Heln squinted, hard. He was pretty sure that they were at the festival grounds. It was hard to tell if he was seeing trees or the skeletons of booths that hadn't been completely removed. They were close to home, close enough to walk.
If they could walk.
"Bel." He touched her shoulder, the one that she hadn't been favoring. "Bel wake up. We made it out. Please wake up."
"Nn." Bel cracked open one eye after far, far too long. "'M I dead?"
"Maybe?"
"That's n-not reassuring." Bel tried to laugh, but winced and closed her eyes again.
"I think we're at the Festival grounds but I can't actually see—"
"We are." Rhyss was suddenly next to him and he jumped. He didn't need glasses to see her expression was tight and worried. "She doesn't look good."
"I'm kind of more concerned with the how we got here th-than how I look." Bel's voice was very faint.
But Rhyss was right: she didn't look good. Rhyss spun an illumination bubble and Heln barely stopped himself from cringing away. Bel's coat was a mess on one side, her right arm was broken and before Heln focused on her face he thought he saw a bit of bone poking out of the skin. Her breathing was still too shallow, something moving wrong on her right side with each inhale.
"Bel…"
"Festival Grounds? We rose instead of the stones."
"Please stop talking." Rhyss yanked off what was left of her cloak and wrapped it around her arm where it was bleeding. Bel made a noise of protest that nearly broke him. "I… I don't…"
She took a breath and closed her eyes, sitting back and clearly trying to compose herself.
"You're faster than me and you can, y'know, see. You need to run and get help." Heln hadn't thought he would be the one taking charge, but someone had to. He wasn't getting out of the tunnels just to lose his sister, anyway.
"There should still be a Guard camp near the Grove, especially since… well." Rhyss stood up. Her hands were shaking but her voice was steady. "Bel, I know this is really hard, but don't talk. Save your strength. I'm going to be right back with a field medic, okay? Just—"
She didn't seem to know how to finish that. She nodded and turned, sprinting towards the trees.
"A-at least a dragon killed me." Bel closed her eyes again.
"Technically it would be the wall that finished you off, so you'd better live," Heln said it too fast and his voice cracked.
Bel frowned, but didn't open her eyes. "Oh. Damn. Guess you're right. C-could you. You could put. Dragon. Tombstone."
"No tombstones." Heln brushed her hair away from her face. "Just. Just don't talk and concentrate on living, on my voice, on anything but tombstones. Besides you can't die when you're this filthy, right?"
"Mmm."
"Bel, c'mon, please." Heln grabbed her good hand. Her fingers were cold. Heln was shaking and his voice came out as an unsteady tremor. "We're here. We made it. Please."
He knew that pleading with Bel wasn't going to help, but he didn't care. He would do anything to keep his sister alive.
Bel actually squeezed his hand back. "'Sgonna be okay, Heln. Love you."
"I…" Heln knew that he might not get another chance to say it back. "I love you, too. You're the best sister in the world."
"And you're best brother." Bel coughed weakly and grimaced, her fingers tightening around Heln's. "Think. Footsteps. 'Sat Rhyss?"
Heln looked over his shoulder and nearly screamed. Something larger than a person was coming towards them, but as it got closer he realized it was a horse. Behind it, without the aid of his glasses, he could only make out blurry lights moving towards them from the forest.
"It's a horse."
Bel didn't respond, her hand going limp in Heln's. He heard the horse, dimly, and someone talking to him, but he was focused completely on Bel. Everything else faded into the background. It wasn't until Rhyss yanked him away from his sister that he came back to himself.
His throat hurt and he realized he'd been screaming. "Rhyss, I—"
"She's just unconscious. Brina's one of the best field medics around." Rhyss grabbed his face with both hands when he tried to look at Bel again. He could tell she was scared, but her voice was still steady. "She's going to be okay. I promise. Have I lied to you yet?"
He shook his head as much as her grip would allow it, not trusting his voice.
"Then there you go. It's going to be okay," Rhyss said firmly.
She finally let him go and he let his forehead drop against her shoulder, trying to breathe. Rhyss pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly. She kept telling him it would be okay, that everything was fine, and he even started to believe her.
There were other people around them, but it was all fading into a blur. Heln was so tired and a headache was pounding behind his eye. He realized his shields were still down and pulled them up. It hurt, but it felt good to shut out the world.
Rhyss let him go and stepped away.
"Hey—"
"Heln!" His dad took her place, his hands on Heln's cheeks.
And it really hit him that they were back. His dad was checking the cut above his eye with shaky fingers and there were tears in his eyes. He was saying something, but everything was moving too fast. His dad was crying and Heln wanted to tell him that Rhyss said Bel would be okay, but the words wouldn't come.
"I'm okay," he finally managed to choke out after his dad kept looking him up and down for injuries. It was the first time he'd seen his dad so unkempt, his blue violet hair was nearly loose from its tie around his shoulders. "I'm okay, Dad, it's okay."
"You were gone for four days — thank Eleti you're alive. I've been so worried." He touched just above the
