Hhhn… do you ever get a plot bunny that absolutely refuses to leave until you get it out on paper? Derailed a lot of my writing yesterday and today, let me tell you. In good news, I know exactly who’s at fault - and maybe it will even one day see the light of day. Anyway! A relatively short one this time, with a tiny bit of more context for David’s condition in Breaking

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There were six of them left, six more resting in hastily-dug graves with hastily-left memorials.

The world around them was shaking, ground unsteady as they ran, the white-hot breath of dying magic at their backs.

They ran.

There was no time for anything else, no time to think, and all they could do was hope that everyone they loved had made it out of the city before that. Still – was it enough? How far would this calamity spread?

They ran.

The horses must have escaped some time during the ritual, or perhaps were devoured by the demons that came during it.

So they ran.

Somewhere higher up the mountain, a rumble announced the impeding disaster. Ben looked around – at Audrey in her fashionably impractical dress, at Lucas with his short legs, at Kira’s bear that kept shaking his head, disoriented, at David who’d suddenly lost his wings, at Remi hastily shedding her armor. He looked, and slowed his steps and wasn’t sure they could make it.

Another wave hit that Ben didn’t feel, but saw in the way Remi winced and Audrey gasped, clutching at her chest. David stumbled and fell – and didn’t get up.

They stopped. Despite the danger growing near, despite every instinct telling him to run, Ben dropped to his knees by David’s side, Remi mirroring him.

David groaned, his teeth gritted in a valiant attempt not to show pain. Remi touched his leg lightly and he jerked, another cry escaping him as this time everyone heard a cracking sound.

“It’s broken,” Remi breathed out. Her face showed the devastation of some realisation, and Ben wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew David could walk no further.

He grabbed David and hoisted him over his shoulder – not gently enough, not gently at all. Something else cracked, and Ben felt a sob-sigh on his throat, a hand gripping at his belt. He ignored it, straightened up – there was no time to figure it out, no time to make David comfortable.

They ran.

Ben could only hope that once they got to safety, he wouldn’t be carrying a seventh corpse.

“Did it even work?” Kira panted. “Will the seal hold up?”

No one answered. Ben wondered if anyone even knew – the one person who could have told them the truth buried under the cathedral, nothing more than a scribbled name and a pair of bracers on an improvised tombstone.

Ben already missed him.

The clouds gathered – rapidly, ominously. Rain started falling, and it burnt Ben’s skin, and all he could think of was to sling his cloak over David’s body to save him from even more pain.

Would the seal hold up? Ben didn’t know.

Even if it did, he wasn’t sure it was worth it.