The City on the Edge

Shouts sounded off in unison, alerting the nearby guards that one of their own had been attacked. The smart thing to do would have been to retreat, but Ronnie didn’t have a great history of making smart decisions. Adrenaline pumped through Ronnie’s veins and she itched for a fight. Her pent up frustration finally had an outlet and she intended to use it.

“Get to the fence,” she told Malik. “Get them out of here!”

“No. We need to leave together! For once, will you please think of the consequences?”

“I can keep them off you. Go.”

Ronnie could tell from the stern look on his face that he wanted to say more. That he wanted to drag her along behind him. He’d always had a difficult time leaving people- it wasn’t in his nature to abandon someone in need. Anya erupted in a fit of coughs that speckled his skin black, and he deflated. They both knew that Anya was the priority.

“I better see you back home,” he shouted before he turned away and disappeared behind the shrubs, taking the group of freed witches and Varice with him.

Lorna and Sebastian came to stand by her side. “You should go with him,” Ronnie said to them. Lorna’s magic wasn’t at its strongest and she wasn’t sure how well Sebastian could hold himself in a fight.

“I’m not leaving you here,” Lorna huffed stubbornly. “I’m strong enough to do this.” Her hands came to life, lighting up her veins silver grey. Weak, but it would have to do.

“Me neither,” Sebastian said. He leaned down and plucked the sword from the unconscious guard’s waist, pulling it from the sheath.

“Do you even know how to use that?” Lorna asked with a raised brow.

“I do.” Sebastian swung it through the air and spun it around his hand freely before grabbing the hilt again. “Swordsmanship is a mandatory practice back home.”

“Get ready.” Ronnie clenched her fists, feeling the bite of her claws and reveling in the surge it gave her. “Here they come.”

Six guards, their white uniforms glaring in the blackness of the night, came charging at them. As they neared, they broke apart- four pulling swords from their belts while two hung back to raise their rifles.

“Lorna! The rifles!”

Ronnie and Sebastian met the four guards halfway while Lorna circled around. She flourished her hands out in front of her and conjured a silver fog that hung like a veil between the two guards and the rest of them. Ronnie ducked under the swing of a sword and brought her hand up to jab clawed fingers into the guard’s side. The woman cried out as Ronnie tore through the fabric of her uniform and dug into the tender flesh just under her ribs. She clutched her side and swung weakly with her sword, but it barely grazed Ronnie before she knocked it away and sent the woman to the ground with a high kick to the side of her head.

Metal clanged against metal and Ronnie turned to catch Sebastian disarm another guard with a twist of his sword and a quick hand. He tossed the sword away and delivered a hard kick, catching the guard under the chin. She had no time to admire him, though, as another guard rushed at her from behind. His booted steps thudded on the hard ground and she dropped low, whirling around to lash out at his knees. She caught his leg with strong hands and dug her claws into the backs of his calves. She tore at the muscles and he toppled over. She leapt on top of him and wrapped both hands around his neck. Ronnie lifted the man’s head up from the ground and sent it forcefully back down. It cracked against the hard ground and she didn’t stop until the man’s eyes rolled up into his head.

A pained shout echoed in her ears and Ronnie felt a sharp tug in her chest. It burned but it didn’t quite hurt. It wasn’t her pain. She spun around.

Sebastian was on the ground clutching his shoulder. Blood spilled between his fingers and he winced as he tried to climb back to his feet. Lorna glanced at him over her shoulder with a stricken expression. Her silver fog was failing- she simply didn’t have the strength to keep it up. A guard advanced on Sebastian quickly, sword raised high over his head.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the guard said and brought the sword down.

Ronnie was in motion before the words left his mouth. She snarled, the sound tearing itself from her throat and she leapt to her feet, dashing over to the guard and jumping up onto his back. Her knees dug in just below the guard’s arms and she wrapped her hands around his throat. Her claws dug in deep and she raked them over the flesh, tearing through the skin as if it were tissue paper.

