Just as she had finished comforting Peter, the chaos ensued.
It started with the blast.
An explosion erupted on the east side of the camp, sending Peter and Alice falling forward onto the snow-covered ground.
With her ears ringing and her head spinning, Alice struggled to lift herself from the ground, unaware of what had just occurred.
She saw Peter’s hand reach for her own, his mouth moving like he was saying something.
But she couldn’t hear a thing.
Peter seemed to repeat the phrase, but once again, Alice had no idea what he was saying.
Finally, her hearing seemed to come back as Peter finished repeating what he said.
“...you alright?” was all Alice heard.
Slowly nodding, she gripped his hand as they ran over to the others. Her head was still spinning, and she was shaking as if she still felt the shock waves throughout her body.
“What’s going on?” she breathlessly asked the group, but no one offered an answer.
Alice saw Skylar’s eyes move in the direction of the blast, and she looked over at it as well. Emerging from the smoke and destruction was an entire squad of soldiers.
“We need to go,” Skylar’s voice was filled with the classic confidence Alice had come to admire whenever Skylar made a decision for the group, “Now.”
However, Peter seemed to have other ideas.
“They’re taking the butcher!” he shouted, pulling Alice and himself away from the others towards where the soldiers were arresting the butcher they had seen earlier while the chaos continued.
As shouts from the others were drowned out by the sound of panicked screams, flames roaring, and soldiers shouting orders, Peter ran over to where the butcher was being taken into custody with Alice in tow.
“Peter,” Alice protested as they slowly got closer and closer to where the soldiers were. What if they recognized them? She couldn’t be stuck in the hands of the Dueglesteiners again.
“Peter,” she tried again, but he didn’t seem to hear her. “Peter!” Alice finally shouted, halting him in his tracks.
“We can’t let them see us,” she told him firmly, gripping his forearm as best she could with the thick fabric of the coat he was wearing. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.”
“He has a family,” Peter looked over at the man, who now had his hands tied behind his back as he was being led away from the carnage of the camp. “We can’t just leave him alone.”
“But we can’t help everyone,” Alice reminded him, remembering what Adalene had only told her the night before. “As much as it hurts, we have to stay put for now. We can’t help him if we’re in prison, too.”
Peter’s face was still conflicted, but eventually, he relented. They watched in silence as the butcher was taken away.
“Hey!”
A hand gripped Alice’s arm and pulled her away from Peter, and as she whipped around, she found that it was a soldier.
“What’re you kids doing here?” he demanded.
No. No, no, no. No, she couldn’t let them take her away again. Panic gripped her heart as she tried to wrench herself out of the soldier’s grip.
As Peter stepped forward to help, the others arrived and drew their weapons, quick to jump on the guard.
Thunk! Was the sound of Skylar’s bo staff against the man’s head, sending him dropping to the ground. But soon, more soldiers arrived.
“Hey, it’s the kiddies that are wanted!” someone shouted, and Alice quickly drew her dagger from its place in her coat.
They were standing in a circle, awaiting the men to arrive. It had been a while since they had stood and fought some of the soldiers, and Alice hadn’t missed it one bit.
Before a guard could make his way to where Alice stood, a blur of color passed in front of her vision as Luke jumped in front of her.
He immediately began to battle the soldier, leaving Alice in a state of shock. She could’ve stood her ground, but he just…jumped right into the danger.
Although Luke was always quick to protect and his compassion was one of the greatest in the group, Alice had never seen him do this sort of thing before. Especially for her.
She could expect he’d do this for Skylar, or maybe even Richard who was like his brother, but never Alice. They weren’t that close.
So…why would he do that?
Blinking herself out of her thoughts, Alice prepared herself for another soldier. She quickly swept his legs out from under him, a move Skylar had taught her and knocked him over the head with the hilt of her dagger to keep him down.
Soon, though, it seemed like the number of soldiers was becoming overwhelming.
Where did they all come from? She hadn’t seen any bustling about in the camp, so had they been waiting for them since the moment they arrived?
Whatever had happened, things had begun to go south. And Luke was beginning to wear down.
His coat arm was ripped and dripping blood, and his nose was bleeding.
But he kept fighting. He kept jumping in front of his other friends, trying his best to protect them even if they didn’t particularly need it.
That was when Alice saw Adalene roll her shoulders, pop her neck, and fight as she had never fought before.
Without any fear for the soldier’s safety, Adalene began slashing and stabbing anyone who stood in her way, bodies falling to the ground as she went. It was scary to watch her, all those years of practice and war creating the fighter Alice saw before her eyes.
Finally, with only three soldiers left, the rest of the men ran before Adalene could catch up to them, filled with the same fear Alice held.
Panting from the battle, Adalene looked back at the others, her expression hard and her cloak splashed with blood.
“Zey are gone.”
A little blood trickled from her nose, a similar thing that had happened back when they were with the Rising Sun. But back then, Alice had no idea what that meant.
Now, she knew.
Adalene was becoming weaker by the day.
But it was Luke that everyone seemed to be concerned about. And when they were away from the camp and safe from the danger, Skylar was furious...
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