by Ruby Brown
“So could I,” Mal pointed out, and the lawyer spun back around to face her. “I’m a stranger, yet you allowed me to come here and stay with you all. You don’t know what I’m thinking or what I could do. The fate of everyone here rests on the decision I make. You don’t understand me or my powers, but you’re giving me the benefit of the doubt and trusting me instead of killing me because of the threats I pose. Why can’t you do the same for Thea?”
“You are human. We know your limitations. We don’t know Thea’s.”
“You’ve never encountered my magic before. You have no idea what I can do. If I’m strong enough to take down gods, then you can only imagine what I could do to people. So why don’t you just kill me right now?”
There was silence until the lawyer realised that the question was not rhetorical. “Because you could save us,” he said, and for a second his professional demeanour dropped. His voice wavered in the air, tinged with hope and vulnerability. He was scared, just like everyone else.
“Exactly, and so could Thea. We don’t know how she could hurt us, but we don’t know how she could help us either. I understand the fear of the unknown, but I’ve seen how her brain works. She’s incredibly smart and fast on her feet. She could help us plan battles, and since she can be rebuilt and upgraded she could be the perfect warrior. Everyone deserves a chance.”
Chatter broke through the crowd, and the lawyer mumbled “no further questions.” Mal walked back to her friends. Rose and Dallas simply nodded, but Thomas gave her a hug, which was sorely needed. As Mal sat down, she made eye contact with Thea, who smiled at her. Mal hoped that meant she had done a good job.
After the jury had conferred, one of them stood up. Just as they did, Mal’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and saw that the message was from Felix. It consisted of two words : GET OUT!!!
“We, the jury, find Thea Lock...”
Everything went black.
Chapter 27
A few people screamed as the room was plunged into an eerie darkness, suddenly and without warning. A few people laughed and playfully teased their friends who had screamed in fright, but then the room settled down again. Cass’s voice came from the front of the room, apologising for the inconvenience and saying that it was just a simple power failure; the lights would be back on soon.
Once Cass had stopped talking, the entire room was completely silent. There was nothing to mask the pounding of Mal’s heart in her ears. She sat still in her chair, left to her own thoughts. She held a hand up in front of her face, trying to see if she could make out her fingers. But she couldn’t see a damn thing. The entire room was completely dark.
After a few minutes, Mal realised that she could hear loud noises coming from behind the closed doors of the courtroom. At first, she couldn’t quite make out what she was hearing, but after a few minutes she realised that it was panicked shouting and pounding footsteps. Mal tried to ignore it, but it kept getting louder and louder. The noise seemed to be advancing towards the courtroom. Several people shifted nervously. Spots of light erupted around the room as the more cautious people gathered some of their magic in their hands, ready to use it if they needed to. There was even the distinctive noise of blades being slid from sheaths, or fingernails tapping on the hilts of swords.
Suddenly, the courtroom doors burst open with a loud bang. Instantly, everyone jumped to their feet, as if this was the cue they had been waiting for, and charged towards the exit, ready to join the fight outside. Mal grabbed Rose’s wrist as she ran past, and dragged her back into the courtroom and down to Thea’s cage. The fire magic in Rose’s hands lit the way with flickering flames and cast eerie shadows on their faces and the bars of the cage.
“What are you doing?” Rose demanded. Mal could feel her pulse racing underneath her fingers, and she was clearly furious at being kept from the action, especially when Dallas and Thomas were in danger.
“Melt the bars,” Mal said quickly.
“What?”
“Please melt the bars so Thea can get out.” Rose looked at Thea with distrust in her eyes and opened her mouth to protest, but Mal didn’t listen. “Trust me,” she pleaded. Rose looked at Mal and her expression grew softer. Although she still didn’t look happy about it, she gripped the ice-cold bars in her flame-hot hands and soon melted a hole large enough for Thea to climb through.
“Thank you,” Thea said as they raced out of the courtroom and into Tenebar’s main corridor.
