That much was clear: he had no chance of defeating his brother when he couldn’t give his full attention to the task.
He took a deep breath and shot off across the road, directly at the Imperial archers that had been firing at him. In three quick motions he cut them down, but saw more soldiers making their way forward.
“Why, little brother,” Ramael said, “have you been killing? I seem to remember how patheticallyagainstthat you were.”
The Prince turned back.
“Why,brother?”he asked. “Are you afraid of what I can do?”
Anger crossed Ramael’s face, and he brought the axes crashing down again. The Prince managed to dodge away but had to use all of his speed to do so.
“What was that, Ramael?” he taunted. “I almost had time to take a nap during that swing!”
The first axe slashed through the air so quickly it was no more than a blur of motion that the Prince just managed to avoid.
“That’s all you can do, big brother? Now I remember why I never looked up to you!”
Ramael let out a snarl of rage, swinging the second axe—another miss.
“You miserable Nameless wretch! I could tear you to pieces with one hand!”
“Do you really think you could manage to lay even a singlefingeron me?”
Ramael lunged, but the Prince was gone, racing up the street away from the battle. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Ramael was following him.
Now he’s chasing you. Was this a good plan?
He took a running leap, pushed off a wall with his enhanced strength, and landed like a cat on the roof of a house. There was a rumbling sound, and he looked down to see his brother pulling himself up the side of the house, tearing chunks of brick and mortar out of the wall with his gauntleted hands. The Prince took off running along the top of the building, then jumped from roof to roof as fast as his feet could carry him.
There came a heavy crash behind him, and he shot a look over his shoulder. His brother had made it to the rooftop and was still following him, leaving deep gouges in the wood and stone with his enormous weight, gaining ground with each of his immense strides.
“Is that all you can do?” the Prince called back, doubling his speed, leaping almost ten feet with every step. The only answer he received was a roar of rage. Ramael picked up his pace as well, and soon he was right behind the Prince.
“Where do you think you’re going, boy?”
A battleaxe swung down and tore into a section of rooftop where the Prince had been not a second before. The second axe swung and actually brushed the Prince’s head, shaving off a chunk of his hair and missing his scalp by the barest fraction of an inch.
Good question—where are you going?!
He rolled under his brother’s feet and dove through an open doorway that led down a staircase to the main level of the house. With a crash of smashed plaster and powdered stone, Ramael tore through the opening and followed.
Where do I take him, where do I take him, where doI…?
He made it out onto the main level of the street, looked left and then right, and saw off in the distance a large building that looked like a temple, up on the third tier of the city. Aemon’s Temple. It was completely away from the battle in an open area where he could face his brother alone. He took off running with all of Tomaz’s strength—shadows and light, Tomaz!—fueling his legs, and just in time, as the next instant his brother crashed down behind him with a bellow of rage.
“STOP RUNNING!”
That was all the encouragement he needed to run faster. He lowered his head and focused with all of his might on getting to the temple.
I should be running away! I should leave the city!
“SHUT UP!” he yelled at himself. He spun around a corner, going so fast that he overshot and ended up running along a wall for a few paces before being pulled back down to earth. He shot a look over his shoulder and saw that his brother, going just as quickly, couldn’t help but smash into the wall, and was forced to extricate himself before he could continue the pursuit. It cost him barely a second, but it was enough that it gave the Prince an idea.
He kept running along the street, and his brother came up behind him alarmingly fast. He swerved again around a corner, and when his brother followed, he crashed into the opposite wall once more. He shot around another hairpin turn, but this time his brother checked his speed just in time to keep his distance. The gap between them narrowed.
He looked up and saw his destination behind the large gate of the third tier, which was still open in the event the Kindred needed to retreat. He flew through the opening and veered immediately to his left, where rose before him a wall of the large temple. He ran toward it with all of his might, casting frightened looks over his shoulder.
Ramael, seeing his fear, let out a snarl and began to gain once more. The wall was coming closer… closer… there!
