Jack looked at Madeleine sheepishly."Yeah, uh, thanks, Maddy." He said, scratching the back of his head. She said nothing, but glowered at him, still continuing to rub her backside as she turned away and walked back over towards the dead body of the gnoll.
Jack turned to the older sister, who was brushing dirt and debris off the front of her cream-colored tunic, which was now spattered with blood and stained brown and yellow in patches that had Jack wondering to himself if they were caused by what he a.s.sumed.
Rose shifted her head from side to side, causing her neck to crack loudly, and stretched her shoulders back, before dropping her arms and sighing in relief. While she did this, Madeleine walked over the the gnoll"s corpse, and rifled through its armor and the pouches on its belt. After a moment"s digging, she pulled out a small pouch made of rough leather from one of the gnoll"s belt pockets, and walked over to Jack.
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"Here", she said, offering it up to him. Jack gingerly took the pouch from her hand, and undid the drawstring to peer inside. A couple dozen coins of various size and color gleamed up at him. He looked back down at the ember sprite.
"Hey, thanks", he said, look the bag to her and back.
"Always check for loot." Madeleine said simply. She looked up at him for a moment longer, before turning and walking back over to Rose, who had finished stretching and turned back to Jack.
"Well, that"s all of them", she said.
"Almost all of them. We"ve still got Eleanor"s big baddie to deal with." Jack said.
"She"s easily the strongest of the three of us," Rose said, shrugging non-chalantly as she led the way back the way they came. "She probably already has him dealt with by now."
As if on cue, a faint explosion detonated in the distance, causing the buildings next to them to cast stark shadows as the direction of the town square brightened significantly.
"Maybe not." Madeleine said dryly, turning and looking in the direction of the square.
Another explosion immediately followed the first, its flash followed only seconds later by a deafening roar that caused the three of them to slap their hands over their ears in pain. The ground with such intensity that it nearly threw Jack off his feet, and gla.s.s and debris showered down on them from the buildings and windows above. After the second burst, the light and noise faded, leaving the three of them in relative silence.
"What the h.e.l.l was THAT?" Jack said, lowering his hands from his ears.
"Not Ellie. Unless she"s learned something new." Madeleine said, her face taking on an intensity Jack hadn"t seen from her previously. "Her fire"s blue."
Jack felt his pulse pound in his chest, and suddenly found himself having horrible visions of Eleanor being blown to pieces. Without another word, he turned and ran back the way he"d just come.
"Wh hey! Wait up!", Rose called after him, but he was already rounding the corner to the larger thoroughfare, leaping over a b.l.o.o.d.y corpse as he went. He stumbled for multiple steps and nearly lost his footing as another loud explosion rocked the ground beneath him and set his ears ringing. Then another loud smashing sound like a rock being thrown through gla.s.s. Then more silence.
"Cmon Ellie! Please be okay!" Jack thought as he leapt over another furred gnoll corpse, and ran to the right of the charred rut in the cobblestones his fire spell had left only a few minutes before.