Chapter 50

Bertrand leads the way out of the master bedroom, hacking and slashing his way forward with Quinn right behind him covering his openings and blindspots. Wraine follows after them with Ilya holding onto his neck and I follow him with Mary holding onto mine. Angelene’s the last to leave the room because she needs to cover our backs while we’re encumbered with the girls. It’s a narrow hallway they have to tear their way through and no matter how powerful Bertrand’s swings are and how well Quinn covers him, neither of them are able to make their way through Reed’s men unscathed. This is actually the first time I’ve seen Bertrand or Quinn struggling like this but for every man they kill, another two are ready to replace him and they’re swinging their weapons wildly for any cuts rather than fully committing to lethal blows. They’re exchanging their lives for shallow cuts and wounds on Bertrand and Quinn. What madness, the absurdity of what I’m seeing before me. The lengths these men are willing to go for 100 gold coins is baffling to me but at the same time it makes all the sense in the world. Jerome was willing to forsake the goddess he devoted his entire life to because of money and these men have even less than he did and they’re now being offered 100 gold coins for their lives. Maybe it isn’t so absurd afterall.

When we make it to the top of the stairs, we realize there’s no hope in getting down the stairs. There’s at least 20 men on the stairs alone with even more behind them on the first floor, waiting for us in anticipation. Instead, Bertrand, Quinn, and Angelene work together to hold off the ones trying to get up the stairs and open up the hallway for Wraine and I to get across to another bedroom. Once we’re inside, the rest of them slowly make their way into the room before blockading the door once again. Bertrand says there’s no way in hell Reed will risk his mage in actual combat and will only let him get to work once it looks safe. We’re going to take this time to tie up the bedsheets with ropes as best as we can to climb out the windows. It’s going to be risky and it looks like there’s already a few of Reed’s men on the ground outside our window expecting us. But compared to staving off a horde of lunatics in a tiny narrow room like this, fighting three or four lunatics on the ground while we’re dangling on some bed sheets is the better option.

Quinn ties one end of the makeshift bed sheet rope to all four of the bed’s wooden legs and tosses the other end out of the window. Everyone except Bertrand hops on the bed to even out the weight difference. Bertrand’s a big man and if he jumps out and the bed’s weight is the only thing on the other end of those bed sheets, then he’s either falling to his death or he’s breaking both legs. Everyone on the bed is also holding onto those bed sheets for dear life as we wait for Bertrand to start going down. The moment he crawls out the window and starts propelling himself down the side of the house, the bed legs screech as the whole bed’s being pulled towards the window. I’m amazed that the bed sheets didn’t rip apart immediately. Before long, we can feel Bertrand let go of the bed sheets and we can hear him fighting off the people on the ground but all of a sudden we heard him crying out in pain. Quinn sticks his head out to check on him before instantly pulling it back and shouting, “Not good, Bertrand’s hurt. I need to go next, get ready.”

We brace ourselves for Quinn this time and since he’s slightly larger than Bertrand, I’m terrified the bed sheets will rip on his way down. When he’s out the window and takes his first step against the side of the house, the bed legs shriek across the wood floor as the bed slams itself against the window and the two back legs lift themselves off the floor. Ilya and Mary are screaming because they’re both on their feet now, trapped between the bed and the wall, terrified they’re about to be squished to death by the bed. I’m honestly with them as Wraine and I have both of our feet just under the windowsill, straining as hard as we can with our legs. We have both hands grasping on the bed sheets for dear life with the bed against our backs, straining until we’re both red in the face as we use everything we have in our bodies to keep Quinn from falling to his death. Why did we think this was a good idea again? Angelene’s on top of the bed where the two legs are raised off the floor, trying to use her body weight to get the bed and all four legs back on the floor. Suddenly, the weight from the other side of the bed sheets disappears and the bed slams itself back on the wooden floor. Wraine and I lose our footing and fall to the floor on our backs, our heads bouncing against the wooden surface. Now that one hurt.

