Diamond slings the Dwarven warhammer over her back and adjusts the cloak. She half expects the weight to make the shifting of the cloak awkward, but instead, it feels as if there's nothing on her back at all, and shadows float off her still.
Hearing the sling of metal, Diamond looks over by the fireplace and sees Malick spinning a Faceless dagger between his fingers. It rolls smoothly, gracefully and he repeats the action, gazing at the fire lost in thought.
They've been waiting for at least ten minutes. Waiting for Veera's signal that the plan is in motion. Malick only told Diamond the basic structure of the plan, nothing really specific; in which can be both good and bad at the same time. This is serious, and Diamond can't afford to mess up now lives are on the line. Lives she's trying to preserve rather than kill.
Suddenly there's a pounding on Diamond's door, but no one calls from beyond it. It pounds, twice, three times, then six times. Malick instantly hurries over and hauls it open, but no one is outside. Malick looks left and right before motioning Diamond over. Diamond swallows, her heart suddenly tripling in speed.
"Okay, hurry we don't have much time. We have to run." He orders.
Without consent, or even realizing it, he takes Diamond's hand and they instantly take off down the hallway. Already Diamond can smell the smoke even though Malick said that the fire is supposed to be in the deeper recesses of the mansion. Perhaps Veer did her job too well.
Diamond is stumbling blindly after Malick as they barrel down the hallway with no thought of anything but to get out alive.
They make a beeline down the hall towards the archway that leads into the grand foyer of the mansion. Diamond knows that this'll be too easy, and if it is, that means there's worse waiting for them on the other side.
Suddenly Diamond can see the shadows of the hallway move and shift. Instantly she wants to stop, but with a harsh tug from Malick's hand, she's still running. She watches as he whips his hand down and in between his fingers are lethal looking-throwing daggers. With this one hand, he chucks them forward and instantly they land in the heads of what look to have been forming frost atronachs. Crumpling upon impact, an icy chill wafts over their feet as they pass, mist forming in the still heated hallways.
Diamond would've mentioned how they were probably created to stop the fire, but despite that Malick probably wants to prolong the fire as much as he can, Diamond realizes that he has gone rogue. Everything that moves is a target. He's shooting reflexively. Heart pounding, adrenaline burning through him, everyone is his enemy. Except Diamond. There's nothing to do but move forward, killing whoever comes into their path.
That's probably why he refuses to let her go. But even with the feeling in her fingers gone, and the steady growing tightening in her legs, Diamond is relieved. Losing Malick now, in this place it death itself.
The heat is horrible. Even with still no smoke in sight, the thickening air threatens to suffocate Diamond at any moment. They make a sudden jerk turn left and the heat gets stronger.
Malick backpedals and hunkers them both down underneath the stairwell. There's a long, low groan.
The entire upper level above them breaks and spills down burning bits of furniture, wood clothing, curtains and sparks. Burning floorboards crack from the mass and fall in showers of sparks in front of them. Malick instinctively jumps over Diamond who curls deep into herself. The heat is now suffocating and the embers scatter about onto the carpet, instantly starting up another flame. Muffled shouts come through the hole. In a matter of minutes, Diamond's throat and nose are burning.
Discomfort turns to distress until each breath sends a searing pain through Diamond's chest. She feels Malick's fingers fiddle with her cowl and he pulls up her mask. Grateful, Diamond finds it soaked with sweat already and it offers a thin veil of protection.
Malick pulls Diamond again, and as they start running again, Diamond can hear Malick curse at Veera under his breath.
Sprinting through the halls, Diamond trusts Malick with every turn they make. He's been here longer. He knows the halls.
As they run, Diamond takes in the massacre. The heat dwindles, but scorch marks dot along the walls and furniture, looking like the house has a case of ataxia. Diamond is surprised when she feels a spur of relief in her chest a she remembers that there are few members of the Faceless, there by relieving her of having to see dead bodies of members lining the halls.
