Tainted Blood Anthology

by Jeff Gunzel

  “Well, as long as I have your respect,” she said, throwing her arms around Rishima. “And now that it seems as though we have a little time to ourselves...”

  Laughing, Rishima tried to push her back. But the halfhearted effort wasn’t fooling anybody. “I swear you think of nothing else,” she giggled.

  “You say it like it’s a bad thing.” She pulled Rishima close. “Really, you should try it some time.”

  Suddenly, Rishima’s body went rigid in her arms, her eyes frosting over with a white haze. “Rishima? My love?!” Lowering her down slowly, Bella helped her down to the floor. She had seen this enough times to know that the spirits were talking to her. Eyelids flipping as her head bobbed, it seemed to go on forever.

  Her eyes jetted open and she sat up, gasping for air. “What happened?” Bella asked. “Is everything alright?” But she did not look alright.

  “Viola!” she shouted, chest heaving, eyes wide with terror. “She is in danger!”

  *

  Viola led the two lerwicks down the hall and up a flight of winding steps. Most of the workers had gone home for the day, but there were still a few laying stones on the outside wall. Naturally, they stopped working when they saw three lerwicks marching up the steps. The sight of these mythical beings was not something they would ever get used to.

  “So it’s not enough that you tried to humiliate us in front of the others,” the male lerwick accused, “but you’re also going to parade us through the tower so all the humans can laugh at us too?” Viola ignored him and just kept climbing.

  “I’m sure that’s not it,” the girl muttered. She flinched when he turned to scowl at her, closing her eyes while raising her hands. That time Viola did stop and turn around, her disapproving look saying all that needed to be said.

  “We’re almost there,” Viola said, motioning for them to keep moving. “All I ask is that you two trust me. I swear, I’m not trying to embarrass either of you.”

  “I trust you,” the girl chirped happily. Flashing a smug look toward the bully, she went bounding up the steps.

  Soon the steps changed from sturdy stone to a rickety wood base, revealing the unfinished project that wasn’t meant to be walked on yet. Unable to change form in case they fell from this height, both lerwicks began to show signs of uneasiness. With each careful step the steps creaked and groaned in protest, and the last two steps were not even in place yet. Viola made the smooth jump to the platform look easy. Of course, she was never in any real danger.

  “Come on then,” she urged, waiting for them to work up the nerve. Measuring first by casting her hands outward a few times, the girl jumped. Her landing was not a confident one as she dropped hard onto her knees, palms slapping the wood to keep her chin from bouncing off the platform. But she stood up right away, brushing herself off with a triumphant grin.

  Not to be outdone, the man took a few steps back to allow himself a little running room. The jump was only three feet or so, but a fall from this height would not be very forgiving. Better to look foolish than to take any unnecessary chances. With a running leap, he cleared the platform by plenty. Stumbling forward, he nearly took Viola out at the knees.

  “Good, now right through here,” Viola said, pushing open the trapdoor just above their heads. When they stepped out onto the roof, a gust of icy wind smacked them right in the face. Lightning flickered, its endless flashing illuminating the shadowy underbelly of the clouds in a spectacular lightshow.

  They were more than aware of the strange weather up here in the mountains, but never had they seen it like this before. The fury, the beauty, to witness nature’s wrath up close like this was nothing short of breathtaking.

  “Why did you bring us here?” the man asked, his fingers inching toward the inside of his shirt pocket. “Ah, I see. So this is how you dispose of those who are no use to you? You would kill us here where there are no witnesses, then throw our bodies into the valley below?” Steel flashed in his hand. Clutching the dagger, he slowly backed away.

  Showing no outward reaction, Viola actually turned her back on both of them. “Beautiful, is it not?” she asked, clasping her hands behind her back. The outline of her body seemed to bathe in the flickering light, making her appear like a god sent down from the skies. “If I wanted you dead, you would be. I would not have to hide my actions from those who are loyal to me.”

