Gods and their Saints I needed this. The heat of my blood, the sweat on my brow, the satisfaction of cutting something's head off. Oh, I've missed this.
Mak and I plow through a street down in the southern quarter just outside the castle gates. Darius killed everything inside in those few seconds after he blew Xaxias to the underworld and back. He was not happy to say the least, though I can't say I was much better off after finding the Mater bleeding and her throat red from being choked.
Thankfully, the explosives were in fact fake and the powder nowhere nearby, and the castle still stands. The three hundred people left untouched by the Pater's rage all flew out of that ballroom like witches on brooms. I brought Mak with me to close the gates so no one could get out, and so nothing can get in. They all panic in the courtyard, even as Tanith grabs their minds and has them joining hands in large groups so we can mist them out quicker.
But there are three-hundred Gods be damned people.
"I think we bit off more than we can chew," Mak yells, giving a quick glance to the gates behind us.
I bring down a Wailing Krov, freezing it in time and beheading the nasty little beast. "When have you known us to back down from a challenge?"
She impales the body of a scrawny man possessed by an Ashmodai, then tosses the body into a nearby fire we lit for that reason. Without destroying the body the Asmodai will repossess it, missing limbs and all. "I'm just saying. The others won't be able to fight if they drain themselves with that shit - fuck!"
I duck beneath the claws of a Scurii as it flies overhead. It aims for the gates but gets frozen midair before it can. I behead a Hell Hound and then shoot an arrow to cut off the tail of the Scurii. It falls to the ground, now nothing more than the dust it rose from. "I hate those bastards."
"Well here comes a whole flock!"
I look up, seeing the dozen Scurii that pursue the same standing prey behind us. "We could really use some duplicates right about now."
"Sorry to be a disappointment." I glare at Mak in between killing two Nidras. Their serpentine bodies shrivel at the death blows.
I face off the Raver that all the lower demons step aside to let through. "Just get up there."
She looks between me and the Raver, offending me with her hesitation to do as I say.
"Nice knowing you."
She sheaths her swords and spreads her arms wide. A quick flash and an orange-tipped cinereous vulture shoots to the sky towards the Scurri. I don't watch to see how she faces off the dozen demons. Not when there's a drooling Raver prowling towards me, its claws clicking on the cobblestone and scales gleaming against the firelight.
"I don't suppose you'll be nice and make this easy?" Its mouth opens, that small blue light at the back of its throat glowing. The only warning of the chaotic scream about to shatter your eardrums. "Didn't think so."
A flick of my wrist and the Raver's body turns into a statue. A throwing knife hurtles for that light and I take off in a run. Restarting time, the Raver's voice cuts off with a choke as the knife drives home, and I slide on the ground beneath the beast while it's distracted and slice through its throat, all four knees, and drive my sword from sternum to tail through its body. When I roll and stand, now behind the demon, I find it laying on its side bleeding out. The lower demons screech their anger.
"Oh, shut up." I toss a hand over my shoulder and cut off their screams as I stride for the lame beast.
Nilsa mists in at the head of the Raver then, the Mater beside her. I sniff for her injuries finding them healed and the blood on her stomach and face still fresh but not oozing. Kat will not be happy about the ruined dress.
"Oh, good timing," I greet them both. I point a thumb to the lower demons behind me all still held in my mental grasp. "You mind?"
Nilsa smirks at them and I fold my power back within myself, letting her have her own fun. "Above you," I tell the Mater as she opens her mouth. She looks up to where Mak takes down another Scurii, then tears the wings off of a few with her own power.
Someone's in a mood.
I bend down in front of the Raver still twitching and fighting to live. It'll heal itself in a few minutes, which would've been seconds if I hadn't done so much damage. I hold in a gag and thrust my hand into its chest and past the now severed cartilage of its ribs, to the heart beneath. "Gods I hate this shit."
With a hard yank, I relieve the demon of its heart, then toss it into the fire before I can process the gooey gelatin feeling of the organ. A shiver creeps its way up my spine like chills.
"I really fucking hate that shit."
"You got some on your face," Nilsa calls, walking back for the Mater with her sword sitting on her shoulder, the bloody wake of the demons she clearly gave no mercy to flooding the streets. The asshole doesn't have a spec of demon blood on her.
"I like bathing in the blood of my kills."
She huffs at the false claim, knowing full and well that I hate blood on my face. Anywhere else, fine, but not my face. It drips into my mouth and my eyes - and that shit stings.
Mak lands on the ground on her own two feet, the vulture now gone with the Scurii all dead. At least, those on this end are.
"How many are left?" I ask Mak.
"Half."
Nilsa and I curse at the slow progress of getting those people out. A hundred and fifty people left to still get out of this hell hole.
"What of the demons?" Clarice asks, her eyes pinned to the ground. She's taking an inventory of her own.
"They're chasing anyone they can through the city, but they are all heading straight for the courtyard."
"We need to get those people out. Now."
Clarice stops Nilsa's movement to help our sisters in the courtyard. "We have something bigger to deal with."
