The Newcomer
Chapter 5
Leo was alive.
Falin stared at him, dumbfounded.
'H…how?'
'C'mon Falin. I've already died once. Where am I going to go? Detroit?'
'Detroit?'
'Never mind. Hey, how did you go with Carthite?'
Falin smiled at him. 'He's gone. Forever.'
Leo just shook his head. 'Only someone from this world can kill him. You just knocked him unconscious, as a way of putting it.'
'You mean…' Phoebe started.
'He's not dead. He'll be back, and maybe sooner than you know it.' Falin ran his hand through his hair, shaking.
'We'd better get ready then.'
Piper sprinted at the tackle bag and ducked, rolled, and pushed off onto the bag, her feet slamming into it. She fell onto the ground awkwardly.
'Try to use the bag as another vault, and bend your legs to absorb your weight,' Falin suggested.
She did so, but she slipped from the bag. Falin demonstrated. He sprinted up and corkscrewed into the bag feet first. He flipped off the bag onto the floor.
'Simple. Now you try.'
After much trial, she finally got the trick. Then Prue, who had an advantage due to her powers. And Phoebe next, who was the best of them all. She succeeded first time.
After a few other exercises, it was late evening. Prue was fast asleep, as was Piper. But Phoebe couldn't sleep.
She felt guilty for some reason. But why…
That was it. She hadn't thanked Falin. She decided to thank him in the morning.
And an hour later she was still awake. 'Bugger,' she thought. 'Oh…blow it. I'll go apologize now.'
She crept up to the attic and found Falin sitting hunched on the side of his bed.
'Hi…' she whispered to him. He nodded in recognition. She sat on the bed next to him, and they sat in awkward silence. They both began to talk at the same time, and they stopped apologized, laughed, and Phoebe told Falin to go first.
'I just wanted to thank you for saving me from that demon,' he whispered.
'And I just wanted to thank you for saving my life,' Phoebe said in turn.
'I guess we're even now.' Falin looked back down at the floor, a sorrowful look in his eyes.
'What's wrong?' Phoebe asked.
'Just thinking of the past,' Falin replied.
'What about it?'
'Something that happened a long time……you don't need to know.'
'Tell me.'
Falin sighed. '10 years ago, my family was killed by a gang of bandits. I was out at the time, so I was unharmed. I spent much of the last 10 years hunting them down…just to find out that they had forgotten all about the incident. I felt empty…I felt…'
And he broke down and cried. Phoebe put her arms around him and comforted him. He looked at her, a longing look in his eyes. And she kissed him. They fell back onto the bed, stroking each other, kissing, touching.
They spent the night together.
Morning came.
Falin gazed onto the beautiful girl lying beside him. He stroked her hair from her face and she slowly awoke.
'Good morning, Phoebe,' said Falin.
'Good morning. Sleep well?'
'Best sleep I have had for a long time,' Falin said, his eyes warm.
Phoebe smiled and kissed him. She swung her feet out of bed and dressed herself before going downstairs.
Falin was in awe. He could never have guessed that the pleasures of the flesh were so…fulfilling.
He dressed himself and began to meditate. The events of last night played over in his head. He felt wonderful.
Whereas Phoebe felt awful. It wasn't long ago that she'd had a one-night stand with Belthazar. She felt sullied. She felt like a slut.
It was at that moment that Falin came down and planted a kiss on her cheek.
That was when she snapped.
Prue listened as Phoebe told her of what happened.
'I don't know what you're worried about. He's a nice bloke. A little weird, but still nice. And you said yourself he's cute.'
'But that's not the point! Two one night stands in, what, two weeks!'
Prue shrugged. 'Who says it was a one-night stand? This could turn into a wonderful relationship.'
'I guess you're right,' said Phoebe. But she still didn't feel right. Not at all. She couldn't apologize to Falin.
Piper grabbed the mail. There was a letter for Falin.
A letter was inside it. The letter was from Carthite.
'Hello Hero, how's Phoebe,' Falin said, reading out the letter. 'Just a word of warning. Tomorrow you will awake in a forest. You will fight me. The sisters will be there as well. They will fight my minions. They will be armed as you wish.'
Falin crumbled up the letter. It burst into flames in his hands.
'Go to the attic. Arm yourselves with spells, and weapons you find. I will train you. And we'll beat the shit out this arsehole.'
That night, Falin lay on his bed, wondering what he was thinking when he'd made love to Phoebe.
He felt bittersweet.
He couldn't sleep.
Nobody could.
The four felt the icy fingers of death looming above them.
As promised, they awoke on soft grassy earth. They were all armed, and wearing light fighting outfits.
'Good luck,' Falin said as he ran off to meet his opponent. The three sisters ran off in different directions.
Prue was the first to find her rival.
She procured a small axe. The pair circled. Prue threw the lizard back with her powers. The lizard hit a tree and fell, slightly weaker.
Prue, unsure of what to do, charged with the axe. She leapt high above the lizard and came crashing down upon it with the axe. The blade cut deep into its arm. It let out a piercing shriek, and fell back. She threw the axe at the retreating lizard. It cleaved into its spine.
'One down, three to go,' she said.
Piper was at a larger disadvantage. She had no powers, and was fighting a bowman. Her strategy was simple. Get to close range.
In practice, not so simple. He was a sharpshooter. He fired fast, furiously and very accurately.
She had a short sword and a legionnaire shield.
And she didn't know where he was. She peered from the tree and saw him. He was up a tree. Using her shield as cover she ran towards him and looked for a path up to the tree.
There wasn't one.
She had one option. To throw her sword at him. She had one chance at this. Two if she was lucky.
She aimed, throwing spear style, flinching away from the arrows pelting at her shield.
The blade soared through the air…
And clattered against the tree.
She cursed. Piper had lost her sole weapon. She was out of luck.
Except for the pebbles at her feet.
The first one hit, and the archer fell to the floor of the forest. Piper was immediately upon him, crushing him with her shield.