The two of them spun around and hit the floor, hard. In his haste, Kre had forgotten that, while carrying Kitalia, their combined width was just a bit more than a standard doorway allowed. The first sound was Kitalia’s head hitting the side of the door jamb, while the second sound following shortly after was that of the door slamming shut, much as the first metal door had. After the impact, their bodies hit the ground and went skidding off in different directions.
His energy drained and his head throbbing from the fall, Kre reached out feebly to where he thought Kitalia lie, hoping to reach her and make sure she was safe.
A low moan came from the opposite direction. Kre started to crawl over but stopped when he heard her swearing up a storm, all directed at him. He backed away slowly, hoping she couldn’t pinpoint his location until she at least had a chance to calm down. He looked around, chuckling to himself at the fact that he still tried despite the darkness.
He decided to risk it and half-scrambled, half-crawled over to Kitalia. His concern for her well-being outweighed the potential worry that she would do him harm for his stupidity. He maneuvered over to where he thought she lie and reached out an arm to grab her shoulder.
“I may have a major head injury,” he heard her say, “but if you do not move your hand immediately, you will be the one who comes closest to death this day.”
It took little more than those words to cause his hand to fly up, recoiling like a spring. “I’m sorry Kit!” he said by way of explaining his faux pax. To be fair, he had no idea where his hand had landed but, also in fairness, he had no intention of asking.
“Are you all right Kit?” he asked, afraid to reach out again.
“Where are we?” she asked, not answering his question.
Kre looked around again, sighing with the repeated realization of the act’s futility. “We’re somewhere in the ruined city, a building of some kind.”
He could just picture Kitalia’s eyes rolling, her head shaking. “That is… unhelpful. I know where we are in general, I just meant where did you bring us to after your insane blind run?”
“You are safe, in this place.” The voice was familiar to Kre, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Who is there?” A scrape of metal against leather indicated the drawing of steel, likely a familiar and comforting act to Kitalia, despite the inability to see.
“Be at peace, child of the land. You have nothing to fear from me.”
There was a brief click and a light began to glow from somewhere opposite the door they had come charging through. Though the light was faint, it felt as bright as the sun to the two youths that had spent so many hours in complete darkness.
“Lady,” Kre called out, recognizing the woman whose hands were cupped, seemingly holding the light. “You led us here.” It was said as a simple statement, one that seemed to sound unsurprised.
Kitalia eyed the two of them suspiciously. One of them, her companion for a few weeks now. The other, a tall, dark-haired stranger in a white dress.
“You know this woman?” There was a sharp edge to her voice. Even someone as unintuitive as Krenthal could tell there was a hint of jealousy there.
He nodded as he looked over at Kitalia. With the light, he could now see the line of blood trailing down from just above her temple. “You’re hurt,” he said, reaching out.
“I am fine,” she responded much too quickly, pushing his hand away. “Nothing to concern yourself over, even though it was your fault entirely.”
“Let me,” the lady called out softly as she seemed to glide around from behind a low table and down a few steps to reach them. She raised a hand to Kitalia’s head, closing her eyes as she did so, remarkably without any physical or verbal protest from the Ylveryan girl.