The guard swatted at her weakly and tried to shout for help, but he could only gurgle wetly from his destroyed throat. He dropped heavily to the ground and Ronnie went with him. Her chest heaved and she looked over at Sebastian who watched her with wide eyes.

“Wow.”

Ronnie opened her mouth to respond but Lorna screamed. “I need help!”

Bullets were piercing the fog, narrowly missing Lorna who stood rooted in place like a tree, her arms outstretched to support the veil. Ronnie helped Sebastian to his feet and they hurried to Lorna’s side.

“When I say, drop the veil.”

Lorna looked like she wanted to argue, but she simply nodded. Sebastian stood on her other side, sword in his hand and a grimace on his face. He glanced over at Ronnie and then back at the fog.

“Now!”

Lorna yelled and sent the fog forward at the two guards with a final burst of power. It flew at them like a stiff wind and Ronnie and Sebastian were right behind it. They made swift work of the disoriented guards. Sebastian swung his sword and caught one of guards at the knee, cutting to the bone. Ronnie kicked a guard squarely between the legs, sending him to his knees. She pulled the rifle from his hand, flipped it around and swung at his head. The butt of the gun hit the man with a resounding crack.

“Ouch,” Sebastian said, exchanging his sword for the guard’s rifle.

“I suppose you know how to use that too?” Ronnie asked.

Sebastian smiled wryly. “I do, indeed. My family is rather strict about traditions.”

A quiet blanketed the grounds as the alarms suddenly cut off. Ronnie had to tap her own ears just to make sure she hadn’t gone deaf. The sudden silence after the stretch of nearly an hour of screaming alarms was disorienting.

“Uh, guys?”

Lorna backed up, bumping into them. She stared off toward the front of the manor. Ronnie followed her gaze and sucked in a deep breath.

“Oh.”

A line of guards had formed, stretching nearly the length of property. Swordsmen stood at the back while riflemen knelt on one knee in the front, rifles pointed and ready. In front of them, hands tucked behind his back, stood Sloan. Blackburn waited at his side with the same calm smile plastered on his face that he’d worn at lunch.

Sloan appeared entirely unbothered by Ronnie’s assault on him earlier. In fact, he seemed as if he were patiently waiting for them to finish their fight. Suddenly, the little victory didn’t seem as satisfying. Why didn’t he just shoot them already and be done with it?

When he had their full attention, he clapped, slowly and deliberately. “Well done. That was quite the skirmish.”

“Do you think we can make it to the fence? I know Malik left it open for us,” Lorna whispered.

“As soon as we take a step, he’ll shoot,” Sebastian said. His finger played over the trigger of the rifle.

“Don’t,” Ronnie told him. “You can’t possibly hit them all before they shoot us.”

“I can at least hit Blackburn.”

“Why not Sloan?”

“Trust me. Blackburn is worse,” Sebastian spat out bitterly.

“I’m disappointed in you, Sebastian,” Sloan called out. “What a disgrace to your family and your legacy. Your mother had such high hopes for you. We all did. Clearly, you need a lesson in priorities.”

“We are more than prepared to offer it,” Blackburn said. “You aren’t the first rebellious King we’ve dealt with.”

Sloan snapped his fingers and the riflemen lowered their guns. They stood and backed up to stand in line behind Sloan and Blackburn.

“What are they doing?” Ronnie asked, unease tickling at her instincts.

“I don’t know.”

A piercing sound pulsed through the air. Ronnie clapped her hands over her ears but it did nothing to muffle the noise. The alarm again?

No. This was different. The wails vibrated into her bones and down into her core. It rattled through her head and sunk in like claws, tearing at whatever it could. Lorna dropped to her knees, screaming for it to stop. Ronnie tried to stay upright but her legs shook under her. She wobbled in place and stumbled into Sebastian. He wrapped his arms around her as she sank to the ground.

Tears streaked down her cheeks. Her ears felt ready to burst from the agonizing noise. Sebastian was saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear his words over the wailing. She opened her mouth to try and ask why he wasn’t affected but all that left her lips were screams.

