Court of Snakes: This Desert Cage

Retribution - The Palace | August of the Third Year

Ink seeped into Parisa's skin, the blue puddle travelling across her hand in the shape of a wheel as the magick of the cards filled her veins. The world around her slowed to a crawl – Perseus, The King, everyone moving at a fraction of the speed that they had before. She had been given time. Her eyes darted upward to meet the face of her father, who screamed on a balcony above it all, hollering orders at his men. His face strained in the chaos and his skin reddened in the tension of the moment. For a second and only a second, she pitied him because she knew he was going to die.

In slow motion and screaming with all their might, the two mobs clashed with each other. A hundred guards came at a hundred citizens, weapons colliding and armor glinting. Parisa flew like a shooting star from soldier to soldier, using the back of her hand, her knees, her elbows, anything beside her knife to subdue her enemies. She disarmed them, grabbing as many weapons as she could and running them behind the front lines of the common folk. She knew because she had trained with them that the guards were useless without their precious training and their guns. One after another fell like flies as she flew, unsure of how long her card would last. She spun to duck under a sword that cut over her head, the King attacking with unrestrained rage at a guard behind her, six swords floating at his back. Terran screamed something at her father, though she could not make out what he said.

And then the card was done. The magick faded and she stood, exposed, in the middle of the battlefield.

"Your Majesty!" she cried. "I put weapons behind the front lines!"

"To arms!" The King cried. "Use their own weapons against them!"

Bullets flew from their side of the conflict, now. Everyday people dropped with holes in their chests and blood on the grass as they were cut down. The gaping hole that The King had blown into the throne room still burned as they fought. Parisa's hands trembled as she drew another card. IV of Cups. The King defended her as she recharged, his movements smooth and solid, filled with intention and purpose. He and Perseus cleared a path to the doors so they could get to Talbot before he had time to retreat.

"Don't worry!" Terran screamed. "We can take them!"

Parisa spun to find him defending a group of now unarmed civilians. He thrust a hand out, his palm glowing hot white with magick, a blast of scalding hot light blowing back a row of Talbot's men. Parisa's skin prickled with magick, and she looked to find her fingers glowing with mystery and an effect she did not know. She snapped and nothing happened, so she ignored what the cards had given her and fought her own military peers with her dagger. Someone grabbed at her collar, and she choked, dragged back by someone much larger than her. Whoever it was put the barrel of their gun against her head, and she twisted to get away from them. Perseus threw his fist into the guard's face and Parisa hit the grass. She jammed her metal-plated boot into the guard's shin, and he fell to his knees, stunned by everything that had happened.

And then another grappled Perseus. Parisa rose as fast as she was able and jammed her fingers into Commander Creven's eyes, hoping that something would happen, something to save Perseus. The commander froze, paralyzed by something that she could not see, and in an instant, he began to swat at himself. He panicked and slapped at his skin as though thousands of bugs that Parisa could not see crawled up and down his arms.

"Damned witch!" he screamed. "Get them off! Get them off!"

Guards and citizens alike fell in pools of blood that stained the white marble of the courtyard, splattered upon the green grass and blue flowers in the greenhouse. Friends screamed as people they had known their whole lives fell and Talbot watched from his balcony as Parisa and Terran helped clear the way. He paused for a moment, Parisa froze, trying to anticipate his next move, and then he retreated inside.