A World To Lose

by Frances Ellen

  Nathan looked at Matu and waited for him to be ready. Matu checked the straps on the backpack, and tightened them once more. When he was sure the backpack was fastened, he gave Nathan a small nod.

  Nathan didn’t even nod back. “All right, here we go.”

  He only waited for one second. A moment later the rock crumbled away in front of him, blinding all of them as sunlight burst into the tunnel. Nathan jumped out, practically pulling Karina out behind him.

  The other three Germans followed quickly. Then the Chinese pair and finally John jumped out. Matu was out a second later, turning left when all the humans had turned right and were hurtling up the trail. Nathan already had a broadsword in one hand and a vine in the other. Matu had no idea where Nathan got the power from to have a vine appear so quickly. His magic should be getting depleted with the immense amount of effort it took to make the tunnels, but Matu detected none of that in Nathan’s face or in his stance.

  Matu’s fears turned out to be well founded. There had been at least five Disciples still working on the entrance doors that Nathan had sealed shut with vines. It amazed Matu that they still hadn’t found a way through that thing, but none of that mattered now. All five of them had noticed Nathan and the humans jumping onto the trail above them, and they were all heading towards them. They were shouting orders and Matu doubted it would be long before more would follow.

  Nathan and Matu took a few steps back and rallied their magic. These five Disciples wouldn’t be a problem. It was whoever they had called for back-up who would be the problem, especially with the parched, famished and sleep-deprived humans who would not be getting up to the top of the Angel Trail in good time.

  The five Disciples were dead in seconds. Matu threw one against the Canyon wall, and used a second one to throw against a third. Nathan did nice work with his broadsword on the fourth, and used his vines to pull the fifth one off the trail and down to the Canyon floor below.

  “More will be coming,” Matu warned.

  Nathan didn’t answer.

  The two of them turned around and raced up the trail. To Matu’s surprise the humans had made it farther up than he had expected. The imminent threat of Disciples coming to kill them must have done wonders for their motivation and adrenaline. Even the chains around their wrists didn’t seem to slow them down as much as Matu had feared.

  They had almost made it to the veil when Nathan and Matu caught up with them. The veil was no longer a cloudy white colour. It was like glass: Matu could see through it completely, yet it was obvious there was something there. Once they made it to the crack in the veil Matu took a moment to lean over the edge of the trail and see what was coming up behind them.

  What he saw wasn’t comforting at all. At least twenty Disciples were now making their way up the trail. They had already reached the entrance to the Underworld, and they were all better armed than the ones Nathan and Matu had killed minutes earlier.

  “You know how Sophie thought they wouldn’t come after us after the veil?” Matu called over his shoulder. He had actually locked eyes with one of the Disciples at the front of the party for a moment. They knew they were at the veil, and still they were coming.

  “What about it?”

  Nathan was helping John get through the crack in the veil. The Canadian man was larger than any of them, and it was taking a bit of pushing from one side and pulling from the other to get the man through.

  “Yeah, I think Sophie was wrong.” Matu jumped back from the edge of the trail and followed Nathan through the veil. The German family had already run on ahead while Niu and Lin had waited to help get John through the crack. It didn’t take long for the five of them to catch up, though, because the German family had come to a standstill.

  “What’s going on?” Matu asked.

  Nathan pushed past John and the German children to see what was happening. Matu did the same, and he saw the problem. He looked back and saw that the twenty Disciples on their tail had increased in number, and they were getting dangerously close to the veil.

  Meanwhile, up ahead there was no path left in front of the German parents. It had all crumbled away; the huge crash they had heard when Matu made a hole in the veil on their way down, must have shattered the entire rock wall.

  Matu remembered this part of the trail. It had been a make-shift staircase of about two hundred feet in length. Matu looked up and saw that the trail resumed over a hundred feet diagonally above them. He looked at the rock wall beside them. Even if they had all been excellent climbers, and if they hadn’t been cuffed, there still would’ve been no way to get to the next part of the trail.

  “Can’t you make another tunnel?” Frank, the German father, asked Nathan.

