The Heirs of Death

44.1 Warsong

WARSONG

One blink.

It took one blink before Mar was in front of me, the wooden table in shards on the floor, her claws swinging, aiming for my face. I dodged, leaping away, my own fingers hardening until they became steel from the knuckles and up.

Another hit to the head. She missed-barely. So long, her claws were so terribly long, barreling down on me from so many sides at once.

She didn't budge as a knife went into her shoulder-didn't seem to feel it. And those depthless, black eyes remained fixed on me, on every movement I took, on every claw that tore her flesh.

Not a reaction. Not even a breath of pain.

Out-I needed to get out of the corner she locked me in without getting injured. Without requiring help-they understood the signal I gave. Do not intervene yet. She wasn't aware yet of the court around her, wasn't aware a shred about who they were.

I doubted she was aware of anything at all past the whispering darkness in her mind. Doubted if she was alive or if Apocalys had taken full possession of her flesh.

I ducked as she flicked her wrist, scrapping the wall, a strand of silver-white hair being cut with it as my elbows endured the weight of the fall. Weariness still gnawed at my bones but she too was unsteady. Unfocused. I rolled to my side, tearing the carpet as I-

A crashing weight pressed on the top of my chest. Harder. It pressed harder as Mar placed all her weight on that foot-not her weight, but whatever that was swirling inside of her. So damn heavy...My hands closed around her ankle, claws going deep until they protruded from the other side. She placed her other foot, mud and blood cold on my skin, entirely oblivious to the claws that tore up and up and up, to the wounds that rained blood all around us.

I felt something break. Felt a burning rage beneath my skin begging to be out, to burn everything, to melt her bones and the darkness festering in them. But it was what he wanted, what the Dark God waited for.

I pulled my hand out of her flesh and barely motioned with the other to the rest to stay still and ready as a loud thundering filled the world around us. It echoed in my blood along the clash of claws against claws, along the sound of cracking bones as my claws went through her dominant hand. Through every fabric, every bone, every ligament.

Her hand fell to the ground as I pushed myself up, feeling my lungs breaking beneath the weight and the effort. But she-he-halted for that heartbeat.

It was such a mistake.

Another swing and flick of my wrist before I ripped through her knees, feeling the scrap of my claws against her bones, feeling them crack and shatter.