Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,162
though, Erik and Narrie stood fighting back to back. They’d have to do for what he was planning.
With their position in his mind, he headed back to door, but stopped at a small whine from Vincent. The wolf whined again before running for the edge of the roof and launched across the small opening to the next roof over.
“Brilliant! Good boy, Vincent!” Mathieu closed the door and ran after his cousin. Landing smoothly, he raced with Vincent across the rooftops, having a moment of fun in the chaos. They landed on the last roof for the block. There was a ladder fire escape on the far side which he could use, but there wasn’t a way for Vincent.
He checked the door to the stairwell, but it was locked tight. “Damn it. Alright.” He gave his cousin a pained look, then knelt down and picked Vincent up. Draping the whining wolf around his neck, he set his shoulders, then started down the ladder. “It’s not much further, okay? Don’t start fidgeting or I’ll drop you.” Vincent was probably fifty-five or sixty pounds of solid muscle and the weight pressed heavily on Mathieu’s tired body.
It was a long trip down from the top of the seventeen story building. His foot slipped once and they both almost fell, but Vincent had snapped out and caught a hold of the side-railing with his fangs until Mathieu was able to get his footing. About five feet from the ground, the ladder ended where it’d been broken. “Are you kidding me?” He groaned. But then a laugh came from below him.
“Hey kid. How’s it hanging?”
“Oh shut up, Erik.” He rolled his eyes. He could always count on his father to show up at the worse times.
Erik touched his ankle, “Climb down as low as you can and drop. I’ll catch you two.”
Grumbling at how humiliating the situation was, Mathieu shimmied down as far as possible, then he let go and slid down into his father’s grip. A few squished seconds later, and he was on the ground, setting Vincent down. “Thanks, Erik. But we have to go now, though. Where’s Enak?”
“Oh, the kid is doing his best to cause mayhem and destruction. Where are we going?” Erik asked, popping a cigarette out of the pack.
Erik lit the smoke and kept pace as Mathieu made his way to Narrie. “Narrie, you too.” Mathieu said, touching the woman’s shoulder. “We’re going to the palace. Come on.”
Just then, a round of shots fired, but not at them.
“Elric!” The scream that broke the air came from Avanon.
Turning towards the scream, Mathieu watched as Avanon tore through three soldiers to get to the bleeding Elric, who was on the ground. “You idiot!” She yelled, “Start healing yourself!” Putting her hand on the worse of the wounds, she started to cauterize the injury. “Stupid, stupid…”
Elric caught her wrist and smiled at her, his wounds already knitting closed. “It’s alright, Avanon. Are you okay?” He said as he sat up.
“Okay?!” Her voice cracked as she screeched, “The man I love is bleeding out in the middle of a battlefield!”
“…You love me?” Elric said with a sense of wonder, pushing his glasses higher up his nose.
Avanon rolled her eyes. “Idiot.” Then she lean forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him.
It was such a bad moment for a bit of romance, but Mathieu couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. He’d been standing still for too long, though, and a soft nip to his fingertips from Vincent brought him back. “Right. Erik, Vincent, Narrie. Let’s go.” Vincent gave a short yip and the others nodded.
They took off down the main boulevard, sticking to the edges of the fighting. A few hails of bullets came their way, but they mostly avoided being attacked as they worked their way to District One. There was a small scuffle with a half-death Unithian on their side, but no one died.
Ducking into an alley that Mathieu realized was the side street he had ran down when escaping the guards on his first visit to Ateri, they moved parallel to the castle.
“Anastasie blew a hole in the castle wall just up ahead. She was pretty sure we’d need an entrance.” Narrie informed him.
He nodded, “And all of the guards I recognize are in the fray. We shouldn’t run into any problems.” As much as Mathieu hated to admit it, he wished that he hadn’t been separated from Solomon.