A gem shining with fury

“… oh no, not you-” Opal didn’t exactly catch what the other had muttered under her breath, but what mattered was that, after those few mumbled words, in the space of an instant, Celsian’s entire demeanour shifted. She was smiling, but it was something cold and sharp that didn’t reach her eyes, which were scarily serious and focused, flittering around the space of the cathedral to assess the danger and find escape routes. “I can’t say this is exactly new, but I compliment the theatrics and deployment of forces. All very dramatic, I must admit.”

Opal found herself shuddering at her tone, which was piercing with its frigidity and forced amusement, making Celsian seem another person – although, Opal supposed, it wasn’t like she could say she knew all of her facets or anything like that. They hadn’t even spent a whole day together yet, after all –. In any case, the situation must’ve been way more difficult than what she could understand, if the other was reacting like that, even though Opal couldn’t even begin to imagine how was it possible that Celsian broke into the literal royal castle, in the middle of the morning – she had told Opal that at night the palace would’ve only been more guarded, but in Opal’s humble and unprofessional opinion it was still pure folly –, and successfully escaped with a newly appointed Saviour in her arms and a smile on her face, but went rigid and worried at the idea of fighting a bunch of knights and escaping from a cathedral. Surely that couldn’t be worse than what she pulled off at the castle? Surely she had a plan that time too? But maybe, Opal thought, that was a puzzle of which she still lacked too many pieces.

“I was sure you would be capable of appreciating our efforts” the lady knight commented with dry humour. She was now advancing towards the two of them, while the guards remained outside of the perimeter of the cathedral, keeping a vigilant eye on its exits.

“Of course, who do you take me for?”

“You do not really want to hear the answer to that question, Celsian.” Since she was getting closer, Opal could see that her sword wasn’t shining, per se, but there was a purple, resplendent gem nestled in the blade that gave that impression. Was that her soul stone?

“It was a rhetoric question, buddy, a rhetoric question! Ever heard of them?”

The lady knight’s expression twitched slightly, like water being rippled by a drop falling into it. “I guess I was too busy with my training, you know how it is.”

“Ah, Ametrine dear, I always tell you you should take some time off” Celsian replied easily, with strokes of familiarity colouring her words, as if it was some sort of line from a script.

And, right then and there, it suddenly clicked. Those two knew each other. Had known – and disliked, evidently – each other for quite some time, if the way they spoke and behaved towards one another was of any indication. Was Celsian so wary because she knew Ametrine’s power and deemed it dangerous? Was it something unrelated? Opal briefly wondered if Ametrine was even there for her or just to arrest Celsian. It didn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities.

“I will take some time off when you will be safely behind bars.” The lady knight was now alarmingly close.

“Oh, Ametrine, so harsh!” Celsian exclaimed. In the same breath, however, she grabbed her satchel and Opal’s hand, making those stone branches of hers extend again and envelop them both around their middles.

She tried to put some distance between them and the floor, but Ametrine had been observing their every movement with a watchful eye since she’d first put foot in the cathedral – or, well, since she’d slammed its door open – and surged ahead, slashing the rocky limbs with a single clean cut of her sword, as if they were made of soft butter. With sudden clarity, Opal understood just how much she’d been right in one of her previous musings, as well as the exact reason why the other had been so wary. Celsian tried to regain her balance in mid-air, but she probably wasn’t used to fight while having to think about a whole other person like that, and they both went crashing down on the cold floor. Contrary to Opal, who already felt battered and bruised – she could imagine the sports clubs members shaking their heads with their arms crossed –, Celsian was on her feet again in no time at all, but Ametrine had gotten even closer and made a lunge at her, that Celsian blocked by squeezing the flat parts of the sword between her stone branches.

“This time-” Ametrine started, taking a step back and slashing those ones too with one swift horizontal movement of her blade, as soon as she freed it. “This time I will not let you escape, Celsian.”

“I love how you never stop dreaming, it’s my favourite thing about you.” Celsian smiled, even though it was a strained thing.

Ametrine’s eye twitched, but otherwise her only response was to attack again, lunging at Celsian’s weak spots, aiming to incapacitate but not to kill. Celsian somehow managed to block or evade the majority of her strikes, but her magic didn’t seem to be built for hand-to-hand combat – those branches of hers were too thin, and they lacked in precision –, and particularly not for a battle against Ametrine, who gave the impression of being an accomplished knight – with her movements focused and precise, designed to lose as little energy as possible – and whose sword was so sharp to be capable of cutting through stone without resistance, as if it wasn’t even there.

Celsian was quickly getting tired under the incessant assault, unable to find a successful escape route, and Opal feared she would only worsen the situation if she tried to do something, inexperienced as she was, but when her… friendly acquaintance, or whatever Celsian was to her at that point in time, got way too hurt and bright red droplets of blood fell on the once immaculate floor from all the gashes she sported on her body, Opal decided she had to act too. After all, she told herself, at that rate they would’ve only been dragged either to the castle or to a prison, so there wasn’t much she could do to make things worse anyway, apart from getting one of them killed. She desperately tried not to think about that possibility.

“Hey! Get away from her!” Opal shouted, channelling all of her fear into her power. It worked once already, albeit without her conscious input, so why shouldn’t it have worked again? Something inside her stirred, and, obediently, a thin stone pillar emerged from the smooth surface of the ground, hitting Ametrine, who barely had the time to glance at it and widen her eyes but not to block it, on the side, taking quite literally her breath away and sending her to crash against a column with a rattling sound of armour.

“Dame Ametrine!” more than one guard exclaimed, taking a few steps in her direction.

