A mile. Sounds about right for an escape route out of the castle should it ever be sieged. But if it was an escape route, others must know about it. Kanoe could not help but be nervous the further along they went down the tunnel. What choice did she really have in the end? Either deal with the entire guard in the castle or deal with a pursuers at the end of this tunnel. They at least had a head start here.

"It will have to do," she said more to herself than Shey, "Thank you Shey, for rescuing me. You should probably turn back soon so the others do not consider you a suspect." Shey was no doubt concerned about being found out. Rescuing witches especially one that knocked out two guards would leave her a dead woman if they knew of this. Besides, this would give potential of saving future witches that may be captured.

Shey nodded though she traveled on with Kanoe a little ways. "It's straight from here on out," she said then lit one of the torches on the wall. She took it then handed it over to Kanoe. "Good luck," her parting words had been before she slunk back the way they had come.

Meanwhile as Kanoe reached the exit of the castles escape tunnels her escape had been detected. Guards frantically rushed throughout the halls while another contacted Samus.

Samus had been an older man, at least 80. He had practiced in the arts as a child and while he kept his arts secret he used them to assist the king. It was to a raven that had been perched on his window sill, spoke a few words in a whisper. The raven flew off making great speed to it's destination landing on the window sill and cawing to get the attention of the man within.

It cawed out to get the young man's attention then repeated the whispered words to the man man.

"Escape. Witch. Look out."

Kanoe accepted the torch and gave a slight bow. "Thank you, do be safe Shey," she said softly before the two women went their separate ways. She was on her own again but she was used to being alone. The witch continued down the path until she saw slivers of light coming from a door at the end of the tunnel. Leaving the torch in an empty holder on the wall, she opened the door to freedom.

It took a few moments to adjust to the bright light of the sun. The area was heavily wooded and would hopefully give her enough cover to keep ahead of any hunters that may come after her. But her freedom brought forth an important question. Where was she going to go from here? Without a map, she had no idea if there were any nearby villages or if it was safe to even go to such places. Wearing a torn and dirty white dress would bring forth awkward questions from the townsfolk as well.

One way or another, she would need to find a village. Kanoe had no skills as a forester and would need food soon enough. With no other directions to go by, she continued the direction that the tunnel led her knowing that it would at least get her further away from the castle and the royal guard.

There had ben a blowing of a horn from the castle itself that boomed out about half an hour later. Perhaps by then they had assumed that she had not been in the castle itself and had been using some kind of alarm system to alert the outside world.

A few minutes later Kanoe witnessed avians flying away from the south west. There had been a pause as a few minutes passed then the shadows of a humanoid could be seen obscured by bushes and other plants.

A middle aged human from what she could tell dressed in the clothing of the lower class. A thin brown beard covered his face while bright blue eyes kept gazing toward the ground as if searching for something.

A hunter? He carried a bow an on his back had been a quiver of arrows. At his side dangled a strange weapon near the knife he had sheathed on his belt. A bola.

The fluttering of birds was enough warning for Kanoe's paranoid mind. She looked towards the direction they came from to see a man prowling through the woods. Something told her that this man was not hunting for game. The witch was hopeful she would be able to get out of the area before the hunters arrived. Seems she was not so lucky.

The witch tried to quiet her movement as much as possible. With him trying to track, it would hopefully slow his pace. Quietly she moved away from the man's position. Getting into another battle would only bring more attention to this area. She had to get out of here and now before more hunters arrive.

The hunter seemed slow enough as she slunk off using a degree of stealth. He had constantly looked at the ground for tracks and signs of passage gazing at snapped and broken branches in the under brush. He seemed to unerringly follow her tracks even if he did appear slow then while gazing at a particular set of fresh tracks he could tell she had stopped here giving the depression of those tracks.

Looking up he notched an arrow in his book as he gazed in her direction. Of course he had not seen her but studied the vegetation keenly.

As she lost sight of the hunter, the witch began to move more quickly. She needed to find a route that would leave behind less signs of her presence. There was little she could do about that in the middle of a forest but she could at least try and stick with solid ground such as rock and avoiding breaking too many branches. It was the most she could do to avoid any further detection.

Kanoe was hardly hopeful with this scenario. One way or another, she would have to deal with that hunter. With that bow of his, she may get off one spell before she is subdued by his arrows. She hopes it does not come to that but she may have to rely on her own aim to remove this threat soon.

Finding harder surfaces only seemed to assist her somewhat given that there was some flaking of dirt off her boots that the hunter seemed to follow unerringly. He seemed to excel at what he did. Though harder ground did slow him a great deal as it caused him to analyze her path all the more as he put together the clues of her movements.

But there had been some hope as she heard running water and came to a small stream maybe two, two and a half feet in width. She thought that she would loose him there by going up or down stream for a little while before crossing over.

