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July•4•xxxx
Tah Min had hidden away just as the mob broke through the doors to her chambers. As soon as they were far enough within her chambers and most of them were busting through the windows to follow Yiran, she took the opportunity to slip out of the doors to the chambers. She sprinted down the halls as fast as she could, her destination, the main tower. If she could get to the tower, she would have a vantage point, from which she could push back the mob.
She ran until her lungs were on fire and her legs felt as heavy as lead. By the time she got to the tower, she was desperately trying to climb the stairs. She paused for a moment, heaving as she spat out more blood that pooled in her mouth. She looked up the stairs in exhaustion, there was seemingly no end to them, but she knew she had to reach the top and so she trudged on.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Yiran and Ea's group had arrived at the top of the tower first. They entered the large circular room to find it empty, save for the giant statue at the end of the room.
"Tah Min isn't here..." noted Ea.
By now, they could hear the mob clamouring up the stairs, their screams getting closer and closer as they forced their way through the Solarian soldiers that had followed the group when they spotted them running towards the tower.
"It's okay. As long as they think she is, we can lure them up here and start chipping away at them. This is the only logical place for her to run to." Yiran pointed to the large statue of a phoenix deity that towered behind them. "Behind that statue is a set of runes that only the Priestess can activate. If she does, it will enclose the entire room inside walls of sacred flames. It was a precautionary mechanism put in place when she first became a Priestess. People were scared that she would get kidnaped since the Continental War was still going on in Targaera and we knew they were looking for priestesses, so we took measures to make sure that she would still be protected in the event of an emergency...I didn't think we'd have to use this room like this though."
Ea glanced at the statue. It was tall and certainly imposing, but there was something in its calm golden eyes that filled him with reassurance. He turned back to the entrance to the room. Ea could see the silhouettes of his soldiers falling and the mob rounding the corners as they finally reached the top of the winding stairs. The first person to reach the top was none other than the guards that Ea had overheard.
"Where's the whore?" Spat one guard.
Ea recognized him to be the one who boasted about how Tah Min deserved to be executed and now this man had the nerve to call her a whore. He felt his blood boil yet he held his tongue, not wanting to provoke them further. It seemed as though he wasn't the only one to have had a rather grim change in expression. Beside him, Yiran's level-headedness visibly began to crumble as he glared at the guard. The older guard from the group Ea overheard, pushed passed his junior and stepped in front of the crowd.
"I apologize for my junior's crass language Your Highness, General Yiran. My name is Vaera, If I may, I would like to ask you a question," Vaera asked with a bow.
Ea's tone was ice cold and filled with dark rage. "Speak."
"We are searching for Priestess Tah Min. It has come to our attention that she has broken her vows. As per the law, we will have to execute her. The sooner the better."
"This is utterly ridiculous! You know Tah Min, We've all seen her grow up and you would have her executed over such pathetic rumours!" Yiran exclaimed, voice shaking in frustration.
Vaera's junior piped up again. "Rumours? We have several witnesses! You—"
Vaera cut him off before he angered them even more than he already had. "With all due respect General, you should know what our traditions are. The quicker we do this, the lower the risk of us angering the Gods. This isn't just for us either. Now that she's been tainted, we can't have her corrupting our sacred grounds, but it's more than that, we must free her from her suffering."
Ea's finger's tightened around the hilt of his sword. "Such impudence. You would slaughter an innocent woman to uphold such a twisted ideal?"
"...forgive me Your Highness, but this is our custom. We must see it through no matter what. Even if you are the Dragon Queen's son...we will not hesitate to cut you down if you stand in our way."
The crowd erupted into a fit of whispers, prompting Vaera's junior to snap at Ea once more. "It's fine, we won't be punished for killing a half breed. Don't you know, his divine blood is tainted with the essence of a lowly nymph." He raised his sword, brandishing it before Ea. "Our swords are and always will be devoted to the Phoenix Throne of this Summer Isle. Who is your sword devoted to? You should think about that before you dare to bare your fangs at the wrong people. One day, someone with claws as long and sharp as yours will tear that arrogant head right off of your shoulders."
The air around Ea seemed to ignite as he unsheathed his sword. "Is that someone supposed to be you? Come then. When your family asks what happened to you, I'll be sure to tell them just how you cried when you were killed by this arrogant half breed."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Tah Min's head was spinning horribly as she curled into the small crevice beneath the staircase. She wasn't sure if it was because of the blood loss or because she had been hyperventilating. When she heard the mob quickly closing the distance between them, she had pushed herself up the stairs, adrenaline rushing through her veins. She had fallen when her vision began to blur and fade to black. She tumbled to the ground, slamming into what she thought would be the wall, but in a stroke of luck, she ended up rolling straight into a sectioned off compartment of the tower that was hidden from the rest of it.
She stayed in the hidden compartment, catching her breath as the mob continued upwards. When her breathing had steadied and her senses were no longer bombarded with the loud, rapid thumping of her own heart, she took a moment to look around. There were several little sections just like the one she was in, scattered throughout the tower. They were mostly used for storage but judging from the blanket that was haphazardly strewn across the floor and the leftover crumbs trailing into the compartment, someone had clearly been hiding out here.
She assumed that she had stumbled upon Gabriel's hiding place. She silently thanked the Gods she found it when she did, otherwise, she'd have been fodder for her people. The entire time she was hidden, she was spitting out blood that pooled in her mouth and trying to wipe away whatever began to dry on her chin and down her neck. She wasn't quite sure how much blood she had lost at this point but it was definitely enough to make her dizziness worse. It hadn't been that long since she sustained her injury so she knew she still had time before she really began to have trouble.
Tah Min waited until the mob had passed before pushing herself to her knees and crawling out of the compartment. She willed away the call of darkness by repeating "not now, not like this. Keep moving," like an exercise to keep herself conscious. As she stepped out onto the stairs, the strong metallic scent of fresh blood hit her hard, causing her to gag. The blood of fallen soldiers streamed down the stairs and their bodies lined the stairway. Tah Min was stumbling over them as she climbed up the stairs. By the time she reached the top, everything had already erupted into a reign of even more bloodshed and at the center was none other than Ea and Yiran.
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