Page 22 of Immortals and Ink

"He must have been very bitter about your breakup," Alexis snorted, staring at the arrow.

"I wasn't…We weren't in a relationship! He's probably just bored. We can't stay sitting here," Arslan said gruffly. "He will tire of being this polite eventually."

"Sounds like a broken heart to me, my friend," Alexis teased, enjoying the red staining Arslan's cheeks.

"He doesn't have one, and I assure you if he does, it has never beaten for me."

"Whatever you say. I suggest we run to the boat, but in different directions. If we go together, he will hit whichever of us is closer to the center of his aim. If we split, he has to choose, and while he is choosing, we will both be running."

"Fine. We meet at our boat still or steal another?" Arslan asked.

"We try for ours, but if we are separated, we make our own way to Galata. If I'm hit, you don't stop. You run straight to the Eos and secure that casket."

"Alexis—"

"Do as I say," he snapped and pointed to the precious box in Arslan's hands. "Look after that. I'm not going to die from a damn archer, but I will be very put out if I lose that altar stone for another nine thousand years."

Arslan made a frustrated noise. "Fine! Let's go."

They both sprang out of their hiding places and put up magical shields. Arslan's manifested as a thick cloud, while Alexis’s was a shimmering blue, shaped like the old shields of the Atlantean army.

Arrows rained down around them so fast that Alexis knew that whoever the archer was, he had supernatural abilities. Two of them bounced off his shield, and the third nicked his calf. He whispered a cantrip to stop the wound from dripping and leaped into the boat.

Alexis's magic unraveled the ropes and filled the sails with air. The boat was drifting past another dock when Arslan appeared and leaped from the dock and straight into it.

"Wounds?" Arslan said immediately.

"Calf. It's nothing." Alexis summoned a current in the water under them, and the boat shot through the waves. There was no sign of the archer or another boat that could be a pursuer.

"Do you want to tell me how someone knew we were going for the fragment?" Alexis asked.

"I didn't tell him if that's what you're implying," Arslan replied, bristling like a cat. "He has watching-magics on certain hidden things in this city. I knew that, but I hadn't considered that the church would be one of them. He's got no interest in the new god or his priests, so I didn't think of it. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"It's not your fault, Arslan." Alexis tied a scrap of his cloak around his leg. "He wanted us to know we had been seen."

"He did, and now he will probably go out of his way to make our lives difficult."

Alexis scooped up cold, salty water from over the side and splashed his face with it. "Why not kill us in the crypt?"

"Because the crypt is consecrated ground, and killing us in front of the church would mean that the rest of the players in this city would have learned that something he wants was taken. It would put them in a frenzy to find out what it was to try and get to it first."

Alexis stared at the casket. "He must have known something of great power was there. Who is he?"

"I can't tell you until we are somewhere safe enough to say it out loud." Arslan's face was tired but stubborn.

Alexis realized that he was protecting him from the consequences of speaking it before they were behind a wall. Alexis ran a hand over his face. "Summoned by saying a name aloud? Gods, I hope we aren't dealing with a djinn."

Arslan laughed bitterly. "If only we were dealing with djinn. They can be reasoned with."

Alexis couldn't help but wonder what he had stumbled into, but decided it would be wiser not to ask any further questions.

They reached the Eos before dawn. Arslan gave Alexis the casket, and he placed it in the deepest chest of the hold, behind three of his own personal wards. He didn't dare open it. He was too tired to deal with the outcome.

"Go and sleep." Arslan waved him toward the cabin. "I will keep watch and make sure our friend doesn't come and visit."

"I'm fine⁠—"

"You're bleeding and shaken up because of whatever happened with that stone. Tend to yourself and sleep for a few hours." Arslan scanned the dock. "I'll wake you if I have any more excitement."