"Sorry about that," Ana told Deni, Mirell and Varron as they left the Revenant. "I hope it's alright I roped you into more work."

"I don't think any of us expected to find the guilty parties there," Deni said, the other two murmuring their agreement. "And I certainly don't have any better plans tonight. Rel, Ron, how about you?"

"Nah," Varron said. "Do you need us until then, though, Miss Ana?"

"No, not until sunset," Ana said. Then she dropped her voice and added, "I think we all know they're not going to show up tonight. It's just a question if they hide or run. We may need to go hunting for them. Are you up for that? I can just bring people to you if not."

"We'll be at Petra's," Mirell said. "Anything you need us for, whenever you need us, that's where you'll find us."

They walked together until the square, where Ana's companions continued on as she dropped into the guard house to tell Falk what she had planned. The captain sighed, and simply acknowledged that she was telling, not asking. She couldn't say for sure if he was opposed to what she was doing, but if he was he clearly didn't think it was a battle worth fighting. And, she reflected, he must trust her not to do anything hasty. Mamtass the priest had told her that Falk worshiped the Lady of Justice, and not allowing the innocent to come to harm was apparently pretty central to that faith. No way would Falk give Ana free reign if he thought she might hurt someone who didn't deserve it.

Then Ana returned to Touanne's and crawled into bed with Messy. If she hadn't already made enemies of Liu and Belov and the Stolen who listened to her, she definitely had today. It had been necessary, but her life going forward was going to be more difficult. Her nerves were frayed from a combination of a grinding anger that she could do nothing to relieve yet, and the fear that anything she did was going to put Messy in more danger. Frankly, she needed Messy to soothe and comfort her as much Messy needed her, and Messy was happy to oblige.

They got a few hours together. It was less than Ana had hoped, but more than she'd expected.

She'd told Deni and the others that she wasn't sure if the perps would hide or run. A few hours into the afternoon she was woken from a nap with the answer: they'd run. Sira came hurrying to tell her that a group of half a dozen Stolen with camping equipment had left through the dawnward gate almost an hour earlier; apparently the guard on the gate hadn't gotten the message to delay and report, and had simply let them go.

Ana thanked Sira, bit down on her renewed anger, and silently vowed to find out who the guard on the dawnward gate had been. Then she kissed Messy, threw on her boots, and ran out the door with her equipment in hand.

She desperately wished that Rayni or Omda were back, but her Party was still to the south. But she did have Deni and her friends, and she knew that Varron had been training his Survival Skills, including Tracking, to qualify for the Ranger Class. She tore up Main Street, turned west onto Cross, then turned onto the side street where Petra's inn lay, leaving startled yelps and curses behind her as she passed people too fast for them to realize before she was long gone.

She threw the door to Petra's open no more than a minute after leaving Touanne's, exclaiming, "Deni, Mirell, Varron! It's time!"

To her surprise she saw not only the three she'd expected, but Petra herself already in her armor and with her serious boots on. She had a light pack prepared as well, as did the three others. "Going after the shits who beat Messy?" the older woman asked as they all got to their feet.

"Yeah," Ana confirmed. "They're going dawnward, and they've got an hour's head start."

"Better not waste any time then," Petra said, passing Ana in the door ahead of the others. "Come on! Get that armor on! You're the only one not dressed for a chase!"

They crossed the outpost quickly, pausing only to tighten straps and secure buckles. Leaving through the dawnward gate and making for the forest, Ana took the lead, pulling Varron along to track.

"A medium-sized group definitely came this way, not long ago," the Archer said between breaths. "Can't tell you if it's the right people, but odds are good."

He led them to the edge of the trees where he called a halt, taking some time to look around. Several paths led into the forest in different directions — no surprise considering how often people came and went — and Varron performed what looked to Ana like some kind of arcane Tracking ritual. She had no idea if Varron was using a Perk, or if he was relying on practice and experience, but after a minute or so he confidently declared, "This way," and took them along one of the paths.

