Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 4

18:24
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She unfurled her enormous bat wings, lifting herself up into the boy's dreamscape sky. She searched for the intruder that she had lost track of when her host woke up. Smirking, her fangs flashed in the boy's waking light, thirsting for blood.
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Riv charged through the forest, roots tripping her, branches scraping her face. She was sprinting so fast she didn't even really notice. She had managed to shrink Bad down twice more, but Bad still towered over her. Riv knew Bad was searching for her, perusing her, hunting her. Not the greatest feeling.

It had been bad enough when she fought Lycoris in her head, but face to face.... Wow, the reaper was intimidating. Good had only shown up once and was small even to Riv. Riv felt like Good was hiding until she was strong enough to come out.

Pain flared in her left shoulder as the flaming arrow hit its target. To make matters worse, Cade had started a long period of walking again, so the ground simply refused to cooperate. She stumbled forward but managed to remain on her feet, whipping around with her ice sword already formed.

"You know, Bad, I'm getting really sick of you."

Bad smiled eerily. "I know the feeling, sweetie." Bad lunged forward, this time carrying two daggers instead of one sword. The two dueled. Strike, parry, stab, block.

Riv blocked out all her pain and weariness, but it still wasn't quite enough. Bad stabbed her shoulder and sent her sprawling back. She lay on the ground, staring up at the dreamscape sky. She dimly saw Bad lean over her, but she wasn't fast enough. Bad grabbed her neck and lifted her up. Her vision grew fuzzy, but she saw something behind Bad's head. It was Good, frantically trying to tell her something. She wrenched herself away from Bad and fell to the ground, panting, but she understood the message: one more strike and the two would be equal again. They wouldn't be able to recombine yet, but they would be equal enough to fight each other.

Gathering her last bit of energy, Riv stood up. Bad looked at her with mock sympathy. "Oh, how cute. You want to die in battle, on your feet, not cowering on the ground. That's so sweet." Bad thrust her sword forward, but Riv grabbed it. Riv concentrated the last of her energy and sent it through the sword to Bad, unwinding her from the inside. Bad shrieked, and Riv's whole body screamed with effort.

Riv managed to get the sword from Bad, turned the blade to hold the handle in her cut and bloody hands, and slashed one more time. Good and Bad both started glowing, Good growing, Bad shrinking until they were equal in size.

Bad writhed in pain. She looked at Riv with such hatred and ran the other way, but not before giving Riv a farewell gift. Riv screamed. This spell, the unwinding spell, hurt so much worse than anything else she had ever experience. Riv's vision tunneled and she grit her teeth, shaking with effort.

Good ran to her, cradling her, but she couldn't even move. The pain was too much. She started crying, even though she hadn't cried in years. She was sobbing now.

Good looked frantically and called to the sky. "Cade, I know you can hear me. Cade, you have to save Riv! Only you can save her! Cade! You have to save her now! Hurry!"

But Riv was no longer conscious, and Good wondered if, at this point, she was beyond saving.

Riv writhed in pain. Good knew the blood spilling from Riv's wounds was only making the unwinding spell work faster. Thrashing back and forth on the ground, Riv screamed, and Good knew she couldn't take much more. She had to get through to Cade.

She tried again. "Cade! You are strong enough to break Bad's hold! You have to break free! She's deceiving you; she's not as powerful anymore!" Good looked at the girl in front of her, her face turning red with the blood, her raven hair soaked with it. She didn't have much time. "Riv needs you!"