After an incessantly busy few months, finally, a chapter! It's a bit too short so I should have the next one up soon. I'm super sorry!
Nelya didn't think she'd fought this hard before.
When they entered the fray, it was clear the assassins were outnumbered, even with the addition of her and Blake. The two took in the scene: guns against swords, armour against fists.
They glanced at each other.
Each gave a shaky smile, but their eyes said something else entirely.
Nelya leapt head-first at an armoured man, knocking the wind out of him and leaving him splayed on the floor. She moved onto her next target and Blake headed for the automatic guns, taking out their handlers and pulling them over to a heap in a corner. He saw flashes of dark hair and an even darker grin here and there. Shouts of pain followed her as she bounded and jumped and twisted over flailing limbs and sloppy punches.
Blake was, however, soon distracted by a fairly large man towering over him. The giant raised his fists and swung them at him. Blake swiftly dodged them and weaved behind him, just able to reach around his neck and pull him backwards.
The giant stumbled but didn't fall and Blake managed to kick the tip of his toe into the backs of his opponent's knees. At this, he hit the ground. Blake hit him hard on the back of his head with connected fists, knocking him out, cold.
Looking up, he found himself staring across the hall at a gun pointed straight at him. But before the gunman had time to pull the trigger, a steel shield came sailing through the air, pounding him in the face. After the gunman collapsed, Blake followed the direction the shield was thrown from.
"You're welcome!" Called Nelya, waving.
A woman crept up behind her, hand stretched out. Nelya grabbed it from behind her and pulled her easily over her shoulder. The woman fell to the floor with one swoop, laying on the floor, unconscious.
That was when Blake made his way over to Nelya; cutting, dodging and fighting through the battle. They came up back to back when he reached her, "I never actually thanked you."
She scoffed. "You didn't have to. It was all over your face."
A couple of fighters ran at full speed towards them. Without so much as giving each other a thought, Nelya and Blake ducked. The fighters, not noticing this change in time, carried on running. They crashed into each other with a crude 'crack', knocking themselves out.
Nelya guffawed and ran ahead into the diminishing crowd of thugs. The assassins turning their attention to treating the injured and hauling the dead some place else. Together with some ten assassins, the duo took out the remaining thugs.
By the time the hall was cleared of the unconscious and lifeless bodies, so too was the short-lived leader of the new league carried out to be buried with other leaders if the organisation.
She watched the body leave the chamber, following it closely with her eyes, until it turned the corner, never to be seen again. Nelya didn't touch her, refused to see her uncovered face. When all but one had left, she collapsed of exhaustion to the floor.
"Let's get out of here." Blake told her.
Without so much as a glance back at the cave, they left. The duo didn't exchange any words with the few remaining assassins guarding the speedboats docked on the beach when they clambered onto one and left.
"Our stuff's still on the train." She said.
"And the train's long gone." He replied. "At best we can find a place to stay, scrounge about, maybe."
"The truck we came in should still be where we left it." She sighed, raking her hands through her hair.
He nodded and sped up.
They spent the last ten minutes of the boat ride in silence, too spent to think, more so to talk. Nelya, though she was too stubborn to show it, was still mourning her little sister. Blake, as usual, was worried about her. He couldn't care less about getting home at this point, they were in a similar position when they had to travel back from France after Zirnitra had them kidnapped and they managed fine.
Blake glanced at her.
Something in his heart tugged. A feeling that was becoming all too familiar.
Nelya sniffed and swallowed against the growing lump in her throat. Now she understood why Acacia's death was so unreal. She understood why she was angry with herself that she didn't try to find her body after she was killed. Everything was falling into place while everything fell apart. Only she knew the truth.
Nelya glanced at him.
Only they knew the truth. And how glad she felt that he did. No, more than 'glad'. How did she feel? Happy when with him, lonely when not. Strongly. Gratefully. A feeling that kept growing until, she was sure, it would burst very soon.
Safely arriving at the coast of the mainland, it wasn't long until they found the truck. Nelya found a couple of bags of supplies hidden in the floor at the back. Clean, warm clothes, dried and canned food, blankets, and, most importantly, money.
While she drove, Blake opened a packet of dried fruit, passing pieces over to her occasionally. Then, just by their luck, the weather took a turn for the worst.
Thick sleet descended upon them unmercifully. The thin cloth roof flapping in the wind. Letting loose a variety of colourful language, Nelya focused on keeping the truck marginally on the road.
It was of little use.
They toppled over. The vehicle, unable to stop itself, tumbled down the incline of the high road they were travelling on. The cage set around the top of the truck kept its passengers from being crushed, but couldn't manage to keep them from falling out of it altogether.
"No..." Nelya cried, shielding herself from the harsh snow rushing over them.