Chapter 25: Back Up

Callum stopped, looking back in time to see smoke rising in the distance.

"He's already there." He said, his shoulders slumping.

"Do you think everyone got out?" Ezran asked.

Callum continued watching the smoke.

"Yeah." He said, not sure if he believed himself. "Yeah, they're probably fine." He paused, seeing a silhouette in the smoke.

"Ez. Run."

"What?" Ezran replied, before Callum sprinted past him, grabbing his hand, and pulling him along the snowy ground.

"No time, just run!" Callum shouted.

The door to the guest cottage slowly creaked open.

Rayla's eyes darted each direction, before she pushed it all the way open, and crept out into the night.

She was wearing her tattered elven moonshadow armor again. It wasn't in the best shape, but she paid it no mind. She began the task of becoming invisible.

It was a mix of a stealth crouch and a hobble. She was still in tremendous pain.

But that didn't matter. She had a job to do. She narrowed her eyes, as she glared up at the treeline.

She folded her blades away, and charged forward.

One of her legs gave out, and she painfully face planted into the snow, letting out an irritated groan.

She lifted her head out of the snow, spitting some out of her mouth.

"Come on Rayla. No time for nonsense." She grumbled to herself, glaring back up at the trees.

"Ignore the shoulder. Ignore the jelly legs. You can do this." She said, a confident smirk appearing on her face.

She charged ahead, forcing her legs to keep her upright, and jumped up, smacking against the center of the tree.

She couldn't jump as high as usual. That was a problem. But not one that would stop her.

She whipped out one of her blades, deploying the hook, and drove it into the tree's trunk.

She pulled down, climbing up toward the branches.

One hook wasn't enough. She needed the other.

And that meant she would have to call on her right arm.

She let out a sigh, then grabbed the blade from her back before she could hesitate, driving that hook into the trunk as well.

And pulled.

Agony.

Pain wasn't meant to hurt this much. But she kept her mouth closed, a very muffled scream of pain coming from the elf.

She climbed, feeling like she was wrenching her arm from the socket. Maybe she was.

But she switched to the other arm, forcing herself higher up.

The thick branches were so close now. She was almost there.

"Come on Rayla. Do it for the king. And the frog. And the...the boyfriend." She added, her facing turning a little red as she said it. It sounded weird out loud. But it still brought a smile to her face.

And made her stomach feel warm and fuzzy.

Which was good, because it was time for righty to pull the weight again.

She drove the hook in, and pulled.

Even with the warm and fuzzy's, this hurt like hell.

This time she couldn't keep her mouth closed, and before she even thought of biting her tongue, she was screaming.

All the pain exploding out of her, as she forced herself to keep pulling. If she stopped now, she would fall, and this climb was for nothing.

She grabbed the branch with her right hand, and heaved herself up and over.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHYESSSSSSS!!" She cried, as she found herself on her back, on the branch. She pumped her fist in the air, blade in hand. "YES! YES! COME ON!!" She screamed, pumping her other fist, and immediately regretting it. "THATS IT RAYLA! COME ON!" She continued, ignoring the pain.

She turned, looking at the trees that were laid out before her, as she got to her feet.

Her eyes narrowed in focus, and she folded her blades away, preparing to pounce.

Then she charged ahead, reaching the edge of the branch.

And leapt. She felt like she was in the air for a whole minute.

She landed on on the branch of the tree across from her.

And her legs immediately betrayed her.

She slipped off, and found herself falling.

Again.

She crashed down into the snow, just missing landing on her bad shoulder. She stared with wide eyes at it, grabbing it with her hand, just to make sure she hadn't somehow made it worse. She hadn't.

She let out a defeated sigh, spreading her arms and legs, unknowingly making a snow angel, as she stared up at the sky in frustration.

She heard a rolling growl, and then a bright colored face appeared in her vision.

"Oh. It's you. How're ya doin ya big illusion monster?" She asked, smiling up at the spider. "I missed ya."

The spider let out a low grumble.

Then, Lujanne's face appeared next to it.

"Well...what have we learned today?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Learned? Nothin. I'm really close." Rayla replied with a breathless shrug, before forcing herself to sit up. "I can do this, Lujanne. You don't need to keep me here. Seriously."

Lujanne nodded.

"Mhm. Do you think it was one of my illusions that just knocked you out of that tree?"

"Um..." Rayla began.

"And was the screaming and yelling that woke me also produced by one of my illusive creatures run amuck?" Lujanne added. "Or was that merely a stubborn moonshadow elf trying to climb a tree with one working arm and no working legs?"

Rayla smiled and held up her arms innocently.

"Whose to say?"

Lujanne rolled her eyes.

Then she walked over, and grabbed Rayla's foot, lifting it up.

"Oi! What're ya doin?!" Rayla exclaimed.

Lujanne said nothing, as she began dragging the uncooperative moonshadow elf across the snow, back towards the cottages.

Callum watched from the mouth of the cave, eyes glued to the sky.

Ezran was deeper in the cave, watching with concern.

He began to creep toward the entrance, but Callum held up his hand firmly.

"Wait, Ez. He's still up there. I can hear his wings."

"You know, I am the king. I could disobey you." Ezran said defiantly.

"You could. Or you could listen to your big brother when he tells you to stay safe." Callum replied, looking back at him.

He froze, seeing the black and silver dragon swoop low overhead. Clearly searching for any sign of the two.

"Callum, I have an idea." Ezran called to him.

"What?" Callum asked. "Ez, stay back."

Ezran disobeyed, running up next to him. He closed his eyes, and focused.

"Ez! Get back, what are you doing?!" Callum demanded.

"Just...wait..." Ezran replied, his eyes still shut.

The ground began to shake. Callum looked at his brother with wide eyes.

"What's that?!"

Ezran's eyes opened, a confident smirk on his face.

"Backup."

From below the treeline, came a massive stampede.

Banthers. A whole swarm of them.

They tore through the forest, and covered the ground in front of the cave.

Borvir glared down in surprise, as the snowy ground became nearly invisible, beneath the stampede of creatures. His eyes narrowed with suspicion. But he began to follow them.

At the back, one of them pulled off from the group, stomping over, to stand before Callum and Ezran.

Callum stared up at it, with wide eyes full of wonder.

And a fair bit of fear.

"Ez...?" He asked, backing up.

"It's okay!" Ezran replied, running up and jumping on its back. "Come on, Callum! We'll be able to move faster this way!"

Callum hesitated a moment, then walked over, struggling to climb onto the large creatures back.

Ezran leaned down, offering him a hand, and helping him up.

Then the banther turned, and charged out of the cave, across the forest.

Away from the dragon, and the stampede.

Away from Azrael and his army. Toward home.l