It didn't take long before Deni and Petra started flagging, and Mirell and Varron weren't far behind. The one-mile run across the clearing had already been more than they were used to; they could march for hours, but there wasn't much need for casual Delvers to run any real distances, especially at the pace Ana pushed them to. They were going to have to slow down to something more manageable or risk having some of them fall behind, no matter how determined they were.

Ana felt her frustration rising. Perhaps Mirell and Varron could handle a slightly slower pace until they caught the fleeing Stolen, but they'd have to drop to an eight-minute mile at best if they didn't want Deni and Petra to collapse in the next few minutes. And while she only strictly needed Varron, she was aware that leaving two people who'd offered to help her behind in the forest would probably be seen as a bitch move. That, and they were chasing half a dozen people. If their quarry split up, Ana would need help running them down.

They could just slow down. They'd probably still catch the bastards.

Nah. Fuck that. Ana looked south, to where her Party was, and took a decision.

"Stop," she told the others, her clear, easy voice contrasting embarrassingly with their labored breathing. They did as she said, confused but grateful as they tried to catch their breath. "Disband your Party, then accept my invitation. And brace yourselves. Maybe sit down, even. This is going to feel really good."

Then she left her Party — she was going to owe them some apologies next time they met — and sent out the invitations.

She got some odd looks from Mirelly and Varron at her warning. Neither of them were slow to accept, though Petra was quick to accept and Deni's was damn near instant. The young Evoker's eyes lit up as soon as Ana mentioned a Party invitation, and the moment she accepted she let herself fall backward onto a patch of moss with a big, satisfied sigh.

"Gods beyond, Ana!" she laughed from the ground. "You need to be careful with this! People could start craving the rush!"

"You don't say," Ana deadpanned as she stood above her prone friend. Then she bent down, put her hands under Deni's armpits, and easily hauled her to her feet, feeling the slight ache of the rough handling herself and ignoring it. Mirell and Varron, who'd both sat down in surprise, each got the courtesy of an extended hand to help them up. Only Petra had remained on her feet, though she still had a serene smile on her face. "I know it feels good," Ana told Deni's friends, who hadn't been in a Party with her before. "That's 18 Points of Endurance and Vitality you're feeling, as well as my Enhancements for those Attributes. But we're not doing this for fun. Every second we sit here, those bastards get farther away. It's time to run them down, and now you should have all the stamina you need to let you keep up with me for as long as it takes. Varron, take point!"

When they started again, everyone's breathing was steady. Ana still wasn't going to push them too hard; running was as much technique as basic endurance and stamina, and she could see herself that none of the others were running very efficiently. Hell, she herself was very much an amateur. But she doubted anyone there had an Effective Endurance below 30 after her bonuses, and Indefatigable would let them push on regardless.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

She pushed Varron to what she estimated as a six-minute mile. It might be hard on them, but they should be able to take it. And let a bunch of random people from the twenty-first century try to keep ahead of that!

"They move like they've never walked in a forest before," Varron said in a steady cadence of two words, one breath, two words, one breath. "At least some of them"

It was easy to see what he meant. The ground was churned where people had tried to walk two or three abreast, slipping on fallen branches or stones instead of taking the easier path single file. Branches that could have been easily pushed aside had been hacked or snapped. Whoever had come this way before them clearly had no idea how to move through the forest, even along a well-trodden path like the one they were on.

They were perhaps half an hour and a few miles into the forest when Varron held up his hand for them to slow down. "Getting close," he said softly as they dropped to a fast jog. "These tracks are only ten minutes old, fifteen at most, and they were walking. We should try to keep the noise down."

