Cinders & Gold (Celeste Academy Fanfic👑)

Cinders & Gold ◇ Attack

♤chapter sixteen♤
ATTACK

•••

Valeriana groaned out loud and tried to pry her eyes open. A sharp stab of pain pierced her wrists and her sides before the fifth ranker realized that she was lying down on a cold damp hard and rocky ground.

"What . . . the hell?" she blinked at the dimness that engulfed her version.

Valeriana attempted to sit up only to discover that the pain she was feeling came from the rope that tightly bound her wrists.

She tried shuffling her hands around but they wouldn't move.

Because someone else was bound to her back.

"Corvan?" she asked. No sound.

Valeriana sighed and tried to recall what exactly led her to this bound situation.

A mission. With the first ranker. And her clumsiness had gotten in the way.

The last thing Valeriana remembered was screaming as she slipped on the wet rocks that led to the cave they were about to invade.

She must have hit her head hard, as there was an incessant painful throbbing that she was starting to vaguely become aware of.

Corvan had told her to wait and not go ahead into the cave before he came back from wherever he had gone to. Valeriana had become too impatient and went in anyway to take matters into her own hands.

She should've listened. Now they were both tied up and Valeriana had no clue as to who had bound them together.

"Corvan," she nudged again, trying to move. "Wake up, godsdammit!"

What had caused him to become unconscious anyway? Valeriana wondered. Had he come after her only to find that she'd passed out after slipping and hitting her head? Had he been intercepted by whoever knocked him out?

The fifth ranker sighed dejectedly. This was all her fault. She should've just listened and stayed put instead of going ahead into the cave without waiting for Corvan.

Valeriana tried nudging the unconscious Corvan. Harder than before. Her wrists chaffed against the ropes and she winced in pain.

Corvan didn't budge.

A sigh escaped her mouth. With Corvan being significantly heavy, especially now that he was unconscious, it would be quite a difficult task to sit up with his slumping body.

Valeriana took a deep breath and slowly began feeling around the thick ropes for the knots. If she could just get a significant gap in the knot of the rope that had her tied, then the fifth ranker would work her way into wiggling out of the binding rope.

She found the knot and excitement lurched in her throat. Valeriana sidled her finger into a small gap and since she didn't want to chaff her hands any further, the fifth ranker undid the knot slowly.

After a few agonizing moments of twisting her fingers and hands into painful awkward positions, the knot became loose and she freed her hands. Her gloves came out in the process and she picked them up and put them on again.

Valeriana scoffed, now that she was not bound anymore. "Whoever tied that did a wack job."

The honey-golden blonde stared at her wrists. They were tinged red. She looked around her and patted her waist. Her sword was gone.

"Great. Now what?"

The fifth ranker turned and spotted Corvan lying on the floor. Her heart immediately leaped in panic as she feared for the worst.