by Riley Tune
First the female twin on the left. I moved in by doing a roll and emerged with a slash to the back of her left knee. I had seen Ember perform this move often, and it was very effective. Naturally she swung in reaction, but I warped quickly to her other side, and proceed to kick her right knee. The sound of bone breaking echoed even over all the chaos. She dropped her dagger instantly and fell, grabbing at her knee.
As she dropped down, I delivered a solid blow with my fist to her chin that sent her rolling to the ground. All of this took maybe twenty seconds, and now I was down one attacker for the moment. This minor achievement seemed pointless, seeing as we still had a room full of people trying to murder us.
The moment of surprise I had had over them was over, as her sister and the man mountain advanced on me.
“No,” the man mountain said in a voice like thunder as he used both of his massive forearms and attacked the woman in front of him. “Him mine,” he bellowed as he repeatedly bashed on the fallen woman in front of him, causing blood to cover the floor. Even though she had intended to kill me, I still pitied the way she died. Pummeled to death by a being that was more a giant than he was a man.
He stood tall and proud with a smile on his face as blood dripped from his forearms. He advanced on me, crossing several feet with every step. He, much like the homeless outside, had on no shoes. In rapid succession I hurled a throwing knife at each foot, hoping to slow him down. I had no such luck, because the knives bounced off of his bare feet as if they were made of iron. What was this guy? I warped across the bar.
He was too strong to fight head on, and I would need Ember to help with him. Ember had issues of his own—he was fighting a group of four people at once. There were several others, trying to advance in on him as well, but the four fighting him had created a circle so close that other attackers had trouble getting close. Many people seemed to pay him more attention than me, which I could use to my advantage.
I warped onto the bar of The Clarkton so that I could get a good view of Ember’s circle, stepping on plates and mugs as I appeared. The circle surrounding him was tight, but I could do it. A few attackers saw me appear on the bar and headed my way. They seemed to be workers of some sort. They all had on dirty clothes similar to those worn by the people who worked in the mines, and had tools for weapons.
They were likely just trying to make some extra money, and I didn’t want to kill them. That aside, they were still trying to make extra money by killing me. They were not professionals and posed little threat to me or Ember. They could wait.
I focused on Ember's circle of attackers. Warping in too close could put me in the line of his fight, so I warped just close enough for some to see me. As I had hoped, many of them had finally seen that I was a Warper too, and some of the crowd shifted to me, joining the mine workers who had rushed me. It seemed like a good plan—until a massive club from a Kameace guard swung and almost took my upper body off.
It was so close that I didn’t even have time to warp; I simply jumped out of the way. While the club missed me, it did connect with some of my would-be attackers. Mainly the men dressed like mine workers. They fell quickly and didn’t stand up again.
Clubs were big and strong, but if you took the chance and allowed your prey to get in close enough, they became almost useless. Seeing as how he was used to a club, I was willing to bet that he wasn’t good at hand-to-hand.
Dagger in hand, I ran in as close as I could, warping quickly and then reappearing directly where I had left again. I figured it had worked once—why not again? I was wrong. This guard was so dumb that he hadn't even looked around for me. Instead he was looking at the spot where I left, and was all but scratching his head in confusion. My reappearance caused his head to jerk back in surprise.
I used my dagger at this moment and stabbed him in his arm. He grunted and then punched my shoulder.
Badly aimed attack or not, it still hurt. He went to punch again and, with few options left, I absorbed the punch again by placing my shoulder in front of it. Quickly I grabbed his extended arm and let my dagger attack once, twice, three times. Each time at target points of his arm. He screamed this time as his arm fell limp at his side. Those wounds wouldn’t kill him, but it would make using that arm painful and difficult.
I dodged another attack from behind me, and delivered a swift kick to the attacker's stomach. It was one of the mine workers again, who had managed to get back up. I didn’t focus much on him. The kick had did its job, and he was sprawled on the ground again.
