OathBlade (Wattys2015)

63. Uncertain Future*

The entry tunnel was so small Isandel had no choice but to change to his seryn form, something he expressed great displeasure in from the moment he stepped into the russet stone tunnel. "What poor planning made this tunnel so small?" he snarled. "How is a city expected to use this piss-poor excuse of an escape route in any timely fashion?"

Dakkan passed Elery and Vydel and sniffed the wall. "Exactly as it has been some time ago, I suppose. I cannot tell how old the scents are, but a great number of people came through here. The duke and his people may yet live."

Elery pulled away from Vydel and collapsed against the wall to bury her face in her hands. Words failed her. There was nothing in her that could express the pain, the anger, or the helplessness that stifled her every breath.

"We cannot stay here," Isandel said firmly. "If you do not wish to walk so be it, I'll bear you on my back, but I cannot guarantee that simply because we are underground that we are safe. We must put space between us and her and collapse this tunnel." When Elery didn't respond he pulled her arms more forcefully and brought her to her feet, then turned and took her onto his back. "I know this hurts but you can do nothing if you surrender yourself to her."

"There is nothing I can do," she murmured.

"Then you've given up on Cylphi?" he asked as he began to run. "Do not be so hasty to cast hope aside now. You may save her yet."

Though it seemed impossible, his confidence kindled her curiosity. "How can you be so certain?"

Isandel glanced back briefly. "Celestine is not as other spirits, trapped in the body in which she merges. She may come and go as she pleases, though is vulnerable while doing so. She will not take you until she is sure it can be done safely." He turned his head forward again. "But Taelin's words are troubling. I'd not thought it possible for her to absorb Misani and...perhaps it is merely wishful thinking on her part, but she is not one to make impetuous decisions based on whims. She has some evidence to back this up, I feel it in my bones. By learning this bit of information we have learned she possesses a great and exploitable weakness."

"You are a fool," Vydel said. "For what reason would she leave the girl while we are alive to oppose her?"

"If we damage Cylph's body to a point Celestine is unable to continue," Elery said. "Perhaps Celestine's aura is nigh inexhaustible but she now suffers the same frailties as we seryn, and the body she chose is not well versed in physical combat."

"Then we pummel the host until the parasite can no longer defend itself," Dakkan said. "A sound theory, but in practice? Can you truly raise your blade against Cylphi when the time comes?"

Elery fell silent and the three wisely chose not to press the subject further. Rather they continued to run with Isandel stopping occasionally to collapse portions of the tunnel along the way until they arrived at the main passageway. This tunnel was wider, as the others had been, allowing for far more room to spread out. Isandel set Elery on the cold stone floor and transformed, albeit into a smaller dragon form.

The answer to their query would not-could not-be answered so easily. Not until she stood before the girl in battle would she know if it was possible to bring her sword to bear against her. As she imagined it all playing out she could not help but see something else in Cylphi's place. Some other person with a different face, a different presence. That creature, the creature inside her friend, she could fight.

But as she tried to twist the image to the truth, replacing the random woman's face with Cylphi's, her resolve wavered. Thought of bringing harm to her, even for the sake of driving out the poison bottled up inside her, brought unspeakable pain from deep within her chest.