The floor races by beneath Diamond's pounding feet, the thick air stinging his lungs. As she runs, Diamond feels her body enter that uncomfortable place of being warm on the inside but cold with sweat on the outside. She knew she'd pay later for not having warmed up or anything before launching straight into a full-out run.
Diamond looks down and finds Malick's free hand reach for his enchanted dagger, spinning it blade out and keeping it at his side. It's now that Diamond realizes how fast he is running. His body is level from his head to the end of his spinal cord. Perfectly straight, his feet are quick, patting the carpet in quick blurs. Diamond can just see that only his toes are tapping the carpet, his arms out straight at his sides and his head still. Diamond always knew the Faceless were incredibly fast, but watching his feet makes her dizzy.
She hears the pop of wood and the hiss of the embers. She looks over her shoudler, and despite the cascade of sudden noise, the rustling and crackling, she can't sense so much as the slightest movement in any direction.
Diamond feels her throat constrict and her chest tighten. Her heartbeat speeds to triple time. Her one palm, cold and sweaty, tightens around the straps of her dagger, and she feels the blade pound against her.
Out of the corner of one eye, she thinks he sees the edge of a dark something. Then there's another at her left. Figures, tall and long, rush through the black gate of the scaled walls on either side of them, their movements too fast. Impossibly fast.
As they speed up, so do the dappled forms.
They seem to multiply as, out of her periphery, she spots yet another. This one glides away from the others to rush along the group of trees directly beside them. It moves along the walls, through paintings, dashing over the remaining furniture – a rippling form.
Diamond tries to cry for help but can't find the breath, able to only choke out a low sob. She can't stop to scream, but she can't keep going like this, either. She can't breathe anymore. Her lungs sting from the cold while her sides ache with stiffening pain.
She can't outrun them. She can't gain even the slightest bit of distance, and already a stitch the size of a softball has begun to knot itself in her side. She blocks out the pain, pushing through. Run. Run. Run!
Up ahead Diamond can see a familiar doorway still in perfect condition and her excitement pushes her forward. Malick pushes through it, too harshly and the two tumble forward. Malick ready, rolls with the momentum and comes up on his feet. Diamond an only manage one knee.
As she tries to stand, her knees buckle and she nearly falls if not for Malick's protective arm. He pulls her arm across his shoulder and hauls Diamond to her feet.
"I just need to catch my breath." her voice is rustic.
Malick nods and removes his mask, inhaling deeply, coughing as he exhales.
In the grand foyer, Diamond slumps down against one of the six columns on either side of the room, bracing the upper level of the mansion. Then the vomiting begins. It's an acidic substance that scalds her throat and makes its way into her nose as well.
The grand staircase braces wide with the red runner carpet stretching up and further back into the home. Malick paces back and forth, his head turning left and right to scope out what Diamond can see as an empty room. But evidently, the Faceless' eyes are meant to see far better in the darkness.
"Where's Veera?" Diamond struggles to ask.
Malick doesn't answer. He keeps looking around.
Diamond is about to ask again, when she hears a thump from beyond the remnants of the foyer. Malick's hand flinches to his dagger. Diamond stands, readying her weapon as well.
Veera comes flying from the top of the stairs, her body a limp projectile until her back slams into the middle section of the stairs. Then does she follow the momentum and flips, landing shakily on her feet. One foot slides out from under her and she fumbles to her hands and knees. She instantly looks up to Malick and Diamond and Diamond's eyes sting with tears.
Veera has a split lip, a gash on her temple, causing blood to stream down her face and into one eye, a smeared bloody nose and a bruise already forming on her left cheek. Without her wrappings, her hair looks like a few chunks have been seared off from her fire. Her wrappings are burnt and a few have been eaten away by the flames.
Diamond can see her hand holding her dagger is covered in red welts, her clothes drenched in sweat. Diamond's stomach clenches at the sight of Veera's calf. The flesh is a brilliant red covered with blisters. The burned area is the size of Malick's hand. None of the skin is blackened. If it's bothering her, Veera is excellent at now showing it. She shoes no weakness.
