by Moore, Gabi
I began to back away from him, unconsciously moving toward the portal.
My movement toward the portal seemed to put the other man on edge once more, but Thane held up a firm palm.
"That won't be necessary, Xavier. Our Agent-in-the-Field is an experienced Veteran. She knows how to handle herself. Likely even better than you."
Thane's vote of confidence was a nice thing to experience, but I was still caught behind the wall of bullshit he was busy erecting with his pretentious attitude. Looking forward into the future, I was entirely uncertain as to the intentions that Thane might have, but I could be certain of two things. Firstly, he was resuming his position as a militaristic expression of the Fae Government.
At this point, I couldn't be certain whether or not this was a sanctioned activity or not, but knowing Thane, it probably wasn't. His newest boy toy, Xavier, was likely in this for whatever prestige Thane had managed to convince him existed for him at the end of some rainbow of service. For all of the care that I felt for him, I fucking despised Thane. However, now was not the time or place to proclaim whatever mixed feelings I had for him.
Secondly, he wanted the portal to remain open, which made him a very dangerous man.
The fact that he wanted the portal to remain open meant that he was willing to sacrifice any and all life in order to achieve his goal. If the portal required any form of regular sacrifice, that also meant that he would be willing to kill, or order the death of people in order to pursue his goal. Likely he would have Xavier here to that work for him.
My mind was spinning out at a thousand miles a minute in an effort to get a hold of every aspect of the situation. I was in the middle of processing all of this information when Erol showed up on his hover disc. He was scratched to hell, and obviously had taken a number of falls himself on the way over. Thane caught my line of eyesight first, and then followed my gaze to Erol's approach.
"You know him?"
"He's a researcher... from the library."
Thane shook his head, and smiled.
"I could always tell when you were lying. You know that's a skill you really ought to either brush up on or forget all together."
His smile was smooth as silk as he walked out to greet Erol.
"So the man of the hour approaches... I don't believe we've met."
Fucking Thane. All I could do was sit and stare.
The apocalypse was nearly approaching, and yet here he was, practically sitting down for tea with some fucked up human who couldn't even manage to operate a hover disc.
I walked over toward Erol to try and position myself in such a way that I might be able to protect him if something went wrong, but Thane already had me beat.
"Erol, is it?"
He nodded, guileless and far too honest for his own good.
"I just wanted to tell you how much we appreciate the efforts that you have made in come over here. You must feel like a very brave explorer."
Even Erol was having a bit of difficult swallowing what Thane was dishing out. I watched him look over his right shoulder toward the approaching storm. Rain was already falling down over us, and the wind was picking up to a point where the rain actually stung my skin almost as badly as the abrasions left from the ground.
"Don't you think we ought to talk more once we go through the portal?"
Erol's words rose high over the sound of the wind.
I tried to cut him off, or to redirect the conversation somehow, but Thane had already leapt at the opportunity. I watched as he offered Erol a hand so he could get off of his hover disc, like a princess descending out from a pumpkin.
"Right you are my friend. This place is in grave danger, and we need to do everything in our power to amend the situation. I just want you to know that the whole Fae Realm owes you a debt for your unflinching service in the face of this most perilous situation we face."
There was nothing to be done.
Thane would slaughter him right there and leave him bleeding on the steps of the capitol.
Whatever elder gods ushered forward from the depths of the abyss in the form of this storm would approach, and the rest of the dimensions would fall into chaotic disarray. I knew that I had to act out, but the end was already in sight.
"Did Aria tell you about the sacrifice?"
I watched helplessly, as Thane's teeth gleamed in the bright light of the portal. He walked Erol over to the portal with one hand around his shoulder, and the other hand at his side.
"Why she did mention that."
"The portal took my blood in the beginning," Erol offered. "I don't have anything more to live for at this point. I see this as the culmination of my life's work, and I know that the ripple effects into the Human Realm are going to be absolutely crucial."
I saw him wince, and then stand up straight, as though trying to regain his composure and nerve.
"I think you should take my life and use it to sustain the energy of the portal."
"We couldn't possibly do that!" Thane interrupted.
That clinched it.
Erol was hooked now by his own damned heroic impulse. The two went back and forth again for a minute, before I heard Erol make his final proclamation.
"I'm going to do it myself, regardless. I know we don't have time for this any more. You're very kind, and I know you care about the welfare of your people. Otherwise, you wouldn't have sent Aria to reach out to me. I want to help, and this is the best way I know how."
"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."
With the theatrics done, Xavier moved forward and drew a blade as he headed toward Erol's body.
"I'll do it," I announced, grabbing ahold of the soldier's back collar and shoving him roughly to the side. "I met him. I brought him here, I’ll take his life."
Thane's eyes narrowed like a cat focusing in on his prey.
"Interesting Development, Aria."
He drew his own sword and then bowed toward me theatrically.
"Do continue."
Chapter 20
I hadn't properly thought about it before starting. All I knew was that I had a minute to express myself, and if I didn't Erol was going to meet his swift and deluded end at the hands of the new tyrant in training.