“I wouldn’t thank me just yet!” Mal shouted, as the three of them had emerged into a veritable warzone. The lights in the corridor had also been switched off. It seemed like all the lights in Tenebar had been switched off simultaneously. However, the darkness in the corridor was broken by swirls of magic energy, illuminating the hallway as people fought one another. Some people seemed to be fighting with guns; the bangs that they let off were so loud they almost shook the ceiling. Each time someone released a burst of magic, it lit up the corridor long enough for Mal to catch glimpses of terrified faces...and black blood spattered on the walls.
“Arils...” she breathed.
At the very mention of the word, Mal felt Rose tense up behind her. Her magic blazed to life in her palms, and she charged straight into the middle of the battle. Thea was nowhere to be seen, so all Mal could do was pray she was okay and enter the fight herself. She watched in despair as her comrades simply hurled swathes of magic wherever they could. They didn’t know if they were aiming at friend or foe, and more often than not they were hitting each other. She knew from studying at the library that Arils had spectacular vision in the dark, and as long as the lights stayed off they had the upper hand. Mal feared for the safety of her friends. She had to do something.
Navigating by the bursts of light that illuminated the room like fireworks, Mal made her way to the front of the room and clambered up the staircase. She thought that the scene could be quite pretty and exhilarating, had it not been for the soundtrack. The hoarse screaming mixed with gunshots and the scraping of blade on blade pushed her anxiety to a new level. Her heart was racing as she stood at the top of the staircase, leaned over the banister as far as she could and opened her hands. With a massive effort, she managed to send a curtain of Praethen magic over the crowd and lit up the whole room. The magic spiralled and flowed from her hands like water out of floodgates, fuelled by the worry she harboured for those she cared about down in the battle below. The Arils shrieked as the light assaulted their eyes, and those fighting for Tenebar took advantage of their moment of weakness. The fight resumed with a new level of intensity. Some would call it bravery, others stupidity, but there was no denying the desperation that hung in the air, seeping into minds and hearts like poison.
But Mal didn’t know how long she could keep her magic going. The green light of her Spatium was fading fast. It took a huge amount of magic to light up the whole room, and she knew she was going to run out soon. She watched anxiously as the green meter on her bracelet dropped lower and lower, glancing out towards the battle and praying. It wasn’t just her magic that was quickly running out, her energy was as well. The amount of effort needed to keep using this much magic was phenomenal. Mal’s body started shaking and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She started to feel light-headed and dizzy, and the whole room was swaying with her. She had the terrible feeling that she’d give up long before her magic did, but that only made her double her efforts. She couldn’t bear to go down and face the others if the reason they lost this fight was simply because she wasn’t strong enough.
She could feel the staircase shaking beneath her, and when she looked down she saw two Arils and a human making their way up the stairs towards her. The Arils and humans were easily distinguished. Even though they both had bloodlust in their eyes, the Arils lacked any signs of self-awareness. They were drones programmed by the pain that ripped them in two. If they once knew any form of kindness or compassion, it had long been extinguished. Mal’s brain was working frantically. She could
n’t light up the room and protect herself at the same time. She had to make a choice, and fast.
While she was still trying to make up her mind, one of the Arils leapt towards her with a silver dagger. Taken by surprise, Mal awkwardly tried to dodge the attack while maintaining the veil of light, but her coordination and reflexes failed her. The dagger snagged her arm and left a deep cut in her flesh. Blood spilt from it and soaked her clothes with a deep red.
“That’s my favourite T-shirt!” Mal yelled angrily, and brought her hands together so her magic formed one bright, shining scythe of pure energy. She swung it through the air and decapitated the Aril that had cut her. Its head hit the floor with a sickening squelch and the body crashed to the floor, still twitching slightly. Blood poured from the wound and pooled at Mal’s feet, staining her shoes as proof of her first kill.
