The trip across the lake was harrowing, to say the least. The water wasn’t as calm as it could’ve been, and there were quite a few boats to keep track of, but it was the possibility of being caught by a Legion war galley while they were still vulnerable that caused everyone the most stress.

From his vantage point above the boats, however, Leon could see from the back of Anzu not only that they were clear of any other ships—there weren’t that many out to begin with since nearly all had returned to their moorings once the sun went down—but that the palace behind them had turned into an absolute flurry of activity. He could see the entire palace complex lit up like the night sky and plenty of motion along the bridge to the capitol island.

It wasn’t that great of a stretch for him to guess that a more coordinated response was being hurriedly thrown together after their successful escape. That they had only encountered a single Legion battalion during their entire operation was a miracle in and of itself, even if that battalion had come with a few dozen sixth-tier mages and two Paladins.

With August out of prison and all of them off the island, the advantage lay with them.

The knights spilled out onto the small dock that they had chosen to disembark from while Lapis hauled itself out of the water—it had been walking along the bottom of the lake, barely able to keep pace with the boats. It took a little while, but soon all one hundred or so knights were back on dry land. They carried with them the bodies of more than thirty of their comrades, most of them dead but a few simply too injured to move. Healing spells, potions, and salves were quickly handed out as needed.

One thing that stood out to Leon, though, was the complete absence of Princess Stefania’s yacht. There was no sign at all of the Princess’ entourage anywhere around the dock.

“Be as quick as you can, we have to move!” Minerva loudly ordered. “Ursus! Where’re the Princesses?”

“Yes, Sir Leon, where are my sisters? And my mother, you did spring her from the harem as well?” August asked, now standing up with his own power. He hadn’t the energy to keep up with them during their escape, so Roland had taken to carrying him like a child. Leon understood why the Prince was standing on his own even though he seemed about ready to collapse at any moment; if Leon had been in that position, he’d have been humiliated, and he wasn’t even a Prince.

“I’m not sure,” Leon admitted. “And yes, Lady Isabelle was with Princess Cristina when they boarded Princess Stefania’s ship.”

As if on cue, from a nearby building emerged an elderly first-tier mage. He’d likely achieved his level of magical power by virtue of breathing so long that his lungs finally adapted to magic power and was otherwise not a mage in any sense of the word.

“Sir Leon?!” the man called out, searching for Leon.

Leon momentarily rested his hand upon his blade, but after a brief scan with his magic senses that confirmed that the man was alone, he raised his hand and responded, “Here!”

The man quickly stepped forward with dignified purpose. He wore a dark green uniform that, once he was out in better light, Leon realized bore the sigil of House Taurus.

“Sir Leon, I bear a message from Her Highness, Princess Stefania!” the man said as he approached.

“Give it or speak it, then,” Leon growled, in no mood for pleasantries, and from the way Minerva and August stared at the messenger, neither were they.

“My mistress decided not to wait for you here, Good Sir,” the messenger explained. “Too much violence in the area, you see. Instead, she has decided to vacation in the Eastern Territories for the foreseeable future. Should you require her for any reason, she can be found in Ironford.”

Leon raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “No mention of anyone traveling with her?” Leon asked, drawing a brief look of reproach from the messenger at his informal way of addressing the Princess.

“None,” he testily replied.

Leon glanced at Minerva and August, looking for their opinions.

“We were heading for Ironford anyway, we can meet up with them there,” Minerva said, responding first. “I’m not surprised that they left first, but it’ll mean we can’t protect them.”

“We must catch up to them!” August insisted. “They can’t have gotten far in, what, not even an hour?!”

“We don’t know their route, we won’t necessarily catch up to them until we reach Ironford,” Minerva responded as she glanced around the dock. The injured knights were getting back to their feet, while litters were being hastily assembled for the bodies of their dead comrades. They’d be ready to get moving again in five minutes at the most.

“I can’t leave my family out there undefended right now!” August began to shout, but he tempered his tone after drawing a glare from both Leon and Minerva.

“They made their choice, we’ll do what we can but right now we have to see to your safety. We have to get you out of the city.” With that, Minerva turned to check in with the rest of the knights. August briefly looked to Leon for any sign of sympathy or assistance, but in this Leon supported Minerva. He could well understand August’s need to protect his family, but they had to keep their priorities straight.

