We slivered our way though the crevice from the cellar. The further we progressed, the more the scenery changed into what looked like a cavern. There were torches on the walls, but the rangers moved to extinguish their flames. They even pulled on the wooden columns that held up the cavern system that we were walking through.
“Quickly now!” Valen said quickly moving through the cavern system. Elana and I struggled to keep up with the veteran ranger, while his kinsmen made sure Thomas and Caroline wouldn’t lag too far behind. At the same time, they were making sure no one would be following us. The cavern began to shake a bit as rocks began falling down from behind us. Like the rioting mobs, they couldn’t be reasoned with, and it was difficult to slow them down. “Do not stop! Do not look behind you! We move only forward! Runt, quit being a slug!”
I wanted to punch Valen for picking on me, but now wasn’t the time. As much as I hated to admit it, he was the one who was responsible for our safe departure from a riot-ridden Crossroads. The town was burning and only a mobilized military force could keep the peace. That was, after they had put down those who were continuing the chaos first. Maybe if General Warwick or Lord Durall moved in, Crossroads would be safe. But Orin Duanderfell, the man who made it possible for me to be alive right now, had remained undecided, in order to not offend either side. But that would come at a cost. The town would be lost to disorder and chaos, where the strong would rule over the weak.
After almost an hour of pushing through sharp turns in near-dark, the light of day began illuminating. It brightened as we got closer to the exit of the cave system. I had never really thought of why there was even a cavern system in the first place. But I wasn’t complaining. Like Orin, and Valen, it would save my life. Valen, had yet to prove himself as a protector, but his credentials as a ranger were almost enough to extinguish any inklings of doubt I had about him. But that didn’t mean I had to like him.
The sky was a darkened orange with columns of smoldering black cloud shot upward. Embers flew through the sky, causing me to look back to see the Daunderfell Manor beginning to catch flame. The fires moved quickly, devouring the exterior. I feared the worst for Orin and Lady Daunderfell.
“Eyes forward,” one of the rangers in the back said. He had been looking at me the whole time I glanced back at the last place of sensible thinking. It made me sad to see it go down like that. My hopes for Crossroads burned away with the Daunderfell house. I had hoped its proprietors were faring better than their home. I blankly locked eyes with the ranger. “I said, eyes forward.”
I listened to him and snapped my head back forward. We took a jogging pace through an alley. The cavern must have been some kind of secret passage for someone who needed to get in and out undetected. In that case, we were those people. Valen led us down the alley until we one of the adjacent buildings collapsed from fire damage. We quickly turned heel and doubled back to a previous turn. The fires were spreading from building to building in a very hellish manner, as if we were hares, about to have hawks descend upon us. I had never felt so vulnerable in my life before. It was truly terrifying. But we didn’t have time to stop and think. We just needed to find a way out.
We came to the entrance of the alley, which lead to one of the main roads that ran through the town. Valen stopped for a second, looking both ways before we bolted for the other side. The road seemed longer when our lives were on the line. I hated that feeling. But we continued running until we got to the other side, hiding in the alley. We stopped in our tracks when we heard the building from the other side collapse from the fire. That could have been us. It could have been me if I hadn’t heeded the ranger’s words. Maybe they knew what they were talking about after all.
But we hadn’t moved from our position yet, because we heard another noise. It was the sound of an approaching mob.
“Wait, a mob approaches,” Valen said, keeping an eye on the road as lookout. The ramble of the crowd seemed to get louder as each second passed by. Valen looked to his kinsmen. “See if we can find another way out of here without taking the roads.”
The ranger nodded before taking off into the alley ahead of us. That just left Valen and the other ranger, Thomas and Carolina, and Elena and I. Six. My mind immediately began creating the scene of us being taken by surprise by one of the roving mobs. We hardly stood a chance with three rangers to protect us from a horde of enraged citizens, much less two. But I had a feeling Valen was more likely to throw me to the wolves if the option presented itself.
Just then, the mob had poured onto the road, pushing and smashing anything that got in their way. But we still head the sound of a roving mob in movement. That was because in the next second, a second mob appeared from the other side of the road. One side must have been pro-Durovian League, while the other was pro-Andoan Regime. The two charged at each other like armies on a battlefield. Fist-fights exploded in various parts of the conflict. People were beating each other with clubs, while others did a lot of damage with farm tools and other equipment. It was horrible to see neighbors kill each other over which side they thought was right.
We stood helplessly as people who celebrated together at festivals with another slaughtered supporters of the opposing side. Elena buried her face into shoulder, where I did my best to shield from this onslaught. She was a servant girl, of course she hated to see people kill each other like this, but she also wasn’t in favor of any particular side. Neither was I, for the most part. I could see why General Warwick would try to defend the succession of the throne from Durall. There was no clear successor, even if the horselord had stepped forward for it. But Durall was the next of kin, as distant of a family member he may have been. And now with the rangers in the mix of it. Valen and his kinsmen were being hunted down by Warwick because they were believed to be responsible for King Theron’s death.
It was hopeless from our end of the spectrum, but we wouldn’t do much from an alleyway, not while townspeople throw away their lives in a civil war that will ultimately destroy the nation.
Just then, two from the warring mob stopped and looked toward us. Right at us, actually. We began to turn and go into full flight.
“Its the Daunderfell spawns!” one of the angry citizens said. “Get them!”
“And the rangers!” another said. The entirety of the crowd began to stop their self-slaughter and began looking our way. “They killed the king! Burn them all!”
“Run, run!” Valen said, pushing on us. I didn’t care whether or not I hated Valen. He was right, we needed to run and fast. I made a silent prayer to the Creators that if I wasn’t faster than the mob, that I would be faster than Valen. Both of which seemed unlikely, but in these kinds of situations, its not uncommon for people like me to think this way. “Don’t stop, just run!”
And off into the alley we went, the mob of angry townspeople, torches and pitchforks and all, not far behind.
