Torn From Stone (The Phoenix Series Book 1)

by Sarah Rockwood

  Baba came at me with clawed hands scratching wildly at the air. I caught her at the wrists, and she screamed a long ragged howl. The scream had substance, the sheer weight of the sound threatened to take me off my feet. I planted my back leg and kicked the front one into her gut, releasing her hands as I went. The action knocked her to the ground. Which is where I would have gone had the wing not sprung into action and lifted me up and back.

  As Baba wrestled with her many shawls, I made a dive for my bat. I flew forwards, the wing providing the lift as I stretched my arms towards it. My feet left the ground, but within seconds I felt strong hands wrap around one of my ankles. I fell forward onto my hands, landing in a push-up position; if I hadn’t had the wing, I would have broken a wrist. I twisted onto my butt pulling my attacker with me. Cosima had my foot in an iron grip, she was screaming with laughter. I could hear Baba getting to her feet in the distance. I tried to kick out at Cosima, but she dodged all my attempts, pulling up on my ankle every time I tried to get to my feet. A heavy grunt drew my eyes, and I saw Baba start to run at me. She had almost closed the distance when a large body slammed into her, taking her to the ground.

  “Benyst!” I shouted to him, hope returning to me.

  “You still have me to deal with me, bitch.” Cosima showed me a lipless smile. “Time for a little one on one.”

  “I thought you preferred three?” Both Cosima and I snapped our attention to the new voice. I had a moment to register Noiryn’s calm face before she cracked my bat across Cosima’s back. Tossing my bat to the side, she fell on Cosima and began to grapple. As I moved for my bat, a voice filled my ears, staying my hand.

  “It is right that it will be the two of us,” Ganaraj spoke quietly so that only I could hear him. I replied in a conversational tone.

  “I remember your fear that day, Ganaraj. I felt it. You had me, had tasted my blood, and still, you were afraid.” I rose to my full height and let the wing unfurl, its glory undeniable. I could see him fight the urge to recoil.

  “You are mistaken. I am not afraid of you.”

  “Only one way to find out.” I made a little ‘come on’ gesture at him. Okay, it was corny, but how often do these kinds of situations come up?

  “Oh, your time with the mortals has limited you. You think only of brute force, but there are so many other ways. So many ways I may hurt you.” He made a quick gesture with his hands and suddenly fire boiled through my veins. My vision darkened and I was sure that I screamed although I could hear no sound. It stopped as quickly as it had begun and I found myself panting on the ground.

  “Poor little Phoenix. You were so strong. You could have taken us all.” Another flick of his wrist and I was back in the land of pain. This time my vision stayed clear, and I had front row seats to his sanctimonious parade around me. “You remember my fear, do you? Well, let me show you what I remember.” The pain was unbearable. It felt like my skin was going to split from my bones. I screamed again as my mind clouded with images. I was back at that awful day. I could see Ganaraj as he tore into my wings. I could taste his pleasure as he feasted on my flesh. His maniacal laughter pulsed through my brain as I felt his tongue licking at my back. I could feel his arousal as he drank in my power, his joy as he degraded me. “Do you see now?” I snapped back to reality. I was on my back, my wing pinned beneath me, his face inches from mine. Cold sweat beaded and pooled down the front of my jumpsuit. “You are nothing. I have bested you. I have owned you. You will always be mine.” He stood up and from his minuscule height, spat on me. The spit hit my cheek and began to run into my hair. I could do nothing. I was so weak. So cold. He had destroyed me once, and now he had done it again. My body was broken, used; the pain he had brought was as real as that fateful day all those years ago. I rolled to my right side to wait for his next onslaught.

  As I did my wing came round to meet me. In my dulled state I was mildly shocked to see it there. The feathers curled before my face obscuring the scenes of anguish that were scattered across the circle. The colours of the wing began to dance before my eyes. The blues and greens swirling, the purples pulsing in and out of the shades of pink that streaked through the wing. I began to feel a similar sway deep in my body. In my mind’s eye, I could see the colours form and mingle within me. They moved in and out of each other filling me, strengthening me. Soon the swirl became a steady pulse, and I felt my power begin to return to me. It grew, forcing the wing aside as it drew me to my knees. I wiped the spit from my cheek. I could see Ganaraj on the opposite side of the circle, near Sid and Yeren in their colourful prisons; he turned to me as my power grew.

