Stephy and Astra were heavy, but for the moment, at least, Emilia was content to carry them at a sedate pace. Behind them, she could still hear the echoes of the Risen Guard and Enclave member’s fight. She’d overheard their saviour ask some leading questions about the Enclave while she worked on getting Stephy free, so she assumed that was who her assailant was associated with—not that any of those questions had been answered with anything more than curses and magic.
Not that the designation of Enclave member seemed to mean much, either. A loose collection of families; she’d already understood that much, from the things she’d heard about the Enclave. There was a big difference between Enclave families holding similar goals, with some willing to do anything for their harbinger to earn a blessing for the world and… whatever that had been. That person could have been targeting her because she wasn’t their family’s harbinger, but she doubted it. Something in the way they had attacked her—in the way they had looked at her like she was the scum of the universe, worthless and so dangerous that Stephy’s life had been considered acceptable collateral damage.
Zach had said the Enclave had been fracturing since the last blessing—the one that had granted this world the blood curse. He hadn’t mentioned anything this extreme, however. Evidently, even more cracks had appeared in the Enclave since the last group of visitors had failed—cracks that Zach, separate from the Enclave as he was, hadn’t learned of.
Or, hadn’t told her about. That wasn’t something she could think about now, however. Thinking about whether the man had tricked her, potentially given her false information deliberately…
Emilia’s steps stilled as she reached out her aching core, searching for the two groups of children wandering the city. From what she could tell, Benny was either extremely lucky or there actually was something to his reading of the aether: the two groups were heading in the same general direction. They hadn’t met up yet, the homeless group moving significantly faster—likely due to a combination of being used to wandering the streets at night, Sawyer’s proficiency with reading the aether, and their lack of small children. They would meet up eventually, however, assuming nothing happened.
Emilia had absolutely no confidence that nothing would happen. There could have been only the one Enclave member and one Risen Guard wandering the city. There could easily be more. As much as she could hope that any others would target her… she couldn’t trust that.
The OIC, SecOps and The Black Knot were good at picking up people before they did horrible things, but people slipped through the cracks—hacked Censors let them slip through the cracks. Dozens of news articles from centuries past flittered through Emilia’s memory. Terrorists and other criminals grabbing up people who they could leverage for what they wanted. Baalphoria didn’t negotiate with terrorists, rare as they were, but civilians did. Grab a wife, a child, a friend of someone important and—
Emilia had already proven she was willing to risk her existence within the raid for these children. If someone figured that out…
⸂Emilia, it hurts,⸃ Stephy sobbed in her neck.
She readjusted her grip on the girl, hoisting her up with the arm tucked under her butt. Both of Stephy’s legs had been broken in the fall, and they hung uselessly under her, knocking against Emilia’s own with every step. There had been blood, Stephy had told her as they walked, something about talking it over helping to calm the girl. Bone had split out of at least one of the breaks, but the system had healed her—sealed up the cuts and pulled the bone back insider her. It seemed like the first serious injury the girl had ever sustained—possibly the first one she’d ever seen.
Lucky—she was lucky, all things considered. Had it been an internal injury, something the system seemed more inclined to ignore, the girl could have bled out down there. Emilia had probed her with her energy, however, and determined that if the girl as internally injured, it was probably minor. Hopefully, if something was wrong inside the girl, it would heal on its own. Rin had told her healing magic in this world focused on the self, and while Emilia was sure there must be doctors somewhere, both Rin and her Risen Guard babysitter had told her nothing like surgery existed.
If you couldn't fix it yourself, if the system left that internal injury bleeding and killing you, it seemed like there was little to be done.
Emilia really hoped that she wouldn’t have to watch this girl die from some internal injury.
Astra’s hand reached out to rest on Stephy’s, a silent show of support, as Emilia swerved down a side road. This city was terrible. Half the alleys were filled with debris. Junk and garbage scattered everywhere and making it difficult to traverse the thin connecting roads. She would have avoided them entirely, except they also seemed to be the only way to move through the city. Wide, sparkling clean streets with red cobblestones that glittered under the light of her once more active light gem—thanks to Astra, again—ran parallel in one direction, and as far as she could tell, only the cluttered, packed dirt alleys connected them.
It had been hard enough traversing them when Sawyer had been leading—when she hadn’t been laden down with a child half her weight. Dead weight, no less. For as much as Stephy’s arms were around her neck, they were doing nothing to help Emilia carry her. That was probably for the best. All things considered, the child putting much more of her weight onto her neck would have hurt. Not that she already didn’t hurt everywhere.
Her back. Her muscles. Her joints. She hadn’t even known joints could hurt! On top of that, she was cold and tired and lonely. She missed the older children and V—fucking stars, she’d even take Harmony or Sk’lar’s company at the moment!
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Okay, so maybe that was a lie. Harmony would be… acceptable, even if Emilia knew she’d quickly come to regret having the girl with her. Sk’lar would be terrible. The man was a creep, and they wouldn’t even be able to communicate. At least she and Harmony would have been able to chat, and as much as the Enclave girl wasn’t exactly the nicest person in the world, at least the Stringer family actually seemed to care for the locals. Harmony probably would have helped her care for the kids.
Emilia cursed as she stepped on something round, her balance disrupted. Luckily, she wasn’t sent sprawling, but her stumbling steps sent her shin colliding into a nearby box. More cursing followed, along with Stephy weakly asking if she was okay. Emilia nodded as she continued cursing, every creative expletive she’d heard during the war slipping out of her.