I sigh up at the sky. "How many Banevenin's?"
"It's not them. I already killed them before they could rise from their nests." All of shoot our brows upward in only slight shock.
Well damn. When in ten hells did she do that?
"Then what is it?" Mak asks.
Her hands splay toward the floor, feeling for whatever it is she's tracking. "Something that swims."
"For fuck's sake. I was really hoping we wouldn't meet any sea monsters tonight."
"Yes you were," Nilsa counters, carrying a smirk that says she was hoping for one too.
Can you blame us? We've been bored for ten years - and while we're aware that bigger and badder demons aren't a good sign, it's still way more fun than fighting more Wailing Krovs and Ashmodai's all night.
"How far out is it?" I ask.
Clarice's head tilts to the side slightly, eyes narrowing. "Ten minutes, give or take."
"That gives us five minutes to get their asses out of here." Clarice doesn't stop us this time as we all turn and walk for the gates. I take her hand and mist us into the center of the mass. Tanith stands there, arms widespread and eyes glowing silver.
"Count us in," I tell her.
Three new groups of thirty people separate and link hands and we head for them. The water around the courtyard rises from its calm state and forms a dome over our heads. The two trees on either side of us begin to move with it, though they form their dome over Tanith and herself.
"Be back in a sec!" Mak calls, then mists out with her thirty, Nilsa on her tail, and then myself.
I drop my group into the King's Garden of Fernweh castle, glancing at the highly overpopulated area before leaving them in the care of healers who rush over. I return to Cadorelin and take another group already ready. I repeat it a few more times before everyone's out and all that's left are all eight of my sisters, the others more tired than me, Nilsa, and Mak. Tanith's arms are still widespread and her eyes silver.
"Go to the quarters," Clarice orders.
A location appears in my head thanks to Tanith, and then I'm misting to the western quarter and find a whole living room full of cramped people.
I beam at them. "Hi!"
I take the woman's hand closest to me and get them all to Fernweh.
A new location waits for me when I return to Tanith. Three more trips and she finally releases a long breath, her power with it. "That's all of them."
"Well, almost all of them."
We look up to find demons ramming themselves into the water dome.
The dome snaps then, entrapping the demons who were stupid enough to be near it. The branches of the trees strike quick and fast, severing necks, hearts, and tails. Soon the dome is tainted black with blood, and the water falls back into the small pool around us, sloshing against the dead grass.
"Anyone have a match?" Clarice asks casually, not looking like that tired her out one bit. I don't know how she's still standing after tonight, but I'm liking this part of the Mayer Natura.
Tsillah disappears randomly. We hear a window smash nearby, then she returns with a shard and holds it out. Kathika shoots a light beam through it. A few seconds and it sparks fire on the dead grass. Tanith uses the shard to dig out the small flame from the dirt, then throws it into the water. It lights like a trench.
I suppose it's a good thing that demon blood is flammable.
"Right. To the sea monster then?" I ask Clarice.
"Sea monster?" Serephina exclaims, eyes wide and hungry.
"You six go help Darius. We'll be there when we can."
"But-"
"Go." Dee, Mak, Inna, Tanith, Kathika, and Tsillah all pout at the fact that they don't get to fight a sea monster. We haven't come across one yet, but I sure as shit am glad that I'm not one of them.
They mist to where Darius and the Bhaltayr currently hold Xaxias in the northern quarter. I'm fairly certain that there won't be much of a wildflower field left after tonight.
Nilsa, Vanya, and I mist the Mater to the southern quarter on a rooftop that overlooks the quiet port. The ships and boats sit quietly on the docks, their sails tied up and abandoned. Ships anchored further out don't show any signs of a sea monster beneath them.
"I thought it was supposed to be here by now?"
"It is."
I follow Clarice's gaze to the eastern point. I have to squint to still see nothing. I start to question her abilities when something breaks through the surface.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Vanya mumbles, suddenly regretting her choice of coming along.
Three spiked fins split through the water, along with two large tentacles that look similar to that of an octopus. A deep rumble vibrates through the water, shaking the small waves that lap against the shore.
"I have a really bad feeling about this."
The three fins approach the far ends of the longest docks, pushing aside the large ships as the monster's scaled back rises from the water. Those tentacles extended from the thing's shoulders, the head following as it smashes wood beneath its spindly, long-nailed, hands.
Gods and their Saints that's one big mouth. A single row of gigantic teeth lines its border, the gentle welcome to the blazing maw. Why does everything always have to have some kind of deathly fire coming out of their mouths?
It looks reptilian. Scaled and spiked all around its head and neck. Its chest is thick, slimming in its torso and shorter back legs. It's like some kind of dragon-headed, fish-finned, tentacled, demon-handed, spiked, monster. It's a monster.
"Oh, I so regret coming with you guys." I'm inclined to agree with Vanya. This...this is not what I had in mind. "Uh, guys? Where's the Mater?"