Veera mouths something to Diamond and Malick, and even though Diamond can't understand it, she feels Malick nearly thrust her to the floor and behind the column. No farther back until they're against the wall.
Diamond crouches next to Malick and peers out. Veera spins out the Faceless dagger and an ebony short sword.
Diamond hears the whizzing before she sees the arrow. Veera instantly brings up her sword and the arrows ricochets off and sticks into the glass of the window.
"You shouldn't hide your mistakes, Veera. They will find you. Burn you." Zusa's voice booms out across the foyer. Diamond instantly retracts behind Malick.
Diamond peeks back out and finds Zusa standing at the top of the stairs. She still wears her wrappings, only how they're under a dark black plate mail that glows a deep purple like the armor has absorbed the flames of the house and now pulsate with the beat of Zusa's heart. Still the armor fits her, as it accentuates her curves and elongates her torso. If she were fighting a man, they'd easily be too distracted by her to fight back. And Zusa can use that moment to strike a deathblow and end it.
Darkness creeps in around her, spreading its fingers through the banisters, working to smear the room into a single black blur. Zusa's cloak stretches back over the crimson rug, darkening its stretch behind her, black like a ribbon of ink. Her weapons hidden by waves of shadows that roll off her body like smoke from a fire.
"I expected better of you, Veera." Zusa snarks.
Veera merely answers with the spinning of her dagger and sword. She raises them above her head, poised and ready to strike.
"You showed great promise. I sheltered you, fed you, clothed you since you were a babe and still you insist on hurting me for the sake of apathetic girl who doesn't even care?" Zusa's words are steady, but Diamond can sense her anger boiling slowly beneath it.
"This isn't about Diamond so much as it is me. This is now personal." Veera hisses. "You took away someone I cared about. So now I'm returning the failure."
Zusa laughs. "You foolish child. There is no one in the world that I could care about."
"You may not care about someone. But you do care about something." Veera rephrases. "You're reputation."
At this, Zusa's face contorts into a vicious snarl and she pulls her cloak back to reveal her weapon.
A Daedric Sword.
Only seeing a handful in her lifetime, and that being on the belt of rich Jarls, Diamond is stunned and suddenly fearful for Veera as Zusa draws her blade.
Daedric swords are somewhat visually similar to scimitars. They have a curved handle and a serrated edge, with the exception that the Daedric sword has a much darker color, and contains sharper edges around the hilt. Slowly as she grabs it, the sword glows purple and black, a black flame permeating around the blade.
"I've always hated you. Ever since you killed my mother. Diamond was just the martyr I needed to finally face you for the whore you are!" Veera spites. "Once Diamond escapes, your reputation will debilitate. She will spread word of your abuse and falsehoods, and soon everyone will look to you as nothing more than a psychotic ruthless bitch! You're evil."
"Evil?" Zusa asks. "You parade around my home in wealth that could have fed you for years while on the arm of a man who never would've loved you as family. Like everyone never has. He soon would've rejected you just as your father did, you brat. But still you cling to him in hopes of receiving such love in return. It is not wishful thinking. It's desperation."
Diamond feels a weight drop in her stomach. Clinging to the arm of a man. Does she mean Malick? Who else? Diamond looks to Malick, and she's right. He stares at the two women, eyes alert and, hurt.
Could Zusa mean that, since the death of her mother and rejection of her father, that Veera had longed for the love of a man, whether as sibling or lover? Thinking back to their relationship, they teased and joked and argued like brother and sister, yet Malick still always kept Veera at a distance, but Veera seemed to understand and even accept it. And the way Malick looks now, he did care for her in a brotherly way. What Zusa is saying is not true.
Veera has to believe that. She has to.
Zusa is trying to get in her head. Make her unfocused, and Veera will pay dearly for it if she lets it get to her.
Veera clicks the blade of her weapons together and begins to weave back and forth.
Tensions coils within Diamond like someone is stirring her insides with a fork.
"You don't have to do this, Veera. Like I said you show great promise. Show me where she is, or you will die."
