Ryner and Ferris were about a quarter of the way back to the village before they saw anyone. And even then, it was the horse that actually drew their attention to the rapidly approaching group. This, of course, was Ryner's fault.
"No, you fool, this is the wrong way. We should have taken the left fork back there."
"I'm telling you, this is the exact way we came. I distinctly remember you yelling at me about that tree. Right there. You said it looks like my face."
"And I stand by that. This is a different tree, however. This one looks more like the horse's face."
"It's the same tree!"
"I can see how you would get the two confused."
"Are you saying I look like a horse?"
"Precisely."
"Yeah? Well you look like -oof!"
Ryner was cut off as the aforementioned horse jolted to the side, violently tilting the carriage with it as it veered to the left and almost off the road. The arguing duo on the bench shouted as they nearly slid off the thing, Ryner yanking at the reins as Ferris grabbed onto both him and the carriage.
The carriage came to an abrupt stop as the horse whinnied at the abuse Ryner was inflicting with the reins, and the two jumped off immediately. Ferris drew her sword and stood at her companion's back as he struggled with the tethering, attempting to disentangle the beast from the mess it had created while panicked.
Ferris looked around for whatever had caused the mess, and didn't see anything. Time spent traveling potentially hostile lands had left both her and Ryner with a healthy dose of caution bordering on paranoia, however, and just because she didn't see anything didn't mean there wasn't anything there.
Ryner cursed and retreated from the mess, switching places with Ferris. He'd gotten absolutely nowhere with the tangled lines, and Ferris shook her head as she swung her sword, severing the horse from the now-useless vehicle. She grabbed the reins, which were still perfectly fine, and walked around to the rear of the thing, taking out and packing up what she could, turning the carriage horse into a veritable pack-mule.
Ryner listened to her mutter about what they would and wouldn't need as she burdened the mare, but kept the rest of his attention to the horizon. He'd sent out a sensing spell once he had failed to find anything obviously out of place, and apparently there was something big coming their way. It was moving slowly, but with an unrelenting pace that made him worry.
"I recommend you hurry it up, Ferris. I don't wanna mess with whatever's coming..." He muttered, turning to check on her progress. He caught her just as she was straightening from cinching the saddle under the horse, and she looked back at him, expression serious and slightly concerned.
"This is all I could get. We'll be fine for a few days, at least." She said quietly, and he nodded.
"We'll figure out something. See if you can't get her to hide with you in the trees over there," He motioned to the small grove of trees lining the stream a bit away from the road. "and I'll figure out what to do with this thing." He tapped the side of the carriage.
Ferris nodded and led the horse away, sheathing her sword as she did. If they were going to be running, she'd need as much mobility as she could get, and if they were fighting, Ryner would either take care of it all himself, or at least buy her enough time to actually draw it.
Ryner double checked the carriage to see if there was anything of value he wanted to save, and grabbed the small bag and cloak he'd thrown into the storage area that morning. He backed away and with a quick circle and gesture, a force thrummed from his hand and hit the carriage, sending it sliding off the path and about two meters from the road, before it tipped over, wheel creaking and cracking at the rough treatment. A bought of flame quickly burned it to the skeleton, and a similar douse of water put out the embers and left the once expensive luxury looking like an aged wreck.
He jogged to the trees, taking care to leave a minor wind spell at his feet, erasing the tracks and skid marks that would give them away. Once he got to the two in the trees, he quickly quieted Ferris's start of a question and drew a circle in front of the group.
"The heavy world, rise to my will. Defend, attack, shatter the void and empty." He whispered, and a large mound of earth rose from the ground, creating a natural hill, a barrier blocking them from the road. A second circle, this one horizontal, appeared, surrounding the small group.
