Xavael's wings drew in to dive towards the falling Marcus. I held the angel back.
"No! It is too dangerous! He is a thief of souls! He will draw the angel from your host and enslave it!"
The angel stared back at me in disbelief. A twinge of mortal fear passed through his eyes like a storm cloud.
Like I designed him to do...
There was no time to mourn. We bolted in opposite directions an instant before the Queen had us in her grasp.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
separation
"Do you remember the bull-dancers of Minos?"
I explained my plan to Xavael, and the angel released me. We circled the monstrous wasp, wary of her six massive spiked legs and jagged mandibles as we threw the intermittent ball of fire or ray of holy light at her nigh-invulnerable carapace to distract her when there was a near-miss.
A tactical error! In weaving through the increasingly aggressive twitches of the colossal beast, we found ourselves both far too close her stinger! And sensing the blunder, her abdomen rose towards us at a blurring speed!
"NOW!"
Half a wing's breath for each of us to sidestep her poison-drenched harpoon, flanking it on each side. I grabbed Vortex by his shoulder and his knee, and Xavael did the same.
"PULL!"
Yes. We ripped my son in half...and seven red neko spread their red demon-wings and scattered in all directions.
I pointed them out for Xavael as we broke away from the range of the Queen's venom.
"They were a one-birth litter. Sekhmet insisted I pay support for nine kittens, but Hades decreed payment only for the one birth.
There's Runihwa...Akil...Bomani...Gahiji..."
"They are daughters too?"
"Yes! Mosi, Aziza, Layla and Pila."
"And the one plummeting downwards without wings?"
I peered down. "Why isn't Koen..?"
I slapped my horns out of shock at my own stupidity.
"MARCUS!"
I explained my plan to Xavael, and the angel released me. We circled the monstrous wasp, wary of her six massive spiked legs and jagged mandibles as we threw the intermittent ball of fire or ray of holy light at her nigh-invulnerable carapace to distract her when there was a near-miss.
A tactical error! In weaving through the increasingly aggressive twitches of the colossal beast, we found ourselves both far too close her stinger! And sensing the blunder, her abdomen rose towards us at a blurring speed!
"NOW!"
Half a wing's breath for each of us to sidestep her poison-drenched harpoon, flanking it on each side. I grabbed Vortex by his shoulder and his knee, and Xavael did the same.
"PULL!"
Yes. We ripped my son in half...and seven red neko spread their red demon-wings and scattered in all directions.
I pointed them out for Xavael as we broke away from the range of the Queen's venom.
"They were a one-birth litter. Sekhmet insisted I pay support for nine kittens, but Hades decreed payment only for the one birth.
There's Runihwa...Akil...Bomani...Gahiji..."
"They are daughters too?"
"Yes! Mosi, Aziza, Layla and Pila."
"And the one plummeting downwards without wings?"
I peered down. "Why isn't Koen..?"
I slapped my horns out of shock at my own stupidity.
"MARCUS!"
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
the captured king
The angel was holding me back. For all my curses and pleadings Xavael would not release the grip around my chest.
"Yes. I know they are your children. But that is what she wants us to do. It is a trap, Bloodwing!"
My gaze never left the stinger of the Wasp Queen as she chased after us with roaring wings too fast to see. Impaled upon that jagged ichor-smeared barb the size of of a tree trunk was a red neko with the horns and wings of a royal demon. Tatters of crimson robes clung to him still solely from the force of the wind.
Insult upon injury, the neko's crown fit snugly upon the very tip of the stinger, shining beneath a translucent bubble of honey-tinted venom flowing from the end.
Eight of the children that composed the Vortex, along with the usurper Marcus. What has she done to them?
His wings flailed helplessly with the movements of his captor. His eyes opened as he struggled for breath. His features were blurring. Glimpses of a human face. Two sets of hands. Three and four legs dangling. Two again. The magic holding them together as a collective was starting to unravel. A sign that their deaths were near if we didn't do something fast.
"Xavael! I have a plan..."
"Yes. I know they are your children. But that is what she wants us to do. It is a trap, Bloodwing!"
My gaze never left the stinger of the Wasp Queen as she chased after us with roaring wings too fast to see. Impaled upon that jagged ichor-smeared barb the size of of a tree trunk was a red neko with the horns and wings of a royal demon. Tatters of crimson robes clung to him still solely from the force of the wind.
Insult upon injury, the neko's crown fit snugly upon the very tip of the stinger, shining beneath a translucent bubble of honey-tinted venom flowing from the end.
Eight of the children that composed the Vortex, along with the usurper Marcus. What has she done to them?
His wings flailed helplessly with the movements of his captor. His eyes opened as he struggled for breath. His features were blurring. Glimpses of a human face. Two sets of hands. Three and four legs dangling. Two again. The magic holding them together as a collective was starting to unravel. A sign that their deaths were near if we didn't do something fast.
"Xavael! I have a plan..."
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