Dream and Nightmare

Chapter 21 - One Shot

“Tiam, do you really want to start a fight with me?” Rendel asked dangerously. His black locks had fallen into his face, and the sleeves of his jacket were rolled up to give him more arm movement.

Tiam smiled confidently. Why were the bad guys so handsome? “I didn’t just bring her along for fun.”

A similar green glow emitted from Lina’s hands, and Rendel turned his attention to her. “Right. Jack and Fe, could you two worry about Tiam? And Roze and Anah, stay out of the way.”

Anah scowled at the back of his head. She knew he was right, but she didn’t like his attitude about it. She couldn’t be completely useless, right?  

Lina giggled happily. Whatever Shritaum had done to her had changed her completely. “Renny, I’ve always been stronger than you,” she taunted, rocking side to side on the balls of her feet like a tennis player during a match.

Rendel still looked relaxed which helped calm Anah a bit. “You’ve always thought you were stronger than me,” Rendel corrected.

Lina’s attack was so fast that Anah almost missed it. Rendel moved just as fast to dodge, but the bolt of green ended up hitting Felidy who stumbled from the force, grabbing vines to keep herself from falling.

Rendel tensed, glaring at Lina from under a fringe of bangs. The woman grinned manically. “Did I find your sore spot?”

He didn’t look behind him to check on the ginger girl, but his voice was dark as he called back to her. “Fe, talk to me.”

“I’m fine,” she said, but her voice was hoarse and shaky.

Lina shook her head. “You should know better than to give away your weakness so soon, Rendel. Didn’t Shritaum teach you anything?”

Rendel put his hands out, palms down to the ground. His knees were bent, prepared to spring at a moment’s notice, and his eyes were glued to Lina. She made the first move, her attack heading straight for Felidy. Rendel let the green magic fly by him, using Lina’s momentary vulnerability. Green sparks shot along the lengths of the vines he was touching. The magic wrapped and twisted with the branches, skating over the landscape and ensnaring some of the thin ropes hanging around Lina. The vines, under Rendel’s control, wrapped around the woman's arms.

“What weakness?” Rendel asked. “You don’t really think I’d be so easily distracted? Fe can handle herself.”

Lina pulled against the strong vines in an attempt to break her arms free. “This isn’t going to work,” she said gleefully.

The green magic surged brighter, making Lina convulse in pain. She curled her legs up to her chest, suspended in the vines by her arms. Her scream echoed horribly through the forest.

“Rendel, stop!” Felidy shouted. For just a moment, the green light faltered, and Lina broke her arms free. She pulled a knife from her sleeve and threw it into Rendel’s torso in a flash of green.

Lina was out of breath but grinning. “Thank you, Fe. And yes, Rendel, I do think you’d be so easily distracted.”

Rendel tugged the knife from his stomach and tossed the bloodied blade aside. “That was careless of me; it won’t happen again. Now let’s finish this quick before I lose too much blood.”

Lina tried another knife that was easily dodged. Rendel tried the vine trick again, but Lina had been expecting it and cut the ropes away with a third dagger.

Anah stupidly got drawn into their fight, watching from afar but not paying any attention to the one behind her. It wasn’t until Jack shoved her to the ground that she remembered. “Watch out,” he said.

“Thanks,” but Jack was already back on his feet, facing Tiam. His face was bleeding, and his shirt was singed as if he was in a fire. Felidy was visibly shaking, but she was still able to hold her own.

Anah had never seen the boy fight before. It was nothing like the way Rendel and Lina were fighting with twenty feet between them.  Tiam, Felidy, and Jack were engaged in hand to hand combat as blue sparks flew from their limbs when they attacked. They didn’t hit often, but when they did, the force nearly knocked their opponent to the ground.

Felidy was moving slower than the others; repeated attacks from Lina as well as Tiam slowed her down. Jack made up for her, fighting with a skill that surprised Anah. Had he learned all that from his grandfather?

At one point, Jack pulled his gun from his waistband only for it to get kicked away. The cold, metal instrument flew from his hands, landing on the vine covered ground some ways away. Looking to the other side, Anah could barely see Lina and Rendel through the bright green light and whipping vines. Roze was standing even farther away from the fighting than Anah, half hidden behind a pillar. The gun was laying only a few yards behind her.

Anah slipped through the vines to pick up the gun. Roze followed, probably for an excuse to get even further away from danger. They were ignored, seen as unthreatening. Why couldn’t Anah be a threat? She knew how to work a gun.

Between the tendrils of white and black, and the close proximity to Jack, it was near impossible to accurately aim the gun at Tiam. “You’re going to miss,” Roze whispered, being oh so helpful.

Anah decided long ago that ignoring her sister was the best way to handle her. “Stay here,” she ordered.

With light feet, Anah slipped between the tendrils of white and black, tiptoeing over the uneven vines with care so she wouldn’t trip. Despite her inherent clumsiness, Anah was well practiced at being as quiet and as sneaky as possible. It was harder for her mother to yell at her when Anah wasn’t there, and even better when Mary didn’t realize Anah wasn’t there.

After almost falling twice, Anah found herself directly behind Tiam. She silently pushed the vines aside, getting closer to him than she felt comfortable. Just as she was about to raise the gun to aim, Jack missed a bolt of blue meant for Tiam. The magic tore through her left arm, burning and numbing her arm at the same time.

Literally biting her tongue, Anah managed not make a single sound of pain. If it weren’t for Jack, Tiam would’ve been completely clueless. However, as soon as he hit her, Jack’s eyes widened in horror like he’d committed some awful crime. She quickly gave him a look of warning, but not before Tiam got curious and started to turn his head.

Luckily, Felidy had more sense. She punched him in the face with a fist full of brilliant green magic, making Anah cringe in pity.

The distraction was exactly what Anah needed. Even with her messed up left arm, she raised the gun, taking careful aim. She only had one shot at it before they’d realize what she was doing.

Squeezing the trigger and watching the bullet shoot through the air, Anah felt like it was far longer than the microseconds it actually was. The tiny piece of metal tore through his chest, and for a moment, her world went silent.

Had she just killed a man?

Anah had been so distracted trying to shoot him that she hadn’t fully been able to think about what she was doing, but in the short time before he fell, it all came crashing down on her. Killing wasn’t something she’d ever even thought about, but there she was, a gun in her hand and a man at her feet, blood spreading over his chest.

Lina’s screams pierced the silence. She ran to his side, Rendel letting her go. The words she were calling Anah weren’t all in English, but she understood the gist of what she was saying. Anah assumed that only Shritaum’s orders stopped Lina from killing her right then and there.

Before anyone could do much of Anything, Lina disappeared with Tiam in her arms in a flash of green so bright, Anah had to look away.