Spark
All she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat thudding through her body. Its rhythm so fast and overwhelming that she feared it might stop beating alltogether if she kept this up.
But stopping was not an option.
She grabbed Alec's hand, pulling him onwards.
Behind her, she could hear them hoot and holler; their laughter echoing through the dark and empty forest. For a brief second, she allowed herself a glimpse around her.
"Such a clear sky tonight. I’m going to die under the stars."
She shook the thought away, holding onto her brother’s hand as she kept running.
A twig snapped, and he fell to the floor, almost pulling her arm out of her socket. He looked up at her from the forest floor.
“Run!”
He was out of breath, his voice frailer than she’d ever heard it. She bent down to pick him up. The movement made her vision turn black and for a second she was afraid she’d pass out.
“Not without you.”
She wrapped her arm around him to keep him upright and kept running, dragging him along.
“I can’t… They’re... too fast…” he panted, allowing himself a quick glance back as they upped the pace again.
Six torches bobbed up and down in the forest behind them, rapidly closing in. By now, she could hear them more loudly. They were laughing, clearly hunting for sport.
She refused to be prey.
“Come.”
She grabbed her brother’s hand, dragging the two of them along further into the forest. If they could just get further in, maybe they’d be able to shake them. The humans couldn’t see as well in the dark as they could. She knew of a cave, hidden far to the side. If they made it there, maybe they could…
She heard a whistling sound pass by her ear, immediately bringing her back to the here and now.
“What the…”
She heard the strange whistling sound again, followed by a sharp whack as an arrow connected into a tree straight in front of her.
“DUCK!”
She felt a piercing hot pain in her left calf and before she even realized what was happening she fell down, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Alecs hand was still in hers, pulling her forward. She tried to scramble to her feet but as soon as she put pressure on her left leg, she went down again. Her grey eyes filled with panic as she looked up just in time to see another arrow bury itself in her brother’s shoulder as he too went down, his face colliding with one of the many rocks around them. She heard a sickening crack as his head hit the ground and his eyes snapped shut.
“You owe me five silver, Marcus. Told you I’d be able to hit them from here.”
She heard laughter behind them as the voices got closer.. She turned around, trying to scramble over to her brother’s body lying lifeless on the floor. She crawled over to him, leaving a bloody trail on the forest floor behind her. His hair had fallen over his face and she felt tears of relief streaming down her face when she saw it move up and down slightly in ragged breaths. He was out, but at least he was still alive. She turned around to face the men coming closer, shielding her brother from them as best as she could.
Six figures came walking up to her. For the first time, she got a good look at her assailants. All of them were human, males by the looks of it. They were all clad in the same gear; instead of the plate mail sported by the city guard, these men were all dressed in leather, allowing them to move quickly and silently. All of them sported the same crimson lettering on their chests: L.S.
Nix moved back as far as she could, spreading her arms out to put herself as a barrier between the men and Alec. Her feet slipped in the mud when she crawled back and by now her left leg was pure agony.
“Well, well, lads…” one of the men said as he stepped forward. He swept back his greasy long brown hair and placed his hands on his hips. “Nice catch, Fletcher.”
The man named Fletcher chuckled, putting his bow back on his back as he stared at Nix and her unconscious brother with an amused look in his eyes. “See?” he said, pointing at their horns and tails. “Told you they were demons.”
Nix took a quick look around, desperate for a way out, but by now she realized it was futile. She had nowhere to run and even if she did, she wouldn’t leave without Alec. The six of them formed a half circle around her, leering at her from up high, hands casually resting on swords and daggers. The one who spoke earlier unsheathed his sword and walked up to her. He lowered to his haunches and crouched down in front of her.
“Where is it?”
Nix grit her teeth and looked down, desperate they’d see the fear in her eyes. She felt something cold against her throat as the man in front of her pointed his sword against her chin and tilted it, forcing her to look up at him.
There was a cold gleam to his eyes and she immediately knew she’d find no sympathy there. She’d seen that look before. If anything, this guy was enjoying himself.
