KGWrites

Iona

The Eastside Inn, Ravenrush, Barony of Fallham

The phoenix was perched on the window ledge. He tilted his head from side to side, watching Iona with interest as she unwrapped the piece of beef she had retrieved from the inn kitchen. The meat was fresh and bloody. The phoenix’s eyes locked to it with a focus that Iona knew well as a hunter spotting prey.

“Wait.” Iona commanded firmly. She held up her free hand, palm outwards, and laid the meat down on the sill next to the bird. He jerked his head in the air a few times, as if scenting the food, but he held.

Obedient. Like I’ve been training you your whole life.

Iona pulled her hand clear, leaving the meat sitting in a small pool of red on the sill. She repeated the command. The phoenix remained still, looking from Iona to the food and back.

She smiled proudly and balled her hand into a fist.

“Strike!” She commanded. The phoenix darted forwards in an instant, seizing the piece of meat between his talons. There was a rapid sizzling sound and smoke rose around the curled claws. The scent of cooking meat hit Iona’s nostrils, making her stomach grumble.

The phoenix held the meat for a moment before it released the grip and bent down, taking the now browned and cooked steak into its beak and tearing at it.

“So, you prefer cooked, do you?” Iona laughed softly, gently running her knuckles across the bright orange crest atop his head as he ate. He purred, tilting his head into her touch.

Once the bird had swallowed the last of the meat, he turned his head to Iona and let out a crackling call that snapped and popped like dry wood on a fire. She chuckled.

“You’re welcome.” She replied, scratching the back of his neck. Then she pointed with her head to the open window.

“Go on.” She told him. “Go fly.”

The phoenix looked back at her before taking a few small steps towards the window and spreading his wings. His long flight feathers flared like a fire, the deep red feathers like hot embers glowing beneath his ashen black plumage. And then with a powerful flap of his wings that sent a wave of heat across Iona like a summer’s wind, he lifted off into the air.

Iona leaned on the sill, watching as he first dived down across the open courtyard of the inn from the second-floor window she sat at, before rising up high into the blue spring sky. Soon he became nothing but a speck, distantly glowing like an ember on the wind.

It had been nearly a week since the escape from Fallham and Iona had spent most of that time recovering from the broken piece of her sword being driven into her guts. It had been a long and painful process, requiring more stitches and long rest periods. Iona felt guilty, here she was, training a phoenix and relaxing in her inn room while the others went and bartered for horses and supplies. It had been decided that crossing the Bloodfields with a cart would be too slow and noticeable so the cart would be sold and left here in Ravenrush and they’d each get horses for the journey.

Iona chuckled to herself as she recalled how much Alyx had objected to the idea of riding a horse, even volunteering to run alongside rather than ride. Meghan and James had shut down that idea quickly.

Iona took a deep breath of the fresh spring breeze and smiled. Despite the wound on her chest and the beating that her companions had taken, they had seen another success. A second piece of the Brightblade was recovered, they knew where to go to retrieve the third and they were provisioned and ready for that mission. The starving scared and lost group that had barely survived the Hunter’s Haven Forest after fleeing a broken Aldiron felt completely foreign to her now.

The rage that Iona had felt in that forest, the injustice and despair that had gripped her heart, they weren’t gone. The fires still burned within her, but they were now a controlled, managed flame, something to fuel her and drive her forwards, not burn her up. She still held it, ready to release it and burn down anything that threatened her and the people it was her duty to protect.

But at the right time, keep the fire ready to burn when I need it most. Iona looked up at the distant speck of the phoenix. She recalled his burning hot fire as he attacked the Fallham guards that then faded down to a subtle warmth when he was safe again. Like you.

Silently, she reached down to lay her hand upon the now completed hilt of the Brightblade, wrapped in a leather bundle and strapped to her belt tightly.

Kill the Demon, protect our people.

For all her father may have kept from her, the real truth about why she needed to be the one to leave Aldiron. That mission he had given her had been a true command, the last of King Samuel Ravellan, and Iona would see it done.

