Syrdin

“Fenn?” Mell’s voice called from behind. 

“Shush! Of course it’s Fenn!” Syrdin snapped back, breathless. “And he’s got Galendria and the warrior with him.” This part of the mountain had only clumps of trees, and zhe could see clearly in the last light of the Great Moon. Mell and zhe were still running away from the city toward the Twin Gate where they had hoped to meet the others.

“What’s the matter?” Fenn hurried over to meet them.

“We were spotted from a distance coming out of the city,” Syrdin explained swiftly, “and I’m pretty sure we’ll have a squadron sweeping the area within minutes. “Wherever the Wildlands are from here, we need to get there fast.”

“Thank you for your help,” Fenn stopped in front of them. “If you wish to unload the haul here, I can pay you out so you can escape without anyone knowing you were here.”

Syrdin clutched the satchel’s strap. This was zheir chance to find the Door. “There’s no time. I’ll follow you there. Now move!”

Fenn took a few running steps toward the woods, then spun around to face Galendria. “Gale, you’d better go back to your father. You must know by now that involving yourself further will only bring you harm.”

Zhe watched as the she-elf marched forward and grabbed Fenn’s sleeve as she passed him. She tugged him forward, and then turned her face to him when he resisted, her eyes as piercing as eagle talons. “Come on, you heard Syrdin, the Everguard will be here any minute.”

Syrdin rolled zheir eyes. The tenacity zhe could admire, but surely the stubbornness was misdirected. The little flower princess would come to regret this later. That didn’t matter now. The Everguard was approaching.

As if on cue, specks of torchlight flickered in the distant treeline.

“Time to go!” Zhe hissed. 

Fenn didn’t put up any more of a fight. They went, fleeing as quickly and quietly as they could. 

They were neither of those things. By the time they reached the woods, Mell had started to fall behind, gasping and stumbling. Syrdin reached to pull her along, but the massive drakeman came up from behind and pushed Mell onward, almost carrying her. Finally someone capable around here.

 They skirted around the guards, passing just South of the direction zhe and Mell had come from, very near the Everguard unit. If Fenn would have just clarified the location before, I could have led them further away.

The drakeman snapped a log under his foot. Fenn glanced back at him. Alerted, the Everguard closed in. Syrdin could hear their footsteps—could see their armor glinting through the trees.

A guard shouted for the lights to go out and darkness consumed the woods. Syrdin smiled. This gave zhem the advantage. One guard closed in behind them and another ran alongside. 

“Syrdin!” Mell called as the rear pursuer grew too close. 

Zhe was already on it. Zhe leapt up in the air, bounced off a tree, and rammed into the Etnfrandian guard on their tail. She let out a guttural grunt and clattered to the ground, rolling stunned down the hill, likely with a broken rib or two. Syrdin sprinted back toward the group. 

They’d covered a lot of ground, but they were slow. Too slow. That Door better be nearby. The guard on the side came crashing through the trees. Syrdin charged forward, unsheathing zheir dagger for a killing—no, not killing. In zheir moment of hesitation, the guard dashed around Syrdin and toward Galendria. 

“Gale!” Fenn called out, beginning to turn from his place at the front.

“Got it!” Syrdin answered.

The guard lowered his stance for a tackle a couple of strides from his target. 

“Grubby hands off, you raggabrash!” Galendria’s explosive cry surprised both Syrdin and the guard. There was a flash of light, and for an instant, little spears formed a misty ring around the she-elf’s head.

More magic? 

Whatever it was, it failed its purpose. The guard tumbled and fell into Galendria, bringing them both down. He reached for his blade.

Syrdin pounced on him first. Zhe knocked the weapon out of the elfman’s hands and stooped on his chest plate. 

The others slowed, ready to help. “GO!” Syrdin yelled. These people are idiots.

All four obeyed, thank the shadows. The guard attempted to roll out from under Sydrin, but zhe stood firm. Zhe rammed the blunt end of zheir dagger into the guard’s helmet. It let out an unholy clang and bent beneath zheir hilt. The guard lay there dazed. Syrdin huffed. Zhe really wasn’t getting paid enough for this.

Zhe dashed after zheir companions, or rather straight into them. Zhe skidded to a halt. Three guards had rounded in front of them and cut them off. 

Fenn stepped forward. “Move aside. Please. We must pass.” 

To his credit, he spoke with a tone of authority—for once.

“We are under orders to arrest you. Surrender yourselves now.” With a readied stance, the central guard seemed more capable than the others. Syrdin prepared to leap on her.

Fenn took another step forward, hands raised. The frontmost guard’s sword was pointed straight at his chest.

What is he doing?

“Fenn, don’t–” Mell started to protest. Fenn grabbed the sword.

Sparks of light shot up the blade into the guard’s arm. She jolted and twitched, then stepped back, a surprised pain twisting her face. The guard on the left raised his weapon. Oh no. Syrdin stepped forward, pulling a black stone from zheir belt. Fenn lifted his arm as though it were a shield. Fool! Syrdin crushed the stone in zheir hand. The sword sliced Fenn’s forearm. Fenn yelled. Galendria screamed. Syrdin threw the dust on zheir dagger.

“Timnar.” A void swirled out and consumed them in an instant.

“What happened?” There was one guard.

“Where’d they go?” Another.

“Fenn!” That was Galendria’s voice.

Not even Syrdin could see in this darkness. Zhe grabbed the huge lizard’s arm first, trusting him to recognize zheir size and smell. Next, Fenn. Zhe dashed to his side and covered his mouth, whispering, “It’s me, we have to keep moving.” Galendria was by his side. Convenient. Zhe pushed Fenn and his lady forward, still grasping the lizard, who held Mell. The darkness followed Syrdin, whisping out from the blade of zheir dagger.

Guards gasped and yelled around them, but they kept moving in silence. The sound of a sword swinging rushed in the darkness, but it met no mark. 

“I’m out. The dark is not very expansive!” One guard called from a short distance away.

The troupe of five kept moving. A whistling warned zhem of an arrow overhead. Syrdin ducked, pulling the others down. 

“How much farther?” zhe whispered to Fenn. His breath sounded shakier by the minute. He was unused to intense pain.

He stopped, stooped to the ground, and crawled forward a few feet.

Another couple arrows rushed around them. “Now’s not the time to give up, man!” zhe hissed.

“We’re here.” 

No one could see what exactly he did, but a sliver of golden light scarred the void in front of them, then stretched, and in an instant, they were somewhere else. The air stank of sunshine and earth. Syrdin sheathed zheir dagger, and the group blinked in the light of an unfamiliar world.