Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!
"I think we lost them," I said, looking over my shoulder. Sweat was pouring down my face despite the cool night air. In the distance just beyond the canopy of trees, the unmistakable orange glow of the burning prison could still be seen.
"You think?" he asked me, still trying to catch his breath, "I can still hear the hounds. They'll be on us in a few minutes if we don't keep moving."
"We will after I take care of that," I motioned at his cuffs and he hesitates before turning around, giving me the opportunity to break the bindings. It must have been hell for him sprinting into a dark forest with his hands shackled behind him. He sat at a fallen log with his back turned to me, pulling his arms as far apart as the chains would let him.
"Don't move," I said, lining up my blade.
"As if I could," he remarked. He wasn't in a good mood. But I liked it when his face got dark and smouldering.
With a heavy and precise thrust, the tip of the sharpened blade slotted itself into one of the chain's links. The rusted metal snapped with a dull clink and the prisoner's arms hung loose as if it had been years since he was able to put them to use. He was only locked in the prison for a week, though, he was obviously trying to get some pity from me.
He succeeded, however, as his next action was to quickly wrap his arms around me in a tight embrace. I couldn't help myself at this point and hugged him back. It had only been a week but it felt like years.
"I told you specifically not to come for me, Seris," he croaked in a raspy voice choked with ash.
"And I told you specifically to not get executed by our best friend after he betrays you for his own personal gain, Raven," I replied.
"You expected me to remember that?" he asked, humoring me.
"And you expected me to listen to you?"
Shouting could be heard beyond the treeline and both of us turned our attention to the source. They were right on us.
"We have to get out of here," Raven gripped at my shoulders, his eyes wildly scanned the trees for an exit, "Now."
Just then the crack of gunfire could be heard opening up to my immediate right. Screams of both human and hound filled the air as dark shadows could be seen in the treeline advancing towards our pursuers. Crow Mercenaries, never on time but always there when you need them.
"Don't worry. I have the boys running interference," I reassured Raven. We both took off running with the few minutes our band of mercs had bought for us. "We head north. That's our plan."
"North? How far north?"
"Far. We need to lay low, and I know just the place to hide a couple of fugitives."
It only took him a moment to put it together. "The elven forest? What, are we going to be bandits now?"
"We could be," I laughed as we disappeared further into the shadows, "But I mean settling down over there is an idea, too, you know."
I could see his brow furrow even in the darkness.
"Settle down? You?"
I smiled brightly at him, "We'll worry about the details, later."
I hated mornings. Or rather, I used to be a morning person with Owen's strict training regime forcing me to be up before dawn but… as of the past few weeks, not so much. I stared at the flowing stream of water, hacking and coughing up the last of my breakfast ration before splashing water on my face to get rid of this nausea. This all wouldn't be so bad if our bird hadn't been injured the night of the raid. We would have reached our destination by now if we didn't have to walk all this way.
"Are you okay, Seris?" Raven asked. He peeked out from behind a boulder. Apparently he had been watching me for some time.
"Fine!" I said, perhaps a bit too chipper even for me. I toned it down a bit, brushing the mess of blonde hair that stuck to my forehead, "I'm fine. Just. I'm good."
"You've been throwing up every morning for the past three days." Damn. He noticed.
"It's just fatigue. Haven't had a good night's rest since they threw you in prison."
"If you need a break-"
"No!" I shouted. I corrected my volume, "No. I mean… I'd be throwing out all of Owen's training if I gave up now, right?" My voice trailed off in the end.
Oops. I tried to laugh. He didn't.
"Sorry," I mumbled, "It's still hard to come to terms with what happened and all."
Raven shook his head. He's about to sulk. He often got like that when he lost something, be it a fight… or a friend. I changed the subject.
"We can't stop now. We're just about to enter Bethma's canyons. I've stowed the Black Crow away in one of the gulches. Once we find our ship I can get myself checked out at the medbay and it'll be smooth sailing from there on out.
"If they're as desperate to catch the both of us as I think they are, they've probably deployed a mounted cavalry to chase us by now. We have to keep moving."