She reached into one of her satchels, wincing at the pain in her leg as she moved while keeping her eyes on him. The cold steel never left her chin even as she moved and she could feel hot droplets of blood trickling down her throat into her chest. Her hands closed around the small, golden deer statuette and she held it out to them. Another one, slightly shorter than the rest with dirty blonde hair, slapped the man in front of her on the back.
“Told you they had it, Markus.” He turned his face to the side to spit on the ground. “Filthy little shits.”
“Take it.” Nix looked at them, still holding the statuette in her hands. For a second, she swore she could feel it tremble ever so slightly and she made a conscious effort to steady her arms.
“Please, just take it.. We’re sorry we took it, okay? We… We haven’t eaten in months and no one would pay us for chores anymore. He was getting sick. I- I had to take care of him. Please, just… Take it with you. We’ll never bother you again, I swear. Just let us go. Please, I-”
One of the men stepped forward and grabbed the statuette from her hands, stuffing it into one of his pockets.
“Sshhhh…” The sword disappeared from her throat and Markus inched closer to her, gently wiping the tears from her face. She cringed and bit back a snarl as his rough fingers touched her face.
“You see, sweetheart…” His hand slid back and grabbed a fistful of hair, tugging so harshly she felt her head snap back. “I’m afraid you stole from the wrong person. My employer doesn’t take kindly to thieves.” He stood up, still holding her by the hair and pulling her along with him. She fought back a scream as she had to follow him upwards, the pain in her leg blinding as she put weight on it in an attempt to scramble away. He pulled her up until she could look him in the eye, her hands clawing at his to try and make him let go.
“Tie the other one up. This one is mine.”
To this day, memories of the rest of that night remain hazy at best. She remembers the pain, the laughter. The way they stank of sweat and beer, the way they shouted. The sickening dry sounds of bones getting crushed, how inhuman her own screams had sounded when they broke her horn.
She fought them where she could, but she was hungry, tired and weakened. After she bit one of them, feeling the hot blood gush into her mouth as she nearly severed his finger, they smacked her across the face so hard she passed out.
She didn’t start begging for help until Alec woke up and they turned their attention to him. She tried to keep them occupied, hoping at some point they’d get bored and just go back. She’d hoped he could have stayed unconscious for all of it. But luck was not on their side that night.
When he started screaming, Nix started pleading. First with the men, though they hadn’t responded to any of her pleas so far. As they kept going, her pleading turned inwards. To this day, she wouldn’t be able to tell you why she did it. All she knows, is that the fact that she did was the only reason she’d live to tell the tale at all.
She closed her eyes, trying to close herself off to everything that was happening around her and started to beg for anyone, anything to help them.
For the longest time, there was only silence.
And then, out of nowhere, an image appeared before her.
She could see the golden deer statuette with the ruby eyes appear in front of her, as if floating in thin air. Smoke started pouring around it until the only thing that remained visible were those two red glinting eyes.
Nix did the only thing she could think of.
She begged.
“Please... Help me. Please… I have to get out of here. I’ll do anything. Please. Help me get him to safety. Please.”
The smoke grew thicker and darker until even the red eyes vanished behind it.
And then, from the darkness, she heard a voice. It was deep, dark and all encompassing.
“I ACCEPT.”
Out of nowhere, he was everywhere. He was in her veins, in her body, in her thoughts. She could feel herself getting pushed to the back as something else, something bigger and infinitely darker, took over. She could see, as if from a distance, fire streaming from her fingertips as smoke started to curl around her body. She heard the screams as the men around her caught fire. She could smell burning hair and flesh, could feel her body move, even though a few minutes ago she hadn’t been able to move an inch without excruciating pain. The screams went on, but were soon drowned out by something else entirely; a deep, dark laughter. For a while she couldn’t decide where it came from, until she realized that somehow it was coming from her. She tried to look for Alec, tried to turn her head to see him, but her body wouldn’t listen to her anymore. Whatever was happening; she was no longer in control. The force inside of her grew bigger, as if a giant dark hand covered her ears and eyes and pushed her back - as if someone was squashing her against a wall. The screams got louder, as did the laughter.
And then, there was nothing at all.
------
Lydia groaned as the cart hit yet another bump in the forest and her head collided with the wooden frame above her for the umpteenth time.
