So much for disguises…

The caravan’s back half was open-aired.  Gripping the outer-wall, Ferris pulled her mask to one side for a better look.  While they managed to outrace two of the three monsters, Avalbanshee propelled herself after them with a stream of ice jetting behind her.  The sight was unlike anything Ferris had ever seen, as though the snow woman were a force of nature in her own right.  While Avalbanshee couldn’t quite catch up to them, she was certainly staying on their tail.

“Keep down!”

A boney hand shoved Ferris’ head toward her knees, forcing her to sit.  Castellar moved around her, summoning a manubrium-shaped shield to protect the wheels as icicles soared straight for them.  Magic erupted against magic as the frozen spikes were repelled.

One icicle was fired at a higher angle than the others. It shot past the skeleton and plunged into the wooden door behind him before dissolving not long after.  Ciara was hunkered down between a small cluster of barrels.  Ferris crawled over to her, partially shielding her sister’s body with her own.  She gritted her teeth as even more stray fragments of ice soared over them.

A part of her mind fell back to its usual logic.  She didn’t bother helping fight off their pursuers right away because it didn’t matter who caught her if she was just going to turn back time.  If anything, the wisest option right then was take the distraction offered, grab her dagger, and plunge it into her own heart—return to the week before they ever met the skeleton and bunker down for a while.

However, whether Ferris trusted him or not, the current chase proved that Castellar hadn’t lied to her: Multiple people were after her ability.  The more she used it, the more attention she brought on herself.  If she had to choose between a wide assortment of unknown enemies or the stuck-up scoundrel in front of her, she’d stick to travelling with him.

When she risked another peek out of the caravan, she soon saw another figure ride into view: The lapine monster had snagged a horse of his own, caught up, and begun to race alongside them.  As he neared the side of the vehicle with an outstretched hand, the two siblings scooted back toward the center to avoid him.  A glimmering bone flew his way, missing his head by a few centimeters. 

Even while the adolescent skeleton was busy fighting off Avalbanshee, he made a point to keep their other attacker at bay.  Avoiding another hit, the rabbit veered back with his steed with a grimace.  He gave the girls a sharp look, then moved his attention to the front of the caravan before picking up speed.

It didn’t take a genius to realize his plan.  Pressing a hand to Ciara’s back in a mute order to stay put, the older sibling quickly made her way toward the caravan’s sealed interior—throwing open the door and climbing over the various wares rattling around within to get to the other side.

Castellar noticed her exit and angrily called out to her, “Where do you think you’re going?!”

“They have to take me alive, right?” she yelled back, “The same can’t be said for the driver!”

As she withdrew the curtain that separated her from the man, he briefly glanced her way in fear.  The rabbit had already reached him, racing almost alongside his pair of horses and trying to wrestle the reins out of his grip.  The merchant had already shuffled as far away as he could in his seat and was close to falling off.  Ferris stepped over to him, pulling him deeper into the caravan by the back of his shirt and taking his place in the driver's seat.

She’d never driven anything in her life… The only livestock she’d cared for were chickens and her aunt’s ox.  The reins felt clumsy in her own grasp, and the horses’ powerful tug was jarring.  Even thought they raced forward with no obstacle, the view of everything rushing by in a blur was immediately intimidating.

Seizing her moment’s hesitance, the lapine monster drew even closer to make another swipe for control over the vehicle.  Ferris snapped back to attention as his hand dove into the corner of her vision, keeping the cords out of his reach.  He shouted over the pounding of hooves, “You need to stop!”

She answered him only with a hard glare and whipped the reins once, encouraging the two steeds to move faster.  Unfortunately, the scared creatures were already moving as fast as they could, barely picking up another few centimeters of distance ahead of their pursuers. 

The rabbit yelled a frustrated curse at her for even trying.  He glanced at the horses, then back to the girl, then at the horses again as if deciding whether or not to try to stop them directly—or if the risk of the caravan crashing was worth it.  Before he could do anything, Ferris summoned a bullet into her palm and flung it his direction.

While it missed him by longshot, the fact alone that she summoned magic at all instantly put him on-guard.  His eyes widened.  Just as she thought though, he didn’t return fire.  Instead, he pulled back the reins to his own horse to distance himself a bit—still running alongside them, but much further out of reach.

A horrid, snapping sound and the impact of wooden splinters against the back of her neck made Ferris jump, instinctively raising an arm to shield herself.  A barrage of ice shards soared past her.  A frozen blockade soon followed them, gradually cutting off their right side.  Ferris looked ahead: They were drawing close to a tree-line.  Avalbanshee was trying to limit their course in advance!

The trees were too clustered for them to charge through, especially someone with her inexperience.  The girl subconsciously rose to her feet, the cords taut in her hands.  She pulled hard to the left, trying to guide the horses as early as possible so they might clear the woods.  She almost overcompensated, the opposite wheels lifting off the ground for a second before slamming back down.  The rabbit veered further away to avoid the potential danger.

He shouted at her again, “Stop now!  We’re trying to save you!”

The declaration made Ferris pause and she gave him a bewildered scowl.  She wasn't confused by his words so much as she just couldn't believe he would utter them at all.  Even though she still didn’t fully trust Castellar, Avalbanshee had already attacked their group with little regard for the two sisters still in-range.  Instead of travelling with just one untrustworthy person, she’d be handing Ciara and herself off to three.  Could he really be foolish enough to try to play the rescuer this late? 

Could she really be foolish enough to dismiss him entirely?

As her stare lingered, a hopeful smile pulled at his lips. He tried feeding more into her doubts, “That boy is a trained killer!  He’s hunted down your kind before—you’re just his latest job.  He wants you in the Monster Kingdom to keep anyone from reaching you and to cover his own tracks.  You need to come with us!  Madame Valda and the others will look after you!”        