  An orb of my own creation began to form around me. At first, it was clear and shimmery, but soon it held the deep colours it had back in the jungle. The orb pulsed and I felt my power grow stronger in my bones. It filled me. Every molecule of my body and soul began to fill with my own clean power. I let it build, held it in my vessel, tending it like a fire. Through the rainbow-hued film that surrounded me, I could see my friends in turmoil. Their battles almost lost. It brought the taste of rage to my tongue. My wing flapped, and images of my attack flittered across my eyes fanning the angry fire that brewed within me. I rose to my feet, and the orb expanded its shape. I stretched out my wing, and it grew larger still. I turned until I faced Ganaraj, the power nearly ripping me apart. I waited until his face met mine. There was fear in his eyes.

  I let go.

  29

  It was a blur. There were lights and screaming. I felt my body expand in every direction. I felt my power seek out my foes and strike through them while flowing gently around my friends. The power did not stop at the circle. It pulsed onward out into The Void, and in the distance, I felt the gasp of every inhabitant: the communal realisation that The Phoenix had returned. Even incomplete I was a force to be reckoned with.

  30

  When it was over, I lay on the ground panting. Everything was still. My body ached. I felt vulnerable, frail. I struggled to my hands and knees and, with great effort, lifted my head to survey my surroundings.

  My bat lay just out of reach, broken. Only the handle and part of the shaft were whole. The rest lay in big chunks scattered across the ground. To my far left were Noiryn and Cosima. They were both unconscious, I could see their chests rising and falling as they breathed. On the right side of the circle were a sleeping Baba and Benyst. Their heads close together as they lay in a pool of fabric and limbs. Sid and Yeren were stretched out on the ground, the magenta orbs gone. Ganaraj was near them, equally unconscious.

  I was sitting there trying to understand what was before me, trying to calm my fearful heart, when I felt a presence behind me. I stiffened as a voice whispered my name. I turned quickly on my knees. The Archer stood behind me. His platinum skin gleamed in the diffused light. He spoke my name again, and as he did, I saw it. My wing lay on the ground behind him. He tracked my eyes and turned to look at the wing. As he took his eyes off me, I quickly grabbed the broken bat, fear instructing me. He spoke my name a third time as he turned back to me. I moved with him, standing to drive the broken shaft of the bat deep into his belly. With a soft shocked sound, he grabbed the handle, covering my hands with his, the pearly white of my skin a beautiful companion to his silver. A look that I could not read touched his face, and with an anguished cry, he drew the bat deeper into his body. I pulled my hands from it and watched him collapse to the ground, his eyes closed.

  I stepped over his prone form towards the wing. I had eyes for nothing else now. Its sister twitched and flapped at my back, eager for reunion. I thought of nothing else as I knelt before it. It was as beautiful as the first, more so with extra longing. I held my hands inches from it and ran them along the length. Energy crackled between us. This time there would be no lingering. Too much power pulsed in me to require such a thing.

  I grabbed it with both hands and lifted it from the ground. It was heavier than the first. I hoisted it above my head, switching my grip so I could lower it to my back. A spar
k of blue lightning flashed between us, and I pressed the wing to my flesh. Instantly the bones and sinew began to re-knit. It was a pleasurable pain that bent me forward until my forehead rested on the cool ground. Quickly I became whole again. And with that wholeness came the memories. Time moved backwards as the gap between who I was and who I became, mended.

  31

  It felt like being sucked through a straw.

  There was bright light all around me. I was cold and naked. I could feel large hands, giant, holding me. There were voices, muffled and hard to understand, and above them, a baby cried. The sound held the unmistakable cadence of a newborn. As it continued I realised the cry came from me. I screamed at my new life as Time pulled me back to show me more.

