Authors: Penelope Fletcher
The girl saw our attackers and started
flinging rather than placing the herbs together. “I call on the
powers of light and creation….” Ana’s voice rang strong across the
sounds of death and violence.
I pushed off the ground with my
leading foot to propel me into the air. My hind leg rotated round
to the front and lashed forward. My heel impacted the wall of a
chest and I used it as a platform to push, twirl and throw my body
like a battering ram into my other attacker. We landed hard, him on
his back. Hands of steel yanked me upright and constricted around
my chest. My wings were squished awkwardly onto my back and I
yelped. A fist slammed into the side of my head and I swear I saw
stars. A streak of white flashed past and I heard a crack. I was
free. I turned but the Cleric was already dropping like a stone as
I staggered rubbing my head, the world going wonky. I turned to
thank Lex but she was already gone. A blade that was on target to
impale my chest missed by inches, and a slash drew blood from my
shoulder to inner elbow. I sucked in a gasp of air through my teeth
at the sting. Bringing my knee up to connect with the soft flesh
between his legs, the Cleric crumpled in agony.
Again, I went to thank Lex, but the
words died on my lips. She was dominating two Clerics. Gripping a
bloody clump of hair ripped from the root in one hand, her other
arm was elegantly positioned across her chest for balance –
perfectly composed and preening like a deadly bird. Her lifted leg
hypo extended and cracked back to front, smashing one oncoming
Cleric with enough force to make his feet leave the floor. It
caught another on the return journey. She jumped and landed with
him, her on top. Dazed he tried to stand but her weight kept him
down. I watched with horror as she prowled over him, legs, and arms
moving like a spider, snuffling his chest before she reared back
and darted forward to snap his neck. Then she buried her teeth into
his cheek and tore into his flesh.
I retched and fell to my knees. “I
didn’t see,” I whispered. “I didn’t see it.”
Breathing in deeply, I gagged mid
inhale and dry heaved until I had to press my eyes
closed.
“…
. And find me the
darkness that binds these people.” Ana’s voice was calm, steady as
she worked her incantation. “Show it to me and dispel it from this
place. By my power, by my right….”
Slightly off to the side the fight was
shifting. The Clerics were losing.
I sought out Breandan. When I found
him I gasped aloud and trembled. The speed, the strength was
incredible. He danced his forms with a face of death. Four already
lay broken at his feet. He stepped aside and thrust the heel of his
palm up, smashing a nose. Spurts of blood accompanied the sound of
bone breaking. The Cleric fell, dead before he hit the floor. With
no time between, he closed the gap between him and another. He
could have been embracing a lover as his arms wrapped around his
enemy. His hands found purchase and a quick twist shifted the
Cleric off centre and he flung the man through a wall across the
courtyard. The last Cleric standing nearby feinted for a few
moments and Breandan drew himself up to his full height. Power
hummed from his being and the air crackled. Face dark and withdrawn
he was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. The Cleric fled. A flicker
of annoyance crossed Breandan’s face and the Cleric was plucked up
by an unseen force and slammed head first into a building before
being dumped unceremoniously on the floor.
Just as I had looked for him he looked
for me. His eyes followed the stream of blood down my side,
dripping off my fingertips and his languid body stiffened. His eyes
snapped to my face.
I reached out to him but an unexpected
tug pulled me in the other direction. My eyes skipped over the
courtyard and there in the centre was Cleric Tu. He stood on the
platform by the cage and shouted for the Disciples to keep pushing
forward. Had he not realized they were out of control? Was he that
blinded by hate he could not see the true evil afoot?
Around his neck hung the key – my
amulets.
Following the hum of power I ignored
those who rolled around me, crashed down in front of me. Ignoring
Breandan’s yell I leapt up onto the barricade, jumped past all the
hands reaching for me to land in front of him, snarling.
I ripped the key from around his neck.
“This belongs to me.”
I was positively ready to tear him
apart. I was not bloodthirsty, it was not in my nature, but some
people had it coming.