  Nathan placed a hand on the wall near him. A few pieces of rock came free at his touch. “It’s too unstable. The entire wall could collapse and kill us all.”

  Matu looked down. He could feel the immensity of the drop in his stomach as he saw the ground of the Canyon floor loom very far beneath them.

  And then he looked back down the trail.

  There were two Disciples who were farther up ahead than the others. There was quite a space between them and the other thirty-odd Disciples running behind them. The front two Disciples had reached the veil, and ran right through it. Not through the hole Matu had made, no. They’d passed right through the veil, as if it was nothing more than a bit of fog. The second they did, there was a bright white flash, and the whole veil disappeared, exposing the Disciple activity down below. It made Matu’s heart jump right into his throat. He had no idea how, but the veil was now gone completely. That small crack in the veil was supposed to buy them time. Matu had Sky’s blood in the backpack, but at the speed the Disciples were running up, he wouldn’t have time to get it out, drink it and shimmer all of them to the next platform in time. The Disciples would be upon them too soon. And there was nowhere for them to go.

  Chapter 17

  They hadn’t run far. Just far enough to get to a slightly narrower side corridor that led to a closed door, so that they couldn’t get attacked from three sides at the same time.

  Disciples were mostly stupid, in Lian’s experience. Lian sometimes believed they were nothing more than mindless robots, following some code that someone had activated in their brains. To their credit, these ones were slightly more than that. They weren’t the worst fighters. Their ancestors had been Affinites once, before they corrupted their souls and chose to serve a Higher King. Each of these Disciples had an affinity, too, but there was no knowing what kind of affinity they possessed. Lian noticed it when he engaged with two Disciples at once. One of the two was dead in seconds, but the other… The other saw Lian’s blows coming, with much better anticipation than any human soldier would’ve been able to. It still didn’t help him much. Lian was a better fighter; he had made sure he was. Because even though magic helped him to keep fighting for longer than humanly possible, it didn’t help him be better at one-to-one combat. Not like Sky’s speed helped him act faster than any opponent would expect. Or like Matu, whose blows were so much stronger that even if an opponent was fast enough to block one, Matu would bash right through.

  Lian spun around, faking one blow so that the Disciple would avoid it and leave his left side exposed. Lian jammed his dagger in between the Disciple’s ribs and the blade sliced into his heart. Lian yanked the dagger back out and pushed the Disciple out of the way, for another one was already advancing.

  He barely had time to see what Sophie and Sky were doing. The three of them were just buying time for Nathan and Matu to escape with, hopefully, only a few Disciples charging after them. Sophie had chosen their position tactically. If any Disciple decided to make a break for it and go back to the entrance and outside, they would know. That was their main priority: that no Disciples from in here, would join the Disciples outside in pursuit of the humans, Nathan and Matu. Nathan’s vines blocking the entrance weren’t going to hold forever.

  Lian ran towards the Discip
le advancing on him and dropped to his knees unexpectedly. He had a dagger in each hand and slashed the blades across the Disciple’s thighs. The Disciple cried out as her legs buckled. She didn’t have time to steady herself as Lian jumped back to his feet and cut her throat.

  There was a blue light flashing through the small army of Disciples in front of them. Sky was darting through them so fast that he was a mere blue blur. Blood sprayed wherever he went, Disciples dropped to their knees with wounds to their chest and abdomen. Lian turned around and found Sophie fighting behind him.

  More Disciples came in, but none of them were heading for the entrance anymore. Their tactical manoeuvring seemed to have worked.

  Lian and Sophie were now fighting side by side. Every now and again Sophie would push off against him and throw herself towards her opponent. Then seconds later, Lian would feel that comforting weight of her shoulder against his again.

  Lian pulled a sword from a sheath at his side, stepped away from Sophie and blocked a Disciple’s attack with it. The Disciple swung one more time, but Lian had read his move. With one hand on his sword, and a dagger still in his other hand, Lian blocked the attack with his sword and used his dagger to quickly finish the Disciple off.

