by SunnyJustice » Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:21 pm
Before Cilan could speak, Rowan smiled and patted Erion on the back lightly. "Thank you Erion," he said before immediately beginning to walk in that direction.
"Wait a second," Cilan called out. "Are you just heading out alone?"
Rowan paused in his tracks, and chuckled. "I suppose that would be quite irrational..." he looked to the nearest person. "Kylie, can you come with me?"
He left together with Kylie, and he knew he would find the others quickly. His suspicions were confirmed when he arrived in the clearing within a few minutes.
"Thank goodness you two are okay," Rowan said before throwing his arms around Cyprian. The taller boy shoved him away. Rowan was about to hug Jaai too, but he wondered if she would find him too warm. She was the ice element, not the fire element like Rowan's family. He just lightly patted her shoulder instead.
"Took you idiots long enough to notice we were missing," Cyprian grumbled and crossed his arms.
Rowan hung his head. "I'm sorry. Let's go find the others before it gets dark, alright?"
"You don't have to," said a high-pitched voice from the bushes. "We already found you."
"Oh, great! Rose!" Rowan exclaimed, walking forward.
A sword flew straight in his direction, and hit him somewhere in the midsection. Rowan didn't look down. He didn't want to, because he knew what had just happened.
As Rowan fell to his knees in utter shock, he heard Cyprian yelling. "What the disgrace is your problem? Get out here and face us like a man- I mean, like a person!"
It wasn't simply one, but four people who emerged from the bushes. A quartet of guards. They were all female, and they stuck close to each other as they circled the teenagers. This seemed to set Cyprian off.
"You think you shrimps are so strong in a pack?" Cyprian roared, pointing accusingly at the women as he stepped forward. "And who throws a sword anyway!"
Rowan looked down at the sword. It was embedded deep in his abdomen, just like in his nightmare. The blade was coming out his back. At any moment now, the shock would wear off and he would be in agonizing pain. He placed his trembling hands around the wound, but his healing power wasn't working. It was ineffective on himself. And he couldn't just revive like Cilan.
Please. Not like this...
"Is this your idea of gender equality?" Cyprian yelled at the women. "Picking on defenseless boys. You think that's right, you sexist jerks? You can rot in hell with my father!" He charged forward, fists raised.
"No," Rowan breathed as the guards sidestepped. Three of them had swords, one of them was unarmed. All three of the sword-wielders ganged up on Cyprian, who was quickly losing ground. The weaponless woman ran by, snatching her blade out of Rowan's stomach. It was a good two seconds before the pain hit, and then he curled up on the ground with an agonized sob.
Through a red haze, he heard a scream, undoubtedly from Kylie. The scream was immediately cut short, and Rowan heard the thud of a body hitting the ground. He tried to reach in that direction, but someone kicked him in the stomach where he was already wounded. The pain made his vision black out.
"Trying to help your girlfriend?" sneered the woman whose sword had now mortally wounded two innocent kids. "Well, you're going to die with her!"
"Leave him and help us," hissed one of the women fighting Cyprian. Rowan's vision gradually recovered. They were trying to corner the boy, so they could actually get in close and stab him. The fourth woman reluctantly went to join them.
"Fine. But I'll finish him off after. Then we get the girls, they're no threat."
Obviously these were radical followers of Alastair.
Rowan felt himself slipping from consciousness. At least he had fallen in a sunny patch. The last rays of the setting sun seemed to caress him, almost like... no, it couldn't be...
The sun still rises every morning.
But I'm not like Cilan. I can't rise from this.
Focus, my nephew, ordered the deep, stern voice. The darkest night cannot stop dawn from coming.
Rowan knew he was delirious. Here he was, bleeding to death, having a conversation with the sunlight. He couldn't even see or hear anything anymore. But he couldn't just ignore the familiar voice either. He placed his hands on his stomach and focused on his healing power, but that was when he realized his error. Every time he tried to heal himself, he focused on just the healing aspect. He took a deep breath and allowed the full extent of his power to flow. It stopped the bleeding at least.
It was a start.
But for now, all he could do was lay there, blind and deaf. He hoped Jaai and Cyprian had found a way to defeat the guards. Rowan was still alive, which meant the fourth guard hadn't come back to stab him yet. Meaning Cyprian was still fighting. Or maybe the fight was already over.
He could only hope.
