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Johnny was pushing people away that got too close to Marilyn, who was definitely still not well-rested enough to fight. I tried to keep the Guardians and wolves from grabbing at Neo while Reese and Aria put their training to use by redirecting blows. Some hits still inevitably got us due to it being an uncontrolled mess of claws of weapons around here.
I caught glimpses of Azazel’s black wings being out as he fought Grel, his sharp teeth bared, horns out, and skin withered up in a way that reminded me a lot of Blossom’s peeling skin. Grel, for his part, didn’t look too flustered under his helmet, despite the fact that he was going up against a fallen angel. His sword danced with light as it parried everything Azazel threw at him.
That display alone showed that Azazel was too used to having raw power because his fighting form was total shit. He fought less like a man and more like a wild animal, all slashing claws and clouds of darkness that Grel quickly dispelled.
Too easily, actually.
Sariel,Aria suddenly said to me in a panic.The wolves are losing fast.
Even though we were moving as quickly as we possibly could through the fight, a chunk of the wolves had already either been killed or incapacitated by the Guardians, yet not a single Guardian had buckled. That was the difference between trained, armed guards and a bunch of feral, crazed, violent dogs.
“Let’s move faster before our window shuts on us,” I hissed to the others, then pressed on harder.
The wolves had already been at a disadvantage, and the thinning of their numbers wasn’t helping us at all.
We focused on running away, stinking fur and metal scraping past us. Within moments, we were beneath the Tower’s archway, and its door was within reach.
I got to it first, extending a hand to grab the handle—
A white magic barrier rose up to block me, sealing the door shut.
Fuck. I didn’t have time to break this.
I looked over my shoulder and past our group to the square behind us. The fighting was already mostly over, the bodies of both dead and alive wolves everywhere. The last dregs of them were being made quick work of by the Guardians, who still hadn’t lost a single one.
Azazel and Grel were still locked into a stalemate. Azazel had managed to knock Grel’s helmet off and claw his face, while Grel had gotten a good stab into Azazel’s shoulder.
Guardians quickly warped in around us, swarming us too quickly for anyone to react. If we were better rested, I definitely would have fought back like last time, but days of little rest and running for hours had drained me of energy.
As armored gloves descended upon us, I threw myself around Aria to protect her, my angel raging against the gall of them trying to touch her.
Not a single one of us escaped. We were unceremoniously dragged back to the square, all worse for the wear.
I couldn’t help but curse the fallen-bloods for being so useless as a distraction. What the hell was the point of violent, bloodthirsty monsters if they couldn’t put up a good fight?
This really fucking sucks,I said to Aria.
Yeah,she said back.I think… we might be screwed here, Sariel. No one’s left to save us.
The weight of her words settled over me, my stomach sank. At this point, this feeling of helplessness was pretty familiar.
Grel’s here, but I really don’t know what he could do with all these Guardians around,she continued. Her misery was profound.Maybe fighting fate was useless. And now we’ve dragged all our friends into this, too.
I wanted to tell her not to say that, that we might still have a way out, but what out did we even have anymore?
The portal out of here had been so close. Now, wewereabsolutely screwed.
When we were brought up closer, Tyler was the last wolf standing, and even as the Alpha, he was easily subdued by about five Guardians. Azazel was still fighting Grel, but as soon as he looked over to see that all of his comrades had fallen, he made the exact move I thought he would.
He immediately spread out his wings, turned his tail, and ran.
“Azazel!” Tyler snarled after him, voice reaching the sky. “Azazel, you liar! You said you’d help me! You said we’d work together!”
All six of us were abruptly forced to our knees, kneeling amongst all the blood and carnage.
Grel watched Azazel fly away, as did I. Once he was a speck in the sky, Grel went over to where his helmet had been smacked aside, picked it up, and put it back on, ignoring the new, bleeding scratches on his face. Then, he walked over to Tyler, looking down on him in disgust.
“That’s what you get for making a deal with a literal devil,” he quipped. “This is out of your hands, now. You and the rest of your surviving pack are under Free Kingdom arrest for violating the peace treaty and trying to steal our prisoners.”
