The lightning mage's bolt worked to devastating effect. The tree he'd targeted was going bare not just in preparation for the oncoming winter, but because it was sick. Blackish blotches marred the leaves that fell from its branches. Its smooth brown bark hid a rotted, worm-eaten core. A healthy tree could have withstood such a strike, but this one would have collapsed anyway beneath the first heavy snow. With an ear-splitting groan and a series of thunderous SNAPS and CRACKS, the afflicted maple toppled, sending a hail of sweet-smelling branches careening in all directions.

One, longer than Taische was tall and easily twice her weight, spun straight for her little frame like a javelin. Her boots skidded on smooth cobblestone while she tried to stop and duck under the oncoming projectile, but it was the wrong move, and nearly her last. Kryos, quicker and more experienced, grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her away so hard that pain exploded in her shoulder. The branch shot through the space she'd been, and a startled grunt escaped her throat as she and her companion vanished down a shadowy alley.

Immediately, the rancid stench of decay overwhelmed the little girl, making her gag while her guardian pulled her through foul puddles and past heaps of rotting refuse. Roaches and rats scattered ahead of them, though they hissed and chattered angrily at the interlopers. A wall rose ominously in front of them, separating the long warehouses from the residential part of town.

A door greeted the fugitives when they reached the wall, an iron and oak access into one of the buildings that enclosed them. Kryos grabbed the knob, twisting it with all his strength and throwing his entire body into it, but the door remained steadfast. Desperate, he looked up. The mortar between the small, neat bricks was cracked and crumbling, but not enough for either him or the child to have quick purchase on. It was too tall for her to get over, and he couldn't carry her the whole way. But their pursuers were coming quickly behind, and running back into the street would put them directly in the line of fire.

Kryos drew his sword again, instinctively nudging his ward behind him. They had no recourse but to stand and fight, and of course the child couldn't face two grown mages. He hoped his ability would be enough.

Taische panted, a little winded from the long run. They were trapped, and if she didn't get them untrapped, Kryos would die. She knew that if Uncle Storm blasted them both, she'd just get pushed into the wall. If Uncle Mal lit them both on fire, she didn't think she'd burn so easily. But she'd gotten Kryos into trouble, and that was not okay.

I wonder if this will work...

The little girl crouched and put her hands on the slimy stones, though she shuddered at the built up sludge. This wasn't okay either.

Ewwwwww. Focus! Come on!

She took a deep breath and concentrated, feeling the earth beneath her palms. With a mighty magic heave, she shoved the earth beneath the wall down a few feet. It scraped loudly, despite a harsh, insistent SHUSH! from the child. She ducked to go through, but Kryos grabbed her shoulder.

"Hold on," he commanded. "There may be worse on the other side." With that, he dropped into the hole to emerge on the other side of the wall. "It's safe," he called after a second. "Hurry up!"

Instead, Taische looked into the hole, then back to the street, where broken branches laid in the lamp light. Uncle Storm and Uncle Mal were bad men, and if she didn't go stop them, they would start killing people soon. They might have already started. Fear fought with a budding sense of responsibility in her chest, but she knew she only had one option. She couldn't let innocents die, not if she could help it. She was the daughter of Karuka O'Sheean, after all.

"I'm sorry," she called through the tunnel. "I can't. If I don't go to them, bad things will happen. Really bad things. Thank you. Bye." With that, she pulled back up on the lowered ground, pulling it back into place and starting to jog toward the alley entrance. Fire ignited on her hands, drying and purifying the unidentifiable nastiness that she'd touched moments before. Thoughtlessly, she brushed it off on the sides of her dress.

She didn't know Uncle Mal very well, but she did know Uncle Storm. There was one thing she could do, one weapon in her arsenal, one power at her disposal, that she knew she could stop him with - if he still liked her well enough to not just backhand her when she got close.

She left the alley at a run, turning sharply into the street regardless of any potential danger. "Uncle Mal! Uncle Storm!" She picked up speed, aiming herself directly at the electromancer so she could wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. She knew she looked pitiful, with a few stray twigs lodged into her hair, scrapes on her right side from squeezing through the stable fence, and bruises on her left side from an incident a day or two prior. Hopefully the whole look would just help her slow the two men down long enough for them to not kill anybody.