Melody of Mana

When I awoke my head was still spinning. There were bells, such loud bells, sounding continuously. With an idle thought I reached up to scratch my face. That was when my eyes snapped back open, senses burning as I remembered where I was.

My left hand was gone, my right still had a shackle and a bit of chain dangling from it. I was laying on... a brief look confirmed that it was indeed hay, straw had just a slight difference in texture. Outside the night was still dark, the bells signaling my escape still going, I couldn't have been out for long. That conclusion was backed by all the blood I was covered in, still sticky and wet.

I needed to go, to get either out of this town, or to a better hiding spot by morning. Thankfully all the practice had paid off and I wasn't completely out of mana. As for my hand, with magic that could be fixed, I even knew the spells, though it would take a good long while. The fact that my school had forced that course on me was now a blessing rather than a chore.

My heart was beating fast and skin cold, but still I tried to rise, a decision I instantly regretted. Soon as my head rose off of the makeshift bed the world shifted and turned, nearly causing me to lose my lunch. My limbs also felt weak as a baby deer.

"Crap, how much blood did I lose?" I whispered, looking down.

While the moonlight drifting in from the ajar window wasn't much, it was enough to see the shiny black puddles all over everything. It was safe to say I'd lost somewhere between 'a lot' and 'way too damn much' blood. Travel like this would be... difficult.

The brief look at the window showed me other things though. Everywhere lights were on, soldiers were flooding the streets like angry ants. As for others, there were none, there weren't any people randomly moving about, it was men in armor only, and they were going building to building, that was bad.

I knew that they had people who could, and with all this blood would, sense me. Even at night, even if I was invisible, there was no promise that I'd be able to hide. I could fight... but that would only attract attention, the last thing I wanted. There was no winning in an open combat, there were too many and too strong of opponents.

So I began quickly, spells to clean the blood, spells to make myself unseen. Even if it wasn't perfect it might throw some of my enemies off. Because these were enemies, even Rooke, the rough professor who'd helped me when I needed it. I'd even have to fight Lief if he came out, that boy who'd once been so kind.

I shook my head, they'd kill or torture me, there was no getting around that, I needed to be able to do the same to them. I hoped it would never come to it, but for now I had other opponents. The soldiers who were going all over the place might have people who could see me in their ranks, and they would be trying to stop me, they were the first hurtle.

I let my eyes shift over the everything I could see from my new vantage point as I began to build up magic. I needed to slow them down at the least, and I had a few options, the first would be a bubble of silence around myself. then invisibility. Then I needed points, there were hoardings on the walls, and from this angle I could see the ones right beside the gate. The other direction there was what looked like a harbor, but the ocean was probably a bad direction to take.

A look up showed a few fliers, some of the mages here must have known how to fly, that was fairly rare. I was already going to be doing some weather magic, so a bit more wouldn't hurt. As my spells built fog descended upon this city, whose name I didn't even know.

The fliers went wild, like angry hornets as they tried to weave something to dispel my fog. Really they should have been more concerned about themselves. Only one seemed to realize the danger and start to drop before the first bolt of lightning arced across the sky.

As the hovering forms dropped I went back to my escape. I found my designated point on the hoardings just before the fog got high enough and punched a small hole.

"She's somewhere, and active, teams of two, all of these buildings, quickly, quickly men!" I heard someone yell from nearby just as I slipped through my portal, leaving a small surprise behind me.

I had to stop when I arrived, if only briefly. I was burning through mana like water through a sieve, and that couldn't keep going on forever. Similarly I nearly fainted, from blood loss and stress. That was okay, my surprise would take a few moments to get going, and I could use that time for a quick breather as I reoriented myself.

As for the fog, I let it drop a bit. If they didn't have someone blow it away it'd keep for awhile, and if they did... well I couldn't spare the mana. It took only a couple of minutes before my present made itself known.

Hay burned, hay burned almost like paper. The tiny little flame that I'd set off as I was leaving quickly spread through my former resting spot and before they'd managed to rid the city of fog an angry red and orange glow was shining from within, visible even through the pea soup.

This would lead to even more panic, and that was good for me. I looked out of the city, and my heart sank. Far as I could see it looked like nothing but tundra. There were some rocks here and there, but nothing particularly substantial, and no woods that I could slip into. It was going to be a long, hard night.

