Having walked straight through the night, Bidi and Starry were only half a day away from Vran and his forces. They were forced to take the road to cross the rapidly flowing river. It was too dangerous to swim across, so they made their way to the bridge, and in the distance, they saw a man walking on the road. Bidi thought his silhouette looked familiar, but she wasn't willing to wait to find out.
They crossed the bridge and stayed on the road. The man started walking faster to catch up to them, which scared Bidi, who was constantly checking over her shoulder to see the man. But he was too far away to make out his facial details.
Bidi sped up.
"Why are you walking so fast?" Starry asked, struggling to keep up due to her short legs.
"We need to get off the road," Bidi exclaimed.
"Why? We will save half a day if we stay on the road," Starry protested, "you said so yourself."
"That man is making me nervous. He sped up once he saw us," Bidi shared.
"So?" Starry sarcastically asked,
"So... he could be bad news."
"He doesn't even have any weapons," Starry said, looking back at the man. "What's the worst he could do?" She laughed.
"What if he is a caster?" Bidi asked.
"There are two of us and one of him. He can't take us down."
Bidi's paranoia was appeased, "oh, alright," she conceded, but she continued to look back at the man. She could only see that he had blonde hair. His hair was so blonde it almost reflected white in the sunlight. She kept looking over her shoulder for a few minutes, then the man started jogging to catch up with them. He was still a few miles away, so it would take a while for him to overtake them, but he was getting closer and closer. Then Bidi tried to stop looking back, but her nerves made her look back again, and he was close enough to see him.
It was Faro.
A huge sigh of relief swept over her. She made Starry stop so he could catch up. And she was no longer paranoid about that. She was just happy he made it out alive.
He was finally within earshot and yelled, "I thought you were dead!"
"I thought you were dead, too!" Bidi yelled back.
They both had a laugh. Faro gave Bidi a hug when he caught up. And he asked, "how did you escape? There were thousands of them."
"There's a secret tunnel underneath the castle," Bidi shared.
"I wish I knew about it. I had to kill one of them and take their clothes," Faro shared.
"I thought you were one of them," Bidi admitted. "You don't often see blonde hair in Gerak. And you are dressed in Jax's colors. You scared me."
"I'm sorry, but this is the only way I could have escaped," Faro replied. "Are you seeking out Vran as well?"
"We are," Starry automatically responded.
"How did they breach the castle?" Faro asked.
"They have invented a new weapon. I wanted to warn Vran that his castle is no longer impenetrable. He may have a plan to counteract the new invention," Bidi said.
"If we aren't safe in a castle, I don't know where we will be safe," Faro worried.
"Did you see what the men did with the capital after they seized it?" Bidi asked.
"They were getting back on their ship when I escaped," Faro said, "there was maybe one or two thousand of them left."
"Jax won't be happy with their work," Bidi sighed.
