Of Fire and Fury (Book 1: Light-Born Series)

Chapter 25 - Rabid

A loud shriek split the quiet of the night. Stone jumped to his feet, pulling Rabid up beside him. Kizi stood and helped Red Moon to her feet, all four of them rushing toward the cool night air outside the teepee. They nearly fell out the flap and into the darkness to find Omari men and women grabbing their weapons and pulling their children behind them. Akecheta ran from the crowd, pushing his way forward until he was before Stone.

“Stone!” he yelled, breathless and wide-eyed. “Hauks. They’re at the wall.”

“Go!” Stone yelled. 

The tremors in the ground began to grow as Rabid looked out over the distant wall, on the opposite side as the gates. She saw what looked like fireflies, hovering just in front of the stars. Squinting, she tried to make out the floating orbs more clearly. Ice hit her veins when she realized what they truly were: torches. Thousands of torches moving down the hill toward Omarihom. The earth was trembled under the march of a massive army.

“We have to go.” Stone grabbed Rabid’s arms and pulled her forward. They sprinted toward their teepee, dodging dozens of running bodies all scrambling to prepare themselves. Rabid’s heart was pounding as she willed her legs to move faster. Despite her efforts, Stone reached the teepee long before her. When she finally arrived, he tossed her things into her arms.

“Stone.” she gasped for breath. “We can’t fight them, there’s too many.”

Stone paused, his eyes flicking to the glow of torches over the wall.

“We have to.” Stone said, his wild eyes meeting hers.

They ran through the village again, making their way to the river. Rabid struggled to put her knife belt on without stopping. Down past the fire pit, past Red Moon’s teepee, then straight south until they were nearly at the gates. Stone stopped short when he nearly ran into his father.

“Get the horses before we lose them.” His father said, turning to yell orders to another group of Omari. When they reached the gates, they and several other men began to corral the horses into the gates.

Back inside, the people were gathered in a giant mass, waiting for instruction. Stone paused before them, glancing around at the waiting faces, fearful and expectant. His eyes fell to Rabid’s, she could see he was trying to work out a plan.

A c***k broke the silence, and the earth was wrenched from Rabid’s feet. The horses let out a screech, as did many of the falling Omari. Rabid caught herself on her knees and turned to the lights on the hillside. There was a massive fire, and the wall before it was blown to pieces. The shadows of men tore through the opening as it burned to the ground.

“They have black rock!” Akecheta yelled from somewhere before them.

“Black Rock?” Stone breathed, as the two men met eyes. Then, he snapped into action.

“Warriors, this is what we have been training for! Anyone who cannot fight, get on the horses and flee to Reannihom. Tell them we need their assistance. Everyone else, to the wall!”

He dropped Rheo’s reins and took off out of the circle, Akecheta following close behind. 

“Men, with us!” the warrior yelled behind him.

Rabid caught sight of Kizi and Red Moon on the edge of the crowd. She tugged Talia to them and pressed her rope into Kizi’s hand.

“You both need to go.” she said, and took off without waiting for a reply. She sprinted after Stone, shoving her way through bodies as her mind raced faster than her feet. She could not leave him now, not after he refused to leave her side in Red Moon’s teepee. Not when he knew her deeper than anyone ever had, and still he stood by her. She could not cower any longer, not knowing she was destined for something bigger than herself.

When she broke through the crowd of clamoring Omari, she stopped. There were Hauks flooding Omarihom. The entire north side of the wall was on fire, a gaping black hole in the center where lines of men continued to pour. Some of the first few to enter had already reached the line of men where Stone stood. More men were running to his aid, but Rabid did not think it would be enough. 

She started sprinting harder than she ever had in her life. When she reached the line of men she pushed her way through the sweating bodies until she was right next to Stone, as he put one of the first Hauks into the ground. Rabid pulled her knife from her belt, readying herself. But Stone saw her, and grabbed her arm, pulling her back behind the front line.

“Rabid, I need you to go to Reannihom.” he yelled above the sounds of fighting. Another, smaller tremor shook the ground beneath them. 

“I’m not leaving if you aren’t.” Rabid yelled back. For once, her voice didn’t shake with fear, and she realized that she wasn’t feeling any.

“You aren’t ready for this!” he yelled.

