It wasn’t just sheer physical ability. It was technique and imagination.
She feared the consequences of the gash across his forehead. It was bleeding freely, and his footsteps didn’t always land exactly where she thought they should.
Ryder pulled her into an alley. They rested for a few moments. More accurately, Ryder rested. He grimaced as he explored his wound with his fingers. He leaned back against the wall, using his left hand on his knee to brace himself.
“What happened?”
“I got hit by a sharp rock. It probably should have killed me, but I sensed it coming in time.” He gasped between his sentences.
“You sensed it?” Her curiosity was piqued. Sometimes, she believed her experience of the world was different than most people’s. She was sensitive to the movements, much more than anyone she had met. She could feel a ball speeding toward her, or a punch. It had only been a few years ago she realized few people shared that skill.
Ryder nodded. “Air affinity.”
The revelation struck her like a slap. Did she have an affinity? The idea had never occurred to her outside of daydreams. Affinities allowed one to manipulate elements, and she couldn’t do any of that. They had tested her just a few years ago.
“If you sensed the rock, why not use air to deflect it?”
Ryder’s chuckle was grim. “Wish I could. But air’s not helpful that way. Can you imagine how much wind it would take to deflect a thrown rock?” He straightened up. “We need to keep moving.” He stumbled as he took his first step. She reached out to support him.
He waved away her help. “Let’s go.”
They kept running, but Alena quickly realized he was now slowing her down. He shouldn’t be running, or fighting. After a couple of blocks, he came to the same conclusion. He stopped again. “Do you know of a good place to hide?”
Before Alena could answer, she sensed the projectile.
She dodged out of the way, her lightness keeping her safe.
Ryder wasn’t so fast. He grunted as a razor-sharp stone sliced through his shoulder.
Alena turned to see the bandit, not more than a block away. How had he followed them?
Then she noticed the blood on the ground, the constant drip from Ryder’s forehead.
The sight of the bandit deflated Ryder. Whatever hope he had held onto was gone. He turned to her. “Run.”
“What?”
“I can’t stop him, but I can hold him off. Go.”
Alena wanted to protest, but she didn’t. Ryder was right. Her only chance at safety was to run. So she did.
Behind her, she heard Ryder shout. She didn’t waste even a heartbeat to turn around. She knew the result. Air against stone was no contest.
Alena ran, her body as light as possible. She used the tricks she had picked up from Ryder, changing her momentum at will.
She sensed the stone flying for her, but dodged as it cut into the wall of a house. Before the bandit could send another her way, she broke line of sight by jumping into an alley.
She didn’t take to the roofs. The ground level was filled with hiding spots. Up high she might move faster, but she would be seen for hundreds of paces.
She turned and turned, never running straight for more than two blocks. Landow’s gridded system of streets would protect her.
Her hair blew behind her as she ran.
Despite the danger, Ryder’s tricks unlocked a new freedom.
Another stone or two followed her, but soon even those fell away. She was faster than the bandit.
Alena slid into a narrow gap between two houses, burying herself between two stacks of logs and an old sheet. She calmed her breathing.
She didn’t know how long she hid there. Every sense tingled as she waited for any sign she had been discovered. As her heartbeat returned to normal, her perspective shifted.
She had escaped. But at what cost?
She knew, now that she had a moment to reflect, why Ryder had given up all hope at the end of the chase. If the bandit had followed them that far, it meant he had killed Ryder’s other wolfblades.
Memories of the giant man who had presented at their academy came unbidden to her mind. He had been so strong.
And Alena had watched a building come down on top of him, snuffing his life with the same ease as when she stepped on an ant.
All because of her.
She hugged her knees tightly to her chest, rocking back and forth.
Before tonight, she had always wanted to be big. She wanted to be noticed. She wanted people to pay attention to her, to see what she was capable of. Born and raised in Landow, near the edges of the empire, attention promised her a future outside the walls of the city.
Now she saw her foolishness under reality’s harsh glare. She regretted any time she had been noticed or remarked on. Every moment of attention she had worked so hard to earn was now a threat to her safety.
The bandit had killed Zane Arrowood. He had killed the wolfblades.
Would he kill her?
Would he even make an effort to find her?
She squeezed her eyes shut and bounced the back of her head against the wall she hid against.
She had to focus.
How much danger was she in?
The bandit had seen her face. By itself, that meant little. Landow was big enough to hide in. A face alone wasn’t enough to cause her to worry.
But Zane had been tracking her down quickly enough, and he hadn’t known her face.
She shook her head, then buried it in her knees.
She could guess at probabilities all day, but she didn’t know enough. If the bandit considered her a threat, he would come after her. But she was no threat. There had been other members of the city watch left alive by the bandit. Surely he wouldn’t track everyone down?
There was no way of telling.
Bayt’s advice had been to stick to routine whenever possible.
So she would go home, and in the morning, she would return to academy. She wouldn’t
