Chapter 31

One of the soldiers actually picked Pride up as they booked it back towards camp. Supposedly it was to save time, but Pride doubted it could help that much. They were probably already too late.

Sure enough, when they reached the tunnels, they were already filled with a thick red smoke that seemed to be eating the walls in places.

"Go in," General Windsor said.

"Say what?" Pride asked.

"We need to get inside to get to our masks. So hold your breath and move."

The other soldiers nodded, and since one was still holding Pride, it seemed he was going in.

He took a deep breath and covered in mouth and nose. After a moment of feeling stinging in his eyes, he closed those too. The sounds of the battle echoed up and down the corridor. He was familiar enough with the sounds of blades and gunfire by now, as well as screams and the thumping sound of bodies hitting the floor. Well, some of those thumps were a little quiet for entire bodies. Limbs perhaps.

He heard a door open and the group entered a room. There was rustling, and the sound of a drawer opening.

"What the-? Agh!"

There was the sound of one of the soldiers coughing. One of them had already hit the ground. The one carrying Pride seemed fine, but he dropped him. Pride moved one of his hands away from his face and felt around. They'd just opened a drawer. There had to be something useful in there. He hoped there was something useful in there. He could hear movement, but he couldn't see anything. And the incredibly too human lungs were screaming at him. He'd either have to inhale or pass out soon, depending on how good his control was, and neither sounded like a good option.

His hands found something in the drawer. It felt plastic. There were two round pieces about the size to go around eyes, and they were attached to another cup shaped piece below. That hopefully was supposed to go around the mouth, Pride couldn't waste anymore time trying to figure that out with certainty.

Feeling dizzy, he slammed the cupped piece over his face and took a breath. Good, that worked. The air seemed normal.

He then tightened the straps and put the goggles on. Even tightening the mask as far as he could it was big on him, but as long as no smoke was getting in, that was fine. He opened his eyes.

Honestly, the view wasn't much better with his eyes open. Red fog was everywhere. He could tell he was at a desk. He could see the body of a soldier, feet poking out behind the desk, who'd clearly been sliced through with a sword. Well he'd be back eventually. Everyone else seemed to have disappeared.

Then a figure appeared in the smoke, slowly coming into focus as they moved closer. They had a mask on, but it was different than Pride's, and even in the smoke he could see feather's on this person's face. So this must be an enemy.

The figure swung a blade. Pride clapped his hands and brought the ground up as a shield. Then he moved around the figure, heading for the exit. The figure turned after him. Pride used alchemy again, bringing up a barrier where the only door was. That ought to slow him down. If he was lucky, the figure's mask would eventually lose its effectiveness, see how he liked his own fumes.

Pride looked around. Now, where was he? The main hall, obviously, but he wasn't even sure which way would take him out and which would take him deeper in at this point, and he could barely see the walls. He put his hand against one and started running along.

He avoided the sounds of the fighting from the right, hanging a left instead. Then he tripped, smacking into the ground. Pride felt along his mask to make sure it wasn't damaged. The sounds of fighting were getting closer. Pride reached his hands out. He wasn't sure quite what he was hoping to find. Some way out of this. And he did find that. There was a door within arm's reach. Pride slipped inside.

"Ther, you should get your forces out of here."

That voice sounded familiar.

A male voice laughed. "Ella, what could possibly go wrong? Your General is out. We have the element of surprise. The halls are in a panic. This will be a swooping victory, but it won't be the end, because the General will survive."

"But he's coming back!" The voice sounded kind of screechy, and now Pride knew why. That was definitely the rebound girl from the kitchen. And she was orchestrating a war with someone named Ther? Well not unheard of, but Pride preferred being on the other end of these situations. "Listen, he has a rebound wizard working with him. Someone you were supposed to get rid of before he arrived, might I add."

"But-but we did. We intercepted a wizard."

"Obviously not the right one." Funny story that. "The General will come back as soon as he realizes it's a trap, and he'll bring that wizard with him, and you'll be in big trouble. You can't orchestrate a war if you're killed now."

Ther cursed. "I must get back to the entrance."

Which meant he'd be coming this way. Pride slipped out the door and pressed himself against the wall. He saw a hazy bird figure leave the room. It didn't seem Ella wasn't going with him. Well, Pride was. He seemed to know the way out.

Pride tiptoed quietly after him as he moved down the hall. For a while they moved in silence. Then, as the path began to slope up towards the surface, and turn back into dirt, Pride heard voices. The smoke was thinning in this area. He hung back, pressed himself against the wall again, and listened in.

"I won't let you go through."

That was Briar. What was she doing?

"She's not a soldier," one of the other people muttered. Pride could see about three people other than Briar through the smoke. One of them was Ther, though not the one speaking. "We could overpower her."

"Not quickly enough to leave alive," Briar said.

She was holding her gun from earlier, very tightly. It was trembling slightly.

"They have a wizard," Ther said. "We don't have time for this."

He reached into his belt. What he grabbed was also clearly a gun.

A few things went through Pride's mind at once. They were going to kill Briar. He didn't actually want that. And he didn't have to let it happen.