Drazaria felt nauseated as his eyes darted to either side, attack magic swirling erratically around his entire body as he looked for an escape. He hadn’t prepared for this; wasn’t ready to face him. That was why he needed Swordheart - the Royal Sorcerer was too-

Suddenly knives shot out of nowhere, surprising the Royal Sorcerer as he raised his crystalline arm to block them. His brows rose as a cut appeared along his cheek anyway and dodged back - setting up a personal barrier. Reactive, no doubt.

Drazaria was still caught in the barrier, scrabbling at it with desperate attack magic fashioned into claws around his hands. He had to get out - to escape while the Royal Sorcerer was distracted. But this was Basin magic - too powerful for even Drazaria to force his way through. And no doubt the Royal Sorcerer had charged up a lesser focus to last a while. He was a bastard, but he was a smart bastard - the worst kind.

More knives appeared from various points, but Drazaria was distracted by a tap on his back. He whipped around, attack magic still at the ready - to see nothing.

But he felt a cautious hand around one wrist - and glared at it but waited. After a moment, he felt a weight flung over him - and could suddenly see Owal under a dark feathered cloak. The vanin teen put a finger to their lips and started backing out of the barrier, which flowed around the cloak like water.

They stole a Shadow Roc cloak? Drazaria realized, grabbing the edge of the cloak over his back to keep it in place as he followed. No wonder their handler is after them.

“I don’t think so,” the Royal Sorcerer said, making a chill run down Drazaria’s spine.

Suddenly, roots shot out from the ground around both their feet. Drazaria looked down and realized the cloak was no longer covering their feet, being spread between two people as it was. Drazaria saw the obsidian swap stone a moment before the man himself appeared, and time seemed to slow down.

The Royal Sorcerer smirked at him - then turned and set a spike-shaped burst of attack magic into Owal’s torso. The teen coughed up blood, eyes widening.

Drazaria grit his teeth - then grabbed two of his swap stones and tossed them away. He sent blades of attack magic spiraling out from his legs to cut himself free, then twisted and sent the Royal Sorcerer flying with an enhanced attack magic kick. Then he cut the kid free and swapped them both away, using his twisting motion from the kick to maneuver the teen onto his back. Carrying them piggyback as he took off, crouching low to keep the cloak covering them completely, he felt blood seeping onto his back.

Drazaria ran all the way to his base and dumped the teen on a nearby table. They groaned, clutching at their wound - a wound the sorcerer healed to the point where Owal’s life was no longer in danger but not quite fully healed. Drazaria panted heavily as he grabbed a pouch by the door and ran outside, setting up stones around the perimeter of his base.

He was already running on fumes but needed to move - just in case. His defensive enchantments were attached to the building, not the grounds, so they would move with it. He ran in a random direction, not stopping until he found somewhere secluded - a small beach hidden by tall cliffs on the North Inner Sea. He set matching stones in the exact same formation they had been in at his old base. He accomplished this with the two sticks that had also been in the pouch, measuring the diameter of the base’s floor.

Forcing himself through the pain of overexertion, Drazaria teleported his base to the new location. He collapsed into the sand when it was done. He coughed the grains up, turning onto his back. He should get inside, quickly - but his body was done, and he passed out against his will.

Drazaria woke up with a headache - but he woke up inside his base. On the floor, but inside. He groaned as he sat up, feeling an entire body ache and a distinct lack of magic.

Owal was propped up against a nearby bookshelf - torso messily bandaged and sound asleep.

They must have dragged me inside with that injury, the sorcerer thought, then sighed, Guess they earned those two months they wanted…

Drazaria flinched at a knock - then relaxed as the pattern finished.

Vasskr cautiously opened the door - and it ran into his brother’s foot.

The human flopped back onto the floor, “What?”

“I sensed you changed location,” Vasskr replied, gently pushing his brother’s leg out of the way with his own, “I wanted to check in.”

Drazaria grunted noncommittally. He didn’t want to talk about it.

“You overused your magic,” Vasskr observed, “And you have a guest?”

<<Something like that,>> the sorcerer signed, closing his eyes. He was too tired for conversation.

Vasskr sighed, then closed the door. He reached down and picked Drazaria up, saying, “And you’re covered in blood - not that that’s particularly new, I suppose…”

The sorcerer huffed in vague amusement.

Vasskr took his brother to the base’s washroom, helped him out of his dirty clothes, and scrubbed most of the blood off him. When that was done, he carried the human up to the loft and put him to bed.

“I’ll go see to your guest - get some sleep,” the kradreen said.

