A sharp whistle cut through the air behind him, and the sound was so sudden that Riven’s body reacted before his mind could understand what was happening as he ducked.
*FISHHHH*
A thrown axe sliced past his head so closely that the cold edge grazed the tip of his ear before burying itself into the wooden wall of a hut ahead, as Riven’s eyes widened in surprise.
’The hell?’
He wondered, as for a fraction of a second, his steps faltered.
’They aren’t trying to catch me.... They want to kill me.’
The realization struck him so hard that his stomach twisted violently.
Until that moment, some part of him had still assumed that if he failed to escape, the worst possible outcome would be capture, chains, and another life of servitude under a different master.
However, this axe throw made him realize otherwise.
’If I slow down, I die.’
Riven concluded, as fear flooded his body so violently that it seemed to burn away the fatigue gathering in his legs.
’Must survive....’
He thought, as his breathing became harsher after that, while his steps became faster.
*Lub* *Dub* *Lub* *Dub*
His heart pounded violently inside his chest, as his body’s fight or flight response completely took over while the world before him narrowed into nothing more than paths, corners, obstacles, and enemies, as a powerful surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins and forced his exhausted body to keep moving.
Ahead of him, the road bent toward the eastern storage sheds.
Riven knew that route well, as ever since Garron had begun training the children of Ashfang Village, he had travelled along that same stretch of road twice every single day.
And so, just as he rounded the next bend, his eyes suddenly locked onto a dense wall of black smoke rolling across the street ahead.
Several burning huts had filled the entire road with thick smoke, reducing the visibility to almost nothing while completely swallowing everything that lay beyond it.
For a brief moment, Riven instinctively slowed, as even from several meters away he could already feel the smoke burning his eyes while every breath scraped painfully against the back of his throat.
Behind him, however, the Yellowtail warriors continued closing the distance.
"We got him now, let’s see where the bastard goes now!"
One of them shouted, as the warning immediately caused Riven’s eyes to widen, as he suddenly realized exactly what they expected him to do.
’They think I must run around it...’
He thought, as his eyes remained fixed upon the wall of smoke ahead.
However, instead of slowing down any further, Riven lowered his head, drew in one final breath of clean air, and charged directly into the smoke at full speed.
The moment he entered, the world around him disappeared.
Heat wrapped itself around his body while thick smoke instantly assaulted his eyes and lungs, forcing him to tightly shut his eyelids as tears immediately streamed down his face, however despite no longer being able to see even a single step ahead, he never once reduced his speed.
Instead, he trusted his memory.
Every morning and every evening, he had walked this exact route between the brothel and Garron’s training grounds, as the road ahead had long since become permanently etched into his mind.
As relying on his perfect memory, Riven knew exactly how many steps remained before the first bend, where the road narrowed, where the storage shed stood, and where he needed to turn to stay on course.
As though following an invisible map that existed only inside his mind, he continued weaving through the smoke without slowing down, while behind him the Yellowtail warriors recklessly charged in only to stumble and fall moments later, as their organized pursuit collapsed into complete chaos.
"Where the hell did he go?"
"I can’t see a damn thing!"
"Move, you idiot!"
Confused shouting, violent coughing, and frustrated curses echoed throughout the smoke cloud, as the warriors rapidly lost sight of one another while blindly stumbling through unfamiliar streets they had never walked before.
Several seconds later, cold air suddenly struck Riven’s face.
He burst free from the smoke while coughing violently, as tears continued streaming from his burning eyes before he hastily wiped them away and forced himself to keep running without daring to look back.
By the time the first Yellowtail warrior finally stumbled out of the smoke while coughing and wiping tears from his own eyes, Riven had already become nothing more than a faint silhouette disappearing toward the southern outskirts of Ashfang Village.
"Tch..."
The warrior spat in frustration, as after watching the distance between them continue to widen, he eventually lowered his weapon and shook his head.
"Forget the brat. He’s a lost cause. Even if we chase after him now, it will likely take us a good half an hour to get him again.....
We don’t have such time to waste."
He growled.
"We are better off finding another target."
He concluded, as upon his order, the remaining warriors reluctantly abandoned the pursuit, while Riven continued sprinting toward the southern edge of Ashfang Village with Garron’s final directions firmly fixed inside his mind.