Arrows cut through the air. They were a flock of deadly, swooping, diving birds, with deadly beaks and claws. The entire group soared up, into the heavens, slashing into the very night its self and screaming across a blue, velvet sky encrusted with twinkling stars, like tiny diamonds. It was a black swarm of stinging, stabbing things, their heads glittering sharply.
Boudica watched. Her heart rose. Never before had so many arrows been loosed before at Dun Aengus. Every man, woman, and child strong enough to wield a bow fired off a quick bolt into the heavens, over the outer wall and towards the Romans. There were thousands of arrows in the air, flying towards their destination and the flesh of those invading pigs. The queen had never seen so many arrows. But, then again, she had never seen so many invaders coming to Dun Aengus.
The woman held her breath.
The arrows began their descend, plummeting to the ground towards the Romans and Praetori alike. Boudica watched with hope as they came down, down to those intruders upon the timeless lands of the Iceni.
The Roman generals called something in their strange, barking language.
Shields were raised in one, swift motion. Mairi gasped as those curved, metal and wooden things came up in waves, threading and overlapping like scales on a fish. They gleamed like the backs of beetles for one, shining moment before the arrows came down, finding their home in nothing more than shield. Nothing could penetrate those.
"No…." Boudica whispered.
The advance continued. The Romans moved together now, in unison, their shields bridged together to form one, massive cocoon around them. They were an impenetrable, unstoppable force.
Mairi drew another triple shot but held. "What do we do?"
Suddenly, a strange sort of sound came from across the moor. It was a sort of swooshing sound, short and soft. Boudica's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped as a slick return volley of arrows came from behind the advancing foot soldiers. Archers stayed where they stood, using massive crossbows to fling arrows across the moor. They were doomed.
"TAKE COVER!"
xxxx
Salty.
The air felt heavy, laden with thick, hot salt. But this was not a displeasing salt. No, this was warm and mellow, welcoming if such a thing could be. It was moist, damp from the sea. Amon stood there, allowing the scent to fill his nostrils as the rich air flooded his lungs like a refreshing steam.
This was so familiar.
Amon was on the right track. He knew he was. The ocean. The beach. There was something here, something the man needed to know. But, what? Amon wracked his brains trying to sort everything out, but it was still too fuzzy and unclear.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"
He shouted the question to the sky, asking God, asking the heavens, asking anyone for the answer. It was as if some supreme force governed every aspect of his life. It was as if someone had crafted every moment, every subtle influencing factor to lead Amon to that point. The man felt duped. His mother snapped, became a witch. He became a hunter as a result. And, as a hunter, Amon found that rag tag band of witches, first heard of the Thirteen. It was as if every small factor led up to finding out who and what he was.
And, yet, Amon was still no closer to the truth.
"What?"
He sank to his knees in the sand, listening to the waves crashing and rolling on the beach. The sunlight almost blinded Amon. The hunter had never been a creature of the daytime, of life. He had always been nocturnal, always. The beach didn't suit him. It was sunny, and happy.
"Why?"
The man glanced across the way and found his answers.
"I see."
xxxx
They fled, ducking behind the turrets and anything they could find.
The Iceni were pinned down, as a rain of arrows felt from the sky. Screams pierced the night as the bolts of their enemies slammed down from the heavens and into the flesh of the Iceni. Mairi's eyes went wide as she watched so many fall under the onslaught.
"Mairi!"
Merric rushed to her, allowing his wings to unfurl and curved over his twin sister, protecting her, His arms wrapped around Mairi abruptly, almost harshly gripping her in a tight squeeze. Mairi caved into him, falling into his protective embrace. She held her own brother back as his muscles grew taunt, His teeth clenched, but Merric's lips still loosed a grunt or two as several bolts dropped from the sky and into his ebony feathers.
But, oh the screams. They were tormented, shrieking cries of pure agony. Mairi felt like crying, but she tried to purge those noises of suffering from her mind. She had to ignore them; the girl had to push on.
Merric slipped away from her.
