THEY RAN TOWARD the edge of town, toward the farmlands. Houses grew farther and farther apart. The area gave them less coverage, less places to hide should the guards catch up, which made Ravenna nervous.

"Hurry," Vyses panted slightly, sprinting alongside her, "This way."

He darted under a wooden fence post. Ravenna and Lyth followed him across a field of carrots and other small vegetables, toward a barn that was nestled in the far corner of the land. As they approached the barn, Ravenna heard a horse snort, its hooves clopping against the earth.

On the other side of the barn sat another fenced in field. Only, instead of produce, this field houses several horses.

"How did you know they were here?" Ravenna rasped. She slowed to a stop several feet away from the horses and leaned over, her palms on her knees. Her chest burned, as if fire had replaced the air in her lungs.

Vyses moved closer to one of the horses. It eyed him warily and its dark tail flicked against is hind legs. He held up a glowing hand and muttered, "Lucky guess."

The horse's eyes glowed bright red. Vyses moved closer, reaching out to stroke the horse's side. He glanced back at Ravenna. "Here, get on this one."

"It's been a while since I've ridden," she said.

Vyses waved her on. "We don't have time to stand around for a lesson. Hurry up and climb on the horse."

She moved closer to the horse, uneasiness slithering through her stomach. She reached out, allowing her fingers to tangle in the horse's dark mane. Vyses helped her up, onto the horse, and then climbed onto one of his own. Lyth climbed on behind him. Ravenna's jaw clenched tight as the horse started to move.

"Just hold on tight," Vyses warned her. "The horse will do the rest."

She nodded, tightening her grip, and he snapped his fingers. Both horses took off, galloping through the pasture, toward the far end where the forest trees reached out to touch the wooden fence. Ravenna leaned closer to her horse, holding onto it with all of her might. She hadn't ridden horses since she was a little girl --since her father was still living, still working in the mine that sat on the edge of her village. The horses leapt over the wooden fence, their hooves growing bright red.

The moment a canopy of trees covered her head, Ravenna exhaled with relief. It wasn't long after that the angry shouts and heavy stomps of the soldiers faded away. All sounds around them seemed completely drowned out by the thunderstorm of hooves hitting the earth.

The horses moved together, through the woods, until darkness kissed the sky and spread throughout the forest. Once night fell, Vyses snapped his fingers. The sound vibrated through the forest and the horses slowed to a stop. Ravenna cautiously straightened and looked around. The trees that surrounded them were packed tightly together, so close that their branches tangled together in a knot of leaves. Lyth and Vyses dismounted. It took Ravenna a moment to slowly, pitifully slide off the side of her horse and onto the ground below.

Vyses quirked a small smile. "It's been a very long time for you, hasn't it, lass?"

"You hush your mouth," Ravenna snapped as she brushed dirt and leaves from her skirts.

Vyses chuckled and glanced at Lyth. "Go search around. We should be near a village. See if you can find our new friends some food." He gently patted his horses side and scrubbed at belly.

As Lyth vanished from sight, Ravenna eyed her horse warily. It's eyes still glowed red, so it was still under Vyses's control. She hesitantly reached out and stroked the side of its face. It seemed to like that. "Are you sure that we're far enough from the village?"

"Not yet," Vyses admitted. "But I will know more once Lyth gets back. It shouldn't take too long. In the meantime, we can stretch out and take a break from riding. After several hours, it starts to hurt."

Ravenna agreed. Her legs were beginning to ache. She carefully moved around, twigs and leaves crunching beneath her feet. She lifted her hand, palm pressing against her bodice, where Caelan's spellbook was still securely tucked away. It made her nervous to just stand here and wait, not knowing how far away the guards were.

Lyth reappeared moments later, two bundles of hay at his feet. He stepped away from them, allowing the horses to close in and nibble at their meal. "The nearest town is still a good ten minutes on foot," he said. "And there was no sign of any guards from home. I feel confident that we've lost them, master."

Vyses nodded and ruffled his hair. "Good work. Now, get us some firewood."

Lyth dispersed again. Ravenna's lips pursed. Vyses noticed, approaching her with a warm smile. "We'll be safe here for the night at least. In the morning, we'll hop back on and move farther. Once we get several towns over, it will be harder for the guards to find us."

"How so?" Ravenna asked, unconvinced.

Lyth reappeared with an armful of twigs and branches. He dropped them on the ground and arranged several stones around them. Vyses took a small handful of hay from the horses, much to their displeasure. His fingertips glowed bright red, until the browned strands of grass burst into flame. He tossed the fireball into the twigs and, before it could spread, snapped his fingers. The stones surrounding the flames turned crimson, holding the flames within their circle.

"The guards won't be able to leave town for long," Vyses explained as Lyth produced several vegetables, a pot, and a raw, plucked pheasant from a small knapsack around his waist. "There are still people in that town that they have to protect, lest we return and take more victims. I'll bet my tavern that not every guard knows could recognize you by face too. You may have lived in town for several months, but you were a traveler --and you didn't cause trouble until close to the end of your stay there. All they probably knew to look out for was a girl with blonde hair."

He smiled at her. "And once a few days pass, those guards will be reliant on gossip, which gets warped the more mouths it passes through. It won't be long before we come across a village that is searching for a witch with bright red hair instead."

Ravenna harrumphed, somewhat unconvinced. What Vyses said was somewhat true. Gossip did tend to get stretched and reworded the more that it spread. But the Capitol had already been alerted to her presence in the town, so surely a more detailed description was being passed around between the guards.

"It will be alright," Vyses told her, sensing her uneasiness. Then he summoned some larger logs for them to sit on.

Ravenna rested against one of the logs, watching Lyth prepare some sort of stew over the open flame. She wasn't that hungry --now that Caelan wasn't alive to eat with her, the novelty of it had sort of withered away. She glanced at Vyses out of the corners of her eyes. He sat on the log beside her, the copy of Caelan's spellbook open in his hands.

A small crease had formed between his brows and his lips were wrinkled in an unhappy line.

Ravenna couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Vyses realized that spellbook was a fake.

thank you guys so much for trucking through the caelan-pain! aha, I know it isn't easy, but i promise that it will be rewarded in the end. fun fact: the name caelan is a gaelic name that means many things, one of them being a "powerful warrior". 

ps. for those of you who don't know, i also have a youtube channel. is there any sort of content that y'all would be interested in watching? it can be writing related (like how i create plots/writing basics/character info/beat writer's block, etc) or not. i already have a few challenges with my sister, a makeup tutorial attempt, and gaming videos posted.

 i would love your feedback!! ❤