The chancellor squinted into the cloud of feathers and smoke, "Wait a minute. Is that-?"

 

 

Ryan hid both jars behind his back and shouted, "Thank god you’re here!” He nodded his head towards the still-smoking infirmary, ”There was a terrible explosion!"

 

The two guards that had been knocked to the ground started to pick themselves up. They both turned to glare at Ryan. One cried out, “SEIZE HIM!”

 

Ryan frowned with gritted teeth, "Oh my." He started to back up and laughed nervously, "Would you believe, it wasn't me? It was the one-armed man?"

 

From behind Ryan could hear more guards coming. Ryan cursed as he bolted down the corridor reaching a T-bone junction. Straight ahead he could see oncoming guards. Ryan immediately turned around the corner, but just as quickly started backing up. That corridor had several guards coming down it as well.

 

Kyle motioned to two of the King's escorts to join the others. Within moments, Ryan was pinned at the junction. His back was to the wall and a dozen armed guards surrounded him with swords drawn. Ryan kept looking around, holding his jars at the ready, “You know if I knew it was gonna be that kinda party, I’d have stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes!”

 

The guards looked at one another, puzzled over this remark. The highest ranking one took a menacing step forward and pointed his sword directly at Ryan’s throat, “Drop 'em!”

 

Ryan shrugged and tossed both jars out straight in front of him. As he let go he cheerfully exclaimed, "Poor choice of words!" then held a deep breath as he closed his eyes. The two jars hit the ground and shattered, the contents mixing. Where they came into contact, a burst of thick, white fog erupted and rapidly expanded. It was only a matter of seconds before a rolling wall of vapor filled the area.

 

Ryan activated his newly acquired appraisal sense. He 'saw' where the manufactured suits of armor were standing, approximately, around him. That was all he needed to dodge around the guards. Once he cleared the cloud, he took off running.

 

---

 

As the thick mist appeared, Chancellor Kyle recoiled in bafflement. The guards in the fog started to cough and hack, stumbling about as they tried to exit the chemical attack. Weapons clattered to the floor as the men, blinking and rubbing their eyes, tried to escape. Kyle closed his eyes and stretched out his earth sense. He felt the slapping of Ryan's bare feet on stone and immediately pointed down the side corridor, "He's going that way!" but was unable to do anything about it, except retreat from the expanding fog bank. He turned to the king, "With your permission, Sire!" and indicated he wished to personally participate in Ryan's capture.

 

The king nodded once, "I want him alive, Kyle."

 

The chancellor did a double take then looked at the king like he had lost his mind, "WHAT?”

 

The king stroked his mustache, “That boy has blown up my infirmary and confounded a dozen of my guards." The king looked off in the direction where Ryan fled and regarded the white cloud before him, "It would be a shame to let talent like that go to waste."

 

As the king turned to leave, Charity remained on the floor, forgotten about in the confusion. As everyone ran off in different directions, she picked herself up and went over to the detonated infirmary entrance to assess the situation. Several beds were damaged in the explosion. She stepped into the room to look closer at the scene. She was surprised to see that Ryan had taken the time to pull the desk and the cabinet with files in it into the infirmary proper, thus shielding them from the explosion.

 

Charity moved closer to the desk, ~That is not the act of a boy who only seeks destruction.~ In her mind she was thinking about how to clean all this up when she stepped on something that caught her attention. She lifted her foot to spy a pair of the handcuffs used to restrain Ryan.

 

She reached around her neck and pulled out the key that she had in case she needed to release the boy in an emergency. She picked up the cuffs and looked at them thoughtfully. She muttered to herself, “How did he pick the lock?” She walked around the rest of the infirmary and arrived at one of the narrow arrow-slit windows that looked down into the interior courtyard. She lightly tapped the key against the cuffs as she looked into the courtyard and thought about the way the castle was laid out.

 

She held up the cuffs, looked at them, then out the window, “I wonder.”

 

---

 

Ryan was starting to get the hang of mana. He didn't use any more than he absolutely had to. Instead, he favored very short bursts of speed at crucial moments and the much less energy-intensive use of analysis. That only worked on manufactured things, but he'd take any edge he could get.

 

The building was manufactured. People's clothes were manufactured. The only way to sneak up on him was to come at him naked. He also discovered that his ability to subtly alter things had its limits. He seemed to have the ability to slightly warp man-made items he was in contact with. He briefly toyed with the idea of boring a hole straight through an outer wall and getting out that way, but that wasn't going to work unless he was left undisturbed for several hours.

