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Chapter 12: Healing Fire

Chapter 12: Healing Fire

 

AMBER DIDN’T STOP RUNNING. SHE pushed on and bent mid-run, ignoring the way her muscles screamed and her shoulder burned. The four-points of the shuriken in her hand bit into her palm but she kept sprinting forward, then whirled, using the momentum of her dash to add to the shuriken’s as it left her hand and soared up.

Her eyes were sharp and her aim true. The Beast shook his head violently, trying to dislodge the projectile from its deep-seated place in his previously uninjured eye. Nicholas staggered to his feet and ran out from under the creature’s torso.

“Amber! Robert! Get out of there!” Daniel’s yells caught her attention and she dashed towards the sound of his voice, only now becoming aware that she was right below the taurus’s head, and he was falling for some reason. Robert, apparently satisfied with his bloody work of the creature’s face, ran at her heels. She skidded to Daniel’s side just as the Beast collapsed onto his knees, roaring in pain and anger. With one hand wrapped around his stomach, where she could see blood seeping through his shirt again, Daniel’s grin was visible even through the grime that coated his face. “We got his knees.”

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Deprived of his sight, the Beast gave something akin to a keening sound and tossed his head. One of his horns hurtled towards Daniel, whose sword was barely halfway to block it when Amber caught it in the apex of her crossed knives. Those reflexes… they’re almost animal-like. She grunted at the impact – it probably jarred her shoulder – and despite her skinny frame, she stopped it from going any further and then thrust it away. The taurus groaned.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “I’ve got you covered.” Her smile was faint, but there.

Daniel blinked. “W-what?”

On the other side of the tunnel, both of them heard Calida shriek, “Robert! Faster!” He’d been right behind Amber this whole time… right? Both of them whipped around. The taurus was still flinging its head around blindly, snorting steam and blood and yelling something unintelligible about killing them. Daniel tried to make him stop and just freeze, but he was too far gone for him to influence him unless he let his magic go and broke down his walls. I'd never break into anyone's mind, no matter Human or Beast.

Robert, supported by Calida, was running as best as he could. Which wasn’t fast. Like Daniel, he’d been wounded before they even started fighting. He limped towards the tunnel wall, looking like he was resting almost all his weight on Calida. Nicholas stood a few metres away from them, shouting at the Beast, trying to keep his attention on him. I’m going to kill him. Once we’re out of this I’m going to kill him.

But the creature had heard Calida’s shouting first. The taurus growled and lowered its head. By then, Daniel and Amber were already moving, though he was lagging behind. Pain radiated out from his stomach and shot tendrils of agony into his limbs whenever he tried to move them. They had started out too late anyway.

The Beast’s head swung down like a pendulum, twisting slowly to get his horn at the right angle. Nicholas tried to jump in and stop him like he’d done before, but all of them were tired, weak. He was thrown back into Robert and both went tumbling over each other. Amber ran towards Calida, the only one left standing, while Daniel tried to pant his pain out. The mocha-skinned girl turned to the giant Beast. Her face, as beautiful as ever, held the fury of an enraged queen – an expression he’d only ever seen when she was talking to Amber. “YOU DON’T TOUCH MY BOYFRIEND!” she roared and flames raced up her arms and up the taurus’s horns and all over his body till orange firelight danced on the tunnel walls.