Ascendant

“What are we going to do?” Analia asked.

“Leave the trunk behind! Obviously!”

“But… my stuff.”

“We’re not going on vacation,” he snarled. “Ditch everything but the money. You can buy new stuff somewhere else.”

He was really curious how she managed to sneak an entire trunk full of stuff past the guards. Admittedly, her air cushions had gotten much more stable, though not to the point where she could support herself for long distance flights. The sheer size of the thing should have made it impossible to sneak around though.

“You didn’t… didn’t just walk this past everybody, did you?”

“I told them I was putting it into storage,” she said.

Nym winced. Of course she hadn’t actually snuck out. Why would she sneak anywhere? She could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. “What about Malk?”

“He’s still sleeping.”

“But wouldn’t someone go wake him up if you’re going to be moving around?”

“That—I don’t know. We should hurry, just to be safe.”

“I agree. Unlock the trunk so we can get the money out.”

“Only if you promise to carry my things.”

Nym glared at her. “I’m not doing that!”

“Well I can’t do it myself. I’m not as good with elemental air manipulation as you are. And I’m not leaving it all behind.”

“Maybe I’ll leave you behind,” he muttered darkly.

“You wouldn’t.”

Nym was doing his best not to explode, but he could feel his temper fraying. “We do not have time for this. Do you understand that if we get caught, you get a slap on the wrist and maybe an extra guard assigned to you? I end up in prison at best, or executed for kidnapping a noble at worst. This is not a game. We cannot bring all of this with us. Now open the damn trunk, get out what’s actually important, and let’s go. Or yes, I am leaving without you.”

Part of him thought he should feel bad for yelling at her, but he could practically feel the rope around his neck tightening. They hadn’t even taken the first step yet, and she was already fighting him about the best way forward. Nym didn’t expect her to follow orders without question, no matter that she had agreed to do exactly that, but he was surprised everything was falling apart thirty seconds into their joint escape attempt.

Her lip curled and she opened her mouth to start shouting at him, but at the last second thought better of it. Nym was deadly serious, and he wasn’t going to be budged on this. With an exasperated sigh, she flipped open the trunk and revealed its contents.

More than half of it was clothes. Nym immediately ruled them out, not only because she didn’t need them, but because they were completely impractical for the kind of life he was envisioning. There were gowns that shimmered, even in the dark, and slippers that sparkled with embedded gems. There were dresses and nightgowns, but he didn’t see a single pair of pants or sturdy shoes in there.

The books were harder to give up. They were valuable in and of themselves, plus he always wanted more knowledge. The unfortunate reality of their situation was they had no way to transport them, and Analia had picked twenty of her favorites and packed them into the trunk. Depending on what they were, he figured that he could probably pawn the whole stack for a crest, maybe one crest five if any of them happened to be rare.

After that were a variety of things he couldn’t even put names to. There were combs and brushes, little glass vials with some sort of pump on them to spray out the liquid inside, and other things which he’d never seen. It all looked fairly expensive and compact, and he thought they might go for a good amount if he could convince Analia to sell them. They had the mark of personal possessions that she wouldn’t part with easily though, so he thought it was better to cut it all away now rather than fight to get rid of each one individually when it became too much to carry or they needed the money.

The coin pouch was surprisingly big and heavy, and even if it was all shields, there was still enough to keep them going for a few months, assuming he could keep Analia’s spending to a reasonable level. He foresaw many upcoming fights about money and their definitions of what exactly a reasonable purchase was clashed.

He grabbed that and set it aside. Then he displayed his own bundle. “Here. Get yourself dressed in something appropriate to wear outside, then make a small bundle out of a shirt to contain just the things you absolutely have to have. That’s one book at most, none of the extra clothes. I’ll keep watch for guards, but we need to move as soon as possible.”

Analia’s eyes promised murder, but she did as she was told. Nym ignored her and sank into his scrying spell. He did laps as far as he could reach, paying particular attention to anything coming from Analia’s personal chambers and his own guest bedroom. The guard there must have decided he’d dozed off for a second, because as far as Nym could tell, nobody was looking for them yet.

Analia finished, and they scurried off to the nearest window. It was inside a dusty room full of furniture covered with sheets. It certainly didn’t look like anyone had used it in years. Nym spotted the window, which now that he got a good look at it, might actually have been big enough for Analia’s trunk. He decided not to tell her that. Turning back to face her, he said, “Let’s get go- wait, why are there two sets of foot prints in the dust?”

Malk’s hand closed around his throat and lifted him off the floor. “I knew it would come down to this. You came in a thief, and you’re leaving the same way.”

