Marduk’s Mark [19]
Reysha was at the bottom of the lighthouse, scouting around the area. She was fast and silent, though there was no reason for being cautious; there was nobody around because of the inspection. The lighthouse area was completely deserted and the sun was coming down so they would soon have the cover of the night as well. She did realize that the challenge was not getting out of the lighthouse if they hid there but identifying where to go from there to reach their home without disturbing the guards she had found on the way there though.
Lothar extended his right arm, placing it in front of Mirella’s neck, forcing her to stop. “What is it?” Mirella had an annoyed expression as she asked him.
“It’s the girl; she may see us,” he said. She looked at him incredulously. “Do you think it matters? They’re atop a lighthouse! They’ll see us coming at them anyway!” Lothar shook his head.
“Not if we enter through the tunnels,” he said. She looked at him in surprise.
“I didn’t know there were any tunnels in this section of the city,” she said. Lothar smiled at her.
“This is an ancient Deelamn city; you know they’re quite fond of tunnels and passageways.” She nodded, following him as he took a bend and went down a flight of stairs at the end of the street. They ended up in front of a small shrine with a dilapidated stone face. Water rushed from the open mouth in the face, offering a calming sound not unwelcome by them.
“Here we are,” he said. Lothar extended his hand into the rock face’s mouth, then felt around inside it until he found a lever. He pulled on it slowly, feeling the old contraption groaning in protest for being activated after a long slumber. They heard a horrible, loud protest from a machine that kept grinding as a wall next to the face started to slowly slide to the side. Mirella looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“I thought you wanted to surprise them. That infernal grinding surely woke up all of their ancestors from their eternal slumber!” Mirella protested. Lothar shrugged and went into the tunnel. She followed behind him.
Reysha returned to Gerhalt and Xandra. “There are fewer guards if we take the route by the old orphanage, but you will have to wait for me to distract them before trying to sneak by them,” Reysha said. She was about to continue when they heard a loud grinding coming from below them. They weren’t sure if the sound started close by because they didn’t feel any vibrations but it was incredibly loud.
“What on Eldrath —,” Gerhalt said, leaving the sentence unfinished. They looked around them but couldn’t detect any source for the odd sound. They were about to continue the discussion about their plan when Xandra suddenly fell to her knees, covering her forehead with the palm of her right hand. They could see beams of light escaping between the fingers on her hand. Gerhalt immediately recognized the problem. “This isn’t good!”
Lothar’s markings began to glow as well and he felt a wonderful sensation running from his face, a warmth that flowed from his eyes to his neck, and then to his chest and onwards to all his extremities. It felt particularly delightful in the tips of his fingers. He was able to divine, seeing some figures and colors through walls even by using the vertical slits that composed his physical eyes, no need to close them and meditate. The rush seemed to extend through every blood vessel in his body, even those that served extremities that would be of no use in a fight.
“Oh yes,” he exclaimed. “The rush, the need. The Marked One is close,” he said. Mirella recognized the excitement he displayed. It was the Calling. Marked Junex enjoyed nothing more than the chance to encounter a Marked Deelamn, and she envied how much that excited him, she longed to feel that same elation.
Gerhalt and Reysha were next to Xandra, trying to figure out what to do. She kept them away by employing a powerful kinetic force that repelled them as they tried to embrace her. There was no wind keeping them away, no strong push nor jolts. It was as if she were somehow creating a sort of negative gravity that didn’t let them get close.
“This seems worse than before,” Gerhalt exclaimed. Reysha nodded and kept trying to get close, trying to see if she could close the distance to hold her.
Lothar stared above him, visualizing three figures a few meters above, through various levels of ground. There was no mistake; it had to be them and she was being affected by the Mark this very moment. He could see the green Deelamn figure and the purple figure trying to reach a yellow figure between them. Oddly, they couldn’t progress towards the yellow figure as they moved their legs; a barrier keeping them at bay.
“Poor thing,” Lothar said out loud. “Trying to keep the others away to protect them,” he added. Mirella shrugged, then looked at him and pointed at a cracked wall. Some beams of moonlight could be seen peering from the cracks in it. Lothar extended his right arm and placed it in front of her, pushing her away from the wall. He knelt in front of it and chanted a few unintelligible words. Little by little, pieces of rock started to break free from the wall, some falling in front of him and others falling on the other side until the cracked wall was a cave mouth that peered into the ocean.
“It looks like we’ll have to climb from here,” he said.
