Chapter Text
Your feet pounded on the dirt path. You ignored the pain from the rocks that seemed to be pointed at the sharpest edge to hit your feet at the harshest angles. It was easy to push that pain to the outskirts because escaping was your survival. You had precious minutes on your pursuers. Every second counted.
The distance to your sigil that had been laid for you was coming close. You had memorized the path in the crudely drawn map until exhaustion the last handful of nights since it had been snuck into your hand at a ceremony. From someone who was a savior. Someone from your own court had dared -- no risked -- infiltrating their walls to reach you. With their defenses, it had been a suicide mission.
But this person loved you... loved you so deeply. The small parchment had been passed so quickly between your hands and you had maintained a serene smile, watching the festivities. Only their eyes had drawn your attention for a second behind their head covering and it had been enough to know to take their hand. It had always been a promise you would hold their hand when they crossed your path, even for a moment.
You had waited until moonlight painted the stone floor in your chambers to open the parchment. That was the only time you were granted peace and solitude.
Snapped from your thoughts by the purple glow off to the side, you took a sharp turn. Skidding and barely catching yourself from falling on your side, you hissed in pain of the burn on your skin the impact. If you were caught, that would be an extra disgrace. You were to be whole to practice your magic at its height. It lessened your value to your captors. Sucking in sharply, you threw yourself back on balance.
Ferns grazed your calves as you ran off the path, praying you would not twist an ankle in an unseen hole. Yet... you were honing in. The sound of the creek that led to the sea and the hum of the chorus of waves beckoned you home.
Over the call of salvation, you heard shouts behind you as the guards caught the change in your track further back on the dirt path. They were still too close for you to feel any sense of comfort. Not until you laid your hand on the riverbed stone and felt the release into the sigil would you relax.
A buzz flew by your ear and you caught sight of rainbow spattered translucent wings.
Your breath caught in your chest.
Athos. Your beloved companion come to lead you again and be with you when you returned home. A soft, quiet brush against your cheek in admiration before they sped on, further lighting the way.
A sigil caught your sights to the left, lifted above the middle of the river. You changed direction to it. A smaller sigil would reflect at the riverbed. You found it hovering and darted. The water chilled you when you ran in. Falling to your knees clumsily in your anxiousness, you slammed your hand to the illuminated stone beneath the water. Another nudge as Athos settled himself into the crook of your neck. Ready to flow home to the sea side with you. Hands from your ancestors gripped you as the sigil wrapped itself around your hand.
Steve could not cross this plane to your kingdom. It was too powerful without permission. You would not be betrayed again. Of that you were sure. So you were safe in the current as you were swept away, losing the shouts of the guards behind you.