I whirl around, eyes scavenging the rooftop for Clarice. She's not here - of course she fucking isn't! I curse up a storm and go to the edge of the roof and look down. Lo and behold the Gods gifted woman is walking down the street, straight for the thing that could swallow her whole.
We jump over the wall, misting to her side. "I'm assuming you have a plan?" I ask her.
"Do you know how to kill it?"
"If we knew how to kill it, that's what we'd be doing." I scowl at Nilsa's sass.
"Beheading and heart-ripping?" Vanya suggests.
The Mater turns left down the next street, following it as it heads for the castle. It moves oddly slow for what you'd expect. "It doesn't have a heart."
"Well that's just peachy," I say sarcastically.
"And I don't think we'll be cutting through that neck." Nilsa's right. We'd need a giant and his giant ax to do that.
"Wait, how do you know it doesn't have a heart?"
"I couldn't feel a heartbeat while it was in the water. Only its breathing." Fair enough, then. "There's a membrane between its brow. Completely exposed and soft as a pillow. That's how we kill it."
"You want us...to go up there...and stab it in the head?"
"Now that we're on the same page, get to work. I'll keep it distracted. Oh, and don't be near the membrane when you cut it open. I'm sixty percent sure that's where it stores the fire or whatever it is it breathes. Wouldn't want you to fry like a chicken on a spit."
She turns sharply around the corner of a building. I jump the next steps to follow, only to find she's burst into an outright sprint for the damn monster. I debate running after her.
"How in ten hells are we supposed to get up there without getting impaled on those spikes or caught by the tentacles?" Vanya asks, craning her neck to see it.
"Not to mention stay out of its eyesight," Nilsa adds. "It's got thirty-two of them watching every angle of our possible attack onto the membrane."
I'm beginning to think the Mater gave us the hard part and set us up to fail.
Sighing, I spread my feet and ready my body for the oh so much fun to come. "Well, we're not going to figure it out by standing here and looking at it like it's an antique painting. Come on. Let's get this over with."
I unsheath two long knives from my hips and mist up to the tallest building by its front leg. Nilsa mists right beneath it, Vanya several blocks away on its other side. I debate waiting for the mater's distraction when the ground beneath its arm suddenly caves into a sinkhole. It leans to one side at the imbalance, and the ground seals around the elbow before it can right itself.
I don't wait and mist into the air above it, free-falling to find that membrane she mentioned. It's right where she said it was, and glowing a bright teal. Someone calls my name in a warning and I look up to see one of those massive tentacles aiming to crush me. I mist back to the rooftop before it can, landing hard on my shoulder and rolling until I hit the wall.
The floor groans as I stand, quaking the roof a little. I run for the edge looking up to see Nilsa now falling through the air. The beast turns its head as she grows closer. She's forced to mist to avoid one of those damn spikes killing her.
Below me the ground cracks. "Shit."
I mist a block back, just making it before it pulled its foot out of the ground and crushes the building I had stood upon. Its other leg gets sucked into a sinkhole, this one deeper. Behind me the sound of water rushing has me turning to find the ocean waves growing larger and larger, slowly putting the small shops closest to the docks beneath it.
I have no idea where the Mater is, but she is really angry.
Misting to Vanya's rooftop I get there just as she mists above me. I catch her in my chest, cushioning her fall when the impact takes me out. "Ow."
"Thanks." I grunt as she rolls off of me, my ribs not having liked the hit.
"Any ideas?" Nilsa misted here too, but she was smart enough not to help Vanya. I stand and dust myself off, which really only smudges blood all over my leather and armor. I'm going to hate scrubbing that off later. "Can you hold it?"
I shake my head. "At the beginning of the night, maybe, but I don't have enough energy left to keep the entirety of it still long enough for you two to get up there."
"Can we mist right onto the membrane?"
Vanya shoots down Nilsa's suggestion with a shake of her head. "Those spikes aren't solid like horns. They move. If we get close they'll impale us on the spot before we can penetrate the membrane."
"And we're sure it's a thin membrane and not like the Banevenin's encased heart?"
"It moves like a sack of water," Vanya answers. "It's thin."
I start listing all the facts in my head. The dos and don'ts and possibilities and what could work and what definitely won't. None of us say a thing, all trying to come up with a plan. It gets its leg free again, only for both of its back legs to go under next. It roars its anger and we slap our hands to our ears and crouch down away from it.
It's no Raver's scream, but it's loud as hell.
I peek over the wall. Its back legs are stuck all the way thanks to their shorter length. Water rushes past them, now moving with double the speed and force as it takes a block in seconds.
"I know how to get to the membrane."
"What!" Vanya yells, hands still plastered to her head.
"The membrane! I know how to get to it!"
"Now's not the time to be thinking about food, Rohana!"
I flip Nilsa off.
"I said-" The beast stops roaring then, and I stand and look for where Clarice could be hiding. "I know how to kill it."
"Well don't just stand there and expect us to know your plan."
"Where's the Mater?"
