Jane nudged Ellanor awake right as the sun set, the sky dark with rolling clouds, while Lukas stomped out a small fire he had built at some point. Beside him Tara was already in the midst of packing up her bag. 

“How long did we sleep?” Ellanor rubbed at her eyes. Not long enough, her body responded when she stood up. Her tail especially ached from laying on the hard ground.

Jane rose from her crouch beside Ellanor. “A few hours.”

“Feels like minutes.”

Lukas grunted. Ellanor realised with a cringe he and Jane probably only got minutes – if any sleep at all. He finished up with the fire and stepped over to Tara, both ready to take off.

“You should have woken me up sooner,” Ellanor muttered, stuffing the sleeping bag in her pack. “We could be in the air by now.”

Lukas shrugged and cocked a smile. “Old force of habit. Besides, you looked like you needed it.”

“We fly low, avoid villages and roads,” Jane said, not wasting any more time. “It will begin raining soon – that will provide some extra cover. We’ll set down once dawn comes, me and Luke will turn back and lead the Legionaries off your trail.”

Ellanor hefted her pack over her shoulder. “You know it’s them following us?”

“Spotted them right after you fell asleep, all six of them,” Lukas said. “Not to worry though – they were several miles back, and heading in the wrong direction–”

“You flew back?” Ellanor interrupted. “Lukas, you could have–”

“It’s my job,” he replied, and then added “Madam” as an afterthought. Ellanor wanted to protest, but kept her mouth shut. There was no point in arguing when they should already be airborne.

They paired up – Ellanor flying with Jane, Tara with Lukas – and took to the skies. Like Jane had predicted it began raining just after, the thick droplets soaking through their clothes and gear. Flying through rain was not ideal from a health perspective, but Ellanor decided against bringing this up, despite the slight quavor in Jane’s wings. She knew she would be shut down anyway.

The western mountains of Avvyr towered up on their left, gargantuan peaks reaching beyond the dark clouds. Below, the forest was a dense carpet of pines, occasionally broken by a lake or clearing. From time to time Ellanor could glimpse the smoke from a town or the mossy roofs of barns, but Jane and Lukas gave any sign of civilization a wide berth. No need getting spotted from the ground, leaving witnesses for the Legionaries to question.

Once darkness had fallen completely, casting their surroundings in the blackest of night, the storm took its hold. Thunder rumbled from far away, following the flashes of lightning by several seconds, keeping its distance. Still, the wind in combination with the foul rain drove the party to land and take cover among the trees, continuing the rest of the night on foot.

Ellanor’s booted feet slipped on gnarly roots and sinister rocks, but at least she could see clearly enough in the dark and rain. Behind her Tara had a harder time, tripping and stumbling along at a pace much too quick for her. The human clung to Ellanor’s hand, Lukas a step behind keeping her from eating the forest floor. Despite their rough travel, Tara did not once complain.

The storm broke sometime before dawn, the rain slowing to a trickle. Around them the trees swayed in the still sharp winds, groaning and making Ellanor skittish. She was convinced against her better judgement that they would tip over and crush her at any minute.

It was barely light enough to be called day when Jane came to a stop by a small groove of drooping firs, creating a rudimentary shelter. She undid the clasps on her pack and shrugged it to the ground.

“No time to waste.” She addressed Lukas, “We leave any supplies we can with the Madam and miss Tara, then we fly south. The two of you should get some rest before you continue,” she said to Ellanor. “Head north until you have passed the Kebynai – that’s the tallest peak, you cannot miss it – then head west over the tundra. I suspect it will take you two weeks to go so far north, then another two to cross to K’Tlya. Avoid people and towns as often as possible, only risk it when you need to resupply.”

Ellanor took a deep breath and uttered the words she knew would be turned down. “You should come with us.”

“We should, but we cannot,” Lukas said from behind Jane. “Besides, if we can grant you just a day's head start over the Duchess’ goons, then it is worth every breath for the rest of my life.”

Ellanor scoffed. “That’s dramatic,” she said, but could not stop her eyes from spilling over. She wiped at them, then slung off her pack and together they reorganised the supplies.

In the end anything that could clothe or feed Ellanor and Tara, as well as everything of value to be traded, was shifted over from the guards packs to theirs. Any attempt to protest from Ellanor was met with utter silence from Jane and Lukas, though the latter gave her reassuring smiles from time to time that did nothing to ease Ellanor conscience.

Some hurried minutes later Jane and Lukas stood ready to fly back south, much too empty packs on their backs. Tara had already crawled in under the canopy of the fir grove, having already made her goodbyes. It left Ellanor alone with her guards, whose company she had taken for granted these past two decades. She knew she could not make them stay, so she did not try again. Instead she straightened her back and spoke in a tone so much like her aunt Lourelle’s.

“Fly fast, fly high; endure the Mother’s winds, taste her tears; the Flight is nigh.” The verse from the book of the Mother rolled off her tongue, one of the few she actually knew. In its original context it was a funeral psalm, historically used by soldiers during the Great Wars, but it was in current times mainly used as words of encouragement for long travels.

Both her guards straightened as Ellanor spoke, Jane getting something religious in her eyes.

“I could not have wished for better guards,” she continued. “Nor better friends, even though I was a spoiled Lady for most of my life.” Lukas chuckled, earning a glare from Jane, although a smile tugged at her lips as well. Ellanor stepped forward and pulled them both into a hug. Her hastily put on façade crumbled as tears rolled down her face and she said, “Do not dare get caught. I forbid it.”

They pulled apart, Lukas’ hand lingering on Ellanor’s shoulder. Then he untied a knife from his belt and passed it to her. Before Ellanor could respond, the two avvir had shot to the sky, leaving the Madam and Tara behind.

***

Two hours they rested underneath the cover of the firs, taking turns sleeping and guarding. Ellanor kept Lukas’ dagger close the entire time, always keeping an eye on the grey sky through the canopy while she was awake. When eventually the sky cleared and the rain stopped, the two of them packed up and left their hideout.

Finding north was easy enough – Tara had been clever enough to grab a compass, and so had apparently Tor, providing them a spare. They also had a map of the Avvy–T’nagyan border, a fairly useless item since they did not know where they were, and even if they did, neither Ellanor nor Tara knew how to read it. Still, it was a comfort to have, just in case they ran into someone friendly.

Taking turns taking the lead and setting the pace, they trudged on through the dense forest. Once in a while they would stumble across some sign of avvir settlements, dirt roads, farmlands, even an old water pump with an old bucket beneath. Ellanor and Tara gave all of them a wide berth, hurrying across the roads once they were clear.

They were taking a short rest by a brook when Ellanor finally broke the mutual silence that had been progressing since morning.

“Do you think Jane and Lukas were successful?” she asked. “In leading the Legionaries away from us?”

Tara looked up from where she was hunkered down by the water, refilling her pouch. “I suppose we would have known by now if they were not. We are not remotely as quick on foot as they ought to be in the sky.” She stood and skipped over the brook to Ellanor’s side, offering to refill her waterskin as well with a gesture. “You barely slept this morning… You worry about them.”

Ellanor was not sure if Tara meant the Legionaries or her guards, but both would be correct. “Yes,” she said. “Of course I do.”

“It will be alright. Jane and Lukas are strong. And smart.”

“I know.”

Tara handed back the now full waterskin to Ellanor, and got to her feet. “Come on. You lead the way for a bit. We still have half the day left.