A Haunting Melody: The Golden Lyre

26 | Where Raging Flames Cannot Enter

An intense, searing pain entered Astrid's stomach as she held Rose's lifeless body in her arms. Her tears rushed out freely and she shivered as her cries wracked through her entire body.

She let a loud wail escape her. She had underestimated how much Peisinoe could do to hurt her. Her sorrow had always been the worst form of torture for her.

Her ears pricked as she heard footsteps approaching. She sat up in a panic and looked around for the dagger. It was still embedded in Rose's chest.

She sniffled as she gently pulled it out and slid it into her weapons belt, leaving a quick, soft kiss on Rose's forehead. Just as she had struggled to her feet, six Sirens arrived at the door, licking their lips when they saw their prize.

"Such a shame. Peisinoe had great plans for you. Who would have guessed you'd be so heartless?" one of the Sirens smirked, eyeing Rose's body at Astrid's feet.

Astrid took a deep breath as she stepped over the body and pulled out a short sword from her belt.

She never usually needed to use a proper sword. Her throwing knives were always enough before. But she couldn't afford to take any more chances.

"Well come on, then! I'll show you how heartless I am!" Astrid screamed, her eyes burning with rage.

The Sirens smiled and charged toward her. In an instant, Astrid was yelling at the top of her lungs as she swung her sword with ruthless precision and decapitated the first Siren to reach her.

Without missing a beat, she stabbed her sword straight through the Siren she had spoken to and cut upward.

The Siren shrieked and shook violently in pain as she dragged her sword through her torso and ripped it out of her.

As the next Siren approached, a little more cautiously than the previous two, one tried to circle behind her. Astrid waited until she could sense the one behind her jump and quickly dropped onto her haunches, letting the Siren land directly on the one that was in front of her.

Before either of them had the chance to get up, Astrid struck the tip of the sword down into the one Siren's heads, ripping it out and stabbing into the other one.

As she struck her sword into the second one, the last two made a desperate attempt to grab her arms and ripped her sword out of her hand.

At this, Astrid flew into an uncontrollable rage and began thrashing in their arms, their nails scraping into her arms, trying desperately to keep their grip. She quickly dropped to the ground, the Siren's bending over, trying to keep their hold on her.

She threw her leg upwards and kicked one of them directly on the side of the head, knocking her unconscious almost instantly. As she dropped to the ground beside Astrid, she released her grip on her arm.

Shaking herself free, Astrid yanks hard on the other Siren's arm and used her body weight to pull her arm down. She heard a distinct pop as the Siren's shoulder dislocated from its socket.

She yelled out in pain and released Astrid's wrist, gripping her arm close to her chest. Astrid quickly grabbed her sword off the ground and sliced it into the Siren's exposed stomach.

The Siren looked at Astrid in horror, before looking down at her stomach to see her organs slowly falling out of the gaping hole Astrid had left behind.

She fell to the ground with a sickening thud, choking on her own blood as she took her last breaths. Astrid looked over at the unconscious Siren and walked over to her limp body.

Lifting her heavy boot, she brought it down onto the Siren's head again and again until she heard the crack of her skull.

She breathed heavily as she looked around at her handiwork. There was blood everywhere, especially on her. Bodies lay strewn all over the floor, but she couldn't help but notice Rose's pale figure, laying exactly where she had been left.

A few more tears streamed down Astrid's face, but she quickly wiped them away and walked over to the glass case. Using the hilt of her sword, she smashed the glass.

She wiped her bloody hands on her jeans and gently lifted the golden lyre off of its stand. It hummed with an alluring energy. She could tell that it would be dangerous to keep it close to her for too long.

Holding it carefully in her right hand, with her sword in the left, she proceeded back to the staircase she had used to get down.

She knew she would have to hide it somewhere until she could get it safely to Adras. By the sounds of it, the battle was still raging on above her.

***

Taking each step with extreme caution, Astrid kept her hand wound tightly around the lyre, as though it could fly out of her grasp at any second and take away the only leverage she had left.

She wondered if anyone would notice her sneak away, with all the chaos of the battle going on around them.

As she slowly emerged from the stairwell into the dimly lit cathedral, her nose was immediately assaulted by the metallic scent of blood and steel.

Bodies of both Hunters and Sirens littered the floor. Astrid immediately shoved the lyre under her shirt, trying her best to conceal it from everyone who was left.

She slowly edged towards the doorway but paused as she heard a laugh. A Siren had noticed her and was licking her lips in excitement.

"Whatcha got there?" she asked, looking at the lump in Astrid's shirt.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Astrid spat at her feet.

The Siren looked down at the spit and let out a giggle.

When she looked up, Astrid was gone, a streak of black, exiting the building.

"Hey! Get back here!" she screamed, chasing after her.

Astrid stopped dead in her tracks and unexpectedly lowered onto her haunches, far too quickly for the Siren to realise what she had done.

The Siren tumbled over Astrid and hit her head on the pavement, unable to break her fall on time. Astrid took her sword and drove it into the Siren's head, not wanting to waste any more time.

Her mind raced as she tried to think about where Peisinoe and Daniel could have gone.

She became still as the thought occurred to her... they would be waiting to find out who took the lyre. They wouldn't have gone far at all.