The violinist

The tunnels

Im silent for a moment before a large boom sounds above my head. Dust comes flying down from the roof, and i look at my uncle in confusion. He shares a look with Ferric before they both look at me.

'' You might have been followed by some of the black knights... and the boom..'' my uncle is silent for a moment, as if he's listening for something. After a few second he looks at me again, his face a little paler.

''They've broken through... they're searching the tunnels now! We have to go!'' He shouts and the whole room turns into chaos. The council members dissapear into the darkness behind them, and my uncle bolts over to one of the walls and pulls at a torch hold and a part of the wall slides back. He turns towards us and waves us over. We follow him into the tunnels, silent as the shock of again being hunted settles. Im in a kind of daze, i see shapes, human shapes running up ahead of us..

Another boom..

The whole ground is shaking beneath us, and i fall against the wall.. still a little unsteady, Ferric is suddently at my side and supports me. I look at him grateful, and finally find my voice again.

''Where are we going uncle.. where does this tunnel go?'' I shout at him. He's silent for a moment.. '' We're getting out of the city.. if they are in the tunnels, we're not safe anywhere.. all the tunnels are connected..'' he shouts back. We continue to run through the narrow tunnels, water splashing around our feet, turn after turn, left and right.. i have completley lost track of our surroundings.

Suddently the sounds quiet down for a second. '' Thats weird'' i think, and i slowly come to a halt and turn around to listen. Ferric shouts my name and runs back to me. He takes my hand and tries to pull me onwards, but i stand still as i try to see through the dark. And there... at the end of the corridor we're in, a black figure stands watching us. I want to get closer, but Ferric who by now had recognized the figure pulls me away shouting at me to get me to run. And as i turn to move, the black figures hand flares up and a red ball of energy comes hurdling towards us.

Another corridor comes up on our left and as we pass it, i see a small figure coming runing towards us shouting ''get down! Get down!'' and so we dive towards the ground. The figure enters our corridor and hurls another ball of energy towards the one coming from the black figure. I feel Ferric throw an arm over me as the two energy balls collide and a giant blast makes big chunks of stone fall down towards us on the ground. I await the pain of being hit, but nothing happens. When the dust settles, Ferric and i stand up only to find that the one that saved us was no other than Armin. His fair hair stands up behind him because of the magic he's using to keep the black knights attack on the other side of the corridor from reaching us.

''Armin is that you?'' i shout at him. He looks over his shoulder, still keeping his focus and grins. '' You didnt think i was dead, did you? Now get moving, i'll buy you some time!'' he shouts at me. He tries to hide it, but i see his hands trembling.. he wont be able to keep them back for very long so i make a decision. He looks confused as i step up beside him and put my hand at the see- through wall he has created.

'' Im not leaving anyone behind, not again!'' I shout at him, and he smiles. '' Alright then.. how do you want to do this?'' he asks me and looks toward the smoke and over at the gang of black knights. They have stopped attacking now, standing still and just.. observing, no doubt planning how to break through.. I try to lay a plan in my head, but just as im about to start talking again a blast of energy hits the shield wall and both me and Armin jumps.

''Guys.. we're in trouble!'' Ferric shouts from behind me. I look over my shoulder and curse. Five or six black knights are advancing towards us from the corridor Armin came from just minutes ago and Ferric and my uncle are busy trying to block their attacks. I curse again as another giant blast push us back several feet. Now were standing back to back with the others, and the situation really looks grim.