[Ridge]
Once my two saviors start having coughing fits of their own they give up searching through the rubble. I don't know if they found the Knight and that woman, but if they did I don't have high hopes for them being alive. Otherwise, I wouldn't be the only one being dragged out by their arms.
They must've deemed the state of my foot to be pretty bad, because after dislodging the beam they each grab an arm and start hauling me towards the unblocked exit. My whole body aches, but I'm starting to feel a sense of numbness climbing up my right leg. Is the whole manor fucking collapsing, or was it just that unlucky passage? My body can't take anymore of this, so it better be the latter.
Not only am I hurting externally, my insides are on fire too. Just a few more dizzying breaths of smoke and I might really die. That's what it feels like at least.
The strangers continue to string me along behind them until we cross the threshold of the exit. The grass right outside the passageway is black and the ground is visibly scorched. My stunned mind is operating a lot slower than usual, so I can feel myself slip away within my own mind.
The faint sound of screaming and wailing floats past my ears as if on a summer breeze. Except the breeze is hot, grimy, and carrying smoldering ash along with it.
Stomping and running echos in my brain like heavy thuds, but I can't identify anything about them. In peak condition, I'd be able to tell you a billion things about the person they belong to, and even our situation, just from hearing their footsteps. That's not an option right now though.
All I can do is lay on my back while a pair of strangers drags my broken body across the singed earth. The exposed rocks and pieces of debris scrape against my skin through the tears in my shirt. At this point my clothes are so ripped to shred not even the maid's would use them as rags.
I can definitely smell blood, but who knows if it's mine or someone else's. It could be the unknown Knight's for all I know. As my thoughts shift from the pain to the general situation, I start to fall back into reality.
The two men who dragged me out have stopped, and are conversing heatedly somewhere nearby. I can hear their voices going back and forth, but none of the words make sense. Forget reality, I must still be tripping.
"Fire... much... spreading faste-... move" Come some chopped fragments. It sounds different from before though. Were they speaking another language earlier?
"Can't..." I try harder to focus, "Sword... probably a... rid of-"
That's all I need to hear. There's only one official language in the Empire. It's widely spoken, and the only other languages you come across are found around the coast, where trade invites foreigners.
If you didn't grow up outside of the country, speaking another language, then the only way to officially learn a second language is through schooling. For example, the Academy requires certain knowledge of another language, since the military often deals with other nations.
The Academy offers a wide variety of options, with special classes dedicated to developing fluent, bilingual Knights. The men who saved me are not Imperial Knights. So the MOST LIKELY reason they would be able to speak another language, is if they're foreigners. Now I know my mind is operating particularly slow right now, but now that I'm paying more attention, I'm sure of one thing. The reason I couldn't hear them earlier wasn't because I didn't know what they were saying, but instead they were simply out of range, and I was delirious.
I can understand EVERYTHING they're saying, because I studied Nymour's language for four years.