Chapter 15: Loyalty

Hina felt like she had been fighting for hours.

Almost all of her attention was focused on avoiding the next blow, a little more on getting in a blow of her own, and the tiny amount that was left on staying close to the others, who were trying desperately to make it back across the border.

Hina froze one attacker's feet to the ground and jumped back, striking at another. She gripped her weapon more firmly, snatching an instant to catch her bearings.

She stood near the edge of the fray—the good edge, fortunately, closer to the border. She had formed a basic staff of ice in desperation, not having time to form a decent blade, and had been using it to fend off attackers.

Another leapt towards her, wielding something that looked like black lightning. Hina dodged and struck, causing him to stumble.

She was slowing down. She really couldn't keep this up much longer.

With a sudden burst of energy, Hina let out a wave of cold, momentarily freezing several opponents solid, and made a dash for the border.

White-eyes took the opportunity provided by the distraction and made it over at almost the same moment.

When they saw their companions safely across, the others in turn leapt back to relative safely—relative, since long-range attacks were apparently still fair game. Once they were across, they took off running to get back to a safer distance.

Once they were out of range, they stopped to regroup. Hina had to lean over and rest her hands on her knees.

"Anyone hurt?" asked Kirin. His eyes flicked over them as each denied it. Then they went over everyone again…and again. And then they took on a worried cast.

"Where's Soukan?"

Hina looked up sharply, only now realizing that only six of them stood there. The man with the topknot was nowhere to be seen.

"Shizuku!" Kirin turned sharply to the fox. "Is he near?"

The vixen sniffed the air, brow wrinkling. "Can't tell. All I'm getting is blowback from the wind."

Kirin wheeled to her next. "Hina! Can you do what you did before?"

Hina closed her eyes. The signatures were there, but… "It's too far away. I can sense the guards, but I can't count them and I can't pick out an individual signature."

Kirin cursed under his breath—at least, Hina assumed so—and turned back toward the ground they'd fought so hard to cover.

"Wait," said Hina. "We shouldn't—"

Kirin wheeled on her, eyes alight in a way that might not have been entirely metaphorical.

"You think we should just leave him to his fate?" he snapped.

"No, but we should wait—"

"Wait? He's been taken prisoner!"

"And we're exhausted!" For the first time she could remember, Hina raised her own voice in anger. "If we go now, we'll be at a severe disadvantage! You'll be risking all of us!"

"Stay and sleep if you want," Kirin said, with barely controlled anger. "I'll be rescuing my friend."

He turned and headed back toward the border. The others followed him, though more than one gave her a sympathetic glance.

Hina closed her eyes and composed herself, and then followed the rest of them. It was foolish, but still…perhaps they were right. Perhaps this was something as necessary as it was illogical.

It took them a little longer to get back, since they were no longer fleeing for their lives, but it wasn't long before the energy took on enough solidity in Hina's mind to count. There were fourteen—that was the twelve guards, plus the commander, plus, presumably, their captured teammate. She had no idea which was which, however—she didn't have a clear idea of what Soukan's aura felt like.

"Back for some more?" asked the commander of the guards coldly.

"Oh, we'll be on our way again soon enough." Kirin's voice was clipped.

"Maybe some of you…then again, maybe not. After all, you're even more outnumbered this time around, and you barely got away by turning tail and running."

Kirin's hand shot forward and grabbed the man's collar, bursting into flame as it did so. "Where is he?" he demanded.

The man only smiled. "You'll find out soon enough."

Kirin struck, but the man twisted away and shot out a leg to try and trip him. Kirin rolled, avoiding his opponent's next attack at the same time. The rest of the border guards took this as their cue to join the fray.

Almost all of them…

Three signatures still hung back.

Hina ducked and wove her way to Kirin. "This way!"

When he didn't immediately follow her, she reached out and grasped his searingly hot arm. "Trust me."

Their eyes met for an instant, and then he turned and let off a blast that knocked his attacker into a nearby tree.

"Show me."

She pulled him towards the stationary signatures, still hidden by the forest. But when several guards broke away to follow them, she changed her plans.

"There," she said, pointing. "Straight in that direction. Go."

Then she turned back, forming a slippery sheet of ice with thrust of her hands. He wouldn't need that long. She just had to hold them off for a few minutes.

An eternity later, Hina had somehow ended up near the center of the fray. She was near the end of her strength…what was taking him so long?

When she had a chance to glance back toward the place he'd disappeared to, she finally caught a glimpse of him again.

In that instant, she knew something was wrong.

They were both there, but Soukan's limbs were heavy, barely supporting any of his weight. Even from that distance, she could tell he was in bad shape.

Hina ducked again, thanking whoever was listening for her short stature, and tried to make her way towards the two. Even as she did, though, Soukan slipped to the side and fell heavily to the ground.

Hina couldn't hear anything but the sounds of battle as the scene played out before her. She saw Kirin drop to his knees beside his friend, grasping one of his hands. She saw Soukan try to raise his head—was he speaking?

And then his head slipped back against the grass.

Kirin's shoulders shook as he held Soukan's hand to his chest.

Feeling like she was intruding on something private, Hina turned away.

That saved her life.

She caught a glimpse of a guard bearing down on her, and she instinctively ducked and counterattacked.

Sharp.

That was her onlythought, and her ice responded instantly with a curved edge that cut straight through the guard's attack, and then his body.

Hina stood, surprised, several different reactions coursing through her.

But she didn't have time to work through them right now.

She glanced around. Their shadow-demon and white-eyes—whose names she was still having trouble with—were fighting back to back, the former flinging fistfuls of dark energy, while the latter was apparently responsible for the guard being tossed around in the air above them.

Shizuku was doing fine against her opponent—but she was so focused on him that she didn't notice the other guard coming up behind her.

Hina moved to do something, she wasn't sure what, but someone else was faster.

"Shizuku!" Hyoujin yelled, and turned away from his own opponent towards her. With a grunt and an upward jerk of his hands, the ground under her second attacker buckled and shifted upward, knocking him away from her. It was the greatest display of earthmoving Hina had seen from him yet.

And probably for a good reason.

Hyoujin's eyes rolled up, and he collapsed to his knees.

"Hyoujin!" shouted Shizuku, an edge of panic to her voice. She leapt away from her own attacker, trying to get to him.

She was too late.

Hyoujin's opponent, with a cry of triumph, thrust his sword straight through Hyoujin's chest.