Cataindar

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

Luisa was silent in the dark. The kitchens lacked their steam, and were dark, deserted. Her sword was drawn and at her side. She tried to calm her hammering heart. She prayed that the Ratain would not come down into the kitchens, that perhaps it would turn and go another way. A giant shadow approaching told her that her prayers had fallen on deaf ears. She tiptoed away in the gloom through the rows of shelves filled with clay pots, plates and pans. She tucked her glowing pendant under her top and crouched low peeking though a shelf. 

The Ratain’s frame filled the entrance and he sniffed the air, his red eyes glowing. Nine feet tall, his white coat of fur was patchy, and his snout and barrelled chest was covered in blood. In his claws held the huge dark sword, the tip of which was touching the floor. He spoke and his voice boomed, as he slowly entered the room. “So you are in here.  The human princess of the catains. Hah-hah-hah.” The laughter echoed through the kitchens.

The ratain began to slowly stalk through the room, turning his huge head from side to side, searching for Luisa.

Luisa closed her eyes, her heart shuddering as she gripped onto her sword with both hands.  

“How could I forget human scent, just like that former princess,” the ratain’s voice dropped to a deadly whisper, “it was me that killed her you know.”

Luisa could smell the stink of the ratain and the copper tang of the blood that covered him. She could hear his deep breaths. His giant figure began to work its way slowly towards her.

“They thought I was dead. They locked me away for a very, very long time.  So, you do understand, how very special it will be for me to cut off your head too? Rraah!”

With that he swung his great sword, smashing through several shelves. Pots and plates erupted into a shower of clay shards over the kitchens.

Luisa crept away from the ratain, her heart in her mouth,

I need to escape! 

She moved away undetected, until her foot came down on a piece of clay with a crack which might have well been a thunderclap.

The ratain threw himself at the noise driving his sword through several shelves with a grunt. Luisa tucked herself down, masked by the racket, her whole body pounding with adrenaline. She tried to sneak out the kitchens behind the ratain. But the ratain swung around, and before she knew it his red eyes were upon her,“There you are!”

His torso torqued, and Luisa saw the swing of the huge sword, she ducked down and felt the blade glide past her head destroying the shelves behind.

In that instance, Luisa knew there was no escape. Time stopped. Shards of pottery fell in slow motion around her like flakes of snow. She gripped her sword tightly.

I will not be disgraced. I have come too far, from getting abused at school, abused in Cataindar. I will honour everything Finn had taught me.

I will honour my family. 

Her eyes narrowed and the room brightened, she felt her heart slow, and a burning power worked through her arms. Her breathing became steady and her mind settled. She angled her chin up. As the ratain finished his swing, their eyes locked. In the ratain’s face she saw a flicker of surprise. Yes. She had the creature that had killed her aunt in her sights. There was no escape.

It was time to fight.

She threw her weight behind her sword, and drove the blade straight ahead into the ratain’s leg.

He let out a deafening scream and with a whip of his tail caught Luisa, tossing her up into the air.  Mid-air he swiped at Luisa again, she twisted to parry it, and the strike caught her sword fully, sending her careening across the room. She spun through the toss, crashing through a set of shelves. She righted herself, and pulled herself to her feet.