“Can we please slow down a bit? I need a rest.”
“I need to rest,” Davi said, sitting heavily on the dirt track, “please.”
“We don’t have time, Davi,” Tabatha grabbed him by the arm and hauled Davi to his feet again. Everything ached, his head pounded, and his wounds were starting to leak again.
“I can’t-“
“If we slow down, we die,” Tabatha said. She looked over her shoulder as if to emphasise the point of the scouts that would no doubt be tracking them.
They had done the impossible, after all, and stolen the Rathen Archives. Even through the pain, Davi had to smile a little bit.
Proved you wrong, Inath, he thought. Their commander had told them the idea was stupid, that they would both be killed for their troubles. That they were too bullish to see the danger.
“Come on,” Tabatha said, “I’m not letting you die on my watch.”
She wrapped Davi’s arm around her shoulder and pulled him straight. He groaned as pain lanced through his leg. Maybe they hadn’t been killed, but a few wounds were to be expected.
“I’d just come back and haunt you anyway,” Davi remarked, gritting his teeth as he placed one foot in front of the other, “be the worlds worst spirit to you. Break things, make noises-”
“You do that anyway,” Tabatha remarked, “you don’t need to be dead to do it. Now move.”
Davi sometimes hated Tabatha’s order voice. But she had a point, if they stopped, they would both be killed by the scouts. Or worse, they could be taken back to the Queen, tortured for information, and have their bodies thrown into the lake with the man-eating fish in it, never to be seen again.
But it would be so good to lie down. The thought snaked into Davi’s mind, unwelcome. A sign of how bad his injuries were.
“You should-” he started.
“I’m not going on without you,” Tabatha said, “move, soldier. Before I curse the day of following your dumb ideas to a successful conclusion.”
Featured image credit: Patrick Fore on Unsplash
Don’t forget to subscribe to my monthly writing newsletter Writing on Caffeine. Subscribe below to get access to monthly writing advice and prompts!
Enjoy this flash fiction? Check out some of my others below!
Sundown Sky
“Reminds you of home, doesn’t it?” Canath remarked, kicking their legs under them. In front of them, the great City of Naithe burned into smolders, leaving trailing smoke floating high into the sky. The final home of the Regency, defeated. Tanteth gave Canath a look. “I don’t remember as much burning on Evanil,” he remarked.…
This is not a plan
“You said you had a plan for this?! Flying into the port with no approvals is not a plan.” Taelew looked over at his co-pilot. Yivonn was not one for breaking the rules, which is why he hadn’t told her of the plan until they were on the final descent. “I do have a plan,”…
Arrival at Maalek
“Here we are,” their guide announced, “the legendary city of Maalek,” Serene rolled her eyes. The sprawling ruins in front of her did not look anything like the ballads that Kieraj had been singing about for the past week. They seemed old, realistic, and, well normal. Nothing like the soaring towers and gilded halls that…
Alex.J.Cobalt 