INIQUITY- kaz brekker

Ten

The antechamber was a house of peaceful serenity. Wind chimes rippling in the wind as water trickled from beautiful crooked fountains. The only noise that pierced the serenity was Ohval, opening the door to the chamber to find the lifeless bodies of Tolya, Kaz, Jesper and Iris. 

Inej clung to the ceiling of the chamber and when Ohval entered, she dropped to the floor so silently that the wind didn't even hear her, ready to strike. Yet something within Inej or perhaps upon Inej, rippled loud enough that the woman heard. Without even turning her back, Ohval flung a kick backwards that sent Inej sprawling across the courtyard. 

Inej, unprepared for the women's perfectly attuned senses, dusted herself off and thrust dagger after dagger at the woman. However, Ohval was one step ahead and each blade that Inej threw was deftly flicked away by the fingers of a talented Durast. The rest of the crew that lay on the floor quickly jumped to attention, ready to assist Inej in a fight with a woman who seemed hardly human. While Tolya and Jesper ran forwards, Kaz paused and made to move away to the right.

"The fight is here Brekker," Iris spoke firmly, creasing her eyebrows as she watched the boy try to walk away.

"And the heartbeat she is protecting for it, is over here," Kaz replied sharply.

"Don't be long," Iris nodded. Her soft words caught Kaz by surprise. He went to reply with a harsh remark but found he couldn't summon any words to criticise her with. Instead he simply nodded and slipped away into the darkness. 

As Iris descended the steps, she found herself behind Tolya and Jesper, both of which had their firearms pointed towards Ohval. Inej with her ribcage of blades was also ready to battle the woman. All of a sudden Iris felt very unprepared with simply her hands and a library of chemical knowledge in her armoury. 

With a simple flick of her wrist, Tolya's gun clattered to the floor and Jesper's became mangled beyond use as the woman bent them out of shape. 

"Foul play," Jesper exclaimed indignantly. 

As Tolya moved to slow her heart, Ohval was quicker and as she drew her arms apart, Inej's blades flew from her sides and hovered in the air in front of Ohval. The Durast drew back her hands and all of a sudden the blades faced the Crows. A second later they were hurtling towards the quartet who found themselves scrambling to the ground to cover themselves. Tolya and Inej did so gracefully while Iris found that throwing her body as far to the side as possible worked perfectly well. 

"Seriously offside," Jesper shook his head. 

Ohval, clearly tired of how much Jesper was talking, decided to put a stop to it. Grabbing at a silver chain that was attached to her ornate headpiece, she tossed it at his neck. When it struck Jesper, the metal clung on tightly and began to choke him. 

"Shit, Jesper," Iris exclaimed, rushing over to the Durast and attempting to pry it off his neck. 

As Tolya and Inej engaged in hand to hand combat, against any other opponent they would be highly favoured to win. Ohval was not any other opponent. A kick to Inej's face sent her sprawling and a punch directly into Tolya's gut had him biting his cheek in pain. As the woman sent the pair to the ground over and over again, Iris trailed her eyes worriedly between them and Jesper who signalled wildly with his eyes to help Tolya and Inej. 

As Iris stumbled forwards, Ohval caught her eye, prepared for a new challenge. Iris could fight. Victor and Pekka had taught her to and if you lived in Ketterdam, survival wasn't possible if you couldn't throw a punch. Yet Iris didn't fancy herself fist to fist with the most powerful Durast she'd ever battled with. The odds tipped heavily in Ohval's favour and Iris Zusak wasn't one to try and tip the scale.