A flicker of sympathy appeared on Alexandra's face at the man's whimper, and the head guard caught it. "She's bluffing!" he called, loud and clear.
One of his underlings actually had the guts to ask, "But what if she's not?" The others ignored him, leaving Alexandra in a very difficult situation. She had to think fast and come up with a plan that didn't involve magic. Her plans always involved magic.
The guards took a few hesitant steps towards the pair, testing her. Alexandra cursed under her breath and did the only thing she could think of. She removed her arm from around the boy's neck and quickly stuck the dagger in the sheath. The guards were running at this point, so she tore off her cape and threw it onto their faces to buy a little extra time. Then she turned around, grabbed the guy again (though this time by the wrist, not the neck), and ran. Her bright white wings stood out in the dark of the night, and she knew she had to be quick.
Alexandra was off the ground within seconds. She would have been way up in the sky within a half a minute, if it wasn't for the extra weight of the boy she grabbed. Instead, she was flying at a dangerously low level. Looking down at him, she cursed again. Why had she even grabbed him?! There was a reason her instinct told her to, she was sure, but she couldn't figure it out. At the moment, she only hated her instinct for having her grab dead weight.
That hatred was not helped by the fact that one of the guards finally had the sense to throw his sword at her. While it only hit the side of her right thigh, the cut went in deep. She bit her tongue to restrain from crying out, but that only served to make her tongue bleed, too. Alexandra also, with horror, realized that her bleeding thigh would leave a trail of blood. So even if she got out of the grasp of the mordecai, it would have to be a complex and power consuming illusion to create a false trail.