The door opened behind Iona, and she turned, smiling warmly as she saw Alyx Cobalt step into the room. Her friend was only wearing the bracers of her mother’s armour, and her wavy brown hair was loose about her head. It was a testament to the fact that they had left Zaygor and his troops far behind that Alyx had felt safe enough to remove the armour. She’d only done that before when she slept in their tent.

“How are you feeling?” Alyx asked her, stepping into the room and crossing to the small seat at the window that Iona sat on.

“Better and better.” Iona answered with a smile, running her hand over the stitched wound. Then she gestured out the window towards the phoenix. “I’m thinking Eterna as a name.”

Alyx looked at it, her lips pursing into a thin smile. She gave a slow nod.

“Good name.” She complimented. Iona smiled.

And then Alyx punched Iona directly in her wounded chest.

Pain exploded across Iona’s side, lighting every nerve on fire as she choked and doubled over with a scream. She collapsed to the floor, feeling warmth spreading across her lower side. Her stitches must have torn from the impact.

Coughing heavily and taking heaving breaths, Iona looked up at Alyx as she stood over her. Alyx simply stared down at her coldly before she bent down and gripped Iona’s belt, her fingers gripping the Brightblade and pulling at it.

Fury and betrayal overtook Iona, and she didn’t give herself time to think, her hands leaving her side as she grabbed at the Brightblade and began to wrestle for it. Her hands were already slick with her own blood, and she struggled for purchase on the hilt, but something kept her holding on.

Alyx’s lip curled in a sneer of rage and she lifted her hand from the Brightblade, striking Iona across the face with the back. The blow rattled Iona’s teeth in her head and she slammed to the wooden floor again headfirst.

Light burst behind her eyes and a high-pitched ringing replaced all sound around her. She felt her grip slacken on the Brightblade and it began to lift away from her. Iona tried to lift her hands, but they were moving too slowly as Alyx straightened up, the Brightblade in hand.

Then a tankard flew in from the doorway and hit Alyx in the head, causing her to stumble and drop the Brightblade. Together, she and Iona turned to look at where the tankard had flown from.

To where another Alyx, identical to the one that had just attacked Iona, was standing glaring at them.

No, not exactly identical. Iona realised, seeing the deep red bruise already forming on the face of the newly arrived Alyx.

The new Alyx looked at the one above Iona and tilted her head slightly.

“Damn, I look good. But this world’s only big enough for one of me. So, I’d appreciate it if you gave me my face back, you demon fuck!” She quipped, rolling her head around on her neck. The Alyx that had attacked Iona mirrored the movement exactly, making the first purse her lips and draw her head back uncomfortably.

“I knew I should have killed you.” Alyx replied, her voice lacking any emotion at all. Iona looked at her with a growl. She understood now. This attacker wasn’t Alyx. She was the Shapechanger Demon that had attacked James and Meghan before in Blueholdt. The Other Face.

“But you couldn’t resist this face.” Alyx grinned, stepping into the room from the door. “I get it.”

“You really are an annoyance.” The Other Face replied. Alyx shrugged.

“I’ve heard that before. First time I’ve ever said it out loud to myself though.”

Clearly though, the demon was done with words as it leapt forwards with a snarl at Alyx. Iona’s guardian leapt forward to meet it, swinging her hand wide in a punch aimed for The Other Face’s head.

The Other Face caught the blow on its forearm in a perfectly timed block before lifting into an uppercut punch towards Alyx’s chin.

Alyx threw her head back and the blow shot past her nose. Then she kicked out against The Other Face’s shin, and it dropped to one knee.

Alyx lifted her fist high above her head and brought it down in a brutal punch that caught The Other Face in the temple. Its head wrenched sideways from the blow and immediately sprung back to face Alyx as if it was unaffected. It grinned up at her.

Alyx gave a half shake of her head, unnerved, and lifted her hand to punch herself in the face once more. But The Other Face was Alyx, it could read her every move before she made them.

