Suppressing the need for further curses, Lev retreated into the darkness of the wagon simultaneously signing Yaril to follow suit. The devil only briefly glanced over to the soldiers who were currently checking wagons further down the line and then followed without a word. Inside, Taras had readied his gun and was holding out a similar weapon to Lev. For a moment, Lev felt amusement as he wondered just how many of the things the man had swiped from the arsenal. Then he took it and returned to the matter at hand.

“What do we do?”, he asked Taras in a hushed tone. There was nowhere to hide in the wagon and there was no mistaking them for random folk. Gun wounds and a devil weren’t something that could be explained away. The weapon affine Rusin thought for a moment. His calm stoicism was something Lev usually valued in his friend, though he felt that right now a little urgency was in order. Taras seemed to agree as he faced Yaril.

“Can you hide us somehow?”, he asked her. She shook her head without elaborating.

Shrugging he turned back to Lev. “Fighting it is then.” They turned back and saw that the soldiers were still occupied with the wagon before them. “Could you kill all of them?”, Lev asked the devil and she once again shook her head.

“If it was a normal roadblock with a couple of soldiers, I could. But they are looking for me. That means they will be prepared.”

That made sense. Lev readied his gun and looked over to Jaro. The man was still unconscious, and he doubted that they would get far carrying him. That said, they couldn’t just leave him here. There was no question what the imperials would do if they got their hands on him.

“We have to split up.”, he said to Taras. “Can you take him and try to get him to some village? Lay low for a while until we get to Terje.” The other man hesitated, and it looked to Lev like he weighed his chances. For a moment there was a conflicted expression as he glanced over to Yaril. Then it was replaced with the stoic frown that Lev had come to expect from him.

He was about to answer when they suddenly heard a feminine voice outside.

“Sirs. What is going on?”, a woman asked, her voice coming through the canvas that covered the wagon.

“Looking for dissidents.”, a voice that had to be one of the soldiers replied. “There was an uprising in Maris. A lot of dead people.” From the way he talked, it sounded like the revolt had failed. Lev grimaced and saw that the sentiment was mirrored by his fellow ‘dissident’. Taking the city had been a long shot since it was surrounded by fortresses and heavily defended. They had counted on the discontent of the Khazar population to aid them and result in a spontaneous mass revolt, but it seemed like that had either failed or not been enough.

“How horrible!”, the woman’s tone was sweet and sounded genuinely horrified. “But I can assure you that there are no dissidents in my wagon.”

“We will see that for ourselves.”, the soldier replied coldly. “It is suspicious that a lone woman would be alone this far out. Where are you from and are you going to?”

“I’m from-“

Even as the interrogation continued, Lev could hear another set of footsteps approach the opening of the wagon. He shot Taras a meaningful look. A decisive nod followed. They readied their pistols and Lev whispered to Yaril.

“Try to distract them a bit while we escape. Then join us once you are sure it’s safe.”, as usual, she did not deign to respond, but he was confident that she would do as he said. A figure appeared in his vision and Lev pulled the trigger. The sound of the round echoed through the air, followed by a second one as Taras shot through the canvas at where Lev estimated the second soldier was standing. Not waiting to see the result of their attack, both surged forward, Taras lifting up the unconscious Jaro while Lev continued past to jump out of the wagon.

He thanked God for the surge of adrenaline as he felt the numbed pain crashing down from all over.

Next to him, he saw Yaril as a brief blur before the devil took off up the road. He rounded the corner of the wagon and saw two figures. Aiming, he shot the already wounded soldier in the back before addressing the woman. She seemed shell-shocked as she stared at the dying man on the ground.

“Are you the guide?”, he asked her with some urgency. She took a moment to answer.

“Y-yes.”, as if having broken a spell, she shook herself awake.

“We are getting out of here. Follow me.”, Lev said decisively, seeing that Taras had hoisted Jaro over his shoulder and was out of the wagon. “You go north. We will try and lead them west.”, he said to the other. Taras acknowledged it with a grateful smile.

Shouts came closer, followed by the sound of rifle fire. Yaril must have started her distraction and hopefully bought them some time before the rest of the checkpoint was upon them. They had to hurry. Exchanging a last look with the man who had saved his life, Lev ran off followed by the guide.

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They got off the road and he quickly made his way towards a lightly wooded hedge running along it. The area was typical for the south of Kanis. A continuation of the steppe that lay beyond the Neyr to the east, consisting of mostly flat grassland only occasionally interrupted by small woods and hedges. Not the best conditions for disappearing into the wild. Luckily the grass was tall and even the relative flatness of the south was interrupted by countless berms and low hills. They just had to be fast and silent.

The sound of fighting continued and intensified as he could hear the troops coming closer to the wagon on the road. He tried to ignore it and continued past the hedge and towards the open grass. His eyes darted around until he saw a slope down the right side that was leading away from the road. They would be exposed until they made it through it, but once they were on the other side, it shouldn’t be possible to see them from the road.

