Rising from the Ash

ZEN ii

It was her. The second arrow was meant for her. I caught it while she caught that of her friend. She breathed heavily as the reality dawned on her. We looked down and saw the men aiming at us again. We jumped off the roof as they fired. The man who had fired the two arrows mounted a horse while we jumped and as we ran, I saw the men running after us.

The girls followed me wherever I took. I thought as I ran, I wanted to loose them but these men were good. It was as if they saw my path before I did. They knew how I would turn, when I'd pause or when I'll take cover. I have never seen any one like them. The fact that they weren't Ztafas scared me more. But I have been living in this city and I knew I would outsmart them eventually.

"when I say it, go left. Understand?"

I shouted to the women running besides me.

"Got it."

Amen said to me and froze some arrows that were fired at us. She turned and changed the directions of the arrows towards the men who were still following us on rooftops. She fired at them and that move gave us a second ahead of them. Just the distraction I needed.

We ran ahead and got to a junction. I nodded at the girls and they went left while I went right. The men skillfully divided themselves and followed us, like it was already known to them that we would separate. Three men followed me, two on the wall and the last by foot. I stopped and punched the wall which shook vigorously and dropped the men. I took out my daggers and hurled at them. I dodged the first attack and stabbed one of the men in the throat. He didn't see that coming and I smiled within me. I felt a sharp pain on my face and staggered back as the men continued to attack with kicks, punches, and slashes of swords. I decided to turn the tables but they predicted my move and kicked the daggers off my hands. As they attacked again, I punched the ground and it shook, causing a minor landslide. That gave me the chance to pick up my daggers and s***h the throat of the man closest to me. As the other advanced, I shot the Dagger into his forehead. I heaved a sigh and dashed after Amen and Zelda.

I could already predict where they would be so I took a short cut and fortunately, I was right. They seemed quite glad to see me but our gladness was cut short when we were completely surrounded by those vicious men. They aimed at us and we stood our ground. I wasn't really Ready to die. But I couldn't say the same about the two women who stood besides me. Zelda's face had some elements of fright but Amen, she glared at the men, as if looking for a weak point. She showed no sign of fear and I had every reason to believe she was far more courageous than I was.

"The moonstone. Now!"

Zelda said to Amen who threw the stone at her. Simultaneously, several arrows were fired and Amen held them all with an invisible shield formed around us. I looked at Zelda as she held the stone, her face became pale with dark veins running across her face. Her lips were black and her eyes were dark black. She stretched forth her hand and it was pale and wrinkly, with long black nails which seemed to be coated with rusty blood. Thick black smoke poured out of her palm and I heard several whispers, like the smoke was communicating with her. Suddenly, the smoke spread out and attacked the men, causing their skins to wrinkle, blister bleed and fall off. They cried in pain as they scratched and ripped off their skins off their bodies. It was a glorious but yet extremely frightening sight.

The next second, Zelda was back to her normal self. She gave the moonstone to Amen who smiled at her and kept it. Lying dead Around us was about ten of the prince's men who were disfigured beyond recognition. We exchanged looks and took off. I knew where I needed to go next. If I wanted to be safe from those assailants, Maya was the best person to hide me.

* * *

I opened Maya's door and stepped in with the girls. She wasn't in the living room so I suspected she was in the kitchen. I suddenly remembered that I didn't bring Maya's money along with me. She was going to kill me. I had hardly finished the thought when she came out of the kitchen, staring at me with those predatory looking eyes of hers. Suddenly, she flung a bowl at me. I dodged it and caught another she flung at me.

"Maya, calm down! "

I shouted as the flung a bottle. This woman was surely going to kill me. I knew I owed her but Maya would never kill me because of money, would she? As she threw another bottle, Amen stopped it in mid air, startling Maya and making her back down for a moment.

"Do we have your attention now?" I said to her.

"You little miscreant! You sent me a letter telling me you had eloped with some w***e to East Valley, with MY money, and now you show up here with two women. Don't tell me you're ship capsided or she dumped you and you needed the company of women but since you couldn't afford a room in a hotel, you decided to bring them here. "

"I did none of those things. I didn't send that letter, I think that was Oliver's doing. And they are not who you think they are."

I pointed to Zelda and Amen.

" I can see that now. She's a Ztafa isn't she?"

"They both are. We need your help. They escaped from Amadiran and now they have killers after them. And me. And I may have pissed off Oliver and his men along the way."

Maya nodded and motioned the girls to sit down. I followed her inside and grabbed some berries along the way.

"At least tell me you brought my money."

"I didn't bring your money. You can go get it at my hideout when the girls and I are out of town."

"You're leaving with them?"

"Yes. They have a mission. I need to help them."

'They're beautiful. But you seem to fancy The one with the unique eyes."

"I don't fancy her. We're working together."

I denied, although any one could tell that was a lie.

"same thing you said about Amelia, Nancy, Carol..."

I rolled my eyes as she continued to mention people I've had flings with.

"Susan, Kennedy..."

"Excuse me, why is Kennedy on this list?"

"You guys have history?"

"I told you that was for work. I was working and I needed to be close to him in order to fulfil my mission."

"But you didn't kill him as ordered. You let him go. That only means one thing."

"It's not what you're implying. He didn't deserve to die and he was clearly not half as bad as Oliver."

"still?" She looked at me with those eyes, but this time was the inquisitive one.

"Fine, you win. Can we change the topic now? I need to get them out of here today."

"There's a boat leaving town in about ten minutes. I don't suppose you can catch that?"

"We'll take our chances. It's already dark and we can use the darkness as cover."

"Be careful Zenith. I see a trying future ahead. I see a seer with the killers. He's self taught and he's gifted. Be careful around him and always trust your instincts."

Maya said to me and I nodded. I dashed for the sitting room and found the girls talking. They stood when they saw me.

"I saw a moonstone. In a vision. It's in some Land with lots of rocks and caves?"

"You're describing East Valley."

"Fortunately, that ship is leaving for the East valley."

"Let's move."

I said to the girls and we dashed out. I took a final look at the house and at Maya before disappearing into the darkness.