The moon's pale sphere hung in a black sky, casting its cold light upon the forest. Stars glittered within familiar constellations; Arn recalled the strange sky he saw in the Aether dream, back before he fought the wolves. His laughter fit had passed twenty minutes ago, but the other two gave him space, and Arn took it.

He glanced at Rana's sleeping form - or, so it appeared. Was she sleeping? He didn't trust anything the woman did. De'al sat motionless, staring into the pit of faintly glowing emberwood. The two were strangers. Worse than that, he knew little of their motivations. As bad as Rana was, at least he had a faint idea of what she was after - she wanted to recruit him to her cause. Didn't she? Arn rubbed his eyes; sparks appeared at the corners of his vision only to fade away in a flash.

He glanced at De'al once more. Why is this man here? What does he want from me? Arn wondered.

"You must sleep; you'll need energy for tomorrow," De'al said in a hushed voice.

"I don't think so," Arn replied.

De'al raised an eyebrow. "Do you believe that if either of us wished to cause you harm, we'd have to wait until you sleep?" he challenged Arn.

"I," Arn whispered.

"The three of us are bound for the moment; your warranted suspicions must pause 'till we're out of danger." The entire time he spoke, De'al kept his eyes on the pit.

Arn considered the man's words, then sighed. "Fine," he mumbled, then got into his sleeping back, closer to the pit to catch some of the warmth. Sleep came surprisingly fast, but so did the wake-up call.

Arn felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. It was still dark; it couldn't have been morning. Rana already stood, looking off in the distance.

"We've been found," De'al whispered, "we must go, hurry!"

Arn crawled out of his sleeping bag and stuffed it into his backpack. His mind hadn't fully awakened; everything happened in a haze. They were running again, the emberwood left forgotten, heading east through the forest, probably to De'al's mysterious boat.

"I don't like your plan," Rana said after De'al filled her in, "I say we go up north, the Inspectorate won't reach him there, and I have some friends that will help us."

"That settles it; we're definitely not going north," Arn said between pants.

Rana protested but seemed surprisingly placatable on the matter - Arn made a mental note about that. He didn't remember her being so agreeable the last time they met.

"They can't see us, yet they know," De'al said. "Losing them will be challenging, yet lose them we must before reaching the boat."

"How can you be sure that they're after us?" Arn asked. He hadn't heard a thing the entire time they've been running. Rana didn't seem to question their pursuers, but she wouldn't if De'al and her were working together.

"If you hear the Inspectorate chasing you, then you've been caught already," Rana said.

"But," he managed to say before gasping for air, "but -"

"Save your breath," De'al interjected.

"You're really out of shape," Rana said.

Arn scowled but heeded their advice. Neither of them was even breathing heavily. He soon slumped against a tree and had to take a break, spots appeared in his vision, and his breaths barely supplied enough oxygen. Every muscle burned in protest.

"At this rate, they'll reach us before we reach the boat," Rana said.

"Stall them," De'al told her.

Rana gasped, "who, me?" she said, a hand on her chest, "stop a squad of the Inspectorate?"

De'al held her gaze while Arn tried to catch his breath. Their conversation was slowly registering in his mind, and he looked up at Rana. Could she actually stall an entire squad of them? He wondered. Rana suddenly turned to Arn and winked at him.

"I want my baby cousin to ask," she said.

De'al turned his expressionless face toward Arn as well. What are they waiting for? They can't seriously... he thought.

"I am not going to beg -" he growled.

"Whoa, whoa," Rana raised her palms at Arn as one does with a wild animal, "I didn't say beg, I just said ask."

De'al continued to stare at Arn as though nothing urgent was at hand.

"Fine," Arn said. He took a few deep breaths, all the while glaring at Rana, who seemed to be amused by his reaction more than anything. "Stall them," he said through gritted teeth.

"Wow," Rana chuckled. "Wow!" she shook her head and glanced at De'al. Did you hear that? By his attitude, you'd think I threw him in a cell or something - oh wait, never mind!"

Once again, there wasn't a response from De'al; he looked at the two of them with the same sort of even and expressionless stare.

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"You two are no fun!" she cried out. Rana stretched her arms and back, then swung her arm to stretch her shoulders. "I've been itching to chat with the good fellas, you know? Now's as good a time as ever. Where is the boat?" she asked De'al.

"You found him once; you'll do it again," he said.

"I suppose I will!" she smirked, then darted off into the forest.

De'al didn't seem to be in a hurry anymore. He let Arn catch his breath and rest.

"What if I just go after her? Neither of you seems very concerned considering you're followed by the Inspectorate," Arn said.

"You shouldn't go after her; it is dangerous," De'al replied.

"Are you going to tell me that I can't see, but you can, and that's that?"

"Yes," De'al said.

"Elar'Saga keep me," Arn muttered. Rana was gone for a couple of minutes now; all seemed quiet. That is until he heard a scream - that of a man. Arn jerked and looked at De'al; the man tilted his head, a hint of a grin appearing on his face. Arn looked back; the scream echoed and died out, then another, and another.

"What was that?" Arn whispered.

"That was our sign to leave," De'al said, already several steps ahead. Arn hurried after the man. They altered their course northward now that they didn't need to worry about pursuit. Arn would have preferred to have seen the Inspectorate, but at least this way, he wasn't directly involved in whatever Rana did to elicit those screams. Just as he thought that, a faint cry reached them from far away.

What was she doing to them? He was starting to feel bad for the Inspectorate agents.

"Don't let your guard down," De'al said.

"But Rana, she is dealing with them, isn't she?"

