Requiem Run

Chapter 16

Felice kept my hand on our sword, Katie's hand clenched her dagger, and Rhys looked about ready to toss Kydro to the ground if she had to if things went wrong. The man who had spoken to us walked up the steps and stopped in front of us. He was about as tall as Rhys, but his skin was pale green and his ears were tipped like an elf's. He was also giving us a warm smile.

"Riley Newman, Katherine Menton," said the man as he bowed to the two of us, "My name is Tarron Kelric. It's truly an honor to finally meet you."

"Uh, first of all, I prefer Katie," said Katie, "Second of all, who the hell are you?"

"I was just getting to that," said the man, "You see, my friends and I here want to help you. We're going to escort you to the next region of Menap Island, so you can get to the next Cleansing Temple."

"That sounds way too good to be true," said Katie, "What's the catch?"

"No catch at all," said Tarron, "We all believe in you, in what you're doing. You see, a mutual friend sent us to help you out."

"Mutual friend... Mama?" Rhys said quietly.

"That's right," said Tarron, "You're familiar with her?"

"Yes, very." said Rhys.

"Uh, introductions," I said, "Tarron, this is Rhys, she was in the castle, we happened to meet there."

"A pleasure to meet you... ma'am." said Tarron, "As I was saying, instead of having to walk, we can arrange a portal to get you to the next region, as soon as we've delivered Kydro to our camp for rehabilitation, of course."

"Wait, if you can just teleport us around," said Katie, "Why wouldn't you just teleport us off the island and break the game? Or better yet, just get us out of this universe entirely and just send us home?"

"We don't have enough power to do that," said Tarron, "We'd need to build a portal of our own that could travel between the multiverse, and that kind of magic would take a sorcerer more powerful than I've ever met. The bastard Emperor has that kind of power at his beck and call."

"Of course he does." I muttered.

"We're a part of Redemption." The man said. Rhys' eyes immediately widened.

"Redemption?! The rebellion against the Empire!" Rhys said.

"That's correct," said Tarron, "Usually, we try and keep to the shadows and help the maidens in much less direct ways. But now things have changed."

He paused for a moment and motioned to Kydro, who had changed hands from Rhys to another orc, this one in similar armor to the elf-man in front of us.

"In all my years, I've never seen a single maiden defeat a Runner," said Tarron, "Much less survive to a Ball. But here you two are, freeing one of the Runners - not only that, but you also proved to everyone watching that the Runners aren't doing this of their own free will, something even I didn't know! You three have impressed me considerably!"

"Good to know," I said as the three of us followed the men down the stone steps to the other two people in armor waiting for us.

"The next region closest is Arlen's Mountains," said Tarron, "That's where Xelsa Polimtal will attempt to take your lives."

"Oh, wolf-boy's next," said Katie, "Do you think he'll be easier to take down, or harder?"

"I don't think they can compare," I said as we followed the men in armor, "Kydro wasn't that physically strong and relied on magic, while Xelsa's probably going to try and beat the crap out of us."

"Or eat us." said Rhys. I shuddered at the thought.

"We won't give him the chance," said Katie, "We're the dream team."