Xandra screamed, a loud shrill sound coming out from her. Gerhalt and Reysha were pushed in opposite directions from her by a strong force, Gerhalt hitting a wall while Reysha tumbled along the ground, rolling towards the edge of the lighthouse, stopping right by an unfinished floor that lacked the rails that would keep her from falling along the cliff face where the structure was set.
Reysha pushed herself off the ground with the strength of her chest muscles, performing a push-up. She opened her eyes and was then taken aback by how close she was to fall. Gerhalt got up, holding the back of his neck as the impact caused an injury right there. As they got up, they looked at their mother and gasped; her hair was swirling around her, tips up in the air as if gravity did not affect it. Reysha started to walk towards her mother when she heard a grunt behind her.
Mirella caught Reysha off-guard, wrapping her arm around her neck and pulling on it, constricting her breathing. Lothar pulled himself up shortly afterward.
“You never fail to amaze me,” he whispered in Mirella’s ear. She purred in contentment. Gerhalt was stunned.
“Who are you? What do you want? Release her!” Gerhalt yelled. Lothar shook his head.
“Don’t you dare interfere,” Lothar said. “We’re just interested in the women. The guards should handle you without any problems after we leave,” Lothar added and then looked at Xandra, then at the tall, horned woman whose hold kept Reysha in a precarious state.
“Like hell, you will!” Gerhalt barked as he lunged towards Lothar.
“What a fool,” Lothar whispered while shaking his head.
Gerhalt went right through Lothar, or what he thought was Lothar, tumbling down the cliff. Lothar appeared from Mirella’s side and the illusion that Gerhalt went through vanished into thin air. Xandra, who was doing her best to contain all of the destructive needs within her lost it as she witnessed Gerhalt falling past the cliff. She went right after him, jumping like a feral beast, but Lothar wouldn’t have it. He used the same power as in the Neeves' home, pulling Xandra towards him. Unlike Karlos, there was nothing she could grab to avoid Lothar as he clenched his fists and pulled back on them, finally swinging his torso to the left. The motion translated into a strong, rope-like pull that brought her back to the lighthouse, slamming on the floor with the right side of her body. She screamed on impact, frustration more apparent than any pain from the hard floor meeting her body.
The blood-curling sound was enough to shake Lothar’s and Mirella’s resolve. It was enough to weaken Mirella’s hold on Reysha. Being one to know how to appreciate an opening, Reysha shook free from Mirella as she loosened up on her and then pulled out her hairclip, which housed a thin, needle-like metal piece that she used to stab Mirella’s right knee. Mirella groaned as she kneeled on the ground because of the pain that Reysha’s attack brought on her. Lothar looked in Mirella’s direction, but she shook her head.
“I can still handle her,” she said as she winced.
Lothar focused back on Xandra, looking in the direction she had been when she hit the floor, but she wasn’t there. He still perceived the world in the luminous hues that allowed him to tell when others were behind walls, but he simply couldn’t detect her anywhere in front or around him. The impact let him know where she was as he felt a kick on the small on his back that rapidly slammed him face-first into the ground. Xandra leaped back after kicking him and twirled in the air before landing on the ground.
She felt lost, confused, and enraged. The scalding hot white light made her almost blind, unable to see very well. However, she could feel the others around her. Not far from where she landed she could feel a particularly nauseating stench coming from the front. There was also a pleasing, sweet smell that seemed to move around, and a sort of hot, almost spicy feeling scent from behind her. As time passed, her eyes got more and more used to the blinding light and she could tell the horrible stench came from a glowing, blue-colored thing in front of her. She had no idea what it was, other than it enraged her. It looked like it was hunched over, reeling from a strong blow to its back so she was sure it was what she kicked. A hot, thick aura was emanating from him as if it were heatwaves. The thing was getting up and Xandra braced herself as it turned around to face her. Its face looked like a leather mask, only blue and stitched around the nose and forehead with thick laces, forming hideously deformed scar tissue around it. The mere sight of it made her feel angry and scared.
