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Three days’ time.
Alec, Sandra, and all those innocent people were going to be killed in merely three days’ time.
Thorny tendrils of dread snaked around my heart as I went about my duties single handedly, actually I had even volunteered to clean the garden alone so that I could have a few moments to think things through.
I swept the ragged broom in my hand across the stone courtyard with smooth even strokes, catching all the remnants of crumbs and other items I didn’t really want to know what they originally were in each rasping pass of the broom. My knuckles were white against the greyish wood of the worn handle with tension, the skin stretched taught over the smooth bone beneath as the subtlest of golden glows lit my palms, producing an eerie effect of silver and gold combined together. Despite my best intentions to keep my magic under control, a few bursts of golden light had already singed two tablecloths with a perfect imprint of my hand while my thoughts had wandered over a repeat of the prince’s speech.
It just didn’t seem real, that the innocent ones I had learned were protecting the hopes and dreams of so many were now in danger of losing their lives themselves. All the myths that I had read about the kingdom of Highguard – and those had certainly been few and far between – had depicted the kingdom as being a place of peace and joy, a city built within the spirit of a forest itself, and the people were kind-hearted and welcoming to anyone who had wished to join their kingdom. If these gentle people had come to rescue the cursed citizens of Althea before the whole kingdom fell victim to the ever brewing presence of dark magic, the king and the prince should have welcomed them with open arms. This was almost like someone was showing off their power and their ability to torture the weak... someone like Travain who lived to flaunt his life in the face of his stepfather.
As I continued sweeping about in a large circle, my thoughts kept churning like the rapid flow of a rain-swelled bubbling stream. Last night’s events had occurred just strangely after I had overheard Milasy’s heated exchange with that unfamiliar person. The engagement she had so demanded had come true after all, but Travain had shown no sign of favoring her over any of the other girls. In fact, as long as I had been here, he seemed to treat her worse than some of the others – particularly insulting her time and time again right to her face. A ruling power or not, I couldn’t see Milasy allowing herself to be belittled in that kind of fashion for very long, that was why I didn’t doubt her threats about doing something herself about the king and the prince. I had seen firsthand what a sneaky, conniving bitch she could be, one that would poison her best friend in order to win a schoolyard challenge – the last time I heard, that girl was no longer her friend either.
I had wanted to sneak down to the dungeon last night and speak with Alec and Sandra, but there was too many guards circling the perimeter of the cells to even try and steal a moment. In fact, as I came through the passageway, I nearly came out face to face with a particularly jowly specimen holding a sword ready and waiting in his hand. The same thing had happened when I tried to sneak over to the barracks and speak with Thorn, except I nearly came face to face with an entire squad of soldiers that time. I returned to my room but I barely slept last night, I kept thinking that I was hearing footsteps thudding down the hall or voices whispering about my upcoming arrest.
“Excuse me, Miss Kyri. I hope you are not too busy at the moment. I would like to speak with you.” I looked up to see Angelo striding across the crushed grass at a rapid clipped pace, the tails of his dapper grey suit flapping in the breeze generated by his steps and adding another bit of elegant air to his already sophisticated attitude. Closely following his tall figure like two limp shadows was two identical girls of nondescript features and muddy brown hair. “Since you are now our newest maid in residence for the king’s household, you will receive the honor of training the next two recruits.”
“Um, W-Welcome!” I stammered, the broom dropping out of my hand to clatter loudly against the stones below in my rush to bob into a welcoming curtsy. My movements were extremely sloppy, and I could see Angelo frown at what he considered conduct unbecoming one serving the royal household, but the two girls continued to stare blankly ahead as if they didn’t care. There was certainly no friendly gesture of a smile or a laugh or really any expression at all on their faces—and to be totally honest, I wasn’t even sure they were actually breathing. Their faces were haggard and sharp, the sharp planes of their cheekbones exposed beneath the ashy skin colored the grey shade one would associate with decay, and their thin hands curled into their sides like the talons of a bird. They were very strange to say the least.
“Daisy and Geraldine will be the replacements for the unfortunate traitor that infiltrated our lovely working place. I trust that you will be able to instruct these two in the proper maintenance of the household?” Angelo sniffed, sounding just a little more pompous than usual.
