Chapter Sixteen

The Fallen

JANUS

Janus drew to a halt abruptly, and Jade bumped into him, almost sending him stumbling out from behind the safety of a pillar. A couple of lead ball whizzed and whined just in front of his face following the cracks of the Blue Wolves' muskets.

"Back, back, back!" Janus shouted, and the four of them spun around to go back the way they came.

They were still on the run, having been separated from Elsa, Tracy and Deirdre. Janus had somehow found himself in the lead of finding another escape route, joined by Jade, Jordan and Maui who were following closely behind.

All the while, Janus' mind was focused on two things. One, to get out from the Blue Wolves' trap together with the rest. Two, Elsa's safety. It was killing him not knowing whether she had managed to escape or if she had been captured by the Blue Wolves. Whatever it was, he had to focus on number one now, before his divided state of mind landed them all into their enemies' hands.

"We have another problem!" Maui shouted.

Sure enough, they did. The way they had come was being blocked off, which meant that they were now trapped in this open storage space in the warehouse, together with at least a dozen and a half Blue Wolves who were all armed and all too happy to shoot.

"Shit." Janus muttered under his breath as the circle of Blue Wolves tightened, weapons trained on them. This is looking like a rerun of last time.

"What now?" Jade whispered. She entwined her hands with Jordan's as the two siblings stood close to each other.

"I don't know." Janus admitted. What he would give to have Tracy's teleportation abilities now. In all the dangerous missions he had been a part of over his career as a mercenary, he had always seen a way out. But now in this instance, he found that he couldn't, not without someone on his team getting hurt. And it frightened him.

"Targets surrounded!" A Blue Wolf shouted.

"Close in!" Another called across the storage room. "Don't let them escape again!"

The Blue Wolves all began to close the circle slowly, inching slowly towards the centre where the Warriors were stuck. The muskets of all the Blue Wolves in the room were aimed at each of the Warriors, and their fingers rested on the triggers, trembling ever so slightly.

"Stay back!" Jade warned them all of a sudden, both her hands hovering at her hips dangerously and sparkling with electricity. "I'm warning you all!"

"Jade! Don't!" Janus hissed.

Without waiting for a command, the nervous Blue Wolf directly in front of Jade raised his musket a little higher, and pulled the trigger. Time began to slow, and as the hammer fell, sparks from the pan flew as the powder was ignited by the flint. A stab of pink-white flash lit up the room for a split second and the crack of the musket exploded in Janus' ear as he leapt to pull Jade down.

The lead ball slammed out of the muzzle, making a beeline straight for Jade's chest. He could see the ball whiz almost as though the seconds were stretching out into an eternity, but even in that expanded time he knew right from the start that he wouldn't be able to reach Jade in time. She was going to die.

But Jordan reacted faster than he did. He pushed her out of the way with all of his strength, and she sprawled off balance and out of harm's way. Raising a hand swiftly, he used his powers to manipulate the bullet, sending it off course and hitting the wall. What he had not foreseen was another shot going off from the musket to his left.

The lead ball thudded into Jordan's side just below the heart and there was a sickening sound of lead penetrating flesh and embedding itself into bone.

Even after the shot had been fired, time did not seem to slow for Janus. He saw blood splatter from the wound and the boy falling backwards, arms limp and head jerking up. Jade hit the stony floor with a heavy thud, and a scream of distress followed, ringing deafening in his ears.

"JORDAN!" Jade screamed.

Catching the boy before he fell, Maui lowered him gently to the ground. Janus caught his eye, and saw that Maui had a raw expression of shock on his face. No one had expected this.

Janus watched as Jade scrambled frantically over to her brother, who was bleeding profusely over the grey stone floor. She was sobbing as she hugged him. Miraculously though, the boy was still breathing, though his chest was heaving only slightly. His eyes were fluttering weakly, and he stared up at his sister.

Jade spun round and got to her feet almost instantaneously. "You bastards!" She screeched, and threw her hands out towards the ceiling. Lightning struck out of nowhere, sending blue tendrils of electricity which cast a strong blue light across the room as they electrified the Blue Wolves. The attack went on for some time, sending deadly jolts of lightning through the already incapacitated Blue Wolves.

