Witch Blood - 06
After spending an unknowable amount of time walking through the wasteland, Rhea decided it was impossibly boring. Sheep may have numbed her brain with their dullness but at least they functioned. There was nothing out here. Rocks stood tall, sound refused to echo, and it was difficult to tell if they were still going the right way. From time to time Rhea would get boosted onto another rock and recalibrate their direction, but after the third time she just wanted to lie down and cry.
Maybe it's the trauma. Maybe I just miss Lyle. Maybe the poison on my skin has begun to seep back into my body. Maybe ... maybe I'm just that bored.
"Are we there yet?" Daniel asked for the third time and Rhea began to calculate the odds of successfully punching him in the face and surviving. A sudden shuffle of movement behind her made her wonder if Peter or Michael had finished their calculations more quickly but when she turned around, all three men were staring curiously at her. "What?" the big man asked in a threatening manner.
"You ... didn't hear that?" Rhea asked.
"Hear what?" Michael asked as he drew his sword and began to scan the world around him.
"It's just the wind," Daniel told them all but he still drew his sword and went back-to-back with the others.
"What wind?" Rhea asked. "There's no wind here."
Peter put his back to the stone wall and flicked the safety on his crossbow. Rhea followed his example and pressed her back against the other wall. Instincts told her that something was watching them and she suddenly remembered that she was missing her Athame. A quick equipment check told her what she already knew ... only her cloak and belt pouch remained, and they were only there because the others could not see the threat they represented.
Without a weapon I'm helpless. I don't have enough magic to light a candle ... much less-
A rumble of stone drew a little shriek from Rhea's lips as she tumbled forward. Something that looked like a cross between an opossum and an anvil crawled out of the rocks as if it were moving through a pool of stagnate water. It then blinked at them, opened a mouth full of terrifying teeth, and lunged. A tinny battle cry was cut short by a well place swipe of a sword that connected at the place in its mouth where the jaws met. The joint was just soft enough for the blade to bite and then it kept going.
The top and bottom halves of the creature splattered grotesquely to the ground. The part of Rhea that panicked rallied but then fizzled. Crystalline thoughts took in the situation and she immediately looked in the direction which none of them were looking. Her shout of warning did not come quickly enough.
The creature which they had heard but not seen stepped up behind Peter, drove its claws into the man's back, at either side of his spine, and then tore out. The man died so quickly that he barely had time to look surprised, but its effect on his companions was not what the predator had expected. Instead felling its prey with fear, anger took them. This place devoured rage, but wrath burned cold and true, driving the two men into their opponent with deadly efficiency.
Rhea's eyes were wide as she took it all in. The separation of madness and sanity shrank and then overlapped as her third-sight opened without her meaning it to. There, in the place where he had died, stood Peter's spirit. His energy was ridged, looking for a fight, and struggling against the tendrils of a hungry god that wanted his soul.
"No!" Rhea heard herself growl and she lunged at the struggle. The others could not see what she was reaching for until her hands reached into the conflict. Peter's spirit was energy without a place to go ... but Rhea's body was drained of energy and she had more room than she realized. A sharp gasp of exhilaration filled the witch as Peter entered her body. An intimate presence curled up around her, inside of her, and through her. The big man's thoughts flashed through her consciousness and she saw all of him in an instant.
The big city was the place of his childhood and he always knew that the wilderness meant death. The manners of a gentleman had been beaten into him by a matronly woman he called mother, but she had died before he could join the priesthood. Becoming a guard was an easy thing for a man of his size but his mind never stopped moving. Spare money was spent buying books and he spent time with the priests getting educated. The vow of silence had been an easy thing and soon he was a Brother of the All Knowing Eye. A series of adventures and misadventures roared into Rhea's thoughts and then ... she was here.
The demons shall not fell us here! Peter snatched up his crossbow and drew it up with less strength than he was used to. He loosed the bolt into another of the burrowing creatures but another was coming. He flung himself sideways, the body around him was so much lighter than what he was used to but there was also less muscle. A firm heel was planted on the ground by the corpse which he knew to be his and tiny hands drew the sword from its scabbard.
It felt like his arms might fly out of their shoulders when he swung the blade, but the owner of the body compensated and they did not fall. The weapon hacked through one demon and then another. His brothers moved in to cover him and the three of them managed a fighting retreat that put their backs to one of the huge stones.
Stop! I have the power ... let me open the way!
What way? What power?
Just-
No!
The blade went straight up and something winged and leathery impaled itself upon the tip.
"More coming!" Brother Daniel shouted.
"I see them!" Brother Michael acknowledged and then they were fighting again. Buzzing creatures filled the sky and bugs the size of horses clattered their way out of the ground. A sea of dangerous horrors closed in on all sides ... but together they fought on. Peter could feel exhaustion coming much too quickly but he could not stop.
You idiot! I can't fight like this! You're going to get us killed!
Be silent witch!
No! You be silent! This is MY body! MINE!
The sword clattered to the ground as Rhea dropped to her knees, grabbed both sides of her head, and screamed. When she ran out of air she sucked in another lungful and continued screaming. Something about the sound seemed to press against the demons and their charge faltered. Blood filled Rhea's vision but she stared hard through the pain.
My body! My power! My rules!
Focus brought power into her hands, but she needed a channel. Seizing the fallen sword allowed her to gather up her will and slash at the walls that surrounded her. A scream of demonic frustration tore through the land as the wound opened in the fabric of time and space.
