Page 41 of A Rising Hope (The Freckled Fate #3)

41

FINNLEAH

F aster.

We need to be so much faster. The powers within me surged, but I held them in. Readying. Preparing.

“Ready?” I shouted to Priya. We were swallowed into the cloud of leathery teeth and claws. Day turned into night in the blink of an eye as darkness encompassed us entirely.

I let my powers free then.

A deadly heat wave, like a small bomb, exploded from within me. The creatures rained from the sky into the ocean in giant piles. I yanked the reins, pushing us through the cloud of bones and claws as we raced farther away from the islands. My powers burned everything in our way as we carved a path in the sky.

“They are not taking the bait, Freckles,” Priya shouted behind me as another horn sounded. This time, the roar of the horn fell short.

Fuck.

Fucking fuck.

I yanked on the reins, twisting the dragonfly around and racing for the mage’s island with everything I had.

But there were too many of them. Their leathery wings were so resistant to fire that it took significant effort to even wound them. Each large burst of fire drained my powers.

Swarms and swarms of them flew towards the islands and there was no end in sight.

I looked behind us, seeing only more of them following us.

That small distraction cost me. Our dragonfly plunged in the air towards the sea. Though I was not hurt, my chest felt like it was stabbed as I saw the ripped wings on her right side. The demon-like, haunted creatures had shred her right wings completely. The dragonfly struggled, forcing her left wings to flap with ferocity, but it was no use now. I knew that, the same way I knew this was not the time to cry about it, but my eyes watered.

“Land this fucking thing!” Priya shouted from behind me, her frantic voice pulling me out of the spiral. I yanked on the reins, twisting the dragonfly to the side as we fell. I forced myself to focus even as my heart broke at the trembling dragonfly underneath us.

“There! Land!” Priya pointed to a small part of land flickering between the wings of the hateful creatures. The dragonfly, as if she understood Priya’s cry, twisted, fighting through the air with everything she had, struggling to get us closer, but forcing herself to stay alive just a bit longer for us to make it.

The deep waters below reflected our falling figures.

“Jump!” I shouted. Priya and I unbuckled our belts. Both of us launched ourselves into the air as the dragonfly crashed into the cliffs below. Her glass-like body torn, broken and at last completely motionless. I watched as the creatures shot down after her, devouring her until only her shattered glass-like wings were left behind. I held on to the daggers wedged deep into the dirt on the edge of the cliff. My tight grip on their hilts was the only thing standing between me and white waters at the bottom of the sharp cliffs below.

“If you fucking cry for that insect and not for the fact that we are about to end up just like it, I will kill you before those hellish creatures get the chance to!” Priya snarled from above, yanking me by the hand.

My heart broke. But I let that devastation churn into ire.

Priya pulled a cloth over her face. Daggers in both hands.

I reached for my own, Heart Piercer singing to my blood a battle cry.

“Look at us, just like good old times, Freckles!” Priya cheered near me, eyeing the sightless creature aiming for her. “Just two messed up girls against the world. What’s not to enjoy?” Priya broke a vial, letting the black powder settle around her. The copper in her eyes sparkled.

With that, chaos erupted.

The creatures swarmed. But Priya was faster. It was like time had stopped. Her unwavering dagger was a flicker of silver in the night. Again and again, she sliced their bellies, gutting them, ripping their wings to ribbons. A pair of claws yanked her hair. “Fucker!” A breath and its throat dripped with black tar-like blood. She moved as if this was a dance, masterfully precise, not a single move forced or out of step. She didn’t even blink, eliminating every single creature that went for her with unlimited rage at her fingertips.

I, too, was lost amid the scraping claws, deafened by the sound of flapping wings and horrible screeching.

But in the middle of the calamity, a certain quietness settled in my mind, focused only on one thing.

Left, right, duck. Again. Knives, arrows, daggers. Aim for the eye, carve their hearts, rip their wings. This one down, move to the next.

I threw heaps of fire, shields, waves, everything I had. My daggers reached whatever creature fire didn’t burn.

And yet it was not enough.

Again and again. Jump, duck, slide, turn, twist. Slice, stab. Faster.

Not enough.

Swarms of them passed above us.

My fire ran rampant.

