Banished Pt. 16

Ethan shook his head again.

"If they had someone like you back then... things would have really turned out differently, huh? My mother wouldn't have died; maybe none of them would have."

I shook my head, as I tried to process his words.

"That's an awfully speculative could be," I muttered.

I studied him, licking my lips uncomfortably as I did.

The way he said it actually sounded like if he was blaming me for what had happened to his mother...

But he couldn't possibly hold me responsible for that, could he?

Yet I sensed it.

An anger rising up in him, and I reached for the halberd on my back.

"I guess I should apologize in advance," he said, smiling faintly, and I shook my head.

"I don't see why this has to happen," I said, and he shook his head.

"You might not; but I do," he replied.

"Why? What do we have that you could possible want?" I asked, and as he drew his sword, he aimed the blade at Cameron.

"Her," he replied.

I glanced at her, seeing the bewilderment that I felt reflected in her own shell-shocked expression.

"Why?" I began, just as a cry rang out from somewhere behind us.

"Nate! Get away from him-!"

-but he was already moving to strike.

I placed an arm defensively in front of Cameron, and leapt aside with her as the sword swept across our bodies, and I got the handle of my halberd up in front of us as I did, deflecting the strike roughly as I did.

My halberd was one hell of a utility weapon, but fuck, if it wasn't so cumbersome in close quarters.

Cameron drew her knife as we rolled and climbed collectively to our feet, but Francesca was already moving in.

She lunged at him with a stab, but he sidestepped the attack, then drove his knee into the inner side of the leg that had extended forward as she struck, and as she went down on one knee; he turned and kicked across her neck, sending her skidding away.

To think; he was still this quick even with all those wounds.

Bianca was the next to dart in, and as she struck at him, he countered, but she retreated to a safe distance, circling and striking again before making a quick retreat.

I readied my halberd, and swept at him just as Bianca moved again to strike, but my hands felt numb and heavy.

He grabbed Bianca by the hand as he simultaneously caught my halberd mid strike by the metal handle with his foot, and he stomped it into the ground and kicked the weapon from my grasp with the other foot, just as Bianca pried herself out of his grasp.

I raised my hand, and focused my threads on him, trying to root him to the ground, but he turned to me and smirked, as the threads connected to his, and I cried out as an intense pain shot through my body and my mind went blank.

I was on my back before I realized what had happened, and as I struggled back to my feet, my entire body now felt heavy.

Bianca and Lucia were now engaged with him, and I drew my dagger, but my hands were shaking, and as I watched the fight for an opening, I suddenly realized just how hopeless this was.

He was playing with them; not even really using his sword, and my chest tightened as I realized that he could kill either of them at any time... but instead, it seemed as if he was trying to take them down without causing her any permanent damage.

"Whoa!" I called, as Bianca made to move in again, with Lucia at her side. "Let's just talk," I offered, and Ethan shook his head.

"It won't change the outcome," he replied, and I studied him.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

He wasn't a bad person.

I was almost sure of it.

There had to be a reason for his actions.

"Make no mistake, Nathan; I feel no need to justify this," he said, keeping an eye on Bianca. "Either you let me walk out of here with Cameron, or I leave a pile of dead bodies behind and take her anyway."

Francesca was getting to her feet, and Blair, Jeannie, and Leanna had already moved to join them.

"You can't take us all on, dumbass!" Bianca yelled, but I could tell from the expression on Francesca's face that she knew that we didn't stand a chance, even with the advantage in numbers.

Especially with me out of the fray.

"You don't want to do this," I whispered, as I tried to reach out to him with my threads, and he smirked.

"Did you really think a suggestion with that amount of power would work on me?" he asked.

He let out a sigh, as he looked around.

"A pile of corpses it is, then," he muttered, sheathing his sword, and drawing a little dagger as Bianca darted in followed by Leanna's shadow creature.

Lucia followed her, and the others began to strike, looking for openings in the wake of each attack, but Ethan was dancing through them and striking at them in counter attacks as he weaved through the onslaught with effortless ease.

He'd already stabbed Jeannie in the arm, and put a dagger through Blair's hand by the time I managed to stand, but Cameron stopped me as I tried to lumber into the fray.

"Nate. This is hopeless," she said, her eyes shimmering and watery, as I studied them worriedly.

She took my hand and placed it against her chest.

"Nathan, I pledge myself to you."

I shook my head.

"Why?"

"Rest up; then come find me and bring me home," she said.

I took one more look at the others, where the fight was going much more badly now, with Jeannie and Leanna already lying wounded on the floor.

Francesca and Bianca were doing pretty well, but I could tell it was only a matter of time before he wore then down, and took them out as well.

"Cameron," I said, but as the shadowy apparition appeared in my mind, I felt flooded by the strangest feeling of warmth, and as I studied her, I caught the smiling expression on her face.

"It's okay, Nate; I know that no matter what happens, you'll come find me, and I'll be by your side again," she said, but before I could respond, something splashed onto my face, and I shook my head.

Huh?

What was that?

I reached out, my hand trailing over the strange sudden wetness, and as it came away red, I blinked, trying to process what had happened.

Blood?

Whose blood was it...? I wondered, but as I looked up, I saw the open-mouthed expression of shock on Cameron's face, and as I looked down, there was something sticking out of her st-

*gag*

Her sto-

*gag*

No...

No, no, NO!

This is a joke, right?

It had to be!

This couldn't be real!

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as she fell, and as I reached out to steady her, my fingers brushed against the cold steel protruding from her stomach, and my heart felt as if it were about to shatter into pieces.

It's... real.

I looked up, and Ethan was standing there, a blank expression on his face.

Your face doesn't match this situation, I thought, and for an insane moment, I felt like telling him that.

Cameron yelped in pain as he yanked the blade out of her back.

"Come now; can't have her bleeding to death," he said, as he withdrew a healing shot from his pack, and I watched in stunned silence as he jabbed the needle into her body, injecting the liquid as he did, and she began to scream and writhe in my arms as the accelerated healing took effect.

"That takes care of the child, but... we can't go letting you make another one, now can we?"

He wrestled Cameron from my arms, and I suddenly felt my limbs come to life as I fought back.

"Leave her alone!" I yelled, drawing my dagger and swiping at him, but he leaned back, easily moving out of the range of my arc, and I stumbled forward, swiping again; but this time, he counter attacked, and I felt a flash of pain, and a surreal sense of confusion as my own hand went flying, the dagger still clutched in its grasp.

I panted, my eyes looking around desperately for some kind of solution.

"You have one week, Nathan. One week before I disappear with Cameron for good. Come find me before then, but prepare yourself; because the next time, I won't be holding back."

I shook my head at him.

He could kill me now... why put it off?

"Why?" I asked, searching for some semblance of a rationale. "Why are you doing this?"

He chuckled at me.

"I'm merely passing on to you the lesson that my father passed on to me," he said. "That pain and suffering is a greater motivator than the desire to protect could ever be. Seven days, Nathan. Don't keep me waiting."

I looked down at the stump of where my right hand had been, and I felt my vision going in and out as I kneeled there, looking on, battered and helpless, as he carried a slumped Cameron over his shoulders, stepping over the crumpled bodies of the rest of my group as he did.

"You can reattach that, right?" he asked, glancing at Aletta, and she nodded slowly, shooting me a sympathetic look as he walked past her, and away from the grove.

Then I felt an uncontrollable wave of nausea wash over me, and I began to retch as I fell over, but my mind was fading fast into darkness, and I felt the vague feeling of bodies rushing to my side, and panicked voices speaking as they began to tend to me.