A flash of light off metal caught her eye. She shoved Stone and threw her body the opposite way as a sword crashed down between them, a large Hauk flying with it. Rabid jumped to her feet, slicing the way Stone had taught her toward the man’s side. Her knife bit his flesh, and he cried out and stumbled away from her. Then, his eyes flashed with rage and he came after her again. Stone’s hatchet in the back of his skull stopped him in his tracks.

“Rabid, I need you to go!” Stone pushed toward her again, wrenching the hatchet from the bone. “Please, I cannot fight if I am worried about you. Especially now, you need to be alive.”

His words brought up the now familiar warmth in her stomach, but she pushed past it. 

“This is what I was born for, Stone! I can feel it. I will not leave.” the trembling under her skin was coming up full force, rising like the sun itself was warming her blood. This is what I was born for! every cell in her body cried in unison. It was nothing like she had ever felt before.

“You were born to bring the clans back together. You need to live, not fight!” Stone yelled back.

An Omari man near them was cut down with a scream as two Hauks separated them again. Rabid dodged the sword flung at her, maneuvering to get close enough to use her own blade. She felt the fear she used to carry like a weight around her neck lifting—it was being replaced by something else. As she felt it welling within her, Rabid swung, the clang of metal on metal sent a shockwave down her arm, forcing her to drop her blade. She kicked as hard as she could between his legs, but he pulled away too quick for her to do damage. Lurching toward her, he kicked her hard in the stomach, and Rabid fell to the ground.

Her breath came in gasps. His large form overshadowed the stars above her, and as Rabid looked up at his silhouette, she realized what feeling was clawing its way out from deep within her: she was lusting for this man’s blood.

In an instant, she realized it had been with her all this time. It was hidden underneath layers of Napua teaching. It was the ache she felt when she thought of her night with the Hauks, what she felt each morning she awoke from the dream. It was in the anger she had held on to that had let her so easily kill the man in the forest. It was what she had been pinning down so long that it made her weak, timid, quiet, afraid. In an instant, she saw the escape from the fear that had clung to her her entire life.

So Rabid leaned into the feeling welling up inside of her, and all the fear she had ever felt dissipated. In its place, a monster reared its head, and it took over her body. Her thoughts seemed to switch off, and she simply began to move. Dodging his blade as it swung toward the ground, she rolled away. Unable to reach the knife in her boot, she dodged his blade again. She kicked hard against the side of his thigh, causing him to stumble long enough for her to grab her blade. As soon as her fingers closed around it, she swung as hard as she could and lodged it into his hip.

The man shouted in pain, grabbing the edge of her blade and wrenching it free from his flesh. Before he could swing again, she was up and rushing at him, getting so close that he couldn’t use his sword. She shoved him with all her strength, her momentum pulling them both to the ground. The sword was pinned underneath her body, they both wrestled for control of the blade. As they fought, she didn’t even feel the metal biting her own flesh. Her only thought was on the task at hand.

Death, death, death! Her body sang.

Rabid finally caught the hilt and pulled. Blood was all she could see as she thrust it down, deep into his chest.

But the lust wasn’t satiated. One strike wasn’t enough, and she found herself swinging again. Over and over—she couldn’t stop herself—she cut through his flesh. Stop! A voice rang in her mind. Rabid, stop! A voice rang in her ears.

Stone’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her away, dragging the sword from her fingers. He didn’t let go until he had pulled her back beyond the line of fighting and behind a teepee.

“God, Rabid.” he said. His arm was covered in blood, his hands pressed against her side. Rabid looked down and saw blood pouring from her body, welling up between his fingers. When she saw it, the numbness faded and a gnawing pain ripped through her, causing her to lose her breath.

“This is too deep, we need to get you out of here.” he said, picking her up in his arms and carrying her toward where he’d left the horses. The pain steadily grew as her wound pressed against his running body. She could feel the thumping of his heartbeat in her ear. As he ran, Rabid caught sight of bodies littering the ground. Most were the fighters who had stayed behind, but some of them were the women and children that hadn’t gotten out fast enough.

Rabid’s eyes scanned the bodies as she flew past, her eyes locking on one she recognized. Even in the dark, the small frame stood out, her grey hair tied back in it’s two familiar pony tails. No, it couldn’t be her. She had handed her the reins, she had told her to go herself. She saw the wrinkles around her eyes, even in the dim light, the aged body contorted on the grass. As her eyes met the cool, glassy gaze, the pain in Rabid’s side felt like nothing compared to what stabbed her in the heart.