For a change, Max was not actually on the run, which is to say that he didn't think anyone in particular was after him. Of course, his perception (which happened to be wrong) did not materially change the situation....
Any interesting scheme will have more than a single motivation. Were they pawns in the power games of gods or players in a no-spells-barred contest between mortals and masters?
As Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable comes close to solving the laws of conserving magic and tapping the gods' power base, the Creeping Sword is drawn more deeply into the fight between warring deities.