Nez took in the fresh air, stretching his arms and arching his back over the side of the cart.

He felt great.

They were already over a mile of distance from the city, not too far from the mines.

"You look happy" Phisena commented, in front of him. She was reading a book with a purple cover.

"You can bet i am" Nez replied with a big smile. "I went to Yronburg three years a go, and this is the first time i take a step out of it".

From the front of the cart, Delilah turned around with a shocked face. "You've been inside those walls for so long?".

Nez never had a reason to leave. Nobody was waiting for him elsewhere, and to find jobs in another city he'd have to build some reputation from scratch.

And he also didn't want to go through the trouble of making people tolerate him another time.

It wasn't easy for a Devil Touched.

“Even I got to go outside of the castle and visit some towns...” Delilah muttered in incredulity.

Phisena turned a page, then she carefully made a gesture with her hand as if she was following what was written in the book. She looked completely focused.

“What are you doing?” Nez asked. He wanted to make sure they weren't about to blow up.

“Studying entropism magic” she replied without averting her eyes.

“Entro-what magic?”.

Phisena sighed and lowered her head. “Entropism magic” she repeated. “It's magic of the Cosmos, the void beyond the stars where there's no laws of time, space, and chance”.

That sounded more dreadful than just blowing up.

“I'll leave you to it, then” Nez replied with an encouraging, yet worried, nod.

Please don't let me be swallowed by a portal to the void...

He looked back towards the city to distract himself, and thankfully he did because then he saw a great number of horses in the distance going at full speed in their direction.

It seemed like Ulfric wasn't about to let it go that easily.

“We have company” Nez warned the others.

Bortheus, who was driving, looked around. “Where?”.

“Behind us. A lot of people on horses just left Yronburg, and they are coming this way”.

“Damn Ulfric” Bortheus said gritting his teeth. “We need to hide”.

Nez agreed. They were going to catch up soon.

Bortheus steered the raggedy cart to the right and sped up, out of the beaten path and towards the closest mining camp he could see.

The ride was bumpy to say the least, and there were multiple times where Nez was sure the cart was about to fall apart.

They managed to arrive in one piece.

The camp was half empty, most of the miners were probably working on the hill not too far from there.

“Are you here for an inspection from the committee?” a young man with dirty skin asked in a doubtful tone, seeing them arrive.

Nez made sure to keep his head low and don't attract any attention to him.

Delilah jumped down and went to him. “We're being followed by a gang of criminals from Yronburg” she said straight to the point. “Can you give us shelter?”.

The man stumbled on his words. “Criminals from the city? That's serious stuff...”.

“Please” Delilah insisted with a determined look on her face. “We just need a place to hide. We'll leave once the criminals go away”.

The man ran a hand between his hair, leaving a black trail behind. “Hey, Bucky!” he then called to another miner. “We have some refugees to take care of”.

Delilah opened up in a bright smile. “Thank you”.

In a very organized fashion, a bunch of miners brought the cart out of sight and escorted the group inside one of the barracks, where they could hide behind some shelves stocked with food.

A few miners stayed in the barracks with them.

After seeing Nez's weird behavior, Bortheus asked him: “Do you feel sick?”.

“Shut up, you dumbass” Nez replied in a whisper. “I don't want them to see that I'm a Devil Touched, otherwise they'll freak out”.

In a short time, they could hear the thugs arrive and start asking questions. Ulfric's voice was loud and clear.

Luckily. The miners didn't snitch and pretended like they didn't know about any group of four people.

Ulfric didn't seem to be convinced, and kept getting angrier and angrier. He didn't wait long before he started threatening the miners.

“If you want to waste your time and bully a bunch of defenseless miners, suit yourself” the man that welcomed the group told him. “It's not like we can stop you”.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

After a long silence, Ulfric replied: “I suppose you haven't seen them... I doubt you'd protect that kind of people”.

He was talking about Nez.

The Devil Touched was glad he could pass off as a human.

Finally, Ulfric and his gang left.

“Can we go out, now?” Bortheus asked.

“No”. Nez wanted to be cautious. “Let's wait a little bit in here. Then we'll leave this camp after an hour, staying away from the road”.

He was sure Ulfric would go to every single mining outpost in the area, looking for them.

After a few minutes, some miners came to get them. They moved the shelves to the side and let them out.

“They are gone”.

“You're safe now!”.

“Rest here for a while”.

They all seemed very friendly.

And Nez wished they weren't.

One of them placed his hand on Nez's shoulder, got very close, and lightly shook him. “Come one, cheer up!” he said. “The danger is gone”.

In doing so, he got a good look at Nez's face.

He immediately let go and stepped back. “Wait a minute... You're a Devil Touched!” he exclaimed in horror.

All the other miners turned towards him. They went from friendly to scared in an heartbeat. They slowly reached for their pickaxes.

This is just great...

Nez went for his weapons, but Delilah stopped him.

