The Nocturnal Vol 1 : The Awakening

Chapter 5 Part 2

- Eva -

Kadix's henchmen waltzed all those who had the misfortune of being between them and us. Out of reflex, I grabbed Erwan by the hand and dragged him away under the stall of a pork butcher "Salted Pork".

- 'Well done,' I whispered, 'I really had to find myself there with you to escape these fools.'

- 'I assure you, I am as happy as you are!' Erwan grunted, his face a few centimetres from mine.

- 'You could at least thank me!'

- 'Thank you?! And what for?'

The ungrateful one!

- 'I don't know... For finding this hiding place, for example. To take matters into my own hands....'

- 'Yeah right!'

- 'Quiet, they're here.'

I placed my hand on Erwan's mouth to make sure he would not say anything. In front of the stall, the feet of our pursuers advanced and then turned around.

- 'Where are those damn kids? I'm sure I've seen two of them around here! Let's keep looking!'

They were moving away. I kept my hand on Erwan's mouth for a few more seconds.

- 'What do we do now?' he asked, trying to get rid of my fingers.

- 'We'll keep moving as far as we can under the stalls, and when we have no other choice, we'll rush to the lighthouse hoping they've made it before us, otherwise we won't be able to go through the waterfall.'

***

- Vaness -

We had rushed into the small cobbled streets surrounding the market square. Remi suddenly stopped.

- 'This street... I recognize it,' he breathed. 'This is where Karkash stole my soul from me. Why am I here again?'

- 'There's a fork in the road. Do we take a right or a left?' I asked, out of breath.

- 'There's two of them! Go get Kadix!' screamed the sentries from a few hundred meters away.

- 'Remi, do we take a right or a left?' I insisted.

- 'I don't know,' he admitted somewhat lost, 'but we have to run, now!'

They rushed towards us.

- 'We won't be able to lose them, they're too fast and they know the city better than we do.'

I evaluate the probabilities that we will escape them, taking into account all the parameters: 10% for a departure in less than three minutes and much less afterward.

- 'Wait, Vaness, I may have an idea. Give me your hand,' he suddenly ordered me.

I did it, more anxious every second we lost.

- 'But can I do it?' he doubted aloud. 'Anyway, we don't have a choice. I have to try.'

- 'Try what, Remi?' I asked him worried, my heart beating.

- 'Let me concentrate. It' s now or never!'

He vigorously held my hand in the palm of his warm hand. A shiver ran through my body, like an electromagnetic wave, and little by little I felt my body rise above the ground. At first panicked, I quickly calmed down my frenetic leg movements when I saw that they were unbalancing us. Still despite the tremors running through my limbs, I kept my eyes open, riveted on our pursuers.

They were only a few meters away, and the chances of escaping them if Remi ever failed were now nil. That's why he couldn't fail.

- 'Higher! Higher!' I encouraged him.