"Where will we go from here?" Viyal asked from the back of her Shinoon. Mamai rode with her since she was the lightest among the four youths and could afford to share her mount. The little Diao held on for dear life with her eyes pressed shut. They followed Rowen out of the forest and traveled along a natural mountain trail far from the main road.

  "West, to my homeland," the old knight responded, full of confidence. The little that Viyal knew about him sounded like he came from another world. His armor was unlike any found in the neighboring lands, and he was a mystical being, able to live with his head separated from his body. There had been no signs of such magic anywhere on the steppe, and Tashi said the same about the empire.

  "How far do we have to travel?" Yunil inquired, exchanging a worried glance with Altuna. Ravi rode on her shoulder now since he would give away their location if he circled above.

  "We will be out of these mountains in a little under a month. Then, it will be two more months across a dry steppe before we reach the Wynne Inland Sea," Rowen explained almost happily, as if recalling the pleasant journey from his homeland to the steppe. "There is a port town whose name I cannot recall. A ship will take us across in twenty-one days. From there, it is only another month before we reach the border of the Cranog Kingdom. And right there, a day from the border, is my humble estate, Castle Moder."

  The children stared at the old knight with aghast expressions. It was a journey of nearly half a year, but he spoke of it as if it were a ride to a nearby vista. But they understood that there could perhaps be no safer place in the world for Viyal than in a castle under Rowen's personal care. This kingdom was so far away from the steppe that nobody there even knew it existed.

  Viyal remained quiet at this revelation. She knew there was no conceivable way for her to return to her tribe now. All she could do was pray that her uncle had not lost his senses completely and would not kill her parents. In a way, one could consider this ordeal her coming of age, and she now left the nest. Under normal circumstances, it should not have arrived for another two years, and she would not have to worry about her parents' lives, though.

  "I hear them. There are seven riders," Yunil suddenly exclaimed with a look behind them. The winding path blocked their view, but there was no way to lose them now. Their left side was an almost vertical wall, and the right led to a nearly sheer drop into a forest deep below. Barely two Shinoona could ride side by side, but the same would be true for their pursuers.

  "Should we make a stand?" Altuna wondered, peering back with her longbow at the ready.

  "No, if we stay here too long, more might come from the other side," Rowen said, pointing ahead. "This region is a network of pathways. They could surround us on this narrow cliff."

  With no other options, they continued to ride at full gallop, matching the speed of Rowen's headless mount. Although it wore full plate barding, it showed no signs of slowing down even as the Shinoona's breathing grew more labored from the exertion at this higher elevation. Perhaps this creature spewing black mist from its neck stump was raised through Rowen's magic and would never tire.

  Their pursuers finally came into view behind them. Their lead rider shot an arrow as a test, but the strong winds and the distance caused it to veer off uselessly. Altuna turned around on her Hyarul and fired back with her longbow, taking the man clean off his Shinoon. He disappeared into the trampling legs of his followers, who did not slow down and only sped up. Before the Shuva princess could nock another arrow, a bend in the path blocked her view of their pursuers.

  "More above us!" Yunil raised her ears and looked up. They could not see anybody but trusted the young Nokkoy's hearing. Their paths would likely cross ahead, and a direct confrontation was inevitable.

  It did not take long before the trail rose to meet another coming down from above. A green cloth strip weighed down by piled-up rocks fluttered in the wind at the intersection, a marker for pilgrims. They had returned to a larger road leading to one of the many temples in these lands. And when they continued on the path, they were greeted by a group of twelve warriors blocking the way.

  "We are breaking through!" Rowen drew Nightfall and raised it in an unmistakable gesture as he took point. The steppe warriors unleashed a volley of arrows, but they bounced off his and his mount's armor uselessly. Only the strongest Gadat crossbows would be able to pierce the black steel.

  The old knight did not slow down and charged at the enemies, who raised their spears to deter his mount. However, it ignored the pointy objects in its path, unlike any other animal would have, and crushed right through them. The spear tips scraped along its armor before being caught in tiny nooks, and the shafts were shattered. Some of their wielders were knocked off their mounts from the recoil while Rowen cut down a man who thrust his weapon at him directly.

  Then, he rammed the Shinoon in his path with his much heavier headless horse. Its rider flew in an arc and disappeared over the cliff, screaming all the way down. Yunil and Tashi followed into the opening, slashing the other warriors left and right, breaking their line entirely. As Viyal rode through the breach, she recognized the people around her. Their families were still alive, so they did all this to protect them from her prophecy.

  They continued without pause, with Altuna firing an arrow at the frontmost Shinoona among the pursuers behind them. It bucked, throwing off the rider and blocking the path of those who followed. Still, it was only a matter of time before they caught up to them again and peppered them with arrows. They needed to find a way to stop them for good.

  "There is a rope bridge over a ravine about an eighthday away," Rowen announced without looking back. It was hard to say if they could keep running for an hour like this, but that seemed to be the only choice.