Thane wouldn't dare dirty his hand on something so menial. That's why you get thugs to carry around a weapon for you. The sword was meant for me; likely everyone except for Erol knew that much.
I turned to the side, and snubbed my nose at Thane. I didn't need to give him any more reason to believe he had power over me than he already had. There was something different about me. He had sensed it. Things weren't business as usual. We were at odds, and there was no way around the fact.
I strained my mind to think of a way that I could persuade him otherwise. All the while drawing the blade that the Wilder Fae had given me and stalking toward the portal.
"Hold him."
I shoved Xavier in the back, pushing him toward Erol.
"I've seen what a coward this guy is when push comes to shove. I don't want to bother cutting him twice."
"Seems like a sorry excuse to me..."
I narrowed my eyes at him, and then turned to Thane as though Xavier's presence itself was insignificant. In the meanwhile, the wind and rain abused our skin with its ferocity. Thane himself seemed to be more than a bit amused by my slight on his assistant. Xavier on the other hand didn't take the slight very smoothly.
I turned my back on him just as a test to see what he would do, and was rewarded with a sharp shove for my efforts. I ended up being pushed straight into Erol, who caught me before I fell into the portal itself.
"I say if the portal is hungry that we feed it until it's sated."
"Might be some time before that happens," Thane replied in a predatory fashion.
"Ha! Such a charmer."
I laughed, and then abruptly turned around to lash my dagger out toward Xavier. A lesser man would have fallen there on the ground. My arc was perfectly directed to slice his jugular
and leave him nothing more than a puddle on the ground. He brought up his arm, and deflected my blow just before it struck home. Xavier himself was terribly angry, though Thane did little more than smile with surprise at my action.
I couldn't wait any longer. The moment had come when we needed to take a chance with the portal. I couldn't fly here, which meant that I would have been mismatched in an honest fight. The evasive maneuver was quick.
All I did was dive backward and shoulder Erol in the chest. He doesn't have a sense of balance to save his life, and the two of us toppled backward into the portal. The escape wasn't clean though. I got tagged along the outer thigh by Xavier while I was passing through the portal.
Blood sprayed downward from the hit and was absorbed into the ether of the gateway. The sight of the blood floating around me brought a lapse in my thinking. I wasn't able to focus my intention in any consistent format. I had planned to lure them both back into the human realm, but fear seized a hold of me, and I was pulled downward into the darkness.
Looking up over me, I swear I saw Thane laughing while the Void approached the portal.
* * *
We landed a decent ways away from one another, on ground that appeared to be closer to dust and rock than anything else.
Looking up at the sky, I searched for the telltale sun, but there was no sign of the orb of fire. Sure enough, we made it to the hell realm, but the storm that had been present in the Fae realm was worse in the Hell realm.
At least the Capitol had been somewhat sheltered by trees and buildings.
Dust and mud kicked upward into my face, and pelted against my skin. On a more positive note, the physical adaptation made it so that the wind spraying debris didn't hurt as much. Still, it was a pain in the ass to get my bearings. I can't say that I was happy to be there, but it was better than at least two alternatives I could think of in the moment.
Focus.
The command was imperative, as I knew there would be an encounter to follow. I had only enough time to avoid immediate onslaught, but there was no cover except the sheer rock face behind me. Coughing and sputtering, over to the left of me by thirty feet was another demon. I could only assume it was Erol, though had he arrived any later than myself, I wasn't in a position to be able to determine.
I ran over to the wreck of a creature, and looked at him. He was different in this realm. He didn't look like I did. He looked altogether separate from the nature of this reality. He was weak, and an interloper.
"This isn't good. Get over here."
I grabbed him by the robes that now covered his body, and threw him backward into the wall behind us. His body hit hard, and he slumped to the ground. I regret throwing him so hard, but I was glad to know that he appeared to be little more than a bundle of rocks that appeared too soft to mesh into the rest of the scenery.
Just then, Xavier arrived alongside Thane.
There was no strict portal per say, as much as there was a blast of light followed by an expulsion of two forms. The portal itself flashed and then faded, leaving only a trace of itself in the outline of the storm.
Taking my chance, I sprang into action and sprinted low toward Xavier. The hit connected strong, and I pushed my dagger viciously upward into his gut. As I stabbed him, he hugged me and raked at my back with his claws. I did not miss the fact that Thane immediately positioned himself behind the two of us. He was willing to see how the conflict worked its way into completion, and I was all right with that.
Finally, I felt teeth sinking into my neck, and I was forced to yield in my assault.
An abdominal wound is never something that you should strive for in battle. I struck at him, and I did some serious damage. My hands were both stinging from the caustic blood of my victim, as I'm sure his mouth was stinging from tasting my flesh. The final break away from that deadly embrace resolved itself through expanding my wings. Impulsively, both wings shot outward from my back. The position of his claws was such that they were both pushed to the side from the force of my extension. The wind currents caught me and lifted me upward into the air, dragging my dagger upward along the inside of his abdomen. The blade got caught on his sternum, dragging me back down toward the ground after him. His weight was too strong for me to pull up into the air, but I refused to let go of the blade of the weapon. My muscles strained, but my grip held fast. Two hands clutched at my own and yanked the blade from its place in his chest cavity.
