He must find her. She is the key to his future, to what he had been working on for the last century of his life. He gripped the ruby stone that hung from his neck, the gem glowing hotly against his palm as he ground his teeth in anger. He froze in shock, his anger rising as he realized he needed her in more way than one.
He looked to the room she had slept in, remembering the scent of her. He looked out the window of the tower, his black and red robes flowing around him as he looked into the distance.
"I will get you back, little bitch. You will pay for running from me." The sorcerer hissed, looking down at the raiju beside him, the scars across its face and back revealing pale patches of skin against the dark fur. He walked down the stairs of the tower, the dog following behind him with its ears against its head in fear at his master's anger.
He had long ago learned the value of these magical creatures the magi had aligned themselves with. Though most of them had useless abilities, some had magic that was useful to exploit. He walked out to the area in front of the tower, where a large sasrael resurrection horse snorted, flames bursting from its skull at the sight of the sorcerer.
He raised his hands, fire flowing from his finger tips to engulf the horse and fuel the flame that burned within the ribcage of the animal.
The terrifying animal whinnied happily, the sound terrible as it was laced with a scream. He hoisted himself up onto the specially made saddle, looking down at the raiju with disdain. Would it be able to keep up? If it was strong enough it could if not, he would leave it to starve. He had raised the creature since it was a puppy, killing its mother to take it for his own. He knew the creature had no chance on his own, but as long as it was useful he cared for it.
He kicked the horse's ribs into action, the skeleton horse crying out in pain and bursting forward, its flaming mane and tail trailing behind it, burning the grass beneath its feet.
Nitiko looked up as Solinur ran out into the courtyard in front of the castle, gasping for breath from running such a distance so quickly. The knights looked at him with a wry smirk, knowing that this magi was obviously not a close-quarters warrior to be so out of breath from a sprint.
"Magi- are coming- for Stella and us." Solinur said between gasps, looking up at Nitiko as his blue eyes widened in reaction.
"You hear that men? The magi think they can just stroll in and take us." Nitiko looked at the other men, who all smiled in anticipation. "Why don't we remind them why we protect the city, and not them?"
"Sir, you should go with them." One of the knights suggested, ignoring Solinur's shocked expression. "We'll be fine on our own."
Nitiko smiled to the man and nodded, picking his helmet off the ground and settling it on his head, the long tail of white fur that trailed from the top of the helmet falling against his long blond hair.
"Alright, men. I will see you in the future, or in death." Nitiko clenched his armored fist, slamming it against his chest in a motion of respect.
Solinur watched in confusion as the other knights copied the movement, then turned around to face the two bodies coming toward them in the distance. Solinur watched the magi as they rode toward them, one riding a large tasharn and the other a Pegasus. He knew exactly who they were.
"Go, sir!" one of the knights yelled as they all drew their swords, standing in a half circle to ward off the magi.
"Thank you.' Nitiko said solemnly to the men before following Solinur inside.
Brodrick looked at the line of men in front of them, all of them heavily armed. He glanced beside him to Lexington, who stared forward in determination from atop his black Pegasus.
"We will not fight them. Our only orders are to get that girl, and the twins if needed."
Lexington looked at Brodrick with a grown as they slowed, stopping in front of the men. "Then how to you expect us to get through?"
Brodrick frowned as well, moving his long red hair from his face to look around. He saw no sign of either the girl or the twins in sight. "We will ask the head of this castle where she is. The barmaid said she had gone this way."
"Brod, she's a barmaid. She may have said she was here, but that doesn't mean she is. You are too trusting." Lex said disapprovingly, his Pegasus snorting restlessly, its wings flapping.
"You magi have no business here. Return to your keep." One of the knights shouted at the men. Brodrick frowned at the shout, leading his tasharn forward.
"We are looking for a girl and two men, have you seen a blind woman with black hair?" He said, looking down at the swords pointing at him. "I have no wish to fight you."
The knights separated from each other slightly, obviously veterans of battle from the synchronized movement.
"We can't beat all of them, Brod." Lexington muttered beside him.
Brodrick glanced at him and rolled his eyes, reaching behind his back and taking his weapon out of its sheath. He pulled out the large double-bladed war ax, hefting the heavy weapon in his hands. "We will simply ask your leader if he has seen the girl and be on our way." He said loudly to the knights, who watched him warily.
"Our leader is not available. He is… out for the moment." One of the older knights smiled wryly.
Brodrick frowned and looked up at the castle, trying to see for any sign of anyone- but only saw servants dusting and cleaning.
"Brodrick!" Lexington grabbed the man's red and gold robe, pointing into the distance at three creatures running from the castle, their riders low on their backs to increase their speed.
