2. One Half to a Whole
One Half to a Whole
ALASTAIR
The wind from the swing caught my hair as I ducked, narrowly avoiding the scythe for what felt like the hundredth time.
Cursing under my breath, I spun the sword in my right hand.
With my overhand grip, I angled it in front of my face right as Maulix flipped his weapon, intending to carve through the vulnerable flesh of my throat.
Metal clashed, the collision reverberating up my arm and across my chest. The force of his blow, mixed with my stubbornness to defend, yielded sparks as I rode my steel along the curve of his.
Shucking him away from me before the sharpened tip could pierce my flesh, I pivoted and slashed through the space he once occupied.
A low growl rolled from my throat. “Gods, you’re fucking annoying!”
“And you’re surprisingly equipped, Captain,” he chuckled, spinning the snath between his fingers. “Neither of us has landed a single blow, which is saying a lot considering how many humans I’ve carved open.”
My shoulders rose with a lengthened inhale. “At this point, you’re wasting my godsdamned time.” Pointing my sword at him, I snarled, “If you’re Sorva’s second, then why the fuck are you struggling so pitifully to strike me?”
His lips peeled back into a sneer, the scorched side of his face tearing slightly beneath his wrath. “You wish to taunt me because I enjoy playing with my food?”
A smile graced my expression as I narrowed my gaze at him. “You’re a terrible liar.”
His nostrils flared as his hold on his weapon tightened, and I used his terrible lapse in judgment to my advantage.
I tossed the steel in my right hand into the air—a trick he was no longer surprised by. He reacted in kind, shifting the placement of his palms in anticipation of my attack. But the assault I had planned wouldn’t come from the sword he believed I would use.
No longer focused on snatching my pommel as the weapon descended, I freed a dagger from my waist. Slipping its hilt between my thumb and pointer finger, I reeled back, throwing it with an accuracy I had trained myself to perfect.
Before Maulix had time to react, it sank into his chest; the metal burrowed itself until it was no longer visible.
His hiss proved satisfactory as I caught my sword, rotating it until the sunset caught its length. Craning my head, my neck popped. With an exhale of relief, I swiped the back of my hand over my sweat-laden forehead.
Tearing the blade free with a snarl, his vibrant orange irises rippled with anger.
“You believe you truly stand a chance against me? You stupid boy! Have you learned nothing during your current king’s rule?
Have you turned a blind eye to the bodies littering the streets and the pollution seeping into the Capital's veins? You pirates and your idiocy, convincing yourselves that there is a concept as foolish as freedom in your world. The instant we crawled from the depths of our realm into yours, autonomy was stripped from every man, woman, and child, and it is something you will never get back.”
I swallowed the dread that surged forward, steeling my emotions to only offer him a raise of my brow.
“Isn’t it rather bold of you to speak about intention and goals when Sorva commands you?
Not only that, but the implications of a second means that there is still one other above you whom you report to.
Tell me, is your willingness to spew hateful rhetoric without the title or rank to do so merely because your prick is lackluster?
Is your bed rather cold? Sorva not looking in your—”
Heaving his scythe, I barely had time to dodge its curved lethality.
Unable to pull myself from its route entirely, it sliced through my flesh, instinctively forcing me to lower my sword.
A searing burn sprawled across my chest in its wake, and I had to bite down on the groan of affliction it spurred.
My palm settled just beneath my collarbone to staunch the flow. Turning back toward the Other, I barely had time to draw in a single breath before his hand met my throat.
His grip tightened as he yanked me from the ground, my size seemingly not an issue for his more lithe frame.
Oxygen vanished as I kicked my legs, a wheeze the only sound able to escape me.
As I tried to pry myself free from his hold with my right hand, my sword still in my left, he caught the arm that clung to the weapon.
With a forceful squeeze to both sides of my elbow, it slipped from my grasp.
A cruel smile crossed his lips. “I find your presence much more appealing when you are silent.”
“T-Took… you long—”
He dug his nails into my flesh, my neck popping in protest with the intensity with which he clamped down. A searing burn followed, the smell of smoldering humanity curling around my nostrils.
