by Adam Cairney
Chapter 13.
The fall had seemed longer than he would have thought possible. As the two of them tumbled through the air Noah had been mystified by what his brain had taken in, by what he had noticed. The horizon, the view…both incredibly beautiful. The city below, stretched out like a miniature model, and then rushing up to meet both of them. It was amazing, and not as scary as he had thought it would be. Perhaps, in his mind, he had already resigned himself to death, to his fate. Although perhaps that had never been the case, as his actions certainly seemed to undermine that theory.
As they had plummeted towards the city they had fought each other. Noah kicking and punching at Percy, trying to keep him as close as possible. He had tried conducting against him as well of course, but had forgotten in the heat of the moment that it was impossible to. Percy had decided he wasn’t going to go down without a fight either, however, and returned Noah’s attacks with equal ferocity. The two of them were far too close to each other, and the entire situation meant that Percy’s trident was of no use to him, thankfully.
They continued spiralling downwards, the air ripping and tearing at them as it rushed past. Noah, looking downwards, had realised that they had seconds left before they hit the ground. He grabbed Percy, who was still desperately trying to attack, not seeming to realise what was about to happen, and pulled him as close as possible, ignoring the blows to his side that his foe continually administered. He was in effect laying on top of Percy as they tumbled the last few feet, and the ground sped upwards to greet them. Any second now…
There was an almighty hollow clanging sound as they hit the street, sending an enormous shockwave and dust cloud flying down the cobbles and alleyways nearby, shattering the glass in the nearby windows. Noah felt the shock of the impact tear through him. It was absolute agony, he felt bones breaking, bruises forming almost instantly and large cuts all over his body from where the breastplate had cut into him, and from his fight earlier. But his plan had worked. He had banked on whatever magic had protected the breastplate from being vulnerable to conducting to also save it from other damage, and it looked like it had worked, the armour was nigh on indestructible. Slowly, painfully, he half lifted, half rolled himself off of Percy and onto the cobbled path. He gingerly felt around his body with his left arm to see what the damage was – his right arm was broken. His ribs, they were probably cracked, he could barely touch his front it was too painful. He thought one of his feet might have a hairline fracture as well, it was immensely difficult to stand on it. He glanced across as Percy. His foe was laying, most likely dead in the middle of the street in a sizeable crater. Noah shook his head. He hadn’t wanted to do what he had done but had been left no choice.
The things he had suspected had been going on had been confirmed by the shadowy Azrael figure on the Cloud. He hobbled over to Percy and knelt over him to examine the breastplate. It was, incredibly, still in one piece, with not a dent on it. Noah shook his head and wondered what it could possibly be made from to withstand such punishment. He leaned in closer to see if perhaps there was a way to take it off, and suddenly recoiled in shock. Percy was still breathing. How was he still alive? The impact should have killed him outright. Noah faced a real problem now. He stood up, wondering if the man who woke up, if indeed he ever did wake up, would be friend or foe. Would he still be Azrael’s puppet?
Noah limped over to a nearby house. He considered his options. He supposed he could try and wake Percy up, with the real risk that he was waking up a man who now seemed unable not to kill him. He could wake him up and Percy could be back to his old self though, this was obviously the preferred outcome. Of course, what if he did awaken, and was unable to move, crippled or injured beyond help? Noah would have to put him out of his misery, and as hard a man as he was, that was not something he wanted to have to do. He would leave him for now. He was no threat at the moment, and if and when he did wake up he would not know where Noah had gone. With the matter settled in his mind, there were now just a few things that Noah had to do. He began to conduct, groaning to himself in pain as he stood there.
The door of the house he was leaning against flew off its hinges, showering splinters everywhere. Noah held the door in place, floating there, and conducted further to rip and tear his overcoat into strips. He concentrated, and the door suddenly snapped into hefty planks of wood. He let most of the wood fall to the floor and levitated a piece over to himself. One final part of conducting, and he gritted his teeth for this one. Sweat immediately started beading on his forehead, and it was all he could do to stop himself crying out in pain as he manipulated his own bones, snapping his arm back into place. He wanted to collapse to the ground, the pain was intense, but he wasn’t finished yet. He brought the piece of wood over to himself and tied it to his arm with the strips of his overcoat. That would do for now to set his arm. He could only assume that his foot was broken, but there wasn’t a great deal he could do about it. He couldn’t exactly stand around. He was just going to have to deal with the pain. Wonderful.
Percy was still unconscious, so there was nothing to be done there for now. Hopefully he would be his old self when he woke up. Noah looked around properly for the first time, getting his bearings. He knew where he was, and he knew Elijah and Molly had said they were going to Visit the Great Library before heading back up to the cloud. He hoped they had stuck with that plan. He would head there and try and meet up with them. They needed to know what he knew before they rushed off to try and fight something they didn’t understand. He could only pray that he wasn’t too late. He went to set off, and winced. He conducted once more, picking up a large piece of door from the ground and snapping it with his mind, fashioning himself a makeshift crutch. It would do for now. He set off, although not quite in the direction of the library, a determined grimace set on his face. He wasn’t done yet.