War Bird

38. I'd Give My Soul.

“I’m going to ask you nicely,” Kull says, clenching her fists. “Stand down or you will be destroyed.”

“I don’t think so,” Merton replies. The Lure coming out from his eyes cranks up a notch and gets even brighter, and now it seems to finally affect Kull. Her shoulders are relaxing, eyes getting hooded. Merton grins and swoops upon her, with hands the size of dustbin lids. He takes a lazy swipe, but amazingly Kull’s shield is still up and it bounces him off with ease.

One of the Hawk sentries- it’s Jenks! - Runs towards him with a stun spell glowing bright red and launches it at him. Merton sniffs at it, quirks an eyebrow and it sends it back at Jenks without missing a beat. Jenks raises his shield, but not quite fast enough and he flies back over the rows of beds like a tiny doll. He hits the corner of a bed frame with a nasty bang and crumples across it, unmoving. Merton looks back at Kull and advances on her. Whatever mojo that blue light has, it’s started to do a number on her, she’s wobbling and it looks like any second she’s going to pass out. When she does, she’ll drop her shield and be defenceless. Weak. Sure enough, her knees buckle and she falls. Merton’s face rips open in a grin of delight, skin peeling back to reveal a skull blacker than the night sky.

“No!” It’s Grace! She runs forward with Merton’s discarded rope. She spreads her hands, the rope glowing a hot, powerful orange. “Religo.” Her voice is strong and clear, her eyes big and dark. The rope flies to Merton, stretching longer and longer as it whips around his form, binding his arms and legs to each other, looping round his head, even clamping between his teeth. It reduces his roars to a frustrated gargle. He drops to the floor like a stone, the impact sending vibrations to my feet.

Kull stirs, shakes her head. Her shield grows bright again. “Thank you,” she whispers at Grace. “I don’t know what happened there.”

I do, but I don’t say anything, I just look at Grace, who is shaking with the effort of her spell, but smiling.

“It’s something I’ve been working on,” she replies, blushing. “Since I started researching Mortal Doorways. Extensive binding spells and the like.”

“Well, when this is all over, I want you teaching things like that to my men,” Kull says. She looks back at the Hawks, who are like her, stirring themselves from the trance Merton put them in.

“I’d love-” Grace stops, eyes bulging. 

“What?” I follow her gaze. It’s Merton. He’s slipping out of the bonds, skin falling off his skull to reveal the face of the thing that has taken over his body. “Oh, man.” A black skull, sharp and pitted, emerges through the skin. It’s wet with Merton’s blood and bits of his skin slip to the floor, filling the air with a rotting stink that I can taste. Eyes made entirely of white-blue light burn in the sockets and swivel with the effort of breaking the orange rope that binds him. Merton’s arms and legs are now as thick as tree-trunks, coiling with with dense black muscles slick with ooze. 

“A powerful trick, little Sorcerer,” Merton growls. “And for that, a painful death.” He lifts a massive arm, and Grace lifts with it, feet dangling. Her faces turns a hot red and her slim body begins to buck, as she scrabbles at her throat- he’s choking her! I leap forward, support her legs. For a moment it helps, and she coughs in relief, but then Merton snarls and suddenly I’m skidding backward, back slamming into a bed. A sharp pain jabs up my spine and black spots flash in my eyes. I fall forward and wheeze, looking back at Merton. He’s watching on Grace shudder in the air, a sick smile twisting his face. “Do something!” I cry at Finlay, who grits his teeth and charges.

But then, Ed yells, a sound of total rage. He jumps on to Merton’s bed and springboards off it with his bayonet held high, colliding mid-air with Merton. Merton is taken by surprise, so distracted was he by his torture of Grace. The two of them go flying backward, towards the floor, Ed’s war cry changing into a scream of agony as Merton fights back.