Aria stood far enough inside the mine to be covered by shadow, flanked by the remainder of her entourage. The exit loomed ahead of her. Jani had left two hours ago to fetch the Bedoowan councilors. With luck, they would be on their way there at that very moment. Without luck, she would be on her own.

She'd never been very lucky. At this point, however, luck was all she had. Luck…and her friends.

Everything was prepared. They'd spent the rest of the morning carting supplies to the only place large enough for their plan – a huge natural cavern in the very back of the mine. It had three entrances: One for Aria and her mob, one for the Bedoowan if they showed up, and one for Steric, Kahlin, and all the others to retreat down if an attack was inevitable. If that happened, one of them would sprint back to the lab, ignite the fuse, blow up the cavern behind them, and run like hell before the vein erupted. Not an hour before, they'd swept through the tunnels and captured all of Maal's men.

The path was clear, the presentation was ready, the firewall was set up, and the failsafe was in place. Now it was her turn.

One of her escorts tapped her on the shoulder and said, "The others will be in position by now. Are you ready?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Let's go."

They had a haunted look about them. While it was true that she was the reason they were in this predicament in the first place, they didn't like the role they had to play in this any more than she did.

They took her arms and started marching her towards the Milago army.

Saint Dane touched down on the edge of the Bedoowan town, satisfied with the time he was making. As soon as he'd reached an unpopulated area of the village he'd taken to the sky and gone straight to the barracks. As Sawil, he'd told the knights that the Milago were still amassing weapons and rallying for the attack, which would likely be carried out after sunset. He warned them to send no patrols out that night, as they would likely be ambushed if caught alone.

After that he'd departed, the Bedoowan councilors next on his list of concerns. He'd sensed the presence of a Traveler beneath him as he'd flown, but a quick check had told him it was only Tarek, running along the edge of the Milago village towards the barracks.

He'd pondered at the boy's intentions. What was he doing? Had he discovered the body of his dear mentor yet? If not, he would soon. The man's corpse was being tended to at the barracks.

Was he trying to convince the knights to retreat to the town? Or to protect the mines, perhaps? It didn't matter. Even if they were apt to believe the word of a squire over that of a commander, nothing the knights could do would make much of a difference at this point.

He'd ignored the young Traveler and continued on his way.

Now he was Sawil again, making his way towards the Town Center to speak with his commanding officers. When he arrived he would inform them that the Milago army was still preparing their attack, but that it seemed to have been delayed.

An ambassador? No, far too dangerous. They're becoming more riled by the minute. A peaceful envoy would be captured, at best. At worst, killed to make a statement.

His mouth twitched up in a smile as he strode down the almost deserted streets. He could feel the tension in the air. His tidings of war had spread.

He strode up to the doors of the Town Center, but paused in confusion when someone cried, "Halt! You're under arrest!"

He glanced around irritably to see what the trouble was. A petty theft, perhaps? A violent outbreak? Whatever it was, he could hardly afford the distraction.

Anger flickered to life inside him when he realized that the call had been directed towards him. Two knights were approaching him cautiously, one with sword drawn. "At ease," he spat. "Do you not recognize your commanding officer?"

He grew tense when they did not back down and start groveling for his forgiveness, and a moment too late he realized that something had gone wrong.

The doors of the Town Center were flung wide and four more knights poured out, surrounding him, half with swords drawn. Another four knights came out the door a moment later, crossbows at the ready, all aimed at him.

He froze in his tracks. If he was 'killed,' it would be a pain. He generally tried to avoid utilizing his preternatural abilities when focus was on him. He would have to play dead until they moved his body. Then he would knock out whoever was presiding over his corpse and take on a new form, and as much as he enjoyed scaring undertakers half to death he did not have the time for it just then.

He held up his hands, slowly. "What is the meaning of this?"

One of the guards replied, "By order of the council, you are to be arrested on suspicions of treason. Do not try to run. Do not reach for your pockets. Do not make any sudden movements, or we will be forced to kill you."

He complied. Under normal circumstances he was able to evade even the most well-planned ambushes. In this case, however, they were taking no chances and leaving him no routes for escape. They must have thought he had tak.

He kept his face clear of emotion, even as inside he boiled with anger. Two of the knights stepped forward and quickly tied his hands behind his back. While their fellows held crossbows trained on his every vital organ, they patted him down as gently as possible, not wanting to risk igniting any of the volatile substance they assumed him to be carrying.

How? Who had leveled these accusations against him?

