by Halie Fewkes
“We just saw a—”
“Shhhhh,” Michael shushed him.
“But we just saw—”
“Shhhhh. We need to fall back to a place where we can talk.”
We retreated deep into the forest before Jesse turned on Michael and exclaimed, “You didn’t warn me about anything like this when you convinced me to come along!”
“Keep your voice low,” Michael warned.
West asked, “What happened?”
I quickly explained, “The three of us saw a man dragged out from under a collapsed building.”
Jesse added, “He wouldn’t let them tie him up so they bit him, and he was bleeding, and screaming, and I never wanted to see something like that!”
“At least they didn’t kill him,” Archie said.
“Actually, they’ve taken a lot of people alive,” West said, “and we saw where they’re putting them. They’re near the western wall in one of the remaining buildings, where you guys were.”
Archie said, “We could get to them if we had a good enough distraction.”
“There are about a hundred horses tethered right outside the northeastern wall. Cutting them loose would be a good distraction,” West said.
“Wait…” Jesse interrupted the planning. “We don’t have to save anybody.” He stopped talking when he realized we were all watching him.
He was right, of course. We would have better chances of making it home if we didn’t try to save them. But I wasn’t sure if I could live with the guilt of leaving them to the Escalis.
So for me, this was a defining moment. For the first time since waking up in the woods, I didn’t care how my former self would have chosen to proceed. I was done trying to identify with Old Allie, trying to make the decisions she would have made. I was New Allie now, and I had to choose what I wanted to do, not for the sake of recovering who I used to be, but for the sake of moving on.
I met the gaze of every person in the circle and said, “Let’s do this.”
I locked eyes with Archie last. He didn’t smile at me, but his eyes held a proud grin of their own, as though my bravery was worthy of admiration. “Alright,” he said, turning his conspiring gaze to the rest of the group. “There are five of us. Two people can free the horses, two can get in to let the prisoners out, and somebody else can start running right now, get back to the dragons, and fly them over to meet the people on the horses.”
“Great idea,” Michael said. “And the people on the horses can lead the Escalis in the exact opposite direction of the Dragona. This might work.”
Archie said, “Jesse, are you going to be able to get on the horses to cause a distraction?”
Jesse gawked at Archie. “As bait so the Escalis can chase after me? I don’t want to die! I didn’t sign up for this.”
“Then you can go with West to grab the dragons for us, right?” Michael said.
Jesse said, “I’ll go grab the dragons, but I’m taking mine straight home. Look, we did what we came here to do. I’m not going on this suicide run with the rest of you.”
West said, “I’ll go with Jesse to grab the dragons, and I’ll convince him to quit being a coward along the way. Once we have them, where should we meet you?”
Michael replied, “Meet us on the top of that hill. I’ll be the one to spook the horses so Allie and Archie can stay together. My chances are best when I don’t have anybody slowing me down, and if any of us has to fight the Escalis, those two probably have the best hope of living through it.”
“You want Allie and me to go into the city?” Archie asked. I thought I sensed disbelief, but I wasn’t sure why. That wouldn’t be any more dangerous than Michael’s role in the plan.
“It makes the most sense,” Michael said.
“The people you’re going in to rescue are in the giant dome building near the wall,” West told us. “The doors are a very dark wood, and one of them has been torn halfway off. Hopefully Michael can draw enough attention with the horses to keep the guards from noticing you. The whole city is thick with patrols, which you won’t be able to kill or escape if they see you.”
“Actually, look what I found,” Archie said, pulling out a bundle of arrows with a piece of cloth wrapped around the heads. “We have a defense against them now.” He unwrapped the cloth to reveal the strangest arrowheads I had ever seen. They were each a swirling glow of neon colors, shining brightly in the dark.
“Escali stunners!” Michael’s face lit up. “Where did you get them?”
“Yeah, where did you get those?” Jesse asked.
“They were right next to the wall at the harbor, where the sentries abandoned their posts for a second,” Archie said. “Didn’t you see me grab them?”
“No, but oh well. How do they work?” I asked.
“The tips are made of some kind of Escali magic, and when they touch living flesh they disappear, leaving the victim incapacitated.”
“So they work on Escalis too?” I asked.
“They work on everybody.”
“You guys can take the bow then,” Michael said, handing it over.
“Ok. We have sixteen arrows, so once we’re in, we can only be seen by sixteen Escalis before we’re done for,” Archie said. “We’ll go back down to the wall and climb into the city as soon as you take the horses.”
“I’m not helping with this,” Jesse said one last time.
“Don’t worry, Jesse, we’ll be fine without you,” Archie said. “I think we’re ready.”
Jesse turned and left us. Before West followed him, he said, “Good luck to all three of you. And don’t worry — I’ll change his mind.”
He took off after Jesse; then Archie, Michael, and I met each other’s nervous glances.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” I said.
“Best of luck,” Michael said. “I’ll be riding for my life until the horse gets tired, then I’ll be running. Don’t go in until you hear the horses making noise. And if the Escalis don’t fall for the distraction, don’t go in at all.”
