Somehow, the plan had had a provision for last minute changes? Garin hadn't known that. He'd thought he had to buy time by drawing out his fight with Odo, but once the explosions went off, so did he.

In the ensuing stampede, Garin only had to blend in with the crowd exiting the arena, and he was small enough to go unnoticed as long as there was something more pressing going on.

He'd been tempted to hold on to more of it, but in the end had to give up more than half of Fedrahn's supply of black powder. Now at least a tenth of the island was in ruins.

Once outside the arena, he just had to blend with the many apprentices rushing around, trying to learn what had happened and why. The cloth he'd changed into before joining the crowd was big. Much too big for him, and he wondered if an older apprentice had been petitioned for it.

And Daye had promised he'd be there at the right time, whatever that meant. The healer had told Garin most of the conspirators wanted the old arch master to survive, to get onto the boat with Garin, but the man was keeping his cards close.

The road to the beach, and to Fedrahn's shack was blocked. They wanted as little of an audience as possible, the healer had said. On the other side of this divide were rogue dancers aplenty. People loyal to Daye for some reason or other, who wanted to help him get Garin off this island. Garin didn't waste any time, getting into a dance state and climbing over the debris.

He wasn't sure if he'd used earth or light dance. When he crouched atop the ruins, he saw the areas with the smoke, and heard grown men wail. This was the last, the only gift he could give to the place he'd called home all his life. Destruction, and even more destruction. He hoped at least there would be minimal death.

As he walked on the beach, he remembered days spent here with Fedrahn, watching the sea birds fly and killing fish with arrows. He also remembered the sensation he was feeling right now, though then it was a lot weaker.

"Come out then," he called out, and they did.

The friar himself held a long, very thin, and apparently very sharp blade. Odo stood panting not too far behind, and arch master Goesch stood with a smug grin and upturned nose.

"I wonder how you expected to get away. I wonder how you did all this," the friar mused.

Garin shrugged. "I am resourceful. I think I can manage a swim across an ocean, don't you?"

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The friar unsheathed his sword.

"Come now, Daye. We both know you're behind this. How much has your power grown, that you can elude all my watchers? You are on my island, sooner or later I will catch you. No, sooner, I think, or else I'll kill your boy here and now."

There was no answer. Not even a peep. Deeper in the island, Garin heard what sounded like ever changing noises, from confusion to hostility back to confusion, then anger and sometimes mourning. The smell of a world burning hang heavy in the air. Garin wished Daye had sensed the trap. Still, 'I'll be there at the most crucial moment,' he'd said.

Arch master Goesch was attacking with eight hands, and Odo too was flunking Garin. The friar stayed back with his gleaming blade held out at his side. Garin could not worry about anyone but himself.

The wind dance was perfect for evasion, or so he'd thought. And he'd mostly been right, because even Goesch didn't land a hit. The illusory arms couldn't fool him. Besides, he only had to focus on evading, bending his body to avoid a punch to the gut, to deflect a sneaky kick from Odo, even side stepping a flurry of combo strikes from the arch master. Unfortunately, Goesch happened to be warming up just then.

His speed went up just two notches, and suddenly it did seem like he had all those hands. As Garin evaded a right hook, a right upper cut and over three left jabs connected, but then he pushed Odo into the arch master's path, even as he tasted blood.

He'd only bought himself a moment's reprieve. The next flurry sent him flying. And then Odo was there pounding on him. He kicked at the other boy, trying to scuttle toward the sea. No one chased him at first, and he thought maybe he'd survived.

"I grow weary of watching this. He is just a child, after all. Finish him, Goesch."

And then a pillar of fire descended right where a wide eyed Garin lay frozen with dread. Then something grabbed him, a wrinkled hand, and before he knew it he was flying and watching the pillar of fire descend as if from a great distance.

In the distance, the light flickered, and for only a few moments, Garin saw a boat appear. It disappeared almost immediately, but he'd already tracked it. He fell into the water just as the pillar disappeared.

"I know you can hear me, Garin, son. I knew when you'd be here, when I needed to step in. I don't know what you'll find on the island, for I can't see into it, but I know you'll come out. I have seen this and so much more. I know you want to blame yourself for my death, but don't. It was my negligence of my duty that let these two get this much power. It was my job, but I neglected it. I refused to become friar, because in the pursuit of it I lost a friend. If I die here, it was not your fault."

He said if, but Garin knew he meant when. He'd seen it, the way he'd seen whatever he was talking about concerning Garin. Daye would die on that beach, and he was doing it for Garin. So Garin would go find the father he'd replaced him with in his heart.

And the guilt? It wasn't there. There was only relief. Relief he'd survived that pillar of fire. Relief he was headed off this island. Relief it wasn't him standing on that island, ready to face sudden death for someone who'd moved on from him, who cared for him no more than he did for any of the other random citizens of the island.

And then Garin did shed a tear for Daye, and for all his companions. Even the arch master who was using a very strong technique to keep the boat concealed.

Then the heat from the beach reached even where he was and when he turned back could only see one man facing down a sea of flames. Goesch had gotten serious, but in the next moment, the friar's sword of light technique descended, supposedly from a blind spot of Daye's, but the arch master evaded it without even looking.

The sounds of clanging steel and destruction reached him even when he'd turned his back from the battle. He didn't turn as he got on the boat and rowed away from the island, further and further inland. Even half a day of rowing, and he could still hear the sounds of battle. And somehow the arch master with the invisibility ability had just run out of steam it seemed. Garin wondered then how strong would be a sphere mage, if this was just a pale imitation of their abilities.

Still he rowed. He could feel a thread pulling him toward Fedrahn, further and further in it went. Even when the sea got rough and he had to pray his tiny vessel didn't overturn, he tied himself to it and his food too, and let the waves toss him every which way. It was almost two weeks when he got

his first glimpse of ships headed in perhaps the right direction.