  She turned around. “Does that thought comfort you?”

  Still clutching his dagger, the man looked around frantically. There was no escape, at least nothing short of jumping to his death. “What do you want from me?!”

  “I want to help you,” she said, advancing toward him as her flesh blades began to expand. The softness of her voice didn’t match the intensity in her eyes. Nor did her words make any sense considering the way she was closing the distance between them with her weapons ready to kill. “What if you had to choose between living and dying? Would the choice really be a hard one?”

  “One more step!” He raised the dagger up over his shoulder. “One more step and I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” Viola continued her slow, methodical advance. “You’ll try to kill me with your little knife? You’ll jump off the edge just so you won’t have to taste my blade? I’m giving you a choice—life, or death. You can consciously make that choice yourself, or your body will do it for you. But the choice will be made one way or the other.”

  The dagger slipped from his grip, clanging off the stone near his foot. “Please,” he said, hands trembling. “I don’t want to die.”

  “No?” Viola stopped her advance, blades down at her sides. “Then prove it to me!” She thrust out her flesh blade.

  Bang.

  Barely able to register what just happened, the man blinked, then blinked again. With his arms up in front of his face, his own flesh blades had intercepted hers. Viola smiled, retracting her blade before stepping forward. She threw her arms around him. “I suppose you didn’t want to die after all,” she whispered in his ear.

  “How did you—” He swallowed, visibly shaken to his core. “How did you know what would happen?”

  “Because I was once in the same position as you,” she admitted. “That mental wall can be stubborn at times. Forcing your body to react, to defend itself, was a last resort.”

  “You could have killed me.” Even his voice was still trembling.

  “But I didn’t.” She stepped back, rubbing the sides of his arms in a comforting manner. “I’m sorry it came to that, but we were left with little choice. For what it’s worth, I promise you that no one will ever hear of this. It will be our little secret.” She gave his wrists a light twist before letting them drop. “I trust you will be ready to work with the first group in the morning?”

  With a rare smile, he dropped his eyes and nodded. More humbled than humiliated, he made his way back to the trapdoor. He took one step down before turning back to look her in the eye. “I’ll be ready,” he assured her, his voice sturdy and confident. As he disappeared into the floor, the door dropped down with a dull thud.

  Viola felt the girl step up near her back, close enough to feel her breath on her neck. “I don’t trust him,” she whispered in Viola’s ear. “He’s trouble, I can tell. But don’t worry, I will keep an eye on him for you and report anything suspicious.”

  Eyes still on the trapdoor, Viola blew out a deep breath. “You will do no such thing,” she hissed. Whirling back, her flesh blade flashed towards the side of the girl’s head. Flowing out of the way like water, she flipped back onto her hands, then finished the acrobatic dodge by landing on her feet. Down on one knee, her own flesh blades now extended and crossed, the girl growled as her red eyes flared with hate.

  *

  Rishima and Bella ran through the halls of Lunaris Tower, alerting everyone they saw. “There is an assassin among the lerwicks’ ranks!” Rishima warned, although most of spiritists already knew by now. Eyes frosting over as their bodies went stiff for an instant, the spirits were
conveying the message from one spiritist to the next. “Sound the alarm and get to the tower. She is here to kill Viola! Hurry!”

  Already, giant ravens were taking flight, speeding their riders over the rocky valley. Although the lerwicks’ tower was only a short distance away, it might as well have been a hundred miles.

  *

  Heads low, blades ready, the two warriors circled one another on the roof of the tower. The ever-violent sky seemed to further intensify, somehow feeding off their anger. Angry lightning flickered down in an endless stream of flashes, illuminating their faces, making their red eyes glow like demons.

  “How did you know?” the girl snarled, her flesh blades scraping the stone near her feet with each measured step. With an amused grin, she didn’t seem to be the least bit disappointed. She was going to kill Viola sooner or later, so now was as good a time as any.

  “How did I know?” Viola repeated, her mocking tone a mixture of anger and disgust.

