Chapter 13: JIllian

Jillian let out her held breath. Zach had found them somehow. Jumping up, Jillian got her phone and switched back on the flashlight to shine in Sean's face.

"Yer cacin' witch light again," he muttered as he held up his hand and tried to blink away the bright light. "Now I gotta kill ya' both."

Zach wasted no time. In one smooth motion he used his palm to flatten Sean's nose, then threw a hard punch into his stomach. Sean doubled over for a moment, but sprang back up with his nose leaking blood and a thin-bladed dagger in his fist.

Jillian screamed a warning, but Zach had already jumped away from the sweeping blade. There wasn't enough room in the cave to move very far, so Sean kept swinging the knife to keep Zach on the defensive.

"I watched ya' fightin' Arrais." Sean muttered as he swung. "Fancy tricks ha' never been match for a blade in my hand."

Zach kept trying to grab Sean's wrist, but Sean kept twisting away from him to swing again. Jillian noticed Zach wasn't moving as fast as he had down at the wharf and began to worry. Then Sean swung his other hand by surprise and knocked a fist into Zach's temple. Zach staggered back with a gasp of pain, clutching the back of his head with one hand. When his hand returned to block again, it was covered in blood.

"How's tha' head feel?" Sean taunted, but Zach ignored him to keep batting the knife away. "Yer only gonna get weaker and I've still got nothin' t' lose."

Zach moved like a snake, pushing the knife away to deliver a solid punch to Sean's jaw. "You will when we spend your treasure," Zach hissed.

"Neither of ya' will live to do that, I'll promise ye!"

Jillian kept her phone's light on Sean, but their circling allowed him to get too close. He feinted at Zach to back him up, then turned without warning and plunged the knife in Jillian's stomach. At first she thought he'd only punched her because she didn't feel any pain from the blade. When he pulled out the blooded dagger, she suddenly felt cold and her head spun like she was drunk again. "Zach?" she whimpered.

"Jilli!" Zach screamed in response, which nearly allowed Sean time to slit his throat. At the last second, Zach gripped the wrist swinging the knife with a twist, then the knife was on the ground. After a sick crack, Sean's forearm was bent at an unnatural angle.

"I ain't afraid of pain or death," Sean spat as he went for the knife again with his off hand.

Zach placed a front kick against the side of Sean's head, felling him like a stone and he didn't move again.

Jillian floated, somehow still upright with her cell phone shining in her hand. The light seemed to slowly get brighter. Zach came to her with a horrified look on his face as he touched the wet smear on the front of her dress. "I think he stabbed me," she said with a deliberate tone.

"You're gonna be okay," Zach whispered as he took her phone and put his arm around her to guide her out of the cave. "I just need to get us back to the hotel, that's all."