"I implore the gods above to bestow thy servant with the demon choking smoke." This time, a cloud of fog condensed into being, flowing around the area and into the stream, like the hot steam from the water on a cold autumn morning. A final circle, this one a dull glowing white where the other had been the normal blue, formed around Ryner, who paused before casting, turning to Ferris, who had watched him work silently, head tilted slightly as she tried to place the spells and their origins.
"This next one is pretty tricky, and I won't be able to move or talk until I break it. The fog will disappear, but only to our eyes. Whoever looks at it from the outside will only see a foggy hill and stream, but don't move too much or make a lot of noise. And the horse should be falling asleep soon, so just let her, okay?" He said, drawing complicated patterns in the glowing rune surrounding him as he spoke. Ferris, who'd been listening and making mental notes to interrogate him later about this sudden attention to detail, nodded and backed away slightly, crouching down to a single knee on a slightly raised patch of ground, a position that left her with a clear line of sight all around Ryner, and gave her the best view of the area around her, drawing her sword, just in case. The horse, like Ryner had said, dropped her head and closed her eyes, knees locking as she fell asleep.
"I surrender my heart and will; bless this body with the Mind of Heaven." Ryner finished the circle, which glowed and pulsed once as he fell to his knees with a gasp, eyes wide and glowing. Ferris leaned forward, concern and curiosity warring within her as she watched her friend's body shake, then freeze and lock up, kneeling on the ground.
Whatever Ryner's latest spell didn't, other than paralyze him into uselessness, wasn't apparent, but she did what she was asked, and stayed alert within the fading cloud.
Ryner, stock still and rather uncomfortable, was traversing his mind and senses. The Stohlian spell was a complicated and very difficult one, but was very useful in the right situation. At the expense of the user's mobility for the duration, it heightened the user's senses, ability, and intellect for as long as it was used. Kneeling on the ground behind a hill meters away from the road, he was able to hear the insects inspecting his boots, the fish fighting the current in the stream, and the rhythmic pounding of at least six dozen marching footsteps. A full company, at least. He focused, deeming the usual sounds of nature as unimportant, and could make out a conversation being held among the marching group.
"-think anyone's stupid enough to actually do that?" Ryner named this voice Bill. It sounded like a Bill. Another voice, deemed Tool, answered him.
"You idiot, of course there's someone that stupid. You ever look in a mirror?"
"Hey, at least I own a mirror, you womanizing gambler." Replied Bill, sounding exasperated.
"Knock it off, morons." This one was Wallace. Commanding, but kinda drunk sounding. "I don't get paid to break up any 'fights'," Ryner could hear the sarcasm easily. "you idiots might have, so if you've got an issue with someone, figure it out before someone breaks a nail, alright?"
"Yeah." (Bill)
"Fuck off." Tool was living up to his name, Ryner noted. The harsh sound of a slap upside a head made him mentally flinch, as it was much louder that the voices had been. The group was getting closer, almost even with the hill as their pace kept strong.
"Keep that up, and I'll feed you to the damn beast myself." Wallace growled, which shut up Tool's angry grumbling quickly.
"Does it really eat people?" A new, young voice piped up, this one now dubbed Tiny.
"You really wanna find out?" Asked Billy, a slight laugh in the question. Tiny didn't answer as the procession came to a controlled and sudden halt... right where the burnt corpse of the carriage was.
"That wasn't there yesterday..." Wallace murmured, and Ryner could hear the sound of his teeth grinding in thought as the man examined the remains as best he could while still on the road.
"You sure?" Piped in Tool. "It sure looks like it's been there for a while..."
Ryner congratulated himself on a job well done as the voice named Wallace grunted and the company fell into perfect pace again, insults and arguments trailing behind them like a bad smell as they marched and disappeared over the horizon, and from Ryner's enhanced senses. Once they were gone, Ryner broke the spell and fell to his hands, gasping at having held such an uncomfortable position for as long as he had. Granted, it had only been about 10 minutes, but that was still a long time to be paralyzed...