As soon as she lifted her hand and exposed her chest, it leapt forwards, rising to its feet and tackling Alyx backwards into the wardrobe in the room with enough force that the wooden doors splintered beneath them both. Alyx cried out in pain but remained locked to her opponent.

Reacting fast, before The Other Face could press the advantage, Alyx drove her knee upwards into its chest, pushing it off balance and grabbing it beneath its arms. Then with a bellow of effort, she lifted The Other Face from the ground and threw it to the side, causing it to crash against the wall.

And then Alyx was moving again, kicking out at The Other Face’s jaw as it fell to the ground. But it met her with a counterattack.

Its hand lashed out, passing beneath Alyx’s foot as she kicked at it and gripping her other ankle. Then it pulled and Alyx, already off balance, went tumbling through the air. Her arms flailed wide as she smacked down hard onto her back, so hard that Iona heard the breath rush out of her in a grunt of pain.

Having created a gap, The Other Face pulled itself back to its feet as Alyx rolled and sprang upwards once more.

They faced each other across the room. Perfect mirrors. Everything was the same. The expressions on their faces, the combat ready stances. They even both wore the open-mouthed half smile Alyx wore when she focussed in battle. Iona was already struggling to follow which was which.

Why are you still just sitting there? Her mind demanded of her, and she suddenly came back to her senses. She needed to help, somehow.

As Alyx charged at herself once more, Iona gripped the windowsill and pulled herself upwards.

White hot pain burned across her side from her reopened scar, and she groaned. Frustration cut through the haze of pain. If even something as simple as standing up was causing her pain, all she would do in the fight was get in the way.  

But her eyes fell on the dropped hilt of the Brightblade, still wrapped in its leather pouch. It lay on the floor abandoned, dropped as the fighting had started.

The Other Face wants two things. Iona realised. Me, and that sword.

She needed to keep the sword away. Then she could get herself away.

Quickly, a plan began to form in Iona’s mind as the struggle between Alyx and The Other Face resumed with an even greater ferocity.

In the brief time that Iona had been focussed on the Brightblade though, she realised she had completely lost track of which Alyx was which. And with the fast movements of battle, she couldn’t make out the details needed to tell.

All she saw was one Alyx hit the other with a punch hard enough to send her stumbling away. Then the first followed up with a punch aimed for the back of the head of the second. The second spun away though and the punch instead connected with the wall, the impact cracking the wood planks beneath.

Iona couldn’t help. She had to trust that Alyx could handle herself. She had to help in other ways.

Ignoring the protesting burning pain in her side, Iona dragged herself over to the window. She leaned out into the air and put her fingers to her lips. Ignoring the strong taste of coppery blood that covered her hand, Iona let out a shrill whistle that echoed across the quiet courtyard outside.

A second later, her call was answered by a distant cry, and she saw an ember of orange against the blue sky whirl around and dive towards her.

Eterna was on his way.

Nodding in satisfaction, Iona quickly moved towards the leather bundle of the Brightblade, one hand pressing against her side.

As she did, the fight continued as one of the two Alyxs managed to wrap a rope from the room’s curtains around the throat of the other and pull it back like a garrotte. The other struggled for a second, fingertips scratching for purchase against the rock before she tilted her entire body forwards and ran across the room.

She planted her feet against the wall and ran up it, kicking off at exactly the right time to roll backwards above the one holding the rope. The choking garotte fell free from her throat and she landed behind her opponent.

Not wasting a second, the one that had escaped the rope then slammed her head forwards, her forehead connecting with the back of the other’s head and causing her to stumble forwards dazed.

As the Alyx that had headbutted then jumped onto the other’s back and began to rain down punches, Iona reached the Brightblade.

Groaning in pain, she stooped and gripped the blood-soaked leather bundle. Quickly, she unwrapped it, letting the leather fall to the ground and clutching the gilded hilt in her hand. Then she turned and moved back towards the window, glancing over her shoulder at the fight.

