“Come now, Sentinel, don’t be like that,” Ory teases with a mock pout.
“Next time, maybe start with all that polite shit instead of an attack, see if it gets you pleasantries and introductions,” I snap, tired of this back and forth.
I want to leave, but the Chosen marks on my Shields have put a wrench in that plan. If they don’t want to let all of us go, we could fight our way out. But even if we did manage to get out of here uninjured, would they leave their barrier to come after us? There are a lot of unknowns floating around, whether we stay or go.
I look back the way we came and catch Suryn’s grip on her katana tighten. I tense, not sure what the best plan is here. Fight and risk someone getting hurt or maybe worse? Go with them and risk probably the same thing? I activate the runes behind my ear.
“What should we do guys? We can bail and probably fight our way out of here, or we can go with them and hope for the best.”
“If we try to leave and they call reinforcements, we could be in trouble,”Sabin states.
“If we go with them, then we’ll definitely get outnumbered, and we could be in trouble,”Valen counters.
“Maybe doing what they want will buy us some good will though. I mean, if we’re potentially fucked with both options, then let’s catch more flies with honey,”Ryker points out.
“Fuck, I’m sorry guys,”I tell them.
“This isn’t on you, Bruiser. We were all hoping this would work out better than it is,”Bastien reassures me.
“I mean, I hate to be that guy who’s all optimistic right up until he gets killed, but maybe the feathered fucker is right and we all just got off on the wrong foot,”Valen adds, and I smile at his nickname for that Ory dude.
“Okay, so we go with them?”I ask, making sure we’re on the same page.
Unanimous yeses fill my mind. I disengage my runes and turn to Sorik and my Shields. “You guys good with us extending some unearned cooperation?”
They’re quiet for a moment.
“I’m cool with whatever keeps us from being dead,” Becket adds, and the others all shrug their agreement.
“Your mother was levelheaded and compassionate. I think we might find more of that amongst her people than what our current company is showing,” Sorik adds.
I keep mylet’s fucking hope soto myself and turn back to the feathered fucker and the grumpy redhead.
“So take us to your Sovereign then,” I capitulate.
I just fucking hope we can withstand whatever shit they may throw at us.
“Right, then…” Ory agrees, clapping his hands together and spreading his massive gray and tan wings.
One other Sentinel in his group who also has wings does the same thing.
Are there runes that can give you those?
I chase away my curiosity about it like an old lady chases cats out of her house with a broom. I will not envy this douche. Fuck his wings. I pull my internal broom out again when my thoughts conjure up this old show about immortals Beth used to watch. No, brain, we cannot just cut off his head and hope we grow wings.
Sentinels just start taking off into the sky like fireworks. I watch in awe as even the ones without wings just take off like it’s nothing.
How the hell do they do that?
Ory must notice that we’re not suddenly levitating and following their lead. He looks confused. “Do you not fly?” he asks suddenly, like the thought just occurred to him.
The image of all of these Sentinels dropping like missiles out of the sky flashes through my mind.
“Nope,” I respond with a shrug. “You go on ahead and announce our imminent arrival to the Sovereign. We’ll meet you there,” I offer. I doubt they’re that dumb, but it’s worth a shot.
Suryn rolls her eyes at me. “Looks like we’ll be taking the long way,” she announces to the Sentinels that are still on the ground. She looks offended by the fact that she’ll have to walk.
“Go inform the Quorum of what’s happened and that we’re on our way,” she tells the female next to her.
