Marco nodded, nervously, still looking. Several tense minutes later, he found it, nearly whooping in excitment as the door opened. "Oci I found it!!" he whispered excitedly so as not to attract the guards, "But there's sure to be more guard on the walls, with bows."
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"Nice!" Oci sighed with relief. The shouts of the guards were getting a little too close for comfort. "Okay. I'll try and make a shield to at least slow down the arrows. Could you shift into something small so I don't have to cover the both of us?"
Marco nodded, shifting into a mouse and climbing up the other's pantleg, burrowing into his pocket.
Oci gathered as much shadow as he could around him and stepped out of the door. He cursed under his breath when he saw that it was already too light out to use the shadows to simply sneak away. He'd have to make a run for it. Oci glanced upwards and immediately spotted a guard Marco had warned him about. They didn't appear to be paying much attention. Good. Oci looked back towards where he would be running to. The woods weren't too far away from where he was. If he was lucky, he wouldn't even need to use a shield. He took one last, deep breath and made a run for it, keeping the shadows near him in case he needed to use it.
Marco held onto the outer fabric of the other's pocket as the other moved, the movement jostling him.
Shouts echoed from the tunnel behind them, as well as from the walls above. An arrow embedded itself in the ground next to Oci, which made his heart skip a beat. It was time for the shield, apparently. Oci waved his hands as he ran, the shadows he was keeping forming a sort of shield between him and the castle wall. Another arrow landed a little way in front of him, and a third hit the shield right where his back was. Oci managed to stop it from going all the way through, but he knew that he could only take a few more arrows before his shield broke. It still seemed like a long way to the forest, but he gritted his teeth and ran faster. The arrows rained down on him, though thankfully, most of them missed. A few more steps and Oci was in the forest. He ran a little farther, letting his shield fall and collapsing on the ground.
Marco worried quietly from where he was, feeling a little sick fromall the movement.
Oci laid on the ground for a few more seconds, trying to catch his breath. He was exhausted, from the stress, the running, and the strain of keeping the shield up. As Oci regained his senses, he noticed a slight pain in his shoulder.
Marco carefully crawled out of the others pocket, shifting back, and then giving himself a moment to recover from the disorientation all that movement had caused, before looking back at Oci, his eyes widening when he saw the other's shoulder.
"Ed… They got me, didn't they?" Oci mumbled, the pain getting stronger. "Marco? Are you in a human form? Is there an arrow in my back? I can't see." His voice sounded surprisingly calm for having an arrow in his shoulder.
"Y-Yeah.. theres an arrow…" said Marco, taking a breath, "And blood… a.. a shit ton of blood…" he swallowed hard, feeling queasy.
"Huh," Oci said, still lying face down on the ground. "This is my favorite jacket. Those bastards." He moved his face towards Marco, the cool earth against his cheek feeling quite nice. "Are you okay? You look sick." His voice took on a sort of dreamy quality, which didn't fit the situation at all.
Marco sat down heavily, "Yeah. just.. not good with injuries.. and definitely not good with blood…." he said softly, "That and here is not a good place for me to try and patch you up, or for you to be bleeding out and shit I'm rambling.." he trailed off trying to get up the nerve to attempt to help him.
"Yeah, probably shouldn't stay here. They'll be here soon." Oci sighed and took a deep breath. His shoulder was really hurting right now, but he pushed the pain aside and tried to focus on the situation. They were most definitely not safe yet, and they wouldn't be even remotely safe until they got away from the castle. Which meant that they had to get away from the castle. Which meant he had to get up.
"I… Shit.. just.." he sighed, "I'm sorry I'm not very helpful… I.. I could shift and maybe carry you?" he sounded unsure of himself, his unease and mixed up emotions catching up with him.
"No, you're good." Oci took another deep breath and slowly started to get up. His shoulder was probably screaming with pain at that moment, but Oci decided to ignore it for now. It wouldn't do any good. "Uh… that would make us easier to track, right?" He asked, swaying a bit on his feet. "I can walk."
"Not necessarily, I mean, they may not know I'm a shifter…" he said softly.
"Hmm." Oci thought for a few seconds, then decided that they would probably make better time of he wasn't stumbling around. "Yeah, okay. You won me over." He smiled at Marco, although 'smiled' probably wasn't the right word. 'Grimaced', maybe.
Marco nodded, getting up off the ground and shifting into a lion, large enough to carry him, but less, or more noticeable than a horse.
Oci managed to get into Marco's back with a lot of groaning and cursing. He tried to keep it as quiet as he could, but he didn't fully succeed. Once in Marco's back, Oci leaned forward and let a deep breath go. "Alright, let's go."
Marco nodded, moving slowly into the woods, staying low to the ground as he picked up speed.
Oci held on as best he could, trying to ignore the little jolt of pain in his shoulder every time they moved. He was starting to get a bit faint from the blood loss, which was not a good sign. "As soon as we, uh, get to a good spot, we should stop and bandage my shoulder," Oci said, his voice weak enough to be troubling.
Marco nodded with a low rumble, trying to move as quickly as possible without jolting the other.
"Cool." Oci sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position on the back of the lion. He'd never ridden a lion. It was an interesting first experience, probably made more interesting by the constant pain and the faintness. No, he couldn't think about that. Oci wracked his brain for something else to think about. It wouldn't do either of them any good if he fell off of Marco's back… Marco… He could think about Marco.
Marco focused on continuing to move, hoping the guards wouldn't try to follow.