Chapter 17: Broken

17

An arrow narrowly missed me as I began to think of how to approach our enemy, The woman had already started moving forward. I on the other hand wasn’t capable of one on one fighting currently, as I was weaponless. I watched as she taunted the Bandits by twirling her blades, lightly evading the arrows that were being shot at her. A gut-wrenching frustrated growl resulted from this, building into a roar as the lead Wolfkin bandit leapt towards us at full speed, his claws churned up the ground with each step he took, leaving an impact crater behind. He covered the ten metre gap in an instant, swinging his blades in unison from the left in a spinning attack. With a loud clash of steel and sparks, both his blades were blocked by two daggers guided home by the woman who now was, conveniently, saving us. She stepped forward into his assault with the block. Steel screeched and she was forced backwards by the impact, pushing her entire weight against the strike, gouges of earth piled behind her as she slid.

The air shuddered as the two archers stood in the back released their arrows, this time at greater velocity. Out of reflex, I dived to my side, avoiding one arrow, and catching the other in my outstretched hand as it barreled towards where Marc stood frozen in terror. Giving him a glare as I pushed myself up, I signalled for him to get back, before quickly pulling a knife from the belt of the body I landed next to. 

Rejoining the flight, I thought about what my next plan of action should be. I had a weapon. The conflict between our mystery lady and the Wolfkin was far out of my league, their blades were a blur as they danced around trading blows in a locked stalemate. 

Weighing up the options, I decided to try and take out the archers, and leave that fight to her. I darted forward with all the speed I could muster, barely dodging the arrows that flew towards me as I ran, as I got closer to the two of them, the human stepped back and let the other wolf step forward. He threw his bow to the side and pulled a hunting knife from a sheath on his thigh. 

‘Support me in my climb and rise’ I chanted, the impacts of my feet sending mana into the ground. Each step I then took was elevated on stilts of earth that rose to meet my feet as I gained height. When I reached around three meters into the air, I conjured the next dirt spire to rise and hit the Wolfkin in the groin as I began to fall towards him.

Being put off balance left a gap in his defences, I landed with both feet into his snout and pushed off backwards somersaulting and landing back on my feet. He on the other hand yelped and rolled backwards. An arrow flew at me which I caught with my off hand and snapped. With this amount of mana running through my system, moves that would have been impossible to perform seemed to tick like clockwork. 

Getting back to his feet and growling, the broken-nosed bandit lunged at me and slashed wildly out of resentment. I parried the untidy swipe with my blade and simultaneously stabbed the arrow into his abdomen, I followed this up by sticking the knife into his thigh. I couldn’t reach much higher due to the height difference. Ideally, I would have gone for the throat.

Slicing my knife downwards, I ripped open the leg it was embedded in before rolling to the side; a clawed hand swiped at my throat, narrowly missing its mark. Regaining my footing, I left him to collapse from the injuries I’d inflicted him with, before starting on the last member of the group, I ran and kicked off a large bit of rubble to the side of the road, sending me rocketing in his direction. An arrow released at close range was almost impossible to avoid, so I predicted where he was aiming and adjusted my body accordingly, ducking and diving, I avoided the first arrow, but the second and third managed to slip through my guard, leaving minor flesh wounds on my shoulder and hip. 

I threw my knife when in range, embuing it with wind magic. I urged it to fly straight with the simple chant ‘Be the wind” as I released It. 

Staggering backwards in surprise, the man looked down at his chest. The knife had hurtled into him at such speed, I barely saw it. The hilt protruded gruesomely from his abdomen just below his armour. He swayed on his feet and fell like a plank of wood, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he dropped with a hideous smack onto stone. Striking the mana core was nearly always an instant kill from what my mentor had taught me, it was also easy to get to, if hit from an upward angle, slipping beneath a top half chest plate. This combat strategy was Ideal for me, being just under five feet in height.

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Gathering my breath, I turned to assist in the fight that had been going on behind me. That was when I noticed the lack of sound. The echoes of metal crashing had come to a stop. A scene I never thought I’d have to see unfolded before my eyes, which widened in shock. The glint of blades covered in blood reflected in my vision, and an evil laugh resounded around the landscape echoeing in my ears, making the air thick. The hairs on my arms rose up. I tried to scream but no words came out. 

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I looked at a pool of red that was mixing in with the dust and grime of the road as it spread.

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There stood my best friend. My only friend. He was clutching his stomach, blood seeping out of an open wound. His clothing was dyed a deep crimson. His mouth and legs trembled as if he was trying to speak. Smiling at me, he collapsed backwards in slowmotion, making a wet thud as he struck the mud his vital fluids had created.

