Cortes eyes were wide open. His sight was blurred, but he could see enough to claw at and widen the hole in the wall. Water gushed out faster as it begun to crack and expand.
He strained. Cortes' exerted energy caused his body to crave more oxygen. But he didn't stop and neither did Wayan. Oslo soon decided to pitch in and help Cortes and Wayan. His dried blood was washing off his clothes and skin and gave the dark waters a pinkish colour.
Cheng was clung to Cortes' tartan belt. Lena was huddled close to the wall with her hands busy covering her mouth and nose.
----
Dahlia and Diwan took a brief break on a small ledge far down the block. They were in a small cleft in the cliff that looked to be worn into by a strong rush of water; most likely a rain storm.
Dahlia had sliced her palms, fingers, and arms open during her descend. She tried to wipe the wounds clean of sand as it stung like a paper cut in salt water. She didn't do much of a good job, but she didn't care. Dahlia only worried about Mahad, who crashed down repeatedly on his way down.
Diwan had slipped a couple times, but had somehow managed to keep a firm grip on a ridge to prevent her from falling to the same fate. Diwan now had a single gash on her right palm. So deep, in fact, that the skin could be pulled back to see the bone.
"Hey, Diwan," said Dahlia to break the silence, "has Oslo ever told you about those demons?"
She shook her head and answered, "Just their names." Diwan looked out the exit of the crevice, which was just a few steps away. "I don't think we'll make it out of here alive."
"Don't say that."
"Too late."
Dahlia rolled her eyes. She pictured Mahad saying the very same thing and became more upset. He was probably dead. Or worse, still dying and in so much pain. He would wish someone would find him, and soon, so they might fire a swift bullet through his skull, killing him in and instant and ending his suffering.
Dahlia actually hoped that Mahad had the fast and painless death if there was no hope for him. She slid down the side of the wall until she sat. Dahlia wrapped her arms around her knees and hid her face.
Diwan kept quiet. The Sphere agent didn't know what to say and wouldn't even try. She just stood in silence, staring at her bloodied right hand until she felt light headed. She sat down, not wanting to fall over on her face.
Dahlia heard the sound of Diwan's blood pelting on the ground. She looked up and literally caught her red handed. Dahlia reached up and grabbed her by the wrist.
"What are you doing?" Diwan asked, slightly startled.
"That needs to be wrapped up," said Dahlia. She looked around the ground that was covered with a variety of rocks and pebbles.
"Yeah, with what?"
Dahlia ignored her until she found a stone with a sharp side; possibly an arrow head. She knelt down next to Diwan and used the stone to rip her left shirt sleeve from the elbow down. She then ripped the fabric at its side stitching and used it to wrap Diwan's hand.
After the knot was securely tied, Dahlia wiped Diwan's blood off her hands and watched as the Sphere guardian examined her wrapped hand.
"Thanks," said Diwan with a stale voice. She seemed to be a bit confused as to why the pirate helped her. Then again, she dared not to even ask why.
Suddenly, they heard something; a banging from behind the cave wall. They stood and backed away. They expected it was a Montogue demon coming after them. Oh, they were wrong.
A fist burst from the wall with cotton fluff around the wrist and a brown shirt sleeve. The arm quickly retreated back into the hole and continued to strike around it.
"Wayan!" Dahlia called out. She ran over to the wall to help pull the rock free but was stopped.
The hole in the wall gushed gallons of water at a time and it all rushed out to the exit, brushing over the edge like a thin water fall. Diwan moved up closer to the sides of the cave walls.
A few seconds later, Dahlia had a hold of someone. She pulled the young boy out and rested him on the ground. Cheng began to cough and he spat up water.
"Cheng, are you okay?" she asked, patting him gently on the back.
Cheng opened his eyes and stared at her for a short second, slightly puzzled as to where she had come from. He nodded then pointed back to the water-bleeding hole. Cheng would have said something, but his coughing got in the way.
She looked up just in time to see Lena fall out of the hole and crawl away to safety. She coughed and shivered from the cold. Dahlia ran after the gap and began to pull around its edges.
----
Wayan pried and pulled at the stone that gradually became weaker as the water gushed out the fracture in the wall. He was suddenly stopped when he felt a palm press on his shoulder. He turned his head and seen the blurry image that was his captain.
Cortes motioned him to the opening but Wayan refused. Despite his image being fuzzy from the water, he could see the struggle as his body fought for air and felt the water's movement as his body twitched in his attempts to resist.
Wayan wanted out just as much as Cortes, but he wouldn't jump out the hole to fresh air without knowing weather or not his captain would follow right after.
Wayan felt himself being pushed. His wrist was gripped by a hand that came in from the gap. No choice; he would go first.
----
"Wayan," said Dahlia as she pulled him out, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Wayan said, "but Cortes is still inside."
"Right, I'm on it."
Dahlia jumped to her feet and ran back to the stream that continued to surge out. She waited with her arm inside the gap and waited for her captain to grab her hand.
----
Cortes watched helplessly as the precious air bubbles slipped out his mouth and nostrils, up, and in front of his eyes. His arms felt heavy and his sight slowly faded. His vision, deeply hazed, got a glimpse of the hand with the black sleeve around her wrist.
He reached for Dahlia's hand, but his body shifted away. Before Cortes faded to a state of unconsciousness, he felt the cold rush of water down his throat and something that had wrapped around his chest.
This is a death I would never expect to happen to anyone on Skyland, was his last thought.
----
"Cortes, hold on!" shouted a muffled voice. Cortes felt his lungs fill with air and his chest pushed on.
His eyes snapped open. Wayan and Dahlia jumped when their captain erupted in a range of coughs and gurgling choking noises as the water shot up out his throat. He rolled over on his side to help empty his lungs.
A minute later he sat up and asked, "How'd you get me out?"
"Not us, captain," said Dahlia. She aimed a finger at the Sphere agents. "Oslo did."
Cortes stared in a bit of surprise. Oslo gave him no more than a glance and said with a firm, "We're even."
Cortes closed his gapped mouth. He looked up and processed the fact that Dahlia stood in front of him, uninjured—well, not seriously anyway—and alive. He looked back at Oslo and seen Diwan. After looking around a little more, he asked himself, Where's Mahad?
"Mahad fell off the block," said Dahlia, as though she had read his mind. "Diwan and I were climbing down after him and we took a quick break here."
Lena's worried expression darkened into a face of sadness. There might've been tears mixed in with the water that dripped from her bangs and down her face.
"Well," Cortes began, "we're not getting anywhere here, now, are we?"
With a nod, Wayan offered Cortes his hand. He grabbed hold of the presented hand and was pulled up to a stand. Once up, Cortes' soaked body was struck by the chilled wind and made him shiver.
The water still poured out of the hole, but stronger. The wall crumbled around and caused the hole to widen. Cracks branched out and raced to the other side of the barrier. Strings of water sprouted from new openings here and there.
"I think we should run," stated Oslo, having noticed the new problem.
"To where?" said Dahlia. "We're in a cave on the side of a cliff. How will we escape?"
"Very simple. Jump and pray," he snapped back.
"Shut the hell up, Oslo," hissed Cortes.
"Everyone shut the hell up!" barked Wayan.
Like an avalanche, the wall tumbled down. The tons of water that still remained rushed out and over the edge of the cliff and brought the rebels and the two Sphere agents with it.
