“So where are you from, Elrann?”

They were hiking east through the woods outside of Ast. The plan was to make their way to Sirra, the capital of Imfis, and board a train that would take them to Manolia.

Sagar and Elrann both still had some goldabout their persons, so they weren’t in need of coin, and they had found a clear brook a few hours back from which they had been able to drink. But Ryn’s stomach was a tight knot of hunger and his head was light. They needed to find some food soon. He had spoken to Elrann to try to take his mind off the hunger. And the intrusive memories. They were worse when he was tired and hungry. Mum. Dad. Cleasor.

The purple-haired engineer looked askance at him, surprised that he had broken his silence.

“Me?” she said. “I’m from Zerlan, in the Pelnian Mountains east of Imfis. We’re heading in their general direction, actually.”

Nuthea and Sagar walked about ten paces ahead of them, chatting and bantering about…..something. Ryn couldn’t hear what. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In his hunger and exhaustion he had fallen behind them and he had given up trying to eavesdrop. Another thing he wanted to take his mind off.

“Why’d you leave, then?” Ryn asked Elrann.

“Not much goes on in Zerlan. The Zerlanese’re a peaceful people. They mainly get by with high-altitude farming, and don’t have much care for machinery--except for farming equipment, that is.”

From her smile she seemed to appreciate the conversation--she had clearly been shaken up by the attack on Ast--although Ryn had rarely seen her not smiling. She spoke about the ‘Zerlanese’ as though she wasn’t one of them, despite her distinctive hair.

“How did you learn engineering then, in a place like that?” he asked.

Ahead of them Nuthea laughed at something Sagar said, throwing back her head so that her golden hair glittered for a moment in the sunlight that fell through the leaves, and Ryn tried to ignore the ball of jealousy that formed in his gut.

“Ah, well, I’ve always been into machines,” said Elrann. “At first it was just the farming equipment. I’d tinker with it, open it up to figure out how it worked, ya know? Got good at fixing it, too—till I was so good that people would call on me to repair it for them, even though I wasn’t even old enough to work on their farm. Then, one day…” She raised her eyes to Ryn again, like she was deciding whether to keep telling her story or not.

“Go on,” Ryn encouraged.

“Well...one day, when I was twelve, I was out in the rice fields and an Imfisi airship flew over. It was so big and beautiful, and it flew so close to the mountain that I could almost touch its underbelly. I saw a skysailor in its viewing bubble, looking out at me, and for a second our eyes even met. Then it was gone. That...that was when I knew I had to take one of those apart to see how it worked. That was when I knew I wanted to be an airship engineer.”

Her eyes had gone distant as she gazed into the memory.

“So what did you do next?”

Elrann blinked as she came back to the present. “What d’ya think? Left Zerlan,traveled to Sirra, where we’re trying to get to now, and apprenticed myself to the first airship engineer I could find.” She laughed. “Had to pretend to be a boy at first, so I cut my hair short and wore these baggy overalls. It wasn’t too difficult. He found out eventually, but once he’d seen what I could do with machines, he didn’t mind. Airship captains who’ve seen me at work don’t usually have a problem when they found out that I’m a girl. Usually.” Her eyes twinkled as she looked at Sagar ahead of them.

Ryn wondered how someone could leave their homeland behind so easily. I’ve done that too, sure, but not by choice. “What did your Mum and Dad have to say about you leaving?” he said out loud.

“Just my Mum at home,” said Elrann. “We never really got on, so I think she was glad to see the back of me. I reckon she knew whenever I started tinkering with farming machinery that I wasn’t going to stay in Zerlan my whole life. I never knew my Dad, so he didn’t have anything to say about it.”

Her normally ever-present smile dropped again, just for a second. Ryn wanted to know if she had known anything about her father, but he judged he should ask about something else.

“So you trained as an engineer in Sirra?” he said. “Then what did you do?”

“I’ll tell ya what I did. I got so good with airship engines I started getting regular work on ‘em. Even got myself a few on-board-engineer contracts on some Imfisi trade vessels. I’ve been on a few sky voyages in my time, I can tell you.” She took her pistol out from inside her overall as she walked. “That’s how I picked up this beauty. Got her in Farr.”

Her gaze had gone away again—but then it returned to Ryn and she stashed the pistol back away. “I needed a little break from the pirating, though, and the word was that good engineers were needed down in Ast, so I traveled down and set up shop there for a while. Made an arrangement with that airfield owner, Roldo, where he would give me work when it was needed. Then all...this happened.” She waved her hand at the world in general, and coughed. “Anyways, we’ve been talking about me a lot. What about you, ‘pup’?” She slapped Ryn hard on the back, and he coughed. She was much stronger than he expected. “Does everyone call you that?”

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“No, just Sagar…” said Ryn, and ground his teeth. Up ahead, Nuthea and the pirate captain were laughing again. Nuthea put her hand on Sagar’s arm to steady herself as she laughed. “Just ‘Ryn’ is fine.”

“Well what about you then, Ryn? Princess-girl told me your village was hiding this ‘Fire Ruby’ thing when it got attacked.” She stopped walking for a moment, and her smile dropped again. “Ah. Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” said Ryn. It was true, after all. That was what had happened. And it wasn’t like she had brought it to his mind. It never really left his mind at all--waking or sleeping--anyway. Mum. Dad. Cleasor.

Elrann resumed walking and put her smile back on. “How did your village end up with it, then?”