Five minutes later, the group was moving again. Minerva set a hard pace, even though August still wasn’t up to the task. Leon eventually had to let the Prince ride Anzu, much to the griffin’s displeasure. Valeria, despite being the weakest mage among them, still managed to keep up without difficulty.

They hurtled down streets, through alleyways, and over the occasional bridge over small canals. Their goal was to get further south, avoid the Legion outposts along the way, link up with the rest of their force, and then continue south until they could find a convenient place to cross the Naga River. Much of their path was misdirection—going south instead of east—since it was easy enough to assume that they would be moving east to get August to his biggest base of support and thus, easy to set up some kind of ambush in line with the resistance they’d already encountered.

And, for a while, it seemed to be working. The group ran unimpeded through the city, quickly making their way toward the outskirts.

They made for quite the sight, and it wasn’t too much longer until they began to feel magic senses sweep over them. None of them could tell if they had actually been seen, but Minerva began to run even faster regardless—Lapis alone made their group about as subtle as a brick to the face. Less than two hours after breaking August out of his cell, the group finally reached the outskirts of the city.

So far away from the densely packed urban centers, it was hard to say when they exactly ‘left’ the city, but by the time they reached a mustering field in the south, most of them considered themselves no longer in the city. In the mustering field waited thousands of knights. The place was almost eerily quiet, though, with barely a word spoken amongst any of them. At least four thousand knights and men-at-arms, silent.

Making up their number were the two thousand—less the hundred that went with Minerva—knights of Trajan’s retinue, along with one thousand from Roland, and another thousand from Brimstone. There were a few more of August’s supporters here and there, but all-in-all, the conspiracy to break the Prince out of the dungeon had been relatively small and didn’t involve too many people in the Royal Palace.

Without missing a beat, Minerva ordered the group to disperse to their positions, and then she and Leon made their way to the front of the group with August, Anzu, and Valeria. Roland had to see to both his and Brimstone’s people and while there was some tension there at first, by the time Minerva began to move, the rest of the column moved with her.

Now hampered by the weaker members of the group, Minerva had to strike a slower pace, but August, for one, was grateful for it. It meant he could slide down off Anzu’s back and walk on his own two feet.

For his part, Anzu was happy, too, when August dismounted. The griffin chirped happily and then nuzzled Leon while staring daggers at the Prince as if he was hoping he could kill this presumptuous human with his eyes alone. August shivered under this withering glare, and he fully believed that if Leon weren’t present, he’d be utterly savaged by the griffin.

To take his mind off the incensed war beast, August made his way to Minerva to speak for a while.

“Dame Minerva!”

“Your Highness,” Minerva replied, her tone even and perhaps a little bit annoyed at his presence. August was a little irritated himself at her lack of respect but given that he had been a few hours away from losing his head and that Minerva was a big part of the reason why he hadn’t—yet—he let it slide.

“I was hoping to learn some further details about what our plans are. If we’re to successfully escape to the Eastern Territories, then I have some things I need to plan.”

“That you do,” Minerva replied with a look of expectation. “Octavius will come for you. We’re going to need every able-bodied soldier and knight that we can get if we’re to survive what he’s going to throw our way.”

“Yes, but we first need to get east. How are we going to cross the Naga? I assume that we landed on the western side of the river for a reason?”

“We did. We weren’t sure what the response time might be for the local war galleys, so we needed to get off the lake as soon as possible. Worse, that blue bitch could’ve easily caught up to us and killed the lot of us if we didn’t get across the lake as soon as we could. After that, finding a bridge to get all of our people across undetected on such short notice was essentially impossible—”

“Why was it impossible? Surely it would’ve been easier to land on the eastern shore of the lake and then simply head east from there, rather than taking this southern detour?”

“Our people were being watched,” Minerva replied, her face stoic and confident despite her own fears that she hadn’t made the right decision. “Not to mention there are Legion checkpoints at every bridge. Crossing so many of our people to the east without attracting attention wouldn’t have been easy, so those of us who were already in the east are doing exactly what you suggested: they’re already making their way toward Ironford. The rest of us are taking this detour to try and shake our pursuers before making ourselves vulnerable as we cross the river.”

“How long do you think we have? The 1st Legion will be on our trail soon if they aren’t already, and the 2nd Legion isn’t too far to the south, if we get caught between them…” August tapered off as Minerva flashed him a terrible glare. It was a risky plan, she knew that, but it wasn’t good for the knights behind them to hear their leaders discussing their plan with anything less than absolute confidence.