Time froze. The noise of the battle faded. All that was left was a ringing in Mal’s ears and the ice-cold shock that crashed over her body. Dread, disgust and hatred rose up in her throat, fighting for dominance and making her feel sick. She had never meant to kill them. She had just...what was she trying to do? The worst part was she had done it without hesitation. She hadn’t paused to consider what could happen. Was that just the adrenaline of the battle mixing with survival instincts, or was it something much more? One of the first thoughts that appeared in her shell-shocked mind was what will the others say when they find out, and then she remembered that her friends were not strangers to these things. Even Thomas, as small and young as he was, had killed before, and had his childhood robbed as a result. Did they ever experience the emotions Mal was at that very moment when they were on the battlefield? Did they feel hot tears stinging the backs of their eyes as they realised what had happened? Or did they just carve their way through the battlefield, claiming lives as their own as their hands grew increasingly red with the blood of foe dead at their hand?
Mal’s moment of contemplation ended with a sudden bolt of pain ripping through her body. She cried out and put her hand to her shoulder. It was drenched in scarlet when she pulled it away. She glanced upwards and saw one of the humans had pulled out a gun and actually shot her. The adrenaline meant that she barely noticed the pain, which she was incredibly grateful for as the next moment she had to duck and roll in order to avoid another bullet, and there’s no way she would have been able to do that otherwise.
Coming up onto her knee, Mal grabbed the throwing knives at her belt and flicked one at the person who had shot her. To her pride, it was a perfect throw. The blade sunk right through their skull and they stopped dead in their tracks before falling to the floor. The repulsion and fear at what she had done hit her again, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Mal didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She ran forward and seized the gun the man had dropped, using it to fire two bullets at the Aril and human in front of her. The human clutched his leg and fell, but the Aril just kept on coming. Mal realised this a second too late.
The Aril leapt on top of Mal and pinned her to the floor. Mal screamed as they sunk their teeth into Mal’s flesh. She could feel the teeth rip through her skin and tear at the muscle and veins beneath. She had managed to keep a hold of the gun as she fell down, so she used it to hit the Aril until its face was completely covered in black blood. With one final scream it slid down Mal’s body, unconscious. Mal kicked it off of her and jumped up, but almost instantly she was grabbed by behind by the last attacker, the human. Despite the bullet wound in his leg, he had managed to hobble his way over to them and was now clutching a fistful of Mal’s hair, ripping her head back so viciously that it almost broke her neck.
Mal kicked backwards and drove her heel into the bullet wound. The man roared in pain and loosened his grip as he stumbled backwards. Mal shoved him away from her and he tripped over the body of the unconscious Aril. He went flying over the banister and hit the floor with a sickening crunch.
Exhausted, aching and covered in blood, Mal dragged herself right to the edge of the staircase and let her Praethen magic erupt again. It was significantly weaker than last time, maybe because it was competing with the Akraansir magic that had risen. It was desperately clawing at her insides, fighting to get out. To distract herself, she studied the fight below her, trying to ignore the smell of blood in the air. There was still no clear winner. The dead and wounded from both sides of the fight littered the floor. Anxiously, Mal scanned the assembled fighters for her friends, but in the chaos she couldn’t find them. The fear swept her up in its avalanche and she could taste the acid on her tongue. She kept telling herself that it was okay, her friends were okay, everything was okay, but that didn’t stop her from scanning the bodies being trampled, terrified she’d see Rose’s distinctive red hair or Dallas’ pale blue eyes staring up at her, leeched of all life.
Suddenly, Mal felt something close around her throat. She clawed at the hand as it picked her up, spun her around and pinned her to the wall. It was the Aril from before. It had gained consciousness again. Mal gasped for air, struggling and squirming, but nothing she did seemed to have any effect on the terrifying figure in front of her. Drenched from head to foot in black blood, the Aril’s sharp and shining white teeth carved a harsh line through the darkness. Mal glanced down and realised that it was holding a gun in its hand. It could easily kill her in just a few seconds. Instead, it was choosing to watch the light fade from Mal’s eyes, watch her body slowly stop twitching, watch the purple bruises forming under its fingers as it gripped Mal’s neck even tighter.