  I was energy. I felt like flesh, but when I looked at my form, I could see only stars. I was floating in an ocean of stars. The universe stretched out before me. There was no up or down, only space. I could see planets and their moons; galaxies twisted and flowed in their infinite beauty. I was nothing and everything. Real and imagined. Flesh and light. Simultaneous. The place where my heart would beat became a small star. It began to pulse with a clean blue-white light, filling me. I became a star. I gazed at the others around me and watched the seemingly random flashes of light become a pattern. I watched the stars unify as I took my place. I felt the oneness of the cosmos as my energy-self drifted through oblivion. In this vastness there was love. There was creation. I could feel it. The pulse of life changing and growing with every moment, every granule of Time, its light reflected by the millions of stars. I wept and was comforted. I had no need to fear the next part of my journey. There was good everywhere.

  The image twisted itself, drawing me further back through Time. I returned to the pain of that final battle. I lived yet again the tearing of my wings. This time was the most terrible, the most complete. I saw details that had been previously hidden from me. The feel of coarse hair against my back. The sharpness of claws as they bit my skin. The smell of sweat and blood ripe in the air. All these things made worse after the beauty of the stars. The anger of those around me hurt deeper after experiencing such unity. The last thing I saw before Time took me again before my tortured self had sought oblivion, was The Archer. He stood a short distance from the crowd and was trying to wrestle my bloody wing from Siddhartha. I saw him grappling, and sadness came over me like a wave. My memory-self craved one last look in his eyes, but he did not turn, so intent on his battle.

  Then I found myself in the circle of The Guard.

  I stood in the centre of the circle, but it was a struggle to stay upright. My limbs felt extremely heavy, and my wings dragged down my back, brushing the ground. I looked around at the daises, two sat empty. Mastyx and The Archer were the only ones not present. Fear bathed my skin like sweat.

  “You can’t do this!” I pleaded, fighting the pull the ground had on my limbs. “You don’t have the votes!”

  “We do not need votes, my dear, we have witnesses.” Ganaraj looked smug as he smiled down at me.

  “Impossible!” My shocked body could only manage a whisper.

  “Impossible…hmm…improbable, yes, but not impossible. You covered your tracks rather well, again your powers surprised. I thought I would have to carve away at them however our witnesses were eager to share their information. In fact, they came to us.”

  The ground pulled even harder at my bones as I absorbed his words. Who could have betrayed me? Who would have handed my enemies my downfall? In my haze, I saw Ganaraj gesture to Cosima. She slipped from her dais and out of my sight. All this time Windiga and Silverwood were silent. The great warrior gave no glimmer of emotion while the tree man sat with tears brimming in his eyes.

  “Ah!” Ganaraj broke the silence. “Here they are.”

  I followed his gaze with my body, moving my entire frame against the pull of the Binding. Cosima sauntered into the circle trailing a long golden cord behind her. Her hips swung suggestively as she moved around the circle to my back. I watched her, marvelling at the battle between cruelty and grace that coursed through her flesh. Heavy footsteps sounded in the circle, and I followed the cord with my eyes. At the end of the elegant rope was Yeren. The rope was tied around her wrists, but no pulling was necessary, she entered the circle of her own accord. My heart did not sink when I saw her, in fact, my shock was mild, her appearance made sense in a strange way. I had not chosen to Heal her; I had done it at Sid’s insistence. I had Healed her to help an old and dear friend. Yeren met my gaze briefly.

  “I am not surprised,” I spoke quietly, even my voice strained against the pulling forces around me.

  “Give it a minute.” Cosima chided. It took less than that. As I continued to stare coldly at Yeren, another, struggling against the cord, shuffled in behind her. It was Siddhartha.

  Concentration left me as my blood went cold and I crumpled to the ground. I struggled to lift my head. “Siddhartha?” He opened his mouth to speak, but Windiga’s voice rang out.

  “Let us not drag this out. Let them confirm their testimony and then we can be done with this unfortunate affair.”

  “Yes, make it quick.” Silverwood quietly echoed him. Cosima circled her two captives untying their bindings as she drew closer. She purred in Yeren’s ear.

  “Tell the lovely creature what you told us.” She pulled hard as she untied the knot. “And make it brief.”

  Yeren’s words were even and held no emotion.

