It shocked me how high Gor could jump. With legs as short as hers, I wouldn’t have expected her to jump at all, let alone clear a building. Despite my amazement at her jumping ability, it soon became clear to me that standing right where she would land was not in my best interest. I dove to the side right as she began her descent, and the dust she threw up upon landing obscured her from view.
Gor did not wait for the dust to settle, and the next thing I knew, she appeared with her club poised for a swipe. Upon seeing such an image, I was more than willing to let my instincts take over and allow my legs to give out, making me duck below the swing.
Despite the unwillingness of my legs to cooperate, my entire body was not subject to the same misfortune. Planting both my palms into the ground before her, the earth below her shot up as poorly chiseled pillars. The sight of them caused Gor to rear up on her hind two legs to avoid them, but with a swing of her club, she reduced the stone to pebbles.
Right as I tried retreating, something wrapped around my leg and hoisted me into the air. As the world turned upside down, I saw the source of my capture and swore under my breath when I did. It was Gor’s long tail—the same tail I once thought weak. While the muscles behind it were not solid walls of flesh, they still possessed enough strength that I couldn’t wiggle free from them.
“Was the leap necessary?” Ligram asked, sounding as if he was the one who spent the energy to capture me.
The look Gor shot him would have been enough to shut most people up, but the old man let out a long sigh.
“I could have done it much faster and without drawing attention to ourselves. While many of those in this city are members of your Order, not everybody is. Are you trying to attract more attention?” he replied.
“Why do you think I threw-” Gor began, but stopped when I pulled myself up to touch her tail.
It took a moment for my magic to take hold, but by the time she realized I was casting magic, it was too late, and ice froze her tail into a block. Not expecting the sudden drop in temperature, Gor flicked her tail to the side as if doing so would shake it off. Such logic was flawed, but it worked, just not the way she wanted.
Her frozen tail cracked and then shattered, detaching it from her main body and throwing me through the air. Despite being freed, the tail still had me in its grasp, and I could not pull myself free with the ice holding me in place. On the other hand, Gor wasn’t sure how to handle losing her tail and looked as if she didn’t know if it hurt or not.
It did not take her long to come to her conclusion, and she let out a howl, not out of pain but anger, and I flinched when her yellow eyes focused on her. I was helpless as she wound back her club to throw, only able to cover my face for protection. Through my arms, I saw the club begin its descent, and I shut my eyes as if doing so would shield me from being turned into paste.
Yet the impact never came, and the sound of metallic clanging rang throughout the cave. Confused why I was alive, I looked up to see Gehenna standing in between us; her spear thrusted out towards the lizard woman. Off to the side was Gor’s club.
“Gor, I know you are in pain, but we are not trying to kill the girl. Take a deep breath and stand down,” she advised. “Your tail will grow back.”
Gor continued to seethe, but she remained in place, closing her eyes to follow the elf’s instructions.
The elf could only calm the lizard woman for so long before her eyes gazed upon me trying to escape. Knowing I could not free myself through physical means, I used magic to peel away the ice, a process that was louder than what I wanted. The crackling it created drew the attention of everyone, and while Gehenna kept her eyes on the lizard woman, her ears perked up at the sound.
No longer taking the deep breaths prescribed to her, Gor charged towards me, plowing past the elf and tossing her to the side with ease.
What little work I did to free myself was enough to drag my legs out of the dismembered tail and throw myself out of her charging path. Seconds later, Gor trampled through her own tail, shattering the ice and tail to pieces.
Seeing that she failed to run me over, the lizard woman whipped her hand toward her discarded club, causing the weapon to spring from the ground and fly back into her grip.
“If you don’t want me to use this, stay down,” Gor warned, brandishing her reclaimed weapon.
Everything from the way she stood to her scowl to the nature of my situation told me listening was in my best interest. If resisting meant being crushed under the weight of a club that weighed more than I did, being captured and living sounded like a good option. In addition, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could resist. All the tricks I employed to escape drained my Aura to where I felt its negative effects. Nausea clouded my vision, and my stomach threatened to heave its contents if I pushed myself further. Physical exhaustion made everything worse, making it difficult to push on. A small part of me resisted these facts, however. A small part that saw what little Aura I had left and saw it as enough. And I was going to listen to it.
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“Don’t move, you say?” I asked.
“Stay down,” she confirmed, taking a step toward me.
“Understood.”
Doing as she said, I did not stand back up, but I did thrust my hands at her. The ice swords I created in the beginning flew into action and took her attention away from me to deal with them.
