Chương 22: The Escape

"I need to see my tome," Aaron said. This was the worst possible moment to need a runecrafting spell. He swore that when he was safe, he'd memorise his spells so he didn't have to read from the tome in an emergency. Harrold didn't seem impressed.

"Why? You don't need it to drain mana."

"I sense something's wrong with June." Of course, nothing was wrong with June. Nothing new anyways. But Harrold crashed across the room to her in a panic. Aaron reached for his tome. Harrold crouched down to her eye level and held her hands.

"What's wrong my dear?" June looked equal parts confused and tired.

"I don't know." There was no one to stop Aaron from running. His legs twitched in anticipation, but he forced himself to stay calm. There wouldn't be enough time to lock the door and escape before Harrold ran across the room. It was difficult to find the right page of the tome. His sweaty fingers struggled to grip the pages as he frantically shuffled through them. Finally, he found Osteokineses. He envisioned the runes in his mind, slashing out their intricate shapes. They fizzled and shattered.

He'd made a mistake. Runecrafting was finicky at the best of times and casting a new spell in a rush was a near impossible task. But he had to make it work. Fighting every instinct to rush, he tried again but slowly. He felt it work. When he finished tracing the final rune, he felt his mana unlock from his chest, like turning on a tap. It flowed effortlessly through his fingertips. Still slumped on the floor, the guard barely flinched when the mana hit him.

This was good, it meant he didn't have much strength to resist the spell. Aaron weaved his mana into the guard's bones. They were thick and heavy-set as expected for a large man, but unsupported and limp like a sack of potatoes. The spell connected each bone together. He felt the man's body as a single unit. The legs were connected through the spine which in turn connected the arms and the head. This was nothing like casting Osteokineses on the crow.

In fact, it was magnitudes more difficult, which made sense as the man was probably a hundred times its size. He doubled and tripled the spell over the spine, using his mana reinforcing the load bearing joints as much as possible. Despite the size, the process felt surprisingly easy. It was on a greater scale than any necromancy spell he'd used yet, but the difficulty was the same. And he had plenty of mana to use on it thanks to using Drain Remnant on the guard.

[Skill proficiency increase (+2)] Osteokinesis: Level 3 Aaron quickly pushed the mental notification out of his focus. This was no time for distractions. This whole process was over in a matter of seconds. The guard should have been glowing given the amount of mana Aaron poured into the spell, but of course that's not how it works. Like pulling a puppet's strings, Aaron commanded the mana infused bones to rise.

The guard unfolded from the knees and ratcheted to his feet in a motion that could only be described as unnatural and disturbing. Aaron grimaced, but no one else had noticed yet. Harrold was far too busy asking June repeatedly what was wrong. The spell felt effortless now the mana was already set in his bones. It was unclear whether his arms were limp or stiff. They were stuck out at a crooked angle, yet it felt as if they would slop and sag as soon as Aaron stopped willing them upright.

With more skill and practice, Aaron thought he could have done a more natural job of moving him, not that it mattered. All he needed was a ten second distraction to run out the room and lock the door. With Aaron's mental command, the brute stumbled forwards one leg at a time. Harrold roared in surprise as he was grabbed from behind.

"Get off me". It felt as if Harrold was pushing against his own strength rather than the guard's. The muscles down the front of Aaron's right arm started twitching, but he swiftly grabbed it to make it stop. Harrold's elbow sailed into the guard's gut. A wet mist of spit splattered across the back of his neck, but Aaron responded swiftly by making him grip tighter. But Harrold was strong. He grabbed the guard fists and pulled them apart, making his arms shake from the tension.

Aaron felt his mana slip through his fingers. He pushed as hard as he could, but he couldn't channel it fast enough. The guard's arms wrenched apart, slowly giving way to Harrold's strength. In a final bid for an advantage, Aaron threw all his mana into one last move. The guard grabbed onto Harrold's wrists and threw himself backwards, toppling him onto himself. All eyes were on them. This was the moment to run.

[Somatomancy talent improved] Bone Mastery: rank 1 Aaron couldn't stop to gawk at all of the power ups he was getting, although he could feel already that he was getting stronger. He darted for the brass key in the door. Seconds felt like minutes as he rattled it around in the lock, trying to pull it free. Once he finally had it, he ran through and slammed it shut behind him. He thrusted the key into the hole and locked it. Finally, he ran.

Aaron sprinted down the corridor, fuelled by adrenaline and the mana regeneration boost from his level up. He tossed the key into an open door on his way. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He slowed down as he reached the end of the corridor. The guards would still be waiting there and they might suspect a problem if they heard his footsteps pounding as he ran.

He took a couple of deep breaths, slowed his breathing and ran his fingers through his hair to neaten it up. Thankfully, they didn't seem alarmed as he walked past them. He smiled at one of the guards, but inside he was screaming. As soon as Aaron was down the stairs and out of ear shot, he sped through several seemingly endless rooms, boots pounding through marble floor. For a moment, he felt lost. but his instincts didn't fail him when he needed them most as he emerged in the central lobby.

There were four guards in the corners, as usual. Aaron walked past them casually waving and bidding them goodnight. None of them batted an eyelid. Once Aaron reached the front garden, he breathed a sigh of relief. The hard bit was over. But he didn't allow himself to give up any momentum. The door wouldn't hold Harrold for long. Given by how easily he tossed Aaron across the dinner room, he could probably punch his way through in minutes… or seconds. He hoped for minutes though.

