Osawa [https://shadowsprey.com/wp-content/uploads/story-images/01_18_osheader.png]

Osawa clung to the back of his horse. He had never taken to riding like the others. He had come from the sea, but he preferred his feet on land whenever possible.

After Haru and Vahn’s individual leaps from the waterfall, Osawa used the currents to carry himself down at a more sedate pace. Despite that, they were all still soaked when they cut through the overgrown barrier forest of the east gardens, using the cover of the trees to make their way to the stables. Normally it would irritate Osawa to be stuck in wet clothes, but it still felt like relief.

Occasionally Vahn would dart off the path, only to return with a leather travel bag. He had tossed the first to Osawa, the second to Haru. At the stables, he pried up a few floorboards from the tackroom and retrieved another two bags, which he kept for himself.

Inside Osawa’s was several changes of grey sweats, as well as a spare uniform, jacket and all, and every article of clothing was his own. The jacket was somewhat outdated, reminding Osawa of the time that his hadn’t returned from the launderer and he was forced to have a new one fashioned. There were also tightly wrapped rations and crisp bills tucked in with a thin all-weather blanket and empty canteen.

Neither Osawa nor Haru asked Vahn why he had them, and as usual Vahn didn’t offer any explanation for it. It wasn’t a matter worth pressing. They peeled the ragged clothing they had worn in Irkalla from their bodies just as the comm that Haru had taken from the guards began to issue an alert.

Gathering their horses was the work of a moment and they’d set out.

Under the cover of the trees, the heavy underbrush slowed the horses. Still, Haru pushed Amon faster than wise. It would have almost been difficult to keep up with him if it weren’t for the fact that Kanna’s horse was hard to miss. Amon was huge, black as night with a blanket of small white spots that became more prominent along his hindquarters.

At the edge of the woods, Haru pulled his mount up until Vahn and Osawa were even with him.

“What now?” Osawa asked. Julius shifted beneath him and he wobbled, still weak from his time in the prison. He threaded his fingers into the horse’s dark mane to keep himself steady.

“We need to stay ahead of the civilian alerts.” Vahn said. He reached forward, patting Mud’s red-toned neck.

Haru nodded, his gaze trained on the city at the edge of the garden.

They needed to move. Through the streets wasn’t an option, and back through the Tower was an even worse idea than leaping from a cliff. He turned Julius and nudged it along the outskirts of the trees. They could ford the river they had dove into and follow the banks on the opposite side of the city.

“We get out of Lugos,” Osawa said. “What then?”

“I have a connection in Atarrabi,” Vahn replied, nudging Mud to pull alongside Osawa. “She should be able to get us to Gegenes.”

“Gegenes?”

Vahn and Osawa turned in their saddles when Haru spoke. He’d said little since they managed to escape Irkalla, and the exhaustion from his captivity and subsequent escape was starting to show. Since their punishments had been custom tailored to their powers, Osawa didn’t want to think about what Haru had been subjected to.

Osawa noted that one of the ghostlights had remained with Haru, hovering near his shoulder, though Haru himself seemed unaware of its presence.

“I’ve kept an eye on things,” Vahn said, turning so he wouldn’t face either of them. “There were some disturbances in Adur a while back, but nothing notable recently.”

Amon’s hooves hit against the ground as Haru pushed him to catch up with the other two, then skittered when he was pulled back. The horse was ornery on his best days, and while it adored Kanna, it tolerated the rest of them. It made Osawa somewhat uncomfortable to have it at his back. Thankfully, Vahn reigned Mud in enough that they travelled in a scattered line.

“Gegenes has this place they call the Theatre,” Vahn said. “They throw fighters against each other as a kind of entertainment.”

“That’s barbaric,” Haru said.

“That’s funny coming from the guy that took out his anger on Prospects every chance he got,” Vahn said with a shrug. “Anyway, as I was saying, a new fighter showed up following some riot in an Adur town. Could be Kanna.”

“What makes you think that?” Osawa ventured to ask.

“From the reports the fighter is about ten pounds of murder in a two pound bag.”

Osawa turned enough to try and gauge Haru’s reaction. His hands tightened on Amon’s reins and the light at his shoulder flickered erratically. He turned to the woods, looking back to the Tower.

“Does anyone else think this was too easy?” Haru asked.

Vahn shrugged. “I wouldn’t call the torture and fall from a cliff easy.”

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Osawa decided it best not to point out that the leap from the cliff was unnecessary. “The hard part will come later,” he said instead.

“And what’s the hard part, in your wise opinion?” Vahn quipped at his back.

It was Haru that answered.

“Getting back in.”

The sound of water reached Osawa’s ears.