Veera's swaying stops, then she cocks her head. She seemed to be studying Zusa, staring into her heart.
"You will kill me anyway. The die is cast. So be it."
Zusa draws her blade, her cloak snapping erect and lashes out in a single smooth motion, the blade bathed in dark fire. Veera falls backwards, her spine arching and her knees bending. After the sword passes harmlessly above her, she snaps forward lunges with her blades, swinging them in a dance that is beautiful to behold. Zusa wields her sword with both hands, needing the grip on to hang on when Veera smacks it aside with her blades. One scrapes against Zusa's plate mail and catches in a crease while the other gouges the flesh underneath Zusa's chin.
Diamond hadn't seen Veera fight before and could tell she was well experienced; but compared to Zusa, Zusa is like a ghost. Nearly every swing Veera makes seems to cut air. Blood splatters across the wrappings on her chest. Her wrist has been cut, thought Diamond has no clue how. Veera steps back and thrusts. Zusa parries with her left hand, then steps forward and slashes Veera's right wrist. Desperate, Veera twists so the blow strikes the thin pauldron atop her shoulder. It did, and the pain is brutal, but the deep bruise is far better than the gash it would've given her neck.
Diamond thought she'd struggle with Zusa's heavy armor, but Veera's dagger cuts through the mail as if it is butter. The metal melts and smokes purple after each cut, helpless before a powerful magic.
Veera holds strong, flipping back and away, her body curling around sword strikes as if he bones are water. She swipes out Zusa's feet and rolls the opposite direction, spinning and leaping high she vanishes in a puff of smoke.
She suddenly leaps from behind Zusa, but despite the surprise, Zusa blocks it and hurls Veera further across the foyer, sending her crashing into the marble columns, a small crater crackling with fissures imprinting. Veera falls, but catches last minute, sloppily rolling to her hands and knees.
Diamond looks to Malick who remains intensely fixated on the battle. He grabs the hilt of his dagger and begins to rise. Diamond instantly grabs his wrist and pulls him down. He looks to her with absolute loathing. Diamond tries not to let it get to her.
"You can't go, Malick." She pleads. "You can't."
Veera retreats back, her shoulder aching, and she's avoided death twice by the sheer quickness of her feet. Breathing is getting difficult. Zusa, however, is still smiling despite the drops of blood.
The magic in both weapons collides, strength against strength. Sparks shower to the ground. Veera's dagger dulls. When she spins, thrusting it forward, Zusa twists so Veera stabs directly into her thick breastplate. The dagger explodes into shards that bite Veera's hand. blood soaks her wrappings.
"Are you ready?" Zusa asks hoping backwards and letting her cloak fall forward to hide her weapon.
"For what?" Veera asks.
"On the count of three, I kill you." Zusa says.
"Overconfident witch."
Zusa sways left and right, as if waiting. Veera lunges with greater reach of her sword, hoping to catch her off guard. Instead Zusa smoothly parries to the side.
"One." She says, stepping forward on her left foot.
Veera loops her sword above her head and strikes for Zusa's neck. The rogue steps forward again, locking with her daedric sword.
"Two."
Zusa's foot curls around Veera's. Their weight connects. Zusa lunges forward, slamming her elbow into Veera's face. The faceless member falls. A short sword stabs through the crease of her shift underneath her armpit and into her chest.
"Three."
"Not dead yet." Veera says, her voice sounding wet.
Zusa laughs.
"A worthy attitude." She says as she kicks the blade from Veera's hand. "Last chance to come back, or die."
Veera chuckles even as blood drips down her lips.
"I'd rather die on my feet, than live on my knees." she says. "The gods will abandon you."
"Don't you see?" Zusa says showing her the blaze of dark flame on her blade. "You're the one who abandoned."
Diamond suffocates Malick's hand on her own.
"Diamond, we need to move now!" He suddenly speaks. It startles Diamond despite it being in a whisper. With a lurch forward, they spring off towards the front door and crash through the glass, throwing stealth out the window.
