They ran.
Morning came. They ran.
For half the day, they ran. Finally, after noon had come and gone, Barret tripped over his own feet and collapsed in exhaustion, dropping Flora as he did. Though she had been clutching him tightly, she fell into the dirt and leaves, tears streaming down her face. The six of them came to a stop. Panting, Barret rolled over and stared at the sky, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. Trace walked over to Flora on shaky legs, and pulled a knife off of Barret's bag to cut the bola.
"We… we have… to… keep moving… ha…" Zen panted, leaning against a tree. "He's coming. He's coming for us. Aezr. He's on the hunt now. We have to move."
Keith fell to the ground, his plate armor clattering, his sword clenched in his hand. "Where do we go? We're trapped. The war is to the west. Hunters to the east. Wolves to the south. We're boxed in."
Natani fell to the ground next to Barret. "Why can't we go south? Zen and I can-"
"No." Trace shook his head as he held Flora, who was still crying. "They'd kill me. You might be have sway over them, but I don't think they would be particularly keen on having the Grand Templar walk through and ask for safe passage." Quiet fell, broken by panting and the pounding of hearts. "Thank you. You saved my life. You saved Flora's life." Natani and Zen exchanged glances.
"What?"
"When you cast that shield."
"That wasn't me, I was fighting for my life." Zen said, glancing at Natani.
"Same here."
"I can't use magic, I thought you shielded yourself."
"No, I couldn't risk it. I was going to just take the arrow for her, and hoped someone would take care of Flora." Confused, everyone looked at everyone else.
"I felt it." Eyes flew to Barret, who still lay on the ground, staring up. "I… I felt it. I didn't know I could. I just- I just did it. It was all instinct."
"You? How? Flora told me you can't use magic." Trace asked.
"I don't know." Barret sat up. "I heard Flora yelp, and saw you turn. I started running, and saw him shoot you. And I knew I wouldn't get there in time. I knew I had to do something, and so I just- did it. I felt magic. I used it. And now it's gone. I can't feel it anymore. Like I'm stumbling in the dark, I found it once, and can't find it again. I don't know how. I didn't know I could do that. It was…" His voice faded as he stared at his right hand, as though at any second, it might spark with magic again.
"However you did it, thank you." Flora said, putting her arm around him. "You saved Trace. You saved me."
"I hate to break up this tender moment, but we really need to move." Zen said brisky. "Where are we going? West or south?"
"North." Barret said.
"I'm sorry?" Keith asked, shocked.
"North." Barret repeated.
"What?!" Trace backed up a step. "North?! Are you crazy?! There's a mountain range in the way! We can't go north!"
"That's exactly why. We can't. So we shall." Barret spoke with determination, a drive behind his words. "We are being hunted. We are being chased. This is new for you all, but for me? This is my life. If you want to escape, you do the least expected things. You take the most difficult paths. You go where no one else would dare follow. We can't go back east. We can't go west. They expect us to go south. So we go north. We brave a path no one else would even dream of."
"Barret, those mountains are dangerous, even deadly. There are no roads, no paths, no anything!" Natani said.
"Exactly. Anyone who goes there dies. But we aren't anyone. We have no other option. We cross those mountains or surrender now, and I'm not going to go to the hangman's noose today. You can join stay here if you want, but I'm going over those peaks. And I will survive." With that, he picked up his bag, and stood up on shaky, unsteady legs. Sighing, he slowly started walking north.
"You're not going to make it." Zen said. Barret glared over his shoulder. "Not without me. And not without this." Walking over, Zen pulled out a longbow from his cloak, and a quiver filled with arrows. "I might have stolen this on the way out of town. You had mentioned you needed a new one." A cheeky smile was on Zen's face as he held out the fine weapon. Barret smiled back, and took the quiver, tying it to his belt. Then he took the bow. Suddenly he felt right, as he pulled the bow back with all his might. No creaking or cracking, the finely crafted longbow was the perfect size for him.
"Zen, there is no way I'm going to let you go on a dangerous adventure." Natani said with a scowl. "Without me."
"Where she goes, I'll follow." Keith said plainly.
"I've trusted you this far." Flora said. "If you think we can make it, then I'll trust you. Trace?"
"I won't leave you Flora. Though I hate the idea of us going up there, I can't think of any better option." Pulling Flora up, he looked at Barret. "Lead on. Our Fate is in your hands."
"Sir, the gate is completely broken. The fire has been put out, but the damage to the wall is severe. Our scouts are already on the move. They won't get-"
"Shut up." Aezr stood in the inn, Kemnet cowering in the corner as a Templar soldier delivered the report.. "They knew. He warned them." Tauh's body hadn't been touched the whole morning. Walking over, Aezr shoved the limp body out of the chair, pushing it to the floor with a thud, before taking the seat for himself. "They know I'm comin' now. They'll be panicked. The hunt will be good, and the Hunter is ready."