Just the first two were a winning strategy to take me down, so who is this third person? What torture could she inflict on me?
I know how to take a hit. Their long-distance strategies all involve mimicry, so it’s only a matter of waiting them out beforeI attack. Their samay should run out soon. All I need to do is take it.
I prepare myself for the barrage to come as I make myself vulnerable, but nothing happens. The first two figures stand guard at the third’s side. The woman licks her lips, and I get into a proper defensive stance.
She’s going to charge at me. No. She’s going to fake me out while the other two up their strategy. I shake my head.No. Without knowing her domain, I have no way to predict what she could do. I have no way to prepare other than steady my wide-set feet and brace for impact.
It doesn’t matter. I could have never predicted what she did.
Out of the woman’s lips came a sonic blast, something I’ve only heard of being used once. As the screech assaults my ears, as blood trickles down the side of my face, as all I feel ispain pain pain, I think about the army’s documentation of the attack.
Ave mimicry or Feline mimicry UNCONFIRMED.
Specialist rogue UNCONFIRMED.
Targeted or wide UNCONFIRMED.
I scream. I curse. I fall to my knees with my hands over my ears as if I could protect myself from the manipulated air. The crown digs into my forehead as I sway.
Targeted or wide? The army itself wasn’t sure if the attack could be focused on one person or, once used, affect everyone in the proximity.
My vision blacks in and out. I mouth Suyai’s name. Yanami’s. I can’t hear my own voice. Mixed with the shimmering veil, the dots that litter my vision look like a mosaic. I focus on Suyai, still sitting up where I saw her last, but mouthing something.
Shouting my name.
I crawl to Suyai’s side.
“I’m here,” I shout or whisper or simply mouth. I don’t know. I can’t hear anything above the ringing in my ears. My head stillspins, my vision not fully recovered. But Suyai called for me, and I am done putting her last. Every time she calls, I’ll come. I know that now.
I sit behind her. Suyai collapses back into my chest. She’s dead weight, butno,I can’t think that. She’s very well alive and breathing. Suyai is going to be okay. Someone just needs to heal her. Anyone.
“Anyone. Please,” I beg, still not sure if I’m making a sound. My lips hurt as they stretch around the vowels. An attack burst my lip open. The cowards used mimicry effectively to keep me at a distance, but if Suyai hadn’t called…
I’ll kill them for what they did to her. I’ll kill the disgusting cowards attacking me from afar.
I just need to get my head to stop spinning.
Yanami kneels beside me. She struggles to reposition Mare. His dead weight should be nothing to her, but she’s so worn out that even moving him from Suyai’s lap to the ground makes her arms shake.
My hearing slowly returns, adding to my suspicion. Why haven’t we all been hit with a sonic wave yet? Why have the attacks stopped?
I look up from cataloguing Suyai’s wounds,swollen shut eye, cut lip, broken cheekbone, and see the Aya Runa standing still, watching us. Even the fastest one just stares.
“There’s no healer here,” the one who never attacked says. I flinch at the rawness of her voice. It makes my throat itch for water.
“Then send for one,” I hiss. Why isn’t anyone doing anything? No one moves. No one orders the guards. These cowards may have hurt Suyai, but I see the care and pain in their eyes. They look at her like something precious.
I grit my teeth. I need to get Suyai away from all of this.
My hearing stabilizes, and I pick up Yanami’s soft voice. Not just Yanami’s. Suyai’s as well.
Suyai’s talking and I’m not listening, like always. Except I promise I’ll change this time once she’s better.
“You have to, princess,” Suyai whispers. Her soft voice isn’t because of my hearing. No. It’s because Suyai isn’t intending for me to hear at all. “She’s getting hurt out there, and we’re out of time. We can’t get Mare out of this.”
Yanami shakes her head in fervent disagreement, and I almost snap at her. Whatever Suyai wants, she’ll get. We can’t stress her out in this condition. I’m building up the words in my throat when I feel liquid on my skin. Yanami’s tears. She’s shaking so violently, whipping her head around like a madman, that her tears hit my face.
“She’ll never forgive me!” the princess screams, and I’m lost. I’m so lost. I wish they would just tell me what the problem is so I can fix it for them. I’d do anything for them. They have to know that. I hold Suyai tighter. I’m bruising her. But I’m scared the moment I relax, she’ll slip away.