Diamond looks back to watch Zusa raise her sword. With one vicious stroke she cuts off Veera's head. So hot is the flame one Zusa's sword that Veera's body never bleeds, the flesh and veins cauterized by its heat. Veera's body slumps to the side like a ragdoll.
Diamond clamps her hand over her mouth and looks away, screaming into her palm. Her cheeks are hot and eyes sting with tears she didn't feel beginning but none escape her eyes. Diamond's blood cries out that it belongs to her, and struggles to return to her, and she hears Veera's words in her mind as she runs, telling her to be brave.
She suddenly sees Veera smiling at her the first day. Showing Diamond around the mansion. Giggling and nudging her as she teases Diamond about her relationship with Malick.
A strong and beautiful young woman.
Gone.
Diamond looks to Malick as they sprint towards the woods. Diamond looks over her shoulder and finds the smoke coming from the house. The flames have chewed through nearly half the mansion.
"You mustn't stop." Malick insist as the two run on. "Zusa will follow. She will always follow."
Diamond nods. Her breathing has become ragged, and her left side aches as if a dagger is logged within. They're running west, away from the mansion and away from its walls. A few times they've shifted directions, but only to avoid the hills that surround the area.
"Where." Diamond says, feeling light-headed and unable to voice the rest of her question.
"The river is near." Malick says. "We will use that as we must."
Diamond does her best to keep up, but they had run for almost an hour after fleeing the mansion. She's never felt herself out of shape, but the exertion is beyond even her capabilities. She starts tumbling, dragging on only by Malick's firm grip on her wrist.
"Not far." Malick insists. "Hurry. Not far at all."
Despite her aching sides, and weak legs, and ragged breath, Diamond manage the final few minutes to its edge.
"You must get to the other side." Malick insists. "The river is wide, but not deep. Zusa will cross, slowly. The plate mail will hinder her."
"Please," Diamond says, falling to her knees. "Let me rest a moment."
"Rest on the other side." Malick says. "She may be here at any moment. Life or death, girl. Choose."
Diamond staggers to her feet and grabs Malick's shoulder.
"Life."
Without a word, Malick hoists her onto his back. "Hold tight."
With what little strength she has, Diamond wraps her legs and arms around Malick. The water comes up to their necks, and it is shockingly cold. Diamond's lips turn blue, and her teeth chatter. Malick hauls her along, though Diamond can no longer feel her arms and legs clutching to him. She dreads coming feel of open air, but a dim part of her is certain it'd still be water than the water.
A minute later they emerge on the other side.
Diamond takes a few steps before crumpling to her knees, doubling over with her arms crossing before her chest. She tries to speak, but her shivering is so severe she can't make words.
Malick kneels in front of Diamond. Shadows curl off his body, moving sluggishly as if they too are affected by the cold. Malick picks up Diamond once more and carries her to an outcropping of rocks and gently sets her down. In the cave, he digs his fingers into the dirt.
"Lok." He hisses. Purple fire erupts between them. it burns bright, then fades down to the size of a man's hand.
Malick looks back to the river. Diamond follows his gaze. She sees nothing in the dim starlight. She sniffs and wipes her cheek.
"Malick, I . . ." Diamond swallows. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."
Malick stays silent.
"Malick, please know I didn't want this. I, I truly am sorry!"
Silence.
"Malick please! Speak to me! Say somthin-!"
Malick takes Diamond's face in his hands roughly and kisses her, the pressure of his lips pushing hers apart. Diamond feels aware of everything at once, of the pressure of his mouth and the taste of their kiss and the texture of his skin and the soft purple light glowing against her closed eyelids, and the smell of green things, growing things, in the air.
Diamond instantly forgets her pain and the terror of approaching death and for a moment, she is grateful that the memory of that kiss will be fresh in her mind as she meets her end.
When he pulls away, he opens his eyes, and Diamond can see everything about them, the dark of light blue in his left eye, the dark blue that makes her feel like she's safe inside it, like she is dreaming.