  Soon, the riders were on their tail once more. They entered a pine forest with little undergrowth, opening the path for pursuers to catch up and potentially surround them. Altuna shot down five more of them before running out of arrows. She switched to her glaive, but it would do her no good against the mounted archers as they slowly came into range for their shorter composite bows.

  Yunil and Tashi suddenly turned around and engaged the enemies before they could shoot them in the back. Viyal looked over her shoulder and cried out, "What are you doing?!"

  They already could no longer hear her and swung their weapons, blocking the arrows coming their way. Viyal motioned to turn her Shinoon around, but Rowen called out to her, "Do not stop! Believe in them!"

  She pressed her eyes shut and drove her mount onward. Yes, her companions would not die here. They would defeat their pursuers and catch up to them quickly. She offered a silent prayer to the god who reincarnated her, or perhaps to Azakhal or any other god of this world, to see them again unharmed.

  A new group of eight riders suddenly cut through the forest from the right side. Altuna directed her Hyarul into their path and swung her glaive in an arc to deter their advance. Even Ravi joined the battle and attacked one of the riders with his claws. Three of them rounded her and aimed for Viyal with their bows. Rowen put himself between them and blocked the projectiles with his armor.

  However, one made it past him and struck Viyal's mount in the neck. It stumbled from the pain and fell, throwing her and Mamai off. They landed in the relatively soft pine straw a few paces away. Viyal looked around and found that her Shinoon's front leg was broken from the fall. Rowen cut down one of the attackers, and another faced him with his spear, but the third circled around his back and came for her with a spear.

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  Mamai suddenly leaped several times her body's height off the ground, catching the warrior by surprise. The little Diao latched onto his face and mauled him with such ferocity that Viyal stared in utter bewilderment. She remembered Tashi telling her about the Diao and their frenzied fighting style. This enemy experienced it firsthand as he fell off his Shinoon and trashed about trying to get her off him.

  Rowen cut down the other assailant and approached Viyal, who watched Mamai in a stupor. A moment later, she stood up from the unmoving man with blood dripping off her face and claws. Her eyes darted around, looking for her next target, and she found Altuna and Ravi struggling with their opponents. She ran off before Viyal could stop her.

  "Go help them!" she shouted at Rowen when he looked between them and the young Mosyv. However, he picked her up by the collar and placed her on the saddle in front of him.

  "More are coming. We cannot face them here," he explained with a nod to their left as he drove his horse onward. More riders approached from between the trees. Gavro must have marched the entire tribe into these lands and sent all those believing her to bring ruin to the tribe after her.

  They shot arrows at Rowen, but his armor protected him and his horse. Viyal was safe between his arms, ducking her head and pressing her eyes shut to block out the noises of steel hitting steel ringing incessantly around her. However, it soon stopped; they had run out of arrows in hopes of getting lucky and hitting Viyal. Yet, the pursuers would quickly catch up to them, and then, even the mighty old knight would not be able to hold them off from killing her with their spears.

  "Oh no!" he suddenly exclaimed, and Viyal looked up. They had reached the ravine he spoke of, but the rope bridge had been replaced with a solid wooden one. They would not be able to cross it and cut it down to lose their pursuers now. He stopped his horse at the edge and dismounted.

  "What are you doing?" Viyal asked, looking between Rowen and the approaching enemies. He did not respond and drew Nightfall. With a few well-placed cuts, his headless horse's plate barding fell off, revealing a pitch-black mare underneath.

  "I recall the name of that port town now. Melua," he said, stroking his beard with a hearty laugh. "They say it is the pearl of the Wynne Inland Sea where lost travelers will meet again."

  "You want me to continue alone?" Viyal cried out, but the old knight maintained his sunny disposition.

  "Your young friends will find you before then, young lady. I am sure of that," he said with a smile underneath his gray beard. With this, he whispered to his steed, "Run. Run like the wind."

  It let out a ghostly whinny that traveled on the wind before running off. Viyal looked back, stunned into silence. Rowen turned to face the approaching riders with Nightfall in his hand. He let out a challenging call and spread his arms as if signaling that he would stop their Shinoona with his very body.

  As Viyal disappeared into the forest on the other side of the bridge, the old knight welcomed the enemies with a grin. He grabbed the tassel on his crimson hood and lifted his head off his shoulders. The sight alone caused the Shinoona to come to a skidding halt in terror. They stepped in place nervously, unwilling to approach the headless man.

  "Come, brave people of the steppe. All who wish to die a warrior's death! This is your lucky day!" Rowen raised his severed head up high and taunted them.

  The half dozen warriors of the Zakhira exchanged nervous looks. They knew this old foreigner's martial prowess. He was Chief Amiro's champion, capable of fighting a mighty Mosyv in a show duel without sustaining a single strike, all while wearing heavy armor. How could they hope to defeat him when they did not measure up to even an average Mosyv?

  "Are you not trying to go after the young lady? Look, if you do not come, I will cut down your only path!" Rowen continued to taunt them and hacked Nightfall into the wooden railing demonstratively. That caused the warriors to move. They dismounted from their frightened Shinoona and approached together with their spears. Even if he was an unparalleled warrior, they outnumbered him and had the reach advantage.

