Verenda had just taken out another moorenof and noticed one of the large beasts raising its paw with full intentions to slam it against Angel, “duck!”
Angel ducked low and felt a strong wind pass over him as the Bift’s paw went by, knocking over a tall tree.
Tren looked up and saw the tree coming right down for him, so he jumped out of the way and landed face first in the dirt as it came crashing down only a few feet away from him. When he brought his face up from the dirt he saw Marian fighting a few Moorenofs at a time, kicking and punching orange flames from his hands and feet.
“Marian!” Tren yelled. He spotted a Moorenof that was making its way for Marian, “aw, hell,” Tren jumped to his feet and ran for the Moorenof that thought it was going to get a piece of his friend.
Tren was exhausted from using his blood armor, and couldn’t move as fast as he’d hoped he could, “behind you!” Tren Screamed in a panic.
Marian had heard Tren’s scream, but didn’t turn around in time and saw that the Moorenof was too close to evade now. Luckily, Zyas was around to slash the Moorenofs head off with the sharp side of his bow.
Tren was relieved to see Zyas save Marian, and had forgotten that a battle was still going on. He was tackled to the ground by a Moorenof, and whatever breath he had left was completely knocked out of him, “you,” he blocked the moorenofs scratches with the armor on his arms, “stupid fucker!” Tren grabbed the Moorenof by the side of its head and then slammed it into the dirt with brute force. When he got up to finish off pummeling the moorenof, Montago shot down from the trees and landed hard on top of it with his feet, and crushed it.
Montago looked up at Tren and gave him a thumbs up, then he jumped again and slammed down on top of another Moorenof.
Tren shook his head, and then got back into action. He couldn’t be the only one slacking in battle, because if anyone got hurt, he would only blame himself for not fighting to the best of his ability.
Marian sighed with relief when he saw Tren go back to normal. This was the second time that he had watched Tren grow weak after using his blood armor, and it was starting to worry him, but now that his buddy was back to normal, he could go back to kicking ass.
They had fought on for only a few more minutes before all of the Moorenofs were down, and all that was left were the few Bift’s. They were only there for intimidation, because the entire battle all those things did was swipe their giant paws at them and roar.
The six boys stood in the center of the triangle of Bift’s, and got back into their defensive stances.
“You tired yet?” Angel asked Verenda.
Verenda continued to catch his breath, “no way, not at all.”
“Really? Because I can hear you panting,” Angel teased.
“Just don’t get in my way,” Verenda let his wings emerge from his back.
***
Alcia sat back against the wall with a wooden cup of water in her hand and took a sip. She looked across from herself at Jermya’s body that was still lying, dead, on the floor.
Tasa sat next to Alcia and stared at the body as well, “I didn’t know Oceanians were capable of such a thing...”
Alcia took another sip and then poured the water over her head, causing her hair color to change into a seaweed green. When wet, her hair would sometimes change color like many other Oceanians hair did.
Alcia shook her head, “I didn’t either. I mean,” she turned her eyes to Tasa, “we’re able to manipulate water- control it however we feel, but for our bodies to...” she looked down at the dry blood on her stomach that fell from Jermya’s after she had impaled him with her own body, “that’s not normal. My body hadn’t started acting this way until I left Oceania. It’s like it’s...”
“Protecting itself?”
“Yeah,” Alcia sighed. She was relieved that someone understood how she felt.
The sound of footsteps coming down the steps alarmed Alcia, and she quickly stood up. If it weren’t the boys that were coming down, then what would she tell the stranger when he or she saw the dead body in the middle of the room?
“Come on, Jermya,” it was Marci, “you said that this would be quick. We have to-” Marci stopped in the doorway when she saw Jermya lying dead on the dirt floor.
Tasa slowly got back to her feet, but still had to use the wall to hold herself up.
“What did you...?” Marci looked up at Alcia, and then down to the dry blood that was smeared on her stomach.
“Is it done?” One of the boys from the Davinko game stopped behind Marci, “oh, shit. Jermya-”
Marci and Alcia locked eyes for a long moment, then it finally ended when Marci spoke, “kill them.”
The small group ran inside from behind Marci, and was headed straight for Alcia and Tasa, but then they were stopped by the blood barrier that Alcia had created with Jermya’s blood. There was no way around it, over it, or under it, and as long as she held her arms out, then the barrier would stay put.
Alcia was grateful for Jermya’s spilled blood, because with the high percentage of water in the blood, Alcia was able to manipulate it with no problem.
Everyone in the group, but one, stopped when they saw the barrier appear, and right before he reached it, he had disappeared.
Tasa grabbed Alcia’s shoulder, “he has a stone-”
The tall boy reappeared and tackled Tasa to the ground. He then mounted her and began throwing heavy blows to her face.
“Tasa!” Alcia yelled. She turned back to the group of teens, and knew that if she went to help Tasa, then the barrier would fall, and they would be left unprotected.
Tasa shielded her face from the blows, and there wasn’t much else that she could do besides defend herself. Even so, that was an exhausting task.
