"My lord, perhaps it would be wise to take a break?" Timae was struggling with her breath. The sun stood high at noon, turning the gravel road they travelled on into a thin strip of desert.

Demadara was at the front of her companions, her skin bathed in sweat. "It's only been what, half a day? Don't tell me you are getting tired already, Timae. We can't afford to take breaks every couple hours, not with the road ahead of us."

"To reach the eastern Landsea would take a week with a fast sky Ship, girl." Parsae showed no signs of exhaustion compared to the other two. She kept her hands folded behind her back while a book from the vault levitated in the air in front of her. "On foot it will easily be a month if we are not interrupted. We will need to take a break at some point. Even drawing power continuously as you are will break you at some point."

A large white bird descended from the clear skies and landed on Parsae´s shoulder. She gave it a small pat on the head, causing it to fade into light that was absorbed into her hand. "And we should do it soon. There is a ship coming our way from the south west."

Demadara looked around. left and right of the road were nothing but golden seas of wheat, with only a few humble farmsteads dotting the landscape. Easy prey.

"Fine." Demadara leapt off the road and straight through the fields towards the nearest home. Every muscle in her body screamed, every step along the way.

When they arrived, they found the door to the home wide open. Demadara looked over her shoulder at Timae, who bowed her head and took to the right side of the building. Parsae mirrored her and went left.

Demadara herself entered through the door. A candle still burned on the dining table, with plates of food laying atop it. A fured winter coat hung behind the door, the drawers were neatly shut.

The first floor was much of the same, void of life and signs of struggle, with all the valuables in place. Downstairs she met up with her comrades.

"The tracks lead back to the road, maybe seven people." Timae had sat down at the dining table and taken off the heavy bags she was carrying for Demadara. "Maybe a day old, at most."

"My birds saw flocks of crows, much too big to be a native species." Parsae took her seat on the opposite end of Timae, still reading her book that had now laid down on the table. "Guardian birds."

Demadara took the hand off the Heart, and her knees started to shake immediately. The last few steps toward a chair were a hurried stumble, she rested her head on the table and closed her eyes. "So, they're dragging people from the fields? Fine with me."

"I imagine they are being conscripted, though I wonder what for." Parsae leaned back in her seat, with a wave of her hand the book closed itself. "It is a terrible time for war. What madwoman takes her peasants from the land in the middle of the season."

She reached out her hand, a glowing red crystal balanced in her palm. Her fingers clenched to a claw and it began to shine, first in a bright red before changing into pure white. The crystal expanded into a ball of light, shifting and forming into the shape of a bird.

It beat it´s wings and looked up to Parsae with it´s pure black eye, then it took off through the open door.

"So, girl." Parsae crossed her legs and looked down at Demadara. "Where will we be going from here? The eastern Landsea is a large place, not a single destination."

Demadara struggled to raise her hand to dismiss Parsae. "Anywhere. As far as we can go to get away from everyone."

"We can run my lord, to the very edge of the world." Timae lowered her head while speaking. Away from sight she let her ears and tails show, both lowered in submission. "But Kaya will follow. We have been fortunate that she has not yet come for us."

"She is hardly our main problem, furball." Parsae put her feet up on the chair, pushing the tray of cold chicken away from herself. "The empire may be distracted somewhere else right now, but when they find out our girl here has the Heart then they will come for us, and after our display in the Academies we sure made ourselves known to them."

"And has that actually gotten us anything?" Demadara opened one of her eyes to stare at Parsae. "You've been going through five of these damn books already."

"Well I can tell you a lot, girl, but I doubt you'd like to hear it." Parsae looked up to the ceiling and sighed. "I can tell you all the names of the gods that are certainly not within the Heart, but I'd doubt you know any of their names, or that you cared. But whatever god it may be, these amateurs were absolutely terrified of it. And of Aeterna getting it into her hands."

Timae was struggling back on her feet and rummaged through their supplies. She pulled out a few slices of salted meat and carried them to the little oven on the other side of the table. "Parsae, will you make yourself useful and light this for me?"

"And why would I do that, furball? Is a little fire too much for-" A kitchen knife flew through the air and less than an inch past Parsae´s throat. It cut a few strains of hair and dug deep into the wooden wall behind the mage.

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"My lord requires a proper meal, she does not like vegetables or the taste of cold meat, so you will make yourself useful and help." Timae had already laid the meat on the metal roster, her bushy tails standing upright.

