch up, before shrouding them in darkness once more and teleporting them ahead.

After doing this six or seven times, Dagger paused so they could catch their breath and he could reach out with shadow sense again. With extra caution, he began to reach out more slowly through the shadows, flicking from here to there; if they were still being followed, they had gained enough distance Dagger couldn't sense him.

Though he felt slightly relieved, he felt the Beast roaring in frustration, temper flaring. ‘Why bother running when you could just kill them and guarantee safety?’ It seemed to snarl. Weary from the exertion and adrenaline, he shoved the feelings to the side.

“Are they gone?” As’rya asked, trepidation in her voice.

“For now,” he replied gruffly.

“How do you know the Queen sent them? It could be the rough political group from Lysima,” the princess wondered. Dagger grimaced, his hands balling into fists.

“The soldier had the same knife as before. The decorated one, with the jewels.”

The one that killed him last time, they both knew.

“I understand,” As’rya replied, sounding more tired than before. The vigilante felt sympathetic; how could she be feeling, knowing her own mother was after them? But now wasn’t the time to be worrying about hurt feelings. The dangers now were much more sinister and immediate.

Taking a moment to look around, Dagger noted that they were already on their way up the mountain. The rocky soil beneath their feet inclined upwards steadily from this point on, only a handful of scraggly pine trees offering cover. Even with the cover of night, it would be difficult for them to find enough cover.

“The next day is going to be hard,” Dagger turned to As’rya, his eyes meeting hers. “We have to stay ahead of our pursuer. There is going to be little time to hunt. Once we are within the mountains, we can work on food. But that isn’t going to mean anything if we can’t get out of the Queen’s reach.”

The princess nodded resolutely, lips pressed in a tight line. Her once neat hair was dirty and tangled, her hands rough with cuts and bruises from the last several days. Despite this, she held herself straight, with an air of dignity and pride. Dagger couldn’t help but find it admirable.

“The other concern,” Dagger warned her, “Is the Savages. I’ve never met any, and rarely heard stories. We’ll have to be alert, and do our best to avoid them at all costs.”

If worse came to worst, he felt sure he could take them out. But he didn’t want it to come to that, if he could avoid it.

“Alright,” As’rya said. With nothing else to say, the vigilante turned, leading her into the Igoera Mountains, apprehension following the pair like a ghost.