Dance of the Damned

Found You

Once Teri was sure that most of the people were out of the walls, she ran back inside to make sure that everyone was gone and that the people from her division were safe, Carvill followed her while Madam Lottie ran outside the walls.

"Division Master!" One of the men ran to the, holding two people in his arms. "They are injured but they should be fine with some smelling salts."

"Take them out of the wall and you stay there as well." She said, running around the place.

"Teri!" Carvill called holding a broken piece of debris up as the person underneath tried to crawl out but did not have enough strength to pull himself out.

Without a second thought, Teri rushed to them and pulled the man out while Carvill exerted his entire strength to keep it up, letting it fall and break once the man was pulled out.

"Are you ok?!" Teri shouted at the man who pointed behind him.

"There are some people stuck in a house, I came to get help. Please." He took her hands in his hand looked into her eyes, filled with desperation. "Please help them."

He ... he isn't terrified of my eyes? Teri thought, sucking in a breath as she gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

"I will. You get out of here." She said standing up and making eye contact with Carvill who nodded in agreement to her, as though he knew what she was thinking.

"Division Master!" Two women and three men rushed to her. "Are you ok?!"

"Carvill and I are going to help some people." She said, frowning at them. "You all did your jobs. I will not ask you to do more than you have already done. You can go to safety, because, I cannot guarantee that to you five anymore."

The five looked at each other for a second before breaking into smiles.

"Do you really think we are going to abandon you, Division Master?" One of the women said, grinning at her.

"Do you really think that low of us?" A man said teasingly.

"We promised to follow you." Another man said, placing a hand on her shoulders. "No way are we going to leave you here. Right?!"

"Yes!" Everyone shouted at the same time, filling Teri with pride as she looked at them.

"Thank you!" She shouted, wiping her eyes and turning to Carvill who took off immediately. "Get to the gate! You will be safe there!"

"Here." One of the men placed this cloak over him and took off.

The man watched as all seven of them ran into the heat, clutching the cloak as tears brimmed in his eyes, brushing the insignia on the cloak.

Just who are these people?

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"Madam Lottie!" Heris shouted, running around the place with a satchel in his hands. "Here!"

Madam Lottie was busy treating the people with injuries too bad to even move, while Heris ran back and forth with supplies he and Clover brought with them.

The people from the Sixth Division that came under Madam Lottie's orders given to her by thunder were also busy.

Most were transporting the people to their kingdom while others were running around treating some wounds and helping to resuscitate the people as best as they could.

Some more went back to the kingdom and brought supplies and wagons to transport the people in.

"Their skills with the medicines are impressive," Heris said, looking around him.

"Thunder has the most influential and skilled people around him." Madam Lottie said, bandaging a woman's leg up. "The downside is that they are mostly busy."

"Is that why he doesn't call or use them that much?" Heris asked, handing a clean roll of bandages to the woman.

"Yes. That could also be why Roshi is using him for Phase Three and why he informed him about this a week prior instead of the day before like he did for phase one and two."

Holding the ends of the bandages, Madam Lottie tore them with her bare hands and contented wrapping at the woman's leg.

"But ... that means, if the Second Division Master were to let this go ahead earlier, they would not have been here right?"

Madam tied the ends of the bandage before turning to Heris, "That is right. It also means that the fire would not have been as it is now. What do you see about this fire that is different compared to other fires?"

"It is hotter?" Heris asked, looking at the blue in the sky. The fire is growing.

"Yes, and in order to do that, it took a ton of trial and error. If they had begun earlier, so many people would have died and the fire would have spread to our kingdom."

"The risk is too high. Why would Roshi even give that option to the Third Division Master??"

"You should know how Roshi works, Heris." Madam Lottie said, moving to another person lying unconscious under a tree and began disinfecting the wound on their side. "He is completely transparent with everyone, as much as he possibly can anyway.

"If this has something to do with someone you cherish, wouldn't you like to know about it?"

"I ... suppose," Heris said, looking at the ground, not entirely convinced of his answer.

"You know," She paused, looking at the people all around them, some huddled around each other for comfort, others helping where they could. "It is really easy to go, 'if only he did this', or 'if only he did that', they could have avoided so many things.

"But ... if you were in their situation, it is not going to be something as simple as that. And Roshi understands that.

"Why do you think he came here? There are just some things only he can do and I am sure the main reason he is here is only because of Nameless.

"Look around, we are able to take care of ninety per cent of things on our own. Some people think Roshi is cruel and sadistic but I don't agree with them.

"You know that saying, 'Don't judge someone unless you have walked a mile in their shoes', or something like that."

"I agree with you," Heris said, voice full of passion. "Roshi is hard to understand but that doesn’t mean he is cruel."

“Exactly.” Madam Lottie placed her hand on his shoulders, eyes twinkling under the mask. “As long as you know that, Heris, most other things don’t matter. Stay by Roshi’s side, no matter what anyone else says, ok?”

“Ok.” He said brightly just as they heard a crowd of people making their way to them.

Madam Lottie looked at the distance, a chuckle escaping her lips as everyone turned to the group of people in horses making their way to them.

At the very front is a familiar face.

“Thunder!” Heris shouted happily as Clover appeared beside him, speeding up.

“Move!” She shouted to the people on the road. “Quickly!”

“Heris!”

“I got it!” Heris shouted, putting the satchel down beside her and began to run to help carry the injured on the pathway to the castle as quickly as he possibly could.

“Heris!” Clover got off her horse and ran to him, picking an old woman up. “Hurry!”

“You brought the king?” He asked, the two carrying one person each to the side.

“No, I went to drop some of them off to our kingdom right?” Clover said, putting the woman down and running to grab someone else with Heris. “The king rushed out of the kingdom with some men and I just followed him.”

“Did you get to talk to him?” He threw a man with an injured leg over his shoulders, taking him to the side.

“Yes!” She said happily. “He ignored me at first, but when he saw my mask, he rode beside me and told me that he is rushing with his best magic users to put out the fire.

“I asked him why he took so long to come and he said that Roshi told him to step out at exactly 11:47 p.m. and to use the horses.”

“Horses?” Heris asked, tilting his head to the side as some other people took the last people out of the way just as the horses ran past them.

Everyone froze as the ground shook just from the force of the horses, they had to grab onto something while the gust of wind that blew after the horses passed almost blew them all away.

“Horses,” Clover said with a laugh, watching the horses go.

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11: 55 P.M., 13 June

Where are they? Britton thought, looking around him as the people began to thin out and the fire grew closer to him. Where are they? They weren’t in the house that he said they would be in. Does that mean they escaped?

Come on, I don’t have time to waste. He thought, the number of people around him making him grow in concern. I still need to find my daughter. I will look only for a little longer and then leave.

“Help!” He heard someone shout and took off in the direction of the approaching fire immediately.

Please be them. Please be them. Please be them.

“I think that is them. Hey you!” Britton shouted, seeing the three children at the corner of a building as a beam above them flickered with blue flames, too scared to move. “Come with me! Quickly!”

The older boy looked at the man before holding onto the other two children’s hands and running to Britton just as they heard the wood above them suddenly begin to break and fall down.

“Look out!”