  When the Disciple dropped to his knees in front of Lian, he suddenly spied a female Disciple standing quite a bit further away. There were others in between Lian and this Disciple, but her bow and arrow had caught his attention.

  There were Affinites who had an affinity for aim and precision. If this Disciple had a similar affinity, then they were in danger.

  Lian threw the dagger he still had in his hand straight towards the Disciple. He had never been the best at throwing daggers; this one, too, didn’t hit the Disciple right in the heart like he’d wanted to. Lian darted out of the way of the arrow just in time to see the dagger catch the Disciple’s stomach.

  There was a scream behind him, and all other sounds of the battle vanished from his hearing.

  Sophie.

  Lian spun around.

  He’d managed to avoid the arrow, but Sophie had been next to him, facing the other way. The Disciple hadn’t aimed the arrow at Lian’s chest, like he’d aimed the dagger at hers. It had been aimed lower.

  Sophie was on the ground, having lost the strength in her right leg. The arrow was burried deep in the back of her upper right leg. Blood was staining her trousers. She had her hands braced on the ground, and was starting to push herself up, but she wasn’t going to be in time to block the swinging sword of the Disciple she had been fighting.

  Lian cried out in anguish; he couldn’t get there in time.

  There was another Disciple behind him who was about to cut him down. There was nothing he could do for his sister as she looked up and saw the blade coming down.

  The blow didn’t kill her. Sophie had managed to throw her body sideways far enough that the sword only caught the fabric of her right sleeve. Blood welled up where the blade had sliced through the top layer of skin, but Sophie didn’t even seem to notice it. The Disciple pulled back his sword and was about to strike again. Even though she was on the floor, an arrow deep into her leg, Sophie steadily raised her left hand as he readied to swing his sword again.

  A whiz and clicking sound told Lian she’d shot a bolt at her attacker from her wrist crossbow. For a brief moment, after he managed to push the Disciple he himself was fighting back a few steps, Lian stole a glance over his shoulder. In that short moment he saw the Disciple sink to his knees, clawing at the open wound in his throat. Sophie’s aim was impeccable.

  There was another whiz, followed by a click, and then another. So many Disciples were still coming from deeper inside the Underworld to join the fight. It wasn’t every day that the Asters were in their territory, and Lian could see the adrenaline-fuelled excitement in their eyes as they came at them.

  From her low position on the ground, Sophie fired bolts at every Disciple she could see. She couldn’t get up; the arrow was buried so deep in her leg, Lian knew there’d be muscle damage. Even if she had possessed his magic, he doubted her leg would have the strength to carry her weight.

  Lian tried to protect his sister as best he could. She was helping him too; her bolts slowing down every oncoming attacker, but it was only a matter of time before she’d run out of bolts.

  And that time came sooner than he’d hoped for. Lian heard a couple of clicks, but no whiz followed. When he got the chance, he looked over his shoulder again. Sophie was crouched on the ground right behind him. She’d lowered her left hand with the crossbow, knowing it was useless now. A male Disciple rose up in front of her, a sword raised, ready to bring it down.

  And Lian couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t turn around and help her; the Disciple he was fighting would kill him the second he turned.

  Even in this incredibly vulnerable state, Sophie stared the Disciple down as he swung his sword.

  And just then there was a blue flash, and Sky was there. He crashed right into the Disciple with his short spear, impaling him and pushing him back against the two Disciples standing behind him. Those were the only ones on Sophie’s side at that moment, and once Sky had sliced through the three of them, he turned around and shot across the hallway and did almost the exact same thing to the Disciples in front of Lian.

  Lian didn’t hesitate. He spun around and dropped to his knees.

  His sister had already turned slightly, and was now lying on her left hip. Her right leg was on top of her left and she had turned her upper body so that she could assess the damage for herself.

  Lian assessed her, too. She had minimal other injuries. A few cuts along her arms, but nothing major. The slice in her left shoulder was deeper than Lian had initially thought, but Sophie was leaning on that arm as if she didn’t even notice the wound was there.