“Stop it!” Alcia screamed. She was stuck, and couldn’t figure out what to do, but there wasn’t much time left, and she had to make a move.
Marci stood right in front of Alcia with a frown painted on her face, “once we’re done with her, your next.”
Alcia clenched her teeth and pushed the barrier towards the group, knocking them down to the floor by the exit. She then, turned her attention to Tasa and the boy, and whipped Jermya’s blood around his neck as tightly as she could.
The boy scratched at his neck and fell over to his side as he fought for air. Alcia used that time to help Tasa to her feet, and then stepped in front of her. They would have to get through her first if they wanted to get to Tasa, and she was going to make that incredibly hard for them.
Alcia was no longer worried about her ability to protect Tasa because she knew that she could take them on, now that she had a weapon. After years of training, these kids shouldn’t have even been a problem, and she tried to remember why she was so afraid in the first place, but couldn’t.
Alcia took a deep breath while forming more of Jermya’s blood into little sharp needles that floated into the air and pointed directly at the group of teens.
“I’m only going to give you all one chance,” Alcia said, “leave,” she looked down at one of the younger teens and didn’t understand why he was even involved in this situation. She sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t hurt the boy.
Now that she paid attention to the group in front of her, she noticed that there were only five of them all together, making Tasa’s home feel even smaller than usual.
The boy that had attacked Tasa took a sneaky step forward, and ended up with a blood needle going straight through his leg, “ah!” he fell down on one knee and tried to stop the bleeding with his hands.
“Make another move, and I’ll send one through your chest,” Alcia warned.
The boy clenched his teeth, trying to keep from showing any weakness, but Alcia could see that he was in pain from the redness in his face.
Alcia turned back to the others, “why are you guys doing this? Don’t you know who Darrengiy is?”
“Yeah, we know who he is. He promised us more stones so that we could defend ourselves agai
nst the Moorenofs,” they younger boy said.
Tasa sighed behind Alcia, “another promise. He must really want me put down.”
“What?” Marci asked, feeling confused.
“He promised Jermya that he would give him power. So much that he could rule all of Vernasia with him. Darrengiy is just a liar,” Tasa said.
“But-”
“He just wants me dead because I am a great inconvenience to him,” Tasa said angrily, “and he’s making you foolish kids promises that he doesn’t even plan on keeping.”
“You’re lying!” The youngest yelled, “he’s going to help us stop the Moorenofs. Those filthy things will get what they deserve. I’m going to-” one of the blood needles made its way over to the boy with the sharp end pointed at his forehead. His eyes widened.
“Look,” Alcia sighed, “this is pointless. Darrengiy is fooling all of you. He’s been the one helping the Moorenofs gain power in the first place, so there’s no way he plans on giving you guys any. Jermya, apparently, was working with them to kill Tasa because Darrengiy made him a promise as well.”
The group in front of Alcia had no idea what to say next, and looked confused.
“Just what exactly did Jermya tell you guys?” Alcia asked.
Marci looked back at Jermya’s body, then sighed, knowing that what Alcia was saying was true. It’s was just the hope that she may have been able to avenge her fallen loved ones made her believe that what Darrengiy and Jermya told them was the truth.
Something within her was telling her not to completely trust them though. The boy that she loved had changed for the worst since his mother was killed, and it was no surprise that he may have been lying to her. All he ever talked about was having more strength and power, so that he would never be hurt like that again, and at one point, she knew that he would have done unforgivable things to get it.
“Marci,” Alcia snapped her out of her trance, “just let it go, because if I have to hurt you, then I will. Just leave.”
“Listen to her, Marci,” the injured boy said. He was still trying to slow the bleeding down.
Marci and Alcia locked eyes for a moment. The look they both gave made it clear that they weren’t enemies, but they could never be friends. Not after Alcia had killed the one person that’s been in Marci’s life since childhood, “let’s go. Help him up.”
Two of the older boys helped the injured one up by his shoulders and started walking him towards the stairway. The younger boy frowned back at Tasa, then ran out of her home, with Marci right behind him. Marci looked back at Jermya’s body one last time, then exited the room.
Alcia let the blood needles splash onto the floor and took a deep breath. She felt like the entire time the angry teens were there, she had forgotten to breath, “well that’s-”
The sound of something falling to the floor had sounded behind her and she spun around to see what it was.
‘Tasa!” Tasa had passed out from exhaustion, and the right side of her head had started bleeding out after she had hit it on the ground.
“Shoot!” Alcia had rolled Tasa onto her back and held her hand over the cut on Tasa’s head. After years of training with the boys back in Oceania, she could barely remember how to use her healing powers.
***
Angel tackled Verenda into the dirt, knocking all the wind out of him, and was only relieved for a second that the large paw had completely missed them.
After taking down the first Bift, they were all too tired to even create a plan that would stop the other two. The most that they could do now was just duck, and attack off of tired instinct.
“Okay, this is just ridiculous,” Verenda said. He took Angel’s hand and pulled him back to his feet.
Angel breathed heavily with his mouth hanging open, “agreed.”
“Angel! Wing Boy!” Marian called as he ran away, along with Tren and Zyas, “screw those things! Let’s go!”