“Alright, just stay alive,” Archie said.
“Don’t let them catch you,” I added.
Michael turned very slowly toward his edge of the city, then took off at his incredible sprint. Archie and I departed a few seconds later to find the building West had described.
We treaded lightly to where the northern gates of the city had been reduced to rubble and the inner buildings were visible. Archie pointed to the dome West had mentioned, and I nodded. Escalis were scattered everywhere, still pulling away at the remnants of buildings, but they all froze to listen at exactly the same moment, alert to the sound of at least a hundred spooked horses.
Chapter Twelve
A sentry right inside the ruined wall had crouched into a ready stance to watch the commotion. Archie shot him with one of the arrows, and we watched him slowly keel off a small pile of debris. We climbed silently through the gaping wound in the wall, able to see Michael take off at a full gallop, and the Escalis immediately sprinted after him, truly as fast as he was.
We climbed down the wall unseen as even more chaos and snarling ensued among those who had seen him escape. West and Jesse needed to be quick getting those dragons because I could hear the Escalis strategizing group tactics to cut Michael off.
“Archie,” I whispered, pointing to the smooth inside of the wall as we moved to where it was still intact. “We can’t climb back out.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got an idea,” he replied, stealing forward to the cover of the buildings.
I followed Archie around a few corners, and the only Escali to see us was quickly sent into unconsciousness. We stopped at the edge of what seemed to be a house, and I could see two Escalis guarding the entrance of the domed building. Archie paused.
“If I shoot one of them, the other one will react faster than anything…” he said.
“Here, give me an arrow,” I said, reaching to grab one.
“What are you doing?”
>
“I’ll take out the one on the left. You get the one on the right.”
“You’re going to sneak up and touch him?” Archie whispered.
“Yes. Be ready.”
I was extremely careful to check for Escali patrols before I circled back around our building and darted across the dirt road. Now I was on the back side of the structure we were trying to get into. I slowly edged to the corner, where I knew the sentries stood guard. Archie, reading my thoughts, had already drawn an arrow, ready to step into the open to join me.
I whipped myself around the corner and jabbed at the closest Escali as Archie shot the other. The arrowheads dissipated and both monsters fell where they stood.
“Hurry, grab them and drag them inside!” he said, running over to grab one. The Escali I tried to move was unimaginably heavy, but I managed to drag him through the busted doors. Inside we found a great spacious ceiling, grey stone walls, and the entrance to a hallway on the other end of the floor.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked dropping the Escali with an echoing thud.
“This is where West told us to go… They must be down that hallway.” For being so sure, I saw concern on his face.
We skittishly crossed the floor, entered the passage, and still saw no one. The hallway turned into a steep winding staircase. We both hesitantly descended, seeing no one until we got to the bottom.
About fifty people sat along the ground, their wrists tied together. Instead of being alone like we hoped, at least ten Escalis were in the room, a few of them sharpening their blades to pass the time.
We jerked back around the last bend before any of them had seen us and exchanged looks of worry.
“I didn’t know there would be that many Escalis,” Archie breathed.
“What are we going to do? If we shoot them all, we’ll only have two or three arrows left.”
“You assume we could shoot them all.”
Footsteps approached from the room and we started backing silently up the staircase. Archie handed me half of the arrows, and when two Escalis came around the bend they didn’t have the chance to see us before we touched them with the tips and they crumpled.
“I don’t see any other choice,” I said as the Escalis toppled down a couple stairs before coming to a rest. Surely none of the other monsters had heard with all the commotion outside.
Archie said, “Here, you take the bow and shoot at them from the doorway. I’ll take a few arrows and stop anyone who tries to get to you.”
“Ok,” I said, taking the bow from him. Having the bow in my hand was a familiar feeling, and I knew I could use it. We edged back down to the doorway and I took aim toward the Escali closest to us to get him out of the way first.
As soon as I fired, I had the next arrow ready and flying without looking to see if they were hitting. It only felt like five seconds before the pile was gone and I had hit every Escali in the room.
Archie gaped at me. “Are you serious? Here you’ve been letting me do the shooting?”
I smiled and shrugged it off as I pulled out one of my swords and cut the ropes off a rugged woman’s hands.
The overbearing man whom Archie had just cut free stood up, rubbing his wrists. He had a large head with the strangest facial piercings I had ever seen — jewelry protruded from between his eyes and next to his nose, among other places. He said, “Thanks kids. We can take it from here now.”
Archie and I exchanged brief glances. Kids?
“Ok,” Archie said, clearly irritated, “but let us show you the way out. The wall is—”
“Really son, I thank you for coming in here and helping, but now that we’re free, you had better let the adults do the thinking.” Archie raised his eyebrows, not about to accept the man’s supposed authority.
“Do you want our help at all?”
“Well, now that you mention it, those arrows you’re holding would—”
“Here, take them,” Archie said. He promptly handed over his remaining arrows. “And why don’t you take Allie’s bow too?” I was appalled to have to give it up, and I couldn’t believe Archie had just… volunteered it like that. I felt my sense of security leave as soon as it left my hands.