Tages, the city near the Palamidia’s compound, was built on the banks of a curving river, but only on one side. If the trio travelled along the opposite bank, they could avoid the heavily trafficked areas of commerce by skirting through and around the scattered residences without having to move too far away from the faster paths out of the region.

At the bank of the river, Osawa dismounted, taking an extra moment to free his foot from the stirrup. Vahn came around Julius, taking the horse’s reins.

Osawa took off his boots, slinging them over the saddle. He rolled his pants up the best he could and signalled for the others to do the same before stepping forward.

Ankle deep in the river, he shook out his hands and placed his palms on the surface, feeling the currents as they moved below.

Water wasn’t as stubborn as earth or as unpredictable as fire, but it came with its own set of guidelines. Water liked to move, but it wanted to go where it had always been.

Convincing it to move in a different way was the trick to Osawa’s abilities. It wasn’t a battle of will so much as a negotiation.

He shut his eyes, reaching out through the water. He turned the currents, moving the flow in opposite directions. Slowly, the water began to recede. He didn’t want to push it too far--he would have to hold it while they crossed.

Osawa began to move, Vahn following behind and leading their mounts. Haru came last, Amon prancing nervously.

Osawa kept his attention on the water until they arrived at the opposite bank. He let out his breath and the water careened back to it’s original path as Osawa fell, exhausted.

Amon shot past him, and he heard a yelp from behind.

Haru hadn’t made it out of the water fast enough and the waves had crashed around him, drenching him from his chest down.

Vahn burst into laughter while a sodden Haru glared.

“Well, it needed to happen sooner or later,” Vahn choked out. “You smelled like a sewer.”

Haru glared back at them. “Speak for yourselves.”

“Excuse you?” Vahn said, aghast. “I smell like something went bad in a refrigerator.”

Osawa righted himself, sitting on the dry bank. He grinned and flicked his wrist. The water rose up, dousing Haru again.

Vahn doubled over with laughter when Haru came back to the surface, sputtering for air. When Vahn straightened, he moved to Osawa and offered his hand.

“And Osawa smells like dried shrimp, which is kind of weird.”

Haru pushed his hair out of his eyes, wading the rest of the way up the bank of the river. He peeled off the soaked shirt and wrung it out before retrieving a pair of the sweats that Vahn had packed.

Osawa took Vahn’s offered hand. “Thank you so much for including me.”

“Anytime,” Vahn said with a wink, and pulled Osawa to standing. After, Vahn knelt down next to Osawa’s horse, cupping his hands for Osawa to use as a boost to mount.

Osawa had to accept the help. He knew there wasn’t any other way he would be able to get back into the saddle on his own.

He had always been the weakest of the group. He was mediocre at hand-to-hand fighting, and using his abilities tired him out faster than the others. Even then, he still hadn’t been able to make water from other things. He couldn’t pull it from the air, or even from plants like others could. Osawa had to use it as it was, convince it to move where he wanted it to go.

Vahn could make flames burst from nothing when he needed them.

Haru and Kanna were on a different level entirely, the scope of their abilities a mystery to everyone. Sometimes, Osawa wondered if even they were aware of their capabilities.

A shrill whistle from Haru and Amon crashing back through the underbrush brought Osawa back to the present.

Haru mounted and they set off again, this time with the river between them and the city.

Osawa kept his eyes ahead, but he could still hear Haru behind him. Vahn had taken the lead once more, increasing their pace as the sun moved across the horizon.

They moved into a full gallop for a short distance, but Vahn slowed the pace when the sun dipped low and threatened to set. Haru overshot them, though, and they had to catch up to him.

Osawa clung to Julius’s neck. His legs had gone numb and his jaw ached from keeping it clenched to avoid the jostling of the ride.

Vahn spurred Mud forward and cut off Amon, stopping in front of Haru. Osawa pulled Julius up several paces behind.

“Enough,” Vahn said when their mounts settled. “We still have a full day ahead of us. We need the horses to make it to Atarrabi, unless you plan on walking through the plains.”

Osawa walked his mount up, looking back. He could see the lights of the city in the distance, a haze against the night sky.

Vahn dismounted, turning to hold Osawa’s horse so he could follow suit. Osawa stumbled, his legs weak from moving the river and holding on to the horse. He leaned against the saddle, propping himself up.

“I’ll take care of the horses,” Vahn said. “Why don’t you go cool off somewhere else.”

Haru dismounted, grabbed his pack, and stalked away, not sparing a word or a glance for either Vahn or Osawa.

“Don’t go too far,” Osawa managed to call, belatedly.

Under the cover of the trees, Osawa collapsed. He watched Vahn as he worked, removing the horse’s saddles and bridles before tethering them into place. Out of one of his bags, Vahn took out a comb and began to brush them down. As Osawa watched, he began to drift off, lulled by the rhythmic scraping of the brush against the horses’ coarse hair.