Morael

She was awake.

Her wings spread wide, her bare feet hovering a few inches off the cold, stone floor. Her eyes were completely white, as if her eyes had rolled up into the back of her head. Light faintly emanated from them, two beacons leaving me paralyzed with wonder.

Suddenly, she clapped her wings together, and I found myself on the other side of the room, crumpled on the floor.

She did it again, shattering the glass in the window, and out she flew before I could even catch my breath.

She tricked me! But kudos to her, the daemon in her was strong. Or was it the angel being so cunning? I needed her angel blood. She couldn’t escape. Besides, she had no idea where she was going, and I didn’t want her heading into the enemy territory of Phador, the kingdom sharing Asirith’s borders.

“Thazzen! Nakir!” I bellowed, getting up and running to the window as they burst through the door. “Gather the host, she’s escaped!” With that, I flew out the window myself, looking in every direction to see which way she had flown.

My heart sank as I frantically searched empty, red-black skies. The host began to rise from the palace and hovered, waiting for my instructions.

“Go! Every direction, I have no idea where she went!” I shouted and began to head toward the Stygian Plain. Suddenly, I saw a movement to my right. It was her, and she was heading for the kingdom of Phador, home of my most despised enemy, King Zacharial. What would he do with this creature? I didn’t want to find out, and I had a feeling she wouldn’t want to either.

She kept looking back at me as I gained on her, but she sped ahead. Gods, but she was fast.

Suddenly, she turned, hovering in the air, her mouth moving slightly, and two columns of white fire shot from her hands with lightening quickness. I shot up into the air, narrowly missing her attempts to roast me midair. What else could she do??

But her attempt to kill me midflight slowed her down, and I sped forward, tucking in my wings and diving toward her. She kept speeding ahead, but I uttered an incantation to slow her down.

“Egredere obumbratio!”

Shadows began to unfurl from my open hands, spreading through the air like ink through water just as the gates of Phador came into view. Before she could launch another attack, the shadows had encased her like a net. She began to tumble out of the sky, choking out gargled cries as the shadows crawled down her throat, preventing her from speaking her incantations.

I dove down and caught her in my arms and whispered “obumbratio relinquo”, the shadows around her dispelling, except for the ones in her mouth. It would keep her from using her magick, if only for a few moments.

But with her arms free of my strangling shadows, she quickly wrapped her arms around me, dragging me down with her. Our bodies locked together, spinning like leaves caught in a bitter wind. I struggled to free my wings from her deadly grasp, our eyes locked as we tumbled to our certain deaths.

“I’m trying to protect you!” I screamed as the ground rose to greet us.

Her eyes were still flashing white as a sudden jolt from both sides brought us back to reality.

Thazzen and Nakir had caught up with us, and Thazzen was holding onto me as Nakir tried to break the Nephalem’s death grip.

With one hand, Thazzen withdrew his dagger and sliced it across her arm. She screamed, her arms loosening their grip, Nakir wrapping his arms around her, clamping her wings down.

“Come on, we have to get her back to the palace before anyone from Phador sees! King Zachriel doesn’t need another excuse to invade Asirith,” I said breathlessly, disentangling myself from Thazzen.

The girl still struggled in Nakir’s arms, her face etched with fury, but she didn’t make a sound. Her eyes vacillated between white and flame-red. The two entities, warring inside her.

I looked straight into her swirling, hypnotic eyes. “What lies beyond those gates is far worse than anything in my kingdom! You can’t leave the gates of Asirith!” I cried, grabbing onto her tiny shoulders. “I don’t want to throw you in the dungeon, but I will if I have to.”

I turned and flew back to the palace in a rage, leaving Thazzen and Nakir to wrestle the infuriating creature back to Asirith.

 ***