Behind her, one Alyx managed to grab a handful of the other’s hair and haul her around to face her. And then with a punch heavy enough to lift the other off her feet and slam her into the thin wall between rooms hard enough to splinter it into spiderwebbing cracks. The Alyx that had been punched slid down the wall to the floor while the other turned, still holding a fistful of hair, to face Iona.

She tilted her head, her eyes tracing Iona coldly, moving across her like a hunter judging wounded prey. Her lip curled in a humourless smirk. There was little doubt in Iona’s mind that the still standing Alyx was The Other Face.

And then Eterna’s shrill cry came from outside the window and The Other Face’s eyes widened as it recognised the sound. Its eyes went again to the Brightblade in her hand and it snarled in rage. Iona smiled grimly.

As The Other Face lowered itself into a mad sprint across the room, Iona turned to the window. She drew her hand back and threw the golden metal forwards. As she did so, she called out a single, simple command.

“Strike!”

The hilt flew through the air in an arc that carried it through the open window. The sapphire in the hilt flashed with beams of swimming blue as it caught the sunlight. It dipped below the window, and Iona worried for a second that it would simply fall into the dirt below. Perhaps Eterna wasn’t as smart or well trained as she thought.

A wave of heat rushed over her as a bolt of fire shot past the window in a dive, tracking the Brightblade perfectly. And meeting it only inches above the ground.

Eterna spread his wings into a wide glide as he swept down over the courtyard. The momentum carried him upwards again, rising over the buildings of Ravenrush and into the free, open sky. The golden hilt of the Brightblade was clutched tightly in his talons. He looked back once, gave Iona another cry, and then, as if understanding his task, set to the sky.

Iona beamed. “Good boy!” She called out after him.

Behind her, The Other Face bellowed in anger and Iona turned in time for it to seize her by the throat with one hand.

It may have been wearing Alyx’s face, but it certainly still held its own strength. With a single hand, its grip like a vice, The Other Face lifted Iona off the ground and tossed her across the room.

Iona flew like a ragdoll, like she had weighed nothing to it. Air rushed past her in a brief second of freefall before her back hit the door to the room, buckling the wood in its frame. She screamed as pain burned like wildfire across her body.

She had to stand up, she knew it. But all her body could do was clutch at her chest and fall heavily onto her side as The Other Face straightened and walked across the room.

It reached her and bent over her, one hand grabbing her by the throat again and lifting her into the air. Its other hand took Iona’s right arm and began to slowly bend it backwards.

Iona couldn’t make a sound against the grip on her neck, but she wanted to scream as she felt her bones begin to stretch and bend in its grip.

“Alive and undamaged, His Lordship said.” The Other Face growled through bloodied teeth where its lip had been split by its fight with Alyx. It pushed on her arm again and Iona felt her bone ready to snap in its grip.

“He will have to settle for one out of two.” It muttered, more to itself than to her. Iona began to beat uselessly against its iron grip with her free hand. But it did not yield. It barely even seemed to notice.

And then Alyx Cobalt swung a shattered plank of wood into her own face. The impact caused The Other Face to stumble backwards, releasing Iona. She dropped to the ground clutching her arm to her chest and sucking in breath.

“I didn’t say we were done!” Some distant part of Iona heard Alyx growl. The Other Face didn’t respond.

Iona opened her eyes, her vision hazy as her eyes filled with tears. The Other Face was staring at Alyx, its head slightly tilted, and its eyebrow cocked. It smirked slightly in amusement.

Alyx swung the wooden plank in her hands again. This time though, The Other Face simply raised its hand and grabbed the wood, bringing it and Alyx to a full stop. It looked at Alyx and smiled, then shook its head slowly.

Gripping the other end of the wooden plank, The Other Face swung Alyx around and threw her across the room. She hit the cracked wall between rooms and somehow managed to keep her feet beneath her, leaning against the wall.

The Other Face though, lowered its head and charged across the room. It slammed, shoulder first, into Alyx. There was an almighty cracking and crashing as splinters and rubble flew up around the pair as the two of them slammed into, and through, the wall, disappearing into the room beyond.

Iona couldn’t see what happened beyond. But she could hear as the fight continued, seemingly as brutal as ever before.