"In the chapel's clock tower," Nilsa answers, pointing to the tall tower in the distance of the eastern quarter.
Good, then she's far enough. Wait how..how in ten hells did she get all the way over there so quickly?
Nevermind.
"The tentacles are its first defense. I misted higher above it and it used those to keep from getting closer. Nilsa went lower and it tried hitting her with those larger horns around its neck. And we can't get close to the membrane without the moving spikes killing us. So we trick it."
I tell them my plan quickly, eyeing the quickly rising shoreline. When I finish they leave to their positions. I hop on my toes, praying to the Gods and their Saints that Clarice can hold its back legs for the next two minutes. Otherwise, we're as good as dead.
"They better build me a big ass marble statue for this."
The waves overtake the next block and I mist high above the sea demon for a second time. Nilsa's power wraps around me, distorting my view for a few ripples before it resettles, spreading her illusion and hiding my fall. A squinted glance above and I see her replica of me and the tentacles swiping for it. I look back down at the closing distance and focus myself. Just where Vanya said I spot the moving spikes around the membrane. My power fills in my chest, readying to release. Closer and closer I fall, but I don't let it go. Not until Vanya's body appears ten yards beneath my own.
She twists her knives to form an "X" over her head, and I stop the spikes in time. She flips in the air, tucking her knees to her chest, and lands right on the membrane that ripples like water at her impact.
The beast roars again, its head bucking so fast that I end up hitting one of its horns and slam into the scales of its neck. The two impacts knock the air out of me, blurring my vision enough to have my power slip slightly. I shove it back outwards forcefully, keeping my focus there while my lungs figure their shit out.
I try taking several breaths but none of them take. Not while my diaphragm has been shocked into a spasm and can't expand. A short panic starts to scrape my mind when the muscle finally rights itself and sweet, crisp air sprints into my lungs.
"Rohana!" I look up, finding Vanya still on the membrane with her sword lodged in it. She strains to pull it and get a tear in the wall. I stand and go run over to help her, but the beast's head moves, and I end up grasping onto a horn nearby as my body gets pulled to the side by gravity.
"Hang on, Vanya!"
The beast flips his head the other way. I get thrown sideways and hit another horn. My back is going to be littered with bruises later.
I stand the moment that I can, sprinting for Vanya. Nilsa appears beside her and puts her hands over Vanya's on the hilt and starts pulling.
Thin layer my ass.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I turn to find those two tentacles plummeting right for us. I throw my hands up, my power shooting up like a wall. The tentacles instantly stop.
With having to keep the other two alive, holding the weight and strength of the tentacles starts to strain on me. It pushes me down to one knee, and I can feel my arms shaking at the effort, weakening. Bigger and stronger things that put up a fight are harder to hold, especially those of demonic origin. I could probably hold an angry blue whale no problem, but a demonic whale would have me sweating as I do now.
Damn black blood.
"Now would be a good time to get that thing open!"
"We're trying," Vanya yells back, voice as strained as I feel.
"Try harder!"
My back bows at the increasing weight and decreasing energy and strength. Another roar flies out of the beast's throat. It is so much louder up here on its head, but I can't lower my hands. Not if I want to have a chance at surviving this bullshit.
I doubt they'll be able to hear, but I still yell, "Hurry!"
My strength lags more, forcing me onto my back. I turn my head to my sisters. Nilsa's own sword is now plunged beside Vanya's and they pull in opposite directions, teeth bared. Movement behind them catches my eyes, and I spot a spike slipping through my power. I throw out one hand towards it and it stops again, but the tentacles gain ground in that short second.
Ten seconds. They have ten seconds to get that thing open, or I'm letting it all go and getting us the fuck out of here. Ten seconds.
Blood starts dripping out of my nose and ears, and I can taste it at the back of my throat. Five seconds.
A blue light flares in my peripheral, and I turn to find a thin beam of it shooting upwards towards the night sky. Both Vanya and Nilsa leave their swords and sprint off of the membrane. I don't hesitate. The moment they leap over the still standing spikes, I drop my power and force myself to my feet. We sprint along the scales, dodging horns until the beast twists again and we go flying over the side. Both of their bodies slam into mine and they mist us out of the air and into the clock tower with Clarice. We hit the stone floor hard, bodies detangling as we skip in different directions. I once again collide with a wall, but my breath thankfully stays with me this time, though the blood having spilled out of my nose gets caught in my throat, and I end up in a gargling coughing fit.
My back protests any movement at all, but I ignore it and make my way to the window where Clarice stands.
Her arms are upraised towards the beast that is now swept off of its feet by the swirling ocean water. She says something I can't hear.
"What?" She flinches at my word, giving me a confused glance.
I suddenly realize that my ears are ringing. Likely from the damage they received from the beast's roar. I hope I never hear or see another one of these things again. I wipe the blood from my nose as we watch her lift the beast high above the city. The beam from its head still leaks, and for a second I think that the little tear might not have been enough.
I really don't want to go back on that thing.