With my primary threat distracted, I looked over at Gehenna and Ligram. The old man was looking at me with a twisted smile, leaning on his staff, and making no immediate move to stop me. The elf was making her way to me, her eyes trained on Gor for whenever she finished dealing with my swords.
In desperation and out of the hope she was more focused on the lizard woman, I scrambled to my feet and ran toward the boulder, looking for the footholds I would need to scale it.
Finding the purchase I needed, I made it halfway before a stinging pain shot through my shoulder, loosening my hold. I would have fallen back down if the same thing that caused me pain hadn’t pinned me to the rock.
“You are only making things worse for yourself. Gor is not going to see your trick the way you expect, and I am not sure if I can hold her back,” Gehenna warned.
It took little thinking to know she was right. I didn’t need to look over at the lizard woman to know she was making quick work of my swords, and I was not oblivious to the anger she would project onto me for causing such frustration. Besides Gor, I had nothing to distract her or Ligram with, and it wasn’t hard to see them blowing past the boulder in an instant. Now that a spear was holding me against the wall, my chances of escape decreased to near zero.
It’s near zero, I told myself.
Yanking my body down, I let the spear tip cut my clothes to free myself, and before I hit the ground, I mustered what magic I could to let the spear fall out where I grabbed it. The ease with which it pierced the boulder astonished me, and I was quick to use it to my advantage.
Instead of wasting my time looking for handholds, I used the spear’s sharpness to make my own, scaling to the top faster than I would have been able to otherwise.
As tempting as it was to take a break and allow my breath to catch up, I knew they would grant me no such break, and it would be seconds before Gehenna joined me at the top.
Gor’s still dealing with my swords, I thought, as I saw her crush one with her bare hand. While it was disappointing to see one of my creations destroyed with so little effort, it gave me an idea.
“Catch!” I called down to the elf, creating a single sword of ice and tossing it to her.
Gehenna caught the sword, more out of surprise than on purpose, and looked up at me for an explanation. To answer her, I pointed at the lizard woman who finished destroying the last of my blades. Because I wasn’t on her level, her attention was first directed to an elf, an elf who was holding a sword identical to the ones I attacked her with.
Realization dawned on Gehenna in an instant, and she dropped the sword as she raised her hands to calm Gor.
“Wait! Gor, think about this!” she began.
“What the hell pointy ears?” Gor roared, ignoring anything she had to say.
Dragging her club behind her, her four legs propelled the lizard woman toward the elf, who just threw away the only weapon she had. It wasn't a perfect solution, and I doubted it would take long for Gehenna to sort the truth out with Gor. What mattered was it bought me the one thing I needed more than anything: time.
Taking the elf’s spear with me as I slid down the opposite side of the boulder, I took off at the fastest speed my exhaustion would allow. It was little more than a hobble, powered by using the spear as a walking stick, but it was fast enough to put distance between me and the intersection.
From what they said, I trusted those around me less than I already did and felt as if everyone I passed was moments away from striking out against me. The spear gave me an added sense of protection, but the idea of being surrounded canceled out such a feeling. It did not help that the sight of a child running through the streets with a weapon was bound to grab anyone’s attention.
Unlike last time I took off, I did not run in a single direction, taking the time to weave in and out of the streets, taking the least populated ones. While it increased the time I spent in the city under the potential gaze of the Order, it felt like it was throwing off my pursuers.
With every step, the idea of stopping became more and more appealing, and before long, it became involuntary. My fatigue forced me to slouch against the back of a building, sliding down to the ground as my legs gave out on me.
I can take a small break, right? I haven’t seen or heard any of them after all this time, I thought.
“What are you doing with Gehenna’s spear?” Daphne asked.
The voice of the spider woman was enough to make me jump back to my feet and point my spear up where I heard her voice. Under any other circumstance, I would have found a half human, half spider descending from the roof a disturbing sight. Yet in that moment, I couldn’t have been happier.
“Gehenna, she-she’s with the Ordelia Order! She’s with Merthic and-” I spouted, cutting short when Daphne’s body stiffened.
Her eyes widened, and she started clawing at an invisible cord around her throat that both choked and lifted her off her legs.
As her face started turning purple, she raised one of her hands above her head to create a bright red light that shot into the sky. The moment the light left her hand, her neck twisted to the side, and it made a grotesque sound that made my stomach turn. When her body collapsed in a heap, I saw the source of it all.
Behind Daphne’s body was an old, oily man in gray robes, leaning on a staff with a smile on his face.