“Should’ve hit her in the heart,” Ashwin whispered as they stood catching their breaths, watching Reivaa stagger slowly back to her feet, her right shoulder a mess of torn skin and ruined cloth, the blade still sticking out of the flayed flesh like some kind of morbid banner. Ruban cursed internally. How was it that he never had more than one sifblade on him whenever he was being attacked by some of the most powerful Aeriels in creation? What use was a whole arsenal full of top-of-the-line ammunition when all he ever actually had to work with was an old standard-issue sifblade that any third-year at Bracken would scoff at?
“If I had that kind of aim I’d be an Olympic archer, not an underpaid government employee,” Ruban snapped through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off the Aeriel. “Be thankful for what you got.”
“You live on less than half your income,” said Ashwin indignantly. “What would you do with more money?”
“Point,” agreed Ruban, even as they both jumped out of the way of the fiery ball of saturated energy that crashed into the ground where they had been standing moments ago, scorching the earth a charcoal black. It hadn’t been the most powerful blast, but it would definitely have fried them alive had it made contact. “Damn.”
“I’ll try to get close to her. You warn me if she tries anything. And shoot her in the wings if you can. It’s one of the most vulnerable parts of her anatomy.”
“Bullets won’t do any good without sif,” Ruban bit out, frustrated.
“The sif’s inside of her. How long do you think she’ll last with that thing lodged in her flesh? It’s a death sentence. We just have to keep her distracted until she falls over and dies.” With that Ashwin lunged at the Aeriel, throwing kicks and blows that connected more easily and seemed to have more of an impact now that Reivaa was being drained by the blade in her shoulder. As the Aeriel crashed into a nearby tree, hurled into it by a rather vicious kick from Ashwin, a tiny, iridescent light flickered near the palm of her right hand, barely visible in the twilight.
“Ashwin look out,” Ruban roared, jumping forward to push the Zainian out of the range of the shell as it flew at them in a headlong rush.
As energy blasts went, this one was a fairly poor specimen – barely managing to knock over a single tree when it finally detonated deeper in the forest. For once, though, the strength of the blast didn’t matter. The shell had grazed Ruban’s right calf as he pushed Ashwin out of its way and into the ground. He then landed on top of the Zainian in an unceremonious heap.
Ruban thought that if somebody had taken the dullest butter-knife in existence and used it to carve out a chunk of his flesh, it probably would not have hurt anywhere near as much as it did now. The stench of scorched flesh stung his nostrils and his throat burned with what had probably been the hair-raising mother of all screams, but his brain was too busy trying to crawl out of his skull to register much by way of sensory information. Apart from the earth-shattering, heart-stopping pain in his leg, of course.
Distantly, he heard Ashwin talking to him, cradling his head as he moved carefully out from under him, mindful not to jostle him more than necessary. “…I’m gonna take your gun,” the Zainian was saying, and through the haze of agony he felt hands fiddling with his holster, unloading the firearm until there was an uncomfortable emptiness at his side.
“Mpphhh,” he said, unsure of what it was he really wanted to convey, even as a gunshot rang out a few feet off to the side of where he lay. He looked up, forcing his eyes to focus, to see Ashwin standing less than ten feet to his left, facing Reivaa, gun held out in front of him as he moved further away from Ruban, deeper into the forest. He’s leading her away, Ruban realised after a moment, his pain-addled mind moving slower than usual. Grunting, he rolled over to his side, using his arms to push himself off the ground. It wouldn’t do to let a foreign diplomat – no matter how much of a useless pain in the ass – get killed on his watch. That would be all kinds of embarrassing, for everyone involved.
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Another shot rang out and a high-pitched, subhuman screech filled the air, Reivaa’s massive wings arching backward and away from her body. He’s done it. He’s hit her in the wing. High on a strange admixture of pain, exhaustion and second-hand triumph, Ruban pushed himself to his feet, ready to run to the Zainian’s aid. And then promptly crumpled to the ground with a scream that might have rivalled Reivaa’s, if the echoes reverberating through the trees were anything to go by. His leg burned, muscles throbbing as unfiltered agony shot through his veins, and his lungs felt as if they had been dipped in acid, then ground into dust with a hatchet. It was a distinctly unpleasant sensation.