“Um... Yes sir, I believe I can.” My throat bobbed as I swallowed nervously. I didn’t like the looks of these two. Something just felt wrong about their eyes, like they were two empty portals to this shadowy wasteland that had no end or escape in sight. It reminded me too much of how the dancing shadows looked around the castle.
“Good,” Angelo nodded curtly before striding off, returning to back to the castle to presumably assist his royal highness with some unknown duty.
I turned towards Daisy and Geraldine with my best smile painted on my lips and an ever sinking heart that I was going to be killed before the sun would set this evening – at least the smile was an easy practice from years of training at our shop – “Good morning, I hope you are both ready to get started.”
Both girls nodded mutely like dolls. Their eyes still hadn’t blinked.
“Um... You can call me Kyri. Is there anything special you would like me to call you by?”
Still nothing, just two bodies staring blankly forward into the distance beside my head. I think that they really might be dolls after all, or someone was just playing a sick prank on me – or maybe they were dead? I know! These two were Thorn’s idea of putting a smile on my face after all of last night’s unpleasantness. That would be just like him.
Except... I hadn’t seen him at all since last evening.
Behind the girls’ heads, I saw a familiar feathered form lazily dip and swirl through the blue sky on the wings of the morning breeze. Not enough coordination that it would have seemed suspicious to the naked eye, but I knew exactly whose flight patterns those were. Stryker. Almost like he had heard me call his name in my thoughts, I saw the twin feathered horns twist in the air to face me, his golden eyes spearing me with their razor sharp attention as he observed everything happening below.
“Alright then,” I happily clapped my hands together like this was going to be the grandest and most fun thing I could think of. “Daisy, do you think you could finish sweeping the courtyard for me? Geraldine, I’m going to need you inside waxing the foyer down through the halls. We must make sure that everything is as neat as possible after the events of last evening’s gala.” I hesitated a moment before handing the broom to one of the twins—I wasn’t exactly sure who was who – but it didn’t seem to matter as whichever one she was accepted it anyway and began sweeping in long, stiffened strokes like her arms were incapable of fully bending. I took the second one by the hand and led her back to the castle – her grip was so cold that it felt like I was leading a corpse. I quickly found the container of paste wax and a rag that had been used in prior buffing’s and outfitted this twin with the supplies and instructions to rub in the direction of the wood grain for maximum efficiency. Total silence met my speech, but I didn’t really care now. Only once I was sure that she was performing the task as I had ordered did I sneak off towards the garden.
Stryker had perched himself in the thick wooded limbs of the willow trees by the time I had returned. His curved beak slid through the shorter feathers of his chest, fussily straightening any wayward strands to his usual impeccable standards when he noticed my approach and issued a soft greeting. Attached to his leg was the tiny vial stuffed with the enchanted paper as normal, but I knew that since he was here during the day and the recent circumstances, it was anything but.
“Hey there, Stryker. You have a message for me, buddy?” I cooed, slowly raising my hand up to gently unlatch the little vial and which provided me with a series of small affectionate nibbles along the curves of my fingers as a result. I smiled and stroked along the rounded curve of his skull with one finger, his inner eyelids sliding closed in delight with the relaxing motion of the action before I unfolded the delicate paper of the message.
Kyri,
If you are reading this, then I am assuming that your involvement in our actions has not yet been discovered. It would be wise for you to stay in your current position just now, do not attempt to speak with any of our members outside of any normal encounters that may happen. We will do our best to deny your involvement in such activities as long as you stay in your current path. Also, do not try to contact the outside on your own as this would possibly trigger some sort of alarm with his royal highness or with the soldiers. In this same fashion, do not try to organize any sort of rescue situation as this would produce a similar result. Be a shadow on the wall once more is all the promise I can make for your survival till my life ends. After that happens, I have made arrangements for you to join the others where you can finally live in peace.
Take extreme care Kyri,, for there are eyes always watching where you least expect them.
Alexandric Von Massoeric, First prince of the royal kingdom of Highguard and current heir to the throne.
A chill shivered up my spine as I finished reading the message, only to change into trembles of anger as I read the scrawled words over and over. That was it? He was just telling me to give up and hide? After all the work we had done together, all the moments we’d shared be they on paper or in person, Alec was telling me to give up and let him die? To let all the friends I’ve had for the first time in my life die just because they were caught in a mission to rescue a bruised and battered band of abused people?
No, that wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t let that happen. Not when I could do something to help. There was still two days left that I could find someone, anyone who might help.