"You thought it was going to be so easy, you bitch!"
With the hands on my wrist still, he strained downward, gripping more of my arm with each pull. The wind buffeted in circles. Instead of fighting to pull me down, he grinned, and opened his own wings. An explosive leap into the air pushed us both into the mercy of the wind currents.
My body was raked against the side of the cliffs and debris fell downward toward the ground. Darkness swelled all around the two of us. The blackness grew as we flew upward, to the point where it was difficult to see anything more than the light of his eyes.
Xavier was strong enough to hold onto me with one hand, which as soon as he realized was the case, started using to his advantage. His left hand was a gauntlet which was armed with several blades and spikes. Not something which a Fae would typically wear, but most definitely something a cruel fucker would wear if he wanted to strike fear into the heart of his enemies.
I felt the edges of that cruel metal dig into my own body. He wasn't able to get a good strike in, as our weight and momentum was tied together in an upward spiral against the currents of the sky. However, between the cliffside, and the gauntlet, I ended up shedding more than my share of blood into the darkness below.
His teeth flashed in the reflection of a lightning bolt, and I saw my opportunity.
Inverting the handle of the blade with a quick flip, I brought the tip of the dagger down dead center on the hand that held onto my body. The timing was critical, as I needed him to be in mid-attack, and not securing my body with his gauntlet hand. The blade actually pierced through his hand, and into my own forearm. Just then, I released hold on the blade and folded my wings inward.
I fell backward toward the cliffside, and as I fell, I dug the claws of my feet inward on the sides of his body. The vicious gauntlet swung over my body, missing a blow to my face by inches. My feet dug inward into him, along either side of his lower flank. He pushed into the cliffside in response, trying to beat my body against the stone until I fell into submission. I twisted my body around and then opened my wings once more so I came up behind his body. In that upward thrust of motion, my claws reached out and dug straight into the connective tissue of his wings.
With a cry of pain and anger, my claws severed his wings, totally destabilizing his flight pattern.
Thousands of feet into the air, he had just lost his ability to fly, giving me the critical advantage I needed to move into my own killing strike.
I grabbed either side of his abdomen and pulled with all of my strength. The knife wound moved deeper with the tear, driving into the core of his body. Muscles tore, and a shower of blood and entrails fell downward beneath his body.
Even as he was being disemboweled, he struck out at my body with the knife. No matter the piercing pain into my arms, I held on tight, and refused to compromise in my hold. Both of us were falling downward now, dead weight plummeting toward the ground of the Hell Realms. Refusing to yield until I saw the faint blue flash of the portal, I committed to the dive, and every bit of fear it entailed.
At the last possible second, I let go of the body, and opened my wings once more. The impact still hurt, but I was able to hit the ground at an angle and roll off the impact. Xavier on the other hand was little more than a twitching mass of broken bones, crumbled up on the bottom of a cliffside that reached toward the sky.
With my eyes narrowed, and a limp in my step, I walked over to the fallen body of Xavier, picking up the dagger that was now held weakly in his hands. I placed the dagger between my teeth, not even caring that his bloo
d now tainted my mouth. With both hands, I dragged him viscerally against the rough, rocky floor, until the two of us were placed in front of the portal.
The sound of clapping brought my attention out of the moment as Thane stood there, applauding my apparent victory. In the light of the portal, I could see that he held Erol in his arms, with his own sword at the ready. While Thane was watching with a look of dark amusement, Erol had a look of horror in his eyes. He wasn't staring at the woman he had known, but a murderous demon, covered in blood, and dragging the body of her victim to sacrifice.
I saw all of that in his eyes, but it didn't phase me whatsoever.
Without so much as glancing in their direction a second time, I pulled Xavier's body up toward the edge of the portal, and slammed him down on the ground in front of the glistening blue light.
Feed your spirit into the rifts between dimensions...
With a single thrust, I brought my blade across his throat, and into the ground below. Blood pooled out onto the floor around us, and I shoved his broken corpse into the portal.
White light exploded all around us, and lightening came down from the sky. The atmosphere smelled like Iron and burning amber. The portal expanded into an iris the size of the missing sun, and blinked in my direction.
I held no fear, and stood there, honoring my own integrity above all else. The eye expanded upward toward the sky, outward in all directions like a static field, cutting the realm in two. Geometrical formations emanated outward from that central locus; throbbing outward like the after-tremors of an orgasm.
One glance at Thane, told me all that I needed to know.
Erol was horrified, and Thane was drunk with the power and awe of possibility.
"IT'S WORKING!"
The time for compassion and peace was past. I knew which side of this conflict I had to fall on in order to survive and make the best of the situation. I knew what would be asked of me moving forward, and I knew that if I showed the slightest qualm in performing the action, it would throw the entire operation at risk. From this moment forward, I was working for myself, first and foremost.
