Chapter 26: To the Tower

A Chapter by Gosia

“Hello, May,”

Slowly, May turned around, mortified. A few feet from her stood no one other than Aedain, glaring at her with raw fury. May was paralyzed. She felt like a deer in the headlights. The demon sent her predatory look and flexed his clawed fingers. That was enough for the girl to figure out, what would happen next. Desperate, she whirled around and darted towards the tower with all the speed, she could manage.

She made only a few steps, when she felt something grabbing her shoulder and slamming her into the nearest tree. May screamed, when the demon roughly pinned her to the tree, nearly crushing her small frame. He was gripping her shoulder, tightening the grip of his fingers. On her once white dress red stains began appearing, as the man punctured her delicate skin with his claws. He was so close to her, that May’s any movement would be blocked. The girl couldn’t breathe, as her ribcage was squished between the tree and Aedain’s crimson armor.

The demon leaned to the terrified girl and inhaled her scent. The girl trembled, when she felt his lips brushing against her earlobe, his hot breath on her neck. The demon slowly slid his hand from her shoulder to the neck, tracing her artery with his clawed thumb.

“I told you not to escape from me,” he whispered to May’s ear, before pulling back to look at her. May’s eyes met his cold gaze.

“Aedain, I’m…” she stuttered, trying to defend herself, but stopped, when she saw the expression of rage showing on the demon’s face.

“I will not forgive you!” the man growled and clutched May’s throat.

The girl choked and desperately gripped his wrist, digging her nails in it in a failed attempt to make him release her. She struggled, as the demon’s fingers were slowly tightening and crushing her windpipe. May’s vision blurred, her movements became weaker.

Then the man released her, throwing the girl to the forest floor. The girl gasped, sharply inhaling the air. After the first shock, when the oxygen filled her lungs again, she pulled herself to the sitting position and looked at the demon. Aedain towered over her and made no move, as though he was waiting for some kind of reaction from her.

“What do you want from me?!” May spoke, her voice shaking, as tears began to well in her eyes. She didn’t understand why he didn’t finish her just now. Did he change his mind about killing her?

The demon smirked at her.

“It would be not amusing, if I ended your life swiftly and easily, would it?” he responded.

May opened her eyes wider, realizing what he just said. The demon wanted her to suffer before she dies �" and he would enjoy that. The girl couldn’t see another option than fight. She wouldn’t give up her life easily, even if it meant doing exactly what he wanted.

The girl quickly jumped back on her feet and ran. Aedain only waited for that. The demon leaped after her and knocked her down, sending her to the ground. The girl rolled several meters and crashed into a tree. She gritted her teeth and got up, ignoring the pain. She darted off.

Aedain rushed after her. May gasped, as he appeared in front of her and pinned her to a tree again. He brought his face so close to hers, that their noses were nearly touching.

“Ready to beg me for your life?” he asked, smiling cruelly.

May sent him an angry glare and started to struggle. He pinned her right arm above her head, twisting it painfully, gripping her throat at the same time. May hissed.

“Well?” asked the demon with a sickening grin plastered across his face. Knowing, that she will be dead soon anyway, May spitted in his face.

“Never!” she screamed at him.

His grip tightened, as he returned glare.

May slowly reached with her free hand to the weapon tucked behind her sash and grabbed the hilt of her knife. Carefully, she pulled it out of the sheath, not averting her eyes from Aedain’s golden ones.

He growled and was about to make a move, when the girl moved her arm with all the speed and accuracy she could manage; she stabbed the demon in his chest, right above the armor, hoping, the blade would reach his heart.

The demon let go of her arm and jumped back, the shock on his face, as he stared at the knife sticking out of his body. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it out, letting the blade fall to the ground. Then, he looked at the girl, who was still standing in place, unable to move. When their eyes met, May could see his golden eyes reflect surprise that gradually was changing into animalistic rage. The crimson marks began appearing on his skin and May could feel his powerful demonic aura swirling around his large frame. She made a desperate attempt to flee, but he was on her in a heartbeat, painfully pressing her back to the trunk.

He grabbed her throat and started squeezing it.

“Die!” he growled, about to snap her neck.

May closed her eyes, praying for the death to come quickly.

Suddenly, the girl heard a strange sound. She opened her eyes and saw something flying swiftly towards them. Aedain released her throat, when his armor got cracked and something pierced the tree, right next to May’s cheek. May turned her head to see what it was.

A spear. The spear went through Aedain’s shoulder, shattering his armor and wounding him quite a bit.

