Page 344 of Alchemised
“No—you’re still alive—I’ll fix this if you just—” She tried to pull her hand free.
“Stop,” he said more forcefully, pulling her close and making her look at him, at his gaunt, nearly skeletal face. “Listen to me. You have to get out of here before anyone realises. I’ll help you. I think I can last that long. Get Lila, take her far away, where Cetus—Morrough—whatever he is, can’t find her. She won’t leave if I’m still alive.”
“She won’t leave if you’re dead, either. You’ll come with us. We’ll all go. I’ll heal you, and then—”
Luc swallowed hard. “She has another—another Holdfast to protect. Not me—anymore.”
Helena shook her head. “Luc, don’t do this to me.”
“I’m sorry. It shouldn’t be you, but it has to be.”
She tried to touch him again, to push his life back where it was seeping out through his skin.
“We have to go now.” His voice rose, hard and commanding. He shook her as if trying to startle her into compliance. “Get Sebastian up. People will notice if he’s not with me.”
She stared at him, before looking to Sebastian lying in a pool of blood.
“Y-You want me to use necromancy?”
“We have to leave together,” Luc said, the remaining traces of colour draining from his face as he pushed himself up, strapping on his armour. “Get him on his feet.”
Her heart was in her throat as she closed the wounds on Sebastian, regenerating only as much as was necessary, and brought him to his feet. She had learned her lesson reanimating Soren. She was careful and brought back only a shadow.
He stood up, blank-eyed. Empty. She put his armour back on to hide the blood.
She braced herself as she looked towards Luc.
Luc sat looking at his last paladin with open grief, but when his eyes rested on her, there was only that same sadness. “You’ve always done the worst things because of me.”
The words cut her to the quick. She should have known. She should have known Luc better, enough to know he wouldn’t turn on her like that. He was too faithful.
She drew a harsh breath. “I promised I’d do anything for you.”
She helped him stand, and he pulled her closer, into a hard hug. His chin resting on the top of her head.
Helena’s eyes were burning. His armour dug in through her uniform hard enough to leave bruises behind. His hand clutched at her shoulder as he caught his breath and opened the door.
He straightened as they walked out. The warehouse was mostly abandoned; only a few of the uninjured lingered, waiting for Luc. Everyone was blood-spattered; they barely noticed the fresh blood on Luc or Sebastian. They all stood at attention.
Luc walked with his head high, shoulders squared, his shrunken frame naturally falling into the posture he’d been raised to assume.
“Sebastian and I are heading out,” he said. “You all stay here; this is a solid base, and we need it to remain defended. If we can’t recover Headquarters, we’ll depend on places like this for our forces to fall back to.”
“But—” one of the soldiers started.
“Those are my orders,” Luc said. Beads of sweat formed along his temples, and Helena could feel him wavering, fading away, that cold energy seeping into the air around him. “Sebastian, with me. Marino, you too.”
They made it up one street and around a corner into a narrow alley between two towers before Luc’s legs failed. He was too heavy for Helena alone; Sebastian had to catch him, dragging him out of sight.
Luc sank against the wall, his breath shallow as he blinked up at the little bits of sky visible overhead between the towering buildings.
“Is it dawn?” he asked, his voice almost wondering.
Helena nodded. “First light.”
He exhaled. “We were—going to see the world together, remember?”
His fingers scrabbled to find hers, his eyes still on the sky.
