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Rasali had run. She had run from a fight. She had run from a fight with Kursha of all people. Perhaps she was just being vain, but if he hadn’t been distracted with all of the being shot and stabbed and exploded and whatever, Rasali couldn’t help but believe he’d be laughing at her. She sure felt pathetic herself for taking off like that, but orders were orders and Byakko had told her to run. Of course she wasn’t just running away. If Byakko had explicitly told her to do that, Rasali would have most certainly scoffed and tried to bludgeon Kursha twice as hard.

No, Rasali remembered. It wasn’t just their own lives on the line as rebel agents. The royalists had Kursha, who knew of the Mother Grub’s existence, to say nothing of her defenseless brood.

The caves rattled, then groaned from strain. Dust and pebbles showered down onto Rasali. She coughed and spat and the tunnels only continued to rumble. The rebel base couldn’t take the strain of anymore combatants, especially those as heavily-armed as royal soldiers. Rasali bit her lip and hoped other rebels were having similar ideas. She needed to distract the opponent from her allies, and more importantly, the Mother Grub.

Rasali turned the corner and headed upward. With any luck, Kursha would die in a cave-in and the location of the Mother Grub would go with him.

Rasali all but burst out from the underground. She’d expected the camouflaged escape tunnel to be more heavily sealed. Instead, the gravel and scrub-covered doors shot open with a clamor. Rasali skidded to a stop to briefly survey her surroundings.

The cliffs beneath Rasali rattled a small cascade of dust and rocks down the terrain. Even if she couldn’t see the battle, she could feel it. The discord between her senses gave Rasali a sick feeling of dread and panic. She desperately needed a plan she didn’t have. All she knew was that there was fighting going on inside, more enemy troops were outside, and it all just needed to stop.

Rasali heard a rumbling that was too clear and too mechanical to have come from the underground base. It echoed off the jagged outcrops snaking the surface, but Rasali’s adrenaline-fueled senses managed to pick out a direction to follow. The machine sounded lighter and more agile than most of the all-terrain vehicles driven by the military. She wasn’t expecting a tank full of opponents. If the mystery vehicle turned out to be a royalist agent, Rasali believed she could take them and then their ride. She’d prove to be a better distraction for the enemy if she could maneuver without getting within range of their guns and swords.

Rasali slid down the loose-packed dirt of the hillside in time to see the motorcycle approach. Perfect. What’s more, the motorcycle was headed right for her. She adjusted her grip on her chain.

Rasali steeled herself. As pained as she was from all of the running, her legs were pinned in preparation to bolt. Before she could make her first move, however, the motorcycle slid into a wide, reckless stop. Rasali almost wondered if the visibly harried rider was alright. Then the helmet came off and Rasali gasped.

”A-Aandes..!” Rasali hadn’t been aware of the dryness in her throat until she’d tried to shout. She rushed the rest of the way down the slope to meet her kismesis—slippery rocks be damned.

She touched down in front of Aandes and tossed her chain aside, embracing Aandes fully. She could have cried. She wanted to, but the was all-too aware of the fight going on just beneath the two of them.

She pulled away to look at Aandes, but kept her grip tight on his jacket. His jacket was ripped! Rasali could hardly spare the garment the attention it warranted. There were too many questions. ”What the hell-! Why!?” Rasali channeled all of the energy she’d been prepared to fight with into arranging her words.

”It’s not safe here! The royalists are in the base! You need to leave!”

Rasali looked tenderly up at Aandes, but hardened at the mention of the royalist base. Aandes had gone and gotten himself involved. What was he thinking!? She knew it was ridiculous, but she felt equally upset at Aandes and the idea of more troops. Rasali was struggling to keep her breathing even.

She was dragged over to Aandes motorcycle—oh, his beloved motorcycle. Rasali couldn’t help but wince in sympathy for the poor vehicle. She couldn’t even fathom what he’d done with it for the bike to end up with these kinds of scrapes and dents.

Rasali turned back to Aandes as he lifted a curious device to her face. There was a screen and some faint blinking dots. It was easy enough to see how the thing was supposed to be used. Despite the steady increase in her blood pressure, Rasali was beginning to see the pieces fall into place. Aandes had brought supplies and information. He’d brought a plan. If the moment were any less dire she would have kissed him right then and there. Instead she heaved a shaking sigh of relief. Relief and exhaustion.

The ground rumbled ominously. It was one of the largest explosions yet. If Rasali hadn’t know what was going on she may have mistaken it for an earthquake. She turned quickly to meet Aandes’ eyes, taking his hand as he reached for her.

”I’m fine. I ran out as soon as the drones and that b*****d showed up.” The mention of Kursha seemed to tear a hole in Rasali’s mouth with the way she referred to him. ”There are too many combatants for the tunnels to take. The rest of us should be out shortly. Take the supplies…” Rasali rolled Aandes’ hand palm-side up in her grip and traced a snaking path with her finger. ”Head around the outcropping like this, and up the hill here. It’ll take a while, but keep heading straight. There will be a ledge. You should be able to take your bike under it and inside the cavern. That’s where they’ll be.” The Mother Grub’s brooding cavern.

Rasali looked up at Aandes to make sure he was following what she was saying. Content with her findings, she reached for a TPS system of her own. ”I can go on ahead. The others should be able to regroup with me using one of these, right? One troll out for a stroll shouldn’t draw much attention from the royalists.”

Rasali traced her eyes over the cargo to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything important. Ah! Rasali dashed away from Aandes to where she’d dropped her chain. With the TPS tucked under her arm, Rasali fiddled around with her weapon like it was a blacksmith’s puzzle. With a click one of the padlocks came undone and Rasali was able to retrieve one of the loose links of chain from the end of her flail.

Rasali returned to Aandes and held the link of chain out to him. ”So they know you’re one of the good ones.”

Rasali had never seen Aandes “in the field” before, so to speak. It struck her as strange considering all of the other trolls in her life she’d shared the battlefield with. It tugged at her heartstrings. Aandes was too much of a planner and schemer for this. She could see his thinkpan spinning wildly as he tried to stay on top of the situation.

Rasali breathed in and out through her nose very carefully. She needed to keep it together for both of their sakes. It was the least she could do for Aandes after all of the trouble he’d gone to. Trouble, of course, was an understatement. He’d placed a culling order on his head on the off chance she’d be working shifts at the rebel base that night. Rasali’s breathing tightened in fury. This was totally un-Aandes-like behavior, and while she would have approved of such on any other occasion, it was not okay for him to be putting his life on the line so recklessly like that! Especially not for her. It made Rasali feel sick.

Rasali bit down the grimace that was beginning to form on her face as Aandes took the chain link and kissed her cheek. ”The same to you,” she snapped, more harshly than intended. She pressed her lips together in a firm line as Aandes shakily made his way back to his (ruined) bike. ”…Please.” She amended. Aandes needed to be okay. She couldn’t handle her most precious person getting killed because of her.

Running blindly through the wilderness chased by soldiers, however? That was something Rasali could do. She flicked her TPS device on and watched the surrounding blips come into focus.