Moment of Respite

The light was still shining strong when Kim started to open her eyes. At first she felt dazed, unsure what had happened. Although, she did remember being carried after being dragged for a ways. She couldn't remember much detail, given her mind was working on fumes at the moment and she wasn't even sure how she'd gotten in that state, even though she knew full well what had happened. It was like her mind was having trouble connecting the two points, even though she could connect them herself with logic.

As Kim moved a little, she suddenly realized there was something pressing against her. Something warm and soft, but heavy enough that she couldn't just brush it away. At first she wasn't sure what to make of it. She didn't look at it, mostly because part of her was telling her to just go back asleep while another just didn't want to move at all.

She used her hands to explore what it was and quickly realized that it was Elin. That realization allowed her to pull together enough energy to move her head to look at Elin. What she saw made her smile.

Elin was clearly struggling to stay awake. To the point is was clear she hadn't realized that Kim had woken up. Kim pulled the girl closer to her, eliciting a strangled cry of surprise from Elin, making Kim chuckle.

"Don't scare me like that,' Elin complained softly, fatigue clear in her voice.

"Your fault for letting your guard down around me," Kim remarked, kissing the top of Elin's head. "But I'm awake now, so just go to sleep. I'm sure you'll feel better when you get some sleep."

Elin nodded against Kim and it didn't take long before Elin's breathing became deep and regular. Kim smiled at the sleeping younger woman. She couldn't be sure, but she had a feeling that Elin had been keeping watch for them since they got to… wherever this was.

Kim started to look around. Noticing that Jonas and Elmo were on the other side of the room, both apparently asleep. Elmo was leaning against Jonas with his head on Jonas' shoulder, looking rather comfortable in that position. Though, it was too far away for her to make out any more detail, and she doubted that it mattered anyway.

Right now she felt very well rested, but knew it was up to her to stand watch. After all, Elin had done that when she was clearly at the end of her stamina herself. Not only that, but while Kim felt she should still be hurting all over, with how many blades she'd felt biting into her body before she started to get dragged, she could tell that Elin had healed her body while she was on watch.

Kim looked around the room after that, trying to figure out if she could tell how far they'd come with her having been dragged, then carried. Especially since she knew that she'd either fallen asleep or fallen unconscious on the way to this location, not that it really mattered. After all, they were all still alive, so when she lost consciousness wasn't that important.

At first, she couldn't tell what room they were in, but when she saw the remnants of a table, she recognized the room. It was the room that they'd nearly lost Jonas because of some magical attack that made him, and then Elmo had caught that same status condition.

Kim sighed as she shifted Elin's weight so she could stand up, though she still kept a hold of Elin, not wanting to lose the feel of Elin's body against her own. Maybe she shouldn't be worried about that at the moment, but for now, she really didn't care. She just wanted to feel the girl against her. Maybe it was a way to help her know that she was still alive, but she doubted it was that simple of a reason.

As Kim was almost standing, she couldn't help but notice Jonas was starting to stir. Kim wanted to talk with Jonas, but at the moment she just leaned against the wall, not really wanting to walk across the room either.

She waited until Jonas had his bearings before pushing past her own laziness and walked across the room, carrying Elin in her arms, while keeping their bodies in contact. When she neared Jonas, she could hear him groaning softly.

She carefully set Elin down, loath to lose the physical contact with the young woman, but knew it was necessary. Though, as she sat down, she pulled Elin into her lap, wondering if she should try focus more on the problem they had at the moment. She didn't want to lose the physical contact because it just felt so right to her, but she knew it also could be distracting.

"We almost kicked the bucket, didn't we?" Kim asked, knowing Jonas was awake enough to at least talk with.

"It definitely was an ordeal," Jonas commented, not opening his eyes. "But yeah, we almost didn't make it."

"Think they can do that again?" Kim asked, wondering just how big of a bite they'd bitten off.

"Probably not, or at least not right away," Jonas answered. "I'm sure if we leave the portal open long enough, they'll be able to do that again."

