Ruianne and High Mountain sprinted past the shattered north gate of the arena and reached one of the rendezvous points. There, they encountered the commander of both vanguard squads, Princess Ilili'na.
High Mountain saluted royalty with respect. "Your Highness!"
“It’s about damn time! We were bored out of our minds waiting in the bushes for a whole month! Do you know the logistics of that!?” The bronze-skinned elf princess expressed her frustration.
“Ilili’na... This is a delicate situation, it’s not simply a matter of charging forward. And you shouldn't have come yourself, it's too dangerous," Ruianne addressed the princess like a concerned older sibling.
“You came here all alone in the first place to liberate everyone, and what a mess you’ve made,” retorted Princess Ilili’na. “And now you lecture me on my decisions!? What a graceful non-princess— pardon me, Delia’ilu, you are.”
High Mountain intervened, "Highnesses, now is not the time. We have important matters to attend to."
“On point, High Mountain. How's the evacuation of our fellow kinn'hayas going?” asked Princess Ilili'na.
“Most are well on their way to freedom, but a few stragglers remain,” reported High Mountain.
“Good, the other vanguard team will meet them right ahead.” Princess Ilili’na faced her squad. "Our team will cover their retreat and assist any stragglers we encounter. Protect the suppressors above all else. We don't want senseless bloodshed, we just need enough time for everyone to escape. Ruianne, I hope you can help too, this being your plan and all.”
"It wasn't just my plan...” Ruianne remembered the strange elf. What happen to X? Dead? Alive? Her mind returned to the task at hand. “High Mountain will join your team, he knows the city. Be sure to keep safe our kinn’haya brothers and sisters. I’ll stay behind and help anyone injured or lost.”
"If anyone stayed behind, their collars must likely—"
"I'll help anyone still alive," Ruianne interrupted High Mountains’ cold words.
Princess Ilili’na gestured towards a female elf and said, "I’ll leave Ireile with you." The trooper in question took one step forward. Ilili’na placed one hand on the elven soldier’s shoulder and turned to Ruianne. “Do what you can but don’t be late. And well done, everyone. Our standing army is waiting for—” But before she could finish talking, the elves detected a shift in the elements, followed by a subtle, almost inaudible sound. Then came visual confirmation: the barrier was being erected.
"What?! Didn't you take out the gatekeepers?!" questioned Ruianne, anger and confusion in her tone.
"We got them all!" replied Princess Ilili’na. "We always do our jobs!"
"Then why the hell is it going up?"
"I don't know! Humans shouldn't be able to regroup this fast!"
"Damn it! We're fucked..." Ruianne’s voice trailed off as the shock of the events gradually sank in.
In this moment, they realized their mission had shifted from an already risky evacuation to a fight for survival, losing morale along with the element of surprise.
The slaves and their saviors raced against time. Trapped inside Saint Jaulea, they’d perish—not without a fight, not without bloodshed, but perish nonetheless. The desperate faces of the kinn'hayas showed their struggle as they fought, ran, and yelled, trying to come up with a sound plan among their steadily decreasing options.
Alarms went off on every road they stepped on. Human commoners locked themselves inside their homes, while those more combat-oriented or bold enough took arms and joined the fray. News traveled fast, and all orders of knights, adventurers, and mercenaries descended upon them.
In the thick of battle, while swords swung, arrows flew, and magic flowed non-stop, Ruianne and Princess Ilili’na concluded that their only fighting chance resided in blowing a city gateway to kingdom come, despite the gates being heavily defended. Instead of besieging the northern gate, which their original plan had contemplated as their escape route, they decided to focus their resources on the southern gateway. They knew the barriers’ weak point lay in attacks from the inside, but their biggest obstacle remained unchanged: the rivers of humans keeping them from doing so. Their new plan didn’t account for protecting their fellow kinn’hayas. Despite the colossal task of taking down the gate while keeping everyone alive, they had one advantage, the innate abilities of their races. While fewer in numbers, the elves’ magic and the feralis’ agility and strength, which made up most of their combatants, imposed a temporary stalemate.