Her vision was fading. Everything was covered in a grey veil covered with tiny black dots. Her lungs were folding in on themselves. Her guts were twisting around each other like snakes. She felt like she was going to explode. Her entire body was aching for air. She couldn’t feel her legs. Her body wasn’t responding. She was shutting down. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she made one last desperate heave....
And she was on the blood-stained floor, gasping and coughing. Her mind screamed at her to get up. She was vulnerable, she was weak, she was lying in a pool of blood...but for the moment, all she could do was draw air into her lungs as her head spun and the feeling returned to her muscles. Bleakly, she saw Rose put her gun right in the middle of the Aril’s head and pull the trigger. Mal winced at the sound.
The next thing she knew, Rose had the back of Mal’s t-shirt in her hand and was pulling her upwards. Mal stumbled as she tried to keep her balance, but she ended up falling directly on top of Rose. Lucky for the both of them, Rose was more coordinated and kept standing. She wrapped her arms around Mal’s shaking body. Mal could feel the shape of Rose’s gun pressing into her back and was surprised to note that it made her feel safer rather than more scared. Whether that was a good or bad thing, she was too tired to tell.
“Come on, this way,” Rose said softly, firmly, as she guided Mal down the staircase. Mal’s vision was starting to clear up and she wasn’t hyperventilating any more. She couldn’t smell anything but blood. It stained the walls and pooled in the cracks of the floor, spilling from mangled bodies. Nurses and doctors drifted through the carnage. The whiteness of their uniforms and faces made them look like ghosts.
Mal could feel Rose’s arms shaking around her. Her eyes were wide and crazed, her teeth biting at her bottom lip as she searched the crowd. Every time they passed a lifeless body, she would pause for half a heartbeat and examine it to make sure she didn’t know them. Mal had never seen her like this. She tried to provide some kind of support, but her thoughts were shattered. She couldn’t find the energy to string a sentence together, never mind be a comforting presence for a friend gripped with a terror and haunted by memories that Mal couldn’t understand.
Suddenly, Rose let out a huge sigh of relief. Mal turned to where she was facing and saw Dallas approaching them, putting his axe back in the holster on his back. Dallas and Rose halted with they were less than half a metre away from each other and simply nodded to acknowledge each other, which Mal found ludicrou
s. She could see it written on their faces that they were insanely relieved and happy to find each other alive, but something prevented them from showing that to each other. Whatever it was, Mal wanted to kick it.
“Thomas?” Rose asked.
“Here,” came a voice from the left. All three of them turned and saw a very exhausted, very broken Thomas hobbling towards them. He had already sheathed all his weapons and was in the process of removing some of the blood from his hands, with little success. “Do you think Trixie’s okay?” he asked.
“Should be,” Dallas responded. Thomas nodded and then looked back down at his hands. Rose’s eyes hovered over him for a second. Around the room, groups like theirs were assembling, composed of relieved friends and family members. Loud and anxious chatter flittered around the room, pierced with the broken-hearted screams and cries of people who realised that someone they loved was gone. Mal noticed that there was a particularly large group of people in the centre of the room. They all seemed to be gathered around something, talking to each other in hushed tones.
Rose noticed where Mal was looking and examined the group with narrowed eyes before starting to walk over, still supporting Mal. Dallas and Thomas trailed behind them. When they reached the edge of the crowd, people started to make way for them. Mal felt hands patting her back, heard words of comfort, support and thanks. People seemed to be crediting her with their victory, even though she felt she didn’t deserve it. Her head ached. She just wished they’d all leave her alone. To her beaten body, even the lightest touch felt like a harsh slap, and she had to grind her teeth together to stop from yelling at everyone.