Lovu

  “Ground rules,” Topal said as they slipped into the alley behind the bar. “Keep your head down, hood up, and don’t look at anyone like you were before. Stay close and don’t say a word unless I tell you we’re clear, not even to me. Your voice alone will give you away immediately. Once we hit the fields we should be all clear, but we can’t stop until then. Any questions?”

  Dozens immediately jumped to mind, but none of them were actually helpful. Her face looked just like Akil’s while he was in bodyguard mode, so he knew she likely didn’t have the patience for useless questions.

  “How long until we ‘hit the fields’?” he said, honing in on the only thing that would actually ease his mind.

  “An hour if everything goes our way, but it could take longer. Anything else?”

  “No… I think that’s enough for now.”

  “Good,” she said, poking her head around the corner and grabbing his hand. “Here’s our opening.”

  In a flash, they were on their way. Topal set the pace, moving as fast as she could without drawing unnecessary attention, just shy of a jog. True to his word, Lovu kept his head down with his eyes set firmly on her feet. The first problem came after about twenty minutes at that pace. It was common for Lords and their families to avoid strenuous activity, but Lovu stayed active where possible. He didn’t train or exercise the way Honors did, but he went on regular walks and did things around the villa, even helping his attendants wherever possible. He had always considered himself physically fit, especially compared to his peers, but his pounding heart and heaving lungs proved otherwise. He wanted to blame the treatment he offered Kut for taxing his body, but the way that Topal hadn’t even broken a sweat once again called Akil to mind. If he had been in the same position, he would have never struggled to handle both burdens.

  I have to be stronger.

  But after holding out for as long as possible, he was forced to tap Topal on the shoulder and gesture toward an alley. Her heavy sigh made her thoughts clear, but she still nodded and dragged him in that direction. As soon as they came to a stop, he leaned back against the wall and slid to the ground.

  “What’s up?” she asked carefully, flicking her eyes back and forth between him and the entrance to the alley.

  “I… am sorry,” he said between gulps of air. “I need… a break.”

  She frowned down at him, her brow knit in thought. “We can’t keep stopping like this.”

  “I… am sorry…” All he could do was apologize; she was right. “I’ll… try to… tough it out.”

  “That’s no good,” she said, pulling a water skin from her belt and passing it to him. “We’re in it for the long haul. Taking breaks this often will hurt us more than help. We’ll just have to slow down. If we ever get to the point where you’re pushing yourself, give my hand two quick squeezes.”

  “I can… keep up,” he said, shame spiking through his chest. “I have to.”

  “You clearly can’t and we don’t have the time fix a lifetime of laziness,” she said, taking the skin back and taking a drink herself before corking it.

  Her clear dismissal did nothing to help his heart, but one thing did catch his attention enough to distract him for a moment. She had to pass the skin under her scarf to drink, but at no point was her face visible. It was such a smooth movement that he could tell she had carefully practiced it for a long time. A new question sprang into his mind, but he filed it away for once they were safely outside of the city.

  As soon as he recovered enough to keep going, they set out again. Topal started slow and steadily sped up, but before he could signal her to hold steady, she settled into a new pace on her own – a little over half what they were doing before. It was definitely slow enough for him to keep up, but he silently wished they could go faster. Despite that concern, he knew better than to break her first rule.

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  They stuck to smaller streets. It was smooth sailing for the most part, but occasionally Topal would abruptly change directions, pulling him into another alley or turning round entirely. Usually, it was to avoid Honors, but there were several times where he was unable to pinpoint what exactly caused the detour.

  After a couple of hours, the buildings around them began to fade away, becoming sparser and giving way to wider roads. Despite being the middle of the night, there had consistently been people in the streets around them until then. Ironically, as the roads spread out enough to accommodate more people, even fewer were visible. The quiet comfort of knowing they were no longer surrounded was undercut by haunting silence. Every step seemed to echo and bounce off of the dormant buildings.