Sinking to my knees, tears streamed uncontrollably from my eyes as I wondered what went wrong, ‘Where was the woman? Why did Marc come out into the fight again? Why did I agree to fight this stupid battle. That was when I saw her. She was in a heap, unconscious, about fifteen meters away against a tree. It had been split in half from the impact she had hit it with, so all that was left was a splintered stump. I returned my gaze to the grin of the last bandit that loomed over Marcs body, He snapped his head around and smiled with a malicious row of white teeth.

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“Why, Why why why why,” I crazily muttered to myself. “You…you did this…”

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“What was that girl? I can’t hear you over the sound of your boyfriend choking on his own blood.”

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For the first time in my life, the logic and rational thinking I had left me. Rage overwhelmed my senses. I plunged into my mana core, willing a torrent of power to flood out. Looking at Roan in the eyes and taking a strong stance, I stepped forward

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Everything went silent as I chanted in an enraged trembling whisper

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"Hear my call wanders of the wind…"

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Everything stopped.

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"Grant me a veil of silence.” I thundered, raising my arms. “Shield my secrets and be still”

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The air thickened and came still, mana rushed out of my body in order to upkeep the spell, putting immense strain on my body as I pushed the spell to its limits.

I then added the line.

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“Remove the air. Make an impenetrable tranquillity.”

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My voice would have echoed as I shouted,  striding further towards the beast that stood before me. His eyes wide in fear, he dropped his blade and clawed at his throat. All of the air that one was in this spell was gone, I smiled coyly as I watched the life drain from his body. He choked on nothing, his lungs collapsing on themselves. Blood began to pour out of his mouth and eyes before he dropped limp to the floor. 

Releasing the spell a large BOOM echoed as the entire area repressurised from the vacuum I had created. The trees fell backwards and snapped, as a shockwave rippled outwards in all directions from where I was standing. 

The only reason none of us were dead was because I left just enough air around our bodies so that the spell wouldn’t affect us. 

This had however, left me with a near completely drained core from the strain of performing such an elaborate and powerful spell. 

-

Collapsing backwards, I looked at the darkening sky, watching the sun as it passed over the horizon, fading in and out of consciousness, all I could feel was pain and grief. 

As I closed my eyes for the last time, I heard the galloping of horses in the distance. “A bit late now isn’t it.”

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I jolted awake with a view of a wooden ceiling. Sitting upright, I was met with a barrage of pain that shot through my entire body. Wincing at the feeling of burning in my chest, I looked around at my surroundings. I was in my room on my bed. To my left, Paps was sitting in a chair fast asleep, he had massive bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep, so I decided not to disturb him quite yet.

I huddled my knees as I remembered what had happened in the fight, how Marc had been stabbed. He was most likely dead. Tears flowed as I silently whimpered to myself. Regret and sadness twirled around in my head. I hated myself, I hated Marc for being such an idiot. There was nothing I could do about it now. 

The door quietly cracked open, I looked up and saw Synthia walk in with a fresh set of sheets and some food for Paps. When she saw me, she looked a little surprised, before saying “so, you’re finally awake.” smiling sadly at me. This woke my father who grumbled slightly and yawned. He looked directly at me and second guessing himself, rubbed his eyes. When he was sure I was actually awake, “SHE’S AWAKE!” A hurrying of footsteps followed his cry, and my mother summoned by his words then burst into the room, nearly sending the door straight off its hinges, and dived at me arms outstretched. She landed ontop of me, initiating a bear hug. “Oh, my little Honeybun! I’m so glad you’re alive!”

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Cutting her off before she continued to babble incoherently, “What happened to Marc and the Woman?” I asked bluntly. My words sliced the air in the room and everyone looked at the floor. “They are both alive.” my father answered at last. “Marc was in a very serious condition, but he is recovering slowly now, he should make it. The woman, Lottie, is staying in our spare room. She has pretty much fully recovered already and helped to nurse you back to health. I’m sure she’ll explain. Later.”

A wave of relief washed over me when I heard this, “What happened to the men I-. -We fought?”

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“Dead.” 

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The world hit me. Hard. At the time, killing the men being wrong hadn’t even crossed my mind. It was what was needed to be done. It was the logical response. However now, it was sinking in. I had ended at least four men's lives that day. I had cut them apart, stabbed them, sliced them, crushed them, and smiled as I collapsed a mans lungs whilst looking him in the eye.

I could vividly picture the terror in his eyes as he realised we was about to die, the life he could have lived gone in an instant. Ended by my own hand. 

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I felt sick fill my mouth as I gagged at the image of the blood, the distorted corpses and the sight of a pool of red around my best friend. I tried to swallow it back down, but each time I did, it would only come back up, burning my throat even more. Eventually I gave in, vomiting onto the floor at my parents feet.

“It’s okay Honey, It’s okay”, the hugged me as I began to wail.

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