SpinTales

Didn't See That Coming

Chapter 5

'If I don't do something drastic, I'm a goner!!' thought Lucian as he dived away from another assult from Brodie.

'Why can't I stop? I can't control my body, but I'm aware of every move I make!!' shouted Brodie in his head as he sent a wave of acid from his hands to where his friend stood. 'He's been dodging my attacks for some time now and I don't know how long he will last!!'

Vaya was running to try to cut off one of the creatures chasing after Dane. 'DAMNIT!!! That kid is going to be the death of one of us!' She thought as she hurled a fist - size rock at the creature's body that was chasing the boy. Earlier she witnessed the change that transpired in her cousin, but when she started heading his way, she began to feel the sphere calling to her again, only louder. Her body began to tremble from a sudden coldness and thought better than trying to disarm her cousin. Her instincts told her it would be best to keep some distance between them, so she did by going to remove Dane from harm's way. However, that proved to be futile since the boy seemed to be a magnet for severe danger.
As the rock hit it's mark, the beast screeched and whipped around to face her. It's blood that spilled to the ground ate away at the grass, melting it to nothing in no time. She called out to Dane to move his rear out of the way, but before she could a vision came to her mind's eye warning that a new evil is about to make itself known.

Stauss, Thadd, Alley and Davina were fighting to keep the creatures from pursuing after Brodie and Lucian, but a new terror began to rear its ugly head in their path. The corpses that were scattered about began to rise and move in their direction. Thadd beheaded one of the corpse that had grabbed his shirt. He gasped in surprise after seeing how the body and head reconnected and got back up and went after him again.

Storm clouds began to accumulate over the battle-ravaged town with few of the town folk still clinging to life. Everyone was fighting for their lives since the town folks that were murdered had suddenly became animated and were stalking down the seven outsiders that were fighting in their town.

Lucian was exhausted after dodging acid for almost an hour, and didn't want to have to hurt his friend to get him to stop, but there didn't seem to be a way to avoid it. The tiny sphere that was now in Brodie's possession began to pulse and seemed to call all the monsters to him. Brodie retreated back so the beings surrounded him and acted as a shield as Lucian looked on. It looked like they were communicating to one another, then they turned to Lucian.
It became eerily still except for the sounds of slaughter in the background from the others and the sky grew dark with flashes of lightnening. The thunder started to roll in with a crashing boom and with it the hysterical laughter that filled the air that echoed the mountain side.
"Lucian!! Watch out!!" That was all he heard before he was thrown back several yards by a force too quick to see. Stauss and Alley made quick of cutting down several of the undead that attempted to take them down and rushed to Lucian only to be blocked by a shadow figure with a malicious grin displayed across its face.
Instantly, Lucian recognized the figure that appeared even though it had its back to him.

The others witnessed the newcomer that appeared out of thin air and how it stood defiantly against Alley and Stauss.
"That was quite entertaining!!! Do tell if you enjoyed the bloodbath as I did!!" the black figured laughed out. Stauss was quaking with fury as those words reached his ears. Alley shouted out, "You sick bastard!!! Why are you doing this?!" The shadow figure's smile began to waver as if offended by the outburst. "Silly human, I thought you wanted to play." And with that, he looked over to Brodie. "Did you hear that, my pet? I think it is time to teach them some play ground etiquette."
Brodie came up fast and pounced at Alley while swinging his blade at her head. Both she and Stauss dodged the attack by bolting in opposite directions only to have more of the undead swarm around them.
'Oh, no!!! I have to stop myself!' mentally cried Brodie. 'This hold is way to strong!!', but all the same, he tried to stop his attacks on his friend, while the shadow man just kept laughing, but couldn't.
Lucian took that opportunity to attack the black figure and went straight through the body!!
"YOU are quite entertaining to think that you can bring harm to me!!!" He stated with a gruff laugh.
Both Alley and Stauss tried in vain to disarm Brodie, but was off each time by mere inches. While they continued in this fashion, Thadd came running up to try and seize hold over Brodie. He managed to grab hold of his left arm and was shocked by a current that passed through his entire being. His tormented screams only encourage the shadow man to to dance and laugh frantically. Brodie turned his full attention to the poor soul that he was tormenting, not by choice, and grabbed him with both hands, causing the electrical currents to run full force. He was so distracted by Thadd's agony that he didn't notice Stauss coming up from behind him and found he had been wrestled to the ground with the help from Davina and a female stranger. The moment she made contact with his flesh he felt the tight binds controlling him begin to slip. He didn't have enough time to act, yet alone think before he face planted into the ground. The ambience of the stranger's closeness calmed him to where he forgot what was happening and surrendered himself completely to darkness.