  Luckily, it didn’t take much longer to reach the edge of the city. At a seemingly random point, Topal pulled him inbetween two buildings that led out into an endless sea of brown mud filled with sporadic tufts of grass. Like standing at the edge of a cliff, the city ended abruptly, giving way to the fields that kept Lavote fed.

  They must have completed the harvest early this year.

  Even if he had never seen it done himself, Lovu knew that vewa – Lavote’s staple grain – was normally harvested during the first month after summer ended. It was a bit early for that, but that was the only explanation for the barren sight before him.

  “We have to make a stop out that way,” Topal whispered, pointing into the distance. As far as he could tell, there was nothing for her to be pointing at, but he nodded anyway. “I have a little stash hidden out there with supplies for navigating the wildlands. Unfortunately, this is going to be the most dangerous part.”

  She looked around and he followed suit. No one was in sight, but the silence put him on edge.

  “Normally, the fields would cover our escape, but we’re going to be sitting ducks out in the open. This is a good time of night, but there’s still a chance somebody will notice us, so we need to minimize how long we spend in view of the city. We’re going to sprint long and hard. Do not stop until you can barely see these buildings. Got it?”

  Lovu’s legs were already burning and although he hadn’t run out of breath since that first break, he knew he wouldn’t last long. With a hard swallow, he clutched his cloak in balled fists and nodded.

  “Good. Wait for my signal…” she went silent for a moment, heading back toward the road they just left. After a quick glance around, she dashed back in his direction and slapped him on the back. “Now.”

  Together, they took off running.

  Topal’s footsteps were soft and gentle, barely even leaving a print in the mud despite taking a huge lead over him. Lovu on the other hand threw up muck behind him with every step, occasionally stumbling in the mud. After running his heart out and feeling like he was on the verge of collapsing, he looked back to see how far they’d come and his face went pale as he saw the city still plainly in view. It was farther than he’d ever run before, but it still felt like they’d made no progress at all.

  “What’re you doing! Don’t look back or you’ll draw a wikva,” Topal said, dragging him along.

  Lovu had no clue what that meant but wasn’t about to question her, so he focused on digging deeper as they ran. He struggled to get enough air to fill his lungs with each passing breath, but he closed his eyes and put one foot in front of other. After a while, he ran out of effort to give and just focused on using the momentum of Topal dragging him to its fullest.

  Eventually, even that wasn’t enough. He fell face first into the mud, coughing as he accidentally inhaled a huge mouthful of it.

  “Well… you made it farther than I expected,” she said, kneeling down over him.

  “I’m *cough* sorry.”

  “Save your breath,” she said, grabbing him under the arms and pulling him back to his feet.

  His legs felt like putty underneath him and without her holding him up, he likely would have fallen right back over. As if she knew that, Topal knelt down in front of him and let him go, practically dropping him onto her back. Wrapping her arms around his legs, she stood up and they were off again.

  To his surprise, she moved basically just as fast as she had before, even with his dead weight. She kept up her sprint for another few minutes before finally stopping to catch her breath. Only then did she turn around and look back. They had cleared nearly five times the distance since he first looked back and the buildings were only barely visible on the horizon.

  “Alright, that should do,” she said, dropping him unceremoniously into the mud. “We can slow down now, so you get to walk on your own again.”

  “Thank you,” he said, forcing himself back up to shaky legs. He turned to follow when he saw the large, Lovu-shaped mud stain covering her back. “Oh goodness, I’m so sorry about that.”

  “Stop apologizing,” she said without looking back. “This is a job for me and at this rate, every other word that comes out of your mouth is going to be ‘sorry’. I don’t have the patience for that.”

  “I’m-” he caught himself right before he finished the apology.

  “Better. Now come on. The most dangerous part is over, but we’re still hours from actually being able to rest.”

  While his legs certainly weren’t happy to hear that, his heart swelled as he looked back at Lavote, silhouetted in the sun’s twilight still hidden by the horizon. After fighting his family so hard for the opportunity to see the world beyond the Residence, he couldn’t help but smile.

  I won’t stop moving. I’ll see you again soon Akil.