The Getaway

Under the cover of night, Haruki strolled past the night shift guards at the side exits of the castle. Exchanging only a casual nod and bow, the guards thought Haruki would only be heading to town for a midnight snack or to get black-out drunk. They didn’t know he wasn’t planning to come back.

When he arrived at the forge made makeshift hangar, he stuffed new belts of ammo into the Kenichi Modern’s frontal guns—just in case, right? With only one forge worker half-asleep, he was none the wiser.

He clambered into the cockpit and checked the control stick. Nothing wrong so far. He held the stick tight in his hand, and when he removed it, his thoughts drifted to a moment less than an hour ago.

Marina’s touch—the softness of her hand—he still felt it. She may have been a bureaucrat, and she may have only been after his body… but damn.

She was still a girl, just a year or two younger than him.

In another world, maybe he would’ve taken up her offer. Back home, he may have allowed himself a night of indiscretion with a lady like her.

But this was his world now—at least for the meantime.

A hooded figure waltzed through one of the forge’s many entrances. Though night concealed the figure, Haruki could make out the person’s bag and the supple, almost immaculate skin of her protruding calves.

With a nod and an inviting gesture, he beckoned the figure into the co-pilot seat. It obliged.

Haruki exhaled long. “Marina put you up to this too?”

The figure lifted their hood a bit, letting Anemone’s face appear, if only a little. “That she did.”

The lone forge worker, who had already fallen asleep, snorted. Haruki jumped, though nothing came of the slumbering elf.

“Princess, I’m not gonna lie to you. This sounds like an obvious set-up—if not for me, but for you. Your minister, she’s probably working for another nation that—probably—doesn’t have the best intentions for you or Ka’Ilyah,” he said in a hushed voice. “Are you sure you wanna do this?”

Anemone breathed deep and glanced back. “I do,” she replied, tone unwavering. “And even if she is using us for her own gain, it doesn’t matter. I just want to get away from here.”

“What do you hate so much about this place?” Haruki still had to ask, even if he had a thousand reasons to believe someone like Anemone truly didn’t want to stay.

“Everyone’s nice, friendly, and does everything they can to build up the kingdom… to resist the Sky Legion. To survive.” Anemone stared at the sleeping forge worker, their silhouette illuminated by the quiet burning of a nearby furnace. “But I’m an outsider here. Everyone pretends to be nice to me because I’m the daughter of the king. Nothing more, nothing less. I have heard what they say about me behind closed doors. I’m no fool.”

“Well now…” Haruki could only sigh. He knew what people say about her, and he didn’t even need to exist in this world for a day to find out.

“I have no friends aside from an aide who was literally born to serve me. Can I even call such a connection genuine?” Anemone grimaced.

“I don’t think it’s right to say no one cares about you. Your father does. I’m sure some of your aides do—even if they didn’t initially,” Haruki said. “You’re a good person, Princess. I don’t think anyone who actually got to know you would hate you.”

Anemone scoffed. “I’ve already made my choice.” Her tone then deepened. “And since when have you decided to call me ‘Princess’ instead of my real name?”

“Ah.” Haruki cleared his throat. “Sorry about that… Anemone.”

“That’s much better.”

Anemone shook her head and pulled the hood over her face to cover more of her features. “Besides, you wouldn’t leave me here, would you? If something happens out there, Sky Legion or otherwise, you’d want my help, yes?”

Haruki chuckled. “That’s true.”

“Then what use is there arguing?” She straightened herself out. “Let’s leave, before the sun begins to rise from the eastern mountains.”

He felt her powerful urge to leave a comfortable, albeit stifling life behind—just like he did once. If he had the power to pull himself out of that life’s dead-end back in the world, why wouldn’t he? And if some stranger offered to do it for him…

Why not?

He’d do the same.

Haruki turned the magneto switch on the control panel, and the engine revved to life. The propeller in front began to turn, and the plane’s quiet hum grew into a thunderous roar echoing through the forge’s halls.

The sleeping worker snapped awake. He reached for the bow to his side, but found none. Anemone smiled as she stroked the worker’s wooden bow in her hands.

