Laurence swung Yun onto his back and began shoring him up, so he would not fall or jerk about too much. The leaves were still wrapped around Yun’s body, but Laurence was careful to not let them on his own skin. He knew that while Augercalm was a blessing for helping people in great amounts of pain, they were awful for anyone who wanted to be productive.
“Let's get moving. We need to find a place to hide and fix up Yun, because otherwise he could die. I can't tell how badly his organs were affected by the blow he took, but if his broken arm is anything to go by then I am surprised his lungs are still working”.
“You had me at let's get moving,” Jim replied. “I don't know if anything we will find here is worth more than what we have already found, or our lives”.
“Seconded,” said Cleo. Laurence could not put his finger on it, but there was something that had changed about her. He hoped it was for the better. The contrariness that Cleo often had when he was working with her was almost infuriating. If it was not for the fact that she was an excellent face and was equivalent in power to any other member of the golden children, he would have long since stopped working with her. He did not care much about how he felt about his team, as long as they did their job he was happy. No matter how they felt about him.
“Yun and I grabbed everything that was back at camp before we left, so there is no reason for us to go back to the campsite either,” said Louisa. “Are you sure he will be okay, Laurence?”
“If we can get to a safe place, then I should be able to fix him up. If we can't though, Yun's situation will be the least of our problems”.
They moved out, with Laurence making sure to keep Yun stable and Jim keeping watch on their direction. Winoa and Louisa were up in the sky, on top of Garuda, looking in every direction for a sign of incoming golems. With Cleo taking up the rear guard, the entire group worked as a convoy to protect Laurence’s injured brother, protecting themselves and their injured companion as much as they possibly could.
They reached the first real piece of uneven terrain about an hour after they left the town. Laurence stopped the group and moved towards the hill, taking care that there were no golems in the immediate region. He raised his hands, palms touching, and as he split his hands and spread open his arms a tunnel developed in the hill in front of them. There was a thrum and a crack as the tunnel continued to split, opening up into a larger space for them to stay in. Laurence clenched his fists and began walking down the path into the darkness ahead.
“Follow me!” He shouted, as he walked, and the rest of his friends quickly walked into the tunnel behind him. They reached the cavern that Laurence had made and he let his hands relax. As he did, the tunnel that lead to the exit slammed shut behind them, sending the entire group into darkness.
Cleo summoned her inner flame, but the moment the light spread across the room, Winoa said “Don’t, you’ll burn up the oxygen in the air”. They were plunged into darkness once more, where they heard a grunt and light began to spread across the room once more. In the centre of the floor there was a single shard of salamandrite, about the size of a child’s head. It spread light across the room and allowed for the flickering shadows of the children to be present against the walls.
Laurence immediately put down Yun’s body and looked around the room, before moving his fingers like he was playing an invisible harp. With each movement a symbol appeared on the walls, or a gemstone appeared on the floor, until finally the room was lit up by thirty gems of varying colours and surrounded by sigils of unimaginable variety and quality. There was a slight rumble in the room and Laurence finally stopped moving, before collapsing onto the ground in a slump.
“This is the second time I’ve made a bunker in a hill, but damn... this was so much harder to make”. He paused, wiping off the sweat that had accumulated over his face, and breathed out deeply. “There should be no worries about anyone finding this place, and no worries about the lack of oxygen. Although most of what I made was to avoid the golems detecting us, there are four stones of tornadrite in the floor that will be providing us with air until we leave here. Now give me some time to restore my mana reserves and I will see if I can get Yun back on his feet”.
There was an air of oppression that hung over everyone as they watched Laurence sit in silence, his pointer ring glowing as the boy let the copious amounts of stored mana flood into him. Finally, Cleo spoke up.
“Is no one going to bring up the elephant in the room? Is no one actually going to ask Law about how he can make all of this?” She waved her hands at the cavern. “He’s a member of the Absolution clan, not a child of Hephaistia. How can no one else have a problem with this. It makes no sense!”
“Cleo,” Jim said. “I know you’re not Law’s biggest fan, but don’t tell me you haven’t realised that both he and Yun practice the Book of Creation. They may not be of that clan, but they are the only people who really have the right to claim such a thing. If you ask him, I am sure that Law will happily tell you, so get off your high horse for once and work out what the hell is wrong between you two”.
Laurence exited his meditation session as Jim finished talking, and smiled at everyone as if he had not heard Cleo’s complaint, nor Jim’s response. “Okay then, it’s time for me to see if I can sort out healing my brother. Seeing as the mana here is a bit funky, I may need you guys to help me with preparation of some herbs. I have the tools that will do most of the work for you, but I would normally work with mana hands, so doing five things at once would be no issue for me”.
“Alright,” Cleo and Jim said at the same time. Neither one seemed to be letting up, but Laurence did not mind. As long as they worked well together he would never have any complaints.
“Then let’s get to healing up Yun”.
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