Actually, I knew who might be willing as long as the price is right. The Raven’s guild, the band of thieves who loved to make trouble for the king almost as much as they loved the money that they charged from people that needed the black market magical items they imported by the crates full. A rolling wave of nausea churned through my stomach at going back to the band of thieves that had so casually murdered anyone who stood in their way that long ago night when I had so desperately snuck out of the kingdom in search of Vitare silk, but it had to be done. There was too many lives at risk.
One fact that was causing a bit of trouble in my thoughts was the possibility of if they take the word of a maid. I could be a trap for all they knew, and would probably kill me on sight just as soon as I stepped foot into one of their entrances, if I could even find one that is. The tavern surely burnt to the ground in the flames, and even if the entrance to the underground tunnel survived, it would be buried under so many layers of burnt rubble that I would have nearly no chance at all of finding it. Unless...
I looked to the raptor sitting above my head on a tree branch. His luminous golden eyes were open wide, the sunlight reflecting off his glossy cinnamon brown and creamy white plumage with more luster than even the finest silk could muster. Stryker seemed both ethereal and mortal at once, a creature of the earth and the sky bound together as one being. A creature with a reputation to be the wisest mind in all matters, if they chose to share that vast knowledge with another being.
“What should I do, Stryker? Should I try to help my friends survive,” The words scratched and clawed at my throat like a small beast trying to be set free, “or should I let them die so that I can live in peace?”
Stryker steadily held my gaze while his body remained motionless, the shorter feathers at his throat pulsating with each breath was the only evidence that I had that he was still here and had not passed on to whatever beyond birds go to when they die. Finally, he shifted, his wings flaring out to slowly glide down to perch my shoulder. His talons were gentle as they latched onto the rough fabric of my grey top, his curved beak nibbling along my cheek in soft soothing motions reminiscent of the way he would groom another bird. Those big golden eyes gazed up at me with soft emotion swirling deep in the depths like the ripples in a pond. I could see what he was telling me so clearly that I could almost hear the words forming in my head. Do what you feel is right.
I knew what I had to do.
I was going to find the Raven’s guild and ask- no, demand their help before my friends were executed as spies for a corrupt kingdom.
With the paper held in my right hand, I pulled at the flow of magic sweeping across the page. With a few quick flicks of my fingers, Alec’s message was erased and I quickly scribbled one in return.
Alec,
Don’t worry. I will be safe.
Kyri
I waited for a moment to see if there was any reply from Alec, but there wasn’t. My words remained in place without any further attempts at communication. With my act now decided, I suddenly stood up, a loudly protesting Stryker clinging to my gown and beating my chest with his outspread wings as he struggled to maintain his balance without falling to the ground like a discarded doll. I wrapped one arm around his feathery middle and shifted the bird over to stand on my arm, receiving another squawk of protest and a slightly angry head bob for my actions.
“Easy, boy.” I cooed while crumpling the magical paper into the tiny vial attached to his leg. Stryker’s anger would not be so easily mollified, his dignity had been insulted by my abrupt actions, but he remained still just long enough for me to flip the latch shut on the vial before he took to the air with two powerful beats of his wings. Stryker soared off into the sunny sky without a single backwards glance, returning to wherever it was that he slept during the day till he flew once again in the night.
I walked back to the castle and resumed my duties for the day. A quick wash and wax of the floors, helping Rosa with the lunchtime kitchen duties – yes, I was avoiding the responsibility of helping provide his royal highness his lunch with Angelo—and pushing my two new charges with the trial by fire of washing as many of the castle’s windows as we could fit in a day was more than enough duties to keep me busy till later that night. No matter how many times I tried to slip away, the twins were always there right behind me, their empty eyes following my every movement as they complete ever single task I set before them with a rapid efficiency that couldn’t be mortal. I could feel that eerie slick feeling that I had come to associate with the dark magic in this house surrounding their presence like puddles of ink clinging to their feet and legs. There was several times that I had to physically restrain myself from looking at the pools of darkness left behind on the now-shiny wooden floor by their individual steps. In response to the increasing close contact with the ever-brewing dark magic, my own magic was a constant buzzing presence ringing in my ears and hovering just over my skin like a protective coat of armor. It had taken some time and with frequent breaks from the twin’s presences – what little breaks I could get – just to keep from my secret being found out by the suspicious golden glow that enveloped my pale skin.
