Chapter 87: Bindweed or Bust
Eirin and Shade looked at each other, their gazes meeting with a shared understanding that needed no words. Hesitation was not in their minds; the sudden understanding of the cause of the landslide and the town’s destruction motivated them.
Without a second thought, they turned and rushed back towards the Slumbering Slopes. The once effortless climb, which Shade had performed with such ease just yesterday, not took every ounce of his remaining energy.
Eirin found herself getting ahead of him, her worry for him warring with the urgent need to move quickly.
’This is humiliating,’ Shade thought, frustrated anger simmering beneath his fever-addled mind. His small legs ached, his lungs burned with each ragged breath, but the thought of Eirin seeing him struggle, of her getting ahead, spurred him on. He climbed faster, pushing through the pain and the weakness, refusing to be outdone by the teenage girl.
"Get away from me!" a shrill, desperate scream suddenly pierced the air, echoing from ahead.
Eirin stopped, causing the young man behind her to bump into her back with a soft thud. Before Shade could even complain, his eyes, still slightly unfocused, landed on the sight before them.
A young girl, no older than Eirin herself, was being roughly handled, her arms twisted behind her back, by a group of burly, sneering bounty hunters.
"It’s Hebe!" Eirin exclaimed, her voice a mixture of shock and recognition, as she pointed an accusing finger at the very nymph who had turned Shade into a child.
Hebe’s delicate hands were held tightly, cruelly, by two of the bounty hunters, thus causing her to be unable to use her formidable power.
Seeing the young girl struggle, her face contorted in a mix of fear and desperate anger, Eirin knew, with a fierce certainty, that she had to help, regardless of the danger. But how? If Shade could only control his power, if his full strength hadn’t been stolen, this would have been a piece of cake, a simple display of overwhelming force.
Now, they were vulnerable.