Breven crashed down onto the cobbled street, sending out a ripple of dust from beneath his feet.

“Are you alright?” he asked, lowering Collin off his back. 

“I’m fine,” Collin said hurriedly. “But we need to get out of here before more Knights show up.”

Breven took out his sword and stabbed it into the ground. The black wolf burst out from the blade with a puff of smoke. 

“This is Gara. She can take us where we need to go.” Breven said proudly, leaping up onto the wolf’s back. Collin climbed up onto the wolf’s hind hesitantly. “Now hold on!” Breven bellowed. 

Gara galloped through the city streets, outrunning any passing carriage. She hurdled out into the forest, effortlessly maneuvering through the trees. As they traveled it turned from golden dusk to violet night. Collin drew weary, struggling to hold Gara's coarse fur. 

“To think we paid for that nice room, only to be run out of it,” Breven said. 

“That’s what I was trying to explain to you earlier. I don’t try to get a good job, or a decent place. Because as soon as the Knights come, I have to abandon it all.” Collin said bitterly. 

“You shouldn’t have to live like that,” Breven said seriously. “I don’t know why the Knights are after you, but I know whatever sin you may have committed is nothing compared to what they’ve done.”

Collin gripped at the fur clenched within his fist, gritting his teeth. 

“They’ve hunted me like a sport,” Collin said. “Ever since I was a kid, it's always been the same.”

“But now you have an ally,” Breven said, smiling warmly. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

“...I don’t understand,” Collin mumbled. “Why are you helping me? Do you pity me?”

“It's not exactly pity,” Breven hummed. “My hands are not clean. When I was a part of the Inferno Knights I did unspeakable things. I have tried to atone for a long time, but nothing has made me feel forgiven. But you,” Breven continued, peering back at Collin over his shoulder. “I feel as though by helping you, I am making amends with my past.”

Collin’s gaze moved down toward Breven’s shoulder, the cloth stained a dark reddish brown. 

“You’re injured!” Collin said. 

“It was merely an arrow.” Breven laughed. “And a single one at that.”

“One arrow is enough!” Collin yelled, taking a bandage out from the satchel across his waist. “I always keep some medicinal herbs and bandages on me in case the Knights decide to get violent,” he explained, stretching the bandage across the wound. 

Gara bounded out of the thicket into a grassy plain. A village, far smaller than the city, sat upon the hillside. 

“We should be safe there,” Breven said. “Gara has gotten us far from the city, and with their precious prince indisposed the Knights will be preoccupied. But we shouldn’t dilly-dally. We’ll leave promptly at dawn and head North.”

“What’s North?” Collin asked. Breven pulled a rattan map from his pocket and handed it back to Collin. The paper was crisp and frail between his fingers. It was drawn with great detail, larger than any map Collin had seen before. A red dotted line moved along the ink landscape of the map up into a mountain hidden in the top right corner. Standing at the mountain’s peak was a glowing, golden orb. 

“You haven’t forgotten, right?” Breven teased. “We’re still on a quest.”