“Don't you dare hurt them!” she told him with a burning stare.

“What if they hurt me?” he replied.

Delilah stepped forward, speaking calmly to try and defuse the situation. “You have to believe us, we have no ill intention. He's a Devil Touched, but he won't hurt you”.

Her words didn't reach the miners.

“Bury the cursed child in the mines!” one of them exclaimed, met with loud assent from his peers. “His friends too! They have been corrupted!”.

“Listen to us, please!” Delilah implored them.

But it was in vain.

----------------------------------------

“This is outrageous!” Delilah barked in indignation. “Nez didn't do anything wrong. You can't just dispose of him like this!”.

The miners who were bringing them in the tunnels didn't budge.

“It's useless” Nez told her. “It's just how things go for my kind”.

He was used to it.

“If only someone wasn't so hellbent on preventing me to defend myself...”.

Bortheus grunted. “Are you questioning my lady's judgment?”.

The dear princess' judgment brought them down the main tunnel of the nearby mines, on their way to be locked up in there until they'd die of starvation.

An outstanding call.

Luckily, even if their weapons were taken from them and left at the entrance and they had their hands tied behind their back, those miners didn't seem to realize that some of them could use magic.

“Can we please do it my way, before we get stuck in here?” Nez asked with growing impatience.

“These aren't bad people” Delilah reminded him.

He'd argue against it, considering the situation.

“I'm not going to kill or maim them” Nez said. He wasn't an animal, after all. “I just want us to prevent our deaths”.

“I would be fine down here” Phisena said looking around at the support structures. “But I want to save my friends” she immediately added.

“Cool. You're on board” Nez replied, glad that someone felt the same as him. “What about you, big guy? Do you want to save your lady?”.

Bortheus was about to rebuke, but then he stopped. “Of course I do” he begrudgingly said.

Nez turned to Delilah. “It's three against one”.

She sighed in frustration. “Alright. Get us out of here”.

The miners behind them chuckled. “Yeah, sure. That's a funny joke”.

At the same time Bortheus flexed his muscles and snapped the ropes that bound him, while Nez jumped bringing his knees close to his chest and slid his wrist underneath his legs.

The two guys swiftly took care of the closest miners, and Phisena said “Ventus” at the three in the back.

Strong winds crashed down on them, knocking them back and pushing them to the ground.

Bortheus freed the others.

“How strong are you?” Nez asked him. He massaged his wrists.

“I'm a royal knight” Bortheus replied. “Mere rope cannot stop me”.

That wasn't a real answer, but Nez accepted it nonetheless.

Delilah looked troubled. “I don't like hurting the common folk”. She looked at the unconscious people on the ground.

“Forgive me, my lady”. Bortheus immediately dropped on his knee, his head held low. “I don't wish to upset you, but your safety is of the highest priority to me”.

She placed a hand on his head. “It's alright. I suppose sometimes it's necessary to use some force”.

They backtracked to the entrances, a couple hundred yards away.

There, the group saw their weapons being examined by a few workers. Some were talking about selling them to make some cash.

Don't you dare!

Not being inclined to have his personal belongings being sold away by random people, Nez went ahead of the group.

“What are you doing?” Delilah called to him, just a hint of concern in her voice.

When Nez turned around, his eyes were already glowing. “I just want to set things straight”.

He approached the exit, still remaining in the shadow of the tunnel. Only his inhuman eyes could be seen from outside.

“You've kept our things safe! Too kind” he called to the men on the outside. “Why don't you bring them here...”.

The miners looked in the tunnel, and suddenly got struck with fear at that the sight of a pair of yellow glowing eyes peering at them from the dark.

“There's a devil in the mine! Run!”.

The coast was clear in no time.

The group finally could get out in the open and get their belongings back.

“You are terrifying” Phisena told Nez. She held a pair of weird looking tweezers and a glass container. “Can I get a few samples of you, for academic purpose”.

Nez didn't know if it was funny or disturbing.

“Not gonna happen” he turned her down. “But if you want you can study me directly... Just don't cut me up, alright?”.

Phisena brightened up in an instant. “Amazing! A live subject!”.

The pink haired animated doll looked adorable, even if she was talking about some weird stuff.

“If The Hollow was still alive, you'd give him a run for his money” Delilah said while getting past him.

Nez froze on the spot, his fists clenched.

He didn't want to be compared to that cold, ruthless murderer.

They found their cart where they left it. Nobody else was in sight, all the miners having abandoned their camp in a hurry.

“I made an impression” Nez jokingly said while climbing on the cart.

Bortheus didn't look like he found it funny.

“Lesson learned. Stay away from isolated settlements where there is no law enforcement” Delilah said.

Nez felt a little guilty about it, since it was his fault. But before he could apologize, Phisena took his hand and shook her head.

“It's okay” she simply told him before sitting down and resuming her entropism magic studies.

The Devil Touched smiled lightly, ready to enjoy the rest of the journey.