They took what they needed from the men they had killed.

Ranboo was shaking: his legs, his hands – his entire body. Killing people was... not great. Hard to get used to. It was different from killing mobs. He didn't pity these men exactly, but whatever he felt wasn't too far off from it either. He couldn't imagine the circumstances that led them into this position, hunting people for pay. It couldn't be good.

The armor didn't fit either of them properly, so they left it. Technoblade had strapped the sword he had stolen from the first man to his belt and Ranboo took one of the other blades. He still had Mel's knife – it would always be Mel's knife, not Ranboo's. He was borrowing it. Mel had given it to him to protect himself with.

When this was over and they came back to destroy the arena and those who had built it, Ranboo would give Mel the knife back. And thank him properly for looking at for them all this time. They probably owed their lives to him.

While Ranboo watched, Technoblade methodically ripped strips off fabric from a shirt, folding them up for later. They also picked up the men's flasks of water, still full. Dehydration wouldn't be a problem. They could use some food too but there wasn't any. Ranboo was hungry – not hungry enough to say anything about it though.

"Here." Techno handed him a piece of the cloth. Ranboo held it, at a loss. "For your cheek," the piglin clarified after a moment.

"Oh!" Ranboo had forgotten about the cut. It barely stung. He wiped the blood away, glanced down. The rag Techno had tied around his thigh was already stained red. "Your leg?"

"It's fine."

Okay, yeah, they were both fine. They were doing great. Ranboo exhaled and tried to relax every tensed muscle in turn. He hadn't really properly stopped to just breathe since they picked them up from the cell that morning. Since he'd been taken out of the small room – the box, the horribly dark and lonely box – and brought back. Everything after that had started happening and it hadn't stopped happening since and it was still happening and it made his head spin. He would love to sit down and for things to... not happen, for a bit. That'd be perfect.

Except Techno was walking so Ranboo had no choice but to follow him and hope he had an idea of where they were going. Or at least where they could go that the men wouldn't find them. The men who were chasing them, hunting them like animals. Who would probably kill them if they had the chance.

(Or kill Techno, and take Ranboo to the man with the cane. Whatever that would entail.)

They walked for what felt like hours. Ranboo couldn't tell, the sun was starting to set more rapidly though and the encroaching darkness made it harder to see their surroundings. Technoblade would stop every so often, stare up at the sky and hold up a hand. He was probably trying to tell the direction and make sure they were still moving away from the coliseum, not towards it. At the same time, they didn't want to go too far. They didn't want to make it harder for Phil to find them when he arrived.

After a while, Techno stopped. "We should sleep."

Ranboo almost walked into him. "I- well, I don't really think I can." Nervous energy would probably keep him awake.

"Yeah, me neither," Techno admitted. "Still... We might want to take advantage of the quiet while we can."

Ranboo's ears pinned back at a noise from the distance. He couldn't place it right away, maybe because his brain linked it to a scenario so far removed from the one they were currently in he couldn't help but find that this dog's barking was out of place. In the morning, whenever Ranboo went outside, Techno's hounds would greet him. They would jump up against the fence, put their great big paws against the wood, and yip and whine until Ranboo had at least graced them with a few pats. They reacted that way to anyone coming around, friend or foe. Techno said they were traitors – since they were just as likely to beg for affection from him as any other passerby.

These barks did not sound too different from those barks.

The main similarity – the one that had unease crawl down Ranboo's throat – was that these barks belonged to more than one animal too. And were gradually growing louder, Ranboo realized that whoever was hunting them through the woods had brought the dogs to track them. To scent their blood and try to trace it to the source.

Techno had come to the same conclusion, sighed deeply. "I had to open my mouth, didn't I?"

"I think we should go," Ranboo said. His choices on how to react were either dry reason or pure panic today and he was still on the sane side of those. He might as well take advantage of that while it lasted.

They ran, and all the while the sounds of the dogs chasing them got closer. Their barks more incessant, more consuming. Further off, but close enough for his sensitive hearing to pick up, Ranboo had become aware of the people who had sent the hounds out following them. Hot phantom pants tickled the nape of his neck, he felt inches away from having the sharp canines bite into his heels. It was too dark to see much, even with his eyes adjusting. He couldn't think beyond moving his legs faster, only to have the rustling in the bushes behind him get nearer, the barks to sound like they were coming from all around him now.

They couldn't outrun this. They couldn't.

A sudden wet squelch told him the ground under their feet had changed. Ranboo sunk into it, mud spraying up to his knees. Hidden between several layers of growling and howling, between the fear that made it impossible to concentrate on anything but the wild chase, he heard the river running nearby. "We need to lose them in the water," he yelled.

He could only hope Techno heard him.

Then he took a sharp left, heard claws drag furrows in the earth to keep up. Sharp and real, it dragged behind him and into his back. Moments later fangs would have sunk into his throat if it weren't for the forest floor falling away beneath him. Where the river ran, the ground sloped suddenly. And Ranboo who had been approaching it with way too much speed to tell, let alone slow himself down, had no choice but to tumble down with it.

His foot caught and then he went head-first. His chest hit stone hard enough to force the air out of him, momentum carried him forward and into a roll over his own center mass, slamming his shoulder against rocks. The drop wasn't too deep, not deep enough to kill him. It was still bad. He couldn't even tell what hurt by the time he landed, because there was so much pain.

But it was quiet for a moment. Perfectly silent. Ranboo had his eyes closed.

Heavy breathing above him. He couldn't even move, couldn't open his eyes and face whatever it was bearing down on him. Maybe if he didn't stir it would be quick before it ripped his throat out.

"Ranboo, are you dead or what?"

Technoblade helped him into a seated position. "W-what happened?"

"We lost them. Down the hill, across the river like you said. They couldn't follow. It's probably not smart to stay here though, they'll be back." Techno was grinning. His face fell, the mud and dirt staining it went unacknowledged. "You good? You kinda fell your way down. Very impressive actually."

"I think so," Ranboo answered. He looked down at himself. "All my limbs are still here." He tried to stand, before wincing. Trying to put any manner of weight on his ankle had fire run up the length of his leg, tears building in his eyes. He couldn't bend it, or use it really. He must have sprained it. "Hn, more or less?"

Techno frowned, then nodded resolutely. "Okay, hop on." He turned around to show Ranboo his back, holding out his arms at a weird angle.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like, I'm carrying you." Techno turned his head, hair falling over his shoulder.

"Oh!" Ranboo reached out, tried to wrap his arms around Techno's neck and he was lifted up in one go. Techno wobbled a little, having trouble regaining his footing with the added weight. Then he steadied.

He adjusted his grip, nodded to himself when he was satisfied with how he was holding Ranboo. "Let's keep going."