Love Among the Gifted - A Pride & Prejudice Alternative

Chapter Sixteen

Darcy flew as quickly as he could towards the Red Lion. It was already after one o'clock which meant the attack might well already be underway. Darcy could tell from the evidence at the farm there were several well-trained attackers on the way to strike at the meeting, a convocation where there might be only two or three defenders that had ever seen any sort of combat. He was particularly worried about Bingley. While he had a potent gift, he had never been forced to use it in a life or death context.

He glanced to his left where Miss Elizabeth, with her sleek black wings, was doing her best to keep up with him. He might wish that she was doing less well than she was. He would rather he be in a position to ensure the situation was under control when she arrived; particularly as there was the possibility that her father might be injured, or worse. Darcy would protect her from that eventuality, if he could. He saw smoke rising in the distance and could hear the rolling cracks of multiple guns firing, but his view of the innyard was blocked by the building itself.

A mighty crash sounded. Darcy passed the inn and came into sight of the ongoing battle. A six-armed assailant was in the midst of the militia men, methodically firing and discarding a seemingly endless complement of pistols. A young woman was brandishing jets of flame that ignited everything they touched. And Sir William was engaging a small man in teamster's attire. It was their resounding blows that were creating such a tumult.

"I have the shooter. You stop the firebrand," Miss Elizabeth ordered as she banked towards the fray in the yard. Darcy almost called after her, but realized the flaming woman really was the greatest threat to the populous. He reached out and created a ball of gravity as powerful as he could and sent it to hover above the woman. Her flame jets began to curve upwards to be swallowed by the gravity well.

"Nooo..." She screamed. "You cannot stop me. I won't let you." She turned her flames on Darcy as he flew above her. He wanted her to concentrate her attacks in the air rather than towards the town. Her blasts were devoured by his all-consuming sphere.

While they stayed locked in this stalemate, Darcy saw from the corner of his eye Miss Elizabeth fold her wings and drop from the sky like a hunting raptor. She landed on the six-armed man, bearing him to the ground. The man lashed at her with blades and gun butts. She parried with suddenly sprouted claws.

Each time they clashed, the weapon with which he would attack flew from the hand holding it. She was slicing his wrists with each strike. After only a moment she was able to lay a hand on his head and he immediately collapsed. She barely managed to avoid the attacks of the militiamen before they realized their part of the battle was over.

Darcy was startled back to his own battle when the woman produced a pistol of her own and fired at him. The shot suffered the same fate as her flames, absorbed by his gravity construct. When she realized the futility of her continued attacks on him, she turned to flee, igniting the thatch roof of a dwelling near the edge of the town either in an attempt to distract him or just lost in her pyromania. Regardless, he had to put an end to her destruction.

He sent a pulse that slammed her into the ground and increased the gravity beneath her. She responded to her immobilization by unleashing her flames in all directions, triggering a conflagration that threatened to engulf the town. Darcy cursed to himself as he reversed the pull of gravity on her, sending her falling upwards at an ever-increasing velocity. He watched miserably as she left a flaming trail across the sky, like a daylight meteor. By the time she left the range of his control, he knew she was far too high to survive the eventual plummet to earth. He always regretted taking a life, but found killing women particularly distressing.