The Endless Solvent

They made their way between houses using the walls to protect against any stray arrows. Verne kept watch as Dori and Laell hurried to join them in cover. “How many are there?” Verne asked.

“I don’t know. Less than ten. I didn’t have a good look.” Dori was panting and practically collapsed in exhaustion. “They killed the other one that kidnapped us.”

“This isn’t Yscian territory,” Camaz said. “Why are they here?”

“I don’t know either but they were angry,” Dori said. “Like they were looking for us. Maybe they heard us?”

“They usually stayed behind their borders. Even when war breaks out they don’t care unless we cross into their land, and even then they wouldn’t follow all the way to a Gaian village,” Camaz said. Something else had changed to affect their behavior.

The arrows fell with a thudding sound, embedding into the ground. A few passed through the enchanting circle and burned up while others landed on the ground unscathed. “They’re testing the enchantment,” Laell said after peeking around the wall to see. “They’ll probably come after us if they figure out they can walk around… or that it won’t hurt them.”

“Then we’ll try to sneak off northeast between the houses before they can figure it out.” Camaz quickly took stock of what they had and determined they’ll have to scrounge for supplies later. “Laell, is it still possible to track down Aris?”

“Wait, we’re still going to find that girl of yours?” Dori asked incredulously. “We already almost died once looking for her!”

Camaz gave him an impatient look. “I understand. I’ll task you with assisting Raka to a village then, one with a healer. You can send a message to the Academy for aid. Does that sound better to you?”

“We’ll both be dead if you do that,” Raka said weakly. “I’ll weigh him down.”

“You’ll lie in wait in one of the houses and barricade yourselves for at least a few hours. We will draw the attention away and you’ll leave as soon as the Yscians are gone.” Camaz cast Verne and Laell a look. “Do I have your agreement?”

To his surprise, Laell was the first to nod. Verne had his attention beyond the house in the direction where the Yscians were, the profile of his face looking thoughtful for a few moments before nodding as well.

“Verne, you’re not honestly thinking of following them?” Dori said. “It’s going to be a suicide mission. These two don’t even know where Aris is.”

“She may be in Yscian territory,” Camaz interjected. “It’s my hypothesis. If Moulu is right about her being alive, and we haven’t been able to track her down via our route, it may be the only place she could have gone bar braving the wilds.”

“See? They have no idea what they’re doing.” Dori cast his peer an exasperated look.

“You don’t have to follow me,” Camaz said to Verne. It would be a much bigger pain without the martial prowess the young man had, but it might still be possible.

“No, I want to see this through to the end,” Verne said. “I’m sorry, Dori, but I am grateful for your concern. You’re able to bring Raka through the forest by yourself?”

“I… Yes, I am,” the blond haired man briefly looked sheepish, then pulled Raka’s arm over his shoulders and helped him onto his feet. “I will find a hiding spot then. I pray that they follow you.”

The two then went deeper into the village, using the narrow passages between houses to hide their movement. In the meantime, Verne continued to scout what he was able to via their position and Laell was busy lacing up her boots more securely. The girl was starting to look exhausted but didn’t complain. She was also (thankfully) wearing riding gear for women - the pants would be deemed quite scandalous in some places like Sekrelli, but it was common attire for women in the working class around the Heart. It looked almost exactly like riding gear for men with leathers and buckles, except the tunic under the leather vest was longer such as the bottom hem reached mid-thigh. The pants were also less tight, almost baggy with patches of leather sewn into the seat and thighs. At least she could be able to run in them.

Aris used to request boy’s clothing when she was younger. She also wore leather lined pants as they were protected from the rough bark of the tree when she climbed them. Camaz blinked away the memories and glanced at Verne again. “Well? Is there anything we can do to ensure they follow us?”

More arrows fell from the sky on the other side of the house. They would soon run out of time.

“The two of you run,” Verne said, drawing his sword. “I will provoke them.”

“T-the enchantment should still work for a while,” Laell said. “It burns up anything wooden. It won’t b-be enough to kill them but…”

“It may be a good distraction,” Verne said.

“Be careful, son,” Camaz said.

Like Dori and Raka, he and Laell chose narrow alleys between houses to hide their movements but they headed northeast while Verne moved towards the Yscians. Camaz nodded to Laell who took off running. For a long moment there was no reaction and then he heard the shouts and clang of fighting many paces behind him. He counted silently to twenty before running as well, making sure to briefly appear in the field before plunging into the thick forest that bordered Gendis.

The fragrant loamy scent of the earth rushed past him. It was a marked change from the stale scent of death from within the village, almost like a completely different world. A familiar bobble of a shape caught the corner of his eye and he spotted Sharp following him through the air, slipping through trees as if they weren’t there.

“You have a lot of nerve appearing now,” Camaz growled under his breath.

Sharp took the form of a cone as if alarmed. Thock thock thock! Arrows landed into tree trunks dangerously close to him. Camaz threw himself sideways and kept running, bursting through bushes and piles of dead leaves on the forest floor. He hoped Laell had the same instinct to not get shot at.

Suddenly the forest floor rushed at him and he couldn’t even cry out as the air forced out of his lungs. A crushing weight sat on his back and dark blue hands pinned his head to the ground. A Yscian had managed to catch him and said something in their language. Camaz couldn’t understand any of it, only listening to their hissing words in growing terror. Blindly, he reached out through the solvent but it was like he couldn’t make sense of it. Where was the Yscian’s solute? Surely it was there… but Camaz couldn’t grasp it.

A horrible scraping of metal sounded close to his ear and a long, curved dagger pressed at his throat. No, he couldn’t die here. Not yet. Not before seeing Aris one last time. Not before redeeming himself. He couldn’t stop himself from shaking. He reached out again, desperately -

“Get off ‘im you blue fuck,” a rough voice said. The Yscian screamed and the tip of a sword burst through his chest.

Stunned, Camaz lay on the forest floor covered with the Yscian’s blood. The man who saved him was a Gaian. He had expected it to be Verne but Camaz didn’t recognize this person at all.

“Well what do we have here?” the stranger said, propping his sword against his shoulder. The stranger notably couldn’t see Sharp who was bobbing right in front of his face. The Shade twirled around the man’s head as if pointing him out to Camaz.