|[ The Soul Reaper - 2 ]| [UNDERGOING EDITING]

Chapter 13 // Night Bird

"Sorry to burst your bubble," Claude interjected, "But I'm afraid that I won't make that jump." He frowned, "You two could, but the fall would kill me."

"I see no downside." Cedric hissed darkly. I cast him an angry look, before facing back to Claude.

"Can't you use magic to, I don't know, float down or something?" I asked desperately. The guards were getting closer, no longer running, as they realised we were cornered. Their swords glinted like teeth, their spears were claws, and their armoured figures made up the body of a glittering beast.

"I see you still have no idea how magic works." Claude cried, exasperated, "Go! Both of you, jump. I'll figure out my own way down."

"Claude, no, i..." I began. He pushed me away from him, a snarl on his face.

"I said go!" he snapped, turning back to face the approaching guards. Cedric grabbed my hand and we ran, diving out through the window. The air held me, dark feathers caressing me and I fell through the night, a bird on broken wings. Cedric fell beside me, his hair wavering in the wind. For a moment fear clutched my heart and I saw all colour, stained dark as they were – the brown-grey of the trees, under their cloaks of snow; the burning yellow flames dotting the landscape around us – the purple-blue sky that stretched out above us.

Cedric's hand slipped from mine and I was falling by myself, my hair streaming up above me like water, and I felt my heart flutter in my chest, wings frantically trying to beat and hold me up. I searched for Cedric, my eyes finding him a few feet to my left. For a brief moment I watched as he fell, his hair wafting about his face.

And then the snow rose up like a starving beast, and with a sharp whack, we both slammed into it, swallowed whole.

***

Claude faced the oncoming guards, his heart pushing against his lips, fighting to get out.

"You stand accused for acts against the Queen Imelda, Empress of the West, and for the murder of the Baron!" one guard snarled, his voice rumbling off the stone walls, "What do you say?" the Faeri stepped closer, moving with the rest of his men. Claude grinned a feral snarl.

"I'm guilty as hell." He hefted the knife tighter into his palm and charged the first guards, raising the pistol to face the closest man. With a band that shook the walls his armour was rent apart and gore spattered the men behind him; splashing their faces and necks, blinding them.

He didn't pause and wait for them to regain their composure, and dived through the crowd, his dagger dancing through the air as if it had a mind of its own. He felt the give of metal through flesh as he tore through the throat of a man, before he whirled and plunged it straight into another's chest, hearing the terrible grind of metal through metal. A woman fell, her dark hair mingling with blood as it sprayed from the wound in her neck. Pain ricocheted up his arm as something sliced through muscle and he glanced over his shoulder to see a Faeri leap backwards, his sword trailing blood.

Claude snarled, diving after him, twisting to the side as the sword skewered the air, and forced his knife into the man's eye-socket. Under his hands, the Faeri went limp, slipping to the ground in a puddle of flesh and clothes, as blood pooled beneath him. Blood slicked his hands, making his grip on his knife fumble, but still he didn't slow down. There was the sound of whistling metal and he quickly dodged as a blade whipped overhead, almost taking off his head.

Claude flipped the blade in his hand so it faced backwards and slashed through flesh. He spun, still keeping low, to see the Faeri clutch his stomach, hands pressed over bent armour, and watched as blood flowed from within. He stood and made a run for it, diving past the last line of guards who were still trying to form order. He clutched his arm, feeling the hot blood under his fingers, and felt relief wash through him as he made it past the last Faeri without incident.