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One of the men has left their flank open twice in as long as I’ve been standing here and the cat didn’t lunge for it or take the opportunity to kill its prey. It bites at the sword instead. They’re not hunting or defensive. Their tails are swishing like they’re curious….
A beam of light casts through the tree canopy and reflects off the tattoo’d man’s blade. Faelor, I believe, assuming I heard that right. Everything is a bit muffled when I’m not in control, but everything Calamity sees and hears, I do…but it could be Taylor? Baylor? Regardless of what he goes by, the creature facing him follows his sword with slitted yellow eyes and pounces on the ground before returning to fight off the brute.
They’re playing.They’re not stopping to make the kill when they knock someone down, but instead going after the next shiny thing they see.
Storming back to where Brenn is hiding, I snatch the dagger off his belt and take a few large steps backward, making sure there’s plenty of space between us.
“What are you doing?” he asks, his hands still pawing at the dagger’s sheath, but he wasn’t fast enough.
“Testing a theory.” My lips pull into a mischievous smile, keeping my teeth hidden. “Looks like the sheep has a purpose after all.”
Tilting the dagger, I catch a sliver of light on the blade and twist until it’s pointed at Brenn’s chest. He side-steps but I follow him with it. Then again, and again.
“Stop that,” he demands, his voice raising. Good… the noise will only catch the beast’s attention sooner.
Using just my eyes, I watch one of the beasts abandon Jesper, and bound toward us. It worked.
“Oh, fantastic. Pick on the cripple!” Brenn yells, frantically stepping out of the light, only to be put back into it again. His eyes dart between the beast and me in rapid succession, his chest heaving as he draws in more air than is healthy. “Calamity!”
“Relax. If I wanted you dead, you’d be blowing away in the wind already.” I roll my eyes, waiting for the beast to get closer.
He twists his head, still trying to move away from the light. “Your point has been made. I’m an asshole. Can you call off your dogs now?”
I wait another moment, watching the creature leap over the ground. Brenn shrieks my name but I pay him no mind, holding the light on him. Just as the creature passes me, I thrust a hand out. Darkness bursts from my fingertips, speeding through the air and engulfing the creature in smoke. As the plume of shadows clears and fades into nothing, the cat disintegrates at Brenn’s feet.
He staggers back. Landing on his butt as he hyperventilates, watching the ash settle into the leaves before him.
“Told you,” I scoff. “You still have all your digits, don’t you? It’d be a shame if you lost a finger, wouldn’t it?”
His eyes narrow as he lets out a shaky exhale, nostrils flaring. “This isn’t a game.”
“No. It’s not. Consider it a penance for trying to get us killed.” Giving him my back, I turn toward the others just in time to see Loric’s wide-eyed expression locked on me. His silver eyes meet mine, flashing bright. My heart flutters in my chest, but the sensation is cut short as a never cat slams into his back, pinning him to the ground. He barely manages to roll to his back between the beast’s paw before razor sharp teeth snap together, inches from his face. His hands are buried in the creature’s fur,drawing blood, with his talons burrowed into the never cat’s flesh. The pain doesn’t slow it down, not a second.
A guttural scream rips through the fog in my mind and I spare a glance in the direction it came, finding another cat tearing it’s head side to side, clamped onto the red-headed woman's shoulder.
“Vik!” Brenn calls out from behind me, the hinge on his knee squealing as he rushes forward, stopping next to me.
I fill my lungs as power crackles around me, my veins heating with it. Dark tendrils of smoke coil around my body, thickening into ropes as it takes on an inky texture. Splaying my fingers wide, I slam a foot down, pressing my palms toward the dirt. The wisps of darkness burrow into the ground and the wind swirls around my body, sending leaves and ashes and the scent of magic flying through the air.
The darkness bursts through the forest floor, directly underneath the remaining beasts, making the dirt rain as the dark coils bind the beasts like ribbons. They pull tighter and tighter as the beasts wail, fighting against my power with every ounce of strength they possess, but it’s not enough. The darkness begins to drain them, but my power stores are nearly full. For now. Siphoning much more without the ability to hold such power or expell it would be suicide, so I need to make this quick.
Feeling invigorated, I let my magic squeeze. I let it crush bone. Then the resistance gives way and the beasts explode. I jolt back as crimson splatter paints everything around us, the trees, our bodies, our clothes, the leaves… Nothing escapes the gore.
Loric and the rest of his friends slowly get to their feet, the white of their eyes standing out against the sea of red, but they’re safe–alive. That’s all that matters.
Unfortunately, the rush of power recedes as quickly as it came about–exploding cats is hard work–and I can feel my strength fade. I blame years of being suppressed by the king’s tests, neverhaving the chance to push the limits or build a tolerance to the tasking nature of being in control. I don’t have the practice or vigor to remain so much longer, which means Calamity is about to learn she’s not the only one living in this body.
It has to happen eventually.
Soon, she’ll be on her own again and I’ll be dormant. It’s impossible for me to protect her at all times, not without practice, not without slowly building up the ability to hold the mental door open and seize control of our body. Every second leeches my energy. She needs someone who can protect her when I can’t. She needs the silver-eyed man, the one that smells absolutely delicious. I can practically taste the power radiating off him, and according to his life debt, he’s invested. Maybe even more so now that he knows I’m in the picture, and he’s seen the evidence of what I can do.
He and his friends might’ve been able to fend off the never cats eventually, but at what cost? Two are already injured. If we stand any hope of a life outside Solaria, I need him alive and on Calamity’s side… She needs him when I'm not around. The only problem is, he could very well be leading us to a slaughter in the outer realm. I need to know how much I can trust him once his debt is paid and we're no longer on the Solaria mainland.
The rebels hate the king and anyone associated with him. For all we know, he could be holding true to his word, to get us out of Solaria, only to offer us up to his people. We could be trading one gilded cage for another that’ll likely cost us our life.
Calamity has already picked up on Loric’s hostility with Asmo. She’s sensed there’s a chance of things getting worse if he goes back on his word, and she’s not wrong… However, she’s overlooking the obvious solution. We can give him a reason to keep us alive beyond the debt he owes.
The man might be stubborn and grumpy, but he’s notjusta man. Based on the way his eyes flash, the way they seem towatch me more intently than a mere man seeking to pay his dues would… There’s someone else in there. Someone who shares his body the same way Calamity and I share this one. And if I smell as good to him as he does to me… It should be easy to win his creature over.
