If Ana fell, Alena had no chance of advancing deeper into the caverns.
And anyway, Alena wanted blood.
She became light, sprinting toward the fight and leaping overhead. The Lolani’s sword flashed toward her, but she sensed the attack and spun away from it.
Her distraction only gave Ana a moment, but the warrior took full advantage of the opportunity. Ana recovered and pushed forward. The Lolani blocked the strikes, but now Alena stood behind him, her long knife a worrying threat.
The Lolani tried to shift his position, bringing both threats into line of sight.
Alena refused to let that happen. She lacked the arm speed of either combatant, but she could run faster than either of them. She kept herself behind the Lolani, constantly making him turn.
The strategy worked for a few moments, but the Lolani didn’t accept it for long. He turned and charged Alena. Alena gave up ground readily, but under his steady assault she was forced to turn her back to him, running away from him as fast as she could. He pursued, sword ready for a single killing strike.
Ana gave chase, but Alena quickly saw the brilliance of the Lolani. Ana wasn’t quick enough to keep up with the others. The Lolani would isolate Alena, kill her easily, then finish Ana off.
Complicating matters, the room they were in wasn’t large enough for Alena to ever get that much distance from the Lolani. He angled toward her, constantly forcing her toward a wall. He was fast enough and had a long enough reach that she found herself gradually corralled. Her options diminished with every moment, and she didn’t have enough left for Ana to reach her.
She leaped at the wall, planting a foot on a crack, focusing on her lightness. For the space of a heartbeat the wall was now a floor, the Lolani closing the last few paces between them.
Alena gathered every scrap of internal energy she could find and pushed. She launched herself at the Lolani, knife blade leading the way.
The Lolani’s reaction was lightning fast. She’d surprised him, but he still managed to flash his own steel, deflecting her knife. In midair, the impact turned her around, sending her uncontrollably spinning into the Lolani, which had more or less been her hope. At the last moment she allowed her lightness to vanish, and she hit him with the full force of her weight.
They went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Alena sliced wildly at him as she untangled herself and tried to escape. The Lolani reached out and grabbed her ankle, locking her in place.
But Alena had created enough space and time. Ana reached them and brought her sword down at the Lolani. He had to release his grip to save his arm, and he did.
In another heartbeat he was on his feet again, Ana pressing the attack.
She had the advantage now, her water whip snapping at the Lolani’s face again and again. The Lolani gave up ground, seeking to regain the advantage. Alena stumbled toward them, ignoring the bruises she’d earned in that last attack. Together they had to finish the Lolani.
The end happened before she even reached them. The Lolani sacrificed his guard attempting to finish Ana. The woman was too fast, though. The Lolani sword found Ana, slicing across arm and torso, but the cut wasn’t the fatal blow the Lolani had needed.
Ana’s own sword cut deep into the man’s chest, missing the ribs and skewering the protected organs beneath. Ana pulled the sword out before the man could close the distance between them. She took another step back, then they both fell to their knees.
Alena felt the Lolani’s breath stop. This fight, at least, was over.
Ana, though, didn’t rise from her knees. Her breathing was labored. Alena rushed over to her. Before she could ask, Ana spoke. “Go. He’ll need help.”
“What about you?”
“If I go to the gates, I go to the gates. Otherwise, I’ll be here when you return. Nothing you can do about it either way.”
Alena heard the fierce pride in Ana’s voice.
She wanted Ana to ask for help, to need her to stay. She was still alive, but the danger only increased the farther into the caves she went.
But it was also the only way. Alena nodded, then wiped her knife on the body of the last Lolani. She took a long look at Azaleth’s body, but there was nothing she could do for him, either.
Alena ran. She flew down the stairs, reaching the bridge they had seen from above in little time. She poked her head out, looking for danger. The bridge, as near as she could tell, was empty. The blue light she’d seen before now blended with the familiar colors of fire. Someone had lit torches.
Before she could question herself, Alena ran onto the bridge and across it. Even down here, the cave appeared bottomless. She stopped when she came to the doorway on the other side. Again, she poked her head in, but she saw and heard no one else.
The room she had entered was a circular chamber, with thick pillars around the outside. It had the appearance of a sacred space, one dedicated to a purpose she couldn’t begin to guess at.
She stepped through the door and into the chamber, pausing for a moment to study the inscriptions written on the wall. The symbols clearly meant something, but the words were unlike any language she’d encountered before.
But that wasn’t why she was here. Brandt needed her help, in whatever way she could provide it. A doorway stood on the opposite side of the chamber, and Alena made her way toward it. She’d barely taken a handful of steps when there was movement from behind one of the pillars.
Her breath caught the moment she saw who it was.
He was taller than she remembered, even after seeing him in the street. Up close like this, there was no mistaking the years of training he had endured since they last met.
But it
