Riding on horseback for days upon end was exhausting and painful. Nerin had never ridden for more than a few hours and Ashera had never ridden a horse before in her life. She constantly complained about the pain, but they couldn't stop, not even for a moment unless they were sleeping. Ziya would still be a while away, even without knowing where exactly they were.

That being said, there were times where he wanted nothing more than to be off the horse. His body ached and he was exhausted, but they had to keep going. The only time they could stop was when they needed to sleep, eat and rest the poor horse, who would be even more tired than they were.

He had no idea where they were, hadn't since they'd run from the army camp after being caught in the supply cart. They still had his maps, were still heading east, but they hadn't seen a road in days and all the towns they'd passed were filled with Ishini soldiers. Out of fear of being caught again, they didn't go near them and thus couldn't find out what town they were passing through. The map was practically useless.

But they would have to stop at the next town. They were almost out of food, the rest of their apples had been given to the horse, meaning there was less for them. In another day, the rest of their supplies would be gone and if they wanted to keep moving, then they had to stop.

With every second they grew closer to Ziya, the worse he felt. He wasn't ready for what would come when he finally reached his brother, barely knew what he was going to do. All he knew was that he needed to make up for what he had done by stopping Harudan from taking control. He should have been doing it from the moment he'd arrived back in Ishmar, but instead, he was the one who had been convinced of doing something he didn't want to do.

Maybe when everything was over, he would be able to see Isiah and Rina and Emrick again. He missed them, even Emrick, who he had hated for a long time. He needed to apologise to them even if they had no idea what he had done. If it hadn't been for him, Ishin might never have woken or if he did, it wouldn't have been so soon. Isiah would have had time to prepare for it.

That was if he made it to Ziya on time. They had been travelling at a steady pace for days but he couldn't help but feel as if they would be too late. If he was, what would happen? Harudan would rule, but there was still a chance to stop him unless Isiah died. If that happened then everything they had done since saving Rina all those weeks ago would be for nought.

There was so much weight sitting on his shoulders and he didn't know how to deal with it. When they stopped for the night, sleeping in abandoned farmhouses or anywhere else that was dry enough, he wept for what the realm had become, his dreams plagued with awful nightmares of facing his brother again.

Ashera sometimes woke him and tried to soothe him, but it didn't do much. He appreciated the effort, but he knew he would be having nightmares for a long time after the war was done, no matter what the outcome was.

She sat behind him on the horse, the saddle just big enough for the both of them, her hands bunched into his shirt. They hadn't spoken for a while and he wasn't particularly in the mood for conversation, considering everything he had to worry about. And she seemed to be fine with that, content to watch the passing hills and forests. Both of them knew that he had to focus if he was going to find and stop his brother.

It was freezing cold and a storm brewed behind them. It wouldn't hit them, but that didn't make him any warmer. He could barely keep them both warm with his powers and the fyrite and the more tired he became the weaker he got. They would have to find somewhere warm if he wanted to get his energy back for even a few minutes.

"Nerin," Ashera said, her teeth chattering. He pulled himself away from his thoughts, glancing over his shoulder at her. She was shivering and stupidly, he gave more of his power to her. It made him colder, but at least she would be a little warmer. "What's that?"

She pointed off into the distance and Nerin squinted at the horizon. Small buildings sat atop a hill, hazy in the dull light of winter. "Looks like a town," he said and yawned, far more exhausted than he wanted to admit.

"Are we stopping there?" she asked, desperation in her voice.

"We have to," he answered, patting the almost empty rucksack on the horse's side. They would have to be careful, the town was no doubt occupied by the army and word had probably gotten to them that he was headed their way. No one had followed them, but that didn't mean people weren't waiting.

There was no way they could sneak through with the horse, but they could leave him for the army to take and look after. As long as he was alright, Nerin didn't mind. It would mean walking the rest of the way to Ziya though, which would set them back quite a while. He would have to think fast if he wanted to take the horse with them.

But there were no trees to sneak through, only the rolling fields where they would be easily spotted. Even if they didn't have the horse, there was no way they could get in without being spotted. They so desperately needed food that they might have to get themselves caught again in order to find some.

He slowed the horse down, hissing in a breath as they drew closer to the unknown town. "Nerin, what are you doing?" Ashera asked from behind him, confusion in her voice.

"I'm thinking," he said, failing to hide the worry from his own voice. There had to be a way to get through the town without being caught and sent back to Ishmar again.

And then he knew what he needed to do. There was always a chance that it wouldn't work, but it was the only thing he could think of to do. He had no doubt that someone there would recognise him as the Prince and if they did, he knew exactly what he needed to say. All he and Ashera had to do was act.