"Liars!" Brodrick spat at the knights in anger, flames licking at the air around him as he turned the tasharn around and urged the creature to run as fast as it could after them.
"Shit, they saw us!" Solinur yelled against Vixen's neck, looking down at Gold as she ran beside the elk.
"We can run faster than Brodrick's tasharn, we should be fine once we get to the forests." Hunter yelled back against the wind, looking behind him at Nitiko, who was holding Stella against him as he rode on the large stallion. He had insisted on bringing on the strange wolf-like dog with him, the animal keeping up beside them.
The trees came into view as they sprinted full-tilt toward the forest, Hunter leaning down against Blitzen's back to give the elk better balance as it galloped. They burst into the trees, the elks deftly winding between the trunks, their cloven hooves crushing the rotting leaves without any loss of speed. Nitiko's larger stallion on the other hand, wound his way slower through the trees, causing Nitiko to look behind his shoulder in panic, but saw no one following them.
"Where did they go?" He shouted, causing Hunter and Solinur to stop and wait for the stallion to catch up, looking around warily.
"I don't know… but I don't trust staying still for too long. We should make our way as far as we can today, and we'll rest only when the mounts need to."
Nitiko nodded solemnly, boosting Stella up against him when she slipped down into the saddle.
Hunter glanced at Stella uneasily, watching her for a minute as her head rolled to the side in her sleep.
"She's still just unconscious, I can hear her breathing. Come on, let's go before they catch us!" Nitiko urged his horse forward, the stallion roaring with agreement before bursting ahead, its large hooves pounding the ground.
"Alright, we're probably far enough." Hunter said, shifting on Blitzen's back, after riding for the entire day.
"We lost them a long time ago." Solinur said in agreement, letting Vixen stop in a clearing, the elk's sides soaked with sweat from the run.
Nitiko stopped the stallion, patting the creature on the neck in thanks before dismounting, carrying Stella down with him as he jumped from the height to the ground, grunting when his stiff legs hit the ground. He looked down at Stella and sighed in frustration. "How long will she sleep?"
"No idea." Hunter shrugged. "Sometimes when magi who use their magic completely, they sleep for a couple days. Last time she did that, she slept for two days straight."
Nitiko grunted in annoyance. "Magic makes things overly complicated." He said, setting her down on the green grass that covered the clearing in the forest.
Hunter grinned and chuckled. He couldn't help but agree with that statement. He glanced at the large man, watching him as he stood and put an armored hand against his back when he stood with a groan.
"You alright?" he asked, seeing the pain on his face.
"Yeah, I haven't ridden hard like that in a couple years. I'm getting too old to do that." He growled roughly.
"Old? You don't look that old." Solinur said curiously as he let Vixen graze, Gold and Silver both panting as they laid down on the ground.
"You're as old as you feel. I learned that a while back, and I've been through too much to feel young anymore. You'll both learn of that soon enough." The paladin looked at the younger magi through his helmet and shook his head. "Nevermind, you'll never listen until it actually happens to you."
Hunter frowned in confusion as he watched Nitiko take off the helmet, setting it on the ground next to Stella as she slept.
"I'm going to go get wood for a camp fire. I don't suppose either of you are a fire magi?" He looked at the two magi, who both shook their heads.
"Alright, I'll get the flint from my satchel as well, then." He sighed and shook his legs out before walking into the forest, his armor rattling with every move he made.
Hunter looked to Solinur for an answer as to why Nitiko was acting so strangely, but only got a shrug.
"We should set up something for shelter so we don't get too cold, then." Solinur sighed, looking around at the trees around them. "You want to make a temporary house or something?"
"Sure." Hunter raised his hands, feeling the strange connection between his brother as their earth magic flared.
He watched the branches and trunks of the trees twist and widen, weaving around each other as both earth magi formed the small room around them, the roots burrowing deep into the ground to keep the house steady in the wind. Their magic faded, both of them looking at the house in satisfaction.
"Looks good, bro. You haven't used your magic in a while, have you?" Solinur looked over at Hunter, who shrugged.
"It tires me out- I only use it when I need it."
Solinur nodded and picked up Stella, bringing her into the small opening formed from branches and setting her down on the ferns that covered the ground.
Hunter looked down at her in frustration before sitting on the ground.
"What's up, grump?" Solinur asked before sitting down as well.
"I want to talk to her about what she said before she left, but I never got a chance to."
"It's not like she'll never wake up. Just be patient." Solinur grinned at him.
"I don't like waiting." Hunter growled in frustration.
Solinur sighed and put a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "Brother dear, if you want to be with a woman, you're going to have to learn to be patient."
Hunter glared at Solinur before sighing in frustration. He was right- why would she want to be with him? He always made girls angry- ever since they were teenagers, all the women who had been with him had grown frustrated with him and left.