“Noah, please just stop the damned thing. It’s fine. Just… I’ll walk from here.”
The half-orc at the front of the carriage grinned and turned to look at her through the small opening between them, halting the horses.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”He turned his gaze back to the road ahead of him. “Going seems a bit r-.....” his voice suddenly trailed off. “Holy shit.”
Lydia scooted over to the front of the card, her hand closing around the dagger she kept hidden on her thigh. “Everything alright?”
“You ehm… might wanna… get out of the cart for this one, ma’am.”
Frowning, Lydia stepped out of the cart, breathing a sigh of relief as she finally set foot on solid ground. “What’s going on?”
Noah had already gotten off of the cart, running a hand through his jet black hair as he stared out into the distance. “Right there. Look.”
Lydia walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulders as she glanced in the direction he was pointing. “I don’t see it.”
He smiled, shaking his head. Lydia’s vanity was notorious at the Bellevue; even though her eye-sight was rapidly getting worse she flat-out refused to wear glasses. But the last girl who laughed when Lydia squinted to look at a handwritten list had been mysteriously switched to latrine duty for a month, so he knew better than to address it.
“Check out the treeline. Right there.” He pointed at an area a couple of metres ahead of them. “Whole circle of trees is gone there. See how the bark’s blackened on those trees but the rest are fine? Almost looks like an explosion. But if that were the case, why hasn’t the whole area burned down?”
Lydia sighed, putting her hands on her hips as she squinted at the area in front of them. “I’ll have a look. Stay with the cart. I’m not risking bandits taking our cargo again.”
Noah shrugged, knowing better than to argue. “As you wish, ma’am. Call me if you need help.”
Slowly, clutching her dagger at her side, Lydia made her way over to the blackened spot. It was strange. The area around her looked absolutely fine, until suddenly there was an entire radius with darkened soil and burned out trees. The air smelled of burnt wood and something else. She’d recognize that smell anywhere.
Burnt flesh.
Slowly, she made her way closer, keeping her eye out for anything that might have set this off. Her feet collided with something and the sudden impact almost made her jump. As she looked down, she saw what appeared to be a lone blackened femur on the ground. Her eyes flitted over the ground and soon she saw other soot covered bones, the skin completely burned off, spread over the forest floor. At a glance, she saw at least three bodies, all completely burned.
In the middle of the open space was one tiny circle where the ground hadn’t charred at all, clearly the origin of the blast. And there, at its center, lay a figure. Her lavender skin appeared unburnt, though most of her clothing had blackened and singed. Part of her horn had broken off and her left leg and arm lay in a very unnatural position, bone protruding through the skin at her right knee.
Her hair was darkened with soot making it impossible to tell its original colour. Her eyes were closed and she did not appear to be moving or breathing. Slowly, Lydia walked up to her, dagger in hand, ready to lash out. It seemed that whatever had caused the blast, had originated with this girl. As she got closer, she swore for a second she could see smoke circling around the ground where the girl lay. She blinked, unsure of what she was seeing, and the smoke disappeared again.
When she knelt down to put a finger against the girl’s throat to check her pulse, the girl suddenly moved, groaning in pain.
Pitch black eyes opened to stare at her and in them, Lydia saw her own image reflected back.
One word left her lips before she passed out again..
“Alec…”
“How is she still alive?” Lydia muttered to herself.
She turned around. “Noah! Get over here. We’ve got a straggler.”
Noah walked up slowly, whistling through his teeth as he saw the girl on the ground.
“Gods… Lydia this girl is barely even alive. Look at her. She’s not even going to make it through the night.”
A pair of green eyes shot him a venomous stare. “Oh really?” she hissed. “Pray, tell me what would have happened if I’d been this callous when I found you.”
Noah swallowed, lowering his eyes under her gaze. “Apologies, ma’am.”
He sighed and made his way to the other side of the figure lying on the ground. “You do realize she probably won’t survive the ride over?” He leaned down to pick up the girl who whimpered softly as soon as he lifted her in his arms.
Lydia was already making her way back, waving her hand at him dismissively. “Whatever happened here, she survived all of it. I know a fighter when I see one. Let’s go.”