Clarice's hands twist and the tornado of water pulls the beast back out to the ocean. Why can't the damn thing just die already?
The blue beam suddenly disappears as she gets it back into the cove. Buildings and docks come back into view as the tornado rises higher and higher.
Seriously. Why won't it die?
Another sharp movement of her hands and the tornado disperses into two. The bottom shoots down into the ocean and splits it into a pit, revealing the ocean floor that tunnels so far down you can't see its bottom. The top holds the beast in the air for another second, and then it flips and flies skyward as the beast hovers for a few seconds. The ball of water turns into a large arrow, and then it strikes the beast now belly side up, right in the chest, and pummels it towards the ground. Just before it enters the tunnel, the membrane between its brow bursts and teal flames strike outwards.
Clarice brings her hands together and the ocean swallows the flames and slams back in on itself, drowning out the beast's roar. A whirlpool forms where the tunnel lays, funneling into it like a drain and now leaving the smaller boats and docks on dry land.
The ground shakes violently, and a loud noise sounding like thunder rolls over us. Oddly enough, it rids of the ringing in my ears, but the still shaking ground has all of us losing our footing and falling to the floor.
"Saints," Vanya curses. The shaking stops then, as does the rumbling.
"Sorry," Clarice apologizes, sitting up with her back to the wall. "I didn't know that would happen." She rubs at her temples, likely due to the fatigue that's setting in with all the power she just used.
I'll be getting one soon too.
"Please tell me that was the only one," Vanya breathes.
The Mater nods, and my body gives a heavy sigh. "That was the only one."
"For now," I correct. There might not be another one tonight, but Xaxias undoubtedly has more hiding out in the sea until further notice.
Groaning at the already setting soreness, I stand up on wobbly legs and walk back to the window. Settling waves smack the new lower shoreline. Half of the boats and docks are now shore anchored, but the sea level will return by morning. Hopefully.
"I need a nap," Vanya whines, still laying on the floor.
"That won't be happening just yet," Nilsa says. She stands at the opposite end of the room, the bell hanging in between us blocks our view of her.
I help the Mater up first, then we both pull Vanya to her feet and walk to Nilsa. She stands at another window, leaning against the frame.
On the northern side of the castle, darkness meets fire in large waves. Neither show signs of backing down. Not even as demons leap from the darkness and charge towards the walls.
"Right. That."
"Where is everyone?"
Nilsa answers, likely having gotten them from Tanith the moment she saw the fight still going. "Darius, Lance, and the Bhaltayr fight on the ground just outside the wall. Dee, Inna, Mak, and Tsil are with them, and Kathika and Tanith fight on the wall."
"Then we go to the wall," I decide. Vanya groans her protest against the decision. I put her arm over my shoulder and hold her at the waist. She's being a baby, but she won't mist with us unless I take her.
Nilsa takes Clarice first, and we follow.
"About damn time - oh, Saints you all look like hell."
"Thanks, Kathika." I leave Vanya to lean against the wall beside her and go to stand on the other side of Clarice.
Below us the men and three women work together to put down the demons. They stay in their half-moon in front of Darius who fights against the power of Xaxias in the distance. Visha's body lays behind him, still lifeless.
Saints how I wish I could've been the one to snap her neck.
Beside me, Clarice's power releases a small wave beneath the earth. "How many?" I ask her. She's doing a headcount with how many demons she can feel on the earth.
"A hundred. Twenty are Ravers."
"Darius took care of the Scurii," Tanith yells, releasing an arrow and knocking another one. Smart of her to grab the bow and arrow.
Indeed he did. Another look at the ground and you can see the broken bones of once leathery wings scattered about.
Ouch.
"You guys still up for a few more kills?" Clarice asks.
"What and stay up here while the boys have all the fun?" Vanya jokes, pushing off of the wall and walking with a whole new attitude. "No thanks."
I pick up the other bow and quiver by Tanith's feet. "You three go down, we'll blind them from up here."
They're gone and on the ground falling into rank with the others before I can turn around.
"You think I should give them a warning?"
"Nah," Tanith and I answer at the same time.
With a soft laugh, the Mater once again raises her hands. Tanith and I step closer to her, our backs to her sides so we can watch both her front and back. The earth starts to rumble again, but it starts further out beyond the darkness and slowly grows louder and louder until it starts rumbling with a new beat. That of a stampede.
"A hundred meters." Tanith and I aim our arrows high, releasing them when her hands lower. A second arrow is knocked. "Ninety." One after the other we change our positions to her calculations, and each one lights with a flame on its head mid-flight before finding its mark in a Raver's head.
Demons upon demons charge toward us and right into the walls of power awaiting them. The Wailing Krovs close in fast with their speed, and I test the parameters of my power before sending it with my next arrow.
The Krovs launch for heads and heart, only to get caught in the time trap. They lose their heads to the swords of my sisters and the Bhaltayr. The Ashmodai and Hell Hounds follow after.
