WeaverWitch

Chapter 3- Running

Vivia stared at the back of her eyelids, her back pressed against the cold stone floor. She was supposed to be sleeping. At least, that's what her pounding skull and the aching purple bags under her eyes told her. But she couldn't- not with the cold dew plastering her skirt to her legs and air so humid that she felt like she was drowning.

And not with the Empress of Marstok slumbering peacefully beside her.

Finally giving in to her restless muscles, Vivia opened her eyes and stretched, staring up at the rough foxfire-covered ceiling above her. Ever so slowly, she shifted around and examined Vaness.

The beautiful Ironwitch, usually so fierce and intimidating, looked sickly and weak in the pale glow of the fungus. Her face was lovely as ever, eyes relaxed and mouth still drawn into her usual half-frown. A long, jagged gash ran down over her temple, stopping by the edge of her right eye. The area was swollen and lumpy, uncovered except for a lock of her long brown hair sweeping across the wound. Vivia wanted to touch it, to brush it off Vaness's forehead like she would a sleeping child. But they needed to move.

Vivia grabbed the Empress's bare shoulder, shaking it lightly. "We have to go."

Vaness immediately sat up, her brown eyes blazing and her teeth bared in a snarl. She almost knocked heads with Vivia but stopped at the last moment. She then moaned, clutching her head and hissing as the thin scabs over the cut broke.

Vivia caught her breath, shocked by the Empress's closeness. Blood had started to run down the side of her face, but she was only concerned with the light flush in Vaness's cheeks. The way her eyes held your gaze, warm and questioning, contrary to their usual coldness.

Then reality struck, and the Empress was once more the unwavering young Ironwitch that ruled an entire nation.

"Yes. I must get back... my people..." Vaness started to rise, still holding her bleeding head.

Vivia caught her as her arms buckled and she almost fell back to the floor. "Catch your breath. We have to leave. Some of the group left to find food while you were asleep and have not come back yet. We may have to go without them." They were in a small cave system near the Void Well under Nubreva, after evacuating the under-city. Vivia had controlled the water of the Well and held off the Raider soldiers until the evacuees had escaped, then found Vaness and made a run for it. She kept going until they lost the scumbags and then found another group of survivors that had left in time but got lost. Now, they were even more lost, but Vivia was certain that they were getting closer to the surface- they just had to keep going.

If they didn't, starvation would kill them before the raiders could.

Vaness came to her senses, seeming to remember that she had left Marstok far behind- how long had it been? Time was hard when there was no sun. It felt like weeks, but it was probably only a few days ago.

A young boy, about eleven or twelve, stuck his head around the corner. His face was thin and wasted, streaked with grime and tears. "Sir- sirs- Callum and Lila are back. Ben fell into a ravine-" the boy's voice broke. "They can't reach him, and he hasn't moved."

Vivia rubbed her head, her eyes squeezed shut. This was not the first person they had lost to the tunnels- Mare had gotten lost and the raiders came before they found her.There were only ten or so others left alive now.

Vaness rose, tearing a sleeve off of her dirty white dress and holding it to her head. She had remade the iron shackles around her arms into a few long knives that hung at her waist. She seemed herself again. "Did they find food?"

The boy gulped and nodded. "They found a lot of cave bats. They need you to get them."

Vivia sighed in relief. At least they would not die today. "Good. Is Lilac..." Lilac was Ben's sister.

The boy wiped away a tear, flopping a bit of his brown hair over his long nose. "She won't leave the ravine. We can't get her to move, but she's scaring the bats."

Vaness walked out of the cave, seemingly unmoved by the news, but Vivia could see the slight hunch in her shoulders. Ben and Mara's deaths were getting to her more than she would admit. She had been in a state of shock over these last few days, and Vivia supposed the concussion did not help- but she was coming to.

And the heavenly always had the furthest to fall.