An idea flew through Symeon’s head as he saw the lone knight exit the throne room, it seems the Empire did not value the Royal Twins that much. “Father, Ervin. There’s one of him and three of us. If we kill him quick, we might be able to go back to support the Queen someh- ”

The Umpetha boy was stopped abruptly by Ervinos running past him. He turned to see the Mukuru wearing a face that screamed of panic and fear. Without saying another word, he too started running.

“Symo, take the lead and carve us a path out of the Palace if you have to. Niko and Katerine stay behind him and follow close.” barked Ervinos as he turned to Alcides, “Can you take him?” he asked softly.

“Definitely not like this.” was the response from the Magektonos, as he joined the running children.

On seeing the group break out into a sprint, the Knight let out a deep sigh. He raised his spear, took aim at the most important target, and let fly.

“Look out.” screamed Ervinos helplessly, as he projected the path of the lance heading straight for Nikos back. Niko turned, but could never have reacted in time.

He closed his eyes instinctively, but instead of feeling an impact, he heard a clang and then a violent jerk in the direction they were running in.

“Nice one, Alcides” shouted Ervinos as he dragged his prince forward to keep him from stopping. Alcides picked up the spear he just deflected, and kept pace with the group.

The Lightseeker spent a second looking quite perplexed, muttered under his breath, and then dashed after his target. He raised his hand, focused on Nikolaos.

“Ervinos, be on guard. He’s summoning his magic.” shouted Alcides, as he threw the knight's spear back at him to buy them some time.

The spear was easy enough to dodge, but the Lightseeker knew that the intention had always been to break his focus. He laughed to himself and shouted out, “You there! Ikonan. You aren’t half bad. Why are you still here, wasting away in this backwater? Do you not dream of greater things?”

“I will answer your questions if you allow us to leave, mage.” came the dry response from the Magektonos as the Ikonans ducked and weaved through the hallways in an attempt to lose their pursuer.

“Forgive me, the Rihla has borne witness to my deal with these Imperials.” apologized the Holy Knight with sincerity, as he picked up the pace and began closing the distance. “I am bound to fulfil this promise, no matter how dishonourable it is to hunt a teenager.”

The group turned a corner, allowing the knight to leap forward without any guard. The Lightseeker turned the same corner, and smiled when he saw the group had stopped running. The moonlight cast his shadow long, nearly touching his prey. The green haired girl and white haired boy were panting as if they had been running for hours, this truly was a dishonourable mission. He noted the path in front of them was a straight corridor with no immediate turns …perfect.

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“My Lord! In the Muqatab, the holy book of the followers of Rihla, does it not say to do no harm to others?” pleaded Aikaterine, drawing on her readings of the Empire's religion.

Upon hearing the young girl's appeal, the Knight slowed down. The intrigue on his face melted away as rage took its place. “You dare cite the heretics gospel as the word of the Prophet?” spat the devotee. “You are lucky if I kill you slowly, wench.”

“Run, run, run!” shouted Niko, who had regained enough energy to start again.

The follower of Rihla was in no mood to allow them to escape, while running, he extended his hand once more and focused all of his energy. “If you are killed by a Lightseeker who deems you as worthy, you will be accepted into Rihla. Stay still, and I will grant you eternal release!” he screamed.

Ervinos ran behind Nikolaos, keeping his eyes trained on the knight as they retreated. Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation on his neck and swerved away in pain. He held his neck and felt his skin, which felt like it had a fire placed inside it. He looked forward and saw that Nikolaos was holding the back of his head and flinching as he ran, the attack was getting to him as well.

Alcides could see the young ones reacting in pain and knew the magic attack had already started, they would not make it to the end of the corridor before being caught at this rate.

The attack itself made no sense to him. He could see no flame or water, the Earth did not rise up to strike them, and he couldn’t feel any gusts of wind rushing past him. He had heard that the Lightseekers had masters of Light magic in them, but the knight was somehow causing them damage simply through his mind!

The Magektonos tried zigzagging his running to block his opponent's view, and noticed that whenever he stepped behind Nikolaos, he felt an intense, tingling pain on his skin - his neck and his face. The pain was considerable, so much so that he wondered how Prince Nikolaos was still running while taking hits from this attack.

“Ervinos. The attack can be blocked using your body. Protect your liege.” was the simple instruction, followed immediately by the Mukuru.

“Do you think I enjoy bullying the weak? The Rihla frowns on me because of it.” shot out the frustrated Knight, “I’ll have to offer 2 of my most valued possessions to the Rihla as penance for this hunt. Do you have to make it even harder?”

As he completed his taunt, he noticed the boy at the front of the group was nearing the end of the corridor, they would turn soon. He hadn’t expected to face so much trouble pacifying barbarians in some corner of the world, but it was time he ended this quick. He gathered his energy for one last attack.

Alcides hesitated, suddenly the bursts of pain had completely stopped, he turned to see the mage was still running with his hand pointed at them. Was he out of magic?

Ervinos was simply grateful for the break, and checked in front of him to make sure that Niko was still running as fast as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flash. He turned to Aikaterine in front of him and wondered what it was that caught his attention.

Again. He could swear something was wrong, this time he focused on her ankle, which had been exposed due to a tear in his dress. His eyes widened as he noticed the colour was all wrong - her ankle seemed blueish? It was changing rapidly, from a blue to a more purple hue, until the colour disappeared all together.

He had no idea what it meant, but he shouted at Aikaterine to watch her ankle. The girl turned, clueless as to what her friend was trying to say, right after which she felt a surging pain in her ankle and fell to the floor.

Symeon heard his princess collapse behind him. He immediately picked her up and made a hard left around the corner, marshalling Nikolaos around the turn to ensure his safety. His father and Ervinos followed, looking desperate in their concern for Aikaterine.

“She won’t be able to walk on her own” declared Alcides, after taking one look at her blistered, red foot. The foot was swollen and simply touching it seemed to cause the girl pain.

“We can’t keep going down this path, right after this is another long corridor.” added Ervinos “We can’t last through another one of those.”

Nikolaos could barely think thanks to his exhaustion, but he peeked out of the window nearby. “I have a plan.” he suggested.