I took my time to find a flat spot, as far as I felt comfortable away, and made one last portal. Slipping through that I was out, and moving as fast as I could.

Blood loss was a real bitch, but adrenaline was one hell of a drug. While I felt like death my legs didn't give out. I jogged and walked as quickly as I could, not even caring about the direction, just wanting distance. I needed to be far away, and as quickly as I could, everything else mattered little.

My mana soon began to flag and I had to start dropping spells. First went the sound barrier, if someone was close enough to hear me now I was probably screwed anyway. I pushed the invisibility for nearly an hour, by which time I should have been little more than a spot on the horizon for the city-folk. Some people might still be able to see me, but not many.

Eventually my eyes adjusted and I could see some of the landscape. Most of it was flat, but off in the distance to my left I could see some mountains. The other side had... I wasn't sure, but it I'd seen a harbor, so my guess was ocean. I made a slight turn, if nothing else the rocky cliffs would break line of sight and perhaps give me some shelter.

I walked and walked, until my legs felt like they would give out. The sun made itself known, and gave me a direction for east, and some more light. That was a plus and minus. I certainly didn't want to be seen, but now I could see considerably better to choose my path.

The mountains were still far off, but there were now a few rocks sticking up here and there. I made my way over, looking for something that might amount to shelter. It took me several tries, zigzagging a bit as I kept moving towards the far off sentinels towards their smaller cousins. On my third try I found one that had a small overhang. It was open on two sides, with little protection, but there were no residents and I was wiped. I crawled in and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.

I awoke in somehow even more pain. Every inch of me felt frozen and I realized that I'd fallen asleep in a bleeding tundra without any source of warmth. I was still sore and exhausted, but my mana had at least seen fit to return, and nobody was immediately threatening me, so that was something.

While I wove up my old warmth spell and checked myself over for frostbite I started to take stock. I had the prison clothing, warm enough, but not great, poor shoes, and what was left of my shackle. I was glad that I'd not bothered to lose that, since it gave me at least a little metal. Without tools shaping it into something properly useful would be really hard, but a knife, even a little one of poor make, would be worth the effort.

I sipped water from an ice cup and had a cheese sandwich while doing the first little bit of work on my arm, because I really wanted that hand back. The situation was bad, but as long as I could evade whoever they sent after me it was probably workable. Based on the geography and temperature I was probably somewhere in the north, but who even knew where.

I could double back and head for the ocean, but I felt that risky. There were a lot more roads near coasts, and if I went near a beach a passing boat might see me. Perhaps it was silly, but it just felt wrong.

One invisibility spell later I started on my way out. I moved at a jog-walk-jog for most of the morning, until I found a good spot to break for lunch, the mountains looming closer and closer, but still so far away. This was a nice place, another of the boulders on a good rise.

I was glad that I took that time to break, and picked a big rock to sit on because had I not I wouldn't have seen them.

Behind me, in the direction I associated with the city, I saw a large group of men. They were still a mile or two out, but were doing a poor job of hiding themselves. I could also see clearly how they were tracking me. The front line of them was nearly a dozen hounds, noses low as they made their way forward, tracking me like a fox.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap," I said to myself, as they surely had plenty of men who could stop me.

When in doubt, teleport. I made a gate, then a series of two more to break my scent trail and got back on the move as quickly as I could. I'd nearly lost there again, and I had no desire for anything that group wanted.

With the invisibility and warming spells up, something I now refused to take down, my mana wasn't really recharging at all. I limited how many gates I was making after the first few, but now made it a policy to do so periodically, if for no other reason then to break the scent trail.

This escape was going to take longer than I'd hoped, I could see it already.

Selene

In my cell I wept, curled up in a small ball and in fear. I counted herself lucky, something had made them stop hurting me and was currently taking all of the attention. It had been almost a full day and still they left me alone, a blessing. The only major change was a guard now stationed in the cell, watching me like a hawk.

With a small noise the door opened once again, and the foul, snake-looking man came back. He stood in the door, it framing his small body. This monster was no caster, and had no aura, but he still scared me worse than any man I'd ever met.

"Ah, Selene, my apologies for the... interruption. Where were we... hmm, actually, never-mind I have some new questions for you, questions about teleportation."