Cedric fought the rapidly rising tide of fear that threatened to petrify him on the spot. He raised his improvised weapon higher, for all the good it would do.

Through his messily-tied shroud, he saw the Blade, a tall, dark-featured woman, pinning Adrian to the wall. Another man was curled up on the floor beside them, whimpering like a beaten animal.

"It's you," the woman said after a pause. Her grip on Adrian loosened a little, and her other hand lifted from his face.

Two things happened simultaneously. Adrian bit into her arm, causing her to grunt in pain, and the man on the floor lurched upright and tackled her legs, sending the three of them tumbling down in a writhing heap on the carpet. They clipped the table, which crashed onto its side and flung its contents everywhere.

Cedric hurried forward and grabbed Adrian's arm from the deluge of limbs and porcelain shards. He pulled hard, and Adrian stumbled into him before regaining his balance.

The other man had wrapped his arms around the Blade's knees, bearing his weight down upon her as she struggled to extricate from him. She drove an elbow into the crown of his head, but his hold didn't loosen.

Adrian grabbed a large roll of parchment that had fallen from the table and stuffed it into the waist of his trousers. "Let's go!" he yelled before Cedric could ask.

The two of them fled the room.

"You little maggot!" he heard the Blade snarl, followed by a brutal, stomach-turning crunch of flesh and bone.

Cedric held Adrian's hand tightly as he flew down the length of the dim hallway, dragging the latter along behind him. A fierce stitch clawed at his side, but he forced the pain from his mind.

He wrenched open the front door. As promised, Brianna was waiting for them in the courtyard, holding the reins of a fine, dark stallion.

"Hurry!" she said, her eyes round and urgent.

Cedric tossed the candelabra aside and rushed forward to mount the beast. It snorted and tossed its mane, but held steady. He looked down at Adrian, who was staring in dumbstruck wonder.

"How did you…?"

"Later." Cedric held out his hand. Adrian swallowed back his questions and took it. Cedric hoisted him onto the saddle behind him.

The servant girl had retreated to her quarters to hide. Eris willing, she'd be safe.

They fled the Lord Enforcer's residence at a furious gallop.

*

A thunderstorm of half-formed thoughts and emotions churned in Adrian's head, but this was no time to confront them. He clamped his arms around Cedric's waist, like the lifeline he was, and buried his face into the space between his shoulders. He closed his eyes and focused on the rushing wind in his ears, the powerfully-muscled undulations of the steed beneath him, and Cedric's shallow breathing.

"Which way out of town?" Cedric said. His tone was clipped, as if he were determined to not say a syllable more than he needed to.

Adrian raised his head and looked around. They were still in the west district, and had just passed a stone mansion that he vaguely recognized.

"Turn right, here!" he said.

Cedric pulled the reins. Passerby leapt aside and shouted admonishments as the stallion shot around the corner.

"Follow this road straight on."

Borne by the hooves of the Lord Enforcer's finest steed, they cleared the distance in good time. Buildings and crowds began to melt away as they approached the edge of town, but one last element hindered their getaway.

Blast, the patrols! But it was too late to change course. Three townsmen wielding spears spotted their rapidly advancing approach and stopped in their tracks.

The nearest one, who seemed to be at least sixty, raised his weapon uncertainly. Cedric blew past him, and the patrolman stumbled backwards before landing on his rump in the dirt.

The other two dove to either side before the stallion's relentless momentum sent them flying, their hurriedly-taught discipline all but forgotten.

The mount's hooves now thumped against dirt rather than stone. Adrian spared one last look behind him at the only home he'd ever known, one that he was renouncing forever. The patrolmen they'd scattered were stumbling to their feet, hurling curses.

Despite everything, Adrian's heart almost burst from elation.

They rode hard for nowhere in particular, caring solely to put a healthy distance between them and Laetera. After several minutes of tense silence, punctuated solely by the stallion's increasingly labored breathing, Adrian mustered the courage to speak.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

Cedric didn't turn, nor did he respond. Of course, he's angry.

He lowered his eyes, silently preparing himself for that inevitable reckoning, and saw a long stripe of fresh blood running down his right forearm.

"Cedric! Cedric, stop!"

The urgency in his voice made Cedric pull the reins at once. The stallion skidded to a halt and reared on its hind legs with a whinny of protest, nearly flinging them both off its back.

Adrian studied his arm and found no wound, then patted his stained tunic. He was completely unharmed.

"Odd," he muttered. "Then where did--?"

His blood chilled as the truth dawned: he'd been grasping Cedric's waist in a death grip ever since they'd begun their desperate flight.

"It's not me, it's you," he said, throat dry. Cedric looked down in bemusement.

An obsidian knife was embedded into his side.

*

They tore Cedric's makeshift shroud into long strips to bind the wound. It was a shallow vertical gash, no longer than an inch, but this hardly allayed Adrian's fears.

If one drop of my poison enters your bloodstream, a slow, painful death would be your only possible fate.

There was, of course, the possibility that the knife hadn't been poisoned. For now, Adrian clung to that faint hope. No use burdening Cedric with what could amount to nothing.

My fault. All my fault.