Kim nodded, despite knowing Jonas couldn't see with his eyes still closed. "Which path do you think we should take to get to the portal?" Kim asked. "We have the way we came from just now and then there's the way we made it to that room originally."

"And there's the path that led to the room where we camped with Owen's group," Jonas finished for her. "While I personally think the stairs would have been better, right now I think we might need to get there through the path that will lead us by the secret door."

"To me all the ways to get to that room are pretty much the same," Kim admitted. "No matter what, we'll likely have to fight our way through another sea of goblins."

"Maybe, but didn't you notice the goblins had stopped appearing just before we were overwhelmed?"

Kim shook her head. "Maybe. Everything's just so fuzzy right now," she answered. "I'm really not sure when I fell unconscious when we were traveling to this room."

"We did wear ourselves to the bone in that fight," Jonas acknowledged. "Still, we at least don't have to fight those goblins again right away."

"Not until we reach the room with the portal. Until then we might be able to avoid them," Kim agreed, then suddenly thought of something. "How did you lose them anyway?"

Jonas shrugged. "I was barely able to keep moving forward when the wall I was leaning against disappeared and we found another passage that wasn't as visible from where we were coming from. So, we took that and Elmo used a spell or something to mask our smell, and we made our way to this room," Jonas explained.

Kim sighed. "Well, whatever. We should rest up as much as we can now," she said. "I think the next time we fight the goblins should be one where we either get the portal closed or we die. I don't think we'll be able to survive very well if we keep doing this."

"Agreed," Jonas replied. "I'm sure we probably won't be able to lose them again when we fight the goblins again. The next battle will need to be our last one here."

"Unless we beat the one in charge and the rest split," Kim remarked.

Jonas grinned. "Would be nice if that happened, but I seriously doubt it will. I'd actually expect the goblins to not care if their boss, or leader, or chieftain, or whatever is killed. I'd fully expect that it wouldn't change anything," Jonas said.

Kim merely shrugged. Wishful thinking didn't need to be rooted in reality. "Just saying it would be nice if that happened is all. Would make it easier to get out of here before the come after us."

"True. If they did run at some point, then eventually they'd likely come after us as well."

A thought suddenly occurred to Kim. "If I need to, I can carry Elin," Kim said. "Would you be able to carry Elmo?"

"Why? We're staying until they wake up on their own. Why would be move before then?" Jonas looked at Kim, confusion clear in his eyes.

"Well, the goblins know we're somewhere in here, right? So, it's possible that they haven't stopped searching for us. Remember, when we first encountered the goblins, they had some kind of sunglasses on, which let them see in the brighter light in here," Kim answered.

Jonas nodded. "Yeah, there's a chance those could appear here, even though it's still day time in here," Jonas finished.

"I really hope that isn't what happens, but we also have no idea what other creatures they might have here. As far as we know, they might have sent a pack of wolves or something to hunt us down."

"True, though I doubt we'd have trouble with wolves," Jonas remarked, but a moment later, his expression changed, clearly just having thought of something. "But, I can't say that they wouldn't send something else that would make a problem for us."

Kim nodded. "So, can you-" Kim stopped talking when she heard something on the stairs. At first she thought she might have imagined it, but when it came again, she quickly started to stand, lifting Elin with her.

Her eyes quickly met Jonas.' They needed to get moving. Kim had no idea of what was on the stairs, but at the moment, she really didn't want to find out. She couldn't say how much more rest Elin or Elmo needed, but she planned on letting them get as much as she could. Yet, she couldn't help but feel more than a little trepidation at this. She didn't like to run from unknown enemies but she also knew that now was the not the time to wait.

Whatever was coming down the stairs, she knew that it could potentially send out word to the goblins, if this wasn't a group of goblins anyway, that is. As Kim made sure her hold on Elin was secure, she looked at Jonas, who was getting ready to carry Elmo. The rest period for Kim and Jonas was over. It was time to move again.