The Raven's Source

Chapter 26 - The Missing

"Hey! Whoa!" Twyn said, grabbing Shej's hand and looking it over. "You're going to hurt yourself if you let yourself get angry like that."

"Sorry," Shej said. She sighed heavily before a sharp pain seared down the full length of her back and she let out a loud cry.

Twyn turned and saw the woman standing directly behind them, a blade in her hand lightly coated in red and her eyes glowing a practically unnatural blue. As Shej leaned against the wall with one hand touching her lower back, Twyn jumped at the woman, grabbing her wrist with one hand to try wrangle the blade away from her, swinging the umbrella at her with his other.

She let out a growl and spun herself into Twyn as if they were dancing, but the force knocked a little bit of wind out of him and set him off balance. He had let go of her wrist and she pushed him back, sending a kick into his stomach just as he reached the right distance away from her.

Twyn toppled backwards, his head hitting the pavement hard as he landed.

"Twyn!" Shej yelled, seeing her best friend motionless on the ground as he was temporarily knocked out. Her heart raced as her nightmares of Twyn lying dead on the ground tried to blind her but she shook her head, shaking away the images before she bolted at the woman. Just as she was about to tackle the woman, the woman flung around with one arm raised above her head.

"You die!" the woman yelled, her eyes wide and full of danger.

Silver shined in a flash as the woman slashed quickly down toward Shej, Shej letting out another agonized yell as the blade sliced her arm. She panted as the searing pain ran across her wrist and down the full length of her forearm, but she knew it was that or get stabbed in the chest if she hadn't thrown her arms up in defense. "What the fuck is your problem with me!?" Shej yelled, the rain starting to fall heavily as the sky opened up the floodgates.

"What the fuck is your problem with me!?" Shej yelled, the rain starting to fall heavily as the sky opened up the floodgates.

The woman didn't answer but instead lunged at Sheja again. Shej grabbed her and side stepped, using all of her weight to throw the woman down on the ground and straddle her. She watched as the blade flung several feet away towards Twyn.

"Twyn! Help!" Shej called seeing him starting to slowly sit himself up.

The woman threw a punch straight up and connected with Shej's jaw, instantly making her see stars. She pushed Shej over, trying to turn the pin on Shej but Shej threw her legs up, grabbing the woman around her face with her ankles and slamming her backwards.

There was a sudden loud ringing in Sheja's ears and she could hear her heart pounding. She laid on the ground with her eyes wide, trying to come to her senses as the dizziness set in. The woman slowly started wriggling again but as Shej's sight started to tunnel, she realized she couldn't move anymore. She panicked, not understanding what was wrong with her, not realizing she was quickly losing consciousness from her wrist bleeding profusely.

As the woman got to her feet, she swung one foot into Shej's side. Shej curled into the pain naturally, coughing and gasping from the impact.

"Now you die," the woman said, rolling Shej onto her back again and kneeling one knee down on Sheja's chest. She cut Shej's cry of pain short as she wrapped both hands around her neck and began to squeeze tightly.

Suddenly the woman's grasp released and she yelled out in pain almost like a banshee, Twyn having gotten to his feet and stabbed the woman in the shoulder with her own dagger.

At all the commotion that had only lasted a few moments, three guards finally came running around the corner. One grabbed Twyn and pulled him away while the other two quickly grabbed the woman as she tried to turn on Twyn again.