The KM rolled out of the forge and into the long road leading into the courtyard, all while the elven man behind them gave fruitless chase.

Headlights pierced the dark of night and illuminated the road ahead. Haruki realized, to his horror, that the road didn’t stretch far enough to taxi. Of course there wouldn’t be an airstrip here. Why would there be?

“Anemone, there’s not enough road!”

“Is that a problem?” Anemone yelled through the noise of the engine and shouting.

“A plane isn’t a bird or something,” he shouted back. “It needs speed and momentum to lift itself off the ground.”

“How much do you need?”

“Enough of it—a lot!”

“I got it!”

Guards piled out of guardhouses and the barracks, some armed with staves tipped with glowing crystals, while others bore bows adorned with gnarled branches. A formation grew a hundred meters down the road to block their advance. If he didn’t take off now, he’d run them over, which might kill them or stop their advance—if they didn’t shoot them down first.

“Anemone, we need the lift now!”

“Alright!”

Wind gathered at the base of the plane, and a twister grew and lifted the plane from the ground. The guards, in a frenzy, began to fire off bolts of fire, ice, and razor wind from bows and staves alike. Some plinked off the wooden wings, while others deflected off Anemone’s wind barrier.

Soon enough, the KM flew over the guards’ heads, the draft following behind it sweeping them off balance, long hair scattered by the wind. Glowing, magic-infused arrows whooshed above, below, and beside the plane. Haruki rotated side-to-side, dodging what he could. What he couldn’t, the wind barrier protected against.

When they distanced from the castle’s ramparts, the barrage of spells dwindled. Anemone’s naturally acute vision followed the squads of soldiers carrying torches as they prepared to head out of the castle gate.

Haruki cursed as he flew the KM low, with only the headlights and the moonlight illuminating the treeline below them.

“I can’t see shit,” he grunted. “I’m gonna have to land this thing somewhere clear and safe. It’s too dangerous flying at night.”

“We can’t,” Anemone retorted. “They’re still after us. If we land now, surely they’ll find us.”

“Then where do you propose we land?”

Anemone glanced in the direction of where she thought the Inverted City was, though she couldn’t see it.

“We have to fly past the mountains now. They can’t follow us through there fast enough.”

“W-What?” Haruki let out a heavy breath. “Are you joking? I can’t see anything right now, and you want us to fly over a mountain?”

“I wouldn’t want us to get caught, Sir Haruki. I’m sure you don’t, either.”

Haruki shook his head, resigned to his fate. “I don’t know how high the mountain is, or what direction the Inverted City’s in. Do you?”

“I do,” she said. “I’ve been looking that way my entire life. I know it as sure as gryphons fly south for winter.”

“Alright. Then I’ll be putting my faith in you.” Again.

“Watch where the stars end and darkness begins,” she said. “I’ve never been this high up, but all the same, the horizon should be cut by two jagged spikes, the right one half as tall as the left.”

Haruki narrowed his eyes, spotting the exact place she mentioned. She’s right, I see it. He never thought he’d fly at night with no lights or instruments—was the sky always this beautiful? The stars twinkled and fluttered, like a timelapse video of a night sky played at double speed.

He pitched the plane up until he poised between the two “jagged spikes”, as she described them. He steadied the plane forward until he passed between the mountains, a powerful draft pushing against the KM.

“Whew.” Haruki wiped the sweat off his brow, but before he could take a breath—a screech.

The deafening shriek of a hawk, but fused with the heavy yawn of a bear.

“What was—”

“Sir Haruki! Watch out!”

Heavy blades scratched at the KM’s left wing, and a heavy weight bore down on the sides. Haruki rolled the plane opposite side, but he lost control for a second—

A second enough to send them hurtling down.

Heavy wings flapped behind them, but stopped when the KM inched the ground. Headlights illuminated a sparse treeline beneath them.

“Dammit! Anemone, hang on!”

He pulled the plane up and clung to the controls, the plane rocking from a turbulence. The engine sputtered, and they glided into the darkness, territory unbeknownst to Haruki and Anemone alike.