“Do not-” Her command got cut off by what sounded like a painful fit of coughing and wheezing, but she got up again, with a hand on the column, helping her to stand, and the other clenching her sword with a death grip. “Do not leave your posts! For any reason!” Her voice seemed strangled, but her eyes burned with fiery determination.

The guards abruptly stopped in their tracks, obeying her order without question. To be honest, Opal understood them: she would’ve cowered in respect too, if she hadn’t been so scared already. Her diversion must’ve been at least a bit useful, though, because Celsian had a gleam in her eyes again that Opal was dearly missing.

“Too late, Ametrine!” exclaimed her… friend – Opal tested the word, twirling it in her mind; it sounded about right, even though they hadn’t spent that much time together – with a smile that was still sharp but a touch more genuine, and the victorious air of someone who had found a way out of a difficult situation. She led her stone branches in Ametrine’s direction to immobilise her, and, although the knight managed to cut off a few of them, she soon found herself trapped against the column.

There was a chorus of “Dame Ametrine!” coming from the guards, but their commander’s roar, echoing in the cathedral, was louder than all of their voices.

“Celsian!” Ametrine tried to get free, but the rock wouldn’t budge and with her forearm tied she couldn’t swing her sword with the precision she wanted. “Damn you!”

Her friend ignored her in favour of taking Opal’s hand and beginning to run. “Quick, Opal!”

Her arm getting abruptly pulled like that, she risked tripping over her own feet, but she hurriedly followed her towards the exit.

The guards were distracted by Ametrine’s struggles and weren’t exactly at their assigned posts anymore, despite the knight’s order, so Celsian exploited that situation to create a way among them with her magic, sweeping them away with her branches.

They ran, leaving behind them a cacophony of shouts and sounds of rattling armours, that surely woke all of the neighbourhood up if it wasn’t already awake, and not turning back. Or, well, Opal would’ve liked to at least look back, simply to make sure that everyone was bruised but otherwise fine, but they were running too fast and she was scared she would’ve just tripped and fallen on her face if she did. Besides, Celsian’s grip on her hand hadn’t loosened, and, although the other’s palm was bloody, Opal didn’t want to let go.

Along the way, many guards and knights tried to stop them, but with their combined powers they managed to successfully get past them, so they continued to run. That, however, was everything they could do now: there wouldn’t have been any sneaking around anymore, or returning to Celsian’s hideout, not in Kruos. Opal knew it was a possibility, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. At the very least, though, her bag with her only belongings was still with her.

They ran, and they ran, and after some more running Opal wondered if they would’ve ever reached the outskirts of the city, but thankfully it seemed like those people’s idea of ‘capital’ wasn’t the same of the ones from her world. Sadly enough, however, they’d just had the time to get out of Kruos, under the flabbergasted eyes of the lookouts, that they heard the pounding sound of hooves announcing that someone was riding behind them and, even more concerning, that they were succeeding in reaching them.

“Stop!” It was Ametrine’s furious voice.

“This is just my luck” Celsian lamented. “She really never gives up.”

Opal was sure it would’ve been a truly inspiring quality in literally every other scenario apart from the one they found themselves in.

“Run, run, run-” Celsian said, not stopping for a second, even though she was evidently winded after the fight, the abundant use of her magic and all of that sprinting. In terms of determination, Opal didn’t know who would’ve won between her and Ametrine.

The latter, however, was way faster than them with her horse and surpassed them, only to get in the front to block their way. The animal halted with a neigh and its knight hopped off, in a manner that would’ve probably been more graceful if Opal hadn’t recently sent her to slam against a column with the force of a stone pillar. Still, Ametrine didn’t make any superfluous movements and in a second her eyes were trained on them, making Opal shiver.

“Oh, come on” Celsian commented, panting. “Can’t you, like, let it go? I’m sure that catching me is not that important, in the grand scheme of things.”

“Perhaps for others, but not for me.”

“I would be flattered, if I didn’t know better.”

“Can you blame me?” Ametrine made an irritated sweeping movement with her hand – not the one holding the sword, thankfully –. “I had to retake my apprenticeship thrice because of you!”

“I was helping with your training!”

“You decided to steal priceless gems exactly when I was on guard duty!”

“I returned them!”

“It does not change the fact that I lost my apprenticeship! Multiple times!”

“Well, then maybe you should’ve done a better job!”

At that, Ametrine seemed to lose every last shred of patience she still had, and sprang forward.

“Opal, help me, help me!” Celsian shouted.

Opal, who until that moment had followed the conversation with the attention one would've used for a ping-pong match, shook herself and tried to stop the knight’s advancing, but this time the latter was expecting it, so she managed to either parry or outmanoeuvre Opal’s attacks in a show of skill that was with all probabilities equally applauded and envied by her peers. Celsian did what she could, too, but the prolonged use of her magic was wearing her down faster and faster, not to mention that Ametrine was already well acquainted with her power.

They tried to hold on and dodge the knight’s lunges, but they were just stalling and delaying the inevitable, and they knew it.

In the end, they didn’t win because of their skills, but due to a pure stroke of luck and Ametrine’s sense of honour backfiring on her.

In the end, it was quite simple: Opal pushed Celsian away from the line of an attack – it was stupid, she was aware of that, but what could she say? It was also instinctive –, and the knight deviated the point of her sword at the last second in order to avoid her, which made her lose her balance for a moment. While Opal was still low-key reeling from the danger she’d put herself in, Celsian exploited Ametrine’s brief distraction to trap her.

The knight’s sword clattered on the ground, and they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.