COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 29: The White Flowers (Part 2/3)

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There's only five parts left after this! 

I'm going to miss you guys like an eerie theater full of silent spectators. :(

Wait. That's just a normal movie theater.

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          Truvius seized, feeling the silver eyes of his friend spear into him.

          "Go!" 

          One of the metal earth carriages rolled up to the pale stone walkway, it's skin a lustrous black that dazzled the light better than even dragon spit. He backed away as a blonde woman came out of it, her gaze anything but friendly as she stared at him while Káel yelled.

          The strange man had saved Káel from the winter tree. Was that a bad gesture?

          Earthlings really were strange.

          Truvius caught Vera's nod. One of them just needed to be holding the branch, while another cast a big enough spell to kill the lumience crystal. The problem was dodging the tree's whipping branches to get a hold of it.

          Vera passed him, diving away from a thick branch that tried at her ankle and scooping up the large branch. She scampered away from the tree's reach, too distracted signalling Truvius to notice the bulky man that had closed in behind her. 

          She lobbed the branch in his direction before the bald man seized her arms, its awkward size landing it four skips away. Four skips too many as Truvius saw the shadow take his side, ducking away from a second bald man that tried to grab his arms.

          "Someone's chasing you, just run! I'll be fine!" 

          Truvius hesitated as he caught Káel's gaze again, his deliberate words clicking. His majesty Elisious Aeric did not waste words, he had mentioned the house for a reason. 

          Help was at Káel's house.

          He set an ice seal in the grass, dodging the swiping hands of the man as his foot froze over. With his little burst of stamina he joined Talli's side, voice low as he ordered her to run to Káel's house. They fled across the road, not even halfway to safety when Truvius felt his lungs constrict, the familiar fiery pain swarming his chest with every new breath as his feet slowed. 

          They had never healed properly, and he cursed that fact every time he had to pick up the pace. But unlike before when he had to flee, Talli was right beside him, snatching his wrist to rip his legs back into a leaping sprint. His body had no choice now, all he had to do was gasp past the ripping bite while Talli  sprinted for Káel's strange home, a blessing in disguise that distracted him from the strange town.

          Talli made quick work of the flimsy iron gate around the house, stopping at a white painted door, a bulbous silver nub the only handle he could see. Talli tugged and pushed on it, her efforts ending in a sharp crack as the whole device slid out, paying the damage a small wince as the door slowly swung inwards.

          "D-d-d-did I break it?"

          Truvius frowned between heaving gasps, breathlessly shaking his head as he waved Talli into the strange house. It was simple on the inside, emptily decorated, and set to boring bright shades of grey. 

          Truvius pulled in a painful breath, hacking up a cough as he looked around the empty setting. Trying to draw his curiousity from the trinkets littering a waxy counter at the center of the house, and the strange pipe with levers sitting over a deep metal basin.