Ashes of Revenge
Chapter 3: The Smell of Smoke

A bell chimed, slicing through the air with a violent velocity. For a second, it seemed as though everyone stopped, listened, observed; and then within the next second, they all continued.

The bell signified a shutdown hour where everyone was supposed to close down and board up their businesses and go home, giving them enough time to where they wouldn’t be caught outside with the dangerous Monstros at night.

This was the time Colt, Richard, and Raven would strike.

The groups’ horses were with them now at the top of the hill.

Herbert grazed next to a seated Raven and when he reached her leg, he nudged it. Raven stopped tapping her foot and gently lifted his head so they were making eye contact. “I don’t have any treats.” He snorted. “I know. I’m sorry,” she teased, running her hand up and down his nose. His reddish-brown coat managed to shine despite the minuscule light. He leaned into her surprisingly soft touch for a second and with an over-exaggerated head roll, continued to eat. She began to thud her heel into the dirt.

Colt’s dark grey horse nudged his owner, who was leaning against a tree. “I don’t have any treats either,” he mumbled. The horse snorted into the boy’s face and used his head to push Colt off balance. Colt sighed and gently shoved the animal. “Tha feelin’s mutual.”

Richard and his black horse stood stock still, observing the houses and shops and fields.

The three waited until they saw people begin to go inside before they left the tree and headed towards the crop field next to the village - leaving their horses, knowing they would stay. A creek ran beside the field. The group had decided it was the main currency for the little village, which meant it had to be destroyed, and fast. They needed to move to the next village and not get trapped outside at night.

Raven glanced to the village once more and saw six figures heading towards the crops - her men. They had dispersed themselves around the village and had remained separated until now.

Richard raised his arm and his bat-like wings lifted him into the air. The men flew overhead and to their assigned sections.

“Bye,” Colt said as he jumped over a three-foot stone wall that surrounded the entire field. Raven swung her body over the stone.

“Bye,” she responded as the two departed. Raven made it to her section - a corner - and pulled on the gloves, making them as tight as they could go. Mixed thoughts and feelings filled her head on whether or not she was sad. She had spent months in this village, but it was also a Monstro village. That one fact made her remind herself that they were the enemy, and by doing this, she was saving another Kingdom. She crouched next to the dried crop but stopped when the thunderous sound of horses came closer to her.

“You should be inside,” a proper Britannico accent said behind her.

Raven cleared her throat and turned around, recognizing the Knights as the new ones. Onyx thorns and branches wound around the brass and matt silver metal. Each Knight’s armor was customized to allow varying shifts to occur.

“I could say tha same to yeh.” Even Knights were supposed to be inside. Simply by looking at him, Raven knew he wasn’t a strong Monstro. Different shades of blue swam in his eyes, and dark blue scales rested on top of his hands. Water Monstro? Raven thought. Apart from his sword, armor, and other Knights, he looked harmless. A tail swung behind one man. Sharp claws on another.

The leader observed Raven as well, finding her attire more than strange. Instead of a dress, she wore black leather boots, pants, and an overshirt. The overshirt had silver latches going all the way down to her waist, comfortably hugging her body. A loose, dirty white shirt was under it with the cloak swaying around her. “We’ll be fine,” he finally responded. “What are you doing out here?”

“Tryin’ to find my happiness.” She stiffly shrugged, doing her best to buy time. Her section wasn’t on fire yet, telling everyone that something was wrong.

The leader opened his mouth to speak again, but stopped, instead, staring behind her. She turned and watched black clouds of smoke rise into the air. A metallic noise rang through the air, a sound she knew by heart. With a sigh, she faced him, finding the tip of his sword only an inch or so away from her face. The rest of the Knights aimed their weapons at her.

Raven lackadaisical and barely raised her hands in surrender.

Wind swirled the smoke and embers and ashes around them, adding reds and oranges to the bleak aesthetic. The gust consequently forced Raven’s hood off, revealing scar tissue on her face. The burn marks covered the right side of her neck and went up to her mouth, flaring away from her lips. It strayed away from her nose slightly before it went under her eye and crawled out to her ear, into her hairline, and finally onto her forehead.

The men stared. If this was how she kept them distracted then so be it - they weren’t noticing Colt coming through the smoke behind them or Richard and a few men flying above.

“I want tha one closest to me alive!” she yelled. Before the Knights could process her words, one of Colt’s arrows shot through one’s head. Richard and three men descended upon the rest, impaling them and pushing the horses away, sending the lifeless bodies to the earth. A knife slid into Raven’s fingers and she threw it, effectively slicing through the hand that was holding the sword.

