Briar could remember it all. Well, most of it. She could recall everything that she needed to know at that very moment and at that time, she needed a plan.
She and Roman had gotten back to the fight by Roman folding them into the shadows.
When they had landed, the fight had almost been finished. Bodies lay scattered around from both sides, and the green grass had turned red from their blood. Parts had been scorched due to the fire in people, but many were still fighting.
Noah, thankfully, was still going strong, his only visible injury a long cut down his left arm.
When Briar looked to the sky, she saw the tall, rocky wall still standing, but she also saw large, dark shadows flying around the clearing.
Tanwen.
She was leading a group of dragons, some big, some small; some bright and some dark. They swooped down and people screamed in terror as they shot blue flames from their jaws. Smoke puffed out of their nostrils and people with powers began climbing onto the dragons and flying to and fro.
Tanwen had found a way to make them see.
Roman's hand landed on her shoulder. "We need to move, if your idea has any chance of working."
Briar nodded and scanned the clearing for Rose.
She wasn't that hard to spot, for she was still suspended from the dark legs that shot out of her lower back.
Briar and Rowan broke into a run and crossed the clearing. Less than 100 yards away from Rose, her dark eyes flicked over to them and her attention was wholly on the two fingers running towards her.
Rose dropped to the ground and her tentacle-legs contracted back into her. From this distance, she looked like a normal girl, in her dress and with her short hair. But as Briar and Roman drew nearer, Rose's eyes and vein-streaked cheeks were visible, and she looked more like a killer than a child.
She smiled her malicious grin and lifted her arms.
The ground began to shake and shot up around Briar in chunks, creating a mountainous terrain and separating her from Roman. Beneath her, the ground rose around 20 meters into the air, leaving her stranded on a rock. A few yards away, Roman also appeared on a rock of him own.
"Come to finish it?" Rose said, her voice amplified as if she was stood just behind Briar. She flicked a wrist and the rocks suddenly dropped, sending Briar and Roman falling to the ground. Briar felt her stomach lurch and it was an effort not to vomit as she thrust her hands towards the floor to cushion her fall with her powers.
At least air had a use, even if it was to save her from splattering on rocks.
"Good," Rose mused. "You're learning." She snapped her fingers and Roman suddenly appeared beside her, tangled in Rose's shadows. "You're her brother, aren't you?" Roman just stilled, his gaze trained on Briar. He nodded.
Briar thrust out her hands, sending the wind slamming into Rose. She blocked it with a mere wave of her hand. But Briar only smiled. She slammed her hands together and clouds began to close in above Rose. Thunder sounded and the clouds lit up.
Rose looked up in terror. "What...how..." she said, just as a bolt of lightning struck the ground inches beside her. She screamed as she was blown to the ground from the force of the blast, her body hitting her own invisible shields. The shadows around Roman faltered and he slithered out of them. He lifted his arm and sent his own shadows towards Rose, the black tendrils snaking into her head. Rose's breathing hitched and her eyes seemed to flash back to their original shade.
She was fighting.
Roman grimaced as his power drained from him. "Get the hell out of my sister." He dropped to his knees, his arm still outstretched. Briar ran towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Take what you need," she said. Rose had drawn power from others, so why couldn't Roman. "Take it until she's back."
Roman gritted his teeth but nodded.
She felt the tug on her power when he gripped it. Felt it being dragged from her body. But she let it go.
Rose was also on her knees, her arms braced on the floor. The ground thrummed and the rocks around them rose until they were surrounded.
A last ditch effort.
"Get out," Roman groaned. Rose just hissed at him, her eyes slowly becoming lighter as Roman tried to drag out the tether allowing her to be controlled.
The tug on Briar's power suddenly stopped and she ran towards Rose as the girl slumped to the ground. She held her in her lap as the girl's breathing evened and the dark lines in her cheeks left. The power that radiated off her seemed to dull and Briar smiled. Roman had done it. He had dragged that thing from his sister and she was alive at the end of it.
"It worked, Roman!" Briar said, excitement lacing her voice. "It actually worked."
Behind her, Roman grunted.
Briar spun around, gently lowing Rose to the ground in the process.
Knelt on the ground, Roman looked up at Briar from his dulling eyes. "Thank you," he murmured, his voice quiet. "For everything." Then he collapsed, his body falling to the ground with a thud. Briar ran to where he'd fallen and stood over his body.
"Roman?" She asked, her eyes stinging. When he didn't reply, a noise came out of her and she covered her mouth with her hands.
He was gone.
Roman was dead.
YOU ARE READING
Heroes and Villains
Teen FictionIn a world full of good and evil, how will these young people react to the introduction of elemental powers suddenly cropping up across the world? How will the heroes go up against these powered villains, or will they become villains themselves? Wh...