Chapter Fourteen #2
“You don’t. Them, however? They’re hungry.
” Neddy jabbed a thumb at the lumbering dead, waiting for their cue.
There were at least ten undead, all in various stages of decay.
The woman made of roots was at the front.
Her eyes bulged out of her face, the gnashing teeth full of ichor clicking as she snapped them at Avelina.
Neddy didn’t smile, didn’t frown, simply stared at Avelina who stood with her fists raised like she might punch her way out.
“Ready for your first lesson, little one? First rule of being a warlock, stand your ground and fire fast.”
Avelina’s stomach dropped. Neddy stepped aside and the horde lunged.
Desperation truly was the best teacher. A scream tore through her esophagus and echoed off the trees.
Birds scattered overhead, their thunderous wings almost muffling the sound of the dead.
They shambled so fast. Propelled by the swamp itself, they closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Yer a warlock, Callum’s voice echoed in her ears as pressure built up in her forearm. Dark, swirling purples and toxic green formed around her body just as it had the day she ran from the Paladins. Time ya start actin’ like one.
Avelina didn’t have casting experience to know how one actually fired off a spell.
Thankfully, a hand covered in lace, crawled under hers.
A cold wall of ice pressed against her back, and there was a hand against her diaphragm, the other intertwining her fingers.
Time slowed as Catalysta extended her hand toward the shambling villagers.
The dead clacked, milky eyes staring her down with feral hunger.
The swirls of magic danced around her. With a single pointed finger, it burst from her knuckles.
Two long beams rushed forward, a kaleidoscope of color that mixed into a murky brown as it slammed into the dead.
Bodies flew apart with each blast. The woman from the porch howled in pain as she was torn apart.
A dead orc was obliterated, leaving only his stumbling legs to fall at Avelina’s feet.
Just as she recovered from each blast, having sucked in air, it would be torn from her.
Sometime between Neddy letting the dead loose and Catalysta’s intervention, she stopped screaming.
Nearly as fast as it happened, it stopped.
Time sped back up. The dead fell. And Avelina’s boots were free of the mud.
It was her instinct to book it. She twisted from the tree, panic in her veins.
Out. Out. Out. But she slammed into Neddy, and anger filled her belly.
It pumped through her so fast, pushing out Catalysta’s death touch, that she worried she’d burned herself in the exchange.
She was just so angry. Avelina was tired of people using her for their own entertainment. She had enough of being played with…Callum toyed with her. Catalysta made her doubt her own mind. Avelina Dalethorn was done. Done. Done!
“I’m so sick!” she roared, swinging at Neddy. Her fist caught Neddy by the cheekbones despite the height difference. “Of being other people’s puppet!”
Neddy stumbled back, a hand clutched to her face.
Avelina swung again with her other fist. The one thing Tala taught her that carried over was the curl of her fists.
She knew how to angle her arms, ensuring she didn’t crunch her wrists or tweak her muscles.
Her knuckles connected with Neddy’s other cheek, spinning the disassociated elf into the mud.
“I’m done being everyone’s plaything! I’m a fucking person!
I’m not your toy! I’m not his pawn! I’m not some bubble headed, crybaby who everyone can pick on just because I’m soft!
I’m a fucking person! Warlock or fucking not! ”
She didn’t realize what she was doing until she heard the crunch of Neddy’s nose.
Avelina sucked in a sudden breath, having straddled Neddy.
Her bare knees pressed into the wet soil and the edge of her skirt was fully soaked.
However, her fists were covered in blood and bone.
Avelina reeled back, studying the tooth embedded in her middle finger. She plucked it out.
“Second lesson,” Neddy spat out a thick, dark glob of blood. Her despondent eyes stared up at Avelina. “Always be the one with the better end of the deal, Little One.”
“Wha-wha-what are you—”
Avelina felt Catalysta at her back again.
Her goddess’ ghost hand pierced through her spine and animated her own arm.
Tears welled up in her eyes as words formed in her throat but couldn’t tumble off her tongue.
She wasn’t in control. The Dead Mother was, and she wrapped Avelina’s fingers around Neddy’s throat.
“Blessed ones are hard to kill.” Catalysta kissed the side of Avelina’s temples, filling her veins with poison.
Avelina watched, unable to stop it, as death trickled down her face, across her throat, and along her arm.
It crawled through her veins as her fingers tightened around Neddy’s throat.
No, please, no, I didn’t mean—I didn’t want—I take it back!
I take it back! “Truly takes one to kill one.”
No! Please…
Avelina sobbed silently as the poison seeped out of her hands and embedded itself into Neddy’s neck.
She trembled, leaning over the dying warlock.
Tears spilled off her cheeks and splashed onto steadily paling cheeks.
Neddy thrashed once. A simple kick of her legs and smack of her arms out to the side.
The poison spread beneath Neddy’s flesh.
An ink stain that filled her veins and spider webbed out from the wound.
Soon, her eyes grew milky and her mouth stopped stammering.
One last breath of air escaped Neddy, and when the elder woman was well and truly dead, Catalysta left Avelina’s body.
She couldn’t even unclench her clawed hand from the woman’s throat.
All she did was fall forward, her forehead to Neddy’s, and cry.
Her whole body shook violently. The sky darkened over her, draping the swamp and its heavy canopy in shadow.
Thunder threatened her, the storm Neddy warned would roll in already at her back.
Yet, Avelina couldn’t detach from her willing prey.
“I’m so sorry,” she croaked, chanting it like it might take the whole thing back.
“Little Viper…”