A full day had passed since they had discovered their pursuers. At first, Atticus didn’t want to scout too closely, but he knew they could not hide it forever, so they devised a plan.

  When the day arrived, Kael had them rest but kept everyone on guard. As luck would have it, their tail didn’t close the distance, and the moment the sun was down again, they took off at full speed. After that, their pursuers realized they’d been seen and gave up all semblance of stealth, giving chase.

  The unfortunate truth was that they didn’t know who it was. It could be soldiers from Sam’eth, but Kael was more inclined to believe it was Bandits. They had been known to wander the plains outside Lorthil, feeding on the city's scraps and travelers. The biggest problem was that if they caught them the chances of a fight were very high, more often than not no one escaped as they were either left for dead or captured and sold into slavery.

  Emily turned on Cupcake's saddle to see the plume of sand drifting on the horizon. It had been growing for a while, but ever since their departure,, they had not been able to let up. Now that they had given up hiding their tracks, they were gaining on them by the hour.

  If they had still had their wolves perhaps it would have been a different story, but seeing as most of their mounts had been taken by either the city or their captives, they were left with the galendmares.

  It's not that their speed was anything to scoff at, but Emily constantly had to slow Cupcake down to keep up with everyone else.

  Not to mention their stamina was already waning after half a night's travel. Emily had been sticking close to the front with Alex and Ashe. If their pursuers did catch up, she wanted to be as close to them as possible.

  Alex was riding on Mist, while Ashe was saddled with her sister on a galendmare.

  Emily glanced over at the sister duo and her heart sank.

  “Oi, your mount is frothing at the mouth, Ashe get over to me, give the thing less to carry,” Emily said.

  Selia looked down at her mount, seeing that the thing was indeed tired, all the galendmares were, they had been riding them hard for hours.

  Ashe looked at her sister in fear but Selia only shot her a reassuring nod. She helped Ashe to stand on its back and Emily moved Cupcake closer to catch the woman. Ashe jumped across and Emily helped her onto the back of the saddle. Before the mounts separated again Selia shot Emily a look at said ‘Look after her’ and Emily nodded solemnly.

  After that, she moved towards Kael’s mount and spoke to him but her words were lost to the wind rushing in their ears. Emily glanced back and inspected the entire collum. They were holding out but for how much longer was the problem. Whatever beasts their pursuers were on were better suited to this environment, as it was the raven were further behind but they had the advantage of being in the air.

  The warm night wind buffeted Emily, and she glanced up. The moon's light revealed the birds as blips in the skies.

  Suddenly one swooped down and drew parallel with the head of their spear formation.

  Atticus rightened himself on the bird's back and shouted over the winds.

  “Boss, I reckon they're at most an hour out, but the dessert mouth is near. We can make it.” Atticus shouted.

  Exhaustion had drained him of all tact as his voice bounced over the plains, but Kael acknowledged him all the same.

  Grade had made his way up to the front when they had learned of the group behind them. His face was a mask of concern as he looked back at their mounts.

  “Kael! We’re reaching the beast's limits! There’s a chance some of us won’t make it!”

  Kael nodded to him man and spoke

  “Then we take that chance. Their numbers are twice ours and if they followed us out here they only have one goal.” He said before his next words boomed out across the area. “Fangs, keep moving!”

  Gerade’s face was grim but he spoke again with a heavy voice.

  “I’ll buy you all the time,” he said as he began to slow his mount down.

  Kael's head snapped around, his eyes filled with rage.

  “No you fucking won’t! You are still one of my leaders, you will remain at my side, and should they catch us you will fight to keep yourself alive, Am I understood!”

  Emily had only felt this sensation one other time with Marth, but it was obvious Kale was using one of his skills when the air became heavy with power.

  Gerades back hunched in the saddle and he glared at Kael but he whipped the reins and his mount sped up to match their pace.

  The convoy sped up and Emily watched for stragglers as the group began to elongate into two connected groups. They were nearing what looked like two mountains ahead of them but Emily quickly realized they were dunes of vibrant yellow sand scattered out over a massive distance.

  Sandstone began to give way to patches of sand as though they were dry rock pools filled with fine powder.

  Their pace slowed further to avoid injuries and the shrubs began to fade away the further in they charged.

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  They weren’t quite in the dessert yet but they were on the threshold.

  Unfortunately, that was when their pursuers closed the distance.

  Where they had to be careful of the potholes in the sands, they rode on massive-looking lizards that skated over the terrain with ease.

  Emily looked for Sam'eth's colors, and she did indeed see a lot of red and black, but this was not what she had grown accustomed to. No paladins or priests were riding on these beasts. They looked more like a horde of savages, an odd collection of people with all kinds of mismatched weapons and armor.

  Badly healed injuries covered their bodies, and as they closed the distance a large carriage came into view.

  Kael finally called for everyone to come to a stop and group up as he turned to face their unwelcome guests.

  Gerade and Atticus flanked him and Alex stood right behind them with Emily, Selia, and Ashe beside him.

  Since it had come to this Kael called out to them.

  “As the current head of the Wandering Fangs I demand to speak with your leaders. For what reason are you following us!”

  The crowds were shifting, slowly edging around them to cut off their escape, and Emily was certain she heard snickers from their assailants.

  They never said anything, but then a single man stepped forward, hopping from the back of one of the lizards.

  Emily's mouth went dry and she gripped Cupcake's reins.

  These were no Bandits.

