Seb kept low, while the Redanian camp ahead was louder now than before, voices sharper, more nervous. n trying to give structure to fear. That was always how soldiers coped when they couldn't na what they were afraid of.
He didn't approach directly.
Instead, he circled wide, staying behind the burned treeline, the scent of iron and scorched wood lingered in the air, a reminder of what had happened here not long ago.
'Better not get involved further,' he told himself again.
Through gaps in the foliage, he watched them.
Redanian soldiers had turned the clearing into a temporary command point. Horses were tied in uneven rows, snorting nervously, stamping at the ground. n moved between them, checking gear, speaking too loudly, pretending order still mattered.
Seb slipped closer to the stables, that was when he saw it.
One soldier stood at his horse.
Seb's horse.
The man was rummaging through the saddle bags, pulling out bundles of dried herbs, vials wrapped in cloth, odd mixtures of plant matter carefully stored in wax-sealed containers. He turned one bottle in the light, squinting as if it might reveal its purpose if stared at long enough.
The horse didn't like him there.
It lashed out, hoof cutting air just inches from the soldier's chest.
"Oi!" the man barked, stumbling back. "Calm down stupid horse!"
The animal stamped again, ears pinned back, refusing him a second approach.
Seb exhaled slowly behind the treeline.
'Easy…'
A faint pulse of magic slipped from him, barely noticeable.
Axii.
The horse cald down at once, muscles relaxing as if a storm inside it had been soothed. It blinked, confused, then lowered its head.
The soldier frowned, thinking his words did the trick.
"…Well," he muttered, straightening his armor. "If only that worked with wenches."
He went back to rummaging like nothing unusual had happened.
Seb didn't react or move he just watched.
The man held up one of the vials again.
"What in the hell is this? I swear this horse belongs to so fucking alchemist." He sniffed at a bundle of herbs, recoiled instantly. "Grass and plants everywhere… nasty vials of horsecrap water or whatever the fuck this is."
Another soldier approached from the side, leaning on his halberd.
"You reckon this horse belongs to one of the villagers?" he asked. "Or that thing that killed the boys in the forest?"
The first soldier scoffed.
"There were no alchemists in this village . And I'm not sure whatever butchered our lads even rode anything." He shook his head, dropping the herbs back into the saddlebag. "All of this doesn't feel right, nothing about it does."
"Fair enough," the second man muttered.
A pause followed. Then they heard a sound.
A twig snapping sowhere behind the line of trees.
Both soldiers froze, halberds lifted instantly, tips pointing toward the dark.
"Who's there?!" one barked.
"Show yourself!"
Silence answered them.
The horse exhaled softly behind them, the first soldier lowered his weapon slightly, squinting.
"…Lars? That you again? Stop ssing with us and get back to..."
He never finished the sentence.
Sothing moved. Not fast in a way they could track or loud enough to warn them. The first soldier dropped first, taken off his feet in a clean, move, his halberd flying uselessly aside.
The second turned too late. A blur of a strike that never lingered long enough to be seen.
One of them hit the ground hard enough to cough blood into the dirt, eyes wide, trying to understand what had just happened.
For a brief mont, he saw it.
A silhouette with eyes that burned faint gold in the dark.
His lips moved once.
"Fu.."
The word broke before it could beco anything else.
Seb stood still for a mont, listening for anything else any movent, any alarm rising from the camp.
Nothing imdiate, only distant voices, still arguing over death they couldn't properly explain.
He stepped back to his horse.
The animal shifted toward him imdiately, calm now, recognizing him even without sight or sound. Seb placed a hand on its neck for a brief mont. "C'mon," he muttered quietly, swinging himself up into the saddle. "Let's leave this place."
The mont Seb kicked his borrowed horse into a full gallop, the burned village behind him erupted into noise.
Shouts snapped through.
"THIEF!"
"BANDIT! HE'S TAKING A HORSE!"
"AFTER HIM! DON'T LET HIM OUT OF THE RIDGE!"
Boots thundered over ash and broken timber as Redanian soldiers poured out from between the half-collapsed huts. So were still half-armored, straps hastily tightened, helms crooked, eyes wide with the nervous anger of n who had spent the last hours staring at dead comrades and trying to convince themselves a demon did it.
Now they had a target. Him.
A rider cutting straight out of their camp.
One of them vaulted onto a saddled horse already being held ready near the periter, spurring it hard.
"Move, you lazy bastard!" he barked at the animal, then spat as he drew level with the others. "He's not getting away from !"
Seb didn't look back at first. The rhythm of hooves, the shifting air behind him, the taste of panic told him everything.
Still, he let himself glance over his shoulder.
A thin smile touched his face.
"Persistent," he muttered under his breath.
The wind cut through his cloak as he adjusted his seat slightly, guiding the horse not with force, but with a calm, almost lazy precision. Like he already knew the outco of this chase and was simply choosing how long to stretch it.
Behind him, the soldiers were gaining.
"Faster!" one of them roared. "He's just one man!"
"You think that's the one who did it ?!" another shouted back. "Looks human to ! I thought we agreed it is a demon who did that in the forest!"
"Shut it and ride!"
Seb finally exhaled, almost amused, and lifted a hand slightly. Flas didn't roar into existence all at once, they gathered in his hand first.
Heat blood behind him.
Then fire unfurled across the ground in a sweeping explosive arc, a living wall of orange and white-hot fla tore itself into existence between him and the pursuing riders, stretching wide across the broken road like a burning boundary line.
Seb's voice followed it, calm as ever.
"This'll do."
The leading horse hit the edge of the fire barrier first.
It scread in pure panic, it reared violently, hooves carving the air as it refused to go any closer, throwing its rider clean backward into the dirt. Armor clanged loudly as the man hit the ground, rolling once before stopping in a coughing sprawl.
"MY LEG!" he shouted, scrambling backward.
The second rider tried to force his way through anyway.
"Push it! PUSH IT!" he yelled, spurring harder.
The horse gave one look at the wall of unnatural fla and decided it had no interest in dying for Redania. It bucked hard, throwing him off like a sack of grain.
He hit the ground with a wet grunt.
"FUCK!"
The animal bolted sideways, refusing all further participation in human conflict.
The remaining soldiers skidded to a halt at the edge of the blaze, boots digging into dirt, faces lit orange by the heat. The barrier didn't spread toward them.
One of them swallowed hard.
"What in the hells is that…?!"
Another stepped back, voice tighter now. "That's a mage."
The first rider, still on the ground, coughing pointed shakily toward the fire.
"We should've stayed at the camp… I told you… I told you that forest was wrong…"
Seb was already farther away by then and he didn't slow down, he just adjusted his grip on the reins and let the wind take the rest.
"Let them think what they want," he said quietly to himself, almost lost beneath the sound of hooves. "As long as they don't follow."
/-\\
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