"Go! Go! Go!" Peter shouted and Rhea tumbled forward. Daniel and Michael let out battle cries as they too plunged after. There was a roar of sound, a flash of light, and then they all crashed into ...
Rhea knocked a man out of her way and belly flopped on a hard surface that she later discovered was an altar. The large open book prevented her from breaking her ribs but she still slid across then tumbled to the floor on the other side. Brother's Michael and Daniel landed with far more grace and then turned to face the hoard. Several unwholesome creatures bounded after them and met with sword-chops and an incense burner which was swung by an enthusiastic priest.
The physical world was full of life, and that life flooded back into Rhea's body with the glee of children released from chores. The light of life filled her with joy, hope, and the raw pleasure of being alive. Years of practice took hold as she drew upon the energies, changed them into the form of her desire, and then slashed it across the breach. Time and space righted themselves as the portal sealed shut and the great void beyond stopped spilling into the room.
The noise echoed around them and Rhea stood for several moments of wide eyed trembling before she collapsed onto her hands and knees. All around her, the congregation of a sizable church had managed to stampede away from the battle and most of the people were either outside or pressed against the walls. Some were groaning in pain and lying where they had been trampled, but Rhea stopped noticing things that were happening around her.
This is it. This is where I am meant to go. Farewell witch, may you find redemption before you find death. Peter flowed out of Rhea's body, spiraled through the air, and slammed down onto the altar. From there he resonated with his brothers-in-arms. The men turned and saw him. Peter smiled and then put his fist to his chest in a military salute. When his comrades returned the gesture he took a deep breath and then he faded into the great beyond. All was silent. Dead things twitched on the ground and the greatest sound in the room was the heavy breathing of the survivors.
"We ... we made it," Daniel managed to say between breaths. Laughter followed in a slightly cracked manner and he fell to his knees. Tears filled his eyes and he howled in triumph. "Lord of Light be praised! We're alive!"
"Lord of Light be praised," Michael spoke reverently and then he laid his sword across the altar. "Father," he said to the priest who was more than a little wide-eyed, "please bless us Father. We have traveled through the heart of darkness, survived witches and demons, and arrived here, in the Church of the Almighty. Help us to cleans our bodies, minds, and souls of the filth of the netherworld."
"Praise be The Light," the priest intoned automatically and the men came together in prayer.
Daniel looked uncomfortable, after his wits returned, and he walked over to where Rhea was leaning against a wooden church pew and barely managing to stay upright. She looked up at him, too tired to be afraid as the bare steel of his sword hung dangerously in his grip. His eyes were exhausted, haunted, and yet-
"So, you ... ready to kill?" Rhea's throat was raw and the words were a little wheezy.
"I should," he said somberly, "it's my ... duty." The last word was spoken quietly, as if embarrassed.
"Ah." Rhea nodded weakly. "Yeah." Daniel stood there in a silent war with himself. The conflict raged across his face until he pulled out a cloth and began wiping the blood from his sword. When he was satisfied, he sheathed the steel and then settled himself on the floor next to her. "So ... not killing me?"
"We can kill you later," Daniel told her. "I can't unkill you, though, so I'll wait. Let someone else make the decision."
Rhea smiled as they sat there together. "Peter said that about you," she said without thinking. "He loved you."
"Peter's mute," he said automatically and then he flinched, "was ... mute." He hesitated but he lost the battle against his curiosity. "What happened in there? One moment we were fighting for our lives and then all of a sudden you go into a battle-frenzy and start swinging. Then you tear open a portal and we all end up in a church. So ... what happened?"
"Peter died," Rhea said as if that explained it.
"And?" Daniel coaxed.
"And he had no place to go," the witch told him. "The demons tried to eat his soul ... and I stopped them."
"How did you do that?" the witch hunter asked.
"I sheltered him in my body," she explained. "He kind of took over ... for a little while there."
"I thought your fighting style looked like his," the warrior nodded.
"I saw him," Rhea told him. "I saw all of him. His hopes ... his dreams ... his ... past."
"And the daft fool admired me?" Daniel shook his head. "Idiot."
I did not say he admired you, Rhea thought, and she blushed at the echoes of impure thoughts. The touch of your skin ... the taste of your lips ... the strength in your- Rhea shook her head, separating her thoughts from the echoes of the man who had been inside of her. "When I finally took control," Rhea continued, "I was able to use some of his strength to open the portal. It was his strength, though, so it took us here ... to his home."
"This ... is Ephesus?" Daniel had gone stiff and pale, and his question had been so filled with dread that Rhea suddenly forced herself to look around.
Ephesus Ephesus ... but Peter was from Alashir. He lied about it so that his friends would not think poorly of him. He was in love with Daniel ... and he didn't want to hurt him. Daniel spoke again but she did not hear. "What?" she asked.
"Ephesus is rather ... strict," he repeated. "There's no way they'll let us go. We might all get executed for defiling the church."
"It's that bad there?" Rhea asked as she began to look around at the people who had all retreated from the church.
"Peter left for a reason," the man told her. "I'm sorry, Rhea. I won't hurt you ... but I can't protect you either. I'm going to go grovel to that priest over there. I don't know if it will help, but you might want to do the same."
"Maybe-" Rhea started to say but then she changed her mind. "Actually ... if it's all the same to you ... I think I'm just going to pass out."
"What? Rhea!"