“That’s for ruining my leathers!” Priya’s ragged voice shouted near me. The only sign of her growing exhaustion.

We couldn’t last like this, not for much longer.

I closed my eyes, summoning whatever power I had left within me to the surface. Feelings and

thoughts numbed. Only power, only control, only precision.

A familiar chain rustled in me like the creature within was aware of the creature around us, anxious and eager to get out. So, without thinking, I let go of the fear, of the control. My skin was covered in goosebumps and a shot of pain ran down my spine.

But when my eyes opened, raw fire blazed from them.

So much of it that I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t control it even if I tried.

I breathed fire. I felt fire. I was fire.

My consciousness bled white hot. A flash.

Priya gawked, her mouth turned downward with a nervous frown at a cloud of fire that now shaped into a giant dragon. Shaped out of red and white flames, large flaming scales sparkled between the black leathery wings of the demon creatures. The fiery jaws of the dragon, made of Justice Fire, swallowed them whole, turning the creatures to dust each time it touched them. Like a moth to a light, they swarmed towards it.

A small reprieve and victory almost at our fingertips.

“Fucking heaven and hell,” Priya gasped as the biggest creature we had ever seen appeared from the waters below. Its body was tall enough to reach the top of the cliff without using its wings once.

“Mother fucker,” Priya snarled near me. The giant creature, the mother of them all, shrieked, leaving us nearly deaf. My fiery dragon disappeared in the storms of creatures, devouring them one by one, but even he was no match for the creature that now swung its wings wide, shaking the earth beneath our feet.

I let out a jagged rasp, feeling drained. My feet stumbled a step back, tumbling into Priya, as we both steadied our daggers. Both of us quite aware that blades were absolutely useless against the swarms of monsters drowning the sky.

I felt the ocean of powers within me depleting drop by drop. But even if I had endless fire, there was an endless flow of creatures. Eventually my body would burnout from the constant toll on it.

And I would die.

“Oh, get over yourself.” Priya gave me a glare. She didn’t need to read my thoughts. My hopeless glance at her spoke louder than any words could. She angrily wiped off a drip of blood on her cheek where a curved claw had nicked her. Her body was covered in tar-like blood from head to toe. Only her bright copper eyes shining in the darkness. “I am not fucking dying today. And neither are you.” She turned to me, assessing. “Try to keep me alive, Freckles.” But before I could say another word, she closed her eyes.

My feet dug deeper into the sticky dirt. I sent the strongest shield I could summon to protect us as it dawned on me what she was attempting to do. I sent more daggers flying at any creature, daring to break it.

The world paused for a moment.

And Priya opened her eyes. She moved, taking a few steps towards the mother of all creatures.

“I really, really, really fucking hate pests.” She walked, and the creatures fell all around her. Dead in her wake. I jumped over the falling bodies, racing after her.

She marched towards the edge of the cliff. The rage spilling from her was palpable. Her copper eyes pierced the largest eyeless creature of them all.

“Tell the Mad Queen she picked a fight with the wrong bitch!” Priya roared against the winds. A blink and the creature bellowed. Its gigantic body swayed, plummeting from the sky straight into the waters below. The cliffs crumbled, and the ocean boomed, engulfing the creature’s body.

Every single creature that was around us swarmed with only one goal—kill Priya. The sound of their wings was muffled by their loud screeching as they all dove towards us from the sky.

My fiery dragon rushed to protect us.

“Priya!” I warned as my shields heated at the clouds of the creatures trying to force their way through. “Priya . . . ” I murmured under my breath, while I cut and slashed everything my dagger could reach. Priya stood still, only a few steps away from me. I sliced the throat of the small creature pushing towards the shield, before twisting back on my feet to Priya.

My stomach knotted, and my heart froze mid beat.

“Fuck!” I snarled. Priya stood motionless, a little trickle of blood ran down from her nose and ears. The crimson prominent against the black tar-like blood smudged across her face. “What happened to you not dying today?” I dropped my daggers just in time to catch her as her body swayed. “Fuck. Shit. Fuck!” I roared. The creatures clawed at my shield, piling on top of it. Their black oozing saliva seeped through the almost invisible membrane of heat keeping us alive.

I pulled her eyelids open, but her eyes were rolled far back; I shook her shoulders. Panic suffocated me from within. Thoughts jumbled. She was breathing, but just barely. Her skin paled.

