Chapter 24
Chapter 24
YUKI led Dante by the hand and Luca supported Galian on his shoulder as they made their way back to the staircase. They hurried up the pitch-dark staircase—no soldier with a torch to light the way for them this time. Yuki’s thoughts were plunged in chaos as the silence enshrouding their small group made even a second feel like eternity.
Tita told me before that the rings pull toward each other. The ring Papa gave me responded to the ring the elderly man Luca is helping had. Which would mean this old man is Papa’s Knight? Plus, Luca and Dante seemed to know about him. At any rate, we have to get out of here first.
Yuki didn’t have the time to waste leisurely trying to figure out the answers to her questions—not when they were in a situation where they could be discovered at any moment. Sweat formed on her hand as she held Dante’s. Her heart thudded in her chest. She was breathing heavily even though she was trying to be quiet.
We’re almost outside. They arrived at the top of the staircase. Yuki reached for the doorknob on the partially cracked door letting a sliver of light in, when Luca stopped her.
“What’s wrong?” Yuki asked, thinking, Nasette is outside, so why is he stopping me?
“Nasette should be waiting with the door wide-open,” Luca explained.
It suddenly hit Yuki that the door should be open wide enough they could see Nasette. If he were at the entrance, he should have made himself visible to them. His absence signaled he was either captured or there was trouble.
“…Oh no.”
“We were had. No wonder everything went smoothly until now,” Luca stated nonchalantly.
“Wh-Wh-Wha-What should we do?” Yuki stammered.
“Calm down,” Dante said, squeezing Yuki’s hand.
“…We’ve got no choice but to fight our way out,” Luca muttered.
Surprised, Yuki glanced over and saw the two older men nod in agreement. Apparently, Yuki didn’t have a say in the matter.
“…For now, let’s make a dash for it. Surprise will be on our side,” Luca said. Yuki looked at Luca with eyes long-accustomed to the darkness. Their eyes met. She nodded visibly and distanced herself from the door. Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand. She looked up at Luca’s handsome features as he eyed the door. “Let’s go.”
Everyone sprinted for the door. The men bashed into it, forcing it open with their weight.
It’s bright! The morning sunlight spilled onto their faces, momentarily blurring Yuki’s vision.
“They came out!” a man shouted.
“To arms!”
As Luca predicted, men surrounded the outside of the door. Their lethal weapons glinted in the bright sunlight. Yuki and the others continued to sprint without stopping. Yuki ran with wider steps than ever before. She focused on her feet to make sure she wouldn’t trip and slow the others down. Luca yanked on her hand. The motion caused Yuki to pull the other hand she was holding.
Luca held Galian and Yuki’s hand, and Yuki held onto Luca and Dante. Dante and Galian inevitably ran slowly. Years of rotting away in prison had long since atrophied their muscles.
Our enemy has the path blocked off with weapons! Trying to break through them headfirst is nothing but suicidal! The moment the thought crossed Yuki’s mind, Nasette appeared out of the thicket.
“Luca! Dad! Take this!” Nasette shouted, tossing them swords. Luca ran even faster and let go of Yuki’s hand. Dante let go of her hand too. Nasette dashed toward them with his long sword after he tossed their weapons.
“Keep running straight ahead, Little Lady! Tita is waiting!” Nasette shouted as he passed her, heading straight for the wall of armed men. Yuki nodded.
Nasette roared as he swept his long sword sideways in a wide arc and easily blew back several men raising their swords to swing at Yuki. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the long sword slice through a body, spraying blood across the ground.
“Thank you!” Yuki shouted, running in the direction he told her to go. Hoarse screams rang from every direction around her. Yuki ran with all her might, intentionally blocking the screams from her ears.
After running some distance, she heard someone call her name. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ain and Tita hiding, their faces covered by a mantle.
“You’re safe!” Tita exclaimed, checking her from head to toe, before embracing her.
“I-I’m glad to see you’re both safe too,” Yuki panted through Tita’s bear hug. She was tired, but months of travel in this world had changed her from the girl she was when she first appeared in Aridol.
“Yes, we were left back where it is safe,” Ain said. Yuki heard a horse whiny nearby.
“You have the horses tied up nearby?”
“Yes, so we can depart as soon as the others return…”
“Then you should have all our stuff too, right?” Yuki asked, undoing her bags and digging through them until she pulled out her archery case.
“Yuki! Where are you going?” Ain exclaimed.
“I’m gonna go support them!”
“That’s reckless!”
Yuki ran off again, ignoring Tita and Ain’s pleas to come back.
***
A man roared as he raised his sword to slash Luca across his unguarded left. Luca kneed the man in the gut and removed the man’s legs in a single sweeping motion. Luca felt sweat drip from his forehead as he flipped his sword and thrust under his arm, impaling another man trying to stab him from behind.
The man fell, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Luca knew he was breathing heavily, but the armed men attacking him were relentless enough there wasn’t a second to stop and catch his breath.
Why are there so many of them? I predicted they would see through our prison break, but the sheer number of armed men and their quality doesn’t add up. They’re too strong. They’re too skilled for random criminals deciding to attack us on a whim. Plus, they’re too well coordinated. They fight like a unit. Are they a military platoon? I’d guess there’s about fifty total.
“Uraaaaaa!” a man screamed, swinging his sword at Luca.
Luca dodged the man’s blade, swiveling around with his own sword cutting off the man’s arm at the shoulder in a splatter of blood. The man fell to the ground, rolling around screaming.
“I won’t die,” Luca spat, cutting down armed man after armed man as they came at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a man collapse in the distance after letting out a guttural scream—an arrow jutting out of his shoulder.
“…Don’t tell me she—” Luca muttered, overcome with surprise.
***
“ALL right! It hit!” Yuki cheered, grabbing another arrow from her quiver. The arrows she asked Ain to buy for her were well made, and flew perfectly through the air thanks to her constant practice with them during their travels. “Next! Next!”
She pulled back another arrow and locked onto her next target from where she hid in a tall thicket. She aimed for the man’s shoulder.
I don’t want to kill, but if I can at least cut down on their forces…
Yuki was painfully aware of how useless she would be if she went out on the front lines. But with her skills in archery, she could provide support from behind. She braced her bow and pulled back on the arrow. She closed her eyes and felt the bow bend.
Okay, I can do this.
She opened her eyes, and released the arrow at her target. The arrow stabbed into the man’s shoulder knocking him onto the ground. She retrieved another arrow and identified her next target.
“Next,” she said to herself. She pulled back, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The next time she opened her eyes someone’s feet were right in front of her face.
“Eh?” startled, she quietly gasped.
She heard a gruff voice directly above her, “Where’s the coward! Here?”
The man stabbed his sword into the thicket directly beside Yuki.
He’s going to kill me. She was paralyzed at the attack, fear overwhelming her. Aaah, they found me. I wonder whether my idea to shoot people in the first place was dumb.
Yuki forced a calm trying to think clearly. She closed her eyes and kept quiet, when she suddenly heard the man shriek and collapse.
“…How?” Yuki muttered staring dumbfounded at the blood pooling near her feet.
“You can easily tell where the arrows are coming from if they keep getting fired from the same location,” Luca said above her head. She poked her head out of the brush, and spotted Luca’s bloodied retreating figure.
“Luca…”
“I’m counting on you to cover our backs,” Luca said before sprinting off. He cut down several more men and began fighting in an area closer to Yuki.
“Thank you,” her whisper faded into the wind without ever reaching his ears.
Yuki gripped her arrow and identified her next target.