Then they reached a small meadow among the trees, roughly circular and perhaps fifty yards across, and Varron halted them entirely. "Gods dammit all," he swore. "They split up. I think they may have met someone, too. We'll need to—"

Ana wasn't sure what tipped her off. A soft sound, perhaps? The creak of wood under tension? Whatever it was it wasn't conscious, but its presence registered only moments before Ana's Danger Sense activated and her bonuses kicked in. And while Ana was fast, while she managed to scream "Ambush!" and shove Deni into the cover of the nearby trees, she wasn't fast enough to dodge the crossbow bolt that punched into her side, piercing her armor just under her left arm, nor the one that took her low in the gut.

Ana's first thought, there and gone in less than a heartbeat as she became aware of the injuries and the pain, was I'm dead. But the pain never left the background. It never touched her, and she never stopped moving. She'd shoved Deni, and she'd screamed, and now she kept moving, following Deni into the undergrowth and shouting, "Cover! Cover!" as she dove after the Evoker.

As she dragged Deni behind a tree, Ana cursed herself. She'd been doing a lot of that lately. A fucking ambush? Of course there'd be a fucking ambush! Falk had told her outright that he suspected some kind of conspiracy, but despite all her Acuity she hadn't considered that the conspirators might be willing to do their own dirty work. The guard on the gate hadn't said anything about anyone accompanying the Stolen who left, and she in turn hadn't considered the possibility of some others leaving early. They must have known that she'd come looking for whoever hurt Messy. They must have instructed the Stolen who did it to run, and where to. The whole goddamn thing had been a setup from the start. It wasn't even complicated, and she'd still missed it!

But that didn't matter in the moment. Ana had two bolts in her, and she fully expected whoever was out there in the trees to try and finish the job.

More bolts sliced through the foliage, but none hit. When she looked up, Ana saw Petra, Mirell, and Varron disappear into the trees at the other side of the clearing. Nobody looked hurt, and she couldn't see any spent bolts or arrows in the ground. The ambushers had all aimed at her.

It made sense, she supposed. She was the outsider. She was the Wayfarer's Chosen. She was the one the Sentinel wanted dead so badly, because for whatever reason she was a threat to some grand plan to save the world. The others were neighbors and Guildmates before anything else. Perhaps even friends. The ambushers wouldn't want to hurt them if they could make sure that Ana was dead and then melt away into the forest.

Behind the tree, Deni's thoughts caught up with the situation. "Oh, gods!" was all she managed to say as she looked at Ana in horror, reaching for the shaft of the bolt protruding from Ana's stomach then aborting the gesture, as though realizing that anything she did might make things worse.

"I'm okay!" Ana hissed, keeping her voice down to make it harder for anyone to locate her by sound. She wasn't sure if she was lying or not. She could draw breath normally, so the bolt that she'd felt punch into her side must not have gone deep enough to pierce her lung. "I'm going around the clearing. You stay in cover! If you see a target, use your judgment, but don't take any risks!"

"But you—! You're—!"

"We've got potions." Ana looked out across the clearing as she unhooked her buckler from her belt. Only seconds had passed, and nothing had happened yet. "Be careful, okay?"

"Okay," Deni replied, wild-eyed and bewildered. Ana couldn't blame her. At least the last time they got shot at, they'd been the one to launch the surprise attack. "But—"

Ana didn't stick around to hear her objection. She'd seen the rough direction the bolts and arrows had come from. She knew where she wanted to go, and she set off in a series of short sprints, moving from tree to tree and knowing that every time she passed between two trunks she left herself open to some shot or Shaping. With every stride she felt the bolt move around inside her — an awfully disturbing sensation — and she could only pray that it was an armor piercing one and not a broadhead. If not for Fight Through she'd have been incapacitated by pain, she was sure of that. And perhaps it was stupid to move the way she did. Perhaps she was killing herself; she could feel her tunic clinging to her as blood soaked into it, and there was a sticky wetness creeping downward, already all the way to the top of her thigh. But she'd do the same if she fled, and she definitely wasn't staying where she was, waiting for the ambushers to close in and finish her off. No, she thought, it was better to take her chances and go on the offensive. She already had her shield and started to draw her weapon from its loop, but thought better of it; with a weapon in hand, she doubted that she'd leave anyone alive for questioning. Better to leave her left hand free.

