"What are you thinking! Are you trying to kill me earlier than it should be?!" I almost shouted but managed to keep it down. She must have gone mad, I thought. There wasn't any rational person who would do such a thing. I had managed to slow my erratic breaths down, but I was getting sleepier with each interval. That was bad as I must be close to blacking out soon enough.
"What do you care about that anyway? You were so eager to die before!" she replied as fiercely as I did before she bent forward and ripped a part of her pants. I didn't understand anything she tried to pull off, we were screwed up.
"Hey, what.. are you doing?" I asked her barely awake but she kept on ripping her pants until there was a long sheet of cloth in her clutches. She approached me with the cloth and knelt again beside me, "stay still," she commanded me and then proceeded to wrap the cloth around my wound.
The cloth pressed the wound too tightly around my stomach but that must be the point of it. "Keep on pressing the wound, it won't be much but that should do some work," she continued to talk but I was too sleepy and numb to hear anything. My eyelids were half-closed when Aria suddenly slapped me awake.
"Huh.., what..," my senses blazed from the sudden impact and I saw her hand ready to slap me again if I dared to even blink. She picked my hand and put it onto my wound area, "stay awake and press it as hard as you can!" she repeated.
I followed her words but honestly, everything was too dizzy for me to proceed. My hand pressured the wound weakly since my body had lost its strength.
"Seriously, why are you doing this?" I kept asking when she ripped my pants instead and made another long cloth. "I'm being stubborn," Aria replied shortly before sitting beside me on the right and wrapped the cloth around our body, leaving me speechless.
"And stop blaming yourself, our country is doomed anyway. Maybe my father never lost a war before, so his incompetence as a king was showing," she continued. After binding both ends of the cloth, she used all the power left to lift me again and supported my back. The shock made me groan again but she didn't mind and kept going.
"Forgive me, Yana, I will be selfish this time. If fate had decided you to pass away in the middle of our run, so be it. But before that, I will take every chance to bring us together," she explained while tightening her hold on my back. My feet were barely holding my body but there was a strange surge of energy that kept me standing after listening to her. I forced open my eyes despite my desire to close them and be at peace forever.
But not long after that, I heard rustling and the sound of stepped leaves. My head turned unconsciously and I noticed something that was too bright for the night.
Fire.
"They are here!" the owner of the said fire shouted. My mind suddenly bolted and my heartbeat jumped so hard instantly. All of my body senses shouted the same thing:
Run.
Without instruction, our legs started to sprint and Aria's grip on my hip was hardening. All the pain that lingered in my body suddenly disappeared as my head panicked. Just before I saw it, an object flew on my left grazing the wind, and landed with a thud on a tree trunk.
It didn't take me long to realize the thing that was thrown our way, it was a spear. Aria seemed to saw it too and started to pull me left and right across the trees to avoid them.
The obstacles hindered our feet from running and already made them bleed many times, but we couldn't waste any time to mind such things. Far in front of us, the forest that was illuminated by the moon had reached its end where there were no more trees and we could already hear the sound of crashing sea waves. I was confident we were reaching the beach, just a little more time and we might make it.
"You morons! Can't you even hit two limping people?! Throw them properly!" a person shouted behind us and I was predicting the moment they would shoot their spears. If we remained on being unpredictable by turning left and right, we eventually became much slower and therefore they would catch us in no time.
"Hide behind a tree!" I told her to take cover when I sensed the spear throws and she immediately dragged us into the back of a big tree.
Afterward, the sound of impaling could be heard again on the ground and a tree next to us, proving my prediction was correct. I picked up the dangling spear on the ground with my free hand and spoke again, "just go straight! They are spending time to prepare," which she replied with, "I know".
We ran again for a while and we probably lost them momentarily, but the sting of my wound came back so I had to halt the run and breath for a bit. We stopped near a tree which we could use as a brief cover, but we should not wait too long until the enemies might spot us.
I truly needed a break, my eyes were closing on their own before my cheek was met with her slap again.
"Come on! We are really close!" she urged while tugging my hip in a hurry. I was brought back to my senses quickly when my eyes flickered. The slap had boosted my mind while making more damage to my head in the same instance, "I told you this might happen if you bring me! Just help me for now, I might have a plan," I brought her the knot of the cloth that tied our bodies together and asked her to release it.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked while her hands were already working on untying the cloth. "Yes, trust me for this one," I assured her before gripping on the spear and rushing to memorize my grandfather's spearing lesson. The enemies didn't have a clear sight of me but I had theirs since they brought their torches.
"Hey, Aria," I called her.
"Yeah?"
"I will take one of them down while recovering so take care of my wound and carry me afterward," I explained briefly. She nodded and pressed my wound from my behind before I took my stance. My hurting knees were forced to lower to add the necessary power. I was unsure whether I would have enough strength to throw it but I genuinely thought it was possible.
"Yana.., please don't think of dying again. You can rely on me if you need anything," she uttered out of nowhere while caressing my injury with enough force. Was she still concerned about me previously?
"Honestly, I still think you made the wrong decision to pick me," I said as I steadied my aiming hand. It might sound harsh but our situation had proved my words, my decaying body was becoming a burden. She remained silent as a form of reply to me. When I told her to leave me, I had prepared to confront any kind of hardships that would occur to me and I was pleased with her survival.
However, the moment she lifted me again and said she would take any chance for me, I was glad for a reason I didn't know.
"But thank you, Aria, for never giving up on me," I continued with a smile from my chapped lips.
I couldn't see her expression behind me that time but her hands were hugging me harder and she leaned her head onto my back. I felt her hair and breath brushed on my skin by the time she said, "no problem, Yana."
A warm sensation filled me as I struggled on holding my spear in its place, "hey, release me when I said so, alright?" I said. "Will do," she answered before pulling her head and readying for my launch.