The laughter stopped at this and glowing eyes widened. "Yooouuu?!?! But how?!?!" The shadow man howled.

Vaya appeared by his side in an instant and sent a barrier hex to bind him. Right when he felt the crackle of the spell, he fled into the air and shot a great wind to push her back. Vaya tried to resist the pressure of the wind, but could not and ultimately lost control of her spell resulting in the shadow man's escape.

He howled with laughter once more and said, "That was quite exhilarating, however, you do not play by the rules. We must play again without the cheater!!" And with that, he vanished along with all the semi invisible beasts. Bodies all around began to drop dead once more and the storm that threatened havoc across the lands dissipated with his retreating form.

They were grouped together again with Thadd leaning against Alley for support and Davina embracing Brodie on the ground. Vaya, Giles and Stauss stood guard in front of them while Dane helped Lucian to his feet. They all looked at where the black figure disappeared then turned to look at the strange woman that came to their aid. They were all awestruck by her beauty that came radiating off of her pale features. She stood silently looking, also where the fiend disappeared.

It was Vaya that broke the silence, "Thank you for helping us. We were at our wit's end with this whole ordeal of not fighting our comrade."

The stranger turned suddenly towards Vaya with a very surprised expression flitting across her delicate features. "You can see me?" She asked in a hushed voice. They all were stunned by her question. Davina spoke up, "Of coarse. I saw you running up beside me after Stauss and I dropped Brodie... I just didn't see which direction you came from."
The beautiful stranger just nodded once then began to scan the ruins of the village without another word, and everyone got the feeling that they no longer existed to her as she drifted away to the towns square.

Davina then turned her attention to the ones who were severely injured and began the arduous task of healing while Stauss stood guard.

Vaya walked over to her cousin and stooped down to pluck the tiny globe from his pocket. As she held it, a faint glow lingered within and she heard it pulse. She didn't like it. It was suggesting that she kill the young lad named Dane, as well as the main guard, Stauss. It spoke in detail of how to rid the group of the useless ones among them. The ones who would die easily if they were left alone to fend for themselves. But deep within her, she knew it didn't make sense. Why would she hurt the people she cared about? And then something snapped inside and she realized that this thing was trying to control her, just as it did to Brodie. She knew now the time had come to take matters into her own hands, and the object was now getting angry with the thoughts that were passing through her mind.
She was suddenly zapped with a burst of energy and almost threw the bauble away, but clung tightly to it. "No you don't. I'm not going to succumb to your will." She stated as she forced her will on it, imprisoning it with a binding spell.

Davina slumped down to her knees after healing the youngest member of their group. 'All that's left is Vaya.' she thought. As she looked up to search for her, she noticed that her friend was nowhere in sight. Sighing to herself, she got up to look for her. All the while she was working on patching people up, she didn't once notice the people from the village watching her. Stauss and Lucian were standing guard and notice Davina looking about.
"What's wrong, D?" Asked Stauss. "Nothing, just seeing where V had gotten to." Lucian looked around and said, "We should move away from the outskirts of the village. Something feels off and we need time to recover and gather info from our recent encounters." They all started to gather their belongings while he searched for V, wary of the town folk as well as the strange beauty whose eyes kept fluttering to Brodie's unconscious form. 'Wonder what's up with her.'

(To be continued...)