A Flawed Alliance

Chapter 30- Malanthe's Woe

I tried to move, but something was preventing me from standing up. I choked on lingering smoke and opened my eyes. Blood was all over me, drenching my shirt.

I moved again. I heard something crack and I arched my back, clenching my teeth to ease the pain. Something pushed against my spine and on my stomach. I laid supine, forcing myself to breathe regularly. Pain was temporary, I knew, but my body, which had never known the idea of persistence, ignored the gnaws of my mentality. I did not blame it. No body would ever listen to such a weak attitude.

"Iridian?" A voice rang out. Logan's.

I kept breathing and focused on the red sky above me. The pressure eased from my stomach and I realized that a boulder had pushed against both sides of me.

I pushed myself up from the boulder under me and saw Logan crouching down in front of me. His hands rested on a huge chunk of obsidian that looked like it came from the fountain. Blood still ran across in streaks on his right arm. Salt and dirt mixed around his eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, hitching a cough.

Veronica was standing near, towering over me. Ace was a little behind her, his broad hands on his hips. The animals were crowding around us.

The bursting of the fountain left incinerated marks all over the area around it. Small pits clustered around certain areas where the poisoned water hit the most. Some of the water actually struck some of the buildings, already eroding it and eating its way through the concrete.

"A piece of the fountain flew and hit your back when the bomb exploded," Veronica explained. She scrunched her eyes at me when I tried to move my hand. "Ace used his staff to lighten the impact."

"What was the plan anyway creating a bomb like that?" Logan asked me.

"Is Malanthe dead?" I looked around me but I didn't see her yet. My hopes rose. Maybe she had died. Maybe my plan had worked-

"No," Logan said, sighing. "She's still alive but unconscious. Her scales saved her a lot."

"Oh."

"You thought the bomb was going to kill her?" Veronica said, hauling her bow behind her.

"I..." Now I thought the plan sounded stupid. Her scales, her symbol, protected her so why did I think a bomb was going to work? Desperation had blinded me.

"Iridian?" Logan asked.

I jumped back in reality. I turned to face him.

Logan tried again, "Malanthe can't die by physical contact-"

"I know."

My hand was planted firmly on the ground and Nix had picked up a stick and lazily traced my hand with the stick out of boredom. I tried to swat the stick away but Nix seemed to be engaged in his activity that I let him play around.

Blood still ran around the perimeter of my fingers and when I took it out from the dirt, there was a bloody imprint.

I sighed and scooted forward, feeling desperation fill me. A bright light filled the corner of my eyes and I looked down the my imprint that I placed on the ground. My neck was reluctant to move but I strained it to look. The blood was beginning to dry but since I moved away from it, some of the blood trailed, making the handprint smear across the dirt. But it was still glowing a faint reddish orange color.

With my palm up, symbol down, I lightly placed my hand on the handprint that Nix drew out for me. I wiggled my fingers further in to feel the warmth of the soot beneath my hand.