The Sky Demons Part Two: Quest

Chapter Ten- Foolproof

Ketsuo- Foolproof  

I'd had enough of pacing up and down the apartment, occasionally twitching the curtains open to try and catch any pairs of eyes that might be watching the window from across the street. I had just decided that I was going to go track down Kayira and make sure she was okay, maybe talk over a way that we could track down our spies together. I began walking towards the door just as it burst open with so much force that it was flung from its hinges and sent crashing across the room.

I stared at the door, and then at Kayira who was standing breathlessly in the... well, it was no longer a doorway.

"Hi honey, you're home," I said.

She attempted to surreptitiously slip her hand from where it was held to her side into a more natural position, but of course I noticed. 

"We're being followed," she said.

"I know, and breaking the door probably won't prove particularly helpful in keeping them out of the apartment."

"You were right," said Kayira, looking at me with knitted together brows as she stepped properly inside and extended her wooden staff.

 I raised an eyebrow, "You sound surprised."

 Firah came swooping in over Kay's shoulder, screeching in alarm. Kayira moved to one side of the door, taking a wide stance, her staff held before her and I went to the other, flicking the mechanism on my claws. 

A yowling began from the corridor and seconds later a small shape hurled itself through the door. Kayira whacked it to the side with her staff at the same time as a man wearing a hat and long cloak rushed in, fire swirling around his hands. He turned to hurl it at me and I got half way through the first word of a counter spell before remembering that my magic would give me away and was forced to throw myself onto my back instead.

The next thing I knew Kayira's staff was sweeping in over the top of my head to knock away the man's boot as he attempted to stomp on my shoulder. Light flashed and thunder cracked as she sent a burst of electricity towards him and the room shook as he called on the building to raise a bark wall in the middle of the floor to block it. 

I leapt to my feet, then ducked as that small shape pounced for my head, followed by little Firah, fire curling around the edges of her mouth.

Kay was engaged in a battle of magic with the man, the two uttering spells and counter-spells until a fast-talking Kayira managed to wrestle control of a ball of fire the man summoned up before he had even seemed to finish chanting his spell. The half-formed flame exploded in front of him.

The man flung himself away and I put on a burst of super speed and ran towards him while he was off guard, digging my claws into what turned out to be the padded shoulder of his cloak. Not put off by the padding that stopped me from cutting into him directly I used it to get a good grip on his shoulder and wrenched him to the side so that he fell towards the wall.

He spun as he fell, bracing an arm against the wall and using it to launch himself towards me, I tried to duck out of the way but he reached round with a muscular arm, blocking me between himself and the wall. I let out a growl as I was forced backwards, but a second later Kayira's staff was between us again and she swung it towards the man's chin so that he was forced to use both hands to grab hold of it. She pushed the staff upwards towards his face and stepped in between us, kneeing him in the groin. The shock caused him to lessen his grip on the staff and she immediately smacked it into his face, pushing a huge shockwave of air straight into him as he stumbled backwards and fell.

There was a cry from behind and Firah flew past, a thorn sticking out from beneath one of her scales. I turned to see the creature- green and cat-like- crouching against the floor, hissing loudly as its fur clumped together into spikes. I realised what it was preparing to do and grabbed Kayira by the arm, tugging her to the ground with me just before it released it's spikes so that they flew outwards in multiple directions, cracking the walls.