“Let’s go,” Angel said, making a run for it. He wasn’t the type to run from a fight, but figured that it’s better to live to fight another day.
Verenda nodded and had jumped into the air to take flight, but didn’t make it far out when one of the Bift’s had knocked him out of the air with its long tail. The impact sent Verenda flying through the air and then crashing against a tree, where he had completely lost consciousness.
“Verenda!” Angel had seen what just happened and started running for Verenda’s slumped body, hoping that his mysterious new friend would be okay.
Chapter 14: Verenda
Year: 6013
Devenaska
Twelve year old Laren walked barefooted through the large castle hallway wearing a cream woolen dress that stopped right above her knees, and a necklace that she kept tucked into it. Servants in the castle weren’t allowed to have such things, yet young Lord Verenda gave it to her anyways. He greatly appreciated her loyalty and friendship to him, and decided to thank her with a gift.
Laren finally made it into the main hall where Verenda was playing a game of chess with one of his servant boys. He ran his fingers through his black hair in frustration, and took a deep breath.
“Verenda,” Laren called out.
Verenda turned to his golden haired friend with sea colored eyes and smiled. Her blue eyes signified that she lacked royal blood, and was not blessed with wealth and power as the few yellow eyed Davinions, but that’s what he like so much about her. Laren was the only normal person that he could connect with, and he didn’t ever want that to change.
“What is it?” Verenda asked.
“Your late for your training,” She replied.
“Oh, right. I’ll be right there,” he turned back to the servant boy, “your last move.”
The servant boy smiled, knowing that he was going to win yet another chess match, and made his move. He gently set his piece down on the board, “checkmate,” he said with a grin.
Verenda frowned, then angrily knocked the board and pieces onto the marble floor as he stood up, “clean up this mess, and before I’m back be sure to have me a warm bath and a hot dinner.”
“Yes, Lord Verenda,” the servant rushed to gather all of the chess pieces.
Verenda made his way over to Laren, who showed no discomfort towards his actions, and they continued back down the hall from which she just came from.
Laren was given to Verenda, as his personal servant, when he was only but eight years old, and his distasteful behavior towards the other servants no longer affected her because it was common for one with royal blood to treat peasants as such.
“Are you ready, my lord?” Laren asked, turning her glossy blue eyes to his.
“Yes, of course I am,” Verenda frowned, “why wouldn’t I be?”
Laren turned away and shrugged, “I was just making sure.”
Verenda turned to the large closed doors ahead of him and sighed. His training gets harder with each week that goes by, and he was starting to feel exhausted. His father, the king, wanted to make sure that Verenda was in great fighting shape. Especially after he realized that Verenda was having trouble tapping into his own power. The poor boy couldn’t even get his wings to emerge.
The two children made their way down the short stairway and continued towards the wooden door, “where is my staff?” Verenda had just realized that he didn’t have it with him.
“Oh, it’s right there,” Laren pointed to the golden staff that rested in the corner next to the door.
“Thank you,” he was glad that he didn’t have to waste more time by searching through the castle for it.
Laren skipped over to grab his staff, then held it out to him, “you’ll do great today.”
Verenda straightened and took the staff.
Laren giggled as he sucked in more air to push his small chest out in order to make it look as if he had more muscle. Verenda was actually a bit of a skinny boy, but not so skinny that a person could see his ribs. He let the air out and laughed along with her, “what’s so funny?”
<
br /> Laren shook her head and turned to face the doors, “just go out there and impress the master.”
Verenda gave a slight smile, then pushed open the large double doors in front of him with all of his body weight. Once they were all the way open, he stepped out onto the sandy ground and welcomed the hot sunlight onto his already tanned skin. It was time to train with other wealthy Devanian’s within the tall walls that surrounded them.
Laren stepped out next to him and observed the other students as they trained in close combat with their partners. Most of the students were much bigger and older than Verenda by only a few years, but because he was the prince, everyone had high expectations of him.
Verenda gripped his staff tightly when he noticed Master Kendo looking right at him. From what it looked like, he hadn’t missed much of any of his training, but because he was late by only a few minutes, he knew that he was going to be punished.
“I’ll return when your training is over my Lord,” Laren lowered her head and walked away. She had been careful not to stay within the training grounds for long after the first time, she had been hit by another student.
The student, Canon, had bumped into her while wrestling with another student, and had lost his balance. He blamed her for being in the way and had left her with a pair of cracked ribs after slamming his staff into them.
“Ok,” Verenda nodded, then turned back to Master Kendo, a young master in his early twenties, who’s attention was no longer on Verenda.
Master Kendo was speaking to the dark haired Canon, who smiled over at Verenda, showing his very straight white teeth.
Verenda knew that when Canon jogged in his direction that he was up to no good, “what is it?”
“Master Kendo say’s that we’re partnering up today,” Canon said after smiling over at his friends. He was about a foot taller than Verenda with straight black hair that hung down to his back in one long braid. He stood tall over Verenda with muscle much thicker and defined compared to Verenda’s skinny arms, and small six pack, “you ready?”
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 17
