Although the humans were close on their heels, the group's pace started to slow. Alanis' feet began to drag as she stumbled, kicking up the water behind her. Jai-Jai ignored the squeeze in her stomach every time the boggy water splashed up her legs.
"I can't," Alanis panted, "I can't go on. It hurts."
Jai-Jai nearly toppled over the elf when she halted. Strong hands gripped at her waist, preventing her fall. Slapping Sen's hands away Jai-Jai tried to coax the elf up.
The elf's shoulders sagged. Alanis breathlessly protested as Jai-Jai tried to push her forward. Stumbling, she hissed and grabbed her shoulder.
"Gods be damned," Jai-Jai muttered as she tugged at Alanis' shirt.
Sen tugged on her shirt. "What are you doing?" He snipped, "We need to move on."
Repositioning herself, Jai-Jai leaned against the wall to give the vampire a better view. Gently pulling the ripped tethers of Alanis' shirt to the side, she revealed the skin around the arrow. There hadn't been any time to remove it before.
Letting out the long breath that he'd been holding in, Sen stood in silence.
Rhistel called back, voice shaking, "What's happening back there? Why've we stopped? It's too quiet."
"Rhistel," Jai-Jai called, "I need some light back here."
Boots scraped against the walls as Rhistel tried to twist to face the others.
That damn elf had to wear shoes with all those horrid buckles. Jai-Jai thought to herself.
Flames ignited, and Rhistel's eyes squinted as she reached towards her sister. There was no masking the obvious worry marring her features. Her ears twitched as the human soldier's footsteps neared.
A snicker slipped from Alanis' lips as she wiped sweat from her brow. Jai-Jai heard her inhale sharply before letting out a wretched scream. Sewer water splashed as Alanis threw the arrow to the ground. Before anyone had time to react, she grabbed Rhistel's arm. The smell of burning flesh wafted up Jai-Jai's nose. It brought back a fleeting sense of nostalgia. It took a moment before her brain refocused on the situation in front of her.
"What did ye bloody do tha' for? Daft fool!" Rhistel screamed as she tried to pull back her hand.
Alanis hissed through clenched teeth, "Canna go back now. Ye have tae cauterize the other side or a'll bleed out."
Even with Alanis in the way, Jai-Jai caught a glimpse of the few stray tears that escaped Rhistel's eyes as she squeezed them shut. She brought her hand around and burned the wound closed. Jai-Jai's hand unconsciously grabbed on her shirt right below her heart. Esme didn't look like that when she burned us.
"That's because it was a privilege for her to cause us pain."
She always was a raging-
"Sen," Jai-Jai interrupted herself, "do you think there's enough space for you to squeeze past me?"
"It would be tight, but if you lay down, I could. Why?"
"I recognise the smell of this poison, and it's killed bigger creatures in less time. Alanis won't make it back to Twig on time at this rate. The fact that she's still able to move at all is a wonder. She'll have a much better chance at survival if you carry her out of here. With your speed, you should arrive with enough time for Twig to extract it from Alanis' system."
"No, a canna leave ye two behind."
Rhistel shut Alanis' protest down. "Ye don't get a say in this matter. A donna want to think of what ma will do if a return without ye."
Alanis winced." She'd skin ye alive and me ye eat yer liver."
I never want to meet their mother.
Gripping her sister's arms, Rhistel whispered goodbye.
The echoes of running feet were getting too close for comfort. Jai-Jai needed these soppy adieus between the twins to be over if they all hoped to survive. Well, she's live. The others might not be so lucky.
Gritting her teeth, Jai-Jai knelt. Sen's legs grazed her as he climbed over. One of his hands grabbed onto her shoulders for support, and Jai-Jai wondered why his touch bothered her more than whatever she was laying in.
Rhistel too followed in suit and allowed her sister and Sen to climb over. The vampire gathered Alanis in his arm, and before the ripples from his footsteps had settled, they were out of sight.
"And then there were two," Jai-Jai mumbled before raising her voice a few decibels higher, "Those humans are too close. It won't be long for them to get close enough to attack and with our current position, it'll be my ass getting skewered before yours. How far can you blow fire?"
"Let's find out then. Shall we?"
