Yunara opened the door of the carriage, took out out a bag of powder, and threw some of the contents on the ground between them and the Aracs. A small, but effective explosion shot out, and Lucia didn’t lose a second to flick the reigns of the horse and start galloping down the dark road leading away from the house, the three Aracs and their Dark One were left sprawling on the ground with scrapes.
“Very good, Yunara,” Lucia acknowledged. “That should give us a little time. I am hoping we reach the village before he catches up with us, then maybe we can get away.”
“After that explosion?” asked Kailu. “We should have plenty of time to get away.”
“You don’t understand,” Lucia said, fixated on the road. “Nevres is a Dark One that is incredibly fast and has unbelievable strength. He’s much faster than our horses, especially in his true form. Don’t let that old man’s appearance fool you. He is a Dark One. One that specializes in assassinations. His task is to kill one of us, and use the power of his claws to rip open a portal that will take his victim back to the returning grounds he came from. But he will only kill one of us. He was summoned with the task of killing one, and won’t stop until at least one of us is back with him in his lair, dead.”
Yunara was leaning over the end to look behind them. “He’s chasing us!” she announced.
Manuel moved to where she was to have a look. She was right. The old man was pursuing them at an impossible speed on foot.
“Then what do we do?”
“I’m thinking,” was Lucia’s response. She paused for a moment. “Do you have any silver bells?”
“To call the Unseeables?” asked Manuel.
“Yes, perhaps the Unseeables can give us something that will help.”
Yunara reached into the bag she carried with her and pulled out the bell. “Here it is,” she said.
“Good, call one of them,” said Lucia.
“Look!” Kailu shouted at that moment, leaning over the other end of the carriage. The Dark One was catching up with them. Its body began to transform, his body hunching over, switching to running on all fours. Dark hair erupted all over his body, his clothes falling off and his body elongating and slimming down. He became a huge, incredibly thin wolf the size of a horse, with a caved in stomach and long claws. The Dark One howled, and wolves started coming running from all ends.
“It’s his true form,” Lucia explained without turning back to see. “Whatever you do, don’t let him attack you with his claws.”
Yunara rung the bell, a sweet jingle letting out. “Lorenn?” she called.
At that moment Lorenn came flying into the carriage. “You called?”
“Is there anything you can do to help us right now?” Manuel asked.
Lorenn smirked, cocking her head and saying, “I thought you’d never ask.”
With that, she left the carriage.
At that moment, something jerked the carriage. Manuel looked out the window and saw Nevres at their heels, clawing at the back of the carriage, trying to get a grip on it, the wolves around it howling.
Lorenn came soaring back into the carriage, this time with a white fox entering with her, phasing through the wall of the carriage to get in. “Yunara, throw the rest of the explosion powder, quickly!” said the fox.
Yunara leaned over the edge and immediately obeyed, throwing the entire sack at Nevres’ face. The explosion rocked the entire carriage, the Dark One reeling on the ground, whimpering in the darkness. The horses got startled, running as fast as they could away from the scene, Lucia struggling to control them, foam flying from their mouths as they ran.
“That will only buy us some time,” Lorenn said urgently. “I have little power when it comes to powering items,” she admitted. “But my friend here doesn’t have such limitations.”
All of their weapons were lying in the carriage already. The fox grabbed the hilt of Manuel’s sword with it’s mouth, pulling it out from under their seats. It howled, and the sword glowed brightly for a moment before dimming again.
“This should help when you confront him,” said the fox. “The only way to stop Nevres is to kill him. He’s a very strong and persistent Dark One. Use the gift I have given you wisely, for it has a good amount of power in it now, and a hot edge. Good luck,” said the fox, hopping out of the carriage and disappearing with Lorenn.
They started to enter the city, the background transforming to spanish buildings and cobblestone roads. “Where do we go?” asked Kailu.
Lucia answered, “We’ll try to confuse him by going down the more complicated roads here near the center of the city. He will use his wolves to try to find us. If we can lose them, we can get away and find Youssef. He’ll help us.”
But that moment they heard howling and hooting that sounded like laughs coming from all around them. It was hard define one direction it was coming from. Lucia turned down a street, and a wolf came up behind them, catching up with the horses. They came up to a plaza, and found that it was filled with wolves. Lucia stopped the carriage, with nowhere to go as the wolves circled them, howling and hooting. “Get your weapons and come out,” Lucia commanded. “There is no avoiding them.”
Yunara, Kailu, and Manuel obeyed, coming out of the carriage with their weapons. Manuel wasn’t sure what the fox was trying to tell him, because the blade didn’t seem hot at all, neither did it glow like it did before. He hoped that Lucia was right in her advice to consult the Unseeables.
Lucia pulled out a thin sword that was hidden in the skirt of her dress just as a wolf pounced. She skewered it in one thrust, flinging the corpse to the side as all of the wolves simultaneously started coming at them.
Manuel moved to strike as one came at his side, his shoulder flaring in pain and weakening his strike as he did. But as he swung the blade, flames lit at the edges, and as soon as he made contact with its flesh, a searing sound went out, the wolf screaming in pain, steam coming from the cut. Favoring his good shoulder, Manuel struck down on it as it laid on the ground in pain, more sizzling sounds coming out and the smell of burnt fur filling the air, the wolf letting out another cry before going silent. Manuel’s sword smoked and the fire went out, a now palpable heat coming from it, but even now, he could feel it was cooling again, as if it was only hot when it was in action. The fox had been right after all.