Behind Ana, Deni overcame her surprise and shouted, "Circle! Circle!" presumably to the other half of their Party. She checked the direction of each of them relative to her, and found them moving, just as Deni had called out. Good. They weren't letting the ambush keep them down, and she'd have backup — or a distraction, at the very least. She deliberately slowed down in her circling maneuver, taking longer in the cover of each tree before moving on and letting the others catch up on the other side.

Every time she stopped she listened carefully, and after only a few bursts of movement, perhaps thirty seconds after the ambush had been sprung, she heard terse voices, the words indistinct but unmistakably in Inter-Guild. Then a raspy woman's voice called out, "We only want Cole! The rest of you are free to go! Petra, Deni, please! There's no—!"

She was cut off by Deni's cry of, "Eria? You fucking traitor!" Her voice shuddered, like she was half in tears. That was followed closely by one of Deni's plasma bolts, which blew a smoldering chunk out of a tree across the clearing approximately where the voice had come from. Deni might be pretty much a one-trick pony, but it was a hell of a trick.

There was a chorus of alarmed cries from near where the bolt had struck, and Ana took advantage of the ambushers presumably pulling their heads down. With a burst of speed that was practically a single leap she covered the distance between her current shelter and the next. Steel-tipped wood thrummed through the air behind her — clearly not everyone had taken cover — and when she stilled again she heard cursing from up ahead cursed. She caught the same woman, Eria, saying, "...too fast! She's too damn fast!" Then a nasal man's voice, which she thought she recognized, said, "Parser's on the move, right side!" and another, "From the left! They're almost—!"

Ana took that as her cue. If the others were almost upon the ambushers, then she needed to get in there.

There was the snap of a crossbow loosing from above and in front of her, and moments later, Deni's startled yelp from behind. Ana gritted her teeth against the urge to run back to see if the girl was okay, and instead raised her eyes to higher in the trees. And there, among the branches of something like a very stout birch, was the shape of a man reloading his crossbow.

The bastard had taken a shot at Deni. He wasn't getting another.

Ana could have easily climbed the tree, but she wasn't going to waste time or make herself an easy target. Manifesting her wings, she took one leaping stride into the open and launched herself into the air, something hissing through the air just below her as she beat hard and shot straight for the crossbowman.

With his attention on Deni it took him a second to see Ana coming, and that was one second too long. He was still swinging his crossbow toward her and had just begun to cry out in alarm when she struck. She'd turned her body so that she avoided the larger branches and the trunk of the tree and hit him headlong, smashing into the half of his body that was exposed to her with her shoulder and sending him screaming and tumbling away from the tree.

He hadn't been high up. No more than forty-five or fifty feet. If he had a decent Vitality he might survive, not that it mattered to Ana. As long as he was out of the fight, she was satisfied, because below her, each in cover behind a tree, were four armed people she recognized with varying levels of certainty. Beyond them was a huddled group of seven that had no fucking idea how lucky they were that Ana had spoken to Falk that morning. Some were looking in the direction of Petra's half of the Party. Most were looking up, either at her or the crossbowman, tracking him as he plummeted to the ground.

Ana burned every one of their faces into her memory. She didn't expect them to stick around.

One of the armed four raised her crossbow in Petra's direction.

Ana folded her wings and dropped, but not fast enough. In the two seconds it took her to reach the ground, the woman with the crossbow had already loosed in the direction of Ana's friends and put her foot in the stirrup to reload.

Ana landed hard right next to the woman. She led with her fist, which she drove into the ambusher's spine so hard that she felt flesh and bone give as she drove her to the ground. The woman didn't even scream — there was a wet, popping "Ah!" as the force of Ana's blow compressed her chest against the ground, but that was it. Then the confused yelling turned to terrified screaming, and Ana got to work.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.