Varden didn't meet the high mothers charge head on, he slipped to the side, ducked her thundering swing and let her continue past him. Whirling she covered the ten feet between them in one leap, bringing her blade down from overhead.
Once again Varden fell into a defensive stance, batting the side of Zhao's blade to drive it out of line. Zhao drove him back, then back again, her strikes fueled by her building rage. She was being humiliated, and she knew it, Varden hadn't formed his blade yet still blocked nearly every one of her strikes. The ones that got through his guards inflicted mere scrapes or small cuts.
The more she couldn't get through his guard the angrier she became until she began to batter at him, no technic, no finesse, with nothing but brute strength she tried to smash him into the ground. But my Varden isn't stupid, avoiding an overhead slash he leapt away and for the first time shaped his weapon.
A gasp was torn from every mouth in the room. Expecting his Katana what was formed in his hands was a war staff, eight feet long with a two foot long wickedly curved blade at the end. It glowed a deep azure with a pulse attuned to his own.
Flourishing the staff in a circle he settled it out to his side in his right hand and stopped.
"My turn." He shot forward almost faster than the eye could track. He threw his lance straight at the high mother's chest, yet before she could get her sword down to block it he had already grabbed its shaft and retracted the weapon. Gripping it with both hands he swept it in a huge circle to gain momentum, then slammed it down onto Zhao's upthrust guard.
The blow buckled her elbows, the next bent them further until the next strike threw her blade so far to the inside that it cut into her own shoulder. Yet Varden kept on coming, again and again slamming his staff down onto Zhao's defenses with the unstoppable might of a meteor storm.
The high mother backed away as fast as she dared, her face going white in the face of this unexpected onslaught. Vardens blows came from every quarter until at last he worked his blade inside the high mothers and with a flick of his wrists sent it flying into the wall where it dissipated into mist.
"High mother Zhao, I have bested you in single combat. Under the rules that you live by I expect you to keep your word. You will leave this place and harbor no ill will against Damaris or any of those who dwell here."
"That was never within the bounds of our agreement, and you know it." She hissed, sweat flowing down her face.
"I am altering our deal," the lance sang through the air until it was under her chin. "Pray I don't alter it any further." He stepped back and let go of the staff. It dissipated before it touched the floor.
He was turning to look at me when a dull boom sounded from above us. The lights flickered several times then went out, plunging the room into utter darkness. I heard shouts and screams from everywhere until the emergence lights kicked in.
"What is going on?" Damaris called into the speaker set into the arm of her chair.
"We have intruders on levels one and two. They made it past the main checkpoint and descended the elevator shaft using the cables. We have them trapped in the well and the stairs, but we need reinforcements to keep them there." The man's voice became more panicked as he spoke until another booming explosion cut the comm line to static.
"We're under attack, guards get the high mother to the war room, Catherine get to the sleeping quarters and get as many of the sisters ready as you can. I'll be in the war room with Zhao when you're done. Varden you're coming with me."
"Are you kidding? I'll not stand idly by while people fight for me. Besides, if you think I'm going to let Cat do this by herself you don't know me very well."
"But you are too important to be risked, if you're killed..."
"That's a chance I'm willing to take, and as you're so fond of saying, I'm not one of the sisters of this Sanctuary." Turning he grabbed my hand, and we both sprinted from the room.
"You go and gather your sisters, make sure they're safe. I'm going to help slow them down." I grabbed his hand, stopping us both.
"I want to go with you." I was not going to let him go into a fight by himself. No matter how much he thought he could.
With that I tugged his hand, and we started for the stairs together. Reaching the door to the stairwell Varden took the lead and flattened himself against the wall. With a quick snap he wrenched the handle, flinging the door open with one movement.
I leapt in front of him and through the door. A quick forward roll and I was under the first flight of stairs. Varden came through as silent as always and even in the gloom I knew I'd pissed him off.
"I thought we'd agreed that I was going first." He hissed.
"No, you thought you were going first, I never agreed." I jerked back with a start as his eyes ignited with a sapphire blaze for a second then went dim again.
"That is why I didn't want you with me, and no it's not because you can't fight, and no it's not because you're defenceless." He cut me off each time I opened my mouth.
"I can't lose you." I found my face held in the vise formed by his hands. "I know you can take care of yourself, but now that's my job, and I intend to keep you safe." Pulling me to him I smashed the side of my head against his chest.
"I know, but there is no way I'm going to let you protect me at the cost of your safety. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because I wasn't there." I looked up into his face, even in the near blackness I could see him looking down at me. "Besides, I really can take care of myself."
"I know, it's just I'm kind of new at this whole relationship thing and my knee jerk reaction is to protect and defend the fairer of the sexes." I punched him in the arm even as he ducked his head in a bow.
"I am not weaker than you are." I hissed back at him.
"I didn't say weaker, I said fairer. Are you saying you're not better looking than me?" He grinned.
"I know what the saying means. I was alive when it was in fashion, so don't try to change the subject."
"Me?" He pointed to his chest. "I would never do such a thi..." He stopped mid word, his head turning upward.
"They're in the stairwell," he paused. "Three of them, they're on the fifth floor and are getting ready to come down, what's the play oh fearless leader."
"After that speech now I'm the leader?" I smacked him again.
