novelraw Chapter 806: Two Close for Comfort
Chapter 806: Two Close for Comfort
The young woman's pale face was devoid of expression as she kicked the dark-eyed man. Her opponent crashed into the grey earth, sending shards of ice in every direction.
He looked at the young lady with murderous intent, seething with hatred for the audacity of her attack.
Pushing off the ground, he jumped at her, determined to snap her neck and remove it from her body. The lady shifted to one side just in time to dodge and deliver her elbow into the back of his skull. The man twisted his head, trying to take a bite out of her armor with his teeth.
Watching the scene with her second sight, Noble couldn't help but shiver.
The ferocity of the attacks was inhuman. Neither combatant cared about the damage done to their vessel. For that's what each of them was—a vessel.
One filled with hatred and the other void of feeling.
'A Skinwalker and a pilgrim.'
Noble had only gotten a short glimpse of their faces with her true vision, but she didn't think she knew either of them from before their deaths. That was a small relief. It was already disturbing to witness the scene, but it would be extra unpleasant if this were how she found out a comrade had died.
'Do I stay or go?'
The pilgrim was from the Queen. Surely she could handle it. But Noble found herself pinned in place both by curiosity and worry. So she stayed hidden, a witness to the horrific scene.
The man's face twisted into a vicious grin. Two teeth were pressed up into his gums from his attempt to chomp down on the pilgrim. But rather than be discouraged—Noble was quite certain the monster didn't have that emotion—the Skinwalker was even more determined.
A sickening crack filled the air as his shoulders dislocated, and he dropped to all fours. The muscles of his back rippled as he charged at the woman.
This time, he knew better than to aim for her neck. He caught her leg, ripping the armor from her shin and digging his nails deep into her calf muscle. If the pilgrim had any blood to shed, it would have poured down her leg.
Instead, she pressed her hands into the man's hair, interlacing her fingers into his locks and twisting suddenly to the left. The snapping sound echoed off the distant canyon wall. The Skinwalker's face now looked at the pilgrim, his body and face at odds.
Yet his smile only grew. He hit his forehead against the woman before manually returning his broken neck to its original position.
Noble didn't think the Skinwalker needed bones to move. He was fueled by rage much more than the flimsy human vessel he embodied. Even as his teeth crawled back to the proper place in his mouth, his forehead crashed into the lady's face again, breaking her nose.
The woman reeled backwards, recovering after two long steps. Her disfigured face never changed to show the pain she should have felt.
Before the Skinwalker could rebound, the other vessel raced forward with a double-fisted punch. The force would have broken a mundane woman's hands, but the pilgrim continued to pummel her opponent with her fists.
Arching his back, the man fell back on his hands and lifted both legs to kick the pilgrim. She flew through the air over a hundred meters into the steep wall. Grey dust filled the air around her.
The Skinwalker righted himself before falling on all fours once more to scurry across the landscape. He would not let his prey escape that easily! The pilgrim had just hit the ground when he pounced on her. With her calf no longer functioning and multiple fractures in crucial places, she struggled to fend him off.
As he went to choke her, she pressed her thumbs into his eye sockets. Unfortunately for her, the skinwalker did not need to see to keep the pilgrim in his grasp. Pressing her against the ground with his knee, the man bent back his opponent's thumbs even as her nails raked away patches of his skin.
The Skinwalker snapped the fingers of the pilgrim. No sound escaped the woman's lips as she was lifted into the air and held around her middle. Pinning the pilgrim's arms to her side, the monster hugged her tightly...and then tighter...and then even tighter.
The pilgrim's body strained against the pressure as she flailed to no avail. Even a headbutt seemed not to affect the vindictive man who had her in his grasp.
'He's going to...oh!' Noble retracted her second sight, unwilling to watch the carnage any longer. Nectar, too, seemed frightened by the development of events.
The horrid squelching sound that echoed across the cinder sea made Noble want to retch. She held her hand against her mouth, determined not to make a sound.
More uncomfortable sounds that Noble hesitated to name reached her ears, and then...nothing. No more fighting. No more struggle. No more sound.
Tentatively, Noble used her secondary vision, hoping against hope that a miracle had occurred.
It had not. What little remained of the tragic Pilgrim was only stains across the frozen ash. The Skinwalker wiped off his hands on his clothing, looking satisfied with what he had done.
Noble was anything but happy. The Queen's vessel had not been a strong one. That Noble could see from the start.
Still, she had hoped the Pilgrim might have some special skill or strength bestowed on her by the Sovereign controlling her. If the lady had been granted such a gift, then it was still not enough.
Now, Noble was stuck between the Skinwalker and a city full of people she wanted to protect.
'I could lead the creature to the gate and have them deal with it.'
The problem with that was the Skinwalker might not go directly to Ravenheart, claiming more lives as it consumed weary travelers.
The monster hummed what might have passed for a happy tune, making the first sound she had heard from the pair since she came upon him.
He turned her direction, a look of serenity on his quickly healing face.
He chuckled, striding slowly across the expanse.
"I know you're there. I saw you out of the corner of my vision while I was dealing with our mutual acquaintance. Yes, I would have liked to have made her one of mine, but it was too troublesome. She had to be destroyed. You, on the other hand..."
The man's voice grew nearer, his long steps bringing him closer to Noble with each breath.
"Ah, I've been waiting for this moment for a while, you know. You thwarted me once, and I haven't forgotten. You ruined some perfectly good hosts, you know."
Noble remembered the human tower that she had toppled. Had she destroyed some of his vessels in the process?
At the very least, she sent one falling from the top of the dome after cutting off his hand.
"Now, come out and look at me. I promise to make this quick." He paused. "No? Suit yourself." The Skinwalker's neck cracked as he shook his head. "The hard way it is, then."