Abandoned

Elongated metal clad hands grasped Esther's helm and slowly slid it off and an ashy grey braid tumbled onto her plate armored shoulders. Dark tan ears pointed to the sky as jagged teeth bared at me while slitted amethyst eyes glowered at her.

"You're a demon."

The simple statement was all I could muster. How had a demon infiltrated the castle? Or replaced the vice-captain of the Royal Guard? Had she killed the original Esther and taken their place? These and a hundred other questions swirled in my mind as I tried to make sense of the situation. Regardless of her origins, this Esther, a demon, was standing in front of me, trying to kill me. Explanations could come when they examined her corpse.

"Leave it to a mage to state the obvious," Esther hissed. She tossed her helm to the side, clattering on the stone tiles before rolling into some flowers. "You're probably thinking 'How? When? Why?'. You won't need to wonder much longer."

"What the hells does that-"

A sweet gust of wind swept through the garden as Esther disappeared. Whether she was moving faster than I could see or invisible, it didn't matter. I flicked my gnarled wand throwing up a barrier that manifested just as Esther's colossal sword hit it. The sword smashed through the barrier like a hammer, but the moment of resistance gave me the opportunity to evade and reach into my pouch for a bottle of… anything.

Slime extract… But I don't think it's strong enough to eat through silver-steel. It'll do some damage if it makes contact with her skin, though.

With no better plan I hurled the vial of acid at Esther. The glass shattered on the tip of her sword as she thrust at me, sending the contents splattering over her. Her arms faltered as a faint hiss and an acrid chemical smell overtook the scent of the flowers and she grabbed her face with her hand.

"What did you do?!" she demanded. She tried to wipe her face with the leather underside of her gauntlet, but it only smeared the viscous liquid more. Her jaw clenched as the acid ate at her skin, but it was only temporary; it wasn't strong enough to do anything more than cause surface burns.

"Yssa! Remmi!" I screamed, running for the archway that led back into the hall. There was no way I could beat Esther on my own. I wasn't even sure how I'd held out against the handful of attacks she'd already thrown at me. She was faster, unfathomably faster, than me and should have been able to kill me before I even knew I was being threatened. So why drag it out?

"They can't hear you," Esther said. Her face was wet and a small canteen lay empty at her feet. "There's a sound barrier that covers this garden."

She disappeared from my sight again and a moment later I felt a heavy metal boot rearrange my stomach cavity before sending me flying across the garden into a flower bed. The taste of blood coated my tongue making me gag until I was hunched on all fours throwing more up. My insides ached accented with sharp stabbing pains whenever I took a breath. I tried to stand, but my knees buckled beneath me.

Shit. She's toying with me but making sure I know she can kill me any time she wants. It was just a kick and I feel like I'm about to die. What if that had been my face? My head probably would have been ripped from my shoulders.

"Stand up." Esther stalked over and grabbed me by the front of my robe, lifting me up. She wasn't tall enough to lift me into the air, but sure enough I was on my feet. "I can see why they want me to kill you," she said, glaring. "You're offensively weak. How in the AllFather's name did you seduce the greatest witches in a generation?"

"AllFather," I coughed, spitting droplets of blood onto Esther's seared face. "If you love the old demon king so much, why don't you join him?"

Esther's brows furrowed before her eyes widened when a glass jar of powder shattered against the side of her head. Glass shards dug into my palm and white powder covered us and the flowers around us.

"What is this?" Esther demanded, shoving me against a stone column. Her eyes were barely open, they were watering so much, though the same could be said for me. The smell of rotten eggs assaulted my nostrils and I was almost thankful blood was clogging my sinuses.

"Nothing much," I grinned, grabbing Esther's wrist with my hand as tightly as I could. "But we're about to have a blast."

After covering myself with the thinnest, least noticeable barrier I could manage, I ignited the tip of my wand. As soon as the flame appeared, I felt the air around me suck away, replaced by a searing heat that would have melted my skin from my body if I hadn't protected myself beforehand.

Esther was not as fortunate.

The force of blast threw Esther off of me before the sound of the explosion roared around me. Sharp pains stabbed at my ears, fading with the explosion and leaving a mind shatteringly shrill ringing in my ears that made my head spin. The palace shook around us and my body felt so crushed against the stone behind me that it felt like my bones were shattered. On the opposite side of the burning garden, Esther lay in a heap of scorched metal on the ground, motionless. Her sword was still in her hand though her hand was loose around the grip.

"Who's offensively weak now," I spat, falling forward onto my knees. I tried to catch myself with my arms as I fell forward, but they refused to move and I fell face first into the blackened ash of the flowerbed. My throat was so dry, tears wet my eyes whenever I breathed or swallowed and I couldn't help but wonder if death was really so bad. Every inch of me pulsed from numb to mind rending suffering, sapping any strength I had before I had time to try and gather it.

My eyes never left Esther's body. I was too afraid of what might happen if I did. I wanted to believe that I was safe. I wanted to believe it was over. But I wasn't surprised when I saw her arm twitch.

"You… Stupid…" The chest plate of Esther's armor heaved as the knight fought to push herself to her knees. She unclasped the blackened buckles of the few intact leather straps and it clattered to the ground. Her rere and vambraces followed after. The snake-like pupils of her purple eyes stared at me like daggers. One after the other she pulled her half-melted gauntlets off, revealing pointed fingers two times too long for the size of her hands. She let out a feral scream that echoed through the burning garden before being swallowed by the soundproof barrier. "WE'RE NOT FINISHED YET."

Black webbed wings opened from Esther's back, spreading out like a bat taking flight. Her sluggish arms reached down to her sword and she clenched the grip like she was trying to snap it in half. The tip of her blade scraped against the stone bricks of the garden walkway as she trudged forward, her wings settled behind her like two tails of a cape.

"THAT WAS A CLEVER TRICK. THEY SAID YOU WERE GOOD AT THOSE."

I tried to force my arms, my legs, any part of my body to move so I could crawl away, but my body adamantly refused. I clenched my numb hands hoping to feel my wand only to feel gritty ash and the pain of glass shards digging in.

This might be it. No more tricks. Unless she pulls a Venna and stops just before she drives her sword through my chest…

I tried not to think about it.

"I'D SAY IT WAS FUN, BUT I'M NOT ONE TO LIE," Esther said, looming over me. "SAY HELLO TO YOUR PARENTS FOR ME."

A spark of curiosity and rage flickered in my slowing heart and I forced my head to look up at Esther. Why would she bring up my parents? How would she even know them? I wanted answers, but I knew I'd never get them as Esther's blade stabbed downward.

It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Or rather, the pain of the sword piercing my chest was overshadowed by that of my shattered bones. If anything, it felt more like someone pushing a chunk of ice into my body. I didn't think it hit my heart, but by how much my chest hurt when I tried to breathe, I guessed that it had pierced my lung, especially since more blood was pooling in my mouth and dripping out like crimson drool.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The two familiar voices of my best friends roared in unison, shaking the air around me. My vision was too blurry to make out what was happening, but I heard the sharp snap of bones breaking, splashing water, and crumbling stone. Above me, I could barely make out a brilliant yellow glow that filled my body with a soothing warmth and after a few seconds I felt a modicum of energy come back to me.

"Took you long enough," I tried to say, though my words were caught between metallic, phlegmy coughs. "And here I thought you two had abandoned me."