I loosen two more arrows. A tap on my shoulder by a phantom hand and I lower my trap. The ground beneath the Ashmodai drops and rises in a quick bounce and they lose their footing. A large gust of wind flips them over themselves and they too fall against poised steel.
The Hell Hounds all too eagerly leap into Nilsa's illusion, aiming to take off everyone's head, only they clash with nothing but air and fall into the trench they hadn't seen and end up buried in. I doubt they're still alive if the Mater's still lucid anger has anything to say about it.
Two-thirds of the Ravers all have arrows in their heads, and though they charge forward on Xaxias's order, their throats have been burned and charred. When the others go to scream their throats are cut off of air. They still don't stop.
Vanya splits herself into an additional twenty duplicates, all of which meet the Ravers first and either slide beneath them or jump over the large beasts. With them now behind the Ravers they tip the odds and chase after them. Some lose a foot or two to the earth, others their head to the snap of the wind. Where the elementals don't strike, arrows and steel do. Vanya's duplicates jump on the demon's backs and drive their swords down while the men and sisters deal with the killing blows. Tanith and I shoot our last few arrows into the ground, piercing red eyes to blind. A distraction for their death.
Darius sets them on fire, two bonfires now bursting to life as hearts get pulled out of the bodies and thrown into them. I notice how it's only my sisters who do the dirty work while the men happily turn down the opportunity.
They will never hear the end of it.
"Mater."
My eyes snap up at Tanith's warning. Two hundred meters out Xaxias stands with shadows spilling out of his hands. Visha's body still lays behind him, but my eyes catch a slight movement of her form.
His shadows rise as two giant snakes, each with red eyes and flicking tongues. They coil and rise to a striking height as tall as the highest tower of the castle. They launch forward, closing the large distance at an alarming speed. One moves quicker than the other, aiming straight for Darius. Five times her previous already large size, Kalla dives and catches the snake around the neck with her talons and tears off its head. The snake disperses back into a shadowy mist, but the first snake was only a cover.
The second's mouth is wide and open as it passes through the fire. Darius doesn't move fast enough to block and I yank on my power-
The ground before him shoots upward in a pointed pillar, impaling the snake before its mouth could close around Darius quicker than any of us could mist him out of there.
Dust and darkness cloud our vision, the world suddenly void of the sounds of the underworld. We can barely see the light of the bonfires from up here with all the smoke. A breeze quickly shifts the wind as we look out at the field. Waiting. It'd be just like Xaxias to blind us and launch another new demon at us. But nothing comes.
The cloud reveals nothing but the bodies of the demons that didn't get past the half-moon line, and the large monolith still guarding the King.
No demons, no more shadow...no Xaxias. "He's gone."
"For now." Clarice looks down at our full numbers. Twenty-four.
If you told me that there'd be a day where twenty-four people took down somewhere over three hundred demons and a giant sea monster some twelve decades ago, I would've laughed so hard that I peed my pants.
Vanya turns away from the field and yells up at us, "Can I have a nap now?"
Amel says something that has her duplicate kicking his feet out from under him. He's lucky that mud isn't demon blood.
"And they thought Vanya was one of the nice ones," I muse.
Smiling, I turn towards Clarice for her next plan, but she takes Tanith's hand, and the two disappear. I try following Tanith's mind bridge to where she took the Mater, but the bridge ends long before I can even take a guess.
"Rohana." I look back down the wall at Darius's voice carried through the breeze.
Oh I am so going to get my ass kicked for the Mater's unexplained disappearance. I glance back to where they once stood again before misting to him.
"Where'd they go?"
"I...I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Lance interrogates.
"I mean exactly that. I don't know."
"Rohana's telling the truth," Dee says. "None of us know where they are because Tanith is the only one who could take the Queen and cut us off from knowing where."
"She wouldn't do it unless Clarice asked her to," Kathika adds. She's trying to help, but it only adds more kindling to the already sky high reaching fire.
We all stand there, watching Darius carefully. His hands flex in and out of fists, jaw working, and eyes skittering around the ground as if following a fly. Despite what he's used I can still feel the strength of the power he has left. It could set the castle on fire for the rest of the night.
Rule number one of being near an unstable elemental: Don't ever interfere with the path of their emotions. You'll end up answering for it.
I step back and let him work his thoughts out on his own, fully preparing to grab the Prince and the guards and mist them back far enough to avoid being singed.
It doesn't come, and the heat of his power cools and settles. Nilsa and I share a look.
Rule number two: Just because it settles, doesn't mean it can't rise twice as worse with the wrong words.
So we stay quiet and let him talk first. "Did the royals see it all?"
"They did," I answer calmly, still wary.
"Then get them to Fernweh. We'll go back to camp when you return."
Rule number three: Do what they ask the second they are finished asking it if they're in one of their moods, lest you want to test whether or not you're fireproof or can suddenly grow gills.
The nine of us mist to the small room we had left the nineteen rulers of Ker and their guards. They all wear the long coats we stitched with wards that would temporarily hide them from Xaxias's senses, and that of demons. We had to keep Willa busy for a cycle back in Fernweh somehow.
