red sun || lee felix

ch. 3 /// negotiating the pride

Changbin and I shot through the streets, not sure where we were going, only that we couldn't stand still. Soon the city disappeared behind us, gave way to dark, snowy earth for miles around. The snarling, the galloping footsteps behind us, never abated, never got any farther away.

"What are they doing?" I panted. "Why are they chasing us?"

"I told you, they're... protective. I thought they'd back off, let me disappear for a week or something, but the way we left must have been too suspicious. And now they've seen us just — taking a stroll, for god's sake, and running away when we noticed them. But we couldn't've stayed still, either!" He growled, frustrated. "Why didn't you see them coming?"

"I-I don't know, it doesn't work like that." My abilities had always been unpredictable. Fei hadn't known how to train me — her gift was persuasion, it didn't need honing.

I tried not to lose pace as I flipped through the possible futures. It all depended on what we chose to do within the next minutes. We could run until the sun came up, be caught, fight until I was dead and Changbin was back in their clutches — not necessarily in that order, but the options stayed the same no matter how I looked at it.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" I said, talking to both him and myself.

"You're the fortune teller, you tell me!"

"It's not looking so hot right now. We need a plan."

"Does fighting work?"

"Sometimes."

"What about running, do we lose them?"

"Maybe."

"Jesus Christ, a little more decisive please."

"We need a different plan, hyung. You've decided it's gonna end in a fight or a chase."

"How else could it end?!"

"Talking."

"Didn't Fei teach you that nomads don't talk? If we stop, they'll tear us up — tear you up — without a word."

"I'm not saying it'll be a civilized discussion. Maybe you can strike a deal. Bargain. Lie. Threaten. We gotta be clever about this, right? What do you think?"

His big idea was palpable, like a lightbulb flickering on above his head. As he decided on another route, the future shifted in my mind. Less violent options, still scrambled — it depended on the nomads' actions now. We might make it to the coastline in one piece after all.

"Holy shit," he said, "Felix, you're amazing."

My insides were suddenly jelly. "No, you are."

"What'd you say?"

"Er, what?"

He moved on. "I have a plan. It's gonna be hard to fend them off. Focus on protecting yourself. Stop in three, two — one."

We both came to a stop, snow kicking up around us. As soon as we weren't on the move, the coven caught up at lightning speed. Changbin hadn't gotten a single word out before a nomad rammed him in the gut, sent them both hurtling across the tundra.

I caught a male's punch mid-flight — he grabbed my face with his other hand and flung me to the ground. I rolled out of the way of his boot, but another nomad caught me, slammed my head against the ice.

"Stop!" Changbin's growl echoed off the mountains. "Ganzorig, tell them to stop."

Ganzorig was the leader. He wasn't fighting me or Changbin — he stood and watched, arms crossed over his chest.