Drazaria hummed an affirmative, already beginning to fall asleep again while thinking, This is almost like the night he and Vallas took me in…

It took a week before Drazaria was back in shape. In that time, he learned two things.

One: Owal used thon pronouns. Two: thon was annoying.

Mostly in the form of questions the sorcerer didn’t want to answer, themed by the day:

Day One: “So the Royal Sorcerer really freaks you out, huh?”

Day Two: “I woke up when Vasskr was here, you know - why was the Guardian’s Mentor looking after you, anyway?”

Day Three: “Do you really live in this little tower by yourself all the time?

Day Four: “How does the shower and tub even work?”

Day Five: “Don’t you have any interesting books?”

Day Six: “So the Royal Sorcerer really freaks you out, huh?”

Day Seven: “Do you always have enough food for a siege in your magic larder?”

How does Vasskr deal with teenagers every day? Drazaria wondered, having replied to nothing with more than noncommittal grunts or a short yes or no. He could feel his magic was back - like being able to breathe clearly after suffering from a stuffy nose. So he had gotten up and ready to head out.

“Are you going after Swordheart today?” Owal asked the moment he reached the door.

“No,” Drazaria rolled his eyes, walking outside. After a quick look around the beach, he went and collected his teleportation stones into their bag - but at least unlike the swap stones, the teleportation stones he used for his base teleported with the object they were moving.

“Where are you going then?” thon persisted, poking thons head out of the doorway.

“Out,” the sorcerer replied, shifting the bag onto his back.

“Is that a good idea?” Owal asked, “I mean, since you just recovered, shouldn’t you like… do a test run or something?”

“This is a test run,” Drazaria replied, then threw a swap stone up with enhanced strength to reach the top of the cliffs surrounding them.

He kept things simple - magically covering more ground at a fast-paced walk to the nearest edge of the Scourge. On the way, he caught an unfortunate rabbit. Once there, he closed his eyes and looked for a bird nearby with magic - preferably a hawk or falcon. While he could use his magic for the same purpose of surveillance, he didn’t want to risk someone spotting it - besides, natural eyes were better than magic ones, anyway.

Once he found a hawk, he gently compelled it to himself. He wasn’t a fan of dominating someone else’s mind - even an animal. So it took a few pokes before the hawk was irritated enough to comply, landing on a tree branch nearby.

What want? it asked, in the simple speech of animals translated by magic.

“Looking for a people nest with no people,” Drazaria replied, and held up the rabbit he’d caught, “Show me one, this is yours.”

The hawk considered, then took to the air with a screech and mental, Follow.

Drazaria did, using enhanced speed. The bird led him to the nearest abandoned town and was happy enough with its reward - though it remained close. The sorcerer could still sense its curiosity, even as he let that spell go. He didn’t want to take too long looking for an addition to his base - but if he had to share a small space with Owal the kid wouldn’t last another week.

He picked a small house at random - checking inside for Scourgebeasts and other possible animals - and set his teleportation stones around it. He then went to the woods and pulled down two thick branches - startling the hawk. It squawked at him affrontedly before settling again. Drazaria paid it no mind - taking the branches to the house he’d picked out and using magic to cut them into easier to manage poles the length and width of the building. Once that was ready, he set up his teleportation stones and headed back to his base. He noticed the hawk tail him but didn’t mind it - animals were often curious about people that contacted them.

When he got back, Owal was knee-deep in the water and staring intently down.

Thon knows there’s food, Drazaria thought, then shrugged and went about setting up the poles against the wall of his current dwelling. The noise drew the teen’s attention, and thon waded back in.

“You’re back already?” Owal asked, padding across the sand.

“Mhm,” Drazaria replied, setting the poles and arranging the teleportation stones around them. He then removed the poles - otherwise, they would be crushed under the house when he moved it like his last set had been.

“What are you doing?” the teen asked, staying a few feet back.

The sorcerer sighed, then stepped back and teleported the house. He pointed to it, “I like my space, so you can use that.”

“But… your place is tiny,” Owal frowned, scratching thons chin.

“But it is mine,” Drazaria grumbled, collecting his teleportation stones, “You get my enchantments; I get my space. Couldn’t let you stay two months otherwise…”

“Oh, you changed your mind?” the teen asked excitedly.

“You’re still here, aren’t you?” the sorcerer rolled his eyes, pausing to see the hawk land on the roof of the house he’d just teleported.

“Well, you did say two weeks,” Owal shrugged, glancing up before running into the new building.

Drazaria sighed instead of arguing that he’d never confirmed Owal’s information was good, heading into his base for a nap. His magic was back, and he had no issues using it - which meant tomorrow he would be going after Swordheart again.