Faults

Chapter 37: Klaus

I shift into a wolf and charge at Marshall, fuming over his betrayal. "How could you?" I yell before I pounce, knocking him to the ground.

"It's the Kingdom's fault!" he yells back.

He tries to throw me off of him but I bite down on his arm before he can. He cries out in pain and I then release his arm, shifting back into a human. I continue the fight as I pummel him with punches. Marshall begins to fight back and pushes me to the side.

I proceed to shift into a cat and let my claws out, scratching his arms. "You're a traitor," I hiss.

Marshall tries to get ahold of me, but I slip away and shift back into my human form before he even gets the chance. Now that I'm away from him, he stands up and comes straight for me. Behind him, I can see everyone but Dakota fighting Christian and Taylor.

Panning to the right, I see Dakota watching from behind a tree. He's an essential part of this team, and I don't blame him for hiding. If he goes down and so do the rest of us, we have no way of getting healed quickly.

A punch to my gut pulls me out of my headspace. I grunt in response, clutching my stomach. Marshall grabs my shoulders and tries to push me back but I shift into a snake, freeing myself from his grip. All the practice I put into my ability is really paying off.

I shift back into a human and punch him in the face. Following it up with a kick to his side, he falls to the ground and knocks his head on the forest floor. Once I'm sure he's knocked out, I head over to Christian and Taylor. Aster keeps using his transparent form, evading their attacks, but unfortunately it means he can't attack them either. I watch in disbelief as Archie effortlessly throws Taylor back with just a flick of his hand.

Archie's attention is now on Christian but Archie grasps his head, obviously in pain. It must be the headaches he previously warned us about. He also mentioned a strange attack which Christian has used only once: he snaps his fingers and you pass out. Judging by the number of uses that Archie and Aydin have seen–one–it's most likely an attack that requires a lot of energy and Christian very seldom uses it.

I shift into a wolf once again, running at Christian as Taylor goes for Aydin. Taylor stops in his tracks for a few seconds, allowing Aydin to run behind Taylor. I tear my eyes away and bite Christian's ankle, sending him stumbling backwards. He looks at me and my head begins to throb. Morphing back into a human, I bring a hand to my forehead.

Fuck this guy.

Trey speeds past me, his right arm outstretched. He's most likely about to use his ability against Christian, hopefully weakening him significantly. The unequivocal look of evil in Christian's eyes frightens me. Just as Trey nears him, Christian cracks a smile and snaps his fingers.

Oh no.

Trey crumples to the ground.

I fight past the pain in my head and shift into a squirrel, crawling up Christian's leg to his back, making my way under his shirt. He wiggles around, letting out high-pitched yelps as I bite his skin. Eventually, he shakes me off and I fall to the ground.

As I look over at the rest of the crew, Archie is laughing to himself, watching Christian. He steps closer, throwing Christian back a few feet. Dakota rushes over to Trey and places his hands on Trey's chest.

Can magic heal someone that's passed out?

After several seconds of Dakota switching his hand placement, he stands up and resumes his position behind the tree.

So magic can't heal the unconscious. Not good.

Aydin is on the ground now, his brother leaning over him with fire in his palm. I shift back into a wolf and jump onto Taylor's back, my claws tearing into his flesh. He screams as I sink my teeth into the base of his neck. He stumbles back, away from Aydin. He topples over backward, falling on top of me. Shifting back into a human, I push him off of me. "Damn," I groan, feeling a pain in my ribcage.

I get up and walk back to Aydin, offering a hand to him. He gladly takes it and I pull him up. "Dakota," I call out. He comes over to me and I point to my ribs. He places his hands on my ribcage and almost instantly, the pain disappears. "Thank you," I say before he nods and runs back to his tree.

He seems extremely kind, but I don't think I've heard him speak more than twice. His loyalty to people he just met is admirable. It makes me want to get to know him.

I look back at the ongoing battle and Aster finally returns to his flesh form. He lands a solid punch on Christian who is looking pretty weak at the moment. Aydin is still struggling with his brother and Archie steps in to help. Looks like it's time to help Aster.

I clamber over to him and Christian hits us both with headaches. The two of us groan in pain. This headache is far worse than the last–or at least it adds on to the agony I was already experiencing.

Taylor flies through the air behind Christian and hits his head on a root sticking up from the ground. Damn, that had to hurt. He doesn't get up, though, thankfully. Now the only opponent we have left is Christian. This should be easy, right?

It's four against one.

Aydin stares at Christian, watching as he takes three abrupt steps backward. Aster disappears and reappears behind Christian, stealthily grabbing his dagger from his belt.

While Christian's attention is on Aydin, Aster shoves the knife into the front of Christian's neck. He screams and grabs at my brother's hand, but it's no use. Aster shoves the dagger in deeper and pulls it out, proceeding to slit Christian's throat.

Archie, Aydin, Dakota, and I watch in awe as he pulls the blade away and pushes Christian's limp body forward. Christian falls face-first onto the ground with a thump. Aster walks over to us, looking exhausted. He holds the blood stained dagger out to Aydin. "I think you could use a weapon," he says, smiling grimly.

Aydin takes the knife and I peer around Aster to see Christian's lifeless body on the ground, making sure I actually saw this all happen. "We did it," I say under my breath. This is unbelievable. It's strange how accomplished I feel, and how connected it seems I am with the rest of the crew, even though we've only come together recently. "What do we do about Marshall and Taylor?" I ask.

"Marshall can't do much to hurt us, can he?" Archie asks.

"Not really. But Taylor can," I say, walking over to his body which is lying on the ground near the base of a tree. I check his pulse and it's extremely low, barely beating.

"Is he dead?" Aydin asks.

"Might as well be. I doubt he'll be hanging on for much longer," I reply.

Archie begins walking east from where we are, heading back towards Galariesse. We all follow but I stop. Something about this gives me a bad feeling. Then it dawns on me. "What about Trey?" I ask.

"He's out cold. Carrying him all the way back home is just too difficult, since we have to walk for two hours. How about we leave trail markers for him, starting next to where he is right now? He'll figure out that we put them there, especially if we make the first few pretty close together," Aster replies.

I arch an eyebrow. "Do you think that will work?"

"Yes, he's not as stupid as he comes off as most of the time. Plus, he knows to go east," my brother says.

"Alright," I say, satisfied with that.

The five of us go in search of rocks and find some quickly, leaving a few in a line, directing Trey to our route home. On that note, we begin our long trek back to Galariesse.