Growing Up Rainbow

Escape

Beagán crouched a few feet away as the Warrior disappeared north, listening to the girls talk.

Awana said, "You OK?"

Annabelle spat blood and said, "Yeah, bloody nose. You?"

"Yeah, don't think I'm going to puke now. Light, that woman can hit."

"Too true," Annabelle answered. "What are we going to do now?" She pulled on the their bounds, but all that got was a squeak of pain from Awana.

"I don't know, Annabelle. This is bad. Now they are on alert. They'll be looking for more daughters."

"Yeah, and there are two others right in their village."

"Shhh," said Awana. "They might be listening."

Beagán listened hard and felt the forest around her before moving next to the tree the girls were tied to.

Annabelle stifled a squeak of surprise, and Awana whispered, "Beagán! What are you doing here?"

She squatted next to them and flipper her blade open. "Rescuing you," she said and cut the zip ties.

"Is Orea with you?" asked Annabelle.

"No, she's getting Tomoe and the van out."

"Tomoe? What about the flower?"

"Got it already," said Beagán. "Listen, there are at least eight Warriors around. Mostly to the north and west, close to their meadow. We'll move south and cut around the village. Then go east to Rock Creek and get out of here. But y'all need to be quiet and follow me."

Awana and Annabelle nodded. Beagán was worried about Annabelle. There was blood everywhere, and she sounded weird when she breathed through her nose. Awana was hurting, but seemed to move adequately. The two of them were loud in her ears despite any training they in Obstacles. The only people louder in the forest were the Wild Warriors. Guess they didn't care about being quiet, which let her know exactly where they were from meters away.

She angled their path away from the village and the target of their original mission. At first there were Warriors everywhere. She'd hear one, and signal a kneel or slowly angle away. But within a few minutes, the patrols were behind them. If they could keep up this pace, they'd reach the creek that bordered on the west in a few minutes. Selena had risen in the clear sky, giving illumination, which Beagán thanked the light for. Full of nervous energy she would have run, but her friends were hurt too bad for that.

They came to a rarely used path. She stopped for a moment to let her friends catch their breath. Annabelle whispered wetly, "Anyone around?"

"Not that I can hear," Beagán answered.

Annabelle moved to a bush at the edge of the path and tried to cough. It turned into a retch and then she vomited. Beagán cursed herself for not checking her earlier. The luna light wasn't enough to examine the vomit, but the smell of copper was strong in the air. Annabelle's nose was still bleeding and it was going down her throat.

"You okay, Annabelle?" asked Awana.

The other girl nodded weakly but couldn't speak. Beagán said, "Awana, scout up ahead and see if you can find where this path leads. Don't go more than a hundred meters."

Awana limped down the path as quietly as she could. Beagán knelt next to Annabelle and whispered, "Annabelle, you need to lean your head forward and let the blood come out instead of down your throat."

"Didn't want to leave a trail," said Annabelle, "and now it is all clogged up."

"Oh, I wish I'd brought my first aid kit." All she had was an antiseptic wipe, which might clean Annabelle up a little but... "How bad does it hurt?" It was unclear in the moonlight whether her nose was broken, but it was undeniably swollen.

Annabelle shook her head and winced. "Not that bad. Kind of numb now."

Beagán was wiping at the other girl's swollen face, when Awana came back. "There's a little clearing with a fire pit in some deep grove about 10 meters up the path. Want me to check the other direction?"

Annabelle turned her head away and snorted forcefully, eliciting a stifled a yelp of pain. Beagán gave her a scowl, took hold of her head, pinched the top of Annabelle's nose, and leaned her forward. "Yes, but be careful. I think there's a village that way."

"Got it," said Awana and slunk off down the path.

Beagán sat pinching her friend's nose for what seemed like an eternity, till she heard Awana returning. "You were right. It's a village. Not the one we left. Many people moving around, but no one coming this way. The end of the path wasn't really open to the village but covered in creepy vines."

"Ok, let's go to the fire pit and take a rest while Annabelle's nose stops bleeding." She turned her attention to her patient. "You are going to have to take over pinching here. And we're going slow, need to keep your blood pressure down till your nose has clotted."

They eased down the path and into the grove at the end.