“Hey, Rosa. Do you still need those ingredients for tomorrow?” I asked while I washed my plate in the sink filled with warm soapy water. The silent girl to my right looked up to me in question as her hands kneaded the stiff cinnamon scented dough for tomorrow’s breakfast. Off to side, the twins sat at the little café table and silently ate their dinner, the watery vegetable soup dripping from their spoons as they lifted each bite to their mouths while droplets of red tomato chunks spattered their grey dresses like blood while their empty eyes focused on mine and Rosa’s conversation.
It struck me again how weird those two were, performing everything in silence and in complete harmony with each other. Again, something that didn’t seem to be a natural factor of life – certainly not a product of a normal sister relationship that I had witnessed—but something that had been morphed and mutated by dark magic itself. My desire to get away from the creepy duo was growing stronger by the second, so I tried prompt Rosa’s memory a little bit in the hopes that under the suggestion that I was performing a necessary errand that the twins might leave me alone for a while. “You remember, you were wanting a new tarragon plant since yours died, olive oil, and some fresh cucumbers? I can go get it for you since you’re busy right now.”
Rosa still seemed confused but nodded her approval anyway, her arms still buried up to her tiny wrists in dough. With a slight tilt of her head, she inclined a glance towards the flour and sugar canisters where a small pouch of money sat hidden between the two large blue pottery jars. I stowed the pouch deep into the secure hold of the pocket of my dress and didn’t miss the small light of anxiety that flashed in Rosa’s eyes. As subtle as she tried to be, I could tell that she was afraid to be alone with these two.
“Daisy, Geraldine. Why don’t you two go on up to your quarters for the evening and take a good night’s rest. You both worked hard today and you deserve it.”
The twins nodded mutely, standing up and walking out of the kitchen without even washing up their dishes. Rosa sighed, starting to remove her hands from the raw dough but I dashed across the room before she could finish. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of them.”
I quickly washed up the dishes in the warm soapy water, not even noticing that the muffled thumps of Rosa’s knuckles hitting the countertop through the dough had ceased till I heard a soft, stuttered voice speak low like the whisper of a breeze. “T-t-they... ar-a-aren’t... r-r-r-right.” Her head jerked with the effort of speaking and her eyes squinted up into tiny slits as she forced out the words over her stumbling, malformed tongue. Since I had arrived, this was first time I had ever heard her speak and felt that it probably wasn’t that much lower than the amount of words she had spoken in her life.
“Yes, they do feel unnatural, don’t they?” I replied back, choosing my words with care as not to alert any casual ears that might be listening. I didn’t think that anyone besides myself would still be lingering around given that Angleo was off cleaning up the remains of the king’s dinner and Thorn hasn’t been around much since the hunt was announced at the gala. The few times he has popped up had only been to chat rather quickly before leaving to go speak with Travain about something. He kept up his flirty, easygoing nature but I knew it had to be weighing on him quite heavy that his cousin and his fiancée were both sentenced to die in a few days.
“T-t-t-they... d-don’t... f-feel... li-like... you!” Rosa spurted the last bit a little louder than she meant to and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, her blue eyes big and round with surprise as they rapidly darted from side to side in a search to ensure that she wasn’t overheard. More sweat broke out around her temples in addition to the teardrops that had already formed at the corners of her eyes just from her effort to try and speak.
“You knew I had magic?” I dropped my voice even lower, barely moving my lips as I spoke.
Her head bobbed rapidly in agreement.
“Did you know about Sandra too?”
Some of her blond strands dislodged from the knot pulled tight at the back of her head with the force of the vigorous nodding. “S-Sh-She... p-promised m-m-me... t-t-that I-I could... g-g-go t-too!”
Of course she did. If anyone deserved to get out of this hellhole, it was little Rosa.
“That’s why I need to get out tonight. I’m going to find some help and I can’t do that with the creepy duo tagging along behind me.”
A little smile curled up Rosa’s lips and she practically shoved the money in my hand before shooing me off. One blue eye squinted up in a conspiratorial wink before she shoved the door closed behind my back, leaving me alone in the moonlit garden outside. I walked slowly to the gate, making sure that my steps were as slow and unhurried as they could be in order not to attract any extra attention. Still the guards gave me long, lingering glances as I walked around the corner of the house and towards the gate.