Then he threw Nym across the room with more strength than any human could possess naturally. Nym saw a brief flash of arcana surge through Malk’s limbs before the room was spinning around him. Pain flared across his back when he hit the wall, then his knees when he hit the floor. It was all he could do to keep from collapsing right there.

“Stop!” Analia shouted. “Stop this right now!”

“I don’t think so. Once I’m done with him, you’re going back to your room. I don’t care what Bardin has to say about it. You’ll be under house arrest until your father gets back from dealing with that mess they dragged him into.”

“How… how did you know?” Nym slurred out the words.

“I’ve been watching for days, kid. When you opened up that room, I knew you had what you wanted finally, you’d conned Analia into trusting you enough to let you in, that you’d make your exit real quick. It wasn’t hard to figure out, to listen in on the plans. You made them right in front of me. What, you thought just because you were whispering that I wouldn’t know what you were saying?”

Nym got his first good look at him. He had some sort of paper talisman pinned to his shirt. It was too hard to read it with the man moving, but Nym knew it had the anti-scrying rune sequence printed on it. The bodyguard had prepared well for the encounter.

Malk leaped across the room, clearing a couch in one smooth motion and bringing a foot up to kick Nym just under his ribs. Nym let out a hoarse cry of pain and flipped over onto his back. The bodyguard raised a foot and brought it down on Nym’s face. Before it could reach him, arcana flooded into his soul well and he cast the kinetic barrier spell he’d learned.

Malk’s stomp rebounded off the barrier. The upward force pushed him back and he was forced to stagger a few steps just to keep his balance. Before he could recover, he was hit with a blast of wind. Malk gave a cry of surprise that turned into a hacking cough as the air was filled with sheets and a cloud of swirling dust.

The kinetic barrier did absolutely nothing to stop the dust, and Nym started coughing just as hard. Blinded, he activated his scrying spell to find Malk, only to confirm his suspicions. He hadn’t missed anything on his first pass. As far as the spell revealed, he was alone in the room.

Nym deactivated it and made his way over to the blue glow of arcana that he knew was Analia. “Come on, let’s go while he’s dealing with this.”

There was a blur of motion through the billowing dust cloud and Malk appeared in front of him. Fortunately for Nym, he’d kept the kinetic barrier up. Unfortunately for him, this time Malk put his whole body into the strike and the stress of it was overwhelming. Nym felt the arcana in his soul well gutter out, and he desperately opened a new conduit to try to sustain it.

Analia wasn’t standing around helpless though, and while he was fending off the bodyguard’s attacks, she cast her own spell. A burst of magical force erupted out of her and struck Malk’s hip, causing the man to yelp in pain and spin to the floor. He was back on his feet immediately and limped back over to where they were retreating towards the window.

Arcana flared around Malk, and with a flurry of strikes, he broke through the kinetic barrier. Nym was struck four times before he could react, and it was so hard to keep up his concentration while he was being pummeled that he couldn’t even think of a spell to cast.

He reacted on pure instinct and fed his arcana into a burst of fire. It scorched the air between them, forcing Malk back and burning away some of the dust still rolling through the room. “Come on,” he said, grabbing Analia. He pulled first layer arcana in to grab the bag of coins and jerk open the window, then they both jumped through it. Nym’s air cushions caught them and they started to rise.

Malk’s hand clamped around his ankle. “Where do you think you’re going?” he snarled as he jerked Nym down. The air cushions resisted the pull, but it felt like he was going to be torn in two as his own magic tugged him up. Nym kicked at the man’s hand with his free foot, but it did him no good. Somehow, Malk was in the air next to them, having jumped six feet straight up to drag him out of the embrace of his spell.

The air cushion no longer supported him, and he came back down onto the third floor roof in front of the fourth floor window. Malk pummeled him with blow after blow, and for a brief moment, Nym was sure he was going to die. He reached for the arcana, trying to ignite the air again, but what he’d done on instinct, he couldn’t replicate consciously.

He forced himself to focus. Barriers made of air sprung up between them, but air wasn’t meant to be solid. It was probably the worst element to defend himself with. Malk broke through them without really trying, and all Nym had gained himself was a single second of time.

That was enough for him to cast the second circle cutting spell he’d learned. Blood blossomed from Malk’s chest and he fell back with a cry. That was the room Nym needed to escape, and he wrapped himself in a full cocoon of air to slip away. With a moment to breathe finally, he scooped up Analia too and the two of them flew off over dark rooftops into the city.