Girln Shi's heart clenched. *They're faster than I expected!* For the first time, he felt a grudging appreciation for the sly Manager of the Unity Inn. A wry smile touched his lips. "Scrutiny doesn't bother us, Manager. Just a hassle. Thanks for the heads-up." He pulled two amethyst crystals from his cloak and tossed them to the man.
The Manager's frown vanished instantly, replaced by greed. He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Tandor't fret, sir. The Unity Inn's connections in Sundown City… everyone knows them. Those grunts won't dare cause trouble for *our* guests." He leaned closer, his eyes shifty. "Folks like you stay here precisely because they have secrets to keep. Tip those hungry dogs a little silver, and they'll look the other way."
Relief eased Girln Shi's tension slightly. He pulled out his credit chit. "You're right. Dealing with the Empire's dogs is always messy. Fetch a thousand gold for me. When the patrol arrives, I'll know how to grease the wheels. If they skip the search, there's another cut for you. I reward those who do me favors."
The Manager's eyes gleamed with avarice. Snatching the chit, he scurried off like a rat. Girln Shi immediately gathered Dunce, Cloud, and Stella in their rented suite.
"Cloud, Stella," Girln Shi's voice was low and urgent. "When the search comes, stay sharp. Keep your heritage hidden at all costs. If they discover Stella's lineage…"
Dunce's gaze was flinty. "If they expose Stella or Cloud, I strike. Eliminate everyone in the room. Then we bolt. Sundown City becomes hell on earth."
The Manager's warning proved accurate. Armored troops, dozens of them, swarmed the inn minutes later. When they reached their suite, Girln Shi met the Soldier Captain's hard gaze with a hefty palm of gold. The Soldier Captain pocketed it with barely a glance but insisted on verifying their number against the registry. He didn't bother with a physical search – that bought silence. Only after the soldiers' boots echoed away down the hall did the group breathe again.
Dunce watched from the window as the patrol left the inn grounds. "Looks like we're stuck in this gilded cage for a while," he sighed. "Who knows how long Spring will keep Sundown City locked down?"
That 'while' stretched into a *month*. Unbeknownst to them, that month wasn't just a shield against the Empire's nets; it also kept them a step ahead of their other hunters: Slay One and his elite eight killers.
Slay One's team had arrived in Sundown City two days after the Emperor's palace was breached. Intel from compliant gate guards pointed squarely at Dunce and his crew as the culprits. Assuming they'd fled immediately, and hampered by the citywide lockdown, Slay One and his men staked out the outskirts for ten fruitless days before reporting back to their Master.
The Master, leader of the influential Thieves Guild, sensed something off. He recalled Slay One. With Dunce's actions crippling the underworld's usual business – nobles were terrified, illicit flows disrupted – the Guild's profits were drying up. Killing the 'Grim Reaper' Dunce became paramount. They needed one, perfect, lethal strike to restore the Guild's fearsome prestige. So, the Master waited, like a spider. It was then that Sundown City finally lifted its suffocating siege.
Cautious as ever, Girln Shi waited three more days. Only then did the five emerge from the Unity Inn, twenty thousand gold poorer for the overpriced refuge.
Though the siege was lifted, Sundown's gates remained heavily guarded. As they approached, the sheer number of soldiers meticulously processing every soul—noble or pauper, no exceptions—made them pause. Bribery, usually an infallible tool, failed utterly here. The guards were rigid.
Dunce murmured to Girln Shi, "Brother, what's the plan? Stella can't wait much longer. The Jade Radiance within her fades daily." Stella, weakened by the palace Mage Timber's magical assault, no longer had the years promised by the Queen. Her deteriorating state was a constant, gnawing fear.
Girln Li growled, knuckles white on his axe haft. "Then we fight our way out! These guards can't hold us. Once beyond the walls, we vanish!"