“There is no plausibility of winning this war, Alastair Seridean. You only have one half of a whole, and for anything to have a lasting effect on our influence, you need two pieces.”
With his next constriction, he threatened to crush my windpipe, and a whine slipped between my lips at the mounting pressure.
“You are flawed like every other godsdamned human. You fail to look at the intricate details of how one acts, the implications that tie together fate and action. And now, because of your ineptitude, you’ve lost access to the one person who could help you crack the code.
The one person who has woven together nuances while also remaining curious enough to understand their pertinence. ”
Caspian.
“And since you wished to test my patience,” Maulix growled, squeezing even tighter, “your inevitable end has arrived. It may be early and not nearly as brutal as fate has determined, but it’ll be sufficient enough.”
Lids fluttering, darkness lined my vision as my body began to slacken against him.
My lungs burned with every slipping second, my head swimming with the desperate need for air.
Praying to whatever god would listen, I reached for another dagger, my finger slipping across the hilt.
Unable to secure it, I tried again, my frame relaxing even more.
“As much as I would love to snap your neck, there is something so enjoyable about watching a human writhe for air. It—”
Blade in hand, I drove upward. Flesh and blood squelched as it pierced the underside of his chin.
Forcing it deeper, the crunch of bone greeted me alongside a rasped groan of pain.
With his anguish serving as my motivation, I twisted harshly before ripping to the side, the combination of the two securing my freedom.
I collided with the earth, a slew of gasps and coughs assaulting my system.
The sudden presence of oxygen violated my organs, my lungs seizing it greedily with a burn so intense it made it difficult to remind myself to keep breathing.
Pushing myself away from him, I ran my hand across my throat.
Fingers gliding over blistering flesh, I clenched my jaw hard enough it popped to keep my whimper down.
Growling, Maulix ripped the steel from his mouth, a cascade of crimson so dark it appeared black, rolled down his front.
With a simple flick of his wrist, he tossed it aside.
The weapon clattered against the cobblestone pathway that’d been carved to guide one toward the garden, the inky lineage clinging to it with the same poisonous effect it held on our world.
“You fucking bastard,” he hissed, moving toward me once more.
Before I could reach for my final dagger, his foot collided with my stomach. My ribs cracked beneath the impact, and my back followed suit as I slammed into the concrete partition a few feet behind me.
Heaving, a near-manic laugh came from me between shuddering breaths. “A-Aw… Did I land a blow far more effective than yours?”
Rage flashed across his expression as he stormed toward me, snatching his scythe on the way. I clenched my jaw at the settling realization of his impending approach.
I was going to die.
This was my brutal end.
Spinning the snath, the curved blade began its descent. With an arc and velocity indicative of my immediate demise, I took in a fleeting breath, knowing damn well I would be landing in Elaros’s embrace with my next exhale.
The release of air came, but darkness did not follow. Slowly opening one eye, the shadows of death did not grace me. Instead, Maulix stared down at me, the scythe repositioned at his side as he clenched his jaw in apparent wrath.
“You’re lucky,” he seethed, a redness coating his face as his glare deepened. “It appears I am needed elsewhere. Far more important matters to attend to.”
Chuckling, my shoulders bobbed as my laughter built. It contained a mixture of relief and amusement, for this wasn’t the first time I’d been miraculously spared from the end of my existence. Part of me knew it wouldn’t be my last.
Luck always served me well, Jaskor’s favoritism proving intact in yet another instance.
“S-Sorva whistle for you?” I asked with a smirk, relishing his building rage.
“I do not have time to continue engaging with the likes of you,” he snapped before lifting his arm to point at me. “But do not be mistaken. The next time we meet, I will be the one to kill you.”
Crooning, I rested my head back against the wall. “Sounds like a date, Maulix.”
His lips twitched at my insinuation, but without another offered word, he vanished from in front of me.
Left in the open garden just outside the palace, a sudden, shrill panic rippled from the ballroom.
The intensity of it became even more evident as attendees fled without question, fear undoubtedly leading the charge.
My hand met the ground as I struggled to push myself up, glancing toward the back balcony as people scattered from it.
What the fuck is going on?