Flight (new version)

Chapter 18: New Threats

Griffin staggered backward then got off the street and slipped into the closest gap between houses. Now what? Only one human was outside now, ambling down the road to wherever he lived. Griffin pressed against the wall of the house's cold stone walls. A guard appeared in his line of sight and stalked past, head swiveling as though looking for something.

I need to hide. He drew his cloak in tightly around him and pulled the hood down. He half-heartedly checked what remained of his magic. To his surprise, a quarter had already regenerated. Not bothering to question it, Griffin tapped into his magic, drawing just enough to form the darkness into a shadow cloak. Almost immediately after he'd done that, another guard passed by the alley. Then stopped. And entered. Griffin fought to stay still so as not to break the magic. Cold sweat slid down his back. The guard glanced around, took a few more steps forward. Scratched his closely-shaved gray hair.

"Find something?" a smooth voice questioned. Another guard, this one a young woman with loose dirty blond curls, entered the alley.

"Kirian saw someone duck into this alley. Thought it looked suspicious and called me over." The first guard took a few more steps forward, brows pinching closer together. He was now five feet away. "Do you see anything? Can't see very well in this dim light anymore."

The woman looked around. Her eyes landed on Griffin and for a moment he wondered if he'd lost hold of his magic, but then her eyes continued on. "No, nothing. They might've gone further in?"

"It's a dead end down there. And they could be waiting to jump us." The first guard's hand moved over to the hilt of his sword as he said this.

"Kirian said it was just one person?"

"Yeah."

"Human?"

The guard shrugged. "Dunno. He couldn't tell."

"We'll go in together. One second." The woman left then returned with a lantern. She unsheathed her blade with the free hand. "Alright. Let's go."

The older man drew his blade and the guards advanced cautiously, side by side so that there were no gaps between them and the narrow alley walls.

Griffin's eyes widened and he instinctively backed away before they could bump into him. The shadow cloak immediately dissolved.

"There!" The first guard swung at Griffin.

He stumbled backward, desperately trying to get a hold back on the shadows. He poured more magic than he meant to, nearly depleting what little had regenerated. The shadow pulled tightly around him as he ducked then backed hurriedly away as the second guard swung her weapon. His heel hit something sticking out of the ground. Still grappling to summon the shadows to him, Griffin flailed his arms, trying desperately to keep his balance. And then something pulled at his gut and he fell, turning, twisting, and spirally into a disorienting blackness that should not have been there thanks to the guard's lantern light. His limbs seemed to have disappeared—he couldn't feel them. He couldn't feel anything around him either, just the terrifying weightlessness of falling.

And then he slammed onto the ground, making him cough as all the breath was driven out of him. Griffin gasped, struggling to draw in a breath. Still wheezing, Griffin shakily sat up and glanced around for his attackers. They were gone. And so was the alley.

"What the..." Griffin gazed down at the ground. At the dirt and grass he was sitting on. Then over at the road to his right. Then up at the sky, pure black and freckled with a million crystalline stars. He stood up and turned in a slow circle, still in a daze from the sudden change in scenery. Maplehurst cut a dark silhouette against the stars a bit further down the road. He was still close enough to see the outer guards patrolling the wall.