The Chimeras In The Library (NaNoWriMo)

Day 27 - Let's Be Bad Guys

It all happened in a split second. The chain snapped and the minotaur charged forwards. He lowered his head to steady himself and one of those horns ran straight through Walter's chest. He gave a high-pitched scream and fell to the ground, magic already swirling over the puncture as his body automatically tried to heal itself. Ryan staggered back, clearly panicking, magic totally forgotten as the minotaur, now dripping with blood turned to towards him. There was a crack and the whip snapped across the minotaur's back.

Ryan's mother clearly wasn't prepared to give up without a fight. She snapped the whip out again and it curled around the minotaur's horns. She hauled him backwards, reeling him in, almost snapping that muscley neck backwards, but he gave a roar of defiance and swung his head, dragging her off her feet for a moment, but she regained her footing. She was laughing, a high, taunting laugh that clearly said she was enjoying the fight.

"You're not going anywhere," She told the minotaur. "You're mine, bought and paid for. And you will bow to me, one way or another."

She braced against the whip, turning her head slightly towards Ryan, but never looking away from the Minotaur.

"Are you planning on doing anything, you useless boy?" She asked conversationally. "Christ, all you mages and it comes down to me to get things done."

Ryan cowered slightly, but magic sparked in his hands. Well, Kyrtle dipped in her pocket. She'd already done one bit of magic... She pulled out her stylus and drew another glyph of breaking. The whip snapped in two. Ryan's mother, caught off guard staggered backwards, hitting Ryan and slamming them both against the barn wall. Kyrtle hesitated, then shrugged, drawing another glyph. A rock, the same colour and weight as one from the wall appeared in midair above them, then landed, hard, on their heads. With a dull 'thunk' they both collapsed to the concrete floor.

The black minotaur turned and for the first time, Kyrtle felt a flash of fear as his eyes locked on her. He was a hell of a lot taller than her, and twice as bulky and as he wheeled around in her direction, she took a tight grip on her stylus, expecting him to charge at her now... but... The older, dusty brown minotaur stepped infront of her, blocking his path. She jumped. She'd almost forgotten about him, he'd been so drab and defeated. His hands moved rapidly, clearly spelling something out to the minotaur, some kind of sign language and the minotaur slowly straightened up, pulling out of his aggressive stance.

"Thanks," Kyrtle said quietly to the brown minotaur.

She looked around. Walter was still being meshed together by his magic, completely out for the count as his magic tried to heal him, but there was stirring under the rockpile. Kyrtle moved forwards, sketching again, with another crack, the chains on his wrists fell off and he flexed his arms, keeping a careful distance between them, watching her warily.

"Do you understand me?" She asked him quietly.

He nodded slowly.

"Good, then if you want to get out of here, we have to move quickly," She said swiftly. "Head straight out of the courtyard and head towards the two big hills, that'll take you to the city. I know it seems counter-intuitive, running to where there's more humans, but there's enough minotaurs there that they won't be able to find you easily."

She looked back at the black minotaur, then hesitated, pulling her hankie from her pocket.

"Of course, you might want to get the blood off your horns," She said grimly. "That might give you away a bit."

He snatched the cloth off her, like he was scared she'd bite him, and started to wipe the blood off his horns. She paused. Well... in for a penny...

"And I might be able to give you a headstart," She started sketching something. "This'll make you invisible for about 8 hours, it'll fade with the dawn, but that should be enough for you to get well out of the way." She looked at the brown minotaur. "I'm just sorry I can't do the same for you, but you're branded. They'd find you in seconds."