  “I saw her Heal.”

  “And who did she heal?” Cosima whispered.

  Yeren swallowed before answering.

  “Me.”

  “Good girl.” Cosima petted her fur before turning to Sid. “And you Minion, what did you see?”

  Sid did not answer. Cosima wrenched on the cord as she pulled the knot free, but still, he did not speak. She exchanged a look with Ganaraj, and as he nodded, she struck Sid across the face. Still, he did not speak. With an impatient huff, Ganaraj flicked his hand, and suddenly Sid was on the ground writhing in agony. When Ganaraj had released him, Cosima leant down over his prone form and spoke calmly to him.

  “What did you see?”

  “I…” He lay on the ground breathing heavily, his eyes half closed. “I saw her Heal.”

  Cosima stood as she turned to me, her lipless mouth opened in a grotesque imitation of a smile.

  “That’s all we need.”

  “Yes, it is settled,” Windiga said. “She must be Banished.” The word brought me to my knees.

  “No! You can’t do this!”

  “I am sorry, dear.” Silverwood’s sad voice moved softly from his mouth. “You must be punished. It is an ancient law.”

  “An archaic law!” I spun about as wildly as the Binding would allow me. “Archer! Where is Archer? He will not let you do this!”

  “Archer, is it?” said Ganaraj. “How interesting.”

  I ignored him and crawled towards Sid. Reflex sending me to an old friend turned betrayer. He was still on his back with his head towards me. He tried to roll over, but did not have the strength; he angled his head back until his eyes just barely met mine.

  “I am sorry, My Lady. Now please, run.” He breathed. “Run.”

  Ganaraj bellowed over us, his power sending his voice across the circle and out into The Void.

  “The Phoenix has broken the Ancient Laws. She is to be Banished. Let the tearing of the wings begin!” He leapt off his dais.

  “Run!” Sid shouted.

  Adrenalin filled my veins as Ganaraj’s muscular and compact body approached me. I summoned every last ounce of power I had and threw it out at the circle. It left me in a blast of purple and blue energy. I didn’t wait to see the effect. Pumping my legs as hard as I could, I ran from the circle. My wings tried feebly to flap and send me into the air, but I could not completely shake the Binding. If I could get far enough away from the circle, I might be able to Travel.

  It was as I saw the screaming crowds gather in the distance that the vision ch
anged.

  32

  I was alone in The Void and had been for many days, either fear or boredom keeping friends away from me in my Bound state. This parcel of land looked like any other; everywhere was grey, cool, and smooth. The Binding clung to my skin, and my movement was slow and laborious. I had not flown in days and longing for the sky was tearing at my heart. I came upon a single tree; it matched my loneliness, so I took a seat beneath its scarce branches. I leant my head back against the trunk and wrapped my wings around me. It was warm within my feathered shell, and I fell into a light doze.

  I could not have been asleep very long, my head had not rolled from its place against the trunk, but something had woken me. I could feel a new presence in the space. I opened my wings slightly and peered out. The Archer lay on the ground about fifteen feet in front of me. He was not moving. The shock of seeing a member of The Guard in such a way caught the air in my lungs, and for a few beats of my heart, I did not move. When he continued to be still, I sent what little energy I could out towards him. I felt my energy touch his flesh, but I could feel very little life within it. My heart leapt into my throat, and I got to my feet as quickly as I could, my wings dragging behind me as I made my way towards him.

  As I drew closer, I could see that he was terribly hurt. The centre of his body and the lower ribs on the left side were burned black. Flesh was peeling from him in little curls, and the middle of the wound was red and wet. I could see just beyond his flesh into the cavity of his body. I knelt down beside him. “The Archer? Can you hear me?” He made no response. I moved my head close to his. “Archer?” Still nothing. I sat up and surveyed his body. The wound was bad, but I could Heal it - if I weren't Bound. I stretched out my energy to him again and felt the pulse of life within him grow fainter, I needed to do something quickly. I held my hands delicately above the wound, took a deep breath and tried to send my power into his flesh. Nothing happened. I let out a frustrated cry, and he stirred, moaning slightly. I sat back on my heels and tried to think.