 

Time.

 

This was the one commodity that the castle guards were unwilling to give him. At most, he'd lose his pursuers for a few minutes and then, invariably, they'd find him, and so it was off on another merry chase. It was uncanny how they kept zeroing in on him. As if they were using-

 

"BALLS!"

 

Ryan lost focus and got cut off. He had to dive sideways, dodging around some very confused-looking servants as he rolled. He spun and dashed right into the commoner dining hall. There were people here, and unfortunately, the room had guards at the other end. A quick scan of the place showed only the front and rear double doors, a door to a storage area and thus a dead end, and the kitchen, which was even more packed with people. The place was wide open with all sorts of heraldry, weapon displays, and animal heads scattered about on the upper walls. The second floor had several balcony seats that overlooked the grand room

 

In short, a big open area with little cover.

 

The patrons at the picnic-style tables with benches looked up, apparently quite shocked. Guards burst in behind Ryan and shouted, "CLOSE ALL THE DOORS!" Which people promptly did. That left a half dozen odd people scattered around the grand room and eight guards who spread out, before slowly closing in with weapons drawn. The lead guard with a golden sash growled at Ryan, "C'mon, give it up! This is exhausting."

 

Ryan looked around trying to figure out if there was another way out as the leader continued, "We have you surrounded!" Ryan spied a pair of crossed battle axes on a shield. His analysis ability kicked in and one of the axes glowed brightly in his eyes. Its stats were amazing. Leader sounded fed-up, "We got swords. You got a bent fork. Give UP!"

 

Ryan looked down at the fork he'd managed to hold onto all this time and nodded, "Time to give up? Okay…" He threw his hands into the air, tossing the fork straight up into the mechanism holding that particular axe in place. There was a CLICK and the axe in question fell off the wall, right into Ryan's hand.

 

The guards gave Ryan a look that screamed, ‘Oh you have GOT to be kidding me.’ With a dramatic twirl, Ryan brought his new acquisition to the ready, "Times Up!" With a leap, he looked like he was going high to axe the leader. As the leader raised his sword, Ryan took advantage of his lack of height to drop down and dive under the dining tables.

 

"Back to running!" Ryan exclaimed as he scurried under the tables trying to get to the other side. Initially, the guards were confused as to what just happened. A few seconds of confusion was all Ryan needed and he arrived at the other side of the room. He popped up next to the rope that was holding up the massive central chandelier suspended over the great hall. Ryan grabbed the rope and shouted, "Errol Flynn, eat your heart out!" Before slicing through it with ease with his enchanted axe.

 

A few guards had to dive for cover to avoid the plummeting, and thankfully unlit, candles, due to it being daytime. The closest guard lept for Ryan, narrowly missing Ryan's feet as he sailed past. The rope might have brought him up, but he still needed a burst of mana-induced speed to launch himself to the balcony. He let go of the rope and arced nicely, one leg raised to vault over the balcony railing.

 

Gracefully… Majestically…

 

He didn't quite make it.

 

Every single guard in the grand room, watched him fly overhead. They also watched as he connected, crotch first, into the railing. They all winced in unison letting out a collective, "OOF!" The sympathetic cringe was universal.

 

A good thing too, because Ryan needed more than a few moments to recover as he let out a very high-pitched and squeaky, 'ow'.

 

Despite their sympathies, the guards started rushing in pairs to the second floor blocking off the only two stairwells to the second level, while the remaining four stayed below in case Ryan decided to jump. Ryan looked left, looked right, then looked at the small stained glass window in front of him. Ryan let out a strangled, “Uhhhhhgghhhaaaaahhhhh!" His exasperated cry of anguish morphed into a battle cry as he charged the window. He held the axe at the ready so he could swing at the window right before impact.

 

It easily cut through the black iron frame holding the window in place. The guards' jaws dropped in collective surprise. The leader arrived at the window first and managed to catch the tail end of Ryan's graceful arc right into the central courtyard stable. Specifically, the extremely muddy penned-in area that the horses are allowed to walk around.

 

At the impact of a falling, pint-sized child directly into the muck, the horses started to panic. The one attendant on duty would have his hands full keeping them under control.

 

That is if he was on duty.

 

Instead, he was halfway across the inner courtyard hitting on one of the maids while helping her pull water up from the courtyard well. The attendant was in no position to calm the horses as they reared up and started to panic.

 

From the window, the leader shouted, "STOP HIM!" and pointed towards Ryan, who was just now, starting to get up.

