Time itself seemed to crawl, as she came to a stop under the trapdoor. I had begun to hold my breath and slow my heart rate as much as I could. I was no pro at it, but now I needed every advantage if I wanted to live, so no time like the present, right?

After a skin crawling eternity, she spoke. “Animusss.” I no longer needed to slow my heart rate because with that one word alone it might as well have just stopped. Was this where I died? And then- “Where will you have gone… The North? Matridock and Paslois lie in that direction… The South only has Yessine, the miserable pile of sand. The West then? Unless he has passage across the ocean. Damn it all! Does that disgrace have any idea how much the binding band and him cost me?! The things I will do to him once I have him in my talons again…”

With that, she leapt from the tunnel into the thicket, and though I couldn’t see her from my angle, I heard the trees surrounding the exit splinter into countless pieces as she shifted back to her true form. The rush of wind howling through the tunnel was deafening as she took flight with a push from her massive wingspan.

All said and done, I ended up waiting four days instead of the planned three, never moving, absolutely terrified of getting caught. Twice a city guard came through, inspecting the tunnel, eyes passing over me without ever slowing. Finally, I decided to move. Now was the right time. (it was definitely not because I was hungry, that would be ridiculous) I nimbly hopped the distance out of the hole that once held a trapdoor, and began to jog.

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Avoiding the road was a given, and as I slowly picked up speed, I reached into one of the four bags of holding I had strapped to me (The one on the right side of my waist) and pulled out an apple, which I began to munch on as my trek began. I would need to run almost constantly if I wanted to reach my destination before winter. If I can manage a steady pace of about 30 miles an hour, and limit myself to six hours for eating and sleeping… Maybe add another few days to mix up my trail… I should get there in about 20 days? That should leave maybe a week before the first snow. It’ll have to do.

My destination was my smartest choice, though one could go out on a limb and say it was one of the worst choices I could make at the moment. I was going to live near a dragon lair.

Now before you think “Does this guy have brain damage or something?”, even though you probably already have, there is a reason. The dragon in question was none other than Invidia’s twin brother, Livor, Green Jealousy of the West. From my decades of subordination, I knew Invidia hated nothing more than her brother, and more than one of my targets had been his lackeys. From what I had gathered through gossip and hearsay was that they longed to go at each other's throats, but some mythical strike force was waiting for them to leave their lairs and weaken each other so they could eradicate two ancient dragons in one fell swoop.

All that being said, my target was a coastal town in the northwest, deep in Livor’s territory. Which one I wasn’t yet sure, I just wanted to find a quiet village or town to live in. Because really, that was all I wanted now. A quiet life, where I could pick up a craft and have peace. Maybe find someone to settle down with, have a family, even.

My goals in mind, I began my run in earnest.