Vengeance Upturned

Vengeance Upturned - Chapter 1

Dedicated to Alexandre SalleS for letting me use his art for the cover. Check out his work on deviantart  axlsalles.deviantart.com or by clicking the external link.

VENGEANCE UPTURNED

CHAPTER 1

“Run Etta! Take the tachi and flee… I’m right behind you,” Henry yelled and threw the tachi, an exotic sword their father brought from his homeland, towards his twin sister.

Henrietta snatched it from the air like a hawk seizing a sparrow mid-flight. She swiveled on the balls of her feet with practiced ease and dashed towards the trees.

Sounds of battle seemed to rush up behind her. Henrietta slowed so she could glance over her shoulder and spotted Henry fighting off three bandits .The smoke of their home burning drifted up against the twilight sky, the dark clouds of fire an omen of a bleak and ruined future.

Henry’s fighting always mesmerized her, his motions lithe and graceful; so much like their father’s used to be.

Before she faced forward again to mind her footing, Henrietta saw her twin pivot, and in one fluid move slash open the throat of one of the bandits. She pondered turning back to help him, but new commotion drew her attention and she noticed more bandits come forth, two of them running toward her.

Henrietta pushed harder, straining the muscles in her legs until they burned from abuse. She sent silent gratitude to her father for all the drills he had put them through, and they kept on doing after he had passed away. Thus, her breathing followed the rhythm of her running steps but her heart hammered wildly from the fear for her own and her brother’s life. She rushed past the tree line, spooking a rabbit as she burst through the undergrowth and into the forest. The air felt like a rushing breeze on her face.

Looking back, Henrietta noticed the men faltering. The distance between her and her pursuers grew as they barely kept up with her fast pace. A scowl scrunched her forehead. She didn’t want them to give up chase, to go back and help the others take down her twin.

Henrietta slowed her run to give them hope. Stalling her progress, she could glance back at them repeatedly. She made sure to stay in their sights, taunting them to catch up. They tired sooner than she did. Henrietta could see the thin man fall behind as the stocky one pushed forward harder, determination shining in his eyes. Without wanting to, the two split a bit, putting a short distance between each other, just the way she had hoped.

She dashed between trees and leaped over stumps of dead ones, her steps light and fast against the forest floor, her grip on the tachi tight. As she swerved around the trees, changing her course often, Henrietta plotted her next move – she needed the perfect opportunity. The solution formed in her mind. She made a sudden turn behind a large tree trunk, making her chasers lose sight of her for a split moment, just enough so she could hide behind the second one.

With breathless expectation, and her pulse thundering in her ears, Henrietta lurked. Anticipation thrummed through her veins like molten lava rushing to burst forth, and it felt as if the tips of her fingers crackled with electricity. The blunt edge of the black blade touching her forehead kept her grounded. Henrietta closed her eyes, forced her muscles to uncoil and concentrated solely on the sound of approaching footsteps. She exhaled when the thumps of running feet neared her and readied her sword to strike. Her timing had to be perfect if she wanted to take him down fast.

The bandit almost rushed past the tree behind which Henrietta hid. She stepped out of the shadows with the tachi aimed for his throat. The man didn’t have a chance to react, the momentum of his run made him meet his end swiftly. His blood sprayed across her face, but Henrietta didn’t even flinch. She savored the look of disbelief in his eyes before he was drained of life.

No one ever expected her to be such a belligerent and superior fighter; especially because most men underestimated women. She had learned to use it to her advantage.

When the man’s body crumbled and his blood sopped into the forest ground, Henrietta hid once more behind the same tree.

The other bandit was quick to catch up, his eyes focused in front of him, above the ground, trying to spot either her or his accomplice. Henrietta heard him grunt as he tripped and stumbled over his friend’s dead body. She left her concealment on a quiet step and watched him hit the ground with a thud. When he jumped back up to his feet, he only saw a flash of Henrietta’s face as she pierced his heart, killing him instantly.

With a flick of her wrist, she shook the blood off the tachi and turned to run again. But it didn’t feel right, leaving Henry behind, her twin, the only family she had left. As quickly as she changed her mind she changed her course, running back.

When she was halfway there, sharp pain shot through her heart. She stumbled and fell to her knees.

“Henry!” she screamed, for Henrietta knew something had happened to her twin.

                                                                           ***

Henrietta woke with a gasp. A cry of despair lodged in her throat. She put a hand to her chest and felt her heart hammering under her palm. A breath whispered past her lips in a pained exhale. These nightmares happened often. Even though it had all transpired over four years ago, she still remembered every detail like it had happened yesterday.

When she had finally made it back to the farm, her brother was already dead and the bandits had gathered their plunder and horses, ready to leave. Henrietta could do nothing but wait in hiding for their departure. She had kept her eyes on the lump that was Henry, lying unmoving on the ground. The bandits had walked over him, kicked him, laughed, and prodded with their weapons. With each passing moment, with each abuse of her brother’s body, Henrietta’s soul grew colder, her heart numbing. As much as she wanted to charge at them, she knew she would only be charging to her own death. She let her anger and hate gather and simmer. She would have her vengeance, to that she vowed.

Even to this day she still didn’t know why they did it. Was it something they were looking for?

Heartbreaking sobs had racked her body as she clutched to her brother’s corpse all through the night until the sun came up the next day. She had buried his body, next to their parent’s graves, with her own tachi to help him fight off the soul-stealing demons. Afterward, Henrietta had looked down at the other weapon in her grip and the weight of its importance settled deep in her being. It was the family’s heirloom weapon, the black bladed tachi which had been handed down to Henry, for he had admittedly been a better and more graceful fighter than her. Since he died, Henrietta inherited the sword, the honor of wielding it overwhelming at first. But she would do right by it, she would live up to its expectations and one day, she would give it to one of her own children.

With only the tachi, her longbow, a handful of arrows and other meaningless belongings, Henrietta had set out to revenge her brother’s death.

 It had been four long and lonely years…