"Jade!" Janus grabbed her arm. "They're down! Stop!"

The girl relented, and crumbled to her knees. Her face was red and tear stained, and she continued to sob, fists clenched so tightly that the whites of her knuckles were showing.

Looking around, Janus confirmed to himself that the men in the room weren't going to be a problem. Even as he assessed the situation with cold analysis, he reminded himself of his training. There was no time for feelings or emotions. Shut them out and power on through till we're done here, and then we'll figure out the rest. He turned to Maui. "Carry him. We're getting out of here now."

Maui nodded without a word, and gently picked the boy up, nesting him comfortably in his massive arms, blood trailing everywhere. Without waiting, he started towards the way they had come.

Janus knelt beside Jade and took her arm gently. "We need to move now."

The girl continued sobbing angrily.

"Come on," He said firmly, gripping her arm a little tighter and tugging. "We need to get out of here and find your brother some help. We can't do that here. Now get up."

As he pulled her to her feet, he felt a pang of guilt. Deep down, he knew Jordan wouldn't last very long. He had seen a wound like that many times when he had still been working as a mercenary. But there wasn't any better way. He had to lie to keep Jade moving.

Janus pulled a weeping Jade out of the room where Maui was slightly ahead of them with Jordan in his arms. As they turned the corner, Janus heard a shout behind him and the thudding of boots. More Blue Wolves.

"Keep moving!" Janus shouted, and pushed Jade in Maui's direction. He spun on his heels, drawing a special arrow from his quiver as he did so. Nocking and drawing it back, he sighted and let fly, and the arrow whizzed in a downward angle.

Just as the Blue Wolves came into view, the arrow hit the ground and there was a coruscation of light. An explosion in such close proximity rocked the ground and the bass thumped in Janus' seasoned ears. The screams of the Blue Wolves were mixed in with the flying of crumbled debris and rock as smoke filled the air after the controlled explosion.

There was no time to see if any of the Blue Wolves were still standing. Janus took to his heels in a bid to catch up with his three companions, hoping they hadn't run into any more trouble. Thankfully, they hadn't, since two out of four of them were in no condition to fight. They finally found the exit and stumbled out into the darkness, where there were no guards on patrol. It seemed that all of them had been deployed to deal with the Warriors, or at least it looked that way.

Good, Janus thought to himself, and then re-evaluated his choice of words when he glanced at the limp body of Jordan in Maui's arms. Now we just have to find the others and get the hell out of here.

ELSA

Elsa, Tracy and Deirdre were waiting on the rooftop opposite the Fishermen's Wharf compound, right beside warehouse one. It was a big risk, no doubt, since a fresh wave of Blue Wolves could come in to reinforce their fallen allies at any given moment. They would most likely scour the premises and surrounding area in search of the escapees, but that was a risk Elsa decided they would have to take.

She couldn't afford to lose the other four which had been separated during the escape. Logically, this would be the only place to regroup and she hoped they would turn up soon.

As she waited with mounting tension, her heart slammed sporadically in her chest. The three of them had managed to evade capture by both the Blue Wolves and the pair of bounty hunters. Elsa's powers were still not fully back yet, which was a great disadvantage to her since she quite heavily relied on her powers and wasn't exactly very skilled in hand to hand combat. There was something in that pellet the woman had thrown before the fight which eliminated sorcery in order to even the playing field.

Deirdre and Tracy were having it worse than her. The former wasn't even able to light a spark in spite of her best efforts, which vexed the fiery tempered sorceress greatly. In the case of the latter, she couldn't even form a tiny cloud of purple mist, which meant no Crossing Points. There went their planned escape route. With teleportation out of the picture, there was no way the Warriors were going to be able to get back to Swynvort. They were stuck in Turnsheim for now till their powers would return. But when would that be?

There was a noise behind her, and Elsa turned to see the other four arrive on the rooftop via the stairwell. Her eyes grew wide and her heart fell. Janus was practically dragging Jade with him, the latter being a sobbing mess. Then behind them came Maui, with Jordan lying limply in his arms with his clothes soaked crimson.

Deirdre looked on silently, cusping a hand over her mouth in horror.

Alarmed, Tracy too had a rather big reaction. "What the f-"

"What happened?" Elsa rushed forward, and the two with her did the same. "What the hell happened out there?"

