Chapter 27

with debate here is hopefully the final chapter 27

 

 

Chapter 27

 

        Arnina tossed and turned, she had been awake for hours. She just kept replaying the day’s events over and over again. “Should I have done something different?” she asked herself. “No.” she thought looking at Chloe.

 

        Chloe was sleeping peacefully on the cot next to her. Even after everything she still looked like an angel, almost glowing with her pale blond hair surrounding her small features. Arnina knew that protecting Chloe was the right thing, the most important thing. “She was so frail when we first got here, now she is stronger but yet even more vulnerable. We have both changed so much…” She thought looking at the ceiling trying to understand the world. “I used to wonder if she would even make it to tomorrow now I know I wouldn’t without her. Or without everyone else…but I might not see them anymore…”

 

            ***

 

        The light seared her eyes as it invaded their room. The sound of Chloe screaming slowly faded from her ears as she pulled herself out of a dream. Before she could even ask herself what was going on she felt two large hands grab her by her arms and pull.

 

        In seconds she found herself being escorted down one of the hallways, her sleepy eyes slowly adjusting to the fluorescent lights. “This is it…they are taking me to Smith, to that special testing. I guess I won’t be making it to class today…” she thought as she tried to imagine what was in store for her.

 

        They brought her to a simple white door; to her it looked like a janitor’s closet, not ultimate testing room material. They stood there in silence, after a good five minutes the door opened from the inside to reveal no one other than: Mr. Smith. “I so called that.” she thought giving him the best evil glare she could muster after just being woken up after a sleepless night.

 

        “We are ready, bring her in.” he announced sounding more happy than normal. She took this as a really bad sign and decided that the first chance she got she would hopefully pass out, because being awake while being tortured really sucks.

 

        The guards dragged her ridged body with ease through the door. The room tuned out not to be a room, but a stairway to somewhere even further underground. Her feet barley brushed the cement steps as the guards pulled her down them, she felt like a doll in their grasp. She tried to see what was at the end of the stairway, but the lighting was very bad, she could barley make out Smith in front of her. The queasiness that had begun to grip her stomach could only be described as fear.

 

        When she thought the stairs would never end they came to a stop in front of another door. It was unlike the other doors in the building, it was large and seemed to be made entirely out of stone. It also had a symbol on it, in the dim light it looked light some sort of dragon infused in black fire. “Great, there goes my hope that they were just taking me to some weird testing room. I can’t even begin to wonder what is inside a door like that!” she thought.

Smith pulled a weird shaped key from his pocket, she noticed this too had the symbol. He unlocked the door, it slid back into the wall like magic. Arnina felt her fists clench in anticipation.

 

Darkness was what lied behind the door, the guards drug her on. From what she could tell, they had entered possibly a cave. The air was moist and she felt stone under her feet. “Oh f**k. They are going to kill me. Possibly all ritual style. I bet they will drink my blood and go all virgin sacrifice on my a*s.”

 

Like a horror movie cliché Arnina could hear her heart beating. But in all fairness the only other sounds were their marching feet and Arnina’s fluttering breaths. Further and further they went into the darkness, all she wanted was to stop.

 

Finally after quite a trek they did stop. From what Arnina heard she supposed Smith pulled out another key and opened a door, because in the next second her eyes burned with light from brilliant torches. They were in a stone room of sorts. It wasn’t very large, and had dark stone floors and cave-like walls that were garnished with tapestry with that same symbol on it. In better light she could see the symbol had a red dragon on it and it was engulfed in black flame, not the most pleasing thing to look at.

 

The guards dropped her off against the far back wall and made their way to the exit, leaving just her and Smith. Her eyes shifted to the rack of weapons to her right, she wondered if she should make a grab for one.

 

Smith knowing what she was thinking said, “Go ahead, and Take whichever you like. I want to see what you can do.” Arnina looked at him with blatant confusion and picked up two daggers, they were light and fit in her hands nicely, they also bore the symbol. She didn’t want to hesitate showing weakness, but she really couldn’t see where this was going.

 

Smith grabbed a short sword, and swung it around a few times to show off. Arnina rolled her eyes, feeling determined not to piss herself.

 

        “Ok Arnina remember fighting class! We may not have used weapons but…I can shoot fire at him!” she thought half hysterical.

 

        He was just standing there with that crazy smile, waiting for her to make a move. She stood there unsure, knowing that one of them will have to move eventually. She decided to forgo the daggers for now and call upon her powers. To her surprise nothing happened, Smith’s smile grew seeing the look on her face.

 

        “Look at the walls, see the lines? Those are runes, they make sure that this fight is a fair one.” He said.

 

        “Great.” She muttered.

 

        “Now attack me, I will not kill you today so do not worry.”

 

        Without another word Arnina charged forward daggers ready. He blocked her attack with ease, pushing her back. Now it was his turn, he slammed his sword down on her, leaving her little time to block with her daggers. After a few more blocks and parries she got into the rhythm of battle.

 

She mostly blocked, barely keeping his blade from slicing into her flesh, but every once in awhile she would get close to cutting him too. To her this was victory enough, even though she suspected that he wasn’t even trying. They didn’t fight long; he had said earlier he only wanted to see what she was capable of.

 

She left the fight with minimal cuts; he did slice her a few times, undoubtedly for enjoyment purposes only. She stood there awkwardly as he looked over her with his beady eyes.

 

“You are a horrible fighter, I would have thought with that silly fighting class you vermin have going on you would be better. Yes I know about that.” He said taking in her shocked expression.

 

“It amused me for a time. I figured with your unusual power and minimal fighting experience you would work quite nicely as a recruit for the Night Chasers”

 

“Night Chasers?”

 

“Oh just helpful lesser beings. They are our elite warriors, they have many tasks but mostly it is just finding and gathering vermin like you.”

 

“Why would I want to do that?” she yelled.

 

“Want? Who cares what you want,” he slapped her across the face. “Don’t raise your voice to your superiors!” A lazy smile spread across his face, “You should be happy, this is an honor. You can even ask Cory, a Lunarian.”

 

Arnina watched in horror as her big cousin Cory walked into the room, Grim faced and lifeless, like a solider for death.

 

“No.” she breathed.

 

Her brain utterly stopped, all thoughts of Night Chasers and leaving Chloe ceased. Even her hand slid from her swollen stung cheek. 

Author's Note

PLEASE REVIEW...i know i keep effin this chapter up

Reviews

This chapter is the best one out of the three you have incorperated mystery and tension and giving the reader many different scenes that they could play out in their heads. If you write more chapters like this, this could be made a best selling novel