04: Je veux survivre
The sheer amount of smells assaulting Alexa's nose made her want to heave. This time it wasn't the alcohol, or the exhaustion, or nerves. It was the foul iron-like tang that filled her nostrils and made her mouth water. Her eyes, fixed on Vee's back, flicked to one side just in time to see a lizardfolk's claw pass through a man's throat, saw the burst of crimson spatter out toward her. Frozen for a moment, she stared at the abruptness of death before her terrified eyes met Vee's. Was that pity? Shame? No time to question - they pressed forward. One moment a man lived, the next he was gone. And there was nothing she could do about it.
They'd crept in at sunrise. She knew the plan was for the lizardfolk to surprise the rest - Tallman and his close party were their responsibility, but... Alexa glanced back in time to see that same lizardfolk - or at least she assumed it was the same one - sprout feathers in his gut. She began to turn back - maybe she could help - but Vee put a hand on her shoulder. The lizardfolk were buying them the time they needed to get close. Time that was rapidly disappearing. The spell she started to mutter fell from her lips, the notes on her fingertips drifted uselessly away. A metaphor, she thought drolly, as she continued to follow silently, for all the good she could do in this situation.
At which point' she frowned at Vee's back, 'am I more of a risk to Vee than an ally? Am I just creating more risk?' She shook her head as if trying to shake the idea free. She had helped. She had got them here, she had saved them from Tallman in the first place and no, she hadn't done it the way grandmère or maman would, but she had muddled through and they weren't dead. Yet. They were here in this camp getting rid of the problem, dealing with the problem.
An arrow whistled past Alexa's head. She glanced around. Not the elven woman. "The elf wouldn't have missed," she muttered.
Where was this elf? Where would she be? On top of one of the buildings? Alexa felt she shouldn't want to speak with the woman - they were there to stop Tallman and his people. That included the elf. The same elf who had spared her life. Tapped on the shoulder when they were trapped in the bunkhouse, the elven woman had spared her life and Alexa was not about to forget that. For whatever reason, the woman hadn't done as told, and Alexa wanted to ask her why.
A dangerous prospect, considering the woman could be hidden anywhere regretting that decision by now. Still, Alexa was full of questions: Why work for Tallman? Was it money? Did she come from the Burning Lash? Vee suddenly dashed away from Alexa, pausing just long enough to look through the storehouse window. They were close, now, and from here she could hear the splashing and thrashing of what she assumed were lizardfolk. Calamity everywhere, the smells, the tastes, the sounds...for a moment, Alexa stopped, overwhelmed. Vee had run between the buildings and for a second between seconds Alexa stood, alone, watching the almost beautiful contrast of red on green, seeing the dance between cultures, a dance of death, more similar than she expected it could be...the screams and wails and growls and cries of two peoples saying the same thing:
Je veux survivre.
Even without Vee, for a moment, between seconds, between years she stood, the slide of a claw on a shield, the gurgle of blood in lungs, the exhale of the end. It all drifted away - no, it merged - with the gentle, soothing, frustratingly short refrain of the Song she had been hearing since her seventeenth birthday. One heartbeat, she closed her eyes and ducked under a blade swinging for her head. Another beat and she leaned to the side, watching an arrow trim a lock of her hair. La Chanson was with her as she ran. She could almost feel a note approaching her that she'd never heard before -
A loud, sharp smash pulled her out of her reverie and disrupted the Song. Opening her eyes, she found herself behind Vee once more, held together by notes and luck. The two frowned at each other. Together, they peered around the corner to see Lucas cursing broadly with every word he had told her was not appropriate for a person of status (and more that she stored away for later). Glancing beyond him, her mouth fell open in shock as she watched Spider run for cover.
"Merde."
