Skylight

Chapter 9: Scarlet Blossom

Small, slight, delicately feathered wings. On the child of a human.

"Is she yours?" I ask in surprise, my mind clearly still in shock. She looked unquestionably like Valentine, but when I asked, his face became beat red and he averted his eyes from mine. It certainly appeared to be a yes.

"I can't tell you."

A spark of annoyance kindles in my chest, tightening into a wound up ball, but for what reason? He had every right not to admit it. Especially considering it my duty to jail or report those who interact with Icarians.

Sucking in a breath of air, I turned away grabbing Dorothea's cup and another plush, soft blanket that we wrapped around her. "Aren't we supposed to trust each other?" My eyes are already examining his face, looking for another lie. I'm holding the baby now, anticipating the need to abandon him here. Was he manipulating me again? Would I be able to tell this time? The situation forced my mind into a haze, like wisps of misty fog inside my head.

A look of pain swamps his face, the same one that must've been on mine. His fingers caressed the girl's dark tendrils of hair on her forehead. He seemed just as high strung as I. It felt too real. "If you trusted me, you'd stop asking questions."

I scoff doubtfully, pushing Dorothea into his arms. "Let's go." I order, moving us to the window. Dorothea was beginning to wake up, her sharp cries and screams drawing attention from outside the bedroom doors. "We'll talk later. For now, I'll get down there, you jump, okay?"

"Jump?" repeats Val anxiously, hugging the baby closer to his chest. I'm already half out the window, glancing over my shoulder to look at him.

"If you trust me."

In a second, I've leapt out the window and scaled down the side of the building, scoping out for any guards. It appeared vacant enough, which must've meant that they'd either already formed a plan, or were after Lydia's group. My hope was that Calix wasn't slowing them down too much, and they'd already gotten their hands on Anastasia.

My focus shifts back up to the window left agape, and Val's head pokes out, worriedly snapping back to look at the door for a moment when we hear them yelling at him, to drop the child and keep his hands beside his head. I can almost see the slight tremble in his body, like a rustle in autumn leaves, or feel the damp sweat on his soft palms from nervousness. In spite of myself, I'd told him to jump out, but if I were in his position, even seeing him at the bottom awaiting me, I wouldn't do it.

But I suppose, nothing ventured, nothing gained. There's always a time to take the risk.

"Val!" I cry, holding my arms out. He's on the windowsill, eyes clamp shut, and then plumets down to me, freely falling as though it was a suicide. Like a cushion, I catch him easily and lower them both to the ground.

Dorothea toddles up and clings to my leg, much as I used to do with Calix at a younger age. She's babbling in her own language when I scoop her up and sit her on Valentine's shoulders, who frowns at me in disapproval.

"We can travel on the roofs until we see them." I suggested, grabbing his arm to wrap around my shoulders. "The watch can't catch us there."

From high above, we sca out the castle, Val close on my heels with Dorothea. He looks in awe, despite the situation. Even only a few feet off the ground must've felt like home to him, with his Empyrean roots.

"Lydia!" I spot her as soon as he shouts it, finger pointing in her direction. Back to back with Pumpkin, they're swarmed, and I can faintly see Calix with a young female, her hair auburn like a blaze of fire, pulled into two tight braids. She wields a sharp, wooden handled kitchen knife, the only thing protecting the both of them.

Without warning, Valentine is by my side and I've swooped down to shield them both with my body. "Behind me." I order them, pushing Dorothea into Anastasia's arms. Val pressed against my back as I spread my wings to full span, unsheathing both swords and holding them in a firm grasp.

"Atlas." Calix calls weakly, holding his hand out. He's standing on his own, a makeshift peg leg in place of his injured one, forcing him into an unbalanced, awkward stance. But he's standing nonetheless. "A sword?"

Hesitant, but knowing him, I toss my left sword to him and he catches with ease.

Even barely able to stand, bloodied wings and broken bones, they fear us. Any Icarian would, recalling stories of horned demons that their mothers told them, wings of flame that were used to fight back to Icaria's supreme subdual. Every thrust, every parry, it feels like second nature, my brain's commands flowing like a river to my body.

But all the while, I worry about Calix. His strength wavers now and then, swaying absentmindedly on his two own feet.

A man catches me off guard watching him and his sword pierces my thigh, drawing a howl from my lips. It felt like shots of lightning ran through my leg, and I stumbled back, letting Val snatch my sword from my hand and finish the kill.

"We've got to retreat." Lydia snaps at me in a quick, hushed tone. Her broad silver sword is a flash in the air, almost cutting me in the process. "Any plans?"

"Grab them and run?"

"They might have archers hidden for that." chimes in Val, and I almost freeze to see he's holding a knife, crimson red on the tip.

Still unable to bring myself to trust him, I hold out my hand. "Hand over the knife."

"Huh?"

My eyes narrow at him, my expression becoming stern. "The knife."

His brow furrows, fingers tightening around the knife like a lifeline. "You expect me to trust you when you don't trust me?"

Lydia waves her hand frantically between us, trying to turn my attention away from him. "Not the time to argue, you two!"

"It's not my fault I can't trust you!" I protest, and Pumpkin's hand lands on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down. It's not working.

"You guys!"

Val's bloodshot eyes shift from my face to behind me, and his offended demeanor is gone. Quick as a viper, he tears Pumpkin's bow out of his hand and aims, but on instinct I lunge at him to snatch the bow from his grasp.

It's a mistake.

Until now, I didn't see his target, and the arrow slashed my hand, slitting open a growing, wide gap of red. The arrow is off course now from where it was going to protect, shooting straight into-

-Calix's chest.

In an instant I react, his limp, weak body tumbling into my arms, crimson red colour blooming wider on the fabric of his clothes, like a rose in spring, but darkened by a tenfold. It's growing at a shockingly fast rate, and seeing the blossom of scarlet made my throat tighten, fingers fastening securely around my sword's hilt, arm trembling faintly.

Without another thought, my eyes find the target and the sword thrusts at it, but Pumpkin jumps in between us and catches me by the wrist, eyes wide in alarm. The tip of the silver blade is hardly an inch over Valentine's heart, just almost having plunged in, as I'd been intending a second prior. His hands are blocking his face, shaking from my attack.

"Look at me, Atlas." My breathing is erratic in my own ears, and it feels like I'm not in control anymore. "Atlas." Emerald eyes envelop my senses, long, powerful fingers choking blood flow off to my hands. "We have to go, and I really, really need you to calm down." He's begging me, and the request cuts through me like a knife, and a shudder forces common sense back into my system.

I shake my head. No, no time to waste. We needed to get Calix to safety as fast as possible.

Pumpkin seems to understand me, and grabs on. I let the adrenaline take care of the rest; In a second, I've gathered my group around me, fast enough that the guards back away. I can hear Lydia's screaming in my ear to hold Calix more carefully, Valentine's soft hands trying not to touch me in fear of another outburst, Dorothea's cries as Anne tries to calm her.

And then we're gone.