The Dragon Star (Realms of Shadow and Grace: Episodes 1-3 of 7)

THE FUGITIVES - SHA-KUTAN

"Keep down."

"How do you know he's still there?"

"Quiet."

"But how do you know?"

"Because I do."

Sha-Kutan placed his hand on Lee-Nin's shoulder to hold her down behind the wall of the barn they hid within, away from the open window. She glared at him.

"I will tell you when he is gone." Sha-Kutan could sense the man clearly.

"How will you know?" Lee-Nin clutched a wide-eyed Sao-Tauna to her chest.

Sha-Kutan ignored Lee-Nin's repeated question. If he did not answer, possibly she would cease to ask. He turned away from her and concentrated on the man in the street. The man she had recognized. The man who hunted the girl.

We should wait for him to check the barn and kill him.

We should flee through the back and leave him behind us.

To follow us again and find us again and be killed another day?

So we can confuse the trail and lose him for good.

The only way to lose him for good is if he is beneath the ground.

And the men who follow him?

A large party requires a large grave.

"Well?" Lee-Nin pushed his hand from her shoulder. Silence did not calm her concerns.

"He is entering the building across the street." Sha-Kutan rose to confirm his sightless senses with his eyes. The man, the warden commander Lee-Nin had identified, walked through the door of an inn named the Red Crow.

Too hard to kill him and his men now.

We could wait.

We cannot.

They had hidden in the barn just after sunset, when she spotted the commander warden near the crowd of pilgrims they followed through the small town's main street. They had been with the band for weeks, pretending to be a family following the new star, and had so far eluded the men who pursued them. The commander had not returned for more wardens as Sha-Kutan expected. Instead, the man hunted them with only four men. Four men who now helped him search through the night-cloaked town for Lee-Nin and Sao-Tauna. They could not wait where they hid for much longer, or they would be found.

"We go now." Sha-Kutan stood up, watching the inn to make sure the men did not return to the street. "If we leave through the back of the barn, we can cross the field and be in the woods before they leave the inn."

"The pilgrims will notice us missing." Lee-Nin placed her hand on the frame of the open window and pulled herself to her feet. "He'll ask them about us."

"Yes, but they will not know where we have gone. The commander and his men will need to start their search afresh." Sha-Kutan turned and headed to the small door at the rear of the barn. He did not need to look over his shoulder to sense Lee-Nin and the girl following him.

They ran through a field of rye behind the small town, staying low to the ground, or as low as possible in Sha-Kutan's case. When they entered the woods, they spent several minutes observing the town to make sure no one made to follow their path across the field.

"What about the dogs?" Lee-Nin pushed a branch aside to better see the field.

"The dogs will follow you. They will not follow me. They may go to the barn, but will not cross the field." Sha-Kutan walked into the forest, heading south. They would need to find another road to travel.