Chapter Nine
The Harpies’ screams soon had all six of them pelting toward the white city. Given the situation, Kieran felt it was okay to ditch his hostage and run for his life, especially as the guy was slowing him down. Getting torn limb by limb by those terrifying creatures wasn’t on his to-do list. Running for the safety of a huge, stone city was.
Rhogan shouted to his men, but they were too busy darting around the massive boulders to listen. Or maybe the Harpies’ shrieks were also nearly driving them mad with fear, like they were to Kieran. Either way, none of them were prepared when the first Harpy dropped onto the guy with the high voice.
Great, tawny wings blocked Kieran’s view of the Harpy and of the high-voiced guard, whose screams were also shrill. God, Kieran didn’t want to know what that Harpy was doing to him; it sounded like he was getting castrated with blunt garden shears. Although it was probably far worse than that.
The screams cut off and the ragged wings shifted. When the Harpy turned around, Kieran ran straight into a rock.
He knew Harpies were pretty much women with a pair of wings sticking out of their back. What he wasn’t aware of was how much they looked like real woman. If it weren’t for the wings and the haggard looks, plus a couple of clothes, Kieran could’ve passed her in the street.
The Harpy snarled at him, vicious rage burning in her eyes. Her rotten teeth were sparse, black, and sharp. Not the type to sparkle in Colgate adverts. With an ear-splitting scream, she leapt at him, furiously beating her wings to help cover the distance.
Kieran was slammed against the rock he’d only just peeled himself off when she came at him, barely giving him enough time to raise the dagger he held. She gripped the top of his arms with her clawed hands, her sharp fingernails stabbing into his flesh, and shrieked in his face.
Up close she was even more hideous. Her mane of brown hair was greasy and disheveled, hanging limply over her sun-burnt shoulders. It was almost the same colour as her wings, which she lifted as she screamed. Blocking out everything else so all Kieran could see was her. Just her.
Blood still dripped down her face from the high-voiced guard. It was all over her, smeared over her chest from where he’d been trying to push her away. It surrounded her mouth, making her look like she’d been gurgling it. Either that or she loved dressing up as the Joker.
She screeched again, strings of saliva flying from her teeth and hitting Kieran in the face. He flinched as her hot, foul breath rolled over him, making him wish he had breath mints. Or a gun. A gun would be great.
He remembered the dagger he held in his hand. He tried to lift it up, but as he did, the Harpy opened its mouth again and went for his throat.
Thwack!
Kieran shut his eyes as her blood drenched him, spurting up from her headless shoulders. He heard the corpse fall to the ground and opened an eye, wondering who to thank.
Rhogan stepped towards him, his face grim and splattered with blood. The calf-long knife he held in his hand was coated in red. It was then Kieran heard all the other shrieks and screams of the Harpies and the shouts of the men. He saw the Harpies drop from the sky like comets, all aiming for the guards, who ran toward the city.
“Shit,” Kieran breathed, watching them.
Rhogan grabbed Kieran’s shoulder and roughly pushed him away from the rock. “Can you run?” he demanded in a hard voice.
“I, er, I think I can…”
Rhogan must have thought that was code for Yes! I can fly if you want! Because he pushed Kieran in the direction of the city until they were both running. Well, Rhogan ran. Kieran stumbled along, gasping for breath.
Harpies swooped overhead, arms outstretched as they reached for Kieran and Rhogan, but Rhogan was a pro at keeping the harpies back, because none really touched them. Others weren’t as lucky as Kieran.
The guard Kieran had taken hostage was lying on the ground ahead, not moving. Lilac-Eyes gripped his ankles and tried to pull him along, but a Harpy shot from the sky and knocked Lilac-Eyes backwards.
They both tumbled across Kieran and Rhogan’s path, making Kieran look in front of him, and not at the sky. His heart leapt when he saw how close the city was. It was about a football field away. Not too far, but with Harpies dropping out of the sky intent on tearing them to pieces, every millimetre they covered deserved a medal.
They reached the lifeless guard and Rhogan stopped. When he bent down and tried to pull him on his back, Kieran doubled back and shrieked, “What are you doing?!”
“A fallen … soldier of … Junella … will never be … left to the Harpies,” Rhogan grunted, rising to his feet again.
Kieran thought back to Sven, left out for the predators of Africa, and his heart squeezed painfully. “Amen to that,” he replied tightly. “But can we please get going, now?”
A sudden screeching drew their attention to Lilac-Eyes, who was crawling away from a Harpy. The Harpy clawed at its eyes and writhed around on the ground, screaming. With another shriek, the Harpy yanked a dagger from an eye socket and threw it to the ground. Blood, gore and all things nice dripping down its pissed off face, it turned and fixed its good eye on Lilac-Eyes.
Lilac-Eyes gasped and tried to scramble away even faster, but he couldn’t escape the shadow that fell over him from the rising Harpy. Wing gathered together, taloned fingers twitching, the Harpy let loose a snarl that really told you how much it wanted to tear Lilac-Eyes apart until he was nothing more than a smear on the ground.
