A/N: Thanks again for the reviews everyone :) All errors are mine. If you see one let me know and I'll amend it. Flashbacks and thoughts are in italics.
Chapter 4
Prey
Just keep running.
Put one foot in-front of the other.
Don't look back.
Keep moving forward.
If you stop, you're dead.
So don't stop.
Never stop.
Icy's feet pounded against the earth, her arms struggling to propel her body forwards to its maximum speed as she sped through the undergrown and past trees and ferns that lashed and cut her arms and legs. She leaped over a fallen tree like a gazelle before continuing on her path, tears running down her cheeks in steady streams from both her eyes and meeting together at her trembling chin. The distinct smell of fire burning in the distance and the sound of her families screams slowly fading into the natural calls of the birds who fled the destruction and cried to the sky.
The pain she felt in her heart, her head, her body, was overwhelming. But she did as they had told her, she ran and never stopped. Not even as the sun set and she passed from one forest and into the next, not even when faced with farmers who were mining minerals from the earth or were planting seeds, not even when her arms and legs were so weak they trembled and, it wasn't until her ankle was caught on a rock and she came crashing to the ground with a hefty bang that knocked the wind from her lungs, that she finally stopped to face reality.
She didn't move, didn't breathe. She lay on the dirt, her vision fading as her arms and hands were trembling with grief. She finally let the sobs she had kept trapped inside for so long take over her body. Her fingers curled themselves into fists as her eyes closed tight, her mouth opening as she cried for those she had lost, for those she would never see again.
Early that morning, Icy had been sleeping in her makeshift bed, hidden within the catacombs of an old abandoned castle on Whisperia. They had traversed the universe in search for a safe location, one that offered them an opportunity to finally rest and recuperate from the journey. After months of running, they had found it. A beautiful, dull, grey, cold castle which had been part of a battle centuries ago judging by the walls moss covered exterior and missing walls. It had worked well as their safe house for now… but all that was about to change.
Icy startled awake in her bed before wiping what appeared to be dust from her face. She inspected it on her cold fingertips and watched other small particles fall from between the wooden floorboards above her head, a creak in the wood filling her stomach with dread and her limbs with adrenaline. She turned her head to the left to inspect her other two sisters who were sleeping silently before flinging the covers from her legs and pulling on her shoes.
With the steady glow of her magic aimed at the spiralling concrete staircase she made her way up, carefully, slowly, silently. She stopped its glow when the first of the morning sun's rays broke into her vision. Stopping at the top of the stairs she held her palm upwards and conjured a diamond shaped icicle to hover. Turning it to the hallway, she commanded it forwards and closed her eyes to control its inspection of the hallways. It rounded another corner before finding a broken window and flying through it into the open daylight.
Icy's eyes snapped open and her breathing stopped. It was like a sledge hammer had smashed against her skull. She suddenly felt disorientated, woozy and as if she was about to collapse from the shire weight of the situation. But she knew she couldn't let herself do it. Forcing her legs to stay strong, she raced down the concrete stairs five or six at a time before busting back into their room and pulling the sheets from her sister's bodies. "Stormy! Darcy! Get up we have to move!"
"Icy, what's-" Stormy inquired.
"They're here," she interrupted before pulling her youngest sibling through the tunnel with Darcy charging up ahead, two fingers to her head already scanning for a clear path through the woods.
"Can you see anything?" Icy demanded, quickening her pace to meet Darcy's.
"Nothing, there's too many of them, they're everywhere."
"What about through the west forest glades?" Darcy checked.
"No, they have the castle completely surrounded, I see ships…Icy."
"Remember our training; just keep running, no matter what happens, just keep on running!"
"AH!" Stormy screamed, finding herself suddenly ambushed by three men. Two pulled violently against her arms and legs. She managed to land a blow to one man's chest with her magic but another two were already on her. They kicked her legs away, leaving Stormy on her knees. "ICY!"
Her scream pierced her cold sister's heart and her feet skidded to a halt as she turned to see the tears glistening in Stormy's eyes. "Icy! You know what to do!" She nodded and Stormy did the same before Icy pivoted on her heel, regained her running stride and pulled her right fist over her shoulder, firing a single shard with a bang that flew through the air and through her sisters forehead.
"Just keep running," she muttered to herself breathlessly, refusing to look back though every part of her just wanted to fight them all away, to forget her training and destroy every one of them for ripping her family to shreds, for hunting them mercilessly like animals during a never ending hunting season. But she couldn't.