Under debris and smoke, a dreadful sight loomed: slain bodies littered the arena, which had turned into a slaughter zone. Screams broke through an unnatural calm. After kinn’hayas retreated south, the humans took the arena and, in a rage, gutted, maimed, and killed whatever slaves didn’t manage to flee. The battle took a turn for the worst, Princess Ilili’na’s vanguard got ambushed and pinned down while Ruiannes’ whereabouts became a mystery. Fighting for survival and with dwindling numbers, they held on for one last miracle.
*
In the initial confusion, X crawled away as best he could. His survival instincts kicked in, leading him towards the burning debris in search for a place to hide under the heavy smoke. With his working hand, he tied a piece of cloth from a dead human around his head. He concealed his most notorious features—his ears and red hair—and continued crawling east.
X knew the fight would either go south or north, and he wanted no part of it. Humans and kinn’hayas rushed past him in all directions, too busy trying to save their own lives to pay attention to him. After a while, he only saw humans, and several minutes later, no one walked down those streets. His head spun, his eyes lost focus too often, and his arm had doubled in size. The redheaded elf stopped and stood still as best he could, attempting to balance himself against a nearby tree, and glanced around. With people holed up in the relative safety of their homes, he had those deserted streets all for himself and his shaky legs.
The few human souls he did pass by yelled at him to find shelter. In the commotion, without his slave collar and with hidden ears, people mistook him for a commoner. X kept limping east. The sounds of battle and screams of terror lost their impetus and barely reached him anymore. At that moment, he saw a miracle: thousands of colorful branches spread throughout the firmament, a beautiful sight engraved in his mind, a wonder of this new world. A translucent membrane, a soft crystal, enveloped Saint Jaulea. He felt humbled and yearned to learn everything about these lands.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Not much later, he turned southeast as a checkpoint dissuaded him from continuing straight ahead. It didn’t matter in the end. A bubbling taste invaded his tongue, ambient pressure dropped, and storm clouds crashed the horizon. He savored freedom within his grasp.
*
He enjoyed himself cutting down any putrajado unlucky enough to cross his path, but his mind focused on searching for one of those undesirables. Sooner rather than later, he hit jackpot. Lord Derreick had found her. The female elf his family rescued from a certain life of violence and abuse, the one he payed a fortune for and made enemies in the process, the one he opened his House’s door to and took under his family’s name in an act of compassion and mercy. The one who disfigured his wife with a lightning discharge. And she wasn’t alone.
“We welcomed you into our House, you putrajada!” shouted Lord Derreick.
"Welcomed?" Ruianne laughed. “Your own hubris will be your undoing. We are slaves no more!”
"Slaves no more!" the kinn’hayas behind her rallied.
“Continue without me. Go to the south gate. This is my fight,” Ruianne spoke to them.
"But Delia'ilu—"
"Go!"
Lord Derreick paid no attention to the putrajados fleeing from him. They’d be apprehended later.
“A slave showing off values like sacrifice and honor? Or just dumb? After I crack open your head and take a good look at your brain, maybe I’ll get to know the answer!” he threatened.
Ruianne didn't answer. She stood her ground, defiantly blocking his path to her fleeing companions.
“So be it,” said Lord Derreick, before sprinting forward with a martial art.
*
The road before him, like the one behind him, seemed longer than reality should allow. His head had calmed down, but his legs still wobbled, and his arm pulsed with pain every now and then. Along those empty roads, X came across two more checkpoints but found them deserted. He had seen knights stationed there before, but battle, glory, fame, and even slaves to capture for themselves called many away. Word spread of a young elven princess fighting on the front lines, and every able-bodied man wanted a piece of her. The redheaded elf didn’t know a thing about this, nor would it concern him if he did.
From his vantage point on a small hill, he saw an opening in the city’s wall. On a second, closer inspection, a big chunk of it had been blown off, with the barrier still intact behind it. Inside him, an explosive mix spread, caused by the final goal of a well-carried-out plan in sight, between luck and skill, where boundless potential lay dormant. Here, mere steps from freedom, the barrier stood separating civilization and a vast wilderness.
