Chương 14: Every Last Drop

Shit! Atzi banged her shoulder against the door. It rattled. Behind her, steel boots thumped against wood. She spun around to see a guard rushing towards her. Atzi froze - then dove to the side of the hall at the last second as the guard smashed through the door. She chuckled. Idiot! The room was splattered with blood, which writhed and shifted like a living creature, tendrils reaching around and grasping about. It curled around the armor of two guards as they struggled to get it off.

The new guard was quickly bound by his boots, unable to move. Blood magic! Cory's! Atzi ran in. Cory, with a wicked smile, had just jumped onto V's desk. V held the spellbook - it looked insanely valuable, thick with pages and covered in jewels. That's my opening! Atzi rushed towards V, making no effort to be stealthy. V flicked their eyes towards her. They dropped the book- That makes it easier! Atzi dove for it. -before pulling out a gleaming dagger, swinging it down. She grabbed the book.

The dagger sliced through her shoulder, cutting through her scales like they didn't exist.

"Fffuck!" Atzi spun back around, just in time to see the now bootless guard swing his sword. The pain in her shoulder threw her off, and she barely failed to dodge the blow. It slid down her side, sparking against her scales. Thank you scales! Screw your magic dagger, V! She ran around him and sprinted towards Cory - she had made it all the way from V's desk to the window, and opened it from the inside. An alarm sounded, ringing out with intensity.

Outside was a two-story sheer drop onto hard limestone, and the guard was only a few steps behind her. Atzi trusted in Cory's plan. She'd messed everything else up to do that plan, after all. So she leaped through the window. Atzi accelerated towards the ground. She ducked and rolled with the impact, spinning over herself several times before jumping back up to her clawed feet, clutching the book carefully to her chest. Cory jumped too.

Atzi flipped the book over to her tail as she rushed forward with her arms outstretched. Atzi's shoulder nearly gave out as Cory landed in her arms. Even as the pain made her yelp, she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Now let's go!" Cory shouted as she untangled herself from Atzi's grip, and ran.

"Going!" Atzi replied, running with her. We have the escape rope. We just have to make it there alive. Out of the corner of Atzi's eye, she saw V aiming at her with a crossbow with an odd gleam to it.

"Hide! Cross-" A bolt pierced her shoulder, driving into her open wound. Atzi's vision warped and twisted. Her guts felt like they wanted to abandon her - or maybe she wanted to abandon them. Leave her own body behind to do whatever it was that bodies did. She could just leave. Something tugged at her to stay. Cory. I gotta be here for Cory. She blinked, and her vision was righted. She was firmly back in her body. Her very much in pain body.

"This was a bad idea… ohhh, this was a bad idea…" she muttered as she trudged on.

"One last problem," Cory said, pointing ahead of them on the street. A group of city guards were running towards them, clearly alerted by alarm.

"Shit!" Atzi suddenly felt awake.

"Distract them with magic! Anything!"

"Give me your blood!" Atzi hesitated, the pain she just went through replaying in her mind.

"Can't you...?" Cory pointed at her burnt arm.

"If I lose any more, I won't be able to cast the spell." Atzi gritted her teeth. She had already lost some blood. What's a little more? She turned her shoulder towards Cory. Cory ran her hand over it, drawing out a concerning amount. Atzi felt her head go light. Cory levitated Atzi's blood above her in a sheet - before sending it out in a wave, like a flood, looking like far more than she had extracted. It washed over the guards, only to cling and writhe, binding them.

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"C'mon!" Cory ran past the trapped guards. Atzi followed, stumbling only slightly.

"We're… we're gonna make it!" She laughed.

"Cory, we're gonna make it!" A handful of guards not caught in the wave of blood chased them, joined by V's own. Atzi and Cory made their way into a partying crowd. Even with her lightheadedness, she still had to think. There's no way they'll get slowed down enough. Unless… She spotted a few rowdy looking guys. Using her good arm, she shoved one. He knocked into another, who knocked into someone else, until the crowd ignited into screaming and fighting just as Atzi and Cory slipped out. Ha! Suckers!

They made their way to the spiked fence and climbed over. Atzi did it slower than usual, but eventually made it over.

"Where'd you tie the escape rope?" Cory asked.

"The slums…" Atzi wheezed as she tried to catch her breath.

"Place no-one ever goes, and it's… it's hidden with a bush… I'll show you." They walked the long distance, avoiding further big crowds and any guards. Atzi shuffled between rambling and pausing, her thoughts jumbling as the rush of the chase wore off.

"Where are we going after this?"

