Ahe'ey

Alone

ALONEFour Years Later: 1984 - Ahe’ey

On her fourteenth birthday, Sky chased Gabriel through the woods with her sword in hand. Her body had blossomed in the four years she’d been living in the forest with the Ange’el. Sky’s curves of fertility softened a muscular frame capable of defying and destroying any creature that stood in her way. She climbed, jumped and ran with the ease and ability of a demigoddess.

Her feet barely touched the ground as she followed her cousin up the mountain. He stopped, turned around, and used his foot to roll a large rock in her direction. She jumped to one side, rolling on the ground then straight to her feet. She felt a rush of adrenaline flood her body. She was the hunter and he was her prey. He ran towards her striking her from above with his sword as she defended the blow using the fallen branch of a tree. He rotated around himself pulling the sword away from the branch to strike her on the other side close to her neck.

Gabriel chopped off one of many of her copper braids and stopped the blade just as it kissed his cousin’s skin. He laughed as he placed one knee on the floor and picked up the fallen braid. She could feel the blood rush to her face; he’d gone too far, and he’d pay for it. As he stood up, she gripped the hilt of her sword with both of her hands and thrust the blade upwards towards his neck. He jumped back. Sky threw her sword to the side, jumped towards him, spun around and, using the impact of her full body, hit him in the face with her elbow. As he fell to the ground, she placed her knee on his chest.

“I surrender, mighty warrior,” he said laughing, pulling her body towards him and wrapping his arms around her. He hugged her tightly as she lay down placing her head on his shoulder. For the first time in her young life, she felt a jolt of desire rush through her body. He looked at the sky as he touched his throbbing jaw. She saw his cyan eyes turn dark as clouds moved to cover the sun. She licked her lips and lifted her hand from his chest to touch his face as he abruptly jumped to his feet.

“Shall we go swimming at the lake?” There was no warmth in his voice. He started walking fast. She got up confused by his reaction and followed him a few metres behind. He looked back to find her and screamed. “Sky, behind you!” He held the grip of his sword, took one step towards her and stopped.

Sky saw four large Hu’urei approach her. She unsheathed her sword and turned to face the attackers that ran towards her.

“The last of the royal wombs. This one is mine,” said one of the men as he jumped towards her with his sword above his head.

Sky rolled on the ground and planted her dagger on his gut as another Hu’urei jumped in her direction and pierced her thigh with his sword. She screamed in agony and for a second looked back in search of Gabriel. He stood motionless away from her. What are you doing?

“Don’t kill the Yi’ingo; she can’t have our children if she’s dead,” shouted Iblis.

Sky stood up, keeping her weight on her good leg. Like her mother before her, she faced men who towered over her and were three times her size. The scars on their faces showcased their rank in society; their bodies didn’t regenerate as well as the children of the royal bloodline. They lacked the perfection and the beauty of those who carried pure genes.

Where are you? Sky thought, waiting for her cousin to jump to her rescue, but as she looked back once again, he was gone. Biting her lip to contain the pain in her leg, she jumped between two of the men, using her small size and flexibility in her favour. The Hu’urei turned to face her. She curled her body, rolled to a standing position and jumped high. The Yi’ingo swung her sword from left to right and decapitated the men. She trembled with the adrenaline that rushed through her body. It was the first time she had killed a human being.

Gabriel, where are you? Tears flooded her eyes as she faced the final Hu’urei, the largest of them all. She recognised him; it was Iblis, the leader of the group that had kidnapped her mother and sister. The enraged man looked at the dead bodies of his companions. He locked his teeth so tight that the veins in his neck promised to burst at any moment.

The man that lay on the ground bleeding from an open wound in his gut screeched like a pig. The high-pitched noise was unbearable. Sky looked up to face Iblis and locked her eyes with his eyes. She then jumped to the left to bury her sword in the heart of the man that lay on the floor. She killed him instantly. The young woman plunged her hand into his wound and licked the blood. Once again, she dipped her hand into the blood and used four fingers to paint stripes on her face. Sky’s defiant eyes locked on Iblis. Her enemy took a few steps backwards, shaken by the fearlessness and savagery of the girl. He sheathed his sword and ran in the opposite direction, away from her.

Sky grabbed her stomach and threw up. Her body trembled, and her mind raced. She fell to her knees and lay on the ground between the corpses of the three dead Hu’urei. The young woman burst into tears, shaken by the experience. She felt abandoned and betrayed by the only person in the world she relied on.

Sky and Gabriel never spoke about that event. On that day, Sky’s grandmother, Amalia, the queen, took Sky back to Yi’ingo. A year later, the young warrior became their military leader and commander, leading them into battle against the Hu’urei.

On the same day that Sky left Ange’el, Gabriel’s parents, Viviane and Marcus, sent him to New York City. The sixteen-year-old Ange’el emerged from the Bethesda Fountain on the last full moon night of nineteen eighty-four.