“Awful late for a pretty gal like you to be bumping around in the night?” I recognized the speaker as one of the young trainees from the practice yard. Small and thin, he barely looked like he could hold the sword strapped to his side upright, but he swaggered up to me in a humorous imitation of the older officers’ wobbling walk after being astride the horses for too long.
“Excuse me, sir.” I held my eyes downcast as was proper among those who had higher rank than I did, even though this boy didn’t quite qualify himself, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put on a little show for him. I dug around for the list that Rosa had shoved in my skirt pocket and held it up to the boy’s face “I need to get out and fetch a few things for the morning breakfast.”
His beady eyes scanned over the hastily marked scrawl before opening the gates with a sniff of distain. “Make sure you get back here before the moon is set or you’ll be spending the night on the streets.” He clanged the door shut behind my back for emphasis.
I did have to suppress a laugh at this since Sandra had showed me just how to open the gates before. So it’s not like I couldn’t get back in if I truly wanted to. I continued on anyway, weaving through the outdoor field of tents and temporary dwellings that composed the survivor’s of Lentiqua’s daily life. Since the gala and the events that were revealed there, some of the tents had been cleared out to make room on the streets—their occupants probably were forced to move elsewhere to enhance the ambiance but it’s not going to do a lot when you’ve still got poor burnt people lingering along the roadsides like discarded rubbish.
As I drew near to the ruins of Lentiqua, I had no trouble disguising myself as one of the pickers sorting through the rubble. With darkened forms smudged with ash and cinders, the pickers dug through the muck of the collapsed buildings for whatever might be useful at the time, remnants of tools not yet fully decomposed, blackened limbs of those unlucky enough to be caught in the flames, and more things too twisted to be identifiable were pulled from the wreckage just the same. It was enough to give me a chill just watching them go about their duties in silence, never a squeal or a scream when their hands touched something utterly gruesome.
I wandered in wide casual circles, sorting through the blackened rubble along with the pickers till I began to see a pattern in the remains, one that I recognized from that night wandering around in Lentiqua. I was near the old entrance to the Raven’s guild tavern. I kept one eye trained on the soldiers absently watching the pickers go about their search while also digging my hand as far as it would reach beneath the melted layer of wood and what may have been leather at some point in time. As I recalled what Alec had showed me during one of his lessons, I let a softened wave of golden magic leak through the rubble in search of the tunnel entrance. I was sure that it was probably hidden using magic as well, and I was hoping that by releasing a small but concentrated wave of my own, I might be able to pinpoint the location of the entrance.
It was work within itself to try and keep the glimmering golden light hidden safely away from prying eyes but I felt a tingle shoot up my arm when the magic reacted to a certain pile of rubble just a few feet away. I quickly checked to ensure that the location was correct, doused my magic, and slowly stood up and wandered over that way in a roundabout direction. None of the other pickers seemed to be interested in where I was going—neither did the soldiers for that matter—so I was thankful for that small blessing at least.
A pile of broken stones was what the pile was composed the most of, along with a strange tarry substance that seemed to be holding the entire crumbling pile together – I really didn’t want to think of what it was, the possibilities were too gruesome for my imagination at the moment – but I wedged my foot and hands in just the right spot for it all to just crack apart like splitting glass. The crack was rather loud but there didn’t seem to be any change in the behavior of the others around me. In fact, they seemed to be moving further away from my location, if possible. Suspicion rose quick in my veins and I found myself teetering on the edge of becoming neurotic. In response to my panic, the magic stayed ready at my fingertips while I continued to dig, a light teasing glance of gold at the very tip of my fingernails stained black from the ash and grime.
Once I had shoved enough of the blockage aside, I could see the barest hint of an opening buried waist deep in the ground. Casting one final look around, I folded myself and slipped into the narrow opening, pulling one of the wooden boards behind me as I went to disguise my entrance and most likely exit.
The stone steps had not been demolished in the flames, but were still so cold that it froze my feet through my slippers. I fired up a small orb of light to float in the palm of my hand, casting a warm glow over the paltry, damp surroundings as I slogged through the tunnel. The floor was lined with brackish water stained dark from the ash, quickly soaking though the hem of my skirt and staining it an ugly black. I would have to be very careful when I came back up in order to avoid a lot of questions that I didn’t want to answer—maybe I could practice some of those illusion skills that Alec had explained in the past.