Wraine’s the next to go as he carries Mary with one arm. He’s nowhere near as heavy as Bertrand or Quinn and Angelene and I are more than able to hold on until he gets to the ground outside safely. Angelene wants me to go with Ilya next but I’m really afraid of accidentally dropping her while I go down and I insist Angelene goes down first with Ilya. Besides, I feel safer without having to protect someone else. Angelene reluctantly agrees thinking I’m trying to sacrifice myself or some bullshit like that but I’m just really terrified of dropping her. I brace myself for Angelene’s weight this time because I’m all alone now and there’s no one here to help me lift her up. It’s definitely a bit more difficult but I hold on until they get to the ground safely. Right when I’m about to crawl out the window myself, the door to the room and the wooden furniture barricade we set up crumbles to dust and Reed’s men are already charging into the room before the dust settles. Without wasting another second, I threw myself out the window with both hands on the bed sheets. A moment later, I realized I messed up really badly. I watched everyone else go before me and all of them took their time to get a steady foot on the side of the building before carefully propelling themselves down. I knew exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. But the moment the door crumbled and Reed’s men got into the room, my panicked mind completely forgot about getting a steady first step and now I’m dangling right outside the window, twisting and turning uncontrollably. I can’t even right myself with how jumbled up I am with the bed sheets and every time I try to slow down, my body slams against the building. I can hear everyone below me shouting at me but I can’t make out what they’re saying in the ruckus. But I do hear someone shouting, “Slide!”

I slightly loosen my grip on the bed sheets and let myself slide down. The problem is, I can’t control how fast I slide and by the time my feet hit the ground, my hands feel like they’re burning. I don’t get a chance to check on my hands because everyone starts running off when I land. The majority of Reed’s men are inside the house and we have a moment to get a head’s start before they start coming after us. I don’t know where we’re going and I don’t know what the plan is but when we run past a certain building and break line of sight with Reed’s men, Angelene and Wraine run off in a different direction from the rest of us. As they’re running off, they’re making noise and trying to draw attention away from us while our side ducks into one of the buildings and heads to the second floor. We close the doors behind us but we don’t try to blockade them. When we get into one of the rooms, Quinn closes the curtains while Bertrand hobbles over to the bed. I didn’t realize before because I was at the back of the group but there’s a large wound on the back of Bertrand’s left thigh running all the way down to his calf. When the curtains are closed, Quinn quickly gets over to Bertrand and starts treating his leg. “Isaac, keep close to the door and listen for anyone who comes inside. You’ll need to take care of anyone who followed us here while I bandage Bertrand’s leg.”

Nodding, I put my ear against the door, listening for anything. Ilya and Mary are in a corner of the room, holding onto each other looking at Bertrand worriedly. He tries to smile at them to show he’s alright but it has the opposite effect when his smile turns into a grimace when Quinn tightens a bandage. When I don’t hear anything in our building, I ask Bertrand if we should hide in the underground tunnels but he shakes his head. There’s only one way to get into the tunnels from inside the compound and right now Reed’s men are crawling all over it. Angelene chose to wall ourselves in because she didn’t think we had the time to go through the awkward obstacles to get to the secret passage before Reed’s men caught up to us, especially since we had the girls with us. I guess that’s one huge caveat to having these tunnels inside your stronghold, they can’t be too easy to get to or else it’ll create a major weakness in your defenses and when they’re too hard to get to, you can get trapped inside your own base.

…

Even after night fell I didn’t hear anybody else coming inside our building. Bertrand’s bandaged up but Quinn says he can’t put any weight on his leg or else there’ll be permanent damage. Bertrand needs a healer soon but we’re still trapped inside this room. Quinn treated his own wounds as well and he’s good for combat but we have too many dependents here to try anything risky. Bertrand told me Angelene and Wraine were on their way out of the compound to try and find Derriv and at the same time they were supposed to draw Reed's men away from us. Which looks like it worked since no one checked the building we’re in.

Apparently Quinn also had a huge helping hand in the plan’s success because the entire time we were running, he cleaned up Bertrand’s bloodtrail and made random tracks to confuse anyone who was pursuing us. I guess Quinn is Candle’s primary scout and he’s really good at covering up tracks and trails. He also has a little bit of medical field training and he can bandage up minor cuts or wounds but nothing too severe. On the other hand, Bertrand is Candle’s primary vanguard and he’s also one of its battle captains but he’ll usually defer command to Derriv or someone else and focus on fighting. Incidentally, Angelene is Candle’s primary rearguard which is why she’s always protecting our backs and guarding our retreats. There’s a lot more to fighting than I originally thought, especially when multiple people are involved and Bertrand tells me I’ll need to learn it all sooner or later.