Muttering curses under her breath Parsae got up and snapped her fingers. A ball of flame appeared around her fingertips and grew to encompass her hand, she rested it on the wood below and quickly stepped more than an arm´s reach away from Timae. "The next time you can simply explain yourself without resorting to violence, that almost hit me."

Timae rose back up on her feet and dusted off her dress. "Yes, sadly I missed, these kind of weapons are not ones of my kind."

Parsae opened her mouth, but the sound of Demadara slamming her hand on the table caused the two of them to turn around.

"Will you two shut up!" She had pulled her hood over her head and hid her face in her arms. "You could wake the dead with your damn arguing."

Parsae´s bird flew in from the window, resting herself on the mage´s shoulder. After once more becoming a part of Parsae she frowned and stepped to the open door. "The ship has passed, seems they were in a real hurry. I didn't know they could be this fast. But there is a bigger worry, we'll be expecting company."

Demadara rose her head up just enough to glare at Parsae. "Who, and how many?"

"Twenty, maybe thirty. Shoddily dressed, but well armed, all dressed in green for some reason."

"Did they have a sign? a flag or a tattoo or anything you could make out?" Demadara was struggling to keep her head up, her mouth one thin line.

"A few were wearing bandanas with a scorpion in white on it. Does that help?" Parsae looked back at Demadara, who had laid her head back down on her arms.

"They wont be a problem. Just stay quiet and don't be a nuisance, let me sleep."

Parsae took a step forward, but Timae blocked her, murder screaming out of her eyes. Parsae scoffed and took the stairs to the first floor instead.

The sun climbed across the horizon. While Timae was preparing a meal, Parsae locked herself in one of the bedrooms, keeping an eye on the world outside with her familiar while delving through the records they had obtained.

It was not until nightfall that Timae found the heart to wake Demadara as the first figures stepped out of the wheat fields and surrounded the farmstead.

Demadara went to one of their bags and hurled it over her shoulder before stepping outside with her companions, staring down drawn blades and the barrels of rifles.

"That's close enough there, ladies." A tall man in green, tattered clothes lead the group, looking not much better than his subordinates. He was missing several teeth as well as two fingers on his left hand, his expression changing from glee to surprise. "You lot don't look like you're from here."

Demadara pulled her hood down and rolled her eyes. "Because we aren't you second-rate sewer rat. What's your sign and what are you worth?"

The man took a step back, and lowered his weapon. "You tell me first. Wait, aren't you-"

She cut him short by opening her robe and displaying the skin above her chest. Below her left collarbone a black rattlesnake had been drawn onto her skin. "Demadara, twenty thousand."

The other bandits began to lower their weapons, a few of them whistled and looked at each other, then at their leader. He rose up his left arm, displaying a scorpion in white. "Bernard of Jena, five thousand. You're old Sullivan´s kid, aren't you? What's one of his brats doing all the way out here?"

"Got enough riches together to quit this job for good." Demadara closed her robe again and shrugged. "I thought we'd settle down here in Atal but with how things are looking we'll head to the Landsea."

"That's a good call." Bernard sheathed his sword and his crew followed suit. They broke off the encirclement of the house and joined together. "Life´s always been hard for a honest thief around these parts, but now the damn guardians are showing up. Me and my people were going to gather supplies then head out north east too."

Demadara took the bag off her shoulder and was rummaging through it. "Then how about we work together, Bernard. Me and my girls are quite powerful, but we're only three. You have quite a lot of people, but you don't seem in the best shape. Together we could easily raid one of the smaller towns, grab ourselves a sky ship and get out of this damn place."

"That sounds like a good idea and all, but dangerous. What's in it for me?" Bernard crossed his arms.

"This." Demadara took one of the gold bars from her bag and threw it on the ground in front of them.

Bernard´s eyes were shining, he bent down immediately and grasped the bar in his hands. "You're kidding me right, what damn stunt did you pull off for this?"

Demadara shouldered her bag and leaned her head to the side. "My girls broke into the twin academies and killed some big-number mages. This was easy."

Stunned silence followed her words. Then the bandits began to laugh, jeering and pointing at them, until they saw how Demadara´s expression changed not one bit. Slowly their laughter died down as she crossed her arms.

"So do we have a deal or do I need to take that back and get myself a better band of cutthroats?"

Bernard looked at the solid gold in his hands, then back at her. "You're one of Sullivan´s girls. You have a deal, if you give me your word on his life."

Demadara did not hesitate to lay her hand on her heart. "I give my word by Papa´s life, I wont betray you."

They walked closer and shook hands. Demadara met his gaze, unblinking.