“For the love of all that’s holy, wake up.” I begged, not letting go of her body. “Wake up, Priya, I am fucking begging you,” I cried out, no longer caring about the creatures above me, as I held her unresponsive body tight. “If you fucking die, then I die and then the Mad Queen will live forever. She wins. Think on that. You lose. You hate losing. All your plans ruined and you hate when your plans are ruined. And . . . and . . . your snobby neighbors will be so excited to get someone else to live in your house . . . and Ratika will have to go work in some grimy kitchen for someone else. So wake up, Priya, right fucking now!” I barked, slapping her across the cheek, but she didn’t move.

The first creature made it past the barrier, pushing through the layers of the burning creatures. I sent a fiery spear through its body. Another one made its way through. Another spear. And another. The bodies of the dead creatures crowded us. Their gnarly features inched closer and closer, as my shield shrunk until it was mere inches away from squashing us under their weight.

Devastation—an endless pit—swirled within me, like a whirlpool, yanking all my thoughts away when Death appeared. Though I didn’t see her, I could feel her here, lingering, watching. Ready to drag my soul to whatever hell I had deserved.

My cheeks flushed. The heat from my shields itching at my skin.

I closed my eyes for a moment. At first, ready to face the truth of our defeat. And yet, as the calm darkness soothed me, I let rage take over. I might have lost, but I would never fucking surrender.

I dove deep into the pool of my fire. The previously endless oceans of raw fire had turned into streams and swamps. I knew there was one way to end this.

I’d burn and so would all the creatures around me as I let the flames take hold of me, using me to source enough fire to explode like a bursting star. Tears didn’t roll down my cheeks, my hands didn’t tremble. I took a steadying deep breath. My lungs expanded with as much air as they could contain.

“Burn in fucking hell.” I opened my eyes, ready to explode.

“Already fucking there.” Priya’s voice, like a cold bucket of water, yanked me out of the scorching wave of fire that was ready to destroy me. With a wicked and bloody smile on her lips, she raised her hand up in the air. “Too bad your boyfriend can’t do this.” She snapped her fingers. And the creatures fell.

Every. Single one of them.

Thousands upon thousands. All of them at once. Like hail in a horrifying storm, they dropped to the ground. Their heavy bodies quaked the earth on impact. I clenched my teeth, holding the shield steady and strong enough to protect us from the claws and bones raining on us.

She had killed them all. Mapped their minds one by one with her powers until she’d reached them all, turning their minds into a liquid mush. Not a single one lived. Not a single one even so much as flinched as she destroyed them.

“For the record, Freckles, I am never, ever, fucking flying again,” she mumbled, slurring her speech, as her eyes rolled, and hands dropped from her sides to the ground.

“Shit, shit, shit . . . ” I feverishly checked all her pockets, praying she had hidden any bits of candy or sugar in her leathers. I found a small caramel, swearing all kinds of profanities as it slipped out of my blackened fingers covered in the creatures’ blood. “Here.” My hands trembled as I fought with the most stubborn wrapper. My heart raced against my chest as I victoriously shoved the sticky candy inside her mouth. I propped her body against mine, sitting her up as I forced her jaw to move. My mind loudly counted seconds.

A few seconds passed, Priya choked, coughing, spitting the bits of candy out. She blinked away sharply, just to give me a threatening look.

“I fucking saved us, and now you are trying to kill me? With candy?” Priya hissed, her voice no more than an angry whisper, lacking its usual bite and energy, as her paled head rested against my chest. I wrapped my arms tight around her, holding her up.

We surveyed the piles of leathery forms like black boulders surrounding us for miles. All of them were dead.

“I told you I’d always save your droopy ass, Freckles. No man needed.”

Yes, many things had changed between us. And yet that truth hadn’t.

It never would.

A loud echo of horns sounded through the islands, one by one signaling their survival. And I realized I had never heard a more beautiful sound. Tears of relief flooded me, and I let myself cry.

“Gods, I’d rather have you throw up than cry,” Priya grumbled, as my chest trembled, full of unleashed sobs.

Through my tears, I laughed at her remark, overwhelmed by so many feelings like a tsunami hitting me, making me feel so alive.

I laughed.

And so did she.