"Were you hurt?"

"Can we get a bite- no, bad idea…"

"I really missed you." Cory responded in single words, or not at all. Finally, they crossed into the slums, and soon made their way to the hiding spot of bushes.

"Here…!" Atzi showed the rope to Cory.

"Great!" Cory grabbed it and started to climb. Atzi looked up, briefly losing herself in the view. She shook her head and grabbed the rope herself. It took every bit of effort she had left, every ounce of desire for Cory, and all the willpower she had built up by never using it, to make it to the top. Atzi sat down. Cory untied the rope before wrapping it around her own shoulder.

"We need a good exit," she said.

"Why not… just tie the rope to the other side of the wall here?" Atzi struggled up. Cory glanced at her, before glancing back down the way they had climbed up.

"No." She pointed clear on the other side of the city, near the magic academy.

"I think that would be a better spot." Atzi groaned, but followed without complaint, all the way around on the wall. She didn't speak along the way, thoroughly exhausted. All she could think about was making it to safety with Cory, so she could finally rest. As they traveled past the religious district, Atzi saw a small wooden temple, the kind without gods, with a large crowd outside it. Nothing to… do with me. Despite Atzi's sorry state, the two still managed to avoid the scant few guards on the walls.

They walked until the sun crept up over the horizon, surrounding the distant mountains in a subtle glow of light.

"Where's the… exit?" Atzi asked, swaying slightly.

"First, do me a favor and close your eyes." Atzi closed her eyes. She could feel it as Cory got closer to her. Even past the haze in her mind, Atzi celebrated. Yes! All her pain and suffering felt worth it, in that moment. She was ready for a kiss. Her kiss. She wasn't ready for Cory to lift the book from her tail. Or shove her off the wall. Atzi's world shifted as she fell back, claws and tail grasping for what wasn't there.

"Wh-" Air rushed past her as she looked up, confused. She could barely see Cory's expression, but… Why is she frowning? Atzi slammed against limestone, and everything went dark. === She didn't know how long she was in the darkness, only that the pain from hitting the ground lingered the entire time. Her only thought was how much it hurt. Then, a woman bubbled up from nothing. Her mass of hair framed her, and she had pale and sickly green skin.

"Wh-what's going on?" Atzi asked. She wasn't the void this time. She was floating in the darkness across from the woman. She tried curling a claw, the movement floaty and blurred. The mysterious woman opened her eyes. She regarded Atzi for a moment.

"... Who are you?" she asked.

"Me?" Atzi blinked.

"I'm just Atzi, who are you?"

"... I don't know," she replied. The woman turned her head slowly, looking over at some distant part of the void. Atzi snapped her clawed fingers. The sound was wrong. Like a dull thud.

"I remember you! You showed up before, you dragged me into here. Where is this place?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know anything?" The woman said nothing, and Atzi wondered if she truly knew nothing. Then the woman said, "I know… I died."

"... Wait... wait, no... no no no, you're kidding, right?" Atzi waved her claws in front of her in a panic.

"Th-this is just a dream and I got knocked out when I landed, right?" The woman was silent once more.

"Why did she push me? We were gonna...." Atzi started muttering to herself.

"I got her the book, I did everything right, and then…"

"I don't know." Atzi let out a half-laugh, half-sob. It echoed, each time getting louder, until it was a scream that Atzi didn't make. Then it stopped. The woman tilted her head.

"... I wish I knew more."

"Yeah, you and me both. Am I gonna wake up and be just lying there? What if the guards find me while I'm knocked out?" Atzi rubbed the sides of her head, panicking.

"Can I see?" the woman asked. Atzi looked up at her.

"See?"

"Through your eyes. Can I see?" Atzi was very confused.

"Uh… sure? How do I-" The mysterious woman vanished.

"... Great." Atzi pinched herself, trying to wake up. Nothing happened. Atzi slapped herself in the face. I am waking up now! After trying a few more things, she was forced to conclude it wasn't working. She groaned. Something hit her forehead.

"Bwuh?" Again, this time painfully. Ow!

"Out! Out!" A familiar voice shrieked, but she couldn't quite place who it was. Atzi opened her eyes. A cane whacked her in the face. One held by an old woman; small, hunched, and wrinkly, with her hair pulled back into a bun. Atzi rolled to the side to avoid the next strike. She recognized the old woman.

"Are you following me?!" she asked, standing up.

"What are you on about, girl?" The old woman spat on the ground.

"Blocking the path of an old woman… you must have drunk too much!" She waved her cane above her head, and Atzi realized. She was in the slums.