The redheaded elf heard two individuals shouting near him, he recognized them. On a nearby scaffolding, he saw Lord Derreick and Ruianne fighting. The Lord put out the fire on his right arm while Ruianne limped with a bleeding left shoulder. X observed their choreographed battle like a kid watching a show in an amusement park, filled with joy. Ruianne cast spell after spell while Lord Derreick used superhuman movements to evade them and counter her. The crimson-haired elf needed to learn everything he could about this world and fast.
Can everyone do what they’re doing? Can I?
This and other questions assailed his thoughts.
Ruianne unleashed a fire-based spell that Lord Derreick evaded by mere inches, but it hit the scaffolding, breaking it before engulfing it in flames. Both managed to land uninjured on the fallen structure.
“You can’t escape putrajada. Come quietly and I’ll guarantee your death will be quick,” exclaimed Lord Derreick.
“You’re at your limit... Lord. My next spell will burn you whole,” replied Ruianne.
A private conversation, which X had nothing to do with, took place. While they argued like angry children whose favorite toy had been taken from them, he walked towards the barrier and touched it.
Ruianne straightened her torn dress and fixated on Lord Derreick. Their final clash couldn’t come soon enough. If she died here, it would be for the best of causes: the freedom of all slaved kinn’hayas.
But then she spotted him, the elf standing behind Lord Derreick, next to the barrier. Despite the torn cloth on his head hiding his most prominent features, she recognized him.
“You!” shouted Ruianne with deep rage in her voice. At first, the Lord thought it a ruse, but her voice spat true emotion.
“No, my children, don’t fight. Make peace with the devil before you and shake hands, smiling,” X taunted them upon being spotted.
The Lord recognized his voice and turned halfway, not leaving Ruianne out of his sight.
“You... traitor!” It was Lord Derreick’s turn to yell at him.
Both Lord Derreick and Ruianne had their own grievances with the elf.
"What did I do?" inquired X.
“The only way the barrier went up is because someone told them! Someone told them our plans! Of course they prepared countermeasures! It was you!” yelled Ruianne.
All the puzzle pieces came together. Lord Derreick’s semblance went from pale and somber to laughing out loud. “He made a deal with you?” he asked Ruianne.
"Yes..."
“He made a deal with me too. Well played, slave.” Lord Derreick confirmed her worst fears.
“Many will die! From all races, ages...!” Ruianne’s voice cracked with each word.
“But not me,” replied X.
“You demon! You sold us out?!” her raged crossed unimaginable levels, a first for her.
“I can give you the whole world, but I’ll keep myself to myself,” spoke X. “I sold you out as I sold the Lord and his family. And now... I am free.”
“Oh, you did us good, and we’ll have a special hell for you. But free, you certainly are not.” Lord Derreick knew the elf had no way out, not with the barrier up.
“Then watch the devil’s last trick.” X extended his arms as he walked backwards and traversed the barrier.
Their shocked faces spoke for them, one filled with rage, the other one with despair.
“How did you...?!” shouted the Lord.
“How... Why?” Ruianne’s anger gave way to shock and disappointment.
“You slave, come back here!” Lord Derreick wanted to give chase, but the moment he turned from Ruianne she would burn him to a crisp.
“I’m free to walk, to do, to kill, to fu-, to be... to exist!” yelled the elf, looking at a clouded sky. He turned his gaze down, towards the dirty, mortal beings before him. “It’s life expressing itself. Don’t be sad because I’m gone. Be happy that you had me for a while.”
He turned around, inhaled deeply, and limped into the wilderness before him as a free being. A weak one, but free. X disappeared into the bushes ahead and left a memento on the grass: the relic stone he had used to pass through the barrier. The noises of battle, screams of terror, and insults hurled against him faded with every step. Saint Jaulea lay in flames behind him, and, as everything else did, soon vanished from his consciousness.
*
[Life is expressing itself? You’re only reaffirming the futileness of your existence.]
“Hush, you party breaker.”
[Did you have to do it like this?]
“To secure my freedom? Or to have fun?”
No reply from the voice following his every step.
“No... and yes. Why do you care anyway? Their plan was crap to begin with. They have their chance... if they can fight it out. Ultimately, I don’t give a sh—” He stopped before any curse could interrupt his celebration.
[Might as well join the merciful Gods that put you here.]
X laughed as only a crazy being could.