Ah. Tarek. He'd thought he'd hit the boy hard enough to render him senseless for some hours, but he must have recovered sooner than anticipated and gone to the council to accuse him of treachery, arriving sometime after Sawil had presented the councilors with the tak. For whatever reason, the council had believed the squire over their commander. He must have had tak-light with him.

Still, things were under control. Tarek may have been on the loose and the council may have become disillusioned about Sawil's intentions, but it did not matter. All he needed were the Milago. Though the Bedoowan were evidently still level-headed enough to listen to reason, the Milago were too far gone. They would not be assuaged with a lamp and the protests of a single Bedoowan squire, not with all the provocations they'd endured.

The knights marched him to the barracks, down the stairs, and to the jail. Rather than throw him in one of the first available cells, they took him all the way to the back. To Press' cell.

The man was still lying on the cot as though he hadn't moved at all since yesterday. One of the guards stepped forward and undid the lock. Press' head jerked up at the sound.

The knight said, "You're free to go, but first councilor Raig wishes to speak with you at the Town Center."

Press stood, nodding. Then he caught sight of 'Sawil.'

His eyebrows shot up, and he grinned. "Say, he isn't getting my cell, is he?"

The guard gruffly replied, "Yes."

Press Tilton threw back his head and guffawed at his detained rival. "Well, don't worry," he said as they switched places. "It's plenty cozy, and I left the cot warm for you."

Saint Dane narrowed his eyes, struggling to keep his rage contained. Oh, blood was going to spill just as soon as he was out of this cage. Through clenched teeth he said, "Enjoy your freedom, Press. It won't do you much good." As the door clanged shut behind him he added, "And do give my regards to Aria the next time you see her. Whenever that may be, that is. You'll be glad to hear she's well out of harm's way. Evidently she decided that the Traveler lifestyle was not for her, and returned home last night."

Press shrugged nonchalantly. "She'll be back, if she isn't already. That one doesn't know how to quit."

Saint Dane's eyes narrowed further and he hissed, "Oh, I hope so. After the atrocities I laid at her feet, the Milago will rip her apart the instant she sets foot in their village."

Press was strolling away, and didn't even bother to acknowledge the prediction. In a moment he was gone.

Saint Dane did not sit down. He had no time for subtlety. The instant the other guards departed and the ones manning his cell turned away, he etherealized. Shooting up towards the shadowed ceiling, his smoky form poured through the first opening it could, out a window, and towards the open sky. Seconds later a raven was heading for the trees, ebon wings propelling it rapidly towards the Milago village.

Fine. If he had to send every Milago into the mine to find the tak, he would do so.

He flew towards his army.

Aria tried to keep her breathing steady as she approached the staging grounds. Before them, roughly two hundred people milled about in preparation for the coming attack. They obviously lacked the coordination of a military, and Aria could practically feel the angst in the air. This wasn't an army – it was a mob in the making.

Bully for her.

They'd scanned the open area, normally used as a festival ground, before deciding on how best to approach. Kore was on one side of the field, his men spread out across the rest. She didn't want to be marched through the militia crowd, lest she be surrounded. Instead, they walked her all the way around the field and were now approaching Kore from the unpopulated side.

As they neared him, Kore's eyes locked on her and he frowned. A moment later recognition lit his features, and his face twisted up in spite.

Ooh, man. This guy could give Jani lessons in the art of the stink eye.

As her two escorts marched her closer, they paused and yelled very loudly, "Councilor Kore! This is her, the outsider who murdered Grail! She was found in the mines, disposing of the bodies of two of the men sent down to find the lab!"

Her other escort said, again, very loudly, "The men had been torn apart by the tak! It's lucky she didn't blow us up, too!"

Wait, when had they agreed on pinning even more murders on her? Surely the Milago hated her enough already?

Well, evidently, they could hate her more. As word spread around the field, people started crowding around, and the air began to thrum with outrage. Thankfully, everyone was still behind Kore. She wasn't being surrounded. Her escape route was clear.

The councilor stepped forward, and Aria had to force herself not to bolt right away. "Well, it seems some justice will be served forthwith. Tell me, girl, from what stems your animosity towards our people? What has driven you to the barbaric acts you have committed? Or do you perhaps deny the charges laid at your feet?" His voice rose to a shout. "Do you deny the murders of Grail, and now of two more of our men?"

Oh, dear. She hadn't anticipated having to say anything. She'd kind of hoped she'd be able to just break loose, start running, and assume everyone would follow her.

"Uh. Uh. Um. Uh." Come on, come on! What would a really, really horrible, guilty person say?