"No," Girln Shi shook his head. "That's the last resort. It's not just the Empire chasing us. The Thieves Guild stalks the shadows. A messy exit exposes us, painting targets on our backs. Sundown sits on the Empire's western edge. We have a *continent* to cross. Exposed, we'd face hell at every turn. Dunce? Ideas?"
Dunce scanned the fortress-like gate. "The core problem is Cloud and Stella. An Elf's heritage is too easily revealed. If *they* can slip out…" He looked at the sisters. "…the rest is manageable. I can hide the Shadowbane." He meant the dread blade on his chest.
After a month together, Stella had shed some of her haughty shell, tempered by suffering. The fading Radiance left her frail, often silent beside Cloud. Yet, she watched Dunce intently. His image dominated her memories of the rescue: the first strong presence in her captivity. The memory of throwing herself into his arms still brought a blush to her pale cheeks. Seeing the impassable gate, she sighed. "It's all my fault. I'm dragging everyone down."
Cloud placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Princess Petal, they are strong. They *will* find a way. We *will* see the Emerald City again." Her words were thick with her own longing.
Girln Shi's resolve hardened like tempered steel, witnessing Cloud's strength and hope. He *would* see her home.
Dunce's head snapped up, eyes burning with determination. "Brother. Tonight. We scale the walls. I'll create chaos on the eastern side. That's your signal. Slip over the northern ramparts. Rendezvous at the ambush spot—the woods outside where that thief attacked us before."
Girln Shi frowned deeply. "Too risky, Dunce. Our palace escape worked because of the Queen's magic binding the guard. This is Sundown City—Spring's heart. Its defenses… its elite… they swarm like hornets. We could be trapped like rats again. I can't let you shoulder every peril!"
"No alternative!" Dunce cut him off, voice steel. "Stella weakens by the hour. That Radiance might flicker out! Do we abandon the mission now? This *is* the way. My life isn't worth more than your people's survival! Tandore. Midnight."
Girln Shi opened his mouth, saw the resolve in Dunce's eyes, and closed it. Defeated, he nodded. The die was cast.
That night, clad in deep shadows, Dunce crept towards the East Gate. His fingers brushed the cold hilt beneath his tunic. A sigh escaped him. *The Shadowbane… tonight may demand it again.* Unleashing its curse meant condemning souls – soldiers obeying orders, likely with families. Were they truly evil? The icy weight of the decision settled on him. *No.* He pulled his hand back. He'd vowed since breaking its corruption: only against true, irredeemable darkness would he draw Shadowbane again. He owed those nameless guards that much.
Silent as a wraith, he scaled the sheer wall, conjured handholds of solidified spirit energy (his unique Art) aiding his swift ascent.
Imperial vigilance was intense since the palace breach. Dunce hadn't even steadied his feet atop the rampart before a patrol of a hundred guards spotted the black-garbed figure. Shouts erupted. Weapons clattered as they charged.
Ordinary soldiers were little more than chaff to Dunce. He scoffed, channeling his formidable spirit energy. White light flared around him. He slammed his fist into the stone battlements three meters ahead. Dunce exploded! Flying debris cut down the foremost soldiers. Overeager pursuers stumbled into the sudden chasm, screams echoing from below.
Dunce laughed—a cold, mocking sound meant to draw *all* eyes. He stood tall, arms crossed, waiting for the swarm.
His defiance acted like a beacon. Arrows darkened the sky, a deadly storm rattling against the ethereal shield of condensed spirit energy Dunce projected an inch from his skin. They shattered harmlessly.
A kilometer away, at the northern wall's shadowed curve, Girln Shi watched the frantic shift of lights and movement around the East Gate flare like a beacon. *Time.* In a gap between patrols, fueled by desperate determination, the four slipped over the parapet like phantoms, vanishing into the night beyond the wall. Silently. Quickly.
