Valerina lay on her back, staring up blankly at the blue sky through the shimmering, slightly glowing ward around the ring. A snarl and mad scrabbling reached her ears from outside the ward. She turned blearily to the side just in time to see an injured, bleeding razatche - her former opponent she thinks - fling himself bodily at the ward only to be sent careening in the opposite direction, head tumbling over heels toward one of the few remaining essencesuckers still prowling about the Arena.

Valerina looked away before they collided, not wanting to add to the pile of regurgitated breakfast and questionable liquids occupying a corner of the ring as an agonized shriek rent the air and the sound of something squishy and particularly astringent being pulled apart reached her ears. The very scene had played out more times than she could count as she cowered behind the ward and it was a miracle her stomach was still sitting within her and not piled in a heap at a corner of the ring.

The girl spat to the side, trying to get the taste of vomit from her mouth as she pushed herself up. She braced against the stone, holding herself up with her head lolled back and she tried to think. Frankly, it was the only thing she could do in her situation bar wailing and wallowing in misery - and she had done enough of that in the minutes (or hours. She hadn't been keeping time) since the Grand Ward ruptured and she was sick of it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Rowe waving at her from within another ward. He was also shouting something at her but she ignored him and tried to think of a way to get back to the Gildspur inn instead. She was not going to leave the island without the book she had taken from the city lord's manor - deadly, violent essencesuckers be damned. To do that without having her essence ripped out, she required a plan. A good one.

Valerina scoured her memory for information on razatches. Something she could use. Something that was not about their blood tasting like apple pie. She wondered where she heard that last bit. She was certain somebody had told her that, she just couldn't remember who. It may have been Ramla maybe.

Ramla said the weirdest things.

Idly, Valerina wondered if he would show up here by any chance. He had appeared out of nowhere during two separate incidents at Heathram after all, and he had promised to be there when she needed him. She had put some degree of faith in what he'd said at the time - she was a refreshingly naive twelve-year-old then - but now that she knew how the world worked, Valerina had little faith in the promise from so long ago. Despite the knowledge that the promise did not hold water, she found that she would be.... disappointed if Ramla did not somehow show up in Sealarios.

It was impossible for him to do so, she knew, and even if he did make it, he would have had to come with the ships as a contestant. That was even worse to consider because, looking at the few wards up and around some of the rings, she could not see anybody remotely resembling Ramla. He was quite eye-catching with his deformity and if Valerina couldn't spot him then it meant he hadn't come or he was already a razatche.

All in all, it would probably be better if he hadn't made his way to Sealarios. Valerina had a bunch of questions she was just burning to ask him after all, and she doubted she could just walk up to him and demand answers if he was scourged. On the other hand though, it would be a pleasure to run him through with a sword or peel away his skin with Liki until he screamed and rolled and writhed on the ground in agony, cursing the day he had been born, while she stood over him AND ASKED HIM WHY!!

And after that, they could settle for a cup of tea or something. Maybe stare at the stars like that one night at Heathram.

Valerina ran her fingers through her hair. Thinking of Ramla got her in a mood.

So yes, she would be disappointed if he didn't come because if he did then at the very least she wouldn't have to search the whole damn universe for him.

Valerina stared at the sky. She needed a plan. A good one. She didn't want to die. Not yet.

The girl began reviewing what she knew as earnestly as she could manage. Literally no one knew where to find a portal and so their first thought would be to get a ship at the docks and cross the Torsan Channel to one of the Mescarian islands and then move on from there. She didn't want that to happen because while they would get to the docks by going around the island in a straight line, the Gildspur inn was deeper within the island and Valerina was certain she wouldn't survive a trip there alone. She needed warm bodies between her, Rowe, and certain death. What could she do to realize that?

She tried harder to recall what she'd read of razatches and what her tutors had told her. Unfortunately, all she could remember was that they regained their capability for reasoning and planning as they got stronger and that they could sniff out essence like hounds. The first tidbit only worsened her nerves while the second was thoroughly useless. What was she to do? Broadcast her presence throughout the island with a flare of energy, shining like a beacon to attract every single essencesucking murderwork to herself and then hope for the best? A sure way to die.