May stayed plastered to the tree, without a clue, what should she do now. The pole of the spear was sticking out of the tree half of an inch from her ear. The demon kept his composure despite his injury, but it was clear to the girl that he was immobilized, at least for now. May looked over Aedain’s shoulder to see who threw the weapon at the demon; a group of women was standing at the edge of the forest. Over two dozens of red-haired women bore the same determined expressions on their faces, each of them was wielding either a spear or a bow, ready to engage in battle with the demon.

The one, who looked like she was the leader of the group made eye-contact with May. The blue-eyed woman smiled and pulled the bowstring. May nodded.

“NOW!” the red-haired female warrior yelled, as arrows and spears rained upon Aedain.

May gasped, realizing, that she was standing there like an idiot. Instantly, she darted away from Aedain. The sound of arrows whistling in the air everywhere around her was frightening, but she kept on running away from the demon.

When attacked, Aedain hissed from frustration, furious that he had to let the woman slip out of his grasp. Ignoring the pain, he broke the pole of the spear pining him to the tree and whirled around, drawing one of his sword. He had to use all of his focus to deflect the arrows and dodge the spears. It would be a lot easier if his right arm was not injured so much. Aedain glanced towards the human woman, who was just getting away. When Lavena’s warrior women made a brief pause in attacking, Aedain yelled with all the anger he felt and suddenly threw Dorreach in May’s direction. The girl tripped, as the sword pinned the sleeve of her dress to the tree. The black-haired demon swiftly drew his other sword, just in time to deflect the second wave of attack.

When the red-haired women ran out of arrows, Aedain wanted to charge onto them and wipe all of those irritating pests out, but their leader turned out to be quite smart.

“Scatter!” the woman called to her comrades and they ran in all directions, hiding in the trees.

Aedain cursed loudly, feeling the burning need to kill someone. Then, his eyes turned towards someone who was still around and began making his way towards her.

May gasped in horror as the demon was slowly stalking towards her. She still struggled with her sleeve, pinned to the tree, feeling panic welling in her. He was getting closer!

Suddenly, she saw arrows flying towards Aedain once again. The demon glanced that way as well and then gasped, swiftly dodging them. One of the arrows brushed past his face, cutting his cheek. The demon hissed with irritation and glared at the one, who sent the arrows, but the red-haired woman disappeared in the branches of a tree like a forest spirit.

“Damn witch and her wenches,” the angered demon growled, clenching his fist.

May took the chance, that someone distracted him and pulled the sleeve. The fabric ripped, freeing the girl. The girl darted forward, leaving the sounds of raging battle behind her.

“Over here!” May heard a voice from her right. She noticed a flicker of red from behind one of the trees. She decided to trust the voice and ran in that direction.

“Here, girl!”

“This way!”

May was sprinting as fast as she could, guided by the voices of the forest demons. She had no clue how much longer would she have to run, but it was the one race she couldn’t afford to lose �" her life was at stake.

Finally, Aedain managed to escape the constant attacks of the witch’s minions and darted after May. He was close to catching her, when the leader of the red-haired women stepped into his was, with the bow ready to fire.

“You won’t be getting her,” the leader said confidently and then called to May: “RUN DEAD AHEAD, GIRL!”

May’s eyes widened when she was the witch’s tower right in front of her, maybe two hundred meters away. Her knees felt like giving up, but she kept running. She didn’t slow down when she heard a characteristic whizz of an arrow and a metallic sound, she kept going when a woman’s pained scream pierced the air, she didn’t even look back when she heard someone run after her. She didn’t have to, she knew perfectly who was chasing her �" Aedain.

The girl focused her gaze on the tower, she felt her pursuer gaining on to her quickly. Then, she felt Aedain’s sharp claws brushing against her hair as she felt the ground tremble and grass literally disappeared from under her feet. May shrieked when she lost her footing and fell into the hole in ground.

May groaned when she slammed into the hard surface. She rolled onto her fours and felt a hard cold stone under her fingers. She lifted her head and saw the dark passageway in front of her eyes. A tunnel.

“Hurry!” she heard a voice coming from one of the ends of the tunnel.

Instantly remembering that Aedain was right behind her, May looked up, panicked. However, there was no sign of the demon anywhere, the ceiling of the tunnel was whole as though she hadn’t damaged it while falling down here.

“Come on, girl!” May heard the voice again.

The girl got back onto her feet and began running along the ancient hallway. She kept tripping in the darkness and the roots of trees kept catching on her hair, making the run a nightmare. The corridor wasn’t straight �" it seemed more like a labyrinth designed to confuse anybody in here. Fortunately the mysterious yet friendly female voice was guiding her all the way.

“You’re almost there,” the disembodied voice said, encouraging May to keep moving.

Then, the girl heard a creak and bright light blinded her. Shielding her eyes with the arm, May blinked, seeing a silhouette engulfed by the glow.

“Get inside!” a female voice called and May got pulled right into the light.

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