I could see it in his eyes. He's concerned about me. Not in the same way that he would be concerned about a squadmate. No, this was different. There wasn't frustration or anger. It was sadness. Sadness and fear. He was afraid for me. Me.
Raven, you have nothing to fear. I'll tell you later, when we actually have time to ourselves.
"Chin up," I said to him, giving him that confident smile that I know he loved, "We're a days travel away from the ship and I'm dying to flop onto my bunk."
"I swear... it was right here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I stared in disbelief at the empty gulch far below. No. This was all wrong. This was supposed to be our big escape. It was bad enough we were birdless from the get go, but now we were shipless, as well.
"It… was supposed to be right here…" my voice whimpered. There was no way the ship could have been stolen. The mercs watching our ship should've been able to hold off any man made assault. But to see my entire escape plan gone...
"I heard you the first time," Raven said, crossing his arms as he stood next to me at the cliff's edge. His voice was as calm as ever. He was thinking. It was up to him, yet again, to fix my mistakes.
"I'm… sorry, Raven. I don't know what to do, now."
"We keep moving."
"Where?"
"Bethma village is just Northwest of here. We find it and find you a doctor."
"That's way too obvious of a stopping point. We're not going there. I don't need one."
"You do. Don't think I haven't noticed: you're getting more sick by the day."
"It's no big deal!"
"It is to me!" he shouted.
He was breathing heavily. He's not angry. He's scared.
"You've risked your life to save me. It's only natural that I return the favor," He said. He tried to hide it under the guise of his natural grit. But I saw right through it. He knew I could. He just wanted me to be safe. What an idiot. Such a handsome idiot.
If he wanted that, all he had to do was let me live the life of leisure, letting my family name carry me through the ranks of nobility. He shouldn't have allowed me to join his squad during the mock siege battle. He shouldn't have included me at the creation of the Crow Mercenaries.
He shouldn't have proposed to me.
Raven went out of his way to make sure I'm near him, yet doubled back and did what he could to make sure I was safe. What a handsome idiot.
"I'm not sick," I said, pausing to collect my thoughts.
"You are. You can't fool me I-"
"I'm pregnant."
I watched as his face processed my message. A thousand words could not describe the way shock, fear, jubilation, and panic all came together across his face. He didn't say anything. I imagined a mix of "Are you sure?", "Why didn't you tell me sooner?", "So I'm going to be a father?", and "All the more reason to keep you safe." was caught in his throat.
I broke the silence.
"I don't need to go to the doctor. Not yet, at least. Right now, we have to think of a backup plan and going to Bethma village is not the best move. Too many people and not enough places to hide."
He was still speechless. Maybe I shouldn't have told him, afterall. I rose to my feet, dusting my knees and gave him a smile.
"And, after all of this blows over, and we finally have some time to ourselves… I'll let you think of a name."
That seemed to bring back from whatever world he was lost in. He shook his head from the daze.
"A… a name?" For a moment I saw a much more vulnerable man, one who I'd seen only twice before… one of which was when he knelt down on one knee to ask me that important question.
"I wouldn't have anyone else but you name our first child. But we have time for that. For now, as you said, we have to keep moving."
"Owen!" Raven's voice cut through the canyon like a vengeful spirit. Despite how far he was, I could see the ferocity in Raven's eyes through the dim lighting of torches. His arm was broken. Grisly cuts and stab wounds riddled his body yet there he was, standing before our pursuer, challenging Owen to take him on.
He came back for me. That idiot took on an entire division of mounted cavalry just for me. I told him to run but… why is he still here?
I could feel our old friend yank at the rope that bound my hands behind my back. He pulled me closer to him and pressed the tip of his sword against my neck. I winced as he struggled to hold me still and the tip of the blade digs into my skin, drawing blood.
"Raven!" I yelled back, "What the hells are you doing here?! Run! Run while you still can!"
"Raven? How? My cavalry… What did you do to them?" our old friend spoke in a hiss.
"They're dead."
"All of them…? How?"
