Chapter 34 #2
Footsteps and shouts sounded above them.
“Here!” a voice called from the top of the cellar stairs.
Not wanting to take her eyes off the beast, Robin turned her back to the windowed wall. Another arrow was drawn back on her bow, and she held it in front of her, aimed at the beast while from the corner of her eye she watched Chendas soldiers pour down the stairs of the cellar.
They were trapped.
The beast also noticed the newcomers. Pushing itself off the ground, it stood on its back legs and let out a terrifying roar, as though it was excited at the prospect of more victims.
Robin willed herself not to cower in fear, but she could not help it. The beast was massive at its full height. A single swipe of its gnarled paw would end her. Its claws curled forward, longer than the dagger she kept at her waist.
“No, wait,” an older man said from the stairs. Robin had never met him before, but she had seen him from afar several times. General Gautho. “We may not have to intervene at all.”
The soldiers on the stairs had poured into the room, but none of them had come close. Instead, they stood in a thick formation, hands held forward. But none of them held weapons. Instead, Robin saw thick, dark clouds of purple, yellow, and red building up between their palms. Chaos magic.
But they were not going to intervene. Gautho was certain the beast could handle them on its own.
And he was probably right.
Still holding the mallet, Aden had not taken his eyes from the beast.
With another roar, the beast launched itself forward again. But rather than attacking Aden or Robin, it leapt between them, heading straight for the soldiers.
“Subdue!” Gautho shouted.
But his warning was not necessary.
Yellow orbs streaked through the air, hitting the beast as it landed amongst them and swiped across their front line.
The yellow orbs sparked with energy, emitting a high hissing sound that was loud enough to carry over the screams of the soldiers.
Robin held her bow at the ready, no longer wanting to hit the beast now that it was attacking her enemy.
But as the yellow orbs appeared to sink into the beast’s body, it contorted in pain and froze with spasms.
While perhaps six soldiers lay on the floor at the bottom of the steps, another twenty remained.
Then, straight ahead, deep in the shadows of the undercroft, something caught Robin’s eye.
A quick flash of soft blue light. Once. Twice. Then nothing.
Rigelt was signaling to them.
Although everything in her rebelled at the thought of running straight into a dead end, it was the only direction they had to run.
Rigelt was signaling to her. Hopefully he had more of a plan than just running into darkness.
She could stay and fight, trusting in her own strength and skill until she was eventually worn down by claws, teeth, and chaos magic.
Or she could trust a member of her band.
Grabbing Aden’s hand as she passed him, she bolted into the darkness.
“After them!” commanded Gautho.
A purple orb flew past Robin’s head and hit the thick pillar in front of her, shattering the stone.
Robin dodged around the collapsing pillar and then wove into the darkness, using the pillars to block the incoming chaos magic attacks.
Rigelt gently flashed his glowing glass to lead them through the dark undercroft, until finally they reached him.
Soldiers were pouring toward them through the space, using their magical orbs to light the way.
“There is another tunnel to the caves,” Rigelt whispered as soon as they were near. “I saw it on the map. It should be in this direction.” He pointed to the wall behind him.
“Lead the way,” Robin said.
Placing a hand against the wall, Rigelt led them along in the darkness. “Here!” he whispered.
Robin felt the moment stone turned into wood under her hand. She frantically reached across the wood, searching for a handle.
The door creaked when she pulled it open, but they could not worry about that now. They were still safe in the darkness, but their attackers were nearly upon them.
They dashed through the door and then closed it behind them.
Rigelt pulled out the glowing glass to light their way down another set of sandstone stairs.
They ran through a tunnel, dank must and salt filling Robin’s nostrils. The smell was not pleasant, but it meant they were near the cave.
Footsteps and shouts sounded behind them, pushing her faster though she had no more speed to give.
Finally, the cave came into view.
Fletcher, Liam, and Sarah were getting into one of the three rowboats they had left on the shore of the cave.
“Go!” Robin yelled.
Aden ran forward, pushing the boat into the water and giving it a boost of speed to get started.
Nele and Sol stumbled into the cave from the tapestry staircase.
“They are right behind us,” Sol yelled, seeing Robin. “They used chaos magic to explode through the front door.”
“Go!” Robin said. “I’ll wait for the others.”
Sol hesitated.
“Meena needs you,” she said. “GO.”
Sol ran for the boat that Nele had already boarded.
Robin physically pushed Rigelt toward them.
The three of them filled the boat, and Aden once again pushed it into the water, giving it a generous boost of speed.
The final two Lockwood villagers ran into the cave from the tapestry staircase as the soldiers that had followed Robin poured in from the second staircase.
Robin’s heart raced in panic. She had never been truly afraid of a Chendas soldier before. But at the moment, she was terrified.
She had her bow out and arrow drawn to cover her final two band members’ dashing across the wet sandstone to the last rowboat.
The Chendas soldiers had their hands raised, orbs of chaos magic building in front of them.
Robin released her arrow, causing the frontmost soldiers to react just as they released their magic.
Purple orbs erupted through the small cave, but their trajectories had been affected so the orbs went toward the walls and ceiling.
Robin had another arrow nocked when she felt hands grab her around the waist.
“We go,” Aden said behind her ear.
Robin released another arrow on the soldiers, ducking her head as more orbs launched through the air toward them.
Aden swung her around and deposited her in the boat.
Robin kept her arm lifted, holding her bow out of the water as Aden bent forward at the waist to push the boat forward as swiftly as he could.
With their hands on the oars, the other two band members were doing their part to get the boat moving as quickly as possible.
The cave narrowed into a small tunnel that led out to the sea. It was only a short distance away, and then their boat would be out of sight.
Robin turned to look at the soldiers in the cave. They were walking across the sandstone, pressed forward by the soldiers that continued to pour down both staircases behind them.
The soldiers at the front stepped into the water, using their hands to move quickly instead of producing the chaos magic orbs. But that was because the soldiers behind them were making enough orbs.
As more magic missiles flew in the air around them, the cave filled with an eerie purple glow.
Aden gave the boat a mighty push and then launched himself over the side as they rowed toward the narrow tunnel mouth.
They were almost out.
They had taken all the boats.
The soldiers splashed through the water in pursuit, but the water was deep, and they would be unable to keep up with the speed of the boat.
Just before they rounded the corner, the soldiers released another wave of purple orbs.
Robin ducked, but the back of the small rowboat was not high enough to cover her. Pain exploded across her shoulder.
It felt like nothing she had ever experienced, like a zap of lightning had hit deep inside of her shoulder, ringing through her bones. Her whole body froze in shock, and she was unable to breathe.
The boat slammed into the far stone wall as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
Robin’s breath came back in frantic gasps. Her arm fell as pain took over her entire consciousness, and the bow teetered in the air.
Aden grabbed it from her hand.
Purple orbs followed them, smashing into the stone of the tunnel and causing the walls to shake around them.
Robin leaned forward. The pain in her chest increased with every inhale and every exhale.
Aden yelled something, but she could not focus on the words.
“That . . . beast we saw . . .” Robin said. Every word felt like an explosion in her chest. “That was the same kind of magic . . . ?”
“Yes,” Aden replied. “That was the same magic that cursed me.”