Chapter 37: Bailey
Content Note: Graphic violence in this chapter.
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Kay could hear nothing but the sound of her pulse pounding in her ears. She watched as her mother hit a tree trunk, her head and shoulders snapping backward at an odd angle. Wyvern’s wingtip had punctured her left shoulder, but there was no way that the shallow wound was the worst of her injuries.
It took Kay a few seconds to realize that she had been yelling to try to get her mother’s attention – to make sure that she was alive – and had turned her full attention away from Wyvern. Something slammed into her shield, bringing her attention back to her opponent.
Beyond the green haze, Wyvern leered at her, his fangs starkly contrasted against his bloodied mouth. He leaned into her shield with both hands, as if testing the limits of her magic. She felt her resolve waver like smoke against a gust of wind. She had to check in her mother and get her help, and defeating Wyvern felt secondary to that.
Her shield flickered, his grin widened, and her heart dropped like a bird shot out of the sky.
An inch-thick rope of vines flew through the woods on Kay’s right and pierced Wyvern’s torso. Deep gray fluid splattered over the foliage, and his outstretched arms suddenly dropped as the vine began to go slack. It was followed by six or seven more vines, all reduced to blurs in the shadows of the woods and their impossibly high speed. She stumbled backward, watching him for any sign of countering, and waited with outstretched palms and a fresh spell on her lips.
She saw no signs of life, though – let alone a desire to strike back. Wyvern’s body slammed hard against the ground, and he let out two sputtering coughs before lying still.
She tore her eyes away for a split second and saw Tierra’s face pop over the top of a bush fifty feet away. One of Wyvern’s wings twitched, but after watching him for another moment, Kay spun around and called: “Mom!”
Bailey lay on her side under the massive oak tree she had collided with. Her eyes were open, but her lower back was arched and her legs twisted in a pose that looked unnatural, at best. Kay had to resist the urge to roll her onto her back, knowing that it could make her injuries worse.
Dirt and leaves littered Bailey’s arms, but she smiled and lifted a shaking hand toward Kay. “Did you get him?” Bailey murmured.
Kay yanked her backpack off her shoulder. “Tierra did. Don’t move. Where does it hurt?”
“Nothing really hurts. I’m fine.”
“No you’re not!” Kay snapped as she rummaged around in her backpack for a poultice.
Bailey’s smile broadened. “I’m serious. I could lay here all day. Go finish this, love.”
“But—”
“Otherwise Nina could waltz over here next. Go check on Tierra and then finish this.”
Kay still had dozens of questions. After two years of separation, all she wanted was a chance to talk uninterrupted by violence – and whatever grave injuries her mother now had. She wanted a reunion, and reconciliation, without having to sacrifice yet more time that they should have together.
It was too late for that, though. No resentment or bitterness would fix the situation. The only way for both of them to survive was to fight before Nina’s forces got the jump on them a second time.
“I’ll make sure Tierra gets help over here,” Kay murmured. She gingerly placed the poultice against her mother’s shoulder, knowing deep down that it would do little for the pain, let alone the injuries themselves.
“Thank you,” Bailey said, closing her eyes as she moved her hand to hold the poultice in place. “I hate to even ask you to do that, but… We don’t have a choice, love.”
“I know. I'll be back soon, I promise.” Kay rose and peered at Wyvern’s body before jogging over to where she had last seen Tierra. “Ti! You okay?”
Tierra waved from behind the same bush she had been behind two minutes ago. She tried to smile as she met Kay’s eyes, but it quickly turned into a grimace. A bandage had been hastily wrapped around her leg just below the knee and was already soaked with blood and dirt. She wiped grime from her face, leaving a smear of blood in its place. Kay thought she looked much paler than usual, and she knelt to get a closer look.
“I told him he was gonna die,” Tierra said, her voice low.
“Thanks for that,” Kay said as she reached into her backpack again. “You're bleeding pretty badly—”
“I'm fine. Poultice is working. Could use a second one, though.”
“Where’s Holly and Nadia? And Nina?”
“I don’t know for sure. It sounded like their fighting was further west.” Tierra grimaced and looked down at her bloodied legs as Kay handed her a poultice. “I got separated from them while fighting Xavier. Killed him, luckily, so that's one less to worry about. Who from our side have you seen besides Bailey?”
“Wojtec is hurt badly – maybe dead. Back that way,” Kay said, pointing east. “Haven’t seen anyone else in a while, though.”
“I saw the rest of Maywitch over east, and I assumed they were headed here, but I guess I was wrong. I don’t know what they’re standing around for. If they weren’t headed toward Nadia, and they weren’t headed here…” Tierra trailed off before closing her eyes, her determined expression fading. “Shit. I know what’s happening.”
“What?”
