"Don't move" Finn whispered close to her as he grabbed the knife by his belt.
Nyra nodded, pulse roaring in her ears.
Astrael-Null's voice soundedin her head. There are three of them. Two in light armour and one trained mage.
Can you hide us? she asked desperately.
I can distort perception briefly. It will hurt.
Do it.
The world in front of her warped and her vision went blurry. She bit back a gasp as something pressed outward from her chest, invisible but heavy, like the air itself had thickened into syrup. The sounds around them dulled, bending strangely, footsteps veering off as if pulled by a false trail.
Finn grabbed her hand and placed her upright against the stone. He noticed a thin layer of magic surrounding them.
He suddenly stood up, and even though one of them was looking in his direction, he wasn't seen.
Nice. He thought.
Moments later, the footsteps passed wide of their position.
A low voice drifted by. "…swear I heard something."
"Wild animals," another replied. "Keep moving."
Nyra slumped against the rock as the pressure eased, chest aching like she'd run miles instead of crouched in place.
Finn exhaled slowly. "That was too close."
" What do we do now?"
"I'm thinking of something crazy"
She suddenly turned to look at him " You don't mean to-"
Before Nyra could finish her sentence, Finn was already moving. He crouched low, his steps barely a whisper on the pine needles. Nyra stayed still, pressing her back against the cold stone, her breath barely moving past her lips.
Finn slipped forward, just out of sight, using every shadow and every tree trunk to obscure him. Nyra watched, holding her breath, as he got closer to the soldiers. They walked with a practised ease, their armour barely clinking, but Finn didn't hesitate.
He slipped behind the mage, the one in the middle, and without a sound, he drove the blade upward, quick and precise. The mage barely had time to gasp before he crumpled to the ground.
The two soldiers spun, but Finn was already a blur. He closed the distance, his movements sharp and trained. He kicked one soldier's leg out from under him, sending him sprawling, and then pivoted, slashing out with the blade to catch the second soldier's arm.
"Aaarghh" the soldier screamed looking at his bloodied arm and then back at Finn. He tried to strike back but Finn easily dodged and stepped to the side.
He stepped forward closing the little distance between them and slashed his throat.
The soldier who was kicked to the ground had gotten up and was coming in with a heavy strike.
Finn grabbed the fallen soldier's sword and prepared for the attack. He had his knife and a sword now. He blocked the soldier's strike with the sword and then struck him in the side with the knife.
Nyra gasped. The fight was fast and brutal, with no grand or flashy moves, but it was intense. And as the last soldier fell, silence crashed back over them like a tidal wave.
Finn stood, chest heaving, the knife still in his hand. Nyra shakily rose to her feet, her legs unsteady.
"We can't stay here," Finn said, wiping the blade on the grass, his eyes still darting to every shadow.
"I didn't know you could fight like that"
"I only calculated that I would be at an advantage if I snuck up on them." He replied
"The less they are, the better for us."
They searched the bodies of the three and got some water, food, some coins and dry rations. It seemed they had made preparations to stay in the forest for a while to search for them. Finn held on to the sword.
They didn't linger after that.
They moved again, carefully this time, keeping to uneven ground, following the river's bend until the terrain rose into low hills scattered with thorny brush.
Eventually, Finn stopped beneath a rocky overhang partially hidden by tangled roots.
"This'll do for a few hours," he said. "Sheltered. Hard to spot from above."
Nyra slid down against the stone, exhaustion crashing into her all at once now that her body thought it was safe.
Her hands were shaking.
"You okay?" he looked away, preparing a space in the corner for himself.
She nodded automatically, then shook her head. "I don't know."
He sat beside her, not touching, just close enough to remind her she wasn't alone.
"That's allowed," he said. "We're a bit past normal reactions."
She let out a weak laugh. "You always say the worst things at the right time."
"My special skill," he replied.
For a while, they just listened to the night.
Then Nyra spoke softly. "Finn… why are you really doing this?"
He went still.
"Running with me," she clarified. "You could've walked away. You had chances."
He stared out into the dark. "Because I've spent my whole life watching the temple decide who matters. And every time, they were wrong."
She swallowed.
"And because," he continued, voice rougher now, "whatever they're planning, it feels like the same lie I grew up with. If I have to take the throne to make it right, I will. Apparently, the throne belongs to me. Who would have thought?"