Dark Crow Rising

"That was strangely comfortable..." I think out loud as I rub my eyes and try to sit up. An arm suddenly pulls me back down and I remember that I fell asleep against Nin. I smile up at him as he stares down at me with half-alive eyes. He blinks a couple of times and starts to move like a sugar-high child.

I giggle quietly at his behaviour as he groans at the open air.

"Morning, Nin." I tell my friend as he starts to slow down to the point he is just flicking his wrists. I know he's had some trouble sleeping, so he must've been as still as a locked city gate to enjoy moving this much.

"Was wondering when you would finally wake up." he laughs short and dry as he comes to a stop before me. An awkward silence fills the air before something mechanical passes overhead. My body freezes up as Nin glances skyward. It has to be...

"Nin." I call out as I gesture frantically for him to get closer. The top of the trees rustle and he walks to me with a raised brow. He doesn't know the danger we are in!

No, the danger I am in...

"Something-" he starts to say before a group of armoured, armed figures drop down from the sky, "Wrong..."

The group stand up and the majority reveal their shadow-covered faces and I glare intensely at their beady little eyes. Holding their swords up along the curve of their backs, they hold their ground. The strange soldiers of the heretical Union are right in front of us. I snatch up Nin's still-human hand into my engraved one so I can hide the blood rune.

His eyes widen at me as mine narrow at the soldiers. A single one with his face exposed walks into view with his helmet down by his side. The design is slightly different, more ornate and notably bulkier on the cheek and mouthpiece. Unlike his collection of the damned, his other hand rests on a small sidearm.

"Greetings, you two! I am Brave Swordsman Hencell, there's no need to worry. We are just here to see what you two lovebirds are doing up here as some of our airships are in the area. Your friend there is quite blatant with his magic, so we are fine assuming you aren't troublemakers." he tells us with a friendly tone with chuckles peppered about his words. He gestures his men back and their posture relaxes, a few even take off their helmets, stiffly at first. Revealing ordinary human faces of a slightly pale white complexion.

North Mountaineers if I am to guess the region they're from...

"I'm sorry, but, how did you know we are here?" Nin asks, completely confused by what is obvious to the rest of us.

This Brave Swordsman laughs and shakes his head, "I just said, bit of a stupid question."

I squeeze Nin's hand gently as the man thankfully accepts the truth Nin really doesn't know.

"Your magic, Son. You don't have a lot of control over that there aura and you are letting out quite a bit of it. Might as well have been a lighthouse for our equipment." the heretic clarifies for Nin who nods along to it. He looks about himself then shrugs as I bite my tongue.

It was stupid of me to just fall asleep on Nin, I should've taken him straight away from here. I know Nin has no fine control over his magic yet I just let him stay here, I stayed here. Even without knowing what those machines are fully capable of, I know witches of all kinds can sense magic. It's a basic skill!

"If you are worried about your airships, why didn't you come in the night, then?" Nin asks as his head tilts slightly.

The heretic smiles, "We came in and had a look during the night, we saw one of you sleeping. We decided to let her sleep as it's pretty clear you are non-combatants. In the traditional sense, anyway."

His gaze starts to harden.

"But, we will need to know who you two are, though."

Nin looks to me as my grip on his hand tightens. I can't say my name, it's far too involved with the Valkinvar to be ignored. I don't know any names similar to Nin's and I... Think, Vapooliar, think!

"We're students from Suhurlodst! I brought my... B-Boyfriend here to help him learn to control his magic!" I answer quickly and Nin blinks at me as I start to get embarrassed now of all times. Come on, Nin, just play along so we can escape here...

Please, play along...

"This is quite far from your school, no? You're coming awful close to an ongoing war, Student." the heretic asks as his hand draws dangerously close to his weapon. I watch his hand very carefully and he keenly observes my trained gaze. I am not scared of this man, nor his men, but, I cannot fight those airships. I cannot do anything to them, I can only run.

"Actually, no, Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding is quite lenient in letting their students off campus grounds. Pretty much to do anything, research, training in a different environment. Moon, they even have connections to the adventurer guild networks and regularly host jobs for the students to take on." a thankfully knowledgeable soldier explains as he shrugs at us.

"How do you know that?" the Brave Swordsman asks as he turns back to look at them. Our knowledgeable saviour shrugs again.

"Bored one evening and my daughter is getting close to the age she'd be looking at a school for higher education anyway." they explain.

"Yeah, he is right, got an old girl friend who goes there and she likes to just talk about what she does. The place even gives permission for the students to go as far as the magicless Lowlands if I am remembering correctly. Though, I might be more so thinking of the Eusorochii colonial-whatsit lands on the south coast." another adds on and a few start to laugh at him.