She blurted out, "Um…no! No, I don't deny them! I, uh, I did it! I killed Grail! And…those other two guys! Blew them right to smithereens!"

The angry hum of the crowd jumped up to an angry chorus. Let's see if she could get it to an angry symphony.

"And I did…for fun! No particular reason! I mean, why not? It's not like you guys are really even people, after all. Look at you, living in these muddy little huts! You're just like animals!"

She cringed, even as she said it. This felt so, so, so wrong. Still, she kept going. She needed them to follow her. "And when the Bedoowan put you back in the mines where you belong, we'll have all the glaze we could ask for! Ha! Ha ha! Mwah ha ha!"

Was the evil laugh a little much?

Nope. Just right. That angry chorus shot straight past symphony and right up to IMAX surround-sound levels.

They. Were. Pissed.

Kore's eyes were bulging, and when he stepped forward – maybe just to punch her, she wasn't sure – she decided it was time to go.

She jerked her arms out of her play-captor's grips, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a ball of tak. She jumped away from the crowd and, because she felt like she needed something to set them off, screamed, "For the Granite Bay Bears!"

Then she threw the ball of tak down near Kore, turned, and ran for life and limb.

The ball wasn't nearly big enough to do anything besides scare people who hadn't seen tak before. Sure enough, several people screamed at the miniscule explosion, and a moment later she heard the enraged Milago councilor howl, "Seize her! Now!"

She ran, glancing back just long enough to see whether Kore himself was chasing her, or if he'd just sent a few of his men to do it.

Everyone was chasing her.

Well, okay, not everyone. But at least a few dozen people had been thronging around Kore, and most of them seemed to have sprung into action at his cry. Her escorts were, of course, also not chasing her. They were running around to the people who weren't chasing her, tell them they should be chasing her. Within moments she had a pretty sizeable chunk of the crowd on her tracks. With continued encouragement from her allies, and a few inflaming gestures from herself, she ought to be able to keep their attention for a fifteen-minute chase.

She ran. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. She ran like there was a giant, angry mob of people who wanted to kill her hot on her tail.

She silently thanked all the hikes she'd gone on with Press, all the gymnastics lessons, even all the bullies who had chased her home from school through the years. Everything she'd ever done to strengthen her legs was being put to the test now, and all she could do was run and pray it had been enough.

She vaguely wondered if there was any chance they wouldn't kill her as soon as lay hands on her. She doubted it. After all she'd said, she was fairly certain that more people would want to land a few hits on her than not, and in a crowd that large a simple majority was all you needed. Death by democracy.

She didn't look back. The sound told her they were there. Dozens of feet pounding the ground in a concentrated area made an alarming amount of noise. She took note of where exactly she was and veered west, towards the marketplace. Her legs were starting to burn.

She got to it and veered south, as though intending to make for the barracks. As she did so, someone leapt out from behind one of the buildings and ran at her, shouting and waving her arms.

She didn't bother to yelp in surprise. She didn't want to waste any breath on theatrics. Her lungs were burning as much as her legs. She just turned towards the other edge of the marketplace, more in the direction she'd been herded by Dakka the other day.

Speaking of which, she almost thought she was experiencing déjà vu when she heard the sharp whinnying of horses somewhere behind her. She risked a glance back and saw three things. One, that she'd lost a sizeable chunk of people along the way, but still had at least a couple dozen; two, that the crowd had grown much closer than she'd thought…

And three, that a few unsaddled horses had bolted in front of them, causing the mob to slow down or risk being trampled.

She turned back just in time to see two forms, one tall and skinny, the other big and bulky, disappearing into the forest far to her right, where the horses had come from.

She bore her teeth in an automatic grin, and kept running.

Even as she leapt over a hay bale and darted towards the trees, she knew she would have to be more careful and look back more often. The mob had almost caught her – would have, if it hadn't been for Dakka and Rill. She'd been given a few balls of tak and a smoke bomb to use in case the crowd got too close, to frighten then back while still keeping them engaged, but her tunnel-vision had caused her to neglect them.

Wouldn't happen again. Couldn't.

She got to the tree line and hoped that they wouldn't abandon the chase when they realized she was heading into the forest. Just to be sure they wouldn't, she (carefully!) pulled out a small ball of tak, glanced back, looked at the nearest person and yelled, "Die!"

She threw the tak about five feet in front of him. It cracked on the ground and flung some dirt up with a little puff of smoke. Behind her, Kore bellowed, "Murderous wretch! You won't take any more lives today!"