August seemed to get the picture and wisely moved the conversation along.

“What about after we cross the river?”

“We make our way to Ironford.”

August nodded in understanding. The Ironford March was a hilly region in the Eastern Territories that bordered the Central Territories. Its land was incredibly rich in iron and coal, among other valuable metals, and was the central foundry for the Blasted Forge, the single largest weapons and armor manufacturer in the entire Kingdom. More than half of all the company’s forges were located in the city of Ironford.

Making the place even more important was the presence of a Royal mint, one of the few locations in the entire Kingdom outside of the capital where silver coins were struck. Most silver that was mined in the Kingdom passed through Ironford on its way to the capital anyway, so control over the city was strategically crucial.

Satisfied with that plan and looking forward to seeing his sisters and mother again, August almost asked about the possibility of Brimstone getting away from Earthshaker. His first concern was his own family, but Brimstone wasn’t that far down the list from there. He was irreplaceable to August, and not just for his military potential, but the Prince also valued him as a friend and advisor.

Whether or not that feeling was mutual or not, August wasn’t sure. What he did know was that if Brimstone fell to the Earthshaker Paladin, then he would be devastated.

—

Small fingernail-sized stones bounced off Brimstone’s armor like tiny arrows, each one hitting with tremendous force. Sand whirled around him, seeking any crack in his defenses where it could spill in and shred his skin. The earth shifted beneath his feet, carrying the promise of impalement if he made any mistakes.

So far, Brimstone hadn’t made any mistakes. His armor held against the rocky shrapnel, his aura and fire magic kept the sand at bay, and his constant motion prevented spikes from erupting from the ground and piercing his legs. All the while, Brimstone kept pressure of his own on Earthshaker, with great gouts of bright orange-hot fire pushing him back and fiery explosions tearing holes into the ground around his fellow Paladin.

Minerva and the others had managed to escape, and the battalion of soldiers had followed her. Brimstone was too preoccupied to check in with them, but he trusted Minerva at least to see August safely out of the city. Now, all he had to do was keep Earthshaker here and they’d win.

It would obviously be better if he managed to kill Earthshaker here and now, but after more than fifteen minutes of fighting, neither was any closer to killing the other than they were when the fight began. However, they were also locked in this duel, each one putting up enough of a fight that the other didn’t feel safe breaking away.

In spite of this stalemate, Brimstone wore an enormous smile on his face. His normally black obsidian armor glowed red from the heat of his magic, his muscles ached from exertion, and from his mouth sprang insults after provocations after insults.

“HAHA! Almost got me that time! But that’s the thing about you boys from Valencia, never able to seal the deal without paying for it or using daddy’s status!” Brimstone shouted, his smile growing wider as a rock spike missed his leg by a hair and he vaporized a cloud of sand with a burst of fire.

Earthshaker roared incoherently and hurled another exploding boulder at Brimstone’s smug face, but it was a bit slower than usual, and Brimstone easily dodged it with a well-timed jump. His smile only grew wider; it was incredibly rare for him to be able to fight and use his powers without restriction, so even though both he and Earthshaker were aiming to maim and kill, the fun he was having and the physical catharsis he felt from going all out were both undeniable.

“Not getting tired already, are you? I was under the impression that you could go for much longer than that!”

The earth beneath him split open in response, threatening to swallow him whole. Brimstone quickly saved himself by directing an explosive blast of fire out of his legs, hurling him out of harm’s way. The Paladin landed on his feet and snapped his fingers, summoning five bright stars to hover around Earthshaker.

The first star launched itself at Earthshaker’s back, splashing harmlessly across his armor. The second had much the same effect, barely even denting the surface of Earthshaker’s left greave. The Paladin condescendingly smiled at his fiery colleague and decided to ignore the remaining three stars.

The next two stars seemed only to prove Earthshaker’s disdain accurate, as they had as much power as the previous two. The last, however, struck Earthshaker in the back of his shoulder and exploded with extreme force, not meaningfully damaging the Paladin but throwing him off-balance.

Brimstone clicked his tongue in amusement. “You’re not too experienced with this position, are you? It’s all right, we can switch to one you find more comfortable if you want…”

Earthshaker looked up just in time for Brimstone to flash him a smile, a wink, and a fireball. Earthshaker couldn’t dodge in time, nor could he summon a wall of stone before the fireball struck him, so he simply summoned his magic power and prepared to get hit.

