Chapter Twenty-Two We Bleed, We Burn, We Rise #4
Not until the rope gave away, the fire finally ate through the last fibre. Nox bolted into the sky, his wings beating hard. Her body was in a free-fall, and he knew she would not use her wings, even now.
She would rather die.
Stubborn did not even begin to describe this woman.
He opened his arms and groaned while they tightened around Adan.
They both dropped in altitude at her added weight, not that he noticed.
"You know." He drawled as she gasped, opening her eyes.
Those mismatched eyes found his, "one day, your way is going to get you killed."
They both landed hard on the ground. He would rather not let her go, so he purposefully draped her body down his.
Even when her feet hit the ground, he did not pull away.
His large hands stilled at her lower back.
"We have to go." Aster called out, his axe in one hand and a blade in the other.
It called attention to the chaos they had created. Nox produced a dagger, cutting the remains of the harness on Adan away.
The explosion seemed to rally the people, the ground swarming with them. Some watching, some protesting, while the city guard tried to tame the mob.
Behind them the burning of the tower relit the city in a new light.
People around the gasped at the mural, its significance.
The pendant on her neck, hot against her chest.
There was no way to improve the world they lived in, they had to destroy it.
They had to break it all down to ever hope of rebuilding.
To rebuild a better world. A better life for everyone.
Adan held on to that thought while carnage whirled around them.
"This way." She waved.
She knew the side streets of this city better than anyone. Adan bolted down one and knew that the three males followed her. She had to adjust along the way since they could not fit down some smaller alleyways.
The night was alive with chaos. Fire painted the skyline, casting warped shadows across crumbling buildings and twisted alleyways. Smoke curled into the sky like serpents, and behind them, the mural blazed.
"Left here!" she shouted over her shoulder.
Nox followed close behind, wings gone to keep pace, his eyes flicking between rooftops and windows for signs of soldiers. He didn't speak, but his presence was like a blade at her back—sharp, unwavering, ready to cut down anything that got too close.
Ren was just behind them, breath ragged, long legs eating up the distance. He vaulted over broken crates and market stalls with ease, ducking under laundry lines that snapped in the heat. "Shit," he muttered as distant screams echoed around them. "They've started cordoning off the districts."
"We'll be gone before they can box us in!" Adan yelled, panting, turning sharply into an alley, the streets narrowed, then opened into a small courtyard.
The change in direction cost them, leading them out into the open.
"Fuck." She narrowly dodged an arrow from a nearby rooftop sniper. Nox had pulled her back just in time. She didn't look back and forced her feet down another alleyway. "Archers!" She yelled, though they probably already knew as much.
"Keep going." Nox rasped.
Adan was too focused to notice the change in his normally assured tone. They were coming to another unavoidable open city crossing.
But Nox's wet rasp had her throwing a look over her shoulder.
She turned fully to look at him and her mouth dropped in shock.
An arrow had entered in to his back and pierced out of his chest, just missing his heart. He was using the wall to help hold himself up. She knew he would need help once they got out into the open. She peered around the shadows but couldn't see any more archers.
"You're going to be okay." Not necessarily believing it herself.
He gave her a raspy laugh. "I've got about five minutes until the poison reaches my heart."
It was pretty common for the king's guard to use poison to slow an enemy down.
The wound would heal, and the poison wasn't lethal.
They wanted their prisoners alive for the part.
"Maybe less." He coughed and blood fell from is perfect lips.
She looked over his wide shoulders to the concerned looks on Ren and Asters faces.
Her eyes widened at the sight behind them.
Guards. At least a dozen and counting.
"Run." She grabbed Nox and hauled him, the weight of him heavy until Ren was free from the alley and Aster soon after. They took Nox'S weight as they ran together. The guards closing in from behind. The guards must have seen their masks, and assumed that they had premeditated this.
Four people with matching masks was not a coincidence.
Adan could see that Nox was slowing them down. "You two need to fly away with him. Now, before it's too late."
Nox was barely coherent when he mumbled something that was obviously a no.
"We were told to stay with you no matter what." Ren responded in grunting pants while he held up half of Nox's massive limp body. The poison already taking effect.