The Kameace guard screamed in fury as he pulled his club back and tried to attack. I eyed the area of the fallen twin, then warped to her and grabbed her dagger. In seconds I was back in front of my club-wielding attacker and stabbed him in the foot. He fell back so hard that his head hit the ground. He lay there, bleeding and unmoving. I hoped he would be out of the way long enough for us to handle the rest.
I warped again. I wanted to thin the herd, and to do so I would have to move around. I couldn’t stand my ground as much as Ember, who currently had more than seven bodies on the floor near him. Free from the no-violence rule, he was making quick work of the attackers. Ember couldn’t take all of the credit, though. The man mountain seemed to be killing as many of the attackers as Ember was. Lucky us.
Warping, I appeared near a short man who was trying to advance through the crowd that surrounded Ember. He saw me and swung his sword.
This man was short, but his sword was unnervingly large. His face twisted and his stout features shined with sweat. I was too slow on the dodge and his sword clipped me on the leg. Pain flooded my body as I stumbled and fell through a table. I had never been injured in a fight before. In my mind I knew it was only a cut, but it was deep. Deep enough that standing, while possible, wouldn’t be easy. The short man removed his helmet, showing off curled blond hair as he kicked chairs out of the way to get to me. I had no throwing knives left, but I had fallen near the twin whose knee I had attacked. I reached for her dagger.
The man was getting closer as I stretched my arm, trying to grab the dagger. He got to me before I got to the knife, and he raised the massive sword and swung down. I rolled to the side as where I had been seconds ago was shattered by the falling blade. The sword sliced through the table I'd fallen on with ease, and became lodged in the floor. The man struggled to get the sword free. I let the twin's dagger fly, and it found its mark in the man’s eye.
My heart almost stopped. I hadn't been aiming for his eye. I had been aiming for his shoulder. That would have slowed him down enough for me to attack.
Instantly he fell back and put his hand to his eye to grab the blade. I felt a touch of relief that he wasn’t dead. I wanted to retrieve the knife so I could keep it. It really was a well-crafted dagger.
Its removal could aid in his recovery, and that I didn’t want. Many of the attackers were dead, and spread through the bar now. It seemed that Ember, too, had begun to move around instead of standing still inside of the circle of attackers. There was only one person left, and he was currently hitting Ember in the stomach. Hard.
The man mountain from earlier. He was, of course, all that was left. Ember attacked the hand holding him, and then warped to the man’s side and went for his stomach with the dagger. I’m sure he would have preferred to attack the neck, but the man was too tall.
Ember’s dagger connected with the man mountains stomach, but didn’t seem to affect his thick skin. Instead he snarled and hit Ember with a backhanded blow that sent him to the ground. He landed on the dead bodies of the Kameace guards. My attacker still screamed on the ground as he tried to remove the dagger from his eye.
I spun around and reached for his sword. It was lodged in the ground still and it took a few kicks before it came free. These kicks alone, because of my cut leg, inflicted more pain on me than the entire fight had.
Sword in hand, I warped closer to the area where Ember and the man mountain were.
Ember had advanced towards the bar, but was
in no way winning in this fight. The man before him stood and blocked as Ember delivered timed and precise blows to areas known to weaken an attacker. This man, however, shrugged them off and continued in, grabbing Ember by the neck and slamming him on the bar. I acted as fast as I could. Sword in hand, I warped on top of the bar once more.
The man mountain seemed to have forgotten about me as he looked up and his long ponytail swished. He tilted his head slightly. I could barely breathe. I knew what I needed to do, and hated that I had to do it, but he was killing Ember.
I had to kill this man mountain.
I swung the sword back and, with all the power I had left, I let the blade fall and connect with the man’s neck.
There was a loud thud as if I had just struck a tree.
“How?” I said out loud. The sword hadn't even left a scratch on the man.
