Outcasts of Aquila (Aquila's Originals 2)

Chapter 23: Run, Part 1

 "GO! GET OUT of here. Run!"

Orla didn't need Healer Morri's warning, she was already running. Nightriver roared, blocking the hall behind them as Orla and her friends fled blindly away. It didn't matter where, as long as it was far and fast.

"This way!" Caelo took point, her red hair a beacon for them all to follow as she dived into the servant passages, leading away from the main thoroughfares and into the true depths of the citadel. Orla had known very little about such places during her first year at Aquila, but since she and her friends had been made outcasts by their fellow students, she'd come to know them well.

Torches hung at regular intervals, providing ample light as they fled past the kitchens and the pantries, through storerooms and into access corridors. Even though it was night, this place was normally a hive of activity, cleaning up after the evening meal and preparing for the following morning.

Tonight it was empty, quiet and still. Even running flat out, Orla felt a chill.

Where was everyone? What was happening? Was everyone like Lieutenant Honra? What had happened to him?

She ran after her friends, still holding Taryn's hand, trying to think, trying to breathe, trying to keep up. Caelo and Zett gradually pulled ahead, even Vhen's long legs were unable to keep up with them. While Orla had stamina to compensate over short distances, it wasn't helping her much here, and Taryn was clearly still recovering from her ordeal. The three of them lagged, the gap between them and the others growing larger. The first two turned a corner ahead of them and by the time Orla and the others followed, Caelo and Zett were gone.

"Not good, not good," Vhen huffed, reaching the next cross-section and turning a quick circle, trying to work out where the others had gone.

"Eyries," Taryn panted. "Miryhls."

Vhen cast her a sharp look, then glanced at Orla.

She nodded. "Makes sense."

It was the only thing that did. Throughout all the troubles the citadel had been going through since the summer, the miryhls had never been affected. They needed to reach the eyries. They needed to find their partners. Then they could escape.

"Right." Vhen nodded, turned another circle and started off again, keeping to a steady jog this time. "We'll probably meet them there."

Orla wished she could feel as confident. Zett was smart enough to have the same thought, but he was also blindly loyal to Caelo, and there was no knowing what might be going through her head. Caelo was smart too, but she was also stupidly brave. She was as likely to try and save everyone just to prove she could as to think about escaping.

Nothing they could do about that now, since they didn't know which way they'd gone. All Orla's group could do was head for the eyries and hope their friends did the same.

Tightening her grip on Taryn's hand, Orla hefted her sword in the other, glad she hadn't dropped it along the way, and followed on Vhen's heels. Reaching a narrow staircase, he held up a hand for them to wait as he padded silently to the top. A small door concealed them from the main passage and he cracked it cautiously open, checking the coast was clear.

Smiling, he waved them up and stepped out to give them room to follow.

Orla released Taryn's hand and jogged up to join him, clenching her sword in her hand. Heart thumping, she slid through the door and looked warily around.

"Vhen?" she hissed, unable to see him. "Vhen!"

A sound made her turn and something heavy hit her from behind.

* * *

ZETT WASN'T SURE when they'd lost the others, but as Caelo finally slowed down to creep past the quiet practice rooms, Zett realised they were alone. He tugged her sleeve.

"Not now." Caelo waved him off, eyes locked on something up ahead.

Zett couldn't see what had caught her attention. Unlike the well-lit, regularly used passages around the kitchens and storerooms, this hallway was dark and empty. Which was a relief. Trying to breathe quietly, Zett moved cautiously as Caelo crept forward on cat-soft feet. Knowing she was watching ahead, he kept glancing behind, hoping to see Vhen and the girls jogging up at any moment.

Nothing. They were gone. They'd lost them.

Cursing his inattention, Zett turned to look ahead and almost collided with Caelo.

"Back," she growled, reversing into him, flailing an arm to get him to move deeper into the shadows away from the cross-section up ahead.

He hurried backwards, groping with an arm until he found a doorway. The door was locked, but Caelo wedged herself alongside him in the shadows and pressed her hand against his mouth for silence.

Footsteps. Zett froze and even Caelo held her breath. Soft light flared at the end of the hallway, growing brighter as the footsteps drew closer.

"Join her, join her, " a voice muttered. "Must join her. All, all. No escapes. Belong to her now. Join her, join her." A shadow walked across the passage, lantern in hand, swinging from side to side, searching the shadows.

Light spilled towards them and Zett breathed in, pushing himself as far back into the doorway as possible.

"Join her, join her," the figure whispered, swinging away and then back in time with the words. They walked on.

Zett released his breath in a shaky sigh, slumping against the door in relief. His boot slid loudly on the stone floor and he jumped, jostling the door handle with his elbow. The metallic rattle was loud in the dark.

"Who's there?" Lantern light flared, the thump of running footsteps drawing closer and Caelo hauled him out of the shadows.

"Go!"

* * *

TARYN WAS EXHAUSTED. Her chest ached from all the running, her limbs were shaking with weakness and all she wanted was to lie down and sleep for a quarter-moon. But when Orla vanished from sight up ahead, she found fresh reserves, leaping up the stairs to hit whoever had attacked her friend.

"Find them, bring them. Join us, join us," the student ranted mindlessly as Taryn grabbed the girl by her shoulders and threw her off Orla's back.

Then she had to turn to defend herself as two more first-years charged her. They were a ragged bunch, dressed in sleep-shirts and breeches. One of them was barefoot, another wore only one boot, a third wore only stockings. It didn't seem to bother them. Their eyes were solid white, no hint of pupils or irises and their faces were determined as they charged, arms outstretched, to seize Taryn and Orla.

Knowing there was something wrong with them was no consolation when they seemed determined to do them harm. Taryn tried not to hurt anyone as she dropped to the floor, sweeping the legs out from underneath two of them, rising up to push the third back into her fallen comrades. They fell in a tangled heap.

Taryn would have liked to think she'd improved in hand-to-hand fighting since she and her friends had formed a smaller class, but in truth these were only first-years and it was hard to tell if their ineptitude was down to lack of awareness or training. Either way, they were hardly a challenge and Orla took care of two more before they ran for it again.

They found Vhen at the bottom of the next flight of stairs, his shirt torn, his lip bleeding, his expression furious.

"Animals," he spat, kicking a fallen student aside. "They tried to throw me down the stairs, but I wouldn't let go, so we all came tumbling down. Idiots." Three of their fellow year mates lay on the stones, two groaning, a third worryingly still.

Taryn didn't have time to worry about it and what this fresh disaster would do to their terrible reputation. The first-years were recovering. Time to go.

"Come on." She offered Vhen her handkerchief, grabbed Orla's hand and started running again. They weren't far from the eyries now. Time to fly.