“Well, I haven’t heard cussing quite like that since th’war.”
Emilia froze. Shit. She’d been so distracted by the pain that she’d forgotten to keep her voice down. Peeking up, her eyes caught on the man standing at the alleyway’s exit. Light from a nearby window lit up his back, sending his features into stark shadows.
It didn’t matter, Emilia recognized him, even in the dim light, and her legs were moving, racing back the way they’d come before her brain had fully registered how fucked they were.
One of the men from Livery—one of the members of that family who had attacked her and V as soon as they’d exited the cavern. An uncle, to the heroes they’d killed.
“How did he find us?” Emilia wondered as she ran, Stephy’s feet jostling painfully against her thigh. That pain was likely nothing compared to what the girl herself was feeling, however. Moans and screams escaped the girl as they ran, her arms tightening around Emilia’s neck until they were another note of pain through her body.
Emilia didn’t have time to worry about the girl’s legs or the pain they were causing her, not when she could hear the man chasing them—not when she had no idea how many more members of his crazy family were in the city.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Emilia swerved down another alley, one that was slightly less of a mess than the others they’d passed, but not by much.
Laughter floated after them, because of course someone who was related to the psychotic family they’d met in the cavern was just as psychotic. “Where are you going, little irregular?” the man cooed, his voice sending a chill down Emilia’s spine. “I just wanna ask you some questions.”
“Oh yeah?” she yelled back, jumping over yet another hole that opened suddenly into the road. Her legs screamed at her as she landed, one giving out, her knee colliding painfully with the ground. At least she wasn’t lying inside the cave, her own legs broken under her as they waited for their psycho stalker to catch up. “What questions are those?” She wasn’t about to stop and chat with the man, but she was curious whether he was just taunting her or not.
“Why don’ you stop, and we c’n chat?”
“No, thanks”
“Ah~ so rude. Don’ you know it’s rude to run fr’m people who jus’ wanna be your friend?”
“I have enough friends to stop and chat with, thanks. Now, if you really want to know the way to my heart, I need a running partner,” she called back, cursing herself for enjoying bantering with the man. He clearly had bad intentions, but this sort of biting back and forth was something she had always enjoyed—was the way to her heart, more often than not.
It probably wasn’t the healthiest way for choosing boyfriends, considering it had led to her ex and Elijah—not that Elijah was anywhere near as bad as her ex. It had also gifted her with Rafe and Olivier, though, even if neither had ever been her boyfriend.
Not really, anyways.
“Oh?” the man sighed, voice closer than it had been a moment earlier, her fall having strained her knee enough that it was slowing her pace too much even with the extra speed granted by her {Blood Armour}. “S’this my interview, then?”
“Something like that!” Emilia cheered through gritted teeth.
This was so bad, and she had no idea how to get out of it. Either the man had somehow managed to end up in the same city as her, or he’d followed her. Fucking stars, he could have been following them since the city, for all she knew. Sawyer had said he didn’t know if the labyrinth would drop Emilia and V’s group—assuming they were alive—in the same location. The kids who frequented the labyrinth were never stupid enough to split up while exploring. They’d also never been separated.
Maybe they would come out in the same place, maybe not.
That meant this man could have been following them since the city. Maybe if he had been, the labyrinth was just sadistic enough to drop them in the same place, and V’s group in another.
“How long have you been following us?” Emilia called back, chancing a glance behind her as she raced down the main street. The man was so close—too close. She doubted she could even dump the children safely, so she could either lead the man away or figure out a plan of attack. If she tried dropping them safely, he would be on them before she even fully let the girls go.
Before them, the city gates loomed. Even if she kept running, she was going to end up with no options soon, unless she tried to circle back around. She couldn’t run forever. Eventually, the day and residents of the city would come, or her legs would give her. No matter where she ran, it would eventually lead to a dead end, which only left desperation, and the bad decisions that came with it.
Emilia sent a spiral of energy surging backwards, hoping that her broken internal map wasn’t completely busted for this city. It was just a series of straight streets. Three over—they’d only run three over since she’d rescued Stephy. Three over, and one back while being chased. It should be easy for her energy to—
Something collided with her shoulder, sharp and bloody but thankfully not long enough to skewer Astra’s head. Emilia screamed—half in pain, half in effort as she used what little energy she had left to send the children flying away from her. She spun as she threw them, hoping they’d land in the same general area and Astra, smart child that she was, would be able to get Stephy to move herself away from what was surely about to become a bloodbath.
Emilia’s ass and shoulder crashed into the ground, whatever had been thrown at her digging further into her flesh. Could have been worse—at least it hadn’t been knocked away, or pulled back to the other visitor.
He was so close, so tall. Even through the dark, Emilia could see the grin on his face. All teeth— perfect and straight in a way that didn’t quite suit his avatar.
The man opened that perfect mouth to say something, teeth glinting in the light emanating from a nearby window. Whatever he had been about to say broke off into a scream as Emilia tugged, the weapon the man had thrown at her pulled free of her shoulder and suddenly embedding itself in his chest.
“Wow... you’re a feisty one!” he groaned, smile shifting into a shaky grimace. His own hand rose, tugging the weapon out just as brutally as she’d pulled it free of herself. “You’re gonna regret that. Shoulda jus’ stopped, and had that nice wee chat wi’ me. Now, I’m gonna send you back a little bit broken.”