FRANKIE PLAYED WITH scenarios in her mind. She could of course, cut off their heads, and that was what she damn well would do if they got too close to her when the portal spit her out.
She was still too weak to take all of them on.
But, she could use the time to find out why they had set off bombs. What was the purpose? What could they hope to gain?
Why kill all those innocent people?
She had managed to slow her progress when she latched onto what did turn out to be a root and not a snake. Looking over her shoulder she saw light, a glowing light.
Almost there.
She would call for her Death Sword upon landing.
That was what she would do. Hers had been given to her by her father. It was attached and bonded to her.
In addition to her Death Sword, she had her secret Fios weapon, her fireball, and that was fiercely devastatingly accurate, but she reserved it for moments when nothing else would work.
She bumped her head and her body a few more times before the portal shoved her out and that was what it felt like, as though many hands were pushing at her back, forcing her out of the portal.
She landed and looked around and as she feared, there she was, right in the center of a troop of angry Blue Demons.
Her open hand went up, and she fisted it around her weapon which glinted threateningly in the sun’s rays. She swayed it left to right and waited.
Her meaning had been clear and the Blue Demons stood still, either unwilling to engage, or waiting for something…
She had the feeling they weren’t frightened but waiting for something.
She arched a brow, and gracefully circled her sword in the air between them. She heard their apparent leader as he raised his hand and cautioned them, “Hold.”
She listened to their grumbling as they stood ready to charge at her and one said out loud as he looked at the tall fierce leader, “Just kill the wench and be done, Sventer.”
Frankie thought it time to reply to this idea, “I don’t know who ye all are, but I have m’Death Sword pointed and ready, as ye can clearly see. So then, I have given ye fair warning, and tell ye that even if ye or yers were to receive the slightest scratch from its deadly blade, ye will not survive, but ye know that, don’t ye? Aye, ye do. ‘Tis why ye don’t charge me.”
“What are you? I have never seen your like…you are winged,” Sventer said on a dark frown.
“Winged am I? Well, well…aren’t ye observant,” Frankie returned arching her brow to match her crooked smile.
“Some of us will die, but one of us will get through,” Sventer said, “Take her now.” Sventer ordered, and watched as his men stepped toward her.
“I’m not one that kills lightly, but I think ye need a lesson because ye do kill lightly.” Frankie swung her sword, catching a Blue Demon soldier’s dagger and flipping it out of his hand. It went flying, and she could have nicked him, but refrained. At that moment another Blue Demon launched at her, and she stabbed him through. He fell back against his comrades, spluttered and died on the spot.
The remaining warriors hovered angrily, cursing at her head. “I did give ye fair warning, and a lass has to protect herself, now doesn’t she? Fae Death Hallows never miss their mark,” Frankie’s nose lifted. She hated killing, but there was always something charging and demanding its death! “Downright fools,” she told them as suddenly those glistening black wings of hers opened. She displayed them while the Demons hung back, some in awe.
The tips of white sparkled as she lifted high and took to the skies. She looked down and said, “Bye, bye boys, but don’t worry. I’ll be back and when I come back, I won’t be as friendly.”
High overhead and out of their range, Frankie soared, taking a look at the world she had been deposited in. She tried thinking of home and shifting, but something was blocking her. She knew what it was. It was a ward.
A ward blocked her from shifting home.
That was a problem, but only a temporary one. She would need to figure out what sort of ward it was, and deactivate it. She had paid attention to her da when he taught her just how to do that. She knew the steps, she knew the spells, but such things took time.
Right then, Frankie, she told herself, find a place to set down and figure out yer next move.
She had taken flight to get her bearings. She didn’t want to shift and find herself in the middle of a mountain, or an ocean, so while in flight she took a moment to survey the landscape below.
Now where the devil are ye, she asked herself. In trouble as always, deep, deep, to yer knees in horse-shit trouble, she answered her own question.
She saw a river, tucked in her wings and shifted to its edge.