Sealed in Stone
Chapter 10: Nice Aim
Mina stopped when they reached the fire, the popping and crackling flames they had left behind were now just glowing embers, a cold wind was blowing in from the East and there was an eerie silence hovering around them, only broken by wings flapping in the distance or the random pop of an ember.
Mina stood, letting her eyes adjust. She spotted a lump of fabric a few feet away. She took the necessary steps to reach it and dropped, rather ungracefully, to her knees. Her hand met flesh as she lowered her arm down to the cloak that had been wrapped around her brother, even now. He was a good 30 feet away from where he had fallen asleep, Mina prayed he was only unconscious. But as she rolled him over, her eyes met his and angry tears swelled up inside of her. Her body trembled from oncoming sobs, she felt her heart break all over again as she pulled her little brothers body to her chest. She curled over the boy and her body shook with grief and her lungs struggled for air.
Sarah turned into Jareth when she realized what had happened, she let her tears flowed freely while Mina tried to hide her state of weakness. Jareth wrapped his arms around Sarah as his eyes watched Mina. He closed his eyes briefly and turned his head to Sarah.
The fire sprang back to life suddenly, revealing the scene around them.
"No! Mina Look Out!"
Mina looked up and met the now freed Gryphon's eyes right as the dagger pierced her back. She grunted in pain and looked down at the body in her arms, her mouth open and her eyes wide as the dagger slid out. The thing she held in her hands looked identical to her brother. Except, the skin on the body was blue the eyes were golden and their was the most frightful and demented smirk she had ever seen dancing along his features.
10 of the blue skinned zombie like creatures appeared from the smoke of the fire and circled them. Mina pushed herself away from her brothers animated corpse and crawled back towards the fire. The thing that used to be her brother stood, just like any other living being would and approached her. He grabbed her hair and pulled back with increased strength and tried to push her into the fire. Her hand wrapped around her only hope and she raised her arms up like she was about to grab her hair but instead plunged the stake into the stomach of the corpse and moved enough away from him to turn and tackle him to the ground. When she did that, Gryphon broke loose and fought the smoke figures with whatever he could, Jareth protected Sarah and kept a close eye on Mina. The Prince and the Princess wrestled in the ground, the corpse had the dagger in his hand and Mina was fighting him for it. The boy threw her back into a tree and removed the stake from his stomach and threw it away from all of them.
Gryphon, now fighting 3 at once, the rest had been disposed of or had fled in fear, had watched the dagger with his eyes and knew exactly where it had landed. He caught Mina's eyes and nodded. She blinked in reply and looked back at the approaching figure, her head still a bit foggy.
When he got close enough, she pounced.
She knocked him to the ground, at the same time raising her hand and the dagger flying into its place. It twirled around her fingers and she slammed it right between her brothers eyes right as his dagger plunged in between her ribs. She gave one more strong push and the corpse's eyes became normal, the blue tone faded away, and blood seeped out around the sharpened stick. Mina stumbled away, new tears forming in her eyes as the eyes closed and the body faded away, leaving on a crown in its place. Mina pulled the dagger from her stomach as she rested against the tree. She moaned in pain as her skin and tissue formed back where it had been.
Sarah's eyes widened, larger than they already were, "How did you do that?"
"The electrical shock His majesty gave me earlier make the process of my healing go much, much faster than the normal pace. It is wearing off, but it has healed me enough so I can handle this part on my own."
She stumbled as she tried to push off the tree and Sarah caught her quickly, the tone in her voice was sad, almost like she had lost hope.
"Mina, you know what this means... do you not?" Jareth asked as he walked towards her.
"Yes, It means they're getting nervous. We're on the the right track."
He nodded once, "Can you walk?"
She shook her head, "Not well."
"There is a town, the last one until the divide. Do you think you can make it there?"
She looked between some of the fallen trees, seeing the glow of the city at the bottom of the slope.
She looked up at Jareth and shook her head. "I do not believe so."
Gryphon walked over to her, turned his back and knelt. Sarah lowered her down and she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and he stood, letting his arms wrap around her legs and walking a few steps, "Come. There will be more soon." he spoke before walking forward.
Mina smiled and whispered, "Nice aim." Into his ear.
He chuckled, "One in a Million shot."
She nodded, "That is was.