They were brought here instead of Fernweh to witness a small tidbit of the power Xaxias holds, and that of our own. They had a full three-sixty view up in the tall central tower with a glass pyramid-shaped tip. They saw the fear and death the demons brought and the sea demon that rose from its depths. They witnessed twenty-four of us all take on the rather low odds without hesitation, and the strength of our power and its reach. They watched us get all those people out of the castle and city, and when we bring them to their rooms in Fernweh castle, they'll see the results of our actions just as clearly as they can see them down below.
"Time to go," I tell all of their ashen faces.
"Go where?" The Queen of Avyana questions. She still clutches to the plain coat with the metallic red symbol on its right shoulder.
"King Darius and Queen Clarice promised that they'd ensure your safety throughout the night, and the safest place is in Fernweh. Xaxias can't reach you there, no matter how hard he tries."
My sisters spread about the room, taking the rulers once they're ready. I turn to the Verenans and Cressidians and await their answers. The former pair step forward first, then the reluctant but clearly decided Cressidians.
Everyone is brought to the foyer where the castle's staff all wait and lead each of the rulers to their rooms. They're all strategically placed so that there's no conflict overnight and a higher possibility that they'll mingle with their neighbors and come to a unanimous decision.
Willa stands on the steps overlooking everyone's arrival. Her eyes find mine and she shakes her head. She doesn't know where Tanith and the Mater are either, but she's not worried. I'd just be more comfortable if I knew where they were.
The scent of lemon and rose hit me a second before a pair of arms wrap around my neck. "Thank the Gods and their Saints you're all alive. I've been biting my nails all night."
Branka pulls back and keeps me at arm's length, looking me up and down. "Saints you stink."
"You fight a big ass sea monster and see if you don't come out of it smelling like rotten fish," I retort, a small smile already on my lips.
Her eyes snap to mine, widening as I tell her all about the thing that rose from the waves. "Captain Crawford said there were sea monsters but...I didn't imagine that."
"None of us did."
"Rohana we have to get back," Inna calls. She skips over and kisses Branka on the cheek before misting away.
I nod, but keep the mist away from my skin. Branka eyes me, noticing the hesitation I usually never have. "Everything okay?"
I shrug my shoulders. "Oh, you know. Typical post-battle shit that involves staying in Cadorelin for a few more hours to make sure nothing rises from the shadows, and to search for our missing Queen."
Her whole body locks up. "Clarice is missing."
"Tanith misted her out after the battle and cut off her ties. Your mother says they're fine."
I watched her whole body tense with something only her mother ever gets now. Worry and panic for a child. "What? Why? Does she know where they are?"
"I don't know why the Mater ran off, and no, your mother doesn't know where they are, but she would know if it was anything bad." Branka doesn't look anywhere near relieved. I probably should've held off on telling her until morning. She's less likely to get any sleep now. "Don't worry. If anyone can look out for the Mater, it's Tanith."
Branka nods distantly. I don't want to leave her like this. Even more worried than when was before we got here.
I spot the King of Andraste watching us, something of concern furrowing his brows. He notices my own stare and straightens his shoulders. I glance between him and Branka who is still heavily zoned out to notice, and then wave a finger for him to come over. He hesitates to do so which makes me even more suspicious. A shove from his sister and he slowly makes his way over here.
"She'll be okay." I snap my eyes back onto Branka and plaster on a supportive smile before she can catch me studying the King's gait.
"Of course, she will be."
Shit. That wasn't what I meant to say. Her eyes narrow on me as she catches the abnormal optimism too. Thank the Gods this man has long legs and spares me from having to fix my shit. "Hello."
Damn, that was too cheery too.
The King doesn't know me well enough to see the abnormality, and smiles as he says, "My Lady Rohana."
And just like that, the cheer's gone. "Oh, heathens no."
I spin on my heel and walk away. Branka calls my name, but I mist back to our camp in Cadorelin before she can call me back.
My Lady Rohana. Ugh. My whole body cringes at the whole thing. I am not a lady.
I mist to where I tracked the rest of my sisters, back to the white-roofed canopy we had the meeting with the royals this afternoon. Or was it yesterday afternoon? I look up at the sky in search of the moon, but clouds block my view. A second later and I feel the first drops of rain hit my cheek. Typical. I'll just assume it's past midnight.
Loud voices catch my attention and I approach the canopy to find everyone standing beneath it and two voices arguing.
"You don't get to tell me what I can and cannot do!"
"I wasn't telling you what you can and can't do - I was telling you that your expectations are -"
"You don't get a say in our lives anymore!"
I walk up beside Dee to find Lance and Will in each other's faces and drawn to their full height. "For Saint's sake, what's this all about?"
"Lance threatened to kill Will if he found out he had to do anything with his sister going M.I.A. again, and Will told him to fuck off. Now we're here," she explains.
"Why hasn't anyone stopped them?" I demand.
"Do you want to get in the middle of that?"