I jumped on him.
He rolled with me and kicked me off. I
took the blow to my stomach and slammed against a wall. It stung,
but I barely registered how odd that was, for a wall to sting. I
was focused, my eyes never leaving the Cleric.
Twisting so I was on my stomach, I
surged up onto my feet and fisted my hands. I hissed at him,
watching as he stood slowly, smiling. I narrowed my eyes. Not the
reaction I was expecting. I retied the amulets around my neck,
happy at how they sighed and readjusted their ripples of power to
cover me. Yet, the ripples felt unstable, and they faltered,
leaving me wide open. I had no time to dwell on this worrisome
oddity for Cleric Tu kept his steady walk. I shifted from side to
side, ready for him. When I had been stuck in the forsaken white
room, I had dreamed of this moment, a time when I would be free to
beat him into submission. No. I did not want to kill him; I was
beyond that, superior to such crude thinking. I wanted him to kneel
and look up at me with terror and reverence. For him to see that I
was his better and to hear him acknowledge he was wrong about my
kind. He took a final step then stopped.
Smirking, he pressed his hand to a
pane of glass and stepped into the cage as the door slid down and
locked us in.
I straightened fully, my heart
crashing in my chest. I was in a box. A small box cut off from
everything and everyone.
No, no, no!
I needed to get out. I wanted
out.
I spun and launched myself at the wall
I had been thrown into. I beat at it, ignoring the blood that
smeared the glass as I did. The edges of my palms bled and
sizzled.
Wordless with rage, my scream was a
wail. I pummeled the glass. I needed to get out, free of this
place. It was a box and I needed to be free. The air was sucked
away. My throat was tight and sweat popped out on my brow to
trickle down my neck. Chest heaving I sank to my knees and
scrambled to scratch out a hole at the bottom. The solid wood
crumbled under my talons, but the deeper I dug the more glass I
saw.
Panicked I kept up this frantic
burrowing until Breandan slammed into the other side of the cage.
He splayed his hand on the glass and spoke. I could not hear him;
it was quiet apart from the deep breaths of the monster behind
me.
Calm.
The feeling was an instruction. Hell
no. Hell. No. I would not – could not – be calm in here. Tears
streamed down my face, blurring everything as I
blubbered.
He punched the glass, catching me off
guard. He tilted his head, his expression fierce and resolute. He
speared me with his eyes, lifted his chin. I knew what he was
saying; crying would not help. Writhing on the floor keening and
begging to be set free would not help. I needed to pick myself up
and fight.
Hiccupping, I sucked it up. My bottom
lip trembled but I controlled the fear, repressed it until it was a
bubble of pain low in my chest. I could become a hysterical mess
after, when I was safe and out of sight.
Breandan’s eyes darted over my
shoulder and his face went white.
I stiffened and turned
slowly.
Cleric Tu stood legs apart and face
twisted in disgust. His crimson blazer was spattered in blood and
singed at the edges. One of the black tails was missing and an
entire sleeve had been ripped off, revealing a slashed
arm.
I twisted round to press my back to
the wall, taking slow measured breaths.
The instinct to hurl myself at him and
bite and scratch warred with the debilitating fear that this man
had locked me in a hole and cut me over and over again …
intravenously jacked me up so he could torture and torment
me.
Everything was blocked out by the
overriding urge to run away. I was good at running. But there was
nowhere to run to, I was trapped in this box and this brought me
back to the fact I couldn’t get out and that I was going to die
trapped like a wounded animal.
I was back down there, in the dark …
all alone.
The bang on the glass behind me had my
eyes snapping open. I was not alone. Breandan was behind me; he was
there. I needed to get up, stand, and fight. I tried to make my
expression hard and unafraid. The effect was probably ruined sine I
was cowering.