Instead, a wave of water washed over him, protecting him from the fireball. Most of the water was flash-vaporized from the heat of the flame, but it was nothing the seventh-tier Earthshaker couldn’t handle.

Looking in the direction the water had come from, he saw the Sapphire Paladin sprinting forward, ice spikes already summoned and hovering around her, ready for battle. Earthshaker wanted to ask what happened, but he knew this wasn’t the time. He refocused back on Brimstone and was somewhat gratified to see the smirk on the other Paladin’s face had disappeared.

“Well, I would normally consider myself more than man enough to handle both of you at once, but I think I ought to be leaving, now…” Brimstone said, his hands glowing as they filled with fire mana, ready for another attack.

“Oh, you’re not going anywhere!” Sapphire declared, sending her ice spikes hurtling toward the fire Paladin. A wall of fire materialized in front of the spikes, though, vaporizing them before they reached their target.

Earthshaker tried to take advantage of the brief lack of visibility caused by the fire and smoke and stomped his foot on the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth. Unfortunately for him, Brimstone had also decided to use this opportunity and hurled himself backward as hard as he could. He practically flew a hundred feet through the air, hit the ground running, and charged back in the direction of the dungeon.

As confident as Brimstone was, as much fun as he was having, facing down two of his fellow Paladins was a bit too tall of an order for him to do without support. From behind him, he heard the Sapphire Paladin douse his fires and the subsequent shouts of anger from both her and Earthshaker as they gave chase. They hadn’t realized he’d turned to flee since both had been under too much pressure to use their magic senses on too great of a scale.

Brimstone tossed a few fireballs behind him to force them to slow down, but for the most part, he concentrated his magic power in his legs to increase his speed as much as possible. Though it wasn’t light or lightning, fire mana could increase a mage’s speed by a dramatic margin, and Brimstone put that trait on display as he slowly increased the distance between himself and the other two.

Earthshaker and Sapphire weren’t giving up, though, and Brimstone had to endure ice spears and exploding boulders as he fled.

The chase stretched across nearly the entire island, and Brimstone was only slowed when he reached the northern cliffs that dropped down onto the coast. Still, he wasn’t slowed by much as he hurled himself with all the explosive power that his magic power could give him, rocketing out into the lake.

The water hit him like a hammer, and he was lightly scalded as the water around him boiled on contact with his heated armor. Luckily, this also cooled it enough to stop glowing, making him less conspicuous. He immediately began to swim for his very life, for Sapphire was a water mage and he did not want to be caught by her in the lake.

He cut through the waves with great speed, but a quick glance backward with his magic senses was enough to put the fear of the Ancestors in him, as he saw both Sapphire and Earthshaker on the cliffs he had just jumped from. Fortune smiled upon him, though, as even with magic senses and night vision, a single man in black armor at night in the middle of a huge lake was not easily spotted.

He saw Sapphire pause only a moment before she dived into the waves after him, while Earthshaker seemed to give up the chase. Earth mana did not help mages swim or move very fast, so Brimstone understood if Earthshaker was bowing out of the chase.

Sapphire, on the other hand, was about to turn into his nightmare. He swam for all he was worth, silently praying to his Ancestors, to the Old Gods that held sway in these lands before them, and to every god worshipped under the light of the stars. He’d need all of their assistance to escape a water mage in a lake.

His limbs pumped faster than he had ever used them, and he submerged himself beneath the waves, concealing himself further. Several times he felt Sapphire’s magic senses sweep over him, and he didn’t dare respond in kind, focusing on swimming and swimming alone.

As he drew nearer to the northern coast, however, his terror cooled, and he risked a glance backward. The water was too dark to see in, but he couldn’t see any sign that Sapphire was behind him. Still, he didn’t allow himself to use that as an excuse to slow down, and he kept swimming as if she were breathing down his neck.

It wasn’t until he pulled himself out of the lake on the northern side of the city that he allowed himself to relax even a little bit. He was still cut off from August, Roland, and Minerva, and now he had an entire city filled with knights and soldiers aplenty on Octavius’ payroll between them and him.

With a deep sigh, Brimstone began to run north, intent on simply getting out of the city as soon as possible. When he was able, he’d run in a wide circle and head east to link up with his compatriots—assuming they had even managed to escape Octavius’ minions and get out of the city themselves—but for now, getting as far away from Sapphire and Earthshaker as he could was his only concern.