Raven wiped the blood trickling from his lower lip. "It wasn't just me. It was something else."
"It didn't have to end like this," Owen growled to me then turns to Raven, "It didn't have to end like this, you know! Had you faced your execution, we wouldn't be in this standoff! Now I have to kill both of you!"
"Owen! We don't have time for your political games. There is something out there in the canyons and it is going to kill us if we don't work together."
"Like hells I'd buy that," Owen said. I could feel the blade sinking further into my neck, "You step any closer to me and I kill her. You got that?"
"Let her go, this instant. I'll come back if you do," Raven stepped closer towards us, his blade lowering slightly as he did so.
"You know he won't agree to that," I shouted, "You know he'll double cross you the second he has you in chains!"
A blow struck me in the back of my head and I fell to my knees in a daze.
"Silence, Seris. If you want to get out of this alive you keep your mouth shut."
"As if you'd let me live to tell the tale…" I spat.
"Oh, Seris… Have a little faith in me."
"I did. Look where we are now."
Raven knew what he was getting into, as well. As he drew closer, Owen only raised his guard.
"I'm here," Raven said, lowering his saber to the ground, "Let her go, and I drop my blade."
Owen narrowed his eyes. "Very well." His sword pulled away from my neck and began undoing my bindings. As long as Raven had a blade in his hand, Owen knew he stood no chance, even with his injuries. If I knew Owen the best time to strike would be…
The bindings loosened and I was shoved forward. In that instant my eyes widened.
Now.
I stumbled, but instead of falling forward into Raven's arms, I turned, sidestepping a lunge trained at my back. I was smarter than that traitor gave me credit for. I saw the disarmed look in Raven's eyes. The shock as Owen came flying forward past me with blade pointed right at him. I knew Raven's reactions were quick enough. I saw it in the way his blade quickly left the floor, turning an upward motion into a parry.
Owen's surprise attack on me took a horrible turn for the worst. As soon as he felt his weapon being pushed upward and away from Raven, he knew it was over.
In a follow up motion, Raven's saber was brought back down, the sharpened tip pointed at the man's chest. All he had to do now was let momentum take its course and watch as Owen drive himself into my fiance's blade.
Owen's eyes grew wide in shock. His arms fell slack as the torch and sword held in either hand fell to the ground with a dull clatter.
Raven withdrew his saber, letting our old friend collapse under his own weight.
The scene was more bitter than it was sweet to me as I watched the life leave Owen's eyes. To think that it would come down to this. He didn't even say anything as he stared past us towards the starry night sky. He simply closed his eyes and died without a word. Some friend he was.
In this situation I wasn't sure what to do. I could see Raven whispering a silent prayer but to me, I don't know if Owen deserved it.
"So… do we bury him or…?"
"We have to go," Raven said to me, only moments after.
"Why? We're free. No one's going to chase us now."
"Something's out there," he said, eyes turning not towards the pathways but towards the distant canyon walls. "Machines. I don't know. But we have to leave. Now."
"But… your injuries," I said to him, reaching out towards his broken arm. He pulled it away from me and shook his head.
"What matters most is that you and our child are okay… you're okay, aren't you?"
I nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. But since we're not being chased we can take our time-"
"No. Not with those things out there. I'm pretty sure I know what happened to the Black Crow. If that's the case we need to leave this canyon and fast."
"If you say so…"
"Come. On the way here I saw a shortcut leading to Elder."
With his good hand he pulled me along after him. He moved just as fast as ever despite his injuries but if he stayed like this any longer, I felt he might kill himself from exhaustion. But I had to move. I didn't want to scare him any more…
As I turned my head to see our friend one last time, I caught a glimpse of long mechanical tendrils slithering from the shadows, already beginning to dissect their freshly prepared human corpse. As long as they weren't after us, then that didn't matter to me. What mattered most was Raven and our child. What those things planned to do with Owen, I wouldn't know… and I just hoped to the gods we would never find out.
Aes: Thanks again Fum!
It's funny because I completely forgot what I requested so I was honestly surprised.
Seris isn't in the list of characters, sadly.