Princess of Flames

Chapter 30

          She felt bad for giving Soaren and the others a false hope because at the edge of the forest she saw a ship in a secluded part of the shore and knew that they weren't wasting time going through Varese or other ports. She knew that when they got to Karatall, Rowan and the others wouldn't already be there. She knew with several magic wielders that she couldn't get away alive. So she wanted to make one last stand if only to make Sera even madder, and maybe kick Brydan while she could. 

          She had shackles from Sera's power so she could still use her magic. As she walked onto the gangplank with Sera in front of her and Brydan at her back, she kicked the back of Sera's knee which buckled and shoved her off the plank. As Sera hit the water the magic shackles disappeared. She turned and kicked Brydan square in the chest sending him flying back into all the other soldiers. She turned and shifted into her wolf form. She made a run for it down onto the beach. In her head she cursed, she couldn't run in the sand as a wolf. She shifted back. She heard sets of footsteps behind her, she didn't turn to look at who. On instinct, she put up a shield of fire as a whip of dark power lashed out and connected with the shield. It buckled but held. Taylor ran to the spot they descended from and got a hold of the damp rock. She scaled it as fast as she could. Another blast of Sera's power hit her shield and broke a hole through it. She tried to haul herself over the ledge but faster than she could move, a soldier pushed her off the cliff face. He must have scaled it in a shorter spot. She was so focused on her magic that she wasn't climbing as fast as she could have without distractions. She hit the sandy ground. Thankfully because of her training she twisted so she didn't break her arm. The air whooshed out of her chest. She was still up in half a second. Sera walked toward her clothes and hair soaked. She looked mad, scary even. Taylor adjusted her stance, she knew there were going to be black eyes and split lips in the end. She just hoped she could hold her own long enough to see Sera wearing them. She was older than Taylor, Brydan's age, so she wouldn't count on staying conscious for too long. Sera stalked toward her and once she was within two feet she lunged. Trying to sweep her leg and throw a punch. Taylor ducked and whirled around. Taylor wound up and aimed a kick at her stomach. Sera grabbed her leg and twisted it which made her spin and hit the ground face first. As Sera tried to get on top of her to pin her, Taylor rolled onto her back and her fist connected with Sera's face, that was going to be the first black eye. She wondered who was going to get the split lip first. Her knuckles split on the impact. Sera reared back, and like with she did with Soaren, she got her legs under her and sent Sera flying back. She could tell Sera knew the rules in this fight; No magic. Taylor and Sera both jumped up again but Brydan ran over to them and hauled Sera away. Taylor wiped the blood from her chin. When Sera had spun her, she must have split it open on a rock. "Brydan, stay out of this." she snarled at him. Sera was so worked up in her anger that she punched him in the gut then kicked him away from her. Even though she shouldn't, gods, she still cared about him and that set her off. She ran and tackled Sera pinning her easily and gave her that split lip. Sera threw her off the same way Taylor did, only Taylor hit the side of the cliff. All she saw was Brydan getting up and running to her. As he started to pick her up she asked with a smile, "Did I win?" Before he could answer she was unconscious. 

          "You put up a good fight." She sat up, she was in a bed, in a small room below the deck of the ship they were on to Karatall. Pain blinded her for a moment. She noticed her chained hand in his and pulled it away. They had actually put on real shackles now. "I-" she winced at the cut on her chin. "At least you can't talk nonsense right now." She glared at him, he continued, "Sera only made it back to the ship before fell unconscious too, so I'd say you did good." She gave him a proud smile. That hurt too. "So it seems you do still care about me, you even fought for me." he said. "I ... do, I suppose. But you betrayed me. You lied to me. If you cared about me you would have told me." "Taylor, I wanted to, I tried to. In Doranelle, I tried to explain. But I knew you would hate me for lying no matter what and I figured if we could get actually get you to Sellene you would be safe, but that didn't work." "If you want to help then you should probably get out." she answered refusing to meet his gaze. He stood up and began to walk out the door. "And when you tried to hold my hand in the forest I said not to touch me." she added with more viciousness than she meant before he got into the hallway, referring to when she woke they were holding each others hand. "I didn't reach out to hold your hand this time. When you were unconscious you reached out and held mine." He was out the door before she could reply. She wasn't sure what to say anyways.