“Baan!” a shrill, childish voice wailed somewhere in the distance and to his horror, Ruban saw Hiya shoot out of the sedan and run towards him, russet eyes wide with terror. “Baan, what happened to you? Are you alright? Are you hurt?” she cried, falling to her knees beside him. When she finally saw his mutilated leg, her lips parted in shock, eyes welling with tears. “Oh God,” she whimpered, extending a hand to lightly touch his leg just above the wound.
“It’s all right,” Ruban said, trying to make his voice as reassuring as possible as he pushed himself up on one arm, careful not to jostle the wound. “I’m alright, Hiya. Go back to the car. You shouldn’t be out–”
Shrill laughter filled the air, interrupting him. A chill ran down Ruban’s spine as he turned to see Reivaa looking straight at Hiya, variegated eyes burning with a strange, alien light. Ashwin stood a few feet to her right, his stance defensive, gun held firmly out in front of him as if he had been preparing to fire another shot. He looked as horrified as Ruban felt.
“Where have you been, little girl?” Reivaa cooed, taking a staggering step towards Hiya, where the girl squatted beside Ruban. Her gaze made the Hunter sick. Forcing himself to sit up despite the burning pain in his leg, he tried to push the child behind him, putting his own body between her and the Aeriel.
Reivaa continued to speak with a sickly little chuckle, cooing at Hiya as she took another staggering step forward. “You look just like your mother; did you know that, little girl? You’ve got her eyes. Pretty, pretty eyes – like dirty diamonds. All big and round and filled with terror. She screamed at the end, did you know that? Screamed and cried, begged me to spare her. To let her go. Pretty eyes, so full of fear. So very gorgeous. Don’t worry, you won’t have to miss her for long now,” she whispered almost gently, inching closer to her target. “You’ll scream too, I’ll make sure of that. You’ll scream before you die, little girl. Before I kill you, just like I killed your mother all those years ago. It’ll be more fun this time, though. There won’t be any need to pretend it was an accident this time. I can take my time, have my fun. Tear your pretty little lungs out, nice and slow…”
Reaching for her own shoulder, Reivaa pulled the blade out, breathing heavily as she tossed it to the side. “If I’m to die tonight, I’ll take the girl with me. Feel her heart stop beating under my fingers before it’s over. I’ll finish my last mission for Tauheen, and finish it properly.” She held one pale, bloodless hand out, as if reaching for Hiya through the yards separating them, moving incessantly forward.
The girl whimpered, a strangled sound escaping her lips as she scampered haphazardly away, stumbling away from Ruban and deeper into the forest. His blood running cold, Ruban reached out to catch hold of her, keep her from moving away from him. “Hiya!” he called urgently – desperately – scrambling to reach her.
But she was too far away, already out of his reach. He tried to push himself to his feet, but his legs felt numb, paralysed; as if the pain had been replaced by a sheer lack of sensation. A faint, chillingly familiar rustle made him turn to look at the Aeriel.
Reivaa’s wings flared around her, sterling feathers burning like white fire tipped with a scarlet flame. Her eyes burned like twin stars on an angelic face, twisted almost beyond recognition with some alien emotion that Ruban couldn’t place. It could have been hatred, or it could have been glee, or some blood-curdling combination of the two. She was looking straight at Hiya, who cowered quietly behind a tree that failed to cover her little body completely. Tears streamed down her face and Ruban could see that she was shaking, curled in on herself as if to make herself as small as possible. A twisted smile appeared on Reivaa’s lips, her mouth curving upward as she flapped her wings – once, twice. A great gust of wind lifted the fallen leaves off the ground and scattered them everywhere. Just above them, a flash of lightning split the night-sky in two.
Ruban could only watch, paralysed, as Reivaa lifted herself off the ground, enormous wings beating the air for a few seconds like some hellish bird of prey, before her body flipped and she was horizontal in the air. Then she blurred, flying at the terrified Hiya at a pace that Ruban could not follow with his bare eyes.