Eyes of Emerald

Chapter Twenty-Five (2)

My stomach dropped as I fell, lights blurring around me. The stars were tiny pricks of silver against the sky, and the moon was like some giant silver medal hanging far above. I concentrated on it, bracing myself for a hard landing.

                And hard it was. My knees buckled under me and I groaned, landing on my hands and knees on the roof tiles. Immediately Keira was by my side, helping me up and telling me to "go go go go -" and pushing me in the direction of the edge of the roof. An angered shriek from the Fortress followed me and I looked up, seeing Balthazar and Pasiphae both leaning out of the window, watching me run.

                I ran, trying to ignore the pain in my legs, tripping over tiles and falling, but pushing myself back up and leaping off the edge of the roof.

                This fall was fast - it was only a moment of stomach-churning falling before I landed hard on the ground. An arrow whizzed past me, missing my centimetres and my eyes widened, before a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house.

                I started to scream just as someone clamped their hand down on my mouth. Instinctively, I bit down hard on the hand and wrestled free of them, hearing a very familiar "Ow, Autumn!"

                I stopped trying to run and froze. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, realising I'd just bitted Wynn's hand. I swore loudly just as Keira entered, panting and holding her thigh. She limped into the room, and collapsed on the floor by me. Her dress was stained with blood.

                "They've...got arrows." she grunted, pointing to the shaft of wood that was sticking out from her leg. "We have to move." I ran to her, kneeling by her side. Blood dripped from the edges of the wound, but it looked like most of it was kept in by the arrow.

                Celie kneeled by my side and probed the wound with her pale fingers. She sucked in a breath when she saw the wound. "It would be foolish to move her." she muttered.

                Keira gripped Celie's retreating wrist with a bloody hand. "No. We have to move -" she coughed. "They're coming for us, and they know where we are."          

                Celie shook her head. "If we move you, the arrowhead might come apart from the shaft and then you'll need surgery to get it out. We can't move you."

                "If we don't move, we'll all die!" Keira's voice went up an octave and she groaned in pain. "We have to move." her jaw was set. I shook my head - I knew how stubborn Keira was - she wouldn't let Celie or any of us stay where we were in danger. Or maybe she just didn't want to die. It was hard to see what a person's motives were when you were in a life or death situation.

                "She's right." It was Wynn who spoke into the silence. I looked at him, studying the pale skin that faded into purple bruising around his eye. He looked thinner than he was before, like he'd been starved. I swallowed, suddenly feeling guilty that I hadn't thought about him while he was in the Fortress.