Draiks and Angels: Deity

10 - Blade

They stopped to catch their breath only when they were sure they had gotten away. It was difficult for Satiya to breathe through the gag, and she was getting light-headed, so she was glad they stopped. Amisi had led them to another, smaller alley, after winding through the streets so much that Satiya didn't know which direction was which anymore.

Khait, noticing her plight from the rough sound of air rushing around the gag, unbuckled it from behind her head and gently pulled the bands off her wings, careful not to bend any feathers. Amisi was keeping watch at the head of the alley.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Still gasping for breath, Satiya assured him, "I'll be fine now. Thank you for taking those off."

"What about those?" he said, pointing to the cuffs still around her wrists. "I know how to pick locks, but I would need some picks and mine are back at the temple."

"Just let me recover a minute. I can do it."

After a few minutes to calm her breathing, she turned to the handcuffs. One was tighter than the other and it hurt. She closed her eyes and imagined a key: a universal key. She inserted the imaginary key into the cuff on her left hand and felt it drop away. Then the right. She opened her eyes and saw Khait watching, amazed.

"Could you open the locks on the artifacts like that?"

"No, nothing magically shielded. Just mechanical locks, the simpler the better."

Amisi came over and said quietly, "I think we got away. We need to get back to the safehouse, but we will have to take the long way there, and then we should lay low for a while."

"How long is a while? Every day my parents are in Kek's grasp, the stronger he becomes."

"Maybe a few days."

"What about the Blade of Ra? Do we get it first?" Khait asked.

Satiya pondered this for a second, "I think we should leave it. It is safe where it is. If something were to happen to us, we wouldn't want the Blade to get taken by someone."

She didn't have to say who "someone" was.

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Michael struggled to breathe as Kek squeezed his throat harder, cutting off his air.

"Still, you cannot find them?!"

"No, my Lord."

Kek noticed Michael turning blue and relaxed his grip on the Angel's neck. Michael sucked air greedily through his nose. Kek turned to the human male, prostrate on the ground and trembling with fear.

"First, you fail to bring them to me when I asked, then you take three days just to tell me you still cannot ascertain their location?"

"Y-yes, my L-Lord," the human stammered from the floor.

"Gragh!" Kek yelled, throwing a bolt of Shadows from seemingly nowhere and through the man's body, impaling him.

The rest of the humans in the room scattered, leaving Kek alone with the bound Angel and unconscious Draik. Both Cona and Michael still had IVs hooked up to their arms, leading to bags of fluids on metal stands with wheels. The one attached to Michael rolled back and forth as Kek moved with him in his grip.

Unhappy now, Kek resumed his daily feeding on the Angel's magic. To Michael's surprise, he spoke, to no one in particular, "This is taking too long. Curse those Angels! I had everything! I had power, minions, a kingdom. No one would oppose me! Then they had to seal me for what appears to be thousands of years! Damn them all!"