For Peace

17. Run against Time

Yeosang found Yunho's and Mingi's trail through the cloying scent of the Reds and their constant company of blood. With a limp to his step, he led his companions through the rustling thicket. San's occasional question of whether he was fine to continue on got brushed off with a fleeting smile.

They caught up with the witch and Yunho between the slender stems of some birch trees. Pale, their barks offered a space to hide among. Their two friends searched the scrubs, skimming ferns and bushes with busy hands. When Yunho's gaze fell on Seonghwa, he grimaced.

"Are you sure it's fine to be out here?" He asked with a worried glance at Seonghwa's injuries. The priest nodded delicately. His shoulders were still strained from their agony earlier, but his hands and feet hurt more.

Hongjoong jostled him in his arms, holding Seonghwa close like a precious good.

"We need to find him," Seonghwa replied. Nothing else mattered. His injuries would heal, but if their tardiness meant Jongho's end, he could never forgive himself.

Mingi scoffed, uncaring about human life. His searching was most effortless, lazy fingers only just skimming the plants.

Before Seonghwa wasted his energy berating him, his other companions jumped in. They spread out through the nearby forest, careful of their step as they treaded their hands through the plants.

Fléau was back, slinking through the shadows she spawned from, and Perie sat in the treetops to search the ground with her sharp eyes.

Hongjoong stood to the side, holding Seonghwa as putting him on the ground would strain his body. His amber eyes pierced the night as he tried to find the crusader's trail with his supernatural senses.

Every minute that passed without success made Seonghwa more anxious. He desperately hoped for a sign, anything hinting at the man's survival, but the stifling silence of the forest forbade the worst.

Eyes clenched shut as he refused to cry, Seonghwa clutched his cross.

"Please, my Lord, please," he begged, knowing he asked a lot, but he couldn't bear such loss. What if the Reds had strung up Jongho in some tree and mutilated his body with their grisly sadism? What if Jongho bled out, alone and in the dark, hearing them so close yet unable to call out for them?

Nauseous from fear, Seonghwa tried to regulate his breathing. Hongjoong was with him, gave him strength, but Seonghwa was hysterical from all the dread in this single night. He wanted to break down, to scream and cry, but there was no time. Once they found Jongho, they had to escape from this place. Seonghwa had no other choice but to swallow his fear and have faith.

After long moments of strain that tormented Seonghwa's heart more than the curse of death, Perie let out a screech and sailed from her vantage point. Yunho's head whipped up to follow her trail when she disappeared into the brushwood behind a fallen tree with a rustle. The adventurer was right on her heels, leaping over the obstacle with a graceful swing. The others fumbled to follow. Only Mingi remained to pick some plants he had stumbled upon and which caught his interest.

Seonghwa was afraid to peer behind the tree and share the sight that made the others gasp. With his hand clasped over his lips, San stood in terror, and Yeosang had tears in his eyes as he fell onto the wet earth.

Hongjoong approached slow enough that Seonghwa wasn't overwhelmed by the picture, but every step felt too fast for the fragile priest.

Their loyal friend lay in a pool of blood. It stained his clothing, the earth around him, and clung in crimson smears on the surrounding foliage. Through the dark of the night, it was impossible to tell how much blood covered the ground and how much had oozed into the soil to fuel the foul creatures dwelling below.