I walked through the tunnel with the same sense of urgency that had propelled me on that very first night. Although this time, instead of the smell of stale alcohol lingering in my nostrils, a revolting smell of rotten meat was now growing stronger with each step I took forward. The light from my palm flickered in time with the rolling nausea coiling in my stomach, producing a dizzying array of dancing golden lights that didn’t help matters. I was going to barf before all this was over with.
Finally! Sweet blessed finally! I reached the ending. The old wooden door where I had gone through previously was now hanging useless on its hinges, broken wood flapping in the slight breeze that curved down from the outside. Only now that I had more light, I noticed a different corridor lead off to the left, running parallel with the wall for some unforeseen distance. The horrid smell was even stronger coming from that direction as well. My instincts screamed at me not to go down that way, that it was a trap, but I had no choice. I had come here with a mission in mind and I was going to complete it.
I regretted my choice as soon as my light painted the walls of the chamber beyond. Bodies laid strewn across the ground, dismembered limbs slung here and there with gruesome bits of white bone still protruding from the useless hunks of reddened muscle. The greasy water had changed to a darker maroon from where the scarlet blood that ran in rivers from the bodies to stain the stone flooring.
It was revolting.
One factor remained unchanged throughout all of the gore, each body bore the colors and pattern of the Raven’s guild in some shape or form on what remained of their bodies.
I covered my lips with my free hand, trying desperately not to hurl when something caught along the edges of my vision. A subtle motion in the shadows that shifted just beyond the edge of my sight. I squinted, trying to see what the object was but I could only make out one shadowy blob. With one flex of my magic, the light pulsed strongly outward in a wave beyond the orb contained in my hand, turning the surroundings a sickly orangish color from the combination of gold and red. The shadowy figure shrieked in pain, inky clawed hands coming up to cover a hooked beak dripping with blood and gore.
I had thought all of the dead bodies were grotesque, but this creature was just monstrous. As tall as a man, the creature’s body was as thin as the muscular foreleg of a well-exercised horse. Two squat legs bowed out at two bony joints set at perfect right angles of each other, the space formed between the creature’s legs and body being a perfect rectangle. Long, thin arms dangled from the sloping shoulder sockets like limb ropes, each ending in a set of four prong bladed fingers that looked like knives had been implanted directly into the skin. A ring of long, tufted feathers encircled the slender shoulders and neck from which grew a long, serpentine head with a savage curved beak like that of a falcon. Despite its monstrous make up, the creature was entirely black from the tip of its beak to the soles of its feet save for two slitted red eyes that hovered over the joint of the beak, and the skin was not just a regular black like a shadow. No, it was smooth and shiny, a sinuous expanse like liquid ink or oil that had been poured across a living being.
Oh, shit!
My hands shook as I began to slowly back away, the familiar burning sensation sliding across my skin as the magical light flickered in my hand, the magic racing to both defend my body and attack the creature that loomed in the dark. The creature howled in pain again as the beams of light pierced through its body again and again, stabbing through the dark form like swords piercing through flesh. A dark liquid began mixing with the blood that littered the floor, a foul smelling concoction like that of liquid smoke and old sweat tinged with the rust scent of human blood.
I turned on my heel and fled, my feet slapping against the water and sending up soaking showers of greasy spray that drenched my clothing. True fear slithered around my spine, my palms going cold and clammy as my skin chilled further despite my vigorous actions.
“Where you going, scrawny girlie?”
What blood I had pumping now froze in my veins as the creature spoke in an eerily familiar voice. My feet slid out from under my body, and I fell forward in the greasy water. The water came up to my elbows, some splashing in my mouth and I sputtered at the foul bitter taste.
“I told you, you can’t run, scrawny girlie! You couldn’t before, and you can’t now.” The monster screeched again. The rasp of his nails freakishly loud as the slopping steps grew closer. In an instant, I shoved myself back to my feet. My skin feeling like it was burning again and beginning to emit a soft golden glow. The faster I ran, the more it seemed that the creature was going to catch up with me. His soft cursing rants sounded increasingly familiar, then it dawned on me, the man from the tavern. That’s who the monster sounded like.