"For her to hide such beauty from the world, she is clearly a foolish, jealous bitch." Diamond's lips say without her consent.
"You are under my protection. And I will do whatever it takes to make you safe." He says.
"Malick . . ." Diamond whimpers.
He jerks his head to the side. "Zusa approaches." Diamond goes rigid as he looks back to her. "I can buy you some time, but you need to run."
Diamond's body goes numb. "Wait . . . you want me to just leave you here?!" she stutters.
"Yes." He turns to stand.
"No!" Diamond yelps, snatching his wrist. "No, Malick you can't leave me! You can't just-!"
"I will not let her hurt you!" Malick shouts back. He sighs and lowers his head. "I had a sister. Not even in her teen years yet. I was the big brother. It was my job to protect her."
Diamond swallows thickly and stares at him unblinking.
"We were raided, by bandits. They easily took me down and chained us both for a month. They forced me to watch them violate her again and again. She would cry, scream for help. And I couldn't do anything! And after I watched them slash her throat and cry and gag on her own blood, they made me clean up the body and forced me to tell them where my mother was."
Malick presses the heel of his palm to his forehead.
"The two most important women in my life and I failed to protect them. I was weak and in experienced, I know. But I should've done everything I could to keep her safe, even if it meant my own life." Malick continues. He turns to Diamond, eyes glossy with water. "I had failed them, and I refuse to fail any other woman in my life."
"Malick . . ."
There's the snap of a twig. Malick peers his head out and finds a dark figure standing a yard from their spot.
"She's here. Remember once I start, I need to run and don't look back." he orders. "Don't look back."
"I can fight." Diamond mumbles.
"No! Just go!" Malick shouts, with such volume and authority that Diamond's voice cease. "Just fucking go."
Tears brim the edges of Diamond's eyes.
"Please, Diamond." Malick whispers. "Make this easy for me."
He kisses her again, softly, and then leaves the rock cave. Diamond sits in the shafts of moonlight until it disappears behind the clouds. She dares scoots out and glances out to find Malick standing and Zusa not far in front.
"You are determined, Zusa." Malick shouts. Zusa's armor is even darker than the night. She draws her sword and the black flame swells around it.
Malick crosses his daggers before his chest as Zusa takes a step closer. His daggers dripping shadows.
"I hoped you would submit. Veera is obviously dead." I cherish the honor of killing another heretic." Zusa spites.
If Malick is upset, he doesn't show it. Slowly he sways from side to side. While Zusa watches, Malick cuts just above his elbow and lets the blood drip down onto his cloak. Like a drop of dye into clear water, the red swirls and spreads across the dark cloth.
"Blood for blood." He growls. "I will bury you in my cloak."
Malick lunges, his cloak whipping around him like a funnel, its length suddenly twice that of his body. When Zusa swings, her sword clangs off as if she'd struck stone. A cloak of shadows follows him as he vaults high in the air. For a moment he soars as if on wings, and then curls his body downward, diving like a bird of prey.
The collision is brutal. Diamond gasps as shadows collide against shadows. A single harsh clang of steel rings in her ears.
Malick's foot snaps out, striking Zusa's head. She rolls with the blow, ending on her knees. She swings behind her, but Malick leaps over the blade and stabs his daggers for her neck. Zusa turns just in time, one dagger striking her chest plate, the other slashing her cheek. She rams her fist into Malick's gut, grinning in satisfaction at the gasping cry of pain he made.
Malick somersaults backwards, his cloak twirling before Zusa. She tries to push it aside, but she might as well have tried pushing down a tree with her bare hands. Blood runs down her face, a trickle curling in at the corner of her mouth. Zusa licks it and then spits.
"Fight me." She shouts as the cloak slowly drifts downward. She braces her sword, smoothly shifting between stances. Then he was there, ducking and spinning beyond her sword's edge. Normally Zusa would feel confident having such reach over her opponent's daggers. The length of her blade means nothing, however, if Malick could weave around it as if in a dance.