He held the reins tighter and urged the horse forward until they were galloping towards the town. It hurt to bounce up and down, but there was no helping it. Ashera held him tighter, grunting as they raced over the snowy fields.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"You need to act afraid, Ashera. Can you do that?" he asked.

For a second, she was silent. "I can," she whispered, still just as confused as before. He didn't bother to fill her in on what he was planning, she would learn soon enough if the town was barricaded like he thought it would be.

As they came over one of the small hills, pale tents peaked out from behind the stone buildings. Dark figures moved between them, too small for Nerin to clearly make out but it was safe to assume they were Ishini. Going off what he had learned from Fentir when he was in Ishmar, there weren't many pockets of Askari left bar for Ziya and a few towns around it.

Armoured figures walked out from between two houses as Nerin and Ashera rushed towards them. "I hope you can act, Ashera," he said to her and plastered on his best expression of fear. All he had to think about was being sent back to Ishmar.

"Halt!" a soldier yelled, a woman with a gruff voice. Feigning panic, Nerin forced the horse to skid to a stop, patting him to soothe him. The soldiers gestured to two others at her side and strode towards him. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

As she spoke, other soldiers walked out to the open field, watching them in silence. The town was a small one, not much bigger than Reed, made of worn stone buildings that sat unevenly in the snow, forming roads that curved and turned in odd directions. Nerin took in as much as he could see from outside, trying to figure out the best route to take should they need to run.

"I am Prince Nerin Oshana," he said and Ashera hissed in a breath behind him. He forced his voice to tremble, forced himself to sound far weaker than he truly was. "We're on the run."

The soldier scoffed and he had no idea if she believed him. "From what?" she asked.

"The Askari. We were in a party and they ambushed us. We ran but my guards were killed. We've been running for days but we had no idea where to go or what to do so we just kept going," he said, the words tumbling from his mouth in a confused rush. He made sure to make it sound feasible. They were thirteen and eleven, it made enough sense that they wouldn't know their way around an unknown country.

The soldier at their side frowned at them, her red eyes narrowed. "Were you injured, Your Highness?" she asked and he held back a sigh of relief.

"No, we ran at the first sign of trouble," he answered, holding the reins so tightly that his knuckles turned white. If they believed him, they showed no signs of it aside from their questioning, but that could just be because they were trying to find the holes in his story. There could be some, it wasn't the most thought out thing.

"How long have you been running for?" the soldier asked.

"I don't know, maybe days. We just kept going, it was all we could think of to do," he explained. His leg jumped up and down in the stirrups and he hoped it wouldn't make the horse move.

The soldier looked back at the others and one of them shrugged. None of them knew what to do. "What were you doing in Minisia, Your Highness?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

That was an easy question to answer, one he'd thought of in the short gallop towards the town. "Visiting the armies to get their morale up. You've all been waiting so long," he said and frowned at the ground, sadness in his eyes. "I thought we would be better protected. I should have... I should have known something like this would happen."

Forcing tears was far harder than he had expected it to be, but he managed a few, enough for the soldier to notice. She cursed and then shot a hand towards her mouth. "Apologies, Your Highness," she said and sighed. "Come down from your horse, we'll bring you inside for a meal and sort something out."

"Thank you," he gasped and climbed down from the horse. Ashera watched him with wide eyes as he helped her down but didn't say a word. When both of them were safely on the ground, another soldier came forward to take the horses reins and led the poor creature into the town.

The soldier who'd questioned him gestured for them to follow her and led him towards a small courtyard beyond the houses. Other soldiers patrolled the streets but he didn't see a single Askari person. He had no idea if they were still alive and he was too scared to ask in case it gave away his story.

They walked through the town, passing by the camp that spanned across a field heading south. The other soldiers gave him and Ashera strange looks as they walked past, but didn't say anything or try to stop them. The streets twisted and turned, but when they finally stopped, they were on the other end of the town, another snow-filled field of hills heading east.

They ended up in a two-storey house filled with soldiers and empty of Askari. "Stay here for a few minutes," the soldier told him as she led them to a small sitting room. "I need to talk to someone higher up about this."

"Wait," he said before she could leave the room. "Where are we?"

"Hynid," she answered and walked from the room. As soon as she was gone, he pulled the maps from his bag and gasped at what he found.

Ashera sat next to him, her eyes wide. "What is it?" she asked.

"We're here," he told her and pointed at a small dot far closer to Ziya than he had thought it would be. They must have been in the supply cart for longer than he thought. They were so close, only another day or so.

