Annabelle frantically spun around, trying to get a look inside the auction house to see where Casper had vanished to. She barely even saw him move, and the next thing she knew the celestial twins had carved their way through the guards that had started to surround her with a flash of divine light.
She wasn’t about to question a miracle, but still her mind raced with thoughts of Casper dying inside that auction house even as she grabbed a sword from the ground and drove it up under the chin of the soldiers directly in front of her.
It was chaos, all around her, she had never seen anything like this. Sure she had been in some big fights but never surrounded by so many people.
Fire erupted from the auction house behind her, sending a wave of heat over the area. The Celestial twins were carving a path ahead for Annabelle, but it was closing quickly as more and more soldiers stormed from the streets in their direction.
Casper told her to escort this man to his ship, so that's exactly what she intended to do.
“You! Where the hell is your ship!” Annabelle called to the stunned man Casper had been talking to.
He blinked in a daze all around him, prompting Annabelle to close the distance and deliver a slap to the man's cheek to force him from his shock.
“How dare you strike me!” he instantly wheeled on her, but Annabelle couldn’t care less, she was tasked with getting him to the ship, not being nice about it.
“Ship! Now!” she shoved him, forcing him to stumble around until he remembered the situation they were in.
“T-this way!” he finally stuttered out, tugging the archfey slave along by his collar.
“You two! Here!” Annabelle shouted over the rising screams from the city. It was almost instantly deafening. The roar of fire behind her bled into the chaos of the city turning everything into a nonsensical din of noise.
The man led them around the bend of the auction house and down toward the street level, all the while the celestials slaughtered everyone in their path that looked like they could be a threat. It looked like it didn’t even cause them any strain. They simply moved their arms and bodies dropped. In flashes of light people became dust. And these were supposed to be the healers? She couldn’t imagine what was happening inside that auction house with a red dragon in there.
Annabelle had to shove the man several times to keep him moving, only to help him up and practically throw him as he got tangled trying to run in his baggy silken clothes.
“What the fuck?” Annabelle asked to herself as they approached the docks behind the auction house. More armored guards, nearly two dozen spread between the boat and the docks themselves were slaughtered. Their armored appendages separated from their bodies. Blood soaked into the wood as nondescript gore showered the surrounding walls and edges of the boat.
The celestials even went on edge as their full speed path brought them up the ramp onto the slaughterhouse of a boat, to see the door to the captain's quarters splintered, with the familiar figure of the man from the boat standing in its doorway.
“Who the hell are you?! And what are you doing on my boat!?” the rich man asked, huffing with the effort of the run.
Annabelle brought her hand quickly over the mans mouth to stop him from talking. She didn’t know who he was or what he was after, but the celestials had stopped in their tracks and switched from their offensive postures, to ones ready to fly away. If these celestials, who had carved down so many attackers without breaking even a sweat were considering fleeing, then this man was not someone to be fucked with.
“Me? Just an interested party, I figured since I was denied my primary objective this evening I would settle for silver” he said casually, turning to look at Annabelle up and down. “I remember you, funny we would meet again, perhaps you’d like to reconsider my offer and join me?” he asked. Turning to present his full frame to them.
Annabelle noted a small, thin, needle-like dagger pressed against his forearm, held there by his fingers as to not be entirely obvious. He was dangerous, too dangerous. In fact, the chill running through Annabelle's mind now was the very same one that she felt when the marked girl was brought on stage. Was it possible this man was marked too?
“No” Annabelle responded to the man's offer sternly “And what do you mean by silver?” she tried, hoping to get this man talking long enough for an opening to show itself, even if just to escape.
The man just smiled. “It matters not, you will be dead soon”
He moved so quickly she couldn’t see him. In fact she didn’t even register that she had been stabbed until well after the man had driven the dagger into her the 5th time.
Annabelle gasped as she looked down at her stomach to watch the top of the blade pierce her a 5th time, blood already saturating the front of her dress.
Her breath caught as her vision blurred slightly.
