The Fall That Should Have Killed Them
1144 Words
Chapter 11
The wind roared in Selene’s ears as the world dropped away beneath her.
For one terrible heartbeat there was nothing but empty air.
The palace balcony vanished above them. The courtyard rushed upward in a blur of stone and shadows. Selene’s stomach twisted violently as gravity pulled them down.
Her fingers tightened around Kael’s hand.
“You’re insane!” she shouted.
Kael didn’t answer.
His arm wrapped firmly around her waist as they fell, pulling her closer against him.
Below them the courtyard stones waited like a promise of broken bones.
Selene squeezed her eyes shut.
This was how it ended.
A princess turned monster.
Dead before the prophecy even began.
Then something moved.
The serpent around her arm lifted its head sharply.
“Now,” it hissed.
The black veins beneath Selene’s skin suddenly burned like fire.
Her eyes snapped open.
Something inside her body responded instinctively, something ancient buried deep within her blood.
The air around them twisted.
For a split second the falling slowed.
Not enough to stop.
But enough.
Kael twisted his body midair and slammed hard against the sloped roof of a lower tower instead of the stone courtyard.
The impact knocked the breath from Selene’s lungs.
They slid down the tiles together, smashing through loose shingles before tumbling onto the tower balcony below.
Kael rolled once, dragging Selene with him.
They stopped only inches from the railing.
Silence followed.
Selene lay there staring at the night sky.
Her chest rose and fell quickly as she struggled to breathe again.
“…that,” she gasped, “…was the worst idea anyone has ever had.”
Kael pushed himself upright slowly.
“We’re alive.”
Selene glared at him.
“Barely.”
The serpent lifted its head from her wrist.
“You slowed the fall.”
Selene blinked.
“I what?”
“The blood reacted.”
Selene looked down at her hands.
The black veins glowed faintly in the darkness now.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You did not think about it,” the serpent replied.
“You felt it.”
Shouts echoed above them.
Guards leaned over the balcony they had jumped from.
“There!”
“Archers!”
Kael grabbed Selene’s arm.
“Time to go.”
They ran.
The narrow tower walkway twisted along the outer wall of the palace, barely wide enough for two people to run side by side.
Selene’s feet pounded against the stone.
“Where are we going?”
Kael didn’t slow.
“Out.”
“That’s not a direction!”
Behind them arrows whistled through the air.
One struck the wall inches from Selene’s shoulder.
She ducked instinctively.
Kael pulled her around a sharp corner and down a spiral staircase hidden inside the tower wall.
The stairs twisted downward into darkness.
Selene struggled to keep up.
“You seem to know this place well for someone who just broke in.”
Kael glanced back at her briefly.
“I’ve broken into worse.”
They burst out the bottom of the tower into the outer courtyard.
The palace guards were already flooding the area.
“Stop them!”
Kael didn’t hesitate.
He drew his sword again.
Steel flashed under torchlight as he cut through the first soldier who tried to block their path.
Selene stumbled back.
“You’re not even slowing down!”
Kael grabbed her wrist again.
“Slowing down gets us killed.”
The serpent whispered sharply.
“More coming.”
The courtyard gates stood only a short distance ahead now.
Freedom.
But between them and the gates stood a full line of royal soldiers.
Spears.
Shields.
Armor shining under torchlight.
Selene’s heart sank.
“There’s too many.”
Kael studied the soldiers calmly.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“There are exactly enough.”
Selene stared at him like he had lost his mind.
“You’re joking.”
Kael’s grip tightened around his sword.
“Stay behind me.”
The serpent hissed softly.
“This will be interesting.”
The soldiers charged.
Kael met them head on.
The first spear came straight for his chest.
Kael knocked it aside and drove his sword into the soldier’s armor gap beneath the ribs.
The man collapsed instantly.
Another soldier swung his blade.
Kael ducked and cut upward, sending the man’s weapon spinning across the courtyard.
Selene watched in stunned silence.
He moved like a storm.
Every strike precise.
Every step controlled.
But there were too many.
One soldier broke past Kael and rushed toward her.
Selene froze.
The man raised his sword.
“Monster!”
The blade came down.
The serpent struck first.
It lunged from Selene’s arm and buried its fangs deep into the soldier’s wrist.
The man screamed and dropped the weapon.
Selene’s body reacted before her mind could catch up.
Her hand shot forward instinctively.
The black veins flared.
The soldier flew backward like he had been struck by an invisible force.
He slammed into the stone wall and collapsed unconscious.
Selene stared at her hand.
“I did that.”
The serpent returned to her arm.
“Yes.”
Kael glanced back briefly.
His expression held something close to approval.
“Good.”
Selene blinked.
“That’s all you have to say?”
Kael cut down another soldier.
“Keep doing it.”
More guards rushed forward.
Selene stepped back.
The strange energy still burned inside her veins.
The serpent whispered again.
“You are stronger than them.”
Selene took a breath.
Then she raised her hand.
The black veins pulsed brighter.
A wave of invisible force burst outward from her body.
The nearest soldiers were thrown off their feet.
Kael turned just in time to see it happen.
For a brief moment the battle paused.
The courtyard fell silent.
Even the guards stared at her.
Fear spread across their faces.
The prophecy was no longer a rumor.
The Serpent Queen stood in front of them.
Kael grabbed her arm again.
“That’s our opening.”
They ran for the gates.
No one dared step in their path now.
The guards backed away slowly.
Like men watching something dangerous they didn’t understand.
Kael kicked the heavy gate open.
Cold night air rushed in from beyond the palace walls.
Freedom.
Selene stepped outside the palace for the first time since the prophecy began.
Behind them the alarm bells of Vareth began ringing again.
The city was waking.
And soon the entire kingdom would know.
The Serpent Queen had escaped.
Kael led her quickly into the dark streets.
Selene looked back once at the palace towers rising behind them.
Her home.
Her father’s kingdom.
Gone now.
She turned back toward Kael.
“So what happens now?”
Kael’s dark eyes glinted under the crimson sky.
“Now?”
A slow smile spread across his face.
“Now the real hunt begins.”
- Writer
