Jeremy Laszlo - The Choosing

In one moment, in a flurry of movement Seth opened his eyes, nodded to his twin, grabbed the crossbow pulling it before him with one hand, and pulled an arrow out from beneath his blanket with the other. Looking to his hands he brought the bolt to the crossbow and seated it in place. Turning his head to find his target, he found it. It was too late.

The very second Seth began to move, the creature raced across the small cavern raising his thin wicked blade in front of him, turning the blade over in his hand. He Saw the man brandish a crossbow and lunged at the man with all his might. The creature knew it was a long shot. He would have to travel through the air an incredible distance to deal the man a death blow. Even so, he was already in the air, sailing forward, falling short. His attack would meet the man's leg or his lap if the creature was lucky. Maybe if he injured the man he would buy himself enough time to kill him then the other two men before they were aware of him. The creature thought all this while still in the air, in a fraction of a fraction of a second. He was falling now and thrust his blade out before him, blade down. He would not reach the man's head or chest, but he would be able to drive the blade into his gut.

Seth reacted the only way he could. The creatures lunge had propelled him and his blade not to him, but to Sara. Seth did not think, he had no time for thought, instead he reacted. Rolling his body around, and turning his back to the creature, Seth shielded Sara from danger. At that moment the creature collided with Seth’s back. Seth felt the blade rip through his ribs, driven deep into his chest from behind. The wind was knocked from his lungs, and light exploded before his eyes. He was helpless. The creature had regained his feet, and drew the blade from Seth’s back. Seth screamed in pain.

His scream was echoed in a roar from the back of the cave. Garret came racing, sword in hand, towards the creature. The creature spun and raised his blade to protect himself. Garret closed the distance quickly, and swung the huge blade at the creature. The creature deflected his blow easily, sending Garrets blade to smash heavily into the stone wall. Seth moaned in agony, rolling to his side. Garret regained control of his sword, just in time to see the creature lunge at him. Garret had no time to defend himself and so braced himself for the blow. Midway through the air the Creatures evil, tooth filled grimace was replaced with one of panic and its blow went wild missing Garret altogether. The creature hit the ground sprawling, the nub of a crossbow bolt sticking out between its ribs in its side. It tried to recover brandishing its wickedly curved blade preparing for another lunge but Garret had already moved in, his blade in motion. With every ounce of strength he could muster Garret brought his large blade to meet the creature in a sweeping motion. The beast managed to get its own blade in the path of the oncoming assault but such was the momentum behind the swing that Garrets blade simply clashed against the beasts own blade sending it flying and Garrets stroke made true to the beasts ribcage cutting clean trough the beasts side all the way to the spinal cord where it wedged between two vertebra. Its creature's eye’s rolled in their sockets, as it hit the ground nearly cleaved in two. Garret couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked up to see not Seth holding the crossbow, but Sara. She shook from head to toe, the weapon slipping from her fingers, and falling with a loud clang upon the hard ground. She dropped to her knees sobbing uncontrollably wrapping her arms around Seth, trying to push him onto his side, so that she could see his face. Ashton was there then, helping Sara roll Seth’s limp body. Garret stood frozen, not knowing what to do, what to feel. Ashton felt Seth’s neck first, and then placed his ear to Seth’s face, listening for his breathing. Assured of something he then climbed over Seth to assess his wound. Grimacing at the grievous wound upon his friend he dropped to his knees immediately as he had done before, and raising his face to the heavens he prayed. He prayed longer than usual and Garret found this annoying, how much time did he think he had? Ashton finished his prayers, and turned his gaze down to his fallen friend. He placed both hands over Seth’s wound and began chanting. Louder and louder, faster and faster the chant continued. First Ashton’s fingers exploded in light, then his hands, then his entire body. As Garret had seen him do before, Ashton began to tremble, this gradually worsened until he began to shake violently. Even through his violent spasms Ashton continued, controlling, bending, and twisting the god’s power to his will. Ashton continued long past when he knew he should stop, he continued wielding the power until it was all he could see, all he could feel. He continued even when he could no longer feel the power, he continued until he lost consciousness.

Ashton collapsed on top of Seth. Sara did not notice, she still cried uncontrolled, oblivious to what happened around her. Only Garret was there to bear witness, his entire body numb. He reached down, grabbing Ashton’s limp body by the shoulders, dragged him off of his brother, laying Ashton, on the ground a few feet away, on his back. Garret then knelt down beside his brother, looking at his blood drenched clothing. He reached down and peeled back his brother’s shirt. The wound remained, still bleeding. Ashton had failed. Knowing little about medicine, Garret removed his shirt and tied it around his brother’s torso tightly to stop the bleeding. Sara sat, Seth’s head in her lap, crying over his face. Tears rained on Garrets twin. Garret sat down on the floor between the unconscious form of his friend, and the dying form of his brother. He sat there, unmoving, showing no sign of emotion, no intention of ever regaining his feet. Garret was numb, lost in his subconscious.

Garret was in fact dimly aware of his surroundings. From his peripheral vision he could see Ashton lying to his left and Seth to his right. He could hear the continued sobs of anguish from the small girl just out of his sight, and he tried to ignore them. Ashton was alive, this much he knew. The healer had overexerted himself somehow and passed out. Seth on the other hand, was probably still bleeding, bleeding slowly to his death. Garret was helpless. He sat, unblinking, unmoving, barely breathing himself. He did not know how long he sat there, it seemed to him it must have been an eternity, but then, as if from nowhere, Sara’s wailing was interrupted by a cough. Garret raised his head, this new sound confusing him, and realized the girls relentless sobs had come to an abrupt stop.

Garret forced his mind to focus, and regaining control of his body turned to see if she too had passed out. Sara sat unmoving, turning blue, refusing to breathe. The cough came again and Garret seen Seth’s body jerk in unison with the sound. He stumbled to his feet, to better see his brother’s features, to be sure he hadn’t been mistaken. Sara still did not breathe. Garret looked to his brother’s face, cupped in the small hands of the girl. On Seth’s lips and on the girls hands lay small droplets of blood. Seth coughed again then, spraying more blood across Sara’s hands. She finally took a breath, but just one as she stared at the face in her hands. Again a cough, but this time Seth’s eyes moved beneath his eyelids. Garret and Sara now both watched him, un-breathing, waiting for another sign of life. It came suddenly, though it was not another cough as they had expected. Seth’s body jerked suddenly, violently. His appendages thrashed about for a moment, and then he was still again. Another cough followed this time spraying an entire mouth full of blood into the small woman’s hands. She sobbed again gasping for air, and then was silent once more. Seth moaned. It was an agonizing sound, a sound not of the living, and it sent shivers down Garret’s spine. The moan was followed swiftly by another round of coughs. This time, it was several in rapid succession. These coughs were more powerful, from somewhere deeper down.