“If Nadia manages to kill Nina, then it’s mission accomplished without risking any more Maywitch lives. You, me and Holly don’t count, of course. Don’t forget, all four of us are useless as soldiers after this.”
Kay shook her head. She didn't want to believe Tierra, but had no evidence to refute her. “But what about Gardner—”
“Last I heard, Gardner’s locked in a basement cell six hours away!” Tierra’s eyes opened halfway, but she avoided Kay’s gaze. “No bosses, no backup. All we have now is ourselves.”
Kay opened her mouth to reply, but Tierra interrupted: “Go, Kay. Don’t think, just go help the others.”
Something roared in the distance, and Kay’s heart lurched. She hadn't even been able to defeat Wyvern on her own. If Tierra couldn't keep up with her and Holly and Nadia were out of commission too, Kay was as good as dead.
“Go!” Tierra yelled, her voice straining. “I'll protect Bailey from any other dangers, but you're the only one who's in good enough shape to help Nadia and Holly!”
“I know,” Kay said quietly as she stood. “Get help for Wojtec and my mom. I’ll be back.”
Tierra smiled before closing her eyes. “I'll be up and at ‘em in a second. Leave Bailey to me.”
There was a screeching roar somewhere to the west again, and Kay turned and began to run, fighting the urge to stay with Tierra and Bailey. She knew there was no way she could live with herself if something happened to the two of them. She also knew, though, that there was no way she ever get over the guilt if something happened to Nadia and Holly.
She ran even faster as she realized that she was at risk of losing all four of them if things kept going the way they had been.
The roar of demons always made Nadia’s head throb. The white-skinned creature Nina had summoned was particularly loud, and it had created an impressive clearing in the trees as it thrashed its wings and rugged legs about. Nadia’s half-lion, half-lizard chimera was having a hard time climbing over the felled trees, but they provided handy cover against the other demon’s attacks.
Nadia, however, was running out of cover. Her shield strength was about to deplete; she could feel it in the ever-weakening vibrations from the shield’s green aura. Behind her, the trees thinned dramatically, and she feared that she had almost reached the other side of the island. She was out of places to run. Her legs shook, partly from the physical exhaustion of running and fighting, and partly from the strain that all of the magic was putting on her body.
Ten feet away, on the other side of the shield, Nina laid her tattooed hand against her cheek as a bemused smile played at her lips. “I know you’re
about to lose,” she said. “It's okay to surrender. You don't have to die defending the Grimoire.”
Nadia smiled back. Nina had been demanding the Grimoire for some time, and there was no denying that it was in Nadia’s possession; its aura was too strong to hide from this distance.
“Why are you fighting us, Nina?” Nadia said softly. “Why do you want to hurt our world like this?”
Nina tilted her head, her smile fading. Nadia flinched as her demon narrowly dodged another attack. Her summon was her last hope – if it could veer away from its opponent long enough to take Nina out, then Nadia could potentially escape.
Demons weren’t exactly obedient, though. It would make its way over to her and Nina whenever it felt like it, and no sooner. She could be dead by then.
She glanced to her right, where Holly and Kyle’s prone bodies lay twenty feet away. They had taken each other out barely two minutes prior. She could sense Holly’s aura, but it was faint, meaning that she could be on the verge of death. If she was, there was no way Nadia would let that spilled blood be for nothing. She would have to stall as long as she could, even if it meant dying to protect a damn book.
“It doesn’t matter to you that Maywitch tried to protect us?” Nadia said. “It doesn’t matter that they had Bailey watch over us while we were in foster care? I could forgive your lack of gratitude when we were younger, Nina, but isn’t this a bit childish?”
Nina scowled, and Nadia’s heart dropped. Her comments had probably gone a bit too far, she thought as Nina reached for something in her pocket.
“Goddamn goody two-shoes,” Nina murmured. “You really think Bailey wasn’t just out to get a paycheck, and Maywitch wasn’t just out to make sure we didn’t set any civilians on fire? You wanna give them credit for supposedly protecting us?”
Nadia shook her head. Nina was clearly too far gone for the conversation to be of any use – for anything other than buying time, anyway.
Before she could calculate her next move, though, Nadia was forced to dive to the side as Nina sprinted and lunged at her. She knew Nina would do that eventually, since shields couldn’t repel living beings, but thought that Nina would save that desperate move for later.
Nina grunted in pain and turned on her heel to charge again. Gritting her teeth, Nadia dropped her shield, knowing it was useless to maintain if Nina was done casting spells for the time being. Though Nadia couldn’t keep up hand-to-hand combat for long, she thought – no, hoped – that she could bluff her way to victory. She began to rattle off the last offensive spell she still had materials for, scrambled to her feet, and ran back east as Nina began to pursue her.