"We have to fire. We'll be stronger together once the ceremony is completed." Mina ordered her new husband. They both raised their bows, and Mina took a deep breath before counting them down. Despite the calamity unfolding, they hit their mark in unison just in time for Aurelius to pull her out of the way of an energy blast let loose by the slowly corporealizing shadow creature.
"Time to go, little sister." He said, pulling her up into a crouch and aiming her towards one of the servants' entrances.
"We've finished the ceremony, we should stay and fight!" Mina insisted.
"No offense to my new brother-in-law, but he's not exactly prepared for a fight. You'll both end up dead, and that will be the end of everything, won't it?" Aurelius pushed them both through the door into a narrow hallway, pressed by them, and began to lead them through the darkness. Mina didn't disagree with her brother's assertions. It was like whoever was wielding the darkness had waited until they had found her human wielder. Before he was found, in an emergency, her father could have wielded the dagger. For all that he was a shadow of himself, he was a formidable warrior. Once the true wielder made contact with the blade, only he could wield it. So now they were vulnerable.
"What was fate thinking?" Mina asked no one.
"Fickle thing, fate." Aurelius offered. They turned again and again. It felt like they were weaving through the castle like a spider building a web. Several minutes later, they were emerging, not far from the garden near the stables. "Gerard, ready two horses for the king and queen. Quickly." Aurelius called. He followed Gerard into the tack room and emerged with two bundles of what seemed to be clothes. "Change," he stated simply.
"What are these? What are you having us do? Run? We can't just run." Mina insisted.
"These are clothes Gerard and I used to go into town unnoticed. You aren't running, you're going to find a friend of mine to train Evander. His name is Egon. He's a bit of a drunk, but he's the best sword master I've ever met. Last I heard, he was terrorizing our closest neighbor, Chrysanthos. Friendly country. Now, please will you get changed in one of those stalls?" Mina didn't move. Aurelius tried to offer a bundle of clothes to Evander, but he also made no move to take it.
"What will you all do while we're gone?" Mina asked.
"Survive, my love," He pressed the smaller set of clothes into her chest. "Now change."
"How long have you had this planned?" She took the clothes and walked slowly into a stall for privacy. She carefully began to remove her clothes, avoiding looking in Evander's direction altogether. The new clothes were much rougher than the silk and satin she was used to.
"Since the chandelier." Aurelius had begun to help saddle the horses. Evander was changing in the stall next to her, strangely quiet.
"And who knows?"
"Only Gerard," He said grimly. "We can't trust anyone else."
She emerged from the stall, carrying her wedding dress and the ornate jewels she had been decorated with. Evander came up behind her and gently removed a few pins from her hair that she had missed. Aurelius tucked their clothes safely into the box he had retrieved the plain ones from.
"For what it's worth, I believe him." Evander finally spoke. "And I think we should do what he says. There's no way I can fight a magical shadow being without some kind of training."
"But we're leaving everyone unprotected…" She began.
"They already are unprotected. I'm not a warrior. I'm a former prisoner whose only training is in slave labor. And as well trained as you are, you're not the wielder." He was right. Aurelius was right. For whatever reason, the fates had saddled her with an incompetent human with no fighting skills and all of the weaknesses.
"Alright, we'll go." She agreed. "But you have to promise me that you'll be safe."
"Of course!" Aurelius responded cheerfully. Strange for the situation, but not for her brother. He always dealt with serious things the same way he dealt with everything: with snark and positivity. "Now, remember, you're looking for Egon Schwert of Sapphire, sandy hair, brown eyes, just north of Evander's height here. He's most likely to be found in places ladies don't tend to venture. He'll probably be well known for his antics. This should be plenty of coins for your journey." He tied a purse to Evander in an inconspicuous spot near his underarm. Gerard emerged from his living quarters with two plain heavy cloaks for them.
"I love you, Aury." Mina declared, hugging her brother before mounting the smaller of the two horses.
"I love you, too, little sister." He turned to Evander and pointed at him as he mounted the other horse, "You keep her safe."
"I will protect her with my life," He declared.
"Good enough." Aurelius smiled. "Now go!" He said, tapping her horse on its hind quarters to encourage it to set off. Evander followed close behind and caught up to her quickly.
The ride to the docks was uneventful. Once out of view of the castle walls, they slowed their pace to something more leisurely and less conspicuous. Evander took the lead once it became evident that Mina had only been out of the castle a handful of times at best and had no idea how to get to where they were going. Evander had made his way to and from the docks many times before his incarceration. He lived within the protective walls of the castle in the city that skirted its edges, but the docks were more lively and entertaining, especially for the young boy that he had been those years ago.
"How are you holding up, my queen?" he said gently but formally as they turned down yet another wooded path.
"I'm fine," she responded barely above a whisper. She was not fine. She couldn't help but worry about what was happening back at the castle, her home, full of people she loved and cared about. Not to mention her subjects. And she's just running away. Aurelius was right, though. There was no way she could stand against the darkness with an untrained human by her side. There was a lot they needed to do in order to be a match for the shade and its wielder, starting with getting closer to each other, trusting each other. They needed to build the bond that was desperately trying to throw them together. "Call me 'Mina.'"
"Okay, Mina," he said in a slight teasing tone.
"Okay, Van," she responded in turn, finding a small smile on her lips.
It took a few hours to get to the oceanfront town that surrounded the docks. The path that brought them there had first opened up into a field which eventually turned into farmhouses, then the cramped little town of Pontus, which meant "sea." Evander continued to lead until they found a small stable to board their horses in while they were traveling.
"Now we just have to find a boat going to Chrysanthos," Evander said and began to lead her by the hand through the crowded streets. "I may know just the man."