  A flesh blade zipped up to his face, stopping just short of his throat. The girl standing next to him watched it sail past her nose, her eyes following it all the way in. She took a slow step back to create a more comfortable distance between them.

  “You didn’t show the slightest bit of fear when I first threatened that man. In fact, your eyes are so trained to the speed of such strikes that you focused on my blade the whole time, able to follow it all the way in as if it were moving slow.”

  “Please, stop yelling,” the girl chirped, covering her ears as she slumped over. “We just need to work harder. I’m sure that’s all, right, Viola?” Viola reached out and touched her shoulder, then slid her hand down her arm. She looked the girl up and down while giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “Your loose clothing,” Viola pointed at the girl’s sleeve with her chin, “was to help hide your physique. When I touched your arm, I realized I’ve never felt a girl with muscles that hard. You’re practically carved out of wood. I can only imagine the intense training it takes to build a body like that. You’ve been preparing for this for some time, yes?”

  The girl sneered as the rare rumble of drawn-out thunder slowly rolled in the background. She looked so different now, her angry features nearly distorting her face into someone completely unrecognizable.

  “So I suppose I only have one question, then.” Viola stopped moving, her flesh blades rising up to her chest. “How long have you been working for Jarlen?”

  The girl hissed, showing her teeth like some sort of animal. “Long enough to know that you need to die.”

  The assassin charged, closing the distance between them in a flash. Viola sidestepped, circling her blade to deflect the incoming strike. It was a basic block and evade maneuver she had done countless times in training, but the power of the blow sent her blade out wide. Feeling the split second of dangerous exposure, Viola pulled her leg back just as the assassin’s second blade came crashing down. Cracked stone spiraled outward from where her foot had just been.

  The assassin’s brute strength was unnatural, possibly even magically enhanced. She hadn’t been ready for that and it almost cost her. This was not a typical sparring partner, or an unskilled foe to be taken lightly. This girl was skilled, fast, and shockingly powerful.

  The assassin whirled back, her flesh blades stabbing forward in sharp thrusts. Viola twisted her shoulders left and right, rolling with each strike so that they missed by an inch. When confronting someone of this skill level, an inch might as well be a mile. A purely clean dodge or parry simply wasn’t possible.

  Viola continued to back up as the assassin pressed, shifting her weight on the balls of her feet to stay light and maneuverable. Blocking these thunderous strikes head-on would almost certainly drain her strength at best. At worst, the girl might just punch a hole right through her defenses, pushing her own blade right back into her. With the astonishing force behind these strikes, that outcome was more possible than Viola cared to think about.

  The sky’s flickering lightshow distorted their vision, making both appear to be in multiple places at once. Slowly getting the assassin’s timing down, Viola began to counter the strikes with quick jabs while constantly backing away. She was not yet confident enough to go toe to toe with the physically superior fighter, but was seasoned enough to know that she didn’t have to.

  Their crashing blades began to pick up speed. The sound was deafening, like thousands of plates falling from the sky only to crash at their feet. The impacts soon became indecipherable, an endless high-pitched clash with no beginning and no end.

  As the violent dance carried on, Viola could sense her attacker leveling off her offense. She had already taken the girl’s best and managed to weather that storm. Powerful and violent she was, but still not as fast as Viola.

  The hope was to overwhelm Viola with her power as she had done to every other opponent. But the assassin had never seen anyone focus all their energy on defending and foot movement before. Such patience, such calm while under duress. Quick and elusive, Viola was wearing her down without even attacking.

  Viola danced left and right, slapping each flesh blade aside while using minimal energy. Inches...every block and dodge was coming down to a matter of inches. Never taking the full force of any strike, even while blocking, Viola chipped the blades and moved... Chipped and moved. Slaps that would barely hurt a feeble human were plenty strong enough to send a blade strike slightly off course.

  Inches...but a miss was a miss.