Another wolf leaped at him, but this time Yunara stabbed it with her own blade of water, and it laid dead on the ground. “Focus!” she snapped at him.
She was right. After seeing the wolves dead on the ground, the rest of the pack ceased their attack and slowly circled them, beginning to howl again.
“They’re leading Nevres to us,” Yunara realized.
Then a deeper, louder howl went out, as if in confirmation.
“I say let them,” said Kailu, her own sword raised and ready. “The fox said we had to kill him.”
“But we can’t do that with all of his wolves helping him,” said Lucia, not taking her eyes off the wolves for a minute. “We would need him to be alone.”
Suddenly the voice of a man went out, exclaiming in Spanish, “What the...”
There was a man that had come out of a bar that was around the corner and had discovered the plaza full of wolves. The wolves noticed the man, but paid him no mind, concentrated on the four they had trapped around the carriage. More people within the bar heard the man shout and came out to see what the matter was, also standing frozen in shock at the sight.
Right now the wolves didn’t care about the small crowd, but Manuel feared what would happen if they tried to intervene, and on top of that, his arm was getting sore from all the effort. He knew he couldn’t fight much more. The wound was still too fresh. Then Manuel noticed the sign above the bar that had written its name, and he recognized it. It was the same bar he was drinking at earlier.
Then Manuel came up with an idea. He could make use of the gift the fox had given him, but he would have to be smart with all these wolves here.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Help me get to the bar.”
“What?” said Kailu.
“Just trust me.” then he addressed the crowd watching them, switching to his native tongue. “Run! We’ll handle the wolves. Just leave, immediately!”
The crowd quickly obeyed, running away from the scene, and as Manuel suspected, the wolves paid them no mind. He started towards the bar, the wolves snarling at him as he came near them. They tried to pounce at him, but he flicked his sword, carrying it with his good shoulder, and they were sent back, sizzling and whimpering from their burn marks, Manuel’s sword smoking again. He ran into the bar from the clearing he made, and all the wolves came after him, trying to keep him from escaping their trap.
The bar was now empty, with only the lights from the candles filling the room. The wolves came around him with the plan to corner him against the bar. Kailu, Yunara, and Lucia came in behind the wolves, attacking them with their blades, and Manuel joined with them. There was left only a few wolves alive, and the four of them had them cornered just as they started getting excited, hooting and howling even louder than before.
At that moment Nevres came through the door, standing on its hind legs, crouching to fit in the room. Its snout and face was damaged from the small explosions, and it snarled lividly. It moved in a blur of motion, grabbing Lucia and picking her up by the collar of her dress in one motion, baring his claws and reeling his arm.
“No!” Manuel yelled. He grabbed a bottle of beer from behind the bar, then flung it at Nevres. The bottle cracked on its body, the liquids spilling all over it.
Manuel didn’t waste a second. He leaped over a table to get to Nevres and stuck his sword into its body, the flames from the sword licking up the alcohol that now covered his body in an instant, sending Nevres’ entire body up in flames. It released Lucia, wailing in agony and falling onto the ground, writhing. Kailu got another bottle and threw it onto Nevres, sending more flames into the air, and silencing the wails for good.
The few wolves that remained in the room left running, their tails between their legs. The four breathed a sigh of relief, panting and exhausted. Manuel’s arm seared in pain and begged him to rest.
He jumped as he noticed Lorenn sitting on the bar beside him.
“Very good, all. You remind me of your father in his glory days,” she said, looking at Manuel. She flew over to a table and observed the flames. “Unfortunately, I believe this is only the beginning. Thankfully, you are getting accustomed to speaking to us more, and was able to hear Temil the fox when he spoke to you. The more powerful the Unseeable, the harder they are to perceive, which limits how much they can help you. Things are only going to get more difficult from here.” Lorenn looked at Lucia. “Lucia, the Aracs have so far killed Carlos Ruiz and have just now attempted to assassinate you. I believe this is a pattern, and that they are trying to kill off the old contacts of Manuel Suarez IV and Aznia. Everyone is in danger, including Fernando. When you finish with Manuel, Yunara, and Kailu, you will have to warn as many as you can, and go into hiding, at least from your social life. Despite your best efforts, the Aracs are moving here to Spain. It is unavoidable now, as you can see, and your cover has been blown. The Aracs know who you are now, and what your role has been.”
Lucia observed the flames with an empty look in her eyes. “I believe you are right,” she responded. “I have to warn everyone.” she looked to Kailu, Yunara, and finally to Manuel. “I have fought beside your parents in a very important cause, and I now see that it was to make this day easier. For you all. It's now up to you to carry on this work. And finish it. Because you already see where this is going if you don’t do something about Lord Stretton. Nevres is no easy Dark One to summon. There are experienced Aracs, here, on Earth, where there has never been before. I’m glad we stalled the Aracs from coming here as long as we did. But now it’s up to you all to find the rest of the Chosen and destroy the Dark Lords. Because if not, I fear a very dark day approaching on both worlds like never before.”
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Whew! This chapter was honestly so fun to write. I really wanted to showcase what Manuel could do, as well as Yunara's ability to think on her feet. Kailu is really going to get her moment up ahead, too ;)
So let me know what you think! Comment down below and tell your friends!