Thalia rose to her feet and glanced at both ends of the hallway they were currently trapped in.
Guards were surrounding them on all sides, but they weren’t approaching.
It seemed they were leaving it to the Head Guard, Clevus.
“So lassie, looks like yer up first!
Behold!
I!
Clevus the Courageous!
Will take these prisoners down in the fervor of battle!” Clevus shouts, raising his arms above his head as if to incite a cheer.
The guards murmured awkwardly, and two of them even sighed.
Clevus paid no mind to them, however, and moved into a fighting stance, his hands clenched into fists and arms covering his body.
“You want to fight, old man!?
Then let’s fight!” Thalia agreed.
She then bent down for a split second and whispered into Astra’s ear.
“When he’s distracted, steal the key and knock him out.” He nodded, and she stepped forward, matching Clevus’ position, even copying the grin on his face.
They began to circle each other, both of them trying to get an advantage.
She followed his movements, each one of them waiting for the other to strike as chaos reigned around them.
But Thalia wasn’t known for her patience.
With a forward slide, she jabbed at him, her fist aiming at the side of his body.
The strike was blocked with his forearm, and he nailed her right in the stomach.
The blow forced her to double over, the breath knocked out of her, and a smile lit up her face.
Oh, this is gonna be fun~
“Nice hit, old man.
I was going to take it easy on you.
I’m not one to hit elders, but it looks like you’re no pushover.” She cackles.
“Damn right, youngin’!” He growls, trying a jab at her side.
She sidesteps to the right, and his fist goes flying past her.
She grabs his outstretched arm and heaves him up and over her shoulder, pivoting on her feet and slamming him into the ground headfirst.
He groans in pain, but manages to stand up again.
The ground is cracked where he hit it, and bits of dust and stone flake off from his head.
“It’s gonna take more than that!” He huffs.
Before he finishes speaking, she’s grabbing onto his head and kneeing him in the nose.
Blood pours, and a cracking noise rings through the hall.
As he steps backward, disoriented, she grabs his arm again, and this time she throws him into the wall.
“Hahaha!
Seems ya got a lot of spirit!” He gets up again, wiping the blood away from under his nose.
His grin has taken on a more manic look, and Thalia can feel a bit of dread pool in her stomach.
She likes fighting as much as the next person, but this guy is insane!
He rushes her, and she kicks out at him, distracted.
He grabs her leg, spinning her in a circle and then smashing her against the wall.
She groans out in pain and uses the wall as leverage to stand up, head spinning from the dizzying affair.
She shakes her head to try to clear it, blinking in surprise when a fist suddenly comes into view.
She turns her head at the last moment, and he punches her cheek, throwing her violently to the ground again but missing its previous target, her nose.
“Agh…damn.” She spits out some blood and a tooth, wiping the blood and spit away from her mouth.
A kick is aimed toward her middle, but she rolls out of the way, using the momentum to jump to her feet once again.
“Ya ready to finish this lassie!?” Clevus stretches out a hand, beckoning her forward.
“Yeah, bring it!” She replies.
Her eyes subtly shift over his shoulder, meeting Astra’s.
He’s holding onto the key; she nods, and he returns the gesture.
“Sir!
Watch out!” One of the guards calls out, but it’s too late.
Astra reaches up with one of his talons and slams Clevus’ head to the ground…hard.
There’s a crack in the floor and everything.
Thalia winces, but she doesn’t have time to think about how bad it must’ve hurt.
“Let’s go!” She shouts, scooping up Rubio again as he struggles to get up.
“Hey!” He cries out in protest, but she ignores him, unwilling to see if his leg would be a hindrance.
Astra leaps out in front of them, straight into the middle of the guards.
He falls forward onto his hands, and for a second, Thalia thinks he’s been caught already.
But then, his talons begin swinging through the air in complex movements, slashing and pushing at the guards; it’s like a whirlwind clearing their path.
When he’s done, he pushes up from the handstand and dashes forward.
“What are you staring at!?
Come on!” He calls out to her, and she shakes herself out of her reverie.
They race past the groaning guards and toward the stairs.
When they get halfway up, Astra extends the key out; as soon as it makes contact with the barrier, it stutters out, disappearing.
They rush through, but at the top of the stairs three more guards are waiting.
Astra sweeps the first two with his talons, and Thalia grabs the last one by the shirt, pivoting in place and tossing them down the stairs where they conveniently smack into another guard that was chasing them up.
Oh, and look at that.
It was the guard she locked in their cell.
They both go tumbling down the stairs, and the barrier locks firmly in place again.
“Well, that was certainly a riot.” Thalia huffs, grabbing Rubio and lowering him off her shoulder.
She watches as he carefully puts weight on his cut leg.
It doesn’t seem too bad anymore as he’s able to walk on it just fine.
“What are you standing around for?
We need to leave before more guards come.” Astra clicks his tongue, and Thalia rolls her eyes.
“Right then!
Let’s go!” She smiles to herself as she pushes both of them forward, legs pumping in a dead sprint.
“Hey!
Don’t touch me!” Astra slaps her hand away, but he continues running alongside her.
Rubio only sighs at their antics.