“You don’t know what’s going on out there,” I tried to reason. “We can tell you where is safe and where isn’t. When you get outside—”
“Listen, sweet, we killed the majority of the Escalis when we came in, so trust me when I say I can lead us—”
“You’re from Tekada, aren’t you?” Archie asked abruptly. “You’re one of the commanders Kelian appointed.”
“That’s King Kelian to you, boy.”
I felt Archie surreptitiously reach over and grab my hand. “Our military would be twice what it is now if Kelian would leave it to the competent leaders. If this lot wants to follow you, you can go ahead and get them killed any way you like. We’re going to make it out of here alive.”
The man was just about to retort when Archie jerked my arm with him — we were making a run for it back up the stairs. We jumped over the sleeping bodies of the two we had downed in the hallway and ran all the way up to the room above. The man we had left behind wasn’t stupid. He didn’t shout after us or even come chasing. He had realized too late that we weren’t sticking around.
“Shanking Tekadans,” Archie muttered. “The Dincarans should have already overthrown anybody appointed by Kelian. Dincarans are always the strong fighters, the intelligent ones. I can’t believe they let a Tekadan take charge!”
Archie’s hatred for King Kelian just didn’t matter to me at the moment, so I ignored the rant. The Escalis we had dragged inside earlier were still void of consciousness, and we left them that way as we peeked out the doorway to make sure all was clear.
The biggest moon illuminated the whole world with its greenish glow, and we pulled back to avoid a large group of Escalis sprinting by. As soon as they passed, we started making our way back to the destroyed section of the wall. “Oh no,” I said, seeing at least five new brutes next to our escape route.
Before Archie could respond, a grey flecked falcon swooped down and landed on a charred window frame very close to us. It watched us with a cocked head, not yet making noise.
“Don’t move,” Archie said, almost so quietly that I couldn’t hear him. I didn’t need him to tell me. I was frozen. The falcon watched us for about a minute until another one screeched within the city and this one took off to join it.
Maybe the falcon also thought we were too young to be a threat?
I stared after it, open-mouthed, until Archie grabbed my attention. “We need to get out of sight and lay low until that bird forgets us,” he said. I was in total agreement until I realized he meant let’s hide in this building. He pushed a door open and I dashed inside with him, although I felt certain that entering an Escali’s home was an awful idea. How did we even know it would be empty?
A minor corner of the room had crumbled apart during the attack, right next to an ascending staircase. I immediately found myself hunched next to the chink in the wall, peering out to see three more Escalis running past.
“That was too close,” I whispered. I glanced over my shoulder to see Archie staring hard at the door. Redwood tables of many levels were arranged about the room, and one wall held an array of Escali knives, swords, and staves. Nothing else resided in the stone chamber. “How do we get out of here?” I asked him. “This house, the whole city…”
He took his eyes off the door to look at me, and then several things happened as he began to say, “Allie, I think I have to tell you something.”
Please be an Epic, I thought as he spoke. Say you can get us out of here.
And BRUM! BRUM! BRUM! BRUM! at the door cut him off.
The thunderous hammering terrified me as the Escali outside snarled, “Get out here, Tally!”
I should wonder what Tally meant, but I didn’t have time.
Archie shook his head and took a short breath. “It doesn’t m
atter right now. There’s a second door here behind the staircase. Let’s get out of here.”
We exited within seconds, before the predators got the chance to surround the house, and my voice squeaked embarrassingly as I asked, “Where are we going to go?”
“I don’t know,” Archie said as we darted behind a building and pressed ourselves against it. I pointed out a dim crevice where a chunk of demolished roof rested against the crumbling structure it had previously topped. We both sped into the hiding place and crouched in the shadows.
“What are we going to do?” I asked, trying to keep the panic from my voice.
The stress on his face was equally worrisome. “I don’t know. They’ve got too many guards near the destroyed section of the wall.”
“They’ve only got a couple next to the Breathing Sea,” I said. “And we have to get out before the Dincarans do something stupid and the Escalis swarm this area.”
“You want to go to the harbor of the Breathing Sea?” he said in dismay.
Instead of answering aloud, I peeked around the corner of our hideout and dashed into the next shadowy crevice of the city, glad we hadn’t come to Treldinsae in the light of day, but still wishing the moon wasn’t quite so full. Archie came with me, and we hopped between a few more buildings before I heard a rough call from behind us. “They’re over here, trying to escape.”
This Escali didn’t seem particularly bloodthirsty. He just followed after us as though keeping track of an annoyance, waiting for somebody else. I, on the other hand, adopted a dead sprint toward the split in the wall where I knew the Breathing Sea crashed upon the shore. Archie kept up with me, and we caught the attention of every Escali we flew past, practically gone by the time they comprehended the instinct to chase us. I did flick my head around long enough to see the quick pursuit of a new enemy, but I then had to leap over a pile of fallen bricks and my next three steps fell on a rough gash in the road. I almost tripped in the rubble, so I kept my eyes ahead of me, horrified to know that I recognized one of the pursuers.