Malick spins in a circle about Zusa, his cloak stretching longer and longer. Malick jumps into the air, his cloak snapping behind him. Realizing she is surrounded, and soon to be crushed, Zusa pours every bit of her power into an overhand chop. A horrific screech sounds as her blade hits the cloak. The dark-purple cloth shakes, cracks, and then breaks like shattered steel. All around her the purple material crumples to the dirt.
Feet slam into Zusa's back. The remnants of Malick's cloak wrap around Zusa's head. The blow jerks Zusa's body forward, but her head could not move. Pain floods her mind as her neck wrenches awkwardly. Knowing his daggers will soon follow, Zusa falls limp, her sword swinging above her shoulder. The cloak vanishes as Malick retreats.
Zusa spins on her knees, her weight resting on one hand as she gasps for air. Her fight with Veera has already drained her, and Malick is proving no easier.
"A shame," Zusa says, hoping to buy some time. "You could do great things with such skill."
Malick begins swaying from side to side, his tattered cloak only hanging on to his waist.
Zusa stands and grips her sword. The black flame roars higher. She could kill Malick. Of that neither had any doubts.
Except Diamond. Based on her observation, Malick can take her on.
"You're nothing but an ungrateful bastard!" she shouts. "I taught you everything you know! What could you possibly hold to hope to defeat me?!" she asks as she steps back, her left arm completely wreathed with purple flame.
Malick lunges, trusting his speed. Zusa parries his first two thrusts and counters the third. When Malick spins about trying to get closer, Zusa opens the palm of her burning hand. Fire explodes as if from the mouth of a dragon. The fire swarms over Malick's cloak, setting it aflame.
Malick wastes no time, jumping backwards and slicing off his cloak where it attaches to the clasps atop his shoulders. But Zusa didn't give chase as Diamond expected. Instead she stabs her sword into the flame, turns it once, and then swings. A massive arc of fire lashes outward, catching Malick across his chest. All about, trees and bushes burn and animals die as the fire consumes them with frightening speed.
Faring little better, Malick drops to a roll. The dirt does little to stop the burning. Zusa rushes after, and when Malick rolls underneath a log, Zusa punches it with her fist. The fire leaves her arm and sets the log aflame. An upward swipe of her sword cuts the rest of it in half. Malick is underneath, gasping for air and clutching his horribly burned chest. The wrappings are gone, revealing blistered skin blackened by the heat.
Zusa reaches down and lifts Malick, grabbing him by the neck and crushing his throat. Zusa let her full power roll forth.
Diamond and Malick both go rigid.
The wrappings around his face are blasted off, revealing his beautiful face locked in a grimace of pain. Blood spills over his hand and the color drains from his face. Ash billows from his nostrils and open mouth. Malick's entire weight hands from the fierce grip of her hand.
"Chaos . . . must . . . end!" screams Zusa.
She slams Malick headfirst to the dirt.
Diamond claps he hand over her mouth to keep from screaming for Malick.
As he gags, trying to force air through his charred throat, the dark mistress picks up her sword.
Malick and Diamond's eyes meet like the yards between them are nothing.
Diamond's eyes burn and she is too weak to rise; the scent of sweat and blood makes her feel sick. She wants to rest her head on the ground and let that be the end of it. She wants to sleep now and never wake up.
But Malick didn't go to all that trouble for nothing.
Somehow, she gets up and starts running.
Diamond turns back and watches as Zusa presses the sword to Malick's throat, then traces it down to his chest. He clenches his teeth and seethes from the pain. Her sword held in both hands, the tip touches his chest.
Malick laughs even though the movement obviously pains him.
"Diamond is gone you whore. You'll never see her again."
Diamond watches as Zusa aims the tip at Malick's head.
She turns and shuts her eyes. Tears stream freely and Diamond doesn't hold back the inhuman scream that erupts from her lips. In the wailing is the pain as images of Veera's death collies with Malick's.
As she keeps running, all she hears is Malick's blood-curdling scream. It nauseates her to the core.
Diamond keeps running and doesn't look back.