Adan shook her head at the arrogant ass trio. "Get him the fuck out of here. NOW!" An arrow shot past her head, the boys ducked but almost fell to the floor with the added weight of Nox.
If either of them took an arrow they would be dead in the water.
"We don't take orders from you, Assassin." Aster snapped while Ren repositioned Nox. Aster turned to throw three blades in quick succession and three bodies fell.
Adan smiled at his skill.
"No, but he is your lord, and I am not a member of your house."
"Nox will kill us if he finds out that we left you." Aster was panting as they began running again.
"But he will be alive to do so. The king will kill him if he's captured." Adan could not—would not let that happen. "We'll all be dead--or worse."
"And if the king captures you?" Ren asked, and he sounded sad at the thought.
She laughed, the thing breathy has her lungs burned in her chest. "What makes you think I'll let them catch me?" She turned and winked at the two males that were lagging. "Go." She pleaded. "Please." She rarely said the word, but she would say anything to help save Nox—anything.
"Fuck it." Aster summoned his wings and Ren regretfully followed. "The Pits." That's where they were taking him.
Adan waited long enough to make sure no one shot into the sky to follow them. They were difficult to spot in the dark night, even as the city burned.
Adan stayed long enough for the guards to catch a view of her, and then took off again.
Her lungs burned, the pain in her back seemed to double, and her feet slammed hard against the stone as she ran.
Their meeting place was originally the cabin, Nox was supposed to fly them there, but now she would have to make it to the Forge on her own--by foot.
She made a hard turn and changed direction, the guards followed, but now alone she was gaining distance. She circled back towards the chaos of the mob.
The crowd seemed to be made up of the whole city, and Adan ran straight into the heart of it.
She pulled the mask off, discarding it and kept running.
Ducking from limbs and diving away from people every so often.
The mob forced the guards to spread out.
In the thick of the masses, Adan tipped off her hood and her jacket, dropping it to be trampled.
She freed her braid and let the large curls fall around her like a cloak.
She dipped back down a quieter alley way, where she was finally able to catch a breath.
She pressed her body against a wall cast in shadows as she made her way towards her possible safe haven.
She might have caught her breath, but her heart was still pounding in her chest.
She took off again, pressing off hard against the stone floor only to rebound against the walls of the alley.
Reaching for the clothes line strung up between two windows she snatched down a heavy hooded sweater.
She landed hard and put it on. Slowly returned to the mob of people, pulling the hood close.
She still had one blade left that she kept sheathed, but palmed the hilt. Adan peaked over her shoulder, and slid into a new alleyway.
She turned to spot three guards that she hadn't managed to shake.
Grinning, she stood at the now dead end. The three guards barged down the narrow walls, swords in hand.
"You there!" On guard yelled behind his cohorts. "Halt."
She laughed, looking around at the proverbial cage she had let them think they had caught her in. "Where would I go, sir?" She played up her doe eyes and pandered to his masculine stupidity. He didn't know who she was, and when he realized it, it would be too late.
"Drop the hood." The closest had ordered, each of them in matching uniforms. None of them wore full armour, they weren't planning on going into battle today.
Adan pulled back the stolen sweaters hood, keeping both her hands up by her head. "I'm guessing this is the part where you tell me that I'm to come with you." She gave the men her saddest puppy-dog-eyes and dropped the sides of her mouth into a perfect pout.
Their swords dropped slowly to touch the ground when they realized that she was just a tiny slip of a woman.
Fucking idiots.
She struck, thrusting her body forward and put her weight on her hands.
Flipping herself so that her boot landed directly into the first guards head.
The hidden steel that was formed under the leather of her boot knocked him out on impact.
As both her feet landed on the dirt ground she squared into her fighting stance while freeing her one remaining blade.
The two remaining guards looked stricken, exchanging looks of shock.
"I don't have all night." She taunted, curling the fingers on her free hand, waving them forward.
"You're dead." One of them hissed.
Adan laughed, only to ridicule them further.
"One day, maybe... but not by the likes of you."
She knew the males were from Storm House, all the city and king's guards were.
They each had to possess some elemental powers to gain the title.
Neither of them had reached for their powers—yet.
Adan was trying to avoid it. There were only so many fire-wielders, and they had yet to figure out whom she was--hopefully.