For the most part, letting Lothren stay there was never really an option. She could have let him go, and quickly made an escape away from here. Those giant arachnids, no matter their size, wouldn’t be able to catch her. She’d slip through and underneath them faster than they could hope to react, and she’d escape to somewhere safe. The thought never seriously crossed her mind.
Juna had sworn her life to Lothren. While that was a deal that a lot of people made, Juna actually took it seriously. All the knights swore their life to their life to the King, and it belong to him, and he could throw it away at a whim without a worry. Yet other people seemed to worry. Juna wondered if the Aretan Knights worried about such things, and she decided that they probably did, since they hadn’t seemed very impressive when she killed her share of them. Juna took it seriously though, and would not even consider leaving him. She was glad he had said it though, and she wouldn’t have preferred any other way.
“I’m glad you said it, and I wouldn’t have preferred it any other way,” Juna said. “Yet if you think I’m going to leave you behind then, well, you’ve forgot about the oath I swore to you.”
It was at this moment that Juna grabbed the weak, he sure seemed like he was weak, Lothren by force. If he was going to be stubborn, Juna didn’t have time for that. She was in quite a hurry. She held him up by her arms and would drag him if necessary. Through sheer willpower and ignorance of any of her limits she dragged him away. He was heavy, so Juna told herself that he wasn’t heavy, and suddenly he didn’t feel so heavy anymore.
She saw everything behind her sink. It was if the sand had turned into a deep ocean and everything were heavy rocks that sunk into the deep, never to be uncovered again. The creatures themselves had fled, and calamity had followed their departure. She didn’t have time to look back. Vicenna was falling, and she and Lothren would be falling if she did not hurry. What a shame it was that there was not a horse within sight.
The sand fell just behind her feet, but fortunately it was just behind her feet. Juna ran as quickly as her feet carried her, and didn’t care anything about having Lothren holding her back. She would admit that he was indeed a burden, as there was no need to deny to herself. Yet perhaps it was not too much of burden for her, just as heroes use handicaps to make themselves stronger. As the sand sunk behind her feet, Juna herself and Lothren ahead of the sinking ground. That was surely an odd thought; the ground was sinking.
Eventually, Juna saw a river in front of her, and Juna thought that maybe she saw something beyond that as well. It would be a good place to start, she thought. That was good enough for her for now. The Ytharien had not gone the way of extinction quite yet. There was still her, Lothren, Annara, and Aust.