Mairi watched in horror, a scream lodged in her throat, as Merric stood again. His wings, once glorious in their deep, rich ebony, where stained crimsoned from those bolts and arrows. Those silver and wooden bits jabbed out of his wings, jutting this way and that, studding his wings. Blood dripped right off of them, pooling at the young man's feet in a sickly, crimson puddle. The girl gaped, wanting to cry out, but completely unable to.
Merric tried to smile, forming instead an awkward grimace. "I told you…. We should have left while we have the chance."
"Merric…"
xxxx
"Where is Amon?"
Robin asked the question again, sterner this time, but calmer. The teenage Craft user was worried, dreadfully so, but the girl had every right to be. Nycole knew this. She had seen and tended to Amon's wounds. He was too weak to be wandering around, his injuries still too fresh, and Robin was fully aware of this fact.
The teenager shook, terrified for wherever the man had gone to, her mind formulating god awful scenarios again and again. Amon lay in a gutter somewhere, bleeding to death after ripping open his own stitches. Amon had been shot, mugged in some blind alley. Amon had been captured by Solomon and was slowly being tortured at the hands of Zaizen and his cronies. There were just so many gloomy and horrific possibilities for Robin's mind to fill in.
Nycole tried to calm her, reaching out with her own Craft and feeling the subtle tendrils of Robin's mind.
"I don't know." There was no other answer Nycole could give.
Robin blinked, startled. "No."
The empath shook her head glumly. "I'm sorry, Robin, but I honestly have no idea."
"He's looking for answers," Kristo piped up from his corner of the room. "He's gone to go figure out who he is."
Robin just stopped, as if unsure of what to say or do. "But…"
Right at that moment, the door swung open. Kristo leapt to his katana, ready for anything. The others drew up their Craft. Robin slipped her glasses onto her nose as the door to the flat opened. If it was to be a fight, this intruder had one hell of a battle coming. The shadow walker edged closer to the doorframe, grabbed the knob, and jerked inward, dragging the form behind it into the flat.
"Come in…."
xxxx
Their time had come.
In the life of every warrior, there is a moment when he or she has to find the courage to push on. Not the courage to fight, but the bravery needed to die. The first step into death is the hardest, but, once made, the warrior can never look back. Nothing mortal until death can touch he or she who makes that jump, that step.
Boudica stood proud, drawing forth both dagger and spear; she made her step.
There was no more sense to bows and arrows anymore, not with those shields of the Romans. There was no breaking through those shields with the fragile arrows of the Iceni. The heads and shafts just shattered, splintering on the shields of the Romans. Boudica had lost too many already to continue with such a desperate and foolish plan as to assault the invaders with arrows.
"STAND READY."
Mairi gasped. Even bloodied, the girl had never seen as splendid a sight as what was before her. The Thirteen. They stood atop the wall, ready for battle, their wings spread and fluttered out. The entire band seemed prepared and on edge. Their muscles quivered across the wings, like horses, primed for motion, for flight.
The leader, a tall fellow with soft, dusky white wings brandished his sword to the heavens, out over the wall. "We stand together!"
Boudica shouted. "I ask not for your blood, but for the blood of these intruders on our lands. " She looked to the men behind her. "I ask not for your lives, but I ask to you live these last moments of your life bravely. I call you to spill their blood, 'til it rains from the heavens and soaks the land of your ancestors in scarlet. For Iceni!"
A cheer arose from those few that remained, no more than a hundred men and women warriors from the once great empire at best; the leader for the Warriors screamed out to the sky, to the stars and moon, echoing the roaring multitudes. "FOR ICENI!"
They braced as the Romans bore down upon them.
Mairi held up her own dagger. "ICENI!"
Their time had come.
Merric stood close to his sister, feeling the heat rising from the two of them. "This is probably the end, sister."
"I know," Mairi breathed.
He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. "I shall see you in the next life."
"And I…. You."
Fate came down to Dun Aengus on swift wings.
xxxx
Was this a quick enough update for you, GoingCrazyNotKnowing? Hope you enjoyed. I keep forgetting to thank all my wonderful reviewers. It's you guys… and my own insanity that keeps me writing this piece.