She brought her head down into the man's nose and smiled at the satisfying crunch, and the hot spray of blood that coated her chest from the impact. The man grunted but moved quickly out of the way as the two celestials swung both high and low at the man, only to strike at lingering black smoke that hung in the space he used to be.
Appearing next to one of the celestial twins, his blade arced towards their back only to the deflected as the second celestial closed the distance and parried the blow with an ear ringing ping.
Annabelle tried to get in to help, but as her foot planted to the deck her weight collapsed under her. Blood pooled in a heavy puddle. She struggled to stand only to slip in her own blood and collapse again.
She slammed her hands into the ground and let out a roar as she brought herself up a second time. A flash of light bathed her in heat, and suddenly she felt her energy return, and the pain in her stomach vanished as one celestial grabbed her by the hips to haul her upright.
“Thank you-” Annabelle says, only to stop herself as she brings her blade up to parry a strike aimed right at her face.
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The blade carves through her cheek, sliding off the bone. Annabelle moves in to close the distance and manages to bring the pommel of her blade down into the man's stomach just as a celestial drives its sword through the back of his calf.
Why the hell were the celestials so scared? The man was fast but he wasn't-
Annabelle's thoughts die, as the head of one of the celestials slides clean from his neck as the man brings his blade arcing through the air.
The other celestial screams in agony as they move in fast to cover the short distance but the man is gone again in a cloud of black smoke. The celestial strikes at open air with enough force to tear the ship's sails from its mast and send it scattering into the wind.
Annabelle turns, almost on instinct, bringing her blade up just in time to block another dagger thrust aimed at her chest
The man's face is inches from her, his eyes are cold and hard and pitch black and terrifying. She parries another strike, but not fully as the man's dagger rips through her rips, another as it carves across her chest, a third as it digs deep into her shoulder.
Each movement the man makes is faster than the last until Annabelle is saved only as he turns his attention to the second celestial. It's the fastest he has moved yet, and it looks as though the second of the twins is bound to lose their head just as the other, but the man is caught off balance as a dagger sinks into his shoulder from the direction of the captain's quarters.
The celestial, using the brief moment of hesitation brings her blade down in the direction of the man, he tries to teleport again but the blade swing is too fast, as he reappears nearer Annabelle his arm half dangles from his body and spouts blood in violent pulses.
Another dagger arcs through the air, but he spins in time to catch it and throw it back with such incredible force a boom echoes over the top of the deck.
Annabelle can’t even see the daggers trajectory but witnesses its impact as it collides with something in the captain's quarters. Wood splinters and rains down from the sheer force of the throw, and a whimpering yelp escapes the shadows of the captain's quarters.
Annabelle moves to strike out at the man, but he turns too quickly and with even as serious an injury as he has, he moves as though he was entirely unimpeded. His blade punches out, and Annabelle is too slow to stop it fully. Bringing her hand up the blade rips through the palm of both of hands, and drives down into her eye socket. The force of the man's blow sends her colliding to the deck, as he brings the dagger up a second time and drives it down again. The flesh of her forearms catch it, but the length is still enough to pierce through and into her chest, cracking her ribs after splinting the bones in her arms.
Annabelle's body lances with fire as she coughs blood and screams, one hand gripping at her ruined eye. She bucks her hips to get the man off of her, but his strength is unlike anything she has ever felt before.
The celestial appears behind the man, its wings extended out behind it as the celestial strikes out at the man's back, only for him to turn his attention to the survivor for a moment. In a flash the celestials blood showers the man and Annabelle.
The celestial screams, and its screams are cut off as the man punches a hole through the celestial's chest cavity with a single fist.
Annabelle grabs at the man, pulling at his hair but his body is too strong and he doesn't move from his mounted position over her as he pulls the celestial heart out with his bare hands.
The celestial collapses to the ground with a sickening thud. Another fist slams down and tears through Annabelle's chest, her vision blurs as the pain alone threatens to take her consciousness from her.
Her breath catches as it fills with blood. Her vision blurs as she watches the auction house behind her explode in a shower of stone and glass high into the hair, with something huge moving in the distance.