'Icy, I'm heading toward the cave on the east side, remember it?' the telepathic voice of Darcy spoke, its echo whirling around Icy's already muddled mind.
'I remember,' Icy replied, finally being able to utter a coherent thought that her sisters incredible mind bending powers would be able to register.
'I'll meet you there; I'm going out of communication range. You did the right thing for Stormy…'
'I know…see you there.' Icy replied, feeling her sister's connection pass from her mind. She didn't know whether it was actually the right thing to do, they had always been taught about what would happen when a witch was taken alive by The Shard and tortured in the vilest, cruellest, most emotionally disturbing ways possible; from everything involving magical mastery to the painful use of both aggressive magic and healing, over and over again until the internal soul of the witch was discarded or they gave up their secrets. She wished it could have been different, wished that they hadn't made the pact that if any of them were caught they would rather be killed by another than have to suffer such a fate.
But that still didn't change it. Stormy had wanted her to do it. She would have wanted the same to happen to her if the roles had been reversed. It was the right thing to do…wasn't it?
Was murdering for the sake of saving others from harm a reasonable excuse? Or could she have done something else, taken a different course that might have ended with all of their lives in the hands of The Shard, never to be the same again?
It didn't matter how many questions she asked, how much she debated with the two sides of her conscience that always returned to her training and loyalty to her sisters. Today wasn't over yet and the true tragedy had only just begun.
Pushing herself from the ground her arms shook uncontrollably, elbows trembling by the shire effort of having to make herself move. Somehow she managed to get to her feet and stumbled forwards into a tree, clinging to it for support as her knees knocked from side to side and calves, now full of lactic acid, were heavy as lead. "Just…keep…running," she whispered, taking a step forwards and then another, each as painstakingly slow as the last. She shook her head to try and encourage some sort of clarity, but her vision was dancing before her eyes like it had been filmed in shaky cam.
But, even through the haze and tears, she had managed to see the blast.
It was white and she hit the ground harder than her sore limbs and body could take. It cracked into a tree and snapped it in half. "Over here!" The man screamed, quickly hitting a sprint as he jumped over another large rock and Icy forced herself up again. New adrenaline returned to her body, making it burn hot as she ran for her life from her attackers. With next to no shadows for her to use to hide in the sunlight she limped, hobbled and dragged herself away as more and more cries entered her ears from behind.
Turning to her right she saw something that looked like an old tree, its root system large enough for her to squeeze underneath to hide. Hitting the deck she scrambled her way in feet first and moved out of sight. Holding a hand over her mouth she forced herself to breathe through her nose, to not make a single sound as they approached and slowed their pace.
One black-clad figure turned and Icy shrunk back from the light, hoping they hadn't caught a glimpse of her. "Anything?"
"Nothing."
"Where is she?"
"She has to be here somewhere, look everywhere!"
If you stop, you're dead.
She could hear their words echoing in her head, but knew for once she couldn't follow their advice. Staying perfectly still was her best chance, and though she knew her reserves of adrenaline were wearing thin and that she probably wouldn't be able to walk once she finally uncurled herself from this terrible position, she knew she didn't have any other choice. One false move or sound and she was dead, and her sister's sacrifices would have been in vain.
"This is ridiculous! Why do we even need her anyway? We have the others." Complained one of the officers when another stalked from the woods and held his hand forwards, making the man's throat constrict and his body hover in mid-air. He desperately clawed at the invisible hands, trying to relieve the pressure and grant access to life giving air once more. Face reddening and heart pumping faster and faster with each passing second.
"We don't have enough seals yet!" Snapped the younger man as he removed his hood, revealing his pale white face, short black and spiky hair, and eyes glowing green with envy. "We need her and unless you have a problem searching under every leaf in these woods then I suggest you tell me now."
His head shook and he instantly smashed into the ground, lungs coughing and wheezing. "Good, now keep searching!"
'I have to get out of here' Icy reasoned, feeling her legs slowly going numb from their compromising position. The crunching footsteps of her adversaries continued, their lights searching through every nook and cranny until a sudden beam of bright purple energy ripped through the sky and exploded like a firework above.
"What the hell was that!?" Demanded the leader. "Forget this one and go see what the hell that was!"