Cleric Tu’s hand briefly slipped
behind his back then rested by his side. “I thought you’d gotten
away from me,” he said quietly, knuckles white where he clutched a
gun. He raised the barrel so it pointed at my face. “Oh, how mad I
was. This time I’m not making the mistake of keeping you
alive.”
His finger squeezed the trigger, but I
hauled ass, using a burst of speed to latch myself onto his back
and bury my teeth into his neck. Vampires liked doing this? Craved
the vile salty blood swilling in their mouth? It was thick, sticky,
and bloody disgusting. I clamped my jaw down, going for maximum
pain, and flexed my talons, resisting the urge to grin as they sank
deeper into the flesh of his abdomen. Cleric Tu was not going down
easy. He thumped me hard on the side. I grunted but held on, his
blows not landing with enough force to hurt. He switched tactics
and wound his hands into my hair, and yanked with all his
might.
I shrieked, my teeth coming out of his
neck and ripping his flesh as I did. He tossed me off him and I
landed hard on my back, spitting out a wad of blood as I did so, my
stomach churning. Oh gods, now was not the time to be sick. I dry
heaved once, twice, making a disgusting retching sound before I got
it under control.
A knife flashed in his palm as he dove
on top of me, roaring in anger. I jerked my head to avoid the tip
spearing my eye. I rolled, taking him with me and we brawled on the
floor. He rained punches and kicks down on me as I hissed, bit, and
scratched, too wild to think about fighting properly. Screw
graceful stances, I fought for my life; teeth and nails would do me
just fine. Managing to pin me under his knees – squirming and
cursing – he slashed the blade across my back. I screamed the burn
instant and intense. He shifted off me and I scrambled up to crawl
forward, only to get the blade brought down full force into my
shoulder. Screaming did not describe the harsh cry torn from my
throat as the tip of the blade punctured my skin then sank down,
the edges radiating an intense burn through my arm and side. My arm
buckled and my cheek hit the wood.
Breandan beat his fists on the glass,
silently roaring his frustration. I watched as the iron eroded his
skin and left smears of blood.
Cleric Tu paced around me, eyes
bloodshot and crazed, unfocused. His arm swung into view and I saw
he had a new tattoo, a rune of power noting his new rank in the
Sect hierarchy.
I shook my head in disbelief, mentally
preparing myself for the next attack. I needed to focus and take
him on as a Priestess not a rabid animal as I had been. Now if I
could only stop my entire body trembling….
“
Priest?” I asked with
convincing calm.
“
Those old men have seen
they need a warrior like me.” He pointed a finger and spun it once
in the air above his head. “Liking the cage? It was built with you
demons in mind. Particles of silver and iron have been blasted onto
the surface to weaken you.” He shrugged. “I often wondered if we
were wasting our time on such a thing but now … its true value has
been proven.”
“
You truly think this is
worth something? You think because you trapped me here that you’re
a warrior,” I scoffed and this time it was easy to invoke the
emotion. The idea was laughable. I jerked my head toward Breandan,
till trying to pound a hole through the glass. “That is a warrior.
My brother, the Elder of my family is a warrior. I am a warrior.
Hell, Runt the goblin is more of a warrior than you are. You are a
gods damned lunatic.”
He lunged for me. I rolled out the
way, but his heavy boot landed on my bad shoulder, knocking the
breath out of me. Another kick to my stomach had me curling into a
ball, tears in my eyes. Winded, I was dragged up. Cleric Tu twisted
my arm behind my back and the stabbing pain was enough to make me
cry out.
He snatched up the gun he dropped to
press the barrel to my cheek. The particles of iron around the rim
sizzled as they touched my skin.
Breandan dug at the glass wall with a
dagger, but was not getting far since the iron drained his fairy
strength. He backed up and a swirling blue orb of fire appeared in
front of him and hurled itself onto the glass. It dissipated
without leaving a scratch. Three balls of blue flames greater in
size thumped into the cage in quick succession but nothing
happened. Breandan’s face was dark with rage and he yelled at Ro
who fumbled with the control panel to open the door.