The following morning as the two companions made their way downstair, the innkeeper was eyeing them in an unusual manner. He’d paid them little mind the previous day, so they caught on right away. They shared a glance, and after wordless agreement walked up to the innkeeper.

 “Something the matter?” Anaya inquired, doing her best to appear nonchalant. The innkeeper, a robust, bald man in his forties by her estimation, glanced from one woman to another. Finally, he harrumphed, and produced a sheet of paper, placing it on the desk in front of him. The two quickly scanned through it, then looked at each other again. Rue shrugged, and Anaya sighed.

 “It is true, it refers to us.” The paper was a warrant, with a bounty attached. It seemed pointless to try to lie, since their descriptions and even the sketches were spot on, and the innkeeper had seen them in their original clothing the previous day. “I must admit I am a bit surprised you are showing it to us.” The innkeeper looked at them for a while more, his expression thoughtful.

 “You ladies don’t seem like the troublemaking kind, so I thought I would give you an opportunity to explain yourselves.”

 “I see. I appreciate it.” It was Anaya’s turn to look thoughtful. She glanced around the hall to make sure no one else was in listening distance. “Well, the long and short of it is that Lord Nesbit of Illion is a right arse of a man, and tried to have this woman executed for something she didn’t do, purely for his own nefarious reasons. I took exception to that and helped her escape. Obviously, this is not something we can prove to you, but it is the truth. I believe it speaks for our character somewhat that they are not looking for us for murder, because we took great care not to kill anyone during our escape, despite many of my former fellow guards being corrupt arses in their own right.” She was even a quite surprised that the warrant didn’t try to claim them to be murderers, as that would’ve been just line in line with the kinds of things she’d expect from Nesbit and Stropp.

 “So it does,” the innkeeper said after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. “We are a small town, but we do get a fair number of travellers throughout the year. I have occasionally heard talk of this Lord Nesbit’s character, and none of it has been good. I suspected there might be some foul play.” He sighed. “The messenger arrived in town late last night, but these warrants were only handed out not too long before you came down.”

 “Since you are telling us this, I take it you do not plan to turn us in?” It was Rue asking the question this time.

 “I am of a mind not to,” the innkeeper admitted. “Others have seen you here, but no one can prove I let you go on purpose.” He frowned. “I don’t know who else might be readying for your appearance. Perhaps if you are swift, you might get a head start on them.”

 “Not much choice other than try, I imagine. I really don’t want to have to fight our way out,” Anaya said, frowning. “We better get ready right now.”

 “I took the liberty of sending the servant boy to prepare your horses,” the innkeeper said. “Just in case, you see.” Anaya smiled back at the man.

 “Greatly appreciated, master innkeeper. We are in your debt.” The innkeeper shook his head.

 “Worry not about that. I have no fondness for nobles, much less corrupt ones.”

 “Even so, you have our gratitude,” Anaya said and turned to Rue. “Let’s get our things.” They’d already packed but had intended on breakfast before departing. Clearly, that was not to be.

 Trying to not act out of the ordinary, the two rode along the main street. They kept a bit of distance. The idea had been that anyone looking for two women might not as easily associate that with them. But as they were nearing the northern exit of the town, Anaya had to admit that precaution wasn’t exactly effective – no other riders were heading that way yet at least within their line of sight, so they definitely stood out despite their local clothing.

 She was going first since Rue had pointed out her magic was more capable of slowing down any pursuers and should therefore take the rear, and Anaya couldn’t argue with that. However, it did make her uncomfortable not being able to see her companion. Constantly glancing backwards would’ve certainly looked suspicious; just because they already stood out didn’t mean they should drop all caution, after all.

 Anaya made it to the exit checkpoint without incident, but though the guard present didn’t try to stop her, he was looking at her differently than the southern guard the previous day. She cursed under her breath but gave her best polite smile and a nod to the man as she passed. She kept going for a while and then risked a glance backwards. Rue was just passing by the guard, and the guard turned to look after them. He then seemed to be planning on leaving her post, but even before Anaya could point it out to the witch with hand signals, her companion was unsurprisingly already wise to the man’s intentions. Bundles of grass shot up and restrained the man, pulling her down to the ground. The magic-infused grass was more secure than rope until the magic ran out. Anaya kept looking back all the while moving forward. She couldn’t see any townsfolk just now, so perhaps no one had noticed what had happened to the guard. It would buy them some time, but even with that being the case, they’d better not waste any time. She brought the horse to a full gallop.

 “I am an idiot,” Anaya suddenly declared and groaned. They’d finally slowed down a little so as not to stress the horses too much and were riding side by side again.

 “Why might that be?”

 “The map.” There was a moment of silence.

 “Well, that makes two of us,” Rue chuckled. They’d forgotten all about procuring a map, despite being one of the main reasons for visiting the city. “I don’t think it matters that much, though. So long as we head north, we will reach Ysseria eventually.”

 “Probably another week or so,” Anaya agreed. She glanced at her companion. “I never did ask, have you ever been to Ysseria before?”

 “Once. But it was much farther to the west.”

 “Was it very different there?”

 “Not really,” Rue answered with a shrug. “I didn’t go very far north, but at least the southern region was much the same as in Merrel. There are some differences in clothing and building styles, and that’s about it.”

 “I was just wondering how well we might blend in. Are there any formalities for crossing the border?”

 “You ask this now when we are this far into following your plan?” Rue’s smile was amused. Anaya merely glared at her. “There’s a fair bit of intermingling, so Merrelians are nothing out of the ordinary in southern Ysseria, and I doubt particularly noteworthy even farther north. As for formalities, we can just cross anywhere if we want to, but even going along the road shouldn’t be a problem. As you should know, the two kingdoms are on good terms.”

 “I wonder if Nesbit is going to try to reach out that far.” She’d honestly not expected the man to be as persistent as this, so when she’d originally come up with the plan, she’d considered simply reaching Ysseria to be far enough. She was no longer quite so sure.

 “Who knows? I doubt Ysserian authorities would care about the warrant since it is so minor, but I suppose there’s always bounty hunters.”

 “That being the case I also wonder just how far we will end up having to go.” Rue looked about to say something, but Anaya glared at her before adding, “If you plan on saying you’re sorry again, I’ll drag you back to Illion myself.” The threat was of course neither serious nor enforceable, as Anaya well knew. Rue smiled at her but said nothing in the end.