Jake kept his spear out this time as they hurried toward the woods at the edge of the clearing.

At a distance, everything looked the same as before, but as they drew closer, the damage done by the fight was clear.

A large section of the woods was ravaged, with burn marks, uprooted trees and shattered fragments of bark everywhere.

Ari and Felix stood in the centre of it all, bloody and battered, but still breathing. The bodies of at least three people were scattered around them, but it was hard to tell numbers with how many pieces there were.

Ari whirled as they approached, his bloody blade rising up to a high guard before sagging back down as he recognised them.

“Glad to see you’re all okay,” Ari said, inverting his sword to lean on it while he drank a potion and pulled his bloody shirt up to pour some onto a stab wound.

“What happened?” Alan asked, looking around at the devastation with wide eyes.

“The Fatesworne must have been able to follow us somehow,” Felix said, sheathing his blades one at a time with tired motions. “We were lucky that they underestimated me. They won’t make that mistake again. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to warn any of you. Were there any injuries?”

“Minor, but nothing we can’t treat,” Nepthys said, eyeing the ragged appearance of the two higher-tier classers. “What about you?”

“The same,” Felix said, waving aside her concern. “What matters now is that we gather everything and leave as soon as possible. If one of you can leave a message with Ivaldi for Varin, I’d appreciate it. Then we head north and try to lose them.”

Jake nodded and glanced back to where lights were visible among the other cabins. “Looks like we woke up some folks. Not much chance of keeping this quiet.”

Felix sighed and nodded. “Sadly not, the Seekers will be here before we know it. That is a secondary problem, though. Right now, we need to get away from here.”

“Alright, let’s get to it,” Jake said, turning to head back to the cabins. A midnight march sounded unpleasant, but sticking around sounded far worse.

-**-

“Jake Khesh, be welcome in my domain,” Ivaldi said, appearing from the darkened corridor as Jake entered his store. “What brings you here at such an early hour, and with blood on your blade?”

“The Fatesworne found us and tried to murder us in our sleep,” Jake said, passing over one of the masks that the classers had worn. “The same masks as last time.”

“I see,” Ivaldi said, the mask shattering in his hand, the pieces falling to the ground. “How did they find you?”

“We’re not sure. They might have been following us before, but Ari scared them off. There was no sign since then until tonight.”

“I see,” Ivaldi said again, motioning with one hand and causing the pieces of mask to vanish. It was the most overt use of power that Jake had seen the odd man use, which spoke of a deep anger that didn’t touch his calm expression at all. “Were you or Nepthys hurt?”

“We both were,” Jake said, touching his arm where he was cut.

“That makes this easier, then,” Ivaldi said softly, staring past Jake at something only he could see. After a few moments, his eyes focused back on Jake and he pulled out his usual chair. “Go, fetch Felix and send him here. I have matters to discuss with him.”

“Right, okay,” Jake said, blinking in surprise. “I need to leave a message for Vain as well…”

“No need,” Ivaldi said, interrupting him. “I will ensure Varin is warned and informed of what has happened.”

Jake nodded, unsure what else to say and quickly headed back out of the store to go find Felix.

The older man seemed equally as surprised by Ivaldi’s request, but went to see him as requested, with Jake waiting outside for him.

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Felix was inside for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before he emerged, looking pale and worried.

“Is everything okay?” Jake asked with growing concern.

Felix started to speak several times before simply shaking his head. “We need to leave as soon as possible.”

Jake gave a tentative nod, but that was all that Felix seemed willing to share.

-**-

Whatever Ivaldi had told Felix had given urgency to an already strained situation, and they were on the road as soon as they were packed.

Other classers had awoken from the fighting, and from the sounds of what they heard while packing, more than a few of their compatriots had been killed by those same assassins.

Jake knew in his heart that the masked Fatesworne had been there to kill him, which made the wanton murder all the more senseless.

One day, he’d make them pay for all this. He just needed to get stronger.

-**-

Even with their enhanced physiques, they eventually had to rest.

A cold camp was all that Felix allowed, and he insisted on no one leaving it alone. They were to stay in pairs until he said otherwise.