Then it all happened in little more than a second.
Rhogan tried to lift his long knife, but struggled under the weight of the body on his back. Lilac-Eyes trembled and tried to push himself even further away, scrabbling around in the dust and pebbles. The Harpy whipped out its wings and sprung into the air, using gravity to help drop like a grand piano onto Lilac-Eyes, its blade-like fingers curled into claws. And Kieran… Kieran did something stupid.
He snatched the knife from Rhogan and all but flew toward Lilac-Eyes and the Harpy, throwing himself on top of Lilac-Eyes with the knife sticking into the air as though he was some knight in battle.
The Harpy screamed and beat her wings, trying to pull back into the air when she saw what Kieran was doing. Too late. She skewered herself on the sword and dropped onto Kieran and Lilac-Eyes. Pain shot up his arm as the weight of the Harpy twisted it into an unnatural angle. He cried out, but knew from experience that he was dealing with nothing more serious than a sprain. Thank God.
The Harpy rolled to the side, and Kieran felt his heartbeat return to normal when he realised it was Rhogan, making sure they didn’t suffocate under her, and not the Harpy doing some Lazarus thing.
Rhogan had ditched the body and had run to lend a hand, helping them up from the messy heap they were in. Respect shone in his eyes when he sent a solemn look at Kieran, and he paused before he pulled him into a sitting position.
“Thank you,” he said. “For risking your life for my men.”
“Don’t mention it,” Kieran grunted, more preoccupied with his arm than talking about how he was the world’s worst hostage taker. “Can you give me the stone back now?”
“No.”
As Kieran spluttered, Rhogan began talking softly to Lilac-eyes. Kieran saw that Lilac-Eyes was opening and shutting his mouth, peering up at the sky, and generally looking like he’d just taken a mental tumble down a cliff.
Kieran twisted around and saw why.
A group of Harpies flew overhead, their shadows flashing over Kieran, Lilac-Eyes and Rhogan, making them flinch. They shot toward the city like bullets, shrieking the whole time. It was then Kieran realised there was another sound thrown into the mix, one he just about heard over the pounding of his heart. Sirens wailed in the city, shouting to the citizens how they were about to have a visitor or two drop in. Kieran saw figures in the same uniform as Rhogan and Lilac-Eyes dashing to and fro, waving what had to be weapons in the air.
Kieran squinted and blinked furiously, sure he must be imagining what he was seeing. Something shot out of the top of the city, falling around the city like a water feature. Except it was slow in falling. So slow it reminded Kieran of a garage door that closed automatically; the heavy door going down so slowly about ten thieves could have gone and stolen your lawnmower. After helping themselves to a cup of tea, of course.
“Make haste!” Rhogan hissed, clapping Kieran on the shoulder. “We must get to the city!”
“Right,” Kieran panted as he pushed himself to his feet. Then he stopped. “Um, why, exactly? That’s where the Harpies are going.”
Rhogan stopped trying to talk Lilac-Eyes into getting up and turned to face Kieran. Kieran figured his status as Hero of the Moment had faded from memory by that special look Rhogan shot him.
“Firstly, we must protect the people of Junella from the Harpies, even if it costs us our lives. And secondly,” he jabbed his finger at what was closing over the city like a see-through bowl, “when the Water covers the entire city, we will be unable to enter and shall be left with naught but the Harpies for company.” Rhogan whirled on Lilac-Eyes. “Get to your feet, man, before I report you to Lady Aliessye for cowardice!”
Lilac-Eyes miserably got to his feet, cringing under Rhogan’s glare. He bent down, picked his blood-coated dagger off the ground and placed it in Rhogan’s expectant palm.
While he did that, Kieran stood there, frowning. He weighed up his options, then figured he’d rather be surrounded by four stone walls and an impenetrable ceiling rather than a bunch of angry, blood-thirsty Harpies. He started to limp toward the city, leaving Rhogan and Lilac-Eyes to catch up.
Behind him, he heard Rhogan ordering Lilac-Eyes to help him carry the hostage’s body. Their voices faded into the background and Kieran came to an abrupt halt when he saw the Harpies dive down to the city, doing the same drop and gnaw routine they’d pulled on Kieran and the others. They avoided the covering closing over the city, instead going for the vulnerable lower levels. The city was so close that Kieran could hear the terrified shouts and screams as the Harpies invaded those parts. Cutting over the cries were the Harpies’ triumphant shrieks as they wreaked havoc and despair.
“Hurry!” Rhogan roared, making Kieran practically jump out of his skin.
Rhogan overtook him; the hostage slumped over his shoulder. Lilac-Eyes trailed behind him, still peering up at the darkening sky. With a quick deep breath, Kieran followed them.
Emma, this was probably my favourite chapter! It was so good! And although it was probably not your intent, your chapter pulled at my heartstrings. I kept thinking 'aww, Kieran, if you'd only listened to them, they wouldn't be dying!" *sniff, sniff*
