In the cool night air, Dart led his horse to the area where he had left all his supplies the day before. As he slowed down, Lavitz called out from behind, "Why are we stopping so soon?"

Dismounting, Dart replied, "Left some stuff here, including a horse. Give me just a second." He walked into the trees, using his memory as a guide, and found the horse with his pack still tied to its saddle. He greeted her and untied and mounted the horse before leading her back out of the trees.

"Okay," Dart said. "We've got to get out of here."

"Are we going back to Seles?" Shana asked.

Lavitz shook his head. "No, that will be the first place they'd look. We have to get further north than that. At least until we outrun them." He looked back toward the prison. "They're getting ready to head out. We need to go."

And with that, he turned his horse north and took off. Dart gave Shana an apologetic look. She looked disappointed but understanding and took off after Lavitz, Dart following shortly behind.

After perhaps an hour of riding, Lavitz slowed ahead of him and came to a halt. Dart and Shana came up beside him.

"Listen, guys, we can't go on forever," Lavitz said. "We're going to have to make camp somewhere, take watches, and hope they don't find us."

Dart sighed and said, "Why can't we just keep going until dawn? The moon is bright enough to light the path, and we have to outrun these buffoons."

"Dart," Lavitz said, looking directly at him. "Shana and I just got out of an ordeal. You have to give us time to adjust. That place was horrible, even if we were only there for a few days."

Dart looked to Shana. It was hard to make out in the moonlight, but she did look rather tired. "I guess you're right. But we need to keep going for at least another hour if we want to be far enough ahead."

"Fair enough," Lavitz said, nodding. "Shana, are you okay with that? One more hour?"

"Yes, thank you, Lavitz," Shana replied. "I'll be fine."

So they continued on. As Dart began to feel a little tired, he realized the great length of time since he had last slept. After what seemed longer even than an hour, Lavitz finally turned off the road, guiding them to make camp. Dart thought he recognized the terrain as they moved into the woods to the left of the well-worn road. They were back in the grasslands.

Within the trees, they set up a shoddy camp, tying the horses not far off. Dart tried to find a blanket in his pack for Shana, but all he had was an extra tunic. Regretting his ancient decision to pack light, he gave it to her for warmth, as he knew they could not light a fire. She took it graciously. Even more appreciated, however, was the water left in Dart's waterskin, which he shared with each of them along with the cured meat he had purchased from the merchant; Dart ate none himself. Even with a heavy atmosphere oppressing their small camp, Shana lay down and fell asleep almost immediately. Dart told Lavitz that he would take first watch, and found himself a somewhat comfortable spot leaning up against a tree as Lavitz lay down to sleep, still in his armor with his spear next to him.

Over the next several hours, Dart fought off sleep while he thought back over the past several days. A lot had happened. He encountered a dragon, met some mysterious woman, lost half of his home, and broke into and out of a prison to save Shana. Shana… he thought, turning his eyes toward her sleeping figure. He marveled at the similarities between the Shana of now and the Shana of his memory. However, there were some stark differences. She knew how to use a bow, after all, and he wondered where she would have been able to learn that. At this thought, he suddenly felt a pang of regret. He had left her before she had finished growing up. As he gazed at her through the dark, he searched for evidence of the girl he used to know. The shape of her face was still the same, albeit more mature. Her hair had darkened just a little, but her eyes were the same. And she was taller.

Whatever may be different, he still felt a responsibility to protect her at all costs. He thought it strange how much more powerful that feeling had become since just earlier today.

Sleep became harder and harder to fight off, and after what he felt was three hours or so, he got up and walked over to Lavitz. Shaking his shoulder gently, he told him that it was time to swap out. Lavitz nodded and got up while Dart lay down, quickly drifting into slumber.


After what seemed about five minutes, Dart felt someone shaking his shoulder gently. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see early daylight around him. Birds were chirping.

"Dart." Lavitz's voice mildly. Dart looked up and saw Lavitz kneeling next to him. "Hey, buddy," Lavitz said, grinning. "Unfortunately, it's time to get back on the road. Those fools from Hellena can't be far behind us now."

"Right…" Dart said slowly, trying to collect his thoughts. "I'll get Shana up," he said getting to his feet and walking toward her. He squatted, his mind still a little fuzzy, and had to steady himself with a hand on the ground. He was faintly aware of Lavitz moving around behind him.

As Dart lifted his hand to place it on Shana's shoulder, he stopped when he saw her face. She looked beyond peaceful, her breaths coming slow and deep. In the light of day, he could finally see that her skin was dirtied. He thought he saw a bruise on her arm, which had found its way out from under his tunic-blanket, and a small amount of dried blood adorned the right side of her head. Dart's jaw clenched and his breath quickened. If only I had come back sooner, he thought.

He slowly shook her shoulder, quietly saying her name to break her out of sleep. She began to stir, and her brow furrowed slightly. "Shana, we need to get moving," Dart said quietly.

"Dart?" She slowly opened her eyes, meeting Dart's gaze. They both smiled simultaneously. He couldn't resist it. "So you really did come for me. I thought it was just a dream." She began to sit up and wipe the sleep out of her eyes.

"I always will," Dart murmured. He surprised himself with this statement, but he knew that it was true.