"We're so close," Ashera muttered.

"Which means we need to get out of here as fast as possible," he told her and packed the map away again. "There should be a kitchen in here somewhere. We need to get some food."

She didn't wait for him to say anything else, just jumped from the chair and checked for anyone in the halls. After a few seconds, she looked over her shoulder and gestured for him to come. They didn't have much time before the soldier came back and when she did, she would bring others with her.

They wouldn't have the horse anymore when they ran from Hynid, but they weren't as far as he had originally thought. Crouching behind Ashera, he crept down the hall, pressed against the wall and his ears open for any sounds of footsteps. There was a group of soldiers in the next room, talking cheerfully. At the end of the hall was the kitchen and if they wanted to make it, they would have to be careful.

Ashera turned to him, a strange look in her eyes. "You stay and keep a lookout, I'll get the food," she told him and before he got a chance to argue, she darted down the hall. He had no other choice. She wanted to help him and would stop at nothing to do it.

It meant he had to sit and listen to the conversation in the next room as well as make sure he heard the front door open. "Have you heard about Gutaran? That town in the south where Genera Juna got stuck?" one of the men asked.

"No," another said. "What about it?"

"They say it was completely wiped out. Some kind of firestorm or something, I don't know," the first said and Nerin's heart plummeted into his stomach. "I overheard the Captain talking about it. He said something about Liman too, I'm pretty sure we've captured that by now."

There was a loud guffaw. "What do you mean, firestorm? That's not possible," another soldier, a woman, said.

"That's just what I heard. All I know is, Gutaran is gone and Liman probably is too," the soldier said and mutterings followed after him. "Apparently King Harudan is with them too."

"Yes, I've heard that!" another said but Nerin tuned them out. He couldn't listen to another word of it, not without thinking about Ishin. He'd known what Harudan had planned by getting the God to help him, but hearing about it still made him ache with guilt.

With Ishin, Harudan would destroy everything, there was no doubt about it. He wouldn't stop once Ziya was his, not without Jonin there to keep him in check. Nerin couldn't waste any more time, he had to stop his brother from taking Ziya and give Isiah a chance to defeat Ishin. That was his role in things and he wasn't going to fail.

If only it could have been something else, something that wasn't his older brother. It wasn't fair that he had to lose everything as part of the war, but there was no other solution. Harudan couldn't be on the throne anymore, he would have to become the new King of Brenmar. He would have to make sure he didn't become a puppet for people who wanted to ruin the realm, he wasn't going to be like his brother or his father.

Ashera's face poked around the doorway of the kitchen and she held up her bulging rucksack. With a sharp hiss of breath, Nerin checked to make sure no one in the room was looking at him, ran down the hall as quietly as he could and joined his friend in the tiny kitchen.

"There's a back door," she said and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the back door at the end of the kitchen. Those in the other room were too focused on their conversation to hear them running and the soldier from earlier had yet to return.

Outside was a small garden, the vegetables that usually grew were covered in snow uncared for by the soldiers that now lived in the house. A brown fence held together with rope bordered the garden and with a quick check for soldiers, Ashera darted towards it. Somehow, she was better at sneaking around and careful than he had first assumed.

He followed closely after her, trying to ignore his muddled thoughts. He needed to focus on getting out of Hynid, not the actions of his brother. That could wait until later when he had a free moment to think. As he jumped over the fence, his mind produced images of what Ishin's power was really like and what it would do to Ziya if the Beast was unable to defeat him.

Thinking about it made his stomach ache and his head spin but he never stopped running. No sounds came from the town behind them as their boots pounded through the snow, their rucksacks smacking against their backs. They rushed down a hill together, side by side, neither of them saying a word. His plan had worked, but he had learned things he would have rather been oblivious about, even if they were important.

It meant that more than anything, Harudan and Ishin needed to be stopped before anything else could be destroyed. Minisia and the Askari had lost enough; it was time for the war to end. When he became King, he would make sure of it, no matter what it cost.

For hours, he and Ashera jogged across the thick snow on the fields, watching and waiting for the signs of anyone following them. They were so close to Ziya, they couldn't be caught. If they were, he would fight as much as he could, steal the weapon of one of the soldiers and kill those he could. He'd done it before. If it meant he lived, he would do it again.

The fields turned up into a steady incline and he panted as he climbed up it. They stopped when they reached the top, Ashera resting her hands on her knees. He pulled a flask of water from his bag and handed it to her, placing his hands on his hips as he looked out of the horizon. A smile spread across his lips, hopeful and relieved. Sitting faintly on the horizon like unlit beacons were the crystal pillars of Ziya.