They ran off in search for answers, leaving the ice witch to herself again. She crawled from her position, now covered in mud, cuts, bruises and more than a little blood from her life saving scamper. "Darcy," she sighed, feeling the rest of her world shatter the same way that one signal beam did. A second beam struggled to reach the same height as the previous one and Icy blinked back the tears that threatened to fall as she conjured another shard from her trembling palm. "I'm sorry," she apologised before retracting her arm and throwing it into the sky, hearing her sister's screams amid the yells and taunts of their merciless hunters. Then it stopped, and a single tear rolled down her already sodden and tear streaked face.
She was the only one left.
No more midnight discussions on how to avoid The Shard, no more bickering between the three of them about where to go or where to hide, no distracting conversations to try and relieve the pressure that they felt squashing against their heart every waking moment that they breathed.
After years of conditioning, years of training and or preparation, Icy thought that it would have been easier, that it would have been simpler. That she wouldn't have felt the urge to retch the moment she needed to release that shard from her own hand and end her sisters lives, to save them from a fate that truly was worse than death.
But nothing in the world could have prepared her for what had just seen, heard or felt. And nothing could prepare her for what was coming next.
Just keep running. Put one foot in-front of the other.
Darcy's distraction would only last so long, Icy needed to move. She found her rhythm again, found her arms pumping by her sides to push herself forwards at a reasonable pace toward her destination.
The sun's rays burned her skin from above and did little to help her hide amongst the shadows. The mattered clumps of brown mud that marred her beautiful white hair worked as a form of unsavoury camouflage against the trees and rocks as she forced herself forward and to just keep moving.
The cave was in sight, its sheltered den a welcome sign of relief for at least a moment. She allowed the smallest of smiles to pass her lips, if only filled with relief. When a suddenly larger black shadow spread over her body and before her on the grass, making her eyes widen as she dared to turn her head and look the beast in the eye.
A demon dog. Its body from head to tail black as night and eyes red as the fires of hell. It was blind, an overly sensitive nose its only form of detection and Icy used her opportunity well. She blasted the beast with her ice magic before forcing her aching and weak legs to charge forwards while it staggered backwards, wiping the icicles from its nose with its paw before leaping to follow. Its footprints were twenty times Icy's as she headed to the cave, hoping that the opening wasn't as large as it appeared before. She was proved right when it finally caught up to her and she desperately leaped through its entrance.
Landing with an unforgiving bang on the hard ground and odd stone that bruised her side, she coughed the dirt from her lungs before scrambling away. The demons paw clawing at the opening and making rocks fall around. Holding her bruised side with her right hand she searched the walls, the incessant banging and barking of the massive beast slowly becoming louder and more frequent.
There was no exit to the left, nothing to the right. Taking deep breaths and cursing under her breath she leant against the back wall and eyed the beast before her. Its persistence was something to be admired. It wouldn't be long before others made their way through or followed its tracking. She needed to make a decision.
Just keep running.
But in what direction? She was cornered, like the murderous rat she had become.
If you stop, you're dead.
Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe she should have just given up, forgotten about this entire affair and made her final escape from this hell. Raising a hand to her forehead she closed her eyes tightly and begged anything to tell her the answer…when she realised there truly was only one.
Lifting her left hand away she saw the tattoo, its six points edged in her skin. Her families curse, its blessing, and the entire reason that they wanted her for their aims. In order to create a real change in the course of history for years, centuries even, the six marks needed to be reunited together. The six points represented the six holders of the marks, though it was not directly connected to their existence. The Shard had her three ancestors, and now they had the bodies of her two sisters which meant they could obtain their seals.
They had five pieces to the puzzle.
She was the sixth.
The demonic wolf before her managed to get one paw through and started working with the second, pulling the entrance apart. It was now or never.
Turning to face the wall Ice held her left hand to her chest, her fist forward so the tattoo faced the wall. The entire tattoo glowed a brilliant blue that momentarily made Icy close her eyes before she shot her hand forwards, the blue morphing itself into a hexagon shaped portal.
Never stop.
Icy ran through and was instantly spit out the other side and into a cool, dark night. She hit something on her way out but her mind was a complete whirling blur. She staggered on her feet toward the woods and felt her mark burning with a blinding intensity that made her eyes water and lungs struggle to even form the ear shattering scream that rocked her world.
She collapsed to her side, lungs heaving air as she stared at the mark, one of its points now red raw and burnt white before unconsciousness plunged her into a world of darkness.
A/N: The next chapter will be from Helia's perspective on Flora's death. Thanks for reading and please review.