Emblems

Chapter 36: Void

More thuds and throwing knives were buried in its other wing. Helpless but still struggling, her roc began to fall, flipping over and over in midair, wounded wings straining to catch itself. A flash of flame from below was all she saw before black feathers engulfed her body and she was swung up and around so her roc was beneath her. After a searing heat she opened her eyes to find shadow beneath her, already dissipating, wisps of it leaking away to vanish in thin air. When she landed, her fall softened by a cushion of wind, something clinked by her feet – a beak, sharp and shining silver. "Thank you," she told the piece of metal, but her words more heartfelt than anything she’d said to another Human.

His back to her, Nicholas said, "Decided to join the party?"

"Stupid," she muttered, and straightened to face their attackers as she passed him her dagger. Some of them had leaves and stalks growing out of their bodies, which she could only assume were the results of Nicholas’s earlier work. Water Adepts, mostly, with liquid curling around and over their fingers, but there were some without anything, holding only weapons. Mind Adepts. Apparently only Daniel had enough power to get into her head, since he was an Adept like her, but that didn’t mean they had to crack everything open to influence her. “They’re stronger now,” she told him.

“You noticed too?” Nicholas grinned. “We’re already proving Leone wrong.” The Adepts closed in on them and he said, "Cover me.” She swung her whip in reply, her wind turning the end into serrated blades of air. The boy crouched down, and under the cover of her whip he dashed out into the forest of blades to fight with just a dagger, looking for all the world like he was playing tag.

She tried to shield him from elemental attacks by revolving wind around him, deflecting the water that went after him in streams, but that only went so far when physical weapons came into play. Nicholas proved himself better than her at close combat though, as he caught bladed strikes with the hilt of her dagger and then ducked under their guards to simply pat their bare skin. A fraction of a second later he was gone, taking cover under the whirling arc of her whip again. Everything he touched mutated and changed, like with Calida’s hair though the messiness of everything showed that he couldn’t concentrate on finesse as much as before. Adepts’ body parts turned green or purple or brown like tree trunks, and grew and swelled like tumours, cells multiplying uncontrollably.

The roar of water nearby almost made her whip falter, but the sound not sharp, not designed to cut, maim, impale. No, this was the swell of water on the horizon, like a tsunami in the making. She’d heard this before.

Allowing herself a fraction of a glance upwards, she caught sight of the massive geyser crashing back into the pool in front of—oh, no wonder it sounded so familiar. I’ve been practicing that for months.A lone figure stood, barely visible in the sky above him. Two flashes in midair almost caught all of her attention again, as she multitasked. The figure raised a sword, so fast it was just a silver flash, and the flying projectiles were repelled with one swipe, before Daniel raised his arms, spread open wide. She braced herself – something big was coming. But if it was Daniel, it would work.

And it did; at least she supposed it did. In the time it took for her to glance up at him and then turn back to Nicholas on the ground everyone around them had frozen, like they’d been replaced by figures made of wax, bodies holding them up but faces pale and slack, eyes closed in some sort of dream. Sleeping? Doesn’t matter; it’s a chance. Nicholas and her sped around, the former seeming to have a gleeful time playing tag with motionless statues, touching them and making that turn-into-a-plant mutation of his spread, while she disabled as many of them as she could, snatching away weapons and knocking them out.