Kitalia helped Kre to fasten his bag to his body using a number of long leather straps that she seemed to produce from out of nowhere. When she was finished, he could barely feel the bag on his back despite the weight of it and nothing inside of the bag shifted even as he hopped from one foot to the other.
“If you need,” she instructed, pointing at a short loop of leather near his left shoulder, “yank hard on that and the bag will fall away from you.”
Kre’s mind was too busy coming up with different possible scenarios where he might need to pull on that emergency release to realize that Kitalia was still instructing him.
“…and if you do see something like that, just slash wildly in front of you and keep running.” She looked up at him expectantly, so Kre figured he would nod and smile to let her know he was listening, even though he hadn’t heard it all.
“Lastly, and this might be the hardest for you, but do not stop and do not look back, no matter what you hear.”
“Not even if I see something attack you and need to save you?” He said it as a joke. He expected to hear her snide retort about how she would be the one to do the rescuing.
She looked up at him with a serious expression on her face, which frightened him. Her words terrified him even more. “If one of us is taken down, we are as good as dead. I will not stop for you, so you should not stop for me.”
She held out a small canteen and a badly weathered apple. “Eat and drink this. You will need the energy.”
The apple was mealy but the water in the canteen seemed to be fresh enough to clear out the near-foul taste. Still, despite the poor condition of the apple, Kre ate it as close to the core as he could, knowing that it might be his last meal for a while… possibly, forever.
Bel was waiting for them with her back turned, as if allowing them some small semblance of privacy. It was almost comical to Kre that she might have a thought in her mind that Kre and Kitalia would need privacy. If the mood were not as bleak as it was, he might even have laughed out loudly.
Kitalia gave him one last lookover and nodded, as if satisfied. Kre knew better and wished that she would tell him what he might be lacking. ‘Then again,’ he thought to himself, ‘do I really want to hear her thoughts on how unprepared I am?’
The two of them stepped up behind Bel and Kre tried hard not to let his voice crack as he spoke, “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, I suppose.” He tightened his grip on his new weapon as if to reinforce his own resolve.
“Once I open the door, turn right and simply run and follow the blue lights,” Bel advised them, her tone far too serious for Kre’s liking.
“Right and lights,” Kitalia murmured. “Got it. Anything else?”
Bel turned then and looked them in the eyes. “Yes,” she responded grimly. “Pray.”