Gently, Maui laid Jordan down on the rooftop without a word. The boy was still alive, though by the looks of it he wasn't going to last much longer. Blood was still oozing from his wound, and Elsa tore her eyes away from the gore, shuddering.

Her shoulders heaving jerkily, Jade dropped to her knees and pored over her brother. She wept loudly, hugging her brother tight and speaking to him in their native tongue.

"How…" Elsa ran a hand through her hair, shocked and in utter dismay.

"The Blue Wolves." Janus said to her in a low, angry voice. "They shot him when he tried to protect Jade."

Elsa cursed under her breath as she continued to watch Jade embrace her bloodied brother and sob. She looked over at Maui, who sported a defeated expression. It was clear that everyone on the rooftop knew that there was no saving Jordan. Stepping forward cautiously, she knelt down and put a hand on Jade's shoulder, hoping to offer her close friend some comfort but she found no words to say.

"Tracy." Janus whirled round. "Your powers. You can get us back to Swynvort. To Holli. Maybe there's something she can-"

"I can't." Tracy said breathlessly. "My powers. Our powers aren't working."

"What are you talking about?" Janus demanded.

"She's right." Deirdre shook her head.

"I can't summon a Crossing Point back to Swynvort." Tracy added, dropping her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"So what you're saying is…" Janus trailed off as he looked out into the near horizon.

Tracy nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."

Elsa looked down again at the scene before her. The atmosphere was unbearably heavy and sombre. Everyone was quiet, because they knew the end was near for Jordan. The boy though, had no trace of fear or regret in his eyes even as he lay on the ground, his breath frightfully shallow.

His sister's hands were soaked in his blood, and she was pleading with him to stay awake and not to close his eyes. As she watched helplessly, Elsa felt a stab of powerlessness amid the depths of sorrow. With all the power of the Warriors on that rooftop, there was nothing anyone could do to save Jordan.

The only sounds were Jade's constant muttering, in between sobs and sniffling. It was painfully depressing.

Jordan lifted a hand weakly and grasped Jade's. His eyes shifted to fix her with a comforting gaze. Though the mute sorcerer could not utter a word, his expression in the moment said it all.

"It's alright." His eyes seemed to say, and he managed a very light smile as he held his sister's hand.

"Yes." Jade said in her native language as she tried to calm herself, holding his hand with both of hers. Her voice quavered as she spoke quietly. "Everything will be alright, Jordan. I will see you again, I promise. We will see each other again."

Smiling in solace, Jade leaned in close and kissed her brother on the cheek. Jordan smiled, and finally closed his eyes peacefully. The shallow breathing gradually faded, until it was no more. Then, there was silence. Jade lowered her brother's unmoving hand to the ground, and then lingered for a long moment.

Elsa, who was still kneeling beside Jade, put a consoling hand on her arm, not caring if she got blood all over her own hands. They stayed there for a long time, silently. After a certain unknown amount of time had elapsed, Elsa felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Janus said in a low voice. "But we have to go before they find us. Now."

Elsa allowed herself a moment to close her eyes and grief, hot tears streaming down her face. Then, she nodded slowly and stood up. She offered to pull Jade to her feet, and did so. Jade stood limply, her eyes red from crying and her cheeks wet with fresh tears. Her body was covered in her brother's blood, but she didn't seem to care, for she was in somewhat of a catatonic state.

"Where can we go?" Deirdre asked quietly. "We can't get back to Swynvort."

"We're stuck in Turnsheim." Maui added.

"I know." Elsa sniffed. She glanced over at Jade, who was still standing motionless over her brother's lifeless body, and then turned back to the rest.Drawing in a deep breath, she pushed aside her feelings."We need to get somewhere safe and stay hidden till we can figure out our next move." Her mind was filled with Janus' advice to her after the death of Will Daltrey back in Denmark. There'll be time to grief later.

###

The Warriors underwent the difficult task of moving Jordan's body with them without being spotted. This was made infinitely harder since they didn't exactly know where they were going. What's more, they had to practically carry along a catatonic Jade with them while moving from shadow to shadow.