But then she saw it, the glimmer of something metal: The lapine monster’s tunic billowed back to reveal a pair of silver-plated shackles dangling from his belt.  As useful as they were against magic-users, they were also costly.  No one ever carried them without reason…

Ferris yanked the reins again, urging the horses to turn further in the rabbit’s direction.  Both he and his steed narrowly avoided getting sideswiped by the caravan.  The vehicle bounced a second time at the forceful maneuver before rattling into a steady charge forward once more.

While they’d abandoned any kind of road long ago, the horses did actually manage to find an opening in the trees.  They’d reached a narrower part of the valley, but there was still enough field between them and the clusters of evergreens growing on either side to avoid getting stuck.  Here, the barricade of ice also stopped, because it was too far from where Avalbanshee had initially cast her spell for it to last on its own.

Castellar’s shield came flying from the back, striking the rabbit in the head and throwing him off his horse.  A moment later, the skeleton burst through the curtain behind her, shoved her aside, and yanked the reins out of her hands, “You lunatic!  Let me steer!”

Ignoring his sour, disheveled look, Ferris peered through the caravan.  Its owner was huddled in a ball in the corner of its interior.  The door on the other end had caught on something and was wide open.  Ciara crawled through it, clearly-shaken, but in one piece.  The ice elemental was nowhere to be seen.

Ferris couldn’t help asking, “Did you kill her?”

“No,” came the curt response.  Castellar spoke in a rushed voice, as if that would somehow hurry them further, “It would take a lot more than that… We can’t get off yet.  They’ll be back on our tails soon enough.”

She looked around her side of the caravan to see if she could spot where the rabbit had collapsed, but they were already too far ahead of him.  The stained-glass monster never seemed to have caught up with them at all.  Ferris sagged in her seat, releasing some of the tension in her arms and back.  After she’d relaxed, she pressed the skeleton further for more answers, “Who’s Valda?”

“An old hag,” he spat, “and a powerful seer.”

Human then… And another crimson mage at that.  While Castellar had told her enough about the situation that it didn’t surprise her, the fact that a seer would work with monsters—outside of a place like the Arnaud Mages Guild—did.  Mages tended to have trouble with both humans and monsters, and crimson mages especially because they wielded the one type of magic that monsters couldn’t.  It was a strange team-up.

Ferris also thought it was strange that Castellar didn’t kill Avalbanshee or the other two monsters, given how he’d wiped out the fort full of mage hunters.  It was possible that the ice elemental was just too strong for him, but he’d had a clear shot at the rabbit.  Maybe he spared them because they were his own kind; however, she didn’t think he was dumb enough to show mercy for such a lame reason. 

He continued to grumble to himself, “This… makes things difficult.  We’ll have to change plans…”  After thinking to himself for a minute, he blinked when he noticed Ferris watching him and explained, “I came across the mountain alone, in secret, but they knew where to find us.  Valda’s prophetic abilities are second-to-none, so she’s likely tracking us through her visions.”

The girl snorted, “If she knew where we’d be, then she should’ve known to send a bigger team after us.”

“It’s not that simple,” Castellar shook his head.  He seemed annoyed to have to keep telling her about her own type of magic, “The way I understand it, you can only catch glimpses of the future—sometimes of multiple futures.  You can train yourself to decipher the correct ones, but there’s never a guarantee you’ll be right.”

Ciara crept right behind them, leaning her head on the seat.  Ferris gave her a consoling pat, “So, the problem is that she’ll keep finding us.”

“And she’s likely to already have a contingency plan,” he sighed, “In which case, Botan Grove may not be an option anymore.  She could have others waiting along the roads there.”

It sounded worse than that.  How could anyone outmaneuver a person who could predict their every move?  The only answer Ferris could come up with was to not plan for anything themselves.  The one advantage to not knowing what you’re doing is that your enemy won't know either.  She doubted the skeleton would appreciate that type of strategy though.  He’d already drifted back into his own, silent thoughts.    

Around twenty minutes later, they reached a section of the valley where the trees grew so closely together that they were impassible by caravan.  Castellar paid the driver for the inconvenience and a few extra supplies, then the trio marched on.

The wild ride had taken them west, so although they were technically in the Monster Kingdom, they were still so close to the border that it didn’t mean much.  Mt. Ebott itself was the main landmark that split the Two Kingdoms, with only settlements like the one they left behind creating a true dividing line.  Everything else along that unseen path may as well have been a no man’s land.  No one ever said it, but it was where people went to disappear. 

It was perfect for them then, so long as they survived the journey. 

While a sense of urgency carried them more anything, it was good that the trio had a full night’s rest.  They were able to travel without stopping for much until dusk, when they stumbled across an old farmhouse to make camp.  One could tell it was abandoned at a glance.  The fields surrounding it had been badly burned some weeks ago, evident by how the earth hadn’t fully healed yet and was still bare in random spots.  The roof of the home had halfway collapsed—it looked like an attempt was made to repair it, but that the work was never finished—and the stones that held it together were charred black.  The only thing that remained in decent condition was the attached storehouse. 

Rats scurried past their feet through a crack in the door as Castellar began forcing it open.  The sight of the damages already gave Ferris a bad omen: The sight of the fat creatures only deepened that dread.  She made sure to keep Ciara behind them as the skeleton pushed his way inside.

The storehouse’s only illumination came from the dying sunlight behind them and from a window along the adjacent wall.  It was just bright enough for the trio to see the dirt flooring, scattered tools, and ruined containers of preserved goods.  Although the door had finished its swing open, they continued to hear the sound of groaning wood.

Creak…

Something swung so high above them from the rafters that neither Ferris nor Castellar noticed it at first.  When they did, they quickly blocked Ciara's way inside.