The man, unperturbed by the sudden explosion, stands up, and rolls his neck.
With one arm, he brings his hanging, nearly entirely cut off the other arm up, and Annabelle watches in horror as it heals itself, like there was never any damage to begin with.
He wipes some blood from his black coat, and takes in a deep breath.
“You should have taken-”
Blood sprays over Annabelle, as a blade slices the man's throat from behind. His eyes go wide and in a rush of black smoke he vanishes, allowing Elisayra's weight to collide with Annabelle on the ground.
“Annie! Oh my gods!” Elisayra cries her name as she presses her tiny hands into the hole left behind in Annabelle's chest.
She wants to say something, but the words can't come out of her blood filled throat.
Without the strength to look up, her head lulls to the side to watch as the Celestial reaches a hand out to Annabelle.
“Life debt- is owed…” the celestial chokes, speaking through the passive healing magic in her body.
Annabelle reaches out her own hand, struggling to find the strength. This celestial must have used quite a bit of its healing ability on itself during the fight, and on her already. It would be struggling to heal itself enough to keep it alive even this long.
Annabelle fought with every ounce of strength in her fading body to touch the celestial.
Elisayra quickly moved from Annabelle's chest, and grabbed hold of the celestial’s arm. Annabelle watched as she struggled with everything in her tiny body to move and pull the celestial just a little closer, even just an inch.
Elisayra grits her teeth and cries and curses as she fights with everything she has.
Annabelle used the last bit of strength she had, as the world around her turned dark, and felt the tip of the celestial finger touch hers…still…she faded.
It must not have been enough. The celestial couldn’t do it…
“Damnit. What a shitty way to go. On some rich asshole’s ship…”
“This rich asshole just so happened to purchase an archfey” a voice echoes in her head, as though she were underwater.
Annabelle's eyes fluttered open, to see the thin fingers of the archfey slave delicately working over her chest.
Holding onto Annabelle's hand, Elisayra cries softly into it, deep with worry and primal fear..
“Calm now rodent, I won't presume to know what you were doing on my vessel but it's safe to say your presence saved us here.” the captain said. “Now stop your sniveling” he offers with a slight bit more annoyance.
Annabelle tightened her hand around Elisayra's, to reassure the half elf that she was okay.
“We need to help Casper,” Annabelle choked out, spitting blood onto the deck of the ship as she felt the strength slowly return to her.
“You won’t be helping anyone. I have enough magic to prevent your death but any further activity would see you die” The archfey mused in a passively disinterested tone.
“Shit..” Annabelle grunted, finally feeling the blood return to her body enough to sit upright with only a faint light headedness. She looked over to the celestial to see they were already dead.
“We need to get out of here regardless” Elisayra said, finally recovering enough from her crying to speak, though only barely.
“The city is in chaos, the dragon is fighting something inside the auction house. We need to meet up with the others” Elisayra insisted, pulling on Annabelle to help her stand.
“You could always come with me on my ship, gods know I'm leaving as soon as my crew arrives…assuming they are alive. Worst case the archfey commands the winds for us.
“No, we need to make sure everyone is okay” Annabelle insists. Standing, though unsteadily.
“Very well, be my guest. And good luck.” the captain says, turning to command the archfey.
Leaning slightly on Elisayra, though not much because Annabelle figured the small girl couldn’t support much weight, hobbled off the docks just as the ships ropes were magically untied, and a wind send the vessels away from the docks, sending its plank clattering into the ocean below.
“Casper…was in the auction house. We need to make sure he is alright” Annabelle said through gritted teeth.
“In there?! Surely not, he must have run by now. The whole place exploded!” Elisayra insists as they round the corner to the sight of utter destruction.
Elisayra was right. The walls to the auction house were nothing more than rubble, distant roars still made her ears right as the sound of a fight was continuing to erupt from what little of the structure remained.
“We need to trust that Casper made it out” Elisayra continues, pleading now.
She was right, Casper had asked if she trusted him, and she told Casper yes. Now was the time to put that trust to the test.
“Let's go,” Annabelle nodded, as they pushed their way through the chaos.