Reysha dodged as Mirella thrust a long, thin sword at her. It looked not much different than the thin clips she used, only much longer and thus deadlier. She admired the skill which the Junex woman displayed as she lunged with the blade, but the wound on her knee made her balance awkward and thus her strikes were easy to avoid. Reysha dodged once more, ducking quickly, and then, following through the same ducking motion she swept her right leg around on the ground, hitting Mirella’s wounded leg at the ankle with the roundhouse sweeping kick, making her lose her balance and fall to the ground. Mirella cursed as she fell and Reysha immediately turned around, looking at her mother as she, in turn, met an intense stare from Lothar with her own. Reysha ran in front, planning to grab one of her mother’s hands and make a running break for it when she lost her balance and fell on her face. Mirella had skillfully thrown an ayllo at her, a specialized weapon used to incapacitate opponents by swinging a set of iron weights held together by cords, gaining momentum and then thrown to wrap the cords around the victim’s legs and stop them in their tracks, which is exactly what happened to her.
Lothar looked at Xandra’s bewildered expression and licked his lips. It had been a while since he faced a proper Marked Deelamn, and this one had a nice, feral air about her. He thought she was right on cue as she lunged at him with an open left hand, fingers outstretched, aimed at his face. He felt in control as he swayed to the left and avoided that blow, then riposted by swinging his right hand in a chopping motion at her. Xandra reacted quickly and jumped back, avoiding the chop, however she felt as if she had lost her breath as she landed. Lothar’s fingers had a transparent aura emanating from them, which he hit her with. It was an odd sensation; not painful but extremely draining.
“You’re lucky that Incantirl doesn’t kill your kind,” he yelled at her as he stepped forward.
Reysha screamed as Mirella sat on top of her, tying her arms behind her back. The voice was familiar to Xandra; she looked in the direction of the scream and could see an angelic figure being held down by another one of the odd beasts with the blue leathery faces though this one was a woman. On closer inspection, she could identify the angelic creature as Reysha, which also reminded her of Gerhalt’s fate, falling off the side of the cliff. Xandra screamed and hugged her own body, holding her hands on the opposite shoulders then immediately stretched her arms to the sides, the forceful motion gave the impression that her limbs got longer as a thick wave of hot energy formed a pair of wings that were only visible for a very short instant. Lothar recognized it as a manifestation of Marduk itself, causing him to panic.
“Mirella, get out of her way!” he yelled as Xandra hurled herself towards Mirella as what seemed like a thin, stringy blue smoke propelled her. Mirella looked up only to see what appeared to be a comet heading in her direction, knocking her to the side with an impact that could only be described as that of a battering ram.
Gerhalt was lucky when he missed the half-constructed rail and fell down the cliff. Mirella wasn’t that lucky. Her lower back got the brunt of the impact as a sickening cracking noise was heard. She lost consciousness almost immediately. Lothar rushed to his lover, only to find Xandra standing there, blocking his access to both Reysha and Mirella. Lothar took a step back and produced an involuntary grimace. A tear formed on his right eye and went down his face.
“A truce. You let me through, to my beloved, and you get to run to fight another day,” he said.
Xandra nodded at him. He noticed that she was off-balance, favoring her right leg and that her clothes were stained with fresh blood, possibly her own. The thought of taking her by surprise crossed his mind, but he also had newfound respect as she let him get to Mirella without any caveats.
“You won’t make it, Xandra,” he said. “You’re almost as badly hurt as Mirella is.” Xandra looked at him. She couldn’t remember why she felt such rage before; she couldn’t even recognize him right now. She was also surprised by one important detail — he seemed to know her name! She didn’t remember it herself; all she knew was that she had to protect the young girl that was right next to her.
Lothar realized that the Mark was damaging her mind already and chose to take advantage of that.
“Come with me, and I’ll take you to Karlos,” he said
Xandra stopped to think for a moment. Karlos, she thought. It felt like a name that she should recognize. Lothar saw the hint of reason in her eyes. That’s right, he thought to himself. Though he was concerned about Mirella, he was sure he was on track to accomplish what he had set out to do. Xandra looked at Lothar for a moment and directed a simple question at him.
“I do remember fighting you. Why did that happen?” she asked. Lothar didn’t skip a beat as he answered.
“Because of your condition,” he said without hesitation. You become violent sometimes and then forget all that happens, but don’t worry. I’m here to help,” he added with a glint in his eye.
The answer seemed to please her for a moment. Lothar could see that she had a sort of blank stare on her face, an odd expression from one of the yellow-eyes. He wasn’t entirely sure that she bought his story, but she didn’t protest. He took the opportunity to inspect Mirella, displaying some serious concern from the way she lay on the ground. Probably a broken hip and coccyx, he thought to himself. That won’t be pleasant to treat, but at least he was sure that he’d neutralized the threat from the Deelamn. Now about that hybrid girl, he thought to himself. He will need to investigate that further.