"Hey, I would hate to offend your delicate sensibilities now, would I?"
"I don't have anything delicate, certainly not my sensibilities."
"Okay fine, now that we've cleared that up so nicely, what's the plan?"
"With the lights out they're never going to see us coming. If they take the lights out completely, it'll be even better, now follow me." With a bound I was racing up the stairs, making as little noise as possible.
We reached the six floor before they reached it. Ducking into the recess under the stairs we waited until we heard the sound of their foot falls on the treads.
"Faster, if we don't meet team two on the bottom level, he'll have our heads." One of the three women hissed.
"Take it easy, he'll never know even if we don't. I don't see him here risking his neck to take Damaris down. But remember, the only way we get out of this alive is to strike before they can mobilize a response. If they catch us here, we're all dead.
"Going somewhere?" Varden asked as he popped out in front of them seemingly from nowhere.
"Out of our way before we cut you down." I stifled a snicker from my hiding place. That was the exact reaction he was counting on.
Taken completely by surprise one of them fell to his blade before they realized they were under attack. Another crumpled backwards as I shoved my blade to the guard in her back and out her sternum. Both were on the floor in seconds and Varden and I turned to the third. She was in the corner, yet something wasn't right. We heard snarls and yips, curses and the popping of bones.
"She's a werewolf!" I screamed and lunged forward. We had to stop her from shifting to her werewolf form. If we could do that, we had a chance. With no silver on hand and her shifted our life expectancy would drop noticeably.
Without hesitation I dove into the shadow, my blade out front to strike. I felt it slice into my target but before I could pull it back, I felt something clamp onto it. Then out of the corner of my eye I watched Varden fly past me. A snarl, a roar and he flew back the way he had come, hitting the wall with a thud.
I watched as the shadow in front of me grew in size. The snapping of bones stopped then a roar thundered from the darkness. Savage and wild it blew my hair back and sent saliva spilling into my face.
"I think she's taken offence to you sticking her with your little sword." Varden breathed as he clambered to his feet.
In a flash he was at my side. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me to face him.
"You need to get Damaris before these things do. They need to know what we're facing here."
Damn it, he was right, and I knew it. But everything in me told me to stay with him, that he had no chance against a fully changed werewolf. But my duty was to this Sanctuary and Varden knew that which was why he was sending me. My fingers stroked his cheek for an instant and I was off. I didn't look back, if I did, I knew I'd never be able to leave.
Down the stairs I ran, my feet touching every fourth or fifth step. Soon I was moving so fast I was jumping from landing to landing, not taking the time to touch the steps in between. I was moving at such speed that when I reached the bottom, I blew the door off its hinges with my shoulder.
Skidding to a halt I oriented myself then set off. Rounding the last corner, I stopped in my tracks. The door to the war room had been torn from the wall and had been slammed into the far wall where it sat smoking and sparking. From the room within came the sounds of a pitched battle. If there were werewolves in there, I would be seriously over matched. But what else could I do; two high mothers were in there. So, pulling up my big girl pants I pushed through the smoke and entered the room.
The first thing I saw was what looked like a piece of raw meat hanging from the wall as I walked past what once were rows of computer consoles. Getting closer I realized it was what was left of a body, and it wasn't hanging from the wall, it had been smashed into it. Her head and shoulders had crumpled on impact, yet the force was such that they had been imbedded far enough into the wall to leave the rest hanging like a macabre slaughterhouse.
Rounding the last well into the large room I watched as Damaris and Zhao squared off against two hulking werewolves. I know what you're thinking, werewolves no big deal, they're just people that transform into huge dogs like in the movies. HA! Hollywood has had it wrong for years. These things didn't change into wolves, they transformed into a half human half wolf hybrid. Towering eight feet from the ground, if they ever stood straight, they wouldn't be able to walk under a basketball rim.
Yet the two women held their own. Working as a team they picked off attack after attack, each working their own blade in perfect concert with the other. Attacking when they could they watch the wounds they inflicted heal almost as fast as the skin was parted.
I jumped as I watched something sail past me to land with a heavy splat on the floor and slide till it hit one of the wolves in the leg. Looking down for a second the beasts eyes blazed with inhuman anger, and it emitted a horrible scream. At its feet lay the head of the werewolf Varden had been fighting.
"Here doggy, doggy, doggy." He spat through a mouth covered in blood and gore.
I turned to see him crouch into his defensive stance. But what was that in his hand? He held not a sword, nor a spear, he held what looked like a blue chain with a small diamond shaped weight at its end. He was covered from head to toe in what looked like the remains of the werewolf he'd killed.
"What happened to you?" I asked, dropping into defense stance next to him.
"Things got a little hairy back there. I thought you might need an assist, so I dropped by with a little present for our furry friends."
"Well, I don't think they liked it very much." The bigger of the two whirled and leaped towards the two of us while the other kept at the two high mothers.
"That just goes to show, there's no questioning taste." Varden winked at me just as we both jumped to the side to avoid the rampaging ball of teeth claws and fur the hurtled between us and kept charging until it slammed into the wall.
Picking ourselves up Varden motioned toward the beast as it picked itself off the floor.
"Ladies first." He beckoned with a nod.
"Gee, thanks."
166Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj403sRO07
