Scars of the Earth (24 page)

“Just trust me damn it!” Armaan pleaded to them both. Cole stood unmoving, glaring at him as if his mere stare could start the boy’s hair on fire.

We don’t have time for this. She thought.

“I do.” She said taking off down the path after her wolf, knowing that Cole would follow her. And he did, begrudgingly, taking up the rear.

“Do you even know where you are going?” Armaan whispered behind her. Her feet were flying over the terrain without her telling them to do so.

“I think so, I kind of feel like I did last time when Shiphra was pulling me where she wanted me to go.”

“Stop!” He said grabbing her arm. “This isn’t like the last time. You need to follow me, not that pull.” His voice was so commanding she looked at Cole for help.

“You’re hurting my arm, let go of me!” She struggled out of his grasp. “Madgie told me to follow this feeling and I’m not going to follow you if you’re telling me to ignore it!” Cole was at her side glowering into Armaan’s face.

“I knew you’d try to lead us to them! You are your brothers’ lap dog.” He said his voice full of venom.

“Wait! Please don’t go that way it isn’t Shiphra. This is nothing like the last time you escaped the Guard.” Armaan pleaded as they backed away from him.

I can’t believe that I trusted him! She thought. She turned to follow where her feet told her to go, but was stopped short by her wolf’s unmoving frame. Calm down just leave him be. She thought, seeing the fur on his haunches standing on end, reminding her of a deadly pin cushion. He isn’t worth it; just leave him here to fail his mission.

The invisible string pulled tighter and she stumbled trying to stay on her feet.

“Come on Cole, we need to leave here.” She tried to step around her wolf, but he spun around knocking her to the ground. “What’s the matter with you?” She yelled.

Cole was next to her in less than a second. “Are you alright? What happened?” He helped her to her feet, which she was having a hard time staying on. The pull was so great that it felt like a rope had been lassoed around her; the pull felt heavy and forced nothing like it had last time.

“It isn’t her, it’s not Shiphra!” She screamed.

The invisible rope around her burned as it tightened and she just had time to look at Cole pleadingly before she was pulled off of her feet and disappeared into the forest.

Chapter 20

Her flesh burned and her body cried out in pain as she flew through the forest, sharp branches tearing chunks out of her exposed skin. Tears streamed down her cheeks in a reaction to pain or anger she wasn’t sure.

Why couldn’t I just listen to Armaan? Shiphra gave me so many signs. She thought.

As she drew nearer the entity pulling her in, she hoped that Cole and Armaan would stay away. They didn’t stand a chance. The power of an Ancient was nearly limitless and they were just two young men. She thought of Cole or Armaan going up against one of the creatures that haunted her dreams. Neither of them would have any fear or thought of their own safety, an Ancient could stomp out their life as if they were nothing more than bugs.

“No!” She screamed holding back tears; she was so sick of people that she loved being hurt because of her. She thought of Madgie and how close she had come to death. She would try to stand on her own, even though she could feel her energy draining with every inch put between her and her wolf.

Just as she began wondering how long she would be drug through the forest, she started feeling the dark energy of the Guard. There wasn’t as many as last time she had encountered them, maybe seven or eight, but she barely noticed them. The brilliance of a single Ancient drowned them out like a full moon drowns out the stars.

She came to a halt twenty feet from the towering figure, still in the air and held captive by the invisible rope. He was stroking a large peacock with his disjointed hands, looking bored. The bird was dazzling and larger than any bird she had ever seen. It seemed to light up the dim forest like a strange sun.

Tearing her eyes from the creature she glared into the Ancient’s hollow eyes, attempting to convey as much confidence as possible in her current state.

“All of this trouble for such a little thing?” He said studying her so intently that she felt the need to cover herself. “You seem hardly worth the effort. If it were up to me I would gladly let you frolic off into the sunset, but Baal was quite insistent. It’s a pecking order thing, you understand.” He said sympathetically. “I’m ready to go back home, may Heaven receive you and all that.”

