“Take them!” the captain yelled. “I want them here.” All three of the boys took to the roof their own way, Milton whipping a tether straight there and yanking himself up, Henry with a glowing body and eyes summoned the art of the fighter and jumped, and Rennard surfed up on the wall on a trail of flames. One of the soldiers popped her head out the window and looked up.

“We’ll be seeing you some other time,” Rennard said and stuck out his tongue. Orders could be heard shouted within, to go to the roof, to surround the outer wall and not let them leave.

Milton put a magical rope to the ledge and let the other end fly all the way towards the outer wall, explosive at the first few hundred feet of travel but with a significant slowdown afterwards, a difference so stark it was like its travel had gone from air to water. The several hundred feet of distance required some time. A trapdoor opened and a guard climbed up.

“Uh, Milton?” Rennard said. “While we’re alive?”

Milton punched forward to give the tether an extra push. “A little left.” The guard stampeded towards them.

“She’s gaining on us!”

“Go!” The three jumped on the rope and skated down the line, the guard’s foot slapping down right where they’d been a second ago. The stomp wasn’t hard, she only wanted to pin them.

They had raced more than halfway past the line, headed straight for Lily. Before the guard reached for the rope, they were off and on the outer wall. Lily came up to them with a worried look, glancing to the commotion.

“What happened?”

“We’ll tell you all about it,” Henry said, “and it was a good one. But let’s get out of here first.”

“Where should I go?” she said.

“Well, back sou—”

“They’re already here,” Milton exclaimed, and along the western and eastern walls the guards came jogging. Lily approached the wall, tall to her chest, and presented her open satchel. They all hopped inside.

“Uhm… they look angry.” Lily anxiously turned her head left and right. “What do I do? They’re coming.”

“Just get the hell out of here!” Rennard yelled, her indecisiveness giving him the fearful realisation that they might indeed get caught. As they closed in from the sides, Lily ran north. The three held on inside the satchel.

“Stand still!” the frontmost soldier of the pursuit said. “Girl, why do you aid these troublemakers? Release them now and you’ll be let go.”

“Don’t listen,” Rennard said from the satchel, genuinely concerned she might listen. Considering her silliness, it wasn’t out of this realm for her to listen to them, and Rennard urged her continuously to keep her sprint going. Their steps battered the grassy plains, shaking the earth, trail of giants running full speed. The soldiers were spreading left and right while some remained in the middle, covering sides and shepherding Lily forward.

“They’re gonna catch me!” she said, her breathing rapid, looking down to them. “Do something.”

Milton scanned the surroundings and pointed. “Lily, head through those two cliffs. Trust me.” The cliffs spoken of required a slight eastern tilt in her sprint. Milton directed each palm to a cliff, focusing, however difficult it proved from within the rattling pocket. He circulated with his hands and two circles, indistinguishable unless one actively searched the rock surface, formed on each cliff.

Lily passed them. Milton summoned a fat cord across the two linking points, taut as a strung bow. The three only wished they could it, an extension of the comedy that took place in the guardhouse. A succession of startled exclamations and curses erupted, alongside the great thumps of their knees and arms and faces hitting the soil.

“I’m tired,” Lily said in between the panting and hurried glimpses behind.

“I’ve got you,” Henry said, summoning his fighter’s energy, swerving around his body. He reached up and put his palm against her frock, on the belly, and the fighter’s energy flowed through. As if Henry were sprinting himself, he started growing tired, his breaths faster.

“I feel less tired,” Lily said, amazed, and with what little she knew she might believe god had sent her this fortitude. It was Lily’s giant legs, Henry’s stamina, and a good setback from Milton. The middle portion of their pursuers had been hampered, but the sides persisted. Rennard gave an excited holler, his red ponytail flailing.

But it died quickly at a certain sight at the horizon, the gargantuan trees which rose a few hundred feet.

“Are we in Gintessa?”

“I told you to go south,” Rennard said.

“I just had to run. I still just have to run.” The soldiers to the sides had fallen behind, though Lily’s burst of speed came from Henry’s energy and had plateaued now. Unsurprisingly, the soldiers’ endurance kept up.

“How long are these idiots going for a little joke?” Rennard said.

“For a giant to be embarrased by humans,” Milton said, “and by us three, not some prominent, exceptional, one-of-a-kind mages. It’s quite the dishonor.” They fell under shadow, the treetops now well above them. These were olhom trees, growing to as much as three hundred feet. Their leaves were all towards the top, a sea of brown pillars ahead of them. The underbrush was also large, fern plants the size of houses.

“It can be easier to lose them in here,” Rennard said. They still heard the guards’ steps, rustling through the herbage.

“But how do we make it back south?”

“Not getting caught is more important right now.” And so Lily continued jogging north, sustained by Henry. Five minutes, ten, fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five, and forty passed. They saw signs of the giants’ civilisation, a large road here, a fence somewhere else, a cabin or outpost there.

“I think we’ve lost them,” Lily said, a noticeable but small fatigue as she stopped in a massive clearing. “I haven’t seen them for some time now. I’m sorry.” She upended her satchel and had them tumble down and land on the soil between her feet.

“What was that?” Rennard’s question was answered with a rucksack falling on his head.

“What do you mean you’re sorry?” Milton said.

“I can’t do this, it’s too shameful if I get caught. You don’t know who my family are, but this is…” She turned around head about some more, searching. “I didn’t think it would go this far, they’re seriously angry.”

“But you’re already part of this.”

“If I stop here, maybe they’ll be nicer. They said so. It’s gone too far, I’m leaving before it gets worse. I’m sorry.” She turned to leave.

“Hey hey, hold on!” Rennard waved his arms and cut her off to try and get her attention. All he accomplished was putting himself before her path and under her footstep, his body smushed by a dirty and beaten sole. Lily shook him off before proceeding, and she was away.

The three remained out in the clearing. Henry was on his back and regaining his breath, Rennard got up and and cursed her, and Milton stood quietly, digesting the situation. They may had been at Trester less than an hour ago, in the comfort of Humius and their well-known lands, but they were nowhere close now. The time didn’t paint an accurate picture. Without a giant carrying them, they were days away, and the road back had soldiers searching for them.