Ferris watched over Ryner and the mare as they both did... nothing. One was sleeping, and the other would've been less disturbing if he had been. It was unnatural to see Ryner serious, but with their status as fugitives, that side of him had been popping up more and more, and Ferris didn't really know what to think of it. She looked over him, completely still except for the slight rise and fall of his breath, and began re-evaluating the man she knew, as she'd done so many times before.
The first time she'd seen him, she'd thought him a potentially-dangerous criminal, most likely sociopathic and deranged. The easy-going attitude had clashed with the two-year long solitary imprisonment he'd just come out of, and she'd believed that no one sane could've survived that long in the dark. When he'd made his so-called 'escape attempt', she'd lowered her caution and become a little more confident in her ability to overcome him if the need should arise. His restraint was obvious, though she'd later learned that the lack of skill he'd shown was by choice, not by actual ability.
After the first few weeks paired with him, searching the country-side, he'd become an academic, someone intelligent and witty, with knowledge of what seemed to be all things, and enough magical ability to defend himself if necessary. She'd known about the Alpha Stigma, though had very limited understanding of exactly why he and his kin were so feared.
After the fight with the two Gastarkians, she knew exactly why that fear was so prevalent. The landscape was scarred and burning, burning canyons and valleys created where their had once been a rolling meadow, the sky itself darkened and red with the power and malevolence that seeped from her friend's very being. But he didn't hurt her, not anything more than a couple scrapes and cuts from the debris that had once been the ground that had flown around her. All that destructive potential, the promise of obliteration and desolation that echoed through every missed strike, every explosion of power and wrath, paled in comparison of the sorrow and pain that he'd shaken with when he'd come back to himself.
As she held him, her first and best friend and companion; as he silently wept and told her she could go home, to just leave him alone, she promised herself that he would understand just what he meant to her. This man who believed himself a monster, who'd been torn down and scorned and feared just because he was who he was, who was the kindest, strongest person she'd ever known. He would never be left alone again. Not by her. She would beat it into his head herself if she had to.
And then, it was her that was alone. Sure, there was still Sion, who by then had begun withdrawing into himself more than ever (but she hadn't noticed, because what had she done but exactly the same), and Iris (who she'd left behind with nothing but a note and an apology), and Lucile (What had he actually done to Ryner? What had her brother said to her friend to shut him down so completely? He hadn't gotten a note.), but she was alone.
She had hunted Ryner down and found him (of course), but the half-assed fight he put up should have warned her of his feelings and thoughts, but she had been so furious and confused and hurt and wanted to know why (why did he leave, why did he leave her) that she didn't stop and actually look at him until she had him pinned and at her mercy.
When he left with the other, the black-clad, blood-soaked other, she'd wondered briefly if she should just let him go. (Let him be with people who actually understand, let him be happy, let him be free, make the hurt go away.) But she'd stuck with her guts and followed him, stepping in once again to save his sorry behind.
His reckless determination to save the children, the strange adults, and the merciless killer had confused her at first, but when she saw the pink-haired devil rip a crystal from the skull of a laughing, suffering woman, she began to understand, at least a little. Innocents who had done nothing wrong, but because of their birth were despised. She couldn't relate, could never truly understand, but she swore to stand by Ryner's side as he defended them with all he had.
When she found him, sprawled lifeless on the ground, stabbed in the heart, what exactly she thought of him became startlingly, painfully clear. He was a hero - plagued by happenstance, but with a stubbornly strong refusal to let life weigh him down and determine his fate. A man who would defend those in need of defending, who would stand by his ideals and friends. Someone who was knocked down again and again, in desperate need of saving himself, but who yet gave everything he had for others. Mind-numbingly strong in both skill and potential, who preferred to laze the days away without a care.
Again and again, he'd shown hidden depths, forcing her to re-evaluate her understanding of Ryner Lute, and here he was doing it again. Proving himself to be capable of split-second acting and reacting, of evaluating and manipulating the environment to his needs and desires, and of power and skill that still impressed her, even after all they'd seen and been through together.
