The Fickle Winds of Autumn

79. A Deadly Ending?

No - Aldwyn was wrong!

She could never be such a creature!

The chaos of the battle blasted and shook all around, echoing across the vast crater, but the witch remained eerily calm and still, apparently lost in its own concentration; its blanked eyes stared deep into her, as if searching and uncertain for a brief moment.

The blood pounded through Kira's ears; the harrowing, tangled images of her classmates stabbed through her tortured mind - their agony, the twisting screams of their deaths - the cold evil that had extinguished their lives, their hopes, now glowered over her.

She was certain to be killed in the same cruel, insidious way.

The creature's eyes cleared and glowed a deep, menacing yellow; it reached out a slow, spindly hand towards Kira's face; the living markings within its arms shifted and circulated, radiant against the dark chaos of the night.

Kira gasped and tried to catch her sharp, frightened breath; she jerked her head back, desperate to avoid the poisonous touch of the evil predator - determined to clutch at a few more seconds of precious life.

The lank hand stretched further, closer, and snaked towards her eyes. An urgent thudding horror pounded through Kira's helpless body; she twisted and contorted her neck, but the burning fingers slithered closer; a dank smell of decaying forests and venomous toadstools overtook her; she could not move, she could not get away; the fingers crawled across her vulnerable face; a bleak terror convulsed through her.

The distant noise of the battle fell away, meaningless.

The slow breath thumped through her hollow chest.

She waited for the Surrounder to welcome her - she was ready.

Let this unnatural monster kill her - her hopes for a future were gone anyway - she would finally be with Ellis.

Let it just be over with.

Let it not be such tormented agony.

The languid fingers calmly stretched past her eyes and wormed into the stout chains around her head. The links snapped and rattled down to the platform; the oppressive, constricting weight around her temples disappeared. The witch's eyes glowed with a deeper, more vibrant yellow; her sinewy arms extended and touched the cruel metal bindings around Kira's arms and legs; the coiled chains cracked open and cascaded away.

Kira's thoughts tumbled and shocked; the restricted blood tried to alleviate the numbing cramp in her legs; the firm, wiry arms of the witch wove around her and lifted her up, clear of the bench.

Kira struggled, but floated upward, away from the platform - away from the chaos and din of the attack - away from Ellis.

Ellis!

She wrestled against the vine-like grip of the witch.

She must get free.

She must help Ellis

The fibrous arms grasped her tighter and refused to let go; the malicious witch floated higher and dragged Kira up - clear of the platform; her vulnerable legs dangled above the furious heads of the Reevers.

The cruel blood trickled from Ellis's wound down below her.

Perhaps there was still time?

Perhaps there was still something she could do?

Something to save him - to staunch the flow of his blood - to stop his precious life from ebbing away.

If she could just get to him.