The Exarch & the Errand Girl Ch. 11

She only had a moment to realize before the man was on her, both of them falling hard to the ground, Rouran cursing. She lashed out with a foot, kicking Belgair in what she hoped was his face, but what felt like his shoulder.

The blow was evidently not enough, because Belgair grabbed her foot, yanking her across the tunnel floor towards him. Rouran scrabbled for purchase, ripping her nails as she found none. She writhed and twisted in Belgair's grip, and scratched him across the face as he pulled her under him, pinning her legs under his weight. He shouted in pain and struck her in the face with his hand.

Rouran's head rang with the blow, and she raised her hands to offer a weak defense to his next strike, which came from the opposite direction, bringing the same ringing to her head. Her vision went blurry, or at least, she thought it did, if she could see anything in the tunnel. She shook her head, trying to clear it of clouds.

She felt two heavy hands close around her throat and she tried to scream, but they cut off her air. Her hands scratched at the fingers around her neck, her legs trying to kick, desperate to inflict any pain at all on Belgair, trying to drive her knees up into his groin, but he was sitting on her stomach, squeezing the air out of her. As she scratched harder, summoning the last of her strength, Belgair raised her head off the floor and bashed it back down.

The world was beginning to blur now, darkness or no darkness. The ringing had faded. She could not even hear her own choking gasps for air. She felt drunk, as though she'd stumbled down an entire bottle of dragonwater and could not get her way back out. A voice called out, a shout, and she thought, maybe, that that was how the song of the world began, that Vash was calling her home to the high heavens. It seemed strange to come so far from the village girl who'd married a fisherman, and then found work with the Exarch of Tia Vashil to die in a sewer. She'd reached beyond her place, she thought, and she was being rewarded for it as the light began to grow in the darkness, the Sky Dragon's fire guiding her into the afterlife.

The next choking gasp of air was a deep lungful that made her shake and she saw a blur extend one long arm, striking at a huge shadow, driving it backwards. Her vision danced, the creature before her snarling and stabbing, the shadow trying to rise, only for her avenger to leap forward. There was a roar, followed by another just as loud and ferocious though not as deep, and a sickening sucking sound. Rouran looked into the light and thought she saw a flame dancing on a bit of wood.

"Rouran," came a voice.

She looked up.

"Yvain?" she asked.

"Praise the dragon," the Guard said, smiling at her. Rouran sat up, then nearly tumbled flat on her face, and Yvain grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Rouran looked at him. This was not heaven, it occurred to her. She looked back at the Sky Dragon's flame, and realized it was a discarded torch.

"Yvain," she said. "Belgair's..."

"Dead," said Yvain. He grabbed the torch, lifting it over his head and pointed. His axe lay on the ground, the blade bloody. Belgar's body lay just beyond it, crimson staining his clothes, his eyes staring at something unseen some distance away.

"We have to get you out of here," said Yvain.

"How did you find me?"

"You left the manhole open," said Yvain. "And I thought that there's only one woman I know mad enough to go down into the sewers to fight a group of anti-Guild fanatics all by herself. And that it might go better if I went with you."

"I'm glad for it," said Rouran.

"As am I," grinned Yvain.

There was a strangled cry further up the tunnel, and they both jumped. Yvain used his torch to light a fresh one from the wall sconce, then handed it to Rouran. He bent and picked up his axe, brandishing it low in front of him, making his way into the chamber.

"Shouldn't we wait for Siara?" asked Rouran. "Their Sorcerer is here."

Another cry punctuated the silence, and Yvain tottered back and forth before remaining and going after it.

"I couldn't find her," he said. "And I don't want to wait for her."

"If you get killed..." muttered Rouran.

"If we wait, we'll have to wait on the Guild to tell us who their traitor is," said Yvain. "Come on."

They descended deeper into the tunnels. The air was much warmer here, the smoke thick.

"A fire," said Yvain.

"I heard a smith at work down here," said Rouran. "I think that's his forge."

"Nywell, you think?" whispered Yvain. The tunnel split ahead, and he paused, then stuck his head to check. When he was sure it was safe, he waved her after him.

"Yes," said Rouran. "Unless there's another rebel jade smith in the city."

"Who knows how deep the conspiracy goes," said Yvain. It came out like a jape, and yet there was a thorn of seriousness on the stem.

They continued on until there was a glow up ahead in the darkened tunnels, and Yvain stopped her, handing her his torch. He gripped his axe in both hands.

"Stay here until I say," he said.

He moved forward, creeping up on the glowing chamber beyond, his footsteps so silent Rouran could not even hear him move away from her, or even anything over the crackle of the flames and her own breathing.

He'd only made it about halfway there before there was a sudden roaring crash of stone falling. He glanced back at her.

"A cave in?" she asked.

"Hells!" he swore, bounding forward down the chamber. Rouran hesitated for a moment, then dashed after him, trying to move quickly without catching her hair alight with the two torches.

Yvain turned a corner and she lost sight of him, only to turn after him and nearly smash into him.

They were in a fairly large chamber, tall enough that Rouran could raise her torch without touching the ceiling. There was indeed a forge in the corner, the coals still active, although the fire had died down. A bevy of dragon jade weapons lay on a table nearby, mostly daggers, but swords and axes as well.

The other side of the chamber, what had been another tunnel, was filled in with rubble, the dust settling in the air.

But what was drawing Yvain's attention was the body of a handsome young man with a stubble of a beard on his cheeks. He had a dully stupefied look on his face, and his throat had been cut. On the wall there was more dragon tongue written in blood. His blood, Rouran imagined.

"Well, that appears to be the end for the apprentice Nywell," said Yvain. He walked over to the table, picking up a knife and examining it and the others.

"This could outfit a small army," he said. "How many of these Children of Tia Vashil are there?"

"What do you think the words say?" asked Rouran.

"I don't know," said Yvain. He looked around at the workshop and the rubble pile.

"We need a Sorcerer to decode them. And someone to move that stone."

He glanced over at Rouran.

"Do you wish to stay here?" he asked.

"By myself?"

"Well, someone has to go back for help. You could do that."

"By myself?"

"You came down here by yourself!" said Yvain.

Rouran flushed. She had indeed come down alone.

"I almost got killed," she said.

Yvain's expression melted, his eyes growing large.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean...we'll leave this here and go see who we can find."

"You're afraid of someone coming back down and trying to collect the weapons," said Rouran.

"Among other things," he said.

"I'll go," she said.

"I won't ask that," he said. "I'd rather you were safe than the dragon jade was."

"I'll go," said Rouran. "Lord Ked would be ashamed of me if I let the jade slip through my fingers. Be nearly the same as arming them myself."

"You don't have to," said Yvain.

"I will," said Rouran. She handed Yvain his torch back.

"Don't get killed while I'm gone, okay?" she asked.

"I was about to say the same," laughed Yvain.

Rouran took a step away, then an idea occurred to her and she quivered with the indecision. She swore, catching Yvain by surprise, then stepped back into him, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Just in case," she said as he stared at her quizzically.

"Just in case what?" he shouted after her as she sped away.