  Umbra approached alone, his usual twisted smile curling at his lips. Fresh wounds marked his body, the most notable being a new cut running down the side of his face. Emily’s stomach twisted at the sight of him. The last time she’d seen this lunatic, he had been locked in combat with Cosmo. They had captured him—or so she had thought. Yet here he was, standing before them once more.

  “Greetings, friends. So good to see you all.” His voice carried that same amused yet dangerous lilt. “Didn’t mean to startle you, but I figured you wouldn’t want to talk if I didn’t catch you by surprise.”

  Kael had fought alongside this man once, but only after the fact had the truth about Umbra come to light. Now, knowing who he was dealing with, Kael’s expression steeled.

  “Well, you’ve found us,” he said evenly. “Now tell your men to stop circling, or I might start to feel like this is more than a friendly reunion.”

  Umbra tilted his head, drawing a dagger from his waist and idly dragging the tip along his neck, as if lost in thought.

  Emily caught the way Kael’s body tensed. Her gaze flicked to Umbra, searching for any sign that he had noticed—or cared.

  The man’s eyes shifted toward his men, and a look of fond disgust crossed his face.

  “Hey, you lot—stop being impolite.” His words were a hiss, but there was no true anger in them, only something mocking, vaguely amused. Then he turned back to Emily, that ever-present smirk softening. “We’re here with a proposition for Miss Emily, so let’s not start off on the wrong foot, shall we?”

  Those around him froze but they didn’t look happy about it.

  Kael glanced back at Emily with a scowl and she just shrugged her shoulders.

  “Alright, Go ahead,” Kael said.

  Umbra stopped scratching himself and looked pleased.

  “Right, well. It's not me exactly that wants to speak to her, but I can’t say I’d be opposed.”

  No sooner had he finished his sentence than the door of the carriage opened and several people climbed down.

  The hoods of their black cloaks were up, and even as they crossed the baking earth, they showed no discomfort.

  When they were about even with Umbra, they removed their hoods and Emily arched a brow.

  Those all-too-familiar markings were carved into their bald heads, the long-healed scars tracing their skulls like macabre art.

  Blood Mages.

  Emily hadn't understood them before, but now she recognized the runes sculpted into their flesh—some even familiar to her. From what Ashe had told her, an ordinary person couldn’t hold much life force within their body. To overcome this limitation, they had to alter the container itself, reshaping their bodies to accumulate and sustain more Life Source. Mutilating themselves must be necessary for their craft. One thing was for certain, each one of them was as practiced as that illusionist back in the hut. The oldest of them was an old woman with greying hair covering her runes beneath a hairline. As she was the only one with hair, Emily pegged her as the leader, and when she spoke it was in a motherly tone.

  “Hello, Miss Emily. Since you are in a rush, I will keep this brief. The Weeping would like to invite you to join our ranks. From what Umbra has told us, you wield a large amount of power without the need for stabilizers. Being so young and having that much talent, it would be a shame not to extend a helping hand.” She finished calmly.

  Emily squinted at the woman, nothing she said raised her hackles as of yet. So she decided to see where this was going.

  “And what would that entail? Would you be my boss?”Emily called out

  The woman shook her head.

  “No Emily. I would happily be your teacher, but only if you wanted me to. For now, all I offer is a hand and the chance to undergo the chalice ceremony.” she said calmly.

  Emily wasn’t sure why but she felt a sense of kinship with the woman, she glanced at Alex and Ashe and then back to her.

  “And what’s the chalice ceremony?”

  The woman’s eye widened for a moment but she smiled and shook her head.

  “Then it's not important, only if you are interested in our offer would it affect you.”

  Emily pressed her lips together and she shook her head.

  “I won’t lie your offer is tempting because it sounds like I could learn a lot, but I already have arrangements for the foreseeable future.”

  The woman looked disappointed but nodded to herself.

  “I see… Well, in that case, take this. Our organization is large and there will no doubt be a branch wherever you’re heading. If you ever find yourself interested, seek us out.”

  As she said this she pulled a small bound book from her sleeve and with a single gesture sent it towards Emily, it hovered in front of her for a second before Emily grabbed it out of the air

  When she had the woman nodded towards Emily and turned back toward the carriage. Emily cocked her head at the retreating woman with mixed feelings churning in her chest. Sure she wanted Emily to join some shady organization but she had been civil throughout their conversation and the moment Emily said no she had dropped the subject.

  As the woman turned back towards her carriage she seemed to notice the six other Blood Mages didn’t move. For that matter, neither did any of the surrounding men or women.

  The woman paused as she turned to look at Umbra with narrowed eyes but she was ignored.

  Kael wore a thinly veiled scowl as he turned too turned to look at Umbra.

  “Well, we have heard your offer and given our answer, is there something else?” Kael asked loudly.

  Umbra’s smirk wavered, his lips caught between a grin and a frown, his gaze flicking away in uncharacteristic hesitation.

  “Zilha, you’re putting me in an awkward position. I was kind of hoping you’d try a little harder to recruit her.”

  The woman who had stopped halfway to the carriage frowned. “What do you want me to do, I’ve made the offer, and she rejected it.”

  Umbra sighed as the air around him filled with malice. His fighters snickered and began to fidget. When Umbra looked up again that insane flicker had entered his eyes.

  “You’re not getting this. The orders are to bring her back. Miss Emily will be accompanying us back to the hole regardless of her wishes”

  Emily was scowling at the man when a thought crossed her mind. She then triggered her newest skill and it moved into her eyes.

  Name: Umbra Giz’holt

  Fourth bridge opened.

  Title: Merciless Killer

  Blood points: 347