Awakening (Book One of the Eklektos Series)

Chapter Forty One

The winds buffeted her from all sides and her eyes were streaming. Dust and debris from the arena floor whipped around her, flaying her exposed arms and face. Five harpies swarmed around her, flying faster and faster around the edges. Occasionally, one would dart in and grab at her. As they would only pull her hair so far, cackling and chirping shrilly, Kali knew they were just playing with her. If anything, that only made her angrier.

The creatures were as ugly as ever and Kali struggled against the memory of the only other time she had encountered one. Brown and red feathers had mixed with hair sprouting at odd angles from its scalp. A hooked nose resembling a beak was stretching the skin of its face. Its vulgar form was as embarrassing as it was horrifying. Beady eyes and thin lips. A terrible grin revealing pointed bloody teeth. And the wings, tipped with long bony talons to match the distorted feet. That creature had been alone, and its claws had been more than enough to handle the two girls. Kali's friend hadn't made it out with just a few scratches, like she had.

Her reasoning had gone out of the window when she saw the first one fly from the gate. She didn't know whether rage or fear was the prevalent emotion whirling through her. Either way, her eyes were smoking, and the metal blades of her knives were glowing with heat.

It couldn't have been more than a few minutes since the fight had begun but she was already exhausted. Fighting the wind was taking a tremendous toll on her and she could barely stand. If this was a test of endurance, she would definitely lose.

How much time had passed since she had woken in the cage? It felt like days, but it couldn't be more than an hour, surely? How much longer would she have to keep this up? How much longer could she last like this? Kali had never thought herself as the rescuing kind but every fibre of her being was crying out for Hades to save her. But she couldn't even reach him. The silver cord in her mind was still there, shining, but she couldn't move her thoughts far enough along it to get to him. Did that mean he couldn't find her either?

Kali cried out with frustration when a harpy swooped past and tugged sharply on her scalp again. She had wanted to try to get them when they came in close. Another missed chance. Throwing caution to the wind, quite literally, Kali made a dive for her bag. A claw scraped across her back with another shrill cackle and she slashed out behind her, finally making contact. The cackle turned into a scream and the harpy flapped uselessly as fire spread from the gash in its right wing.

Finally. Kali leapt at the creature with a smattering of blue feathers, ignoring the wind that had only picked up speed, and drove her knife into its other wing. She pressed the harpy back towards the edge of the arena and ripped the knife in a line, tearing the wing to shreds. Its feet clawed at her legs, but she didn't even feel them. As soon as she released the creature, the near tornado lifted its flailing body and smacked it into one of the others.

In the confusion, Kali scrabbled back to her bag and managed to get hold of her bow. She slung the quiver over her back and drew an arrow. Judging trajectory had always been a natural talent of hers. A child of the god of archery should expect no less. She watched the path the harpy had taken and fired an arrow at a seemingly random spot outside the circle. But she knew it would hit its mark. Sure enough, it spun past one harpy and straight into the throat of one of the others.

Kali did not pause to see the arrow embed itself in its target. Instead, she fired off six more arrows in quick succession and was rewarded by several shrieks as two harpies fell out of the sky. One had fallen, broken on the ground. Its red hair spilled around it like blood as it twitched for a moment before lying still.

She did not get the chance to fire again. Even as the second harpy dropped from the sky, claws embedded deep into the shoulder she had bruised earlier. She cried out as her feet left the floor, tearing into her flesh. Dropping the bow, she swiftly drew her knife again and plunged it upwards blindly. Blood poured over her and she realised her knife had pierced through the creature's throat and into its skull.