After he'd hit the floor, Keith's head had spun for awhile, but he'd regained enough of his wits in time to overhear that Jenick's 'only goal was the girl.'
Freaking bastard.
Keith felt the anger rise in him, and he welcomed it, because he could use it, he could use it to save Beyris and Lance, if he timed his attack right.
He flexed the fingers on his right hand, seeing if anyone noticed the movement, and when they didn't, Keith waited for a count of three, listening hard to everything around him, feeling his pulse beat faster and faster in his chest.
When Lance's voice cut off, Keith almost leapt to his feet, but he forced himself to wait, just a few seconds more, and he was glad he did, because suddenly he heard Lance breathe again, and immediately after that, he felt Jenick's eyes on him, and Keith almost shivered at the hate in Jenick's voice.
When Jenick stepped away from Keith, closer to Lance, Keith knew this was his chance, the only one he was going to get, and so he moved as fast and as silently as he could.
Keith hadn't been holding his bayard in his right hand when Jenick had attacked him from behind. He'd been holding it in his left hand.
He'd switched his bayard to his left hand so he could grab the comms unit…and so, he still held his bayard hilt.
Jenick hadn't realized the Red Paladin still had his weapon, and that mistake was going to cost him dearly.
Keith raised his left hand towards the man holding the still struggling Beyris, and he pictured what he needed, and suddenly, Keith held a crossbow - just like the one he'd seen his father use, a long time ago, when he'd shown Keith how to fire a weapon that could take down an enemy without noise.
Keith shot for the center of mass, and the bastard went down, a bolt though the center of his chest, and Beyris squeaked as she tumbled out of the man's grip, onto the floor, rolling a few feet away from the group, finally ending up on her back, slightly dazed and staring up at the ceiling.
Then Keith turned, rising to one knee, and he hoped his bayard could reload automatically if he told it to, because he had less than three seconds to act if he wanted to save Lance's life. Keith pointed his weapon at the three men holding Lance against the wall, and shot three times, hoping Beyris wasn't watching this.
He hadn't wanted to kill anyone. But he especially hadn't wanted to kill anyone in front of a kid.
Death wasn't something you ever really forgot once you'd seen it first-hand.
The three men all slumped over, bolts sticking out of their backs or chests. Jenick startled backwards, and Keith cursed. If he shot at Jenick now, he might hit Lance. Then Jenick was aiming something at Keith - a dart gun?
In that instant, Lance leapt forward and tackled Jenick to the ground, wrestling with the man. As he fought with Jenick, Lance shouted for Keith to take Beyris and go, go now, to get out before any more enemies came.
Keith wanted to just shoot Jenick too and call it a day. Hell, the bastard was obviously not about to quit. But as Keith got to his feet, he remembered that Jenick had said something about - paralytic darts - oh, shit -
If Jenick hit Keith with one of his paralytic darts - like he'd planned to in the first place - Jenick would be able to take Beyris in a heartbeat, because Lance sure as hell wasn't going anywhere soon with his legs tangled up in that net.
"RUN!" Lance screamed then, and Keith hated to do it, he hated to leave Lance behind, but Beyris was still in danger, and Keith had to make the hard choice.
So Keith grabbed the girl up in his arms and ran, back towards the corridor that led towards safety.
She blinked up at him then, looking a bit confused.
"Uh - Keith?"
Keith had just reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed hold of the comms unit, because he knew he had to get the tunnel right on the first try, and the map had to work, it had to -
"-yeah?"
" - your eyes are - yellow-"
Keith didn't really hear her, because he'd just skidded to a stop, feeling his heart plummet as he saw that he couldn't make it to safety, that there was no way he could get to Pidge and Hunk in time.
At the intersection of the corridors, there were three Proselyt. The same three he and Lance had taken down in the first attack.
They were blocking his only route to safety, and from the sounds behind them, Jenick would break free from Lance at any moment.
That would mean Keith would be outnumbered four to one, and going up against an enemy who could paralyze him from a distance.
Four against one weren't winning odds.
He couldn't them both to safety before these guys caught up to him.
But if he got enough of a head start - Beyris could.
He still had the comms unit. He could leave the comms unit with her - when he hid her - and then he could lead these bastards away, and then Aurelis and Coran could find her, and get her to safety.
She'd be okay.
She'd be okay if he ran, right now, as fast he could, to get a head start and hide her before these bastards caught up to him.
So Keith turned, chose a nearby tunnel entrance at random, and sprinted down it.
"Beyris-" he said, holding the comms unit up where she could see it, " - listen - do you know - how to use - one of these?"
"…yeah…" the girl's voice was small and scared, but Keith tried not to hear that, because if he did, he was going to want to turn around and atomize Jenick and his remaining co-conspirators for making a little girl feel this scared.
You can pulverize them later, once she's hidden, he told himself. For now, just run.
"Okay," he said, and he kept his words short, so he had more breath for running. "Call Aurelis. Now."
He heard footsteps racing after him, and he quickened his pace, desperate to get enough of a lead so he could lose them long enough to hide the girl.
The comms unit buzzed to life in Beyris' clawed fingers, and Keith heard a crackling, static sort of sound come over the comms.
"Uncle!" Beyris said, and she sounded glad, then, terrified, and very, very young. "Uncle, they hurt Lance - they're chasing us- "
Keith looked down at the screen long enough to see Rayzor's eyes go flat and cold in rage and sudden fear.
"Okay-" Keith said as he made a sharp right turn, "Well - Rayzor - works - too."
