COF 1: The Fairy Legacy

20 | Tunnel (III)

"June!" Xanthy screamed. The light came back on with Marin shouting another illumination spell. June swayed. His hand clutched his side. Blood dripped from his cloak to the floor in dark drops.

His attacker lunged again. Xanthy put her arms forward, called her magic, and barked a spell. Nothing happened. Her veins remained cold. The Virtakios was silent. What...?

June raised his arm to block but the man easily pinned him down. Xanthy cursed. She had to help him. She wasn't sure how, though. A single glance at Marin's quivering lips told Xanthy enough.

The man raised his clenched fist and brought it down. Xanthy's vision tinged red. No. No one was going to die on her watch. She pushed herself off the wall, biting her tongue to keep from shouting in pain. Her temples throbbed; her ankle screamed.

She should have never accepted June's offer of coming down here with her. If she had done that, would things have ended differently?

Riding along the shrieking pang in her leg, she charged. Her head slammed into the man's side as she plowed through him. A surprised grunt reached her ears as she and the man stumbled to the ground. She straddled the man and pressed her thumbs into his throat.

"Marin! Go!" Xanthy shouted at the girl. The man clawed at and slapped her hands but she thumbed deeper. Tears shone at the man's eyes as his legs began kicking. Xanthy gritted her teeth. She was only buying them time. "Do not turn into any corners! Just straight ahead!"

From the edge of her vision, Xanthy watched Marin bend down and help June up. He seemed to be conscious. Good. Better. They started limping forward.

Xanthy's fingers slipped from the man's throat when a strong gust of wind slammed into her side. She went weightless before slamming into a wall. Her spine and neck exploded with pain. Her vision swam. She was vaguely aware of someone calling her name.

Something cracked behind her. The man's comrade, probably the one who shot Xanthy, was now helping him up. The cracking sound continued. Xanthy whirled to the wall. Her eyes traced the webbing cracks tracing a familiar rectangular shape. Her blood chilled.

A doorway.

An idea flashed in her mind. "Marin!" she hissed. The girl was immediately by her side. Had she gone invisible earlier? Damn, this girl was learning more magic than Xanthy ever could. "My magic is not working right now," she whispered. "I will go and cause a distraction. You blast the wall behind me with everything you have got, okay? The word is detonate."

Marin nodded just as the black-clad men drew their weapons. Xanthy drew away from the wall and limped towards the center of the tunnel. She nocked an arrow and began shooting. An arrow hit a wall. Another hit the ground between one man's feet.

Do not let them come close.

She snapped her fingers and every arrow she shot flew back to her quiver. Her fingers ached. Any time now, Marin.

"Detonate!" Marin yelled. A huge blast of electric sparks showered Xanthy. Dust billowed from the ground. Debris from the wall formed a foggy wall between them and the black-clad men. Go, go.

Xanthy may have screamed it to Marin but the ringing in her ears drowned out the noise. Marin's back slammed against a dark wall inside the newly formed doorway, grunting as she tried lifting June. Xanthy shot another arrow into the blurry corridor and stumbled into the darkness after Marin.

Xanthy slung June's arm around her shoulders. He groaned. Alive. He was alive. Her ankle screamed; her spine felt like crumbling under half of June's weight. "You have to help me," Xanthy limped into the darkness, hissing through grounded teeth.

"Sure," June smiled lazily at her. His eyes were half-closed. "I can walk."

Voices erupted from the fog behind them. Xanthy's throat closed. "Unfortunately, we cannot just walk," she swallowed against the bile coating her tongue. "We run."

"Sure," June laughed before coughing. "I can run."

Xanthy clenched her jaw. "Good."

So, with a busted ankle, a sprained spine, and about a dozen more pangs in her body, she gripped June's waist tighter. Marin fired another detonate spell at the ceiling. Rocks dropped from the tunnel's quarry and plunged the corridor they're in into darkness. Entrance blocked.

Xanthy ground her teeth. Good. Here goes nothing.

She inhaled a lungful of stuffy tunnel air, stepping forward against her form's protests.