  Rowen watched the six men slowly inch toward him from underneath his crimson hood. When they came into range to lunge forward and thrust their spears, he suddenly raised his head by the hood and let out a blood-curdling wail that echoed like a choir of souls suffering unspeakable agony. The Zakhira warriors screamed in terror and tripped over each other to get away. The old knight rushed forward and covered Nightfall with the black smoke emanating from his severed neck. Arcs of darkness flashed across the men as he moved past them with blinding speed, cutting them apart as if they were linen under a tailor's knife.

  Six bodies dropped to the floor, and dark mist rose from their cuts. It gathered together and swirled around Rowen's obscured neck before being absorbed into it. The old knight let out a sigh from his severed head. Slaying the wicked, the traitors, and the murderers, such was his task. However, he understood that these men did not come after a helpless child to enrich themselves. These were once honest men, driven onto the unrighteous path through fear and despair.

  "Monster!" a voice shouted at him from the tree line. Rowen looked into the twilight under the forest canopy and saw over twenty more warriors. They unleashed a hail of arrows, but the old knight turned around to protect his head and blocked them all with his armor.

  Then, he felt something stab him between his shoulder blades. Something had penetrated his armor, and when he lifted his head to look, he found a steel bolt embedded in his back. A young Kandai wielding a handheld ballista walked forward from among the pursuers, lumbering forward on foot. The tips of his antlers, which missed the usual decorative strips and trinkets of his people, were sharpened. He was Mengesun, one of the stragglers who joined the tribe after the coalition war.

  Mengesun stepped onto the hoop at the end of the ballista and turned a crank to wind up the torsion mechanism. It was not a weapon the steppe people built but one imported from Rowen's homeland. The ballista was usually placed on a stand and required two people to operate, but the towering Kandai had the physical strength to do it alone and shoot while holding it in his hands.

  "Come and fight me, man to man!" Rowen shouted at Mengesun, but the young Kandai ignored him and continued to turn the heavy crank. "Coward!"

  The other warriors stayed in their positions and waited for Mengesun to prepare the next shot. They knew Rowen could not move away from the bridge to attack the Kandai sniper since they would then pass him and continue chasing after their real target. None of them wanted to throw their lives away against the old knight.

  Seeing this, Rowen turned around and covered Nightfall with the black smoke from his severed neck again. He struck the wooden bridge behind him and cut through the railing in one slash. Right as he pulled his weapon free, the second ballista bolt penetrated his armor, digging deep into his flank. He staggered back and braced himself on his sword.

  "You shall not cross this bridge!" he roared, raising Nightfall and hacking through the other railing. The Zakhira warriors looked between him and Mengesun, who seemed to be almost casually winding up his next shot. The young Kandai instinctively understood all things engineering; he had modified this foreign weapon himself without ever having learned how to do it. The bridge would not fall even if the old knight cut through the foothold. The tension of the wood and the struts below would keep it in place.

  Rowen was a revenant, one who was returned from the dead to seek vengeance. He had fulfilled his creator's task long ago and continued to exist beyond his demise. Perhaps now was the time he would finally find eternal slumber. However, there was one last thing he had to do to be able to rest. A child had been given unto his care, and he had to make sure she was safe.

  The old knight placed his head back on his shoulders and took up Nightfall with both his hands. With a monumental swing, he cut through the bridge under his feet before the third shot penetrated his chest and struck his unbeating heart. For the first time in his unlife did he feel pain. His end had come.

  Rowen fell onto one knee but propped himself up with Nightfall. He looked up at Mengesun, who maintained his distance and reloaded the ballista, and the Zakhira warriors, who decided to approach him carefully. But they shied back when the old knight stood up once more and pulled back his hood to reveal hollow eyes burning with purple necromantic energy. It was a sight he could never show his loved ones, but that would drive terror into his foes. "This is as far as you go!"

  With this declaration, his body exploded into a storm of darkness that shot out from his black armor and ripped apart the weakened wooden bridge. Mengesun and the steppe warriors watched the now empty armor fall into the ravine alongside the debris. The last hints of black mist disappeared from it before it fell into the rapids deep below.

  Rowen's headless horse carried Viyal through the forest faster than any Shinoona ran. Unburdened by its heavy armor, it could truly gallop like the wind, forcing her to hold on for dear life lest she was blown off. However, it suddenly slowed down and came to a halt. Viyal looked around but saw nothing that explained why it stopped in this place.

  Then, the black mist emanating from its severed neck disappeared, revealing the pale wound underneath. In the next moment, the horse collapsed, and Viyal was thrown off. She quickly scrambled up to her feet, just in time to see the undead creature's flesh turn into dark smoke and waft away on an immaterial breeze. Within seconds, only a blank skeleton remained.

  Viyal collapsed to her knees, understanding what had happened. Tears rolled down her face as she stared at the horse's remains. Now, she was well and truly alone in this world.

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