Somehow though, they managed to find a small lodging establishment somewhere in the heart of Turnsheim. Elsa couldn't really remember the details of how they got there - everything that had transpired in the last hour was a fuzzy blur to her. It was likely the shock.

The lodging they found was a bed and breakfast overnight place meant for tourists passing in and out of Turnsheim. It was still in operation, even though the occupation had just ended. The estate was a rather fancy one, a few houses that spread out over a decently large plot of land near the borders of the city. Four houses faced inwards, with a circular shaped garden and a concrete footpath in the centre.

The houses were all empty, and the owners of the lodging obligingly gave them safe refuge in one of their apartments. Apparently the locals recognised Elsa and her cohort, and agreed to harbour them without any questions asked. They even graciously allowed the Warriors to bury Jordan out back in a plot of grass near one of the distant walls of their estate.

After they all settled down in their temporary hideout, they put Jade to bed, leaving her to recuperate after the traumatic events she had been forced to witness and endure.

Maui then set about the task of going down to the wall outside their temporary house and buried Jordan's body in the dark of night where no one would see them. When that was done, the five Warriors sat in the drawing room on the second floor of the house, all silently contemplating what had happened.

"This is really happening, ain't it?" Tracy finally broke the silence after what seemed like forever. "Jordan's…gone?"

Deirdre nodded gravely.

"Damn." Tracy pursed her lips. "I could have sworn we had this one in the bag."

Maui shook his head. "First Will, and now Jordan."

"How many more are we going to lose before this is all over?" Deirdre muttered.

Not feeling inclined to join in the conversation, Elsa sat on the other side of the room, glancing out the window at the city of Turnsheim. She could feel tears brimming to the surface again, and blinked them away. A part of her felt like it was her fault all over again, even though she knew the notion was ridiculous. Still, if she hadn't made the call for them to split up or if she had agreed to the surrender in the first place…

No, I'm not doing this to myself again. Sucking in a deep intake of air, she steadied her breathing and wiped her eyes again.

"You alright?" Janus asked, appearing beside her all of a sudden. As usual, he didn't make a noise when he came and went, though this time there was an air of heaviness to his body language.

Elsa looked at him. The ex-mercenary had removed his mask and she could once again look into his soft brown eyes, which were filled with compassion and sympathy. She inhaled again and nodded.

"I'm sorry about what happened." Janus averted her gaze and dropped his eyes. "I should've moved quicker. If I had, then maybe-"

Elsa put a cold hand on his ungloved one. He barely flinched, having gotten used to her icy touch by now. Gently, she tilted his chin so that he faced her, and looked into his eyes.

"Don't." She told him firmly.

He gave a slow, tight nod. There was a certain unfamiliar guilt in his eyes that Elsa hadn't really seen before. But he seemed to quickly brush it off and push it to the back of his mind the way he had been trained to. His clouded expression cleared. "But Deirdre's right. How many more do we have to lose before the nightmare is over?"

"Janus, I-" Elsa stuttered.

"Don't answer that." He sighed, squeezing her hand affectionately. "Don't."

The two walked back to the other three, who had gone silent at some point. Elsa cleared her throat. The Warriors needed someone to keep them on the right path, and since Melody wasn't around anymore to do it, the responsibility had fallen on Elsa's shoulders during the past few months.

"We'll have to keep moving." She said without really thinking. It was a no brainer though. There was no way they could stay in Turnsheim, not with the Blue Wolves trying to hunt them down. "We can't stay here for long."

"Is your magic back?" Maui turned to Tracy. "If it is, we can get back to Swynvort."

"Nope." Tracy waved her hands for them all to see. A small cloud of purple mist emerged from her right hand, like steam beginning to rise from the spout of a kettle. And then, it vanished as though someone had covered the spout. "Can't even conjure up a simple spell like this let alone open a Crossing Point."

"My powers are barely functioning." Deirdre said irritably. "All I can do is glow a little, but nothing much else."

"Same here." Elsa said. "It must have been something the woman threw at us. That pellet, remember?"

Deirdre frowned. "Probably."

"What woman?" Janus was perplexed. "What pellet?"