“Stop it!” Sebastian shouted at Sloan.

Just as suddenly as the sound had come, it was gone. Ronnie curled in on herself, gasping for the breath that had been pulled from her body. Her hands trembled as she pulled them away from her ears. She looked down at her fingers. They were streaked red. Her ears were still ringing, but she made to sit up anyway, leaning heavily on Sebastian. His warmth encompassed her like a blanket, but it wasn’t quite enough to chase away the chill that had settled over her.

Beside her, Lorna whimpered. Ronnie looked over at her. Her red hair stuck to her face in damp strands that almost hid the blood trickling from her ears. Her pale face gleamed with a sheen of sweat and her eyes were glazed over and unfocused.

“Lorna?”

Lorna looked up at her and smiled weakly. “I think I’m okay,” she rasped.

“Quite the demonstration, isn’t it?” Sloan’s voice boomed across the lawn. He pointed and Ronnie twisted in Sebastian’s arms.

Another scream nearly erupted from her throat. The ghastly figure of a woman hovered there behind them, floating inches from the ground. It had to be another of Sloan’s horrible creations. White hair that hung down in tangled knots did nothing to hide the gouged out dark sockets that should have held her eyes. Her lipless jaw hung open, unhinged and swinging loosely, like a corpse dried with age. With the snapping crack of bone, her jaw closed.

“We call them banshees.” Blackburn’s voice burned with pride as he strode across the lawn toward them. He stopped when he reached Sebastian and Ronnie. He clicked his tongue, staring down at them. “What would your family say about this atrocious behavior, Sebastian? Have you no pride?”

Sebastian’s arms tightened around Ronnie’s shoulders. She wanted to get up, to brandish claw and fang at this man, to do anything other than lie on the ground but her body sluggishly refused to respond. Whatever the banshee did to them, the effect was lasting.

Blackburn crouched down, level with Sebastian. His smile vanished. “This is what you’re going to do, Sebastian. You are going to return to your room. In the morning, you will board the train back to the Marble City. You will submit yourself to the educational regimen that I have planned for you and when you have proven that you have left these inclinations,” he gestured to Ronnie, “behind, then you will take your place as the head of the new regime.” He stood up and smoothed down the lines of his pressed white coat. His eyes blazed like blue fire. “There is no fighting this. You’re entire life has been planned out. You’re going to take this world where is belongs. It is not optional. If it helps, however, we can be rid of your complications now.”

Blackburn stood, drew his sword from his belt and pointed it at Ronnie. Sebastian scrambled for the rifle and propped it up awkwardly with one hand, not willing to let go of Ronnie.

Blackburn laughed, a cold sound that chilled the air around them. “That’s a man’s weapon. You’re just a boy.”

The banshee screeched suddenly and Ronnie tensed, preparing herself for another onslaught of pain, but it never came. The monstrous woman dropped from the air in a heap of dead flesh and wild hair. Ronnie craned her neck to look back at her. A single arrow, glowing a brilliant violet, as if it were made of pure light, stuck out of the banshee’s head. The arrow burst in a soft starlight shimmer that dispersed like smoke.

“What?” Blackburn took a step back.

Another arrow whistled through the air but Blackburn dropped low and it sailed over his head, lodging itself in the ground. Ronnie followed its direction. Someone shot through the fence from a bow that glowed as bright as the arrows. She struggled to see their face beneath the shadow of the low hood they wore. More people stepped from the cover of the forest, joining the mysterious savior. One of them wrapped their hands around the iron bars and in a pulse of golden yellow made them vanish.

Malik! Ronnie would recognize that magic anywhere.

“Help our sisters!” The hooded figure shouted and ran fingers over their bow, pulling an arrow from the light and taking aim at Blackburn once more.

Malik ran through the opened fence and shot across the yard directly for Ronnie and Lorna. The two figures following him charged at Blackburn on quick feet. Sloan wasted no time in joining the fight and the guards followed his lead.

“Kill them!”