Southern Alleys, Eastpoint, Bahim, Drum

  Hazel effortlessly sliced through men that were following Boash, who, struck with fear after their commander’s death, were retreating, disorderly and panicked. She had again in her right hand Logan’s fauchard, and with her left hand she sent beam after beam of burning light. Then, all of a sudden, the alleyways were consumed in a flash of blinding light. A bolt of lightning. Hazel stopped and turned towards the source. It had come from the north. A moment later, a rumbling thunder followed. Hazel took off running.

  Northern Alleys, Eastpoint, Bahim, Drum

  Logan stood, lightning crashing down all around him, dancing in a hundred arcs. Taylor and two more of her Councillor’s Guards stood around him, weapons pointed towards Logan but unable to advance because of the lightning.

  “You cannot do this forever, Floyd!” Taylor cried over the sound of crashing lightning.

  Logan said nothing, though already the lightning was beginning to falter. Taylor sent a challis towards the wall of lightning, which again faltered for a moment before strengthening itself again. Taylor gestured at the Councillor’s Guards to wait. They were Timothy Geneham, the eldest son of the Geneham Family of Bahim, and Penelope Lister, second daughter of the Lister Family of Bahim. They obeyed Taylor and took a step back.

  Damien and Kimberley Jones were close by, crouched behind an abandoned wagon, watching them all. What they felt first and foremost was fear. Near them stood some of the most powerful helia of Drum, and they knew that they could be Sensed at any moment. Not only this, but Logan’s wall of lightning was so loud, so brilliant, so bestial and its power that they found themselves shuddering almost as an involuntary reflex.

  “We must help him,” said Damien.

  Kimberley grit her teeth. “That Floyd…”

  “It is for Hazel,” said Damien. “It is not for Floyd.”

  “We will die,” said Kimberley.

  “We are revolutionaries,” said Damien. “It is our destiny.”

  Damien stepped forth and threw a dagger at Timothy Geneham, who, Sensing it, turned and dodged. Taylor Keys turned and almost immediately hurled three shards of ice towards them. Damien ducked, but Kimberley stepped forth and swung her battleaxe, shattering these shards.

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  “You braxin…” said Taylor, stepping forwards, but Timothy Geneham stepped in front of her saying, “I will—”

  But he was cut short when his head toppled off from his shoulders. A shadowy figure landed beside him — Kate Rinehart. Kimberley took this opportunity to lunge towards Penelope Lister, with Damien following closely behind. Taylor herself faced Kate Rinehart.

  “Scavenging here like a broken vulture,” said Taylor. “This is no place for you. You are a Rinehart!”

  “That name means nothing for me,” said Kate, and sent two challis towards Taylor.

  Taylor parried them with ease, and cried, “what do you stand for!”

  Kate hesitated. Then they were all plunged into darkness. Logan had collapsed from exhaustion, and his barrier of lightning had fallen. Kate Sensed him, laying on the ground behind Taylor, and beyond Logan she Sensed Damien and Kimberley Jones engaging Penelope Lister. Kate Sensed all this, and said, “I stand for those who love me.”

  “Now is not the time for sentimentality,” said Taylor, and raised a trembling hand, again forming again her talia, smaller this time, but a little more stable.

  Kate shot up into the air.

  “A bird for a bird,” said Taylor, laughing with her teeth bared, and launched the talia towards Kate.

  Kate knew that she could not engage Taylor for too long, since she knew that Damien and Kimberley Jones, even together, could not hold back Penelope Lister. And so she went for a direct approach and, coating her entire Body with Connexion, launched herself also towards Taylor’s talia. The impact shook Kate’s Body to its very core, and she felt for a moment as if each and every one of her bones were fractured. She found herself falling, like a rag in the wind. No, she thought. She had to save Damien and Kimberley. She tried to Sense the ground, but her Mind was weak. She could do nothing except fall.

  But then she was caught, gently but firmly. It was Hazel Drina. Within moments, she temporarily blinded Taylor, making clever use of the reflectiveness of Taylor’s own frost, laid the now unconscious Kate gently onto the ground, and threw the fauchard towards Logan, who had recovered somewhat and was standing up with shaking knees. Then she cried at Damien and Kimberley to fall back. Penelope Lister charged forward towards Hazel, but within moments she fell, a hole burned through her chest.

  This was Hazel Drina, the Child of Light. And now it was Logan Floyd and Hazel Drina against Taylor Keys. Logan and Hazel began encircling Taylor, breathing heavily. Taylor smiled.

  “You are in no condition to kill me,” said Taylor.

  Taylor looked dead into Hazel’s eyes and Transcended her Mind, sending a burst of weakness from her core down her limbs. Hazel faltered, but then gathered herself and stood steady again. Logan sent out a burst of lightning from his fauchard, but it was clearly weaker than what he was usually capable of, and Taylor parried this with ease. Damien and Kimberley, having withdrawn back into the darkness, watched with fearful eyes this confrontation, almost historical in its scale, between Taylor and Hazel and Logan.

  But then the confrontation would become even larger in scale when from the darkness emerged Councillor Floyd.