Awakening - Part Five

     "I'm sure my daughter has told you about me?" he asked. Hiterkuna realised that this must be her father, Tarnath. A full grown Zafara, Lord Tarnath would be far harder to fight than his spoilt daughter.

     He was. Taking out his sword, Tarnath advanced on Hiterkuna and slashed at her with experience. She blocked it with her dagger, but the impact sent her to the floor. Victoria had joined her father for the kill, and they were both advancing on Hiterkuna. The Christmas Zafara backed up into a corner and whimpered slightly. Victoria cackled maniacally, and her father sneered.

     Thoughts poured into the cruel Zafara's head and he stopped his daughter.

     "Let's take her with us. We'll let our companions do whatever they please with her, and then we'll kill her." Victoria wrinkled her nose, but thought about it. The assassins were crude and drunk a lot...letting them do what they pleased with Hiterkuna was a tempting thought. She grinned and nodded, and her father made the move to smack her across the head.

     Hiterkuna felt an explosion and everything was black. Victoria and her father sneered and tied her up. Then, Tarnath shouldered the unconscious Zafara and they left, laughing.

     Yubioke and Mesbeto ran into the hall only minutes later. Yubioke looked wildly around and spotted Gizial, lying on the floor. Mesbeto called out, "Look!"

     Yubioke ran over to her brother and saw what he had indicated. The hem of a black cloak, cut off by Hiterkuna in her battle between Victoria, lay there. Yubioke picked it up and stared at it blankly. When she got Mesbeto's "duh" look she snapped, "I'm built for hearing things, not smelling."

     "Dudette!" Mesbeto shouted. "This smells like blood. And who deals with blood best?!"

     Yubioke gasped as the realization hit her. "An assassin!"

     ~*~

     When Hiterkuna woke, she could feel tight ropes binding her. Whatever she was being carried in bumped once or twice. She opened her eyes wearily and looked around. Bars. Bars were in front of her face, and beyond those bars was a dirt road.

     Hiterkuna gasped and exclaimed, "I'm in a caravan!"

     "Yes, you are," a voice said. Hiterkuna whirled around and staring at her was a black Krawk. On his cloak was the letter A for assassin. The Christmas Zafara ground her teeth in fury and remembered how Victoria had betrayed all of Meridell.

     Hiterkuna thought of any way possible to get a weapon. Keeping her eyes on the Krawk, she searched the assassin's cloak she had stolen. Feeling around in a pocket, she found a knife. She mentally grinned and let the Krawk do the talking.

     "An associate of mine has given you to the assassins. You'll stay untouched until we've completed our...job." She knew what this job would be. The royal family was in danger, as was Kyradose. She grabbed at the knife and prepared to strike.

     The Krawk sneered, "You are to be used tonight as we please. It will be fun stringing you out on a-" the Krawk gurgled desperately and Hiterkuna stared at him blankly. The dagger she had embedded in his throat had done its job, and the Krawk fell to the floor, dead.

     "I live how I please," she told the dead Krawk, "and I'm not living like this." She bent down and reached for the Krawk's cape and dug through it. Hiterkuna smiled when she found the key.

     She unlocked the door and leapt out of the caravan. Behind her, voices sounded out the alarm. Before she knew what had happened, Tarnath had tackled her to the ground. She growled furiously and attempted to kick him off, but he held fast.

     "Kill her!" he shouted to Victoria. The royal Zafara smirked at the Christmas Zafara and took out a sword. She held it above the Zafara's head and brought it down.

     Hiterkuna whimpered and prepared for the blow, but instead, she heard a noise. A loud, grounding noise that reminded her of one thing: Yubioke's chainsaw. She finally gathered the courage to open an eye and look around. The Aisha stood in front of her, fighting Victoria's sword with her trusty petpet. Victoria's father would've done Yubioke in, but Mesbeto shot him in the ear with an arrow. The older Zafara doubled over, holding his ear.

     "Get off my sister, you filthy scum!" she screamed in rage, whirling the chainsaw with far more experience than Victoria's. The royal Zafara wasn't quick enough to block the chainsaw, and she screamed as the sword thudded to the ground.

     Mesbeto growled and took out his dagger, "You're gonna pay for that one, you filthy chick." Hiterkuna would've laughed at his slang, but the situation was a little too grave.

     But Hiterkuna was snapped out of her thoughts when she shouted, "No!" Her brother and sister gave her a confused and startled look. They had been nearly ready to do the spoilt brat in.