The faster I tried to run, the thicker the water became till it was like sucking mud trying to swallow my every movement. I struggled and clawed, eventually falling to my knees in the water while my hands pulled me forward in a hurried crawl. The rasping breath grew closer and closer, until I could feel the rancid breath nearly searing my skin. Some innate sense warned me of danger and I sucked in a breath and dove my head beneath the filthy waters, the hiss of sliced air slashing just inches above my head as I barely dodged the attack.
“Stupid Girlie!” the creature hissed and continued swiping about blindly through the water. While I was submerged underwater, my skin continued to give off a golden glow, but it wasn’t merely concentrated around my body. No, the light had spread all beneath the water and now the entire stream glowed with murky golden light like it was made from pure sunlight.
Despite my best efforts, my lungs quickly began to burn with the effort to remain motionless beneath the waters. I couldn’t stay here much longer or I would drown in addition to become the next meal of this beast. My vision was blurry, but I could see the stumpy legs powering the creature through the water, watching the way that the bowlegged knees flexed each time that the scything claws issued another deadly swipe into the water. What was it Alec said? Something about the dark magic mutating whatever it came in contact? If the dark magic preyed on other magic, maybe I had a little chance of making it out of this place alive.
Against my better judgement and years spent building walls to restrain it, I let the latch go off my magic to flood the waters with its full strength. The golden light arched from my fingertips into five long claws that matched the beasts in length and width and were ever bit as sharp while the rest of my body nearly vanished from the amount of the golden glow leaking from my skin, the entire tunnel becoming nearly as blindingly bright as a summer’s day. I waited patiently beneath the waters, my lungs burning to the point that they were nearly bursting till the beast had lumbered almost on top of my face. Then I struck, pushing myself forward with a strong kick off the ground and sliced both of my clawed hands straight through the bones of both legs. The beast howled in pain as my body plowed into its back. The light claws had sliced through the distorted flesh like butter and more of the vicious black blood now spewed from the severed arteries in giant arching sprays. Beneath my body, the beast that was previous a man tried to right itself but I sliced through the branch thin arms as well, producing more blood that spattered in my face with a sopping thickness that I wiped away with a swipe of my dress sleeve.
“Why did you kill all those people? They were your friends and comrades. What made you into this creature?” I demanded, twisting my claws further against the beast’s rubbery spine.
The beasts chuckled, a sucking wet sound that rattled his body and produced more streams of sticky black flowing over my fingers like tar. “You can’t stop us. It’s already begun.”
“What do you mean, what’s begun?” I prodder him further. It seemed the beast had no feelings for pain at all.
“It’s too late, they will all be dead by the time the morning sun rises...” By now the vibrant river of liquid black had trickled down to a small stream barely inching along, the beast below me gave one final hissing breath before deflating completely, the empty body slumping to the ground like a disused cloth. The malformed flesh squelched wetly as I removed my fingers still coated in black, the body melting into the river below as the black match returned to wherever it came.
I pushed myself to my feet, my thoughts processing over what the man turned beast had said, giving way to a shiver of fear that chilled me more than the water had. Who would be dead by morning? That’s when I felt it, the deep earth shattering boom that sent a shower of earth and dust raining down on my head and trembling shocks rising through the soles of my feet. Two more booms sounded in quick succession, sending me down my knees with a splash. I didn’t have time to wonder what made the noise, I was too busy scrambling through the water on my hands and knees as increasingly larger chunks of earth fell from the ceiling above.
I may be fated to die one day, but I refused to die like a worm in the dirt.
With one final push, I clawed my way free of the tunnels and up onto the firm surface of a burnt Lentiqua, flopping onto my stomach like a fish as soon as I reached land and my chest heaved for air as the remains of what had been the tunnel collapsed in upon itself. I made it!
Except that I wasn’t free of the danger just yet.
More booms came from near and far, mixing with the panicked shouts of fear and the blistering rallying cries of beasts too distorted to be human. I scrubbed a hand over my eyes to clear away some of the muddy grime and immediately wondered if I had hit my head while I was down below because surely the sight before my eyes could not be real. There could not be people screaming as they ran away, scarlet blood streaming from their bodies as they trampled over one another in their haste. There could not be deformed beasts of shadows and fangs terrorizing their prey as they leaped about the fleeing people, carving rivers of blood as it fell through the streets like rain when fangs plunged into flesh. Most of all, the walls of Althea could not be lying as piles of rubble around the kingdom, the tall guardians of stone no longer able to protect even the smallest ant. No, this could not be real at all.
But it was.