Valkyrie (Complete)

5: Escape

Her heart is still heavy in her chest at the loss of her father, but she pushes it to the back of her mind. She has bigger problems right now, like escaping the dungeon that she and her teammates are currently imprisoned in. She didn't even know that her land had a dungeon.

"We don't," Phoenix mutters. "We aren't on Eikonidia territory anymore." She gives him a confused look and an amused smile appears on his face. "You talk out loud when you're flustered."

She gapes slightly at him. "Have I always done that?"

He nods. "The only time you don't is when you're fighting, which is good because otherwise you would blurt out your whole attack to your opponent and they would win." He laughs as her cheeks turn pink.

"I don't remember coming here at all," she murmurs. "How am I supposed to figure the way out if I don't even know where we are?"

He glances at her before continuing his pacing around the room. "You were pretty out of it on the way here," he agrees. "You didn't wake up once during the entire ride, which was shocking since we were thrown around a lot."

"We were?" She frowns.

"Yes. They were only that harsh with the Mauliks though, so most of our people are fine. In fact, they left everyone else back at the village with some of their soldiers. We're the only four they took with them."

"So the other Mauliks must have found a way to escape?"

Kaj looks over from his seat against the wall, a grimace on his face. "They found an escape alright, but not willingly. They fought as long as they could."

She gasps, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. "They're all dead?"

The other three nod sadly. "They died heroes."

The thought of all the people who taught her- all her teachers, professors, trainers, all of them- dead is hard to bear, but she refuses to cry anymore. She is strong and she pushes all of her emotions away. They simmer down until its a silent fury, running through her body as blood runs through veins. She suddenly cannot wait to escape, though she isn't sure how yet.

"We need a plan," she says suddenly. "Do you three know the way back to Eikondian land?"

They glance at each other before nodding slowly. "The general direction, yes," Eira says.

She smiles slightly. "Good. Now, rest up. We're going to need all the strength we can get if we're going to break out of here."

Eira and Kaj curl up beside each other almost immediately, leaning on each other as they fall asleep. They're out quickly and soon soft snores fill the room. She looks over at Phoenix only to find his eyes on her.

"You should sleep," she says.

"I should," he agrees, but makes no effort to move. "You know, I was really worried on the way here. They were the harshest with you, like with the metal bindings instead of rope, because they know you're more powerful. It's going to be difficult to get out of here. There are probably guards and soldiers everywhere."

She nods. "I know."

"And you aren't nervous?"

She pauses to think about it for a moment, but can't find any shadow of doubt in her mind. "No, not really. I know we'll make it."

"How do you know?"

She shrugs. "Because we're a team."

"Someone could get hurt or die."

"But we won't."

"But how do you know?" He stresses the last word, and she realizes that he is nervous, maybe even frightened.