  Frustrated by Viola’s impenetrable defense, the assassin rolled at her knees. Leaping over the top of her, Viola lifted her feet high as two surging flesh blades nearly split her at the heels. Landing a few feet away, Viola spun back hard and unleashed an offensive flurry. Passive and cautious until now, the sudden explosion of movement caught the assassin off guard.

  Arms already numb from sustaining the full-power attack, the girl struggled to match Viola’s speed. Now finding herself using all her energy to defend, it was the assassin’s turn to back away as the dance continued. Viola’s push was nowhere near as savage or wild as the flurry she had already weathered, but it didn’t need to be.

  Small cuts began to form all over the assassin’s body. A slice here, an abrasion there, the wounds were starting to add up. Pinpoint strikes were beginning to take their toll, causing damage at regular intervals. Even though most were cleanly blocked, the one in ten that slipped through was doing just enough. At this pace, the accumulation would end this contest sooner rather than later.

  With a roar, the assassin rushed Viola, blades straight out while no longer even attempting to block. Desperate and dangerous, she proved she was willing to let herself get impaled in order to take out her target. She would probably die right here, or be gravely injured at the very least. But either outcome would be worth it as long as she took Viola with her. That was her job, and it was looking like it might be her last.

  Viola tensed, her mind racing as the world seemed to slow. There was no time to get out of the way, and it would take a perfectly placed blade in the heart to stop the assassin dead in her tracks. The assassin’s desperate maneuver had left her with few options.

  With the twin blades inches from her chest, Viola’s body exploded from the inside out. Black birds whirled about as the blades slipped through the space between them. With all her force behind the strike, expecting to decimate flesh and bone, the off-balance assassin stumbled straight through the funnel.

  As fast as she had ripped apart, Viola’s body snapped back like a wave of black water. A shapeless blob at first, the thick mass wrapped around the assassin’s neck and shoulder. A second later, the girl felt her feet leave the ground as her head snapped back. Hoisted up and back, her body slammed the stone floor, cracking several of her ribs.

  Before she could realize the full agony of how broken her body truly was, a series of blows came raining down across the side of her face. Unable to lift her hands in defense, the blows kept landing in rapid succession. Twenty? One hundr
ed perhaps? There was no way to know as her consciousness began to fade.

  Tiny chips of cracked teeth jumped from her mouth with each new strike, although she was only barely aware of it. Eye closing, nose becoming so soft it could no longer be considered just broken, and still the blows kept raining down.

  “Viola!”

  Bloody fist raised with chipped teeth embedded in her knuckles, Viola turned to see who had called her. It could have been anybody, really. It was only now that she noticed the waves of ravens heading her way. Hearing the horns sounding for the first time, she could only assume they had been going on for a while.

  She looked down, her eyes finally registering the damage she had done to the girl. Face a bloody pulp, the assassin was still breathing. But the breaths were coming in long, labored gasps.

  “Viola, are you alright?” Now that voice she knew for sure. Riding in fast, Salina was the first to land on the roof. Others came streaking in, landing around the perimeter to form a protective circle. Jumping off her raven, Salina came charging in and drove a boot into the downed assassin’s face.

  After the third kick, Viola held up her hand and shook her head. Barely alive as it was, the additional punishment just seemed excessive, even if she did deserve it. Plus, she wanted her alive.

  Spiritists circled the area, still not sure whether or not there were other enemies in the immediate area. But if Viola’s body language was any indication, it appeared she already had the threat well contained. Roughly snatching up the assassin by the hair, Viola dragged her away. Ignoring the confused calls asking for a report, even those coming from Rishima herself, Viola dragged her prisoner across the rooftop and slipped down through the trapdoor.

  Chapter 10

  Viola stalked down the stairs, the unconscious assassin’s body thumping along behind her with each step. Already exhausted from the lengthy battle, her mind was numb from mental fatigue as well. Woozy, unsteady on her feet, she could barely form a coherent thought.