Well, that did the trick.

Her legs weren't burning any more. She couldn't feel them at all. She ran straight in the direction of the mountain, and as she did so a hunter, armed with a dagger, appeared to her left. He hollered at her, ran for her, and forced her to veer to the right again. Now she was heading straight for the mine entrance.

Things were going great. Mostly.

For the plan to work, the mob needed to follow her all the way back to the cavern through the mines. If they were to do that, they needed not to realize that they were being intentionally guided there, otherwise they'd assume it was a trap and just back off. By pretending to escort her there as a prisoner, then placing people along the way to force her from what appeared to be her intended path, they'd made it look far more like a natural chase than a ruse.

Of course, that also meant that they couldn't do anything to mark the path she needed to take through the mine. If the mob saw anything that indicated a trail, they'd get suspicious. So when Aria neared the mine's entrance, the only things she would have to help her get through without getting caught was a bag of tak-light…

And the fact that half the group was about to get the wind knocked out of them.

As she cleared the bushes she jumped and bent her knees to absorb the shock of the fall she was about to take. When the ground vanished beneath her feet, she wasn't surprised at all.

She was surprised when her legs gave out from under her as she touched down.

She hadn't expected to collapse under the combined weight of her body and the gravity, but apparently she'd pushed herself a fair bit too far. Knowing the fall was there helped though, so when she hit the ground she rolled, again, like her uncle had taught her. She came up, and this time did not collapse after just a few feet. Instead, she stumbled towards the mine entrance, mindful of the flood of people that was about to follow her.

Yup. Sure enough:

"Get back here you li – ARGH!"

Followed by a string of,

"Woah!"

"OW!"

"Ledge!"

And a wide array of Denduron curses.

Aria had gained the mine entrance and, because it took a bit too long for word of the drop-off to travel to the whole group, she was able to take a brief moment to catch her breath and start the tak-light. She stood, not stooping lest she get a stitch in her side, and watched Kore fly to the ground, followed by…

Nine. Nine people ran straight off the ledge before they figured out it was there.

The first person to hop safely down helped Kore to his feet. They seemed dizzy, but the sight of her standing there with the bright, flickering light in her hands filled them with new strength.

The sight of her aspiring murderers being filled with new strength filled her with new strength. She turned to the cave and ran inside.

At least, she tried to run inside. Her legs were well past burning – they were numb. She had forced herself to ignore the sharp pain in her lungs, and was feeling lightheaded from oxygen deprivation. She staggered forward as best she could.

She was terrified it wouldn't be fast enough, but because she was the only one with a light, the people behind her were forced to go a bit slower. A few of them tripped and slowed up the group. Several were still dazed from the fall and were staggering as much as she was. But they saw that she was at the end of her rope, and that gave them the guts to charge blindly into a dark, twisting, labyrinthine cave with a seemingly homicidal girl carrying explosive materials into a series of narrow, contained stone passages.

Good for them. Good for everyone else.

Not great for her.

She got to the first intersection. Which way? Which way?

Right. Right and then…left.

She made the turns. The people behind her were gaining on her. A tunnel branched off suddenly to the left. Was she supposed to take that one?

No. Straight, then…right.

Angry voices rebounded off the wall, scuttling her concentration. She pulled the last two balls of tak out of her pocket, glanced back, and threw one behind her. Though it did cause a pause, the flash also served to illuminate her pursuers' manic expressions. Her heart skipped a beat. She told her heart not to skip any more. She really couldn't afford it.

Straight again. She remembered this time, leaning forward to put on a burst of speed. She felt like she wasn't running so much as falling forward without quite hitting the ground. Another intersection so soon?

Left.

Right.

Straight for two corridors. She put on another burst of speed, but this time almost fell down. She had to be more careful. Left.

Straight four corridors. She threw her last ball of tak, but it did nothing to dissuade them this time. They were right behind her, and there was no way she was going to make it to the cavern without another diversion. Time for the smoke bomb.

She reached into her pouch, pulled it out, tugged on the fuse to light it –

She fumbled and dropped it.

She could hear the breath of her nearest pursuer right behind her. She forced back a surge of terror and put on more speed, begging her legs to hold up for just another minute.

She couldn't afford to be careful. She held the tak-light out in front of her, leaned forward, and prayed she wouldn't fall. Tunnels branched off to either side of her once – twice – thrice. After the fourth tunnel passed her by she jerked right into the next opening, and the man who had almost caught up to her careened past, righted himself, and was straight back on her. She turned right one more time.

Straight on to the chamber.