Valerina was still thinking and wracking her brain when the ward around her flickered. She blinked in surprise, trying to know whether she'd seen right. It flickered once more - violently this time - and the girl stiffened, chilling cold settling in her stomach. It couldn't be about to...

The ward gave out, disappearing in a burst of sparks and popping like a bubble. Valerina scrambled to her feet as fast as she could and immediately dry heaved as the gods-awful stench of intestines and half-digested food slammed into her. A noise to her left pulled her attention, and she came face to distended maw with a razatche in mid-air lunging for her throat. Reflexively she ducked, and the razatche sailed past her. She turned quickly to face it and found it scrabbling on all fours, trying to somehow wiggle out of the sword running through its chest and pinning it to the ground. Somebody swung a sword, cutting deeply into its neck and spraying blood everywhere. The razatche stopped moving and for some reason Valerina just stared, still trying to somehow wrap her mind around what just happened. One minute she was sitting safely, planning, and the next...

Somebody touched her, and she flinched. Her eyes focused and she finally saw Rowe, his face taking up the totality of her view.

"Are you okay?" He asked, holding her by her shoulders. She blinked rapidly before shuffling back and answering: "Yes, yes. Just a little surprised. I... I didn't expect the wards to go out so suddenly."

Rowe let out a sigh of relief. "I was trying to tell you. I thought you went catatonic or something. That scared the living daylights out of me."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

There was a squelch behind Rowe as someone gave a grunt of effort and Valerina peered around her cousin. Behind him, a lady in light leathers pulled out the sword pinning the razatche and sheathed it after wiping off the blood on the creature's clothes. Frowning, she looked down at Rowe's hand and saw his sword dripping with blood.

Rowe followed her gaze and shifted uncomfortably.

"Val. I... I... It had-"

"I understand, Rowe. It had to be done. Even if these things look human, they are anything but," Valerina cut him off.

"So, she alright?" The girl in leathers called out, approaching them.

Rowe turned. "Thank gods, she is," he replied. "Valerina, this is, er, was my erstwhile opponent Anna. Anna, my cousin Valerina."

Anna held out a hand, smiling. "Pleased to meet you," she said. Valerina gave her hand in return and they shook hands.

"Same here," she said and scanned Anna from head to toe. The young lady wore light leather gear including shoulder pads, elbow pads, and knee pads. A fairly reasonable getup since she had expected to participate in a fight. She looked about the same age as Rowe - somewhere in her mid-twenties or something - and looked like she knew what she was doing. Whether it was false bravado or not Valerina didn't know, but she did not expect that look to last long.

"By the way, while the wards were still up, everyone agreed to stick together and follow the shoreline straight to the docks so we'll see if we can maybe survive this so we should better get going," Rowe said once the handshake was over.

"Right, there's still that happening," Anna sighed. "Let's get going then." She turned around and began to march away. Rowe followed her example, and Valerina followed his while taking a moment to give the Arena a cursory scan. It turned out that the handful of razatches that had remained in the Arena were already taken care of, and almost everyone was either standing in a group next to the gates or making their way there.

After they joined the group by the gates, things played out exactly as Valerina had thought they would. The girl kept quiet for the most part and only watched as everyone agreed to travel straight around the island to the docks while keeping to the shoreline as much as they could. The group of about fifty stayed close and exited the gates, tense as strings.

Practically everyone expected to be attacked immediately upon leaving, but everywhere was mysteriously empty. There was still an unwholesome number of mutilated corpses littering the streets and hanging from buildings with their insides hanging out but they encountered no live one for the first few minutes.

Valerina had managed to wiggle her way to the center of the group by the time razatches started appearing. Or rather, a couple razatches appeared and Valerina got a bright idea that involved drawing more.

They had been trudging down a relatively wide street flanked by a dozen story buildings on both sides when the first razatche appeared, darting quickly out of a side alley and into the group. It was running with reckless abandon and the person it was headed directly for panicked, tapped into his manipulation, and roasted the creature before it got close. That had been a mistake.

Everyone had concluded not to use their manipulation in any way since it was fairly common knowledge that razatches were attracted to essence even worse than moths were to flame. While Valerina hadn't been able to see it as it happened, but she could guess what went down due to the smell of scorched flesh lingering in the air.