Richard’s wing collided with the leader, sending him tumbling off his horse and to the ground with a solid thud. He quickly pulled out a dagger and stood, finding all the weapons pointing at him. Gritting his teeth together, he tossed the dagger to the ground and stared at the girl.

“I want this to be a civilized conversation so I’ll put this away.” Raven wiggled her dagger between her fingers and with a simple hand motion, it disappeared. The leader looked around, still finding that everyone else had their weapons pointed at him. “Why are yeh here?” He remained silent. “Does it have somethin’ to do with yer King’s ultimatum?” His face faintly shifted, but he only straightened out his body. “Tha good part of this one-sided conversation is that I know yer from tha Castle,” she mumbled as she used her thumb to wipe away the dirt from his crest. She tapped the thorn that rested against the dagger a few times before she unhooked the latches and pulled the breastplate off, leaving him in a black undershirt. She continued with a shrug, “If yeh don’t want to speak then I’m gonna have to force it out of yeh - an’ I have no problem doin’ that.”

Raven almost felt sorry for the man. Almost.

He spat at her, spraying her boots with his saliva. She dug the toe of her boot into the dirt. “Who wants to start?” she asked.

“I could,” Colt said, uncocking his crossbow and allowing the knives to come out of his hands.

“I’ll go last,” Richard said.

“Then it’s settled.” The corner of the burned side of her mouth twitched.

The air sharply hissed around them and in the second it took for everyone to process what it was, it was too late. An arrow shot through the leader’s chest and dug itself into Raven’s shoulder. Her world tipped back from the force but before she could strike the ground, Richard grabbed her belt and flew to the other side of the wall.

Raven slammed her arm into the arrow, breaking it in half. With a strained breath of pain, she pulled the rest of the shaft out. Colt leaped over the wall and fell back, slamming his back against the wall along with the rest of the men.

The trio kicked their feet against the black mud, trying to get as close to the wall as possible as Richard and Colt ducked their heads. With the various arrows slamming into the hard ground around them, it was as if they were in the midst of a thunderstorm.

She only hoped the Messenger was safe. While he was a hard person to see - due to his limp wings being able to camouflage him into any environment - there was always a chance someone would get lucky.

Her concern shattered when another arrow landed next to them.

After a few more seconds of cascading bolts, they finally stopped.

All three looked at each other. Richard mouthed and signaled what the pair should do. They responded by shaking their heads and quietly arguing back. The Farian gave them a death glare and pointed to where the arrows had been coming from.

Cursing, Raven and Colt slowly and reluctantly raised their hands before they stood and turned. Their men were too clumped together to be able to make an effective attack and evidently, Richard had to stay behind and give them orders.

They saw a group of people standing in front of the tree line. From first glance, Raven saw multiple Monstros and one normal looking person, who looked like the leader. His dark olive tinted skin made him stand out amongst the grey.

Grudgingly, the two began to walk to the group, arrows aimed at them.

The pair were grabbed and forced to their knees. As Raven’s knees struck the earth, vibrations shot throughout her body, and the pain in her right shoulder multiplied. The blood seemed to pulse out with each heartbeat. Well, thought Raven as she puffed out a breath of air, that’s annoying.

The leader walked up to them and grabbed Colt’s shirt, easily lifting him to his feet. He began to search the Shifter for anything that might be of value.

Colt stood there with a tight set jaw, using all his willpower to not stab this man for touching him.

Raven’s eyes darted to the side and saw her men getting ready.

When the leader found nothing, he forced Colt onto his knees again. Next, he lifted Raven onto her feet and began to search her. She tensed as his hands roamed her; like Colt, she hated to be touched. He stopped when he spotted her sword. All he could see was the handle, but that was enough. Five jewels were placed on it: black, blue, green, purple, and red. The blue jewel was on the top of the handle while the four others surrounded it.

He pulled the sword out of her crooked brown sword belt and watched as the light, though dim, bounced off the metal. It didn’t have a single scratch or smudge on it.

Raven’s hands twitched at her sides, and she inhaled deeply, making sure he heard. At the sound of her breath, the leader stopped examining the sword and shoved it into the black ground. He observed her gloves now. The dark brown leather snugly fit her hands but seemed to allow rings under it. Silver metal plates hugged the top of her fingers and hands, only separated by the knuckles on her hands and fingers.

He ripped off one of Raven’s gloves, revealing the skin to be just as scarred as her face; however, there was something beautiful on one of her fingers: a ring. The ring was similar to the sword with the blue on top, and the rest scattered around the body of it.

As soon as he grabbed the ring, Raven latched onto his hand. He looked at her face with glazed over, lifeless eyes.