He looked at me and smiled. “Clipasie don’t hurt. Clipasie strong,” The man grunted at me. Ember had his blade in hand again. The man mountain was focused on me, but still had Ember on the bar by the neck.
He took one of his massive hands off of Ember's neck and grabbed me by my cut leg and threw me to the ground like I was a child's toy.
In that instant, Ember drove his dagger through the bottom of the man's chin. It made a sticky sound as the blade disappeared into the man's skull. He fell down on the bar as his grip on Ember faded away.
Ember coughed, rubbing his neck and extending his hand to me to help me up.
“Clipasie. Freakishly strong and almost invulnerable due to their thick skin,” Ember said as he looked around. “Nobody is sure where they come from, though. Never seen one so short, either. And I definitely have never seen one in Thera.”
Ember tilted his head back and point under his chin. “They have a small spot of soft tissue right under here. Keeper knows it’s hard to get to, but if you can, you can kill them”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as I slid down to the floor and began to inspect my leg.
Ember passed me a portion of cloth to wrap it with. “Just keep it tight, it’s not that bad.”
Our heads both jerked towards the wall when we heard a noise come from behind it. I tried to stand, but Ember placed a firm hand on my shoulder and shook his head. His eyes narrowed for a second, and then in the next they grew wide and seemed to be set on fire.
His calm tone shifted as he began to breathe heavy and his jaw clenched.
“What?” I said as he picked up the sword I had used to try and kill the Clipasie.
He didn’t even look down on me as he spoke through gritted teeth.
“Turk,” he said, as he hefted the sword and walked towards the back room.
8
I sat on the floor. It was hard, trying to deal with the pain, while at the same time forcing myself to look away from the blood-stained cloth wrapped around my leg. A few minutes went by before Ember reemerged from the back room. I heard no screams, and I heard no shouts. Yet he had that look in his eye. The same look I had seen many times after he had completed a contract. A faint smile would dance on his lips, and for a moment Ember experienced satisfaction. I also noticed that his sword had been cleaner when he entered the room, and now it was rather bloody.
“Turk?” I asked as I began to get up slowly. Ember put on his cloak, grabbed mine and then helped me up.
“The Clarkton will be needing a new owner, that’s for sure.”
I shook my head as he placed my arm around his neck to help me walk.
I didn’t respond. Turk had set us up. He may not have known about me being with Ember, but it hadn't stopped him either way. And he and Ember had been friends, supposedly, yet he still was okay with possibly getting him killed. Then, in the back of my head, I thought, what if Turk had such faith in Ember's ability to survive that he had known he would be okay? I shook the thoughts from my head. It was still a horrible thing to do. Then why did I feel bad for him? I pushed the remaining thoughts of concern out of my mind. He was dead, and I had myself to worry about.
We finally made it to the door and, with my weight leaning on him, Ember kicked it open and we shuffled through. As we stepped outside, I could see the young man Jolin standing beside a very nice carriage. It was larger than normal, able to easily fit six people. Maybe even more. The carriage was covered with a red coat of paint, was outlined in gold trim, and, from what I could see, was being pulled by four solid white caprongs, with a driver at the ready. Whoever our employer was, they clearly were very wealthy.
I looked around us. Having such a nice carriage in this part of Thera was sure to attract attention. Or so I thought. No matter the direction I looked, the street seemed to be empty. What had gone on out here? Before, the street had been absolutely alive with people; now it was deserted.
“Mr. Ember, Mr. Lox,” Jolin said as he clapped. “I’m happy to see you two made it out. I feel better doing this job with you two on my side.” He opened the carriage door for us. Ember only looked at him.
Jolin brushed some snowflakes from his hair.
“Mr. Ember, I assure you, I am not your enemy. Our first meeting wasn’t ideal, but we all have a part to play. I have some things on the inside that can help Mr. Lox. He seems in a bad way,” Jolin said as he looked at my leg.