She could hear the voices and even marching steps of the group on the road, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Ever so carefully and quietly, she shifted and shuffled to a position where she could peek around the hill and watch them, not sure what they were doing and wanting to keep an eye on the most obvious potential threat around. She held her breath when they paused and inspected the burnt, overturned carriage, and released it slowly when they seemed to dismiss it and move on. They disappeared into the distance without trouble.
She could actually feel a magical pressure she hadn't noticed until then lift as Ryner shifted, and what wisps of fog there were left visible to her disappeared. The mound of earth retreated back into the slight slope it had risen from, and he rolled his shoulders, unfolding himself and re-positioning into a more comfortable sitting position. Ferris looked around once more, just in case there were any stragglers she'd missed, then took a seat next to Ryner.
"That could have gone better." He said, and she turned to him, confused, as he flopped onto his back, eyes still closed.
"What?" She asked. Not being spotted or caught was a good day in her book. Ryner sighed.
"We're both so twitchy and paranoid we bailed and burned at the first indication of anything resembling trouble. Carriage is gone, along with a good stock of supplies, just because some group of thugs decides to use the same road we're on."
Ferris pouted. "To be fair, it was a sizable group of unknown origin and design, and while we probably could have taken them, it would have made much to large of a mess."
"True, but we also could have moved to the side and just let them pass. There was no indication that they have any information on us or reason to care at all." Ryner replied, then frowned, opening his eyes for the first time since the group had appeared.
"We can't afford to be so jumpy. I'm not saying we should be totally at ease, but if we keep over-reacting every time something unexpected shows up, we might as well hang a sign around our necks that says 'look here! We're suspicious and probably criminals! Be afraid!" He held up a hand to her, fingers wiggling as he spoke, a slight smirk replacing the frown. Ferris rolled her eyes.
"Okay, you may have a point. But I'd much rather be a little over cautious, than dead."
Ryner closed his eyes again and nodded. They sat in peace, Ryner dozing the adrenaline and spell-weariness away while Ferris watched the stream, then clouds. The horse continued to sleep, huffing a snore every now and then.
They both knew exactly when Keifer and Harmit caught up to them, but didn't acknowledge their uninvited guests with anything other than a small grunt to let the other know that they were aware of the newcomers. The two were on their own horses, which they pulled over and dismounted upon reaching the relaxing duo.
Ryner sat up and grinned at the two as they approached, Ferris rolling her eyes at his nonchalant attitude as she very deliberately unhooked her sword from her belt, laying it, still sheathed, across her lap.
"Well," Ryner drawled. "Look who finally caught up. You two missed something rather interesting while you were sleeping the day away. I didn't think I would take you this long to catch up – it seems I owe someone a drink." Keifer was obviously torn between humor and indignation at his behavior, but Harmit had no such indecision, her eye and fingers twitching at his lackadaisical attitude.
"We were busy tracking a rather suspicious group, you just happen to be in the same direction." Harmit explained through gritted teeth.
"Of course, this does save us the trouble of hunting you down later." Keifer put in, deciding on humor to contrast her companion's irritation. Ryner raised an eyebrow.
"Is this group really more important than us? I think I'm offended."
Ferris snorted, suppressing her laughter at the obviously fake wounded tone Ryner had adopted.
Harmit clenched her fists.
"I'd think you'd both be more concerned, considering that entire group is dedicated to hunting you down."
(A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, life has been hectic. I've got another chapter in the works to make up for how short this one is, which should be up within a couple days. Thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favorites, they all help a lot when I lack inspiration. I will be making some changes to the previous chapters as well, mainly proof-reading things I missed when first posting, as well as a couple location mention changes. I also have a map of Menoris laid out and detailed for this story in particular, in case anyone is ever lost or confused about where the characters are: tinyurl q3f5lfs)