Renevere Mars: Part Two

Episode 11: Surrender

For an immeasurable time, the thunking of her own heart in her ears was all she understood. The sound of her breathing, rattling in her pinching lungs. The blood rush of killing was a waterfall. A waterfall she'd been crushed by for centuries, flattened and drowned but for this moment. The breath taken after the kill, the victory, the moment she was finally strong enough to stand up amidst the downpour. For those moments she stood in the raging water, hearing its scream, feeling it's vibration against her core.

But it faded away, and reality flowed back in. Harsh and foul tasting. Fear upturned her stomach as she heard a pitiful groan from behind her. She whirled around to see Duren, attempting feebly to role himself back onto his hands and knees. He collapsed with a sodden smack, back into the pool of his own blood. The reality was all around her then, and all she could hear inside her was;

Duren is dying Duren is dying Duren is dying Duren is dying Duren is dying

She rushed to his side and fell to her knees. He glanced at her, exhausted, barely conscious. She reached gingerly forward and touched his chin bellow where the mask covered.

"Don't worry," she said, but her voice was so shaken and unreassuring. "Don't worry, you're going to be fine. I'm going to get help."

But the distant sounds of battle drew her panicked mind away. It became suddenly clear to her that while the fight was over where she stood now, the battle still continued. The rest of the warriors still fought. But she had to save Duren. There had to be someone who could help him.

Then she remembered the dark skinned boy on their team. Lock was his name, and he'd been introduced a a healer. She looked back to Duren once more, so fearful that this might be the last time she saw the light in his eyes that she was terrified to leave him. But she had to, she had to if there was any hope.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get help. Stay awake. Fight it," she said through gritted teeth, squeezing him gingerly before springing to her feet and running as fast as she could to the nearby battle.

It was quickly clear that they were losing. Many warriors lay strewn, in bits. The enemies advantage in numbers was only increasing as they picked off Ossilith's forces. But Ren didn't care about any of it in that moment. She cared only that she'd found Lock alive, tending to a wound of one of his comrades.

"Come quickly, I need help!" she panted, reaching him and his tended in such a rush that they jumped. The man's wound he tended to wasn't deadly, merely a gash in his leg making it difficult to walk. "I need help!" she begged more demandingly, so the healer stood. She led him the short distance away from the edge of the forest where the fighting continued. He gapped at the sight of all the blood, at the state of Duren.

"What happened?" he said, looking at the terrifying apparatus that protruded from his chest, piercing him innumerably.

"His energy is almost gone. Can you help him?" she begged.

"Yes, but we need to get him prepared to transport first. It's not safe here," Lock said, glancing over his shoulder towards the battle which inched ever closer as the warrior's line drew back. She watched nervously as the healer lowered his hand to Duren measuredly. He pressed his fingers to the wounds and they hissed, as if being cauterized. Duren barley twitched, not stirring from his unconscious state. Together they gingerly removed the knife and the healer tended to the wounds. He could only be stabilized enough to move, but these wounds would need intensive care to fully heal, his heart skewered as it was.

"Count of three," the healer said, his arms under Duren's shoulders, Ren's under his legs. Then Locks eyes were caught by something over Ren's shoulder. She twisted to follow his gaze, thinking it meant danger. Hog lay on the ground, babbling some nonsense and twisting his head around carelessly, as if being bothered by an incessant fly.