Amanda didn’t feel him gather energy, he didn’t need to. It wouldn’t take much for him to do what he had in mind. Before she could close her eyes she felt something tear through her chest. She screamed out as the pain rippled across her body. The dank smell of sulfur reached her nostrils and she looked down at her still smoldering shirt. A terrible wound peeked through the hole in her clothing, dark red and charred around the edges. In her shocked state she wondered why blood wasn’t gushing from her wound.

Madgie’s shoulder looked like a river of blood…Baal loves the sight of blood. She thought groggily. Her blurred vision turned the colored light of the peacock into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope. Shaking her head, her vision slowly came back and she noticed that The Ancient’s face was full of confusion.

“Taunt him.” A familiar voice urged her.

What? You’ve got to be kidding me! Did you not notice what he just did to me without any taunting? Amanda asked as her head cleared up.

“He will hurt you more, but if you listen to me, you will live. Now, taunt him Amanda, trust me.” Shiphra’s voice commanded.

I guess I am dead no matter what I do or say, might as well go out in style. She thought feeling her energy come back to her.

“I know that you said I wasn’t worth the effort, but really you could put in just a little.” She said trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

Damn it get control of yourself! She thought. She drew in a large breath to get her body out of shock, but before she could exhale she felt The Ancient’s temper rise.

I know that he is angry I felt it, but I couldn’t read the Ancient’s emotions in the arena. Why can I now? She wondered.

He gathered his energy and another attack ripped at her chest. Her head was spinning, but miraculously she was still breathing.

How do I still have lungs? She thought.

“Make him draw more energy.” Shiphra’s voice encouraged.

Are you sure that you want me alive; it feels like you are going to get me killed. She thought, but followed her instructions.

“You can’t kill me? But I’m just a little thing and you are supposed to be all powerful, right?” She coughed out every word. Her chest heaved in and out painfully and she wished that her wolf were at her side giving her the energy to heal herself.

“No! Don’t call him…not yet. Tell him to stay away; he mustn’t see your wolf!” Shiphra’s voice shouted quickly. “Tell him to stay away Amanda.” Shiphra’s every instruction went against her instincts, but trusting her was her only option.

Stay away. She thought. Don’t come here, don’t come here. The thought of her wolf not coming to help her made bile rise to the back of her throat and the pain began to overcome her.

“Stop it! You are stronger than you know, now face him-fight him. Make him waste his energy in anger.”

Amanda drew in a shaky breath and took the blinding pain that came with the oxygen. The last thing that she wanted to do was make him angrier, after the attacks that she had endured she wasn’t sure why she was still alive.

An Ancient could snuff out a Healers life in the blink of an eye, so how can I still be alive? Of course a demon attack wasn’t something a person normally lived through either.

The same question seemed to be ringing in the minds of the Guard. Their faces were contorted in anger and confusion. Some of them seemed to think that there was something wrong with their vision, shaking their heads and blinking their eyes. As if in doing this they would see her lifeless on the ground. But floating in the air she stayed; wincing in pain and clothes in tatters, but alive none the less.

The Ancient must have read the Guard as she had because his bored demeanor changed from that of a person on an errand to someone with a personal vendetta. The invisible ropes tightened in on her, shooting more pain through her body.

Enough of this! She thought, tired of being held against her will. She imagined a pare of scissors cutting her ties and she fell to the ground. Her captor let out an audible gasp. The Guard, looking unsure, inched away from where she landed. She straightened herself and gazed into the Ancient’s hollow eyes.

“What are you?” He demanded.

“Nothing special, just a Healer, what are you? Surely you can’t really be an Ancient.” She said, blocking an attack seconds after the words left her mouth. The temperature seemed to rise with his anger and the cool breezy morning was replaced by hundred degree temperatures.

The attacks are getting more powerful! He is pulling more and more energy. She cried internally, not letting the pain show on her heat reddened face.

“An Ancient would be able to keep me contained!” She shouted wiping the trail of blood that was running down her chin. Sweat poured off of one of the Guards landing on the ground with a muffled sizzle.