"It's the Inspectorate; they have many tricks up their sleeves," De'al said.

"What are you saying? They are still after us? Another group?" Arn started hearing sounds: branches breaking, trees creaking, his eyes darted all around.

"Focus ahead; nothing is the matter just now, but keep your guard."

The screams still echoed in his mind, even if he could no longer hear them. Was this ever going to end? He wondered as they jogged among the trees.

"Where is the boat?" Arn asked.

"Where I left it."

Arn growled; he felt the warmth in his core once more. It energized him, removing the weight of fear and some of the exhaustion from his limbs.

The sun peaked above the eastern horizon, and warm orange rays cast long shadows upon the snow. It was light enough for Arn to see that the trees were ending soon. He heard the river's sound as it flowed east. They must be close, finally!

They ran out of the tree cover and unto twenty feet of shoreline. The was a small dock tucked in a cove and a boat that seemed too large for it bobbing in the current. De'al stopped and held out an arm to forestall Arn.

"What?" Arn asked, looking around for any sign of whatever worried the man.

De'al didn't answer; instead, he surveyed their surroundings and stepped back slowly, pushing Arn with him. The wind picked up; it blew in small gusts, lifting loose snow from the ground and blowing it all around them. Was this De'al? Arn didn't relish the thought of an Inspectorate agent with power like that.

"Come out," De'al said calmly.

A moment later, a man exited from the trees near the cove. He seemed familiar; Arn furrowed his brows - where'd he see him before? That's right, Ossagar's warden!

"You may leave if you hurry; our companion is less forgiving than I," De'al said.

"Oh, can I? Thank the spirits for that," the man mocked De'al.

"I see that your goals are misaligned with what must be," De'al said.

"Oh," the warden gasped, his eyes widened, "are you an oracle? Wait, don't tell me - you knew I was going to ask, didn't you?" The man stepped towards them leisurely. A knife appeared in his hand, and he handled it with finesse.

Arn didn't understand what the warden was doing there. Could he be after Rana? The man did warn Arn about her when they met.

De'al didn't react to the warden's taunt, though he watched him like a hawk does a mouse.

"You just go back to your business, and I will help Arn get where he needs to go. Nice of you to provide the boat," the warden said.

Why is everyone trying to help me? Arn thought, glancing from De'al to the warden.

"Didn't you hear me? I am not messing around; I will carve you -" the warden twitched mid-sentence; an instant later, a blade hung in the air inches from De'al's eye. De'al didn't blink. The warden scowled, his stance no longer at ease. Arn could tell that he wasn't expecting this.

The blade slowly flipped in the air, pointing to the warden, then dropped to the snow.

"Sighted as you may be, warden, you are too early in your journey. Leave, now," De'al began to pace towards the man. The warden's scowl deepened, and he backed away.

"What, what are you?" the warden mumbled, but De'al continued his advance. Then, another blade appeared, this time to De'al's right; it stopped inches from his temple.

"How? What is this?" the warden cried out; none of his bravado remained.

The warden dropped the knife he still held and took out a metal device with glowing runes on it. He whispered something and glared at De'al, then at Arn. Nothing happened. Fear appeared in the man's eyes; Arn could see the white all around his irises.

The warden looked at the item and whispered again and again. Nothing. Finally, De'al had reached him; the man fell backwards in his scramble and tried to skitter away, but De'al was too fast; he grabbed the warden's arm, pulled him close, and placed one hand on the man's temple.

The warden's body went limp, and he dropped to the snow.

"Is he dead?" Arn whispered.

"Dead? Yes, but not now - no, now he isn't dead. He will awake," De'al replied in a singsong voice.

"What did you do?" Arn asked.

"Those not ready to see," De'al said, "their minds cannot accept the halls of dreams."

"What - what does that, what?"

"Come, we must reach the boat."

"De'al. Wait. How did you stop the knives? Wait," Arn hurried after the man. They reached the boat. It was larger than Arn expected. Large enough to comfortably accommodate three people.

"Nice boat!" came Rana's voice, mere feet behind Arn - he jumped in surprise and nearly fell into the frigid Arngosadar. Rana caught him by the collar of his coat and made sure he was steady.

"Whoa there," she chuckled, "not a great time for a swim. I see you've had company?" she turned to De'al.

"He's asleep; he won't trouble us."

Rana still held Arn's collar. He tried to pull it back, but her iron grip wouldn't budge. Thankfully, she saw him and let the collar go with a sly smile.

"Are they?" Arn motioned behind Rana.

"Asleep? No, they are certainly not asleep," she said.

Arn stared at the woman. She shrugged, then brushed past him and onto the boat. De'al had already untied it from the dock. Arn swore under his breath and got into the boat as well.

They followed the current east. Trees passed on all sides, and the sunrise was beautiful. He could almost forget the likely dead Inspectorate agents and the one warden who was now asleep - if De'al was to be believed.

"It wasn't an Inspectorate warden," De'al said, his voice back to an even tone.

"What?" Arn said.

"The man who is asleep."

"Then who is he?" Arn asked.

"He's a warden, or rather, in service of one - just not from the Inspectorate," De'al said, eyes fixed toward the horizon.

"Why was he there?" Arn asked.

"Because of you," De'al said.

"Me?" Arn exclaimed.

"Oh, don't worry, little cousin, the unstable one, and I will keep you safe. You just relax and enjoy the cruise," Rana cooed.

Arn looked at the two of them. Rana had abducted him several weeks ago, and De'al - well, he was just himself. The three of them headed down the Arngosadar to find his father. Judging by his previous experience, he didn't have great hopes for it going according to plan.