It’s late night now and Ilya and Mary are in the corner asleep with a blanket over them. We didn’t have anything in terms of food since Quinn’s pack is filled with medical supplies and survival tools, Bertrand’s pack is filled with robbery tools, and my pack’s filled with robbery tools as well along with the boxes I stole from Jerome. I completely forgot about these. Well, it’s not like they’ll help us right now, meaning the girls had to go to sleep hungry. Seeing the tears in their eyes when they found out there’s no food was heartrending but there’s nothing we can do until Derriv gets back. I’ve never even met the man and I’ve hoped for his swift and safe return countless times over these past few days. My thoughts are interrupted when shouts come from outside. My heart sinks when I think Reed and his men found us. Quinn and I carefully pull away the curtains to get a look outside while we’re crouching and it looks like there’s a huge melee happening right in front of us between Reed’s men and another group of people although Reed’s men outnumber them a few times over. There’s lit torches all over the place either held in someone’s hands or scattered carelessly on the ground. Careful not to burn the place down guys, yeah? Excitement wells up inside me when I see what’s happening outside and when I turn to Quinn, he nods with a grin on his face. This is the first time I’ve seen him smile in days and I don’t blame him. It’s been rough on all of us.

When I look right below our window, I can see two men tightly guarded by a group of a dozen men. One of them has gray hair, a gray beard, his body is covered with brown leather, and he’s shouting commands from behind his men while he coldly watches the fight unfold before him. The other one is a younger man with light blond hair and he’s covered with a brown robe. He nervously looks on at the fight happening right in front of him while his hands anxiously fidget inside his robe’s sleeves. Quinn whispers right beside me, “The gray one is Reed and I’d bet my left nut the one in the robe is the mage from earlier. How good are you feeling right now?”

“I’m feeling fine. What are you thinking?”

“Thinking if Reed goes down, the rest of his men will surrender or disperse. They’re not the type to keep fighting once their coin purse is gone. Bertrand might look like he's alright now but he’s putting up a front. This goes on any longer and I can’t guarantee he’ll keep his leg. What do you think?”

Taking another look at Reed and the men guarding him, his guards seem a little different from the rest of his men. They’re not as frail looking and they might actually be Midriver’s Finest’s bandits rather than addicts he recruited at the last minute. It’ll be tough but… I turn back to look at Bertrand on the bed and his eyes are closed, his brow is scrunched, and his face is covered in sweat. Quinn’s right, Bertrand’s not doing well. Looking over at the corner where the girls are supposed to be sleeping, it looks like the shouting woke them up and they’re huddled together in fear. What am I even thinking about? Didn’t I already harden my resolve yesterday when I told myself I’d give up my life to keep Mary safe? Then it’s already been decided. “I’ll do it. I’ll throw myself at Reed.”

“Fuck are you talking about? I’ll take out Reed while you stay here to guard the rest of ‘em. That’s why I was asking how you were feeling.”

“It’s too risky if you’re the one to go. If I die, you can defend this room for a while until Derriv can break through and rescue you. If you die, I won’t be able to hold them back for long before I get run through. I have to be the one who goes.”

“No, look, I understand Bertrand’s been puffing up your feathers and you’ve been building up your confidence by outclassing your opponents these last two days but you have to realize they were all junkies. You can tell just by looking at Reed’s guards, they’re real members of Midriver’s Finest. It’s not going to be like last time. I’ll go, you’ll stay.”

“It’s still better to have me go out than you.” Quinn reaches his hand out to grab a hold of me but I dodge it and I roll backwards towards the door. I can hear him hissing my name behind me but he knows as well as I do that it’s better for me to go out. I open the door and before I step outside, I take one final look at Bertrand with his eyes closed on the bed and at Ilya and Mary looking back at me from the corner of the room with frightened looks. My heart has always been firm from the day I left Augustine’s farm but it has never felt this steady before. I close the door behind me and I walk down the dark steps ahead.