Chapter 34 Ezra
Much of the remaining extractions went the same.
By the time we made our way toward the rendezvous point to meet Helena and Raf, six girls walked beside us, along with six family members who could not be left behind.
We could only hope the other group had been as successful.
There were still more names on our list, but dawn was approaching, and we had run out of time.
We would have to come back for the rest.
As we moved, I allowed my shadows to creep ahead, searching for enforcers while shrouding us in their cover.
The forest had fallen silent once again.
I had begun to distrust silence. It usually meant someone was listening.
Most of the patrols had abandoned the border for the city after we fled, no doubt hoping to pick up our trail.
To no avail. We waited for a long moment in the dark of the woods.
Some of the girls trembled while other older members of their families caught their breath.
If we expected any of these people to survive what was coming, every one of them would have to learn to fight.
Distant footfalls echoed through the trees. Liv's head snapped toward the sound. A heartbeat later, her wide eyes found mine. The girls and their families instinctively drew closer, tightening the circle around us.
“Run!” Helena's voice tore through the trees.
Though she was still far away, Liv and I heard it all the same.
We felt the earth shake beneath our feet.
Then Raf came into view. Seven girls ran behind him, followed by a few family members.
Helena was the last through the trees, hurling rocks over her shoulder as she tore great caverns through the earth behind her.
The pursuing enforcers vanished into them one after another.
“I said RUN!” Helena shouted as she hurled another volley of rocks toward the enforcers.
Liv snapped out of her shock instantly and sprang into action.
Vines erupted from the forest floor, coiling around the legs of the enforcers who made it through Helena's assault before hurling them into the trunks of nearby trees.
Branches twisted and surged upward, weaving themselves into a living barrier between us and the advancing enforcers.
I unleashed my shadows. They spilled across the forest floor and swallowed the soldiers whole.
Screams erupted from somewhere beyond the barrier.
Raf wasted no time. He gathered the girls and their families, urging them deeper into the forest.
“Do not stop and do not look back!” Liv shouted.
Parents snatched up the younger children.
The girls we had brought with us hurried to the older family members, helping them keep pace.
Then we ran. We made for the wall as quickly as we could.
It appeared in the distance and Helena stopped her attempts at fending off the enforcers to open the wall.
We continued forward, ensuring that no one was left behind.
Magic and arrows rained through gaps in Liv's barrier.
The barricade shuddered beneath the assault.
The wall began to shake, and stones crumbled from it.
A small opening appeared but then it stopped.
Raf and I looked back at the same instant.
Helena staggered as an arrow buried itself in her arm. Her hand flew to the shaft.
“No!” Raf shouted. He abandoned his place beside the girls and sprinted toward Helena.
“Leave it be!” He shouted at her as he swept her into his arms and ran back to us.
“Can you still use your magic?” he panted, never loosening his hold on her.
Helena lifted her hands and the wall began to crumble away once more, slower this time.
She nodded. “Do not remove the arrow. We do not know the extent of the damage.”
His voice carried a firmness I had never heard him use with her before.
Only after he made it back to the wall did he look up. The fear in his eyes was unmistakable.
We all gathered at the fracture in the wall, urging the littlest of the girls through as soon as it was large enough for them to pass. The others followed one by one. Liv continued to hold off the enforcers with only minor help from my shadows. I was focused on getting everyone through.
“Liv!” Helena shouted at her as she struggled against Rafael’s hold.
He tightened his hold on her legs, making it clear he had no intention of setting her down.
Liv sprinted down the path and away from the few enforcers left to continue their pursuit.
She did not slow until she was on the other side of the wall.
“Close it!” Raf instructed Helena as he slipped through with her in his arms.
The enforcers were closing in on the gap quicker than Helena was able to seal it.
The pain was causing her to lose focus. “You can do this!”
He gave her an encouraging nod and a small smile that felt entirely out of place at the moment.
She clenched her fists and let out a deafening yell, heavy with effort as she closed the wall.
One of the enforcers stopped in their tracks, strung his bow and fired.
The arrow cut through the night. Raf saw its path an instant before the rest of us did.
His eyes widened, and he pivoted without hesitation, placing himself squarely between Helena and the incoming arrow.
Liv reached toward them, vines already surging from the earth, knowing she was too far away.
And the wall sealed shut with a thundering crack.
For a long moment, no one moved. The silence was suffocating.
A small whimper escaped one of the younger girls.
Every eye drifted toward Raf. His eyes were squeezed shut.
He stood perfectly still, Helena clutched tightly against his chest, waiting for the pain that never came.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and let out the breath he held.
He looked down at himself. No blood. Helena slipped from his arms and hurriedly searched him for the arrow.
Finding nothing, her gaze snapped to the sealed wall.
The realization hit her at the exact time it hit everyone else.
Her eyes grew wide. The arrow that had been racing toward Raf had been frozen in its path.
Seized by the stone that had closed around it.
The point jutted out, perfectly positioned to hit Raf squarely between the shoulders.
The wall had caught it by the fletching alone.
Helena’s shock dissolved as she looked back toward Raf.
There was nothing left in her gaze but pure rage when she turned on him.
“You idiot!”