I am back in my own body, releasing the grip on my rapier. Shannai collapses in a heap, breathing heavily. Awaking from her memories gives an out-of-place feeling to my own body. I hadn’t seen it, and it was— the pain and anger in those moments were as vivid as the hands at the end of my arms. My fingers flex while I mull over the similarities between us. I couldn't imagine what it's like to know the person I lost, to have them as a part of my life before. My mother was always gone, so I never knew what I had lost. I thought the grass was greener, but maybe her lawn is as shitty as mine.
“I’m sorry, I didn't expect that to happen.” I apologize.
“It’s okay. I agreed to do it.”
“Were you there with me?”
“Yes.”
“I believe you, and I’m sorry I doubted you.” I apologize again.
“It is fine. Let’s get going. Our day has only started,” She gruffs.
“I’m right behind you. What’s the plan?”
“We will book a false trail to Choux, known for chocolate production. From there, we will walk while teleporting as much as possible to confuse anyone tracking us. It will be a day or so before we have any pursuers,” she explains as we walk.
Our trip to the gate is a quiet affair. Several times, I thought of saying something more, yet nothing sounded appropriate. Thinking of our similarities should lead me to an acceptable salve for this wound. Nothing comes. The carriage stalls are by the southern gate, where our reasonably priced mid-range awaits.
“Hello.” I greet the attendant, a younger blonde person.
“I, Who ya be?”
“I am Vesh’dan, and this is Shannai Sage. We wish to rent a carriage to take us to Choux Village.”
“A sage? Why here? If’n you don't mind sr.”
“Mine is currently being fixed. All those crap backstreets.”
“Been der. It’ll be a silver piece for a ride, food-n-water included.”
“That is reasonable,” I comment, handing the pieces over.
“It’s da’ green one. We’n head out whenever you're ready.”
“Thank you.”
Jumping onto the green carriage produces a noise that worries Shannai. Its paint is scraping away in places, giving the whole thing a faded look. I sit beside her, and the driver sets off. I try to squash it with another apology.
“I hadn’t meant to go so deep.” I offer.
“I’m not upset with you. That is a hard part of my life. To have someone else see that depth is a little— intrusive.”
“I understand. I’ll give you some time. But now would be the best time to explain this, if you don’t mind listening?”
“Go for it.”
"The first is a wireless relay, which works by pressing the rune on the center of the shell. You can talk into this prototype, but I haven't got the transference runes right. They suck up so much power that they fry any reasonably sized ston-”
“That is great, but the basics will suffice.”
“Ah, yes. You know the codes?”
“I do sign each message with our nicknames?”
“Smart. Okay, these are bombs. There are three kinds: the gray one produces smoke, the green one is powdered poison for incapacitation, and the black one has explosives. They all have a blast radius of ten feet, and the first two will last one minute with moderate wind speed. This last one is one of my most ingenious yet so simple and revolu-”
“Vesh,” She scolds.
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“Yes, it is a water container with infusion runes in the gems on the front here. Essentially, it infuses mana into water.”
“Are you fucking with me?” She disbelieves.
“I know, right? It is simple: the water is ready to accept the mana with almost no permeation loss, and all but one rune is entirely passive. You just fill it and make sure the gem is dimly lit, indicating an appropriate amount of ambient mana is present. Pressing the gem will start the infusion, which will be complete in a few hours. You must keep it closed for the process. If the seal breaks, you will have to start from scratch.”
We travel in the carriage for half the day until the southern crossroads signal to depart. We are in place, prompting Shannai to grab my hand, and we appear far from the road by a copse of trees. The trundling trot of the wheels is louder from the outside. We stay still, letting our oblivious driver drop out of sight before we start.
This road is one of the three that goes directly to the Wall, easing our access for the price of stealth. Though, we don't plan on traveling on the road. We walk a hundred meters off, following from a parallel trajectory. Shannai will take my hand every few hours and teleport us about two hundred meters ahead on the other side of the road.
The first few days of travel are silent, broken only by nature's continuous babbling in the background. I can think of nothing to lighten the mood. Eventually, she warms into a more amicable mentality as we camp for the third night.
Camp is little more than some of the pokey brush loosely assembled around a central area with our blankets. Fire is too risky because the hunters following us will notice it. The winter winds are coming in, but the south rarely gets bad ones. It is in one of those chilly afternoons that Shannai finally slips from her funk.
