In that instant Rashen thought,he had kicked Madam Rosaline right in the abdomen with so much force it sent her flying and crashing into her throne,her throne which in turn was pushed back and toppled over with the wooden frame snapping. With the fact that he wore metallic boots coupled with force at which he kicked her he should've assumed Madam Rosaline was either seriously injured or dead but he knew it was neither,he could feel it, that Madam Rosaline was extremely strong.
He turned to face the children who looked far beyond what Rashen could call surprised,they were mortified. His eyes glowing bright red and his flames shooting out his back,they must've thought he was a demon or something,he couldn't blame them. He turned off his flames as he walked towards the Dontei who still laid on the floor,
"Don't touch him!" Lekan snapped, "You stay away from him!" He looked like he was still trying to process what just happened.
Rashen didn't stop however,he knelt down to meet Dontei,
"Stay away from him!" Cried Nunji. Rashen ignored her. He felt the back of Dontei's neck, the area slightly above the chain binding his neck where Madam Rosaline had stepped on with her heels,he knew he needed medical attention. Wether it was a result of his boiling anger or his years of training he didn't know,but he snapped this chains binding Dontei with his bare hands,he repeated this for the other kids who immediately moved towards Dontei checking to see if he was alright, Rashen simply watched them.
Dontei however pushed them off him and forced himself up. He glared at Rashen as he slowly walked towards him, Lekan tried pulling him back but it was to no avail as Dontei rushed at Rashen and began hitting every inch of him he could hit.
"Where's Almyrah? What did you do to her?" He asked with every hit. Rashen didn't respond,he simply stood there and took it. Eventually his exhaustion caught up to him and couldn't keep up the assault on Rashen. Now standing there, staring at the floor with tears in his eyes,tears he didn't want Rashen to see,he asked once more in a tired voice, "Is she okay?"
Rashen placed his hand on Dontei's head,a move which caused every other child in the room to tense up but Dontei didn't seem to care.
"Almyrah is safe." He said so everyone could hear him, "She's been worried about you all. But you don't have to worry about her safety ever again." He said in a voice quite reminiscent of Garle's. Dontei fell to his knees and began to cry loudly,soon after Nunji and Bazey began to cry too and so did some other kids in the room,some tried to hold in their tears but it was far too obvious, only Lekan had managed to hold his perfectly.
"You must be Lekan?" He asked,Lekan nodded,
"Lekan can you do something for me?" He nodded again,
"Some of my friends, the Grittshore Watch are just outside raiding the compound,I want you to lead everyone in the room out to meet them."
Rashen could see very clearly the look of skepticism Lekan was giving him but he simply smiled,
"You can trust the Grittshore Watch, they're with me...and Almyrah trusts me,she made me promise to bring you all safe and I don't want to keep her waiting."
Although it was with some reluctance,Lekan nodded.
"EVERYBODY RUN!!!" Lekan screamed. The children in the hall wasted no time as they all ran towards the door and out the room. Rashen thought Lekan's method was a bit unconventional but it was effective.
Just as the last few kids ran out Rashen heard a groan coming from the other side of the room,he turned to face Madam Rosaline. She clutched her abdomen where Rashen kicked her,her braids were messy once again and she looked absolutely livid.
"An Imperial brat."
"Yes and I'm putting a stop your operation Madam Rosaline. You're under arrest." Rashen could see that she was getting angrier with every word he spoke. She looked frustrated and had completely lost her cool and calm demeanor.
"Almyrah." She whispered to herself before turning to face Rashen, "She told you didn't she? Almyrah told you about me,my operation and my location."
"She did."
"Good." She said, "Then after I kill you and every outsider you brought here... I'll kill her too." She said finally regaining her composure. Rashen clenched his fists,
"Are you going to come willingly or not?" He asked out of obligation but he already knew how it would go down.
"Despite everything that rat told you I'm willing to bet that she didn't tell you this compound was built on extremely fertile soil" Madam Rosaline said with a sadistic smile.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Rashen asked,
"Why don't you come and find out!" Madam Rosaline replied. The floor began to vibrate and crack under her feet, what shot up from the cracks were thick,long vines. Snake-like vines that seemed to be under her control as they surrounded her. Rashen could feel the slight vibration under his feet,the floor cracked open but before the vines could shoot out in full force Rashen flew backwards and landed on the table.
With a simple hand gesture Madam Rosaline sends the malicious vines towards. Before Rashen could make a move,some of the vines gripped the table legs on one end raising that side of the table and leaving him unbalanced as he slid down the other end of the table. The other vines immediately pushed the now flipped table with Rashen on the other side towards the wall. He was quick enough to fly over the table before it slammed the wall hard.
Rashen, hovering thanks to his flames, flew towards Madam Rosaline but before he could reach her more vines shot out from the floor and lashed at him. Rashen dodged the vines, weaving through them mid air still trying to get to Madam Rosaline,his luck unfortunately runs out as one of the vines hits him across the face. He could feel multiple vines wrapping themselves around his waist. The vines slammed him to the floor hard, then to the ceiling head first before dragging him through the walls of the room.
Disoriented, Rashen produce fire from his back,so he uses his hands. He grabs the vines and tries to burn them to free himself but his flames were too weak to have much of an immediate effect. He eventually burns the vines holding his waist and frees himself,the vines are relentless however, they lash out at him once more but Rashen evades them. It was getting harder to dodge the vines as they had now half filled the room.
In the process of dodging another vine he is almost hit straight in the head by another vine in his blind spot holding the broken table leg. Under Madam Rosaline's impeccable control some of the vines had broken the table to pieces and now hid amongst the others waiting for the perfect chance to land a hit. Rashen, frustrated, increased his flame output from his outgrowths and began to twirl mid air creating what seemed to be a fire twister. It doesn't do much of anything though as one of the vines holding a piece of the broken table landed a hit on him square in the face.
Rashen falls face first on the floor but immediately gets back up fearing that he might be caught in another waist hold. He thought that it might be easier to reach Madam Rosaline on the ground where the vines are shooting up from than in the air where they're attacking him. He begins to run through the stems and quite easily too. Madam Rosaline noticed this too and began trying to summon more vines but within the time range it takes for the vines to shoot up, Rashen had already crossed the distance between them and only using his flames for a speed boost to get close enough to her before landing another kick,this time to the face that sends her flying to the wall.
Rashen blasted towards her wasting no time to land another hit that hopefully knocks her out but before he could get to her that vines finally got a hold of him around the waist. Rashen had made the mistake of hitting Madam Rosaline without knocking her out because she was injured and angry and now that she's caught him she won't be making the mistake of allowing him to free himself.
The vines curl tightly around his arms around legs, another curls around his neck and begins to choke him slowly. His tan face turned redder and redder with every passing second. The vines only got tighter with each exhalation causing him to lose oxygen faster. He tries flaring his flames once again but since he was losing so much oxygen they immediately die out.
Every attempt to break free from the vines were futile but he kept trying,he wasn't ready to die,not yet.
"Look at you." Madam Rosaline said. "Where's all that bravado you had before when you talked about bringing me in? And now in the face of death here you are squirming and struggling like a rat caught in a trap." She taunted.
"You're going to die. A truly pitiful end."
The vines got tighter to the point where Rashen couldn't even struggle anymore as tears filled his eyes,his face completely red with veins popping. A memory came to mind,he was seven years old, laying on the floor and bleeding out from the head as he waited for the sweet relief of death.