10. Escape

Therius heard the yells of soldiers and the clashing of swords from above. The white knight could barely stand, and he clutched at the bars of his cell weakly. If there was fighting...General Asthar and the other knights could be here. And if that was so, they could rescue Lady Callista.

"Is anyone in here?"

Therius bolted to attention, just as a couple of Lazulis Knights made their way into the prison area, accompanied by none other than General Asthar.

"G-General...Asthar..." Therius managed to cough out, trying to catch the General's attention. "I'm...here..."

"Sir Therius!" Therius nearly collapsed on the spot as General Asthar and a Lazulis mage approached him quickly. Asthar immediately ordered the mage to use healing magic. "Are you alright?"

Therius nodded, grateful for the healing effect working quickly on his body. It was a balm from all the torture he had taken from Zepha and Zesha for the past week. "I'm fine now, General. Lady Callista is under watch by one of the two right-hand men of Zangurak-specifically, Zesha. I don't know where they would be right now..."

Asthar helped Therius stand properly as he spoke again. "Bring Sir Therius back to the Lazulis ship," Asthar told the mage and knights with him. "He'll need to recover there..."

Therius shook his head quickly, loosening himself from Asthar's grip. "General Asthar, Lady Callista is in danger! I-We-we have to find her! Now!"

Going completely against General Asthar's orders to stop, Therius ran as fast as he could.

Zesha and Zepha both rushed down the hallway, shooting Bolt Arrows and other spells at the Lazulis knights while dragging Callista along with them. The Countess-to-be didn't know what to do at this point-

"Aagh!"

And Yin of all people nearly ran into the three of them, the Gurak tailor obviously looking very distressed, surprised and, well...actually, that described her expression completely well enough. "Master Zesha, Master Zepha, what's going on? Why are there soldiers running around? Why are people screaming and destroying everyone else's beauty sleep-"

"Yin." Zepha snapped, glaring at her and obviously annoyed. "We're under attack by those filthy humans. Isn't that obvious!?"

"Oh...whoops..."

Zepha just didn't respond, turning towards Zesha. "Do you have any idea where a good place would be to hide the Countess-to-be from the other humans? That way they won't be able to recapture her..."

Zesha glanced around, unsure. "I doubt the dungeons would be a good place-that would be the first place where the humans would look, brother..."

"Stop right there!"

The four turned to see Therius. The white knight was not wearing any armor, the only article of clothing being trousers and a shirt so torn that even the poorest would not bother wearing it. He must have escaped from the dungeon with the help of Lazulis knights-there was no sign of any wounds on his person, as Callista realized.

This also mean that he had no weapon. Knowing Therius, though, he would try to protect Callista-even with his bare hands if it came to that.

Yin leapt back slightly as Therius tried to punch her out of the way. "Hey, hold on! I'm a tailor, not a warrior!" She snapped, taking out what appeared to be a needle after dodging another punch from Therius.

Before Callista could warn the white knight, the needle struck Therius in the left bare shoulder. The knight staggered back one or two steps, trying to take out the needle with one hand, before his legs shakily gave way underneath him. The knight landed on the ground with a thud, and Callista drew in a breath.

"...Alright, I lied. Sorry for the sudden loss of movement-there is so much one can do with poisoned needles, after all." Yin muttered, her expression completely monotone. "Though I'm technically not a warrior-just your everyday undercover assassin."

Zepha let out a huff. "You have no need to apologize to the human, Yin." He spoke sternly, taking out both swords as he started walking towards the fallen knight. "I will finish him off."

Callista tried to step inbetween Zepha and Therius, but Zesha grabbed her by the wrist, glaring at her as if saying 'Stay out of the way.'

As if she was truly going to stand aside and let Therius just die. Without hesitation, she summoned her Holy magic and blasted first Zesha out of the way, and then Zepha, sending both brothers to the ground. The Countess-to-be rushed over to Therius, pulling the needle out of his shoulder.

"Sir Therius, can you move...?" She whispered, praying that Therius was alright.

Therius winced, trying to move his legs. "I think I'm...paralyzed..." He rasped, still struggling to get his limbs to obey. Callista heard the clicking of metal, and she turned to see Zepha standing, letting both of his swords sharpen against the debris on the ground. He looked angry-far angrier than she had seen him be before.

Zesha looked up at his brother, shaking his head. "Brother...it's against Lord Zangurak's orders-we can't harm the Countess-to-be!"

