TERROR TWENTY-ONE - ANGEL

The wyvern dives, gaining speed even as it veers away from the road and starts to fly off towards the east, away from the angel.

I glance over my shoulder, eyes squinting as I take in the angel hovering closer and closer, moving slowly, but without any motion. It’s like a brick, floating there in a way it shouldn’t be able to.

I inspect it.

My hand comes up, slapping me in the forehead even as I let out a cry.

“Miss?” Felix asks.

I shake my head, hand waving her away. “Tried to inspect it—hurt.”

“What?” Felix asks. “I... I can’t see, miss. I can’t see, Valeria.”

“We need to land,” I say, both to Felix and to the wyvern.

The angel screams.

I wince, then look up as a shadow falls above me. It’s one of the other wyverns, and it’s moving in close, almost as if it’s trying to land on us, but that...

The scream hits, and the wyvern bursts apart.

I scream as I feel stinging pinches across my body, and the wyvern beneath me twists around before screeching. We’re falling faster, a lot faster.

The angel follows. Slow, and huge, and unstoppable.

All across the forest, monsters are moving, running away, taking flight—trying to escape. The angel screams, and the largest groups are torn apart, and still it follows us.

I turn back so I’m not looking at it anymore. It’s not like seeing it will help any.

What can I do?

I have magic, but nothing that would bother an angel. I couldn’t even scratch it if it was standing still next to me. Even Mom would need to do more than sniff haughtily to kill something like that.

The wyvern starts flapping, and I see the others swooping over us. A few turn around, squawking as they fly towards the angel.

They won’t be hurting it, but maybe, just maybe, they’ll manage to distract it for a moment.

At least, I hope.

We sweep lower, trees skimming just beneath us.

A scream hits us, like a giant flyswatter.

I join in as I see the head of the wyvern burst apart just before me, and our smooth flight turns into a wild tumble through the air.

We shoot past the edge of the forest and over rocky shore.

I have a moment to gasp before a wall of water is suddenly right there.

Everything twists and turns, and I feel myself being thrown off the wyvern’s remains.

I’m under water.

I choke, water pushing into my throat before everything stops spinning and my thoughts catch up. My lungs burn, but I know I can’t cough, can’t try to breathe.

The wyvern’s corpse sinks down, and that’s enough to tell me which way is up.

I kick, arms swinging out in the worst, most ungainly attempt at a swim I’ve ever managed, but I break the surface.

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I suck in air, then retch burning water and bile as I try to catch my breath. My heart is a hammer in my chest, and my clothes are making it hard to tread water.

Felix is calling for help, wild splashing sounding out behind me.

I turn, taking in the shore just a couple of dozen metres away. Felix is in the other direction, arms flailing.

She can’t see.

I hesitate for a moment before doggy paddling closer, still choking on a lung-full of water. “St—” I try, then retch. I can’t. So I grab Felix’s shirt and pull her closer.

She kicks me, hands grabbing at my shoulders and pushing me down under before I have a chance to take in more air.

Water slips up my nose, and I shove Felix away before resurfacing. “Fe-Felix! Stop! Stop, I can’t!”

She’s flailing.

So I grab her again and pull her close, hugging her to my chest so that her arms can’t hit me or grab me. I cough over her shoulder even as I kick out even harder. “Kick! You need to move your legs, like you’re running.”

“I-I can’t!” Felix cries.

“Just do it!” I shout.

She calms, just a little, her legs swinging this way and that in some ungainly facsimile of swimming, but it’s enough to keep us afloat.

“Okay, okay, stay close, don’t— don’t let go,” I say. Water laps at my face, but I think we’re both light enough that we can float.

I tear my goggles off and toss them aside, then I regret it when water splashes my eyes.

I start dragging us back, one arm swinging in wide arcs. We don’t move fast, but we are moving closer to the shore.

It’s a beach. Not a nice sandy one, but one covered in jaggedy rocks. But it’s land.

I hiss as the back of my foot hits something under the water, but I can ignore the pain. It’s a rock! We’re closer. I start swimming faster, heedless of saving energy, then I find another stone underfoot, and I shove off of it and towards the nearing shore.

Soon, we’re close enough that I can stand.

Felix and I bob, half in, half out of the water. We’re hugging each other. The wind is cold, and my clothes are wet and clingy. I should have tossed off my cloak, and Felix probably doesn’t need her scarf.

Felix pulls me closer, quiet, uncertain sobs pushing against my neck. “We’re okay?” she asks.

I swallow when a shadow brings a deeper chill over me.

I look up, and the angel is there, hovering a hundred metres above. It’s looking at us with its one, reddened eye.

“Yeah,” I say as I hug Felix closer. “Yeah, we’re safe, we’re okay.”

She doesn’t need to know.

I stare at the angel, waiting.

I hope Mom won’t be too sad.

The angel stares for a moment later, then hovers off.

I pull Felix in close and start crying too.

***