As he passed the carriage out the front, he noticed it was empty. The driver must have been inside having his dinner. Only the two horses remained. It would have been great if he knew how to ride or drive, but he left his family farm before he was old enough to be taught. He'd have to continue on foot. One thing he did remember though, was how to saddle a horse. Or un-saddle in this case.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the closest rein on the left most horse and pulled the leather strap free from its buckle detaching it on one side. It wouldn't have been difficult to fix, but with a bit of luck, they'd end up stuck sideways in the road and wasting a few minutes.

Gasping for breath as he arrived home, the threat to his brother's life caught up with him. He prayed that Harrold's men didn't beat him home. The street was pitch black by this time in the evening with barely anyone around, making it difficult to climb the steps up to his front door. He crept up carefully, stifling his panting the best he could. The front door was left ajar. He could hear the sound of two men talking and they weren't his brother.

Did they get to Tim first or were these the men Harrold sent earlier? He prayed to the gods that it was the latter. As he peered through the gap, he saw two of Harrold's suited men sat at his table drinking his wine. Tim was opposite them. Aaron felt like he could breathe again. Although it was far from a good situation. His brother sat up stiff as a plank, still unharmed, but looked terrified. Harrold must have sent these men on standby earlier. They sounded far too drunk to have just arrived.

He didn't have time to mess around. There were minutes, at best, before reinforcements caught up. He needed to do something. And fast! He used his highest level skill and cast his Manipulate spell and targeted the guard's hearts. It was a long shot, but perhaps it would do enough to make them pass out. Or maybe hurt them enough for them to run out for some air. The men weren't magic users and didn't have a lot of mana. They were also drunk as sailors which made it easier to cast the spell without them noticing.

Aaron suspected sober people would notice if something as important as their heart was being tampered with. It was still much more difficult than on a dead pig's heart. An unwilling, living victim needed a lot more power and focus, in spite of all the wine they had on board. It was obvious he wasn't powerful enough to stop their hearts. Not even close. He channeled as much of his remaining mana as possible into the men's hearts and compressed them, constricting them like a snake.

He sensed that less blood flowed through the heart by a small amount. And the harder he pushed, the more the hearts struggled. It was as if their spirits were defending themselves. The men might have been drunk and unaware, but their very souls rejected Aaron's spell. But he had to succeed. He pressed harder, intensifying the icy feeling in his chest. It took all of his focus to maintain the spell, but he knew this wasn't an instant fix. It would take maybe a minute of constricting to have any effect on them.

A minute he didn't want to lose. But he didn't have much of a choice anymore. The mana cost had been so high, that he wouldn't get a second chance. The chatter stopped. Aaron dropped the spell and peaked through the door... One man had his head down on the table cradled in his folded arms whilst the other was yawning and stretching his arms. He was on his feet and walking around the room. Aaron watched as he walked past and sat on the armchair in the main living area.

He was practically out of mana, but he needed to try one last time. Aaron channeled all of his remaining mana on the guard's heart. Focusing on one at a time was much easier, yet he felt his knees buckling beneath him as his mana ran low. The heart slowed and weakened under the force of the spell. The lack of blood flow to the already starved brain must have finally got the better of him as his head dropped back in the chair and he let out a deep snore.

Saliva dribbled down the side of his cheek and dripped onto the back of the chair. [Skill proficiency increase] Manipulate: Level 5 After carefully opening the door, Aaron crept into the room and gestured to Tim to join him. Tim's eyes brightened with hope as the sight of his brother. He carefully slid his chair backwards, and tip toed past the guard sat opposite him. Each creak of the floorboards felt deafening against the tense silence. Tim grabbed his coat and a pouch of coin before leaving.

They crept away in silence until they were a few hundred paces away from the house, standing in a dark alleyway off the main street. Aaron pulled his coat up around his neck as a cold wind whistled through. Aaron had been desperate to see his brother unharmed. But now they were together again, all he felt was guilt and remorse. He should have listened before it got out of hand.

"Tim, I'm so sorry. You were right. I feel like such a fool." Tim looked back at him through a cold glare.

"Let's just get out of this mess and we can figure it out later. What's your plan?" There hadn't been any plan up to this point, and Aaron certainly hadn't had the time to think this through properly. It had been all reactive and chaotic.

"I don't have one," Aaron admitted. Tim huffed and sighed, although Aaron suspected he knew there was no plan.

"I have an idea. Do you remember that cemetery keeper who visited?" Tim was talking about the man who dropped the sun coin. The same man that offered a way to help Tim. And the same symbol that Aaron found on a mission log about a Necromancer in Harrold's library. He didn't trust him, but in the face of few options, it was a necessary risk.

"Yes. The noble who visited our home. He wanted to help you but you refused," Aaron said pointedly. Tim hid his hands in his coat pockets.

"Well he offered me a deal and I think it's our best bet in making it to safety."

"What deal?" Aaron asked.

"He wants me to take him to the old farm."

"What, why?" Aaron asked. He noticed his voice getting louder and corrected it back down to a whisper.

"Why the farm?" The sound of hooves trotting on the pavement shot past the main road. The men were too far away to see, but they could hear at least five or six.

"That way, the boss wants them alive."

"I can't wait for a bit of action. It's been weeks since a good beat down."

"He's really mad this time. What did the brat do?" Aaron and Tim ducked down into the shadows and brought their voices down to the quietest whisper possible. Aaron barely dared to breathe at the risk of being heard.

"Tim, why the farm? It's too dangerous," Aaron repeated.

"He said he could help me remove my curse. He wants to find the artifact."