“It is a lot to take in. You saw everything. When I was little, I thought my family was all I had, especially my sister. She is the only one that made me feel good about being myself. Losing that, losing her…” She almost whispers, lying in the darkness cast by the sky.
“I can’t even imagine.”
“You are always seen?”
“Not always, but I had no active force oppressing me. It's more of a misinterpreted glance than a full denial of who I am.”
“That must have been nice.”
“It just was, I don't know anything else. In retrospect, it makes me feel like my footing is solid. But at the core of it, I don’t know who my father was.”
“That makes sense and sounds similar.”
“There are lots of environments to see.”
"I may find something like that. Not the bad bits but the stillness."
“I’m sure you can do anything you want.”
“I accept your apology, Vesh.”
“Thanks Shan.”
Our travels regain their joviality after that night as the shadow cast by our past fades in the distance. The conversation meanders easier, with a glint of happiness now and then. The prairies intersperse with forests south of the capital and are foreign in fauna and flora. It is different from the willows, especially the trees. On our trip down, I saw a few green ones, but the first view of a southern forest halted my breath. Standing on the top of a ridge, I can see for miles. Pines stand hundreds of meters tall, yet the perspective dwarfs them into blades of grass, dancing with the wind.
Wildlife is scarce, and they are likely hearing us coming from a while off. I am unaccustomed to traveling through this terrain and can’t sneak up. I still see several types of small animals bustling, also about six feet of snake before it slithers into the foliage; terrifying. We set camp in the trees, securing ourselves with rope before dozing in the sea of green.
We only catch a hint of our trackers a week into our travel while doubling back to make some decoy trails. A carriage roaring down the road alerts us to the people. We teleport into a tree, giving us a good vantage of the road while making it harder to spot us. I see the carriage first, an average one surrounded by soldiers wearing the Sage house seal.
“Fuck.” Shannai hisses.
“What’s wrong?” I whisper.
“Those are house trackers, the best in the empire.”
“Do you know their tactics?”
“Not all of them, but I know they have a type of mental magic that lets them follow the signature of a type of magic.”
“Oh shit.”
“My brilliant teleportation plan has led them straight to us.”
“Why didn't we plan for this?”
“I thought they were still doing training in the Catskill Mountains. And we were expecting someone to track us, just not them.”
“And they weren’t?”
"This isn't good. We have— Where we are going will be easy to guess. The road only leads to two places. They will also know what we plan to do, if not how, at least our intentions."
“How bad?”
"We have to rethink the entire plan, so bad. Assuming the tracker can sniff out any magic for at least a day after the casting. Depending on the scale, they can pick it up for weeks after. The pendant you gave me masks aura, but it can't cover the magic in the air I displace. I'm unsure what we can do to throw them off our trail, though."
“So pretty bad. Maybe we can deter pursuit?”
“Worse plan than running. The specialists in this group will be ideal to combat and chase us.”
“Combat isn’t my thing. Any ideas?”
“Give me a minute… Split up? Without the burden of teleporting you, I can jump much faster and further. I know you’re fast, but can you keep up with me?” Shan offers.
“I can try to keep up. What pace are we talking about?”
"Uhmm.. Sustainably? A six-minute kilometer for twenty hours.
“Two hundred Kilometers a day? That will cut our remaining travel time in half.”
“Best part. That cart can move faster than us and for longer, but it must follow the road. If I push it, I can do two hundred eighty kilometers daily.”
“What if they can keep up on foot?”
“Chances are it will be a select few who can. They will likely detach from the rest and pressure whichever of us is the higher-value target or the easiest to take. After that, they will chase me or use you as bait.”
“You are good at this.”
“I am. What do you think?”
"I agree with your thinking; the pace is daunting, but I can manage it. I can't handle the group alone. If we could travel faster with me running for myself, couldn't we stay closer together?"
"I don't think so. Or it isn't the safest option. I am easier to track because I have external applications of my magic. I will receive most of their attention, and you will be harder to find. You will pass through a place I've marked if we are close."
“Yeah, that makes sense. So we divide and concur?”
“Yes, you stay on this side of the road and follow Styx down to Kesar. Stay well from the town. After that, it should be a straight shot to Jer’s station post.”
“Sounds doable.”
“Exactly. Be safe and careful; we will meet in a week.”
“It is you I am worried about. Call me back if you can't keep up, and we can regroup.”
“Alright,” She laughs.