The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Fifty

When I wake, I find my head in Stanya’s lap while she’s laying down. I’m a little sore from waking up in a pile of rubble, but it’s better than being dead. We survived the night, so that’s the most I can ask for in this moment. Gedric is laying next to me, Halthin curled around him.

Quietly, I stand, prepared to get ready for the battle that has been destined for me since I was six years old. Today Ari will die, and hopefully a Fate. Brin really did call this correctly. Now if only he was here to help me, I might end up surviving this.

“Natasha,” a groggy voice asks as I walk towards the exit.

“Go back to sleep Gedric,” I tell him, looking at the rising sun. “It isn’t time yet.”

He gets up, ignoring me. He comes over and wraps his arms around my waist, putting his chin on my head. “Do you want to talk about last night?”

“What do you want to talk about?” I ask, enjoying what very well could be my last mortal sunrise. The stream is golden, highlighting all nine fate colors. This is where it all started. With the life of a boy who was entranced by the Fates. His life brought the greatest thing we’ve ever known into this world, and also the greatest evil.

“Articus,” Gedric responds hesitantly.

“I’d rather not talk about that Servant,” I answer, resting my head against him. “I just want to watch the sunrise.” I put my hand back to rest against his chest.

He takes my hand and kisses it. “It’s important Nat. He was telling me how to help incase you were to go into overload during this fight. That is one of the Fates tactics today.”

“I already knew that.” I tell him. Well most of it. I didn’t know one of the things they were discussing were how to help an overload.

“He wants me to stop you from fighting today Nat.”

“That’s just not going to happen.”

“I know that, but you’ll die for sure if you do.”

“I’d rather die fighting for my life, rather than hiding from it.” I answer him, watching a few butterflies that are flittering to one flower or another that are growing here. Now that the sun is up, I can see it clearly. There are thick trees surrounding this open ruined library. The grey building has remained largely intact, but the inside is where the texts have been mostly removed from the wall, broken from years of battle, and lack of upkeep. I’d repair it with my magic, if I didn’t have a battle to fight.

He kisses the top of my head. “I know, which is why I’m not stopping you. This is something you’ve been preparing for your whole life…with the addition of the Servants. It’d destroy you if I took this away from you. I want you to promise me though, to allow me to be the one to kill Ari.”

“I can’t let you do that.” I tell him, squeezing his hand. “Your mark will turn evil if it meets the wolf. It will also kill what the wolf stands for.”

“Natasha, I’m your only chance to defeating Ari. We’ve talked about this. If I turn evil, I want you to kill me.”

I bark a laugh. “Like I could do that.”

“Promise me. I will not harm you, but I will if I’m like that.”

“No.”

“Promise me,” he growls. “I don’t want to turn into Ari.”

I physically flinch at that thought. “I promise.”

“Why would you not talk to me last night?” Gedric asks gently, touching his lips to my head.

“They were trying to kill me, so Ari could kill you.” I squeeze his hand. “I can’t lose you Gedric. We just got started and I know there is more. I don’t want to let go of this.”

“Neither do I.” He answers, squeezing my waist firmly. “What’s the plan?”

“I’ll meet Ari and distract him while the others get ready to attack. Hide in the woods, and I’ll bring them to you.” I answer. “Make sure all three of you attack him. I’m not sure what the Servants have planned, but leave them to me. Are you ready to face Ari?”

Gedric nods. “I’m not that skilled with magic yet, so I may need to resort to primitive measures.” He warns me, then stiffens. “They’re here.”

“Wake the others.” I tell him, pushing off of him. I remove my sling, hand it to him, then start walking towards the middle of the stream, going towards the entrance of the Sacred Stream. I make six copies of me, fan out next to me, three on each side.

Within ten minutes Ari and his army have arrived. Ari is looking freshly pressed and dressed. He’s wearing black pants and no shirt, which is an odd choice to me. His black hair is slicked back while his eyes rake over me. He has at least forty men with him. Four men and one woman are flanking him, and are clearly controlled by the Fates. Stylus is one of them, and he’s likely being controlled by Allaric. There is one man with a missing eye, and I’m assuming his name is Gordon. Now which one is Articus and Lometh? Those are my two main concerns.