 

Ryan looked up right before a horse caved in his skull with an iron-shod hoof. Rolling to the side, Ryan slammed against the gate. On impulse, he sliced through the ropes holding the gate closed and shoved it open. He stepped back and looked at the horses, "HORSES! RUN AWAY!" He waved his axe to try and shoe them out of the pen.

 

No one was more surprised than Ryan when the horses stopped panicking, looked at Ryan, collectively nodded, then indeed, started to run, willy-nilly, about the inner courtyard. Ryan watched as they stampeded out the gate past him, then impulsively climbed up on the gate itself so he could jump onto the back of the last one as it exited.

 

By this time, the courtyard was in utter chaos. The castle guards, who had spread out to cover all the exits, were now milling about the central courtyard, trying to deal with the increasing number of cries for assistance. Ryan pointed with his axe towards the main gate that led to freedom, "That way!" Ryan's eyes became wide as dinner plates when he heard the horse whinny, "OKAY!"

 

Ryan might have made it if he had urged the horse to go faster. Instead, it moved at a leisurely trot and thus was not quite able to make it through the gatehouse before the gate slammed down. The horse reared up on its hind legs while exclaiming, "BAD!" Forcing Ryan to focus on holding onto the horse with both hands and almost losing his axe.

 

Ryan exclaimed, "Calm Down, Horsey!" and spent far too much time getting him back under control, thus allowing guards to start to circle him. Ryan glanced about, focusing on analyzing the layout of the castle. Far across the courtyard was a redoubt. From it had come several men and while he couldn't be certain, it seemed like nobody was left guarding it. More importantly...

 

In his mind's eye, he could see the moat was right on the other side.

 

~If I can get on top, I can jump for the moat, and from there-~ He didn't finish the thought, instead yanking on the horse's mane and yelling, "Head that way!" The horse replied, "Men in way!" Ryan dug his heels into the horse's side, "Get as far as you can! GO!" The horse started charging but didn't get far.

 

Ryan wasn't counting on that.

 

"Rise up!" He commanded while pulling his feet up to stand on the horse's back. As the horse approached the men, they threatened it with pikes to keep it from getting past them. The horse rose up. Ryan, using the momentum, jumped forward and burned a rather substantial amount of his remaining mana, ~Now or never!~

 

The guards watched in amazement as Ryan arced overhead, landing behind them in a forward roll. As he shot across the courtyard he aimed for the redoubt. By this time men had gathered up on the walls. Some archers started taking potshots at him as he rushed across the open area. Ryan dashed inside and spun about, slicing through the rope that held up the portcullis. With a loud, echoing boom, it crashed down, sealing the redoubt. Ryan backed up and sough cover to catch his breath. Guards were rushing over to try and find a way inside, but Ryan needed a few moments. His arm was killing him. He put down the axe, reached over to scratch his shoulder, and winced as he did so. Pulling his hand away, he saw it was covered in blood.

 

His left bicep had an arrow through it.

 

"Fuck!" He closed his eyes and tried to focus when the sound of an arrow hitting the wooden pillar he was hiding behind got his attention. He peered around it to see one of the archers had made it to the portcullis and was shooting through it. Guards were starting to pile up and behind them all was a certain green-haired man.

 

Ryan gritted his teeth, picked up the axe with his right hand, and found it sliced through the part of the arrow sticking out of his arm with ease, ~Better leave it in to minimize the bleeding~ He waited for another arrow to impact near him. As the archer reloaded, Ryan sprinted up the stairs. He was relying heavily on his mana at this point and knew he was almost at his limit. The guards didn't seem to be able to lift the portcullis so as soon as they no longer had line of sight on him, he climbed the stairs the rest of the way using only his limited strength.

 

As he climbed, he talked to himself, "C'mon. You can do this." It hurt to hold the axe in his wounded arm, but he needed his good arm to pull himself up by the railing. Step by agonizing step, he dragged himself up the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind him, "Don't give them the satisfaction!" He cried out to keep himself motivated. He was growing dizzy and couldn't distinguish what the men below him were shouting. Someone was yelling very loudly, ~They must be very, very pissed off.~ Ryan giggled and paused to yell down the stairs, "I'm sorry! But your party is unavailable! Please leave a message at the GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

 

He giggled as he reached the top of the stairs and focused on the far side, getting ready to put everything into one last push, "Okay. On three." He tensed up and let out a short breath, "One..."

 

 

 

 

 

That was when he got hit from the side by a blur of black with white frills.