Dragon's Tale 92 (Patreon)

The elation of leaving behind the Junia estate was incredible. Even the air tasted sweeter. 

It wasn’t that we were safe, not by any stretch of the word, but at least, we were out of the estate wards, which meant that even if the worst happened and they discovered the nature of our escape, we would have a fighting chance. 

Not a very big change, mind you, especially with my ability to use magic significantly compromised by the sudden boost of power, but even the smallest chance was better than certain death. 

Especially since, with the distance between us and the gate widening with each hurried step we took, the chances of our survival increased as well. Though, the distance created by our steps was hardly satisfying. I would have preferred to start running, but that hardly seemed to be the most prudent idea while we were still visible from the gate. Betting on the distraction of the guards was not the best idea.  

Luckily, not too far from the estate, there was a forest — which was another proof of the confidence of the Junia family, prioritizing beauty over security. Not that I was complaining, as the presence of it allowed us to take a turn, finally hiding from the view of the gate. 

“What now?” Xia asked as she looked at me, her voice already strained. “We were supposed to get horses to get away, and I can’t suppress all of those weapons and dragon hearts for long. Running will only exhaust me faster.” 

“Don’t worry about them, we’ll get rid of them soon. And about lacking horse,” I said, then with a sigh, crouched in front of her. “Hop on.” 

I wished that we weren’t in mortal danger, because her shocked expression was enough for me to tease her for a considerable amount of time. “You can’t be serious—“ she started. 

“We don’t have time to waste. Unless you can find a horse in less than a minute, or have the ability to run as fast as one without completely collapsing, that’s your ride.” 

“T-that’s nonsense,” she gasped, clearly hating the idea, but if there were perks to immediate mortal danger, it was to prevent pointless discussion. Xia was aware that we were racing against time to get away safely. Under my gaze, she swallowed her complaints, and climbed on my shoulders. 

Then, I loosened my control on my transformation once more, letting my legs turn into clawed monstrosities. And…

Started running. 

Her shocked cry was not a surprise, nor was the sudden tightening of her hands around my hair. Even I was surprised by my speed. With the assistance of my transformed legs, I was moving at a speed that could easily surpass a significant portion of magical horses. 

A shocking development, but not an unwelcome one in the short term. The impact of the transformation in the long term… Well, it was a problem to be focused on after handling our sudden challenge. 

I turned my attention to the more immediate concerns. Interestingly, even as I moved with such rapid speed, I didn’t have any problem moving through the forest, a challenge that would have resulted in a broken leg for any horse. With my perception, I was easily able to notice the holes and roots, and my legs allowed me to take sharp turns that a horse could never replicate under the circumstances. 

If I was still a young boy that didn’t know how the world worked, that speed would have made me change my plans, hoping that a mad dash would put enough distance, giving me the edge I needed. After all, with such speed, there were very few things that could actually catch me, and adding to the fact that I was able to run through areas where horses and other beasts of burden couldn’t easily penetrate. 

That would have been a deadly mistake.  

My new speed meant that, while I could certainly avoid anyone that was sent from the estate, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that the strongest Patrician house’s strength was limited to their own estate. No, they had many other mages and soldiers they could call across Italy. 

Not to mention their ability to actually mobilize the legions of Rome. 

Escaping from a cohort had been hard enough when I first became a sorcerer, even with my increased strength, I didn’t want to replicate that experience against a legion or two. 

Certainly not in the middle of Italy, surrounded by legions. 

Also, while not as important as the first reason, I also didn’t want to keep the transformation active for too long. The abilities that transformation gave me were incredible, but the sudden intrusion of wild emotions and instincts was as intimidating as those abilities were incredible. 

I didn’t want to transform into a wild animal. 

Of course, if I wanted to get away, I needed some distraction. Luckily, we managed to collect sufficient ammunition to enable so. As I run through the forest, I made sure to stay relatively close to the main road, and barely five minutes later, we managed to catch up with another noble carriage, one that left the Junia Estate several minutes before we did. 

“Slip a weapon and a dragon heart to the carriage,” I requested from my ally. 

“I can’t believe that you’re asking a sorceress to cast parlor tricks,” she murmured in dissatisfaction, but her annoyance didn’t prevent her magic from flaring. 

“Well, I can always try it if you want,” I suggested with a smirk.  

Her response was a panicked gasp. “No! You can’t cast anything without burning half of the carts,” she followed by a furious whisper.  

I paused a moment to consider her words, feeling the tumultuous rage in my core. “Maybe,” I answered, my voice suddenly tense even as I watched a weapon and a dragon heart silently floating toward the cart, avoiding the notice of the guards. 

I took a deep breath, suppressing the sudden rage, rising much more aggressively despite no reason to do so. It seemed that I would suffer an even more confusing emotional storm this time. 

“Run,” she ordered after our little present was safely hidden, tapping my shoulder, which didn’t help my unnatural fury. Luckily, running at full speed was a good way to suppress it. 

And just like that, our escape attempt continued, which was surprisingly dull considering the stakes — and the value of the items we spread around in the hopes of creating a distraction, every single one of them enough to trigger a sizable scuffle even in the center of Rome. 

When we arrived at the gates of the city, half of the weapons and dragon hearts were already unloaded, some buried in the forest, some carefully placed in various carts. I even managed to send a prearranged message to Theodora, one that asked the ship she prepared for me to set said and move to a predetermined location in the open sea. 

Docks weren’t connected to the city, but I had a feeling that, once we finished with Rome, they would close the docks as well. 

Unless he was convinced that his treasures were somewhere else, somewhere they couldn’t barge directly and discover things. 

And, luckily, we were sufficiently close to such a location. 

“Such a waste,” Xia murmured as she pulled a gray cloak around her head — one that she stole as we were moving, while murmuring about wasting her great talents to do petty thievery — while I did my best to suppress my transformation once again under a similar cloak. “So many dragon hearts and magical weapons, all thrown away as a distraction.” 

I shrugged as we got closer to the gates. “I don’t love the feeling of throwing them away for nothing either, but we need the distraction. They might notice our disappearance any moment, and we need them distracted trying to recollect their treasures rather than just trying to find us.” 

Luckily, that was yet to happen, as we were able to go through the gates with minimal fanfare, a spell from Xia enough to distract the careless guard that was supposed to check our identity, and we stepped into Rome. 

“It’s such a pointless risk to enter Rome,” she murmured in annoyance. 

“Feel free to find an alternative location where they can’t just send their full army. If you want to distract a tiger, you need a wolf even if you can’t find a tiger. Luckily, we are next to the den.” 

“Pomerium is still too excessive. If I got caught under the wards of the Pomerium, it’s a death sentence.” 

“It doesn’t matter where we are caught. We’re dead meat no matter where we are caught. We can’t escape the jaws of a Patrician house without taking some risk,” I answered. “Not after delivering such a deadly injury.” 

“But, entering Rome… It’s certain that they block the exits once they discover what we are doing, and they will do so before we could leave. How are we going to escape.” 

“Don’t worry about it, just try to finish your work as soon as possible and hide those dragon hearts with the strongest families, then leave the wards and cast the signal spell. I’ll return after distributing the weapons and return to pick you up.”

“But what if they raise the alarm…” she murmured. 

“You just have to trust me. After everything going on, I certainly have no intention of leaving you behind after everything.”  

She looked reluctant, but after everything we had gone through, she was smart enough to realize that I wouldn’t have sacrificed her for nothing. Not when I desperately needed her help to understand the transformation I was suffering.