Saya's eyes widened. She sensed a magical presence moving quickly towards Rekka's back.
"Rekka! Watch out!" The yell broke Rekka's concentration, and her beam fizzled before disappearing completely. A blur dashed from the right, slamming into Rekka's back and tackling her to the ground. Sensing that they were saved, Jayken took the opportunity to fire an arrow at Evelynn. He hit in in the arm, and it pierced it gruesomely. She screamed and Axel caught her in his arms while Jasper rushed to take care of her. That left a small gap in the circle, and Yona raised her forearms and bowled over anyone who tried to get in her way, dragging Wraith by his uninjured wing.
"Get up!" Jayken hollered as he dashed past the figure on top of Rekka. He extended his hand, and Wicke caught it.
"Wicke!" Rekka gasped, in total shock. In the midst of battle, she'd focused all of her concentration on her fire magic. Without her mind focused on controlling Wicke, she'd slipped silently from the battle without anybody noticing. She was free of Rekka's mind control.
Wicke took Jayken's hand, and with one last hateful glance at Rekka, disappeared into the forest.
"They're getting away!" Saya screamed, sensing their presence grow dimmer and dimmer.
"There's no way we'll catch them," Axel realized. Even with his wind magic at Evelynn's back, they were still not fast enough to catch the bounty hunters. Even though Wraith was injured, the four of them knew the territory much better than they did and could navigate any terrain faster than they could.
Rekka got to her feet, silent shock evident on her face, as well as utter disappointment.
"I'm sorry," she said, in awe. "I didn't predict that. I take full responsibility."
She turned to the rest of Last Stand.
"I… got caught up in the moment. I must never do that again. They'll no doubt be alerting PSEF of our existence. They know about us now, and who knows what they'll send after us. We need to move, now. We need to mitigate… the consequences of my mistake," she said stiffly, sadness coursing through her body.
Rekka was intense and intimidating. She was strict and no-nonsense and Silas was afraid of making her angry. But she looked so worn out from using so much magic in a short period of time he couldn't help but feel from her. She was already showing signs of wear, and it hadn't even been a week. Her magic was the most powerful and the most abundant. It was her that held the highest responsibility for Last Stand.
Now that she'd let them down, she was questioning her ability as a leader.
If she made mistakes like this, could she truly lead them to a bright and safe future?
Or would she get them all killed?
Rekka never wanted to be a leader. She hated responsibility. All she wanted was to relax and have fun. But she also knew her capabilities and the charisma she had. There was nobody else to take up the mantle, and it hurt Rekka, but it was the truth.
She grit her teeth and sighed in vexation.
"I hope you can forgive me. We need to get as far away as possible before the sun goes down. And we need to figure out how they were able to find us so quickly and easily."
They journeyed without stopping as Rekka commanded. Unlike before, where conversation was quiet but lively, nobody talked. Saya didn't say a word to Silas, instead, she was lost in thought. Silas wondered what went on in her head, and how emotions and magic presences appeared to her. What would it be like to have her powers?
Silas reflected on his own powers. He wasn't able to produce a magic laser beam of fire like Rekka could easily do, and all the magic that he could muster was hard to handle. It wasn't second nature to him like it was to people like Julia and Macy. Even Saya just… felt it. But at least he wasn't completely useless. He'd been able to stall Yona for a few seconds. Even if it was only that, he had accomplished something.
He worried that Rekka would kick him out if he was useless, but it was obvious that wasn't the case. It made no sense to remove one of the last humans from the group. In order to survive as a species, everybody had to survive as an individual. Rekka would just have to deal with Silas' inadequacies. That is what Silas's logical mind was telling him, but he still felt cautious.
He couldn't bring himself to trust the people around him, even if they had saved his life. But he figured that they wouldn't hurt him without provocation… yet. Saya's actions against Axel and Evelynn made him weary, but he wouldn't actively avoid her anymore. Perhaps he could begin talking with people other than Saya.
Axel and Evelynn were holding hands. Both of them used the arm that had been pierced by one of Jayken's arrows in some metaphorical gesture. Jasper had healed them both, but their skin was discolored at the injury. Jasper told them that it may or may not become a scar. When Axel yelled at him, he bit back, saying that he was still getting used to his powers. Axel chose not to respond, and they slunk into an uncomfortable, depressing silence.
Soon they reached the edge of a cliff. Saya warned them ahead of time before the ground rapidly gave way. The trees leaned forwards before toppling like dominoes off the grassy cliff edge. Before them stood a low-lying forest, surrounded by rocky exposed cliffs and rising tan monoliths. The landscape was hilly and filled with pine trees.
As they descended, they walked double-file down a steep incline. Saya eased in next to Silas, grateful that she was able to talk to him alone during the walk.
"You know, you should be proud. You were just able to lift a pebble before, but now you were able to throw a huge rock! That's an amazing accomplishment. And I'm sure that your powers will only grow in the future," she said encouragingly. She wrapped her hands around Silas' shoulder, shaking him slightly. Silas noticed how warm and soft her hands were, if not a bit sweaty.
"That's true," Silas agreed. But the small amount of pride that he had felt before had all but vanished by now. Now it was replaced with a deep despair that he had not done more, even though he knew he did all that he could.
"I should have helped out more," he said. "I only threw that one rock."
"You did all that you could," Saya said. "You should feel proud."
"I know I should," Silas said. "But I can't… for some reason. I need to get better."
"There's always room for improvement, I suppose," Saya said. "But allow yourself a little satisfaction. Lighten up a little!"
"We almost died, Saya. Again," Silas bit back, growing frustrated. All this vague talk was stupidly optimistic, sickeningly so, like a unicorn vomiting rainbows. It annoyed him. Saya should be able to tell enough about his emotions to avoid talking in this way. It just made him feel worse.
"Fine, then, be sad if you want. But someday you're going to have to stop moping," Saya said cheerfully, the only anger in her eyes the reflection of Silas'.
"Wait," Saya paused. She'd been distracted by the conversation and hadn't noticed a magical presence up ahead. Rekka stopped immediately upon hearing Saya's warning.
"There's a magical presence… in that tree," Saya said, pointing. Rekka glanced in front of her, where there was an old-looking gnarled oak tree. Its roots slid across the ground like thick brown snakes. It didn't seem like anything unordinary – it was just a regular tree.
That is, until it started to move.