For a second, she lay still, sucking in breaths and letting the blazing pain subside into a low, dull burn. And then she dragged herself over to where her pack had fallen. The short, shattered remains of her sword lay on the floor, knocked free from the bag. It wasn’t much, but it was still sharp enough to be a weapon.

Gripping the sword in her right hand, her left pressing down against her blood-soaked side, Iona hauled herself up to lean against the bed, her broken sword held ready at her side.

The sounds of fighting from within the room slowed and, after a minute, stopped. Iona took a deep, nervous breath, unwilling to let herself imagine what might be happening through the shattered wall.

A second later, the figure of a bloodied and battered Alyx Cobalt stumbled out from the dust, kicking rubble along the floor with her. Iona clenched her jaw, redoubling her grip on her sword. The dust and blood covering her meant that Iona couldn’t see if this Alyx bore the bruise that had separated her and The Other Face before.

As Alyx began to walk forwards towards her, with a cocky half smile, Iona raised the broken blade.

“What did I find and keep after the refugees got attacked on the road?” She demanded. Alyx stopped in her tracks, looking hurt but not lifting her gaze from the sword blade.

“I just took a fucking beating from a demon, could we not?” Alyx asked. Iona only lifted the sword slightly higher in response.

“For fucks sake! Okay, hold on.” Alyx replied, holding up her hands. She blew a stray lock of hair from her face, her eyes narrowed in thought. After a moment, she turned to look at Iona again.

“A bear, right? It was a child’s toy. You left it in Oakworth.”  She answered. Iona let out the breath she’d been holding. Her sword lowered.

“Thank you.” Alyx breathed, her shoulders sagging. “It was bad enough the ugly bastard decided to use my face. I’d rather it didn’t make my friends stab the real me.” She stepped up next to Iona, leaning on the bed as well. Iona turned to face her, scanning her for injuries.

Which was when she saw it.

“Don’t worry Alyx. I’d never stab the real you.” Iona smiled at her. Alyx grinned back.

And Iona drove her shattered sword blade down into her jugular with a spray of blood.

Alyx stumbled backwards from Iona into the centre of the room. Her throat soaked in scarlet red blood that flowed thick and fast like a waterfall. Betrayal and confusion and hurt crossed her face and for a split second, Iona worried that she’d made a terrible mistake.

Until another Alyx, just as bloodied as the first had been, dashed out of the rubble, seized the broken sword blade and twisted it. In a single swift motion, she dragged the sword blade across the throat of the wounded Alyx, cutting all the way to the spine.

And then she removed the sword and turned it in her hand before driving it into her twin’s heart.

The Alyx that Iona had stabbed slowly lifted her hands to her severed throat, clutching at it as if she could will the flesh to knit back together. Then as the sword was stabbed deep into her chest, she simply grunted in pain, blinking like she was confused by the wounds she’d been dealt.

Finally, she collapsed backwards onto the floor, blood pooling around her.

Blood that slowly began to change colour. A foul stench of sweet rot filled the air as the scarlet lifeblood around the dead Alyx changed into a dark brown.

Slowly, Alyx began to change too. The body shifted and snapped and cracked, the skin melting and bursting like overcooked sausage. Its skin shifted to an ugly rotten golden colour and warped and swelled as the corpse stretched and moved to reveal the monster that had been wearing Alyx’s skin.

After a sickening moment, the body of The Other Face lay in the centre of the room surrounded by its dark blood.

Alyx stood over it, clutching the shattered sword in her hand. She was watching it warily, as if worried it would suddenly leap up to attack again. It was only after a minute of stillness and silence passed that she finally let her shoulders sag and she spat onto the demon’s corpse.

“Fucking bastard!” She cursed it, before turning her head to Iona. Concern flashed in her eyes as she saw the amount of red blood soaking Iona’s side.

“I’ll live.” Iona assured her, waving her off. “It tore the stitches is all. Looks worse than it is.”

