Maea was taken away by a man he assumed was her friend. The apothecary arrived and took charge of his companions and Jigano was too distracted by his own blurred vision to catch the brief look she shot him. Just breathing was an effort, though he still didn't feel as bad as his friends looked. Some of his toughness from his old body must have survived the transition, he thought wryly to himself as he mopped his face again, and tended to himself as best he could with his meager supplies. He blinked in surprise as Evie shrieked, following her gaze to the severed head that hadn't been there when he'd left...
He grimaced, the mangled features unfamiliar, but from the lack of blood he would guess it had belonged to an Ascended. A soldier who had died for... what? The snake wouldn't have let Ascended pass through the portal, of that he was almost certain, given how it had reacted to Lucas. But either way, the portal that might have led them to freedom was gone, leaving the barrier in its entirety as their only means of escape.
He sighed, then winced as another cough wracked his shoulder. It was bruised, certainly, possibly cracked, and as Wessex strode into the Spire he blearily saw that Rory was sitting up and looking a bit better after whatever assistance Evie had been able to render. He nodded gratefully to the apothecary before making his slow, aching way to the hunter's side. Crouching wasn't comfortable - nothing was comfortable, when every breath was a burning wheeze - but he managed it. "Can you hold this?" he murmured, offeringRory the end of the roll of gauze and pulling a stretch of the thin fabric out before raising it to his mouth to nip a tear in it so he could rip it apart with one hand and his sharpened tooth. Fashioning a crude sling for his wounded arm he looked around again, feeling his chest tighten as he realized there were still several people unaccounted for. Zariah and the assassin he could live without, but Samuel had gone in, and he hadn't been in the downstairs...
Looking toAmalia and Rory he nodded grimly and then tried to stand, stumbling as another cough wracked his lean frame in the middle of the motion. When he had recovered from the pain that arced from his shoulder at the jostling he finished straightening and pushed his dusty hair back. "Sam's still in there," he said simply. "I can't ask you to come with me... but I can't leave without knowing whether he's..." A glance to Kristopher's severed head spoke volumes, and the bard swallowed blood and snot, trying not to think about how badly he needed a healer. But Kalt had already gone upstairs, so maybe...
Blue eyes burned red with smoke turned to the blond head beside him, and Jigano hesitated, uncertain what to say. To ask the man who had become his closest friend to come with him, possibly into more danger, or to beg him to get to safety... In the end he could do neither, bowing his head and awaiting the decision that Rory came to on his own.
He grimaced, the mangled features unfamiliar, but from the lack of blood he would guess it had belonged to an Ascended. A soldier who had died for... what? The snake wouldn't have let Ascended pass through the portal, of that he was almost certain, given how it had reacted to Lucas. But either way, the portal that might have led them to freedom was gone, leaving the barrier in its entirety as their only means of escape.
He sighed, then winced as another cough wracked his shoulder. It was bruised, certainly, possibly cracked, and as Wessex strode into the Spire he blearily saw that Rory was sitting up and looking a bit better after whatever assistance Evie had been able to render. He nodded gratefully to the apothecary before making his slow, aching way to the hunter's side. Crouching wasn't comfortable - nothing was comfortable, when every breath was a burning wheeze - but he managed it. "Can you hold this?" he murmured, offering
Looking to
Blue eyes burned red with smoke turned to the blond head beside him, and Jigano hesitated, uncertain what to say. To ask the man who had become his closest friend to come with him, possibly into more danger, or to beg him to get to safety... In the end he could do neither, bowing his head and awaiting the decision that Rory came to on his own.