  Lian quickly reached towards one of the smaller cuts and let some of her blood drop onto his fingers. He brought his fingers to his lips. He would never get over the horrible taste of blood, but he had to do it to save Sophie.

  “Lian!” Sophie caught his hand, stopping him in his tracks. She was looking at something behind him. Lian turned around and saw what she meant.

  Two Disciples had broken away from the right-hand end of the corridor and were heading towards the entrance and back outside to where Nathan and Matu would be with the seven hikers.

  Knowing Sophie would’ve wanted this instead of being healed right there, Lian turned away from her and hurled himself at the ankles of one of the Disciples. With all his might he pulled the Disciple down to his knees. The Disciple, holding a sword in his hands twisted on the ground and tried to swing it towards Lian. Lian spun away and the blade crashed into the rocky ground. He reached for his own sword and drove it home.

  He then jumped to his feet and skipped to the side, narrowly missing the swinging sword of the second Disciple who had been moving towards the entrance. This one was harder to kill. Lian moved to the side and spun around, swinging his sword. But the Disciple jumped back, avoiding the blow Lian had expected would have killed him, giving a few other Disciples the time to run past and head for the entrance. By the time Lian finally delivered the killing blow, after receiving a slice to his thigh, five Disciples had vanished around the corner. The injury to his thigh wasn’t deep and thanks to his magic he didn’t feel the pain anyway.

  Lian’s gaze shot back towards Sophie. She was still lying on the ground, but Sky was in front of her, fighting off two more Disciples trying to get past him. A flash of blue light and Sky had vanished and appeared again behind them. It took less than two seconds before both Disciples dropped to the ground, dead.

  Sky caught Lian’s eye just for a second. There were still Disciples advancing upon them, separating them. Lian couldn’t get back to Sophie. Both Lian and Sky managed to avoid a few blows long enough to exchange a few words.

  “I’ve got her!” Sky called out. “Go help Matu and Nathan!” He vanished and appeared once more in front of Sophie.

&nbs
p; “Are you sure?” Lian called back.

  Sky reached into a sheath that had been wrapped around his leg. He pulled out a small dagger and placed it against a nasty cut down his forearm. The dagger’s blade was covered in blood a moment later. Sky then looked up, and threw the dagger towards Lian.

  It only just missed Lian’s arm as it clattered against the hard wall behind him. Lian picked up the dagger, knowing what Sky meant with it. Lian looked at his brother one last time, just to be sure.

  Sky nodded once. “I’ve got her! Go!”

  Lian didn’t hesitate. He dodged a Disciple trying to stab him, and ran down the corridor towards the entrance. As he ran, he dipped his finger in the blood on the dagger, and then safely put away the dagger in a sheath at his side. He brought his bloodied finger to his lips. The blood tasted metallic in his mouth.

  Through his rough breathing he panted, “Excipie magica celeritatis.”

  A black Band just like Sky’s immediately appeared next to his own, and Lian didn’t wait another moment. He focused on the magic quite foreign to him and thought of Matu, knowing that Sky’s magic could shimmer him to any Aster. His wrist tingled as the magic started to work. Blue light appeared, and Lian vanished from the corridor.

  “Keep them busy!” was all that Nathan had said before Matu dashed down the trail and found a spot so narrow not even two people could stand next to each other. It had seemed the best place to meet the upcoming Disciples, because they wouldn’t be able to attack with more than one at a time.

  That command from Nathan had come minutes ago, and Matu had been so occupied with killing as many Disciples as he could, that he hadn’t had the time to turn around and see what his brother had come up with. He was getting tired. A Disciple had managed to cut him across his left shoulder with his sword, cutting into his skin and through the strap of the backpack. The now loose backpack bounced awkwardly with every next movement Matu made. In an attempt to unfasten the backpack completely and toss it behind him, another Disciple had the space to ram her shield against his knee, which now felt swollen and bruised. And still Matu stood firm, shifting his weight onto his stronger leg to protect the backpack behind him, which contained the blood needed for Nathan to heal him. And to buy his brother time.