Her body was somehow in worse condition than the shield. Three parallel gashes ran across her back where a set of talons had raked dangerously close to her spine. A deep cut had completely severed the muscles in her left shoulder, and the bone, which had been torn from its socket, bore a deep, ponderous crack where the blade had caught. A majority of her ribs were cracked, and those that weren’t were clearly dislocated. Her nose was broken in two places and slanted heavily to one side, while the rest of her face was covered in various shallow cuts and bruises. Most of her armor was slick with blood, and the spots that weren’t were rapidly soaking through. She would have died of blood loss before she made it out of the cave.
I sighed as I invoked the Healing rune within my ring and set the energy to work repairing her various wounds. She gasped as the mana took effect and carefully rolled her once-ruined shoulder, then gently ran a finger along her nose. “By the Prime of Life itself,” she whispered. “No healer has ever been this skilled. How is it you can—”
“Val, it is really not the time for that,” I said, closing my eyes to watch my mana finish its job. With a final surge of effort, I left a small store of energy within her shield. The glass absorbed the mana hungrily, and I felt the unknown enchantments stored within it activate automatically. “Lia and I have work to do. You should leave.”
“No,” she stated emphatically, stepping forward. “We all need to leave; my army will collapse the tunnel soon. We will be trapped within Shadowmine if we do not hurry.”
I rolled my eyes. “First of all, no, we won’t,” I countered. “These monsters can burrow. If they don’t already have a half-dozen exit tunnels dug out of this place, they definitely will after the entrance is sealed.” I stared at her with an eyebrow raised. “Did you honestly think collapsing a single tunnel would permanently fix your problem?”
She stared at me with her usual, emotionless expression. “Yes, I did,” she answered honestly. “I was not informed that Serathids can tunnel through stone.”
“Well, that seems about the right level of informed for someone in Virram’s army,” I quipped. “Beyond that, we aren’t here to slightly inconvenience your monsters; we’re here to kill them, and to stop more from coming.” I pointed my sword back down the tunnel towards the entrance. “So, again: you should leave.”
“Val, you really should go,” Lia chimed in. “It’s too dangerous down here for you. Let us take care of it.”
“No,” Val repeated stubbornly. “I will help you.”
“What part of this don’t you understand? I don’t want you here,” I snapped. “You betrayed us, and I don’t trust you. It’s that simple. Now, leave, before you make me regret letting you live.”
“Lux, I am not—” A long, low rumble echoed through the tunnel and shook the ground beneath us. I stared past her, clenching my fist against the side of my leg as I silently fumed.
“I believe they have sealed the tunnel.”
“Yes, I know that!” I shouted, resisting the urge to punch a hole through the stone beside us. “Fine! Come with us. Don’t get in the way, and don’t die. You already tried the guilt-ridden sacrifice once tonight, and it's far less effective the second time around.” I felt a small moment of satisfaction as she quickly looked away, her eyes wide. I turned to press on, holding my sword out in front of me to illuminate the path in the absence of my Detection.
Are you okay? Lia joined me as we retread our steps.
Knowing it was impossible to hide my emotions while she and I were so deeply linked, I sighed and answered honestly. I don’t have the time or the capacity to deal with Val right now. She’s so ashamed of what she did to us that she tried to give up her life here to make up for it. I rolled my head to loosen my overly tense shoulders. I don’t want her here because I don’t trust her, but also because I don’t want her to get hurt.
You don’t have to figure that out now. Lia walked more closely beside me, rubbing her shoulder against mine. There will be plenty of time after all of this is done.
What about you? Are you okay? I looked over my shoulder and found Val hurrying after us, still seemingly cautious of her recently healed limbs.
Yeah, I’m okay, Lia answered. Val just makes me...sad. I know that she’s a good person, clearly, but she still gave the order to have us killed. I just want to know why.
The bloodied corpse of our most recent encounter appeared as we rounded a bend, and we hopped over the spreading purple ichor. I guess you’ll have to ask once we’re finished here. Lia gave me a small nod, and I regripped my sword as we entered unexplored territory. It wasn’t long until I heard the telltale clatter of claws against stone ahead of us, and two curved blades flashed in the darkness. Lia dashed ahead and dispatched the beast with ease, leaving Val behind to watch in continued awe. When the beast was dead, Lia cleared the majority of the blood from the glowing greatsword with a quick flourish before falling back to rejoin our group.
“The King’s Sword,” Val mused quietly, motioning to the large onyx blade.
“No,” I corrected sharply, “not the King’s Sword. Lia’s sword.”
“How is it you have become so skilled in
