Dragon's Tears

Dead weight drooping across Serenica, made it difficult for her to quickly get out of view of anyone who may spot them. Her shoulder was aching and even begun to bleed again. She wanted to scream out in pain, but she bit her tongue as she continued to drag Kaiden the corner, where Adrianna was waiting.

“Serene, I think I may have us a way out of here,” Adrianna announced with satisfaction.

“Adri, if you do, I may forgive you for getting me involved in this mess,” Serenica replied sarcastically.

“Aww, and here I thought you did this because of my charming personality,” Kaiden said teasingly.

“Nice try, Prince Charming, but no. I’d rather have saved a rat from the clutches of a jaguar,” Serenica retorted. She rolled her eyes, dropped the rogue to the ground, and looked down at him angrily.

“Ouch, my pride,” he replied with a frown.

Adrianna watched their interaction with worry. She knew her sister well enough to know that Serenica was losing her patience, and once her patience was gone, she would leave the rogue behind. With a groan, she looked between the two of them. “Can we just get out of here alive, and then you two can tear each other to shreds when we are safe? The wall collapsed further down the hallway, and it looks like they have hidden the hole with boxes and crates.” “Can you swim?” Adrianna asked as she looked at Kaiden with concern.

“Well, at least one of the two of you is friendly,” he commented dryly.

“I can put you back where I found you,” Serenica suggested as she narrowed her eyes.

“That’s enough, you two; stop talking to each other and get crawling. When we get out of here, we will have to leave Estme. There is no way we will be able to get back to the tavern, especially with the Shadow looking for Kaiden. Once we get to the woods, we can figure out where we need to go and how we will eventually get supplies.” Adrianna demanded as she crawled away from her sister and Kaiden, who were still shooting dirty looks at each other.

Serenica, Kaiden, and Adrianna quietly crawled down the hallway. Their senses remained piqued for any sort of alert of incoming danger. When they reached the crates that covered the collapsed wall, Adrianna relaxed a bit. A cold breeze brushed against their faces as they noticed a little light from Estme’s port torches on the other side of the boxes.

“Adrianna, this was a great find. Thank you so much for thinking ahead,” Serenica said with a smile. “Let’s quickly get out of here!”

One by one, they moved the boxes and put them behind them blocking their movement. When the hole was wide enough, she looked outside. The splash of the waves filled her ear and she looked down to see water.

“Well, I hope you know how to swim Thief,” she said defeated. Suddenly, a scream echoed down the hallway.

The thug woke up! Serenica realized as she pushed Adrianna toward the hole.

“Go now!” She whispered as she pushed her sister harder.

Adrianna nodded and snuck through the hole, lightly dropping into the river. The freezing water instantly soaked her, and she began to see black spots. “It’s cold,” she whispered between chattering teeth. The water splashed as Kaiden and Serenica lowered themselves, forcing water to spray her in the face, making her even colder.

“You ok, Adri?” Serenica asked her sister in worry.

“Cold...” Adrianna replied shivering.

“Follow the wharf into the ocean. Once we are a reasonable distance out of Estme, we can go on land, and we can worry about warming up.”

The three of them said nothing as they quietly swam through the port. They had to keep their heads close to the water’s level, which often caused them to ingest more seawater than they could handle. Kaiden was close to passing out and nearly drowned on a few different occasions due to the severity of his injuries.

They waded through the ocean all through the night until sunrise started to brighten the sky and the air above the water began to warm up. However, they couldn’t get out of the water yet. The trio knew that they still had a long way to go before they would be completely out of sight of Estme.

“We need to go faster, ladies, like now,” Kaiden ushered them on as he caught a second wind.

“You are confusing; you are nearly dead one minute and then in a rush the next. Make up your mind,” Serenica patronizingly remarked.

“Well, My Dear, Sweet Sarcastic Bumpkin. I like my head attached to my body, and it won’t stay that way if we get caught. So if you could hurry up, I’d greatly appreciate it,” he rebutted.

“I have a name, and it’s not Bumpkin,” Serenica mumbled as she began to match his pace.

After another hour of swimming, the sun was well into the sky, and the three of them were exhausted and ready to get out of the water. Finally, they made landfall a few miles away from Estme. They lugged their weary bodies onto the shore and lay there as they tried to catch their breath and warm up in the sun. Once she had the ability to move her frozen body and was able to bend her fingers, Adrianna raised her hands and knees and quickly crawled over to Kaiden and looked over his back. Blood gushed out of the numerous red and black whip marks, and the bruises that coated his back made her flinch. “I must do something for your back, or you will never survive. I don’t know how you made it this far the way it’s bleeding, but you will be dead if we can’t fix it soon.”

“Well, aren’t you the bearer of great news?” Kaiden said with a scowl as he rolled his head to face the ocean.