"You lost the right to any opinions the day you murdered Rose!"
"Oh, believe me. I lost it far earlier than that, asshole."
No. I definitely do not want to get in the middle of that. I look around to find everyone else also making the same decision and giving them a wide berth in case fists fly. "Go set up a perimeter."
Dee rolls her eyes but walks off to stand guard at one end of the tent. Even if this thing had fabric walls I wouldn't take any chances that there's not someone with their own bow and arrow aimed at us. I make sure the others have taken up their own spots as well before tuning back in.
Someone's going to have to jump in sooner or later, and Darius and his twelve other shitheads don't look like they'll be doing that anytime soon.
"Oh, yes. I completely forgot how you fucked my sister and then left her broken-hearted the next day."
"I didn't mean to hurt your sister-"
"Bullshit! You knew exactly what you were doing-"
"Oh, and you didn't?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You were the Sinister Fox! You had whispers and rumors rushing to you like sex-crazed girls every day! You loved to brag about how you could see my tells and read my emotions and thoughts from a mile away. Are you really telling me that you didn't have a single clue as to where I spent my time and who I spent it with?"
"I had far more important things to worry about than where you spent your time."
"Like what? Kissing your father's ass?"
Lance closes the distance between them at the mention of his father. Will doesn't back down, and I take a step toward them both readying to intervene. "Don't talk about my father."
"Or what?" Lance doesn't answer, which is a whole ass answer in itself that Will doesn't seem to care for. "You didn't give a shit about what I cared for then, why would you give one now?"
"You're full of shit."
"Says the man who took the first woman I fell in love with and claimed her as his without a second thought to his best friend's feelings."
"You are no best friend of mine-"
"But I was! Three years ago, I was - and you didn't blink an eye before you made her yours!"
"It's not my fault the universe decided you weren't good enough for her!"
"She was never yours." I take another step as Will's voice drops lower. I'm surprised they've gone this long without swinging a fist. I would've knocked my opponent out cold the moment he mentioned my father.
"Her choice says otherwise."
"She didn't have a choice! You were thrown together as a part of a vendetta. You never had her!"
"Are you really so desperate that you're making up illusions and excuses now?"
"The illusion was your fating to her. It wasn't real. It was a lie crafted by the same man who killed your mother and your father and took your sister."
"You're lying," Lance growls, but he hesitated. A splinter of a second he hesitated.
A cold hand grasps my hand. The same hand that always shows up when nothing but the truth had been spoken into the wind of the world. I step closer.
This isn't going to end well - for anyone.
"I loved Rose-"
Lance's hands grab two fistfuls of Will's shirt. I take another step. "You don't get to speak her name."
"I. Loved. Her." Will's voice deters in its strength, wavering to shaken waves. All his fight seems to have gone with the words, leaving nothing but torn eyes that stretch the scar the wrong way.
"You have one hell of a way of showing it."
Where's Katarina? I ask along the bridges.
Serephina's voice echoes back. I took her and Roseia to Fernweh when they first started yelling.
Tension eases off of my shoulders slightly. I think it's best neither of them are here for this, and I'm glad Inna thought of it too.
"I went to your father as an orphan and he gave me a family."
"And you crushed that family when you killed her."
"No. You crushed it." Tears well in Will's eyes. A weak stance for a man who's walking a dangerous edge with an explosive one. "I never had what you had. I didn't have a father to teach me things or a sister to talk to at night. I didn't have the memories of my mother - she was killed before I could walk! All I wanted was what you had, and the moment I finally got a taste of it - the second I saw a future where I wasn't alone - you took it. And then you had everything all over again, and I had nothing. All over again."
"You took it all back! You killed them! You had my sister and you fucked that up too!"
"I had no one!" Will yells, shoving Lance's hands off of him. "I was supposed to have Rose-"
"Don't say her name-"
"I'm allowed to say the name of my fate!"
Lance freezes at that. His whole body stills like that of a statue, but I know that look in his eye. I know what comes next, and yet Will pushes on.
He loses the fight of his posture, shoulders slumping, and chin lowering. The tears run down his face furiously.
What the fuck is happening right now?
"She was never yours," he repeats, voice cracking. "She was mine."
A snarl rips from Lance's throat as he palms his fox-eyed blade. He raises it against Will who doesn't move to block the blow.
"He's telling the truth!"
Lance's blade stops inches from Will's throat at the sound of the voice. We all turn towards it, finding Clarice standing in the rain, her hair matted down from the water. She changed out of the armor and torn dress, now wearing a simple light blue silk covering and a white shawl she holds tight around her arms and chest. Both of which are also soaked through.
Darius steps towards her from where he stands nearby me. "Clare?"
Her eyelids flutter at his voice, but her eyes stay glued to her brother who stares back at her, blade still raised.
"He's telling the truth," she repeats. I couldn't tell before with the rain dripping over her face, but it's hard to oversee it when her voice crack. She's crying. A lot. "You were never fated to Rose, Lance. It was all a lie."