Shame flooded his gut.

They sat beneath a small grove of trees on a gentle hill. The stallion grazed leisurely beside them, apparently unconcerned with returning to its proper masters.

"We should name him," Cedric said. He scooted upwards along the trunk he was leaning on, his eyes distant.

"What for?" Adrian said. He tied off the improvised bandage and sat back on his haunches.

"Perhaps Nightwind, the swift and dark."

Adrian stared in disbelief at Cedric's mild, almost genial manner. At least he didn't seem liable to start delivering retribution any time soon. Combined with his current physical vulnerability, Adrian found that he wasn't particularly afraid of him.

He crossed his arms. "How on earth did you manage to find me and convince the serving girl to help us?"

"You mean Brianna?"

"Quickly, before my curiosity eats me alive!"

Cedric stared at him with a strange, open fondness that made him flush.

"I was growing restless in your room," he said. "So I found my way to the roof, for some fresh air."

"What? How?"

"It wasn't difficult. I braced myself against the windowsill, and the tiles above were within reach."

Adrian wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't already witnessed Cedric's strength for himself. He set aside the questions and continued to listen.

"I spotted you leaving the tavern, so I followed. If you were planning to give me up, I wasn't about to wait around to be caught. I covered my face and pretended to be afflicted by the Blight. Most of the townsfolk gave me a wide berth."

He frowned. "I don't completely understand what followed. Brianna was the one who gestured for me to come in. You'd entered a minute prior. She knew who I was, or had guessed it somehow. Once I was inside, she asked that I show my face."

"She already knew what you looked like?" Adrian asked, nonplussed.

"She was the Enforcer's servant. Perhaps she overheard him talking about what happened at the Silken Hog."

"And Brianna didn't turn you in?"

Cedric shook his head. "She feared that woman, that Blade who was threatening you. She wanted her out of the house, preferably out of Laetera altogether."

"Of course," Adrian muttered. "Kaia killed her master."

"Aye, the Blade would have no reason to stay once I fled town."

Adrian mulled over the story. They'd been extraordinarily lucky, benefiting from a chain of events they'd had very little to do with. Even Dulse had flung himself in harm's way to aid their escape. But whether he'd acted out of heroism or simply hatred for the Bloodclaw, they'd likely never know.

"I wonder why she killed Lord Caelum," Cedric said, mostly to himself.

"That Blade is a monster. Perhaps she did it for fun," Adrian said, shuddering. "Besides, we have bigger concerns."

He reached behind him and pulled out the damp, crumpled roll of parchment that'd been hurriedly shoved halfway into his trousers. He unrolled it, revealing a finely-rendered, mostly unharmed map of the nearby lands.

Cedric leaned forward. "So that's what you took."

Adrian's brow furrowed as he concentrated on the various names and letters. His grasp of letters was rudimentary at best; Bigby had once taught him the barest basics, many years ago.

After a minute of careful deliberation, he managed to locate Laetera on the map. He then studied their surroundings, and found nothing to aid in discerning their current position: yellow hills and dusty roads, dotted by the occasional collection of trees like the one whose shelter they currently huddled beneath.

"Which direction were we riding?" he asked Cedric.

Cedric winced as he levered himself to his feet. "No idea." He shaded his eyes against the sun. "Adrian, do you trust me?"

Adrian's mouth opened and closed without a sound. He, of all people, hardly deserved to declare another's untrustworthiness. He nodded.

"Once night falls, I'll know where we are."

"What? How?"

"How long until sunset, do you think?"

Adrian squinted up at the sky. "Five hours, maybe six."

"Then in the meantime, we can continue to put distance between us and Laetera."

"Cedric, hold on." Adrian rolled up the map. "Even if we situate ourselves, what then? What about water, food, supplies?"

"I don't know," he said plainly. "I've just barely achieved my first impossible goal."

Adrian realized, with some discomfiture, that Cedric could have easily slipped out of town after his disguise had proven effective. But he'd followed him anyway, to confirm his treachery for certain, and even confronted a Crimson Blade on his behalf. This stranger, whom he'd known for barely a day. And Adrian had been about to sell him off to a lifetime of imprisonment and torment, if not immediate execution.

Nightwind, having grazed his fill, trotted up to join them in the shade. Cedric patted his glossy head, and noticed the stallion's full saddlebags at the same time that Adrian did.

They hurriedly rushed to open them, one on each side.

Adrian crowed in delight. "Cheese, dried fruit, jerky!"

Cedric wore a broad smile. "Sausages, grain, flatbread… even waterskins and a small pot!"

Adrian raised his hands in pious gratitude. "Praise be to Brianna the Generous! All my prayers will now and forevermore be devoted to her! The Goddess can go suck an egg!"

"You, praying?" Cedric laughed, tightening the saddle straps to secure their precious bounty of riches.

"If anything could spur me to start, it'd be this."

Cedric handed him a small piece of flatbread, and Adrian took an eager bite. It was dense, fragrant and rich, perhaps the best thing he'd ever tasted. Simply knowing that their basic needs were covered for the immediate future had cast a much sunnier outlook on their current circumstances.

They set off in markedly higher spirits.