Zepha sheathed both swords, the blue aura around him growing larger and brighter as he began to summon a spell. "She has tested my patience for long enough." He hissed, rage building up in his eyes as he continued to summon the spell. "And she has attacked not just myself, but you. This is all for you, brother...all for you!"

With that, Zepha cast the spell.

Callista closed her eyes, expecting to be hit.

Instead, she felt the presence of someone rushing in front of her, and then a pained scream.

The Countess-to-be wasn't sure what to do, or say. Then, hesitating for a moment before doing so, she opened her eyes, blinking a bit.

Debris lay everywhere, all around her. Therius was still by her side, alright, but Zesha was also slowly getting up, a pained groan escaping his throat. Yin was nearby, coughing a bit as she waved dust away from her face.

And Zepha...Zepha was crumpled on the ground, several feet away from them. He was still for a moment, like the dead, and Callista wondered if Zesha had actually killed his own brother for a moment.

That was when Zepha began to move. He said nothing a first, but then his voice quickly turned to panic.

"I-I can't-I can't-no! No!" Zepha continued to grow even more panicked, his hands held out in front of his face. "No, I can't-I can't-can't-see-"

A gasp tore from Zesha's throat, and he got to his feet, rushing quickly to his brother's side.

"Zepha-I-" Zesha tried to speak, but Zepha punched him in the face.

"You've blinded me, dammit! You've blinded me!" The other twin screamed, his movements becoming wilder as his voice was drained of any calmness it once had, full of panic and sobs.

Zesha embraced his brother tightly, restraining the other from trying to move.

"Please, brother, calm down..." He glanced behind him, realizing too soon that the Lazulis knights were approaching. Callista felt Zesha grab her by the wrist, yanking her away from Therius. "Yin, come with us!"

The assassin tailor nodded, rushing towards the three and grabbed onto Zesha-

-and Therius grabbed her weakly by the ankle, determined not to lose Callista.

"Let go!" Yin tried to yank her ankle away from Therius' grip, but he was too strong. "Dammit! Is he that bloody resilient to my needles!? He shouldn't be able to move an inch-"

"Yin, there is no time-" Zesha snapped back, before the red aura surrounding his being flared upwards, brighter than before. "We have to get out of here. Now."

Before any of the Lazulis knights could reach them, they were gone.

Callista found herself on soft, grassy ground. Sitting up quickly, she looked around to see Therius still lying on the ground, Yin trying to help Zepha sit up, leaning against a nearby tree, and Zesha, shaking his head, his face covered with one hand. Moonlight was the only source of light-otherwise, everything would have been darkness around her.

"Wh-where are we?" Callista managed to say, coughing a little. Some of the dust from earlier probably must have gotten to her from the earlier chaos. She tried to help Therius get into a sitting position as she spoke.

Therius glanced around, taking note of his surroundings. "...I believe this may be the Vono Islands..." He trailed off, before making eye contact with Callista. "Lady Callista, are you alright?"

She nodded quickly. "I'm fine, but..." She glanced at Zepha, unsure of what else to say. Zepha wasn't screaming anymore, or thrashing around, but he was still crying, for the loss of his sight.

"This is all your damn fault."

The two looked up to see Zesha, the anger in his eyes directly glaring down at the Countess-to-be. Before Therius could do anything, he grabbed Callista by the neck, forcing her to stand.

"Zesha-" Callista started-

Her captor backhanded her in the face. Hard.

For one instant, Zesha immediately reminded her of her uncle-what he had done to her so many times...

Therius glared at Zesha, still struggling to move properly, but Zesha kicked him out of the way before he could do a thing.

"Filthy human," Zesha seethed, his eyes directly glaring into Callista's own as his face contorted into a complete snarl. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't interfered..."

"Master Zesha, quit it!" The two turned to see Yin, glaring at the both of them as she got to her feet. "You're the one who blinded Zepha, not her!"

"She's the one that attacked him-twice-in the first place!" The other snapped back, sending a Bolt Arrow whizzing past Yin and hitting the tree just millimetres from her head. "I just-I-" He shook his head, before storming off. "Don't follow me!"

"Zesha!"

Zesha was already gone. Yin shook her head, glancing at Zepha before glancing at Callista, who put a hand to where Zesha backhanded her. The assassin tailor didn't know what to say, and instead approached Zepha, trying her best to tend to his wounds.

Callista sat back down on the grass, using her healing magic to numb her stinging cheek.

...Perhaps this was entirely to blame on her, after all.

Author note: ...Uh...was the combat scene okay? Any way to make it better...? Thanks for reading and reviewing so far-it's all appreciated. :)