Ari takes a step closer to me, a triumphant grin on his face. “It looks like you’ve run out of places to run, my little raven.”

I remove my mask, letting my hair fall freely down. Ari’s eyes widen, seeing my face for the first time. “You could say that,” I allow while I weave my magic into the earth’s filter; locking it in place around my magic.

He rakes his eye over me, appraising me. “You’ve grown up well, my little raven. It’ll be a shame to kill you.”

“I believe it’s the other way around.” I tell him in a bored tone.

Fury sparks in his eyes. “Is this amusing to you?”

I shrug. “Eh, it could be better.”

“You’re going to die today.” He takes another step forward. “Please take this a bit more seriously.”

I smirk, feeling his magic trying to detect which one of me is the illusion. “Like this?” I ask innocently. I shoot water into the air from the stream as I make the ground where Ari and his men cave in. I pull my girls in and start laughing while I hear swearing down below. I’m unable to see them because of the massive dust cloud I just created, so I take this opportunity to run into the forest.

“Raven!” Ari yells behind me, hearing me giggle. I summon one of my green balls and throw it back behind me, directing it towards Ari.

Seconds later, the ground quakes underneath me. I launch into the air, using my magic to carry me, allowing me to grab onto a tree. I swing up onto a thick branch and crouch as I look down. Ari and most of his men are chasing me. All five of the Servants are behind him. I push my magic down to them, sensing the Fates are an illusion, but he and his men are not. I touch the tree, making roots shoot out of the ground, spearing each and every single Magicnite through their hearts with the roots.

This all makes them stop and look up at me. “Now we’re more matched.” I tell Ari, making his face turn red. I flip down and toss my hair. Quickly I duck, sensing my raven mark squirm. I managed to dodge an attack from behind. An orange variety of knives is what I missed.

I look over my shoulder and grin. “Is that the best you got Lometh?”

I scream as the ground shoots up, launching me into the air. I start laughing during my descent, flipping into the air, dodging several ground attacks. “There’s Mordecai.” I touch one of his ground attacks, redirecting it back to him. He and the other Fates get launched into the air while I slide down his raised dirt hill.

Once I slide to the bottom I wink at Ari. “You thought I was here to fight you?” I nod behind him. He turns around in enough time to see a world of blue fire surrounding him. “That’s who you’re fighting today.”

“Come on Servants,” I yell up to them, “catch me if you can.” I start running after that, racing back towards the library.

When I reach the water, I touch it, directing it into the air, slamming it down onto the Servants once I feel that they’re close. I spin with one leg out as I duck, keeping my momentum and turn the earth up, surrounding me in a swirled maze of walled off dirt, surrounding me and leaving me in the center.

Minutes later, a hole is blown through the wall, bringing a cloud of dust towards me. I fan it around as I leap into the air, dodging another orange knife attack from Lometh. I envision a raven attacking her as I shoot my arm out in mid air. A raven the size of a large panther emerges from me, using my arm as a guide as it flies into an attack, hitting the man Lometh controls in the back of the head, shattering his skull as Lometh screams. The deceased man’s body falls to the ground while she disappears.

When I land, I look up in enough time to see a wall of dirt hit me. It surrounds me as I fly backwards, pinning every part from my neck down with dirt. A woman with silver hair comes towards me, tossing her curls as she smirks.

She strokes my cheek. “You’ve put up a good fight Natasha.”

I struggle underneath her hold, unable to feel the earth’s filter. “Mordecai, I’m assuming.”

She grins. “Very good. You’ll be fun to teach for eternity.”

“Teach or torture,” I ask darkly.

“Can’t it be both,” he asks, batting his eyelashes innocently at me. “I love how much the earth is attached to you. It’s endearing.”