The atmosphere was dismal the following morning, and the light rain that came with the dawn did nothing to improve it.

“Come on, we need to keep moving,” Felix said, moving swiftly to erase any trace of their camp as they packed up and set off once more.

“Where are we heading?” Alan asked, hiking his pack up to a more comfortable position with a slight wince.

“At the moment, north is as much as I will commit to,” Feix said wearily. “We are being tracked by the Fatesworne, and we must shake them first if we are to achieve anything else.”

Jake glanced back reflexively, wondering if there were Fatesworne hunters just out of sight. Shaking off the cold chill that followed that thought, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

-**-

Jake dreamt of confusing images, of a baleful gaze that tracked him no matter where he ran, no matter where he hid.

A second presence came, sheltering him beneath a net of shining strands that hid him from the gaze of the thing in the distance.

A third presence slipped soundlessly through the sky, searching for the baleful one with the eternal patience of a hunter that never failed.

The taste of blood invaded his mouth as the dream wavered, but Jake saw it at the end, a fourth presence. It watched him from high in the sky, sitting in judgement over his every act.

The taste grew and a shrill cry of pain stabbed through the dream, shattering it.

As he fell into the darkness, Jake saw it again. The baleful gaze, it saw him.

-**-

Jake awoke to a mouth full of blood and rolled over, spluttering as the others jumped to their feet, drawing weapons.

Grabbing his dagger, Jake staggered to his feet, coughing again and wiping his mouth.

“Jake?” Nepthys looked torn between worrying about him and watching the area around them.

“I’m fine. What’s going on?” Jake asked, grimacing at the overwhelming taste of blood in his mouth.

“I heard a cry of pain,” she said, looking back out into the darkness warily.

“It’s okay,” Ari said, coming back into view, his sword dripping a bloody trail behind him and a broken mask in hand. “We had a visitor. I dealt with it.”

“Hunting or searching?” Felix asked from where he was sat off to one side, watching over the camp.

“Searching, thankfully.” Ari tossed the broken mask aside and took a seat to start cleaning his sword.

“What difference does that make?” Jake asked, looking between the two of them, his tired brain still trying to catch up.

“If they are hunting, it means they know where we are,” Felix said, his voice taking on a thoughtful tone. “Searching means they are looking for us still. Ari killing a scout means they will know something came this way, but it will buy us some time.”

“Are we leaving now?” Alan asked wearily, giving his bedroll a longing look.

“No, we wait for the dawn. Bumbling around in the night will only waste time and lead to injury.”

“I’ll do another sweep of the area shortly,” Ari said, finishing cleaning his sword. “One of the nice fringe benefits of being this awesome is that you can do without sleep for longer.”

Jake rolled his eyes, relaxing a little now that it was clear there was no immediate threat of danger. Scuffing some dirt over the blood before anyone noticed or remembered, Jake climbed back into his bedroll and tried to get some more sleep.

Hopefully, this time it would be without the weird dreams and blood.

-**-

Felix woke them at dawn and they set off, trudging north into an area that was riddled with sloping hills and deep valleys. It was a good place to get lost, and if Jake remembered right, there were quite a few Dungeons scattered about.

None of them were second tier, but right now, Jake didn’t really care.

Dried strips of Wyrd-infused meat were handed out for lunch, along with squares of moiran mint. The sugary treat was ideal for giving them a bit of extra energy for the afternoon’s hike.

A few hours later, they were hiking up one of those large hills when Alan glanced back the way they’d come and frowned. “Ari, Felix, I think we’re being followed.”

Ari was by Alan’s side in a flash, peering out into the distance before cursing. “Shit, he’s right. There’s more of them back there. They’re about a half day behind us still, but that won’t last.”

“Let’s keep moving. We’ll try and lose them in the river,” Felix said, starting back up the hill once more.

Jake’s eyes lingered on the distant valley where he could barely make out the dark smudges of their pursuers. The fact that they had managed to follow them this far was concerning.

The scout had been searching for them, not hunting, so how had the Fatesworne picked up their trail so quickly?

That question bothered Jake, but with no way to get any sort of answer, Jake focused on putting one foot in front of the other.