Chapter 4 #2
“We need to run.” Luna’s words were shaky, her eyes full of fear.
“My baby!”
An olive-skinned man with an unruly beard and tears streaking down his face approached, holding out his arms. He must’ve been working when the attack began.
“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled as I handed off the baby.
He hadn’t made it in time to save his wife.
Taking one last glance at my apartment, I followed Luna. We ran along the outskirts of the havoc, blocking out the cries and carnage. All of the Drakers looked the same with their masks and hoods, making it impossible to know which one was Riven.
Maybe Luna knew.
Blue lightning cracked through the sky, and a ground-shattering thunder sent everyone falling to their knees.
It was no natural storm.
“Enough!” a menacing voice roared. A voice I was ashamed to admit I immediately recognized. Witchlord Ansel stood dauntlessly atop the hill.
Sapphires jumped to their feet in defense. Witchlord Ansel just smirked. Lightning erupted from the sky like a web, electrocuting six of them in one precise beat. Lord Dronis chuckled, raising his sword with pride. Lord Ansel eyed Arielle, then the burning building. My building.
Something like panic etched across his face, followed by a deadly darkness. He strode forward, sword in hand. Black cloak billowing in the unnatural wind. He pointed his weapon to the sky, swirling it towards the fire. The skies opened up with a torrential downpour.
I flinched at the bite of cold water.
Arielle stiffened, her jaw tight and face twisted. She wasn’t done. She wanted to burn out. In her gaunt, emaciated state, she must have yearned for death, willing to take anyone she could with her.
“Enough,” Lord Ansel repeated—a warning to Arielle. He offered her mercy, if only she would accept it.
A Sapphire attacked from behind, but he was quick on his heels, whipping around and slicing their head clean off. He turned to Arielle, whose mouth opened, a poisonous flame within growing rapidly. Lord Ansel’s smile curled upwards.
“Sweet dreams.”
His Nature was effortless. All it took was a blink, and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Her poison sizzled away like a bad dream.
“I want him,” Luna breathed.
“I want this to end,” I said, shaking my head, throat dry.
“That too.”
A sword laid forgotten on the ground next to a Draker’s corpse, glittering against the flashes of lightning. I dragged my hand along the cold alley wall, rain running down my face and heart pounding.
Those aggravating dreams had practically forced me to train myself to wield a sword in my sleep. I remembered the way my arms would arc through the air, and the force needed to drive the blade down.
Before Luna could convince me otherwise, I rushed out from the safety of the alley and grabbed the hilt.
I could barely lift it above my waist. My shoulder wailed in pain from the fall down the stairs. There was simply no way I’d be able to swing it.
Only a moment passed, but when I turned back to the alley, a Sapphire was cornering Luna. With her back against the wall, she stared at me with pleading brown eyes.
“I like when my dinner begs,” the Sapphire said greasily. Only the back of his dark blue cloak faced me, but his voice was ugly.
The sword was too heavy. Entirely useless.
I threw my needle at the back of his head, but he didn’t even flinch.
He closed in on Luna, blade nearing her chest. My instincts screamed at me, begging me to fight. I prayed the Drakers would forgive me.
I held up my hand and aimed for his head once more, only this time, I shot a pathetic, violet ball of mist. It flew right past him and hit the wall instead.
He hissed, turning towards me, black eyes glowing under his cloak.
There were no red flecks from blood magic.
He was powerless, but worse, he was thirsty.
Shit.
He stalked towards me with a sinister smile, displaying an array of missing teeth.
“Elora!” Luna called out.
As if my name made the game more fun for him, more valuable, his eyes flashed in excitement. I scrambled to pick the sword back up, the weight of it sagging to the ground.
“You are for keeping,” he said, the blade aimed at my chest.
The heavy sword had me tripping over my feet. Nausea overcame me, erupting from my mouth. I felt every bit of worthlessness as I spewed up the consequence of using my Nature.
The Sapphire chuckled darkly as he approached me.
Luna froze. This was how I was going to die, soaked in rain and bile.
She stood with wobbly legs, hands trembling and eyes watering. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
Then she ran.
Time may as well have stopped. Her short brown hair flopped against her shoulders as she bolted, not bothering to glance back as she disappeared into the chaotic streets.
The air escaped my lungs. She’d left me.
Looming above, the Sapphire beamed. “I should use your blood. You clearly don’t have the stomach for it,” he seethed, towering over me.
I wouldn’t die of hunger, or from the cold, or even from the sickness season.
Thoughts of my family surfaced. I’d never find my two brothers or ask around about my father.
I’d never get to tell them about our mom and how she too had eventually left me.
I’d never gossip with Trista again, or live to see if Princess Clayvarie would rule one day.
I’d never marry or have a family of my own.
The Sapphire gripped my arm, yanking me to my feet. My Nature boiled within me, the taste of it on my tongue.
“I’m not afraid of you,” he said, rotting gums too close. His putrid breath would be the last thing I smelled in this life. I closed my eyes.
“But you should be afraid of me,” a Draker growled before grasping the Sapphire’s head and twisting it until his neck snapped. I knew that voice. It didn’t matter that he wore the mask.
The Sapphire’s body fell, nearly pulling me down with it. I regained my balance and protectively pulled my hands to my chest as if someone might reach for me again.
“Thank you,” I said, chin tilted up at the man who’d saved me.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Riven promised. He gripped his sword, leaving me in the safety of the shadows.
It only took a moment to lose sight of him as violence littered the piss and rain-soaked streets. Thunder shook the ground relentlessly.
I tucked myself against a stack of meat crates. The poorly made building above slanted just enough to grant me the slightest coverage from the rain, my legs facing the worst of it.
Lightning cracked once more, followed by a resounding smack of bodies falling to the ground.
Another crack. Then another.
Nauseous and alone, I pulled my knees to my chest, pillowing my face into my forearm. I had no concept of time as the storm drowned out the sounds of screams and clashing metal.
It wasn’t until the downpour slowed that I peeked out of the alley, catching a glimpse of Lord Ansel and Lord Dronis putting their weapons away.
The streets were finally calm. It was over.
Scooting further into the alleyway, I rested my head back against the wall. The nausea was subsiding, but the anxiety was not. My home was gone. Luna, the only person I thought I could count on, had left me to die.
I flinched as steps approached, black boots splashing through red-soaked puddles.
“You have a leak, Blackheart,” Lord Ansel said.
I frowned, glancing at my hand.
Sure enough, poison was seeping out, begging for further release.
Well, fuck.