A blast of heat blew over Jai-Jai's head as she was getting up. Her eyes bulged, and she felt the top of her hair, half afraid to find a burnt mess. Male screams behind gave the girls a hint that they'd slowed their attackers for at least a moment. "A little warning would have been nice," Jai-Jai hissed.
"Oops."
Jai-Jai could almost hear the smile on Rhistel's face. She's definitely wanted to do that for a while.
"Worst night ever."
Rhistel agreed. "Ye can say that again."
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Jai-Jai's muscles burned. Any feeling in her legs had faded, and every step she took without being able to stand upright added to the urgent need to be outside again. She had to remind herself that the tingling of bugs crawling up her were only pins and needles.
"Oh my Gods." Rhistel panted.
"What is it?"
Jai-Jai's heart skipped a beat when Rhistel responded, "I see light."
"If you're lying to me, I'll strangle you, and you'll never see the light of day again."
Rhistel's pace quickened.
You'd better keep your mouth shut, or she's going to strangle us in our sleep.
"I think we have a higher chance of our socks being burnt...again." Jai-Jai let out an involuntary chuckle at the memory.
A third foot tangled between hers and her arms flew forward. Jai-Jai's muscles tensed in preparation for the hard landing. The small fire Rhistel had been using to light their way extinguished, and the tunnel fell into darkness.
She held onto the legs under her, trying to lift herself while feeling around the tunnel walls.
"Gods dammit, why did you stop?"
Her companion's voice hitched as she choked, "The light."
"Yes, what we're supposed to be heading towards before we get skewered from the behind."
"It's gone."
"What do you mean?"
"The light – a canna see it anymore. Jai-Jai, what happened?"
Jai-Jai lunged forward, fumbling around to feel what she hoped was Rhistel's mouth. Trying to cover it but not calculating her reach well, her fingers ended up grabbing Rhistel's nose. The elf's squealed in pain.
Whispering for Rhistel to be quiet the two waited. Not wanting to make even a decibel of a sound both held their breath. Jai-Jai's ears twitched. Footsteps from behind had been getting closer again. Squinting, Jai-Jai tried to look hard for any sign of light. It was only a few seconds before a distorted flash of light was seen, disappearing quick.
"Rhistel," Jai-Jai whispered with urgency, "you need to throw fire forward. Not anything big. But do it now."
Not questioning the order, Rhistel flicked her hand forward. She let loose a flame only big enough to illuminate the shadows before them. Although far away, many glints of silver flashed.
"How much do you want to bet that that isn't Sen come back for us?"
"Humans? How?" Rhistel breathed.
Jai-Jai's eyebrows furrowed. Don't even think about it. There has to be another way to get out of this mess.
Ignoring her inner voice, Jai-Jai resigned to her fate and pulled herself off of Rhistel. "It's a lot easier to cover ground when you have horses and can exit through the front doors. They must have sent another team to catch us from the front."
Cracking her knuckles, Rhistel grinned. "Looks like they brought the fun tae us."
"Stand down. We won't be having any fun with these not so gentle men." Blue flames erupted from Rhistel's ears. Ducking Jai-Jai gave her a pointed look. "Careful there sparky, you'll burn my head off."
"A refuse to sit here and let these men who almost killed me sister get away with nae a fight."
"Trust me; there'll be a fight. Only, it will not be now." Pulling on Rhistel's non-flamed hand, Jai-Jai stared into her eyes. "Do you trust me?"
"Honestly? No."
"Fine. Do you trust my judgement?"
Rhistel rolled her eyes. "yes."
"Then I'm asking you to trust me in my judgement of this situation. If we fight right here, right now – we die. Mission over."
Rhistel sighed and leaned her head against the wall. "A don't know if my sister survived and am trapped underground with ye. Didn't think my day could get any worse."
Stomping from both tunnel directions became louder.
"Well get prepared, we're about to get very ruffed up by these humans."
Don't do this. We can kill everyone and escape.
"And what about the elf?"
Kill her too. Can't have her blabbing our secrets to her sister, or worse - Sen.
"That would still raise too many red flags. My sister would know we were here, no matter what."
The two sat still, raising their hands as the glint of a sword came into their peripheral vision.
It would still give us enough time to escape far enough not to be caught. If you do this, you're sealing our fate. We won't be able to get away – you're sister, and She will know where you're headed. You're throwing away the freedom we've worked so hard to get.
"Is it really freedom if we're always on the run?"