Dunce, unaware of their success, fought on. Suddenly, a dozen figures detached themselves from the ranks, their auras blazing – elite Imperial warriors. They flew at him, fierce but manageable… for now. The crumbled battlements had created a small, defensible island. Whipping out two shields of pure, solidified energy—a luminous yellow-green hue—Dunce braced. Magic-enhanced blades and unleashed elemental energies hammered against his defenses in bursts of dazzling color. Each attacker sent flying back by the sheer, raw force radiating from his shield-wall.
He wove defense with desperate economy, relying on the high ground to break their assault waves. But channeling the Art—materializing pure energy—was draining. He needed every scrap of power. The minutes stretched thin.
Then—a lance of pure, sapphire-blue energy sizzled through the air. Not at him, but at his *feet*. *Bastards!* If they brought him down to the mob level… Panic surged. He diverted a pulse of white energy to intercept the attack. The blast shook him. His shields faltered for a fraction of a second. That was enough. Two streaks—one crimson fire, one earthen yellow—darted through the gap, aimed to cripple. "Spirit Net!" Dunce roared. A web of shimmering energy exploded outwards, shredding the incoming attacks… but shredding irreplaceable power with it. He felt the significant drain instantly.
He was fading. Fast. Over seventy percent of his power consumed. The warriors sensed it. The hammering intensified. *They're out… they must be.* Resolve hardening, Dunce gathered himself. Then, like a great bird, he pushed off the crumbling battlement, launching himself backward into the open sky beyond the wall. Dunce crumbled behind him as attacks tore his perch apart.
He wasn't alone for long. A roar filled the air. From behind the battlements surged a great serpent of living flame—a Dragon's Maw conjured by Imperial battle-mages! Heat seared his back. Trapped mid-air! Gritting his teeth, he poured the dregs of his power into a massive, shimmering shield covering his back.
The collision was apocalyptic. White energy buckled, held… but the sheer kinetic fury punched through. Little Bone-deep vibrations wracked Dunce. Blood erupted from his mouth as the flaming monster detonated against his shield, scattering burning debris like a deadly firework display across the night.
Propelled forward by the blast, tasting copper and ash, he plummeted downward. *Free!* Relief was short-lived. A figure, wreathed in wind, shot from the city like a missile. A razor-sharp gust of compressed air screamed toward his falling form. Panic rising, Dunce pulled together the final sparks of his power, manifesting a jagged blade of focused energy to meet it.
The impact shocked him. The air blade didn't strike to cripple. It shattered against his guard into a hundred swirling currents, a sudden cushion of wind halting his fall, then gently *pushing* him with surprising force away from the city walls, accelerating his descent towards the dense treeline beyond the moat.
A voice, ancient and resonant, echoed directly in his mind: *The debt is settled. Next time… no mercy.*
Tumbling into the shadowed branches, Dunce vanished. Behind him, hovering silently above Sundown, Timber watched him go. A faint, unreadable smile touched the old Mage's lips. "An Art… extraordinary. Given time… he might rival even the legendary Blademasters." The Emperor's elite Elemental Guard and troops poured out of the gate, ready to pursue.
Timber descended gracefully before them. "Stand down. He was no Elf. My strike ensured his demise." His gaze held absolute authority. "This was likely a feint. Sweep the walls. Be vigilant. Sundown remains under watch." The Guard Soldier Captain, deep respect warring with suspicion, bowed. The pursuit force withdrew, beginning yet another futile sweep.
Dunce hit the ground rolling. Pain flared with every movement—bruised ribs, burning lungs, depleted spirit. But he couldn't stop. Timber's voice reverberated. The debt? What debt? The old Mage… at the palace? Dunce stumbled through the woods. *The arrow!* When he'd escaped the throne room, his one shot had missed Timber intentionally to intimidate. Had the Mage interpreted it as mercy? A shaky laugh escaped him. A fortuitous misunderstanding. Survival owed to an enemy's scruples.
Driven by adrenaline and sheer will, he raced for the rendezvous point deep in the forest east of the Ambush Glen.