The thought sent a bolt of adrenaline racing through my system. It was clear that the scouts had to be prevented from finding signs of our camp, but the only solution I could think of raised its own problems. Our pursuers clearly didn’t know where we were if they were sending scouts, but if an entire group failed to return from a patrol, it would be just as damning as if they had found us outright. I stood up from my stump and turned back towards camp, ready to send a warning signal to Lia that we needed to move on.
I’m not running anymore. The words stopped me in place. My train of thought shifted immediately; instead of trying to find a way to avoid detection, I made my plans around it. What happens when their scouts don’t return in the morning? They confirm which direction to travel in and send whatever force they’ve mustered against us, and then...what? A self-satisfied grin spread across my face. We would see their forces coming from miles away. How long will Virram’s men follow orders when their ranks begin to fall from an instant, invisible death?
My mana found its mark in each of the three outriders in order, suffusing into the bone at the base of their skulls. It took a few seconds for the energy to fully coalesce within the first man, and longer for each guard in turn; while it wasn’t a particularly complex task, I had never held mana in multiple spots at once before, especially not ones that were moving. I took a long, silent minute to breathe deeply and prepare for what I knew would come next, and then the Shatter rune within my ring flashed.
The influx of dark energy throughout my body was immediate and overwhelming as the guards died. A heatless black flame rippled over the glove on my right hand, bathing the road in an eerie, flickering light, and my vision faded to shades of gray. I staggered forward and clenched my jaw, fighting back against the otherworldly pain.
MORE. The voice rumbled through my mind like an earthquake, shaking my vision and rattling my teeth. My leg began to tremble as I felt an inexorable pull down the road in the direction of the scouts. THERE ARE MORE TO COME. WE WILL PUNISH THEM ALL. It took every bit of strength within me to resist the call to slaughter. After a long struggle, I managed to fight myself down to the ground, where I sat on my knees and twitched in pain. My surroundings disappeared from view as I retreated inward, fortifying a small corner of my mind from which I could fight the encroaching darkness with total focus.
As I remained locked in place, the foreign energy gradually began to burn away; the ravenous flames on my arm dimmed, receded, and eventually flickered out into wisps of gray smoke that snaked out from my fingertips. When I was confident the presence had disappeared, I shakily took my feet and looked around, taking in the world around for the first time in what felt like hours. There was a soft, rhythmic crunching of snow from somewhere ahead of me, and it was growing closer by the second.
I staggered to the roadside to find cover as I reached out with a narrow band of mana to identify the oncoming threat. My concern proved to be baseless as the source was revealed to be one of the scout’s horses, still trudging onward through the snowstorm with its rider collapsed on its back. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked out to meet it. “Hey there,” I called out softly as it approached, “easy now. I’m a friend.”
The dark brown courser stopped a few feet away and let out a loud snort, sending a large cloud of steam up into the cold night air. I placed a gentle hand on its nose and rubbed its face as I walked forward to check on the scout. He had fallen forward in his saddle and tangled an arm through the reins, which kept him draped securely around the horse’s neck as it walked on after his untimely demise. I unlooped the reins and gave the rider’s body a firm tug, dislodging it from the saddle to crash to the ground before me.
The horse whinnied nervously and stepped away from the commotion, stopping a few yards ahead. I crouched down to search the scout’s body; the only item of interest on his person was a cloth bag stashed in an inside pocket of his winter cloak. Upending the bag produced a matching set of unsealed scrolls, each bearing the wax seal of the Golden Throne. Hunching forward to block the falling snow, I unraveled the first scroll to find a picture of myself staring back at me, drawn beside a block of text. It read: “WANTED: Lux. Extremely dangerous; do not attempt to capture alive. Wanted for murder, high treason, and conspiracy to assassinate King Yorrell. Last seen traveling west in a covered wagon. 1000 Imperial reward for proof of elimination. 250 Imperial reward for information leading directly to his location.”
I rerolled the scroll and placed it back into the bag before examining the next one with a frown. It was a similar poster but, as I had feared, it bore Lia’s face instead of mine. The first block of text read the same as mine had, but her scroll had an additional block of text at the bottom, reading: “Known associates: Marten Corell, father. Hana Corell, mother. Wanted for aiding and abetting known criminals. 100 Imperial reward for any information directly leading to their capture or execution.”
So that’s how it is. I shoved the scroll angrily into the bag and
