They backed away and lunged at each other again, each aiming to kill this time around, even if it meant getting killed in turn.
" Stop! Both of you!"
It was like they had been jolted awake from a deep, restless sleep, and they halted, their weapons mere inches from each other. They looked at the exit, where a certain blue-haired girl was panting, her clothes bloodied.
" Zarqa!" they called together.
The magician looked over his shoulder at her, only for a crow to come circling his head, forcing him to drop the candle to the ground as he tried to fend off the bird's talons.
As the fire died off, so did the illusion it had cast, and Jaber and Sindbad blinked at each other in both bewilderment and recognition.
" There you were!" The magician didn't have time to even retaliate or use any spell, for Ali Baba and Tarek deftly used the shelves on either side as leverage to jump to his level and kicked him from behind, felling him to the ground.