"You keep an eye on what your ex-girlfriend is up to, bit sad, no? Got to leave them things behind." another man gestures in prayer humorously as the one he remarked at sneers unamused.

"No! Girl friend as in a friend that is a girl!"

"You could have just said she was an old friend, you meek-moon."

"Ahem." the Brave Swordsman coughs and the rest of the soldiers go silent as discipline is restored.

Nin waves at me when I look his way and I am not sure why.

"I guess that makes sense as to why we found you to begin with. Your friend here needs the practice and you probably just mistook our airships for a natural source of dense magic. But, I admit as an aside, it's nice to see a male witch training for once. I know you girls have been blessed with the superior casting abilities for a long time now. Best of luck to you two, then, Students of Suhurlodst. But, you will need to vacate elsewhere. We'll give you time to go, but, please do so quickly. Security concerns, I am sure you understand given where you are from."

I nod and force a smile as Nin blinks cluelessly, "Thank you, we will leave. Sorry to cause you worry."

I gag violently in my head, to be polite to such foul people...

"Uh..." Nin lets out as I pull him along after me. Slowly going up into the air, I make it give a distinctly clumsy look. But, Nin stops me and he anchors us as he turns back to face the heretics.

"Nin, let's go!" I urge him.

"Have any of you guys got a map? We're kinda lost." Nin asks and the once again smiling heretic chucks a tube our way. I start to smile at what might be a genius move by Nin and he fiddles with the locking mechanism on the tube. Taking out the map, I unroll it and give it a quick lookover.

This will help us figure out which way we need to go to reach Thrurstradtur and Suhurlodst!

"Stay safe, you two." the heretic tells us as his men put their helmets back on. The moment the shadows return, their posture stiffens and weapons are held firmly. I nod slowly as I start to drag Nin into the sky and I make a platform under him. A construct his magic is able to hide as we get out of here.

To those heretics, it just looks like I am trying to teach him how to fly. I keep it up for quite a while even as the mountain is far behind us. Only after I am sure of our safety do I pick up the speed. Even then, I refrain from speeding up past the speed of sound.

"When we get back to the flower Nin, we need to start preparing to leave." I tell him firmly as I drag him after me through the whistling sky. Nothing significant might've happened, but even one word in the right ear can escalate this. It was all my fault... I shouldn't of let Nin stay on that mountain overnight.

I should've dragged him away...

"This map shows us where to go, then? To this school?" Nin asks as we slow down near a river valley and I nod at him as we land. Going to the water, I splash a cold handful against my face and let it drip. Sighing quietly as I pointlessly hope for my worries to be washed away with each little drop.

"How soon are you willing to leave, Nin?" I ask him as I turn to him, heavily breathing what I can't keep quiet inside of me.

"I don't know... Wouldn't it make sense to get the others ready as well? They're in the dark completely, here." he says as he rubs the back of his head.

"I am not sure about the other three, but I don't see why Vadei would want to come." I say as I think about the oxfuine briefly.

"Well, for me, this will be but one step to getting home. This also applies to her in getting back to her family. Besides, when we leave, Vadei isn't going to be welcome here anymore. She'll be run off and die all alone in these gods-forsaken lands." Nin explains and I start to nod slowly.

"That is fair, I will make a point of asking her, too." I tell him as he rubs his face. I sigh towards the running water and watch as it rushes by around a mountainous bend as Nin comes up next to me. He squats down on the banks of the river and he watches something splash away on the far end.

"So, what are we going to do about supplies? Food, drink, spare clothes and shelter?" Nin asks as I offer my hand to him so we can get moving once again. Initially, he refuses to take my hand and he just keeps looking up at me.

"I can hunt for our meals." I shrug as I ponder the few times I ever got to leave Giant's Victory. Even if it was just an insignificant chore so that the officers and I could have a proper cut of meat for supper.

"I honestly believe those hands could tear anything apart around here..." Nin quietly remarks as I sit down next to him on the river bank.

"You can help, if you want?" I ask, smiling at the idea of being able to do something with him. That competition showed he can grasp how to use his magical power, he just needs a goal. Something he can physically reach for. In a way, like how all soldiers are taught, really. Give them the toplock to teach them how to use it, don't just tell them how to load the ball.

"Sure, why not, never gone hunting at any point before." he answers as I spot some wild juperses hopping over to the river for some refreshment. We look over at the insectish equines together as their long tongues lap up a crisp drink. A particularly young one spots us and it hops about nervously, much to Nin's simple joy.

"They're an easily spooked species." I comment as he continues to find humour in it.

"Look at him go!" Nin cheers as the foal dives behind its fathering stallion.