He started running, hearing the woman close behind. The tall grasses and irregular ground made poor terrain for crossing, but soon he heard the sounds of battle fade in the distance. They made it up a berm and to the other side before he stopped to catch his breath.

They couldn’t stop. Not here, not until they got a good distance away, preferably in a wood that would disguise them better. But Lev could see that his guide needed the break as much as he did. Stopping now, when they were somewhat covered behind the berm, was better than having to stop in the open terrain before them. It really was a shitty place to make an escape from. Kilometers of grass in all directions, few trees, and the occasional old burial mound from the time before the great Rus.

They would be visible from a long distance away. He could only hope that Yaril was doing a good job distracting them. Both for his and Taras’ sake. And that she would manage to get away herself. But then again, even if she said that they were most likely prepared for her. She was a devil.

Lev had never seen one fight himself, but every story he had heard from the countless broken veterans that filled the taverns and bars of Maris had agreed on one point. Devils, no matter if the ones of the empire or the wild demons of the steppe peoples, were not of this world. Shoot them all you want. Fire cannons or try and stab them with your saber. If you faced a devil, you would die.

He really hoped that his devil was no exception to that rule.

Looking up, he could tell that his new female companion had somewhat regained her breath and so he signed her to continue. They followed the rapidly setting sun towards the west, this time a little slower in order to conserve their strength. He hoped that the sun would obscure at least some of their figures.

That hope died as he heard a bullet whistle through the air. It had not come even close to either of them but was soon followed by another shot. Not stopping, he turned his head back and saw that at least two soldiers had climbed the same low hill that they had rested behind and were now aiming at them.

Another curse escaped him, this time in Rusin instead of the usual Kanite. There was nowhere to hide. Not even a place where he could take cover behind to fire back. So instead, he continued to run.

That was until he heard another shot followed by a high-pitched yelp. In the corner of his eyes, he could see that the guide had tripped and fallen. His mind froze as he tried to decide. Stand or flee?

Another shot rang out and whistled past only centimeters from his face. He let himself drop to the ground and then forced himself to stay as still as he could. In his upper field of vision, he could see the woman, who was struggling to get up before looking up at him. He shook his head as subtly as he could. Stay down. Let them think they hit you.

Two more shots fell. Both hitting close but missing.

Modern rifles were fairly accurate. Well, compared to muskets and pistols. At a range of a couple of hundred meters, it still took a good marksman to hit something. And anyone who was a good marksman was either in the freezing sea of grass that was the eastern front or stationed at the western border to the orthodoxy. Manning checkpoints in the middle of nowhere was grub duty.

And heavens, Lev was glad for it.

He heard them talk in the distance. A short argument, followed by two halfhearted shots that were no closer to hitting their mark than the ones before. Then footsteps. They were coming closer to check their bodies. Or check if they were really dead. Should have just stayed away.

Patiently he waited for the steps to become louder and louder. The gun was still in his hand, stretched out in front of him and ready for use.

“Check them for the clay thing.”, one of the soldiers said. His voice sounded like it was still a little distance away. Footsteps got closer. Lev whirled into action. The world blurred as he turned over, a mix of different shades of blue in the quickly dwindling light. He aimed for the darkest spot he could see and shot. The soldier dropped, a bullet in the chest and Lev looked for the other soldier expecting return fire.

It never came. His other adversary had stood close to his guide, maybe to muster the ‘dead’ woman. Who had apparently kicked him off his feet and then stabbed a knife into his throat. Lev was speechless as he stared at the dead soldier with a knife in the neck. Then at the owner of said knife.

“Good job.”, he muttered unable to hide his surprise. She shrugged with a matter-of-fact face and got up from the ground.

“Part of the job description.”

They continued to run, now in the safety of the night. While it did hide them well, it also made it exceedingly difficult to see the ground in front of their feet. After the second time one of them involuntarily rolled down a hill, they slowed down to a brisk hiking speed. Which suited Lev well.

“What’s your name?”, Lev asked after recovering his breath to the point of being able to speak without strain.

“Myja.”, she replied looking over. “And you are Lev. Taras told me.”, she added seeing his surprised face.

“Things went to shit quite fast.”, she noted drily. He couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement.

“They tend to do that lately.” The last two days certainly hadn’t gone anywhere close to how he had envisioned them to go. “We’ll need to get to Terje on foot.”

The grimace on her face told him that she really wasn’t happy about that. But she nodded and continued. “The council will be awaiting you by the time we get there. A devil on our side…”, she paused meaningfully.

“It will change a lot.

Where is she by the way?”

Lev shrugged. “She will join us once she feels it is safe. Someone needed to distract the imperials while we get away.” That earned him a meaningful look.

“Let’s hope she gets back soon.”