I stayed on the stance my grandfather taught me, waiting for the enemies to come out from behind the trees that could potentially hinder my shot. This was probably the only chance to redeem myself for my grandfather, thus I couldn't cast this opportunity aside.
Staying calm was miserable when the light from the fires was approaching us at high speed. My sight was unreliable for the time being but I only needed one straight target that I could certainly hit.
Time slowed down for me as I gulped when one of their men entered my range. His face that appeared beside the torch became a cue for my shot. He noticed my presence too and prepared a throwing stance in a hurry, but he failed to realize that I was already ahead of him.
"Now!" I gave the sign to Aria and she immediately let me go.
I took one more step to add power and I used every muscle of my body to land this shot. The spear flew from my fingers straight onto the intended target.
I watched the spear cutting through the wind and then I waited, waited for that sound.
Hit.
The sharp tip entered the man's chest and almost pierced through it, followed by his scream of desperation to his allies.
I took a turn right away and Aria didn't waste any time picking me before she raced her feet again. The long breath I held was being exhaled from my mouth, bringing a rush of relief to my whole body.
"Good job!" congratulated Aria. Beats of my own heart were echoing on the insides of my ear as I felt a burst of sensation I didn't know I needed, hope. I felt like we might have a chance.
Maybe we might make it through after all. Maybe we might be able to make our promise come true. When I thought of that, my body became so much lighter as we dashed throughout the woods.
But then I heard a stabbing sound on my side.
Everything suddenly went slow in my eyes as I was expecting for the worst.
I glanced next to me and I saw the red color that spurted below her shoulder.
The tip of a spear dug deep onto her body and I could hear her scream that rung onto my ear.
Her hold was loosening and this time I pulled her with my hand to keep us steady. "Are you okay?!" I asked quickly while she was still wincing. She closed her eyes tightly to absorb the pain but her legs were still dashing through the forest's ground.
"Don't mind me! We are already close!" she instructed loudly without any hesitation. The role of a guide had shifted to me and I brought us closer to our destination.
My vision caught the sight of other men that brought torches on our left and right. Although they were quite far from our position, it would not take them long to join our pursuers in the back.
It was either a tactical move or a terrible coincidence that they managed to pinch us in this place. I silently cursed about our poor position in such a vital moment. "We are surrounded!" she stated the obvious but kept on going forward. I thanked her silently for being so resilient.
The sounds of the spear were dangling behind our back but we only needed a few steps left to reach the end of this dark forest.
Just a little more! I shouted in my heart.
We straddled the last of the trees' roots before entering a new place. And then, the trees had vanished from my vision, replaced by the vast sea that was glistening under the night sky.
But there wasn't any beach or even sand in front of us.
"Wait what!" Aria had opened her eyes after she pulled out the spear behind her and there was a moment of disturbance we shared.
The beach was not there and we definitely lost our way. The sea wasn't on our front, but far below us! We were standing on a really high hill or a dead end to be exact. I roughly estimated the hill was almost 15 times my body height.
My greatest fear was happening, both of us would be dead by the enemies and I could not do anything to prevent that. We were cornered and they would be surrounding us in no time. The sound of enemies' march echoed through the woods and their torches had lightened the dark parts of the forest.
I could saw their figure even with my crooked vision. They wore nothing on their upper body and there was a tattoo on their right shoulder. With a torch and spear on each of their hands, they were approaching us, fast yet menacing.
My mind raced to find a way for us to escape, but we were surrounded in every direction. I instinctively covered Aria who was already cowering behind me, she was probably experiencing the hurt that accumulated from the wound. We were so helpless at the moment and it felt like a countdown to our horrible fate.
"This is for the killing of our men!" one of them shouted as he initiated a throwing stance. With one quick but powerful movement, the spear flew from his hand towards us in high velocity. I made an effort to avoid it but resulted in both of us fell from our feet and laid on our back.
We were wringing when someone shouted, "Again!" the spear onslaught continued without mercy and I had to force her to move when dodging them. We quickly found ourselves to be cornered when she unexpectedly whispered something.
"Let's jump."
"What!" I replied instantly. Hesitation overwhelmed me when I looked at the height of this hill, but I knew she was right, we got nowhere else to go.
"This is our last chance!" her whisper became more intense. I looked at the incoming men one more time before turning to her again and nodded. We immediately stood from our position and prepared to do the big jump. I was shaking to look below but her hand was holding mine firmly, reassuring my hectic mind.
Don't hesitate, I repeated it in my mind.
"Let's finish our promise," she said softly. Even though I didn't see her face when she uttered that, I could imagine the graceful smile she had at the moment. My hand clenched tighter and so was hers, then we took off from that narrow hill straight onto the sea.
The sounds of spears flew through above me, yet I feared none of those. Heavy winds were slapping my face as we descended onto the water surface and my stomach felt ill from the height. My heart was racing because of the falling speed and I screamed dearly for my life. Our hold remained steady yet Aria was screaming hysterically too beside me.
The direction of our fall was very close to the edge of the hill and that was the moment I realized something terribly wrong.
The sea waves pulled back from the edge and things were waiting for us down there.
Mounts of sharp-looking rocks presented themselves, and we were heading straight onto them.
It was inevitable. I couldn't do anything.
All of my senses slowed down. My mind slowly faded as Aria's screamed harder when she noticed too.
It was our incoming end. Our demise.
I suddenly pictured what would happen when we reached there; our bodies would break and then...
Blank.
Was this what facing death felt like? It was unsurprisingly... hopeless.
We were so close to the rocks, yet I felt numb.
And then, the imminent came.
BAMM!
Everything went blank and thus I drown, deep into the darkness of saltwater.