𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓

XXIII

The process of clambering up the hole would have been a much worse struggle if it wasn't for Sam. The hole through the cell seemed to have disabled its wards, so Sam could use the full extent of his short-distance teleporting ability; 'jumping', he called it.

When Sam had brought up Leo, Aries turned to everyone with a steely gaze. "Listen, they're probably sending guards out here any minutes, since I killed the first ones," he gestured to the lifeless bodies a few yards away. "I'm pretty much spent, and Asha's practically dead after over-exhausting her power with those wards," Aries explained, and eyes turned to where he's laid Asha down on the ground after she'd lost consciousness. Gemma sat next to her, a hand on her forehead. Her brow was furrowed with worry. "So Gemma and Sam, you're up. Cami," his gaze seemed to soften as he met Camilla's eyes, "you know what to do."

She nodded, and Aries did his best to summon a blade similar to the pair of katanas she was used to using. He handed them to Camilla, resisting the urge to pull her in for a swift kiss. Camilla took them gratefully, steeling her nerves as she turned to the group, unaware that Aries watched her with a soft smile. He really does love her. "Lizbeth, these are for you," Aries snapped out of his daze and handed his friend a collection of beautiful throwing knives, like the ones she used to use back home. Lizbeth grinned, taking the blade and winking at Aries.

But Aries knew that despite her charming mask, Lizbeth was afraid. And she was using her naturally flirty, bubbling personality to disguise it. So Aries clasped her shoulder, offering her a light smile before turning to the rest of the group to instigate their plan.

Camilla and Lizbeth crept toward the entrance of the Hall, each on either side of the large walkway leading through the doors. Their job was simply to wait, out of sight, until guards realized they were gone and started dispatching to look for their escaped prisoners. As they were walking out the doors, the pair would make sure they didn't even step off the walkway.

While Camilla and Lizbeth stood guard, Leo was using his heightened speed and agility combined with Charles' ability to summon precious metals to create a sort of getaway vehicle while everyone else kept look-out.

It took a lot longer than the group would have liked to get the wagon-like device working, and by the time they'd tested it out enough to know it would hold for the duration of their journey, it had been at least three hours. Charles wiped his brow, almost collapsing onto the ground, Thankfully, Terrance was there to catch him before he hit the dirt. Leo was bouncing up and down with excitement; running was one of his favorite things and combined with his heightened strength, pulling the carriage would be more fun than anything.

At least, for most of the time. Thankfully, the solution was that instead of stopping then Leo needed a long rest, was that Gemma would duplicate herself and pull the carriage during that time. That way, they were always on the move. After all, they were escaped prisoners from the most secure stronghold ever built. The Hall would be looking for them before the King and Queen got wind of the news.

Meanwhile, Camilla and Lizbeth were busy slaughtering soldiers. One after the other, Camilla dealt death at close range while Lizbeth shot at the guards from afar, where they couldn't see her.

Out of all the Queensguard, Camilla was their best close-combat fighter. Her magic was perfect for it; her skin solidified into an almost-impenetrable substance, similar to the shell of a crab. This made her a much harder target to take down than everyone else, making her perfectly suited for this task. Not to mention her immense amount of training and dedication to the skill of dealing death.

As Lizbeth watched her, it almost reminded her of the beautiful way that Aries fought as well. Like it was some kind of art.

Camilla slashed a tall woman across the neck and she fell, bleeding out in a matter of seconds. Breathing heavily, Camilla stumbled back to her place behind the wall of the Hall against the door, leaning against it as she let her skin melt back into its usual state. Lizbeth peeped out from the opposite wall, about to ask Camilla how she was doing, but the doors opened and she ducked back again.

Camilla breathed a long sigh, grabbing her bloodstained blade, and flipped her magic back on like a switch. The guards paused when they saw the tens of hundreds of bodies littering the ground, and that's when Camilla leaped onto the walkway. The guards noted her filthy clothes, the blood dripping from her blade, and drew their own weapons. Lizbeth was running out of knives, so she began to only take down the guards Camilla was forced to ignore entirely while she focused on others, rather than assisting her as she had been.

Unfortunately, something had to go wrong.

Camilla was beginning to tire; her reflexes were slowing and her blade-work became sloppy. Not to mention, her magic was practically drained and she was now fighting fully exposed. One of the guards approached her, and using a maneuver that Camilla couldn't dodge, slashed a long, deep wound across her stomach. "Millie!" Lizbeth shouted, running out to catch the fallen angel before she cracked her head open on the ground. The guards tried to take advantage of this moment of vulnerability, but a few focused shots from Lizbeth and they fell, dying, to the ground with their fallen family.

"C'mon Millie, c'mon," Lizbeth panicked, tearing her clothes to attempt to slow the bleeding from the large wound. "Don't you dare die on me, girl."

Lizbeth knew it was a long way to get to where the rest of the group was working on their escape route, but she didn't have a choice. As carefully as she could, Lizbeth propped Camilla up on her shoulders so that her head and legs hung down the front side of each of her shoulders. She then, as fast as she could to avoid the next wave of guards and soldiers, ran in the direction of the rest of their group.

Leo, from where he was leaning against a large rock while Charles and Aries worked on the chariot, frowned when he saw a form approaching them. He would have been on high alert and immediately suggested everyone hide (or something similar) but the way this figure was moving was strange. It was a slow, limping walk, and there seemed to be something slung over their shoulders. As the thing neared, Leo realized it was Lizbeth and Camilla.

He ran over as fast as he could (which, all things considered, was very fast) and Lizbeth's face spread out into a pained grin when she saw him. "Take her," her voice was scratchy as Leo took Camilla, still unconscious and bleeding out, into his arms as he brought her back to the rest of the group. Lizbeth arrived a few minutes later to find six Gemmas pressing cloth to Camilla's stomach while Terrance seemed to be straining his own magic as well. "I'm keeping her asleep," he explained upon seeing Lizbeth's confused gaze.

"But she was already unconscious," Lizbeth frowned.

Terrance shook his head. "She could still very much feel the pain. Sleep dulls it a little more." Lizbeth nodded, seating herself by Asha. Neither of them could help with Camilla, so they simply sat in silence. Asha watched Gemma, who was sending a few of her duplicates out to look for a root that would prevent infection while they tried to stop Camilla's bleeding, with an unreadable expression.

Leo couldn't help but think that this is exactly what would happen as a child. Camilla would be gravely wounded and every time he was helpless, unable to do anything but hope she would be okay. So as Leo tore up his shirt, pressing the strips of cloth to his twin's wounds, he just hoped and prayed to whoever was listening that she'd be okay, just like every time before then.