“Yer not takin’ this ring,” she said through gritted teeth. She had waited long enough and knew her men were ready.

With a flick of her wrist, a dagger slid into her fingers. She swung for his face, but a force suddenly stopped the motion. One of his hands was a few inches away from hers, his fingers moving ever so slightly. His eyes were entirely purple, no white or black, just a murky, dark purple.

At that moment, a slur of curse words circulated throughout Raven’s head. He was a Telik - a species capable of moving things with their mind - and now, she was most likely going to die a pathetic, horrible death.

Shite, Raven thought from her vast selection before she jumped up and collided her feet into his chest. She tumbled away from him and quickly stood.

The Telik moved both his hands up, sending her flying through the air and slamming into the ground. The pain increased in her now throbbing shoulder, but that didn’t matter at the moment. She kicked up and landed on her feet. Within the same movement, a dagger flew through the air towards the Telik. He quickly changed the direction of it and shot it back at her. She rolled on the ground as the blade whizzed over her.

Suddenly, her feet were being dragged across the ground, being pulled towards the Telik. Adrenaline coursed through Raven, and before she could analyze anything, she slammed the plates on her gloves together - not even having time to put the other one on - and they caught fire instantly.

The man moved his hands, and before Raven could counter, a sharp pain encased her un-gloved hand. The familiar smell of burning flesh entered into her nose along with the unique sound of sizzling skin filling her ears.

The force around her stopped when Colt swung his knife at the man.

Raven fell to the ground and began to writhe and scream in pain as she tried to extinguish the flame in the black mud.

Colt stepped between Raven and the Telik, making sure she was protected. His Shifter blades were out, completely clean and slightly curved downward. It took all of his strength not to allow his eyes to change color in anger.

The Telik moved his hand, and Colt’s blades began to come towards himself. Colt quickly retracted the sharp metal, and a second later, his fists struck his chest.

Richard’s feet landed on the shoulders of a Monstro, and he rammed his sword into the creature. Before the body hit the ground, the Farian was in the air again.

Colt’s knives shot towards the Telik, and the man had to go into the defensive in order not to be gutted. The speed of a Shifter proving to be difficult for even a Telik.

By luck or instinct, the man turned and saw Raven plunging a dagger towards his face. He managed to somehow block both attacks. Straining for no more than a second, he threw Raven and Colt back a few feet, sending them tumbling to the ground.

When both stood, they were surrounded by the remaining enemies. Raven watched as her men fought off the other men in a rather valiant effort, but she didn’t know how much longer they could last.

Richard flew towards them. Raven and Colt’s eyes widened, and they lunged to the ground just in time.

Richard spun around in the air and connected his sword with a few of the men, hitting them with perfect precision.

Raven stood and looked around, but couldn’t find the Telik. “Richard!” she yelled above the noise. She held up her undamaged hand, and a second later, her feet were off the ground.

Richard tossed her out of the group, and her boots thudded harshly against the mud. Desperately looking around, she realized that the Telik and the rest of his men had seemingly vanished behind the thinning wall of smoke. She turned back around and watched as the last Monstro dropped to the ground.

After a few seconds, the adrenaline began to leave her, and pain began to take its place. She looked down and was met with the familiar sight of burned flesh. Her hand shook and twitched, tears forcing their way into her eyes.

“Try to find ’em,” Raven said, her eyes not leaving her hand. She heard the noise of wings flapping before it faded out.

Colt stared at Raven and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He had no idea what to say or do. “I’ll collect yer knives,” he finally said.

Raven nodded. “Thanks. I’m gonna go clean this.” Without waiting for a response, she walked to the creek next to the burning crop. The flame had since spread to unstoppable levels, moving in a rhythmic sort of way as it continued to consume the last increments of the plants and trees. She looked to the dead Knight, finding arrows littering his body and a pool of blood surrounding him - the fire inching closer. His no longer swirling blue eyes seemed to follow her as she passed. She had no idea but the dead tended to stare.

Smoke filled her nose and lungs but didn’t warrant a cough; she had grown used to it. She breathed out deeply and watched as the thick cloud in front of her dispersed in random directions while orange and red cinders danced through the blackened air. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Shadows moved on the ground around her, causing her to look into the sky, finding Monstro vultures circling overhead. Their dark red eyes observed the village as their razor-sharp feathers cut into the smoke. Seeing a few edible bodies, their beaks parted, allowing their sharp teeth to be fully showcased.

They dove towards the corpses.

Raven plunged her burned hand into the water. She stared at her blurry reflection and watched as red and orange light consumed it.

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