The Wielder and the Source

Chapter 3

Ancestors forgive me. Kitaya took her dagger to her palm and sliced it open. She clenched her fist, allowing the blood to pool inside. It seeped through her fingers and rolled down her arm. Good, she'd need a lot of it.

Aldeheid was crouched on a tree branch below her. His still form was merely a shadow against the moonlit clearing below. A score masked of figures flitted about in its argent glow, lighting fires and drawing symbols on the trees. The cool night air reeked of burning wood, and smoke billowed high over the mountain's summit.

Kitaya observed them for a moment. They worked in perfect harmony, like a hive of honeybees. She didn't know who they were or what they wanted, but they'd been popping up all over earth around the thin spaces that led to her world. To Magika. And now they had the audacity to show up on her island – in the middle of the night no less – like a band of thieves.

Luckily, she had wards placed wards over the thin space to tell her when anything was amiss, or whatever they were trying to do would've gone unchallenged. But they would pay dearly for wandering into her territory.

It was time to smoke them out, like the pests they were. Kitaya held her bloody fist up and recited words of Magika that were older than her. Drops of golden light seeped from the swirling mark on the back of her hand, following the rivers of blood on her arm. Magic bloomed around her, its power riding the gentle cadence of her words.

Activity in the clearing came to a halt, but by the time the masked figures turned their heads her way, it was too late. A howling gale ripped through the clearing with the fury of a tidal wave. It tore through the grass and uprooted trees, sending bodies and debris flying high into the air.

Kitaya slumped against the tree as a high-pitched buzzing filled her head and her gut twisted. Through doubled vision, she saw a few stragglers rising to their feet, but it seemed her spell had wiped out most of them. "Aldeheid go," she said through gritted teeth.

But he didn't budge.

"Aldeheid!" She caught the glint of a chain as it snaked towards them. "Damn." She dropped down and tackled him out of the way, but the chained caught her leg and she was yanked through the air, arms and legs flailing.

Kitaya didn't know which way was up. It felt as though her leg was going to be ripped from her body as she was flung back and forth. Gravity gripped her by the gut and dragged her to the ground. Pain bloomed in her shoulder and the air was ripped from her lungs. 

And still no sign of Aldeheid.

He's dead. If these freaks hadn't killed him already, she was going to.

Through blurred she watched Aldeheid slam into the one that held her hostage, taking them down to the ground with him. About time.

"Apologies, kitten." He helped her to her feet and put his back to hers.

The pain in her shoulder redoubled and putting too much weight on her right leg was a bad idea. Four masked people circled them like a pack of wild dogs, their chains whirring as they swung them.

"I need one alive."

"As you wish." Aldeheid threw himself into the fray, the blade of his longsword catching the moonlight and throwing it in elegant arcs.

Kitaya focused on the two closing in on her, breathing though the throbbing pain in her shoulder and leg. She wouldn't last long going two-on-one. Ending it quickly was her best bet.

She dodged one chains, a backdraft ticking her face as it whizzed past. She closed in, quick and sure as a snake and struck. Her dagger sank in to the neck of the masked person. They went down together, with Kitaya landing on top. But she rolled off immediately, just in time to avoid a deadly strike from another chain.