"While trying to find an alternate exit, we encountered two bounty hunters when we were separated from you." Elsa explained. "A man and a woman, both with a southeastern accent. Armed with swords, rifles and all sorts of weapons. One of them threw a vial at us which did something to cancel out our magic. Even now, we're still trying to form connections to our abilities."

"Hold on," There was a unreadable expression that flashed across Janus' face, there one moment and gone the next like summer lightning. "You're sure it was a man and a woman with southeastern accents?"

Elsa blinked. "Yes, why?"

"Were they wearing grey?"

"Dark grey."

His expression became very grim. "Then we're all in deep shit."

"What?"

"These bounty hunters." He began, looking around with a disturbed look on his face. "Their names are Hansel and Gretel. They're an infamous brother and sister team called the Witch Hunters."

"You know who they are?" Maui asked.

"I do. They are infamous within the mercenary circles for their effectiveness and speed."

"But who are they really?" Elsa asked.

"There are stories. Rumours maybe, but believable all the same. When they were children, their father and stepmother cast them out into the forest to fend for themselves. Their father was reluctant, but their stepmother, who was later believed to be a witch, wanted the children gone. So both Hansel and Gretel had to survive by themselves, having no way to get home. They found a cottage which belonged to an elderly woman who turned out to be an exiled witch. The witch took them in and fed them, but when they tried to leave to carry on their journey, she locked them both up and made her intentions know. She was going to eat them."

There was a hushed silence in the room as the words took a moment to sink in.

"Bloody hell. You gotta be kidding me." Tracy finally blurted out, clearly alarmed. Elsa recalled that the girl used to be a sea witch before meeting the Warriors, and the prospect of someone like her eating children shook her to the core.

"So the witch decided to eat Hansel first, and tried to fatten the boy up like an animal. But when that didn't work, she got impatient and decided to just cook him as he was. She got Gretel to prepare the oven, which was a fiery pit. But then the girl feigned ignorance and tricked the witch into doing it herself, and then kicked her into the oven and trapped her inside.

"The Witch was burnt alive, and Gretel freed her brother. They both made their escape, burning down the house to make sure the witch didn't have any chance of survival. When they got out of the forest, Hansel and Gretel went straight home. However, when they got home, they found that their stepmother had been outed as a witch and killed by the villagers. Their father had been slaughtered along with her for being an 'accomplice to witchcraft'.

"Their lives were forever changed after that. Their hatred for sorcery and witches grew unhealthily strong, and when they were a few years older, both Hansel and Gretel joined up with a local band of mercenaries to learn their trade. After a couple of years, they struck out on their own as a bounty hunting brother-sister unit, calling themselves the Witch Hunters.

"They established a fearsome reputation by killing evil sorcerers or bringing them to sheriffs or mayors that hire them. They were in Bruvesqk on a couple of occasions after being hired by the local syndicate. That's where I met them a few years ago, back before I was hired by Ingrid Grendstav, but we never worked together."

"So what you're saying is," Elsa said after a prolonged silence. "They're professional Blue Wolves. Real ones, unlike the Task Force."

Janus nodded. "The Witch Hunters have never failed to get their targets before, according to the rumours. If they've been hired by the Confederation to hunt us down, they'll make damn sure the job is done."

"They said they were going to deliver us in chains." Deirdre said quietly. "This…this is bad."

"They made it clear it was somewhat of a personal thing for them, that this was something they would do for free." Elsa said. "And they avoided confirming whether they were working for the Confederation."

"Who else would hire bounty hunters to capture us?" Maui asked. "Who else other than the Confederation?"

"He's right." Tracy said. "The Confederation must be getting desperate to have us behind bars and they know their old Blue Wolves aren't enough to get the job done."

"Alright. So first things first." Elsa said. "We can't stay here, especially now that we know the Blue Wolves and the Witch Hunters are closing in. They'll expect us to try to escape the city at night, when it's dark. Which is why first thing tomorrow, I suggest we run."

"Good idea." Maui said. "But the Blue Wolves will be watching every exit closely."

"We can ask the owners of the estate if they know any farmers or businessmen who can be trusted with discretion," Deirdre suggested. "Then they can smuggle us out of the city in horse carts or large supply crates together with the rest of their produce or goods."

"Sounds like a plan." Elsa said. "For now we should get some rest and move out first thing in the morning."