     "They're not worth it," the Zafara explained, "Let's just go. Kyradose needs our help!" All three of them nodded, including Whelp, who Hiterkuna had just noticed. She picked up the baby Zafara and took the sword from his paws.

     "You shouldn't be playing with this..." she muttered, looking the rusty thing over. "But I suppose you've been with Yubioke." With that, she followed the older pets out of the field and toward Meridell.

     ~*~

     I chased the Kyrii out as fast as I could. He ran over the drawbridge and out onto the plains, where darkness was settling. I clenched my teeth in anger and put on an extra burst of speed, but the Kyrii was much faster than I would've thought. The weasel-like pet ran as fast as he could go, and it surprised me.

     When I realized that I had only my dagger to fight with, I growled. My anger was increasing, and it wasn't helping the situation. The Kyrii sped ahead of me and out into the open field. I followed, and realised his intentions.

     Lifting the orb-like object up so it caught the moon's rays, the Kyrii shouted, "Come, serpent!" The ghostly aura inside the orb glowed with intense power and the moon started fading. Even though complete darkness surrounded us, I could tell that something bad was about to happen.

     The ground started shaking violently and I was thrown down. I heard a powerful crack and rocks shattered everywhere. An enormous serpent rose from the abyss in the ground and hissed evilly. Upon noticing the Kyrii, the serpent lunged. The assassin made no move to escape, and the snake bit him on the shoulder. I heard only a faint whimper as the Kyrii whitered on the ground, and the snake swallowed him whole. I would've cried out in terror, but the snake would notice me. I simply bit my lip and winced.

     The snake licked its chops and hissed in an unmistakable laugh. I was disgusted by its laugh, but I couldn't afford to make any noise. The snake didn't seem to bother, as it noticed me anyway. It looked around the plain until its bright green vision found me. It hissed in fury at seeing me (for some strange reason that I can't explain) and lunged.

     I was extremely lucky that time. I rolled over and just barely dodged the bite and the snake landed on the ground, sending up clouds of dirt. I grabbed out my dagger, as if it would protect me at all, and leapt onto its head. I furiously stabbed at the snake's skull, but all it did was laugh and shake me off. My wings didn't open fast enough, and I thudded to the ground. Dazed, I managed to see the snake lunge at me again.

     Something thudded into me and pushed me aside. I regained my senses and looked to see my sister, Yubioke, glaring at me.

     "Idiot!" she snapped, "How to you expect to fight this thing with your little tooth pick?!" I knew she was right. Yubioke's chainsaw was humming with a metallic glee as she lunged at the huge snake.

     The chainsaw didn't do that much, but the damage it did was far more than that of my dagger. The chainsaw's sharp ridges collided off the snake's skull and scraped it forcefully. The serpent howled in agony and lunged again, only to have its skull cut down to the bone. Finally, it changed tactics and spun around like lightning, whipping the Aisha with its tail.

     Yubioke fell to the ground, stunned. Her chainsaw lay in a crumpled heap a few feet away from her. The snake glared at me once again and lunged, but this time, an arrow found its way into the snake's eye.

     The enormous beast roared in fury and whirled around to see Mesbeto with its only eye. The Acara had his bow in position, aimed at the snake's other eye. With a twang the arrow flew, but the snake quickly slithered out of the way. Mesbeto cursed and was knocked down by the force of the snake's tail, landing on the ground only a few feet away from Yubioke. Both of them were unconscious... where was Hiterkuna?

     I heard the Christmas Zafara scream in terror and whirled around. She was standing there, a baby on her shoulder and a rusty sword in her hand. What protection will that give her? I couldn't help asking myself. Hiterkuna gasped and said, "Behind you!"

     I whirled around and just managed to dodge the snake's deadly fangs. I stabbed it in the head with my dagger, but that did little to hurt it. Hiterkuna saw that too, and looked desperately at the sword.

     If only it weren't so...old, she thought. Wait a minute...there had been a big blotch of rust on the hilt, but now it was gone. Was the sword getting...sharper?

     "Kyradose!" she shouted, tossing the blade to me. If I had the time, I would've complained about the bad condition, but I had no choice. I grabbed it and sliced it across the snake's lunging skull. At first, nothing happened. But, as I looked closer, I could see the blade changing.

     "Wait a minute," I thought out loud, "is this thing...transforming?!"

To be continued...