“Er…” said Ryn. “I don’t...I don’t actually know…”

“Ah.” Elrann raised a purple eyebrow. “But you touched it, right? That’s how you could do that crazy fire trick you did last night in the Travellers’ Rest...?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Ryn rubbed his arm.

“That was pretty impressive.”

“Er...thanks.”

Ryn’s gaze fell on Nuthea walking in front of them again. Her hair cascaded down her back as a river of gold. Ryn wondered if she had found it ‘impressive’.

Probably not, he thought. After all, she and Sagar both have elemental powers themselves. They both had them before me. And they’re both more skilled with them than me.

Up ahead, a black figure ran up to Nuthea and drew something across her stomach. She cried out and buckled at the knees.

Ryn’s spine went cold.

The black figure sliced its blade across Sagar, who dropped too.

The black figure was running towards him, a sword flashing in its hand.

Ryn found he could not move. He just watched it happen, like he was in a nightmare.

A small bang sounded next to Ryn. Elrann had fired her pistol.

But the figure jumped out of the way of the shot, leaping impossibly high above their heads, twisted and spun through the air before landing in a crouch next to them.

The figure swept its leg around in a circle along the ground, knocking Elrann’s legs out from underneath her. She hit the ground on her back with a grunt, and the figure kicked the pistol out of her hand as it stood up, sending the weapon spinning away into the forest, then put one of its feet on Elrann’s neck and began to lean its weight onto her.

Ryn watched all this happen too with barely a moment to take it all in, let alone react.

Mum. Dad. Cleasor. Nuthea. Sagar. Elrann. It was happening again. Again.

“Who are you?” said the man in black, in what was definitely a man’s deep, sarcastic voice. “You weren’t in the briefing either. Do I get a bounty for collecting you too?”

He was dressed all in black, the only visible part of him his eyes, revealed by a gap in his head-covering.Elrann sputtered and flailed her hands around from underneath the man’s foot, pawing at his leg and trying to pull it off her neck, but he didn’t budge an inch.

Finally Ryn’s spine thawed and he remembered what he could do.

“Aggh!” he shouted, and thrust out his hand, propelling a ball of fire through the air towards the man.

The man’s eyes stretched wide and he ducked in time for the fireball to pass overhead. He sprang away from Elrann and ran off into the undergrowth.

Elrann clutched her throat and rolled over to cough violently on the ground. But at least she was breathing.

“Nuthea!” Ryn cried out involuntarily.

He pelted forwards to where she lay.

“Oh sure, check the princess is safe,” said Sagar, clutching his arm, which was bleeding heavily down the sleeve of his jacket. “I’m fine, by the way.”

“Shut up, Sagar!” Ryn knelt next to her. She was flat on her back and her eyes were shut. “She’s unconscious!” Blood leaked from her abdomen, staining her dress deep crimson, pooling around her on the grass. She couldn’t be dead. Mum. Dad. Cleasor. Nuthea. “Help! What do we do?!”

“You shut up, pup!” yelled Sagar. “What we do is ready ourselves in case that blowtard bounty hunter comes back around for another try at us! We’re no use to the princess if we’re dead! Get up!”

Sagar grabbed him by the arm and wrenched him up roughly. Then he drew one of his curved swords and shoved the hilt into Ryn’s hand.

“Wh-what’s this for?” Ryn didn’t want to take his attention away from Nuthea, but the moment demanded it.

“What d’you think it’s for?” Sagar growled, stepping away and scanning the trees, his other weapon up and ready.

“But I can’t fight!”

“Learn. Fast.” The pirate’s eyes darted over to Ryn, then doubled in size as the glint of a blade reflected in them. “Look out!”

Ryn dived to one side on reflex as a black shape moved past him. Steel rang against steel,once, twice, thrice, in quick succession, as the shape and Sagar traded parries, and then the man in black was away into the forest again.

“Damn him,” Sagar panted, “he’s quick! Too quick. Get back-to-back with me, pup!”

Ryn maneuvered himself so he stood with Sagar’s back to his and held his sword up again, trying not to tremble. Somewhere off to the side Elrann was still coughing. Nuthea did not move.

“This way we can look out for him in all directions,” said Sagar, pressed up behind him. Was Sagar shaking too? “Shout if you see him!”

A twig snapped. But not on the ground.

Ryn jerked his head up.

“Above!” he shouted.

The man in black fell from the canopy. Ryn got his sword up just in time to avoid being cleaved in two, but the vibration that rippled through his arms as he blocked the blow made them flare with pain and he nearly dropped his blade. The man’s elbow snapped out as he landed and caught Ryn in the stomach, knocking him to the ground, winded.

Ryn got his head up to see the man whirl on Sagar and lock blades, then twist their weapons around in a circle of sliding steel before flicking his arm out in a sudden, vicious motion that sent Sagar’s sword spinning away through the air. It hit a tree with a clang and then landed uselessly on the ground.

The man held his sword-point to Sagar’s throat, who held up his uninjured arm and inhaled deeply, eyeing the blade.

“I’m not sure how you managed to take my first strike so well,” came the man’s lilting, oddly quiet tones. “But no matter. There’s a bigger reward for bringing you in alive. Though I am also happy to settle for dead. Or maimed.”

Sagar gulped.

A shot sounded.

The man in black hit the forest floor.

Ryn turned. Elrann was up again, wheezing, jaw set in a look of cold fury, smoke hissing up from the barrel of her second pistol.

“Stupid kufer,” Elrann swore. “Should’a finished me off while ya had the chance.”