For a time, Valerina had gotten worried. That slight use of essence had most likely alerted any nearby razatches to their presence and she could do without that attention right now.

That was when the idea hit. For whatever reason, this side of the island was not crawling with the essencesuckers, and she was pretty sure the Gildspur inn was somewhere around the corner. Not totally sure but it couldn't be too far off. To get to the inn though, she would need the razatches concentrating on something else. That was where the low number of razatches came into play.

If she drew them to the group, she would be able to slip away relatively safely since they would not be crawling around the whole damn place.

Just then, a razatche conveniently jumped straight into the center of the group from the top floor of one of the buildings. Valerina screamed, 'panicked', and flared her manipulation outward in a wave of light blue. What she did didn't harm the razatche, but every other person around her was happy enough to plunge blades into the creature before it could do more than snarl.

Moments later the razatches Valerina was expecting arrived, jumping out of buildings, alleys, and over walls to get to the essence they so desired. The girl was already on the move even before they arrived, shoving people out of her way as she walked briskly to the edge of the group. And then the creatures slammed into the group screaming, biting, and scratching. Fangs and claws sang through the air, questing for flesh to rend and sinews to cut. The group didn't dissolve into a disorderly mess, luckily, since practically everyone in it had more than a cursory interest in the martial path.

Valerina picked out the path less filled with screaming abnormalities and slipped away from the group and into a half-destroyed building by the side. She paused a while to make sure nothing was following her before making her way to the other end of the building and clambering out the window. She took another moment to figure out where she was in relation to the inn before continuing across the road and into an alley. Her heart beat thunderously within her chest as her eyes darted from shadow to shadow, seeking out threats that were not there.

As she got further away from the group and the sounds of battle faded without anything unwelcome leaping out at her, Valerina began to get a bit relaxed. A bit, because the holes present in ninety percent of walls, the occasional corpses, and the ever-present splashes of blood still kept her on edge. She knew she was getting closer to the inn and it was only the thought that the book could contain the cure to her malady that kept her going.

After about a couple minutes or so of walking, her luck ran out.

It started with a sharp click-clack echoing down the street. Valerina, against all common sense, stood to listen first. It sounded like metal striking cobblestone. A horse's hooves maybe, but it lacked a certain cadence, not to mention that the rhythm was very much off. Then the ground caught her eye. There was no cobblestone.

Something scraped against her forehead, brushing past as though thrown from her right. The girl reflexively glanced to the side and up. There, atop the roof of a story building, a boy beckoned her. No, not just any boy. The Maeser of Siadro.

Valerina blinked twice in surprise. Voscov? Here? And he was beckoning her closer?

Voscov put a finger over his lips then beckoned her closer still. The clicks were getting closer. Cautiously, she neared the building.

Climb, the Maeser mouthed. Valerina frowned. Climb? A two story building? What did he take her for? A monkey?

Cannot, she mouthed back and started moving away. The clicks were getting closer still, and this whole silence business was giving her the chills. Voscov stared at her for a second before leaning out of view.

Valerina's eyes scanned the streets desperately, looking for the origin of the clicking but came up with nothing. There shouldn't be any clicks. None... Should there? The clicks stopped.

The ground beside Valerina rose quickly and something slammed into it, squirming, wriggling spikes of something scrabbling around the stone pillar. Valerina screamed - a tiny, shrill sound escaping her throat before her lips and nose were covered so thoroughly, that the rest of her shriek died somewhere in her chest.

Valerina wasn't sure what happened after that, but she was fairly certain that it had involved leaping through the air. At least that would explain why she suddenly found herself atop the roof in the company of the Siadroan Maeser and - if she was correct - Lynica Arskavi. Valerina had a bunch of important questions she wanted to ask like 'wha...?', and 'ha...?', and 'wuuuut in......?' but she didn't get the chance to get any of that off before something - or, more accurately, some things - in the distance went up in golden flames that were in some twisted way not flames, and energy roared across the island, slamming into her in a way and place beyond the physicality of her everyday mundane living...

... And in the end, everything of hers just... hurt.