“I’m fine,” I replied. Naturally, I was lying. My leg hurt like you wouldn’t believe, and standing on it was only making it worse.
“Come on,” Ember said as he helped me inside the carriage.
This carriage was nicer on the inside than the outside. In seventeen years of living, I had never been inside a carriage, so I had nothing to compare it to, but I was pretty sure this was a high end one.
The seats were made out of some sort of soft material that had a slight sheen to it. Large windows were on both sides of the carriage, and there was even a miniature ice box on the inside which was intended for food and drink.
“This is pretty awesome,” I said out loud as I touched the fabric again with my fingertips. This carriage was nicer than my home.
“Shut up and move over,” Ember said as he tried to get inside the carriage. I positioned myself inside, close to the window facing The Clarkton.
It had once been intended as a safe zone for all who entered its doors, but now there was so much death on the inside. Ember had left so many bodies. I wasn't sure what would become of it now, but I doubted it would be the same after all the bloodshed.
Surprisingly, sitting there still on the bench was the large man in red from before. He wasn’t lying down anymore, but it was still him. I felt as if he was looking directly at me. His eyes seemed unnaturally dark brown, and for a moment I felt that I had seen him before. He waved at the carriage, very slowly, as if he was cautious of the interaction with us, even though he was a couple feet away. He smiled for a brief moment, and flashed a set of white teeth.
Very white teeth. Why had I—
“Mr. Lox,” Jolin said as he removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.
“Yeah?” I said. The carriage began moving.
“I need your leg.” He opened a small box. Inside were various vials filled with a assorted liquids of different colors, bandages, small knives, needles, string and syringes. I adjusted myself and began removing the bloody bandage from my leg. The cut was worse than I had thought.
“He got you good, didn’t he?” Ember said as he eyed the wound.
My leg stung and throbbed as we finished removing the cloth, which was so full of blood that it dripped as we discarded it in a small pan. Jolin reached for some of the vials in his box. His arms were both exposed, and his left arm had black tattoos on it that ran up to his shoulder.
“You from Galcon?” Ember asked as he saw the tattoos. He himself had similar tattoos, as did most of the men born and raised in Galcon.
Jolin shook his head from side to side as he examined my leg. “I was only raised in Galcon. I was born here in Thera.” The carriage jerked some and made us bounce inside, which caused me to wince. Jo
lin took a deep breath and said, “This may hurt a little bit,” and poured a small vial of blue liquid on my wound.
I thought my leg had hurt before, but whatever was in this vial was like liquid lighting. My leg was on fire, burning to the core. I felt as if my bone itself was about to explode. I clinched at the soft, cushioned seats of the carriage as my eyes watered, and then, just like that, every ounce of pain faded away like melting snow. No pain, no nothing. I couldn’t even feel my leg anymore. I glanced down to make sure my leg was still attached. Even as I looked at it and moved it, I couldn’t feel it.
“What is this stuff?” I asked Jolin.
“Something for the pain,” he replied, pulling out the threaded needle and beginning to close the wound. “Just try to stay calm.”
I watched him weave in and out between my parted flesh. It was odd watching him do this, yet feeling absolutely no pain. Whatever it was that he had poured from the vial would have been great to have had as a child. I hurt myself pretty often as a kid. My fascination with knives had started early.
Jolin stop working and reached into his box once more, removing a vial that looked a lot like blood. “Drink this,” he said as he passed me the vial.
I looked at it and then glanced at Ember. He eyed me, shrugged, and then returned his gaze to Jolin. “What is it?” I said as I took the vial to look at it.
“Well, you know it’s not poison,” Jolin said. “Poison doesn’t work on Warpers.” He had a point there. It couldn’t kill me. “Still don’t trust me?” he asked. It was the way he asked. I heard his voice again as if it was the first time. It made things stand still. I couldn’t feel the carriage move, I couldn’t hear anything but his voice. That voice set my soul on fire, and I couldn’t help but answer.