That had seemed to do the trick, at least until the sun had been part way below the horizon and the sky filled with a multitude of colors. That was about when she had seen him again, closer now as he still seemed focused on the ground and the surrounding brush.

Despite her attempts at evasion, the hunter had managed to keep up with her. With him now closer to her position, it was unlikely she would get very far if she kept going at this rate. At least the sun was setting which will give her the cover of night soon enough. She just needs to remove this one threat and keep moving. There was no way she was going to let herself just be burned at the stake.

While the unter focused on reading the tracks, Kanoe began to chant softly and gather wisps of shadow into the palm of her hand. Once the dark bolt was prepared, she carefully took a look at his position. She thrusts her palm towards the man, sending the bolt blasting towards him. Connecting would no doubt remove the threat but even if she missed, the concussive blast from hitting a nearby tree or the ground should help disorient her foe. Or at least she hopes it will. Just in case she was already channeling another bolt in her hand to continue the attack. She had to keep this man off balance lest he begins shooting back.

The hunter's head snapped up as if he heard her chanting. He glanced around slowly scanning the area as he searched for her. She was close he could feel it but nothing. He saw nothing amiss until ...

A black bolt had been hurled at hi, he had caught it out of his prepheral vision. Looking back to see the mass approaching he reacted with great speed. There had been no thought to his actions he just did it. Dropping to the ground and rolling forward in a somersault as the blast went over his head.

His bow had been dropped in the process though during the roll he drew a knife out of his sheath at his belt. He could see her now, not as clearly as he would like though a little bit had been better than nothing. He kipped up into a crouch letting the knife fly from his hand with grace and speed.

He had intented on begging one of the sleeves of her gown to the bark of a nearby tree. All hopes of disorientation taking a hold on him had been removed given his quick recovery. He could see shadows forming up on the palms of her hand thinking that she would do so again ...

"Tch!" she missed or rather the hunter dodged her attack. The attack did manage to make him drop his bow. This hunter was experienced it seems, not showing any hesitation to her magic and immediately threw a knife that pierced part of her dress against a tree. Kanoe was no concerned about her clothing at the moment as wisps of shadow form in palm.

Seeing that this one was fast, she formed five smaller bolts that she could fire in quick succession or as a spread. She needed to wound this one to slow him down. Swiping her arm, three bolts flew towards the man while she waited for him to move before throwing the next two. The bolts will not have as much of a burst but being hit by one would still do plenty of damage in most situations. Though it never seems to do well against monsters.

As far as she had been aware he had been human. At least he appeared so as he sped closer to her position, a hand falling down to the side of his belt where he had unclipped to bolas that had hung there. He would have to be careful though given that he could now see the direction that the bolts had been coming in he had been better prepared to evade the bolts that streaked towards him.

One, then another, he evaded two of the three bolts with apparent ease though the third skimmed against his side grazing him as that shadowy bolt passed him. He grunted out in pain though he still came forth, waiting until he had clear enough site of her before hurling his bolas at her. Like the knife embedded into a nearby tree his bolas tried to seize hold of her other hand though the shot of course had been trickier than the first as he had intended on snapping her arm back and securing it to a low hanging branch.

With two shots left, the witch used her magic for defense as well as offense. When the man threw the bolas, Kanoe released the other two shots to either blast the weapon apart or at least knock it away from her. She continued to channel as the shadows around her as well as from her own body fed her spells with more wisps of dark mana. Another five bolts were formed which she quickly lets fly another three, trying to read how this annoying hunter moved. A prolonged fight would not do well for either of them. She wanted this threat removed now.

The bola had been deflected, prartially destroyed as a blast hit it and broke it into powdery shards that drifted towards the earth.

That had been good in a way, knowing what those black bolts felt from the graze in his side he knew that a direct hit would kill rather than just hinder. The pain was bound to be immense, arrows jingled in his quiver as he closed the distance, his eyes watching the movement of her hand as he flicked another knife from somewhere into his hand.

"Give it up witch. they know where you are," he said as if by reflex.

Her eyes narrow at the threat, beads of darkness still swirling at her fingertips. "Give up?" she replied, "You know very well what giving up means." It was not an option. To give up was to return to the castle to be sentenced to death in some painful fashion. She thrusts her palm towards the man, sending forth all five bolts in a spread. She could feel the drain of mana upon her body. But she was known for her abundance of mana as far other mystics knew of her.

The witch quickly ducked behind a tree, allowing her dress to tear and leave part of it behind on the knife. "How about you turn and leave so I can be on my merry way?" she said coldly. She used the tree for cover as she watched the hunter, preparing yet another attack. This one was persistent which was quickly growing on Kanoe's nerves. Enough time had been wasted here, she needed to move on.