The Blood of Queens

Chapter 59

As chaos descended over the Dans, Sophia inched her way toward a discarded rifle, keeping as low to the ground as she could. She pointed its muzzle toward the linker holding her cuffs together. A few pieces of shrapnel embedded themselves in Sophia's skin as the bullet from the rifle disintegrated the device. She clenched her teeth to suppress the scream of pain that would otherwise have escaped her mouth. Now was not the time. She forced her left hand onto her right wrist then redirected all the heat in the cuff until it froze and shattered. Freeing her ankles proved easier with an uninjured right hand.

Sophia focused as much energy from within her body on her left arm to accelerate its healing. The metal shrapnel was pushed out by the sudden influx of energy, along with faint lines of steam as the flesh around the injury heated up. A mild shiver ran down her spine. Once she'd stemmed the gushing blood loss, Sophia pulled the energy back into her core to warm herself back up. Her left arm stung, but it would have to wait.

Alex and Hakana, startled and bewildered by the hordes of Spirits flying above them, had both clutched onto the closest firearms available to them. The boy, unfortunately, was hopelessly inept with his rifle, but Sophia had to admire him for at least putting up a fight. Hakana, on the other hand, handled her pistol as if it were a fifth limb. Every time she pulled the trigger, the bullet would hit one of the Spirits. Of course, once she realized the rounds did absolutely nothing to the translucent creatures, her aim and overall demeanor deteriorated into a similarly shaky, uncoordinated panic. Fortunately for them, the Spirits were too busy chasing down screaming, thrashing Dannic soldiers to pay the teenagers much attention.

"That's enough," she whispered once she was close enough to the two teens. She froze and disintegrated their wrist and ankle cuffs. "This is our chance, we're getting out of here." Sophia spent a few moments collecting as many guns, along with the appropriate ammunition, as she could comfortably carry. Once she felt comfortably armed, she held a hand out and probed for where the Dans had hid her and her friends' runesteel swords. The blades soon rushed out from a black box near a pair of Dannic corpses. Sophia molded them into armguards. She wished she could have summoned them earlier.

Throughout all the screaming, gunshots, and wails of the attacking Spirits, Charlotte's charred body remained motionless. For a moment, Sophia wondered if she was dead as well until she noticed the faint rise and fall of her chest. Though no heat sensitive cuffs had been fastened to her limbs, her body had been tied up like a whole roast pig. Sophia sharpened her nails into diamond hard claws and slashed the ropes off her friend. She hoisted Charlotte up over her shoulders and ran as hard as she could away from the carnage, occasionally looking up over her shoulder to see that Alex and Hakana were keeping up.

After what must have been at least three kilometers, Sophia's lungs began to burn so much that she stumbled to a stop. She fell to her knees and rolled Charlotte off her back before leaning against a tree. Alex and Hakana caught up to her a few minutes later, panting as if they'd survived a near drowning.

"You okay kids?" she rasped.

The two nodded in unison, too out of breath to reply verbally.

"Good." Sophia crawled over to Charlotte. Running a hand through the pockets of her combat tunic, she breathed out a sigh of relief when she found the tin box she was looking for. "Remember this kid?" She pulled a red pill out of the box. Hakana tilted her head in confusion, but Alex's eyes went wide. He looked down toward Charlotte with a worried expression.

"Your mom's gonna get us all killed if we have to carry her sorry ass like this all day," Sophia explained. She let a sly grin flicker on her face. "Besides... she needs to learn payback's a bitch."

Sophia slipped the pill in between Charlotte's lips and tilted her head back and forth to jostle it down her throat. Her burnt red and grey skin began sizzling once more and soon steam enveloped her whole body.