“Attack him.” Shiphra prompted.

No. She thought.

“You must weaken him. Defend yourself; he is trying to kill you!” Shiphra urged. Carter’s last sputtering words ran through her mind. ‘Murderer! You did this to me…’ and the gruesome hacking that followed.

I wont, I defended myself against Carter and I will forever have to live with his blood on my hands. I will never choose my life above another’s again. She thought.

“Do what you must.” Shiphra said.

Do what I must? How am I supposed to know what the right choice is? She wondered as another blast of dark energy hit her shield.

“An Ancient would be able to kill me!” She screamed as loudly as she could manage through the pain. A wave of heat erupted as The Ancient shouted.

“This ends now!”

Amanda stood tall, as the plants around her burst into flame. Unnatural black smoke circled the clearing, choking out the sunlight and the Guard. It started with one man falling to his knees and holding his throat, but after mere seconds all of them were coughing violently. They collapsed one right after the other unable to find enough oxygen. The Ancient either didn’t notice, or didn’t care that his followers where struggling for air. His attention seemed to be far off in the woods behind her.

“No Healer could possibly withstand what you have.” He said, as the smoke began to thin. He looked at her sweat smeared face with excitement dancing in his eyes.

What does he have to be excited about? She wondered feeling unsure. He was on the ropes, but somehow the dynamic had shifted. The look in his eyes told her that she was the one backed into a corner.

“Maybe you are just getting rusty; your Guard has done all of your dirty work for so long…” She trailed off as she felt a presence nearing, understanding why his eyes said he had the upper hand. He did.

“No!” Amanda shouted as Cole came crashing into the clearing. Bloodied from the forest, he fell in a heap at the Ancient’s feet.

“That demon changed something in you; you know this to be true. What did it do, how are you so powerful? ” He demanded.

Why am I so powerful, what is happening to me? She thought, desperate to answer his question. She would give him anything and tell him anything to keep Cole safe. He knew it too. His cocky demeanor had returned and he went back to gently stroking his giant peacock, the action soothed him and she recognized the feeling.

“Call him, call your wolf.” Shiphra whispered.

Come, I need you. She thought quickly. She knew that she was something different, she felt the change in her body, but what was she?

“I don’t know why or how this is happening, please don’t hurt him!” She begged.

Her words stretched a crooked smile across his gruesome face. Cole struggled against his bonds and turned to look at her, chocolate eyes pleading.

“Run Amanda, get out of here!” He shouted.

“Quiet you!” The Ancient said, clenching his fist. Cole was immediately silenced, arching his back and searching for breath like a fish out of water. “Now, be a good girl and tell me what kind of trickery you are playing…or your friend here will be in a lot of pain.”

She stammered grasping at straws wanting to tell him whatever it was that he wanted to hear, but she stopped short. She looked at the giant peacock and the light and energy that came from it. Realizing that the truth of what she was probably wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“Tell him, tell him what you know, but do not let him flee. He will try.” She wanted to be confused by Shiphra’s words, but she wasn’t. She understood them perfectly, just as she understood what she was.

“You want to know what I am? I will tell you, but it was no demon that changed me. I’m not sure what did…” She paused looking at Cole, not wanting him to hear what she was going to say.

“Stop stalling!” He screamed, and with a flick of his wrist a red line appeared on Cole’s cheek. Her anger rose as she saw blood run from the fresh wound and a tear stream out of the corner of his eye.

“You’ll be sorry you did that!” She said, struggling to keep her voice even.

“Really? Why is that little one?” He asked with a sharp smile dancing across his uneven face.

“Because I have one of those too.” She said, gesturing to the large peacock. He looked at the bird and then back at her in confusion.

“You can see my…” He was cut off as her wolf crashed out of the foliage behind her and drawing his energy she flicked her wrist. A line appeared across his yellowed skin, but no blood came running out. The wound split one of the hundreds of figure eights that he had scrawled on his body in half. Lifting her palm up she saw that the twisted mark there matched his. She held her palm up to him.