He hit the cobblestone road on the other side, using Light Step and rolling to dissipate the force of the impact.
Almost out!
Vir sprinted onto the road leading away from the walls… and came face to face with a dozen knights in full plate armor.
Knights who encircled two people, both of which Vir recognized.
Kamna, the princess’ bodyguard… and Princess Mina Hiranya herself, waiting in ambush.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my Ashborn would-be assassin,” Mina spoke, her voice dripping with the confidence of a predator who’d cornered her prey. And with the overwhelming number of elite guards that surrounded her, she had every reason to. “I supposed you think you’ve outwitted—!”
Vir didn’t even stop. He Leaped right past her.
This was his chance. Possibly his only chance. Mina must have thought him unarmed and helpless. Defanged as he was, she’d be right. Except for one weapon she didn’t know about. That gave him an edge, and he wasn’t about to waste it.
Vir deployed his boot blade and Leaped again. Sideways. It flung him onto an erratic course that Mina’s guards failed to predict. Even so, he could hardly believe their superhuman reflexes, adjusting to his course after a fraction of an instant.
But not fast enough. Vir Empowered his toe blade, and his entire body became a whirlwind of death.
Mina stood there blankly as his boot collided with her arm. Whether it was hubris or her faith in her guards, the girl neglected to wear armor.
As Vir found out, it was neither. His boot didn’t even break her skin. Whether it was magic or something else, he didn’t know. And he wasn’t sticking around to find out.
Without waiting a single moment, Vir aborted his attack and launched himself away, gaining precious distance. By the time she screamed, Vir was long gone.
Bleed to death, you grakking chal! Vir swore under his breath.
As he was—without his weapons and Dance—fighting even a single knight would result in his loss. Against them all? It’d be his doom. Prana Vision showed that even the weakest of those knights possessed Greater Affinities. They were Mina’s best.
“Kamna, dear? Kill him,” he heard Mina shout. It was a deranged voice, a high shrill several octaves too high. “Cut him to pieces!”
Thunder cracked from both of Mina’s palms, and an arc of Lightning reached out to touch Vir.
Sensing their activation with Prana Vision, he threw his body aside, dodging one… but he was too slow to avoid the other. Rather, her attack anticipated his dodge, landing right where he moved. There was simply no avoiding a well-placed lightning attack.
The attack raked through his shoulder, sending his entire body spasming.
Vir crashed to the ground, just barely staying conscious. His instincts took over, automatically throwing himself into a roll. Struggling through the lingering shock of Mina’s Arc spell, he forced himself to continue running. He couldn’t feel his left arm, and his legs were numb, but he ran anyway.
Because Kamna was just twenty paces behind. Twenty paces too close.
Vir dove into a cross street, just barely missing Kamna’s Blade Launch, which threw cobblestone into the air like projectiles. One block hit his back, but Vir gritted through the pain and continued.
I’m gonna lose like this. I need an edge.
No mejai could keep up with Talent wielders leveraging Leap, so Mina wasn’t likely to follow. That left her entourage, though Vir was sure she wouldn’t send all dozen of her knights after him.
Sure enough, only Kamna and four other knights followed.
The streets were dangerous. But the rooftops? That was Vir’s playground.
Let’s see you tinheads follow me up here.
A High Jump propelled him onto the tile roofs. Unlike the Commons with their flat clay and wood ceilings, the Sawai district boasted raked rooftops.
Treacherous terrain for flat-footed knights in full plate. The ultimate environment for one as agile as Vir.
He bounded from roof to roof, Leaping to send him sailing over amber-lit streets like a ghost. While Talents came slower on the roofs, that applied equally to his pursuers. And Vir didn’t need to rely on Talents nearly as much as they did.
When he sneaked a look back, he found only Kamna, now lagging thirty paces, and two other knights barely keeping up.
Almost there. I got this!
He could already see the Ash prana growing denser on the ground beneath. Soon, he’d have enough to activate Dance, but it wasn’t enough. He needed to use it fast. Which meant more prana, and that meant going farther. Another four hundred paces.
Kamna fired another Blade Launch. A line of tiles erupted after him—even if the attack missed, the resulting shrapnel was nearly as dangerous.
Vir jumped and fell back onto the street to avoid it.
The game of cat and mouse continued. Vir would gain distance until Kamna attacked. Dodging her Talents cost him precious distance, which he’d again slowly increase. Their chase left a trail of destruction in its wake.
Two hundred paces! Then the knights who’d struggled earlier suddenly caught up.
Guess they’re not elites for nothing, Vir thought as they gained on him, flanking him on either side. No! It’s not that!
The knights moved with odd movements, faster than what was humanly possible.
They’re using the Talent Haste!
And they were trying to encircle him.
Kamna launched a throwing dagger with superhuman force. It flew straight as an arrow without spinning.
Vir raised his steel bracer, deflecting the attack, but concentrating on the attack lost him more ground.
The knights had caught up. He was now in range.
Empowered Blade Projections assaulted Vir. Empowered throwing knives sailed his way, forcing him to dodge or block. And behind it all loomed the threat of Kamna’s Blade Launch, which could end him at any moment.
Vir kicked off a rooftop. His pursuers followed. But when his feet found roof tile, he didn’t continue. He violently twisted around and High Jumped at his pursuers, meeting them midair.
Before Kamna’s face could register shock, Vir deployed his boot dagger, slamming it into a knight’s neck.
In one fluid move, Vir ended the knight’s life, retracted his blade, kicked off the falling corpse’s armor, and shot down to the street.
He rolled and Leaped away, leaving his pursuers on a rooftop scrambling to follow.
Fifty paces!
Vir tore through the streets, pulling as much prana into his legs as he possibly could.
Twenty-five!
Kamna caught up again, and she looked angry. “Enough! Do you think you can escape the city? What will you do? Run across the desert?”
Vir came to a skidding halt, slowly raising his hands. “I don’t need to run across the desert, though.”
“Oho? What will you do, then?”
“Me? Oh, I’ll just disappear. By the way, your mom sends her regards.”
For the second time that evening, Kamna was left bewildered as Vir slipped out from under her nose.
Vir took a moment to smirk at her horrified expression from the safety of the shadow realm. Here, time stood still. For ten precious seconds, none could hurt him. After gloating for a few seconds, he turned his eye to the possible exits.
Owing to the lower population density of the District of Internal Affairs, safe exits were fewer here, but Vir’s situation was arguably better than back at the castle. There, guards swarmed. Here, only Sawai families slept.