She smiled again and looked around, as if she had just remembered that there was supposed to be a third person. "Good morning, Lavitz!" she called over to him.

"And to you!" Lavitz called, walking over to her and holding out Dart's waterskin. She took it gratefully and drank a little, being careful not to indulge too much. Then she handed it to Dart.

He stood and drank two gulps, then tried to estimate how much water was left. "This should get us through today," he said. "There's bound to be a creek or river around here somewhere."

As Dart put the waterskin back in his pack, Lavitz said, "I agree. But until we find one, let's be sparing with what we have."

Dart grabbed the tunic Shana had been using, put it back in his pack, and strapped on his sword belt as Lavitz readied his lance. The three mounted their horses and made their way out to the road, Dart taking the lead this time. As they exited the trees, they turned left to continue north. They had only gotten several paces down the road when Dart thought he heard shouts coming from behind them. Turning quickly, he saw a small caravan of about five soldiers on horses about a mile to the south. While he couldn't really make them out, he was fairly certain he knew exactly where they were from. Cursing, he pointed them out to the other two.

"Looks like it's time to get moving!" Lavitz said. "Dart, you take the lead. We have to find a place to hide, but we can't go back to Seles!"

Dart nodded sternly, then took off at a gallop. Now that they were in the grasslands, he welcomed the hilly terrain. It gave them at least pieces of time when the Hellena soldiers could not see them. He left the road as soon as possible, following it from a distance in the hopes that the soldiers would lose sight of them.

Eventually, Dart recognized the terrain again; they were close to Seles. "I have an idea!" he shouted behind him, glancing back. Shana had almost caught up to him, riding just behind him and to his left. Lavitz was several more feet behind him to his right. Dart kept his eyes trained on the road, several hundred feet to his right, and at last saw what he was looking for: a split. This was where the road branched, one part continuing north and the other heading east toward Seles. He abruptly turned right.

Crossing the main road, Dart looked to his right and was just able to make out the soldiers. Good, I hope they saw us, Dart thought. He knew that Shana and Lavitz likely thought he was crazy, but he knew what he was doing. After going east for a short time, he left the road again and dismounted, quickly removing his pack from the saddle and swinging it around his shoulder. Lavitz and Shana came to a stop next to him.

"Are you insane?" Lavitz demanded.

"Listen," Dart said, turning toward him. "We dismount here and go north on foot, but send the horses in the direction of Seles. They'll follow the horse tracks, and even if they're too stupid to do that, they'll assume we followed the road."

"That's actually…" Lavitz paused. "…kind of brilliant."

"Thank you," Dart said, slightly exasperated at how long this was taking. "Now dismount and let's send these horses home, because those guards will be coming around here any minute."

They followed his demand, and all three slapped the horses, sending them bolting east at full speed. Then turning north, they hurried into the woods. The ground began to slope upwards almost immediately, and Dart slowed, looking behind him. He could barely make it out at this distance, but it was clear that there was a noticeable disturbance in the grass right where they had dismounted.

"What is it?" Shana asked.

"You guys go on ahead," Dart replied. "I need to make sure that they take the bait." He held out his pack, which Shana reluctantly took.

Shana was about to protest when Lavitz interjected, "He's got a point, Shana. Let's move on and try to get out of sight. Dart," he said, turning to him with a serious look, "you come find us when you're done."

Dart nodded solemnly as Lavitz guided Shana further into the woods and over the hill. Dart turned and searched for a place to hide. He found several lush bushes grouped together and lay beneath them, barely able to see through. Just as he heard the footfalls of his companions fade into the distance, he began to hear the heavy pounding of horses coming from the road. He waited, and just as he had suspected, the soldiers noticed the disturbed brush and stopped just off the road almost directly in front of him.

"They were here," a gruff voice said. "Go over the perimeter and search for them." One of the other soldiers dismounted and began to step into the forest when another spoke up.

"Sir," he said, "There are more tracks heading to the east. It looks like they stopped for a short break and kept going."

The leader of the group admitted, "You may be right, but our lives hang in the balance here. Fruegel will not be forgiving, much less Doel's little puppet, if we don't find them. We need to be sure they're not here."

The soldier on his feet wandered deeper into the woods, unwittingly toward Dart, with his spear readied in front of him. As he drew closer, Dart's pulse accelerated. A sudden noise to his right almost made him jump, and his eyes and the guard's followed the sound. From his low vantage point, Dart was able to make out a rather large gray squirrel that had just disembarked from a nearby tree. The soldier, however, did not seem to be able to see it yet.

"Come out here, you scum!" the soldier called. "We know you're there, and there's no getting away this time!"

The squirrel stood at attention, but unmoving. Then as the soldier took a step forward, the startled squirrel scampered away into the forest. The soldier looked defeated and turned around. "We're not, uh… chasing after a squirrel, are we?" he asked nervously.

"No, you idiot!" the gruff soldier called out. "If you didn't find anything, hurry back out here! We're losing daylight!" The soldier returned to his group, mounted his horse, and followed them off to the east.

Once they were finally out of earshot, Dart sighed in relief, then carefully stood up. He watched them disappear in the distance and then turned and walked up the hill, eager to find his friends again.