Alyx hesitated, then nodded, turning back to look at The Other Face on the floor. After a moment of catching her breath and swallowing the pains of her fight, she turned back to Iona.

“How’d you know?” She asked. “It got the question right. How’d you know it wasn’t me?” Then she laughed slightly, pointing her chin towards it. “Or were you just going to stab us both and hope you got the first one right?”

Iona shook her head. “I knew it wasn’t you.” She reassured Alyx.

“How?”

“Two reasons. The first was simple. Like Meghan and James told us, it can’t copy scars. And it didn’t have the little one on your nose. From when you broke it slipping on ice in the Winter District.” Iona explained, making Alyx smile and run her finger over the little pink scar that crossed the flattened bridge of her nose.

“And the second reason?” Alyx asked, her hazel eyes meeting Iona’s, shining like golden pools. Iona felt her cheeks warming, she didn’t know why.

“Because you’re my closest friend. I always know if it’s you.” She said, running her hand through her hair. It was a terrible explanation, she knew. But it was nonetheless true. The Alyx before her felt right. The Other Face hadn’t.

Alyx drew back in surprise, standing suddenly from the bed. Her eyes were wide as she crossed to the centre of the room, chewing at her lip. She didn’t look at Iona but seemed instead to be lost in some distant memory. From the way she looked up at the ceiling with a huff of frustration, Iona got the sense Alyx was locked in some debate with herself.

Eventually though, Alyx’s shoulders sagged down and she let the broken sword blade fall from her fingertips to the floor with a thump. She looked to Iona, their eyes locked together as she chewed at her lip.

And then Alyx gave a long sigh and a half shake of her head.

“Fuck it.” She said to herself.

And in a pair of lightning-fast strides, Alyxandra Cobalt crossed the room between them, placed her hands on either side of Iona’s face and pulled her into the deepest, most wonderful kiss that the princess had ever had.

The Eastside Inn, Ravenrush, Barony of Fallham – The Next Day

“Repeat back what I’ve just said.” Iona said to the young stablehand as she pressed the wrapped package into his hands. The boy looked down at it, nodding as he listed off Iona’s instructions.

“Give the coinpurse to the landlady. And tomorrow morning, get this package sent straight to Aldiron. It’s to go to the Falcon’s Nest, directly to His Lordship.” He repeated and Iona nodded.

“Good. Thank you. Off you go.” She told him. He nodded hurriedly and dashed off, leaving them alone in the courtyard of the inn.

“You sure that’ll work?” James asked from the saddle of his horse as he watched the retreating figure of the lad as he disappeared into the inn. Iona shrugged, turning to pull herself into Moondust’s saddle, ignoring the stab of pain from the fresh stitches in her side as she did so.

“It’ll reach him eventually. One way or another.” She replied. She reached down to check that the Brightblade was still secure on her belt, wrapped again in leather.

“And when it does, he’ll find out where it came from.” Meghan warned, walking her restless stallion in a tight circle around them.

“All the more reason to get on the road. Put this place far behind us.” Alyx responded from the back of her own horse.

“You just want to get to tonight’s camp Alyx.” James chided her with a scoff. “So you can go to bed again.”

Iona felt a blush rising on her cheeks as Alyx unashamedly grinned at her and winked.

“Nothing wrong with that.” Alyx replied to her brother, not looking away from Iona.

“There’s plenty wrong with that.” Meghan and James replied as one, though both were smiling warmly. Iona giggled as she looked across her friends, her chest warm and light.

Above them, Eterna swooped low over the courtyard, giving a shrill cry before he swept out into the open sky above the winding eastwards road.

“Seems it’s time to go.” Iona observed, watching him with a short laugh. She rode Moondust up next to Alyx and leaned out of the saddle to kiss her cheek. The woman blushed and smiled softly back at her, holding her hand and giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. Iona looked back across her companions, seeing James lift Meghan’s hand to his lips and give it a quick kiss, both of them smiling affectionately at one another.

And then Iona urged Moondust forwards, and one by one they rode out eastwards beneath the setting sun, and the warm cry of a phoenix.