The Rise and Fall

16 - Battle Garments

"Are you out of your mind?!" Emiliana voice was a hushed yell considering that they were still upon The Cloud and something told her they weren't that far away from the Crystal Palace. Her hands were stretched - as much as she could - up to her head, clasping at her temples, her eyes wide with disbelief at how stupid Leo had been. "You're actually crazy."

"Why?" Leo didn't see the issue and raised his eyebrow at the blonde haired angel who looked as though she was about to explode. "They're defenseless now. Without you." 

"No!" Emiliana sighed and brought her hands away from her face, lowering them to her sides where she brushed over the red spot, wincing a little through the biting pain that nipped at the disturbed flesh around the side of her mid-section. "They are most certainly not defenseless!" She let out a large scream through her gritted teeth and pound her fist at the trunk of the tree behind her. 

Leo almost pounced at her and clamped his hand around her mouth, shutting off the shriek that was pouring from her mouth. He adjusted his other hand so that it was applying slight pressure to her wound and she blinked out tears, trying to scream in pain through his teeth. His lips brushed over her ear and apologised profusely, but at the same time, begging her to be silent as he pulled them down to the base of the tree, his back leaning up against it. 

Emiliana had strategically been placed, sitting down in front of him between his legs. Her body was folded; her legs brought up to her chest meaning that her stab wound was singing its song of death, mocking her as she clamped her hands over Leo's that was still clutching her mouth so that she couldn't scream. She wanted to scream for all that was good, just until the pain subsided but she knew it was a bad idea. 

In the distance, cracking twigs and the sound of voices was weaving through the tree trunks, whispering into their ears. Something told Emiliana that they weren't the 'back-up team' so she obliged and attempted to keep herself quiet. Leo couldn't meet her face, seeing the salty tears rolling down from her drained eyes where dark circles had clouded up around her bottom lashes. The tears were warm when they made contact with his skin, but Leo could almost feel the pain that was being exsumed with each water droplet that fell from her tear ducts. 

"It's not them." Leo whispered in Emiliana's ear. A little pleasure shot through her ear as his cool breath brushed over to the cartilage, but the smile that threatened to pull the corners of her lips was soon drowned out by the seething pain that was coming from her side. 

Emiliana let her eyes flicker to the direction of where they were coming, but the tree trunk hid them from view. 

A large platoon of Risen fighters emerged from the depths of the forest, all failing to keep in position as they weaved in and out of the randomly placed trees. They were armed heavily with swords and daggers and at the front were a small rumble of archers, striding forward with pride that they held the fort up whilst the others stumbled on behind. 

Leo could only see the left flank because of the trunk they were hiding behind, but it didn't take him any time to realise that they were storming on in their direction. He tried to remove his hand from Emiliana's mouth, but she'd held it there with both her palms as though she didn't want him to move it. He turned around again and pressed his lips to her right temple, closing his eyes in disbelief. He didn't want her to know that they were going to die. And the reinforcements weren't even here yet. It pained him that everything was happening all in the wrong order. 

Emiliana's hands dropped from Leo's hand like a stone. He felt her body relax, but he knew instantly why. She'd passed out from the pain that he had induced her with. His palm was still pressed firmly to her side, trying to keep the wound as closed and undisturbed as he could, but he couldn't stop the pain. She had to go through it if she wanted to live. 

Only a tiny speck of hope remained in Leo's mind now. The platoon was fast approaching and he could hear a low chuckle as the footsteps came to a halt. 

"Bingo." A malicious voice whispered and snickers and chuckles rung out through the group. Leo dropped his shoulders and awaited his doom. A tall, blonde haired man, a few years older that Leo, stood in front of him, standing with straight posture with his hands on his hips. He was dressed all in white battle garments with white leather boots and silvery medals were clipped to a piece of fabric that lay just to the left of the lapel. 

"Thought you could run, huh?" His voice was deep and raspy, it seemed cunning and mischeivous. "You should have left her. You could have escaped." He drove his foot into Leo's right side, barely missing the unconcious Emiliana. Leo took it in his stride but a small wheeze left his lips, followed by a spree of splutters and coughs. He blinked a few times to keep away the tears but a few made a break for freedom and were quickly swatted away by Leo's arm. 

The man repeated his assault and Leo lowered his head to admit his defeat, holding the unconcious angel close to his arms.

Suddenly, there was a high pitched wail coming from behind the tree. Leo, who felt his crunched ribs moving around in his chest as he drew in quick, sharp breaths, lifted up his head to see the man running back to his platoon, his face turning beetroot from barking orders. A ruckus had arisen in the group behind the tree, but Leo couldn't move to see what was going on. 

"Leo!" A figure jumped from around the tree and was staring at him with open eyes. 

"Haven!" Leo breathed, his voice raspy and breathy. "You took your damn time!" 

The dark haired boy in front of him threw his head back and laughed before taking a hit at a Risen angel that was charging at him headlong with no sense of defense. The angel fell heavily to the ground when Haven plunged a small knife into his throat and ripped it out. He called to a few more angels who came rushing over. 

"Take Emiliana to the medic team." Two angels lifted up the deadweight and carried her off with ease. "Can you fight, Leo?"

Leo nodded, but a tall, dark eyed woman narrowed her eyes at him. 

"He's in no position to fight," she stated, bending down to help him up. "I saw what Ramiel did to him. He'll need medical attention too." Leo wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she stood up straight, quickly, ignoring his wheezes and sharp breaths of pain. 

Leo looked back at his friend as the woman dragged him off into the forest, following the two angels that had carried Emiliana off. 

He wasn't even going to get to fight.