“That’s disturbing.” I tell him, pushing past his massive wall of magic that he’s currently using to overwhelm my senses.

“You know, it’s such a shame you’re so limited in this fight. I’d love to see you free of restrictions.” He cocks his head. “You know, overload doesn’t apply to Servants. It’ll be an interesting fight when that time comes.”

“It never will,” I scream, pushing the earth through his heart in an attack, finally able to reconnect it. I break from his hold and touch his head picturing my raven tearing his head off. Within milliseconds that is exactly what happens. The raven emerges to stand on my shoulder, biting down hard on Mordecai’s head and tearing it off.

When I fall to my feet a man with a missing eye steps through the already made hole in my spiraled maze. “You violent Sheiks are messy,” he tsks and holds up his hand. “I don’t want to fight Natasha. I’m tired of fighting.”

I give him a hard look, panting just a little. “Then don’t run,” I tell him, already launching into an attack as I charge at him. Quickly, I tackle him and pin him to the ground, with him not putting up much of a fight. I grab hold of his head while closing my eyes. He struggles at that point, realizing I’m doing something to him. The distinct image of his damaged eye appears in my mind. I see what is wrong, and what needs to be fixed. It takes me several minutes, but I manage to heal his injury.

I open my eyes as I let go of him, severing the spell, before rolling onto my back as I pant. I already know Gordon’s nature. He’s not a fighter. He’ll give me a minute.

“Why did you do that?” He demands, sitting up to look at me.

“I told Articus I’d heal you if he punched Mikal for me.” I look at him, giving him a drained look. “I know you didn’t want to hurt that little girl, so I’m not going to punish you for it.”

His eyes widen as I suddenly scream out in pain, green and red ribbons twirl around another while surrounding me as I claw just above my mid back, where it is starting to burn. A pained shriek escapes me as a bear running towards me enters my mind. It looks desperate, and scared. I know what this means.

“No!” I cry, anger and pain racing through me as the ground begins to shake, my dirt walls falling to the ground as the ground splits, leading to the battleground where Gedric has fallen. “Gedric!” I scream out, desperate for this to be wrong. He was supposed to live. I was supposed to be the one to die.

When I stand, I see the other two remaining Fates that are standing. In my grief, I do not care about them. I start running towards the fight taking place between Stanya, Halthin, and Ari. When I feel Allaric attack, I divert it back, leaving them to deal with it. They can kill me after I kill Ari. I do not care what is left of this world after I destroy him. All I want is his blood in this moment.

Minutes later I have reached Ari, seeing him standing over Stanya. I push my magic, launching him away as I slide to a stop, seeing Gedric’s corpse. I lose my grip at that point, and I slide next to him. Gedric has blood coming from his stomach, his eyes wide and vacant. That is when I feel time slow for me, already sensing my death.

“Gedric no,” I beg, anger and despair pulling at me. I touch his stomach and begin healing it. I only know one way to fix this. Transfer the injury. I’ll die, but he’ll live. He’s dead, but it’s still fresh. His blood is still flowing.

“Natasha no!” Articus’s well heard voice shouts, coming to me.

I ignore him, feeling his heart coming back. Ari turns his head the moment he hears my name. Gedric opens his eyes while I scream out in pain, accepting the fatal wound. My body begins to heat up, sensing I have gone past my limit.

Gedric’s eyes widen as he blinks, realizing what is happening. He grips the knife in his hand, seeing the Servants racing towards me. I scream out in pain, seeing Ari coming, launching Gedric into the air to get him away from me. Gedric turns in time to see Ari near me, stabbing him in the heart as he tackles him, making the men fall to the ground.

Gedric looks up, being swallowed in black and white ribbons while I fall to the ground, clutching my fatal wound. I touch the ground, sensing Stanya, Halthin, and Gedric with Ari’s body. Stanya will know what to do with it. Stanya comes from the trees, her eyes locking on me as she falls to her knees. I give her a wink before teleporting them away from here. Time resumes to a normal rate as I fall to the ground; accepting my inevitable death.